Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 441: Lieutenant Colonel Leonid's Experience
-
tick.

Liquid dripping.

White lights.

Blurry vision.

The smell of medicine and disinfectant seems like a world away.

How long had he been unconscious?
Lieutenant Colonel Leonid groped with his fingers, and his fingertips touched the sheets beneath him. The material was not the same as that of the fortress's infirmary, but it felt like it might even be woven from plant fibers, and had a reassuringly dry texture.

He was saved...? No, no, maybe he was just attacked by the dark demon at the end of the Iron Warriors' attack, and then he was injured and unconscious, and maybe new reinforcements came later, defeated their enemies, avenged the dead, and saved them, and then he had a long, terrible, feverish nightmare in his medical coma...?
It would be great if that were the case... God bless you!
After the death of Tor Christo, the supreme commander of the Rock Fortress on the Heart of Hydra, Leonid became the de facto new lord of the fortress. He had to get better quickly so that he could participate in work and battles. And his soldiers... Elad... Who congratulated him on taking over as lord of the fortress on the battlefield... ?
A fresh, bloody, horrific scene accompanied by the sound of wolfing down food suddenly tore through the warm and peaceful veil, and violently broke into Yolan's mind again: he realized that he was panting, exhausted and sore all over, standing in front of the inner gate of the fortress, desperate and horrified to see the nameless Chaos Astartes Lord who had almost lost his material form grabbing the dying Imperial Fist in front of them and chewing the flesh alive - the sound of Captain Eshara sucking and chewing flesh alive came from the tall body of Captain Eshara - the brave and respectable warrior did not scream or beg for mercy until his death -

"God Emperor!!!! Save us!!!! Save him!!!!!! Please have mercy!!!! Please!!!!"

The man lay in his position, screaming in despair at the highest pitch of his life, his whole body twitching, followed by severe muscle spasms and joint stiffness. He was sweating profusely, his teeth clenched, his eyes rolled up, his ears and nose were bleeding, and the instruments began to beep with an alarm.

Someone hurried to his bedside.

"Primarch, what should we do? Filhammer?" A pair of strong hands reached out and held down Leonid who was having a seizure. The owner of the hands had a faint smell of blood on his body. "He looks like he's about to turn himself inside out from the convulsions! We need pharmacist brothers!"

"You know there's no pharmacist here, Alnwick. I'm the one who's called a pharmacist, but I'm not really one for this... Never mind. I'll try my best. Then, boy, please go to the cold storage and get me a... no, two tranquilizers. Anverk, hold him tight, I'm going to pry his mouth open first, so he doesn't bite off his tongue and choke to death on his own blood."

Then a few thick fingers with the smell of ceramic steel and gun oil clasped the patient's jaw, pried open the stiff jaw joint with a strange force, and stuffed some fillers into his mouth. With the feeling of the sedative syringe piercing the blood vessels, the rare tranquility and sleep once again mercifully descended upon the tired and frightened Yolan people.

"Will he get better?"

A younger voice seemed to ask.

After that, Leonid fell into complete darkness.

------

When the lieutenant colonel of Yolan's dragoons woke up in the same bed with the last lord of the fortress again, he felt a rare clarity of reason returning to his mind in the past few months.

Leonid's stomach was still wrinkled from not having a proper meal for a long time, and he felt terrible, but the quiet environment, sufficient sleep, cleaner air and suitable room temperature than that in the devil's factory workshop made him feel much better, and he felt more clearly than ever what the previous battles and slavery had brought him: the aching wounds and lesions all over his body, and his dry throat and lips that urgently needed to be moistened with clean water.

He raised his arm and found that there were a bunch of tubes inserted into it. Many things that he couldn't tell whether they were nutrients or medicines were being slowly injected into his body. This might explain why he was not so hungry or in so much pain.

"Gurgle...Gurgle..." Leonid's intestines seemed to have been waiting for his awakening moment for a long time. They couldn't wait to make loud noises like empty millstones to show their existence and ask his brain for some real food.

Yes, food, preferably from his home planet of Yoran.

Unlike many recruiting worlds in this galaxy that are full of danger, famine, toxins or harsh environments, the home world of the Yolan Dragoons is very superior. There are three habitable planets in the galaxy. Yolan Prime is the location of the headquarters, while Yolan III is an industrial world and the main recruiting place for soldiers and non-commissioned officers. For example, Sergeant Elad comes from there. As for the officer class, they all come from aristocratic families on the prime star and large landowner families on Yolan V.

In Yolan, according to tradition, every family must hand over a child to serve in the Planetary Defense Force (PDF) for five years. If a child is selected to join the Star Army and go to other parts of the universe due to his or her excellence during the service, his or her name will be recorded in the memorial book and memorial hall on the main planet as a kind of honor.

As far as Leonid knew, the ancient military history of the Yolan Dragoon Regiment even tried its best to record the whereabouts and battles of every dragoon regiment sent away by the people of Yolan from thousands of years ago to the present.

After their battle failed, he would most likely be judged as MIA (Missing In Action) or directly dead like everyone else, and he didn't know how long it would take for the news of his death to be fortunately transmitted back to his hometown? Would his parents be proud of him or cry?

The lieutenant colonel sighed. He had never missed his mother's homemade juicy dinosaur steaks with buttered baked potatoes so much - these good ingredients all came from the agricultural world of Yolan V in the same galaxy, and some water or, alternatively, Amasek mixed with ice water, like the kind they often drank at the officers' meetings at Fort Tol Kristo.

The man couldn't help but smile bitterly.

As expected, people don’t think too much when they are really facing battle and death, but if they wait too long for death to come, it is easy to start to have some delusions.

He always felt that he must have fallen into some kind of carefully woven trap or conspiracy of the Iron Warriors Chaos Wizards. The peace and tranquility now was like the enjoyment of a Grox beast that had been deliberately fattened up and was ready to be skinned and eaten in the animal pen.

He still remembered the last words he heard before he passed out. What did this wizard mean? Want to shake his faith? Tempt him to throw himself into the arms of chaos? Who was their so-called father? Pfft! But this devil was so kind that he allowed him to lie here quietly and recall the evening breeze of his hometown with his tortured soul?

…May the Emperor of God bless his soul. It is better not to think too much about it, as thinking may lead to heresy.

As for why the lieutenant colonel was now certain that this was not the same situation as when he first woke up and vaguely thought he had been rescued and returned to the friendly control area—

First of all, the whole interior here looks very, very forge-like.

Gears, chains and iron hooks hung from the dark stone ceiling. There were thick, neat and densely packed exposed pipes. There were metal riveted walls and a black rock floor. Oh, he was just asking why his bed was so stable. Was it probably modified from some giant lathe or anvil?
Secondly, most of the metal surfaces were clean and bare, with the original iron color, no Imperial Sky Eagle, all of them were fucking Roman numerals "Ⅳ", silver skull mask emblems, and yellow and black stripes! The silver skull and yellow and black stripes together were the former symbols of these Iron Warriors. They would still have this on the surface of their armor that was worn or mutated badly. Leonid, who had worked hard here for several months, had already recognized it.

He lay on his back, not moving for the moment, allowing himself a final second to nostalgically recall his family, food and scenery of his hometown, waiting for the final fate that would befall him... Pah! Yolan people never give up!

Leonid rolled his eyes and looked around carefully again. This looked like a single ward or a cell. There was no other living thing around. The lieutenant colonel touched his body. He was shirtless, but someone had changed him into a pair of hospital pants with drawstrings.

When he tried to use his arms to support himself and turn over, the intense dizziness that made him see stars and the soreness that screamed in protest instantly swept through his nerves and muscles, causing Yolan to curse out loud: "Fuck."

But at least he sat up.

Oh, look, the blood of the throne! These Chaos bastards even thoughtfully put a pair of simple slippers next to his bed! It's as if he really came to this damn demon planet to be hospitalized!
...Anyway, having slippers is better than having none.

Leonid tried to put all ten toes in carefully and slowly - nothing happened. It was just a pair of cheap, simple slippers that could be found everywhere in the industrial world. The sole and lining were sewn together at the edges with needle and thread. The sole was very thin and the edges were very fragile, but it was enough for indoor activities.

So what is going on here? They must have some evil agenda in mind for going to such lengths to treat their captives.

There was a sudden noise at the door. His nerves tensed up suddenly. His eyes darted around and he began to look for anything that could be used as a weapon.

The door opened.

"Are you awake?" A boy in a plain grey squire's tunic appeared from the doorway with a tray in his hands.

Lieutenant Colonel Leonid's desire to attack stopped the moment he met those storm gray eyes that were still full of enthusiasm, innocence and hope.

This is still a child, a human child, a child whose hands have never been stained with blood.

The lieutenant colonel realized with certainty.

God, please forgive my leniency.

he thinks.

The boy remained calm, showing a kind of experienced calmness, and was not at all frightened by the adult soldier who was a whole head taller than him and tried to attack him.

"Oh, I was worried that you wouldn't wake up or go crazy. It seems that you are very strong. Drink the nutrient solution first to replenish your physical strength. Otherwise, you will have no strength and won't be able to follow me."

"Follow you? Where to? Who are you? Where is this?"

"I'm Samokan." He shrugged and put the test tubes filled with liquid on the tray into his hands. "Drink it quickly. After you finish drinking, I'll take you to eat something and find your companions at the same time."

The answers to these questions were what he desperately needed at the moment and didn't want to refuse, so Leonid did it.

He initially thought the liquid would taste terrible, like the weird broth he had drunk in the Iron Warriors slavers' demonic factories.

But when he held his breath and poured the first tube of liquid into his esophagus in one gulp, a cool feeling surged up from his stomach, followed by a faint fragrance and sweet and sour taste, as well as a slightly numbing and comfortable stimulating feeling.

He couldn't help but drink the second bottle.

"Uh."

By the time Leonid reacted, he had already finished drinking all the nutrient solution on the tray, which made him embarrassed and unable to speak.

The boy who called himself "Samokan" answered him before he asked with an expression that said "See, I knew everyone of you would ask this."

"It's sugar, vitamins, caffeine, diluted energy liquid, and carbonated bubbles. The taste is because the old man insisted on adding lemon, mint essence, and compressed carbon dioxide gas. He also kept saying that this was invented by his father. Although it is indeed delicious, he is the first one I have met who considers the taste of nutrient solution."

Well, it was actually delicious and refreshing, but it only made the lieutenant colonel more suspicious.

"Done? Then come with me. By the way, your hospital gown is behind the door."

------

A moment later, Leonid was led by the boy out of the corridor where his ward was located and into the pale daylight.

"The throne..."

What appeared before him was a solid, multi-story circular building, "built" with thick strips of black basalt with incredible growth joints. It showed its incomparable solidity and heavy defensiveness. As for whether it was used to defend against internal attacks or external attacks, it didn't seem to make much difference.

The building is surrounded by multi-story corridors connected by stairs and huge elevator platforms. Individual doors can be seen in the corridors, some of which are open and some are closed. The lieutenant colonel noticed that there is a business card inserted in the card slot next to the closed door, which may mean the name or position of the owner of the room.

In the center is a huge atrium with a dome. The translucent dome filters the dazzling white skylight. The floor of the atrium is paved with slabs made of gray stones commonly seen on this planet. The gaps are filled with black gravel, and there are even some scattered tables and chairs. It must be said that if the Yolan people were in other places, they would think this was a resort hotel in his hometown, but there is obviously a lack of green plants and colorful decorations here.

There were many mortals moving around in the atrium now. Leonid was very happy to see that his deputy, Sergeant Elad, was also standing there. There were several figures around the strong sergeant, and he was talking to them. The lieutenant colonel felt that these people should also be Yolan soldiers, and he was somewhat familiar with them.

"Ellard!" he shouted, waving his hands.

Leonid felt tears welling up in his eyes when his loyal and strong lieutenant looked up, saw him and trotted towards him.

But soon, the obvious anxiety on the face of the sergeant running towards him caught his eyes, and at the same time a dark shadow enveloped the lieutenant colonel.

He turned around in horror.

(End of this chapter)