《Jinglypuff and the Fairids》 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 1 Jinglypuff the fairy fluttered leisurely through the lush Greenwood forest, her dainty body carried gracefully by a pair of rainbow wings. She drew sparkling curves around trees and lazy animals. It was a sunny late spring day and the ompa-ompa mushrooms had just begun to bob and sing. What a silly bunch. Jinglypuff didn''t know if they were plants, animals or something else. She didn''t have much of an interest in mushrooms anyways. Today she was here to spy on the human princess taking the ceremonial bath in the enchanted spring, which had been one of Jinglypuff''s own creations. She liked the princess and often played mischief on her, causing sudden winds and stealing her underpants, tihi~! At one point she had turned into a human maid and- Jinglypuff blushed in embarrassment remembering the incident. Compared to greater beast summoning, weather control and continental terraforming, turning into a visible human was surprisingly expensive magic for a fairy. How frustrating. In the middle of the act she had run out magic and disappeared in a poof. Perhaps in another thousand years she''d be powerful enough to keep the spell running for an hour. She was already the oldest and most powerful fairy. Even the eldritch entities in the Otherwhere had to be polite to her. Jinglypuff arrived at the enchanted spring early and settled down on a big zooboing-leaf to await the princess and her escort of warrior priestesses. As she lay there contentedly, hands on cheeks and feet paddling air, lightning suddenly struck out of nowhere. Jinglypuff was immune to lightning, but nonetheless turned into a crisp. ¨Co¨C "System is very sorry. System was playing around with a new type of lightning. System hit and killed spirit by mistake. System has been experiencing issues. System will make it up to spirit." "Huuh?" Jinglyfuff found herself in a strange white space hearing a disembodied metallic voice. She was aware that there were other realities ¨C and that she lived in one of the upper-tier ones, but this place felt like it was outside of them all. "Hey, you! Put me back! I''m going to miss it!" "System is very sorry. System can not immediately return spirit. System first must thread spirit through lesser reality. System will give already powerful spirit even more power as an apology. System estimates that staying in lesser reality for a short decade will be sufficient to facilitate a smooth return. System ensures spirit that no time will have passed in home reality." "A decade? Hmmpf... very well, as long as I don''t miss the thing." "System is pleased about the agreement. System has located a reality. System could find no fairies but has located a world with humans and will now attempt to put spirit into a temporary, mature human body. System advices some healing might be required after resurrection." "Transfer attempt failed, target body fully expired." "Transfer attempt failed, target body fully expired." "Transfer attempt failed, target body fully expired." "Transfer attempt failed, target body fully expired." "Transfer attempt failed, target body fully expired..." ¨Co¨C The victory had been hard earned. Urzal, not even a Space Marine Sergeant, now held the highest rank in the fleet, though he didn''t have much left to command. The Angles of Absolution had deployed a force of three hundred Space Marines and two titans to face down the remainder of the Tyranid hive fleet Ravant. All forces had been lost. All except Urzal who now dominated the secondary bridge of the damaged frigate Malorant. Out of the Imperial Guard forces... well, all but one burned along with the world below. A lone guardswoman had escaped with Urzal, both having just managed to board the orbital transport in time. It was Urzal who had finally given the order to call down the Exterminatus. Cyclonic Torpedoes had been custom fitted to the inconspicuous 1.5km frigate more as a contingency measure but ultimately had to be deployed, cleansing the planet and finally stopping hive fleet Ravant in its tracks. The sacrifice had been worth it. 90km ahead of the Malorant drifted the hive fleet''s last synapse ship, and besides it another carcass ¨C that of the 3.5km cruiser Yarrexon which had boldly rammed the xenos voidship and reportedly injected some sort of biocide agent originally intended for planetary deployment. "Astrogator, set the Malorant on a boarding trajectory.", Urzal ordered. A drive systems servitor whirred and clicked in response ¨C is head twitching inside the mechanical head cradle that connected it to the Imperial voidship''s machine spirit via a multitude of tubes and needles. Next to it another servitor hanged slack in its harness, sparks shooting from the mechanical sockets of its amputated arms. The Malorant was a little slow to respond, half of its crew of 24000 being dead or severely injured. The engine tech priest was also dead, as were the entire bridge crew including the Master Helmsman and Inquisitor. Most of the frigate''s laser batteries had already been stripped out to fit the Cyclonic Torpedoes ¨C the remainder were out of order and repairs weren''t coming. Regardless, Urzal had inherited Deathwing Mandate orders to investigate the bioship if possible and scout for any weak points. ¨Co¨C Guardswoman Yava Jen didn''t know why a lowly soldier was allowed on the bridge deck, but now she stood there looking at the remains of the world below with glassy eyes. Nearly a decade ago she had seem a similar sight. That time it had been her own home world burning. It hadn''t been the Imperium who destroyed it though, but the machinations of the Chaos Dwarfs. Her home world of Dezhenari had been a relatively peaceful arid farming world able to sustain a population of two billion after Imperial tithes. She was 16 when it happened, when the skeletal Androids constructed by the Chaos Dwarfs appeared and swiftly cut the population by half. She learned later that prohibiting women from serving was an exception rather than the norm out in the greater Imperium. After nearly all of the men had been drafted and eliminated things changed on Dezhenari of course. Reinforcements from the neighbouring system arrived to find an army consisting of mostly guardswomen, children and elderly ¨C all desperately holding off the remaining Chaos Androids. By this time Dezhenari was almost uninhabitable, though apparently not enough so for the Chaos Squat engineers who deployed their Furnace Bombs just as evacuations began, some twisted experiment of theirs apparently being over. Dezhenari had never been beautiful, not like Holy Terra which was rumoured to be a lush paradise, but Yava had never felt such loss. Now it echoed in her mind upon seeing another world burn. Her brooding was interrupted by the Emperor''s angel who suddenly spoke directly to her with a powerful and commanding voice. "Ready yourself, guardswoman, and follow me to the boarding torpedo." "Wha- we''re going over to the xenos ship?", was all she could say, but the enormous armoured figure ignored her, exuding purpose as it strode off with heavy thumping footsteps. Momentarily she snapped out of it and followed, hurriedly performing The Rites of Maintenance on her dinged up lasrifle as she tried to catch up. ¨Co¨C Jinglypuff woke up feeling dazed with her body sprawled under decayed bits of bone and torn organic tissue. What is this place? Something feels off. Didn''t the system thing say I''d get a human body? This doesn''t appear to be a human body at all. Oh- right, some great calamity struck the world and... there was a transfer redirection error? What''s this body then? "Full Heal!", she commanded, immediately surprised by her distorted alien voice. The powerful spell brought the body back to normal in an instant. She rose out of the organic debris and observed herself. It was indeed a very strange body, made out of bone or some kind of chitin in tones of black, blues, purples and whites. It didn''t seem very powerful though, not compared to Iron Spiders and Ant Dragons of similar form. Hmmm. Something was poking at her mind, some sort of far off commanding entity. Very annoying. She shut it out. Apparently this body was originally part of some sort of hive mind collective, or hierarchy. If Jinglypuff had underlings she could probably command them, but she seemed to be the only one of her kind in the immediate area. The whole place looked deteriorated. Thinking about it, given the organic nature of the surrounding environment, perhaps a quick Area Heal spell could tidy things up a bit? As soon as the spell took effect she received a connection request of sorts from a big dumb organism called "the ship". She was inside it. It''s a travel organism? Peculiar, but not unheard of. Perhaps it was like the airwhales used by the merfolk? Upon tapping into its sensory system the whole situation became a bit clearer. The ship was actually up in space and in orbit around a world which did not look healthy. Everyone must have died down there. Restoring the world would probably take some effort. The more pressing matter was a different adjacent ship. It had discharged a ragged group of humans into the ship via a smaller boarding capsule a while ago. Most of the humans ¨C nearly a hundred ¨C had quickly died near their point of entry due to the presence of a toxic mist, which had also severely wounded the ship. The surviving last three appeared to be wearing more sturdy helmets or masks. No, wait, one actually had the head of a goat. A goatman! Those were pretty rare weren''t they? It wore but a chainmail loincloth and belt. Short light brown fur stretched over its toned muscles. The goatman barbarian clutched a jagged buzzing stick and seemed ready to go berserk. Then there was a large knight clad in a rather inelegant and dirty white armour, sporting a strange black metal rucksack. The knight carefully swept the area with a big clunky blunderbuss ¨C likely of gnomish origin. On its spaulder flew a winged heraldic mark belonging to some noble house or kingdom. Lastly, there was a peasant soldier woman a green and brown outfit. She was armed with a smaller blunderbuss but stood bent over as she had either lost her composure or was feeling sick. The members of the diminutive boarding party must have been spooked when the environment around them suddenly regained its vitality, if not also from their comrades dying. Hadn''t they ever heard about healing magic? Jinglypuff didn''t know what kind of visitors they were, but knew that knights would sometimes get violent. So, Jinglypuff located a nearby sphincter and dragged them into holding cells using a handy tentacle feature of the ship, also quickly stripping them of their ineffectual weapons. The goatman had briefly attacked a wall with its buzzing stick. What was it planning to do? The ship was several kilometers long and could obviously be quickly healed. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. After casting an Area Cleanse spell to remove the remaining toxic mist she then proceeded to reconfigure the atmospheric glands of the ship. Jinglypuff didn''t want more of the guests dying ¨C not until she had questioned them. The zombies produced by her Resurrection spell really weren''t all that talkative. First it was time for some introspection though. She took a moment to examine her new body more closely and gained at least some appreciation for it. It was highly configurable, albeit with much room for improvement. Upon deciding that she was safe for now she entered a sort of cocoon mode and begun to alter the body, soon expediting the process using growth magic. She shifted the extra arms to the back and activated the dormant growth code related to wings. Truth to be told, she didn''t really need wings to fly ¨C they just lessened the cost of the Fly spell. And, well, a fairy has got to have wings, right? The rather crude spitting and shard shooting weapons had to go; she''d use her more diverse magic for defence and offence if needed. She kept the some of the sharp fingernails though, just in case, and popped one of the bone swords into her inventory space. The posture had to be more erect and feminine. The muscular system was not as advanced as in one of her flesh golems so she made some improvements, doubling the movement speed and strength. Ah- there''s a hidden camouflage system! She was used to being invisible as a fairy, so it would be nice to have. Phasing through walls was sadly a no-go though ¨C she''d have to use a spell for that. Similarly she''d have to rely on a passive auto-cast shield spell since this body was a bit on the fragile side, being just regular matter. Jinglypuff spent another ten minutes doing minor tweaks. Glancing at the sensors she noticed that the human ship had begun limping away for some reason. It was no matter ¨C she could easily catch up if she wanted to. Finally finished she emerged from the cocoon, standing nearly three meters tall with the wings neatly tucked into the back-carapace. She felt majestic and complete. The whole process reminded her about that time she had designed the flesh golem dungeon boss for the elves, minus all the nagging about aesthetics by the elven council. It took them two centuries to clear it. Remembering that dungeon... didn''t she need some underlings and minions now? Minion control was one of her new neat features after all so she should probably make use of it. The intruding humans unfortunately all looked too weak and clumsy to be useful and she didn''t yet know if they could be trusted with anything. Oh, right, the ship can make minions, can''t it? It just needs some biomatter for the, uh... brood chambers. Just as Jinglypuff was about to scavenge parts of the ship, she remembered something. Weren''t there a lot of corpses near the boarding point? ¨Co¨C Yava sat hugging her legs in the cell. She couldn''t make any sense of the situation. The gas masks hadn''t worked very well. So many had died. Her mask was better than that of the crews'' but she had nearly succumbed as well. The beastman didn''t seem too bothered for some reason... and the Space Marine... well, the children of the Emperor were all beyond that stuff, she guessed. When she suddenly felt fine and the old infected gash on her hand healed, she first thought it was the Emperor''s blessing, but then she noticed that the xenos voidship recovered as well. Why would the Emperor do such a thing? She reached for the Aquila pendant around her neck and asked for clarity, but received no answer... ¨Co¨C Targ paced back and forth in his cell. He had been proud to walk with Space Marine. He had been proud to survive. His kind ¨C the abhumans ¨C were often looked down upon, and now now would learn of his achievement. He and the others were food for the alien ship. ¨Co¨C Urzal stood calmly contemplating the situation and his error. He had been prepared to scout the xenos ship alone but hadn''t expected so many of the crew dying from the biocide. It had been a gamble. If the biocide had somehow not been present due to a failed injection by the Yarrexon, then he would have likely been attacked by Tyranid survivors and could have used the distraction of 90 lasrifles. If the Tyranids were dead, chances were that much of the biocide had already been absorbed by the tissues, filters and organs of the ship. Apparently, not enough of it had been, or perhaps the crew gas masks were just subpar. Regular humans are so fragile and he didn''t exactly have a Magos Biologis on hand to consult on the matter. He spoke a prayer for all the recently departed. Infortuni ad mortem. May their souls find the Emperor''s Light. As for the miraculous recovery of the Tyranid bioship... it was a phenomenon beyond the realms of reason. Surely it had not played dead just to capture just a few people? Was it perhaps a strange temporal effect ¨C the twisted workings of demonic entities? Fifty years ago Urzal had entered the warp on an old and damaged strike cruiser with an irregular Gellar Field. The ship gradually improved in condition during the course of the journey... that is, until it exited the warp and reverted back. These type of effects were often temporal. Perhaps he just needed to wait it out? But how long should he wait then? He still had his combat knife and a grenade and could perhaps carve a pocket for the grenade in the organic wall, creating an point of escape. With the Emperor''s Wind at his back he could reach the boarding torpedo and hit the emergency ejection thrusters. Suddenly the cell''s door slit opened up, permitting exit ¨C or extraction. Before he could make a choice the holding cell convulsed, forcefully ejecting him into a slippery tube. Moments later he was dispensed into a large, almost royal looking organic chamber. Its sides were flanked by thick pillars of bone and shimmering membranes stretching in elegant arcs. Some almost hung like banners. Something felt distinctly off about it. Next to him the guardswoman and the abhuman rose to their feet, having landed less gracefully. Both seemed equally as perplexed. At the opposite end of the chamber where one might almost expect a to see a grand church organ instead rose a large glistering throne festooned with spindles and tines. It was facing a closed archway in the far wall but soon swung around, revealing a large Tyranid creature ¨C not quite a Hive Tyrant, but something else, more regal and imposing. It sat leisurely like a ruler would. "Well well well, I have guests.", it spoke in fluent mid gothic, its coarse voice a loud rumbling wheeze matching the terrifying visage. Then it drew to its full height and strode into the centre of the chamber with a slight sway to its hips. It was very clearly a large and deadly Tyranid, but also nearly human in build ¨C oozing an unsettlingly abnormal normal aura. Coming to a halt it stood and grinned at them. For a moment it almost looked like a genuine smile. Yava collapsed, clutching her Aquila and mumbling prayers. The abhuman seemed very confused and froze in place, its goat mouth agape. Urzal was preparing for combat, immediately running multiple attack scenarios in his mind, some ending with him plunging his combat knife into the base of the skull of the abomination. "Ah, where are my manners? I''m Jinglypuff ¨C Jinglypuff the fairy!", the Tyranid monster continued spreading its arms a bit in an uncanny human gesture. "Emperors light, protect me!", Urzal declared before drawing his combat knife to rush the enemy. It had left itself open and didn''t appear to have any weapons. He crossed the distance in a moment, drawing a swift and deadly arc with the sword-like knife. However, the next moment a bone sword appeared out of thin air to block the knife. "Hah, you want to fence?", the monster mused as it joined in a frenetic dance with him around the chamber. Urzal had fought Tyranids in close combat before, and this was nothing like it. The abhuman seemed ready to jump in but became discouraged after seeing the exchange escalate. "Isn''t this the traditional greeting of the Death Elves? I''ll have to say that you''re not nearly as good ¨C no offence.", the thing continued, looking a bit disappointed. Filtering out the absurdity of the situation, Urzal blessed his luck for being given some momentary distance. He primed the grenade with a short fuse and threw it. The Tyranid simply waved it out of existence with a gesture, then put its hands on its hips. "Throwing potions? Ok, that''s enough of this. I''ll take the blade too before you cause an injury, good sir knight." The Tyranid made another gesture, and his combat knife appeared in its hand. Urzal finally froze too. "Mid-tier work at best as far an un-enchanted blades go. Why don''t you use blue mythril?", it asked, inspecting the chipped edge with what might have been a frown. The Tyranid then paced back to its throne and sunk into it. "Anyways, is this going to be a one-sided conversation? I''ve already introduced myself ¨C I''m Jinglypuff the fairy. And you are...?", it lingered. "I do not speak to demonic xenos filth.", Urzal retorted. "Hah! But you just did.", the Tyranid chuckled leaning forward making some sort of finger gesture. Then it suddenly grew contemplative, as if realizing something. "Oh, hold up, I know why you''re all so flummoxed. Uh, these things-", it pointed to itself, "...normally likes to attack and eat people, right? Right. I can sort of feel it in my bones, but don''t worry, I''m not a bad monster...", it claimed, but then it added a slurping sound which seemed to negate its claim. "You''re- You''re not a Tyranid?", the guardswoman asked after some pause. Urzal thought about shutting her up but wanted to hear the answer as well. "Tyranid? I''ve already told you, I''m a fairy. Was that not enough of a clue? Fairies can shapeshift, though I have not yet tried it using the spell with this body, and humans are difficult and exhausting to do. Anyways, this ship was dead and I merely seized it." "So, you don''t eat people?", the guardswoman prodded, showing signs of relief. "Oh no. Wait- I think I did technically just eat some people.", it said, rubbing its temples looking vexed, "But they were already dead and I didn''t kill them, so does it count? It doesn''t count, right? Can we focus instead on who killed those people? Because that wasn''t me ¨C I just got here!" Just as Urzal was about to speak up, the monster suddenly clapped its hands together with a thump. "Goodness ¨C I think my babies just hatched!" ¨Co¨C Jinglypuff used the ship''s sensors to inspect the twelve creatures hatching in the magically accelerated brood chambers. Her first minions were ready. What did the knight call this race? Tyranids? Doesn''t that make her creations... Fairids? The twelve Fairids didn''t have any of her powers of course, but they were still an improved version of the Tyranids. Jinglypuff had made sure to isolate their minds from the greater hive. They''re operating on their own secure channel, as the Gnomes would boast when prattling on about their mechanical golems. The three guests were speculating in hushed voices, with the goatman insisting that the monster had been stalling for time so it could hatch more monsters. It didn''t seem too bright. The large knight was sure a fairy must be kind of daemonic entity from "the warp", whatever that was. He gave the impression of someone deeply entrenched in a rigid belief system. Played it dirty with that potion too. He might be a leader but seems more like a bad influence. The peasant soldier woman clearly didn''t dare to have an opinion in face of the knight. She had done the whole chair spin reveal instead of using the camouflage system to just appear. Wasn''t it more dramatic? The chair and decoration was a bit of a rush job, and her spiel had quickly been derailed by the dullards. Perhaps there wasn''t any way to convince these numpties that she wasn''t dangerous. She wanted to pump them on information about this reality, preferably without using the Mind Read or Compulsion spell as that was considered very rude and could also have side effects if brains here were somehow weird. Finally she did the less rude thing and put them back in their separate holding cells using a transport sphincter. They''d have to sit and mull things over. Perhaps they''ll come around eventually? More pressingly, she had used up nearly 5% of her mana and it was hardly regenerating much at all. That could be a problem. This reality was truly low-tier. Perhaps there was a greater concentration of mana somewhere? She got to work improving the ship''s sensors so that they became an extension of her own, but couldn''t sense much mana this way either. The propulsion system of this ship didn''t seem capable of teleportation of any kind. Perhaps a different type of ship acted as a tug? After half an hour of tinkering around she made a discovery. Similarly to how her own body worked, the ship had some latent abilities buried in its growth code. She could find two features related to space traversal, none of them currently pronounced in the current ship configuration. The first method was similar to spacial compression. Jinglypuff remembered a young wizard who had experimented with the method once. His spell fizzled and literally compressed the matter between the source and target destination, which was bad. Jinglypuff had to clean up the mess and terraform an area the size of a small country to make it habitable again. The second method was buried pretty deep in the growth code. Apparently there is a separate dimensional plane of some sort which can be used to shorten travel distances. Not as good as teleportation, but still practical and cheap... so why weren''t the Tyranids using it? Jinglypuff decided to reclaim the weapons of the ship and use the biomatter to grow the extraplanar drive. She spent another few percent of her mana to carefully accelerate the process, but it still took a full hour as it was unfamiliar territory for her and sensitive work. ¨Co¨C On the Deamon World of Kathalon, the Bloodthirster of Khorne and Tzeentchian Lord of Change halted in their slaughter and looked up at the sky. Something was pinching the warp, siphoning it. Almost simultaneously they both saw the opportunity and seized it, taking off rapidly towards the opening. ¨Co¨C Wow, this works really well, Jinglypuff thought to herself. There''s a lot more mana over there. After activating the drive without moving she had used the sensors to probe the extraplanar region. It was kind of like a big mana battery. She didn''t need to actually use the drive, instead she could just tap into the mana battery to fuel her teleportation spell when she needed to move the ship. Didn''t something just get caught in the filter she installed though? She had heard two slushy sounds, one after another. Using a mana filter is just common sense in case there are impurities. Looking at the filter sensor, yeah, there''s definitely a bunch of goo in there ¨C gross. She used a Cleanse spell on it. Anyways, her mana pool was topped back up. Nice, now she could play around with the planet. If she cleaned up the mess there maybe the locals would come around and see how great she is? Unfortunately the atmosphere was completely toast. Who would go and cause such a mess? It''d take a full week to fix just the basics for sure. She had better get to work. CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 2 As the days passed the cell holding Yava changed and became a bit more accommodating. The air was quite fresh so she didn''t need the mask. She was even served meals of some kind of fruit ¨C real actual fruit! Where did this fairy monster get such exotic food stuffs from? She remembered the time when her regiment had come across a half rotten apple in the ruins of some noble''s edifice. They had split it and drawn sticks. She had won a thin slice. The taste was quite interesting but a far cry from these fairy fruits which were all delicious. On the fourth morning something even more strange happened ¨C Yava woke up feeling very clean. Her clothes and equipment were clean too. After taking out a small hand mirror, now pristine and shiny, she could see that the nasty scar across her nose bridge was gone without a trace. When did that happen? When they boarded the bioship and the hand wound disappeared? It''s the fifth day. If the fairy intended her harm, wouldn''t she have been either eaten or interrogated by now? Emperor knows what''s going on. Sixth day. The ship still doesn''t appear to have moved. The dampeners and gravity units on Imperial ships have a distinct feel to them. One can sort of tell when the ship is moving. Maybe bioships are different? Seventh day, give or take. She got a tasty biscuit as an after dinner snack. It was shaped like a cute animal she had never seen before. Yava''s last corpse starch ration packet was still left untouched. ¨Co¨C The ship didn''t have any sort of logbook that she could find, but it did have a very handy library of things the Tyranids had eaten. By using this library Jinglypuff was able to recreate some plants and basic life using the now enhanced brood chamber. Restoring the planetary biosphere required some heavy lifting. Fortunately, terraforming is coarse control magic, which is much cheaper. It doesn''t really matter if rock, gas or liquids gets jumbled a bit. Living bodies ¨C brains especially ¨C are a lot more sensitive to disruption. It''s simple to turn a man into sludge, unlike the other way around. So, for the atmosphere she had just gently teleported slices of a few water-ice space rocks onto the surface. After some home heat redistribution, elemental magic and tectonic nudging she managed to produce a sort of stable surface which should be farmable. It used a bit of mana, but the mana battery proved really handy. Six more things got stuck in the filter, so she installed an auto-cast scrubber. Down on the planet one of her specialised Fairids is busy farming moss and reproducing. Moss spores spread aggressively in the absence of other life and are good for preparing the soil. Give it a few years of reproduction and the local, uh, Farmids can move to using other stuff from the local seed vault and brood chamber. If the Tyranids had sense for responsible farming they could''ve done something like this all along rather than just eating everything, but perhaps they have another goal in mind. All in all, not her best work, but she did it all in six days. On the seventh she successfully baked some cookies from a wheat-like tree she found in the library and grew in the new arboretum next to the brood chambers. What kind of impression the planetary restoration would leave on her guests was hard to say. She had a sneaking suspicion the humans had caused the mess to begin with, unless it was these Tyranids, a joint effort, or something entirely different. To be honest, from an orbital point of view it mostly just looks like the planet isn''t smouldering anymore and got a few new oceans. Also, she''d have to show the planet using a Teleview spell since the ship didn''t have windows or ports. However, they''d probably just believe she was creating illusions. She grew hesitant. Perhaps they''ll like the cookies more? Winning them over with cookies was her plan-B. The cookies had turned out pretty decent. Only the peasant soldier woman touched the cookies. The big knight didn''t touch any of the food Jinglypuff had arranged and instead spent most of his time mumbling prayers to this Emperor figure, likely fortifying his position. The goatman eventually ate the fruits with some reluctance. Does it actually prefer meat? Aren''t goatmen herbivores? Could she perhaps grow meat by making a mindless meat creature? Jinglypuff was interrupted in her thoughts by a sensor alarm. The ship had spotted an alien vessel approaching the planet, but at some weeks distance given their current speed. Did they use extraplanar travel appear out of nowhere? She doubted they could use teleportation, otherwise they wouldn''t be puttering over here so slowly. An hour later the ship picked up an unintelligible signal from the alien vessel, likely for communication or notice. Possibly they''re trying to reach the planet, or the human ship that''s been limping away for a week? If the newcomers are using something like, say, gnomish technology and message encoding, then interfacing with this organism ship might indeed be difficult. Jinglypuff tried to respond using the most basic telecommunication request spell, but an hour passed without response. The alien ship just kept repeating their signal. Would a two-way teleview spell freak them out? Possibly ¨C there doesn''t appear to be any potent magic users in this reality. Thinking about it, isn''t there a mechanical boarding pod still lodged into the side of the ship? It might have a compatible communication gadget. ¨Co¨C Aboard the bridge of the two kilometres long Shrike-class Raider a short plump man wearing a regal but perhaps overly embellished jacket suddenly halted in his back and forth pacing. "Uh- still no response on any of the standard vox channels, Lord-Captain Antonius.", a woman seated at a communication console quickly responded after catching an inquiring look from the Rogue Trader captain. "...the Augur can sense some debris orbiting Luctatio II, but at this distance...", the Master of Etherics trailed off, her voice uncertain. The Lord-Captain frowned. "Signs of a battle?" "I... cannot say." He shifted his questioning gaze to the Magnocular operator who had just returned to the bridge in haste, rolling out a parchment on a table and looking puzzled. "Lord-Captain, the magnocular view does not fit the map in our archive. The world should not have oceans of this size." "A clerical error? If so, we need to update ours and submit a copy to the Imperial archives. Ready the cartographers." "But Lord, I''ve- I''ve visited the world before. It does not match what I saw then either." The Lord-Captain''s frown deepened. "Nevertheless." "Very well, it shall be so.", the Magnocular operator bowed out. Tapping his chin a few times, the Lord-Captain spun to look up at the first officer at his flank, who was a fair bit taller despite being of a normal stature. "And what''s the status of our Choir-Master Telepathica?" "He''s still out. We... still don''t know what happened.", the first officer hesitated. "Psychic attack? What of the reports of a hive fleet in this sector?" Just then, the Master of Etherics'' auspex console droned. "Incoming communication!", the Master of Etherics eagerly interrupted having suddenly twisted in her seat to face the Lord-Captain, one hand steadying an vox shell over one ear. The whole bridge grew quiet except for the ambient rumbles and whirrs of cogitators and servitors. The Master of Etherics'' face increasingly betrayed discomfort as she focused on listening. "Well?", asked the Lord Captain, having sensed that the message had concluded. "The signal is two orbits weakened, perhaps also coming from smaller vessel.", she replied while taking a moment to adjust the vox amplifier and filter levers. "Repeating now on chamber vox.", she concluded worriedly and twisted a relay handle with a clunk. A coarse monstrous voice rose over the background crackle and filled the bridge with ominous presence. "Good tidings, unknown space vessel Ventrix Profundis. Jinglypuff the fairy bids thee welcome to the broken world which she restored, but she warns against further attempts at world vanquishing. Now ready thineself. Jinglypuff the fairy will momentarily teleport the Ventrix Profundis directly into orbit to shorten communication delays." As the recording ended with a click and before anyone could comment, a panorama of Luctatio II filled the viewport. ¨Co¨C Now wasn''t that all prim and proper, clear and concise? Yeah, she was happy with her reply. The constant signals she had been getting turned out being some sort of standard notice of arrival sent by a trader ship called the Ventrix Profundis, likely of human origin. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Knowing how spooked they get around these Tyranids she had cast the super cheap spell Black Square and hid the Tyranid ship behind it. Unfortunately Black Square would also block the voice transmission apparatus of the boarding pod, so she had to dislodge it and now sat crouched inside, adrift next to the larger derelict human vessel. A gnome would have a field day here, probably finding faults and treasure with equal glee. "What''s this it''s so poorly made, I must have it!" Jinglypuff herself wasn''t that good with mechanical stuff but had figured it out the talky box eventually. It took quite some time before the new ship sent a message. Had they been admiring her terraforming work? "Uhurm, this- this is Rogue Trader Antonius of the Ventrix Profundis, attempting communication with- uh, Yingel Pauf, wishing to receive a report on the situation here... and an explanation of the voidship teleportation phenomenon." She grew a little impatient at that. "This is Jinglypuff", she enunciated, "Jinglypuff the fairy. I don''t know what happened but I think there was a big fight. Sorry." There was a minute of silence. "Everyone died but I fixed things up a bit-", she added, but ended up talking over the incoming message. "Well then, Jinglypuff the fairy, what can-" There was another moment of silence. "What can you tell us about... Are you in possession of a Spatial Archeotech device?" "A what now? Is this about the Teleportation spell? That''s just magic. Anyways, do you have any basic tomes about the world, people and everything?" She figured it''d be easier to read a book rather than trying to wrangle information out of the obstinate locals. More silence. "We do have something. May I perhaps propose... a trade?" Finally getting somewhere, she thought. "We''re interested in Archeotech.", the man continued. Drat. "Sorry I don''t deal in gnomic goods, if that''s what that is." She pondered. What could she trade? Weapon and amulet enchantments might be doable if she could find mana cores or substitutes, something like a spirit. She probably shouldn''t attempt to trade any of the Tyranid stuff. "How about a nice enchanted sword, just to open up negotiations?", she wagered, then hastily added, "I also have some fruit and cookies!" "Very well Jinglypuff the Fairy, why don''t we start with that.", he responded. After ending the conversation she hurried back to her ship. ¨Co¨C "Alright, just give me what you have so far.", the Lord-Captain requested, eyes sweeping the planet below. The first officer had gathered as much information as he could. The ship had gotten very busy. "The planet is showing signs of recent terraforming, perhaps some time in the last few centuries or so. However, while the Ventrix Profundis has never visited this system, several of the crew claim with certainty to have visited it the recent past, and it''s marked as a minor Sentinel World on all of our maps. It should by all evidence but our very eyes have a population of six billion... but it does not." He continued. "The debris field is very recent. Weeks at most. The Master of Etherics has spotted Tyranid remnants ¨C all lifeless thank the Emperor. The Imperial Cruiser might have been the Yarrexon." The Lord-Captain took notice. "Salvage rights...?" "Achievable... well, there''s the- the complication, and also another Imperial voidship in the system, a frigate, but possibly a derelict as it''s not responding to transmissions." "What of the log scribes? What do we know about the teleportation?" "Nothing I''m afraid. It was instantaneous with no emissions. Our speed was even adjusted of orbital purposes. The Master Helmsman was fortunately quick to quiet the engine spirits, preventing disaster." "Vox Analytica?" "The- uh, the fairy voice is not that of an Ork, Eldar, Squat, Tau or any common xenos, but it probably belongs to a large creature called a fairy, rather than a- a daemon.", the first officer shuddered and paused to put a hand on his Aquila, "None of the crew has experienced the... symptoms usually associated with such encounters. In fact, our journey here was unusually quiet despite the issue with the Gellar Field." "Can we trust it?" "Our High Factotum, well, you know how she is. Yes, she wants to risk it, if this trade goes well." "Do we actually have any- any tomes to trade? The fairy wanted books about the world, right?" "It appears so. We could be dealing with a maverick from an isolationist, hidden xenos culture." Just then an old silver-haired woman appeared, her sharp eyes gleaming with opportunity, the rest of her face obscured by the stack of books and documents she was carrying. "Ah! Speak of the High Factotum, and she appears!", the first officer joked but quickly had to move aside when the woman moved in to dump her load on the ceramite tactics table. "None of these are sensitive,", she spoke briskly, "but possibly of interest to someone lacking basic knowledge. I suggest we start with-" She was interrupted by the disappearance of the goods. Moments later a cookie and fruit baskets appeared in their place, as well as an elegant shimmering sword. The High Factotum stood blinking in confusion. Everyone had backed away from the table. Eventually the first officer approached and prodded one of the baskets with the muzzle of his sidearm. "It... looks like it is what it is, Antonius." The rest approached as well. "Get a cup-bearer in here.", the High Factotum turned and ordered. Soon a young woman appeared. After a nod from the High Factotum she picked up a cookie, rubbed it against her skin, then touched it to her lips. Soon she bit into it, chewed tentatively, and finally swallowed. "Well?", the Lord-Captain inquired. "It''s... it''s a very good biscuit.", she replied, "Sweet. I can''t tell what the ingredients are. Perhaps... wheat, sugars, nuts, herbs, and fruit extracts. Expensive stuff." The atmosphere lightened a bit. The first officer reached for the sword, his hand hovering over the handle for a good ten seconds before grasping it. It felt nimble but deadly, with a slight hum to it. He became the center of attention on the bridge as the sword began to emit a gentle glow. Even with the lightest of touch, it sunk right through a thick candle, and also the skull holding it, then into and through the ceramite table. "...as if air.", he marveled. "Don''t drop it, it''ll go right though the ship down to the grav-plating!", the Lord-Captain warned in a slight panic. ¨Co¨C Jinglypuff hoped they weren''t too displeased by the enchanted sword ¨C it really wasn''t anything special. She had formed it from the knight''s confiscated blade using the basic Shape spell. There might actually be better materials out there in the debris field if she could be bothered to take a look. She had to resort to imprisoning a spirit to power and direct the enchantment. As things turned out the impurities getting caught in the mana battery filter were actually evil spirits of a few varieties. When she peeked into the extraplanar region and took a closer look, a red spirit with wings soon came drawn like a moth to a flame. It needed some processing before it could be used, then she locked it in a compulsion matrix and set up the binding with the sword. It now keeps the sword neat and sharp. The glow effect she added just for show. It''s not very practical - what if you''re trying to sneak in the dark? The books were just regular books and not perception enchanted tomes. Still, they looked... alright. One was about mushrooms though. Or was it mushroom people? She still didn''t really care about mushrooms. Or the two books with peculiar litanies and some form of human-centric propaganda which didn''t seem at all trustworthy. Holy Terra had depictions of what''s probably the crown-world of the humans. Despite rich embroideries the whole place looked awful and apparently didn''t have any forests, glades and ponds. Xenobasica covered wildlife on a few select worlds, but also showed pictures of elves and dwarfs, some blue guys, and they were supposedly locked in some self-perpetual war. The Boy Who Became a Servitor was a spooky short story meant to keep misbehaving young noble children in line. A few of the corpses she had used to grow the twelve Fairids had looked like these servitors in the story, so apparently it was a real thing here. She had also spied into the Ventrix Profundis with a Teleview spell and saw a lot of those servitors and other miserable people. In conclusion, this reality was kind of awful but at least they hadn''t built the Torment Nexus. She shuddered thinking about -that- place. Unfortunately none of the books covered the extraplanar region and its use as a mana battery. Seems like a pretty important detail to skip. Was it perhaps very hush-hush? Should she ask the people on the Ventrix Profundis about it? Maybe not. At any rate, it seemed like enchantments were a go now. Couldn''t she make something nicer this time? She had definitely spotted a few larger structures in there she could use to make a more powerful enchantment. She had seen a little baby floating around, too. That was weird. It really didn''t seem like a safe place for babies but what does she know? People here are a little wrong in the head. She''d probably get nothing out of her guests since they had seen her. Dropping them off on the Ventrix Profundis might be the best thing at this point, but she''d have to put them asleep or they''ll blab. Also, the big knight in the holding cell seemed like he was about to bully the peasant soldier woman a few times. Did she need to separate them? Jinglypuff decided to make the woman a protective charm and thought about that bird necklace the woman was often clutching. Since the woman was currently dozed off, Jinglypuff borrowed the necklace and made a copy out of some more suitable harder metals she teleported in from the debris field. Regrettably, Blue Mythril might be rare or nonexistent here. She''d have to compensate by using a stronger evil spirit as a base. She used the ship to make an opening into the extraplanar region again and took a real good look. There! There''s something! It has a spiritually coherent root structure. Isn''t it slightly feminine too? Perfect for the woman''s necklace. Girls watch out for girls, right? Jinglypuff sent out a mana tendril, latched onto a sturdy part of its root structure. Then she pulled, and she pulled, and she pulled. It was hard work. She had to siphon a lot of mana from the mana battery to keep going, but she was careful not to touch the baby. The thing wailed something fierce the more she pulled. The extraplanar region was shuddering slightly. Soon she got a message from the system, which had been awfully quiet up until now. "System warns that you''re being too disruptive." What? She can''t make a necklace of this thing? Isn''t it the System''s fault that she''s here in the first place? Reluctantly she let go and the structure fell back, retracting in on itself protectively. "System also warns against touching the baby." "I didn''t touch the baby!" "System advises that spirit can maybe just withdraw to a nice place and relax for a decade, not upsetting the locals." "Fine, but I''ll still need a mana source." "System has put together a compensation package." A crate with high grade mana cores appeared, then other one with Blue Mythril. "Deal!" ¨Co¨C Somewhere in an unknown sector of Imperial space an unwitting explorer can find a Forbidden Garden World. Its name in records reads as Jinglypuff''s Glade. Attempt no landings there, lest the Fairids get you. ¨C extract from Mysteries of Space by Rogue Trader Antonius the Second, final revision. CHAPTER 3 - Art Intermission Art Intermission. Character Illustrations by Arne / AndroidArts, 2023. Comments Yava the guardswoman: At first I imagined her in the green and sandy Cadian uniform that''s so commonly seen nowadays, but then I veered and instead went for the oldhammer IG uniform, with a matching lasrifle. The colours however were adapted towards the Cadian colour scheme since I didn''t feel like changing the story''s description. Urzal the Space Marine: I like the Dark Angels Deathwing white, but nowadays one has to move to the successor chapter Angels of Absolution if wanting to use white armour on the regular Space Marines. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Whatshisname the beastman: In my headcanon beastmen are still somewhat common in IG ¨C along with Squats of course. I always imagine beastmen with a red shield because that''s what the 6mm EPIC figures had, though Chaos affiliated. This guy didn''t bring his though. Jinglypuff (or one of the Fairids): Design matching the cover. I threw in a side sketch here more for scale. Jinglypuff''s host base form might have been a mix of the current Tyranid Warrior (see ribcage and head plate) and a second edition style smaller Hive Tyrant. She discarded much of the bulk. An oversized character won''t be able to fit into various environments and vehicles, which could hinder the story. The Farmagants are a new specialized type hatching down on the restored planet. CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 4 The strange disruption left the Slaaneshi forces paralysed and zapped of their strength. Had it not been for the bewildering loss of several powerful Bloodthirsters, Khorne could have dealt a more severe blow to the goddess of temptations. As things were several of her domains still fell into the Blood God''s grasp when Slaanesh withdrew in panic to consolidate and replenish her abraded powers. ¨Co¨C Jinglypuff slouched in the reception chamber''s chair, then set it spinning again with a casual kick. Fifteen minutes had passed since the System''s warning. She came to a gradual halt and scowled at the crates she had received from the System. Hadn''t she been tricked? These crates were from one of her old warehouses back home. Sure, the materials were nice to have now, but she had expected an actual gift. The longer she looked at the crates, the more reluctant she grew to spend her stuff willy-nilly in a reality she''d likely ditch in a mere decade. Since the System managed to bring the stuff here it could bring it back too, she reasoned. Jinglypuff drew up from the slouch, closed her eyes and focused on her magical holding space. Within it squirmed remnants of the spiritual root structure which had failed to retract back into the extraplanar region. Although it was roughly only 1% of the entire structure, it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Really, if holding onto the residue and maybe using for the necklace was an issue, wouldn''t the System have complained by now? She dangled her legs. Yeah, fifteen minutes of silence basically meant consent, she wagered. Since she had only managed to grab so little of it the situation was now the opposite of before. Using the substandard local metals for a containment vessel was no longer viable if she wanted to do a proper job. She''d have to compensate by using a sliver of her Blue Mythril to make the necklace. The sword had been pretty sloppy work and it irked her. After shaping another copy of the bird necklace she set up an appropriate compulsion matrix for the spirit structure. She wanted the protective charm to do a bit of each. First she configured it to do both passive and active healing and cleansing, then she followed up with some aura effects, namely Mind Shield and Bugger Off. Luck and Bounce are pretty much standard on these type of charms too. Luck uses minimal manipulations to steer trouble away, though at the cost of user autonomy according to some magic scholars and philosophers. Bounce can teleport a person to a safe area in moments of distress, though sometimes it''s a bit overly cautious and an annoyance. As for offensive powers, Jinglypuff added one of her favourite powers ¨C Head Pinch. While not easy to use, it''s very discreet compared to spectacle magic, especially so for an invisible fairy. One has but to line up and slowly pinch the target''s head between one''s fingers. It''s the most effective on slow moving dignitary targets at range of say... about that of a castle''s ballroom. Having finished the protective charm she issued some final commands to the Fairid down on the planet and wrapped up a few loose ends. It was time to move out and explore elsewhere. According to the books there were a few interesting things around here she could poke and prod. Now when she thought about it, in her social circles back home a well researched tome about another reality was worth quite a bit of cred. Fifty years ago old Nailhead had put on quite the show at the Grand Sage meeting with his report "The Realm of the Torment Nexus". The Dragon King had flaunted his newest work "Looking Elsewhere for Gold". Jinglypuff herself only had her short and speculative flatlander piece. It had been embarrassing. ¨Co¨C The drop pod shook and whined. Yava was strapped into one of the ten shock seats encircling its core. She wasn''t wearing any pants ¨C and neither was Tommak in the next seat over. He was always such a prankster, but wasn''t he dead? No, he was obviously right there. The drop pod opened. She hadn''t even noticed when it landed. Everyone inside just ran off across the smouldering barren surface of the world. Huh? Who else had made the drop with her? She wanted to run and find them but her malfunctioning seat trapped her. By the time she got loose the surrounding terrain had changed. She was in a lush garden. Women partly shaped like crabs climbed out of the earth. One of them picked a delicious fruit from a strange tree and offered it up. The others moved in an alluring dance, performing for no one in particular. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As Yava bit into the juicy fruit with gusto, a carriage drawn by pale yellow seahorses arrived in a clearing ahead. The carriage looked like a fruit but soon revealed itself to be something similar to a drop pod by the way it fell into in slices. Holy light came beaming out, then a shining baby with far too long black hair rose up into the air. It was the Emperor himself! The baby Emperor laughed and smiled at her as it continued to rise, creating a curtain of its trailing long black hair. Suddenly she was in a partly bombed out theatre looking at a black curtain. Next to her the crab women were all seated and looking rather serious. When was the show starting? Where did the Emperor disappear to? Yava felt that she had missed an important opportunity. Just then the curtains split a bit and a Tyranid head peeked out. It stuck out its tongue at her, eyes twinkling with mischief. Right, this wasn''t the dangerous type of Tyranid. Wait- what? Not dangerous? Is that even a thing? It withdrew back and the black curtains remained shut. When was the show starting? This was taking forever. ¨Co¨C Yava woke up surrounded by familiar smells, sounds, and sights. The air was dank and oily. Low creaks and periodical thumps rumbled through the surrounding bulkheads. Every surface was covered in multiple layers of drab olive paint, with corrosion winning the battle. She was in the austere crew quarters of an Imperial ship. Next to her bunk stood a servitor ¨C perhaps once a woman ¨C its actuators periodically whirring to keep it upright. Seeing her awake it chattered something in binary and promptly exited quarters, one mechanical peg-leg clunking against the deck. An armed guard then peeked inside as if to confirm something before quickly and wordlessly disappearing out of view, apparently triggering the door governor to trap her. She was alone. That had been such a long dream. How long had she been asleep for? It might be a while before she could sort her head out given the jumbled mess of surreal events... dreams or not. Somehow she felt really good though. ¨Co¨C The Lord-Captain Antonius sat stooped over an ancient burrwood desk in his personal quarters on board the Ventrix Profundis. Parchments littered its surface. Most pertained to salvage rights. In case of contention having variants already prepared for each type of scenario was standard caution. Progress had been slow with all the debris and unusual circumstances so the Ventrix Profundis still lazily orbited Luctatio II. In the past four months the world had somehow gotten greener and Antonius was expecting to see the survey team''s full report any day now. The fairy had seemed protective of the world, and given the powers it had demonstrated he didn''t dare to be too intrusive. He was sure an inquisitor would have been though. Fortunately there were none aboard for this trip ¨C he had seen to it. Aside from the debris and wreck of the cruiser Yarrexon, Antonius had likely gotten at least partial salvage rights on the stray frigate Malorant as well. After a failed boarding attempt of a Tyranid synapse bioship the frigate withdrew from the area, but then its damaged engines gave out and the machine spirit of the enginearium quieted. The voidship''s Master of Whispers, Confessors and Stewards just about managed to suppress a violent riot as life support rations dwindled. Only 8000 crew out of the 24000 standard compliment remained after the entire ordeal. The servitors, slaves and basic enlisted were of course all entirely ignorant of recent events, and the main bridge had been lost along with its high ranking officers, scribes and logs. However, according to a few surviving low ranking officers the voidship had engaged a Tyranid fleet along with the cruiser Yarrexon. Troops had been dropped planetside to reinforce local Imperial Guard forces being overrun by Tyranids. Luctatio II was soon deemed a lost cause and the Malorant deployed its Cyclonic Torpedoes. Had they failed, or did the torpedoes in fact carry a different payload? The planet was certainly barren but it didn''t looked devastated and there were no traces of ruins or even a battle. The fairy had mentioned something about restoring a broken world, but in spite of evidence that didn''t seem achievable ¨C terraforming is a process which takes millennia. As for the Fairy... well, it had abruptly disappeared soon after the initial trade. According to cogitator analysis run by the Master of the Vox, the communication had come from a smaller Imperial ship hidden in the debris field, perhaps a lander of some sort, though none could be found in the vicinity. Then there was the report of the three stowaways which were found aboard the Ventrix Profundis a few months back. A strange unresponsive state of hibernation hindered interrogation. Remarkably one of them was a Space Marine. This made Antonius wary. Hopefully it would remain indisposed and not cause trouble. The holy sword was now locked in the ship''s vault. As to its origins, perhaps they would have to modify the truth a bit. Getting it in trade for a few books... too mundane and unbelievable. It was most unfortunate that the fairy had not returned. The chance to resume trade with it was partly the reason why Antonius had risked lingering for so long in an area with Tyranid activity. Suddenly a cabin boy knocked and entered unprompted. "What it is now Charios?", the Lord-Captain asked absentmindedly, at first not looking up. "Lord-Captain, two of them are awake!"