AfterlightBulky power transformers, cogitators, crates, and vox-casters took up most of the space. Against their background, the structure in the centre stood out oddly: an enormous lens mounted on a stand. It caught the thin sunbeams that made their way through slits in the ceiling and crossed the half-lit room.
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Entry point 2 of 13
AfterlightSector: Koronus Expanse Region: Rykad System Location: Streets in the vicinity of the Rykad Minoris starport Material: Report based on oral accounts and pict-recordings. Added to the archives of House von Valancius by the order of Seneschal Werserian.
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Entry point 3 of 13
AfterlightOn his/er journey across a world caught in the throes of a heretical insurgency, the Lord Captain accidentally witnessed an unholy rite that transpired in one of the maintenance rooms of an aqueduct. This abandoned nook turned out to be a heretics' gathering place for performing their grim and profane acts. The large group of rebels stood frozen in patient anticipation, all staring into the centre of the room. No one moved. Only the murmur of hushed voices echoed against the metal walls.
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Entry point 4 of 13
AfterlightAlthough barely visible behind the closed ranks of the insurgents, the rusted barrels with evidently flammable contents, had not escaped the Lord Captain's keen eye. One good shot at those barrels would decimate the number of heretics on Rykad Minoris.
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Entry point 5 of 13
AfterlightA sound of bare feet broke the sinister silence as a man emerged from the deep shadows. Reeling, he entered the circle and collapsed on his knees in front of the enormous lens. Not a second had passed before many rebel hands gripped the fallen man's shoulders and hair.
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Entry point 6 of 13
Afterlight"Remember, comrade! The last sunray you behold will be yours only, shared with no one else — your holy Final Dawn!" bellowed a lone heretic's voice amid the silent crowd. By the doing of someone's hands, the lens had turned, and its focused ray feasted on the prisoner's eyes!
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Entry point 7 of 13
AfterlightThe blinded man's harrowing scream shook the very walls of the place. Consumed by the rite, the rebels had not yet noticed the stranger in their midst. The Lord Captain braced him/erself and...
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Entry point 8 of 13
AfterlightThe rebels were unremarkable in appearance: they were dressed in the shabby clothes of abject rabble, spoke in coarse voices, and had repulsive faces. But what caught the Lord Captain's attention was the look of strange, almost sinister anticipation in their eyes. This was no gathering of loud blasphemers or bored idlers. Only occasionally would they exchange brief, unintelligible remarks. As they stood in a frozen circle, their gazes turned toward the hulking structure in the centre of the room.
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Entry point 9 of 13
AfterlightThe enormous mounted lens was doubtlessly imbued with the power of the Archenemy, inimical to all that is noble and virtuous in the universe. Anyone caught in the corrupted light it emits will face horrifying consequences.
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Entry point 10 of 13
AfterlightThe abominable outline of a device so antithetical to the light of the God-Emperor dispelled all doubt that the intended use of the lens would be thoroughly repugnant and offensive to the soul of a true servant of His.
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Entry point 11 of 13
Afterlight...suddenly faltered, as if something had stopped him/her. Dark shadows danced in the Lord Captain's glazed eyes — ghosts of the past that had risen at the sight of the warp atrocity and shackled the Rogue Trader's will. Breathing heavily, the Lord Captain...
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Entry point 12 of 13
AfterlightAlas, it was all but impossible to glean anything of note, let alone of use, through the huddled shapes of the heretics.
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Entry point 13 of 13
AfterlightAs if commanded by a grim unseen force, the insurgents fell silent at once and, in a single movement, parted. A thick, sticky silence filled the room. The heretics' gazes were turned toward a metal structure with a lens on top of it, standing tall in the middle of a circle of melting candles, piles of books, and unholy symbols drawn on the floor. The structure flashed as a single sunray illuminated it.