Artellus Numeon - Sacred Soil of Nocturne: Contrary to what many within Imperium Secundus believed, Terra still stood. When the Charybdis reemerged into reality it almost immediately picked up the rallying cry issued by Rogal Dorn which was being broadcasted continuously from the Imperial Palace itself. This profoundly affected the Salamanders as they had all been led to believe that the war had already been decided. Artellus Numeon quickly grasped the implications of it; that Guilliman's faulty information had three entire Legions, all loyal sons of the Emperor, sitting idle at Macragge whilst Terra grimly awaited the inevitable assault. This put the Salamanders in an uncomfortable position: duty demanded that, even severely depleted as they were, they joined the Emperor's forces on Terra. Strategic intelligence would dictate for them to try to reach Macragge and inform the three Loyalist Legions of Terra's continued defiance -- honour demanded something else. Honour demanded them to venture on, to turn their backs on Dorn's plea, to forsake their duty to the Emperor and continue to Nocturne. With responsibilities resting solely upon his shoulders, Numeon retreated yet again to the cargohold to stand vigil over Vulkan's body. Pondering over Magnus' words, Numeon had an epiphany -- the Unbound Flame, a potent symbol in Nocturean mythology that Numeon kept seeing, was not as he had been believing a sign of doom, but a symbol of rebirth. Fire and death. Deathfire, Nocturne's sacred mountain. Strengthened by this new revelation, Numeon convened an emergency meeting with Chaplain Var'kir and instructed him of his newfound wisdom -- Vulkan could be restored if only they brought him back to Mount Deathfire and let him rejoin the Circle of Fire. With this piece of the puzzle now added, Var'kir used the Ignax's ancestral art of pyromancy and was fully convinced.A gathering of the surviving warriors of the Pyre was conducted under the twin-authority of Numeon and Var'kir on the cargo deck of the Charybdis. There they remembered the dead in accordance with the tenets of the Promethean Cult, adding coal to a burning brasero. While the coal quickly burned to ashes, Artellus Numeon addressed the gathered warriors. He told them that they had been severely depleted -- barely half of those that had set out from Macragge still lived -- but that he didn't see defeat in them. What he saw was a brotherhood renewed and united, a Legion with a new purpose -- to sail forth to Nocturne and resurrect their beloved Primarch. One by one the gathered Salamanders inscribed the Nocturnean sigil of resurrection upon their foreheads, using the still hot ashes of the burning coal. All save one -- Rek'or Xathen, the Pyroclast Sergeant. Turning to Var'kir whom he had always confessed of not believing in Numeon's faith, the Sergeant refused to indulge in this madness, claiming that their duty was to Terra and the Emperor, not the dead corpse of their father. To return to the Ruinstorm would be the death of them, he stated, believing his ally Var'kir would back him up, only to be disappointed when Chaplain Var'kir claimed he had seen a path in the flames of his solitorium. Under the pressure of his brothers, Xathen followed suit but quickly broke the circle of gathering once matters were concluded. Thus did the Salamanders decide of their fate: they would face the storm again and through faith and brotherhood reach Nocturne.The only way for the Charybdis to enter the Warp successfully was through her Navigator, however the brush with a Primarch's conscience, the terror of the daemonkin invasion, and the effort of fighting off the effects of the Ruinstorm had considerably weakened her. With their translation to Terra completed, Circe, as she was called, had fallen into an almost catatonic state. It was a mystery to no one aboard that she was most likely dying. Yet, the success of their ultimate voyage rested upon her frail shoulders, and despite the misgivings of the ship's captain and her husband, Circe consented into sacrificing herself to let them reach Nocturne. Ironically, they would now do what Kaspian Hecht, Malcador's Knight-Errant, had suggested to do in the first place -- to focus not on the light of the Astronomican or their destination, but on themselves -- a ship buoyed by hope. Thus did the Charybdis make for the system's Mandeville Point, every one on board fully understanding that this was going to be their final journey, one way or the other, and that it was going to be a journey that would take them to the gates of hell itself.The Salamanders prepared as best as they could. Every warrior was armed and armoured to defend the ship. Their main efforts would focus on holding the bridge and the generatoria, where Igen Gargo, the former black-smiter had erected defensive positions alongside what remained of Techmarine Zonn's combat servitors and engineseers. The remaining Pyroclasts had joined him there, all save for their illusive sergeant which was stalking the ship's cursives like a caged animal. Epistolary Ushamann and Chaplain Var'kir had had gathered on the bridge in company of Artellus Numeon and Sergeant Zytos. They would bear the main effort, as Var'kir would devise a path to Nocturne through his craft of pyromancy, while Ushamann would pry the information from Var'kir's mind and transmit them mentally to the Navigator, who was secured within her chambers. The bridge's security doors had been lowered and the remaining Salamanders, all at full battle-readiness, had been gathered one deck further down, ready to rush to wherever the enemy might manifest itself. Renewing their common belief that Vulkan lived, the Charybdis reentered the storm. Its ferocity was unabated and yet the Charybdis ploughed its way through the tides of the Warp. For weeks on end, the Salamanders' vessel crawled closer to its destination, the strain telling on the faces of Ushamann and Var'kir, and the nerves of the mortal crew.As they neared their destination, Numeon, who had been standing an ever-vigilant watch on the bridge, noticed that something was amiss. Gesturing to Sergeant Zytos, both of them closed on Ushamann, believing the Librarian was possibly possessed by one of the daemons of the Warp. He would have to kill the Librarian to prevent a possibly daemonic incursion through the Librarian's mortal shell. Just as Numeon was about to strike him down, he stopped, as Ushamann's head lurched back violently, as if pulled by a powerful cable, his eyes spilling cerulean light. Through gritted teeth, and a face disfigured by the telltale signs of agony, Ushamann gritted two words, "...Not... me." As if on cue, the doors to Circe's novatum opened, the seals and locks posing no hindrance to the chamber's new occupant. The frail form of the Navigator stood proudly erect in the doorframe, with a strength she had never possessed in life. Almost gliding onto the bridge, a well-known siren song accompanied her. The Salamanders aimed their weapons at once at the possessed Navigator, but could not fire, as a lone human figure stood between them and their target -- Solon Adyssian, the Charybdis’ shipmaster. Slowly he approached the Unburdened, the daemon residing in the mortal shell of his wife, which had unveiled her warp eye to kill them all. "My love," the thing beckoned to him. "You are not my love," Adyssian told the thing wearing his wife's flesh, before releasing the pin of the Krak Grenade he had been holding. The explosion shock the bridge, annihilating both the shipmaster and the possessed Navigator, throwing deadly shrapnel across the bridge, and killing one of the Salamanders guarding the entrance. Numeon had the presence of mind to shield Lieutenant Esenzi from the blast, safeguarding the Charybdis senior officer's life. Bereft of the Navigator's help, Ushamann had to take the full strain of guiding the Charybdis upon his shoulders. The powerful frame of the Epistolary quickly withered before Numeon's eyes, as the baleful power of the Warp ground at him with every passing second. Despite his inevitable fate, Ushaman smiled despite facing his imminent demise, for the Salamanders had finally reached their destination -- Nocturne.As the tumultuous red orb, Nocturne, filled the viewport, Artellus Numeon's gaze fell over the devastated bridge. Nothing remained of Epistolary Ushamann but a heap of ashes -- neither bones nor the ceramite plates of his armour remained. Chaplain Var'kir had also payed a high price for the Salamanders' success, for his eyes had been reduced to two blackened orbs. This spared him the baleful sight that now presented itself to Zytos and Numeon -- two warships emerging from the Warp -- the smaller one bearing the hell-red livery of the Word Bearers, and the other, a far more massive, resplendent in the dirty white drab colours of the Death Guard. With the heroic sacrifice of Shipmaster Adyssian, command of the Charybdis fell to Lieutenant Esenzi, whom immediately took her predecessor's soot-blackened and blood-stained seat. With natural authority, she quickly took command of her makeshift bridge crew -- most of them being retasked servitors from other segments of the Battle-Barge, and identified the approaching ships as the Reaper's Shroud and the Monarchia. By all evidence the Death Guard had caught up with the Charybdis to avenge the Necrotor. Almost as soon as they had fully translated into reality, the Reaper's Shroud launched a large number of boarding craft, most of them being Thunderhawk gunships. Facing possibly five hundred enemy legionaries, everybody aboard the Charybdis’ bridge knew that they were doomed. Together, the Traitor forces of both the Monarchia and the Reaper's Shroud formed a cordon between the Battle-Barge and its intended destination -- a last ditch effort to thwart the Salamanders' efforts to reach their homeworld. Realising that she would die no matter how the battle would swing, Lieutenant Esenzi dared to suggest what none of the Salamanders gave voice -- to sacrifice the Charybdis and every soul aboard in a desperate effort to buy Numeon enough time to convey Vulkan's corpse to Nocturne's surface. The now blind Phaestus Var'kir was determined to remain aboard and help defend the bridge to his dying breath. Acknowledging Lieutenant Esenzi's and Var'kir's final request, Numeon honoured both their sacrifices and made his way to the cargo bay. All the remaining warriors of the Pyre quickly joined Numeon, with the obvious exception of Var'kir.