The warm blanket of oblivion enveloped him for sometime before he saw it. A distant glow of light to which he felt himself irresistibly drawn. As he got closer he could see what looked to be a large comfortable dome, spacious and airy. It did not have the hard corners and bleak surfaces of Hive City. It looked exactly like how he imagined the Spire to be, filled with the soft glow of a natural light and actually foliage. Then individual faces became recognizable, a few faces from the Union Houses of House Van Saar – men and women he had worked with, even a brother whom he had not been all that close to. He was about to cross the threshold in to the dome when a voice from a distant memory spoke.
“Not so fast. You have more to do for me.”
Jakob spun around, turning his head frantically to finally see the voice that had driven him from his home, caused him to be hunted and eventually driven into exile, and then just when he thought he was starting a new life, to plummet into the Ash Wastes where a man drove a knife into his ribs. The that thought the pain came rushing back and he fought to breath. Instinctively he brought both of his hands to his side to hold back the blood from the wound. They were met with a warm sticky fluid. His eyes drawn to the site he looked down, but instead of a thick red fluid he saw a softly glowing blue sap dripping through his fingers.
“Emperor save me!” he cried out.
“There is no Emperor here. You do not need to search out the one I am sending to help you on your journey, he has already found you. Seek out the Skull. You will help him, and he will watch over you. Don’t forget what you have seen here.”
Jakob spun around again, more frantically this time. “Who are you?!?”
“Now go,” was the only response he got.
Immediately he began moving back the way he had come from where a blue light was now glowing. Turning around, back towards the warm glow he had first seen, he tried to run and gain the dome and the vision it held, but nothing he did gained him any ground towards what he desired most. Without pause he was launched through the blue portal. The blue light washed over him. He was weightless in a void. The light dimmed to black and the pain in his side intensified.
He began to cough uncontrollably and he thought he would drown in his own blood and bile that filled his mouth and throat. He tried but couldn’t find the strength to roll over to drain the obstructions. Something grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over away from the wounded side. The fluid in his throat caused even more coughing and vomiting but as it spewed out onto the ground and dribbled down his check into his hair and ear, he didn’t care. The fit spent he dropped his head into the self made muck. He was in too much pain and didn’t have the strength to do anything else.
A voice from over his right shoulder was speaking gently to him, but he couldn’t make out what it was saying. Shifting his weight back Jakob rolled over onto his back once more. The light was glaring. Slowly his eyes refocused.
In broken Low Gothic the voice spoke again, “You are … to be good. Be still… Râdîr,” the backlit figure said holding a hand to his chest. The face was cloaked in the deep shadow of a hood that now hung low. Looking closer Jakob could make out the outline of a canisterless nose and mouth respirator. The eyes were concealed behind a solid lens goggles that spanned from temple to temple. The hood was attached to a full length duster made of a heavy fabric, the color a close match to the angry Necromunda sky behind him. A dull grey metal pendant hung down from heavy chain around his neck. Even with his eyes fuzzy and his head ringing panic began to well up in him. “Nomad” was all he could think, and he was sure this man was going to finish him off.
He tried to cry out but found his throat still coated with acidic bile and only an unintelligible croak came forth.
“Ssh... ssh… ssh… stay still…”
His side began to get very warm and he realized the stranger was chanting now, and had put both hands over the wound. His mind raced with questions but the dark blanket descended on him before he could form the words.
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