The lord inquisitor quickly stood before Michael and grabbed him by his neck, slamming him into the wall.

  'If that's true, then I should just virus bomb your entire planet for thinking this heresy! Why should I waste my time with a world full of insane people?'

  Lucian's grip tightened on Michael's neck. Struggling to talk, he answered.

  'It's... not insanity... to not presume... the impossible.'

  The questioner looked into the eyes of his prisoner. Looking for any sign of lies or trickery in them. For almost a minute, he strangled the boy, making sure of this. Finally, he let go and let Mike continue. Gasping for air, the interrogated answered.

  'You have to understand... My people, we are not even close... to your technology,' he cleared his throat. 'My planet's greatest achievement in space travel at the moment is getting a person to the orbit of Mars! As it stands right now, we can barely even dream about leaving the solar system, let alone colonizing others! Even our satellites are unreliable, and most of them break down at the edge of this system. Most of us had accepted that life outside of our planet most likely exists, but we have no exact proof of that. Until this day, I did not know for sure myself! Not to mention the demons. Those were a fiction to me and all others until a lesser monster of Khorne stood before me.'

  Lord Lucian listened to Michael, trying to comprehend just how far behind this world was compared to Terra in terms of technology. Despite the apparent similarities, it did not seem as if this world would hold anything of value to him or his search. But the mention of the blood god broke his line of thought.

  'You know the names of the Dark Gods?' The lord inquisitor asked, trying to hide the contempt in his voice, so his prisoner would tell him more.

  Michael nodded.

  'Khorne, the blood god; Tzeentch, the changer of ways; Grandfather Nurgle, the plague god; and Slaanesh, she who thirsts. They are all part of the tales and stories, which I told you about. I am not sure if you call them by the same name or not, nor if my knowledge is accurate about them, though'.

  Inquisitor Lucian has unholstered his gun and pointed it right at the head of Michael Zion. Such knowledge from such a pitiful world in any other case would be the irrefutable proof of corruption, which would need to be put down quickly, before it is allowed to spread. In any other case, he would pull the trigger.

  Michael has stared at the weapon. To be honest, that was the reaction he hoped for. He knew that this knowledge was forbidden in the setting, and evidently, it was forbidden in the real world too.

  Well, at least some of the things have to be right, he thought. If I am right again, this is a plasma pistol. It will pop my head, like a balloon.

  'Go on, shoot me,' he said to his captor. 'I know my fate. I knew it the moment I saw the imperial knight on the streets. I saw demons. I fought demons. The knowledge of chaos only makes it stronger, so go on. I have nothing left to live for,' he locked eyes with the gunholder. He knew that at this moment his life could end. That his pain could finally end. He was ready to go.

  But Lucian put away his weapon and gave a little smirk.

  'Oh, you do have one thing to live for,' he said tauntingly. 'To give me answers. To help me achieve my goals and to aid the imperium through that. You will not get the end you crave until that is done.'

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Michael let his head fall forward again, not saying a word. The inquisitor continued.

  'Now then. From the report I got from Sir Ghallian—the scion of the imperial knight you saw—I see that you stared in confusion and shock to see his steed. What do you know about the steeds of the knight houses?'

  'How does this help you?'

  'Answer me!' Lord Lucian raised his hand along with his voice. The interrogated had no clue; why would this even be a question to him? He could not know more than an inquisitor and a knight scion! Not to mention that this had nothing to do with the chaos rebellion of his world, nor the planet's current situation at all! An absurd thought had occurred to him, and he could not help but chuckle.

  'You are confusing me more than the behavior of the Bloodletters.'

  His questioner looked confused.

  'What?'

  'The three demons,' he explained. 'They acted nothing like I would have imagined. They were mostly just wandering around, as if they could not find anything to do. From the tales I know, they were supposed to be these ferocious beasts, but they were more like confused old men, not finding their glasses in the morning until they noticed my presence.'

  The inquisitor rubbed his chin, lost in thought. He had never heard of a minion of Khorne acting like this before, if this was true. It could be related to...

  He shook his head and snapped back to the matters at hand. He will ask more questions about the details later, he decided.

  'It does not matter! Answer my question'!

  'Imperial Knights are bipedal warmachines, which are piloted by one of the nobles of a knightworld,' Michaels started to explain. ' Their technology has been left from the times of the Age of Innovations, originally designed there to help settlers of new planets. They were protectors and workers for the settlement, who over time became so respected among the residents that they became a nobility among them. That, combined with the throne's effects, has led these individuals to actually believe that they are the protectors and rulers by divine right of said planets. Because of the rarity of the knight suits, they are passed down from generation to generation. Because of that, and because said throne takes a sort of "copy" of each pilot, they can hear "ghosts" of their ancestors, guiding them and giving them advice. In the "modern" era of the setting, their planets are feudal societies, enduring the test of time still. Those loyal to the Imperium take part in various campaigns against the xenos and heretics of the galaxy. They make close alliances with either the imperium as a whole or with the tech priests of Mars. They are protectors of the innocent, warriors of the Emperor of Mankind, and rulers of their fiefdom'. He took a momentary pause, looking at the inquisitor's face. 'That is my knowledge of them in a nutshell.'

  Lord Inquisitor Lucian was surprised. For a good minute, he just stood in his place with shock on his face.

  'Fascinating,' he said finally. 'It seems that you know this topic well. But why would your world have such accurate knowledge on the knights of all factions'?

  Michael started to laugh again, as he realized a sad truth about this moment. About his life so far.

  'What's so funny now?' His interrogator asked.

  'Normally, people can't wait for me to shut up about this stop. And now I am being interrogated by someone who wants nothing more than to hear facts that he already knows, while all I want is for him to shut me up permanently! What a fucked-up situation is that?' Mike was not one who would curse often, but this time he could not help it. His whole life, almost no one was interested in his hobby, and now that hobby not only came to life before him, but it would not let him have his so-desired end. The irony of life did not escape him.

  'Maybe if I start talking about the Knights of Steel, will you finally end me?'

  The inquisitor looked confused. Not about his prisoners' behavior. He saw many go wild or insane before during his interrogation. Truth to be told, most wanted to die at the start of it, much like Michael and Lucian would grant that to them in mere minutes, for they confessed everything and gave every piece of information they had by that time. And yet in this case he found himself more intrigued than ever. There was something off about this boy. He claimed he was from a backwater planet, where everything that was ordinary to the inquisitor was just a fantasy. Yet, he took up arms against the servants of the arch-enemy. He claimed that he wanted to die, yet cooperated without delay or attempts at deception. For the lord inquisitor, new liars, a great many. But this boy was not one of them.

  But mostly, more than ever, the mention of this faction interested him the most.

  'Knights of Steel? What are you talking about'?