THE ASSASSINATION OF GABRIEL SETH (2017)

Written by Andy Smillie
Performed by John Banks, Tim Bruce, Steve Conlin and Andrew Wincott
Scripted by Reverend 



List of characters:
* Gabriel Seth - Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers; 
* Guriel (Ãóðèýë) – Brother-Sergeant;
* Reyhab (Ðýéõåá) – brother;
* Unnamed Eversor assassin. 



Eversor (breathing hard): “Five…”
Brother-Sergeant Guriel stared at the Eversor as its jaw moved in poor sync with its words. 
Eversor (breathing hard): “Four…”
Guriel turned to escape the prayer cell and stopped. There was little point in running. Seth would have his vengeance.
Eversor (breathing hard): “Three…”
He sighed and stooped to one knee. 
Eversor (breathing hard): “Two…”
At least this death would be quick. Seth did not have to afford him such a kindness. 
Guriel (praying): “Sanguinius, forgive me”.
Eversor (breathing hard): “One…”
(explosion going off)
*  *  *
Guriel: “This pilgrimage isn’t necessary”.
Guriel looked to Seth. The Chapter Master’s shoulders remained hunched, his eyes fixed on the deck. 
Guriel: “I oversaw construction of the shrine. Only the most devout of serfs labored on it. Chaplain Appollus performed the right sanctify. There is no need…”
Seth (interrupting): “There is every need”.
He gestured to the other Flesh Tearers in the gunship’s hold, instructing them to deactivate their armor’s audio capture. 
Seth: “We abandoned them here, Guriel. We left them to die. Captain Tamel and the others. For what? So that glorious Baal could live another day?”
Seth got to his feet and snatched his Eviscerator from the overhead weapon’s rack.   
Seth: “This world has been retaken. The taint of heresy has been expunged and its populace has been reeducated. To the Imperium of Man it is as it was. The lives lost here will estimated only by the number of lasguns that never made it to the quartermaster’s tally6. We are not so careless. We cannot afford to be”.
Seth fell to silence, transfixed by the Chapter’s symbol on Guriel’s pauldron. A teardrop of blood trapped within a savage sword blade. He hadn’t been present when the Chapter was founded and he had discovered nothing in any text that spoke of the origin of the heraldry. Once to him it had perfectly captured the essence of the Flesh Tearers, the blood of Sanguinius fuelling the savagery needed to fight in his name. Regret pulled Seth’s eyes closer on it.  Now he saw the symbol for what it was: a life engulfed by violence. Moment by moment the Flesh Tearer’s twin hearts drove them towards extinction urging war and madness to swallow them. 
Seth: “We must remember every loss, Guriel, or they will come ever swifter until we find ourselves alone with oblivion”.
Seth clapped a hand to Guriel’s pauldron and moved past him towards the rear hatch.
Seth: “The few must remember the many”.
The Storm Raven shuddered as it decelerated jerking to a halt as its landing struts8 impacted. Distracted Seth depressed the door control of the Storm Raven. The compartment’s luminators flickered red as quick fire pistons and hydraulics slammed the assault ramp down. 
Seth: “Wait here”.
Seth dismissed the five men honor guard who’d assembled ahead of him and stepped from the gunship. 
(heavy rain falling down outside the Storm Raven)
Outside Necaris was as he remembered it: a dark world hung prostrate9 beneath a darker sky. Its sun had long ago dwindled to a husk10 and even the nearest stars were too distant to flicker over the horizon. 
Guriel descended the ramp. Seth didn’t stop to object. His attention fixed on the pantheon of remembrance. Discolored by the rain the smooth crimson ceramite of the structure’s rounded sides seemed visceral11. Among the ruins of Necaris’s capital the shrine stood as a noble headstone marking the end of the conflict and the beginning of rebirth. Seth stifled12 a growl as he dwelt13 on a memory of the Flesh Tearers who had given their lives in defense of the city. Their bodies and precious gene-seed held within were gone forever, lost among the tangled14 remnants of the world. Seth trudged15 onward, weighed down16 by history. 
Seth: “I will never leave the sons of Cretacia to die again. Never again”.
If the words were for Guriel’s benefit, Seth had not spoken them loudly enough.
*  *  *
Inside the pantheon was spartan, block stone work encased bare columns and slate18 grey doors. Seth soaked up19 the emptiness of the place, letting the blank walls calm him. Unlike many of the other Space Marine Chapters the Flesh Tearers did not view death as a final chance to celebrate a fallen warrior’s deeds. There could be nothing ornate20, nothing to distract from the act of remembrance. 
Guriel: “The main chamber is through here”.
Guriel gestured directly ahead. Seth nodded and moved down the corridor.
Seth: “I will enter alone”.
Guriel fell back a step allowing Seth to pass. 
Guriel: “Of course”.
Guriel bit back a smile. 
(doors closing behind Seth)
Seth spun around, his bolt pistol raised. 
Seth (screaming in fury): “Aaaaaaaah!”
A reinforced blast door separated Seth from Guriel, sealing the Chapter Master in the corridor. Guriel stood unfazed22 on the other side, staring at Seth through the pane23 of armaglass set into the middle of the door.
Seth: “What is this?”
Seth lowered his weapon and stepped up to the door. 
Seth (enfuriated): “Guriel?!”
Guriel (over vox): “I… I am sorry, lord. What I do, I do for the good of the Chapter”.
Seth: “And what is it you do? What is this?”
Seth pushed his forehead against the glass.
Seth: “Look at me, traitor!”
Guriel shifted forwards so that his face touched the glass. 
Guriel (over vox): “You die today”.
Seth (screaming in fury): “Aaaaaaaah!”
Seth smashed his fist into the glass. Guriel didn’t flinch24. 
Seth (groaning in fury): “Such… ratling…”
Guriel (over vox): “You have brought nothing but shame and death upon us. We are too few to take the risks you… (changing his mind) The lives of the Flesh Tearers are not yours to waste”.
Seth (in fury): “You would stand in judgment over me?! Better than you have tried, Captain”.
Guriel (infuriated over vox): “The Chapter Masters betray their oaths. They led us to that, hold them for ransom, they had their minds turned by the rabies of another madman. I will not fault so easily. It is over, Seth. Someone has finally found the strength to hold you to account”.
Seth (in fury): “You know nothing of the weight I bear, of the choices I am forced to make. It is for the chaplaincy to judge my actions and Sanguinius alone to judge the merit of my soul”. 
Guriel (over vox): “No, Appollus and the other Chaplains are blind to your misdeeds. He himself is little more than a barbarian, the slaughter master given rank unbefitting25. Left to him we would all of us daubed the black armor of madness. This is the only way”.
Seth (in fury): “I will kill you for this”.
Guriel (over vox): “Threats, always more threats. Can you not see that is why we are here? You threaten the Inquisition, even the Blood Angels. Your arrogance is without limit”
Seth (screaming in fury): “Aaaaaaaah!”
Seth thundered his forehead into the glass. Guriel took a step back as the smallest of cracks threaded across the surface.  
Seth (in fury): “Only my rage is limitless and I will use it upon your flesh until…”
Guriel (interrupting over vox): “All things end, Seth”.
Guriel pressed the palm to the glass.
Guriel (over vox): “Others whose wrath and rage exceeds mine would see you punished”.
Seth glared at the pendant26 wedged between Guriel and the glass: an inquisitorial rosette27. 
Guriel (over vox): “The Emperor’s light no longer touches you and you have no friends in the darkness”.
Guriel turned and started away. 
Seth (in fury): “And yours will not save you!”
Seth smashed his fist into the glass again denting28 his gauntlet.
Seth (in fury): “You are dead. Know that!”
Guriel ignored him and kept walking. Seth’s eyes tore bloody holes in Guriel’s back as he fought to master his temper. 
Seth (trying to calm himself): “I will see you soon, brother”.
Seth waited until Guriel disappeared from sight before turning to follow the corridor to its end and enter the remembrance chamber. The room was small, perhaps seven good strides across.
Seth (calmly): “Get on with it”.
Seth squared his shoulders and snarled into the darkness. 
Seth: “Get on with it! I have a traitor to kill!”
A muscled figure in a black skin suit stalked from the shadows, a wicked rictus29 on its polished skull helm. 
(assassin breathing hard from combat stims)
Seth: “Eversor…”
Seth took a measured step towards the assassin.
Seth: “Is this it? I have fought the reaper himself. I have slain warp-spawned beasts and xenos demigods. I will not fall to a drug-fuelled puppet”.
Seth gritted his teeth in a savage grin forcing truth behind his words. Eversors were bioengineered killing machines, monsters of science and death. Free from consciousness they were little more than walking weapons. The assassin shuddered, jerking30 as it brought its body under control. 
(assassin laughing insanely) 
Seth could smell the pungent31 cocktail of drugs saturating32 its flesh. It had been stimmed to breaking point.  
Eversor (barely able to speak): “Flesh Tearer!”
It hissed seeming to size up33 Seth.  
Seth (with disdain): “Do you know who I am, assassin?”
Eversor: “Yes! Yes!”
The assassin inclined its head and straightened. 
Eversor: “Seth. Gabriel. Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers. Target one-one-beta-two. Priority: eradicate”. 
Seth: “Good luck!”
Seth’s glibness35 was deliberate. He needed to stay calm, focused. Guriel’s allies had chosen their weapon well. Seth could not give in to his rage. He could not rip the thing limb from limb. Eversors were walking bombs. Their organs were soaked in bio-chemicals. Dormant cells awaited a catalyst, a jolt36 from the assassin’s nervous system. The moment a thing’s heart stopped – detonation. 
Seth: “The blood is my strength and armor”.
Seth’s jaw hardened. They had sought to steal from him all that he was. Again the universe had discounted him as a berserker. Again he had to prove to both it and himself that he was more. 
The Eversor brought up its pistol at blinding speed. The assassin’s opening was a kill shot aimed at Seth’s unarmored head. 
(assassin shooting at Seth)
Seth shot forward raising his shoulder and tucking37 in his chin. The Eversor’s rounds slammed into Seth’s pauldron. A second and third rounds punched fist-size holes in the outer ceramite. Seth returned fire. His shots went wide smashing the stonework in the assassin’s wake. Seth kept firing tracking the Eversor as it slipped forwards, charging across the wall to his left. Frustration drew a snarl from Seth. The assassin was too fast. His rounds struck more stone ruining the chamber while the Eversor’s bullets battered his armor, gouging38 chunks from his breastplate. Seth held his ground as the Eversor bore down39 up him. Their guns roared their last and racked empty. 
(empty magazines clicking)
Discarding its pistol the assassin sprung from the wall spinning in the air around Seth’s gun. It landed, blade extended and unleashed the taut swing meant to decapitate the Flesh Tearer. Seth shifted his weight back over his heels, edging away from the blade. The assassin’s blade sparked in anger as it cut through Seth’s gorget40 and broke the skin underneath. The Eversor allowed no respite41 following up with a right-handed punch that smashed Seth’s cheekbone. 
The Flesh Tearer rolled with a blow letting the momentum carry him clear of the assassin’s reach. Crouched Seth tore his Eviscerator from it’s mag-harness on his back and threw it at the assassin as it closed on him. The huge chain weapon was useless against such an agile opponent but it bought him the moment he needed to regain his footing. The Eversor twisted a fraction too late and the edge of the blades scored across the meat of its thigh. 
Seth: “So… even weapons… bleed”.
Seth grinned and drew his knife. The Eversor smiled its skull grin back. 

*  *  *

Guriel: “Pilot, get us back to the Victus”.
Guriel stopped at the top of the assault ramp and glanced back towards the pantheon. 
Guriel: “We are children of war anointed42 in the ashes of victory”.
Guriel recalled the words of Nassir Amit as the gunship pushed into the air. The Flesh Tearer’s first Chapter Master had known what it took to ensure a future. Guriel stared at the pantheon as it began to shrink from view. It was the greatest of shames that Seth had been unable to find the same courage within himself. His resolve43 hardened, Guriel depressed the locking stud and stepped into the gunship’s hold. 
Guriel: “Master Seth will send for us once his vigil is complete”.
Guriel addressed brother Reyhab. The other Flesh Tearer rose from his assault cradle to question Guriel’s order to leave.  
Guriel: “The pantheon is secure”.
Reyhab hesitated a moment before nodding. 
Reyhab: “As the blood wills it”.
Guriel moved past his brother to cut off any further discussion and maglocked himself to the bench nearest to the viewport. Below the city quickly receded dwindling44 until the teardrop outline45 of the shrine seemed like a bloody stain on the planet’s surface. 
Guriel: “A soul wrapped in the armor of righteousness can neither be injured by doubt, nor blackened by failure”.
This time the words were Chaplain Appollus’s. The Chaplain was even more battle-crazed than the Death Company he led to war and Guriel had little doubt the catechism46 was more for Appollus’s benefit than any of his flock. Still in that moment they brought him a measure of comfort. 

*  *  *

The Eversor’s blade flashed towards Seth’s face. Seth moved too late, the length of steel drove into his cheek. He twisted tearing his face free and struck the assassin with a backhanded blow. The Eversor looked at him, its manic eyes daring him to strike it again. He obliged.  The Eversor rode the blow, turning in place to spear a kick into Seth’s stomach. Seth staggered backwards as a web of cracks spread over his armor. The assassin struck him again with a leaping knee that snapped his head back and threw fog across his vision. Seth dropped to one knee for balance folding his arms around his head and upper chest in desperate defense. The assassin battered his limbs before whipping his blade up and around in an overhead arc. Seth pushed up jamming his wrists against the blade’s hilt47. Crimson runes yelled in warning from behind Seth’s retina. His armor was ruined, taken apart by blade and bolt shell. He was bleeding from wounds that couldn’t close under the Eversor’s relentless assault. He would die soon. 
Eversor (Screaming hysterically ever faster): “Wake! Wake! Wake! Wake! Wake!”
The Eversor rasped48 as Seth sunk back to one knee, the shield he’d made with his arms beginning to buckle49. Seth glared at his executioner: pallid50 skin thick with scar tissue and studded with implants bulged51 from tears in its suit. It was more weapon than man. Even servitors had more humanity and yet… Seth smelled the air. Smoke… It drifted from the assassin’s skin in thickening tendrils52. For all the Eversor’s augmentation it was still man. It was human physiology pushed to the limits by bioscience but it was still human. Flesh and blood not bred for such feats as it had taken to bring Seth low. The chemicals fuelling its body, forcing it a beat ahead of Seth had reached their half. The assassin’s fate was sealed. The servos in Seth’s armor spat and gave up under the unrelenting53 pressure. Seth tried to force the assassin’s blade away from his face. Blood began to weep from the Eversor’s eye sockets as it forced the edge of the blade into Seth’s forehead. The assassin grinned wide, drooling54 as it leant over him. Survival had never been the mission. Seth felt his strength falter as the blade began to cut into his skull. 
(Seth coughing)
Blood poured down over his face filling his mouth as it stretched in agony.
Seth (screaming in fury): “Aaaaaaaah!”
(silence, sounds of Seth’s hearts beating)
His blood, not Sanguinius’s, nor the Emperor’s. His. And he was more than the sum of the gifts they had given him and far more terrible. Resolve leant vigor55 to Seth’s limbs barring the blade from cutting deeper. Before the curse, before the blood Seth was a monster, a butcher. His darkness was his and his alone. He was Gabriel Seth. The beast growled in his soul and answered his summons. 
Seth (screaming in fury): “Aaaaaaaah!”
Seth yanked56 his arms from under the blade and kissed it. The weapon cleaved down through his left shoulder into his primary heart. 
Eversor (screaming): “Die! Die! Die now!”
Seth: “Not today”.
Seth roared as his fist connected with the Eversor’s ribs. The blow punched the Eversor from its feet pitching it back and into the wall. It pushed up onto its feet. Seth’s fist was waiting. 
Seth: “Not tomorrow”.
The hammer blow caved in the assassin’s chest. 
Seth: “Not until I am done”.
Seth hit it again smashing its collar bone. 
Seth: “Not until my brothers are absolved”.
A third blow cracked the Eversor’s skull, Seth striking with one hand as the other stopped the assassin from falling. Seth brought his foot up and stamped the assassin’s head into the wall. The Eversor convulsed as it dropped, adrenaline glands willing it to get up.  
Seth: “Be at peace, wretch”.
He wanted to kill it, to rip out its organs and beat its brain to pulp. They would die together, a final violent embrace and then the peace of oblivion. Seth tore his eyes away hunting for something else to hit. He stood a moment immobile, transfixed by rage. Seth punched the wall. He struck it again and again and again smashing his fist into it until long after his knuckles had broken.  
Seth: “Enough… Enough…”
Eversor: “And… me?”
Seth: “Tempting…”
With numb indifference Seth pulled the assassin’s blade from his chest and cut off the Eversor’s arm at the elbow. 
(assassin moaning from pain)
Seth: “But I… have use for you…yet”.
Grabbing the Eversor by the stump of its arm Seth dragged it behind him into the corridor. From the far end the blast door glared at him in challenge. Seth started towards the door.
Seth: “You will fare no better than this, adult puppet. I will break you too”. 

*  *  *

Guriel (breathing hard): “There will be others”.
Seth looked down at Guriel. The other Flesh Tearer’s torso was a ragged mess of burned flesh and melted musculature. The Eversor’s death throes had bathed the cell in supercharged plasma turning the steel of the walls to a dripping paste. 
Guriel (breathing hard): “Others will come for you”.
Seth: “Perhaps, but they will fare no different”.
Guriel (starting to pray): “Sanguinius…”
Seth: “Our father is not listening”.
Guriel (starting to pray): “Forgive…”
Seth: “Not to you!”
(Seth breaking Guriel’s neck)
Seth: “Not to any of us”.