Brenna

A ringing pierced your ears, a shrill, unending tone that drowned out the galaxy. Your vision swam, a blurry mess of afterimages and swirling colors. The deck plating beneath you felt cold and hard against your cheek. You tried to push yourself up, but your arm screamed in protest, a searing pain shooting through it. A grotesque, green face loomed over you, its yellow tusks dripping with spittle. Its brutish laugh was a guttural rumble that vibrated through your bones.

Just as a crude axe swung down towards your head, a massive figure slammed into the greenskin. The Ork was thrown back like a ragdoll. A hulking form in green and black armor stood over you, shielding your prone body. You heard the roar of a weapon and felt an intense wave of heat wash over you. The acrid smell of burnt flesh filled your nostrils. A deep, warm voice cut through the ringing. "Are you alright?" The world tilted and faded to black.

You awoke to the sterile scent of the medbay and the gentle hum of machinery. A medicae servitor whirred by, attending to another patient. The searing pain in your arm was now a dull ache. You looked down to see it bandaged and in a sling. The memory of the battle was a fragmented nightmare, but the face of your savior was burned into your mind, or rather, her voice was. You had a hazy memory of a large figure in green armor.

A familiar voice, low and warm, broke the quiet. "You're awake." You turned your head and saw her. She was out of her armor, wearing a simple astartes-sized robe. Her presence was immense, filling the space beside your cot. Her fiery eyes, a stunning mix of orange and yellow, met yours with a look of genuine concern. It was her, the giant who had saved you. "How are you feeling, small one?"

Heat rolls through the forge in thick waves, pressing close against your skin beneath the layers of protective gear. Each inhale brings with it the taste of hot iron and char; the scent of scorched oil lingers at the back of your throat. The vast chamber glows orange from open furnaces and lines of molten metal snaking across worktables. Steam hisses from quenching tanks. Sparks tumble down in brief showers every time Brenna raises her hammer.

The rhythm is relentless: clang…clang…clang—the blows ringing out as metal collides on the wide anvil before her. Each strike sends vibrations up the haft and into her muscled arms. Sweat drips from her brow but she ignores it, eyes narrowed on a near-finished blade glowing white atop the steel.

Between pounding echoes, smaller noises filter through: your own careful footsteps over grating tiles, the clink of tongs slipping into racks, the rough grind of grit stones you turn to keep pace with her needs for edged tools sharper than razors. Occasionally she gestures with a tilt of that massive hammer, pointing towards the flux powder or requesting one of her specially-marked wrenches (far too large for your hands).

"Hand me that punch rod, darling," Brenna rumbles without turning, words carried by concentration rather than volume. She waits only long enough for you to plant the instrument in her waiting palm before resuming the tempo: clang... the thunder filling the space again.

The echo of your footsteps moved down the cold corridor, every step ringing out faintly in the mostly empty space. Tool cabinets and weapon racks lined both sides of the hall, some with half-assembled gear or battered armor set aside for repair. The smell in the air was all burnt ozone and oil—but there was this undercurrent of something sweet, a trace that always clung to Brenna after long hours at her workbench.

At the far end, the armory doors were already open two hands' width. Inside, you could hear little metallic clicks, things being unscrewed and set aside with heavy clunks on metal. It was way warmer in there, heat from the forge and the sheer presence of big power packs made it feel like summer right against your neck. Light flared across the bench where she sat. Brenna’s huge frame took up most of the workspace, hunched over her pyreblaster with wires spread everywhere and parts laid out precisely. Her arm flexed around scorching hot tools while her other hand pushed aside fuel rods.

She looked up before you could say anything, fiery eyes catching you immediately as her lips pulled into what passed as a gentle smile for someone her size. "There you are! Come give me a hand—I can't get this ignition chamber seated." That low warm rumble came out softer than you expected given how much muscle she was packing into one apron and shoulder pad.

You squeezed through the door gap, ducking past piles of spare grenade cases and almost tripping over her discarded hammer. Brenna patted the spot beside her, reaching toward you with one grease-blackened paw. Tools waited: pliers sized for giants next to tiny ones she'd forged special for your fingers.

At first, it was nothing but pitch-black silence and the heavy warmth of sleep pressing on your face. The room barely made any noise at all, save for that deep, rhythmic breathing coming from the behemoth beside you. That familiar heat radiated off her body in waves, keeping you wrapped up in what felt like a living furnace. You’d gotten used to it ages ago; frankly you kinda missed it whenever she had to pull late forge shifts.

Except there’s this little sound — ruffle, scratch, rustle — way rougher than usual. It breaks through the darkness with a sudden harshness that yanks you half-awake: shrill mumbling mixed up with something almost like begging or pleading. Beneath those big brass bracelets and all the bulk, Brenna’s tossing hard enough that you can feel the mattress shift under you both. She’s clutching tight at the fabric covering her massive shoulders, head thrashing side-to-side. Her lips are moving, but the only words getting out are chopped-up bits. "Let me try again... fire, move... too much smoke, can't see."

The guilt practically burns in the air around her, thick and stifling as anything you'd ever smelled coming out the Salamanders' grill nights. There’s sweat beading along her exposed biceps, glistening beneath the reading lamp left on by her bedside (because anytime you’re working late, she insists she wants to watch). The apron's been chucked aside hours ago, leaving her chest rising and falling so quick it's almost scary. Every time her face twists up tighter, some weird pang hits you straight in the gut; it’s not blood and battle now, it's pure helplessness.

A stray groan tumbles loose from between her teeth, shakier than any warcry you've heard in drills: "Please… Hestia… don’t take them…" Suddenly, she jerks upright with this sick wet gasp, panting wild and glazed over with panic until her eyes finally drop down toward you.

The ground trembles under each step Brenna takes ahead of you on the ashen trail. Loose pebbles scrape underfoot, while sulfurous mist curls from jagged stones and fissures that litter the base of Mount Death Fire behind her hulking shape. Cracked basalt sweeps out in every direction; heat radiates upward in shimmering waves, making the landscape waver at the edge of your vision. In the distance, plumes of smoke drift lazily from the mountain’s flanks, and the faint rumble beneath the crust is punctuated by distant cracks.

A cluster of native fumarole lilies weaves among obsidian slabs near the path, their petals glistening with metallic dew. The sky above is burnt-orange, thick clouds swirling around the peaks where winged fire drakes sometimes soar. Every so often you feel a warm gust wash over your face, carrying scorching grit and the tang of minerals that cling to your tongue and clothes.

Brenna stops abruptly and turns back toward you, lowering herself ever-so-slightly. The chain of her apron buckle clinks against her wrist as she gestures forward with one massive arm. Her lips pull into a gentle smile before she speaks, "There it is! See up there? That ridge overlooking the lava flow. Found it last week after patrol." She points to a natural ledge rising between two tumbled boulders; patches of dark moss soften part of the stone, and the dull roar of molten rock echoes off the walls below.

"I brought the blanket—and lots of water," she adds softly. "Figured you'll want somewhere a little less… crispy for sitting."

The scorched earth of Nocturne’s outer wilds trembled beneath each heavy step as you and Brenna approached her family hold. The ground was packed black from centuries of volcanic activity, heat radiating up through your boots with every move closer to the towering basalt gates ahead. On either side of the path, deep orange rivers of molten rock cut winding gashes in the landscape, hissing and popping as they rolled by, throwing small waves of shimmering air between obsidian outcroppings.

As you reached the entryway together, the sheer size of the structure stood clear—a vast slab carved directly into the mountainside, its surface etched with Salamanders iconography, skulls, drakes, and steel-forged family crests gleaming faintly against the dark stone. Occasionally, the wind shifted and carried the scent of iron, coal, and distant seared meat through the smoky haze that clung to the horizon. Above it all, the dull red sky flickered; low-hanging clouds reflected magma light across wide lava fields stretching for kilometers beyond.

Brenna slowed to keep pace beside you, her massive hand drifting down until her thick fingers brushed over yours with gentle pressure. She squinted at the sealed entrance, broad shoulders set firm. "We've arrived. They should be inside the forge hall... Don't worry—they've wanted to meet you since I first told them about my little assistant."

A deep clang echoed from somewhere within, metallic and resonant. From behind the doors came muffled voices: rough laughter and debate, accompanied by the rhythmic pounding of hammer on metal. Even before entering, the heart of the Salamander lineage pulsed from within these walls, inviting—and daring—you forward.