Ahriman: The Dead Oracle

Ahriman #Short Story

by John French

Ctesias, an ancient Space Marine and former prisoner of Amon of the Thousand Sons, tells the tale of one of the events that led him to his destiny. After Amon’s demise, Ctesias comes into the service of Ahriman, the exiled First Captain of the broken Legion, and is given power undreamed of – and drawn into a plot involving the otherworldly daemons of the warp, the machinations of Ahriman and the mysterious dead oracle. Read it because
Ctesias, an ancient Space Marine and former prisoner of Amon of the Thousand Sons, tells the tale of one of the events that led him to his destiny.

Genres: 40k, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

29 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2014

About the author

John French is a writer and freelance game designer from Nottingham, England. His novels include the Ahriman series from Black Library, and The Lord of Nightmares trilogy for Fantasy Flight. The rest of his work can be seen scattered through a number of other books, including the New York Times bestselling anthology Age of Darkness. When he is not thinking of ways that dark and corrupting beings could destroy reality and space, John enjoys talking about why it would be a good idea... that and drinking good wine.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in the Ahriman: The Omnibus volume.

A solid first start of the tale of Ctesias storyline, filling the gaps between Ahriman: Exile and Ahriman: Sorcerer novels, and adding something you are not going to get by reading the main Ahriman's trilogy on its own.
Because if after reading Ahriman: Exile you was thinking of Ahzek as a tormented and misunderstood anti-hero, Ctesias' point of view about things really are is going to open your eyes: the former First Librarian of the Thousands Sons is a manipulative monster, and nothing will stop him from restoring his brothers from the fleshless husks they have become.
Nothing.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the first of a series of short stories starting after Ahriman returned from Exile, we are introduced to a new protagonist: Ctesias. He's the kind of corrupted Chaos sorcerer you see at face value when looking at the traitor legion: arrogant, proud, and willing to trade every bit of humanity and himself for a little bit more power.

As such, he is one of those tools for Ahriman the great sorcerer is time and again forced to use by necessity. I think it is a brilliant choice to learn more about Ahriman and his great campaign from the point of view of such a person. John French goes ahead and performs a delicate, cunning chain of twists to show us just how far Ahriman is going to go in order to archive his goals - and how powerful his abilities of foresight and deception.

[Tarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting short story to read after having reading Ahriman: Exile.
It really moved things forward, especially bringing the reader back to the Oracle, as well as setting up a moment that occurs in Ahriman: Gates of Ruin.

French really brings a nice level of action to this story, as well as working with the nature of Chaos and daemons. Each of the characters brought to the table are interesting, and though not a lot really happens character development wise (except for a changing of the perception of the protagonist), it is still a very interesting story that fleshes out one of the side characters.

Well worth the read and highly enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

[Chris Torno · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a enjoyable little read

[David Strašák · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty nice short story that fills the space and teaches us about the guy Ctesias and his skills.

[Narek Ohanyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool short story

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a chronological sense Ahriman : The Dead Oracle is the first short story in John French’s The Tale of Ctesias arc that accompanies and runs through the wider Ahriman series. Set between Exile and Sorcerer we meet Ctesias as he first joins Ahriman’s resurgent cabal, taking his place in a mission in that takes him to the domain of Menkaura, the Blind Oracle. Preparing to sully his soul with yet another despicable act, Ctesias soon finds himself in deeper trouble than he expected.

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...

[Hakan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful short story where neverborn are really unimaginable Lovecraftian horrors again.

[Alexander van der Pol · Rating 5 out of 5]

exelent