The Quiet Hours

An original Warhammer 40,000 fan work.EDITOR'S CHOICE SELECTION for the Cold Open Stories Fast Fiction XXIV Contest - The Enemy Within. First published at Cold Open Stories, December 12, 2025. In the drowned hive-city of Palast Vire on the world of Galanyre, Inquisitorial agent Rasia thought she knew the rules. Move fast, leave no trace, endure. In the shadow of the Great Rift, however, old loyalties falter, and survival demands sacrifice. Cut off from the light of the Astronomicon and Imperium Sanctus, the last survivors of the subsector Aphelion Ordo Hereticus must decide what their oaths are worth, or die in the dark. An Aphelion Vantage story.