[i]"A fine day brother, is it not? When an entire company of Salamanders. Assault, Tactical, Vanguard, Terminators and Sternguard alike all prepare to do battle on our hated former brothers. To bring the wrath of Emperor's Astartus down upon them, like a bolt of fire from the Emperor's own hand."[/i] 

At the words spoken by his battle brother, Arios couldn't agree more. The sky itself seemed to rumble with the energy of the coming battle, the sounds of battle were not far off, ad it had been far too long since he unleashed his flames on the enemies of the Emperor, by his mercy. At the mention of his flamer, Arios was brought back in time to the moment when the two first met. 

Back to one of the few battles that were worth remembering, a younger Arios was pinned along with the last of his battle brothers by a large Hunter Cadre. The humans on the planet had commited the greatest hearasy and allied themselves with the foul Tau. The fight was long and hard but eventually Arios and several other battle brothers made it to a bunker in an attempt to call in reinforcements. The Tau had sunk their claws deep within the minds of the people there, but they were not people any longer. No, not to Arios, they were heretics of the greatest caliber. The anger that fueled his autocannon fire as it tore through Tau, Kroot, and traitor was unlike anything his battle brothers had seen. In turn they began to redouble their efforts, determined to bring down as many xenos and heretic scum that they could. It would take weeks for the message of their attack to reach the rest of the troops, months for them to actually reach Arios and his battle brothers. 

Eventually after many weeks of battle the last battle brother died. Leaving Arios and his crippled captain, Cassiah Braun. Capetian Braun was injured during the initial fallback and his health was in steady decline ever since. At the end of his life, Captain Braun entrusted Arios with his prized possession for he would no longer need it. A Phaestos Pattern Heavy Flamer, a holy weapon from before the Horus Heresy. At first, the machine spirit rejected Arios as it deemed him unworthy and as such wouldn't work much if at all. Arios felt much the same but nonetheless he would carry it out into his one man war, hacking at the forces of the Tau with his chainfist and hoping to give it to one more worthy than him. That is, until it shattered against the armored hide of the Tau Commander at the climax of his guerrilla war. Forced to bludgeon the blasphemous wretch with his fist, Arios was soon beaten down by the shear mass of the battlesuit. Beaten, broken, and near death Arios released a titanic roar of unbridled rage and passion. 

Something inside the flamer unlocked, the machine finally accepted Arios as its master and released a glorious gout of promethium. The Tau commander fell almost immediately, having not worn a helmet and his wretched face burned away in seconds. Limping, Arios bathed the rest of the Hunter Cadre in holy fire as their pathetic ammunition bounced off his hide. Soon after the commander was felled, the rest of the troops came from out of warp jump and brought their wrath upon the heretics. Setting off a beacon, Arios sat down for the first time in what felt like months. With his fallen battle brothers all lined up together, they were soon taken by the apothecaries to get their gene seed extracted. 

When Arios was taken back, there was much debate as to whether or not they would allow him to keep the Heavy Flamer. While the debate raged, they discovered that the machine spirit within would seldom respond to anyone but Arios. This combined with his past actions lead the captains to allow Airos to use the weapon until his final days. Ever since the two have become synonymous. By themselves they are dangerous tools of the Emperor, together they are even more so.

Smiling faintly at the memory, Arios said " I too hope to share the field of battle with you, Brother. May your hammer strike true and the Emperor watch over you." Giving himself a smack on the chest in a show of camaraderie.