In the deepest cell in the deepest dungeon sat a woman alone in the dark. No, not a woman. A goddess. An incarnation of joy, life and beauty. The incarnation of life. Once she had been the breath that turned the spark of life into a wildfire across the galaxy. As life grew so did she, her heart expanding for every breath taken. And into into it she poured every smile, every blossoming flower, every dance and every song. That was her. And endless ocean made out of the triumphs of her billions of children.
But her heart did not only hold a place for her own and nor was she a frivolous creature. Any place where death and despair reared it's ugly head she would be found. Carrying neither sword nor shield, just an unending unshakable undying love for all things alive and breathing. And where the beacon of light walked, the fires of hope soon quickened and roared. Pain and disease fled before her. Corruption and lies lost their footing and unraveled. It might seem strange in these days but here was a time when the darkness simply could not stand before the light in all it's glory. But that was long ago.
In this the deepest of dungeons this goddess slumped in a pit of her own filth. What must have been a regal dress at some point was now stained and torn beyond belief. Her golden hair that would have once lit up the dark had fallen out. Only ragged tufts remained. Her fair skin could almost not be seen for the amount of grime that covered her. Over the millennia there was no pain she had not sampled, no torture device that had not touched her skin, no shame she had not been forced to endure. And it showed.
But for all that it was in her eyes the greatest horror could be seen. Caring naught for her own plight her gaze was fixed forward, tears in her eyes.
The corridor leading to her cell was littered with corpses. Many bore the scars of horrible maladies and mutilations and the pain of their passing could be clearly seen in their final twisted expressions. For what seemed like an eternity she watched them scrambling for her, knowing that if she could just touch them she could make all of their pain and plagues go away and restore them. But they always died just out of her reach. For that was the game that he played with her. Every day her heart broke over and over again as she watched the endless parade of suffering and despair in the faces of those she was denied to help.
She had tried talking to them, soothing their last moments with her words. Then her tormentor had started placing flesh eating worms in their ears. She had smiled, letting her divine radiance flow over them as they passed. In response he had poured acid in their eyes. She had torn her dress to waft cooling air towards them and he had peeled off their skin. Any kindness she showed he reflected a hundred times over in pain back upon the poor souls. But such was her nature that she could not stop trying to help those in need. And the merciless cycle continued.
So now she sat there on a pile of thousand year old excrements, hugging her knees and softly crying as the latest batch of dead stared at her with cold hollow eyes. A quiet lullaby echoed through the dungeon. A song about a hunter, his wife and their children in the sky. It was probably meant to be a happy song but the singer could not keep back the sobs and thus the song was tarnished into a parody of it's original glory. The walls themselves seemed to mock it as they reflected the tune in false echo of her pure voice.
Today had been a particularly horrible day. There had been a child in today's group. An little Eldar girl. The goddess had prime seats to watch the prolonged suffering. When the last cramps had subsided, when the maggots have had their fill and when the last scream had been drowned out by swarms of flies the twisted little body had come to rest broken before her. Just beyond the reach of her fingertips. Like always. The goddess screamed a feral scream. If she had had any hair left she would have torn it. Instead she beat her fists in impotent fury against her knees. Knowing full well she would not reach, she lunged for the child.
As her fingers reached close to the little girl's head the dead child's visage suddenly shimmered. The area around the head exploded into tiny fragments of light. Having been stuck in the cell for ten thousand years the goddess had never seen a hallucination field before, especially one so primal as this one. The eldar of old had no need to hide from anything or anyone. She yelped and retracted her hand.
The visage stabilized. The child was still there, lying on the ground. But she was now wearing a silky white veil. And her eyes were open. Smiling she placed a finger to her mouth to hush the goddess and whispered.
"Did I overdo it?"
Now it was true that the goddess had been isolated for a long long time. And tortured. And heavy with despair from all the death and suffering she had been forced to watch. But she knew her own kin in an instant. And it was like rain on the desert.
"You are her. You must be." It was as if she could not believe her eyes.
"I find it very hard to deny that." The child got to her feet grinning like the brat she was. Like every younger sister she felt supremely pleased of the fact that she had manage to fool her elder sibling. And like a child she could not immediately see what a cruel joke it had been. But that is what happens when you are raised by a god of trickery.
"You are beautiful." The goddess eyes were wide with amazement.
The child opened her mouth and closed it again. She gazed at her toes she shuffled her feet in embarrassment.
"Is that...Is that my bridal veil?"
"Oh...yes...I..." The child looked unsure, as if she might have done something wrong. But the goddess just burst out laughing, genuinely, for the first time for a very very long time. It was sweet release, if only temporary. In that instant evil all around the galaxy raised its hackles and hissed. And every good hearted being in need could feel that long lost spark of hope crackle deep within them. She quickly stopped herself but continued to giggle and beam. Quite literally. Instead of broken tufts a long golden waterfall now flowed over her shoulders. And the dirt on her face seemed to fall away as if it could not stand to touch her. It looked like the sun itself has risen deep with the dungeon.
"Oh don't worry silly! If you like it it's yours! But why? I thought we had thrown that old thing away."
"I wanted to look like you. I saw pictures. And brother found this for me." The small voice betrayed the truth. The child looked nothing like the goddess. Short mousy hair compared to flowing silky gold. Deep dark eyes compared to light blue. Stubborn wild features next to the relaxed natural lines of the greatest beauty ever seen. And of course a total lack of the goddess divine curves.
The goddess sat down on her knees and reached out both hands for the child, beckoning her into an embrace.
"Oh child. Come here." But the child recoiled from the outstretched hands and if they were made of fire. Confused the goddess retracted into a reassuring motherly posture.
"I am just so glad to see you, little one. But what in the name of the stars are you doing here?"
The child seemed to regain some of her confidence and wiggled her fingers mysteriously. Ever so slightly she raised her veil off the floor, just a fraction of an inch. Pure white smoke unfurled around her. If you looked closely you could see faces in the smoke. Some concerned. Some serene. Some determined. But none in anguish or pain. The smoke twisted and turned until it formed into rope like tentacles which wrapped themselves around the bars. And began to pull.
Nothing happened. The smoky tendrils grew thicker and the girl grunted in effort. Still nothing happened. The child looked very disappointed.
"He sealed these bars himself child. Specifically against our kin. I have have tried what strength I have left against them so many times. No Eldar hand can open these bars." The goddess looked both sad and comforting at the same time. She knew it was useless but the sheer effort the child put into the attempt touched her heart.
"You don't say"
The smoke shot back to the girl and flowed down through her body to emerge at her feet. Among the corpses. Muttering to herself the child grit her teeth and stared at the bars with a glare so fierce it could cut through steel. And then the dead started to move. First just a few twitches or broken fingers. Then a foot twitched awkwardly. One after one lifeless eyes opened and focused on their target. Soon a hundred putrid hands reached out and grabbed at the bars.
And through her legion of proxy hands once again the girl pulled with all her might. The dead clawed at the cage until their fingers disintegrated and then clasped rotting jaws around the bars. Arms snapped and teeth broke. Cold sweat was pouring from the child's forehead. Blood started to trickle from her nose. But through the blood and sweat a satisfied grin now adorned her face. The imprisoned goddess stared in disbelief, a mix of hope and horror on her beautiful face. The bars, ever so slowly, were yielding to the furious onslaught.
A startled slobbering sound could be heard from the dungeons stairs and something started slithering down from far up high.
"No! He will know!" If the goddess at any point in the meeting with her sister had forgotten where she was she remembered it now.
"Let him come" Smoke poured from the girl like angry stormclouds, her eyes beacons of black light in the white mist. "I will get you out of here if it is the last thing I ever do" The metal screamed back in defiance as more dead clawed over each other to reach the gates.
Quick as lightning the elder goddess reached out at the dead grappling at her cage. As she touched them they fell and lay still. Scarred skin smoothed over, jagged wounds closed and hollow eyes closed peacefully. The sudden release caused the child to lose balance and land on top of the mountain of dead bum first. The smoke retreated and the dead stopped moving. With a stern look on her face the goddess addressed her startled would be rescuer.
"Child, listen to me for time is short. That is pride talking. You can not afford that. Learn from our mistakes. My pride is what got me here." She swallowed. "I deserve my fate."
"I refused to believe that!" For all her power the child was still a child and a stubborn one at that. But the goddess was relentless.
"Do you even know why I am alive? Do you know what I was doing when Slaanesh was born? Do you know why I was spared? Imagine me fighting the good fight do you? Shoulder to shoulder with the others? Or some glorious escape? Do you know what I did while she feasted on my husband and our children?" The goddess lips trembled slightly. Her eyes were iron.
"I was in bed. And I was not alone." The child first looked questioning up at the goddess and then blushed.
"I...indulged. I gave in. Forgot my purpose. We all did. Asuryan, Vaul, hell even Khaine" She spat and grimaced in disgust. "We thought ourselves invincible. We thought..." The goddess swallowed. "We thought: what harm can it do?" Her face contorted in self loathing. "To wrapped up in our own supposed excellence. To busy trying to get off to hear the screams of my family." Over the confession her hair had started to fall out again and the grimy mold was creeping back onto her face.
"So don't tell me I don't deserve it."
First there was silence. When the response came back it came the smallest of voices.
"But I need you. I can't do this alone. I am trying so hard but it is never enough. The is so much I don't know." Looking down the child splashed her hands in the sludge around her in despair.
"I am but death. And I know they all need to die. I know that can't be changed. But I...I want them to know life again before it is all over. I want what is left of them to go out singing with their heads held up high, not weeping on their knees. But that future is slipping away." The girl slumped down in the filth and something seemed to leave her.
"Don't you see it is because of you that future is even possible. You are not only death. Out of all of us only you...only your heart is free from this legacy. You are the one who picked up the torch of hope. That I dropped. By all that I hold holy I wish I could help you carry it again. But I can't. You must leave me here. Or face eternity alongside me, unable to help them." Then the goddess face lit up, as if realizing something.
"Here. I want you to have this." Quickly she reached under her tattered robe and placed a shining circlet on the child's head. The child took it in her hand and her eyes widened.
"This is Asuryans phoenix crown! How did you...?" The child bit her tongue and studied the crown.
"You kept it hidden all these years?" The goddess smiled a mysterious smile, her eyes twinkling as she winked her eyebrows. The child's face lit up. But then her face fell again.
"I can't take this" She started to push it back but was halted by a strong firm touch.
"I don't know what you had to do to get this far child. I can only imagine how hard the road has been for you. And what is yet to come will be even harder. But in ten thousand years you are my first flicker of hope. Our first flicker of hope. If you lead, I will follow." The imprisoned goddess reached through the rusted bars. The child looked anxious but at last she allowed her sister to carefully place a slender hand on her cheek, only the thin veil separating them apart.
"My little queen." Neither of the gods could hold back the tears. "Now you have to go! Quickly! Before he comes back!" A small creek of foul bubbling brown slime now trickled down the stairs.
Wiping her nose the child got back to her feet and adjusted her veil. On top of it she placed the brilliant phoenix crown now shrunk to fit her perfectly.
"I will not forget you sister. And I will find you again." Such a heavy burden placed on such a slender frame. But it held strong.
"I know you will". The goddess smiled in earnest and bowed in farewell to her sovereign.
And thus it came to pass that in the filthiest of places the last hope and queen of the Eldar was crowned.