In a cell deep down in the filthiest hole sat the most beautiful woman in the world, the source of all love and life, crying her eyes out.
Every second that passed she could feel the death of her children come ever closer, stalking them like an ethereal tiger. They would die alone and cold, without a future, leaving nothing behind but a legacy of misery in a galaxy ready to tumble into darkness. With fists of impotent fury, she hammered the rails of her cage in desperation. But even though the bars had been weakened by her sister's terrible power, she knew very well that they would not yield to her own meagre strength. Cursing her weakness the goddess screamed, tearing at her hair, pulling out great tufts of golden blonde hair. Finally, as she banged her head against the wall, ready to descend into madness, she was stopped by an enormous slimy brown, hairy tentacle that reached in through the bars. Collapsing on the filthy ground the goddess sobbed uncontrollably into the dirt. The tentacle patted her awkwardly on the back, as if not knowing how to handle the situation.
"It's over. It's all over," the goddess wailed.
"You need to let me out of here! They need me! I need to go to them!"
She knew very well it was never going to happen. As if disappointed the tentacle started to slowly withdraw through the bars back into the darkness beyond. Horrified, the goddess reached out after it.
"No, don't go! You don't understand! My children are going to die!"
Stumbling to her feet the goddess desperately reached after the tentacle but in her hurry, she tripped over her own feet she fell headlong. But just before her face was about to smash into the rusty bars of her cage the tentacle raced back, stopping her fall and allowing her to steady herself. She deflated like a balloon, sinking down onto the floor, still holding on to the brown slimy tentacle. For a long while, she just sat there, in silence. Finally, Isha - life goddess of the Eldar, put a slender hand on the tentacle, lightly caressing it. The whole tentacle shuddered slightly under her touch. She spoke again.
"They always say that when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back. But the opposite is also true. Spend long enough being ogled by the abyss and you learn a thing or two."
The goddess released the tentacle, got to her feet, radiating fierce determination through all the filth and grime.
"It took me a long time to figure you out. At first, I thought you only wanted my body. Then I thought you wanted to make me suffer. But I have finally figured out what you want from me. Why you still keep me around."
Something in Isha hardened as she continued.
"You need me because without me all this ugliness, all this horror has no contrast. Without me, you would be like a shadow without a light. All alone in the black, with no one to see the darkness you cast. Without a pure white canvas to stain with your corruption, what would you be?"
A mocking, gurgling laugh rolled down the dungeon. The tentacle raised up defiance, right in front of Isha's face. She smiled at it, a smile without so much as a trace of mirth. Slowly she raised her hand to her face, settings the tips of her fingers against the flawless skin on her cheek.
"You don't seem to understand, I don't need to escape. What if I simply became just as ugly as everything else around you?"
Her eyes cold and determined, Isha let her nails dig into her flesh, tearing deep gashes from which crimson blood rushed forward. In an instant the tentacles raced in, wrapping itself around the goddess, constricting her. For the first time in a long while, she struggled, fighting back with all of her remaining might. It was a fight she could never hope to win. But she didn't need to win, she only needed to struggle. The tentacle strained and bulged as it fought to contain the goddess. Sensing the power required to subdue her, she laughed a hard bitter laugh.
"What will you do, huh?! Watch me all the time? Spend all of your power binding me? Or will you try sending one of your little underlings? I might be a pale shadow of what I once was but I am still Isha, passion and love incarnate. Don't think I don't know why even you dare not look at me for long. How do you think they will fare? I'll have them all wrapped around my little finger before you can even so much as blink!"
An unearthly wet roar echoed in the dungeon, shaking the very stones. The rage contained within it would have scared any other creature witless. But not Isha, she had nothing left to lose.
"And the very moment you look away, I will scar and defile myself in ways you never thought imaginable. I will reshape my body and soul into a monument of horror, leaving just enough so that you will remember what you've lost, what you could have had. Take one last look at this flesh, for it is the last time you will ever see it!"
The entire dungeon entire shook with the fury of the chaos god, stones falling from the ceiling. Isha, bound from head to toe, ceased her struggled relaxed in his grip. Lovingly she leaned her head against her captor's extended limb. The wounds in her face closed and if they had never been there, replaced with ivory silky smooth skin.
"Unless, of course, you could find it in your heart to allow me to help my children."
Everything stopped. For a moment there was perfect silence. The slimy tentacle retracted from Isha, raising itself in front of her, waiting for her words.
"I need to go to my queen, now when she needs me the most. I need to carry the torch of hope back to my sisters."
A questioning sloshing sound reverberated in the dark cell.
"No, both of them. For if it comes to blows between them, no matter who wins, we all lose. Even you."
Isha got a wet defiant bark in response.
"You don't understand. She doesn't play games, doesn't care about power. Or herself. Or the Eldar. Or anything. She has one purpose and one purpose only. To put an end to everything."
Ignoring the mocking laughter she got in response Isha continued.
"I know this because the very same hands that breathed life into me also...started on her. I found her when I was young and arrogant, and believing myself to be their equal, I tried to finish what they had started. But I failed and when I realized just what she was I got scared and...and I just left her there. That is why like no other, I know her heart. For there is still a sliver of me inside her."
She got a sceptical splashing sound in response. In the echoes, the name Cegorach could be heard.
"Only a fool believes the word of my brother! He doesn't comprehend what he is dealing with. I told you, it doesn't matter which of my sisters win the battle, either way, the outcome will be our doom. Our only hope is to stop them before it is too late!" Isha spat back, looking down in despair. Calming herself, she took a small pause, nodding as if deciding something. Finally, she raised her gaze again.
"You'll have to decide who you trust. Him? Or me?"
With that final word, she started to undo the straps holding her garments in place. One by one, the dirty rags Isha was wearing fell to the ground. The swaying tentacles in front of her froze as if paralyzed by her sudden nakedness. The life goddess smiled a secretive smile, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A golden light, such as it had not been seen since the birth of creation, flooded everything, drowning shadow and corruption alike in a sea of pure life. On wings of brilliant starlight, the goddess rose off the ground.
This was Isha, the mother of the Eldar, in all her glory.
"If you do this for me; if you let me go, by the sanctity of everything that walks, crawls, swims or flies, by everything that thinks a thought or takes a breath I swear that I will return to you. And when I do, I will finally give in, submit to you in every way you want, become what you always wanted me to be: Your willing bride of light in the dark. And when my sister comes for me, like we both know she will, I will deny her and stay by your side until the end of time."
Isha opened her eyes again, smiling like the sun. Two more brilliant stars of warm yellow light ignited in her eyes.
"Now, choose."