A/N1: Thanks again to Skyborne for reading this chapter before hand.

A/N2: I've added some links to music and ambient sounds. These are just my personal opinion, so take them or leave them. Put the name in quotes ("") if searching on YouTube, otherwise you'll get a lot of unrelated search results.

1 Rosary - Intro


The golden glow of the God of Heroes receded, and his sarcastic smile slowly drained of all mirth only to be replaced by the scowl of the Emperor.

"So… That was what you muttered back then while you were gloating."

This was the second time the God of Heroes had risen to the surface of his psyche. The first was during Isha's monologue of what sort of god he was and the core nature of his Truth. Steam had begun to rise from his own body back then as well when Isha made it clear that the Emperor was not supposed to be the God of Heroes and the God of Heroes was not supposed to be the Emperor.

The moment that had been said, his madness had risen to the surface and almost broke through. However, the moment Isha had muttered something under her breath, his divine madness had released him.

"What are you trying to do?" The Emperor asked the Aeldari deity before him.

This creature's actions were confounding. It brought his divine self to the forefront, the divine self he himself abhorred and hated, to talk of a plan she already knew and could not logically allow only to send it away once again.

"What purpose was there in talking to that, only to force it back?"

"Do not talk of the God of Heroes like a second personality, Neoth." Isha snorted. "That is you, infected with insanity and drunk on madness. The thought processes and actions of the God of Heroes are all yours, including its tears and its laughter."

"Tears?" The Emperor raised an eyebrow.

"I have already seen what you actually are, Neoth; that flaming figure walking along the golden path. That is what you really are. That form is always crying, even as it continues stepping into the darkness."

1

The short story Isha watched when she first touched the essence of the God of Heroes back on the Bucephelus showed the God of Heroes as what he symbolically was. A flaming figure swarmed by the uncountable shadow of humanity's souls, walking through the dark to pave a path for all those who could follow it.

From its eyes, endless tears fell, mixing with the ashes all those consumed in its fire to form hardening cement and mortar that would bind the golden bricks it laid with greater determination.

The God of Heroes may have been laughing at the cosmic joke that was the state of the galaxy, but its actual form endlessly wept, and used its tears and the remains of all those it could not save to reinforce the path that carried all those who could be saved.

The Emperor was silent for a moment, then both of his hands clenched as his teeth ground together and lips pulled back in a pained grimace.

"I never wanted this." He hissed through his teeth.

The Emperor may have made the plan, but it was not made with laughter, but bitter defeated sighs.

"'I never wanted this.'..." Isha muttered, repeating the Emperor's words. "I heard those words often from my daughter, after she forced my hand to doom my children." She sighed. "It is not easy making a miracle happen, but that child went through with it. She went along with her Truth, doomed my mortal children, and damned our family to eternal torment. She went behind my back, betrayed my trust, and is now mostly remembered for a false incestuous lust and her wagging tongue." Another long sigh exited between Isha's lips before she turned towards the Emperor. "But, even as she went down that thankless path with full-knowledge of what awaited her, she would always whisper to herself those same words you do right now."

'I never wanted this.' Those were the words that often exited between the lips of the Goddess of Dreams and Visions after she let loose the prophecy that brought forth the very creature it warned about.

"Rejoice, Emperor of Mankind…" Isha said in a melodramatic voice. "As the Goddess of Life, I can assure you that your plan will be the utilitarian solution that saves the galaxy."

"What?" The Emperor said slowly as he stared at the goddess before him, partially in shock, partially in disgust, and partially in horror.

"The galaxy is currently defined by the Ruinous Powers." Isha sighed. "They are, despite my family's best efforts, the victors of the Eternal War. Now, it is their Primordial Truth that defines the Sea of Souls and that definition has changed its very nature, making it the nightmarish Warp. That fact does not change until they and their Truth end."

Isha looked up at the dark clouds above the, twisting and churning as brief flashes of muffled lightning sparked within the dust and dirt high up in the stratosphere.

"With the current state of affairs, nobody is saved. Sooner or later, whatever the species, wherever in the galaxy they may be, Chaos will come for them. Their extremism makes them unsustainable in the materium, so the only way they can continue to exist is to spread, infect, defile, and destroy to reinforce what they are upon the galaxy. Eventually, there will be nothing left."

Isha paused and gave a very long and very tired sigh while looking to the side.

"From a utilitarian perspective, if your plan succeeds, at least one species will be saved. As the Goddess of Life, I can predict that much at the very least. Even if all other species of the galaxy might suffer under mankind's supremacy, it is better than total damnation of everything, and what's more…"

Isha turned to look at the Emperor once again. "For you and your kind, the damnation of others is a process that allows you to continue your salvation. Thus, by definition, all the evils of the universe would be rendered necessary. Henceforth, even if all other races are damned, the number of dead, tortured, and suffering would be fewer if they were done by the organized hand of humanity than the rabid claws, tendrils, and tentacles of the Four."

The Emperor took a step back. Why was an alien goddess, one of the protectors of the species his plan would consume defending his actions? The thought process was utilitarian, efficient, and also utterly alien. His divine self had started laughing only when there was no other path but the one he currently tread upon, but the goddess before him was calm and collected.

"Other species would be a resource for this golden version of humanity you envision, and your enlightened humanity would be intelligent enough to understand this fact. Thus, whatever necessary suffering was to be inflicted, it would be done as barbarically as possible on the smallest number required."

Isha chuckled to herself once before turning back to the Emperor with a narrow eyed smile.

"Emperor of Mankind, and prospective Hero of the Galaxy; you would save the most people with the least number of deaths with your plan, for the act of preventing unnecessary deaths and the act of saving the greatest number of people are effectively the same thing. Thus, your plan is 'good' even though it itself is 'evil'. I guess that is what the God of Heroes finds the most humorous."

Isha gave an amused snort. "Although, this was not what the answer you wanted for you or your people."

"OF COURSE I NEVER WANTED THIS!" The Emperor roared as golden sparks leapt from his eyes. "Thousands of years, I worked with divine and mortal friends and partners to find another way! I thought I was on the brink of success 8,000 years ago! A method of ensuring humanity's autonomy without usurping the Ruinous Powers! You think I want to take those things into my legend?!" He spat out as the flames on his sword roared out, charring the ground at his feet.

"The Four would live on through you, for their Truth would still exist." Isha nodded to herself. "You would be exposed to their every thought and deed. Given your personality, it would be a living hell I would imagine."

"And it would never end!" He said bitterly. "I would be stuck with all Four and all their evils for all eternity."

"You would." Isha sighed again. "You phrase it as usurpation, but you would be closer to their jailer."

"But jailing them is not enough. You cannot just defeat Chaos! Their despicable Truths are a material fact! Even if I could cut off their head with my sword, and stab them through the heart with my blade, as long as there is suffering in the world another will take its place! That's why an answer is needed to the question of all mortals, human or otherwise, so there is some answer to their prayers!"

As the god of a divided and self-destructive species, the God of Heroes had heard almost every possible cry a sentient being could give. However, for most, it could do nothing. Thus, it knew the pain and anguish that an unheard prayer could bring. That's why it could ignore those cries, and completely understand them at the same time. He had gotten used to them enough to abandon them, but he knew what each ignored cry did to each individual.

"You're not wrong." Isha admitted sullenly. "My children's empire was a post-scarcity society untouched by war, famine, disease or even death. Just as Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle could never defeat us during their Eternal War, my children had nothing to fear from the sufferings that all other races in the universe endured."

Just as the Aeldari empire was unburdened with all material wants and provided everything to fulfill even the most hedonistic and trivial need, the Aeldari pantheon withstood the forces of Chaos undefeated. However, just as the Aeldari empire was aloof and isolated from all other species, the Aeldari pantheon did not act as the primitive races of the galaxy wept and cried for all the death and destruction they wrought upon themselves.

This is the relationship between the immaterium and materium; a metaphysical entanglement of events and occurrences that mirror each other, yet are utterly unconnected. Coincidental poetry that simply happened to rhyme on key verses.

"Even then, that was not the answer to the question of evil." The Emperor spat out his words with venom. "Eternal peace and prosperity for all merely resulted in the creation of Slaanesh as nihilistic or fatalistic hedonism suffused every aspect of culture available. That was the end result of the Aeldari's answer to the question of evil."

There was a long pause as the Emperor shook his head, disentangling his thoughts from the information Isha had given him. Whether he knew that fact before or after she had given him that information, he could not tell, but the facts matched with everything else.

"That's why, this is the only way." He said slowly. "I've already tried everything else I could come up with, and you know what that led to."

"The Cybernetic Revolt, the Age of Strife, the Dark Age of Technology, the usurpation or oblivion of every other god of humanity, and Molech."

The abominable plan of the Emperor was not plan A or B or even Z. It was the final back-up that had been buried the moment it was conceived 16,000 years ago, and only dug up in the last 8000 years after the grand social experiment humanity had conducted on itself collapsed along with their Golden Age.

"That was when they asked me that question, Isha." The Emperor whispered. "'Were they worth everything you gave them, Neoth?' After everything I gave, everything I had tried and taught humanity, all the love they received from all their gods, it was all for nothing."

"'Humanity is a species of failures, losers, and fools.' was it?" Isha repeated the Emperor's words. "Of course, that means that is what you define yourself as well, being created from their thoughts and dreams."

"But, it all ends now, doesn't it?" He replied bitterly. "Just how much more power do you have stored?"

This had been a battle of stamina for the Emperor, but he had already winded himself several times during their numerous attempts at destroying each other. Isha, on the other hand, remained largely unchanged. He could still continue, for eternity if necessary, but the battle to outlast her was seeming to be an almost Sisyphean task; like attempting to flatten a mountain by digging away at it with a spoon.

"Enough to achieve a single miracle…" Isha said with a forlorn smile. "And perhaps a few other minor blessings."

A miracle. That was how she phrased it, and he had seen fragments of what that entailed. Its nature was still a mystery, but its scale was gradually becoming clearer. That was an act that affected entire planets.

The Tear of Isha.

With one tear, it was said that she returned all life to the dead homeworld of the Aeldari.

The Emperor could expunge an entire planet of life, given enough time. If he had his fleets act in his stead, he could commit Exterminatus with Cyclonic torpedoes, Atmospheric incinerator torpedoes, or Virus bombs. However, he could not simply rejuvenate a planet back to life. If he could, Terra would have returned to its blue and green form eons ago.

If she truly had the reserves for a miracle of that scale, this battle that hadn't even leveled a single continent was within the margin of error compared to the power necessary to create a psychic event that would affect the entire planet.

"Is this all then some act as the Aeldari Goddess of Mercy." The Emperor muttered sullenly, only for the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.

"Watch your mouth Mon-keigh." Isha said quietly, but her wide open eyes burned with a cold intensity. "I simply can't have you losing hope and committing suicide, not after how much you've inconvenienced and insulted me."

The Emperor watched the goddess warily as he felt her boiling anger gradually simmer, then he opened his mouth to ask the question that had begun to tug at his mind.

"Why bother? If you are as wise and powerful as you're posturing, then why bother with me or my race?"

He may still be able to track her, but he was beginning to have his doubts on whether he would be able to do anything should he find her.

There was a long pause as the Aeldari goddess glowered at him, as if the very act of questioning her was an insult. Finally, she sighed and folded her arms in front of her.

"I am desperate, Neoth." She said slowly. "I am still as desperate as when I first told you so when we first met." Her fingers curled around her upper arms, and she dipped her head forwards. "I have reestablished contact with some of my children, and things are deteriorating faster than I had hoped." Thousands of psychic linkages revealed themselves from within Isha, appearing from her back like flower buds on vines or branches that had yet to bloom. "You see those bindings between me and the surviving twins of those that lost their lives here? They are already in the belly of She who Thirsts, and are exposed to Hir Truth." Each bud was a vibrant pink and purple color and pulsated occasionally, as if whatever was inside wasn't a flower, but something more animate; something that had a hag-fish maw filled with teeth. "I have felt their hearts and minds, and they already resonate with Hir more than with me. It won't be long before they become like the Psychomatons, bound to an excess that prevents them from doing anything else but that, permanently unable to return to me."

Isha paused as the flower buds drew back inside her, and then shook her head.

"No… it doesn't matter whether that takes place a day from now or a million years in the Warp. If they are to lose in the future, then they have already lost now. The same is true for my devoured family. They are with She who Thirsts, either in the Palace of Pleasure or within Hir belly. Just like you and I, they are engaged in a divine debate with the God of Excess, and that battle begins with them on the backfoot. They are forced to resist with only a fraction of their power and Truth, and less of their body. Even if I could stretch out a hand to save them, there is a chance that the moment I do, they will emerge from Hir stomach and grab my wrist to drag me down into the blood and gore filled stomach acids of She who Thirsts." A ragged breath came from her as her fingers closed around her upper-arms; pink nails digging into her impossibly hard skin. "I may be Hir antithesis, but there are ways to use even things you cannot digest."

Isha was desperate. She had no other options and no more time left. The Aeldari pantheon had been consumed in the Warp and time had no meaning there. Whatever she did, whatever method of salvation she could carry out, it would already be too late.

The Emperor remained silent for a moment, trying to wrap his head around the words and actions of the Aeldari goddess.

She was desperate.

She had fought him.

She had conversed with his own hated divine-form, and then sent it away relieving him of its madness.

Now, she stood before him justifying his plans that would hurt her people as well.

Everything seemed to be a tangled mess of contradicting actions and words, with no logical path he could understand.

Finally, he formulated the question that would either end their conflict, or aggravate it.

"Are you desperate enough to join my plan?"

That was the only peaceful outcome the Emperor could come up with.

It would be harder with two species, but it was theoretically possible. As long as the problem of evil was answered, it didn't matter whether there were one or two names for the rest of the galaxy to call out in hatred.

Isha let out a brief exasperated laugh as she shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous." She said tiredly. "Even though your plan is 'good' from a utilitarian perspective, I could never allow it to come to pass."

Rejection. That was the goddess's answer.

The Emperor's right hand tightened around the hilt of his sword, and he began to raise it.

"Do not be so hasty, Neoth." Isha said as she raised a placatory hand. "We've generated a sense of rapport between us, so why not hear my answer as to why that wouldn't even work in the first place."

The Emperor paused, then slightly lowered his sword, affirming her offer to provide greater detail with silence.

"My children and myself are of particular interest to at least two of the Four." Isha shrugged as she spoke. "Nurgle wants me as his prize, while She who Thirsts will never stop lusting after my children. Your method of slaying the Ruinous Powers requires you to take in everything that they are. Even though you may not understand them at first, that ignorance would not last forever. In fact, since you specifically seek to usurp their Truths, you would have to understand them better than any other thing in the galaxy possibly could. Of course, what that would mean is that you would understand their desire for both the mortal Aeldari and their last surviving goddess."

The Emperor grimaced.

Nurgle wanted Isha, and the Emperor saw what Lilieath prophesied to be Isha's fate at the hands of the Plaguefather.

Slaanesh wanted all the souls of the Aeldari, and the Emperor had already seen what the Prince of Pleasure was capable of.

Both desires were motivated by each Chaos god's respective Truths.

If he took them into his legend, those desires would be inscribed into him as well, and as the arbiter of their Truths, he would eventually begin to see the way they viewed the world. Hence he would have the same desires as Nurgle and Slaanesh.

"If it were some other species, you might have been able to save them as well. However, for the Aeldari and myself specifically, your plan is damnation regardless."

That was the reason for Isha's rejection. The Emperor's plan would not work in the first place for the Aeldari or their goddess.

"Don't try to deny it." Isha said sadly as the Emperor's brow creased as he tried to find a way to refute her. "When I said you would plague all who would resist with poxes which only you had the cure to, I did not say that lightly."

"You suggest that I would do something like that to you?" The Emperor's tone was filled with disgust.

"You already intended to send me to eternal sleep and harvest my knowledge in my dreaming nightmares." Isha shrugged. "After you take in Nurgle, it would only be a matter of time, and Nurgle is your first target. Afterall, why else would you have designed something like the Virus bomb to begin with?"

The Virus bomb, an Exterminatus class bioweapon that spread the genetically-engineered pathogen called the Life-eater virus across the surface of an entire planet within minutes. The virus could penetrate power armor and rebreathers, and rotted anything of biological origin into a flammable sludge. All the flora and fauna of an entire world would be digested by the virus; turning forests into swamps of decay, and choking every body of water with the liquified remains of all those who had been living moments before. Then, a single spark was all that was required to turn the gangrenous remains of an entire planet into a burning hellstorm.

With a plague this virulent, it would not take long for humanity to be synonymous with death, disease, and despair. After that, it would only require a trip through a Webway backdoor deep into the Plaguefather's garden, and the usurpation of the oldest Chaos god could begin.

"The same thing will happen when you slay She who Thirsts, Neoth." Isha said quietly. "Your people already find my kind attractive. I will not have my children be your people's playthings."

Distant echoes of thunder rumbled overhead as the Emperor simulated the situation Isha had described, trying to find another outcome. Finally, he shook his head and raised his sword again.

"Then… there is only one way this can go." The Emperor said slowly.

"Whoever finds out about the Emperor's plan cannot be allowed to live." Isha replied calmly.

"So, there are only two ways this can end." The Emperor's flaming sword was already in the ready position, and his feet shifted so his chest faced away from Isha at an angle, narrowing his silhouette while putting his weapon in-between himself and his opponent.

"Anyone who learns of the plan to turn humanity into the source of all evils must be either killed by the Emperor." Isha shrugged.

"Or kill the Emperor." Neoth replied.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared above them.

"In the end, this is the only relationship humanity can have with Xenos." The Emperor's voice was sullen, disappointed, and tired.

"There are other paths." Isha said calmly as she unfolded her arms.

"I have no interest in listening to the second rate answer of a failed goddess belonging to a fallen species." The Emperor replied, voice devoid of emotion. "If you had an answer to all evil, you would have deployed it before your children fell."

"Do you remember the question of the train and the tracks we talked about, Neoth?" Isha said suddenly as she opened a hand, and a spear made of obsidian rock shot out of the ground and landed in her palm.

"'What happens if the act of sacrificing one to save many is counted as murder?' was it?" The Emperor replied as he waited for Isha to finish.

"We don't have to go that far." Isha chuckled as a new golden strand of hair grew out of her head before cutting itself off and wrapping around the point of the spear. "But, it is that concept that is my solution." Isha twirled her weapon in her hand, testing its balance before holding it in both hands and lowering her posture. "Unfortunately, a crime must be committed for a criminal to exist."

The Emperor tensed, and the ground beneath his feet cracked as he shifted his weight in readiness to lunge.

"Before we begin…" Isha interrupted as her own legs bent, preparing to pounce. "I would like to thank you for reminding me."

"Reminding you of what?" The Emperor answered as the two of them stared into each other's eyes.

"Of what I am and what I was made for in the War in Heaven."

Twin explosions rocked the land as Isha and the Emperor shot forwards, and clashed once more.