CANDIDA DE TORQUEMADA

Their romance was the thing of legend: she was just a common prole, he was the Grand Master of a vast galactic empire. They had met while Torquemada was showing her family around an apartment designed by his very hand, and soon the world was seduced by their whirlwind romance, while Candida herself was seduced by her husbands power - so much so that on her wedding day, she allowed Torquemada to implant a micro-bomb in her forehead, specially keyed to his genetic code, to keep away would be rivals for her affections. While she had won her place in the hearts of the Termites, she found it difficult to win over her in-laws. Her mother-in-law, Murcalla, was never happy with her sons choice of bride, while 'Grandfather' Nostradamus provided her with some far more obsessive attentions.

Despite this, however, Candida stood by her man (her resolve strengthened, perhaps, by the mysterious deaths of Torquemada's previous wives), and soon provided heirs to his throne, Pandora and Barbarossa. For a while, life was good. Her husband continued his great work of cleansing the galaxy, while she stayed at home to look after the royal family, but before long, things began to go very wrong. Torquemada was reduced to a phantom in a travel wire accident, and was forced to hop from body to body to survive. Candida and the children became increasingly frightened, and eventually Candida had no choice but to ask for a divorce. In a bid to save his marriage, Torquemada made a pact with some deviants from The Gothic Empire, to secure himself a permanant body, but when the news reached Termight of his death, Candida was secretly pleased.

In the ten years that passed, she watched helplessly as Grand Master Krassan (aided by Grand Dragon Mazarin) rose to power in place of her son and rightful heir Barbarossa. She began to groom her son for his role, and re-invented herself as a media heavyweight to help him every step of the way. A constant critic of Krassan and his rule, she still had a lot of loyal fans around the planet, which guaranteed her audiences.

Losing her children in a bus crash pushed her close to the edge, but she found herself reunited with her beloved husband, brought back from the dead once more. Forced into helping the Arch Deviant, Nemesis, The Torquemada's travelled through the infamous Time Wastes to the end of the world. However, Candida's experiences there were far from happy. Having lost her children, she thought she had found Nirvana, only to have it snatched away by her husband. The incident left her mind damaged, but the shock of returning to the nightmare that was Termight was too much for her, and Torquemada had no choice but to have her committed. Candida was finally free of it all...

For many years, she languished in her personal hell, unaware of anything outside, until one day, a merry jongleur wandered by. He somehow convinced the guards to let him see Candida, and once inside her cell, he played for her the Music of The Spheres, the song of creation. The jongleur taught her to dance, faster and faster, healing her mind as she went, and soon Candida was laughing as a woman free. The jongleur revealed himself as none other than Nemesis, and together they plotted her revenge on Torquemada. Seeing she was sane, Torquemada quickly disposed of his current wife and made plans to re-marry his true love in front of a planet wide audience.

Their wedding ended with Candida turning on Torquemada, telling him exactly what she thought of him, before fleeing the temple with Nemesis, all in front of the worlds media. The Warlock removed the bomb from her head, finally freeing her from Torquemada forever.

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