Clad in her dark armor, the Dark One sits upon the carved stone bench….

….she looks below at all that she has loved for so long….her place of peace….a place where her heart has flown among the clouds….waiting, hoping……then knowing how it feels to die inside fighting against the brutal winter winds that have struck at her heart and soul…..yet as she sits she notices new life around her and she feels her heart beat within her…..as if to say to her that there is another chance…..for love…..for life…..she feels the hard steel of her dagger against her in its silver hilt and knows that it will protect her from the evil ones who lurk just beyond her vision.....but knows she will bring them down as they come……but for now she looks upon the horizon for even a shadow of the ship that she will sail upon…..and knows that it will come from within the heart of darkness to bring her to new light………..

The Dark One sits upon the wooden steps so familiar to her…..her fur cloak enveloping her in its warmth……

…..yet she feels the cold dagger of betrayal within her heart borne by those of her own blood……her time is unknown……she feels the ice cold of regret and despair flood her veins…..and knows not how to find hope again….for so long she has believed without doubt……..being alone fighting the demons of destruction has tired her with endless nights of darkness….she knows where she belongs….yet knows not how to survive any longer………and wonders where the light has gone…..her dreams lost to her……….she must find the strength to find them and believe that they will come…....she is tired……so tired of slaying demons……and wishes that there were someone to save her from the demons that slash at her very soul……..that wish her to draw her last life’s breath so that they may reign over her magical land………just one time……….just one time if the ship she has waited for….for so long would appear upon the horizon……….she would be saved from the saddest fate of all………….

As the Dark One stands upon the docks at the edge of the starlit lake, she feels the winds come upon her yet she holds fast…….

….for she is the fierce and loyal protector of those with kind hearts of truth….those who she has been deceived by have none of her loyalty….it is lost to not ever be had again…..north winds drift down and she feels within her the existence of the offspring of one who held her heart so many years before…..the hopes, the dreams gone in a moment of time……….and pain fills her heart and tears fall upon the ground at her feet at what was taken from her….but as she stands in the magical harbor beneath the full moon she feels that she has been brought to this place for a reason yet unknown…..one that will fill her heart with joy……..not sorrow as she lived before…..and she will fight and trod upon the ground each night until her dreams come true and she can live the life she is meant for….one where her true dreams come to life……..

The moon shines as thought illumined by a kingdom’s firelight……

……..as the Dark One stands within the wooden enclave gazing downward at the starlit water in the harbor far below and her thoughts drift as the clouds pass by the shining moon above……she hears a faint sound from the edge of the dark mists………as she grasps her dagger, she moves toward the sound knowing that it is not of evil…..and there he lies with glittering silver wings…..wounded by evil…….she kneels on the damp ground next to him and a tear falls gently upon his wound……she brushes her hand upon his face and his eyes open…..and he sees her, the Dark One……the fairy nymph who seeks peace upon her kingdom………he breathes easier and his wound begins to heal…….her tears have saved him from certain death……and he will live………he vows within his heart to watch and wait and see what this all shall bring……and knows that only good will come…..in time…….with hope……..and she takes her velvet cloak from her shoulders and lays it upon him for warmth…..and stands watch, protecting him from the evil that lurks nearby as he heals……with her dagger held out and her heart beating steadily within…….

She walks in the darkness with only the stars for direction……

……...but the Dark One senses that true evil is near and rests her hand upon the hilt of her gilded sword……waiting……knowing…….that this night she must destroy one that was disguised in another form…….that of a sauntering bear in human form, one whom she would never have thought to hold evil within his heart……..but, in truth, she has found him to be the most evil of all……a foe, not a friend …….and there he sits before her in the mists on his black beast waiting…… The Dark One pulls her sword from her star studded belt with chains hanging upon her leather clad thigh and holds it high…….a star flames forth from the sky and touches the tip and light blasts upon the ground……..she stands within its circle, protected from his evil and hurls her sword…….it plunges through his heart and he turns to ashes………all that is left is his steel beast……. The circle blazes a path for her and she returns her sword to its hilt…… The Dark One turns and looks upward at the blazing light as it enfolds her in a warmth she has not ever felt…...one that envelopes her in belief……..belief that all will be right as it should be.....and that her true love is on his way……..and that in time she will no longer rid her place of peace of the evil ones alone, but with the Light One by her side………

No sooner than the moonlight illumines the lake below, it disappears and darkness reigns once more.........

.....as the truth cuts through to her heart like a double edged dagger……..and she knows that peace will always be elusive………but when it is near it must be cherished……and when it has gone for a time, the Dark One must reach deep within her soul for hope…….for what seems to be real is but an illusion………an illusion so dark that fear invades her mind and she is left with no breath…………the dagger of truth is as hard as steel and she fights for her life, fights to have better than before even though it seems so far away……but beneath it all she knows she will conquer the evil that continues to crawl upon the earth that she walks upon each day……..and she will capture it and force it back into the mists once and for all……….in time…….

As the Dark One looks skyward, a ray of moonlight streams down upon her bejeweled by the stars that lurk so close by……

…….and she knows this is where she belongs. Stars so close together look as though they are clouds in the night sky……..constellations move slowly as she breathes out all of the trepidation she has so long held within her soul……..for there is nothing to fear here……..only so much to hope for and it will be……….in time………light shines in the darkness………..in the distance she hears rumbling that is so familiar and there he is on his steel beast…….the mystical music man……….driving toward his home on the lake…….and she smiles………for where else could anyone exist without fear but in this magical place called Sunapee………..