<cue Record of Lodoss Wars soundtrack, if you have it>
Two Mistresses, one Bright, one Dark.
The massed armies of Dreams and Nightmares stood to arms in the Marches,
ready to do battle. Their Mistresses stood behind them, Blandine resplendent
in armor sheerer than silk and spun from Hope For The Future, Beleth draped
in iron cloaks cobwebbed from Despair For The Past. One wielded a sword
sharper than a child's Christmas wish, the other a scythe as brutal as the
realization that there is no Santa Claus.
They eyed each other across the infinite greyness. Through the fathomless
depths, their gazes met.
"No regrets," murmured Blandine.
"No quarter," whispered Beleth.
The lovers roared across the battlefield, their servitors following in their
wake. Dreams warred with Nightmares, and their duel above was reflected in
the tides of the battle below them.
Twelve hours later, both lay dying.
Beleth's scythe had cruelly rent Blandine's breast from shoulder to hip, yet
with one final stroke the Archangel of Dreams impaled her lover upon her
sword. Mortally wounded, the Princess of Nightmare collapsed atop her
slayer.
"This is proper," thought Blandine. "To die in each others' arms, as we lay
so many years ago."
"As it should be," thought Beleth. "If I must die, I take her with me."
And they both died.
Yet...
Something rose from the field of battle that day, something that neither
Superior had predicted. That something called herself Beldine.
<end Prologue. Cue Fantasia of the Wind>
Beldine, ArchPrincess of Hopes and Fears
The world is what you make of it.
Lies cannot exist without Truth. Light is meaningless without Darkness. Hope
and Fear.... are like that, but moreso. False hope can encourage unrealistic
expectations which crush their dreamer when they are not met. Healthy fear
can be a tool for education and self-improvement. Hope and Fear, two sides
of the same coin, yet each can be used for good or evil. This concept of
dualistic unity is named Beldine.
As Blandine and Beleth lay dying, their remaining Forces flowed together
like twin streams of blood and pooled. Their hatred and love for each other
spent, all that remained were the last fragments of their respective Words.
The dreams of tyrants terrify the masses. The dreams of the people frighten
kings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The end of wisdom is
knowing when to stop being afraid.
Beldine is a gestalt being, the summation of the Words which birthed her,
divorced from politics. She is the evil of which men dream and the salvation
in the scared-straight message of a nightmare. She is her parents, as well
as their daughter.
And she is, most assuredly, neither angel nor demon. She is.... something
more. Menunite and Pachadite, existing simultaneously.
</music>
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