The Power in the Dark

Maria

In the ocean, there is said to be a statue of a beautiful woman. It is said that any who find this woman will be blessed with eternal life. Many a sailor have died chasing this fable, and in a way, their deaths were ironic ones, for they were sadly misinformed on the story of the statue. Only two people know the true story of the statue, and those two were the woman herself, and a man who was once her lover.

Her name was Maria. She was the daughter of the Earl of Livingston, one of the nobles who were part of Queen Elizabeth's court. Maria was said to be the most beautiful lady of the all the royal families, and due to this many a man felt compelled to ask for her hand in marriage. And, consequently, many a man did she decline. And then, he came.

He was a sailor. A man of the sea, he understood completely the power of the water and, more so, the power of the moon. For it is the moon that controls the sea, and the sea that serves the moon. This relationship will never be broken, nor can it. For if the moon neglects the sea, the sea will destroy the earth, and if the sea disowns the moon, then the heavens will weep tears of fire. And so it is the sailors duty to tie the bond between the moon and the sea.

They met at a ball. He had charmed her with a small music box he always carried on him, and from that point on she knew she loved him. Maria's father and the sailors' captain made arrangments for her marriage to the captain. However, as it is with love at first sight, Maria and the sailor ran off, stealing a small vessel in which they could escape. Many things happened that night, some of them private, some of them glorious. Needless to say, they were followed by the enraged captain, and were thus blasted out of the water by canon fire. There was no goodbye, no parting kiss, just look of love as he tossed her a small bag and was shot through the stomach by a canon, carrying him through the air and into the water.

Legend says that inside the bag there was a ring that he had planned on giving her, and that when she tried it on, she turned to stone and sank to the bottom of the sea. This is not only amazing, but it is also wrong.

Maria drifted to the shore of a strange island, shaped like that of a hook, and was formed completely of slab rock. At the tip of the hook there was a cliff, and when she stood at its' edge, she could see the whole world. And if she reached up high enough, she could gently graze the moon.

Looking in her hands, she opened the small bag she had been given by the sailor. Inside was the music box that he had charmed her with, his last token of love. Smiling, she wound it up, then looked across the sea, swaying to its' remorseful tune. And she stayed on that island for all of eternity, playing the music box over and over. For as long as she stood there, she would never age, and she knew that one day she would see her beloved again.

Many a sailor claim to hear a strange tune, much like that of a music box, playing over the water on nights of a full moon. And, they say, if you listen long enough, a voice will mournfully sing along. Singing of the love of Maria, the lost soul of the sailor, and the moons' eternal kiss.