CHARACTERS:
Prince of Fire		Princess of Water
Prince of Earth		Princess of Air
Prince of Elements	Princess of Power
  (metal and magnetism)	  (electricity)
Prince of Darkness	Princess of Light

Each has a kingdom, over which they hold absolute power.  None of them 
get along, but the opposing elements particularly hate eachother.  
Short-lived alliances are occasionally formed, but only in times of 
great need.

CONFLICT:
A demonic power of indeterminate origin has attacked the eight 
kingdoms.  At first, it mimicks the power of whatever element each 
royal opposes, but after some consideration and careful diplomacy, the 
royals discover that their enemy is of an external source.  They 
tentatively align themselves against this evil, but are unsuccessful in 
their attempts to fight it.

EXCERPT:
Late in the war...

The battles were now being fought in the Dark prince's territory, which 
made the princess of Light a bit nervous.  She'd never been one to 
dwell in the darkness in the past, and being trapped in perpetual 
nightfall made her paranoid and painfully aware of her limitations.  
Still, this was where the Evil was, and she had agreed to fight it to 
the best of her abilities.  All of the royals had.  If one fell, they 
would all fall, and without the balance of their powers, the land would 
fall into ruin.

Light sighed heavily.  The land had already fallen into ruin.  Who were 
they kidding?  There was no way they could possibly defeat this Evil 
that had sprung up in their midst, not without some kind of 
intervention.  Or a miracle.  Or something.

"Princess of Light."  The prince of Darkness beckoned her.  An uneasy 
chill ran through her body as she approached the black-clad, raven-
haired prince.  His scheming in the past made her question their 
current alliance, and the fact that they were deeply mired in his 
territory...  He held sway over her, it was clear.  She did not like 
that one bit.

"I have an idea," the prince began.  "One which requires you to trust 
me completely.  Do you trust me?"

Every bit of her screamed NO, even as she nodded.  "For the good of the 
land," she thought, "I do this for the good of the land."

The prince smiled, looking handsomely dangerous with his vampiric fangs 
just barely gleaming between his lips.  "Please hold out both of your 
hands."  The princess complied hesitantly.  With a low bow, the prince 
lowered his face to each upturned wrist, kissed each gently, and stood 
straight with his hands wrapped tightly around the princess'.

The princess of Power turned suddenly from the fray, sensing the 
growing power in the wings.  "What are you two doing?!" she yelled.  
Neither Light nor Darkness answered.  Darkness whispered, "Do not be 
alarmed.  I shall make this...  as painless as I possibly can."  With 
that promise, he swiftly drew his long nails across Light's exposed 
forearms.  She flinched, then a wave of stillness swept over her.  It 
was as if she were standing in a stream, but something was blocking the 
current, leaving her in a calm eddy where nothing could touch her.  "Is 
this how he uses his victims?  By changing their consciousness so they 
feel no pain as he drinks their blood?"  Then a more rational thought 
broke through:  "By the gods, why did I ever agree to THIS?"

And she was plunged back into the stream's current without warning.  
Every sensation returned.  The pain of the prince's attack, the 
dizziness of the loss of blood, the shock of knowing what would happen 
next--she crashed to her knees.  Darkness surrounded her.  His hair 
brushed her cheek gently, moving as she breathed in ragged gulps.  He 
whispered in her ear, "Do not fight this."  Deftly, he pricked his 
index finger on one fang and held it to her trembling lips.  A single, 
clean, bright drop of blood fell upon her.  "Swallow," he said.  She 
complied without thinking.  "Why am I doing this?  I can't do this, 
it'll destroy me, it'll destroy what I am, I am the princess of LIGHT, 
I can't accept the darkness, I can't give in to Darkness, I am--"

And it all went black.

The princess of Power rushed over as the deed was finished.  "WHAT have 
you DONE?" she demanded.  The prince of Darkness only smiled.  Blood 
trickled down his chin, and he licked it away with a lazy, uncaring 
motion.

"I've created something entirely...  impossible."  Laughter tinged his 
smooth voice.  "For the first time, opposing elements have mixed.  And 
if she survives this transformation, she just may be able to fight the 
Evil."

NOTES:
Yeah, this was another one of my weird-ass dreams.  I'd blame this one 
on drugs or something I ate, but it had been nearly 24 hours since my 
last Tylenol Cold tablets, and all I had before bed was a can of root 
beer.  Maybe it was a fever dream.  Nah, I'm not feverish.  Just really 
freaking sick.  *coughs*  I stay up at all hours of the night at 
school, drink out of every (non-suspect) container that comes my way, 
and sleep in the same room as someone who's been on antibiotics for 
some illness or another all year, and I never get sick.  I come home 
for more than a week, and, without fail, I catch a cold.  Ugh.  I do so 
hate my stupid weak immune system.

Anyway.  What inspired this?  I dunno.  Maybe a weird combination of 
Chrono Cross, Anita Blake novels, conversations with DB, and my typical 
twisted subconscious.  Will I ever make a story out of it?  Probably 
not.  I only wrote it down because it was 1:30 at night and I was bored 
spitless and unable to sleep.  It only took me an hour to write, oddly 
enough.  I didn't edit the story, and I barely re-read it after typing 
it out, so don't kick me too hard if something's wrong.  Do point me in 
the right direction, however, if there's something you find that could 
be changed.  I love criticism and commentary of my written works, 
because I know I have an inflated opinion of my skills as a writer, as 
well as the knowledge that I'm not as good as I think I am.  Cut me 
down to size, please.  Lord knows I need it.  9_9

---
nem0, 03-24-2001-0245