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What's her problem?

“Vivian, you dog!” the witch snarled, her gloved hands curled into fists. She looked down at a girl, who was cowering beneath the old, parched fingers of an already dead tree. On the sidelines, a plump figure was looking at the scene with seemingly no expression whatsoever.

“You pathetic waste of life!” the smallest of the trio yelled, approaching the medium-sized girl threateningly. “You are a fool of unmentionable dimension! How could you kill her?! How?! You were twisted by them, weren’t you? Well, you were wrong if you thought you could seek refuge with us!!” Her already frowning mouth was somehow further twisted into an even more unpleasant expression, her teeth gleaming menacingly in the little light available. She raised her fist, already glowing with a white fervor.

Vivian knew what was coming, but could only brace herself against the blow…

Beldam, the oldest mage in the Shadow Siren trio, is perhaps the most despised one as well. Her punishments towards the innocent Vivian have angered many a person who has heard the story through the video game portraying the tale.

But Beldam herself has an interesting story…a reason behind the seemingly unprovoked wrath…

And it started when the Shadow Queen, the most powerful of all Shadow Sirens, the Sovereign in control of most of the world, gave birth to her first child…

“What a morsel!” the Queen wept at the sight of her newborn.

“Pay attention, won’t you?“

“Don’t be telling me to listen!” the Queen screamed angrily. “I worked hard in creating this thing! If we are to keep control of our world, then we a good heir is needed from the start! A wimp will not inspire fear! We cannot let people believe that our kin is somehow weak – we need strong impressions! Would you fear this pathetic crumb of a child?”

The Queen was arguing with her most trusted advisor arguing over her first child. Three months passed after the Queen summoned the shadows to create a new being…

But her infant was a size far less than the usual size of a Shadow Siren baby; and its appeared to be hunched over in a position that was plain freakish.

The Queen was far less than ecstatic.

“You must watch out…we have to wait until its powers start to develop. Perhaps, for its physical disability, it could have the same abilities we have and maybe even more…” the advisor, a small Wizzerd said. Twiddling its four thumbs, it mubled, “We have to give it a name, as well…”

The Queen’s rage was to be feared; she brought a great civilization to its knees in a single day, after all. She knew when to control herself, however, for there was a small chance that child should grow to be useful.

The baby was examined by the most skilled Dark Wizzerds a few days after, and none wanted to tell the Queen what they found. The one brave soul who ventured forward to tell her whimpered before her throne: “Milord, the child has been found to be hunchbacked… we think that perhaps there was some interference in the summoning of the shadows.”

Worse, the baby’s powers were identified as being the ability to move heat away from objects, and to slowly freeze them, an ability more commonly known as the ‘ice’ ability. The ability was not the most common among sirens, but the Queen found it of little use.

The child was named Beldam – a degrading name given to her by the Queen, with two meanings – an anagram of ‘Bedlam’, which is what she believed would happen were her child to inherit the throne, and the actual word ‘Beldam’, meaning an old lady, which is what the Queen believed her child would just grow to be.

Young, innocent Beldam found herself often left alone. Her mother had given one of the most intelligent Wizzerds in her castle the job of privately teach her daughter, as her mother decided she may as well be of some use. Beldam was taught by her own mother some spells and the basics of magic and spells, but let the teacher handle the rest. The Queen, however, did not interact with her much. Beldam was given many chores to do…She was always busy cleaning the palace, doing favors for her queen, and everything possible to gain as much as a “Good job.”

Beldam took her wet rag and set about cleaning the many windows in her mother’s palace. She knew how difficult it would be for mommy to do it, and so she wipe extra-hard to make sure that the shine was clear. When she finished that one window, she looked at it with pride; what marvelous clarity it had! Happy with her work, she sank into the shadows to move onto the next portion that needed cleaning.

After she was finished, she rushed quickly to her tutor. The Dark Wizzerd was a temperamental sort, she knew, but surely he;d want to know how she was progressing with her chores.

She knocked happily on his chamberdoor. “Tutor! Tutor!” After a few seconds from which she heard groaning, the door opened.

“What?” he asked, looking sleepily at the mage.

“Tutor, I finished my chores!” She grinned. “Isn’t that great?”

He sighed, then motioned for Beldam to come close. He whispered in her ear, “Your mother provides me with enough privileges to teach you spells and magic, but short of threatening to execute me, she cannot make me interested in your mundane accomplishments. Go tell her the next time; I have no business in your chores.”

He retreated into his room and shut the door quickly.

Beldam, despite being ignored by a large part of the castle populace, wanted very much to please her mother. She didn’t know anything at all about her mother’s plans to take over the world, and certainly not that she had the chance to be the next-in-line. It wasn’t until one fateful day that she found out about that…

The small mage held a broom as she wandered the large, empty palace halls. Finally, she thought. Mother will want to know about this. Beldam had another reason for wanting to rush so quickly to her mom – she had managed to create a solid block of ice, on her own! Surely, the Queen would be proud of how quickly she had advanced in her spell-casting studies.

“Mother! Mother!” Beldam yelled as she dragged he broom across the floor. She was smiling ear-to-ear (despite her not having ears) and she kept on brushing the stray pale hairs from her ponytail that kept getting in her eyes. “Queenie, I’m getting my hat! Professor said I can get my hat! Que-“

“-let Beldam be the heir,” she heard a very familiar voice say…the advisor’s. Beldam stopped at the mention of her name, and looked at where she had heard him speak. She walked up to the huge door which, although tightly shut, still let a good amount of sound through. She put her ear to the door and listened.

“Beldam has been studying very hard. She’s obedient, and people know her. She’s even trusted among her peers. We no longer need fear; everyone loves her and wants to be her. She’s also respected-“

“-Only because people believe she’s the heir,” her mother interrupted. “Do you think people are nice to her because they like her personality? I don’t see it that way. I see superficial smiles and people waiting to be given favors if she takes over. Knowing her, she’d actually pay back the favors.”

Heir? Super-fish-all? Am I special? Beldam wondered upon hearing the words. That advisor man was arguing for her to be something – something special, from what it seemed. And he had noticed her studying a LOT! Oh, Beldam gripped her broom in ecstasy upon knowing that someone had noted her work! Mom may not be happy, but she would be once she sees the new power I have, she thought gleefully.

“I’ll have to try again. Beldam has proven to be of some use, but she cannot inherit the throne. She cannot be my successor. Perhaps she could do something else, but not Queen,” her mother argued. She did not hear the advisor say anything in response.

Queen! Important Wizzerd man thinks I could be Queen! Mommy is worried that I can’t do it, but I will show her that I can be Queen! I’ll be Queen!

Beldam was so excited that she dropped her broom as she ran away to her room, forgetting that there was one more part of the castle she needed to clean.

And that was a mistake the Queen didn’t tolerate.

The Shadow Queen’s punishments were notorious around her reign, perhaps even around the world. She would torture the ‘wrong-doers’ for as long as she felt like, and left them alone. Many died from her deathly punishments. Beldam was exposed to these punishments at an early age to ‘squeeze some use out of her’, and a simple mistake, like leaving a broom in the hallway was something that was punishment worthy in the eyes of the Queen.

The Queen had a different punishment for her today.

She had a maid of hers tell Beldam to see the Queen. Beldam thought that this was it – her work throughout the years was finally paying off, she could lead the reign, rule the world, bring happiness to many of the dreary faces she had noticed around the palace…

Beldam appeared before her Majesty’s door, and knocked on it glibly. “Enter,” she heard her mom’s cold voice say. She flicked her hand and the doors opened.

She walked onto the red carpet and in front of her mother, who didn’t seem as happy as she expected. Her hopes, she knew, were in danger of being dashed.

“I’ve heard you wanted to be Queen,” her mother said.

Beldam took a second to respond, “Yes.”

“Do you know what kind of a job that is?”

“No, mother, but I-“

“Being Queen is very difficult. Not everybody can do it.” She curled her lip and added, “Especially people who forget their chores.”

Beldam frowned. “What?”

“I noticed today that you seem to have left your broom in front of my door; no doubt listening to a private conversation of mine, and when I exit, I find that you have yet to clean the east wing of the castle. Does that seem like a good attitude for a Queen?”
“It was an accident, mom!” Beldam begged. “I’m sorry! I was…”

“You eavesdropped, and then you felt you could abandon your duties because you heard something you liked. Well, forget it. You will never take this throne, as long as you live.”

Beldam just looked emptily at her, caught in a state of shock.

“I have got a child in progress, and hopefully she will turn out better than you. Quite honestly, I believe you won’t ever amount to anything.”

Beldam was confused. Why was her mother so upset? She only forgot once; she didn’t normally slack off. She couldn’t believe it…but then she started to think that she was too aloof and that being an Heir, like respect from her mother, was something she would have to earn.

The witch tried harder than ever to do well, but there were no more talks on the subject. She spent her days alone, as always, and practiced using her ice powers to impress her mother when she could see her. She would make her proud, however impossible that seemed…

But she failed. Never again did the Queen speak of that in front of her, nothing was hinted that she could be heir again. But she tried desperately. She at least wanted her mother to love her. The advisor spoke up for her but she didn’t know him at all. She felt it was her mother’s love that would benefit her in the long run…and she tried…

But then Marylin was born.

And the Queen quickly proclaimed privately to people she thought important –Beldam obviously left out, that Marylin would be her successor. Her ability was rarer than that of Beldam’s – she could control where electrons gathered and could use this to control electricity.

Beldam had eavesdropped on the conversation (in a sneakier fashion this time; she had sunken into the shadows and looked up from under a chair), and she knew from the moment she would never again have the opportunity to be an heir. But respect from her mother was something she still strived for…and so she did not complain when ordered to take care of Marylin…

And Beldam, as envious as she was of Marylin, still treated her with love and respect, still doing exactly what her Queen told her…and years passed when something about Marylin was uncovered…

“What do you MEAN she’s retarded?!” Beldam heard the Queen squeal as she listened from behind the door. A doctor had come to inspect Marylin, and the Queen and King were shocked at his news.

The doctor, a Shadow Koopa, twitched at hearing that. “That may not be the best word choice there, Milady. She won’t catch up to her sister’s… progress, is all. She’ll be a rather slow learner. That doesn’t mean she can’t be a good child, and her powers look to be top-notch.”

“We cannot have her as an heir. She could not even command our forces! Beldam would be a far better choice, would she not?” asked the advisor smoothly. The Queen ignored him.

“My children come out all wrong! Beldam was a hunchback and now Marylin is ‘developmentally slow’! Why can’t anyone take my place?” the Queen yelled at no one in particular. Beldam cringed when she heard the Queen comment on her. She may have been physically odd, but she still worked to please her Queen…

“I am very sorry, my Queen. It is a shame that she cannot learn like the others…her abilities could have been quite useful and powerful… I am sincerely ashamed that I had to bring you such pain…” he said, bowing.

“You may leave,” the advisor said quietly. From the scooting noises made, Beldam assumed that he left quite quickly.

“Verily, this is a problem. What else? I need someone – my kin, to rule in case those pathetic little uprisings prove to be a problem. Those two wastes couldn’t rule, not at all. I swear, the only thing left to do is try again.”

“I agree… There’s not much else we can do, Milady. I can only hope that this child shall come out right,” said the advisor.

And so, Beldam was no longer reminded to care for Marylin. No one had any obligations to tend to her. It was almost as if she was being erased from existence. She had already learned how to hover on her tail, but she looked a bit plump…and she never said much anyway.

Even though Beldam had no obligations to her, she still helped her with whatever she had to help her with. She helped her develop her electric abilities, she taught her things even if Beldam was unsure Marylin would understand. She looked at Marylin’s empty stare, her mouth half-open, and felt sorry for her sister who had also been rejected by the Queen.

Eventually the final child, Vivian, came out of the casing.

The doctors said with glee that there was nothing wrong with her, she had the most powerful and rare ability among Shadow Sirens other than her mother’s – the ability to control fire. As inspections came often, Vivian was proven to turn out to be a child who would be intelligent and who had no physical hurdles to overcome.

The Queen was ecstatic, and Beldam wasn’t even offered to care for Vivian. She was kept tended by ‘professionals’, and Beldam couldn’t help but sneer at Vivian’s room. All of her mom’s affection was poured onto the infant, and Beldam was furious.
But she was given a task by the Queen…the Queen said that were she to be trapped by the four ‘heroes’, that she be trapped behind her own door, that Beldam find the Crystal Stars to open the gate, a ‘pure-hearted maiden’ for her to possess should her physical form be destroyed, and wait one thousand years for the seal of the heroes to weaken and for the Queen to come also said to keep Vivian alive…and she was strabegly vague on this one…

What the Queen predicted happened – the powerful Shadow Queen met her demise, and her spirit – the only thing the heroes failed to eliminate - was sealed into a box by the heroes. Without their leader, without any hope, the Shadow Queen’s forces were also sealed behind the door.

And her species and kingdom slowly died out…it is unknown if survivors other than her children remained.

But Beldam kept on following her orders… she kept on thinking that one day, the Queen would come back and she would finally realize how great Beldam really was…

But it would be impossible.

The heiress to the throne, Vivian, killed off her own mother, the Queen, and all of Beldam’s hopes died.

Vivian never seemed to care about the Queen… and Beldam, who knew some of the Queen’s punishments, took it all out on her…Marylin could only stand on the side…for although her bulk made her strong, she was unable to decide whose side she was on.

Beldam and Marylin had left Vivian in the dreaded forest, all hurt and alone. They were able to find their way to the town that was nearby, and they lingered around the Inn.

Vivian is so lucky and she doesn’t even know it. She has it all, and yet she doesn’t care. She killed off her own mother, whom she never gave a damn about…

The dog.