By J. M. Allison
Aggravain brushed her fingers over the large mirror’s ornate silver frame. If the rumors were true, it would reveal her enemies. With it under her control, she’d be unstoppable, and it’d be worth every drop of blood spilled to obtain it.
The mirror held no reflection, only a smoky darkness, as if she stared into an abyss with just a delicate film of glass to keep her from falling in.
She walked to a large stained-glass window and threw open the heavy velvet drapes. The day’s last golden rays spilled across her room, giving it a warm, cheerful ambiance that Aggravain detested. But the book had been very specific. Only the last light of the summer solstice could activate the Mirror of Deep Reflection.
She stalked back over to her prize and arranged the folds of her emerald dress around her. The shadows stretched, and at last the full mirror sat bathed in the fading light. She raised her arms.
“Cogitationis veritas revelare te.” The words echoed softly around the room into the stillness. She repeated the words, her voice louder this time. Still nothing happened. She was a queen. She would not be denied. “Cogitationis veritas revelare te!” she yelled.
This time a ripple crept across the mirror’s surface and the smoke inside began to swirl. A figure rose from the dark. Familiar and elegant, yet wild and terrible. The creature had a female form, and wore a dress of deepest crimson, accented with bone and ruby gems. Her skin had a reptilian sheen, and two long black horns rose gracefully from her sea of raven hair.
Aggravain flinched as the monster’s eyes snapped open to reveal golden orbs full of cunning and cruel intent.
“I obey the summons. What do you wish of me?” The beast inclined her head as she spoke, but Aggravain recognized the action. That of a servant who bowed only out of expectation, not due to respect or submission to her new master.
“You are the Mirror of Deep Reflection, are you not?” Aggravain lifted her chin.
“You may call me Niavargga.” The beast inside shifted to match Aggravain’s pose.
“Show me my enemies.”
Niavargga eyed Aggravain. “Perhaps you might be more specific?”
Aggravain frowned. This was not a hard request. “Show me my enemies.”
“I can show many things. Truth to a specific question or fantasies of what you hope will happen. But only truth is reflected clearly in my depths.”
Aggravain folded her arms. Obviously, this mirror needed to be managed if it was to be of any use. “Show me how I will defeat the raiders to the north.”
They’d sacked several villages along the northern border, cutting off supply lines to the mines along the eastern coast, costing the royal coffers thousands.
Niavargga’s lips curved in a slow, maniacal smile as she spread her arms, and the thick smoke around her swirled between them, forming into a hazy picture.
“The raiders will come just before the next shipment of treasure. You’ll wait in ambush.” The dark smoke formed into a scene of a miniature coastal town, raiders riding in, and Aggravain leading a column of soldiers.
“Just as they strike, so do you.” The miniatures collided, knights and raiders smashing each other into smoke. “Swords will clash, blood will spill, and in the end, only the righteous will remain.” The figures dissolved as her words finished, and she raised her eyes to meet Aggravain’s, the hint of a challenge in their golden depths.
Aggravain pursed her lips. “Reveal the face of the one who is my greatest danger.”
Niavargga pursed her lips as well, then raised one clawed hand and swept into a mocking bow. “As you wish.”
The creature twisted, spinning on the spot. Her red dress flared around her, then settled as she stopped in a crouch at the base of the mirror.
She stood with a flowing grace and stared out at Aggravain.
Aggravain gasped. The dress still belonged to the creature, but it was her own face that reflected back at her.
“What trickery is this?” Aggravain demanded.
How could she be a danger to herself? It was the treachery of others that needed guarding against. Every decision she made was like a play on the chess board. Every command but a step toward the larger goal. Always keeping an eye out for those who could disrupt her carefully laid plans.
“I show only truth.”
Aggravain scowled and paced across the small room. The figure in the mirror matched her every move.
“I have worked too hard to have everything crumble!” Aggravain yelled into the room. With clenched fists, she stomped over to the mirror and yanked it forward. “Show me the truth!”
Her double only stared back at her.
“Mirror! You will show me what I want to see!”
Her reflection smiled, a coy, mischievous grin. “What you want and what you ask are not the same.”
More stupid riddles! “If you do not comply, I will destroy you!”
“Power will never conquer truth. I show only what I can. I show the reality deep within. Recognize or ignore it at your own discretion.”
The reality deep within? She would get her answers. The mirror would learn what it meant to cross a queen as powerful as she.
The figure in the mirror melted back into Niavargga, even as her dress morphed into a replica of Aggravain’s own emerald dress.
She reached one hand toward the beast, and froze, her mind trying to comprehend how Niavargga’s clawed hand now extended from the end of her own wrist. She spun to face the window and recognized Niavargga’s reflection where her own should be. She twisted back to the mirror, but it showed only a reflection of Niavargga standing in her room, as any other mirror might.
Her true self revealed. Laugher bubbled up inside her.
The mirror was right; the truth would always show clearly.
She embodied elegance, danger, and power. She was Aggravain.
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