“During a time when unicorns roamed free and dragons cast shadows across the sun, the wise men and women of the land told stories of a troubled future. The legends whispered of a time when every baby born would be blonde, genial and entirely Good. But straight after it would emerge a baby with black hair, dark eyes – and an entirely different nature. They would be called Mirrors, and nobody would know from whence they came or what to do with them once they arrived.”

Venom wants a normal life where no one can tell her what to do, especially her father, King Viper.

Blaze wants to be free, after all, he has been imprisoned in a dungeon since he was a baby.

Thorn wants to get the girl, which is a shame, because the girl has other things on her mind.

At least one of them is going to be disappointed.

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Available July 16, 2024
Teen

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Excerpt

During a time when unicorns roamed free and dragons cast shadows across the sun, the wise men and women of the land told stories of a troubled future. Such a future was far too distant to contemplate but, through visions revealed by the Ancients, the wise ones saw it with crystalline clarity.

 

The Legend of Good and Mirrors

The legends whispered of a time when every baby born would be blonde and genial and entirely Good. But straight after it was born, a baby with black hair and navy eyes would emerge, with a completely different nature. They would be called Mirrors, and nobody would know from whence they came or what to do with them once they arrived.

While the Good could only do good things, the Mirrors could only do bad. Their natures would allow them to steal, to lie and even to kill. The legends said the Mirrors would one day bring havoc to the land, pillaging and plundering at will – with no one to stop them. They would be impossible to kill, for so interlinked is the bond between Good and Mirror that killing one leads to the death of their twin. And so, even if the Good had been capable of killing, they could not have eradicated the Mirrors without eradicating themselves.

 

The Legend of Love and Loss

The legends said that the Mirrors would one day be banished to Mirror Island, and the dark-haired, violent babies would be taken there immediately after their birth. Thousands of women across the land would weep for the child they would never see grow, never hear laugh, never suckle.

Lawkeepers would be appointed to enforce the removal of the baby Mirrors and to carry out the dangerous task of rowing them across to the island and depositing them on the shore. There, the Mirror babies would be raised by the adult Mirrors, and they would live out their lives far away from the Good.

 

The Legend of The Five

But, one day, five baby Mirrors would be taken from their parents and placed not on Mirror Island, but somewhere else entirely. They would be held captive until they were adults, and then they would escape and take back what should have been theirs. They would not rest until they found peace or had their revenge. The wise ones’ faces would cloud with worry when they related this legend, leaving their listeners with the uncomfortable feeling that The Five would have the power to change everything around them.

 

The Legend of the Gifted Ones

Among the Good, there would be those with powers beyond human understanding. There would be women who could talk with animals, who could harness the power of wild horses, who could communicate effortlessly with spiders and snakes. There would be men who possessed the ability to read minds, who could pierce the intellect of others and see beyond the physical right into the depths of their soul. When the listeners asked if those gifts would be used for good or bad, the wise ones could not say.

 

The Legend of a Love That Could Not Be

The legends also told of a Good girl who would fall in love with a Mirror boy, but they said the union would bring only heartache, and much worse. It would set in motion a series of events that would shape the entire land. It would lead to the birth of a child that would be Mirrorless, of a war between Mirrors and Good. And the world as everyone knew it would change forever. It would make it possible for the Good to corrupt themselves, to find a way to indirectly destroy and kill through the hand of another.

 

The Legend of City and Shadow

The elders also told of a dark-haired Mirror girl and a blonde Good girl who would meet and, together, find their true selves. In the balance between good and bad, they would become everything they needed to be.

 

The Legend of Quiver and Arrow

And, ultimately, they told of a king who would treat the people fairly and strive for balance between Good and Mirrors – but he would pay a heavy price. For what price is higher than the cost of one’s own heart? They said he would find a woman who belonged with him like an arrow belongs in a quiver, but that darkness awaited in their future.

There were many more stories. Some of them were happy. Some of them the old folk passed on to their children. Some were turned into bedtime stories, lulling them to sleep. Some of the stories were unhappy, told on warm nights by a fireside when everyone was in a wistful mood. And some stories were frightening, used by parents to keep their children in line, where the Mirrors took on the role of a bogeyman who would come and steal them if they misbehaved. The land became known as Mirrordom, partly as a joke and partly as an echo of what might one day come.

Some of the people of the land were shocked to hear of all that was about to pass and started to panic. Would it happen in their lifetime? Would it happen to people they knew? And could anything be done to alter it?

When the wise ones were asked if the future could be changed, they merely smiled and said that the future could always be changed. But the path one takes will ultimately lead you to your destiny – wherever that may be. And for those brave enough to take their path, they would truly find themselves.

And so, the people were soothed by the assurances of the wise ones and lived their lives peacefully, right up until the days when the unicorns became extinct, and the dragons were no more.

And then the trouble started.

 

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