“Who are you?” Nyashia growled, slamming her fist into her mirror. The embroidered lionesses in the tapestry above head seemed to come alive, and they were snarling, prowling, their ruby red eyes staring at the back of Nyashia’s neck.
Gritting her teeth, Nyashia shakingly reached for her scepter. Normally, the weight of it in her palms would calm her down, but facing the ghostly pale boy in the mirror, Nyashia only felt fear. She did not understand ; No matter how many dream barriers she placed at the wretched piece of glass, or how many times she ordered the servants to move it from her room without alerting her parents; Or how many times she smashed it and cursed it with her scepter – the mirror remain intact, mocking her, haunting her dreams.
The boy’s strangely glittering eyes were brighter than any of the stars she’d seen winking in the night sky, and his skin was paler than any of her mother’s pearls- but Nyashia’s mind screamed, as she gripped her scepter tighter. Ghost, mzuka. Demon, shetani.
A sprite sent to haunt her dreams. The snake waiting to strike in the undergrowth, with poison oozing from its gleaming fangs.
The boy took a step closer towards the mirror, and Nyashia bent her knees into standard fighting stance. The end of her scepter sparked bright gold. Her ears were ringing, her veins roaring with sihiri- Nyashia prepared to kill.
The boy’s ghostly eyes flicked to her scepter, and warily sheathed a dagger.
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Nyashia raised her arms, the explosion curse on the tip of her tongue- Then the boy vanished, leaving only Nyashia’s reflection, cold sweat erupting all over her skin. Letting loose a knotted breath, Nyashia let her arms fall to her sides.
Just a nightmare, she told herself, turning around to go back to bed. Just a nightmare-
A gasp escaped her lips as her feet felt something sharp. There was glass on the floor. Nyashia looked up to find that there was no mirror. Instead, there was only the frame, empty and bare.
Wheeling around, Nyashia came face to face with her nightmare. He was close enough until she could see the white scar on his cheek, and feel his ragged breaths on her bare shoulder. At the corner of her eye, Nyashia saw a flash of sliver.
With a surge of sihiri, Nyashia sent the dagger spinning into the tapestry behind her.
“What are you?” Nyashia heaved, driving her scepter into his chest. The boy’s clothes were made from some material that Nyashia couldn’t recognize, but the scent on him she knew- the sweetly pungent aroma of an incoming rain shower. The boy opened his mouth to start, a language she couldn’t recognize, low and messily looped together like a bundle of rope- but Nyashia didn’t give him a chance.
“No need to thank me.” Nyashia clenched her jaw, already feeling the toil of the spell as the air started to hum. The boy’s eyes widened, starting to retreat to the end of a wall. Cornering him, Nyashia glared him in the eye, hoping he could understand. But her voice was hoarse and her throat was dry, Nyashia could only pray. “I’m sending you back to whatever burning pit you crawled from.”
The sky rumbled outside, a bright flash, a loud crack-
The boy was gone, leaving only Nyashia and her scepter, the boy’s silver dagger embedded into the heart of an embroidered lioness , the smell of a thunderstorm churning in the skies outside her window.
And a healed, unbroken mirror that glinted softly in the darkness.