"You say this is what you want, but is it really? Or is it what others tell you that you want? You say you need this, but is it what you really need? Or what others expect of you? Look into your heart, look into this mirror, for it will read your heart, and if your heart equals the desires you say you have, then I will help you with what you wish. If it does not? Then I will help you learn to stand up for yourself." -- Anon Guest
Mirrors rarely tell the truth. Silver, the most common element for making them reflective, corrupts easily. They turn everything around. For a mirror of truth, one needs pure things. Uncorruptible things. Pure gold. Pure silica. Pure gemstones representing as many planes of existence as possible.
The one about the blood of a virgin is pure fabrication, but the resulting artefact is many times as difficult to obtain.
A mirror of Veritas is worth far more than its component parts. It's because the truth is many more times rare, and thousands more times as precious. When you're the kind of being who grants wishes, you need one of these. Mostly because too many wish for what they think they want, rather than what they know they need.
Many of them are driven to me. Miserable, lost, desperate. It breaks my heart. So many are so determined that just one thing will fix everything.
But I do more than grant wishes.
This particular poor, unfortunate soul believed that the mirror itself would grant her wish. She clutched her shawl with both fists and said, "I wish for enough money to keep my farm."
The mirror showed the truth. There would never be enough money. Someone had designs on the lands that held her farm. Something grandiose and self-serving. Something... vainglorious. So the tyrant with the plan kept demanding more and more coin to each holdout. Until they broke.
Tears flooded down her face at the revelation. All hope seemed to be lost.
I put my hand on her shoulder. "Fear not," I soothed. "I do more than grant wishes."
"What else can be done?" she asked.
"I grant you the courage to fight injustice. I grant you the charisma to bring allies to your side. I grant you the brilliance to plan the defeat of a self-serving dictator. And I gift you the knowledge... of what to do to change your part of the world for the better."
The tears slowed to a halt as the curve of her spine straightened and the nervous clutch of her shawl slackened. "Oh," she whispered. "Oh, that is wonderful..."
I'll watch over her, of course, but I know she has everything she needs.
[Photo by Agata Samulska on Unsplash]
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