Mirror Majesty

13: The Bitter Arrival of Auntie Maria

Marcus and Nancy looked with open jaws at Grandmother Maggie and the box in her hands.

"Another world?" choked Nancy as she attempted to swallow her horchata.

"Indeed," said Maggie rubbing her wrinkled hands over the box's lid. "Hope is not missing as I'm sure you know. She is lost, lost in another world much alike and unlike our own. A world named Tartarus."

"Like the Greek mythology place?" Marcus pulled out his phone and searched. "Tartarus, a deep abyss and dungeon where the damned are tormented and the wicked are punished. Also the prison for the great titans that once plagued the Earth. That Tartarus?"

"That is what the Greeks believed it to be, but they were a bit off on the true nature of the other world. Tartarus is in fact an alternate world parallel to our own where lives are connected and all choices have shared outcomes."

"This sounds like a bunch of hogwash," said Nancy rolling her eyes. "You sure you're not a senile old lady?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or do you want to leave?" Maggie raised a stiff finger at Nancy. "Because you have a choice, chica."

"I'll listen," said Nancy.

"Good." Maggie leaned back in her chair. "Many eons ago when the universe was born, two perfect worlds were forged and bound by fate. Three divine brothers took liberty over creation. Together they defined laws to govern nature and magic to give it mystery. One of the three brothers gave mankind free will, but his siblings were full of bitterness and greed. They wanted mankind to depend on the gods so they fought for control, a fight that led to the brother's demise and the release of five celestial spirits.

The first spirit was the Spirit of Life tasked to weave the strings of fate. The second, the Spirit of Death to ferry the departed to their final resting place. The third, the Spirit of Goodness to govern kind actions and feelings of joy. The fourth, the Spirit of Evil to shelter the pain and the suffering that life brought. And lastly the fifth and strongest of them, the Spirit of Hope to keep peace.

For a time the Spirits worked in harmony, until Evil felt his role was unfairly received. Why should he alone bear all the pain of the universe and suffer for the actions that Life had weaved? So he broke from the other spirits and sought to destroy all life to end his suffering.

A war once again ensued in the heavens. The Spirits of Good, Death, and Life fought valiantly but lost to Evil's strength. Evil would have won if not for Hope's arrival. The battle between them was legendary. The sky tore open, mountains cracked, oceans swelled until Evil fell. His spirit torn and broken was banished to the darkness. Peace had been restored, but at a great cost. The battle left the Spirit of Hope weak and close to death. So to save the spirit, the powers of heaven joined it to the hearts of mankind and blessed one family with a great task. That family would use the spirit's power to bring peace if ever evil came again. And so became my family's legacy, passed down from mother to daughter and the occasional male, to bring light to darkness and darkness to light."

Maggie pulled out a small hand mirror from the folds of her gown. She held it up to Marcus and Nancy. Their reflection within began to shift. A bright light burst from the glass and filled the room in a strange glow. Small illuminated orbs of different colors swirled around them fading in and out.

"Since mirrors can bend light, they have become a powerful tool for members of my family and one such tool that my granddaughter unfortunately had no control over."

"So Hope Martinez is the one who caused all those mirrors to break around school?" Nancy gasped. "And... and that's why she avoided them... oh god. I've been making fun of her all these years." Nancy bent her head in shame.