Mirror of the Soul

Her eyes wouldn't close, or at least, wouldn't stay closed. She stared up at the red silken canopy over her bed, barely made out in the dimness of the deepest night. Try as she might, Biara could not sleep, not in her empty, cavernous bedchamber.

Not alone.

She sighed and pushed the silk sheets off, sliding across them until she reached the edge of the bed and her bare feet touched the cold marble floor. Ordinarily it would make her shiver and long for the warmth of the bed behind her, but without Elunearia there, there was no warmth. She certainly didn't provide any, and she doubted she ever would again. The Magistrix arose from the bed, stepping lightly towards the opening to one of the balconies off her bedchambers, stopping only a moment at her nightstand to pick up a tiny object and carry it with her.

She parted two violet curtains and stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the rest of silvermoon. The summer evening was chilly, but she ignored it despite wearing only a sheer nightgown. The chill in the air was nothing compared to what had grasped her heart and kept her awake at night. Whether the magic she'd taken was a mistake or was fate, it was too late now to worry over the consequences; what was done was done.

She sighed again, looking down to her hands and placing the object in them before her face. It was a gift, given to her by Vomher Wyrmcurse long ago; a sweet nothing to him perhaps but a valuable magical artifact none-the-less. It was a Highborne soul mirror, and as she held it up, it activated, projecting an image of her standing on the balcony. She lowered the device, setting it on the stone railing as she walked around the image, scrutinizing it.

She frowned at what she saw, and the image on the balcony also frowned. Before her stood a beautiful, radiant Sin'dorei, and yet her critical eye could pick out details that she didn't care for. The rune of death on her face. The faded color of her hair. The way worry crept into the look in her eyes. She was perfect, and flawed at the same time, and the thought gave her pause.

What have I become?

A valid question. Would Elunearia have wanted her acting this way? Would she approve of the scourge magic that even now coursed through her veins? Biara doubted it very much. She doubted that the priestess would care for or understand the murderous campaign that she had set out on, or the bloodshed she had caused only a few days ago.

But you're not here to tell me that, are you? You're not here when I need you most. When the memories haunt me in the night, and the sorrow of the innocent blood on my hands keeps me awake. You're not here because you left. You would have been safe, here within my domain, here where I could have kept you at peace, and loved you and treasured you. You're not here because, for some reason, it wasn't enough for you here, was it?

She knew she shouldn't think such thoughts. Elunearia had her own ways, her own mind and it wasn't up to Biara to keep her locked away from the dangers of the world forever, but the Magistrix still felt it, especially now when she most needed her beloved. The pain of losing her bubbled up to the surface all over again, like blades twisting in her heart. She turned away from the image the soul mirror had projected, thrusting a hand out behind her and building a sheet of ice to block the image from sight. When she turned around, the ice was reflecting the image through it, and the distorted, twisted vision of herself made Biara shudder.

And so through the frozen ice I can see what's really there. Maybe you saw it too, before the cold amplified it and made it so clear. Maybe, when you roamed from this spire, you did it to escape this, to think about what it was you were connected with. I think I understand now. I can forgive you for that, if you can forgive me for being what I was meant to become. I can only be as good as what I was born to be, and I had both a father AND a mother. I am a piece of them both.

As the final thought sunk in, she reached out and touched the icy mass before her, shattering it and watching the glittering shards fall to the stone of the balcony. The shattered pieces all reflected the image of the Soul Mirror that still stood before her, looking beautiful and perfect once more. They were pieces of her, each a facet of what made her whole; all of the little pieces she would never put back together again now that Elunearia was gone.

Her gaze returned to the Mirror's image before it faded away to nothing. She nodded to herself, scarely noticing as freezing cold water from the melting ice on the balcony ran across her feet.

The pieces are gone now, and like the melted ice can never be retrieved. Like you, I'm gone now as well Lune. There is no more of me left to give, there is only the core of cold that will drive me forward in vengeance in your name. Vengeance I'm sure you would not want me to take.

Forgive me.

She turned and walked back to her bedchambers. The rest of the night would be spent lying in bed, staring at the red silk canopy over her head, wishing she could forget or at least for a time, sleep.