Prologue
Recovered from the Great Council Archives
Year of the Seventh Reflection
Excerpt from The Chronicles of Mireth, Book III, Page 112
In the beginning, the countless worlds of Mireth were as one, joined by breath, by memory, and by light. Then came the Silence, and the great unity was broken. Each realm drifted away like shards of glass cast upon a dark sea.
For many ages the mirrors stood still and empty. No light stirred within them, and none knew they could be crossed. In those days, Steamhollow was one of the scattered worlds of Mireth, proud, inventive, and alone; cut off from all others by the silence of its mirrors.
There lived in Steamhollow a scholar named Alara Venn, whose heart was filled with curiosity and doubt. She studied the nature of reflection, seeking meaning in the stillness of glass. One day she laid her hand upon the mirror’s surface, and passed through her own reflection. In that moment she awakened the power that had long slept within her blood, and so became the first Mirrorwalker. With her step began the age of passage between worlds.
Those who came after were born of her line, each carrying the same quiet gift: the call of glass and silver. Among them, a few were blessed with deeper sight: they could read the hidden speech of reflection and hear what the mirrors remembered. These were called the Reflectors.
In the early days, the Mirrorwalkers brought wonder and hope, reuniting the sundered lands. But envy grows where wonder dwells, and fear soon followed. Thus came the Mirror Wars: a hundred years of broken glass and burning skies. When the fires at last faded, the survivors gathered in sorrow and swore an oath of peace.
So was founded the Great Council of Mireth: keepers of balance, watchers of the mirrors, and guardians of the fragile harmony between worlds.
Remember this, traveller : the mirrors forget nothing, not even those who wish to be forgotten.