CHAPTER XI : ABOUT THE WICKED MIRRORS
A very long time ago, in an unknown Kingdom, an evil mirror had been created by the Devil himself. They say this mirror had been fashioned from the ice covering the soils of Hell, place of desolation and isolation. The mirror had the ability to provide to its owner with everything he wanted deep inside. But it confined a creature so powerful that, if the mirror were to be broken, it could bring about the end of the world.
One day, a boy found the mirror and, admiring his own reflection, found himself so beautiful he began to dance. His steps suddenly became so rapid and so clumsy he was thrown off balance and fell down pulling the mirror as he fell. The mirror broke into five pieces of equal sizes which disappeared in the air. The beast should have come out of nowhere and release its calamities over the world but, the soul of the one who had broken the mirror was still so pure and innocent the monster not only remained prisoner of the mirror but was also torn into five pieces. They say that if the five pieces of the mirror were to be joined again by ice and by blood, the creature would finally be free and would take control of the world.
A young man named Gorm Nielsen learned about this legend reading a book about dark magic and, traveling the world, looked for the five wicked mirrors. After several years of research, he had finally managed to collect them all. The legend wasn't lying for the mirrors truly held captive a beast with magical powers. However, it was weak and although he managed to grant most of Nielsen's wishes, it wasn't strong enough to grant his greatest wish: to take over the world.
The mirror had managed to place Nielsen in the highest spheres of the Kingdom of the Southern Isles. Thanks to it, he had the trust of the King, a great position and a lot of wealth, but it wasn't enough. He wanted more. He wanted to be the king. One day, he made his request to the mirror but the mirror replied it could grant his wish only if it was one again. Nielsen brought a large amount of ice and sacrificed an animal in hope it would reshape the mirror like it was written in the grimoire. However, the attempt failed miserably. It was then that the creature informed him about someone newly born with the power of creating and controlling ice. Nielsen had burst out in laughter and sent servants to seek in all kingdoms for such a person, but in vain.
No one had ever heard of a human being with such powers, until one day when, several years later, the news came to the Southern Isles that the queen of a neighboring kingdom had frozen her own kingdom in an eternal winter, thus detaining for a few days hundreds of dignitaries who had come to her coronation. Prince Hans had been part of it. Fortunately for Nielsen, the prince was smart. He certainly had understood the hidden message and innuendoes he gave him when he paid him a visit in the dungeon. The day was coming closer.
Galloping at full speed, Hans and Elsa arrived at the castle of the Southern Isles. It was a different kind of castle compared to the one in Arendelle. That one had no ramparts and seemed larger. Hans didn't want to get through the main entrance but lead them instead to a side entrance ; he didn't want his brothers to know he was on the territory from which he had been banned. He would directly meet with Gorm Nielsen, taking the secret passages of the castle he knew by heart. He helped Elsa get off the horse and walked until a guard saw them and charged on Hans with his sword. Hans skillfully managed to disarm the guard and they resume their fight with a hand-to-hand combat. Hans received a punch in the nose, again – he thought that maybe this part of his face looked like a punching bag – but eventually ended up knocking the guard off before painfully putting him on the horse he then sent far away from here, in the woods, because if the guard were to be found around the castle, he might warn the other guards who would then start to look for them.
They walked to a hidden passage near the stables and saw a black mass moving. It drew Hans's attention as he had never seen it before. A foul odor emanated from this mass and, as he approached, the mass looked more like a bunch of gathered vultures feeding from what seemed like a carrion. Elsa had approached too but, unlike Hans, she was staying at a reasonable distance. Hans threw a stone at the vultures which, flying away by the dozen, caused Elsa to scream from fright. It just seemed to her like they were bearing down on her to devour her, which wasn't the case, hopefully. They flew into the sky, thus exposing a putrefying horse carcass surrounded by flies. "Oh no…" Hans faintly said after having recognized the breast collar the horse was wearing.
"What is that?" Elsa asked, horrified by the sight displayed before her.
"That was Sitron…" he sorrowfully answered. "I've owned him since I was eight," he added, his voice wavering. He was upset. Why did they punish it too? The horse was innocent, it didn't deserve to die this way. He was quite tempted to dig it a grave but he was short in time and he would surely get noticed by one of his brothers.
So he turned around instead to gently grab Elsa's hand with his and led her through a hidden passage. Gloomy and frightened, he kept walking forward, just able to find solace in holding her cold hand in his. And he was already regretting having come so far, because he had discovered something he would have preferred to ignore, and because she wasn't doing anything to hurt him more, like he had expected her to do for that's what people do. Instead, she was resigned, and it didn't feel right. She hadn't said a word during the whole ride, and he missed her voice. And he was wondering if he won't be soon brought to bay with only left the possibility to continue to move forward, without the capacity to step back, even though what was waiting for him was at much too high a cost to pay; even though he had lost so much already. And maybe this time he had reached his limit and couldn't convince himself anymore that was for self-preservation, because he knew this was pointless, and he was just doing it because he was hurt deep inside, and that it will only lead him deeper and deeper into darkness, with no turning back. Well, it was too late now to turn back anyway, he thought, as they were already arriving in the office of the Vice Counselor.
"You?" Gorm Nielsen falsely exclaimed for the mirror had advised him of them coming here. The mirror had even cause their arrival here by making Hans's unpleasant past memories resurface in his sleep. "What can I do for you?" he asked with his high-pitched voice.
"Nielsen. Last time, you had an idea in mind, right?" Hans replied quite roughly. "That story you told me when I was in my cell, was there a reason behind it?" He couldn't care less about formalities. He had a headache and he just wanted to get it over with.
The lips of the Vice Counselor formed a wide satisfied grin. The prince got the point. "Yes" he answered in a silky voice. He rose up from his chair, walked over Elsa and spoke to her: "I know what your powers are." He looked down at her hands and saw frost forming. She didn't like this man; he made even more uncomfortable than Gustav, her royal adviser. Nielsen, after having observed the Queen, turned to Hans and said: "you've done well to bring her here. I know how to satisfy your desires."
Hans followed Nielsen up to his apartments with Elsa and noticed that he had never come here before. The main room was full of old books with worn binder and mirrors hanging up on walls. A mirror caught his attention because it was large and, most importantly, it was broken. Why would Nielsen keep a broken mirror? It's not like there was a shortage of mirrors in this room. Everywhere he looked, he saw his reflection. He stand in front of the large mirror and looked at himself. He found himself particularly ugly for he had dark circles under his eyes, his skin had large brown spots everywhere, and his eyes shone with a strange reddish glow. He stepped back with terror: it wasn't his reflection! There was something within the mirror!
"Now you know my secret." Nielsen walked to Hans in a sneaky way, sneering.
"What is that? Sorcery?" the man with auburn hair asked. It was undoubtedly magic, but not the same kind of magic Elsa used. He had never been really scared of what the Queen could do but he was frightened by this mirror for he could feel something wicked.
"This is the door to your craziest desires. Everything you had ever dreamt about can become reality thanks to this magical mirror. However, as you can see, it's broken. Its magic is thus limited." He looked at Elsa and walked to her. "The powers of this woman, on the other hand, can help us restore the mirror and release its true power." His finger rubbed hers, her hands and then, going up, her wrists… Elsa grinned and was about to slap him when a strong hand violently grabbed his wrist, pulling his fingers off her. Nielsen stared at Hans; his jaw was clenched. "You could become King," he added, a grin on his lips.
"How shall we proceed?" the prince asked, edgy and a glower in his eyes. He really didn't like this man but he was his only way to get what he had wished for for ages.
"It's quite simple. We just need to sacrifice her to the mirror."
"What?!" They had to kill Elsa? Why did Nielsen make him understand they'd need her alive if it was just to kill her now? He took a moment to consider the requirement before looking at the silent woman. She looked back at him with horror, shaking her head from side to side in disbelief. He knew she had to pay but her eyes were imploring him. "Is there no other way?" he finally asked, "we just need her powers, right? Therefore, it isn't necessary to kill her to restore the mirror."
"The grimoire says there must be a sacrifice. That there must be blood," Nielsen retorted. And, as he was to add something, Hans interrupted him:
"But not necessarily her blood. Bring me the grimoire so that I can read it. I'm sure you missed an important paragraph or misread a word". He was putting on this authoritarian and majestic look which could make anyone blindly believe he was born to rule.
Nielsen, facing the determined attitude of the prince, couldn't do otherwise than to cooperate for now. He had spent his life reading these grimoires, he couldn't have misinterpreted. But, he had to gain his trust or his once-in-a-lifetime chance would escape. The prince cared about the woman and he could see it despite all his grotesque efforts he made to hide it. He would make him read the grimoires so that he could realize by himself there was no other way. So he nodded reluctantly.
Author's note: Hans's nose is back guys ! :D
And I added a mirror, because evil mirrors are cool ^^ Well, it's also because, in this arc, I want to add some references of the original story by Andersen, even if they are in short number.
Thanks for the nice reviews! I always like reviews! PabloPenguin1800, I'm glad you came back to life :) Frozen-storm and Lenka, thank you!
