REWRITE of The Mirror

Prologue Rewrite

Thank you to everyone who's supporting The Mirror, and please feel free to continue commenting suggestions on this version!!
The other rewrites will come out bi-weekly!
I really hope this prologue feels smoother :)
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I had always known about the curse. Everyone did.

The Three Kingdoms were cut off from the rest of the Realm, and they had been my whole life. What I didn't know was what in the Realm I had to do with it.

We were far from home, just on the border between Aldora and Vjenkar. I got the feeling that our journey, which had taken over a week, was now at an end.

It was very similar to the countryside of my home, although here we stood far from the ocean. On this tall hill, we could see patches of farmland and grass in every direction, but that wasn't all. We could see the border between the Three Kingdoms and the outside world.

The curse's wall was invisible, but even then, I knew it was there. People on our side tried to walk into Vjenk territory, only to be repelled away by a wave of pure magic. On either side, they tried to cross the boundary, even now, twelve years since the curse had begun. Twelve years, the same amount of time I had been alive.

I looked up at my parents, wide-eyed and eyebrows furrowed. "I thought we were having a picnic. Where are we going?"

"Oh, my darling Rose. Not 'we'," my mother told me." You're so big now. It isn't safe here, and you've yet to play your role in the future of our Kingdoms."

Tears ran down her face as I clutched tightly onto my mother's neck. I felt so small –and I was, even compared to other children– but I was also blessed with the raw power of two royal bloodlines.

"Once you go, you will return when the time is right." My father, so stern, yet so soft. Tears rose up in his eyes, but he dare not let them fall.

"I don't want to go!" I pulled away from my father, planting my feet firmly on the ground.

"Would you prefer to perish?" Something about the sorceress told me that this wasn't a threat, and that if I stayed, I was sure to die. "Would you let those around you suffer, insolent child?"

"I don't see what's so terrible about being in the Three Kingdoms, even if it forever." As far as curses went, it wasn't that bad.

"That is enough," snapped the sorceress who stood adjacent, her long blonde hair flowing in the countryside wind. "Say your goodbyes. Come, child. You are being sent to a Realm without magic, where your kingdoms and Rosalin Cotare do not exist."

The way she said my name sent a shiver down my spine, one that told me not to argue.

"What name may I use?" My little voice squeaked as the sorceress drew me closer.

"You may use your second name, Alura, but never your title. And never may you tell any person how you came to be in the Mortal Realm."

"But I don't want to be called Alura," I whined, trying desperately to keep the tears from my eyes.

"Pity." The woman was nothing if not cruel, but something else glinted in her eye, almost like a secret searching for a way out.

"Can-" I swallowed. "Can Myrchan come with me?"

"No. You go alone. Now." The sorceress explained to me what would happen if I ever told anyone about this. Anyone.

A shimmering puddle appeared in the air in front of me, as I looked back at my parents once more. "Goodbye, mother and father."

"Goodbye, our darling Rose."

As quickly as the wilt of a flower, I was gone.

My whole world disappeared before my eyes, becoming white and empty in every direction. I'd read books about the Mirror Realm, and yet never imagined the vast expanse that I now stood in, accentuated only by floating Mirrors.