The Mage in the Mirror
It was late morning and Jared was borderline late. That was, of course, not entirely unusual for Jared, who was notoriously bad at time management. Even though he had set several alarms to wake up in time, somehow, he miraculously still managed to oversleep.
In hindsight, the reason was probably that he had been gaming until 3 in the morning, when his friend Tyler had finally called it quits for the night. Jared stifled a yawn, as he fished clean clothes out of his washing basket. Most of his wardrobe was in the big heap that extended from the plastic box in front of his bed. They were clean, but Jared never got around to properly folding them and putting them back into his wardrobe. If he was being honest with himself, he would have the time, of course. But that would involve a bit of effort, and well... He would get to it someday. He had been living by himself for two years now and still was getting the hang of it. There were just too many chores that demanded his attention and so something had to suffer.
Jared was 21 years of age and studied Business Administration, a decision his parents had made for him, and that he had never challenged. It had seemed reasonable at the time, and he was reasonably good at it. That didn't necessarily mean he liked it, though. It was... okay. Good for finding a job, he had been told. Not so great to make him excited or inspired. However, it was okay enough for him to not think about changing his major. He was going to get his degree and then work his way up a company ladder, or at least that was what he hoped.
Right now, he had a lecture coming up in ten minutes, so he would have to rush. Just as he was about to grab his phone, wallet and keys, he heard an unexpected noise. Or, rather, a voice.
"Hello?"
The voice was distorted in a weird way - not unlike coming out of a cheap radio receiver, although there was no static.
Jared looked at his phone and TV. Neither showed any signs of being the source of the voice. The TV was switched off and his phone wasn't playing anything, either. Jared shook his head. Maybe it had been a neighbor.
He quickly grabbed his things and was just about to leave, when the voice sounded again.
"Hello? Is there anyone there?"
Jared turned and looked at his laptop. Closed. But he was certain now that the voice was coming from inside the room.
"Hello?", he repeated cautiously, not really expecting a reaction. It was almost certainly some video or audio recording. If he could just find the device responsible...
"Yes! You can hear me?"
The voice sounded excited now, and, as much as Jared hated to admit it, had clearly reacted to him. He looked around the room, but apart from his laptop there was nothing else with a speaker or microphone.
"Uhm, yeah, I can hear you. Where are you? Who are you?"
Perhaps this was some practical joke? Maybe from Tyler, although the voice didn't really sound like Tyler. It wasn't a voice he recognized, for sure.
"I can't believe it! It worked!"
The voice was clearly excited, and Jared started to feel the same, although his excitement wasn't nearly as euphoric as the other voice seemed to be. There was something odd going on here and to be quite honest, it was kind of creepy.
"Hey, listen, dude. If this is a joke, you can stop it now, okay? This isn't funny."
At the same time, Jared turned around. The voice had come from the direction of his bed. He stepped towards the bed, but he saw nothing but his unmade bed. The voice came again.
"No, no, it's not a joke. Eh, sorry. My name is… Aleron." The last bit sounded a bit hesitant.
Jared reached for his blanket and pulled it away, revealing the rest of the bed. There was still nothing unusual, though. He was starting to feel a little silly.
"Okay, 'Aleron'. And where exactly are you?" Jared asked skeptically. Aleron was an unusual name, at least not one that Jared had heard before. Perhaps something European.
"Uhm... That's a bit complicated."
Jared wasn't so sure the voice came from his bed now. No, it was something near his bed, but...
"Is there a mirror nearby?" The voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes, there is my..."
Jared's voice trailed off, as he looked over to his wardrobe mirror, or at least the upper half that was not obscured by the heap of clean clothes waiting to be folded.
The mirror wasn't working. Jared really had no other way to say that, but it was true: He expected his mirror to, well, mirror. To show a reflection of what was in front of it. Something about light, and optics, the whole stuff that mirrors tend to do all day and night. Except now. Instead of his reflection, it showed a gray... nothingness. It felt like looking up to a dark cloud in fall, just with even less discernable shapes.
Jared slowly pushed the basket to the side and opened the wardrobe door with the mirror on it and looked behind it. There was just the almost empty interior of his wardrobe, with some single socks that waited to be reunited with their partners.
He almost jumped when the voice sounded again, but it seemed to come from the direction of the mirror again.
"Sorry. I guess this must be very confusing for you."
"That's... That's an understatement, yes." Jared felt slightly nauseous, and he didn't know if it was the lack of sleep, or the voice in his room, or the fact that the mirror just didn't do what it should. He closed the wardrobe door again and looked back at the gray nothingness in his mirror. Perhaps it was a screen of some sort? But he couldn't see any cables. Was he still asleep and dreaming?
"So, you said your name was Aleron, right?"
"Yes, my name is Aleron. Pleased to meet you, uhm, I don't know your name yet, though."
Jared stared at the mirror. The grayness didn't really look like a person, not even if he squinted.
"My name is Jared. So, uhm, you're... the... mirror?"
"What? Ah, no, sorry. I'm just using the mirror, to, well, speak with you."
Jared frowned. The voice sounded sincere.
"Okay, and where are you actually, if you're not in my mirror?"
"I'm not from your world. I'm... a long way away."
"Wait! What do you mean, you're not from my world? Are you some kind of alien?!"
Jared's head was starting to spin. First, he has a weird, talking mirror. Now, apparently, the voice was not from Earth?
"You mean a stranger? Perhaps you could say so."
Jared's frown deepened. "You speak English?"
"Well, not originally, but I'm speaking the language you are speaking, right? This is pretty basic, since languages are just... Ah, sorry. Too confusing perhaps. So, yes, I speak your language."
Jared rubbed his temples. "Listen, this is too much. I really have to go to my lecture, and I can't have this... talk... with a weirdo and a gray nothingness in my mirror. So, I'm just gonna... go now?"
"Oh, I see. You have a class to go to. Well, I guess, I can always try again later. Can we talk in a few hours perhaps? How about in ten hours? I should be free then and now I know that the spell works, I can just..."
"Stop! Stop! Spell?" Jared looked at the mirror and blinked.
"Yeah. The spell. It took me a while to figure it out, but I'm really happy that it worked!"
Jared closed his eyes for a moment. His headache was getting worse.
"So, you're telling me you're from... somewhere else... and you cast a spell to contact me, by talking through my mirror?"
While most of Jared's mental resources were focused on trying to understand what the hell was going on, there was a minor part of his consciousness that reminded him of the time, a very real anchor in the sea of absurdity.
"Wait, don't answer. I really have to go. Yes, let's... talk again in ten hours."
"Okay. See you in a few hours."
"Uhm, yeah. Sure."
Jared grabbed his backpack and his coat and rushed to the door. As he was leaving his apartment, he took another look at his mirror, which was doing exactly what it should do again.
Just a normal mirror.
With a sigh, he closed the door and started sprinting through the nearby park towards the campus. It was a shame, he thought, that he didn't have time to appreciate the signs of early spring as he turned right at the first junction, but he was in a hurry, as usual.
***
Of course he arrived too late, but luckily for him, the professor didn't seem to take special notice. The lecture went by slowly as the professor droned on about algebra and arithmetic. Even though Jared really should have been listening and taking notes, his mind was occupied by a dozen questions about the strange occurrence in his room earlier. The only conclusion he could draw was that he had definitely not been dreaming, so it was real.
What was real however, eluded his mind. If it was a practical joke, it would have been a really well executed one. Whoever did this would have needed to replace his wardrobe mirror with an extremely flat, wireless screen, with a speaker and microphone as well. Jared wasn't really a hardware nerd, but he supposed it was possible - although certainly pretty expensive. And for what? Just to play a joke on him? The only one he knew that would find that funny enough to even consider it was Tyler - but Tyler wasn't exactly rich, and also not technically savvy enough to build something like that. His friend was majoring in civil engineering, so he could certainly tell you how to dig a well or build a bridge, but a piece of electronic equipment like that? Doubtful, at the very least.
The only alternative was, of course, even more ridiculous: Magic. But who believed in magic anymore? It was a concept reserved for fairy tales and fantasy novels, and perhaps some religious folk. It wasn't like Jared was not familiar with the concept, of course. He loved reading fantasy books, watching movies and playing games. Of course, magic was a very common concept there, but, and that was very important, every book, movie or game was a work of fiction. There was a clear difference between the world of magic, dragons and warriors and the world of economics, electricity and computers. One was fake, the other wasn't.
Jared's eyes wandered around the auditorium. He wasn't the only one whose mind was elsewhere. In the row below him, a young woman was typing furiously on her smartphone, a man next to her was staring at the ceiling and a couple a few seats to the right were making out, although they tried to be subtle about it.
Jared shook his head. Whatever had happened earlier, there had to be a logical explanation for it. But the only one he could think of was the practical joke and that explanation just didn't feel right with the number of new questions it generated.
He glanced at his phone. 20 more minutes to go in this lecture, and 9 hours after that until the voice, Aleron, would speak to him again. It was a good thing he had some time to think, too: Right now, he wouldn't even know what to say or ask.
It took some effort for Jared to stop thinking about the events of the morning and to at least try to pay attention to the lecture.
When it had finally ended, Jared's mind was feeling exhausted. It was like his brain had tried to solve a mathematical problem, but just didn't get anywhere.
"Hey, Jared!"
He turned around and saw Sophia walking towards him, a bright smile on her face.
That was not unusual, of course. When Sophia wasn't smiling, he was sure there was a zombie apocalypse going on - or worse. She was one of the happiest people he knew.
"Hey, Sophia."
"You look exhausted. Bad night's sleep? Or, well, bad night?" Sophia smirked and winked at him.
"Nothing of the sort, thank you very much. In fact, I was gaming with Tyler, and it got pretty late."
Sophia chuckled. "Of course, you guys are addicted. I'm surprised Tyler even made it to his classes today."
Jared rolled his eyes. "He was the one keeping us up half of the night, it's not like he has any right to complain. Anyway, I have to catch the next seminar - see you at lunch?"
It was a regular thing for the three of them - Tyler, Sophia and Jared - to eat lunch together. Jared had known Tyler since middle school and would consider him his best friend - even though he felt like that sounded like a childish thing to say. Sophia on the other hand joined their social group only last year and neither Tyler nor Jared could recall exactly how. Perhaps it was some kind of group project, perhaps they randomly sat together at lunch. Fact was that Sophia just fit in, somehow. Tyler had dated her for a month or two last year, but the spark never quite caught fire and they quickly returned to being friends, which, miraculously, worked out.
Sophia smiled at him. "See you then. Don't oversleep or forget."
"Ha-ha. Very funny. I'll remember. Bye."
Jared turned and quickly made his way towards his next lecture. Sophia's last comment was not completely without reason. There had been more occasions than Jared was comfortable to admit that he had forgot or otherwise missed appointments with the two of them. Tyler often suggested using a calendar, but Jared always argued that he was bad with those. Besides, he was convinced he should be able to keep his schedule and appointments in his mind. The fact that this was only working to a mediocre degree frustrated him somewhat - but not enough to warrant a change. "Getting more organized" was just another bullet point on his kilometer-long to-do-list. A list, that, of course, only existed in his head.
The rest of the morning passed by without any further incident, and Jared managed to stay awake, which, considering the previous night, he marked down as a personal success.
When he entered the cafeteria, he noticed Sophia waving at him from a table in the far corner. Tyler had already secured a plate of pasta for the both of them, and was half-way through his own when Jared arrived. Sophia, on the other hand, had both a salad and the decency to wait for him to arrive.
"Jared, I'm glad you could make it. I was getting worried, and, you know, I would have hated to throw your food into the bin."
Tyler grinned at him and shoved another fork full of spaghetti into his mouth. Jared was pretty sure that even if he wouldn't had managed to come to lunch the food would not have ended up in the trash.
"Fitting." he retorted. "You have named your mouth 'the bin' now, since you talk so much trash?"
"You guys are just jealous because my mouth is better looking and smarter than yours."
Jared chuckled and began to eat.
"Speaking of jealousy, how are things with Michelle?"
Michelle was a girl from one of Jared's classes and for some reason, Tyler was convinced that Jared was head over heel in love with her.
"Eh, nothing has changed. We talked about the upcoming exam, that's it."
Tyler looked at him. "But the way she looks at you, dude, you have a chance!"
It was possible that Tyler was right for all Jared knew. He was suddenly very anxious and chose his answer with the same precision as bomb defuser who was about to cut a red cable. A red cable in a bomb where all the cables were, in fact, red.
"You think so? I'm pretty sure she has a boyfriend."
That was a lie of course. He had absolutely no idea if Michelle had a boyfriend, and he also didn't really care, for one simple reason: Jared didn't like Michelle that way - or any girl for that matter. Of course, he couldn't just say "Sorry, I prefer dudes." Even though a rational part of him knew that this was perfectly acceptable and nobody, let alone his friends, would have an issue with it, the irrational, scared part of him didn't dare to say a word.
"I'm not so sure about that!" said Tyler, with his mouth half full. Jared envied the amount of food he could eat without gaining a pound.
"Didn't she break up with what's his face?"
Sophia, who had stayed quiet until now, interjected.
Great. Now it was her, too. Sometimes, no, most often, Jared wished he could just be honest with his friends. But even just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine and his hands shake.
"I don't know. I mean, I didn't ask."
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe you should, huh?"
"Maybe you should, if you're so keen on her."
Jared was gripping his fork a little tighter.
"Yeah, but you like her more, bro. I don't wanna get in your way."
Sophia sighed. "Why are we even talking about her. She is not that great. I heard you two had a great game last night?"
Jared relaxed somewhat. Another bullet point for his to-do-list: "Come out to my friends." But that was one for the very far future. Right now, it just seemed impossible. Jared's parents were very conservative, so he grew up with the idea that there was a right way and a wrong way. To put it another way, his family would probably disown him if they knew he preferred men. Jared, naturally, didn't know for certain that his parents would do that, but it seemed a very likely possibility. And even besides that, being that way just felt wrong, an impression he knew for a fact was another gift of his upbringing. He even had problems thinking about the g-word fearing it might involuntarily escape his lips if he pondered too long about it. So yeah. "Coming out to my friends" was not going to happen anytime soon.
"Hey, Jared! Everything alright?" Sophia interrupted a detailed description of last night's matches by Tyler.
Jared quickly forced a smile and resumed eating his lunch. "Yeah, sorry. I was just spaced out for a moment."
After a short beat, he added: "Hey, uhm. What do you guys think about magic?"
"I used to play it a lot!" beamed Tyler immediately. "Mostly blue decks, of course."
"I think it's pretty cool, too." added Sophia.
Jared shook his head. "No, not the card game. I meant real magic."
"You mean like... magic shows? Levitating hats and card tricks?" asked Tyler.
"Not quite. Like, I don't know, spells and incantations and stuff."
"Wait, what game are we talking about now? Didn't you just mention orbital lasers?" Sophia, who wasn't quite as into gaming as Tyler and Jared, interjected.
"Magic. The real deal." said Jared, feeling like a broken record. It had been a bad, a really bad idea to bring this up, but he couldn't help it. Besides, he still wasn’t entirely sure Tyler wasn’t behind all of this.
"Do you believe something like that could exist? Hypothetically?" he added in order to salvage the situation.
Tyler grinned. "I'm pretty sure it's called science. Magic isn't a thing."
Sophia was not as quick with an answer.
"I'm not so sure about that, really. I mean, aren't there like uncontacted tribes with shamans or something like that?"
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Yeah. But that's just stupid superstition."
"It might be, but who are we to say that there isn't some truth behind the myths?"
Jared listened with growing uneasiness.
"Well, there is a 'truth' that the earth is flat, and the moon landing was faked, but I hope you aren't a believer in those, either?"
Sophia frowned. "You can't really compare those, Tyler. They are not remotely the same. It's not like people who believe in the moon landing hoax and the earth being flat are in a cult."
"They might as well be." Jared interjected. "But I just think Sophia meant that we don't know the answer to all mysteries of the universe yet."
"I still think it's bullshit. The universe is science. If there is a gap, then we need more science, not a guy waving his hands around in the air."
"I guess I have to agree." Jared shrugged. If he was being honest, Tyler's answer was pretty much the same he would have given a day ago.
"What made you think about it, though?" asked Sophia, looking at Jared.
Jared blushed a little. "Well, just something I saw online, I guess. Anyway, thanks, that's pretty much all I wanted to know."
The two of them were clearly not convinced, but they seemed to know that they wouldn't get much more out of him.
The conversation changed to their next exams and soon the subject of magic was thankfully soon forgotten. Jared stole a glance at his phone. Almost 13:00. He didn't have any lectures in the afternoon, but his shift at the "Bean there, Sipped That" would start soon.
"Oh, hey, I gotta go, guys. Work and all."
"Alright, bro. See you tomorrow. Maybe we can play a little bit, before learning for the exam, hmm?"
"Sure. See ya."
"See you, Jared. Have fun." said Sophia.
Jared quickly grabbed his things and rushed to the door. His thoughts were preoccupied, once again, by the events of this morning. Tyler was right, magic just wasn't real. There had to be a scientific explanation. If he hurried home after his shift at the café, he would have a few minutes to check the mirror for any electronic devices.
"You're late."
Carol looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, almost. It's 13:32. My shift starts at 13:30. That's close enough, right?"
Carol was the owner and manager of the café "Bean there, Sipped That.". She was a woman in her mid-forties, always dressed in black and with a very direct manner. Jared had worked for her for the past two years, ever since he started at the college. The job was okay. Carol paid a little more than minimum wage, but not much, and the tips were a bit inconsistent. There was one excellent upside to the job however that made him glad to work for Carol: She was incredibly accommodating about his work times. If he wasn't much too late or forgot about his shift, she didn't care much. And she was flexible enough to plan around his schedule if he couldn't come to work for a week or two as long as he told her. The latter was incredibly useful if he needed time to prepare for an upcoming exam. Today was no exception. Carol didn't comment any further as Jared put on his apron and started to clean the counter.
The afternoon passed by uneventfully and soon Jared's shift was over. Carol nodded a farewell at him, and he quickly made his way home.
It was a cold, crisp evening and the sun had already set when he arrived back home. Jared could hardly wait for summer to come, he didn't like winter all too much. But that wouldn't be long now. Easter was around the corner, and after that it was only a few months to the start of summer.
Jared's apartment was located in the 4th floor of a 10-story building. It was a tiny one-bedroom-apartment, but he didn't have any roommates, which was the most important aspect for him.
It was a 20-minute walk to his apartment from the campus, and a 5-minute walk to the nearest subway station, and the rent was relatively affordable, even though it ate up most of his wages from the café. But it was worth it for not having to reside in the dorm with an unknown roommate.
Jared closed the door and looked at his mirror. It was a regular mirror again. But of course, it was. It was almost 20:00, which was ten hours after his encounter with Aleron, and that was just because he ran the whole way after noticing the time after work. However, now, he had a few minutes left and was determined to check for anything unusual before the voice would return.
The first thing he did was to take down his wardrobe mirror and look behind it. Nothing. Just the slightly brighter wood of his wardrobe door. There was nothing unusual on the door either, no cables or any electronic devices. The back of the mirror looked the same, no wires.
He hung up the mirror again and carefully inspected the front. He didn't find anything suspicious either. It was just a regular mirror, reflecting his confused face with the unkempt light brown hair.
Just when he was about to get a glass of water, the gray nothingness appeared in the mirror again.
"Jared? Are you here?"
The distorted voice sounded from the direction of the mirror, just like this morning. Jared quickly sat down on his bed in front of it. It was difficult to focus on anything in the gray void, but he as much as he tried to, he was unable to make out anything in it.
"Jared?" came the voice again.
"Sorry, yes. I'm here."
"Great! How was your day?"
Jared stared at the mirror and tried to focus.
"My day was... fine, I guess."
"Good!" came the answer. "Listen, you mentioned something before, about a 'nothingness' in your mirror. Does that mean you cannot see me?"
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, I don't see anything in the mirror. Just gray."
"Ah, I see. That's a little unfortunate. Let me try something."
Suddenly, the mirror became clear and for a moment, Jared thought it was showing a reflection of his room again. Only for a very short moment, however, since the image in the mirror was clearly not Jared and his untidy room on second glance. Instead, it showed an even smaller room with bare stone walls. Sitting on a wooden chair in the middle was a boy, or rather a man, about the same age as Jared. He had dark hair that was a bit longer than Jared's, even though it didn't quite reach his shoulders, and a pair of dark green eyes that sparkled with enthusiasm.
"How about now? Can you see me now?" asked the other guy.
There was no denying that Jared could see him. As opposed to the voice, which was still distorted, the picture was clear as... a mirror.
"Yeah. I can see you." Jared replied and tried not to stare too much.
"Wonderful! Oh man. I can hardly believe it! The spell worked, it really worked!"
While Aleron was celebrating, Jared was looking at him more closely. From what he could see, he was wearing a set of simple, yet old-fashioned clothes, almost certainly made from natural materials. Jared was hardly an expert in tailoring, but he was pretty sure there were no plastics or microfibers used in the comparably rough fabric of Aleron's shirt. What Jared could see from the room behind him, there was no sign of modern appliances. Not a single trace of an electric light or any other electronics.
"So... ehm. You're Jared."
It didn't entirely sound like a question, but Jared answered anyway.
"Yes. And I suppose you are Aleron?"
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them and Jared could see the other guy squirm in his chair. Finally, he said with an apologetic smile:
"Sorry, I just didn't think I would get that far. Talking with someone from another world seems... unreal somehow."
"Tell me about it..." muttered Jared. Then, after a short pause, he and Aleron started speaking at the same time.
"What do you mean by -"
"So, you are a -"
Until both of them stopped again.
What an awkward situation. Jared's head was swimming and suddenly, he felt like he had a million questions, but he gestured the other man to continue.
"Sorry." Aleron said. "You said you needed to visit a lecture? Are you a student as well?"
Jared nodded. "Yeah, I major in business administration. Where do you study?"
Aleron tilted his head as if he was trying to piece together the meaning of what Jared had just said.
"I... I am an apprentice under Mistress Velara. I study the magical arts in her tower, in the Whispering Woods."
"So, you are a wizard? A real wizard?"
That was probably the most burning question on Jared's mind. Magic was supposed to be fake, but if this was a prank, then someone was really taking it to an extreme.
"Yes, I'm a mage. Well, an apprentice mage to be exact. But I'm sure now that I..."
Jared interrupted him. "And you cast a spell, a magic spell, to talk to me through my mirror. Like, you waved a wand and cast a spell. Is that true?"
Aleron was clearly taken aback by Jared's reaction.
"Well, this particular spell didn't involve a wand but instead some pretty complicated circles, but yes. Why are you staring at me like that?"
Jared blinked. He had to admit, he was starting to freak out a little. Magic was supposed to be a hoax. A trick. Some cheap effects. But if the image in the mirror was real, and it certainly looked like it, and if what Aleron was saying was true, this would change about everything he believed in.
Almost automatically, he said flatly: "But magic isn't real." As if clinging to this ground truth.
"Wait, do you mean you don't have mages in your world? No magic?"
Now Aleron looked decidedly unbelieving.
"No, not... for real." Jared said, again rubbing his temples. "Sorry, but I just have a very hard time believing you."
Jared paused for a moment, then he added:
"You know, I think I'm just going to sleep now. I need to rest and process this whole situation."
Aleron frowned. "But we're talking right now. Shouldn't we...?"
Jared interrupted him. "No, sorry. I'm really tired and confused right now."
"Alright." replied Aleron and nodded slowly. "Can we talk again after your sleep? I really want to know more about your world!"
Jared thought for a moment.
"Alright. Just... let me sleep. Then we can talk again. Tomorrow, at the same time."
Aleron smiled at him. "Very well. I hope you sleep well."
And then, the mirror was just a mirror again, reflecting a very very confused Jared. Mechanically, he started to undress for bed while his mind was racing. At some point, he stopped and looked at the mirror again. Following a sudden impulse of feeling observed, he stood up again and covered the reflecting surface with a spare blanket. Then, he turned around and climbed into bed.
This whole situation was crazy. Not even twenty-four hours ago, he had been a normal college student, having a normal life, doing normal things. And now, only a few hours later, he was already half-accepting of the fact that his wardrobe mirror talked to him, and that he was talking with someone who claimed to be from another world. Heck, he was even considering the possibility that there were other worlds besides his own, even though he did not have the slightest idea what that even meant. It was a lot to swallow and opened up a myriad of questions. Many others would probably have rejected the idea right now and consulted a doctor, but Jared was always very quick to follow his first impulse. And in this case, it was to go with it and see where these crazy circumstances would lead him.
It took him a long time to fall asleep and the last thought on his mind before sleep took him was that there still was absolutely no way magic was real.
