vanished

the glass acts as a type of portal, separating ancestress from descendant. it’s been passed down over the centuries, held onto for dear life and handed down when the call came. the story is that the first one to live out the myth managed to enchant it in her last mortal act, and now the ghosts of a thousand others live on, only to be called in time of need.

need: the summoner needs to have need for power, needs to be able to tap into the power of her predecessors, needs to be able to do something with what she has been given. sometimes, the wings aren’t enough.

tonight, she places her fingertip into the indent the mirror added on when she received it, lets it read her print and soon the faces show up, each one over a different imprint. they’re all ghosts, and it doesn’t hurt when she draws power from them, draining it through the mirror into her wrists – there’s too much energy though, she is still young, barely experienced at this, and her wrists snap under the weight of the current rushing through.

she falls backward, collapses into what she already knows to be a healing sleep. by morning she’ll be no more powerful – all that energy will go on healing broken bones and whatever’s left will fix up the glass that she has destroyed in her haste.

every night she is frantic, frenetic, racing through the stages of night until it’s dark enough that she can safely come and summon, drawing on experience until her teeth are numb and her fingers bleed raw.

her ancestresses only watch – she is young and the worst of the lot. time has not tempered her any, and they withdraw energy until she can only summon a thin ribbon’s worth. it’s not enough for her, ever. she wants all of it, and now. she is one of them, her wings are still adapting, and still she wreaks havoc on their heritage.

they come to a decision, trapped in the mirror and whispering shadowy echoes to each other. one by one they stop the energy, block the flow that runs through their veins to their descendant. she barely notices until the energy stops entirely, and the mirror vanishes.

it’s the first time they have had to do this, and without a source of power – they strip her of her wings.