The Enchanted Mirror Part 3

Lily stared in disbelief as this woman claimed herself Glinda “Wait...what? Glinda? Then where’s-?” Lily was cut off in between a sentence

“Foolish girl, I am Ginny and Glinda. I’m the same person, I just changed my looks. Convincing, right?” Glinda smirked in a way that made Lily’s blood boil, “I knew that someone had entered my kingdom without my permission so I went to investigate.” Lily clenched her teeth, she couldn’t believe that she had trusted Ginny, thinking that she was a friend. This is all my fault, she thought, now Ginny - wait, Glinda - knows the secret of the mirror. But I know that I can still beat her! 

“That doesn’t matter,” Lily said, mustering all her courage up in front of the huge woman, “I will beat you anyway, with the mirror!” Glinda laughed at her, and said,
“You don’t understand, do you? When you told me about the mirror, the flower I visualized that came alive is a magical moon rose. It draws its power from the moon and strengthens the person who uses it. All those complicated spells over the decades have weakened my powers but now, I have 10 times as much as before! You can never defeat me!” She cackled with glee. Lily gulped, backing away a bit. The sun had started to rise, and the other witches began waking up.

Hearing all the commotion, they surrounded Lily and Glinda, wondering what was going on. “Hey! That’s Empress Glinda!” said a witch, bowing down. The whispers started and one by one, each person began to bow. 

        “That’s right! I am Glinda, all bow down before me! Everyone, watch as I defeat this puny little girl who thinks she can overthrow me!” Lily looked around in panic and dashed towards what she had thought of before as Ginny’s house. Behind her she could hear Glinda laughing and assuring the crowd, “She will be back.” Dashing behind stores and making sure no one was following her, Lily entered Ginny/Glinda’s house and took the magic mirror in her hands. She panted, holding the mirror firmly. This was the only key to her victory. Lily knew what a big mistake she had made and Livia’s warning to not trust anyone was still ringing in her head. Praying to find a way to defeat Glinda, she ran back towards the crowd, acting more confident to show that she wasn’t scared even as she was trembling with fear. “There you are! Back already I see with your mirror? Well then, let’s start. No one interferes, this is a battle between only me and Lily,” she turned to Lily, “Are you ready for the battle of your life?”

“Ready, me? Are you ready for your doom?”

“Ha, my doom, we’ll see.” Glinda stretched out her hands while Lily held the mirror tighter than before. “Yes, yes!” Glinda said as she circled her arms, a fiery orb appearing in her hands,

“I can feel the power the rose has given me and it will destroy you!” She threw the orb as Lily tried to dodge but it followed her movement. Thinking while trying to avoid the orb, she did the only thing she could think of, use the mirror as a shield. Glinda watched in amusement as the ball of fire collided with a thunk against the mirror’s behind. The impact, which should have destroyed the mirror, was strong but the mirror miraculously had little damage done. The evil witch’s smile crumbled as Lily smirked. “How is that possible?” Glinda asked, confused, “That should have slaughtered the mirror!”

        “You don’t understand, do you? The magic mirror is strong. You might be the most powerful witch now but you were no match for Livia and she created this mirror. It can hold a lot more than your little attack.” 

Growling in frustration, Glinda summoned more power, “Don’t you worry, I will destroy the mirror, then I will deal with you!” She threw all the orbs as more appeared in her hands. Lily knew that the mirror was strong, but sooner or later it would weaken. She stood in front of the mirror and visualized a shield strong enough to hold off the spells. A shield, blue a silver, appeared in her hands and she used it to fend off the magic spells. But Glinda kept throwing more and more blasts and the shield was thrown out of Lily’s hands, cracked. She continued to blast the mirror without blinking an eye. 

“ENOUGH!” Lily yelled. Shocked, Glinda stopped hitting the mirror and stared at her. Calming down, Lily walked towards her until she came face to face. “I know what you’re feeling. You are angry, discouraged, and scared. You want to end me because you think that I will stand as an obstacle in your path towards being the ultimate leader of witches. I also know why you chose evil over good. This is my specialty, I can tell what you are feeling. I understand why you cast that spell that would help me know my power but cause a disadvantage. You wanted to weaken me but you have only made me stronger. Had you not used that spell, you would know what my specialty was. You would use that against me, but my power showed up late. You thought that my specialty would never show up, that I would have it inside me but I would never know. You were wrong and I want to thank you for doing what you did because it all leads to good. Now, I can stop you.”

Glinda looked taken aback at the change of plans but that didn’t discourage her a bit, “What do you think your power will do? It’s useless. I can deal with anything. The strongest witches are those that rely on their power and you don’t know how to cast spells or summon balls of fire.”

“No, the strongest witches are those that rely on their brains, just like Livia did.” 

“Ha, Livia. If she was strong then I wouldn’t have killed her like she was a piece of garbage.”

“No, she used her wits to cast a spell that would stop you in the future. Me. I will stop you, just not the way you expect, look.” Lily turned to the mirror and willed the mirror to project old memories from Glinda’s past. Like videos, the memories played on the mirror, shown from her point of view. It revealed Glinda as a child, cowering in a corner of a room from her spell book as a woman loomed above her, shouting at her for accidentally destroying the plants with her magic. “I know you have suffered. Your emotions are… mixed up. Anger, resentment, greediness, scared, and even pride. You have had so many different experiences over the centuries that you are mixed up about what’s right and what’s wrong.” Glinda was shocked, but quickly recovered from her state and sneered.

“Me? Not knowing what’s wrong and what’s right? Ha! I already know what’s right. Being evil is right! It comes with power, and power is everything. Power is the world.”

“No, You didn’t always think that, see?” Lily beckoned to the mirror. The image changed, unveiling young Glinda, trying to destroy her spellbook and attempting to avoid doing magic. “You are a powerful witch and you didn’t know how to control those powers when you were a child. You were afraid of your powers.”

“Gah! That’s all in the past, I am powerful now, that’s what matters.” But Lily continued showing memories after memory. She showed how all Glinda’s friends used to laugh at her for not doing magic, for being afraid. Then, Glinda got so angry that all her power lashed out, growing stronger as she started using it more and more. 

“This is when you started going on the wrong path, evil. You thought that people would accept you were being a powerful witch and along the pathway to becoming a good witch, you lost yourself and became more than what others expected and then changed them too. What I am saying is that you can be good, you need to redeem yourself. You can be like me, like Livia. You will still be powerful, but in a better way.”

“Pft, I will never be good, not in a thousand years.” But Glinda was becoming more convinced by the second and Lily could see it too. 

“But you already are.” Lily showed recent things that had happened when Glinda was Ginny. The mirror played Lily hugging Glinda as Glinda smiled at her and encouraged her to try harder. It showed the many times Glinda would stand in the corner and smile as Lily worked out her specialty. “See Glinda? You do have some good in you. You just have to let it out. No one is 100% evil.” Glinda walked towards the mirror. 

“Do you, do you really think I can be good?”

“Of course,” Lily smiled, “You just have to give yourself a chance.” Glinda came face to face with the mirror and looked at it intensely.

“You’re right, I can change,” she said slowly. She touched the mirror and then suddenly, it burst into pieces, leaving Glinda with her arms glowing and Lily in a shocking state.

“NO!” Lily screamed

“What do you think I am, a fool? I don’t care what you say, Lily, and I have destroyed the mirror, you are powerless.” She let out a cackle. Tears streaked down Lily's face as she looked at the mirror from Livia, now broken and useless.

“No, I am still not.” Lily walked over to the crowd, “How many times have you all felt scared and alone? I know that all of you felt like Glinda at some point in your life, that’s why you took the decision to join her, you thought that you would be more powerful. But, no, good is always more powerful than evil and everyone has the probability to change. You all are unique in your own way but together, you are undefeatable.” Without another word, Lily went to Glinda and hugged her, trying to change her heart and make her realize her mistake. When she pulled away she realized that everyone was wiping their eyes and so was Glinda.

“That was the nicest thing that anyone has said to me,” sniffled a woman from the crowd, “I want to be good too,” she came forward. When Lily saw her, she gasped. It was the same woman who had asked her name on Lily’s first day in the kingdom. Soon, other witches came forward and joined Lily. “All hail the new empress, Lily!” Everyone began bowing down.

“M-me? An empress? Nonsense, I can’t lead you,” Lily stammered

“Yeah! She can’t! What are you all doing? I am the empress.”

“Not anymore, you are not,” said a witch from the crowd, as they began to surround Glinda. 

“What? Of course, I am. Fools! I’ll fight you if you want. I’ll fight you all!” Glinda blasted spells at everyone she could see but together they all deflected her spells. Glinda knew that she had no chance of winning. 

“This is how Livia felt like when you wanted to kill her. The only difference was, she didn't choose to fight, she gave in, and still continued hoping for the good of your community. But I won’t kill you, oh no I won’t. You, Glinda, will be my advisor, second to the throne, holding as much power like me.” She turned to Glinda who was shocked, “I know that you can still be good, join me.” Lily pleaded. Glinda’s face softened and she mustered a smile, knowing that no one had ever shown such compassion to her than Lily. 

An hour later, Lily found herself back home. It was almost night, her house darker than she could ever remember, only a dim light coming out of one room, her parents’ room. Lily walked towards the light and pushed the door, opening it with a creak. Her parents didn’t even notice her behind them, they were busy frantically scrolling on the internet, as if looking for something. As she got closer, she saw a picture of herself smiling, underneath it written, “Girl missing, name Lily Walker, age 15. Please report if found.” They are looking for any news of my disappearance! Oh, how will I tell them where I was?

“Hi,” Lily said, unsure of what else to say. Slowly her parents turned around and when they saw her, their faces paled with shock, mouth wide open and the phone fell down from her mom's hand. “Mom, Dad, I have a lot of things to talk to you about.”

As the moon cast a reflection on the houses in the kingdom, the road where the action had taken place was deserted except for the scattered pieces of the broken mirror and a woman nearby. She was closing up her shop when she saw a glint in the corner of her eye. Turning around, she watched in amazement as the pieces of the mirror began to glow…

THE END