I was born at some point during my fifty-second year. That is to say, the moment I was born, I was fifty-two. Before then I hadn?t existed at all, nor had anything else in the world. To those of you born to the real world that might seem odd, but to those of us born that day, the untold thousands of us, it was a fact of life.
Perhaps I should explain.
Mylinar was one of the greatest mages who ever lived. Large enough to be a warrior, handsome enough to be a courtier, and possessing all the qualities of greatness one could ask for, Mylinar was in a class by himself. I?d have to say he was the best looking mage in the history of the world, and I?m not saying this because I looked just like him. Well mayhap I am, but that’s beside the point.
Before Mylinar’s time, and well into it, no one knew what they looked like. There were paintings and drawings that could give you an idea, but that was all. There were no mirrors, because Mylinar had yet to invent them. There were no reflections because he had yet to create us.
I will never forget the day he brought us into existence, the entire reflection world at once, by a feat of magic impossible to repeat. I?m not even sure it was intentional. Once we existed, it was only a matter of time before he figured out how to open a window to our world, and thus the first mirror was created.
Legend has it that Mylinar had created the mirror as a gift for the King, who then bestowed upon him great wealth and power. The truth is, Mylinar created the first mirror as a way to see what he looked like after a particularly nasty experiment had gone haywire. Once he?d confirmed the explosion hadn?t adversely affected his good looks, he gave the mirror to the King as a gift, for he no longer had need of it. The small fortune he was paid in appreciation did not go amiss. It allowed Mylinar to retire from public life and pursue the only thing that mattered to him...the arcane arts.
