Escaping Fate

As the door slammed closed behind him, the prince groaned in frustration before falling face-first into his bed. He would have been content to just lay there for the rest of time, but it wasn’t long before he was bothered by a soft tapping noise. He debated ignoring it for a few moments, but as the tapping grew louder and more insistent, he gave in and sat up.

The source of the tapping was the mirror in the corner of his room. Most of the time, it appeared to be nothing more than a normal mirror, but its true colors were revealed whenever the prince was alone. Rather than reflect the extravagant room the prince called home, the mirror showed a small, cozy room, cluttered in a way the prince knew he would never be allowed.

On the other side of the mirror lived the only person the prince could truly call a friend. They had met when both were very young, young enough that the prince had never seen an elf before in his life, or vice versa for the elf who lived on the other side of the mirror. But despite the initial shock when they’d first seen each other, they quickly became fast friends, writing notes to each other since no sound could cross through the mirror.

Right now, the elf was standing in front of the mirror on his side, holding up a note for the prince. His tapping had stopped once the prince sat up, and now he waited patiently. With a weary sigh, the prince pulled himself out of bed and crossed his room to read the note.

“Bad day?”

The prince rolled his eyes, holding up a finger as he searched for the pen and paper he kept stashed nearby. Once he’d found it, he wrote out his reply.

“What else is new.”

The elf frowned sympathetically, quickly writing a new note. “I’m sorry.”

The prince sighed. “It’s not your fault.” He muttered the words out loud as he wrote, an unconscious habit that he struggled to contain elsewhere.

“Want to talk about it?”

The prince hesitated for a moment, then started to write. “The usual stuff. High expectations and low motivation to meet them.” He tore the paper and held up the message, so the elf had something to read while he continued to write.

“I’ve told you about the prophecy, right? How apparently I’m the one who’s supposed to end this war and save everybody? Since I’m almost 18, my father thinks it’s about time I start taking on that responsibility. But the thing is, the more he expects from me, the more I wonder if this is really what I’m supposed to do. I know it seems silly, and I know I shouldn’t abandon my people, but I don’t think I can be the hero they need me to be.”

The prince stared at his words, letting out a shaky breath. It all felt more real, seeing his thoughts written out in stark ink. They scared him. But as he started to crumple up the paper, a sharp rap drew his attention. The elf narrowed his eyes at the prince, obviously displeased that the prince was about to toss the note.

The prince hesitated, but out of all people, he felt like the elf would be the one to listen, so he carefully smoothed out the wrinkled corners before holding up the note. The elf quickly read the note, eyes darting back and forth.

His reply was simple. “Then don’t.”

The prince frowned. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t become a hero. Tell your father, somebody, that you don’t think you can be the hero they want.”

The prince let out a startled laugh. “But it’s my destiny.”

“Do you believe it is?”

“It’s been foretold since I was born.”

“Do you believe it?” The elf underlined his words for emphasis.

The prince hesitated. “I don’t know,” he said out loud.

The elf had learned to read his lips from years of watching how he muttered while writing. “Then tell somebody. Reject this destiny if you don’t want it.”

The prince whirled away, pacing in small circles in front of the mirror as he formed his thoughts. Finally he returned to scrawl a new note. “It doesn’t matter what I want. My father will call me a coward and won’t let me run. I have to. I don’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.” The elf pressed his hand to the glass, and the prince quickly mirrored him, wishing not for the first time that the glass didn’t separate them.

“Don’t tell your father and just run.”

“I can’t,” the prince whispered, pressing his forehead to the glass so he didn’t have to look the elf in the eyes. “I want to, but I can’t.”

A note nudged its way into his line of sight. The prince pulled back until he could focus on the words. “Let me help you.”

With a startled gasp, he looked back at the elf. “How?”

A small smirk graced the elf’s face as he wrote. “I may have discovered a way to turn this mirror into a proper portal. You can come here. Or, if you don’t want to run that far, I’ll come over and help you escape the castle.”

“Really?” the prince whispered.

The elf nodded. “So? What’ll it be?”

A sudden shout from outside startled the prince, abruptly reminding him of the world that existed outside of his room. He held up a hand to the elf to pause their conversation as he crossed his room to his balcony to investigate.

The courtyard below was a flurry of movement and voices, making it hard for the prince to pick up on what was happening. But above the chaos stood his father, a point of calm in the storm. Similarly, his voice carried clearly over the rest.

“One of you go collect the prince. Today shall be the day he’ll face his destiny.”

The prince’s eyes widened, and he dashed back into his room, scrawling a new note that he slammed into the mirror as soon as he was close enough. “How soon can you open it?”

The elf jumped, startled by his sudden reappearance, but answered quickly. “If I’m right, just a few moments.”

“Do it. Help me run, please. I’m tired of believing that this has to be my fate.”

The elf nodded, his eyes soft with sympathy even as the rest of his expression grew focused. “Stand back. Just in case.”

With a shaky nod, the prince complied. While the elf worked his magic, the prince glanced around his room for what would likely be the last time. But despite it being his home for nearly 18 years, the prince couldn’t find it in him to feel sad about leaving. Especially not with panic still flaring at his father’s words.

A flash of light drew the prince’s attention back to the mirror. The elf hesitantly stuck out his hand to touch the mirror, and it went through. The prince could hear the elf’s startled laughter, albeit somewhat muffled by the portal. But it had worked.

“Come on!” The prince was almost startled to hear the elf’s voice, but he realized he would probably quickly grow used to it. He couldn’t wait to grow used to it.

“Just a moment.” The prince quickly tossed all of his notes into the fire to dispose of them as usual, then scrawled one last note that he left on his bed. With that complete, he turned to the mirror. “Okay. I’m ready.”

The elf held out his hand through the mirror, and the prince took it, letting the elf tug him through the portal, away from everything he’d ever known.

When the soldier finally arrived at the prince’s room to bring him to his father, all they found was the mirror innocently reflecting the empty room, and a note on the prince’s bed for his father.

I think it’s about time I create my own destiny.