Behind the mirror

A woman, obsessed with her vanity and no matter what she did she was never "pretty". She started by obsessing with her figure, from different exercises, Keto diets, no sugar diet, and when she got satisfied she moved on with her face. From visiting the dermatologist every week and even gone under the knife, even though she was poor she spent all her money on her vanity. Elora focused solely on her appearance that she realized it far too late, that it was killing her slowly. She became anorexic and was diagnosed with clinical depression. She realized it far too late, she realized when she was already on her death bed. She realized that she focused on getting her vanity "corrected" that all the people around her started leaving one-by-one without her even noticing it.

It may be because of her mother, a prostitute that raised her in a red-light district, or her abusive misogynistic father. She would be surrounded by teenagers and adult women who constantly told her that beauty is everything when it comes to life, she believed this, that a woman must be a pretty vase inside the home and take care of the children. She believed that she must be beautiful to succeed, she believed her mother and her lies, she believed that her mother would never abandon her, but she did. Elora was sold when she was only twelve, she was sold to a 50-year-old man for her virginity. She thought that she would die then and there, but unluckily, she survived and lived in an orphanage and was never adopted.

She believes that she wasn't "beautiful enough" and this impacted her. The orphanage owner soon chased her out when she turned 18, and since she never got to study, she had nowhere to go. She lived in a bedspace and worked in different fast-food chains, she luckily got to take leftovers if there was. After earning enough money, she started working as a seamstress at a local clothing store, she opened, cleaned, and repaired clothes until she turned 23. By this time, she had enough money to buy her first makeup set. She then moved to an apartment and got to work as a freelance artist. She made her own clothes, painted and sold art, and even got to hold conferences once she built her own company. She went under the knife when she turned 28, it was a fulfilling achievement. But then it all went downhill when someone leaked her past, where she grew up and how her virginity was taken from her when she was only 12. She became depressed and a workaholic, soon, she became bulimic then anorexic.

Looking at the hospital ceiling, she sighed at herself. How could she just throw everything she worked hard for just because of her insecurities about herself. It was indeed too late, she didn't blame God nor did she blame anyone because of her fate. She knows that she tried her hardest, she just failed to escape the cage of insecurity and paranoia. She realized too late.

Her breath slowed down, and her body felt light...too light. Her eyelids became heavier from all the work she had been doing, from all the torture she did on her body. She was tired.

->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

"Huh?" She was lying down on a hospital bed...how the heck did she wake up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but flowers, shrubs, and a few trees. She found her neck itching, something was poking her neck. She opened her eyes and saw the clear blue skies.

'Did the hospital dump me here? Isn't that illegal?' She thought that the hospital just dumped her somewhere and didn't even bury her body properly. She sat up and looked around her.

"You've woken." A voice suddenly rang behind her which made her jump.

"AHH!" She suddenly stood up from her position only to fall back down again. she saw a woman standing in front of her. She had white hair... 'White hair?!'. But she didn't look old, she wasn't a granny. The woman in front of her was wearing a white silk robe which made her skin even brighter. She had amber eyes and a slender figure, pouty lips, and a flower crown which-

Lora stopped herself before even continuing, it became her habit to stare at people and rate their "attractiveness" and by far, she was the most beautiful. She had never seen such a beauty, It wasn't Asian beauty nor was it Western. She had unrealistic features that shocked her.

"U-uhm...where am I?" She cautiously asked.

"Hm? Oh, you are in my domain."

"D-domain?" Was this some kind of cosplay meeting she wasn't aware of?

"No darling, what even is cosplay?" She had a genuine curious expression.

"H-how?!" Did she read my mind? How did she read my mind?

"How rude of me, I'm Alveera and you must be Elora." She bowed down gracefully. Elora couldn't even react, how can she know my name?

"Let's get straight to the point shall we?" Lora didn't get to speak when she suddenly moved on her own.

"WOAH!~" She floated and was slowly sat on an old dead trunk of wood. She started wondering if she was dreaming or if this was one of the side effects of her depression caused by her anorexia.

"Oh, darling no!~" The sweet woman's voice rang loudly which made Lora jump again. She can read my mind...crap.

"This is all real honey, you can pinch or slap yourself and it'll hurt," Alveera suggested. Lora was hesitant but did it anyway, and she was hurt. She finally believed that this wasn't lucid dreaming or a hallucination, this was real. The lady served her tea that was on top of small wooden coasters. They were all floating! As if they had a mind of their own, two cubes of sugar were put inside the cup and were mixed thoroughly. She was hesitant to drink it at first but when she tasted it, she can't get enough of it. After snacking on a few fruits and pastries, she almost choked. She didn't even realize that there were wild animals that gathered around them. She began to panic inside but calmed herself. She couldn't believe what she was seeing...

'What the f*ck?!'

"Oh, don't worry about them, they aren't the ferocious type like the ones you have back there. They are quite intelligent." The animals nodded in unison at what she said which crept her even more. There were different foxes, bears, raccoons, hawks, and even owls. What struck her weird was why there were a polar bear and an arctic fox in the middle of a forest.

"As I've said, they're not the type you have back there." By back there, does she mean Earth? So this isn't Earth?

"Very funny that you haven't noticed that yet." Alveera gracefully drank from her teacup.

"Why am I here...?" She asked, she had a lot of questions in her head but decided to slowly go through them one-by-one.

"Good decision to not bombard me with questions, you're very well-mannered." She genuinely smiled and put her teacup on the floating coaster.

"I am very sorry for your death, as you know, your situation was severe, I'm actually amazed at how you survived that lifetime. You were already malnourished since your childhood and became anorexic. You were such a good person as well. It's just sad that you went down that road. I want to give you the chance to be beautiful and live a life of comfort!" This somehow ticked something in Elora.

"You'll be able to live in luxury without hardships and be beautiful...really, really beautiful. I just have to need your word of agreement." Elora sighed and slumped her shoulders. What Elora learned through her 20 years of experience in business is that there's always a catch.

"And the catch is?" Alveera tilted her head as if asking what she means. Elora rolled her eyes.

"Don't expect me to sign a contract without knowing *your* benefits, and what makes you sure that what *I* want is riches, comfort, and beauty?" Alveera's smile became wider which just made Elora even more uneasy.

"Isn't that what all humans want?" The beautiful woman said as if it was a fact.

"Spill it out already, show me a formal contract or it's a no." This finally made Alveera drop her smile down. Elora shivered at her sudden change of expression... 'I knew it.'

"You're very smart, I like that." Alveera's aura became distant and cold, very different from what she was a few moments ago, it's as if she has another personality she could switch in and out of.

"I want you to grant someone's wishes." A gold thick scroll suddenly appeared in front of them.

"You mean become a servant?"

"No." Alveera sipped from her cup.

"Oh please, stop sugar-coating it, I need to follow someone's orders don't I? Be straight forward and honest, You'll have a 10% increase in the rate of me agreeing if you just say your intentions." This stopped the beautiful woman's action of putting more milk on her tea.

"Pft, BWAHAHA!" The animals around flinched and as if knowing what'll happen next, they scurried behind rocks, woods, and even Elora.

"Goodness! I really like you dear! HUAHAHA." Alveera continued to laugh like a maniac and stopped after a couple of more seconds.

"Okay, I should stop being a doe-eyed b*tch now." Alveera wiped her tears from laughter.

"I need you to follow a girl's order until she dies."

"Absolute order?"

"Nah, you just need to be loyal to her, she wouldn't be able to see you until she turns 21, you get to enjoy absolute comfort, and this." She held her hands out and revealed a black mist that changed the atmosphere in one snap of her fingers. The bright and fun atmosphere became dead and the animals were nowhere to be seen. Alveera, the woman in white silk became a voluptuous tall woman with a scary aura.

"I can use magic?" I asked.

"Pft, please don't compare real sorcery to magic, It's like comparing gold to dirt." She was somehow offended at what she said.

"Sorcery isn't real in our reality, my being can't comprehend that type of stuff," I said as a matter of fact.

"Don't worry, It'll come naturally." She simply shrugged it off.

'Yeah, that's very reliable.' She started thinking of disastrous possibilities that she'll cause.

"And the catch is?"

"You'll be stuck in a mirror."

"Mirror? You could've thought of anything and you picked a mirror?" Elora was dumbfounded by what she said.

"Mirrors are the best medium for sorcery, you can transfer mirrors don't worry, and you can get out of the mirror and be in a physical state only for a certain amount of time."

"You're talking as if I had already agreed. You still don't have my best interest as far as I know."

"I can grant you anything you wish as long as it is within my reach." This made Lora thought for a few minutes.

"I still can't think of anything. Just reserve me 100% guaranteed wishes."

"How many?"

"Do I have to think of a number?"

"Yep!"

Elora then thought of a random number and said "five thousand".

"Okay." The way she agreed easily was weird.

"You know that's a joke right? I just want to go back to my own reality."

"Even if it is I can grant 5 thousand wishes as long as it's within my reach, but what confuses me greatly is why you want to go back? You've already hit rock-bottom, what more do you want to ruin? Are you a masochist? Does pain-pleasure you?" Perhaps this was what differentiated Alveera to her, they have a completely different mindset.

"I'm not a masochist. That life of continuous suffering was not caused by me, yes, but I already spent my youthful years working my *ss out every day and that's why I regret it, I regret not living every moment to the fullest. I already had everything that I didn't even know I needed. I was too blind to realize that." That stunned Alveera, she was left dumbfounded.

"That's... a new perspective." As time passes by, Alveera soon realized how odd this human being was, compared to others. 'Very odd indeed.'

"What remarkable thing has she done to curry your favor?" Elora was curious as to who and what this girl did for this demon-like woman. What she didn't expect was the answer Alveera had, she didn't know if she was serious or not.

"Sacrifice her soul."

"I'm sorry what?" The girl was dumbfounded at what the volu[ptuous woman said... 'sold her soul!?'

"Like what I said, sold her soul."

"Sold her soul!?"

"Are you a broken recorder!? Do I have to f*cking repeat myself!?" Alveera's temper was short, and this girl before her was repeating herself again and again.

"For what?"

"For you." She smiled and tilted her head.

"For me?"

"Repeat that one more f*cking time and I'll sew your mouth shut." Alveera didn't know how to handle this girl, she's seen a lot of humans but she wasn't familiar with her type. 'How can a girl who's mentally damaged be as witty and intelligent at the same time?'. She knew what happened to this girl from birth 'til death. She was mentally weak in terms of her appearance and her confidence is non-existent, but the way she's talking to her was very different. It was a weird feeling.

"Well, could you elaborate please?" Elora said.

"She's a poor girl who had a difficult childhood, I'm her fairy-godmother."

"Aren't fairy godmothers supposed to be like goddesses and heavenly?"

"That's your concept of fairy godmothers, I'm not one of that stereotypical goody-two-shoes type." It seems like there were many types of godmothers according to Alveera. She just answered with an 'oh'.

"I originally wanted to send her a demon trapped in a mirror that would follow her orders but that spirit's energy are limited since its core is only set on a specific mirror. I researched as to who was the best candidate and since you humans are the most adaptable and innovative group, I picked someone from your race."

"And that's me...but why me." After listening to a lengthy explanation, Elora wanted to ask why it was her she picked. Perhaps it was random? Is there a standard that needed to be met? Is it like a job hiring where you get to know the clients in screening and hire them based on the company's requirement?

"I tried looking for the most miserable of your kind so I can easily manipulate him or her, and I picked you. Though it was actually a huge mistake on my part, I just realized through our conversation that what I found wasn't the weakest, what I found was the most resilient."

"So...I didn't meet your requirement?"

"Yes! And that was actually a good thing! So instead of having a slave in front of me, I got to meet a friend with a mutual level of intellect..." Alveera paused for a second and awkwardly continued.

"If it's okay for you to be a friend that is."

"We already are, aren't we?" The cold aura was once again swept away by the cold breeze, the atmosphere around her became light, Alveera was genuinely happy from the looks of it. Elora couldn't help but giggle at how innocent the scene was before her. The demon-like appearance she had change once again. She easily switches her moods on and off just like that. Alveera became embarrassed once she realized her sudden reaction.

"Anyway! Since you're someone dear to me now, you need to meet my standards."

"By standards you mean?"

"You must change your disgusting outfit!" Elora's outfit was the chick style that was on-trend back in her reality, she didn't know it was a bizarre outfit for Alveera. Alveera then grabbed a wand out of nowhere and began chanting, for some reason, Elora expected something different from the short few words she chanted.

"Well, what'd you expect?!" When Alveera caught a glimpse of her thoughts, she wondered what she had expected.

"I thought you were gonna say *bippity-boppity-boo*." This left Alveera dumbfounded once again, 'is this b*tch serious?' she thought to herself.

"I'm not some weird godmother you watched from a cartoon! I'M ALVEERA! Now as a new friend you must call me VEE! Repeat after me, VEE!"

"VEE! Now as a friend as well you must call me Lora, repeat after me, LORA!"

"Are you mocking me?!" She wasn't intentionally mocking her, she just found it funny how childish her actions were.

"Never! I'm a friend now so call me Lora." Elora smiled widely at her reaction. Alveera started calling her Lora from then on and Lora started calling her Vee from then on. This was the start of a friendship between a devilish godmother and a witty human.