Legend LXXIV – The Mirror Witch of Calavera

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  • Michael Wischniewski's avatar Artist
    Michael Wi...
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More about Legend LXXIV – The Mirror Witch of Calavera

In the forgotten alleys of Calavera, where the houses are built of black stone and the shadows are longer than the nights, they tell of a woman who is never truly present, yet appears wherever someone looks in a mirror. People call her the Mirror Witch of Calavera, and no one knows if she was ever born or if she emerged from the very first mirror—like a reflection that found enough strength to break free from reality. Her realm begins where the glass ceases to be a mere object and becomes a gateway. A gateway that leads not to another world, but to that deserted half of our own, where forgotten voices lie like dust and memories refuse to die. The witch herself always appears with a smile too serene to be human. Her face, so dark and adorned with feathers, seems like a secret no one wishes to uncover. Skulls adorn her hat—not as a threat, but as a warning, so that everyone would know: whoever deals with her loses not only what they have to offer, but also what they never thought they possessed. Yet at the heart of this legend stands not only she, but also the Woman in Red—the one whose flawless skin is painted with the colors of the dead, as if she were both alive and already beyond. She is called the Masked Maiden, the Guardian of the Threshold. Some say she sprang from the Witch's hand; others claim she was once a victim who, in her despair, sought refuge in the Mirror Realm. Whatever the truth, she and the Witch are always inextricably linked, connected like two breaths of the same night. The Mirror of Calavera, that enormous frame adorned with vines and skull crowns, forms the center of their power. It is no ordinary mirror. It shows not what one is, but what one seeks to conceal. Whoever steps before it doesn't see their own reflection—they see themselves as the witch sees them: translucent, fragile, full of unspoken longings. One day, however, something happened that the town of Calavera has never been able to overcome. A storm swept across the hills, and with it a silence so thick that even the crows lowered their wings. A young girl vanished without a trace, and her last footprint was found in the dust directly in front of the mirror. People swore they had seen two figures in the dark surface—the Mirror Witch and the Masked Maiden, both with looks that didn't express regret, but rather anticipation. They searched desperately for the girl, but no one ventured into the mirror realm, for the witch had sealed the gateway. Only much later did an old crowkeeper recount that he had seen the girl—not in the world of the living, but in the mirror itself. And she hadn't been imprisoned. No, she had smiled. As if she had discovered a truth her world had never shown her. Since then, the brave have whispered that the Mirror Witch is not the monster she is believed to be. Perhaps she is a judge. Perhaps a liberator.

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