Mirror woke up, groggy with sleep. Immediately, she bonked her head on the bed above hers. "Great"- she thought. "I've just woken up Sunbeam." Sighing, she slowly got up from under the covers.

Her surroundings became clearer as sleep lost its hold on her. The rickety, rundown room where her, Sunbeam and Giant slept was badly in need of repainting. The walls were a dark, grayish green- or was it all a stain? They did seem to turn lighter near the window slits. "Training practice starts early today"- she remembered, while putting on her uniform. "Menace will give me a stern talk if I miss it."

Her routine came as easily as... well, nothing came quite as easy as her routine. After she was done with all the buttons on her gray, nondescript shirt, she quickly moved to take her potion before the others woke up.

As she'd done for the past two years here.

Reaching for the green bottle she kept under her pillow, she pondered upon today's lessons with her trainer, Vertigo. "Will she finally teach me that one move?"- she wondered. "No. Can't be. I'm an average student at best, and that's a very advanced..."

Confused, she opened and closed the bottle again. Her potion was all out.

Anxiety threatened to overwhelm her right there on the spot. She glanced at Sunbeam's bed above hers, on the verge of panic. Loud snores still came from it. "Okay"- she told herself. "It's fine. You've got a few, solid minutes before she wakes up. And Giant's a heavy sleeper, so he'll be up in a quarter hour at least. You have enough time to fetch a new potion..."

A voice came from the mirror behind her. It was silky smooth, exactly the same as...

–You'll never make it in time- it spoke in a honeyed, condescending tone. -Soon, the mirrors will act up, then the glasses and the silverware.- It laughed briefly.- Good luck eating with your bare hands!

Mirror spun around, terrified. "Oh no"- she thought. "Not again".

In the blink of an eye, she covered the mirror with the emergency cloth. Then, she darted out of the room, hearing the creak of old floorboards beneath her feet. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Where to go? Panic overwhelmed her. In a brief moment of clarity, she remembered. Menace's closet.

She couldn't make it there in time. "Why can I never do these things right? I should've noticed I was all out of potions the second I finished them yesterday morning!"- she thought, kneeling on the floor. "I'm a terrible student, and I have horrible memory! Why did I get this curse, oh, dear gods!?"

–Mirror? Has your curse been acting up again?

Menace was standing in the hallway. Her businesslike tone seemed innapropriate for the situation. "Great"- Mirror thought in her anguish. "I've made a mess in front of my troupe leader." Menace wasn't exactly known for being emotional.

–Well? Do you want me to get your potion? You're going to be late for training.

"As always"- Mirror thought- "succinct and to the point. She's such a good leader."

Menace left the hallway, presumably to get Mirror's potion. Which left her alone in the hallway. "But not for long"- she remembered. "They'll be up soon. I need to get away!" Adrenaline flared up again. She could still pass this off as a normal day. Training practice would start in half an hour.

"Maybe I could summon a little air current to help me along..." She quickly dismissed the thought. It would be blasphemy. Powers were to be used only in specific circumstances.

She was beginning to regret joining the witches. Well, the Servants of the Gods, as they called themselves. "We!"- she yelled at herself in her head. "As we call ourselves!" She sent a quick prayer to Aris, her personal patron goddess. "She gave me everything."- she reminded herself. "They gave me everything."

That's what set them apart from other humans. They had gifts- and they had curses. Their lifetimes were extended. They weren't normal- and they owned it. Maybe a little too much.

A loud yawn came from their quarters. Giant was awake. Soon, Sunbeam would follow. Her team was... unusual, to say the least. She didn't know their ages. She didn't know their birthdays. And of course, she didn't know their names. And yet, they were highly pressed to act as family would. All witches had their teams- one of each element. Fire, earth, wind, ice. Designed for maximum efficiency. Mirror wasn't exactly up to standard. Wind was for quick death. Mirror was a coward.

She shook herself and turned toward the training yard. Someday, she'd get over her cowardice and be a true witch– Servant of the Gods. For now, she just had to practice.

And practice she would.

Author's Note: Hope you like this story! I'm writing this one as a first draft rather than an outline.

Mirror's story is more of a pet project for me, since it's set centuries before my main stuff and doesn't affect it all that much. I just kinda came up with an idea and went with it lol :)