Lea and the hungry mirror

This story is one that came up from a storytelling session between me and my 4 year old nephew. He said "Ludvig, tell the story about THE HUNGRY MIRROR!". Below is my outline for that story, based on my notes and designs with help by ChatGPT and some friends more artistic than me to envision what the story could look like (my ambition is to publish it when it is done!)To be perfectly clear: The crude sketches are drawn by me while the more professional artful looking drawings are generated by ChatGPT. All the text is explicitly written directly by me.

Lea was a dutiful girl who lived in a city filled with dreary forests and looming castles. Most of the people around Lea were superstitious and afraid of numerous things lurking in the dark and potentially preying on people, including Lea's own family.This was not the case however with Lea, she was curious about the world and was in fact interested in finding a job in order to get away from her narrow minded family.

Lea was overjoyed when she landed a job in one of the biggest castles just outside of town. It belonged to a mysterious woman named Bellatrix, of which there were many rumors being spun. Was she a witch, a dark lady consorting with dark forces? But Lea had focused on other things, that she had a fascinating laboratory, a magnificient library and also that she was a demanding but firm taskmaster.

Lea was thrilled but also nervous before meeting Bellatrix. She was an elegant woman, but quite serious when she gave her instructions to Lea. "You are to clean my castle, cook my meals and make sure everything is in order". She kept pointing Lea around the castle."HOWEVER" Bellatrix exlaimed outside a big circular room. You are NEVER to enter the room with the mirror. Understand?Lea was a sensible and diligent person and so nodded.

Lea happily performed her chores, she was a dutiful girl after all. She loved exploring the castle especially the library and the laboratory. But she did not appreciate the two cats that shared the castle with Bellatrix. Everywhere she went she felt the cats eyeing her which was an unnerving feeling.One day Lea was faced with a choice. While Bellatrix had made it clear she was to never enter the mirror room one of the cats had left their filthy paw prints leading all the way towards the very mirror!Lea decided, she would just clean the paw prints really quickly and then be out.

Lea cleaned, quickly but diligently but it was a scary process. Always right out of her view she felt like something moved in the mirror but as she looked at it there was nothing there! She cleaned closer and closer to the mirror until she finally was done...

But she was no longer in the castle! The sky was blood red and all around her books, parchments and bookcases were swirling around. She looked to where the mirror should have been, but she could only make out its form, it now seemed like a black void. In the distance Lea could make out a menacing form but she tried to hide from it for now.

Lea walked further in the red void. She was scared now, she knew there was something looking at her and getting closer. She did think that some of the books that floated around her looked familiar since she had spent so much time in the library of the castle. Suddenly she came upon a book that seemed to almost seek her in the air. It had a strange word on it: "XIRTALLEB" which seemed familiar.

Now Lea saw a shape closing in on her and she started feeling intense fear. It was the mysterious creature that she had perceived earlier. She almost started to panic but moved backwards towards where the mirror was. While she backed from the creature gliding towards her with malice in her eyes she suddenly realized what the word on the book was, it was BELLATRIX spelled backwards!As she looked in terror on the dark fiend that was swooping down on her she exclaimed "BELLATRIX!". The book in her hands started to glow and she could hear a buzzing or humming sound starting behind her. The creature closed in on her, she backed towards the mirror now sure that any second now the creature would catch up to her. The creature was right on top on her and she fell backwards...

Lea found herself back in the mirror room. On top of her was Hugo (or was it Lugo?). The book lay next to her but now clearly said "Bellatrix". Lea pushed the cat off her, it had a distinctly dissapointed look on its face.

Lea looked around the room, it looked like it had done before when she cleaned but she felt something was different when she looked at the mirror, as if she could she the wild red lurking in the misty shapes of the mirror.Lea gathered the bucket and mop and started exiting the mirror room when she heard a familiar voice. “You went in”.It was Lady Bellatrix! She stood just around the corner with a stern face.“L-Lady Bellatrix” Lea stuttered. “I was just-”.“You went in.” Bellatrix interrupted “But you found your way out. You let your curiosity overcome your fear of following the rules and you had the resolve and wits to find your way back.”Lea was completely dumbfounded. This was not at all how she had imagined the conversation would go if Bellatrix found out she had entered the mirror room.“I was hoping I would find someone with the right blend of courage, curiosity and wisdom with the note I sent out, and it seems I was right. Follow me.”Lea didn’t say anything, she followed Bellatrix as they started walking through the castle. They walked in silence until they arrived at the library. Bellatrix with clear purpose walked straight to an unassuming book, grey and with small letters, and pulled on it. One of the bookcases slides open!Lea was shocked, she had been to the library many times and read a great deal of the stories there but she was now shocked that there was a hidden space behind one of the bookshelves.Bellatrix urged Lea to follow her. This unknown area of the castle was a whirling and bending set of stairs and corridors but after a while they ended up in a big and magnificent room. It was a room full of mirrors. They had different sizes and shapes, and different ornaments as well! One was gold with what looked like a dragon circling around it. Lea could see shapes of gold and fire moving faintly in that mirror. Another had an eerie dark feel, with a dark brown outlining of trees and fairy like ornaments surrounding it. One mirror in particular deeply unsettled Lea, it had a beautiful ivory outline with amazing swirling shapes but the mirror itself was pitch black, but Lea sensed almost something disturbing pulsing within that black void.“By now you have realized that the mirrors in this castle are not like ordinary mirrors” Bellatrix explained. “Also you might have figured out by now that I did not set out to hire a simple housekeeper. Now that you have taken the first leap it is time I explain why you are really here.”“I am the latest in a long line of custodians of this castle. You might call us mirror keepers. We make sure that there is… Stability, I guess you could say, in the places the mirrors lead to, and make sure that none of the more troublesome elements come out into our world and cause trouble here.