The Reflection of Julian Marnier
The Mirror Remembers What We Forget.
"Smile once, smile twice, but never a third,
Lest the glass should whisper a word."
"Turn away, bow your head, never greet too long,
Or you’ll find the mirror is singing your song."
"A face too proud, a gaze too bold,
May find itself trapped in the silver cold."
"Step away, don’t wait, don’t stare,
Lest you leave your shadow there."
Once upon a time, in the city of Venlin, there lived a man named Julek Marnier, a scholar of great learning and even greater vanity.
Julek was known for his sharp mind, his fine clothes, and his endless fascination with the mysteries of light and shadow. But of all things, he loved his own reflection most. It was said that no mirror in his house ever gathered dust, for he spent long hours studying himself, tilting his head this way and that, watching the way the light caught his eyes, the way his smile shifted like a trick of glass.
Yet for all his admiration, a question troubled him.
"How can a man know himself, if he can only see himself in reverse?"
And so, as the years passed, Julek turned his studies toward mirrors, not as mere looking glasses, but as something deeper. A doorway, he told himself. A veil between two worlds.
Night after night, he sat before his mirror, watching. He would move his hand, slowly at first, then quickly, to see if the reflection lagged. He would blink, turn away, then snap his head back, hoping to catch it hesitating.
And one fateful evening, as the candlelight flickered low, he did.
His reflection blinked too late.
Julek gasped. He smiled, and the reflection did not.
Curious, he lifted his hand, and the glass seemed softer, almost liquid. He spoke, and though no sound answered, his own lips moved in the mirror, as if struggling to keep up.
For the first time, he was not alone.
At first, it was a game. He whispered secrets to the glass, watching the way his reflection listened. He tested it, seeing how long the delay would last, how much it knew of him, whether it was still bound to his will.
Then, one morning, he woke to find his reflection missing.
The mirror still stood, but where his image should have been, there was nothing. His room was there, the chair, the books, the candle burned to its stub. But Julek Marnier was gone from the glass.
He laughed at first, calling it a clever trick of the light. But when he turned away, he felt it, something just behind him, moving in perfect step. A second shadow on the wall. A breath that did not belong to him.
That night, he covered every mirror in his house.
But reflections have long memories.
The next day, a merchant passing through the city claimed to see Julek’s face, not in the streets, but in the window of a shop, staring out as though trapped behind the glass.
By the time the neighbors thought to check on him, his house was locked from within. The doors were bolted, the windows latched, and Julek Marnier was nowhere to be found.
All that remained was the mirror.
No one knows what became of it. Some say it was buried deep in the Venlin Vaults, locked away where it could do no harm. Others whisper that a traveling collector took it, thinking it enchanted. But the most chilling tales claim that it was simply sold, like any other antique, passed from hand to hand, from merchant to merchant, until its true nature was forgotten.
It could be in an old noble’s estate, gathering dust in a grand hall. It could be hanging in an inn where strangers come and go. It could be waiting in an antique shop, nestled between fine china and gilded clocks, its silvered surface just a little too deep, a little too cold.
And if you ever find an old mirror, its reflection just slightly off, be careful.
Because somewhere, Julek Marnier is still looking for a way back.
And if you watch too long…
He might just step through.
"You must mind what you buy in Areeott. A thing that lingers too long on a shelf is often waiting, not forgotten. Trinkets keep memories. Mirrors keep faces. And some objects, ah, some objects keep their owners."
Historical Basis
"I’ve gambled with men who didn’t know they were ghosts. I’ve stolen from vaults that were supposed to be sealed forever. I once talked my way out of a duel with a man who already had his sword through my coat. But a magic mirror? From Areeott? No. Absolutely not. I enjoy tempting fate, but I don’t go looking for my own reflection to fight me for my soul."
Unlike most folktales meant to instill fear or humility, The Reflection of Julian Marnier is unusual in that the object at its center is known to have existed. The so called Marnier Mirror was a masterwork of Arin silver, a frame of exquisite craftsmanship surrounding a faultless pane of polished glass. Commissioned in the late 1500s by Julian Marnier, a nobleman renowned for his vanity, the mirror was displayed in his estate for only a short time before his sudden and unexplained disappearance.
Records show that the mirror was sold at auction after Marnier's death, though its whereabouts quickly became uncertain, passing through the hands of collectors and merchants alike. Some say it was destroyed, melted down for its silver. Others claim it still exists, waiting, unnoticed, among the countless antique mirrors scattered across Areeott’s markets and private collections.
Like the fabled lost Imperial Silver Mark, a coin worth a king’s ransom that sends treasure hunters scouring every old purse and hoard, the Marnier Mirror remains an object of quiet obsession. Not for its craftsmanship, nor even for its value, but for the lingering suspicion that one day, someone will find it.
And on that day, the story will cease to be a myth.
"There is always another. Another pair of eyes waiting beneath the surface, another hand pressed against the silver, waiting for you to look too long. And when you do! Ah, when you do! It will step forward, and you will step back, and the glass will be smooth again."
Date of Setting
Once Upon A Time...
Related Ethnicities
Related Species
Related Locations
Related Organizations
"A heart that beats only for its own reflection is a heart half starved. Love is not found in polished glass nor in the eyes that admire you, but in the hands you reach for and the souls you cherish. Beware the lure of your own image, for vanity is a lover that leaves you empty."
Again an intriguing story! :) While reading I thought that maybe another font would fit better, look nicer?
Probably. I have no idea how to do CSS/BSS whatever. I tried but it's too hard for me. At some point I'm just going to find someone who wants $400 to just make me a rad theme for the entire setting. Believe it or not, Areeott is the smallest country on this planet. I just happened to start here because it also happens to be where I started years and years ago. Been a fun walk down memory lane though!