The Gateway

I didn’t stick around to hear more. With a frantic twist of my body and some quickly mumbled words to the door, I freed myself and flew down the hall at lightning speed. My tears caught flight on the wind as I soared. “I have to get back!” My mind screamed as I burst through the keyhole and into open air. But before I could make an exit from the city I realized I was surrounded. Queen White was filling the streets with soldiers. The crest of her castle shone brightly on their armor, a beautiful apple like the one I’d almost eaten off the Poisoned Apple Tree. None of them had seen me yet, but I knew it wouldn’t take much. “How long do we have to stand here?” One soldier grumbled while scratching a place beneath his breast plate. “If I had to guess, we’re finally going to war,” another whispered conspiratorially. Hidden behind one of the many podiums that littered the street, I listened to the guards and watched for an escape route. “I’m not so much interested in the cause as the free land she’s offering if we succeed.” “Land! Leave that for the farmers, man. Equality is our reward. The Queen finally opened my eyes to that. It’s not fair that magical creatures should have all the advantage just because they were born more privileged than us!” The first guard shrugged. “They’re not so bad. I had a talking horse as a nanny when I was little. She gave me rides around the park if I was good. It would be a shame to see her kind erased.” “A shame? Speak sense! They should all be destroyed. Only then will there be harmony in the world.” “You sound just like Her. What, did you memorize her speeches?” The guards around the two shifted uncomfortably. A fight suddenly broke out between them. It was just the opportunity I had been looking for. I darted across the street to another building further down. This one had a sign that boasted “Pull the slot, win a prize!” I slipped inside, away from the growing crowd of spectators. The inside of the building was eerily still. Tall metal boxes stood in neat rows across the main room. Each box had a handle jutting out of the side like an arm in salute. I moved slowly, convinced they would come to life at any moment and alert the Queen. Below the boxes and scattered across the floor were various magical creatures. At first I thought they were dead. But a raspy snore escaped from a gnome toward the back and I realized they were sleeping. The foot of an elf twitched as I passed it. I glanced at the metal boxes again, nervously watching their cherry shaped eyes for movement. I focused on a point at the back wall and quickly flew across the room to the door on the other side. Without looking back, I darted through the keyhole. My heart pounded mercilessly against my chest. Once inside, I turned around to look back through. The metal boxes had remained fixed to their spots. “Maybe they’re not turned on,” I said, my breath coming out in small puffs of white. I shivered. The room I had entered was as cold as ice. Something large moved behind me. The walls shook with its efforts. I stopped, caught between the urge to look and the instinct to flee. “I knew you’d come.” It said. The voice was all encompassing, so loud I wondered if the room itself had spoken. I pivoted in my spot. Through the cold and darkness the only thing I could see was a wall of red and gold. It took a moment to realize that the “wall” was actually the stomach of a creature. Its body filled the room from side to side, top to bottom. I marveled at the fact that I hadn’t hit it on the way in. “What are you?” I breathed, unable to see high enough to know who I was speaking to. “They called me The Great Phoenix,” he said, his voice both sad and proud. “But now they call me nothing.” I flew higher, unwilling to believe my ears until my eyes could confirm it. Could it be true? Could the Phoenix be alive? I stared into his large gold eyes and fought the impulse to touch him. His feathers shimmered in the dark like the last dying embers of a fire. Finally, when the silence became too much, I broke it. “I thought you were dead. We all did.” He sighed. The force of his breath sent me reeling. I straightened my wings and flew further from his mouth. “Are you stuck? Who put you here? Can we get you out?” Questions burst from my mouth without restrain. “They keep the room just cold enough-.” He sounded ill. “-I need your help.” “Anything,” I said without pause. “-Black box on the wall. It has a dial and a lever. I need you to move the lever until the dial changes from blue to red.” I popped my head out the keyhole, making sure the metal monsters hadn’t moved. “I’ll be back.” The box on the wall had the inscription, “Thermostat” on it. I moved the lever as instructed and went back to check on Phoenix. The room was already noticeably warmer. “That’s better. Now, there’s something else you must do for me.” The Phoenix spoke slowly, “It’s not going to be easy though.” I nodded, wide eyed. I gauged by the effort it took him to speak that the information was too important to wait. Time suddenly felt very fleeting. “Are you familiar with the manikin Rumplestiltskin?” He asked. I scrunched my face in repulsion. “This afternoon I heard two workers say that the Queen was coming to visit him. She was supposed to bring something really important with her.” “Mirror Mirror,” I whispered. Phoenix’s eyes widened. “Exactly. Listen, Mirror Mirror isn’t an ordinary mirror. He’s a gateway. The Queen has been searching for decades for the key that will unlock him.” “A gateway to where?” I interrupted. “To where all things begin.” I tried not to show my confusion, wanting so badly to be worthy of the Phoenix’s attention. “Where’s that, and why does the Queen want to get there?” “There isn’t enough time to explain. But I’ll tell you this, if the Queen gets through, it will be the end of everything we know.” His words weighed on me like a stone. “So, what are we going to do to stop her?” “You have to get there first,” he said forcibly. The room had gotten hotter since we started talking. The Phoenix’s strength seemed to rise with the temperature. “Me? But… I’m just a fairy! The Queen likes to kill my kind. Have you tried the local Giant?” “You’re not just a fairy, my dear. You’re THE fairy. The key.” “The key to open the magic mirror,” I said doubtfully. “Precisely.” I stared at him incredulously for a moment. “Okay,” I said, finally resigned. “So I’m some magic key.” The whole notion struck me as absurd. But who was I to argue? “What do want me to do?” The Phoenix smiled with a slight parting of his beak. “Here’s the plan…”