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Standing on the balcony, floating in the sea of excited whispers and claps, Phillip thought back to when the world turned to mirror.
He was sitting with his parents, drinking some audaciously expensive tea, discussing some person they had run into on their recent trip, Phillip didn’t remember who. Suddenly, the world lurched, and his yellow eyes looked back at him.
Most of what he saw was mundane. Simply himself with a different hair colour, or if he went by ‘Phil’. The other things though, Phillip would never forget.
He saw him married to Corrina, neither of them happy, always thinking about what could have been. They had kids, who grew to resent their positions just as much as they did, but what could they do about it?
He saw Serinepth with a crown being placed over her head, and himself staggering forward to stop her, before being shoved back by guards. She looked at him not with disgust or anger, but pity. Pity for the stupid boy who thought he was worth more than a kingdom.
He saw them running, Serinepth’s green hair flying in the wind, a grin on her face, asking him if he really wants to leave it all behind. His breathless reply, that of course, all they ever need is each other. But they keep running, and running, and running, never granted a moment of respite. They find themselves asking whether it was truly worth it? If their running away actually changed anything?
He saw himself standing hand in hand with Serinepth, Lord and Lady Maisel. It was what he wanted, so why did he feel suffocated? There was a barrier between them that he couldn’t place.
He saw himself, dead in the Polisherium. Winsler stood over him, hands glowing but it was no use. Serinepth begged him to stay awake, but he knew he was already long gone.
Finally, he saw himself alone. His parents left him everything, but he never had been able to move on. Serinepth was out living her life, and all he could do was sit idly in the castle, trying to think about where it all went wrong.
When it all came back, the mirror receded from view, Phillip nearly fell out of his chair trying to get away. He couldn’t deal with any of this right now.
And now, he stood on the balcony watching as his last chance slipped from his fingertips. He felt himself clapping along with the audience, as all he could think was they were getting closer and closer to whatever he saw in those stupid mirrors.
He was too late.