Mirror Duet

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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"Every dream you've ever had, and every dream yet to come, exists somewhere in the Kingdoms of the Void. Every nightmare, too. Because there has to be balance - it's the rules."

Two books written by Catherine Webb: Mirror Dreams and Mirror Wakes, set in the land of Dreams and Nightmare.


Tropes used in Mirror Duet include:

"Let's see what a hundred years have done for your memories. Who made the elementals' network?"
The cry was taken up only by a few older agents, but they said it with a passion and conviction the carried across the room. "Kite!"
"Who prevented the Seven-Kingdom revolt?"
"Kite!" More voices now, as more memories clicked.
"Who introduced he canteen in the lower halls?"
"Kite!"
"Whose soup gave everyone food poisoning for a week?"
"Kite!" I doubt there wasn't a single voice which didn't yell out.
"And who's standing on stage now, saying that you," I pointed a dramatic finger at Jehirer, "are no good at the job?"
The cry shook the ceiling and echoed across the hall.
"Kite! Kite! Kite! Kite!"

  • Balance Between Good and Evil: Without the balance between dreams and nightmare, the people of Earth will destroy themselves and there will be no more Void, no more dreams, no more nightmare.
    • In a strange way, between the Void and Earth, too.

Dreamers affect the physical form of our world, we affect the mental shape of theirs. Who now the greater power holds?

  • Bastard Bastard: Xavian, the Firepoint and Sunpoint crossbreed.
  • The Big Board: The Silverhand Consortium has one, mapping kingdoms aligned to dreams and nightmare and neutral kingdoms as well.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Our mage in white addresses us all the time.

Laenan Kite (after a long and flowery bit of exposition): Don't you dare fall asleep on me yet!
Laenan Kite: Sorry guys, dreamers are never in the kingdom long enough - the longest you see and dreamer for is ten or so hours - to set up shop. So, you wanna job? You gotta stick to your own dull little planet.
Laenan Kite: Are you surprised, dreamer? Are you surprised that I could be so much less of a man within? Do not be.
Laenan Kite: Noses always itch at the worst possible time, dear dreamer.

  • Combat Pragmatist: Most mages don't think of bringing guns and knives to a fight. Kite also applies the laws of physics in his magic, so when his opponent makes a giant flashy fireball he simply adjusts the heat flow and kicks them in the shins.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Kite, only you would think of turning shit into acid.
    • Scry-blocks.
  • Dream Apocalypse: As Kite points out, if someone is a dream, what happens when their dreamer dies? Creates a Fridge Logic moment when you realise that Renna is immortal and Kite is her dream.
  • Dream Land: Our setting
  • Dream Spying: On our lord of dreams, with Earth as the dream, no less.
  • Dreaming the Truth
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Lots of dream tropes, eh?
  • Dream Weaver: Mages can create worlds that respond to their mind - dreams or nightmares. However it takes a lot of resources, time and paperwork galore.
  • Evil Gloating: You should have really known better, Serein.
  • First-Person Smartass
  • Fisher King: The kingdoms of the Void.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Oh so often. Having dealt with so many lords of nightmare Kite usually has some pretty snappy comebacks, too. YMMV on if they are actually justifications, or just make Kite feel better. Lampshaded:

Laenan Kite: Anger at Renna for using me, anger at Miriam for refusing to see the truth, anger that, in their own strange ways, all of them were right. Even Xavian, in a way. There had been to much war.

Laenan Kite: Too many titles have always worried me, and that sentence was packed full of them. I've had enough titles in my time to fill a small book, and I know they bring nothing but trouble.

Laenan Kite: In fact, he looked bloody well just like me. And I'm not kidding. He had the same blue eyes, the dark hair, the same ordinary nose, chin, face . . .