The door that appeared at midnight

At exactly 12:03 a.m., every mirror in the kingdom of Avelora shattered.Not one.Not ten.Every single one.
People woke to the sound of glass exploding inside their homes. Mothers ran to their children’s rooms. Guards rushed through the palace corridors.
Dogs began barking at empty streets.And somewhere in the northern forest, seventeen-year-old Elara Vale woke up 
screaming.She had seen the mirrors break before they actually did.In her dream, she had been standing inside a black hallway.
There were hundreds of doors.Some were burning.Some were covered in vines.Some were floating in mid-air.
But one door stood at the very end.A silver door.And someone was knocking from the other side.Three times.
Knock.Knock.Knock.Elara had reached for the handle when a voice whispered behind her:
“Whatever happens, do not open it.”Then she woke.Her room was silent.For a few seconds, she simply stared at the ceiling.
Then—CRASH.The mirror hanging beside her bed shattered.Elara jumped out of bed.Her heart pounded.
She stared at the broken pieces scattered across the floor.But something was wrong.The pieces weren’t reflecting her room.They were reflecting a forest.
A dark forest.And standing between the trees was a boy.He looked about her age.Black hair.Pale face.Silver eyes.
He was staring directly at her.Elara stepped closer.The boy raised one finger to his lips.“Don’t let them find you.”The reflection disappeared.Elara stumbled backwards.
“What the hell…”A bell suddenly rang somewhere outside.Once.Twice.Then three times.The Royal Bell.
It had not been rung in nearly a hundred years.Everyone in Avelora knew what it meant.Someone had broken the oldest law of the kingdom.Elara ran to the window.Outside, the village was awake.
People were standing in the streets, staring toward the palace.Above the palace towers, a column of blue fire had appeared.And then she saw them.
Riders.Twenty of them.Dressed entirely in silver armour.The King’s Shadow Guard.They were riding directly toward her village.
Elara’s stomach dropped.Why would the King’s guards come here?Then someone knocked on her bedroom door.“Elara?”Her mother’s voice.
Elara rushed to open it.Her mother stood there, pale and trembling.“We have to leave.”“What happened?”Her mother grabbed her wrist.“Now.”
“Why are the guards coming?”Her mother didn’t answer.“Mom!”She finally looked at Elara.And whispered something that made Elara’s blood turn cold.
“They know you’re alive.”Elara froze.“What?”Her mother closed the door behind them.“You were never supposed to survive.”“What are you talking about?”
Her mother walked toward the old wooden chest beneath the staircase.She opened it.Inside was a small black box.She pulled it out with shaking hands.“I prayed this day would never come.”
She opened the box.Inside was a silver necklace.At its centre was a tiny crystal shaped like a teardrop.The moment Elara saw it, the crystal began glowing.
Her mother stepped backwards.“No.”The glow became brighter.Elara touched it.The entire house shook.
Outside, the village dogs began howling.Her mother grabbed her hand.“Listen to me carefully. You cannot stay here.”“Why?”“Because the King isn’t coming for you.”
Elara stared at her.“Then who is he coming for?”Her mother whispered:“You.”Silence.Elara felt the world tilt.“Why?”
Her mother looked toward the window.The Shadow Guards had entered the village.“They believe you’re the last Starborn.”“The what?”“The last person who can open the Door Between Worlds.”
Elara laughed nervously.“This doesn’t make sense.”“I know.”“You’re telling me I’m some kind of magical person?”
“No.”Her mother’s voice cracked.“I’m telling you that you’re something much worse.”
Before Elara could respond, there was a massive BANG downstairs.The front door had been kicked open.Men shouted.“SEARCH THE HOUSE!”
Her mother pushed the necklace into Elara’s hand.“Go to the forest.”“What about you?”“I’ll follow you.”Another crash.
The staircase shook.Her mother pointed toward a narrow wooden panel behind the bookshelf.“There’s a passage.”Elara stared at her.
“You knew about this?”“I built it.”“When?”“Before you were born.”The guards were climbing the stairs.
Her mother pushed the bookshelf aside.A dark tunnel appeared.“Go.”Elara stepped inside.“Mom—”“Don’t look back.”The bookshelf slammed shut.
Elara ran.The tunnel seemed endless.Behind her, she could hear shouting.Then silence.She kept running until she reached a stone staircase.
At the top was a door.She pushed it open.Cold air hit her face.She was standing inside the northern forest.She turned around.The door disappeared.
Elara stood alone.For the first time in her life, she felt completely lost.Then she heard something.A voice.“You’re late.”Elara spun around.
The boy from the mirror was standing between two trees.Silver eyes.Black hair.Same face.Same impossible expression.
She stepped backwards.“Who are you?”He smiled.“My name is Kael.”“How do you know me?”“I’ve been looking for you for seventeen years.”
Elara’s hand tightened around the glowing necklace.“Why?”Kael looked at the crystal.Then his smile disappeared.“Because you’re not the last Starborn.”
Elara’s breath caught.“There are others?”Kael shook his head.“No.”He looked toward the sky.A strange red moon was rising between the trees.
“You’re the first.”“What does that mean?”Kael looked directly into her eyes.“It means the war didn’t end seventeen years ago.”He stepped closer.“It was waiting for you to wake up.”
The necklace suddenly burned against Elara’s palm.The ground beneath them began to crack.Something enormous moved beneath the forest.Trees trembled.Birds flew away.
And from somewhere deep underground came the sound of thousands of voices whispering the same sentence:“She has returned.”Elara looked at Kael.“What is happening?”
Kael’s face had gone completely pale.He whispered:“The Door.”Behind Elara, a silver doorway appeared between two ancient trees.
Exactly like the one from her dream.Three knocks echoed from the other side.Knock.Knock.Knock.Kael grabbed her arm.“Whatever you hear…”The handle began turning.
“…do not open it.”But before Elara could answer, a voice came from behind the door.Her mother’s voice.“Elara?”Elara stopped breathing.“Please.”The voice sounded terrified.
“Open the door.”Kael’s grip tightened.“That’s not your mother.”Elara stared at the door.Her hand slowly moved toward the handle.
And from the other side, something began laughing.