Annihilated Lilith

Chapter 10 10. The Lake in the Mirror

The examination room returned to the interior of the castle, and the examinees were arranged by Vice President Passy to wait at the door of the four rooms.Four gates stand side by side in the corridor, and the carvings on the gates are elves representing the four elements.

Vice President Passy clapped his hands, and the four doors slowly opened. Because of the limited vision from the position, Emma could only see the inside of the room in front of her.It was a dark room, except for a row of small stained-glass windows near the top, which were far from enough to illuminate the room.

In the middle of the room, there is a teacher who has been waiting silently for a long time, and beside her is a huge mirror.It is about three meters wide and six meters high.

"Go in." Vice President Passy said.

Emma couldn't help but looked towards Hayward's queue on the other side, meeting her eyes.Hayward made a gesture of cheering with his fists, and then walked into the room representing the fire element first.

The door closed behind Emma, ​​and the room grew darker.The teacher's voice was also accompanied by a heavy echo.

"When the name is read, the rest of the people wait in place."

The first person to be called forward was the noble lady.Although she tried her best to restrain herself, Emma could still see her nervousness.After receiving the teacher's guidance, she stretched out her hand and slowly touched the surface of the mirror, and ripples like the surface of water suddenly appeared on the mirror.The noble lady glanced at the teacher, and mustered up the courage to go in.

That's right, he walked into the mirror.There was only a momentary aftertaste on the mirror, and then it returned to calm, becoming like an ordinary mirror.

How long has it been? 5 minutes? 10 minutes?Or as long as half an hour?Because of the tense atmosphere, Emma couldn't accurately judge the speed of time.

As if getting some kind of signal, the teacher picked up the roster again and called out the name of the next candidate.

"Emma Green."

Emma swallowed, quietly relaxed her ankle joint, and then walked forward.

She didn't touch the mirror with her hands first, but stepped in as naturally as possible, which didn't feel like water, but more like passing through a thick wall of air.

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he had already come to the outdoors.

Is it... a lake?There was a big lake in front of Emma, ​​and when she looked back, there was no mirror at all, and the dense green forest by the lake was behind her.

She looked at the mirror-like lake again, where there were reflections of snow-capped mountains, like a dreamlike wonderland of ice and jade.The lake water is clear and free of impurities, it is a pure, intoxicating blue.Except for a few egrets standing on the rocky beach by the lake, there are no other living things around.

While hesitating about what to do next, Emma suddenly heard a singing voice lingering in her ears.

"...the shooting star has not yet passed away, we are tired of its brilliance... the sky hangs low, the faint light of that blue star in the morning light, awakens our hearts... my dear, a ray of undying sorrow..."

Emma carefully distinguished, and the singing came from the center of the lake.She mustered up her courage and walked forward, across the grass, over the gravel, into the shallows, into the lake.

The water of the lake parted suddenly, startling the egrets on the shore, and then suddenly gathered again, slapping on Emma's ankle.

God!so cold!As she walked forward, the cold water gradually covered her calves, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Do you want to go any further?Emma hesitated a little, the water had already soaked her skirt, making it float.

The song continued, calling out to Emma, ​​encouraging her to keep going deeper and deeper.

Suddenly, with one foot in the air, Emma fell into the water, and the water flooded her head in an instant.She began to sink, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.

Emma held her breath and tried to control herself not to struggle. She firmly believed that her life would not be threatened, because this was a college exam, and there must be a teacher watching the whole process to ensure the safety of the candidates.

She tried to open her eyes, and in front of her eyes was the silent bottom of the water. Three or two fish swam quickly past her, and aquatic plants were faintly dancing under her feet. Silver around.

The singing became clearer, and it was beautiful.Emma was deeply shocked by the beauty, vastness and tranquility of the underwater.She seemed to see a transparent creature swimming in the water, tentatively shuttled back and forth around her, and even reached out to touch her face.

It was a few transparent mermaids, mixed with the water.They were so happy, swimming and singing.Emma couldn't express her inner feelings at this moment, but she was deeply moved, and her whole body was intoxicated by the joyful atmosphere that rushed to her face.

There is always a limit to holding your breath. Emma spit out a ball of bubbles and took a sip of water into it. She felt the water flow into her lungs through the trachea. There was a sharp pain at first, and then she felt cold.It was as if a pair of hands made of ice were squeezing her internal organs hard.She began to tremble all over, her facial muscles twitched, and she closed her eyes trying to swim to the surface.

But where is the surface of the water?How much did you sink yourself?Why can't I see the water at all?
Emma began to feel frightened, and she thought of dying.It is strange to say that many people suffer from the fear of death, even if they are healthy, prosperous, or even free of worries, they will still be tortured by this fear.This is like an instinct deeply hidden in ancient genes, passed down from generation to generation.

The transparent mermaids laughed and sang louder as they tried to grab Emma's throbbing legs.

Emma struggled upstream, more and more strenuously, this vast and beautiful underwater space became terrifying.

She was a little angry, yes, it was anger, why did she have to suffer like this?Is the premise of learning magic is to drown to death?Do you want to live to die?
By the way, magic!She came to her senses and stopped moving.She began to feel the magic essence in the water with her heart.

The magic of these waters is indescribable and incredible.Emma quickly felt that she had merged with the water, as if she had also become a mermaid that could breathe underwater.She regained her ease and began to control the flow of water.

The lake water moved slowly around her, forming an undercurrent and turning into a whirlpool.In the end, it became a huge water polo, spinning wildly.Emma's side gradually lost water, and the water polo became hollow, and the air was sucked into the center of the ball, forming a breathing space.

Emma spat out the fluid in her lungs and gasped for breath.

The mermaids swam around the water polo, and more mermaids were called, and their singing became materialized, forming bubbles in the water, floating towards Emma.

Emma found herself suspended in the center of the water polo, as if without the drag of gravity.She reached out to touch the bubbles, and the bubbles burst, making a clear "boo" sound, and then turned into short sentences.

Is this... a spell?A natural spell, born from a natural innate spell.

Emma tried to read a sentence along, but it was very unsmooth, and some sounds were simply unimaginable, and she couldn't use her tongue flexibly to come out.But the mermaids were still very happy to hear that, and swam faster.

"Well, Emma Green, I declare that you have passed the exam."

It was the voice of the teacher standing by the mirror.Emma looked around, but naturally she could not be found.

"Magic transcends eternity, transcends impermanence, and has no part or whole. Magic has nothing to do with time, and is born from the original truth. Magic represents truth and freedom."

The teacher continued talking.Emma's eyes began to turn white, just like the color of the lake gradually faded.The merfolk started waving goodbye to her.Then, it became whiter and whiter, whiter and whiter... In the end, there was only a vast expanse of whiteness left in the field of vision.

　Excerpts from Yeats's "The White Bird".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)