Then...
Standing before the arched water mirror adorned with a circle of golden runes along its edge, as the image within grew dim and her expression showed no sign of any oddness, Vitya turned to look at Ammosta, who was studying her with a complex gaze, gave a slight nod.
"I am waiting for you at the temple in the center of the island, Mr. Braun."
Without waiting for a reply from Ammosta, Vitya took a step into the rippling water mirror, disappearing completely from Ammosta's magic sensing.
Huff—
The cool late wind of the plain carries through the night, the chaotic gray hair flutters in front of Ammosta's eyes as they gaze upon the starlit scene, but he doesn't make a move, instead staring at the mirror with a sinister gaze, his inner self suddenly hesitating over his decision.
The trouble this woman carries is far greater than Ammosta imagined, and he doesn't know if his determination to unravel the prophecy and his own involvement drives him into this mire, or if it's a right or wrong decision.
But somehow, there seems to be a voice in his mind repeatedly urging him to enter the world behind the mirror, warning him that he would regret it for the rest of his life. This almost prophetic intuition was so irresistible that it prevented Ammosta from even considering turning back.
Buzzing...
After much hesitation, Ammosta still stood before the Erised mirror that the world knew nothing about. As the humming sound intensified, the clear water mirror began to blur. A few seconds later, an image appeared before Ammosta's eyes, raising his eyebrows high.
In the cold world, the snowflakes slowly descending from the gloomy sky and the sharp winter wind, which outlines their shapes, seem to be the only moving things on the ground. London is frozen in this rare winter, which hasn't been seen for decades.
A woman in her early twenties, with messy hair frozen into blocks, thin and ragged, carrying a wrapped bundle, stumbled through the streets of the city one after another. From her desperate eyes without emotion, it could be seen that she had no destination.
The newborn baby in the cradle, born less than two days ago, tried to open its eyes wide to look at the sky, and the cries it made sounded more like a gasp of death.
Standing before the Erised mirror, Ammosta silently gazed at the shimmering light and shadows within the water mirror. In his heart, that segment of past he thought he had long forgotten surged up like lava. In a daze, it seemed as if he had returned to that very first, and most helpless moment of his arrival in this world.
"Woeful..."
With a light sigh dissipated in the wind, Ammosta's voice also vanished in the starlit plain...
.........
Unlike the feeling of being stuffed into a flexible tube like Phantom Shape, it felt more like the experience of traversing. He lost touch with his body and seemed to be reduced to a thought bubble wrapped in a bubble, traveling at an unimaginable speed through the universe sea.
In this state, time cannot be perceived or measured. Ammosta could only drift with the tide. His 'horizon' was locked on the distant white light blob that seemed forever unreachable, his consciousness gradually lost amidst the monotonous roar.
Ding...
It was as if awakening from a dreamlike existence, the sudden, ethereal, and clear bell-like wind chime sound ringing out in his ear made Ammosta's still mind stir once more.
Ammosta's eyes swept around, instinctively searching for the source of the previous sound. But except for the door behind him, he couldn't find any artifacts of human creation in this boundless space.
Suddenly, Ammosta seemed to sense something, and he dropped his gaze sharply to his feet. He realized that what he stood on was not solid ground but an infinite lake as boundless as the sea, though it had no ripples, as still as a mirror.
Amostar's brow furrowed as he raised his toes to touch the surface of the water, reflecting his image perfectly. The surface of the water rippled out in a circle after each point, but it quickly returned to its original state. Even with all his efforts, Amostar couldn't break the surface of the water with just his toes.
This is truly an astonishing phenomenon. Without using any magic, he could stand stably on the lake surface, and this alone made him feel the extraordinary nature of this ruin.
Ammosta bowed his head and quietly examined the lake below, trying to uncover its mystery. But suddenly, his expression changed subtly, not due to the mirror-like smoothness of the lake surface, but rather the reflection of himself in the water.
No color?!
Ammosta's eyes flickered, and he glanced at his right hand, tightly gripping the wand. This look only tightened his brow further.
This was not a hallucination or a delusion; the reflection on the water's surface truly reflected the truth. In his field of vision, his own figure had indeed lost color. Whether it was the worn-out wizard's cloak, pale hands, or the black wand, all had turned into a lifeless gray, as if an invisible and powerful force had deprived all things of their colors!
Suddenly, a vortex of wild and fierce magic swirled in Ammostar's eyes, continuously flowing out from his emaciated body with an unrelenting force. The wind formed by the magic disordered the reflection on the lake, but it didn't cause any change to this place, which had been silent for countless years!
However, when Ammostar pushed his magic perception to its limit, he made some discoveries.
He casually chose a direction and walked a distance, then stopped, his expression solemn.
"That's right... the time in this secret space is disrupted by some evil magic, the flow is not uniform, and there are very subtle changes..."
After a low mutter, Ammosta clenched his lips tightly, gazing into the empty world.
Vitya that woman said outside that she would be waiting for him at the temple in the center of the island, but here, there is nothing at all, no island in sight, nor can one see any temple.
"Ah, finally made it in!"
Right as Ammosta was lowering his brow in deep thought, a loud, hearty laugh erupted from somewhere before him, causing Ammostar to shiver all over and show a look of confusion.
Someone had infiltrated the secret realm along with him? How could that be?!
Amostar forced himself to steady his heart and look up. At a height of twenty feet above the lake, the space suddenly twisted and distorted. Then, a pair of strong hands appeared out of the distorted space, as if they were trying to push through something. The powerful arms struggled mightily, and slowly, inch by inch, his body pushed its way through!
To be honest, Ammosta has not had a shortage of bizarre experiences in these years, but what he is experiencing now is even more surreal than any other event. He has forgotten to remain alert and just blankly stares at the figure gradually becoming complete in the semi-air.
Boom!
Unlike the clear sound that Amostar made when he landed on the lake, the loud rumbling noise that the sturdy figure made when it touched the water was terrifying. Even the lake that Amostar couldn't break was 'bent' by this person like a massive body with its own gravity distorting space!
"How... could this be possible? It's so absurd..."
Ammostar stared at the profile of the middle-aged wizard, who was fifty feet away, wearing an old-fashioned wizard's cloak, with fiery red shoulder-length hair, seemingly unaffected by the mysterious forces within the space, with a stunned and comical expression, barking out in disbelief.
Amostar knew this powerful wizard. He had seen him in many magical books, biographies, and paintings. Not only him, but all wizards around the world might not be able to recognize this man!
"Godric Gryffindor???"
