Every time the world appears in front of you, it is different.

Sean brought him to the mirror and told him that if he walked through the mirror to the other side, he would still be confident and eager to try even after completing his trial, especially after Sean calmly stepped into the mirror like he had entered and exited a normal door.

He couldn't wait to follow him on his back feet, but there was no trace of Sean in front of him.

The first time was an endless desert, full of dust and sand, and the wind howled, almost rolling him up and throwing him to the other side of the world. He didn't go far before he was swallowed by a strange fish that came out of the sand, and before he could be afraid, his eyes went black, and he returned to his room, and he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

Sean then tells him that the Staff of Eternity, which is in his hand, will send him back to the small room when he is dying, heal him, and allow him to start over.

The second time he almost thought he was back in the ice field, the whole world was silvery white, with no edge in sight, but it was colder than the ice field. He shuddered and shifted some distance forward, and as he desperately doubted that he would be sent back to his room again like an ice sculpture, a small spell suddenly came to mind. He had learned from a book he had seen in Ikabard's library, which kept him warm. Then there was another, allowing him to walk on the snow as lightly as an elf......

At that time, he really regretted that he hadn't read more spell books. The distant legends and great adventures that interest him don't help much at times like these......

But when a bunch of round, furry, faceless little monsters screamed and raised their axes and rushed towards him, he frantically searched every corner of his mind. I didn't find a way out, and those rough stone axes really hurt when I cut them on my body...... Even more difficult to cope with than pain is the despair of "waiting to die".

He spent days in his room getting rid of the fear of death. By the way, I learned how to make food for myself in hunger and thirst, and stepped into the mirror for the third time.

He was greeted by a vast ruin.

He couldn't read the words that remained on the mottled stone pillars, and he couldn't tell which civilization it belonged to—it probably didn't exist in this world at all.

The stone pillars stood like pale bones, silently piercing into the gray-black sky that never saw the light of day, and among the crumbling walls, strange stone statues did not belong to any race that Ed knew. Occasional flashes of lightning flashed in the sky. Illuminating a tall tower in the distance, gray and slender, towering into the clouds.

But there is no life in this world.

There is no one walking on the wide road. Beneath the withered trees, there were only the slender bones of the birds, and the dead silence was more unsettling to Ed than the wind, sand, and ice. He didn't know how long he had been gone, there seemed to be no danger in this world, only the loneliness of the day after day made him almost crazy. When you catch a glimpse of the glimmer of light from the tall tower in the distance. He ran to the tower in ecstasy. No longer looking for an exit, and forgetting his own trials...... By the time he came to his senses, it might have been some kind of trap, after he had been sent back to his room.

But this failure, which he never wanted to talk about again, led him to learn several other spells.

Those familiar and unfamiliar spells seemed to be hidden somewhere deep in his soul, waiting for some opportunity to be rediscovered by him.

There is always excitement and joy. Little by little, they arise, and little by little, they are consumed by endless failures and uncontrollable loneliness. A recent failure. He probably died of his own restlessness and absent-mindedness......

The same agitation led him to try another way to escape, but he had to return to it eventually.

Fortunately...... He had a chance to do it all over again. Leave the world in this mirror. He knew very well that "starting over" was a luxury like resurrecting from the dead.

Ed Singhal used a spell to light a small flame of light that flew in front of him, illuminating the endless darkness.

It's not going to go underground again this time, is it?

Confused, he looked up and let the flame rise as far as he could, but he couldn't see the sky or the rocks above him until it was so high that it was out of his control and suddenly vanished...... Or nothing.

He hesitated, not conjuring another flame of light. There seemed to be something going on in the darkness that could not be illuminated, and the light that did not exist here would make him too conspicuous, not to mention that he had no idea if there would be a "dawn" here...... Bitter experience has taught him that it's better to keep a little light for yourself.

I wonder if there's a spell that can give him the ability to see in the dark like Norway and Iss?

Lips opened and closed silently, and Ed narrowed his eyes slightly, grasping at the one he needed in the jumble of spells that flashed through his mind in countless instants.

Blurred forms gradually emerged from the sheer darkness. Ed's world is black and white – monotony, but it doesn't mean it's safe.

Something seemed to squirm slowly at the edge of the field of vision, and when you looked closely, there were only some strange grayish-white shadows, still in the black background.

The sound of his own heartbeat in his ears was clear and heavy, and Ed licked his lips nervously, adding two basic layers of protection to himself, tilting his head to think about it, and adding a lucky trick, before he took the first step carefully.

At first he felt as if the world was moving with his steps, but after a moment he realized that something was approaching him—the gray-white shadows that kept changing, like tentacles reaching out from the ground, slowly and silently reaching out to him.

A biting chill ran through his ankles, and Ed looked down in panic, only to see a gray-white face that was looking up at him—if that was a face.

On the paper-flat face, the facial features are just vague black holes, and the expression seems to be wailing for eternity. Where it was hugged by its arms, the warmth and life in its body seemed to be quickly sucked away.

Eder's scalp tingled and he almost wanted to scream.

He recognized the terrible thing. He even vaguely guessed which hellish otherworld, the ghost realm, was.

The place where the Shadow was born.

Too late to lament his "good fortune", Ed lit the flame again. Light. It is the only thing that these shadows born of nothingness fear.

Illumination, Holy Light, Bright Flame. Tinder...... When he realized that he couldn't survive completely by spells, Ed could only start running as hard as he could. While running wildly, he avoided the gray shadow coming from the yin side, and tried to speed himself up, and then used the blessing technique to add a little bit of physical strength......

There wasn't even a place in this world where he could hide. When any kind of power is exhausted, there is still no end to the darkness.

The heart beat like a drum, and it slammed into the chest again and again, as if it would burst at any moment. A high-pitched chirp pierced his head, making Ed want to hold his head and scream.

The feet unconsciously get slower and slower. Every step is like walking through sticky mud. Ed struggled to support his body with his staff, moving forward little by little, the gray shadow shaking in front of him. He began to wave his hand blankly, as if he thought that with this simple gesture he could drive away all his enemies......

He was exhausted, but he stubbornly refused to fall. The eyelids drooped a little. In the corner of the eye. But there was a flash of bright red—not the color of this world.

Ed's hand blankly touched his chest, and his fingertips felt a little cold.

Yes...... He remembered that it was the silver bird that Iss had given him.

Among the treasures left by Is's father, Iss picked out several magical items, a longsword for Naria, a ring on Vala's hand, and a belt embroidered with gold thread, which Ed hid in his bedroom. There were also two silver bird brooches made of unknown metal, which Issped on Ed and Naria's chests.

The silver bird's eyes were originally colorless gemstones. It was only after Isis cast some kind of spell with the blood of the three of their fingertips that it turned bright red.

"A human warlock made this nearly a thousand years ago to protect his wife and daughter...... If we have to separate, and you are in danger, call my name with your heart, and it will bring me to you. ”

Ed remembers asking, "What if you're in danger yourself?"

But he didn't ask in the end - after all, even if Iss was in danger, he probably wouldn't be able to help. That strengthened his resolve to become a pastor.

A certain kind of perhaps childish insistence made him never ask Isis for help, even when he faced death again and again in the trial.

He uttered the last incantation aloud, and bright balls of light surrounded him, shielding him from darkness and death.

But it didn't last long...... He collapsed to the ground exhausted, trying to remember a spell again—how many spells were there related to light, what could completely destroy those almost ubiquitous ghosts?

My mind went blank.

He was probably overtired. Originally, I was going to rest in the ball of light for a while, thinking about what to do after that, but I fell asleep almost as soon as I closed my eyes, until my body instinctively sensed danger and woke up suddenly.

-- The gray-white arms had almost touched his body.

He jumped to his feet and ran wildly.

But can he escape there?.

In desperation, he touched the silver bird on his chest again, and Is's name was on his lips.

No. It's his own battle, and he's going to have to fight it all the way to the end, and he's going to be sent back to his room to do it all over again......

As if something had pierced the fog that had filled his mind, Ed stopped and stared at the Staff of Eternity in his hand.

It will protect him...... But didn't he fail again and again because he knew very well that as long as he held on to this cane, there was always a chance to start over?

It was his most powerful weapon, but it was also his strongest shackle.

He had to let it go—he told himself. He had to learn to face death...... Real death.

But the fingers seemed to have their own consciousness, and they stubbornly locked to the cane, so stiff as if they had turned into rocks, and refused to move a bit.

Ed bit his lower lip hard until the pain hit and a fishy-sweet liquid welled up on the tip of his tongue.

He let go of his hand abruptly, and with an unusual calmness, watched as the sacred thing fell to the ground, let out a soft sigh, and rolled to the side.

It was as if something had gone with it, and something had been born out of nothingness.

Countless shadows swarmed in the darkness, but Ed closed his eyes.

Infinite light, instant bloom.

(To be continued......)