The thing slowly turned its head.
It was a human face, but it was so thin that only a layer of skin and bones remained, with sunken eye sockets and chapped lips.
It opened its mouth and made a hoarse sound from its throat.
"Finally... someone is here."
It raised a dry hand and pointed at the key on the stone table.
"Take it... kill me..."
Sirius glanced at the inhuman and ghostly thing in front of him, then glanced at the key on the stone table, and said in a low voice, "What kind of idea is this? Wanting to die as soon as you meet?"
"Don't ask me." Lin Ze said.
Mia has walked to the stone table and lowered his head to look at the three things.
She did not touch the key, but approached the pottery bowl and tapped the rim of the bowl with her wand.
The thing's neck made the creaking sound of dry branches blown by the wind, and its whole body leaned forward a few inches, its two skinny hands resting on its knees, as if it was trying to stand up from the invisible stool.
But it was obviously unable to sit up. Its knees shook twice and then it fell back.
The thin figure moved his mouth again, and squeezed out a few words from his throat. "After all these years... you are the first group of people to come here."
Sirius looked around, there was no trace of time at all in this place, "How long have you been here?"
"I don't remember." The figure lowered his head.
"I only remember that the day I came in, there was a war going on outside. The power of the Elf King suppressed the orcs, and wizards could only rely on humans. The earth at that time was cracked by war..."
The three of them looked at each other.
The Elf King...
Orc...
"Were you a wizard before?" Lin Ze asked.
"No..."
The figure shook his head, the movement was very slow, as if the bones in his neck were grinding against each other.
"I was left here by time... the gatekeeper."
"Caretaker?" Mia turned around, holding the wand in his hand.
The figure raised the withered hand up again, pointing at the stone table with trembling fingers.
"The key... take it... kill me..."
Sirius takes the key in his hand.
"Who are you?"
"Yilai..."
"When you said 'there's a war outside' just now, you were talking about the Elf King suppressing the beasts and the wizards relying on humans. That war... who won?"
Yilai's eyelids trembled.
"Human."
"Human?" Sirius frowned.
"The Elf King defeated the Orcs, but humans won the final victory. Their wisdom cannot be matched by other races. When both the Elf King and the Orcs lose, humans will become the sole masters of the world."
When it said this, it suddenly laughed.
"Wizards have become human beings' vassals, or tools... tools in war..."
"Until a group of wizards got fed up and took their tribe out of the human city-states to build their own territory in the wilderness."
"Later, a madman emerged from the group of wizards. He thought he could challenge the human throne..."
Yilai's eyes fell on the wall of the stone room, and the silver-white light seemed to flash following his words.
"Later... I was left here by that madman, who said that someone would come and get the key to free me in a few years..."
"What's the name of the madman you're talking about?" Lin Ze asked.
Yilai's lips moved.
"Merlin."
The stone room was so quiet that only the sound of breathing was left.
Sirius slapped the key on the table.
"This is fucking outrageous..."
"But the Merlin we know is assisting King Arthur in fighting Morgana..."
"Huh... against Morgana?" Yilai's voice had some emotional fluctuations for the first time.
"Maybe... I don't know what happened next... but what I am sure of is that the history you know is not the real history..."
"Juniors, kill me... to get out here... please... kill me..." Yilai's mood swings became more intense, and the surrounding air became thicker.
"If I only need this key to kill you, why don't you kill yourself after you have been here for so many years?"
"I can't... touch it..." Yilai said.
"Isn't it good to be alive?"
"Ha... only death... can be regarded as the real beginning..."
"What do you mean?" Lin Ze asked with a frown.
"You... don't need to know... quickly... kill me..." Yilai's voice started to sound a little urgent.
"We can kill you, but we need you to answer a few questions." Lin Ze said.
"You... said..."
"When Merlin left you here, did he tell you why he did this?"
Yilai said slowly, "He said..."
There was a series of vague breathy sounds coming from its throat, as if it was trying to recall something from long ago.
"He is building a door... a door to death..."
"Then why did he build this door?" Lin Ze asked.
Yilai's neck made another dry creaking sound, and his chin was slightly raised, as if he was looking far away through the dome of the stone chamber.
"He... wanted to meet someone."
"A person?"
"A man who has been dead for a long time."
Sirius leaned against the stone wall with his arms folded in front of his chest. "Merlin is still trapped by love like ordinary people?"
"I'm afraid your understanding of Merlin is not even superficial..."
"Fur?" Sirius raised his eyebrows, but then he felt that the other party was right.
After all, my knowledge of Merlin is nothing more than the brief introduction on Chocolate Frog Card, apart from hearing adults exclaim "Merlin is on top" since childhood.
"Can we get out of here if we kill you?" Sirius asked.
"The key... will guide you..."
Mia handed the key to Lin Ze. Lin Ze took the key and found a series of small words engraved on it, but he did not recognize it.
"What's written on it?" Lin Ze asked.
"Old Irish,'The way home'." Mia said softly.
Yilai said, "It will send you back to the place you miss most."
Sirius's eyebrows knitted together. "Then I have a lot to worry about... You won't send it to me separately, will you?"
"Probably not." Mia rarely answered Sirius's joke.
His head was slightly hung, and his breathing was so shallow that it was almost invisible. A piece of wrist was exposed under the old robe, covered with skin and bones, and the purple blood vessels were clearly visible.
"What happens after I kill you?" Lin Ze asked.
"You can get out from here." Yilai said.
"What about you?"
"I..." Yilai's lips trembled, as if he didn't know how to answer.
"I will probably become a speck of ashes in the stone slabs under your feet."
He walked forward and squatted down, making his eyes level with Yilai.
"Are you sure this is what you want?"
Yilai raised his head, and for the first time his sunken eyes had a clear focus.
"Of course... I think about it all the time..."