Hogwarts Lion Girl

The exit of the whirlpool is an uneven rock wall. Gravels of various sizes are floating in the sea water around the rock wall, and there is fine silver quicksand underfoot.

Salina and Cedric held hands and carefully walked around the dilapidated rock wall, and the view in front of them suddenly opened up.

What appeared before them was a majestic and magnificent building. Although it had been eroded by the years, it was still vaguely recognizable that it was once a Nordic-style temple.

Salina and Cedric swam into the temple in awe, passed through a broken stone door, and then through a ruined arched hall. Finally, in a huge alcove, they saw a lifelike mermaid statue.

The statue holds a huge hourglass in its hand, and the sand in the hourglass is still flowing slowly, as if silently telling the passage of time.

Salina and Cedric held their breath at the same time, staring at the hourglass, their hearts filled with confusion and anticipation.

While they were hesitating, the quicksand on the upper layer of the hourglass just fell away and returned to zero. As if some mechanism was triggered, the mermaid statue suddenly emitted a dazzling light.

At the same time, mysterious magic runes appeared on the surrounding stone pillars, the sand in the hourglass began to flow backwards, the surrounding light became brighter and brighter, and a ray of light as bright as the sun appeared in the gap of the dome.

Salina couldn't help but lower her head. When she raised her head again, she was surprised to find that they were no longer in the ruins, but in a magnificent temple.

Salina saw the rough rocky ground under her feet turn into delicate and warm green jade, and the jade-paved road led from the temple entrance straight into the depths of the temple.

There are towering buildings on both sides of the road. The building on the left is made entirely of obsidian, emitting a deep glow in the sun.

The building on the right is made of white marble, shining with holy light in the sun.

Black and white form a sharp contrast.

The mermaid statue in the niche is even more lifelike, with the scales and skin texture clearly visible.

On the walls on the left and right sides of the statue, there are reliefs of a girl and a boy. The girl is elegant with flowers in her hands, while the boy is handsome and tall with a trident in his hand.

At the corner, there are exquisite corridors and uniquely shaped fountains. The water in the pool is crystal clear and the sound of water is gurgling, which is refreshing.

Salina and Cedric stepped onto the jade-paved road, and a strange touch came from the soles of their feet, as if they were stepping on warm sea shells.

The temple was empty and silent, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing.

The deeper you go, the dimmer the light becomes. The marble columns that were once as white as snow gradually become stained with a gray hue, as if covered by a layer of ancient dust.

Some murals began to appear on the walls. At first, there were only a few scattered ones, and the contents were mostly simple patterns and symbols.

But as they continued to go deeper, the number of murals increased, and the content became richer and richer, eventually converging into a magnificent epic picture.

The colors of the murals are still bright, as if they were just painted.

The characters in the painting are lifelike, with fluttering clothes and different expressions, as if they will walk down from the wall in the next second.

Salina and Cedric stopped to watch, as if they were in the long history of the mermaids.

"Look at this one," Salina pointed to one of the murals, which depicted a grand celebration, "What is this doing?"

Cedric followed her gaze and guessed, "Maybe they are offering sacrifices to the sea god."

There was a hint of doubt and regret in Salina's tone, "What kind of disaster could cause such a prosperous race to eventually perish?"

Cedric didn't answer because he didn't know the answer.

He just silently held Salina's hand tightly, and continued to walk with her along the road leading to the unknown depths.

They saw another mural, but the content of this mural was completely different from the previous ones.

In the center of the picture is a huge whirlpool, surrounded by raging waves and thunder. The mermaids are struggling in the turbulent sea water, their faces full of fear and despair.

"This is..." Salina covered her mouth, her eyes full of shock.

"Maybe this is why they disappeared." Cedric said in a deep voice, "A sudden disaster destroyed everything they had."

The mural ends here, as if silently telling the rise and fall of a civilization.

Salina and Cedric continued to move forward. The air was filled with a damp and rotten smell, like a secret that had been dormant in the deep sea for a thousand years.

"Do you feel that it's getting colder here?" Salina rubbed her arms and said in a low voice.

Cedric nodded and held Salina's hand. The warmth of his palm made her feel a little more at ease. "Be careful, it could be dangerous here."

They turned the last bend and the sight before them took their breath away.

In the center of the temple is an open space, on which stands a huge altar, built of unknown black rocks with intricate patterns carved on the surface, like some ancient spell.

The altar is surrounded by twelve towering stone pillars, each of which is carved with a different mermaid pattern, which is lifelike, as if it will swim down from the pillar at the next second.

Salina noticed that the patterns on these stone pillars were not carved randomly, but were arranged according to a certain pattern, which seemed to echo the stars in the sky.

"Look," Salina pointed at the stone pillar and said in a low voice, "Do these patterns look like..."

"Does it look like anything?" Cedric followed her gaze but found nothing unusual.

"Does it look like the star map we saw on the astronomy tower before?" Salina explained.

Cedric thought about it carefully and found that what Salina said was right. The arrangement of these patterns was indeed surprisingly similar to the star map.

"Could it be..." Cedric seemed to have thought of something, but he was not sure.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred.

The ground beneath their feet began to shake violently, and the patterns on the altar began to emit a strange light.

Before Salina and Cedric could react, they were sucked towards the altar by a powerful force.

"Ah!" Salina exclaimed and subconsciously grabbed Cedric's arm.

They fell on the cold stone surface of the altar, and before they could get up, they saw a huge magic circle appear in the center of the altar. The lines of the magic circle were complex and mysterious, and it emitted a dazzling light, as if it wanted to swallow them up.

"What is this?" Salina asked in surprise.

Cedric hugged Salina tightly, protecting her under his body, watching the changes in the magic circle with vigilant eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Be careful, this may be some kind of ancient magic ritual..."

Before he finished his words, the magic circle suddenly shone brightly, and a dazzling beam of light shot up into the sky and pierced the clouds.

Salina and Cedric were knocked to the ground by this powerful force. Everything in front of their eyes went blank and they couldn't see anything clearly.

After an unknown amount of time, the light gradually dissipated and Salina slowly opened her eyes.

What came into view was a handsome face close to her, with short blue-purple hair and blue eyes, looking at her with a hint of worry.