The night was like a heavy blanket, silently covering the rooftops of the ancient city. Lin Xi first heard about the Library of Eternal Night from her father, who said, "There are books there that you cannot see, and a person you can only see in a mirror." Curiosity, like a vine, entwined itself around her heart. She arrived at the library's entrance; the door was made of black lacquered wood, and the door knocker was as cold as moonlight. Pushing open the door, she entered eternal night: there was not a single ray of light, yet she could see the spines of books on rows and rows of shelves breathing in a faint, phosphorescent glow.
The librarian was an ancient mirror, its frame carved with unknown patterns. The reflection in the mirror was not her own, but a reversed room, and in that room was a woman with ink-black hair and eyes like stars. Legend said she was the witch in the mirror, once the guardian of the library, imprisoned behind the glass for breaking a taboo, guarding the secret books that should never be taken out. Lin Xi stood before the mirror, feeling time being torn apart like thin paper. The woman in the mirror raised her hand, her fingers touching the glass, as if an echo danced on her fingertips. She didn't speak, but Lin Xi heard a voice, like the whisper of turning pages, or the murmur of night birds.
"Why have you come here?" The voice didn't come from the mirror, but resonated in her heart. Lin Xi replied that she wanted to read books, to know what her father hadn't finished saying before he left. The woman in the mirror smiled, a smile both gentle and sorrowful. "Books can give you answers, but they will also take away what you cherish. The choice is simple: you can offer a memory as payment, or take a book, but that book will remember your name."
Lin Xi touched her chest; memories were like little birds nesting there. She remembered the scrolls her father read at night, the calluses on her mother's hands as she wove shoes for her, and counting the stars outside her window when she was a child, hiding under the covers. In her moment of hesitation, the witch in the mirror pointed to a corner, where a thin booklet was entwined with a wreath of midnight flowers. The cover bore the title "Map of Eternal Night." That map could lead one to lost things—a person's past, erased names, and a tomorrow that could never be returned to. Lin Xi reached for the book, and the moment her fingers touched the cover, a chill permeated her skin. She saw herself being disassembled into pages, each page containing an hour, a joke, a tear stain. It wasn't that she was truly giving up a memory, but that the book was devouring her past, attempting to piece together a new history from these fragments. She looked back at the witch in the mirror, and a hint of softness appeared in the witch's eyes. "Every loss of memory is the price we pay to protect our secrets. Those books are not just words; they are repositories of thoughts, fears, and desires."
Lin Xi hesitated, but she understood that her father's departure was not merely a coincidence. She remembered her father whispering to her before dawn, "Don't let the mirror swallow your name." That sentence was like an anchor, pulling her back to reality. She didn't immediately choose to take the map, but instead proposed an exchange: "I don't want to lose my complete self, but I also can't bear to see you trapped in the mirror forever. If I can find the true guardian for you, will you release her?"
The witch remained silent for a long time, the night in the mirror rippling like the sea. Finally, she nodded, the sound like falling autumn leaves. "Finding is not the end, knowing is not liberation. The Library of Eternal Night needs someone who understands forgetting, and someone who understands remembering. If you are willing to be two hands—one to take the books, one to let go—you can become the bridge."
Lin Xi agreed. She didn't know what kind of path the bridge would be. The witch extended a black key from the mirror, the key's blade shaped like a crescent moon, and the handle engraved with the footprints of a snail. When she placed the key in Lin Xi's palm, Lin Xi felt a warmth emanating from her hand; it was the library's centuries of memories pulsating in her veins. Lin Xi inserted the key into the most hidden page of her name and recited an ancient sentence: "With memory as the lamp, and forgetting as the door."
The door opened, and a crack appeared in the mirror. The moment the witch broke free, the world in the mirror collapsed, and the pages scattered like flying birds. She didn't leave immediately, but placed her hand on Lin Xi's forehead and whispered, "Remember what you must remember, and forget what you must forget. I will take away those dangerous names." Then she walked into the depths of the library, her steps soft yet firm in the night.
Lin Xi stood alone before the shattered mirror. The night was still deep, but the whispers of the books had become gentle. She didn't leave immediately, but slowly opened the map of eternal night. The ink of the map flowed under her fingertips, like an unfinished river. The library's secrets weren't all revealed, but she knew that true protection wasn't a cage, but a choice—a choice of which memories would shine and which must sink into the dark waters. She left the key inside the mirror frame, sewing a corner of her name beneath the pages of the book, like placing a small lamp in the distance.
When she walked out of the library, the eastern sky hadn't yet brightened, but a faint glimmer was already dancing on the horizon. Lin Xi looked back at the door, the carvings on it shimmering in the night, as if responding to her vow. The shadow of the witch in the mirror stretched out in the library, like a pen writing the final words. Lin Xi, carrying an unfinished map and a heart willing to forget, embarked on a path where searching and protecting intertwined. The secrets of the Library of Eternal Night remained, and she knew that her story had only just begun.
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