Chapter Thirty Two

They hovered in the air for a while before landing at the shore which was quite far from where they had landed. The place they were in didn't seem very different to Opwood, it looked much like one of the islands back in Opwood.

"the hell is this place?" Viper asked dismounting Silver and looking around, the rest dismounted as well to see where they had landed were and how they got here

"It's like an island, like the ones we used to see back in Opwood," Karla said walking around the shore. The island wasn't big but wasn't normal, there was a hole through which they had found themselves here, there wasn't any kind of landmark or greenery and while checking the map there wasn't any kind of island

"Ryoko was this place on the map?" Tatsuya asked

"no the only thing in the desert on the map was some kind of water fountain in the middle of the sand

"you say fountain?" Karla asked

"Yeah"

"pretty big, surrounded by some colorful trees, a creepy old lady sitting in the middle?"

"That was pretty detailed- oh- oh I see" Ryoko walked towards Karla to see what she was talking about, the others came over after hearing her, Silver changed to his human form as he saw the old lady

"Should we talk to her?" Tatsuya asked

"talk to her? Are you crazy or trying to be crazy?" Viper asked with her signature glare as she looked at the old lady

"Maybe we should speak to her, she's the first elderly we've met throughout and she seems wise," Haru said slightly smiling

"wise? Of course, she's wise, anybody above thirty practically has no reason to live so they have to be wise" Viper said earning a side glare from Haru who was well in her early thirties

"excuse me?"

"you're an exception, for you it's your twenties" Haru growled lowly before deciding to ignore her

"so what do we do?" Tatsuya asked

"Hey! hello?!" Ryoko had already walked towards the lady

"is she mad?" Viper asked

"she's a child," Elena said after a while of silence

"I thought you took an oath of silence" Viper growled rolling her eyes

"I thought you took an oath of repentance" Viper growled louder before looking back at Ryoko who was now right next to the lady, they all looked at her in shock as she stood pocking the lady

"Hello? You there? Do you not speak English? Bonjour, Namaste, Konnichiwa, annyeonghaseyo, olla, ni hao, um that's as much as I know" she went to squat in front of the lady

"Are you busy? are you meditating?" she asked

"She is meditating from her posture and her sitting position she's deep into her meditation," Elena said

"How did you know"

"How don't you know"

"Nani?!!" Ryoko looked at the woman in curiosity before sitting in front of her in a meditating pose and closing her eyes attempting to meditate with the lady

"what is she-"

"hush, she might have an idea," Haru said, they stared at her for a while before slowly walking toward her

"Is she alive?" Tatsuya asked

"of course, she is," Silver said appearing next to her which shocked everyone

"where were you by the way," Elena asked

"I stayed observing the lady, she is meditating as a matter of fact, and Ryoko seems to have joined her," he said brushing hair away from her face before standing to move the others away from the two

"Seriously? Where did she learn to meditate?"

"She didn't learn she just did it, even I'm quite surprised" they all nodded

"and here comes company," Tatsuya said, they got into a fighting stance but were stopped by Silver

"they are with the lady they're harmless as long as the lady doesn't see us as a threat" they looked at each other before standing back up as the visitors got closer they started to make them out more, they weren't humans, they were like a mix of animals and humans

"hello there"

"oh so they do speak English" Haru hit Viper with her elbow

"We are the guardians of the desert oasis, we were sent by the lady of the oasis to watch you while your friend and here uh discuss a few things

"thank you very much," Tatsuya said before they followed the lead of the guardians

…..

Meanwhile, after sitting to meditate as well Ryoko found herself in a dark place, it was quite empty with nothing but the woman in front of her

"What is this place?"

"This is the bridge between the spirit world and the real world" the woman replied

"Woah, we can go into the spirit world?" Ryoko asked

"yes but only a specific set of people who have probably trained for years but you seem to be an exception"

"What?"

"How did you get here?"

"I just did the same thing I saw you do and tried to talk to you that way, then I found myself here"

"so you've never done this before?"

"no"

"come with me" the lady stood up and began walking into the distance, Ryoko didn't understand what was happening but followed nonetheless. The lady continued to walk not saying anything before she stopped without a warning causing Ryoko to stumble

"sit down if you must, we wouldn't want you falling in"

"falling in? into where?"

"stop looking around so much so your eyes will adjust" Ryoko did as she was told and soon could see beyond the darkness, she realized that they were on a small boat being rowed by an animal-looking guy

"Woah how did we get on a boat" the lady didn't answer but looked at her in questioning before turning away

"we're almost there"

"there? Where?"

"the spirit world"