Chapter – 53 - Going Through A Solid Wall!

The third tunnel was also narrow, but the wall was much rougher and uneven. Rihanna almost had her skin scraped off a few times as she was in the habit of touching the walls while walking. Surprisingly, this too was made from ice stones, but there were no frozen magma flowers in its path, though the temperature was pretty low. She could feel the ball of freezing popsicle twitching itself randomly to stay warm.

Rihanna stopped again and sat down, allowing some of the fire energy out of the space to warm up the bundle called Fluffy. She pondered for a while and then decided to re-enter the spirit space.

The seed was laying in the exact same position as she had left it, and she would have thought it to be utterly lazy if it was not for the circling fire and white energy slowly seeping into the skin of the seed. She hesitated, unsure whether it would be okay to disturb its process.

'Now what do you want? I have already kept my side of the bargain, and you have taken the three flowers due to you! I can't give you any more energy!'

'This is my spirit space! And whether you like it or not, I AM your Master! I came here to know if I can send in one of my spirit beasts into this space as it is too cold outside.'

'No.....no spirit beasts can enter this space! This is a spirit space meant for plants, not beasts! Moreover, I have already attached myself to your soul! So only creatures with soul connections can enter here!'

'Ummm....that's okay then. This spirit beast and I have a soul contract as well.....which means that it can enter this space.'

'Huh?! Soul contract? Which stupid low level spirit beasts agreed to make a soul contract with you?! You evil woman....you must have deceived some poor soul into entering such a contract!'

Rihanna grit her teeth, willing herself to calm down.

'Silence is golden! No one will think you are mute if you don't speak! Anyhow, I am sending in Fluffy...Oh! How exactly do I send in a spirit beast in its physical form?'

'You cannot send it in its physical form.....yet.....It will have to come here in its spiritual form.'

'But then how will that stop from its body freezing over?'

'It's body will freeze, but it will not die. As long as the spiritual consciousness is intact, the body will remain in a frozen state of time. When you leave this area, and the ice has melted, the spirit can re-connect with the body, and it will return back to its normal form as before.'

'Ummm....will there be any side effects of this?'

'....Weelll.....it might take a bit of time for the spirit to readjust itself inside its body after reconnecting. And....it may suffer from some dizziness, temporary amnesia.....but there is no way to solve that in my current state! So if you want to keep it alive, this is the only method I have! Also....no more spirit beasts....this is a space meant for plants!'

Rihanna nodded, and came out of the space. Fluffy was barely conscious, its hairless skin looking more wrinkled and dry than usual. The humidity of the tunnel clung to its bare skin, forming layers of frozen icicles. It would not be long before he completely froze over.

After explaining her plans to Fluffy and Little Purple, and following Little Purple's guidance, she connected to the point of contract with Fluffy. Very soon, within her inner consciousness, a white, hairy and fluffy looking fox cub appeared, scampering around in glee. Rihanna pursed her lips and lifted up the cub by his scruff, and ignoring all protests, threw him into the mouth of the vortex, watching as the whining and growling fox cub disappeared into the whirlpool. Letting off a sigh, she dusted off her hands and quickly disappeared from her dantian.

They had been on the move for who knows how long. Whenever she felt tired, she took a break and sat down cross legged, focusing on her breath and entering into a meditative state. At times she would chant to clear her mind and sharpen her focus. At times she would meditate through singing, focusing deeply on every note which left her mouth, concentrating on the melody, meter, dynamics, form and texture of the notes and lyrics. Deepening her focus, she concentrated on every note, trying to see the stability and movement of each, the way her vocal chords moved and shook, the way it went up and down and the way it stood still at certain points.

Slowly the notes and lyrics started losing their decorations, turning into simple sounds, as she concentrated more and more on every breath she took before opening her mouth, and the softness, harshness, sharpness, tremors of the sounds as they started at the base of her vocal chords, bypassed her throat and floated out of her mouth. The reverberations of each sound enlargened in her ears, till she could feel the tremors of each sound resonating throughout her body.

A serene calmness settled into her bones, soothing her wilful mind, and at the same time heightening her senses and concentration. After continuously following this routine, she could feel the changes in her temperament as her body, mind and soul started to settle down, letting go of all anxiety, harmonizing with each other.

And within the harmony, she started sensing a glowing blissful and calm energy filling her up from within.

'It seems to be working!'

'You are very very far away from 'it-is-working' state! Just the slightest hint of stability, and immediately you start bursting out with happiness! This happiness is very superficial and short lived. You have to keep on practicing - even when you are tired, bored and irritated with the sameness of the process. Only when you are able to overcome all the vices which will soon grasp you as you keep practicing....only then can you say that 'it-is-working'!'

Rihanna stood up sheepishly. Well, she really couldn't retort back, since everything he said was very true. When has meditation been an easy path? Perhaps these were only the side effects of the path, and she was already feeling so happy and proud!

Once again she kept walking forward. The tunnel was full of ups and downs. One moment it sloped down into darkness, and then next it rose like a steep cliff, going on and on! She felt it was a better exercising machine than a treadmill! Not that she was fat.....and this way she would soon be skin and bones!

'Ummm....is this the end? There is no way ahead of us.....and no way above! Don't tell me that this long tunnel leads to a dead end!!'

'....This is not the end. Try touching the wall in front of you with your hand. I need to figure out something.'

Following Little Purple's instructions, Rihanna stretched out her hands and let her fingers touch the rough cold wall before her. The sharpness of the jagged wall probed at her skin, making superficial scratches over her palm. It wasn't really painful, and Rihanna ignored the jabbing sensations. She could also feel the ice energy of the ice stones probing through her cuts on the skin, and decided to ignore them as well.

'Remove your hands. This is not a wall....it is a door.'

A door?! Rihanna blinked at the wall in front of her, as if willing it to transform into the supposed door. From no angle did this uneven and rough wall look like a door. Nor did she see any levers or buttons which could make this door slide or swing open in any direction. If this was a door.....how in the world did it open?!

'It is made of ice stone, so it will take a huge amount of fire energy to cut through it. I don't think I can make another deal with that obnoxious seed! It will never agree.'

'You cannot open a door by cutting through it. If a door does not have a key or a lever....then it must be closed by a spell. And both of us do not know the spell keeping this door closed. This would explain why no one has managed to find the Frozen Magma Flowers even though they have been growing for so long.'

Rihanna exhaled loudly and sat down on a ledge made from the rough stones of the wall. It was uncomfortable and cold. She put Fluffy's frozen form beside her on the boulder, leaning back into the wall herself. For the past few days she was either walking or meditating or concentrating on music. As her energy grew, she found less and less need to sleep. As long as she meditated and absorbed energy, she could go without sleep for more than a week.

But that did not mean she was not exhausted!

'Since we do not know what the spell is for the time being.....why not let out your spiritual self? This wall cannot stop your spiritual self from passing through. Let's see what lies beyond this door, and if there is any point in wasting our time trying to open it.'

Rihanna rubbed her hands together, warming up her palms thoroughly, then rubbed both palms over her face to relieve herself of the tiredness and perk up again. Then she slid down to the uneven ground, and sat down cross legged, closing her eyes and letting out her spiritual consciousness. The more she let her spirit out, the smoother it was becoming, she barely took any time now to separate her spiritual self.

Touching the wall-door again, she looked on as her fingers, and then entire hand disappeared into the ice stone. Following which, she stepped forward, and her entire body disappeared through the door.

'What do you see?'

'Nothing....just stone all around me. Hey.....why is my spirit distorting and wavering so much?!'

'It's fine. The energy of your spirit is moving through the gaps in energy of the ice stone. So it will distort a bit in order to fit itself to the available space. Keep moving.'

Rihanna walked for a long time. Even in her spiritual self, it was way more difficult walking through a solid surface than it was when walking through air. Hmmm....solid surfaces have denser composition of energy as compared to air, where the energy is very loosely put together. And her spirit self is also a dense combination of energy particles. It sort of made sense!

After what felt like hours, she finally managed to push her fingers out of the stone surface, and immediately felt the energy very loosely moving around. She had reached the end?! Pushing forward, she finally managed to emerge out of the dense stone, and came to a startled stop.....What the hell?! Was this a market?.....a market in a tunnel under the ground?! And there were so many people roaming around in this place! What was this place?!