Karen's sudden disappearance.

What are you doing there?" Vincent asked her in terror.

I smiled, before replying him.

"Leave her, she's just trying to satisfy her hunger." I said with a smile, and Vincent waved his head in both annoyance and anger.

What was the matter, and why was he acting that way?

"She would never come back the same. Those fruits are not ordinary. They can make her die, and also they can make her become a slave to the spirits." He explained, and I gasped out in surprise.

'What?'

What was going to be Karen's fate?

"We need to save her." I cried out on panic. "What are we going to do?" I asked him in worry.

By this time, Karen wasn't paying attention to us again. She was acting like someone who was deaf and dumb. The most annoying part of it, was the fact that she didn't care about us again.

"It's too late. We can't do anything to help her, other than to scamper to safety." He explained, but I didn't want to hear that.

Immediately, I dashed out in a desperate attempt to drag Karen with me, but he caught me midway.

"What are you trying to do?" He asked me with visible fears in his eyes.

"What does it look like I want to do? I'm obviously trying to save her. I can't allow her to remain here all alone." I tried to justify my actions, but Vincent was having any of them.

Honestly, what seemed to puzzle me was the reason behind his weird behavior.

"You can't save her, ma'am. You can't." He mumbled, and I looked at him in anger.

"Don't tell me that. Why can't I save her?" I asked him in anger, as I tried to break out from his grip.

Why was he suddenly starting to act suspicious?

"If you must know, she's gone. She belongs to the spirits, now. If you touch her, you'd equally join her as well." He explained further, and I have him a deep glare.

Following the past experience that I had in the hands of this spirits, I had vowed never to do anything with them again. I didn't ever want to come in contact with anything that concerned them.

"So, you mean I should just watch Karen go this way? Is that what you mean?" I asked him in tears.

Honestly, I didn't know why Karen opened up her mind, and gave these spirits the access to tamper with her body and soul.

"We don't have a choice. Let's go before the darkness meets us here." He asked me and made to drag me along.

What still seemed like a mystery to me, was the fact that Karen's fate was now uncertain. She was going to live the rest of her remaining life as a maid in this mysterious land.

"Are you sure that we can't help her?" I asked him doubt.

It really pained my heart the most to realize that we had to continue that journey without Karen. I just wished that their was something that I could do.

"We can't help her, ma'am. Please, let's go." He said. With that, we made to proceed without her. Indeed, this was the worst way of saying goodbye.

To even think that she was standing at that orange tree looking at us.

Just as I turned my back to look at her for the final time, I didn't see her again. In fear, I called out to Vincent.

"Look, I can't see her again. Where did she hide?" I asked in fear.

I had noticed that since we stepped our feet into this castle, a whole lot of mysterious things began to unfold in our presence.

"The spirits must've taken her with them." Vincent responded.

"But, you know too much about this spirits..." I muttered.

It was true that he had talked about knowing most of these things because they were wold warriors, but I kind of felt like he knew so much about these spirits.

"Well, if it's about what happened, then it has nothing to do with knowing much." He began. "You see in this forest or in any other sacred temple, it is prohibited to touch or eat anything you see there." He continued.

"Why is that?" I asked in an inquisitive manner.

To be frank, I didn't know why I so much enjoyed hearing about most of these tales. I couldn't explain the reason. It was very awkward, but I knew that I actually really enjoyed it.

"Well, their are many reasons." He started. "To start with, that three that Karen ate from, is actually a bait to lure other weaker spirits or mere mortals to their trap. It's not like the fruits are even that great." He explained to me.

With the way that he spoke, I just nodded my head, and continued thinking about my life. Now, what bothered me the most, was what was waiting for us in the future.

I didn't want to loose him or vice versa, because I knew nothing about map reading. If anything happened to Vincent, it would mean the end of the road for me.

"So, why is it taking so long for us to get to the other end?" I asked with a sigh. I was already tired of walking for hours non-stop, without any rest at all.

"It's always like that. Just exercise some more patience." He admonished, and I calmly nodded my head.

We would soon get to the end of this cave. It was really what celebrating.

Just as we got to the end of the cave, we discovered, their was a very mighty black river that we would have to cross first, before reaching the other land.

"How do we get over this hurdle?" I sighed.

"I can't even think of anything." He explained.

Damn! This was really the toughest part of the whole journey.

Just then, we had the sound of some loud echos, coming from inside that cave.

"We have to cross this before they get us..." Vincent said to me.

"Who are they?" I asked.