After a restless night, Salem, Alina, and Ruby cautiously vacated the building.
Examining the box that the wraith was still in, Salem began expirimenting on it.
The box had been scratched so much it was difficult to se inside. The wraith was easily distinguishable through the scratch marks even before he repaired the box.
Once the box was completely repaired, Salem began decompressing it to see what happened to the little spirit.
As the pressure decreased, the spirit grew more and more sluggish, its misty body slowly condensing on the walls of the box, making it difficult to see inside.
After a little while, Salem watched the wraith turn into a puddle that occupied the bottom three centimeters of the box.
"That's weird." Alina said, fascinated.
"It's simple phase change, though I didn't expect it to work on a spirit." Salem explained.
"I wouldn't either." Ruby said, staring curiously at the mass of liquid that was moving on its own.
As they observed the little creature, the mass of water slowly regained the figure that it bad previously, just much smaller and liquid-like.
The agitated little wraith seemed to be much more agitated after its transformation, violently sending flurries of slashes at the nigh indestructible glass that Salem had erected around it, leaving small hairline scratches on it, which quickly healed.
Salem removed more and more pressure from the little palm-sized wraith until it showed signs of crystallizing.
As they watched, the little wraith condensed until it was the size of Salem's thumb and completely frozen in a threatening posture.
After solidifying, the wraith looked like a snow-white, crystalline action figure. It was quite cute, actually.
"Shall we explore the cape?" Salem asked, gesturing to the cape below them. "It looks quite pretty."
"I'd love to see the water." Alina said. "But I fear more spirits."
"As do I." Ruby said. "We can't always crystallize them like this."
Salem suddenly applied hundreds of times the earth's atmosphere's pressure in the cube and watches as the little wraith cracked and crumbled into small crystals.
"You said that they would pursue you forever if they saw your face?" Salem asked Ruby.
"Once they see your face, you're designated prey." Ruby said. "It's their hunting instinct."
"All we'd have to do is outlast their energy reserves, right?" Salem asked.
"Theoretically." Ruby admitted. "But we don't know how much energy they have left or how much they use to move and pursue us."
"That begs the question; If they need our souls to survive, how are they still alive if there is no sign of the land ever having civilization?" Salem asked a question he had felt nagging at him for a long time. "Wouldn't they fade?"
"I have no clue, but I wish I did." Ruby responded.
"Why do we need to understand that? They're here, they affect us now, why don't we wait until we're out of this world to ponder this?" Alina asked, adding, "Not to kill your research/history inquiry mood."
"Because it would indicate that there are either other people here, they can save energy, or they have ways of storing energy" Salem said, understanding Alina was still on edge.
"How does that help us fight them?" Alina asked.
"I don't know, but it's interesting, isn't it." Salem replied.
"That's true." Alina admitted. "But that doesn't make them any less freaky."
"You have a fear of spirits?" Ruby asked Alina.
"Since I was a little kid." Alina said, her eyes on the ground, emberassed.
"It's normal to fear that which you don't understand." Salem reassured her. "Humans fear that which they are unable to comprehend and often seek to destroy it, halting their progress as a species."
"Humans are wierd." Alina said, attempting to alleviate some of her fear.
"They are." Ruby and Salem agreed simultaniously.
"But they are also incredibly adaptable creatures." Salem said, walking towards the cape. "Let's go check out the cape."
"Think it'll have a lot of spirits?" Ruby asked Salem, glancing at Alina to gauge her reaction.
"If it did, it'd be a cape of spirits, which has a nice ring to it." Salem said offhandedly.
"It does, but that doesn't help with my fear." Alina said.
"I'm here to protect you." Salem said, pausing his footsteps to turn and embrace her. "I will sooner givee my life than let them hurt you."
"That makes me more scared." Alina said, leaning into his embrace. "I don't want to see you hurting for our sake."
"I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep, but I will promise that I will try to stay alive." Salem assured her.
"That is good enough for me." Ruby broke in, embracing him from behind.
"Mhm." Alina agreed, resting her chin on his shoulder.
Breaking away from the hug after a while, the three of them had their clothing changed into one of Salem's older designs of flight suits before they began flying towards the massive chunk of land jutting out from the mainland.
They arrived when the sun was at its zenith, its beautiful golden rays reflecting off of the crystal-clear water and shining upon the lush greenery that covered the landmass.
Stepping into the water, Salem dipped a finger in it and tasted it.
"It's fresh water." Salem said, surprised.
"Why is that so shocking?" Alina asked.
"Because, it'd be more likely to be salty if it was this big." Salem explained. "Because otherwise, without salt, the water would easily evaporate, causing clouds to form, and making the entirety of the sea shrink considerably. It doesn't look like it's doing that, hence my surprise."
"Huh. Fascinating." Alina said, wading into the water up to her knees. "What's that?"
Salem followed where her finger was pointing and saw a large, white mass beneath the water. It was difficult to see what it was due to the refraction caused by the water, so Salem used the shadows to transport it to the shore.
"This makes no sense. Nothing should be able to survive in this water." Salem said, staring wonderously at what he had just pulled out from the ocean.