"Brooke," Ella shook her sleeping friend. "Brooke, wake up."
"Go away, Ella," Brooke says sleepily, but her eyes shoot open. "Ella?"
Brooke turns to her friend and knocks her down with a hug. Harry and Holt enter the room after hearing the laughter.
"My God, I thought you died," Brooke says.
"As if," Ella pushes herself off the bed and stands up. "Come on, I want you to meet someone."
Ella grabs Brooke's wrist and pulls her along. Ella had already gotten changed before waking up her friend. They followed the water guardian to the dining room where they found Achak sitting with the emperor and empress. They stopped at the door and bowed to them before sitting at the table.
"Welcome, Guardians," Emperor Hades says. "Ella, it's good to see you doing well."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I can only thank Achak for helping me," Ella smiles.
"How did you meet him anyway?" Emperor Hades asks.
"Ronald had been teaching us astral projection so before I fully passed out, I sent out my spirit. I followed my friends as they brought me here. When you told them about Achak I thought I would go out and find him myself," Ella explains. "He found me when I got into a fight with one of the lost souls on the volcano."
"She was fighting very bravely," Achak laughs. "But the poison had affected her soul too so she wasn't as strong. I had her stay with me until I was able to heal her soul, by that time Guardian Harry and Guardian Holt had come by."
"Then let's begin eating breakfast, I'm sure everyone is hungry," Empress Persephone smiles.
As they make conversation, Achak mentions wanting to help the guardians with their spiritual training.
"Guardians go through spiritual training too?" Holt asks.
"Yes, it's something that is kept secret. The Guardian Council generations ago thought it would be better if this aspect of their training was kept secret," Achak says.
"But why?" Holt asks.
"Whenever the Council decides to change the training of the guardians it must be recorded. What they do during the training must also be written down. Neither the Guardians nor the Council wanted that to be known so they kept it secret," Achak explains.
"What do we do that it has to be kept a secret?" Brooke asks.
"Astral projection is one thing, but you also learn the art of forcing your soul into another body," Achak says. "This technique was created when one of the previous guardians was astral projecting and he forced his soul into the body of another person. She did this to stop them from setting off a device that would've wiped out an entire civilization."
"That sounds intense," Holt comments.
"I mean, you're literally forcing yourself into someone else's body," Brooke says. Ella and Holt start laughing at what she says, causing Brooke to roll her eyes.
"After breakfast, we will go to a small corner of Hell that not many people know about. Even the emperor doesn't know," Achak smiles.
~~
As promised, Achak led the guardians to a secluded area of Hell's forest for their training. They walked through many muddy puddles and saw lots of spider webs that caused Ella to scream.
"You know not only is this place bad because I'm a mermaid, but I also hate bugs so I would appreciate it if we got there soon," Ella says as she smacks another mosquito on her arm.
"Just a little further," Achak says, unbothered by everything around him.
"This is where I die, I'm calling it. 'Died while walking to her spiritual training location.' I want that on my tombstone," Ella points at her friends.
"You're not gonna die, Ella," Brooke says, exasperated. "Look, we're here."
Ella stopped her dramatics and looked at their training site. It was an oasis-looking place; there was a waterfall that fell into a pool surrounded by rocks, most of the place was covered in grass, and trees covered it everywhere. The guardians split up and started looking around.
"This is the only place in Hell with running water. It's linked to the bottom of the ocean, King Irving's great-grandfather made it as a thank you to Emperor Hades' great-grandfather. The late emperor helped Oceana out of a "great depression" type of situation," Achak explains.
"Why is it such a secret that even Emperor Hades doesn't know?" Harry asks.
"At first it wasn't, but the people of Hell took advantage of the water and poisoned the ocean. King Irving's father got the help of a powerful witch and put a spell here. Unless the oasis trusts you, it won't be found. Travelers will be led towards a different path without even noticing it," Achak says.
"So how is this place going to help us?" Brooke asks.
"This place has a lot of magical energy from the spell, it's a great way to help you until you get used to doing spiritual spells without help," Achak sits down and gestures for the guardians to do the same. "Your first lesson is on tapping into the magical field in this location. Feel the energy around you, everything that's affected by it."
"As you feel the energy, focus on channeling it, on pushing it through your hands. Place your hands on the ground next to you and imagine pushing that magic into the ground, and pushing yourself off the ground," as Achak explains what to do, he hears laughter coming from his students. He opens his eyes to see them all floating in the air.
"So this is how it feels to fly? Brooke, I am so jealous right now," Harry says.
"Focus, Guardians," Achak's firm voice says. "Try pushing yourselves through the air."
After a few tries, all of the guardians are flying through the air, giggling like little kids. They had just convinced Achak to join them when Holt was knocked out of the sky. Everyone immediately ran to his side.
"Are you ok?" Brooke asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Holt tries to stand up but winces and falls back, holding his side.
"He has a cut," Brooke says. "It looks deep too. What did you hit?"
"Probably the huge rock that I happen to be laying next to," Holt laughs but winces again.
Ella rolls her eyes and pulls water out of the pool. She ignores Holt's cries of pain as she works on healing his wound.
"What even hit you?" Harry helps Holt off the ground.
"It didn't feel like something physical, it felt like someone pushed compressed air at me," Holt explains.
"I didn't do anything," Brooke holds her hands up.
"Of course, you didn't," another voice adds in. "I did."
They all turn to see someone they've never seen standing at the entrance of the oasis. The guardians stand protectively in front of Achak.
"Who are you?" Ella asks.
"As cliche as it sounds," he laughs.
"I'm your worst nightmare"