Shin sighed and scratched his head. "Your spirit needs time to absorb all these elements."
"Wait, wait my spirit?" Rina asked.
Shin nodded, "Yes your spirit. You are currently cultivating your spirit. When your body wakes up, you start to physical cultivation. And if you wish mental cultivation as well."
"So basically, I can't leave now.", she smiled sadly. Shin gulped. For some reason her tone made him uneasy. "It's not that difficult. It simply takes time. Luckily time flow here is much faster than the outside world."
"How long will it take to absorb all these?" she asked glancing at the crystals before her.
"About fifty years for one crystal, depending on your affinity for it of course."
"Excuse me what? Fifty years for one crystal? Might as well stay here till I die." Rina sat on the floor and closed her eyes.
"You know it's not that bad. You clearly have an affinity for them since they are appearing so quickly. Besides time flow is slower here." Shin sat on her shoulder as he explained to her.
Rina glanced at him, "How slow?" Shin broke into a wide grin, "I don't know."
Boom! The next moment he crashed heavily into the ground. Shin rubbed his aching back as he glared at her, "What was that for?!"
"You have the nerve to ask me that?! Are you joking with me?!" Rina bellowed.
"Well you can't just hit someone for no reason!" screamed Shin in frustration. He had never meet anyone with such a bad temper!
"Aren't you supposed to be the protector?! How come you don't know anything!"
"I've been asleep for so long. You're the first one here in thousands of years." He sounded aggrieved. He really couldn't be blamed for this.
Rina sighed. "Sorry I'm a bit anxious. I don't want to be trapped here forever."
"So what do I do now?" she asked Shin. Shin was rubbing his back in pain.
He quickly glanced at her and cleared his throat. "Like I said absorb the crystals into your body. And no matter how painful it gets you can't pass out but you can control the rate of absorption."
Rina rubbed her chin deep in thought, "So basically the faster I absorb the more painful it gets."
He nodded.
"What happens if I pass out?" Rina asked casually.
Shin looked at her for sometime. She was beginning to panic when his cold voice sonded, "You will be trapped in agony for eternity."
"What agony?"she tilted her head to the side.
He chuckled ominously, "You will understand what I mean when you start."
She sighed again, "That sounds annoying." She walked toward the red crystal and sat in front of it. All her focus was on it.
She placed her hand on it and tried to absorb it. Before she realized all her strength was leaving her body. She wanted to stop it but couldn't. An unknown fear overwhelmed her.
She watched as the crystal slowly turned into into a huge column of fire.
The heat was scorching and she could smell burnt flesh. She watched in horror as her body was burnt and repaired by an unknown force. The fire pillar slowly grew and soon she was surrounded by fiery flames.
The place soon became pitch black and the burning flames reflected in her eyes which slowly turned blood red. Her body was still being burnt and repaired and the pain was excruciating. If there was a hell or purgatory, this was it.
Rina endured the pain of being burnt alive and sat down. She finally understood what Shin meant. She really didn't want to feel this kind of pain forever so she used her mind to draw the flames towards her and absorb them. She thought no pain could transcend what she was currently feeling but she was very wrong. So wrong.
The flames seemed to burn her very soul and essence and she screamed in pain. She screamed till her voice was hoarse but the pain simply got worse. Tears of blowed flowed down her eyes making her look terrifying. No one would see her and believe she was just a little girl.
She could feel her consciousness fading but she fought to stay awake.She couldn't afford to lose consciousness.
When it seemed she could hold on no more she bit into the charred flesh on her hand. Blood spilled out of her wound but quickly evaporated due to the heat. Her mouth was filled with the pain of burnt human flesh and the pain woke her up.
She gritted her teeth and endured. When it seemed she could hold on no longer she would ruthlessly bite off a part of her body to stay awake.
This is how Rina spent tens of years writhing in agony as neither a human nor ghost.