Chapter 60: Vol 2: Chapter 8: Trust
Ram and Em were trapped inside The Sphere where he had seen other Merged Souls were being kept. He was not able to open them a crack when he had 1/2 of his Soulfire. Now with almost all of his Soulfire depleted, he couldn't even think of trying.
To make matters worse, they even didn't have enough Soulfire to maintain their human Soul form.
"I was trying to warn you, but you were too focused on walking away from the exit. You should have listened to me," Em said.
Ram sighed. "I know. But I was so surprised and afraid that I couldn't think clearly for a moment," he said.
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't listened to you when you suggested that we should enter The Obsidian Sphere, then we wouldn't have encountered. I still couldn't believe that Diana had us fooled so thoroughly. Not only her, but also the Scientists. I don't know how I even believed all that shit after I saw your memories when I powered up," she said.
Ram was also thinking the the same thing. But he had a theory about why they believed them so easily. "We both were fooled because Sheila mentioned she was being smitten by Aunt El. And when she called me her niece, I couldn't even imagine she was fooling me. She perfectly looked like my Aunt's wife, who would call me niece just because I hated her and hated her calling me that even more," he said.
Em was thoughtful for a moment. "That might be the case. But still… she seemed so genuine in your memories. When Siraj was about to feed you that damned solution in the vial, she even went as far as inspecting it to make sure it would not hurt you. I am supposed to be an intelligent A.I. aiding you where you lacked. But I was totally fooled by her. Ram, I am sorry, if only I had been more diligent, this wouldn't have happened," she said.
Ram shook his head. "No, Em. I am at fault here. Everywhere I went, I bring problems along with me, and my damned ignorance didn't help. If only Aunt El had raised me to be independent, but we can't blame her. She did everything she could to protect me," he said.
Em groaned. "Don't try to defend Aunt El when she was clearly at fault. If I meet her, I will lecture her for hours. But that was a matter for another time. Right now, we should stop thinking about whom to blame. Instead, we should be thinking about how to get them to leave us alone," she said.
Ram agreed.
It had been hours since Ram woke up. None of The Scientists or Siraj approached to meet with them. The more he waited, the worse his thoughts were.
Em tried to cheer him up from time to time, but that finally ended with blaming themselves, each other and Aunt El. They would keep silent for sometime and repeat it once again as their nerves got the better of them.
It's just their worst nightmare.
As Ram was thinking about how he could convince them to let them go, Sheila stepped in first, followed by Dheeraj, Siraj and Dr. Manish.
Sheila had a serious look on her face, there were no traces of enthusiasm and ignorance on her face.
Dheeraj had a careless attitude. He kind of Reminded Ram of Elder of Water. But from time to time, he stole glances at Sheila, who was not paying attention to him.
Siraj was wearing his anger on his face.
If Ram hadn't beaten Siraj earlier, he would've been terrified of him. Even though Ram didn't have enough Soulfire and he should be worried about him, but Ram couldn't help it. He was not scared of him.
Dr. Manish still maintained his calm composure.
When he saw Ram looking at him, he gave him an encouraging smile. It scared him even more than others present at the room.
Ram groaned. "Since when did you know I was a fraud?" he asked.
"Did you remember that after hearing about you defeating Diana and her gang, I checked with my souls?" Dr. Manish asked.
Ram nodded.
"It was not the souls that worked for us that I checked with. It was Diana. She had been constant supplier of Merged Souls, smuggled souls even from others worlds. She was truly The Best Explorer. And when she told me she barely escaped alive, with all of her underlings killed by your schemes, I was surprised. I still didn't believe her, thought she was trying to bargain a huge price for getting you. But when Bhumi and her gang appeared and I saw you using your powers, to change your shape at will. I was convinced a little bit. But when Siraj appeared and proved to us through his actions, boy, I couldn't stop myself from getting excited," he said, his voice not at all excited.
It's as if he reacted to everything in the same way. With composure.
Ram gave him a silent stare. But since he was in Soul form, that of a small wick of orange flame, Dr. Manish couldn't see his expressions. Ram decided to tell his opinion of him instead. "I don't see how you could be so excited after I turned into an elephant," he said.
Dr. Manish shook his head. "Don't you see you were the first Stable Merged Soul that I had seen in a very long time?" he asked.
Ram was hooked. "You mean there were other Merged Souls that were stable in the world?" he asked.
Dr. Manish nodded. "Indeed. But every time a Merged Soul appeared, the government would try to keep the news from spreading further. They would usually send the Merged Souls to their prison to be put down. As it was believed that the Dark Force's leader was a Merged Soul himself. But we scientists believe that is not the case. So, we explored and find worlds where they were interested in Merged Souls and experimentation on them was encouraged. And here we are," he said.
Ram was interested and continued to learn more about Merged Soul's history. It would give them a way so that he couldn't become a burden to Em. But it didn't seemed like Dr. Manish was the right one for it. And they were trapped inside A Sphere that he did not know how to get out of. "Can you please let me go? I will tell you whatever you need to know about a Merged Soul," he said.
Dr. Manish shook his head. Dheeraj glared at him. Sheila looked like she don't care about Ram.
Siraj had veins popped up on his forehead, his lower jaw tightened. "How dare you try to be cheeky even after you are caught. By the time we finish with you, you could've wished that you were dead. But don't worry, I will personally kill you. For impersonating me as well as trying to squash me like a bug," he said.
"I don't have any enmity with you. You were the one who set a trap for me. You were the one who wanted to capture me just because I am a Merged Soul. I believe if you were in my situation, you could also have done the same thing," Ram said.
Siraj glared harder. "You were a fool. When you almost reached the entrance of the lab, I thought you were going to escape. But it was better that you saw Dr. Manish and panicked and came towards us. And to think that you believed Dheeraj's praises. How in the world did being in love and trust would help anyone create a Merged Soul?" he asked.
"Are you a Merged Soul or me?" Ram asked.
Siraj ignored him. "Dr. Manish, I think he will try to confuse you if you guys interrogate him. Why don't you just give him to me. I will kill him off. After all, he was not much helpful to us. I believe you will not get anything even if you cut him apart," he said.
Dr. Manish shook his head but it was Dheeraj who voiced his opinion. "I go along with esteemed Officer's choice. I want him dead. He made me play as if I was interested in her," he said, looking at Sheila. Though his gaze was filled with a longing. Not hate or distaste.
Ram just sighed. "It's alright. What I said earlier was true. You can't force love or attraction on anyone you wanted. Before became even more mess and become guilty for life, just like me, just stop going after her," he said.
Dheeraj snorted while Sheila finally responded. "What's worse was that I had to act like I am smitten by your Aunt, whom I never had seen. I hate wasting time on relationships. We should focus our life for research," she said, her eyes glowing with determination.
Dheeraj swallowed. "Sheila, don't be sure of that. It's not such a waste of time. If you give me a chance—"
He was cut off by Sheila, who glared at him.
"No, every relationship is a waste of time. If only had my father hadn't focused on my mother, he would've already discovered the secret to a Merged Soul," she said.
"And you wouldn't have born and helped in ways that you wouldn't understand till you had a child of your own," Dr. Manish said.
Sheila glared at them. "I don't believe being in love is good and all. I have tried this relationship thing in the past and can you believe what happened, my date chose her son, who was not even her own son, over me. I had been so emotionally damaged that it took my dad many wasted days of effort before I finally found my spark and continue to research. From then onwards, I decided to dedicate myself to research," she said.
Her? Was she interested in females? Why did her story felt familiar?
"Sheila, you are still young. You shouldn't judge a relationship based on a single outing," Dr. Manish suggested.
Siraj groaned. "If didn't know you were brilliant scientists, I would've believed you to be dumb. Don't you see what he was trying to do? To make you focus on other things instead of him being a Merged Soul and tried to free other Merged Souls. I think it perfectly makes sense that Bhumi and her gang left him alone when they fought. For all we know, this entire thing might have been staged and he could even be their leader," he said.
Others ignored him.
Sheila looked at Ram. "I believe that you are a fool who believed us so easily. In a similar fashion, I think even your aunt was a fool. I don't want anything to do with her even in your dreams," she said.
Ram was angry. "Don't you try to blame my aunt for all of this. She was protective of me, just like your father was of you," he said.
Sheila shook her head. "What do you know about me and my father? Don't think both of us were same even though we had protective parents. I have my own free will, I am a expert scientist, I have a drive, a goal in life while you are just a wandering soul who, I believe, could cause only troubles because of your ignorance," she said.
It was so close to the truth that Ram was silent for several moments.
Sheila sighed. "I believe even you know that about you. What should we do with him?" she asked.
"I think we should—" Siraj was about to suggest his opinion when Ram interrupted him.
Ram had enough. He shouted at the top of his lungs. "No. I am not an ignorant being. I have friends who are more intelligent than me. If the task that I wanted to accomplish require me being intelligent, I will consult them. I care about them and they care about me. You said I don't have drive? That I don't have a goal? I have one now. I wanted to become so strong that even though my ignorance leads us into trouble, I would deal with them using my strength. I will protect those I love, those who are closer to me and willing to do anything for me, I am willing to do anything for them. I will protect them even with my life if required," he said.
Sheila snorted. "We will see how long this motivation lasts. After that, I will make sure you realize that your Aunt was worthless. That she was a cheap woman who raised an idiot. That she was ugly and that she was not worthy of being called a parent and all," she said.
He couldn't take it any longer. How dare they try to blame his aunt, who was an angel, who sacrificed everything for him? How can they call her a cheap woman.
"NO!" he roared at the top of his lungs and turned himself into his Aunt El.
"You see her, this is what she looks like. She was an angel," Ram said, but he couldn't hold that image for much longer. He turned back into his Soul Flame form.
His flame dimmed even more.
Sheila was staring at him with her eyes wide open. "She.. She…" she trailed off, repeating the word again and again.
Ram was confused. He turned others to see how they are reacting and Ram froze.
They was no movement in them. As if they were statues. It's too familiar to him. It was the way others looked when Ram used his Powers of Time to Freeze the Flow of time.
He glanced back at Sheila who seemed to be in denial. Tears streamed down her eyes and it fogged up her faceplate, making it difficult for Ram too see her face.
After a long time, she composed herself and her faceplate cleared. "Are you really her son?" she asked, her voice cracked at the end.
Ram was confused, but he know what she was asking. He nodded. "I am her foster son, but she treated me as her own. Why are you reacting so strongly to it. It's as if you know her. And more importantly, is this the Powers of Time? I thought it didn't work in the Soul World?" he asked.
Sheila shook her head. "You are right. It won't usually work on Soul World. But I am a scientist and I can make any device to work with any power if I put enough heart into it. Which I did. In fact, it was me who invented how to harness Powers of Time through a device, but keep it as a secret. Others don't know about it. But I can't hold this for much longer. I have so much to discuss with you. Can you tell me once again, that the woman you changed your shape into was really your Aunt, that she was really the Ella that I knew?" she asked.
Ram frowned at her. Then she produced a holographic picture of her kissing Aunt El, holding hands with her, going on a date with her and an image even included them holding Ram's hand when he was a child.
Ram gasped. It was too much for him to process, so he focused on a single thread. The woman beside Sheila was his Aunt El. That explains why he felt her story familiar. "My aunt said she didn't marry or get into relationship because her sister didn't accept her. But there was something more to it. I knew it at that time, but didn't know what it was. It seems that she was really happy with you. Is she really in love with you?" he asked.
Sheila nodded. "Yes. We are Soulmates. But she said she can't leave you, to come to other worlds with me. When I delivered an ultimatum to chose me or you, she chose you instead. I was so heartbroken that I couldn't accept any romantic relationship. It was then that I started to put my everything on research and started to hate love and relationship and all," she paused as if she were reliving that moment. When she composed herself, she continued. "How was she?"
Ram looked down. "What I told about my aunt was true. She was still in heartbreak after her friend's betrayal. But there was more to tell and I couldn't explain everything in here. Can't you help me escape from here?" he asked.
"It's difficult, but I will do it in my own way. You have to trust me and follow it according to my plan and I can promise you will get out of The Nonliving Soul world. Then once you were there, you have to wait for me. We will meet and get out of The Soul World, towards your aunt. I have to see her and there was so much that I wanted to share with her. I just…" she stopped as the flow of time was coming back to normal for all around them.
Sheila cursed, then reversed The Flow of Time to when Siraj suggested that Ram could be the leader of Bhumi and her gang and he was here to free Merged Souls.
Sheila responded. "I believe he was not. That he was a wandering soul. But that doesn't erase the fact that he was a Merged Soul. Dr. Manish, I think it will benefit us if we use him, find out how he became a Merged Soul and I think we can start producing stabled Merged Souls sooner," she said.
Dr. Manish nodded. "It's good idea. Even though Dr. Shukla will want to be with on regarding this, but I don't think Chitra will let us do what we want with him. After all, he was the first stable Merged Soul we have seen and he even dared to infiltrate our lab, trying to impersonate Siraj over here," he said.
Dheeraj grinned at him. "It doesn't matter. Siraj was a wastrel who was at the end of favors from Chitra. I believe his defeat against the Merged Soul will make Chitra come to our side and allow us to convert him into a Merged Soul instead," he said.
Siraj glared at all of them. "This whole thing wouldn't have worked without me. I was the one who discovered Diana and saved her. I was the one who brought her and saved your guys ass when he almost got you fooled. Just because he beat me in a fight after consuming my solution that I keep in stock just for emergencies," he said.
"That's why you are a fool. You should have taken him then and there. But no. You have to waste the vial. Don't you know how hard it was to produce one vial of Soulva replica?" Dheeraj asked.
Siraj gritted his teeth. "He was not willing to fight or reveal himself to us. If only you had agreed to my suggestion and attacked him all at once, we would not have wasted it. And you dare to call me stupid? What about you, when he offered you relationship advice, when he said he had taken down Diana and her gang, you were obviously worshiping him," he said.
Dheeraj ignored him. "Diana leeched more than it was worth from us in exchange of Merged Souls just because she had a backer. But it doesn't matter. At least, the Merged Soul was better than you. If we were to train him to be our lackey, imagine what we could accomplish," he said.
Sheila interrupted. "Enough. I believe that we should leave it to my father and Chitra to decide what we should do with him. Until then, we have to keep him under observation," she said.
Siraj growled. "No. We should kill him. He dare to impersonate me, insult me and even made all of you turn against me, while I saved your collective asses," he said.
She ignored him. She turned towards Dheeraj and Manish instead. "What do you think?" she asked.
They thought for a moment and nodded their head.
"Good, I will call up my father, meanwhile you keep an eye on him," she said, pointing towards Siraj, who looked like he could attack Ram at any moment.
"You are treating me as a criminal, while I clearly am not. Am I not worthy in your eyes compared to him?" he asekd.
"Obviously. He was the first stable Merged Soul we have seen in years. And what's more wonderful was that he can change his appearance and beat the crap out of you. Come on, Dr. Manish. Let's get him away from our precious," Dheeraj said, leaving him alone, locked inside a special room.
Ram was shocked to learn about Sheila's past. About her being his Aunt's Soulmate.
If what she said was true, then that explains why his Aunt El didn't pursue relationship. And why she refused everyone that Aunt El's sister suggested and why she even ignored or failed to recognize Fathima's love.
It was all because she was in love with Sheila, who was her Soulmate.
Ram didn't know whether it was true or not. But if he had to listen to his heart, it was telling him that Aunt El and Sheila to be Soulmates.
But there could be a chance that all of it were not true, that she did everything she had to lure him into another trap.
What should he do?
He didn't know whether he could trust her or not. But right at this moment, she was the only one who offered a way out of Soul World, to his aunt.
He had to take it. Even though it was filled with traps, he will deal with them later.
After all, he had Em with him. She would surely come up with a plan once they recover enough.
"What do you think Em?" he asked.
"I am more experienced than you and even I don't know what to do. But for now, let's trust her. Let's follow her plan," she said.
Ram nodded and waited for Sheila.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone