Chapter 10: Discussion amongst Elders

DAMN THEM ALL!

How the heck were they asking others to kill someone as innocent as him? Ram wanted to curse them with every fiber of his being.

He wished he were a wizard that had the power to curse them all.

But he was not a wizard.

They also had a reason for being scared of him and wanting to kill him.

If he were in their position, he would kill himself too.

Ram shook his head. No matter what, he had come to them willingly. He had to endure everything, hoping it would turn out to be good for him.

He trusted Sandhya and Chandra. If things were to go south, they would save him.

At least, that was what he thought.

Ram shook his head and searching all around him to see any prominent figures, the ones that had the authority to judge him.

All around him, he was surrounded by what seemed to be horny teenagers.

Every one of them.

They actually looked much younger than Chandra and Sandhya, probably on the same age bracket as him and they were supposed to be the elites of the Faction of Hope?

Ram shook his head and searched for more.

It was then that Ram noticed a subtle difference in the air above the seats that others were sitting in.

The whole Hall was divided into four sections. On the top of each section, he could detect something that was shimmering with faint traces of greenish-blue sparks. Like the residue of someone using magic.

Oh god! Please don't tell me this is actually a fantasy and not Sci-Fi like he had been imagining. Sci-Fi was something that at least had rules and regulations. But fantasy has … nothing of sorts.

If one wanted, they could wave their wand and make stuff happen.

Just like the way Chandra's fairy assistant did before he was plunged into the illusion of jungle?

Ram chose to ignore that for the time being.

He was already confused with all the stuff that he had seen. If it were to be fantasy, then he could only imagine what would happen to his future.

Probably nothing much, since the way the crowd of horny teenagers were chanting KILL again and again.

Ram carefully looked for the faint traces of greenish-blue sparks and stared at each one of them in return, hoping they would get his intention.

After several minutes, a voice boomed all around the hall.

"SILENCE," The voice said. It was a female voice, much powerful than Ram had ever thought a female could possess. Probably an Elder. He decided to call her Powerful Female Elder for the time being.

It was not that he had anything against powerful females, but females were delicate flowers with thorns surrounding them. And it was men's duty to protect them.

Ram was shocked to see that the whole place suddenly dropped silent. It was so silent that Ram could hear the cracks of faint-blue energy.

"You could see us?" the powerful female voice asked with a hint of bemusement.

Ram swallowed. "No. It's just that I could see the residue of your work to obscure yourselves," he said.

Powerful Female Elder chuckled. "Wow, I didn't know a user of Power of Time had the ability to detect the Power of Light. Perhaps you could also use the Power of Light?" she asked.

Ram thought about the incident where he thought he had become invisible, with Sandhya frowning at him just for a moment back in his poor house and shook his head. It was only his imagination and nothing more. If there were anything to it, Sandhya would have already told him of that.

"No," Ram said. "But I would have been blind if I couldn't detect faint greenish-blue sparks emitting from time to time."

"You are able to observe all of that, in this huge Hall, filled with chaotic energies as well as noise? Maybe I should check your power more thoroughly," she said.

Another powerful deep voice sounded. It was that of a man. "You think he could be the one we have been looking for? Stop living in your fantasies. He would only appear if we were in danger like an apocalypse. As far as I know, he could just use the least form of Time Travel. To reverse the flow of time, that too for few moments. There's nothing to be scared about it," he said. Ram decided to call him Deep-voiced Male Elder.

"Are you telling me that both of you don't think he could be a threat to us?" another weak voice asked, a female one at that. "Don't you think it's strange that our leader had disappeared and soon he appeared, with the power to reverse The Flow of time? It awfully coincided with the devices of Time stopped working? If they aren't signs of destruction about to come, what would they be?"

Powerful Female Elder chuckled. "Elder of Air, lately you seemed to be awfully pessimistic. Did anything happened in your personal life recently?"

Elder of Air snorted. "You know the reason why I am being like this," she said.

Powerful Female Elder laughed out loud. "You are still so sore about that. Get over yourself. Why don't you see that not only he could use strange power of Time that we had only heard as legends, but could also see faint traces of our obscurity?"

"Stop arguing. I think he might be a spy from darkness, educated about our ways. It's nothing to be worried about. But since he dared to infiltrate the Faction of Hope, we have to teach him a lesson. What do you think?" Deep-voiced Male Elder said.

"No. I think we should take him to a laboratory and test him to see if he could have other powers. If that were the case, then he would be our salvation," the Powerful Female Elder said.

"Are you guys forgetting the important fact here? Not only could he use the First Elder's powers, he could also detect the Power of Light. I think it would be best if we kill him," the Elder of Air said.

"KILL HIM!" the crowd repeated.

Ram felt hard to breathe, as if someone were chocking him. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't. They were discussing about him as if he didn't exist right in front of him, as if he were a device that they don't know whether he was a weapon useful to them or not.

Ram usually wanted people to ignore him, but his life depends on today's judgement and he don't want them to treat him like that. He was about to open his mouth when he was struck by an electric zap from the bars of the cell he had been holding and he fell on the floor, twitching and groaning.

Once he recovered, he wiped the foam at the corner of his mouth and tried to ignore the chuckles all around the room.

"See, he can't even handle the small amount of electricity. I don't even think he is a spy. But it's best to be safe," Deep-voiced Male Elder said.

"Don't you see we are already taking him for granted? I think he is an intelligent being of our enemies, capable of fooling us, letting our guard down. We have to be careful about him," the Elder of Air said.

The Powerful Female Elder chuckled. "Don't be so paranoid. The more I see him, the more curious I am about him. Why don't we see him using his powers in action before deciding on what we could do with him?" she asked.

The other elders agreed to that and soon, the cage he was surrounded in disappeared. He appeared in a an endless white hall similar to the one he had been when he first met Em.

There was no sign of her ever since she had seen him using his powers to Reverse the Flow of Time, and Ram was kind of worried about her.

He didn't had time to worry about her. He should stop worrying about her. After all, she had given the data of him using his powers to the Faction of Hope. He didn't want to do anything with her.

But damn it! He still cared about her. He hoped she would be fine.

"Show us your powers," The Powerful Female Elder's voice boomed all around Ram and it hurt like hell. He had to plug his ears with his fingers for a long time. Ram could still feel his ears ringing and when they stopped, he unplugged his fingers from his ears and stared all around him.

Even though he couldn't see anyone around him, he knew that this was all just a projection. Just like the one Chandra's Fairy assistant did. They were watching him, waiting for him to use his powers.

The only way for Ram knew how to use his powers was by clenching his gut.

No matter how hard he clenched it, nothing happened.

When even after 15 minutes nothing happened, he could hear chuckles all around him. "See, I don't think he is as dangerous or special as everyone believe him to be. He is a weakling who don't know how to use his powers. He might have discovered his powers just now. We are making a big fuss out of it," The Deep-voiced Male Elder said.

Before they could argue further, a thunderous voice boomed all around him.

"He is dangerous, the Harbinger of Doom!"