9 Chapter 8: Meeting Chandra

RAM HATED HELL.

Ram was so scared that he felt like he was shivering as if the temperature suddenly dropped so low. But the temperature around him was as normal as he had felt few moments ago.

Why did his powers had to act like the way it did? And why did he kissed her?

To make matters worse, his power, Looping of Time was activated twice. For both of them.

The first one being him kissing her again and again repeatedly and was seen by Veera, a devoted fan of Chandra.

Chandra. Damn! Than name alone produce enough scare to Ram that he thought Chandra to be King Yama, riding his Giant Bull with a whip in his hands, coming towards Ram to reap his life.

Why hadn't he discovered that someone as beautiful as Sandhya would be taken? Why hadn't he assumed that she might have already been engaged?

What should he do now?

Sandhya was so angry at him for the kiss that she revealed indirectly that Ram was the Elder of Time, the one who don't know how to use his powers.

More importantly, the one that had kissed his fiancée.

Should he ran way?

But right now Sandhya was so angry that she would reveal that he was the Elder of Time and the transfer of power was Hard Mode. To make matters worse, she might reveal that he had kissed her.

Anyone would be angry if their fiancée was kissed by others that too forcefully on the top of that. Repeatedly using their powers.

Chandra would hunt him for sure and would kill him without any second thought. If that were to happen, he would make sure that Ram would transfer his powers the correct way.

Running away was not an option.

But he couldn't stay here either. One way or another, Sandhya was going to reveal the truth about him and what had happened between them.

He would still be tortured. It doesn't matter that their torture devices were not working at the moment. There were other ways to make sure that Ram would feel like he would just die.

And he might still die if he stay there.

But staying there means that he might get a chance before he get killed. If he could persuade Chandra, reveal the truth and ask for his forgiveness and also pledge that he would never think or do anything to Sandhya, he might spare him.

After all, Ram was chosen by the previous Elder of Time to be his successor and that should mean something right?

Ram decided to wait for Chandra.

***

While they were waiting for Chandra, Ram didn't dare to speak with Sandhya unless she imitated the talk. Which she didn't.

It was so silent that he wished he could increase the Flow of Time to get this over quickly to begin with. He still didn't know what he should do to make it happen. But for the time being all he could do was to wait for Chandra's arrival.

Ram could hear the rumbling of a bike, which was monstrous as hell. The sound it produced was similar to the roar of an angry lion.

When it appeared before them, Ram swallowed. It was so wide that if Ram were to sit in it, Ram would look like a child in his father's clothing.

Silly.

And Chandra, sitting on top of the monstrous bike, had his face covered in a black helmet. Ram was scared even to look at the Chandra, who was built with muscles all over that were so huge that if the best body-builder were to come and stand by his side, the body-builder would look like a scrawny kid.

Chandra was literally a beast for sure.

When Chandra stopped his monstrous bike and took down his black helmet, Ram was scared.

Chandra's eyes were like that of an angry cheetah that was looking for its prey that was evading him for a long time. There was a sort of anger in it that was much scarier than Sandhya's had been just moments ago when he had used his powers of time to kiss her and that too repeatedly using his power of Looping of Time.

Chandra stared at Ram for a moment, before dismissing him like he were not worthy enough for him even to look for a second longer and he turned to look at Sandhya.

His gaze softened, becoming much gentler. His mouth curled at corners ever so gentle that Ram wished he had Chandra's charm that cold met women's hearts.

Soon, Sandhya relaxed visible, her previous anger against Ram disappeared into a gentle smile that was reserved only for someone one truly loved.

Chandra closed the distance between them and he hugged her. He was so huge, contrast to Sandhya who was tiny, despite the fact that if she were to stand beside Ram, Ram would look like he had been starved for a month.

It wasn't supposed to work. But it did. Their hug felt so genuine and heart-warming that Ram wished he could get his girlfriend soon to enjoy the same bliss.

But where could he find a girlfriend who would make him a look like a towering and protective giant?

Once their public display of affection ended, they separated from each other and Ram could see that they were unwilling to do so.

"Why did you look so down?" Chandra asked Sandhya.

Sandhya's eyes hardened and before she could do anything crazy, Ram interrupted them.

"STOP!"

Ram shouted at the top of his lungs and said all the things that he had done to Sandhya ever since he had known her, how he had stalked online and in real life and how he wished to be with her.

He also explained about the Old Man, the transfer of Powers as well as his occasional bursts of using his powers.

He explained how he had abused when he Freeze the Flow of Time for few moments and kissed her. And how he had accidentally activated the Looping of Time.

And how she hit him, glaring at him, and how Looping of Time was activated for them at that moment for the second time. And also how Ram slowed the Flow of Time for him at the same time.

"I didn't know that she was your fiancée when all of this had happened. So please forgive for the mistakes that I had committed and please help me gain better understanding of my powers so that I could become worthy of being the Elder of Time," Ram finished saying.

Ram could practically see the hostility that was spreading from Chandra's gaze as he was telling him what he had done. But when he requested for Chandra's help, Chandra's fiery gaze was so fierce that Ram trembled.

Before Ram could process what had happened, Chandra summoned a fairy.

Chandra's assistant, similar to Ram's Em, but tinier. She was like a tiny human being, with wings on her back. Her eyes were filled with a bright light, waiting for her next act of mischief.

Ram's ears were ringing at that time, so he didn't know what Chandra had asked her to do.

But with a wave of the fairy's hands, Ram was surrounded by jungle all around them.

Ram was a tiny insignificant human being and he could hear the rustling of leaves, the roars of various animals and rumbling of thunder followed by lightning.

It was night time, but the occasional flashes of lightning blinded Ram from time to time.

When Ram regained his vision, he realized that he was running away from a giant version of monster with horns and red eyes.

Ram was scraped by sharp leaves repeatedly, his whole body stinging in pain every time that happened. He was bleeding from god knows how many cuts and he was finding it difficult to breathe.

Ram stopped, hands on his knees and took huge gulps of air. The huge beast stopped few feet from him, glaring Ram with its fiery red eyes.

Once Ram recovered his energy, the beast would pound on his repeatedly. Ram could hear his bones breaking, the pain was so agonizing that Ram wished he were dead.

When Ram was on the verge of losing consciousness, the beast would throw him down.

"Run," it said.

Ram didn't want to become a delicious, but tired meal for the best and ran with all the power that he could produce.

The cycle repeated many times, as if Looping of Time was activated for them.

Soon, Ram was so beaten and tired that he couldn't move even an inch.

"Run," the beast repeated once again.

Ram's gut clenched and a warmth spread form his core to all of his body. Soon, it leaked form his body and spread to all of its surroundings, even on the beast. As Ram watched, the beast started to speak in reverse. Soon, he was walking backwards.

The scenery was also changing in similar way.

Ram could see the beast repeating its previous actions, only in reverse this time.

The beast and the surroundings were the ones that's changing. Ram was still gasping for breath, lying on the ground.

It looked like the beast was mono-acting. Eventually, the sharp ringing and whiteness arrived, followed by …

Ram was standing in front of him as he watched the fairy's wave, reverse in action.

It was like the Flow of Time was reversing.

Soon, Ram stood in front of Chandra just as he was about to summon his fairy assistant like Em.

Ram didn't know what had happened, but he dropped the ground with his hands in prayer fashion, stretched in front of him, towards Chandra and Sandhya.

"Please forgive me for my mistakes. I know what I did was wrong. But I didn't know that she had already been engaged. If I knew the truth, I would've never looked at her. But the damage had already been done and I had kissed her. What I could do now was make sure to not repeat that mistake.

"From now onwards, I would treat her as if she were my own cousin, sister and a friend. I care about her as a brother would. I would even sacrifice my life for her. Please, spare me. Give me another chance," Ram pleaded.

"A brother would never kiss his sister," Chandra growled.

"I know. That's why I said from now onwards I would treat her like one. I cannot change what had already happened. If possible, I would reverse the flow of time so that I would prevent myself from kissing her. Please excuse me for my mistakes. And please help me train so that I could become worthy of Elder of Time," Ram pleaded.

Chandra frowned and was about to reply when Em appeared out of nowhere.

"He reversed the flow of time just now. Heck, he actually Time Travelled, though for few seconds," Em said and replayed what had happened just now through her projection.

When it was done, Sandhya was shaking her head, while Chandra was mumbling to himself something that Ram was not able to hear.

Ram was confused as what was happening, so he asked Em. "What happened?"

"You reversed the Flow of Time for few minutes. The power to Time Travel, to certain extent. If others were to know what had happened, you would be killed for sure," she said.

"Time Travel, come on. Stop scaring me," Ram said.

"No, you did a form of Time Travel. The only Elder who had this ability was the first one, who was corrupted and turned to the side of Darkness. It had taken the lives of countless disciples to kill him, and even now, there were rumours that Elder had Reversed the Flow of Time, just like you did now, and escaped to the side of Darkness. That he was bidding for his time to destroy the Institute and the world once and for all," she said.

It was too confusing for Ram to digest. "What it means to me?" Ram asked.

Em looked at Ram as if he were ignorant as she said, "That you could be a descendant of First Elder, or an answer to our struggle against First Elder and his darkness. But no matter what, you are sign that things were going to get worse for The Institute as well as for our world."