10 Chapter 9: Faction of Hope

RAM FELT SCARED AND HELPLESS.

So much so that he wished all of this were his worst nightmare. It was better than believing that all of this were really happening.

He had been in more danger since he killed the old man than he had been before all of this had happened. Ever since he had been born till he killed the old man.

If this were nightmare, at least he would be waking up to his normal world, where he had been kicked out of his dormitory, suspended for a semester after being framed for a crime he hadn't committed with no work. But he would at least be still live, without worrying about when his life would be in danger.

But if what he was facing till now was real, then he had to live every waking moment in fear. Every minute would be like his worst nightmare.

Em said he could either be the descendant of First Elder, who had been corrupted by Darkness and created much havoc before he had been taken out, or the answer to their prayers, their own Elder with power to control a form of Time Travel to counter the First Elder.

No matter what it was, things were going to get much worse for all of them.

All of it can be summarized in simple sentence.

That he was the Harbinger of Doom.

What should he do now?

He did not want this power or wanted to become Harbinger of Doom. If they wanted, he could transfer all of his powers and memories (even though they are locked for now, they had to know a way for sure right?) in exchange of them sparing his life.

But they might take his power, assure him and make him let his guard down and kill him when he least expected it. Just to be sure that he might be a descendant of the First Elder.

Or worse. He might be forever young First Elder, with his memories locked for now. Biding his time for right moment for his memories to be unlocked. But the events he had faced these past few days were more of a sci-fi and not fantasy.

He could ask them to trust him. After all, the Previous Elder of Time trusted him so much that he had chosen to be killed by Ram so that Ram could be his descendant.

But what if the Previous Elder of Time were manipulated by The Scar Faced Nemesis for this to happen. That he was indeed Descendant of First Elder of Time?

He don't know what to do.

He turned to look at Chandra and Sandhya, with Em and Chandra's fairy assistant staring at each other as if they were about to face an apocalypse.

Ever since Ram had been born, he had been a loner. Sandhya had been only one amongst them that he had felt more familiar with. After all, he had a crush on her, stalked her and … his first kiss was with her.

Even though he had regretted it now, it had been done already.

After he had seen her with Chandra, he knew that they loved each other. Sandhya trusted Chandra that in turn made Ram trust him.

It's a simple math equation.

Really.

If A = B and B = C, then A = C.

Ram trusted Sandhya. Sandhya trusted Chandra. So Ram was willing to trust Chandra.

Ram made his decision.

"Sandhya, Chandra, even though it's been short time that I had met both of you, I trust you both more than anyone else. Think of this as an apology for me kissing her. I am willing to anything that you wanted. If you wanted me to train my powers, I will. If you wanted me to transfer my powers to either of you or the one you trusted the most, I will. If you want to monitor me, my action and thoughts, I will. All I am asking for you was your word that you would keep me alive," Ram said.

***

Chandra decided to inform The Faction of Hope about Ram in person so that they decide what to do with Ram. He left Ram with Sandhya, who refused to talk with him.

Even Em had been silent inside his head. If Ram observed closely, he could feel her shivering inside of him.

She was scared of him?

Ram shook his head. All he could do for now was to wait for the Faction of Hope to come and decide what to do with him.

Ram remembered previously that all of his powers would get activated when he clenched his gut. Was there something special about his gut?

Ram tried to clench his gut.

Nothing happened.

Ram shook his head.

Something else was involved. But Ram didn't know what it was. All he knew was that his powers would start with him clenching his gut.

He wished he could increase the flow of time for him so that he could live in fear for short period of time. After all, the chances of Ram dying was more after Chandra's decision.

It took nearly 4 hours for the Elite Members of the Faction of Hope to arrive and Ram was shocked to see so many of them. They were more than thousands in numbers. How the heck were they going to judge Ram?

Ram had been lonely ever since he remembered. Even when he was in his college, he was sitting in a corner, not interacting much with others.

Seeing thousands of people at the same time brought a sort of fear in Ram that his heart was beating faster than it had ever been.

How many of them wanted Ram to die?

Ram shook his head. He tried to calm down his mind. But he couldn't.

Before Ram knew it, his gut clenched, a coldness spread all over him.

Only him.

He had Slowed the Flow of Time only for him.

It was his worst nightmare, waiting for them to arrive in their designated seats. All the events that happened, a pair of guards coming towards him, treating him as if he were one of the worst criminals they had known and taking him into a huge hall that had a single cylindrical cell at the center of the Hall with bars all around the cell and they pushed him inside it.

All around Ram, he could see that the hall had been arranged with seats in such fashion that the first seat nearby him were at his eye level. But as the rows of seats beside them were much higher level than him all the way to the last row which made Ram feel like he were looking at a Skyscrapers all around him from the ground floor.

Ram turned all around the cell, as he watched in agony as one by one, the guests filled their seats slowly.

Once it was finished, Ram felt the feeling that spread all over his body disappear.

The Flow of Time returned to normal for Ram.

Ram sighed, clutching the bars of his cell, he sagged against it.

Ram could hear chuckles all around him, but Ram was so exhausted after Slowing the Flow of Time for him that he wished he could sleep for whole week.

But he couldn't sleep with all of them staring at him and whispering about him.

A screen appeared in the mid-air with the screen filled with the image of Ram with his basic details below his image.

Name: Ram

Parents: Unknown.

Age: 17.

Powers: Time.

It then started to replay Ram using his powers accidentally.

All of them, except when Ram had Slowed the Flow of Time on him just now.

It even included Ram kissing Sandhya and also being slapped by him while he had Freeze the Flow of Time for others and Looping of Time, twice.

All followed by Chandra's fairy assistant attack, where he had Reversed the Flow of Time.

Gasps could be heard all over the Hall and by the time they subsided, Ram sank to the floor.

They were staring at Ram in horror, whispering about him and treating him as if Ram were a criminal.

Some of the more vocal ones started to voice their opinions with one sentence louder than others. Once it became clearer, they started to pick it up and chant the sentence repeatedly.

"KILL HIM."