Vol 2: Chapter 13: The Black Market

Once they parted ways from Akila, the Gatekeeper, Ram couldn't even take one step.

He was panting and sweating badly, was about to collapse when Aunt Sheila sighed and carried him away from the field of the barrier that separated the two worlds inside the Soul World.

Ram was recuperating, filling The Well of Soulfire within his Mind World by consuming much milder replica of The Soulva Solution that they had gotten from Siraj. The newer solution was prepared by Aunt Sheila.

This solution will recover his Soulfire slowly. But it has one major advantage over Siraj's solution.

Ram wouldn't be drained of Soulfire quickly and he wouldn't collapse after few moments of consuming it just like Siraj's solution did.

Once they recovered enough, Ram stood up. "Aunt Sheila, wait! Is it ok if I call you that?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila nodded, her eyes once again watering, fogging up her faceplate.

"Aunt Sheila, before we can proceed further, I wanted to ask you something. It's personal. Is it alright?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Are you really alright? Ever since Chitra revealed that she knew everything about us and was keeping Dr. Shukla as a hostage, you haven't reacted to yet till now. I am worried for you," he said.

Sheila's eyes watered. Her faceplate fogged up and she struggled to control herself. It did took some time, but by the time she composed herself, there were no signs of her crying in the first place. "I would be lying if I said I was not worried about my father. But he was always prepared. We always thought we could be discovered one day and prepared contingency plans for it. My father will escape from Chitra's clutches when he feels the time was right. But for now, he will stay at her palace like a hostage. But what we didn't expect was your arrival into The Soul World. If I had known it would happen like this, I would've prepared so much that defeating Chitra would've been a walk in the park. But I never thought I will meet with you, Em again," she said.

Em appeared out of his Mind World. Her whole body was made of green flames with black hair, more like human hair and less flames. She had a black tank top, black jeans and black shoes.

She gave both of them a look and shook her head. "This is why I hate human reunions. Especially the ones that involved lots and lots of tears. Get over yourself quickly. We have a lot to deal with right now and we don't have much time," she said.

Ram glared at her. "You would be even worse than us if you reunite with me after being apart for a long time. Stop looking down on us," he said.

Em pushed her tongue out at him.

Aunt Sheila chuckled. "I believe this was not the side you had seen her in?" she asked.

Ram thought about her rebellious phase where she dressed in exaggerated fashion, in a patchwork of rainbow colored clothes when he refused to let her change her name and appearance. He shook his head. "No. She is pretty much like this. I think since she had to take care of me during these past few days, she toned down her playfulness. But since you took that role from her, she was relaxed and back to her usual self," he said.

Em shrugged as she crossed her arms and tapping her foot against the ground.

Ram ignored her.

Aunt Sheila shook her head. "I didn't imagine she would act like this when I had programmed her. I don't know whether this was good or not," she said.

"You have given me data that could help him in one way or another and they are so vast that even I find it difficult to process them from time to time. And you intended to make me as a companion for him, staying with him and protecting him forever. To make him feel more friendly towards him, you programmed me in such a way that I even age in a similar way as him. But when I had been serving The Old Man, he had been strict with me. I never got a chance to be like a child. When Ram became my master, just for a few moments mind you, he asked me to be his friend. And one thing led to another and here we are. Besides, you should be proud of yourself to create such an amazing A.I. like me, who now has a chance to become a living being," she said.

Ram sighed. "Sometimes we behave like we reversed our roles. That was usual with us. You don't have to worry about us," he said.

Aunt Sheila shook her head. "I don't think so. She is an A.I. and even got her new body. Let's hope she will not develop further complications, and we don't have time to repair it. Since she wanted me to help her feel touch, pain and taste just as humans do, we need to purchase some materials. The only place in The Soul World where we could get necessary materials is The Black Market. Though the prices are cheap over there and we can get anything we wanted, we have to be careful. There were Chitra's men all over it. And moreover, the shopkeepers would be looking to fool it's buyers whenever they can," she said.

Ram frowned. "Do we really have to do this? Can't we wait till we get out of The Soul World before she gets those upgrades?" he asked.

Em glared at him. "You don't want me to be human right? Is it because of Bhumi? You liked her the moment you saw her. Now that you have Aunt Sheila with you, you don't want me anymore?" she asked.

Ram shook his head.

Aunt Sheila perked up. "He fell in love with Bhumi at first sight? Why didn't I knew about it earlier?" she asked.

Ram groaned. "No. I did not fell in love wit her at first sight. It's just a crush and nothing more. I can promise you that she is not my Soulmate. So it would be better if you stop planning for my future," he said.

Aunt Sheila looked like she didn't believe him, she shared a meaningful glance with Em, who grinned at her.

Ram shook his head and picked a direction that he thought the Black Market was and walked there.

Aunt Sheila shouted at him. "Where do you think you are going?" she asked.

Ram pointed at the tall spire that was clearly visible from here. "Towards The Black Market?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila shook her head. "I don't really want to say this. But I have to. I am not just like your Aunt El. Why don't you wait for us to decide where to go before you create more trouble for yourself?" she asked.

Ram frowned. "Are you implying that I will bring trouble with me wherever I go?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila shook her head. "I meant that since Em and me were intelligent and more knowledgeable than you, it's better if you leave the planning to us. You just follow our advice and we will get out of this smoothly enough," she said.

Ram didn't convinced, but since they just reunited after so long and he wanted her and Aunt El back together and be happy, he chose to ignore it. He just nodded. "So, where is it?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila nodded and beckoned him to follow her. She walked towards the opposite direction of the spire.

"What's the spire?" he asked.

"It's where you are going to steal The Soul Bead from. But before that, we have to know whether it was same as The Bead of The Institute or not. If it was, then we shouldn't let Chitra get her hands on it," she said.

Ram frowned. "Don't you think that's going to cause us hell lot of trouble? As you already said, Chitra has Living Souls working for her, Agents of Nonliving Souls if I remember it correctly," he said.

Aunt Sheila shook her head. "Sometimes, us getting into risk to prevent powerful devices form getting into the hands of bad guys is worth it. You have seen how powerful The Bead of The Institute was. It gave Em an new body, made you into a Soul of Soul World and we don't know what more it did to both of you. If you were to give such powerful object ot Chitra, god only knows what she will do with it," she said.

Ram nodded. "OK. Where are we going to get such information?" he asked.

Em was the one who answered him that. "Information Centers, the ones that I used to know about The Obsidian Spheres, The Altron and Hotel Pleasure & Privacy along with The Soulva and The Strange Cave. But I don't think I am skilled enough to get that information," she said.

Aunt Sheila smiled. "I am proud of how quickly you develop in some areas. Though there were other areas where you are immature, I can't help it," she said.

Em grinned at her. "It was you who created me to be this way," she said.

Aunt Sheila just shook her head. "Whatever. I will take care of that. And I have to be very discreet, which meant you will have time for both of you to roam the Black Market. Em, I am putting you in lead to take care of Ram while I search for materials required to make you human along with the information about the Soul Bead. Make sure he will not get into trouble," she said.

Ram groaned.

Aunt Sheila ruffled his hairs, chuckling.

She then held his hand, while she used other to hold Em. Like a mother holding the hands of her children, hey walked towards The Black Market.

The entrance had an arch with the name The Black Market glowing in orange Soulfire.

The Black Market itself was a huge complex, made out entirely of Obsidian. Probably to prevent powerful beings detecting those who are inside of it.

Even though the door was opened, Ram was not able to see what was inside The Black Market, just like he was not able to see the inside of The Obsidian Sphere when he had discovered it with Em.

They stepped inside The Complex and we were immediately met with the brightly lit interiors.

It had several floors, with each floor tightly packed with one shop after another.

Some wealthy shops were made out of Obsidian or Altron, while others were made out of partitions separated by essence of it's shopkeeper.

It had wide variety of shops, like brothels, tools weapons, restaurants, entertainment section and even museum.

The wide variety of items that were being displayed dazzled Ram's mind. Soon, staring at them felt like he took control of Em's body and Ram stopped looking at them entirely.

Ram found beings of many strange worlds that he didn't thought existed. He watched beings made out of smoke, clouds, volcano, grains of salts, and even saw beings made out of plants.

To sum it up, today felt like Ram really stepped out of the world for the first time. The Black Market was even more crowded and louder than anything he had ever seen in his world.

Aunt Sheila gave Ram a meaningful glance, whispered something in Em's ears.

Em nodded.

Then Aunt Sheila hugged Ram and left them.

"What did she say?" Ram asked.

Em grinned at him. "What do you think?" she asked.

Ram groaned. "Em, stop playing with me. Just tell me what it is," he said.

Em shook her head. "You are no fun. She asked me to look after you and also shop to our hearts content. Come on, let's explore," she said, taking Ram's arm.

Ram gave her a bewildered smile and went along with her.

They first went to a shop that displayed weapons.

She went over several weapons, scanning everything about it she can before the owner became so annoyed at them that he shouted at them. "If you are here only for disturbing potential clients who are willing to buy something instead of just looking at them, get the hell out of my shop," he said.

Em glared at him and was about to attack him. But Ram pulled her back, giving the owner a small smile. "Learn to control your girlfriend better, young man," he said.

"He is not my boyfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend."

They both said at the same time.

The shopkeeper shrugged at them, shooing them away.

"Em, Aunt Shiela asked you to look after me. But it seemed like I am the one who should look after you," he said.

"You are just jealous because Aunt Sheila trusted me and put me in charge and not you," she said.

Ram shook his head. "Whatever, let's get the hell out of here before he could make a mess out of us," he said.

Em nodded and they walked out of the weapons shop.

"What were you observing so deeply back in the shop?" he asked.

Em grinned. "I am analyzing various weapons so that I could put it into the datapad where I intended to train you. Don't you think I am amazing?" she asked.

Ram shook his head. "You could have just brought a datapad that contains all such data and compiled it for me," he said.

Em shook her head. "I think watching live weapons is much better. Don't worry, I plan to buy datapads also. Come on. I don't know how much time we have, but we have to get everything that we can," she said.

"Then we should make sure your observation will be quick," he said.

She sighed. "Fine, I will record everything and process it later. Let's get going," she said.

Ram nodded and they went into another section. This has the history of The Soul World.

It contained glorious deeds done by it's head.

Bharghav.

"Em, quickly get as much information as you can about him. After all, you know what we have to do here," he said.

Em nodded and asked the shopkeeper to give them the best guide they had of Bharghav.

He showed them a datapad and when he named the price, Em gasped. "But it was too much for so little data that we are getting," she said.

"You want the best guide we had. I showed the same to you. It does not contain fluff. But the real history regarding Bharghav. We do not want to waste the time of our customers, so that's why we are pricing it that much. If you want something cheaper, you can buy other ones that has so much data that I believe most of them were pure fiction. You want to buy it or not? We have many customers who are willing to get this data," he said.

Em looked like she was about to fight. Ram sighed, payed him and took the datapad.

"Em, if you keep on fighting against he shopkeepers, then we will never cover the shops that will be of use to us," he said.

Em glared at him. "Just watch me do my thing in the next shop. They will always agree to whatever price we wanted. That's called bargaining. Did you forgot what Aunt Sheila told you before sending us off?" she asked.

Ram shook head head. "But that doesn't mean we could waste as much time as we wanted bargaining the price," he said.

"You are just a coward. Leave that to me," she said.

Ram didn't want to argue with her. So he agreed with her.

They next moved towards a section that contains delicious meals of many varieties. The smell was so heavenly that Ram's stomach growled.

"Em, let's stop before eating," he said.

Em shook her head. "You already had soulfire. Don't waste money or time on this thing," she said.

Ram protested.

"No. It's not real hunger. It's just trigger to you eating. If you keep on eating like this, I think Bhumi is not going to like you," she said.

Ram groaned. "I am not in love with Bhumi. Stop playing jokes. Beside I don't want her to like me. Why don't we go in?" he asked.

Em was already walking away from the restaurant.

Ram gave one longing look at the restaurant before jogging towards Em.

They next went towards a museum that displayed various advanced technologies. Nothing can be brought here and it was plain boring. He became only interested when he saw an item that could conjure any food that one wanted and Ram's stomach growled once again.

Em glared at him. "You can turn into anything or anyone. That also includes using your Soulfire to make a part of yourself into foods. It takes mastery and finesse of Soulfire, which you lack. When we are free, I will show you how to do it. Stop focusing so much on your stomach and instead look at other amazing things that were displayed over here," she said.

Ram perked up. "Really?" he asked.

Em frowned.

"You know how to make food out of Soulfire?" he asked.

Em nodded.

"If I wanted, you can even do it right now?"

"Yes."

"Will you teach me?"

Em sighed. "I will add it into your training plan. Now stop gawking like a fool and let's make a move," she said.

Ram nodded.

They went around many sections and most of them contained glorious records of Bharghav, The Head of The Living Soul World. The weapons he used, how he organized the Living Soul World. It also depicted his feud with Chitra's father. It also mentioned that they both will not interfere as both are equally powerful. If one breaks the agreement, other would attack soon and it will lead to destruction of The Soul World.

"Wow! Such power. I wonder if I can be as powerful as them," he wondered.

"You can. But it takes more effort than you are willing to put right now. I think this was built to boast Bharghav. It will not be useful to us any longer. Let's go to next shop," she said.

The next section contains the information regarding the powerful figures daughter.

Ram had some idea about Chitra. He didn't know who was the daughter of Bharghav.

If things go wrong, he could at least approach Bharghav's daughter and ask for her help.

But Em was urging him and he reluctantly followed her.

They visited many shops after that. Not spending as much time as they did earlier.

Em brought many datapads and was secretive about what it contained.

When he asked repeatedly, she sighed. "Most of them are ofr your training. While it also has some dramas and books for entertainment," she said.

Ram perked up. "I am really into reading. Why don't you share with me?" he asked.

Em shook her head. "Some contents are adult and you are just a small baby. Do you still want it?" she asked.

He remembered her visit to Hotel Pleasure & Privacy, the weird moans he heard at there and Ram shook his head. "Tell me the real reason you went to Hotel Pleasure & Privacy. Is it because you were angry at me or to watch the souls performing sinful act?" he asked.

Em glared at him. "It was not a sinful activity. I think you will also be doing those acts with Bhumi once you get together with her. And just for your information, the souls that were performing the act were doing it in the open. I just happened to be sitting along with The Chief of The Hotel Pleasure & Privacy and happened to heard and watch them. It's not entirely my mistake," she said.

"You are not even covering the fact that you watched them. Don't you feel embarrassed?" he asked.

"What's there to be embarrassed about?" she asked.

Ram sighed. "I don't know what to do with you. Besides, this will be the last time I am warning you. Bhumi is not my Soulmate. She is just a crush. And nothing more than that. Once we get out of The Soul World, we are not going to meet her again. Heck, I don't think we will meet her in The Living Soul World," he said.

Em shook her head. "We will see about that. And I am not embarrassed about my actions. I don't know how you will manage after you get together with her," she mumbled the last part.

Ram ignored her.

Next, they visited to a small stall that a one large table displaying various datapads that has glorious titles that seemed more like scam.

Learn Soul Fire King Fu in 30 days.

How to tame your Dragon.

Master Soulfire, Change your life.

It also contained some titles that were in a language that he didn't understood and turned to ask Em.

She was looking at the titles the way Ram looked at the restaurant.

He shook his head.

Em esquired about the costs with the Shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper was a being of Metallic World . He had metallic springs for hair, instead of spikes like the one he had seen on Dheeraj. His body was made up of steel. He grinned at them. "I am having a sale just now and you are our first lucky guests. We have total of 15 titles. You can buy all of them together for the price of 5 items. Buy 5 get 10 free. What do you think?" he asked.

Ram doubted the authenticity of the datapads. But Em seemed interested.

Ram groaned. "Em, I think these are just a bunch of garbage. I don't think that it will help us in any shape or manner," he said.

The shopkeeper shook his head, his springs expanding and contracting in agitation. "Young man, it would be wise if you learn the skills in these datapads. It was going to help you in battles and competitions that you are may face in the future. You both seemed to be merged souls right?" he asked.

Ram gasped.

Em froze.

"How did you know?" they both asked at the same time.

The shopkeeper with springs for hairs grinned at them.

"Let's just say I am good friends with someone you knew and they tasked me to give these to you. Since I have to travel so far, I am not giving you for free. You have to pay me first," he said.

"Who is it?" Ram asked.

The shopkeeper just grinned at them.

Ram looked at Em, panicking.

She was thoughtful and nodded at him.

Ram shook his head. Even though Aunt Sheila has given the authority to Em to lead, he thought he should also give his opinion since it involved both of their lives.

The shopkeeper knew that both of them were merged souls. He even seemed to know about him being a human and Em being an A.I.

How did he know?

Who told him all th information. How much did he knew?

Ram had many questions. But most important of them was that whether he could trust him or not.

It seemed too good to be true.

If what he said was true, then this will help him in their future.

But if he was trying to harm the, it would be disastrous. And they had too much on their plates already.

Ram was still intrigued by the shopkeeper though.

What did he meant by competitions that they had to face in the future?

Did he came from future?

Was he a Time Traveler?

Shukla said Time Travel was not possible. So it meant that he knew something else that they didn't.

He thought that taking the datapads wouldn't hurt them. He will ask Em to process them and she can decide what was useful or what was not.

Besides, he can ask Aunt Sheila's help and together, they can plan for their future.

But what if accessing these datapads will damage Em?

No, he was not willing to take this chance. He had to ask her opinion again.

"Em, are you sure we want to take them?" he asked.

Em nodded.

"But what if they will harm us?" he asked.

Em looked at him. "We will ask your aunt to help us," she said.

Ram nodded.

They finally decided and paid the shopkeeper who kept on smiling at them and they walked towards the entrance, where they were supposed to meet up with Aunt Sheila and waited for her arrival.

Ram hoped they didn't commit a huge mistake by taking those datapads from the strange Shopkeeper from Metallic World.