Vol 2: Chapter 3: The Explorers

It was night by the time Em let go all of her frustrations on him.

Ram had done a pretty good job on being a good punching bag for her.

She let go of huge breath and then glanced at him guiltily. "Sorry," she said.

Ram nodded to her. "I totally deserved it," he said.

"But that doesn't meant I should have hit you so much, especially when there was a chance of others discovering about us. And you had already lost 2/3rds of your Soulfire during our training and as a payment for renting a room inside Hotel Pleasure and Privacy. After my little fit of anger, you were left with even less. I am really, really sorry. Let's get out of here as quickly as possible," Em said.

Ram nodded. "That's what I have been waiting for. But I have a question before we can proceed further," he said.

Em nodded.

"Why the heck is Hotel Pleasure and Privacy there in the Soul World? And that Chief, The Chandelier? I don't even want to think what it is. Is it somehow related to Hotel Pleasure and Privacy at our world?" he asked.

Em sighed. "Kind of. Every world that existed has Hotel Pleasure and Privacy. Do you remember what I had explained back then?" she asked.

Ram nodded. "Like it was a place where dealings would usually happen," he said.

"It was also a neutral ground accepted by all the worlds. Kind of like a common enterprise that exists all over the worlds and their owner is very peculiar. That's why he assigns peculiar chiefs at various divisions. And The Chandelier you have met, he was from the world where the devices you use daily lives. Every meaning that we assign to something creates an existence for them in their own world. It's very complicated and I believe you don't want me to continue talking about them?" she asked.

Ram nodded. "Let's get going. What's our next step?" he asked.

"To train you."

"And you want me to train inside of that lab?"

"Yes. Even though it was small space, the original owner of lab had set up enough security measures that we could go undetected. You are weak. You have to gain strength," she said.

Ram shook his head. "I don't think we can ever get out of The Lab if we train there. Let's go to somewhere else. I believe you know other places where we could train to our hearts content without us being discovered," he said.

Em was hesitant. "There are certain places, but the chances of others occupying it were more," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I meant that it might be occupied by beings from others worlds. They might be totally disinterested in us. Or might go out of their way to create problems for us. It's better if we stay here till you recover enough of your Soulfire at least," Em said.

Ram wanted to protest but she gave him a pointed glare.

Ram glared right back. "No Em. I think the faster we get out of this place, the better it would be for me to grow. Cooping up inside a small room is claustrophobic," he said.

"Are you sure?" Em asked.

Ram nodded.

"But…" Em trailed off.

"No buts Em. Let's go in search of those buildings. Let's be extra careful about picking up where we would be training. I believe you are capable enough to detect others presence," he said.

Em snorted. "Even though it boosted my ego a little bit, there are things that are out of my expertise and one amongst them was the place that you are asking us to search," she said.

"What's so strange about this place?" he asked.

Em sighed. "I believe it would be better if I show you. Remember, we are only going to watch it from outside. We are not going to step inside of it," she said.

Ram was getting more excited. A place that Em was wary about. A place that others would not detect them. A place big enough that they can train to their hearts content. He was all up for it.

"Let's go," he said.

Em shook her head, but they retracted their legs and turned the into wisps of flames — Em a green flame and Ram in the form of orange flames — and used them like a cloud and continued to fly under the shades of places that covered them from others.

It took them half an hour, but they finally reached that place.

They retracted their cloudy flames tail and summoned their legs. They are once again back to looking like human beings.

The structure looked like a black obsidian sphere resting on the ground. Ram couldn't help but marvel how it stood. He was afraid it was going to roll away, but it didn't. It was so black and solid that Ram was scared for a moment. He then remembered the solid leech-y stairs that are not so solid and sucked his Soulfire when he tried to enter Hotel Pleasure and Privacy and shuddered.

Em chuckled. "It's entirely different form those stairs. The Obsidian Sphere you are seeing is perfectly resistant to all forms of powers that existed. It can neither allow a power to penetrate it, not allow a power to go out of it. It's a safe place for us to hide," she said.

Ram was really excited. He was about to touch the obsidian sphere when Em stopped him. "Why?" he asked.

Em glared at him. "I said it will not allow any power to penetrate it, not allow any power to go out of it," she said.

"It's a good thing right. Others would not detect us. We would be safe from others."

"Are you forgetting the fact that there could be someone hiding inside and we can't even know about it?" she asked.

Ram swallowed. Damn! He hadn't thought about that. "Sorry. What should we do then?" he asked.

"I have promised to you that I will show you this place. I showed it to you. Now lets go back to the lab where we were training, build your strength and when I feel you are up to going against the forces we are going to face, we will come to this place for training. Till then, we are not stepping a foot inside of it," she said.

Ram gave her puppy eyes, which must've been horrible. Because she didn't even batted an eyelid. She even tensed.

Ram sighed. "Let's go," he said, turning as if he were walking away form here.

Em relaxed and walked away.

He knew what he was about to do was pure madness. But if he didn't enter The Obsidian Sphere, then he would be forever afraid. He twisted in mid-air, then flew towards The Obsidian Sphere.

Em cursed behind his back and growled at him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Ram didn't answer. He searched for the entrance instead.

When he didn't find it, he turned to Em, who crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Shall we go now?" she asked.

"Yes we can, but not away from here. I want to see what was inside of it. If we are lucky and it was not occupied, we could have this place for ourselves," he said.

"Which I don't think we are. You said earlier that you bring problems wherever you go. And if you don't listen to me now, I will have to believe it to be true. Do you want me to think like that?" she asked.

Ram shook his head. "Em. I have absolute faith in you that you could protect me if something goes wrong. Please, if I can't step inside today, I don't think I will ever be brave enough to step out of the lab. Please," he pleaded.

Em huffed.

Ram didn't let it go.

Finally, she sighed.

"Fine. Let's get inside. And remember, you should never leave my side," she said.

Ram nodded.

Em projected a beam of light that covered the obsidian.

Nothing happened.

"What are you seeing?" Ram asked.

"I am studying the structure against the vast data I had gotten from The Bead of The Institute. I think I got it," she said and stepped towards the smooth Obsidian Sphere.

When she pressed her hands at a section, nothing happened.

She growled and studied the schematics once again.

Since Ram was not able to see what she was seeing, her actions seemed like a child throwing tantrum.

Finally, she found the correct section. When she pressed her hands, the section of the wall sunk in a circular shape.

There was a hum and an oval section of the wall opened, just like a portal.

The inside of The Obsidian Sphere was filled with absolute darkness. There was no sign of light. He couldn't even detect any presence.

Ram thought no one would be there inside the Sphere and was about to enter when Em glared at him. "Have you forgotten what you promised to me?" she asked.

Ram gave her a sheepish smile and stepped aside for her to enter. He stepped inside the Sphere only after she did. He stayed close to her just like she asked him to.

And once they are completely inside The Sphere, they were not able to see anything. It was just like he felt when he looked into it form the outside.

Ram cursed. "How the heck are we going to see anything?" he asked.

"Some worlds are more technologically advanced and they found a way to produce a light inside of the room. But it will cost you the rest of your Soulfire. Are you sure you want me to activate the lights?" she asked.

"How can it glow if it won't allow any power to go inside or out of it?" he asked.

Em groaned. "I keep forgetting that you are the most ignorant human being I have ever met, she said and gave him an exasperated sigh. "You see, there's an element that was dead opposite to The Obsidian. It will allow anything to penetrate it, escape form it. It was called The Altron. The scientists from several worlds had created a small tubes that was made out of an alloy of The Obsidian and The Altron. It was too complex for me to explain it to you. But just know that if you fed it your Soulfire The Altron part of the alloy will capture the light, then The Obsidian part will not let the light go out. The light would be trapped inside forever and …" she trailed off, looking at Ram's face.

"You are not understanding even a little bit of it right?" she asked.

Ram nodded.

"Fine," she said and searched for something. When she found it, she asked Ram to feed his Soulfire to it.

"I am not able to see anything," he said.

"No problem, I will guide you," she said and she did.

Finally, when Ram found it and it felt more like a hexagon shaped device solid and smooth to touch, just like The Obsidian Sphere.

He stopped marveling the device and did as she asked.

And it sucked Ram's Soulfire like she had said it would and he was left with being a small orange flame.

Ram groaned.

"I told you don't have enough Soulfire inside of you. You didn't listen to me. Let's hope we don't face any more issues," she said. "It's better to be safe. Let's merge together."

Ram didn't protest.

She turned into green flames and once they merged together, she then turned into an younger Version of Emily Roxane. Not the teenager version, but the 10 year old one.

"Sorry," Ram said.

"It's alright. Are you able to see through my eyes?" she asked.

Ram nodded but frowned. "It's very disorienting," he said.

Right in front of him, he was able to see everything in shades of black or green.

When he was in his form, he was able to see all the colors. But Em was able to see only two colors?

"Sorry, I can see in wide variety of colors but the state you are in now only allows two of my default colors. You should have enough Soulfire to view like you usually do," she said.

Ram sighed, but accepted it.

He focused on the surroundings though.

He could see a ground filled with long stalks of grass, that were dark green color.

It looked much softer and kind of reminded him of the grass from his world. But at the same time, there was something off about it.

The stalks of grass were perfectly still. They are not waving like a normal grass would do.

And they also seemed to be more open, like they were sucking something.

"It's the essence of The Obsidian that they are using to sustain their lives. Do you want to touch it?" Em asked.

Ram shook his head. "I believe they are harmful to us?" he asked.

"No. They are perfect alright. Go on. Touch it," she said.

Ram reluctantly agreed and remembered that he couldn't. He was a small flame and they were in Em's childhood form.

Em sighed, allowed him to control for a moment.

His mind received an overwhelming amount of information and Ram didn't know how she was able to process so much so fast.

She must've been one heck of an A.I. with fast processors.

Ram didn't know how long he could maintain control, so he focused on the grass and touched them.

They are smooth to touch. So smooth that Ram wished to collect a bunch of them and use it for mattress.

He also felt other complex information that Em's A.I. was processing and soon, Ram couldn't keep control any longer.

He gave the control back to her.

When he composed himself, he looked at Em differently. "You are really great," he said.

"I know. That's why I said you should listen to me. I know it's not the time for me to tell you, but can you change your opinion that you don't deserve our love?" she asked.

Ram shook his head. "Maybe later, but not right now. I will listen to you when it is regarding my training. When it comes to how I feel about receiving your love, Aunt El's as well as others though, I will deal with it on my own," he said.

Em sighed, but didn't pester him.

Before they could continue explore, there was a whir and they saw a bright Orange flare in front of them.

It shifted to green, then black, then back to Orange flare.

Ram didn't know how he was able to see Orange color as Em said he didn't have enough Soulfire to see colors except in shades of green and black. But the glow was powerful enough that even Ram could see through Em's eyes.

And what he saw didn't looked helpful.

He saw a female being, probably their boss that was made out of pure rocks. She vaguely resembled human.

Even her hair was sharp jagged shards of rock. Only her eyes were glowing with strange color that Ram couldn't process through Em's eyes.

He could see her wearing a crop top that revealed her thick arms, powerful lower abs, and leggings that enunciated her powerful legs.

She was barefoot.

The beings beside her were made out of sand, their hair fine grains of sands. They were brawny and bare chested and wore black shorts that reached their mid thigh.

They were also barefoot and their bare chests revealed that they were both males and females and if it they were in Ram's form, they would've blushed. Em just gave them an indifferent gaze.

"Hello, I am Diana and I am the leader of a little group called The Strongest Clumps. We are The Explorers and have been looking for something different to exchange in The Underground. And we watched you two merge just now. You are the kind of different we are looking for. A stable merged soul at that. Do you know how much you could fetch us?" she asked.

Ram and Em didn't answer.

"Well, it didn't matter if you don't know. I am going to give you two options. You either come with me willingly or I will take you the hard way. Which one it would be?" she asked.

Ram cursed at them, then at himself. He should have been more careful while using Soulfire.

He didn't.

He should have listened to Em when she said they should walk away from here.

He didn't.

Now he became a burden to Em, which he didn't want to, which he desperately avoided. He was even willing to come to this place so that he could change that fact about him.

But once again, he was proved right. He can't change. He can't help but become a burden for others. He can't help but bring problems to others.

What should he do now?

He couldn't surrender to them. They would sell them to god knows whom or what and he would put Em in danger.

He can't overtake them. He had already merged with Em, given control to her and he don't think she can fight them while trying to protect him.

They have to escape. And fast.

Using their merged soul connection, he said. "Em, let's get the hell away from here."