Vol 2: Chapter 4: The Soulva

Em agreed with Ram's plan.

They readied themselves, to look for an escape. But Ram realized that Diana and her gang were not taking them seriously. They acted like Ram and Em were already in their hands.

It's good.

Ram and Em could use it to surprise them, then get the hell out of The Obsidian Sphere.

They made a move to see if they would react.

They did.

They tensed, clenching their fists.

Ram could hear the grinding of stones as Diana did clenched her fists and also the scratching noise of sandpaper rubbing against another from the other members of The Strongest Clumps.

Ram didn't let them get the first move. They rose in the air and were about to make a dash for the doorway when their enemies pressed their palms against their chest.

Dark green colored thick vines emerged out of the place where their palms touched their chest — like hordes of ants crawling out of a hole — till their entire body were covered in them. It looked like an armor.

The surface of Diana's armor was jagged and filled with ridges while her underling's surface were filled with smooth grained texture.

Ram didn't wait to see what the armor could do. He flew back towards the entrance, then out of The Obsidian Sphere.

Once they reached their lab, they hid inside.

"I hope they won't discover us here," Ram said.

"I don't think so. They have their damned detector with them, the one that flashed with color. It will lead them right towards us," Em said.

"Then why are we hiding here. Let's go to somewhere where they couldn't detect us. Probably like another Obsidian Sphere," Ram said.

Em sighed. "If only it were that simple. What will you do if that was also occupied by Explorers like Diana and her group?" she asked.

"Then what should we do?"

"The only way we can get out of this was by attacking them. I would've been confident if you had Soulfire. Without your Soulfire, I can only be an A.I. Your Soulfire is what's giving me a form to exist. And right now, you barely had any Soulfire left. If we were to fight with them, both of us would get killed," She said.

Ram was horrified. It took him so many days to just recover enough Soulfire. If only he hadn't urged Em to step into The Obsidian Sphere, this wouldn't have happened. How the hell are they going to escape from Diana and her gang?

"Is there no other way?" Ram asked.

"There is, but it's risky."

"I am willing to do anything to get out of this alive," Ram said.

Before Em could reply, they could hear roars of Diana.

"Damn it! If only we had Powers of Time, we could have escaped from here," Ram said.

Em sighed. "Don't think about what we don't have. Let's focus on what we should do. If we were to fight with them, we should expose their body to the environment. They will get heated up and eventually get killed by that since they are not souls. They came to The Soul World in their body and not as Souls like us," she said.

Ram remembered Diana. "I don't think we can expose Diana's body. She was literally a walking mountain," he said.

"That's why we have to focus on others options. There are places with abundant Soulfire that you could recover it instantly," she said.

Ram was excited. Before he could urge her though, she continued. "Don't get too excited. Like everything in life, you have to build your strength slowly. The place that I mentioned to you is called The Soulva, The Lava of Soulfire.

"There the Soulfire was so potent that I would disintegrate into nothing if I were conscious when we enter. So a built-in function shuts me down as soon as we were nearby The Soulva. Once you entered there, you have to get out as quickly as you can. Otherwise, your body would burst due to excessive and more potent Soulfire," she said.

Ram shuddered at that thought. "If you were awake, you could help me get in and get out as quickly. But you would be shutting down for your preservation and there might be a chance of me getting killed? No, there might be a chance of both of us getting killed?" he asked.

Em nodded.

"Isn't there any other way?" he asked.

"No."

"Then where is it?" he asked.

Em showed him the location of The Soulva. It's nearby their location.

"How can I make sure that I will not get killed due to consuming more Soulfire?" he asked.

"The Soulva exists along with a cave nearby. Do you remember the Leeches that sucked your Soulfire at Hotel Pleasure and Privacy?" she asked.

Ram nodded.

"Well, these caves are darker and sinister than those leeches and they can suck not only Soulfire, which was he essence of souls, but also the essence of any being. You just have to stand far away from them and the excessive amounts of Soulfire you have consumed would be sucked by them. And if by any chance you touch them, you will be struck to them for so long that by the time you get away from it, you would've lost most of the Soulfire you have gained. So, keep that in mind," she said.

The door to their lab burst open and Diana and her gang stepped in, glaring at them.

Dina strode towards them. When she reached them, she put her hands on Em's shoulders and tightened them.

Ram felt like his shoulder was crushed and even Em groaned with pain.

Em was an A.I. and she wasn't supposed to feel the pain. But why was she feeling it now?

Damn it. They have to get away from Diana and her gang.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A very intelligent merged soul. Don't worry, we will make sure to sell you to a reasonably wealthy group. And I will make sure they will teach you proper discipline," Diana said.

Ram communicated to Em using their merged soul connection. 'Em, let's get the hell out of here.'

They turned into flames and escaped from Diana's clutches. She gave them a startled growl, but laughed as they tried to flew past her gang.

"It seems we have truly hit a jackpot. Not only were they stable merged souls, but they have the ability to shape shift. There are many groups looking of for such souls to experiment on and I believe we could relax for decades to come in a peace environment. We can't lose them. Let's catch them," Diana said, then ran right behind Ram and Em.

Despite their bulky forms, Diana and her gang were able to catch up with them.

Diana once again clutched Em's hand. This time, she was more delicate in her approach, as if she were dealing with something precious, which when Ram thought it, they were.

Em shook her hand. When that didn't work, she tried to punch Diana in her cheek with her free hand.

Ram remembered the pain they felt when Diana pressured Em's shoulders. And he never wanted for that to happen. So he tried to take control of Em, but Em didn't let him. She punched Diana at her cheek.

Diana didn't flinch, she gave Em an amused smile.

Em screamed at the top of her lungs, waving her injured arm. The punch ached Em so much and it was even worse for Ram. It felt like he was never going to come out of this pain. It felt like literally hitting a mountain.

Damn it.

Diana really had thick skin.

To make matters even worse, Ram lost even more Soulfire. He was a small wick of flame now. Em became even younger.

"You can't beat me with your puny hands," Diana said.

Em growled at her. "Let's see if this doesn't hurt you," she said, then projected a beam of light through her eyes.

Diana cried, let go of Em and rubbed her eyes.

It seemed the armor just offered protection from the environment. It could use users to use their powers or allow others powers to penetrate it. Otherwise, there was no way Em could've hurt Diana's eyes.

What was that beam of light? "What did you do?" Ram asked.

"I just projected to his eyes a complex stream of information. We have to make use of this and escape," Em said.

"Is it made of Altron?" Ram asked.

Em nodded and they tried to take a step away form Diana but a female with Sand like skin came at them. She tried to grab Em.

Em crouched, extended her leg which was now a sharp sword and swept it at the her opponent's legs.

It pierced harmlessly through her legs, and solidified as Em's leg was about to pass completely.

Em growled at that. "Ram I hate to ask this of you, but I have to use a little bit of your Soulfire," she said.

He gave his Soulfire to Em, and her sword-leg glowed with bright orange Soulfire, slicking through the enemy's leg, just where it held Em's.

The female with sand like skin fell back with sharp cry, clutching at the stump of her leg, which was spilling sand like Ram would spill blood.

Then just like Em said earlier, the sand heated up, glowing bright red, then black.

The female with sand like skin seemed to be on fire and soon, smoke rose from all over her, leaving behind charred corpse.

Others hesitated and Em used the moment to get away from the bunch.

They could hear Diana cursing at her gang as Ram and Em flew away from them.

Ram didn't know how far they had run, but his flame was dimming with every second they passed.

Soon, Ram couldn't take it any longer. He was at the edge of his consciousness.

"Ram, stay awake," she said.

Ram struggled, but he couldn't help himself.

Em finally stopped and immediately turned to her left, flew for couple of minutes before they could hear the sound bubbling waves with an occasional pop.

If she jumped into The Soulva, she would lose consciousness. Ram was about to stop her. But she didn't listen to him. She jumped straight into it and he was no longer able to feel her.

They both turned into green-orange flames and just after few moments, Ram recovered enough Soulfire and he realized that he had consumed too much Soulfire in short time and it's burning him.

He remembered Em's warning earlier and flew out of The Soulva as quickly as he can. But by the time he did, his body felt like it would literally burst apart.

He then remembered The Cave that sucks the essence of beings like Soulfire and other essences, and searched for it.

And he found it.

He was so overjoyed that he forgot about Em's warning and he touched the surface of The Cave.

Only when he felt Soulfire leaving him did he realized Em's warning.

He shouldn't be touching caves directly.

But he did.

He tried to get his hand away from the surface of The Cave and he couldn't.

His hand was clamped shut on the surface of the cave.

Ram cursed at the top of his lungs and used all his strength and pulled his hand off.

He was able to move a little bit.

He put in more effort.

By the time he removed his hand away from the cave's surface, he had already lost 1/2 of his Soulfire and Diana and her gang caught up to them.

Diana looked really, really angry. "You have cost me our navigator. I will not leave you alone," she said, stepping towards him.

Ram was scared. So scared that he couldn't think clearly at the moment.

He stared at Diana, who was literally looked like a very angry mountain walking towards it's kill.

He finally snapped out of it when he remembered Em. She lost her consciousness when she jumped into Soulfire.

She seemed to know more about this world and didn't share all those details just to keep him sane. He did not want to ruin her efforts.

If only he had overflowing Soulfire he had gotten from that lava, he could've taken care of Diana.

But right now, he could not.

That didn't meant he was not going to try to fight with them.

Em said The Cave will suck the essence of beings. Does that meant Diana and her gang would also lose their Soulfire equivalent?

Ram didn't know.

He had to get them to touch The Cave. If possible, he had to make them struck to The Cave forever.

He didn't know whether they know about it or not. But that was all he was left with.

"Only if you can reach me," Ram said, the turned himself into an arrow and was about to pierce Diana when he stopped.

He remembered how Em was hurt after she hit Diana. He couldn't proceed to pierce her thick skin. It was only going to make it easy for them to capture him and Em.

Diana froze. She was the first one to snap out of it and laughed. "Good. After I lost my navigator, I was in so much rage that I forgot you are a very special Merged Soul. The one with the ability to shape shift. Thanks for reminding me," she said looking at Ram as if he were her prized possession.

"In your dreams," he said, then tried to back away from Diana.

She laughed, used her right hand to clutch Ram, who was in a glowing orange arrow shape, and waved him this way and that.

Ram felt very disorienting.

"Sorry, but it seems you are a newbie. And you can't imagine how many would fight just to have you. I am finally going to be rich," she said, waving the arrow Ram like he was an arrow.

Ram turned himself into a small fly and flew away form Diana.

She let out a disappointed growl. "Don't let him get away. This could be the what we had been exploring for," she repeated again.

Her underlings tried to catch Ram, and Ram would've had the fun of his life if his life wasn't in danger.

He tried to steer them towards the The Cave and see whether their essence could also be sucked out of them just like with Ram's Soulfire.

Ram turned into various animals and things, taunted them, and he even turned into a miniature versions of them. And he even replicated their navigator getting killed by Em and that did the trick.

They rushed towards Ram and just as they were in front of The Cave, Ram flew straight up. Since he was miniature version of their navigator, he had better control of his body.

But they were not so lucky. They fell right on top of The Cave.

Just like it did to Ram, the cave clamped on to Diana and her underlings.

Ram only had touched it with his palms. But Diana and her underlings fell right on top of it.

They were screaming and Ram watched as the color slowly fading from them.

They struggled, one of the underling who made out of sand even tried to shear his own hand. But it didn't help.

"I hope you will meet with your navigator soon," Ram said, then stepped away from them.

He don't know whether they could get away from The Cave or not. But he had to get away from them. Find a place where he could hide and wait for Em to wake up.

He thought The Lab was the best place for them to hide and he went in the direction he thought The Lab was.

He did find The Lab after an hour. But it was not The Lab where he had been staying.

It seemed to be abandoned at the moment. But he heard wails from inside of it.

Ram edged closer to it to see several spheres, similar to the broken ones he had seen in The Lab he had been hiding.

The wails had been coming form inside of The Spheres.

Some seemed to be wailing while others felt like they were a statue. Perfectly frozen in their pose.

Soon, Ram realized what they were.

They were Merged Souls just like Ram and Em and something seemed to be off about them.

Just as he watched, he saw a merges soul disintegrate itself into nothing inside The Sphere.

Upon seeing this, the wails increased even more.

Ram couldn't take it anymore. If they were souls just like him, he had to get them out of those Spheres.

But there might be chance that the owner of the labs could return. But he just have to be quick about it.

He turned himself into a glowing rock, condensed himself into such small shape that he actually felt like rock. He then flew towards the glass section of the Sphere and attacked the first Sphere.