Vol 2: Chapter 16: Power of Soulmate Bond

Ram wanted to speak with Em and Aunt Sheila about their discussion with Bhumi inside Sound Barrier. But every time he tried to open his mouth, he couldn't.

Ram could feel Em's agitation through their Merged Soul connection and he felt her snap.

Em convinced Aunt Sheila to stop for a while.

Em looked at him with concern. "What is bothering you now?" she asked.

He felt he didn't deserve their concern. That he didn't deserve their efforts to help him find a Soulmate.

He turned his gaze away from her only to meet with Aunt Sheila, who was looking at him with sympathy.

Even though they were doing this for his own good, he still believed that he didn't deserved their concern or their efforts. Especially when it involved his love life. He had to have this talk with them. "What did you discuss with Bhumi?" he asked.

Em shook her head, raising her hands in surrender. "I don't think I can ever convince him in this matter. Aunt Sheila, I will leave him to you," she said.

Aunt Sheila sighed. "If only I hadn't delivered that ultimatum that separated me and Ella, I believe you would be thinking our situation in a different way. But don't worry. What we discussed with Bhumi didn't have anything to do with you finding your Soulmate," she said.

Ram gave her a flat stare.

"Fine. We did discuss about your Soulmate. But I didn't do it directly. These are delicate matters and I observed that she cared a lot about you. So I asked her if she was interested in you. She said no. That's the end of it," she said.

Ram frowned. He thought they discussed something more than she was letting letting him on. "I don't think so," he said.

Aunt Sheila raised her eyebrows. "What did you think we discussed inside the barrier then?" she asked.

Ram thought carefully about how to convey his doubts without him trying to blame them. "I thought you were trying to set me up with Bhumi," he said.

Em chuckled. "That was what Aunt Sheila said. You phrased it differently," she said.

Ram shook his head. "I … I…" he trailed off, not knowing how to answer to her. Finally, he shook his head.

Em smirked at him.

Ram couldn't control it any longer. "It seemed that you tried to convince Bhumi into thinking that she is my Soulmate and and you failed. She in turn tried to change your opinion of The Soulmate," he said.

Aunt Sheila chuckled while Em laughed out loud. When they settled, they looked at him curiously.

Em was the one who broke the silence first. "Even though we wanted to find you a Soulmate, we are not that desperate yet. The Soulmate bond is a sacred existence. It will help you in dealing with Chitra and her agents," she said.

Ram frowned. "I still don't get it," he said.

Em shrugged her shoulders and looked at Aunt Sheila.

Aunt Sheila sighed. "Let me make it clear to you. Like Em said, The Soulmate bond is a sacred existence of it's own. No one can force it. Once the bond is formed, it is not so easy to destroy. One way or another, you will end up with your Soulmate whether you wanted it to happen or not. Just like it was happening with me and Ella. The reason we wanted you to find your Soulmate is because the bond offers you a power that is going to help us with our fight against Chitra and her agents, which was what was eventually going to happen. It will strengthen your Soulfire. Even if you don't acknowledge your Soulmate, if you came into contact with your Soulmate, you would be provided with the preliminary powers of the bond. Which was nowhere near when compared to Soulmate bond that would be formed with the help of external aids like Chitra's Love solution," she said.

Ram frowned. "I still don't get why you wanted me to find my Soulmate so soon and why you were especially interested in Bhumi," he said.

Aunt Sheila ruffled his hairs. "She is a very powerful Living Soul for one thing. Besides, there were other reasons which was not my place to tell to you about. So, let's not waste our time on it. If you came into contact with your Soulmate and both of you were in a situation when either of you are in danger, then the other would would get temporary powers that will help them protect their Soulmate. If in case you accepted your bond, then you could not even imagine the power you would get as a result. You could make or break a world with it if both of you were powerful enough," she said.

Ram frowned. He thought about the legend that Bhumi had informed him about, the legend that Chitra was chasing that created Nonliving Souls and divided the Soul World into two. The existence of Perfect Merged Souls and how they are living inside The Mind World of one such being.

He hoped Aunt Sheila was not thinking along the lines of Chitra. "I still don't understand why you are so interested in Bhumi and me?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila sighed. "Like I said earlier, Bhumi is a powerful Soul. I asked Bhumi if she had a Soulmate. She said no. So I tried to set her up with you, but she informed me that she met her Soulmate already. Since she was a part of Rebel Group that was going against Bharghav's orders and wages war against against Chitra's Nonliving Souls and her agents, that puts constant danger to not only herself, but also her loved ones. Hence she didn't try to acknowledge her Soulmate bond. Not only that, the poor girl's Soulmate was not even willing to acknowledge their Soulmate bond and it hurt her even a little bit. It seemed like she wanted her bond to form fully with her Soulmate, at the same time, she didn't want that to happen. We tried to urge her to go for it. But she was not willing to listen to us. She was at the edge of breaking down, so we reluctantly send her away. Since she already found her Soulmate, we don't plan to set up with you anymore. You can rest easy," she said.

Ram let out a long sigh. It's good that Bhumi found a Soulmate. After her talk about how not acknowledging her Soulmate would not put her loved one in danger and her subsequent talk with Aunt Sheila and Em, Ram was relieved.

At the same time he was not.

He felt something was wrong about it.

He ignored it for now.

He could relax that they wouldn't try to set him up with her anymore. But that doesn't mean that they will not do it with others whom they felt he might be interested in.

He wanted to put an end to it once and for all.

"I think it's better if you put your imaginations to rest and focus on our task," he said. "Let's focus on my training as well as getting out of Chitra's clutches and save your father."

Aunt Sheila's eyes watered.

Em groaned. "Ram it's good to see you take initiative. Did you forget what happened when you didn't listen to me and still urged me to get inside The Obsidian Sphere?" Em asked.

Ram shuddered. "Even though it helped us meet with Aunt Sheila and also recovering a portion of my memories, I still think we could have met under other circumstances, when Chitra was not looming over us with her threats, especially holding Aunt Sheila's father as captive," he said.

Aunt Sheila finally composed herself. "Don't worry. Leave the training to us. You follow our advice and everything will be alright. We also have Bhumi and the rest of Rebel's help in dealing with Chitra. And the first piece advice I have for you is that you should stop feeling guilty towards my father. He is really more capable than he seems. There's a reason why he was researching under her all these years. It is all for finding the existence that could help us fight against The Forces of Darkness. I wanted to explain everything about it that I could, but the less you know about it, the safer you would be," she said.

Ram felt chill rundown his spine. An existence that could help them fight against The Forces of Darkness? Are they also looking for what Bhumi thought Chitra was after? The Legendary Perfect Merged Soul? Even though that was not the case, he couldn't help himself but feel worried about it. If only he hadn't disrupted their lives by trying to pose as an Inspection Officer, they could've stayed under Chitra's radar and finish what they planned without putting themselves into trouble.

But now his arrival made Chitra realize that they were traitors with their own motives as to why they still worked for her. How was he ever going to forgive himself?

But he couldn't say all these to Aunt Sheila. She will feel burdened. He already burdened her and Em with many things that he himself could not imagine, but knew that he would drag them down. He did not want to increase it even more.

So he nodded as if everything is alright with it.

They resumed their walk again when they heard familiar cry.

It was Bhumi's voice. "Anu, take Manoj and escape. I will hold them back as much as I can before escaping from them," Bhumi said.

There was a hint of quiver in her voice. Ram felt a sudden horror that he did not know why it originated in the first place.

He wanted to ignore the horror, ignore how on edge Bhumi sounded. But he felt his feet moving in the direction of Bhumi's voice.

Another voice replied. It was Anu. "No. We can't leave you alone," she said.

When he was close enough to see them, Bhumi was glaring at Anu. "He is already injured. I don't want the both of you to risk everything because of a myth. I warned both of you to not acknowledge your Soulmate bond. But you didn't listen to me. Now Manoj was severely injured. Take him to one of our secret bases and let him recover before we will regroup at our usual place," she said.

Ram frowned. If Anu and Manoj were Soulmates, then what about the temporary power that was provided by the bond Aunt Sheila mentioned?

Anu shook her head. "No. You know about the special power that Soulmate bond grants. We could use it to take care of them," Anu said.

Bhumi grit her teeth. "No. I don't want to put my trust on a legend. Get the hell away from here while you still can," she said as she summoned a whip that was glowing with brilliant Orange Soulfire. It was so overpowering that Ram could feel it even form this far away. He didn't wish to clash against her anytime in the future.

"I don't think so," Anu said, summoning her own weapon. A spear that she had fought him along with Manoj when they first met.

She gently pushed Manoj in between them, who was leaking Soulfire. He was getting dimmer by the second.

Ram felt himself in rage. He was about to join them when Em and Aunt Sheila stopped him.

"What do you think you are doing?" Em asked.

"To help them. They showed mercy to us while they found us inside their enemies base. They even offered their help with our fight against Chitra, even though they did not know the whole thing. I think the least thing we should do was help them while we can," he said.

Em glared at him.

Ram didn't relent.

Em looked helplessly at Aunt Sheila.

"I think something is wrong with him," Aunt Sheila said.

Em was panicked.

Ram ignored both of them as he glanced at Bhumi, who lashed her whip against as many souls as she can.

Whenever the whip came into contact with the souls, the whip glowed brightly, as if it were sucking the Soulfire of her enemies.

The wounded souls were pushed back by their allies, and new souls took their place.

Anu used her weapon and covered Bhumi's back, spinning her spear in a circle so fast that it seemed like a glowing wheel, deflecting cluster of small flames of Soulfire that her enemies were throwing against them.

One of the small flame of Soulfire slipped past Anu's spinning spear and hit Bhumi on her back.

Bhumi let out a grunt of pain, her whip fell away from her hands and dispersing into nothing.

The souls in front of them used this as an opportunity and attacked Bhumi with their weapons all at once.

Ram felt so in rage that he wanted to rush towards them, but a barrier suddenly appeared around Bhumi, protecting her.

His rage dimmed down a little bit.

Ram heard a grunt and he saw it was Manoj who erected the barrier. It couldn't couldn't withstand constant blows from their enemy souls. His size, along with the glow of Soulfire reducing at an alarming rate.

Manoj collapsed and the barrier that he erected finally winked out.

The Souls used this as an opportunity and attacked Bhumi with everything they got.

Ram felt something snap inside of him and he was no longer himself. He felt as if he was taken control by someone else. He felt like he was being hypnotized. He didn't know whether he could remember any of it when he comes out of this or not.

It didn't matter.

All of his attention was on Bhumi, who let out a sharp cry as their weapons hit her at several places.

Her Soulfire was dimming in similar fashion to Manoj and all Ram was able to understand was that Bhumi was in danger.

The rage bubbled inside his heart and erupted like a volcano that was out of control and he moved with more speed than he ever thought was possible for anyone.

He rushed and stood protectively in front of Bhumi, who was cowering in fear.

She looked up at him, her eyes widening in surprise.

Ram gave her an encouraging smile but didn't wait for her response.

He turned his gaze away from Bhumi and looked at their enemies. He summoned the largest mace with spikes that he could and he was momentarily surprised by how gigantic it looked. It was even larger than the elephant he turned into when he attacked Siraj. He wondered how he was still able to hold it and realized that he was a giant version of himself.

He saw Bhumi still trembling from her predicament few moments ago and Ram lost control of himself. He saw everything through a shade of red.

He raised his spiked mace made out of Soufire and swept it against the Souls that were attacking Bhumi.

His spiked mace came in contact with their weapons first, which instantly dispersed, followed by the souls, who shared the same fate as their weapons.

He went on and on against more souls. Soon, he felt his Soulfire dimming rapidly.

It was then that he realized that Aunt Shiela and Em were fighting alongside him.

Bhumi seemed to have composed herself. She stood with her back to his and fighting against as many souls as she can, using her whip which was glowing even more brightly than earlier. It seemed as if it was augmented by extra Soulfire. When he saw Anu fighting along with Manoj, who was glowing as bright as a sun, he realized that they had consumed a solution of Soulva that could increase their Soulfire for short period of time, before weakening them so much that they could collapse.

Ram knew they would lose if they prolonged this battle.

With a cry, he attacked with even more Soulfire than he did earlier.

Soon, their enemy numbers dwindled so much that they dispersed and fled.

Ram was a small orange flame by the end of the fight. He realized that they couldn't chase after their enemies.

He glanced at Bhumi, to see that she was alright. Ram felt a huge relief .

Bhumi was looking at him with wonder.

"Is it.. is it…" she trailed off.

Aunt Sheila and Anu said at the same time. "It is."

Ram didn't know what they meant, but he was losing his consciousness quickly.

By the time he woke up, he glanced around them to see that they were alone. "What happened to them?" he asked.

They were looking at him anxiously.

But Bhumi seemed to be the one who was worried about him the most. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Ram nodded, but he didn't know why she changed so drastically.

He asked the same to her.

She looked at him in confusion. "Don't you remember what happened just now?" she asked.

He glanced around them and realized that he didn't know how they arrived in this state.

"What is the last thing that you remember?" Bhumi asked

"That you were about to be attacked by many souls," he said.

"That's it?"

"Yes. Is there something that I should know about?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila opened her mouth, but she grew silent when Bhumi shook her head.

"What are you hiding from me?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Bhumi nodded.

Ram definitely felt like there was something they were hiding form him. It seemed like even his Aunt was worried about. Then he should definitely know what it was. "What was my aunt about to talk to me before you stopped her?" he asked.

Bhumi shook her head. "We can't stay here much longer. Chitra's Agents were the ones who attacked us and some souls escaped. Let's get the hell out of here before they arrive with more help," she said.

Ram was about demand her to tell the truth, but everyone around him froze in a way that was familiar to him.

Aunt Sheila had a device in her hand and it seemed like she had activated it recently. And by the looks of it, she froze The Flow of Time for rest of them.

Ram looked at her worriedly. "Something happened isn't it?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila nodded. "I wanted to reveal it to you, but it was not my place to do so," she said.

"Can't you give me a clue?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila shook her head.

"Then why did you erect this barrier?" he asked.

Aunt Sheila sighed. "This is the last Device of Time I had in my hands. My father destroyed remaining of them before our meeting with Chitra. I had to use it because the battle we had with Chitra's Agents changed everything and you have a choice to make," she said.

Ram nodded her to go on.

"It is whether you still doubt that you deserve your Soulmate," she said.

Ram groaned. "No. Not this again. I don't think this is something that you waste a Device of Time for," he said.

Aunt Sheila sighed. "The reason I used it for now is to remind you what you forgot. Anu used the bond of her Soulmate and saved us. You saw how outnumbered they were before. But she defeated everyone of them. I thought it would change your opinion," she said.

Ram shook his head. "Even though this bond is powerful enough to save us now, I don't it would be helpful for in the future. I already put everyone that were related to me in danger. I don't want to involve my Soulmate as well, provided she existed in the first place," he said.

Aunt Sheila sighed and deactivated the device. The Flow of Time returned to normal all around him.

The device slipped from her hands, disintegrating into nothing.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

"I don't think so," a familiar voice said.

Before Ram could see who it was, they were surrounded by dense fog.

Soon, everyone lost consciousness.