They covered Ram's sight as they took him towards Chitra's Palace. It was a precaution they did to make sure that her place was kept as a secret.
Ram didn't have any issues with that.
What he did have issues with was that Siraj also came along with him.
During the whole ride, Siraj went on and on about how he was going to reveal to Chitra about how unfair they were to him and how he was going to get them punished.
Ram tried to ignored him all along the ride. It didn't helped that Aunt Sheila and Dr. Shukla stayed silent.
If Ram hadn't seen Dr. Manish enter the vehicle before they blocked his sight, he wouldn't even realized that Dr. Manish was there with them.
Dheeraj had been the only saving grace during this whole trip. He countered everything that Siraj said.
And most often than not, he recounted his past relationships. He was a huge playboy, going on from relationship to relationship like one changed their clothes.
"And you wonder why Sheila didn't date you," Ram said.
Dheeraj ignored him, but Ram persisted. Dheeraj's jaw was set in determination. "I will make her fall in love with me soon," he said.
Ram shook his head. Aunt Sheila was in love with his Aunt El. They were both Soulmates. Ram wondered what Dheeraj would do if he learned about it.
But he didn't know whether they could trust Dheeraj with that information. So he didn't reveal it to him.
Finally, they reached the Palace of Chitra. They didn't removed the block on his sight even after they entered her palace, so Ram didn't know how it looked.
But Ram imagined it to be huge, majestic and scary looking palace filled with trophies of enemies she defeated in the past.
All along the way, he could hear many souls wailing in pain. It was so bone chilling that Ram shivered. Some were arguing about justice, while some were pleading for mercy. Ram could sense dread rising form all of them. Which in turn scared him even more.
Dr. Shukla and Aunt Sheila had painted a pretty grim picture of Chitra just before they took him to meet with others. What he heard as he entered didn't help the matter.
Finally all the noise stopped as if they entered a different world of it's own.
Ram strained to regain his sight to see if he could decipher anything. All he could see was black.
Ram shook his head. He strained his ears to see if he could pick up any sound. He couldn't. It was utterly still.
They removed the block to his sight and the sudden brightness blinded him for couple of minutes. He was still fighting black spots when he caught a glimpse of Chitra.
She was beautiful. Even more than Sandhya and Bhumi put together. She seemed like she was in late teens, just like them. But her bright black eyes seemed to possess depth that suggested that she was more experienced than her appearance suggested. She had healthy orange Soulfire that filled her body and her hair was more like waves of lava. She also seemed more intelligent than any he had ever met. But there was something off about her that made Ram be on his guard.
When his vision cleared and he was able to see Chitra sitting on her throne that was made of an alloy of The Obsidian and The Altron, the one that usually would not allow Soulfire inside of it. But once it's entered, it would be trapped inside of it forever. Ram felt like he was trapped inside the room, he felt like he would not be able to escape from her no matter how hard he tried.
She looked very regal like a queen that commands respect from some of her subjects. But she seemed to be the sort of a queen that was feared by most of her subjects and her enemies.
When she saw him checking her out, she winked at him. It completely destroyed the image that was painted by Dr. Shukla and Aunt Sheila, and even the picture that he had about her as he saw her first.
There was some sort of playfulness to her that annoyed him the most.
"You must be the Perfect Merged Soul that Dr. Shukla talked to me about," she said.
Ram nodded.
Siraj exploded. "Chitra, don't believe the nonsense that he sprouts. He is not The Perfect Merged Soul you have been looking for. He is a fraud, probably the head of Living Souls Rebel Group coming to free all of our Unstable Merged Souls," he said.
Chitra glared at him and Siraj stopped talking. He actually seemed to be so scared that he hid behind Dheeraj, who was shaking as well.
Ram swallowed. If she could silence both of them, then he should be careful about her. Not to be fooled by her playfulness.
Chitra then turned towards him. "Ignore him. He had been working for us for many years, but lately, his exploits were not satisfactory. He is doing everything in his power to prove to me that you are not what you claim you are so that he could look good in my eyes. Which I will have to see for myself," she said.
Ram gave her a respectful blow nervously.
"Good. You are well behaved, completely different from what Siraj had informed me about. He said you could change into any shape you can. Can you transform into me?" she asked.
Ram was about to do the same when Em urged him not to. "Why?" he asked using their Merged Soul connection.
"This was a game for her. Just control yourself," she said.
Ram was grateful to her and turned his attention to Chitra. He shook his head. "I believe it would be disrespectful to you if I accept your request," he said.
Chitra chuckled. "Good. The other part of your Merged Soul seemed to be an intelligent one. Shall I see her? I believe it was a female right?" she asked.
Ram nodded, then turned himself into Soul Form of Em, but with her whole body made of orange flames, including her hair. She had a black tank top, black jeans and black shoes. He gave control to her. "Hi Your Majesty. Em. Ram's other part of Merged Soul. I am pleased to meet you," Em said.
Chitra gave a delighted laugh. "Good. You really are a perfect Merged Soul,. And moreover, you look like total bad ass, attracted to darker side of things while he seemed pure," she said.
Ram frowned and was about to take control of Em when she denied him. Em nodded.
Siraj growled. He was about to say something when Chitra glared at him. He stopped growling. "Chitra, don't believe them. He can change into anything that he wanted. He changed into an elephant and I heard he also changed into an arrow. I believe that he was trying to fool you," he said.
Chitra frowned and looked at Dr. Shukla.
Dr. Shukla smiled at her. "You know how Siraj is. Besides, it's true that he can change into anything that he wanted. But I have already checked and Em is Ram's other half of the Merged Soul. I checked them against all the qualities that a Merged Soul should possess and they passed in all of that. Though they might not be The Perfect Merged Soul that you have been looking for, or at least, they are answers to your question that you have been looking for," he said.
"And what that might be?" Chitra asked.
"That you can find a Soulmate amongst a Merged Soul," Dr. Shukla said.
Chitra didn't seemed to be convinced. Aunt Sheila came to his rescue. "Chitra, you have always been my role model and I do things the way you would whenever I can, especially when it concerns research. Though I disagree with you when it came to Soulmate theory," she said.
Chitra nodded. "I heard your disastrous encounter with your Soulmate when we were alone and you were drunk to numb your feelings. You often came to visit me. How is this related to them?" she asked pointing towards Em.
Em swallowed.
"Well, we have already informed that we found a Perfect Merged Soul. We failed to inform you about his shape shifting abilities because we wanted it to be a surprise for you, to delight you. But Siraj ruined it for us. You know how he is," she said, glaring at Siraj, who glared right back at Aunt Sheila.
Chitra sighed. "I get what you are trying to say, but that doesn't answer the fact that how is this related to my Soulmate that I have been searching for," she said.
Aunt Sheila nodded. "Allow me to explain. I will share my experience to you when I met my Soulmate for the first time. You can tell me whether what I felt matches to your experience when you see them," she said, pointing towards Em.
Chitra nodded.
"When I met my Soulmate for the first time, I felt complete. I hadn't even realized what I had been lacking till I met her. With just one look, I knew she was the one I had been waiting for. I knew that I could do anything just to be with her. I wanted to spend the rest of my time with her. The attraction that I felt towards her was so much that I struggled to keep my hands to myself. At that time, my father was not there to restrict me, so I threw myself at her and kissed the hell out of her. She was surprised and scared. I explained to her about our situation and it took some time for her to come around it. Eventually, she loved me. Now, can you tell me whether you are feeling the same as you looked at them?" she asked.
Chitra was silent for a long time.
Ram thought about how he felt when he had seen Sandhya for the first time. It had not been this intense. Then he thought about Bhumi. It was close, but once again, he didn't think that he was willing to spend the rest of his life with her or willing to do anything for her. She was not his Soulmate. So he let out a sigh.
Chitra frowned at his reaction. "Am I so horrible that you are not even willing to think you can be my Soulmate, if in case you are actually my Soulmate?" she asked.
Em shook her head and was about to answer, but Ram took control of her, changed into his appearance. "Forgive us for my mistake. I was not comparing to you. I was reliving a recent experience of mine. It happened just few days ago and what she said was almost what I felt. But there were some differences. I was not willing to spend the rest of my life with her or do anything for her. So I am sure that the women I saw earlier was not my Soulmate," he said.
Chitra stared at him. Ram felt too uncomfortable.
Finally, she sighed. "What did you feel about me when you looked at me for the first time?" she asked.
Ram swallowed. The way he answered now would decide his future. So he thought carefully about what he should say. "I can't deny that I am attracted to you. You are beautiful. You possess the qualities that one would only see in rulers. But as much as I want to have you as my Soulmate, the reality was that I am not your match. You are meant to be with someone great. Someone with ambition. While mine was not so great," he said.
Chitra thought for a moment and shook her head. Finally, she glanced at Aunt Sheila. "So according to what you said, only one of the two Soulmates could feel the connection, while it requires constant effort of his/her to convince the other?" she asked.
"Not in all the cases. In some cases, like my Soulmate where she existed in a world where th concept of Soulmates didn't exist, you have to explain it to them. Be patient with them as they explore and understand their feelings. And you also know how it ended up with her. Besides, most cases were like what I explained earlier. Both parties were so interested and attracted to other that they can't keep their hands to themselves. Are you also feeling the same way with them?" she asked.
Chitra was reluctant to shook her head. "But this is a perfect Merged Soul we are talking about. Who knows whether it is any different form what it is like for other normal beings?" she asked.
Aunt Sheila couldn't answer to that, so Chitra turned towards Dr. Shukla.
Ram stared at him with rapt attention. He was also interested in his answer. To know whether what he felt for Bhumi was attraction or was it a Soulmate connection.
"It might be, or it might not be. I can't say for sure. As the governments buried all the facts related to Merged Souls under deep lies. If I get a little more time to spend with them, I can give you an answer," he said.
Chitra shook her head. "But that was not why you are here?" she asked.
Dr. Shukla nodded. "We have a Perfect Merged Soul. Or in worst case scenario, a Stable Merged Soul in front of us. He might be or might not be the one you are looking for, but it's at least a start. With him as reference, and the knowledge he can provided us, we could create Stable Merged Souls and you can find the one you have been looking for amongst them. What do you think?" he asked.
Chitra didn't answer for a long time. Finally, she nodded. "It seems to be the case. Explain to me how you are planning to forge Stable Merged Souls," she said.
Dr. Shukla did the same. "From our observations on Unstable Merged Souls, as well as Ram and Em here, we found out what they had that others lacked," he said.
Chitra nodded him to go on.
"They have an affinity between them," he said.
Chitra countered him. "We have already thought about it and experimented on not only Souls from The Soul World, but also amongst other species. None of them worked out," she said.
Dr. Shukla chuckled. "You see that was where we were wrong. Allow my fellow colleague to explain it to you better. He heard it first from them," he said.
Dr. Manish stepped forward, bowing at Chitra. She nodded at him to proceed.
"Your majesty. The affinity that we had in mind was completely different form what it actually is. You see, The Merged Soul in front of us, before they became a Merged Souls, were best friends. They loved each other and were willing to do anything, even dying for other," Dr. Manish said.
Chitra frowned. "Are you telling they were Soulmates?" she asked.
Manish shook his head. "No, your majesty. What I meant was that they loved each other like friends. The fact was that some form of love exists between them and they are willing to do anything for each other. The love might be in the form that exists between friends, family, or lovers. And it also includes Soulmates. But in their case, they were best friends. Not lovers," he said.
Chitra looked thoughtful for a moment. The peaceful surroundings were destroyed by Siraj's growl. "I told them there that it was a load of bullshit that the fraud sprouted to fool them. And it seemed like you were also believing them. Chitra, you should not be fooled like them," he said.
Chitra glared at him, roaring so loudly that their surroundings shook. Siraj became silent. "Are you calling me as a fool?" she asked.
Siraj shook his head.
"Who is the most experienced amongst us? You or me?"
"It's you, Your Majesty."
"Then who gets to decide whether what they said was true or not?"
"It's you."
Chitra sat back down. "Now that's settled, why don't you show me the proof that your theory works?" she asked Dr. Manish.
Dr. Manish nodded and glanced at Dheeraj. Who ran out of the room and entered again few minutes later with a sack. He was dragging that sack with much difficulty.
Once he set it in front of Chitra, he stepped back.
Chitra asked him to open it and he did so.
Ram gasped as he saw Diana slumped inside of it.
She was a walking mountain. Her whole body was made out of pure rocks. She vaguely resembled human. Her hair that was made out of sharp jagged shards of rock were blunted at several places. Her eyes lost the glow and he was still not able to identify the strange color of her eyes, even with his own eyes.
She was wearing a crop top that was torn at several places, that was barely covering her chest. Her thick arms had chips at several locations. Her lower abs seemed to be broken and her leggings were stained with something dark, all the definition of her legs that he had seen earlier didn't exist now.
How did Dheeraj overpowered her? He glanced at Dheeraj, who grinned at him. He mouthed later and Ram nodded.
Chitra looked at Diana with distaste. "What is she doing here?" she asked.
Dheeraj grinned at Diana. "We have always wondered how Diana knew about our existence and also about Merged Souls. How she was always able to find souls for us to experiment with. When we dug in a little bit, we found out that she was the lover of Siraj over there. They had been hatching a plan to make it big and you know how it turned out," he said, glancing at Ram and Em.
Siraj roared at them. "What did you do to her, you bastard. I will kill those who are responsible for this," he roared.
Dheeraj shook his head. "Only you have weird tastes when it came to your lover. I am not the one that was responsible for it. It was Chitra. If you have anything you wanted to do, you can approach her," he said.
Chitra ignored both of them and glanced at Dr. Shukla. "Alright. I will work on them along with my father to see whether your theory works or not. Meanwhile you make sure that nothing happens to The Merged Soul," she said.
"Dheeraj, be a good boy and neutralize Siraj for me. He had not been so useful to me lately. At least, in this way, he can prove his worth. If he survives, then I have plans for them that would take them to greatness. Otherwise, I can set them as an example for others. Lately, our Nonliving Souls were focusing more on pleasure than what matters," she said.
Dheeraj nodded and injected Siraj with something. Siraj slumped down just like Diana and they dragged them out. Before leaving, Chitra looked at others. "We will come back shortly. Based on the results, I will let you know about my decision on Ram and Em," she said and walked away.
"What do you think?" he asked, looking at Dheeraj.
"I don't know. I am not experienced. She was, ask her," he said, pointing at Aunt Sheila.
"You know how my Soulmate rejected me. I think you should ask my father or Dr. Manish," she said.
Dheeraj gasped. "Dr. Manish had a Soulmate?" he asked.
Dr. Manish grinned at him. "What do you think?" he said.
Dheeraj just shook his head. "I don't want to know about your boring Soulmate. Please spare me from it," he said.
Dr. Manish shook his head. "You are not at all fun. My Soulmate is an adventures one. If you were to listen to her crazy expeditions, you would wet yourself. She was…" he went on and on about how amazing his Soulmate was and Ram felt jealous.
He wondered if he had a Soulmate, not Bhumi or Sandhya, but anyone normal and wondered and whether she would be amazing like Dr. Manish's Soulmate.
Finally, Dr. Manish stopped and looked at Ram and Dheeraj expectantly. It was then that Ram realized that Dr. Manish was smiling. He lost his composure. Guess having a Soulmate makes one happy.
Which he was currently not.
He shook his head.
Dheeraj just groaned. "It didn't helped me even a little bit," he said, turning towards Dr. Shukla.
He just chuckled. "My experience was also similar to his," he said.
They grew silent.
Finally, Chitra emerged with a Transparent Sphere. And that sphere has a Soul Form. One half orange, and other, dark and like a mountain.
"Your theory worked. They didn't break apart or winked out or even destroyed our lab. Congratulations on our first success," she said, congratulating Dr. Shukla. Who shook her hand and smiled at her.
"Now I have to decide what I should do with you," she said pointing at Ram. "What do you think I should do?" she asked.
"If you don't mind, can I ask you a favor in return of whatever you wanted me to do?" he asked.
Chitra stopped him. "You wanted to get out of The Soul World?" she asked.
Ram was surprised. "How did you know?" he asked.
She chuckled. "I know you. You are the one that Veera failed to defeat. Don't worry, I will not do anything to you. He reported his progress to me from time to time and how you got your Powers of Hypnotism from his junior. I also heard that you used Soulfire now and then and that you also displayed Powers of Time. But what I don't get was how did you became a soul of soul world?" she asked.
Ram shivered. She knew everything. Right form the start. He was in danger. Not only him, but Aunt Sheila and Dr. Shukla were also in danger. "I don't know," he said.
Chitra nodded. "Someone else messed with you. But at least, we got a recipe for a Merged Soul. Now if you want to get out of Soul World, you have to fulfill two objectives. One was The Soul Bead that Bharghav possesses. He was the head of The Living Soul World and he has power equivalent to that of my father. And my next objective was that you should be successful in subduing Two Souls who were perfect match for what I had been looking for. If you achieve both of them, then I will not only let you know how to get out of The Soul World, but also show you how you can return back to your world without killing yourself. And from there, you can focus on repairing the relationship between you Aunt and Sheila over here," she said.
Aunt Sheila also lost composure. "Since when did you knew about me being related to him?" she asked.
Chitra chuckled, but didn't answer.
Aunt Sheila was struggling to compose herself.
Ram sallowed. He wanted to give comfort to her. But first, he had to think about the possibility that he should be stealing something form The Most Powerful Being in The Living Soul, the one who has equivalent power to that of Chitra's father. And he also has to subdue two souls who had nothing to do with all of this. "How are you going to achieve love necessary between the two souls that you wanted and also between you and that Merged Soul after their merger?" he asked.
She chuckled. "It's simple. I have orchestrated the love between Siraj and Diana. I believe I could also do the same with my Soulmate. Now, do you agree or not?" she asked.
Ram had one more question to ask. He had to ask for Aunt Sheila. "Since when did you know that Aunt Sheila is related to me and my aunt?" he asked.
"Since from the start. In fact, as she was drowning her sorrows, I came to know about The Bead of The Institute and hatched my plan. But Veera grew too ambitious and lost me a chance to get it. It doesn't matter. Now I got the recipe for Stable Merged Soul and you are also going to get me both The Soul Bead and also the souls that I had in my mind for my dream," she said.
Ram was shocked.
He thought Veera had been too ambitious back them. If Veera possessed the cunning thinking, foresight and vision that Chitra had, he wouldn't have been killed and also lost The Bead of The Institute to Ram and Em.
Not only did she get to know about The Bead of The Institute from Aunt Sheila when she was rejected by Aunt El, but she also orchestrated everything that, directly or indirectly, lead them to meet with her.
And she also knew about Aunt Sheila and Dr. Shukla related to them. And the one who was responsible for all of this was, ultimately him.
Not only did he put Em and his life in danger, but also Aunt Sheila and Dr. Shukla. And to some extent, everyone he knew at The Institute, everyone that survived.
What should he do?
He couldn't fool his way out of Chitra's situation. He failed to fool Dr. Manish and Dheeraj. They were scientists.
And Chitra was way beyond both of them.
At the same time, he couldn't agree to her requests and hand over to her The Soul Bead and possibly destroy Two Souls who had nothing to do with them.
If he didn't agree to her requests, he will lose everyone that he loved. Chitra implicitly threatened the same to him.
He agreed to it.
Chitra smiled at him. "Now that's it's settled, there's one more thing I would like you to know," she said, turning towards Aunt Sheila. "Sheila, I believe you want to guide your niece in this mission. You have my full support. If you were to do anything silly like go against me, I will kill your father. What do you think?" she asked.
Aunt Sheila glared at her.
"You don't have a choice," Chitra said.
Aunt Sheila's shoulders sagged in defeat.
"Now get on with your missions," she said and ordered The Nonliving Souls to imprison Dr. Shukla.
Ram reached for Aunt Sheila's hands with his and squeezed them as they watched The Nonliving Souls took Dr. Shukla away from them.