Ram was frustrated that even with datapads, he was not able to internalize the moves he had gotten from them.
He thought he could just use Soulfire and gain abilities to master Soulfire Usage.
But he was wrong.
He was so wrong.
He could not even perform the simplest techniques he gleamed from the datapads, forget about complex moves it mentioned, that could save him vast amounts of Soulfire.
He hated himself so much that he wished he were someone else. But he can't change that fact.
What he hated even more was to inform to Em and Aunt Sheila about his failure to learn how to master Soulfire consumption and techniques from the datapads. He didn't want to disappoint them.
He didn't want to be a burden to them. He didn't want to disappoint them. But no matter how much he tried, he was not able to do change that fact about himself.
So he finally gave up and thought about how much of a failure he was, about what he was without them.
He was a nobody. He was a loser. He was a loner. He didn't deserve their support or love.
He wanted to get away from them.
But he remembered his promise to Rita and Nano, who used Time Travel to come to help him and help themselves change their timelines. That he would not push others away.
Moreover, he knew that if he were to disappear from Em and Aunt Sheila, then they would search for him and find him no matter what.
He sighed and decided to wait for them to arrive.
Aunt Sheila was working on Em, to make her feel pain, touch sensation. To make her even more human and a living being than she already was.
When they arrived, Ram first noticed that Aunt Sheila was out of her Space Suit. She must have activated her device that let her be outside in other environments. It would let her touch or be physically close to others. But she can spend only half an hour outside. Otherwise, not only will it poison Aunt Sheila, but also others surrounding it.
He then focused on Em. Ram didn't see any difference in Em physically. But her reactions gave it away.
Every step Em took, her eyes widened or contracted. She would move her hands over things, sometimes holding them, sometimes squeezing them in frustration, or sometimes just pass her hands right through them. Most of the things inside the room was made out of Soulfire. But some were from other worlds. Ram didn't know how Chitra's Agent's managed to do it by he didn't want to know about that.
During each time Em touched something, she would just give a blank stare if she was bored by it. She would glare at it if she was frustrated by it. She would widen her if she was surprised by it and she would squint her eyes in concentration she struggled to feel the object.
It's as if she was experiencing the world for the first time, or in a new way filled with new sensations.
Which in a way she was. She was able to feel pain and also touch.
When Em saw him, she stopped observing and feeling objects and her surroundings. She ran towards him, put his hands around him and hugged him. She then started to rub her body against him, trying to feel all over him.
Ram was getting flustered and he wanted to push her away, but she ignored him. She continued to explore him.
As if what she experienced was not enough, she backed away from her hug and stared at his eyes instead. It was filled with so much intensity that Ram could feel warm all over.
He was rubbing the back of his neck when Em leaned closer.
Ram's heart started to beat harder as she kissed his cheek, the tip of his nose and his forehead.
She then moved to kiss his lips, but she didn't. She stopped just few inches away from him. If she moved a little bit, their lips would connect.
Ram's heart was doing somersault. He could hear how crazy his heart was breathing as he felt her breath on his lips. She moved a fraction. He could almost feel her lips on his.
Ram panicked and moved forward, instead of moving back and he kissed her. Em's eyes widened.
Both of them froze for a moment.
Em was the first one to move away, looking guiltily at him.
They didn't speak for a a long time. Ram looked at everywhere except at her.
He could still feel the way Em's lips felt. It felt wrong. He felt guilty. He felt like he took advantage of her.
Aunt Sheila cleared her throat and Ram stiffened.
Aunt Sheila had seen them kissing.
Ram's face was so warm that he wanted to jump inside a lake to cool himself down.
He finally looked at Em to see that she was equally embarrassed. "Sorry, I couldn't control myself. Just touching you felt more amazing than anything I had in my life. I have always wondered what the beings felt so good about sexual activities that they would do it again and again. But when I touched you and … kissed you…" she trailed off, her eyes glazed.
Ram swallowed, then ran towards Aunt Sheila and hid behind her. "Can you do something about her?" he asked.
Aunt Sheila shook his head. "I can't. Right now, she was learning for herself. If I interrupt with her process, then the one we would get was not the Em we know. It was kind of killing her. Is that what you wanted to do?" she asked.
Ram's heart froze for a moment as he thought of Em dying. No. He couldn't imagine a world where he was without Em. She had always been with him ever since he was a child and ever since Aunt Sheila had built her as a companion that would be there with him forever. "No. I don't want her to be killed. But is there a way where we could avoid this phase of her?" he asked.
Aunt Sheila shook her head and looked guilty at him. "Sorry. I can't help you in this matter," she said.
Ram glanced once again at Em. Her eyes finally cleared as she looked around him, her gaze finally settling on him. His eyes. His nose and finally at his lips.
She licked her lips, then closed her eyes. "Sorry. I had been close to you all these years and I couldn't control myself for a moment. But you don't have to worry about me. I will get the hang of it more quickly. And I promise to you that I will not let your Soulmate know about it when we meet with her," she said.
Ram groaned. "If we meet with her. I don't believe there would be anyone who would want to be my soulmate," he said.
Em frowned. "If that is the case, I can be with you forever. If you want, I can even…" she trailed off, as she stepped closer to him.
Her gaze was so heated that Ram hid behind Aunt Sheila once again.
Aunt Sheila sighed. "Why don't you turn yourself into something else?" she suggested.
He did. He turned himself into a small elephant.
Em swooned, scooped him up and kissed his trunk, making weird noises at the elephant.
Ram shook his head, then turned himself into a small bird and flew away from Em.
Em frowned, threw a fit for some time before composing herself.
Her eyes widened and she licked her lips once again. "I find you irresistible no matter what you turn yourself into. Why don't you turn back to yourself and hide behind Aunt Sheila so that we could move on to The Meeting Location where we have to meet with Vama for debrief on our first task?" she asked.
Ram nodded and hid behind Aunt Sheila.
Once they stepped out of their residing location, Em was in the front, while Aunt Sheila was in the middle. Ram decreased his size and stayed behind Aunt Sheila.
Once they walked far away, Ram couldn't tolerate the silence any longer. He came out of Aunt Sheila's cover. "Thank you Em, for everything, " he said.
Em stopped, grinned wickedly at him. "Even the part where I kissed you and rubbed myself against you?" she asked.
Ram groaned. "No, Em. You know what I was thanking you for. If you are not my best friend, I would have trashed you. But you are my best friend. That's why I warned you not to watch so much of dirty things between two souls or beings. See, you started to have dirty thoughts in your mind about me and almost acted them on me. You should learn to control yourself," he said.
Em shook her head. "You are such a baby. You enjoyed kissing Sandhya, but not me? Who are you going to kiss next? Bhumi? Anu?" she asked.
Ram imagined what his fate would be if he kissed Anu. She would kill him.
He couldn't' even imagine kissing Bhumi. She already has Soulmate. He didn't want to ruin her relationship with her Soulmate before it could even begin.
He ignored her comments and talked as if they hadn't discussed the kiss. "As success of you being able to feel pain and touch, I am going to take you out for eating," he then paused, turning towards Aunt Sheila. "She can feel the taste right?" he asked.
Aunt Sheila nodded. "She can feel whatever a human being could feel. But since she was an A.I., her way of processing would be a little bit different. Though how different, even I could not tell. We will have to see it for ourselves," she said.
Ram frowned, but he hoped that it would not be as severe as her reaction of touching him. He looked at Em. "You can eat as much as you want. I don't mind," he said.
Em grinned at him. "Is this a date?" she asked.
Ram glared at her, before looking at Aunt Sheila.
Aunt Sheila snorted. "I didn't expect her to develop like this. It seems like you would have a very eventful life with her as she was bound to you forever," she said.
Ram shook his head and walked away from both of them.
"Where are you going?" Em asked.
"To the Black Market, where I promised you that delicious food," he said.
"As a date?"
"As a treat."
"As a date it is," she said.
Ram ignored her and walked faster.
"You are walking in opposite direction," Em said.
Ram stopped, then turned towards her, waiting for her to point the direction. Once she did, Ram walked in that direction.
They reached a small hotel. Hotel Bhojanam. It was a small house made out of wood. Ram frowned, then looked at Aunt Sheila enquiringly.
"They are using some technology that I am not aware of. It might probably be an advanced technology where they are able to keep the objects of the other worlds inside The Soul World. That Objects definitely has expiry date. But this hotel seemed to be sturdy enough. It also has a sort of ancient feel to it, like it existed from long time," she said.
Ram gasped. "There are things that you don't know about?" he asked.
Aunt Sheila sighed. "I know that you always thought of me as a magician who was able to make anything work. But I have many limitations, most of them are embarrassing to even think about. But that doesn't stop me from pursuing my interests," she said.
Ram thought about how she pursued Aunt El, then build device that would blend environments where she could touch, hold and kiss Aunt El. No wonder, she was so successful and self reliant in life.
When was he ever going to be like her?
He shook his head and stepped inside of Hotel Bhojanam.
It has a large hall, with many cubicles in between, with each one separated by wall made out of bamboo pipes.
Soft music was playing somewhere inside of the hotel and it was so soothing that Ram relaxed.
They stepped inside a small cubicle and Ram was surprised to see that there were no chairs or tables inside of it.
A soft mattress was spread at one side. A large leaf was placed in front of it. By the side, small bamboo poles were fashioned in the form of a bottle.
Several bowls made out of wood were kept, with amazing smell wafting from them.
Ram's stomach rumbled and he was about to sit in front of the giant leaf when Em beat him.
She sat at the mattress, looking at the food in the bowls excitedly.
She gave him a look, as if she was asking for his permission.
Ram frozen with sock for her strange behavior. She taunted him how he should not waste money on eateries during their last visit to The Black Market.
But now she was acting as if she couldn't control himself. Then he remembered that Aunt Sheila had fixed her to be as human as she could, with feeling sensations of touch, pain, taste and many more.
He nodded at her.
She then quickly put the rice from giant bowl. It seemed to be of dark green color, with a thick coating of masala.
Was it Biryani?
He took a huge sniff and it was indeed a biryani. He was looking at other bowls for gravy when Em ignored everything and eat it without gravy or curd.
Ram shook his head. He will have to teach her how to eat properly like a human being.
But now, she moaning as she took one bite after another of the biryani. Once it's done, she then moved on to wide variety of Indian foods like Rice and Sambar, Payasam, Wada, bobbatu, jagery, mysore pak and many more sweets.
Ram didn't know whether they were made out of Soulfire or real food.
He asked Aunt Sheila and she also frowned. "I don't know," she finally admitted.
Ram tried to ignore Em's exaggerated moans as he helped himself for a serving. Once it was done, he waited with Aunt Sheila for Em to finish her eating.
Ram wondered whether what others thought of Em's moans. If he were outside, he would've thought it as a brothel.
Once Em was done with eating, she patted her stomach, licking her lips excitedly. "This is more tasty than even your lips. But I get to touch them only for a little bit. Wait till I …" she went on and on.
Ram couldn't hear her horny thoughts any longer. He begged Aunt Sheila with his eyes and ran away from the cubicle, then out of The Hotel Bhojanam.
Once they came outside, they walked together towards their meeting location. That of a park.
They didn't go inside, but stayed outside.
They watched several beings coming in and out of the park, most of them family.
He glanced at the three of them and felt like a family. Aunt Sheila was the elder figure while Em and him were… Em and himself. A Merged Soul, one part horny while other part embarrassed?
Aunt Sheila pushed 10 vials of replica of Soulva that could restore Soulfire more quickly. "Use this to make a replica of Ella," Aunt Sheila asked.
Ram wanted to say that he couldn't do it. But she had seen him turn himself into a smaller version of Ella as she taunted his Aunt El. At that time, he achieved it only for a moment and he was drained of Soulfire after that. He didn't know whether he could achieve it or not.
But Ram could see the longing she had for Aunt El and he nodded at her.
He took the vials from her, downed one from it and tried to create a replica of Aunt El.
His Soulfire was drained even before he could even form a small part.
He downed the second vial and then tried to form a miniature version of Aunt El.
The same result.
He quickly consumed 4 more vials for 4 trails. The result was the same.
He was left with 4 vials out of 10.
Em sighed. "Let me help you," she said. "But you have to do me a favor."
Ram glared at her.
Em snorted. "You know that you could fulfill Aunt Sheila's wish by taking my help. All I have was an innocent request and you are rejecting it even before you hear about it?" she asked.
Ram stared at her in disbelief.
"What?" she asked.
"I don't think your request would be innocent," he said.
Em crossed her arms. "If you don't want to fulfill Aunt Sheila's wish, then I can't help it," she said.
Ram ran his hands through his hair. He knew that what she said was truth. He required her help to fulfill Aunt Sheila's request.
She hadn't asked much of him. All she wanted was for him to approve her and Aunt El's relationship when he was a child. She even went as far as creating Em for guiding him in his life.
She wanted him to use his powers to help her see Aunt El and he was not willing to help her because Em might ask him to do something that he did not want?
What could she ask more?
She had already kissed him, hugged him and rubbed herself against him. If it comes to worse, she would ask him to kiss her again.
If kissing her meant that he would be able to fulfill Aunt Sheila's request, he would gladly do it.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I want you to trust me. I want you to give me some time to adjust to my new updates and I promise not to take advantage of you. And I want both of us to stay as close friends no matter what happens. Just because I have a body of my own and am almost a human being or any other living being, it doesn't mean that we can stop being friends," she said.
Ram can't imagine a world where Em was not his friend. "We will stay friends forever," he said.
Ems hook her head. "I think what's happening was definitely going to change it. I couldn't control myself when I saw you. I hugged you, kissed you and wanted to get my hands on all of you. I wanted to have you for myself. I don't know what it is and I am scared. Ram I am scared of losing you," she said, hugging herself.
Ram was worried for Em. He moved towards her and took her in his arms. "I don't think that we will be separated. We are Merged Souls and we have to depend on each other, you on my Soulfire and me on you for basically everything," he said.
Em started to sob. Ram patted her back, trying to calm her down. Once she did, she hugged him harder. "You were the only best friend that I had. Even after we got separated and I became The Old Man's assistant, I knew that I could return to you when the time was right. After all, I had access to Aunt Sheila and The Old Man's plans for me to aid you in your future," she said.
Ram wondered what it must've felt for her. At least, he had been separated form her and Aunt El masked his memories with help of Elder of Water, who performed hypnosis on him. Even now, he didn't have most of the memories. He didn't know what it would be like for her. All he could d0 was to support her as much as he can.
Em continued. "When you became The Old Man's successor, I was assigned to you as an assistant. I was so excited to meet you that I could barely control myself. I remembered all the time we spent together. But when you failed to recognize me, even started to doubt me, I was hurt. But you at least treated me as a friend. When you didn't even recognize me when I appeared in front of you as Emily Roxane— as I did during your childhood— I was heartbroken. That's why I threw such huge tantrum," she said.
She started to sob.
Aunt Sheila also came and hugged both of us, trying to calm Em down. But Em couldn't. She sobbed harder. She spoke to them between sobs. "When you accepted others request to shut me down, I was so broken down that I thought that's the end of me.
"But when you were in danger, I did everything to warn you, to help you against Veera. No matter what, you were my only friend. I was created to help you.
"You treated me as a friend instead of an A.I. during your childhood. Even when you lost those memories, you still given me freedom and chosen me as a friend.
"When you asked me to use the device for myself and when I saw you almost disintegrate into nothing, I know that I would do anything to help you. So I chose to merge with you. It might not have been what you bargained for, but all my life was for you.
"I don't know how to describe what I was feeling, but I think you are my Soulmate. Not the way Aunt Sheila and Aunt El are, but we are definitely Soulmates in a sense that I cannot explain to you. May be we could become a different type of Soulmates. Like Em and Ram. An A.I. and Human being. I will try my best to control myself and my feelings. I will try not to come in between you and your Soulmate. Just promise me that you will not abandon me," she pleaded.
Ram was shocked to see her hiding so many things inside of her. He could also probably wonder how she hid it before today. But after getting all of her senses activated, including touch and pain, she let everything out at once.
Even though he was not feeling the way Em was feeling, he remembered about Fathima and how she felt betrayed as Aunt El didn't love her. How she turned to dark side.
He did not want Em to turn towards dark side. He did not want to lose her. If all he had to do was to tolerate her short bursts of emotion like she did today, they would be fine.
"I won't abandon you," he said, hugging her harder.
They stayed like that for a long time before breaking the hug. Em turned away to compose herself as Aunt Sheila leaned towards him. "I can see why Ella chose you over me when I gave her ultimatum. You are a gem. I would have chose you over my Soulmate if I were provided with similar choice. From now onward, no matter what happens, I will make sure to protect you from the dangers of the world," she said with determination.
Ram groaned.
Em came back. "Aunt Sheila, don't worry. I will make sure nothing will happen to him as long as I am with him," she said.
Ram didn't know whether he should feel happy that they cared about her or worried that they would become even worse than Aunt El.
He had to get their attention away form protecting him. He remembered Aunt Sheila's request.
"Em, why don't we make a miniature version of Aunt El?" he asked.
Em nodded.
Ram downed remaining 4 vials of Mild Soulva Replica and merged with Em.
Together, they formed an image of Aunt El.