It has been quite some time since Em and Bhumi talked with each other and they had been polite with each other since then. Ram was shocked that there were no traces of hostility between them.
Ram waited for them to approach him to talk. But they didn't. When Ram approached them, they ignored him.
Something was definitely wrong with them. They cannot change their opinion so soon. Ram observed them closely and was not surprised to see that they are forcing themselves to be polite to each other.
Bharghav noticed the same as he was struggling Bhumi to answer to him. She ignored him as well. But Bharghav didn't relent. He was successful to an extent. "We agreed on truce. So all of you should not worry about us," she said.
Bharghav look like he didn't believe her. He nodded at her instead and approached Ram. "I raised her to be so headstrong that no one can change her mind including me. Be patient of her," he said.
Ram nodded. "Don't worry. I will keep that in mind. But I also like to apologize for Em's behavior. She was my only friend since we were children, practically my family. And she was worried that I will no longer need her and spend time with her now that Bhumi arrived. I think both of them require time to adjust. I just hope that this doesn't compromise next part of the plan," he said.
Bharghav nodded. "Can you reveal your plan to me? I will see whether it is feasible or not," he said.
Ram nodded. "I was able to detect where they took us as they blocked all of our senses. Don't ask me how I did it, even I don't know. We are going over there in small number, confirm the same and if possible attack them. Otherwise, we are going to come back and organize much larger army before marching in for an attack," he said.
"It's a solid plan, survey the enemy base, then attack later with much larger army. And if by chance you find Chitra, please spare her. She is my friend's daughter, even though that friend had turned dark since longer. I had seen Chitra when she was a child. She was such an angel back then. But her recent activities proves otherwise. Poor girl has been raised by Chola in harshest way possible, only seeing violence and learning bad behavior But I think I can Change Chitra, I have to," he said.
Ram frowned. "I met Chitra once and I didn't find anything in her that was hopeful for your cause. But I will promise that I will bring her to you. Who knows, maybe you would be able to change her," he said.
Bharghav extended his hand and Ram did the same. They shook their hands thrice. "It's a deal then. Now for your plan, the area that you suggested is close to the Nonliving Soul World. I can sense something as long as you are outside of the doorway or portal that exist. If you are able to find entry into their base, I could no longer sense you. So do not at any chance attack them or even infiltrate them when you find them. Mark the location, come back here so that we will organize much larger army before we proceed with your plan. I would very much like to interfere, but I am afraid Chola would also do the same. Heck, I think he might have already interfered as I saved your Aunt from Vama and his gang. I will send trio of guards with you, uncluding Zola. They are powerful and will aid you in many ways that you can only imagine. If they deem the move dangerous, you have to fall back on their advice," he said.
Ram nodded. "I will. We are going in with the beings that I love. I don't want them to be harmed in anyways," he said.
Bhargahav nodded and moved towards Zola and two other female guards. He whispered to them and they nodded. They even seemed excited.
Bhumi frowned as she looked at Zola. She then turned towards him. "You agreed to their help?" she asked.
Ram nodded. "Don't worry. He is going to send only three guards with us for our safety," he said.
Bhumi groaned. "And that includes Zola as well. You don't know how much trouble handling Zola could be. And when she was in the same raid as Anu, that's a recipe for disaster. Why did you think I didn't recruit Zola to be in our squad as we go for our raids?" she asked.
Ram swallowed. "It can't be that bad right?" he asked.
Bhumi shook her head.
Ram groaned. "I should have asked your opinion before agreeing your father's request. But I have already agreed to it," he said.
Bhumi sighed. "I will try to have a talk with Anu before we proceed with your plan," she said and moved towards Anu and Manoj.
Ram was about to move towards Aunt Sheila when Bharghav also joined with him. They stopped in front of Aunt Sheila. "I didn't have much time to prepare small gifts. Your arrival was so sudden, but I would still like to give Ram something. I thought very carefully about it and decided on two techniques that I could impart to him, such that it will be integrated into him completely within few days. But requires minimal practice from him. One amongst them is opening a portal not only in this world, but also in other worlds as well. But you need the essence of the worlds to open a portal. Which would be a piece of cake with your Aunt's help. Second gift was to help you master your Soulfire. From what I have seen of you, you lack finesse and waste much Soulfire for even menial tasks. Is that alright with both of you?" he asked.
Ram nodded excitedly, meanwhile Aunt Sheila smiled at him. "I have been worried about the exact problem. Thank you for aiding us. I wish we could spend more time with you," she said.
Bharghav sighed. "I also wanted the same. But I believe your mission is very urgent," he said.
They nodded at him.
Bharghav rose his fist in the air, glowing bright orange. Everyone focused on him. "Those who are going to be on this mission shall remain in my room. Rest of you will get back to your stations immediately," he said.
The souls vacated one by one until only those who are going on this mission, other than Bharghav remained. "I have already explained the mission to my team and I see that Bhumi prepared hers. I don't have to talk about your Aunt and friend. Before we can proceed, I will be imparting two skills into Ram," he addressed the rest of them.
Then he focused on Ram. "Ram stand in front of me so that I can impart those skills to your Mind World directly. Remember that you might feel slight discomfort, but trust me on this and stay focused. Once it's done, it will take you some time to integrate it into yourself. But it will not impact your mission. It will be much like gleaming information from datapad, but way easier and more efficient. But you still have to make few trials before you fully master them," he said.
Ram nodded and did as Bharghav asked.
Bharghav raised his hand and moved in a swirling motion in front of Ram. It almost felt like he was hypnotizing Ram and he immediately got an idea if his current plan failed.
Hypnosis.
Bharghav frowned. "Ram, can you please focus on our current task?" he asked.
Ram nodded and he put his hypnosis plan at the back of his mind and focused on the swirling motion of Bharghav's hands.
Orange Soulfire followed by something dark traced the swirls and soon it formed a vortex. Each swirl was imprinted with scripts, the orange swirls had dark scripts while the dark swirls had orange script and they are glowing.
Bharghav tapped the center of the vortex and pushed it towards Ram's direction. The centre.
The swirls condensed, tightened and surged towards the Centre as they flew toward's Ram's forehead, touched his forehead and pushed into his Mind World.
His Mind World vibrated as a whole, his head aching. Ram stumbled and was about to fall down, but he was steadied by Soulfire. They had the same feeling as the ones that Bharghav used to impart the skills.
He remembered Bharghav's advice and tolerated the pain, grit his teeth and observed the changes that were happening to his Mind World.
He was not able to gleam much as his headache intensified. But he remembered two rooms appearing in his mind world, one for each skill, before his vision was blocked.
But he could still feel his Mind World trembling and his head aching.
Once it died down, his Vision returned and he observed that his Mind World obscured the two new rooms.
Ram frowned. "The skills were represented as room inside of my Mind World and they are obscured form my vision," he said.
Bharghav nodded. "It is to be expected. The first exploration of the skill will consume large quantity of Soulfire at the same time, open the door for you. With each subsequent use of the skill, it will become much clearer. Once you mastered it, you can even expand the room with your observations. Also, I recoment you do the same with your skills, make new room and probably implement a security mechanism. Probably get help form your Aunt on this," he said.
"Thank you. I can't thank you enough for your help and advice," he said.
Bharghav chuckled. "Enough with that. Are you feeling any headache?" he asked.
"Mildly, but as you can see, I am able to think and talk perfectly."
"It's alright then. Remember to practice them couple of times before using it in real battle," he said.
Ram nodded. Then he grew excited. "Why don't I implement this right now? By opening the portal to the enemy base??" he asked.
Bharghav shook his head. "I just cautioned you against it. Besides, it will also drain your Soulfire to maximum, leaving you vulnerable to enemies attack," he said.
"We have Mild Replica's of Soulva that can recover my Well of Soulfire. I promise that nothing will happen to me," he said.
"You should listen to your elder's advice. When I first learned to open my portal opn my own, I was drained of so much Soulfire that I was not able to function in any shape or manner for days to come. At that time I was still friends with Chola and he guarded me diligently," Bharghav said.
"You imparted the skills directly to my Mind World. I don't think it will be that severe," he said.
Bhargav clenched his fist. "I can see why Bhumi and your Aunt was so worried about you. You are ignorant and impatient. A very deadly combination. Why don't you implement the skill about mastering Soulfire first? It will help you in conserving your Soulfire in not only your day to day usage, but also in battles, opening and closing portals," he said.
"I am most excited about opening a portal. I don't think I will ever get a chance to open a portal on my own without your presence. My Aunt, Em and Bhumi will make sure of that. Please don't stop me," he said.
Bharghav closed his eyes, his lower jaw tightening. He breathed in short bursts, which eventually calmed. Finally, his lower jaw relaxed and he opened his eyes. "It is during times like this that I wish my Soulmate would be there with me. She would've convinced you easily," he said and turned towards Aunt Sheila. "Why don't you try to stop him?" he asked.
Aunt Sheila shrugged. "I can't help you in this manner. I also feel that Ram should learn to open portals. You don't have to worry about his safety. I will make sure nothing is going to happen to him. After all, I am a scientist and I prepared backup for situations where his Soulfire would be drained," he said.
Ram perked up and smiled at Aunt Sheila. She smiled back at him, before turning her attention towards Bharghav.
"Alright, I will agree to your request this time. But remember that you are my daughter's Soulmate. I care about you as much as I care about her. And I can't stop worrying no matter what the situation might be. But if I feel like you were in any danger, I will step in. Though it might prompt Chola, I think it will be worth it. I don't want my daughter to lose her Soulmate and suffer just like me," he said.
Bhumi stiffened, then ran towards her father, hugging him. "Father, I promise to take care of him, and at the same time focus on becoming powerful so that you could worry less about us," she said.
Bharghav patted her back. "It is parents job to worry about their kids no matter what the situation might be. You will come to know about it once you have a children of your own, or find someone whom you get attached to like they are your own children just like Sheila did with Ram," he said, glancing at Aunt Sheila.
Aunt Sheila trembled, but she composed herself.
They disengaged.
Ram closed his eyes and pured his Soulfire into opening the door to the obscured Skill related to portals.
It resisted.
Ram poured more Soulfire into it and the door trembled, worsening his headache.
He gritted his teeth and poured even more Soulfire and eventually the door opened.
He was surprised to see that this skill didn't involve conjuring a soulfire sword and making a split in the air like Chitra did.
He followed the steps he gleamed from the skill that Bharghav imparted.
Ram poured the soulfire from the tip of his fingers into a swirling vortex in front of him. He imagined the place he wanted to open the portal to with as much clarity as he can. The place that resembled an abandoned palace. Once he pured enough Soulfire, he should push against the reality, opening a rift into eternal darkness that exist between portals.
He then poured even more Soulfire to open a tunnel till the entire tunnel was protected by his Soulfire, just like Chitra's method did.
Ram then poured even more Soulfire to to stabilize the tunnel.
Ram lost more soulfire than he thought he would. He was afraid that Bharghav was going to stop him, he nearly did across many occasions, but he stopped at the last minute.
Once the portal was stabilized, Ram collapsed.
Bharghav appeared before him and stabilized him. "I don't know how stable it will be. Why don't the rest of you cross the tunnel?" he suggested.
Zola with 2 of her guards moved first, stepping into the tunnel. Bhumi, Anu and Manoj were about to enter, but Zola stopped them. "Let me make sure that the coast is clear," she said.
Bhumi nodded.
Zola and her team crossed the tunnel. They were silent as they waited for Zola to arrive, which she did few moments later. "It's safe," she said.
Bharghav nodded to Bhumi and her gang to enter the tunnel. Anu and Manoj stepped in first.
Bhumi looked at Ram, clearly worried. "Be careful," she said.
Ram was too weak to even reply. Aunt Sheila nodded for him. "Don't worry, I will take care of him," she said.
Bhumi reluctantly stepped inside the portal.
They were out of his sight soon.
Aunt Sheila poured a vial of Mild Soulva Replica into Ram's mouth. As it settled in his stomach, the Soulfire in it traveled through his nervers and blood vessels and settled inside the Well of Soulfire in his Mind World.
Ram was too weak to stand up, so Em and Aunt Sheila supported him as they stepped inside the tunnel.
Before they could cross the tunnel, Bharghav stopped them. "I can step inside of this portal. But it will be dangerous when the tunnel would collapse. This is your first time opening your portal and I think you don't have mastery of it. I don't know how long the portal was stable. So I would be guarding the portal. If it was possible, I would like to help you in this mission. My involvement would shorten your search. But Chola would be aware of it and he will make a move, which will not be good for both of us. If you were in danger, I can sense it from here, but only if you are outside of the portal or doorway that leads to their bases. Promise that you will come back after you find the entrance. Being alive is more important than being heroic," he said.
They nodded and resumed walking across the tunnel. Once they crossed the tunnel, he could see that others were waiting for them to come.
Zola and her gang seemed impatient.
"He is still too weak. Why don't we wait for him to recover his Soulfire?" Aunt Sheila suggested.
Zola shook her head. "We can't wait for that. We don't know if the enemy are aware of Bharghav's interference earlier or not. We have to make a move," she said.
"Me and Em will stay with Ram. Why don't the rest of you start your search?" she suggested.
Zola nodded. But Bhumi looked reluctant. "What if they attack him?" she asked.
Aunt Sheila grinned at her. "Don't worry. We will make sure nothing is going to harm us," she said, then she produced a device, pressed on it and a blue barrier erected around them.
"Try to attack it as much as you can," she said.
Zola attached full fore and it was ineffective against the barrier.
Only then did they seemed convinced and started their search.
Ram felt like such a burden to the rest of them as he watched them leave from his sight.