Chapter 31: Unlocking the Bandit Chief's Ancestral Memories
“Who are you?” asked the Kapala Chief wariness in his voice to the person looking like Lakhan in front of him. Initially, he had thought the person in Kapala uniform and wearing the Kapala mask of the squadron leader was Lakhan due to his voice and the sense of calm and familiarity he felt when the person held his hand. Once, his emotions of rage and helplessness were in control, and the relentless voice in his head subdued, he could see clearly and he could think clearly. A mere human would have long been dissipated if they came in contact with the Yaksha fire. Yet the person with him, not only looked unscathed, he had even managed to subdue the green pillar of light. Even the vines that had spread around the city receded to only the vicinity of the green pillar.
Svetavastra took this opportunity to increase the spiritual energy he sent towards the green pillar of light. He raised both of his hands, palms outwards and waves of purple energy gushed forward completely engulfing the Yaksha fire and the subdued green pillar of light. And just like that, the Yaksha fire, the vines and the green pillar of light vanished.
Svetavastra transformed back to his human male skin form with white robes and the white blindfold across the eyes and behind him, darkness in the sky receded as dawn ascended, with purple and orange hues spread across.
The Kapala Chief felt light as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulder. However, channelling so much power through his body left him exhausted and he collapsed to the ground surrounded by the rubble of the torn-down city.
Svetavastra waved his hand and cleared the ground around the Kapala Chief.
“I am a cultivator,” Svetavastra said, sitting down beside him, “known as Svetavastra.”
A cultivator? The Kapala chief thought, his brows creased. A mere cultivator can subdue the spirit power of the Yaksha Mani?
“I can see you are in disbelief,” said Svetavastra. “You helped me subdue it.”
“I?”
“Yes,” said Svetavastra. “The Yaksha Mani’s powers were unleashed and fuelled by your intense emotions - once those emotions were in control, my spiritual power could contain the Yaksha fire.”
“I see,” said the Kapala Chief looking at his hands, one with the whip and the other that held Svetavastra’s hands a while back. He is a powerful cultivator, the Kapala Chief thought to himself.
He looked all around him remembering Lakhan, his eyes searching the razed-down city for traces of his comrade.
“Lakhan is safe,” replied Svetavastra calmly. “He is on the outskirts of the city protected by my spiritual barrier.”
Relief flooded the Kapala Chief and he relaxed a bit - he had not realised how tense he had been till then.
“I want to see him,” the Kapala Chief said, his voice weak.
“Not yet,” said Svetavastra. “The Yaksha mani inside you is still corrupted. It can still cause harm.”
The Kapala Chief grimaced recalling his loss of control and the carnage he had caused on the border city. Guilt stricken, he tried to say something but no words came out of his mouth.
“I know you caused the destruction of this place,” said Svetavastra.
“I did,” said the Kapala Chief.
Svetavastra was silent, he waited for the Kapala Chief to offer an explanation.
“The Yaksha Mani had a dark miasma when I had uncovered the Northern Mines,” said the Kapala Chief. “I did not pay heed to it and merged it with my heart. Ever since then, I have had the voice in my head, it does not go away and it urges me to go on a killing spree - it does not discriminate against the ones I care for or not - it keeps urging me to end it for everyone.”
“I sent Lakhan away because I could no longer keep it under control but I never imagined, that not only would it force me into a killing spree but it could make the dead rise as the undead and do its bidding.”
“Hmm,” said Svetavastra stroking his chin with his fingers pondering the matter. “Could you control the undead?”
“What do you mean?” asked the Kapala Chief.
“When you were under the control of the dark energy, the undead,” said Svetavastra. “Did they follow your orders or did they attack you?”
The Kapala Chief fell silent trying to recollect the events of the past night.
“The dark energy possessing me directed the entire killing spree last night,” said the Kapala Chief. “The undead killed the living and the dead became the undead.”
“I see,” said Svetavastra and sighed. The chief is still alive so the dark energy could not completely take over, if it could, the destruction that it could unleash would have been terrifying. The threat still exists as long as the dark energy is corrupting this yaksha.
“You have an insatiable bloodlust in you,” said Svetavastra out of the blue looking directly at the Kapala Chief.
The Kapala Chief looked at him, curiosity and caution flickering in his green eyes for being called out like that.
“Why do you say so?” He asked.
“I can see flashes of your past, this is not the first city you razed to the ground,” Svetavastra commented silently. “You destroyed many places - much before you possessed the Yaksha mani.”
The Kapala Chief felt exposed all of a sudden, with the spiritual power calming his intense emotions, momentarily he could not recollect why he had done such horrifying acts in the past.
“The dark energy fed on your existing bloodlust and amplified it a thousand times over. Whether it was your intention or not, whether you were under the influence of the dark energy,” said Svetavastra, “your acts are still your responsibility,”
“I know,” conceded the Kapala Chief, he waited for a long moment to bring himself to say it but he said it finally. “I will atone for the harm I caused unintentionally. I had every reason for the destruction I unleashed intentionally.”
“Hmm,” said Svetavastra, “My duty is not to judge you or reform you. It is to minimise the harm you can do. I have to purify the Yaksha mani to remove the dark energy afflicting it completely.”
“But I don’t hear the voice in my head,” said the Kapala Chief. “Is it not purified by you already?”
“It’s not as simple as that,” said Svetavastra. “I created a temporary barrier between the Yaksha Mani inside your body and you. But I still have to cleanse the mani.”
“Ohh,” Said the Kapala Chief, “how would you do that?”
“I have to find the root cause of your bloodlust and remove it,” said Svetavastra. “This could be a long drawn-out process. I suspect that the dark energy seeped into your ancestral memories through the Yaksha mani. Because of this, the source of your bloodlust may have originated through your ancestors and may merely have been amplified by the experiences you faced in your lifetime. I would have to first unlock those memories and find how deep the dark energy has seeped into and remove it from there.”
“Hmm,” said the Kapala Chief. “Is that why I could not control the dark energy? Because the bloodlust I have is from my ancestors?”
“Possibly so,” said Svetavastra. “I would have to look into your ancestral memories to verify it.”
“I did not know I possessed ancestral memories,” commented the Kapala Chief.
“We all do,” said the cultivator. “Only those with good spiritual awareness can access them but they are with us - all the time.”
“How can I help you access these memories?” asked the Kapala Chief.
“You would have to cultivate with me,” said Svetavastra. “This could take some time maybe even a few days.”
Svetavastra made the Kapala Chief be seated in a cross-legged position and asked him to close his eyes and focus on his breath. He sat in the same way facing him.
“Remember, you only have to focus on your breath,” said Svetavastra. “Do not be swayed by intruding thoughts, return to focus on your breath each time. I will take care of the rest.”
The Kapala Chief nodded and focused his entire attention on his breath. He noticed his incoming breath and his outing breath, again and again. His breathing slowed down as time passed and slowly, he went into a deep meditation.
Svetavastra made a mudra with his hand and brought it to his forehead, his mind’s eye became visible with the purple spiritual energy on the forehead. It focused a beam of purple energy toward the Kapala chief, who felt a cooling sensation when the purple energy touched his forehead. Through it, Svetavastra entered the Kapala Chief’s memories.