LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 40: The Root of the Bloodlust
A few hundred years before the present time, the Northern Mines was a prosperous abode under the rule of yakshas, forest spirits, who took shelter in the mineral-rich hilltop. The king of yakshas was a power-hungry and paranoid yaksha, who lived in constant fear of getting ousted by his younger brother, who was renowned for his righteousness. The younger brother did not have any intentions on the throne but the paranoid king did not believe that. To calm the king and quell and mis-founded fears, the younger brother willingly gave up his yaksha powers to the yaksha mani, the mythical gem under the care of the king of yakshas. In turn, the yaksha mani became more powerful with the influx of yaksha powers. This led to a power trip for the king and one by one he made all the yakshas give up their powers to the yaksha mani in return of safeguarding them in the Northern Mines. The only yaksha who had not transferred his powers Vajrin, the son of the younger brother, who had left Northern Mines to roam the vast lands beyond it and see the world.
When Vajrin returned to the Northern Mines a few years later, tragedy struck the hill. The king of yakshas had placed the Northern Mines and all the gems in it as a bet with a hitherto unknown young man in a game of dice in a bout of arrogance. Luck was on the side of this young man, who would later find the dynasty of Dayita. The king of yakshas bound by the heavenly rules, gave up his claim to the Northern Mines and buried the yaksha mani deep within the mines so that in principle it could belong to the young man but not be known or found by him. When Vajrin returned, the exodus of yakshas from the Northern Mines had just begun. Yakshas by nature were being spirits rooted to a place, this exodus did not suit them, and some outrightly refused and chose to perish in the Northern Mines.
Vajrin enraged by the injustice meted out to the yakshas by the stupidity of their king, challenged the latter and defeated him in a duel that lasted for thirty days and thirty nights, both sides were heavily injured affecting their yaksha powers but the king of yakshas lost to Vajrin. Having finally realised the futility of everything he had done, the king entrusted the location of the yaksha mani before passing away. Vajrin now heavily injured and unable to use his yaksha powers led the remaining yakshas away from the Northern Mines, seeking a safe place for them to relocate. Without the yaksha powers, they were similar to normal mortals and as they passed by one city to another, one village to the next, they found no help, on the contrary, they were actively shunned from every place they visited. Some more yakshas perished in this manner unable to bear the destitute state they found themselves in.
Vajrin was merely seventeen years old at this time, the series of tragic events and fate that put him in helpless situations one after the other darkened his heart and he swore to become strong and get revenge on all those who looked down on them at their moment of weakness. The despair and hatred he harboured gave me strength to power through the difficulties they encountered on their seemingly perpetual journey. One time, they were surrounded by a group of bandits as they were passing through a forest. Vajrin and his yaksha kinsfolk were outnumbered by the bandits. They fought with whatever strength they had left with Vajrin leading his kinsfolk. Vajrin defeated the bandit chief and took over the bandit group and found safe haven in the deep forests on the west of what would later be the vast Dayita empire.
The hatred in his heart turned to bloodlust and Vajrin put on the bandit mask and would wreak havoc among any wealthy traders who had passed by those forests. Rumours spread of masked bandits who called themselves Kapalas, carrying heads of rich men as trophies in their war chests tied to their horses. He married into the bandit group and soon his son Maruta was born. Vajrin kept trying to revive his yaksha powers through all of this but to no avail. That was when he learned that it could take a few generations down his bloodline to revive the yaksha powers. He was determined to make that happen and created the blood tattoo that passed down from his to his son and from his son to his future generations, till the time Toyesha, who had the same star as Vajrin was born, reviving the once-lost yaksha powers.
The yaksha mani having acquired all the yaksha powers and being a chalice of power and greed became corrupted and prone to getting affected by dark energy that was seeping into the subterranean realms during this time. Toyesha having found the yaksha mani and merging it with his heart became susceptible to the dark energy and the ancestral bloodlust that revived yaksha powers through him.
This is what Svetavastra had learned from all the memory bubbles that were floating around him in the tunnel of time and space, with wisps of dark energy surrounding them like a veil.
This dark energy has grown strong having fed on the bloodlust, Svetavastra thought to himself. It’s too strong for me to purify it inside of Toyesha - it might even be dangerous for him should I do so. He could be the last of his kind, I cannot take that kind of risk.
Svetavastra became pensive as he thought of the ways in which he could contain the dark energy without affecting the Kapala Chief.
First, I need to separate the dark energy from Toyesha, Svetavastra thought, resolving himself to see it through. He made a gesture with his hand as he floated in the tunnel of time and space and a small fire of purple spiritual energy sprung from the tips of his fingers, rising from it, gaining volume as it rose higher and higher, its purple flames twisting and turning as if guided by unseen wind, covering the ancestral memory bubbles one by one.