Chapter 527: Kundalini

“Hello.”

As he sensed and expected, Xavier and Grace were here. The former had his arms crossed and was observing Old Rocco’s children and the door keenly. When Dasha entered, he lowered his hat low. As for Grace, she was helping the kids eat until Dasha entered. There were not three children, there were…seven? Dasha put down the box and the children whose faces he did not know ran over, happy and giddy.

No fear lay in them as they scrounge opened the box.

“Ooh, a teddy bear!”

“Car, car! I’ve always wanted one.”

Dasha returned to his full height. Without looking, he said, “I assume this is your doing, Daughter?”

Daughter was laying stomach-down on the bed, legs kicked up. Arms crossed under her face, the leader of the Whispers laughed. “Oh, come on, you’re running a daycare, aren’t you? A couple more won’t hurt.”

“…”

“You know, I should’ve thought about this. Using children as blackmail in an isolated location, it’s brilliant. Brilliant, I say! Sooo…I brought some more!”

She spoke in Egyptian in an accent that was old and most importantly not understood by the children. One of Old Rocco’s remaining children, the desert-born girl Reem, tugged on Dasha. “Um, where are Omar and Elias?”

Dasha dropped down to her level. “Old Rocco is taking care of them.”

“H-he is?”

“Yes. Old Rocco told me to take care of you. I’m sure you know that he has enemies. He’s a strong man. Strong men have enemies, you know.”

“S-so when I can see him?”

“Soon. Very soon. Here.” Dasha shuffled over and grabbed a toy. “Play with the others. Try to make yourself happy. Old Rocco wouldn’t want you to be sad, right?”

“Y-yes…yes, sir.”

“Grace?” Dasha called out as he pushed Reem toward. “Take care of her.”

A salute from the blonde in white. “Sir, yes sir!”

“Look at you,” Daughter remarked, “a father in the making!”

Dasha glanced at Xavier. He had been silent this whole time. He and Daughter must have had a long discussion over him, the Great Sin. He seemed tense, albeit obedient. More obedient than before.

’As long as Daughter has made sure he won’t come in my way, it’s fine.’

Daughter rolled over and plopped down to the floor. Like a zombie, she lifted herself up, as if exhausted, until it was clear she was not moving her limbs but simply levitating herself. She yawned and brushed her hair with her nails. “Alright, let’s go, Dasha. Xavier, Grace, you two keep an eye on these kiddos.”

The children were alert. They dropped their toys and begged her to stay.

“Pleaaase! We wanna see magic!”

Old Rocco’s kids and the kids she herself kidnapped, they both liked her. Daughter flew right over them, laughing. “Sorry, Mommy and daddy have to talk.”

Talk they did. They went to another room, smaller and more plain. Daughter dived right for the bed, sighing in relief upon the touch of the mattress. She hugged the pillow and turned herself over to glance at Dasha.

“So. Everything going okay?”

“It is.”

“Even your battle against Tisiphone and her sisters?”

“Yes.”

“I have no idea how you’re going to cross the Class 6 barrier,” Daughter stated with remorse. “Millions have tried and failed. It won’t be easy.”

“I know.”

The door closed and in a Territory belonging to him, Dasha decided to take off his white Venetian mask. The moment he did…

Drip.

His eyes started bleeding. The mask was like a damn holding back a flood. Quickly, a giant pool formed at his feet. The white of his eyes were stained red.

“Tch.”

“It’s not an internal injury,” Daughter said, sitting up straight to get a better look at him. “Your soul is bleeding. You must have done something. Did you mess up your Golden Core? That could be the reason.”

“No.”

That wasn’t it. The Golden Pellet itself was fine. No, what was wrong was…

’Bringing my Golden Pellet to replace my heart. My brain is fine. Moving between the body and soul must have…’

Daughter was correct. The Great Sin had experimented on tens of thousands. The brain was not a mystery to him in any sense. Repairing it was complicated and tedious yet well within his ability. The same went for his heart and his other organs. The same could not be said for the soul. He thought he did everything flawlessly. He almost did. The teeniest, tiniest mistake led to a repercussion.

“Usually, the System should pick up the slack. You must have done some very intensive shit to your soul’s nerves,” Daughter said. “Want me to help? I told you: the power of Kundalini isn’t for show.”

’Kundalini…’

Cultivation and Sorcery—manipulating one’s energy in hyper specific ways to learn wanted abilities and achieve desired outcomes. In academia, these fell under the category of Mana Management Systems. Kundalini was another one of these systems. A feminine energy supposedly attainable with Sekhmet. Cults of Sekhmet wielded this form of energy, or at least an imitation of it.

Dasha had no idea if Daughter held the real power of Kundalini. Knowing who she was, however, he presumed she did and in spades too.

Daughter cocked her head. “Come on, I won’t bite.”

To be frank, Daughter was his greatest ally and his one and only weakness. The Whispers belonged to her and although Dasha had done well to build his own empire down in the Underground, he did not think he was remotely close to her influence yet, let alone raw power or skill.

’I informed Xavier and the Whispers that they could use the stores and stalls for information, resting places, and such. I didn’t do it out of the goodness of my heart: it was a mutual gain. The Whispers regain their hold in the Underground and in exchange I am able to track their movements. If I need to disappear, if I need to escape from the Whispers, I can.’

Only a beat passed. Daughter noticed his deep thinking.

“What are you so afraid of?”

“…”

“I joke.” Her smile tugged and became long and creepy. “I doubt the Great Sin has anything to fear.”

“What am I afraid of? What…am I afraid of?” Dasha said in a mutter. From the moment he was born, from the moment he was abandoned at the park, from the moment he met that man, what drove him to keep going in face of his unremarkable standing? “Everything. I fear everything that walks, everything that talks, everything that can put an end to me, however small. Fear is not the absence of rationality. It is the opposite. In a universe that will end someday, it is the only rational emotion to feel. If there were some human or mystical creature absent of any kind of fear, then it would not be a thing of this world.”

His eyes continued to bleed. His head felt heavy. His brain swelled.

“Fear. It carries in you too. Fear of wasting my power. Fear that the Caliph will topple what you have built. Fear that the Kingslayer whom you housed will come for you.”

“…”

“You don’t have to see it. You do not have to feel it either. Between people like us, it is simply…clear.”

“Enough.” Daughter’s smile strained itself. “You…have quite the sound voice. People like us…ha. You’re not wrong, but it also feels like you’re coming onto me. Heh.”

Dasha walked over to her, towering over her. He was a tall man. She was not, especially sitting as she was.

“You knew who I was from the start. That means you believe we share a common goal and fear.”

She looked up at him. Without blinking, she held out a hand and caught the streams of blood. She closed her hands.

“Sit down.”

He did. On the floor, his back toward her while she sat above on the bed. Her bloody index finger touched his nape. He felt it at the base of the spine: the beginning of the coiled snake that was Kundalini.

“Meditate.”

He meditated.

Dasha Pang’s soul was healing.

His eyes sucked up the lost blood. Like time was rewinding, the splatters on the floor came back to him. Dasha controlled his breathing.

“Don’t speak,” Daughter instructed.

“Your Kundalini is very compatible with me. It is a perfect mixture of Yin and Yang.”

“Which you have dominion over as a Cultivator.”

“Indeed. There is no need to be nervous,” Dasha said.

“Hn. You have a question?”

“There is…one matter I have been unable to make any headway with.”

“Oh? What is that?”

“Killing the real Jack the Ripper.”

“Ah.” Daughter grinned. “No need to concern yourself with that. I have it handled.”

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