The "Antim-Gully" was where Neo-Kashi threw its trash—both the metallic kind and the human kind. Here, the air tasted of ozone and rotting marigolds. There were no holographic ads here, only the flickering red light of "Low Balance" warnings reflecting off the damp walls.
In the center of a clearing, surrounded by rusted pipes and leaking coolant, a woman was kneeling.
Her name was Mira. Once, she had been a Mahant of the Surya Temple, her Punya-Balance so high it glowed like a second sun. But today, the space above her head was terrifying.
[0.0003]
"Please," she whispered, her hands trembling. "I served the Dharma for twenty years. It was a setup. The High Priest stole my ledger! I didn't commit those sins!"
Standing over her were two Dharma-Guards. They weren't drones; they were men, but their humanity had been replaced by titanium and "Karmic-Silicon." Their armor was white and gold, polished to a mirror finish.
"The Ledger does not lie, Mira," the lead Guard said, his voice synthesized and cold. "Your balance has reached the threshold of Daridra (Miserable). You are a drain on the cosmic energy of this city. Your existence is no longer efficient."
Mira looked up, her eyes wide with terror. "I have a daughter! She's in the upper tiers! If you delete me, she'll forget I ever existed!"
"That is the mercy of the System," the Guard replied, raising a heavy crystalline baton that hummed with Deletion-Energy. "She will feel no grief, for there will be no 'You' to grieve for."
He swung the baton.
CLANG.
The sound wasn't the wet thud of a strike. It was the screech of metal hitting something... impossible.
The Guard blinked. His baton had stopped three inches from Mira's head. It wasn't a shield that stopped it. It was a hand. A bare, greasy, human hand.
Kabir stood there, his hood pulled back, his jagged red [- 2] pulsing like a heartbeat.
"You're late for your shift, sipahi," Kabir said, a lazy grin playing on his lips.
The Guard tried to pull the baton back, but it was stuck, as if fused to Kabir's palm. "Identification! Your HUD signature is... corrupted! What are you?"
"I'm the bad news your boss forgot to tell you about," Kabir muttered.
Kabir didn't punch. He didn't kick. He simply stepped closer to Mira and placed his other hand on her shoulder.
System Alert: [Proximity Error. Negative Integer Detected in Deletion Zone.]Calculating New Value... Error... Error...
Suddenly, Mira's flickering [0.0003] turned into a chaotic jumble of symbols. The Deletion-Baton, designed to target low-value souls, suddenly turned off. It couldn't 'see' Mira anymore because she was standing in Kabir's "Mathematical Shadow."
"Get back!" the second Guard roared, drawing a Karmic-Pistol. "He's a Glitch! Purge him!"
The Guard fired a bolt of golden energy. Kabir didn't move. The bolt hit his chest and simply... vanished.
"You guys keep using 'Plus' energy against a 'Minus' man," Kabir sighed, stepping forward. He touched the Guard's chest-plate. "Let me show you some subtraction."
Kabir pulled. It wasn't a physical pull, but a spiritual one. The Guard's golden number—[4,500]—began to spin backward like a broken odometer.
4,500... 3,000... 1,200... 0.
The Guard's armor turned to grey ash. His eyes went dull. He didn't die, but he collapsed, his "Life-Right" revoked by Kabir's touch. He was now just a shell, invisible to the city's life-support systems.
The other Guard turned and ran, his boots clattering against the metal floor.
Mira looked up at Kabir, panting. "Who... what are you? You saved me, but... my HUD... I can't see your value."
Kabir looked down at her. "That's because I don't have one, Mira-ji. And neither do you, for the next ten minutes. My shadow is covering you."
"But I'll still be deleted once you leave," she cried. "The system will find me!"
Kabir looked at the sky, where the Golden Palace shimmered in the distance. "Then we change the system. You were a Priestess. You know where they keep the 'Root-Ledger,' don't you? The big book where Brahma's code is written?"
Mira gasped. "The Akashic Server? That's in the heart of the Ministry of Fate! It's guarded by the immortal Vasus! No one can get in!"
Kabir lit a beedi, the smoke swirling around his red negative number. "No 'One' can get in. But like you said... I'm not a 'One.' I'm a Minus. And it's time we started taking some things away from the Gods."
He offered her a hand. "You want your daughter to remember your name, Mira? Then stand up. We're going to go commit the biggest sin in the history of Neo-Kashi."
Mira looked at his hand—the hand that had stopped a Deletion-Baton. She took it.
Above Kabir's head, the box flickered again.
[- 5]
He was becoming a bigger threat with every soul he touched. The "Glitch" was spreading.
Deep within the Ministry of Fate: A massive bell tolled. It was the Kaal-Ghanta—the Bell of Time. It only rang when the Great Cycle was threatened.
An official in robes of liquid silver hurried toward a throne. "Maharaja! The Third Yama-Sentry was destroyed. And now, two Guards in the Deletion Zone have been neutralized. The system is reporting a 'Negative Entity'."
The figure on the throne didn't move. His eyes were closed, connected to a thousand wires that fed him the Punya of the entire city.
"A Negative?" the Maharaja's voice boomed. "Impossible. The Zero-Point was sealed a thousand years ago."
"The sensors are clear, My Lord. Someone is walking through the city with a balance of Minus Five."
The Maharaja opened his eyes. They were solid gold. "Send the Krodha-Hunters. And tell them... do not delete him. Bring him to me. I want to see the face of the man who can breathe without paying for it."