What the hell? Sarah thought as she stood before the Siberian gulag-worthy door. The slab of metal was covered in magic circles with lines connecting them. The whole prison cell feeling was completed by instead of a regular door-handle, there was a metal sliding bar implanted deep into the stone wall.

  Instructor Liakos easily muscled the bar and pulled the door open. Sarah was immediately hit with the heavy smell of herbs and smoke as it opened with a loud creek. The smell kind of reminded her of when her mom let her participate in a Native American Smudge Ritual when one of her coworkers got sick on a dig. She and her mother were allowed to watch and document the tribe’s representative performing the ritual. It was both fascinating and fragrant. The white sage, cedar, sweet grass, and tobacco combined into a pungent smoke that was very memorable.

  The room was circular with numerous herb bundles and wooden or bone totems hanging from the walls, none of which she recognized from her mother’s books. There were also four waist-tall stones with ogham runes carved into them. In her dead languages class she learned that Ogham was a Celtic written language predating both Norse and Germanic runes. The language was unique such that the letters were based on the shape and names of trees and other plants. She couldn’t read what the stones said but could recognize the writing. Those stones must have been added by the druids.

  A large clay bowl half-filled with ash sat in the center. The remnants of what was probably previous ceremonies piled high. There were four cushions placed on the floor between the stones and the bowl. While still fascinated by the mesh of cultures and beliefs she sat cross-legged on one of the cushions. By that time she was already getting light headed.

  She watched as Instructor Liakos picked up a bundle of herbs left on the floor by the door and placed it on the peak of the ash pile. She lit the bundle with a flip lighter she pulled from a pocket. The smell quickly intensified as more of whatever she lit smoldered.

  “Listen up,” Instructor Liakos said sternly, “you’ll be going on one hell of a trip. This should put you and your beast in a neutral space. This space will make it so neither of you can force the other into submission.”

  She turned serious. “I’ll be honest with you. Just because you can’t dominate each other doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt. This entire first session will be harsh. You’ll probably be running away from an angry tiger the entire time. You don’t yet have the mental fortitude to stand on equal grounds with your beast.”

  Sarah looked at her incredulously. “Why the hell am I doing this if I’ll just be clawed to death!?”

  Instructor Liakos rolled her eyes. “Its all mental. No matter what happens, there won’t be any lasting damage. The worst that can happen is you’ll go a little nuts and I’ll have to suppress your beast.”

  Sarah continued her look. “Are you fucking serious?! You’re nuts if you think I’ll just let myself be literally mauled by a tiger!”

  The woman looked down at her amused. As Sarah was getting up to protest further her head swam and dropped back down. The last thing she recognized was a voice saying “have a nice trip” before blacking out.

  The next thing Sarah felt was dirt and humidity. She really needed to stop falling asleep and waking up in weird places. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of a large clearing surrounded by a jungle. It was at night with a full moon illuminating her surroundings. The sounds and smells of a lively forest were far too real for any hallucination. It was so realistic that for a brief moment she thought everything was a bad dream and she was just outside the dig. This hope was immediately broken when she heard a growl and watched two glowing orange eyes appear from the jungle’s darkeners and approach the clearing.

  The eyes were too big and way too high off the ground to be anywhere near natural. Sarah stood and crept backwards as an orange and black paw the size of her chest exited the shadows followed by a snarling tiger. Her heart was thundering wildly as she turned and tried to run. She continually cursed whoever’s idea it was to pit her against an animal that just a few hours ago tried to rip someone apart.

  She didn’t hear anything following her as she scrambled. That probably didn’t mean anything BECAUSE MAGIC! Or some other bullshit reason. As she entered the jungle edge she started getting pushed back. It felt like she was trying to push two magnets together. It got to the point where she had to dig her feet into the dirt to just stay where she had managed.

  “Oh knock it off,” said a gruff woman’s voice from behind her. She turned to find a giant tiger almost as tall as a horse standing in full light. The figure was as majestic as it was terrifying.

  When she lost focus on the battle, she was hit by something hard enough to launch her a few feet and onto her back. She gasped for breath as she laid stunned on her back.

  She barely heard the footsteps of the beast approaching her until it was standing over and looking down at her.

  “You done?” it asked exasperated.

  “You’re not going to maul me?” She gasped out.

  The tiger sighed. “Of course not. I’m not some mindless animal. I’m not some regular ‘beast curse’ as they call it. I am Dawon. I am the vāhana of the goddess Durga. The companion and mount of one of the most powerful goddesses in history. Don’t you dare compare me to some leftover energy with no intelligence.”

  “Wait, you mean the times I’ve talked to my beast…”

  “You’ve been talking to me, yes.”

  Sarah recovered enough to pull herself into a sitting position. “Wait, what about the times I’m taken over? Are you the one in control.”

  Dawon grimaced, “no, I am not. I am but a mind buried. That is the base instinct created by the curse. It is basic, animalistic and weak.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Weak?” Sarah asked. “How the hell is that weak? As soon as I touch it I have to fight to stay in control!”

  “Exactly. It lets easy prey like you be able to escape its clutches. If that isn’t weak, I don’t know what is.”

  Sarah started growling. She got to her feet and took a few steps back. “You can stick your opinions right up your ass. Let's put you somewhere you didn’t even know existed and see how you do. Yeah, how about I put you in the middle of a city, tell you to get a job, not hurt anyone, and see what happens?”

  She took a step forward toward the very toothy beast. “Just because I’m a fish that can’t climb a tree doesn’t mean I don’t have an ocean I can thrive in.”

  Dawon chuffed. “You’re lucky I’ve been able to glean bits of knowledge from your mind or I wouldn’t have been able to understand any of that. You compare yourself to a fish that can’t climb a tree.” She also stepped forward. “You’d better grow arms and legs fast or you’ll be eaten up by the first dog walking by.”

  “You don’t think I’m trying?!” How dare this fur-ball judge her. She worked and moved forward while barely keeping it together. She was another disappointment away from a total breakdown. She was doing her absolute best. She didn’t have her parents or brother or friends for support anymore. She didn’t have a roommate who would drag her out for some light drinking after a long week. She had nothing but what her captors gave her.

  “I’m doing my damn best here. I didn’t ask to be kidnapped and taken around the world. I didn’t ask for my entire family to think I’m dead. I didn’t ask for my entire life to be completely shredded!” She stepped closer and closer until the tiger was almost within arm reach. “I didn’t ask to feel so damn alone! And I didn’t ask for YOU to be shoved inside me!” Her rage hit a critical point and broke. Her inner fire extinguished as she collapsed to the jungle floor.

  “I wanna go home.” She put her head down and held her arms close as she began to cry. Who was she to be pulled into the bullshit world of magic? She wasn’t someone down on their luck needing a second chance or a new life. She wasn’t some poor soul on their deathbed who would be saved by a beast cursed’s healing powers. She grew up in a good home with loving parents. They weren’t rich but they weren’t poor either. Who was she to take such opportunities away from someone who might need it. Maybe they should pull out her beast after all. Maybe give it to someone who deserved it.

  As she fell deeper into despair she felt something furry wrap around her. She opened her eyes to a wall of black and orange. “Shh child,” Dawon said in an almost motherly tone. “You’re right. I forget you are but a cub.”

  That was the first time Sarah had felt truly safe since she left for India. What was safer than a tiger the size of a car? She curled herself tighter and truly let herself cry. She didn’t know how long she was like that. She could only lament the loss of her regular life while pushing more and more into the course yet fluffy fur.

  As Sarah was winding down Dawon spoke. “I love my goddess. Serving her and her will was the greatest thing I could have ever dreamed of. When she called I was there.” Sarah could hear the melancholic joy in their words.

  “But one day, I got hurt. It was in a fight against a clan of Asura. Questions like where they came from or what made them were unimportant to me, all that mattered was that they were my mistress’ enemies. They were strong but we were stronger. I ripped them apart with my teeth and claws while she slaughtered them with her many weapons. It was a glorious fight.” By the end Dawon sounded dreamlike. One reminiscent of a golden age.

  Her tone dropped. “As we were finishing off the enemy’s remnants I was struck in the side by a spear forged with the blood of Mahishasura. His rage and want for vengeance against my mistress and I for killing him were given physical form. The weapon wounded more than just my body, it pierced my very soul. I wasn’t instantly killed by the spear but was left in critical condition. To save my life, my master reduced me into a core and created a stone body to hold my spirit as it recovered. They promised that when I recovered she would retrieve me and we could fight together once again…but that never came.”

  Sarah’s curiosity grew but kept silent.

  The towering edifice of violence and fur started to get emotional. “The entire time I was in the statue I still had a connection to my mistress. As the years went by, I could feel her become strange, like she was being tainted. Her aspects were no longer cohesive but held together with threads. What was once my goddess became a shadow. When I was finally healed I called out to her. I wanted to help in any way I could. I would have done anything to pull her back together…my calls were never answered. My healing bed turned into a prison.”

  Dawon paused for a while. Sarah once again stayed silent. From what she read in the database, there were some beings and beasts that weren’t created through human imagination but by a god themselves. Durga was more than Dawon’s master but their creator, their mother. Sarah couldn’t imagine what it would be like to watch as her reason for existence slowly broke apart. The closest thing she could relate it to would be watching a parent fall into dementia. The powerlessness as they watch the person they knew their entire lives fade away.

  “By the time you found me I was angry. I wanted out and didn’t care how. Little did I know that I would just go from one prison to another. When we spoke to my goddess in your dream, it was the clearest she had been since I was sealed. It was like she was back to the real her. When she rejected my return to service I was hurt. She was my reason for existence.”

  “But,” Sarah said, “she didn’t reject you, she wanted you to be more than a servant.”

  “I know. It's just…my entire life was one purpose, and I was happy. I was the servant and trusted companion to one of the greatest divines there was. To fight and stand beside such glory was everything. I guess I’m like the wolf-cursed in that way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Dawon turned her head to look down on the still teary-eyed woman. “Even a beast like me could see how much his role meant to him. I saw the despair in him. Our reasons were taken away.”

  Sarah looked down. She started to sink again. Her bumbling took his reason to live. As she was about to start crying again Dawon’s tail smacked her face. She spluttered in surprise as she spit out a few hairs.

  “Get over yourself,” Dawon said. “Just like me, he found a new direction. Did the man you learned from a few minutes ago look like he was still in despair?” Both of them looked up as they felt something shift. “I believe our meeting is about to end.” Dawon stood, making Sara flop backward into the dirt. They looked eye to eye. “I’m glad I didn’t need to tear you apart a few times before we came to an understanding. Though don’t get me wrong.” A growl rose from her throat and her finger thick teeth gleamed through a snarl. “I refuse to have a weak host. You must gain strength or I will do whatever it takes to take over.”

  The previously secure Sarah felt a shiver down her spine. She knew that even though she was closer to her beast, she still needed to work harder than ever to survive. Before she could respond she once again felt light headed and watched the world spin around her. When it all stopped she found herself lying on a cement floor, the air thick with smoke.

  Much like Dawon, Instructor Liakos stood above her looking down. “Not panicking I see. I guess you didn’t have to worry about getting eaten after all.”

  Sarah thought of the conversation she just had with her passenger. Though, maybe passenger's passenger would be more accurate. Maybe she wasn’t as alone as she thought. What was better than having a furred murder machine in your corner instead of trying to become the pilot.

  Why did she suddenly crave lots of red meat? Maybe wherever the magically appearing food comes from is up to giving her seconds.