Sarah sat nervously in the suspiciously normal classroom. The long tables and chairs were in an old style and made of solid wood along with the black chalkboard giving the whole thing an antique feel. There was enough space and chairs for ten students and a teacher. She barely got comfortable in the front row of tables when the door opened and Logan entered carrying a large dumbbell.

  “Good afternoon Cadet Jacobs,” he said formally. She quickly recognized that this wasn’t Logan but Instructor Alexander. Her father was a professor so she knew the change in attitude and mindset they often required. It felt weird returning to being a student while being in an admittedly comfortable combat uniform. She had barely escaped the cage of academia yet there she was. Not even a month out of graduation and she was back in the classroom. Her only saving grace is that unlike many of her peers, she actually enjoyed school and learning. Apparently being the boring one in the dorm is finally paying off.

  He walked to the front, put down the weight and stood tall with his arms clasped behind his back. “Today you’ll be learning some more basics on how to be a being. This will include what makes each being type different, what is internal energy and how to use it. This evening you’ll be doing a communication exercise to get you closer to your beast.”

  She nodded. She was excited to finally get some answers. She could instinctively feel the hidden power her beast was capable of giving her. It was more than just making her fitter or changing shape, there was something more. Unfortunately for her, there was some sort of block between her and this power.

  Her excitement was quickly extinguished when she started thinking about what it may involve. She was still very afraid of herself. Her meeting with the psychologist helped but she knew she needed much more help before accepting her new life. She shivered as she remembered the loss of control she had at the airport.

  He picked up a stick of chalk and started drawing on the chalkboard. He drew five circles each with letters in them. They went A, D, I, U, and C.

  “Here are the five divisions of beings. There is that of angels and holy creatures, demons and unholy creatures, innately magical beings, undead, and finally us, cursed and intelligent beasts.” He said pointing to the circles with the corresponding letters.

  He turned to her with the look of a teacher about to confuse their students. “Each division uses magic in a different way. When you look at it all at once it may seem complicated. If you break it down, everything is much simpler.”

  He drew an oval around the A and D circles. “First, angels and demons. They can manipulate and can solidify their elements. Angels make solid objects out of light while demons make them out of shadows. Depending on their imagination and how good their ability to manipulate their element is they can be quite dangerous. Lilith is a great example. She is able to jump between shadows and form armor stronger than steel with just this manipulation.”

  He moved to the I. “Then, those with innate magic. This is the vast majority of beings you’ll encounter in this realm. They use magic by forming spell circles. These circles are made of rings that each have a different effect. When carving circles into objects with special tools they make enchantments.”

  Sarah remembered the circles she stood in when the did the magic signature thing.

  “Undead use spirit energy to power their myriad of unique abilities. Their problem is that each of them are very limited in what they can do. Dwarves, for example, are better at earth-based spells due to their affinity but are able to use any element. While a banshee can only create sonic attacks and can’t affect physical objects while a revenant can use weapons but can’t float or phase through objects.”

  He doubled up the C circle. “Finally is us, beast-cursed and intelligent beasts. We are created by humans getting hit with remnant energies left behind by unique named creatures. Intelligent beasts are the same but with animals getting cursed instead of humans. It isn’t possible to have two curses or anyone with innate magic to become a beast-cursed.”

  He placed the stick of chalk on a shelf. “Our advantage is the internal energy our beasts give us. The passive effect of this energy is that our bodies enter peak physical condition, we practically don’t age, are immune to all mundane diseases, and become resistant to most basic injuries.”

  Sarah itched her arm as she remembered how much her body had already changed. If she was going to be in “peak condition” then she had more changes in her future. Who hadn’t dreamed of becoming perfectly fit without all the necessary diet and exercise? She just wished this all worked without the temperamental and hungry tag-along.

  “We use this energy to augment our bodies,” he said. “We use this energy to increase our strength, speed, senses, regeneration, or use whatever special ability our beast may have. It is possible for other beings to boost themselves but they have to deal with damaging their own bodies in the process.

  “Some have abilities like fire breath or a petrifying gaze. All of us also have some level of regeneration. One time I got most of my arm cut off and regrew a new one over the course of a week. A broken bone or stab wounds can be healed in minutes.”

  That took her by surprise. It made sense that the dragon-man could breathe fire. Did that mean someone was part medusa?

  He made sure he met her eyes as he turned serious. “This doesn’t mean we’re immortal. A decapitation or repeated severe injuries can use up all of our internal energy. Without this energy, we are barely better than normal humans.

  She nodded at his glare. She had no interest in getting in fights so decapitation shouldn’t be a problem, right? She then remembered she was currently wearing clothes suitable for soldiers while in a black-ops program. Shit.

  He leaned back. “Because of how we are made, cursed beings are the smallest population with only a few thousand of us.”

  He drew a circle around all the letters, “we are all connected. Where one group is weak, another exceeds. If an elven mage is good at spells but can’t defend themselves, a cursed like us can protect them so they can take out the target.” He quickly erased the board. “And that is the most basic explanation on the different types of beings.”

  “That was the basic?” Sarah asked obviously confused.

  “Very much so. I could go deeper in depth on how each of these work but we’ll be here for hours. I know looking at this all at once seems incredibly complicated, but if you break it down it is much easier. Fortunately, you’ll have better teachers who know more than I do to go over all that with you later. Anyway, back to us.”

  He drew a sloppy outline of a human with a circle in the middle of their chest. “As I said, we cursed are special because of our beasts and how we can move their energy.” He drew arrows from the circle toward the limbs. “When we merge with our core and fill our entire bodies with the energy we enter our hybrid form. Every cursed being has this form even though they can differ in how much they change. Instructor Liakos for example only gains some extras instead of completely changing. Because she is cursed with a gorgon, in hybrid form she gains snakes for hair, a pair of tusks, a few spots of scales and a pair of wings.”

  “Wings?”

  “Yup, big, black and feathery. Anyway, the most common is a combination of our human and beast features.” He sighed, “it’s easier to just think of werewolves or something like that.”

  She could easily tell he wasn’t a fan of such a comparison.

  “We are able to pull the energy to one specific area.” He erased the arrows and drew one toward the head. “We can sometimes have a hard time seeing mana that isn’t actively being used in an enchantment or is being formed into something. To change this we can push energy into our eyes like this.” He met her eyes and she could tell the difference. His eye color changed to an almost glowing orange. After showing her, his eyes returned to normal.

  “We can do the same with our muscles to increase strength and speed. Here is before,” he quickly punched the air, “and here is after,” he threw another punch that was so fast it was closer to a blur.

  “There are more ways to use our energy, but for now we’ll focus on basic physical augmentation. Come on up and stand here.” He motioned next to him.

  She followed his instruction and stood next to him, her mind still reeling from all the new information. She got more and more nervous as she approached. Even after her talk with Dr. Rigas, she was still reticent to getting close to her beast, or her core in this case. The thought of even touching it made her shiver. She could still feel how hungry and angry it was. It constantly wanted freedom and permission to rip and tear anything living apart. He had her turn and face away from him.

  “Now close your eyes,” he said before touching where she remembered him drawing the circle on the diagram. “About here is where you’ll find the core of your curse. When you find it, don’t let it drag you in. It may come out to try and grab you. Tell me when you found it.”

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  Sarah focused inward. It was strange. After getting cursed she could almost throw her consciousness into her body, partially disconnecting herself from her senses. She returned to where she was trying to communicate with her tiger. She followed the memory and found the turning ball of anger. As she got near it, the power did leap out and try to drag her in. With a lurch she pulled back, making the power miss.

  “Found it,” she said with her eyes still closed.

  “Good. Now what I want you to do is not touch your core but pull from it. A beast curse is like an ever-burning flame. A flame that is bright and strong but will never truly burn you. Shifting is what happens when you allow yourself to get consumed by the fire. What you want is the residual energy, you can visualize it as the fire’s smoke or fumes. Usually this energy is wasteful and directionless. This usual waste is what fortifies our bodies and gives us our instincts. Imagine you are collecting the smoke. You are about to give the energy a direction and purpose. Don’t fight your instincts, use them. They will help you control everything.”

  She listened to his instructions but had a hard time pulling on the “smoke” without the curse trying to drag her in. Whenever she got too close it would try to reach out for her. After a while she was only able to collect a few wisps. These wisps didn’t seem enough to do anything.

  “That’s enough. Now focus on moving what you have collected to your arms. Do your best to split it evenly.” She did as instructed and clumsily split the energy. It was uneven and she lost some in the process but was able to move most of it to her arms.

  “Open your eyes,” he said as he picked up the dumbbell and placed it on the table in front of her.

  She followed her instincts on how they were telling her to keep the energy she collected where she wanted it. She assumed he wanted her to lift the weight with a large twenty facing her. Not even a week ago she would be weary at casually lifting a twenty pound weight. She was almost in a trance as she focused. With a smooth motion she reached out and with only a slight grunt lifted it and did what was no doubt a sloppy curl. When she was excited at seeing her increase in strength she lost control of her energy causing it to leave her muscles and return to her core.

  The now significantly heavier dumbbell dropped from surprised fingers and thudded into the floor. She stood shocked. “That wasn’t twenty pounds, was it?”

  “Nope,” Logan said with a satisfied smile, “it was kilos.”

  She turned to him in shock.

  “That’s right, you lifted almost fifty pounds like it was nothing. If a regular being reinforced themselves like that, they would face a tiring backlash that could leave them debilitated if they push themselves too far or too long. Just with the little energy you were able to use you got that much stronger. Now do you see why we are respected even though our kind are so comparatively rare?”

  She could only gape. Holy carap. What could she do if she got better at controlling that energy? How strong would she be? She knew her attempt was sloppy and slow. Maybe she could gain superhero levels of strength if she got good enough. She could almost feel her beast say “I told you so” when she took another look at her core. Her blood started pumping. She wasn’t as weak as she thought. If she used this power she may never be the scared one in the corner ever again.

  She was practically bouncing, “what else can I do?”

  “Slow down there. Let's walk before we run.” She returned to her seat at his direction. “We won’t be working on regeneration today.”

  “Today?” she asked

  “Yes, today. Since healing is one of our most notable abilities we are the front line of any team we are assigned. A high pain tolerance is crucial to our role. For example, when we were attacked on our way back from the temple I was shot three times. They slowed me but I pushed past the pain and finished the fight.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened. He made it sound like she’ll have to get used to getting shot whenever she goes out. Hell no. She was a researcher, not a soldier. Maybe she could convince them to give her a nice desk job or anything where bullets weren’t a daily threat.

  Logan seemed to sense her reluctance. “I’m sorry to say that for some reason I don’t know, you were assigned as a hunter-class. Our job is dangerous. We are the ones who are sent on missions others can’t or won’t complete. But that’s for later, for now we’ll focus on feeling your energy.”

  After that Logan led her through practice exercises. None of them were about forcefully manipulating the energy but to feel and understand it. At first she didn’t really see the point but progressively understood. The residual energy was both dead and alive, sentient while mindless, kind yet ruthless. The dichotomies made it difficult to understand what she had within her. It was like a thought experiment, so many answers for one question.

  She had obviously lost track of time when Logan stopped the lesson for dinner. She was very surprised when she realized he had essentially been meditating for almost six hours. She was raised to have patience but six hours was a new record.

  “Seriously?” she asked while checking the watch she had collected from her room’s tool shelf that morning. Sure enough, it read 16:50.

  “Yup. We’ll pick this back up later. Dismissed.”

  She started to leave until Logan cleared his throat. She hesitated thinking about what she might have forgotten until Logan stood straight and lightly pounded his chest with his right fist. She saluted back a little chagrined. If she remembered war movies correctly she needed to drop her salute first. She did a mental fist pump when he dropped his fist at the same time she did.

  Her brain was still running as she exited the classroom. She would no longer be the class twig. She’ll be the one of the frontrunner's. She’ll be the fitness influencer and brag about her hundred thousand followers at the high school class reunion. Hypothetically speaking of course.

  She almost instantly smelled a perfectly cooked meal. Just like the night before, a single mysterious plate of food was waiting for her on the kitchen counter. As she picked up her plate of spaghetti and meatballs and started for the table she heard multiple plates clatter behind her. She looked back to the previously empty counter and saw there were six plates waiting. There was no evidence of who cooked or delivered the meals. She must have gotten more used to the ridiculousness of her new life as she didn’t even come close to questioning it. Delicious food appearing out of nowhere, somehow perfectly targeting her cravings? Nothing unusual here.

  As she reached the table the other cadets came in from the same hallway as her, collected their own meals and began eating.

  “Alright, you’ve got an hour for chow and rec.” Instructor Liakos said from behind her, making her jump. “Cadet Jacobs, you’ll be with me. The rest of you will do nighttime training with Instructor Alexander.”

  It was a quiet meal as they all ate. No one was as rushed as they were with lunch but was faster than usual casual dining. Everyone was finished within twenty minutes leaving another forty for free time. The cadets quickly separated. Frederic the angel sat on a couch and started reading a book, Wen stalked outside, the man with an Egyptian eye tattoo disappeared upstairs and the human-looking woman changed seats to sit next to her.

  “Hi, I’m Amy.” She said with a smile.

  “Uh, Hi. I’m Sarah.”

  “Oh I know. We were introduced this morning, remember? You were half asleep still so maybe not. Anyway, it's nice to meet you. How was your first day in shanghai-la? I was born a being so I don’t know what it's like not to know about magic. What was that like? Since you are a beast-cursed you won’t be throwing any spells. Oh, who are you cursed by? Do you have any additional abilities?”

  Sarah was stunned by the rapid fire questions. The girl practically glowed with cheerleader energy. Sarah was the nerdy honor roll kid and never got along with the popular crowd. She was going to pass her off as the simple and bubbly type until her beast gave her the feeling of danger, that something wasn’t right. She pulled back and thought logically. From what she had collected, Hunter-Class were supposed to be the elites. As such, she highly doubted such an airhead would get in.

  Amy noticed her suspicions and transformed. Her once bright smile turned mischievous and her eyes went from innocent to looking at a snack. She went from a person that would be great to go shopping with to someone you’d see in a murder documentary.

  “Ah, you found me out so quickly.” She said in a completely different accent. Before she sounded like a California valley girl, now she sounded closer to European nobility. “That’s just boring. The instincts of a cursed always ruin the fun. Let’s start over then. My name is Alamisec and I am from the Ducal family of D’Crusia, descendants of the Gallant Demon Sallos. Since I highly doubt that means anything to you, I’ll explain. I am from one of the ruling families of the Demon Realm. My bloodline isn’t as bloodthirsty as other families but are never ones to betray. You can still call me Amy by the way”

  Sarah’s eyes widened. She was talking to an actual demon. She had already met an angel and knew they existed, but once again, seeing and feeling one was different. Not just that, some sort of demon royalty. She never even read the list of demons of Solomon, or the Ars Goeita, and the “Gallant Demon Sallos” sounded like one of them. She was stuck. How was she supposed to react? The demons were on their side, right?

  “Oh you’re so cute.” She said standing up. “Here’s some advice, if you want to survive around here, you’ll want to do a lot of reading. Oh, and have fun going psychedelic.” She turned and walked outside. While Sarah watched her go, she noticed their shadow wave at her just before blending in with the darkening outside.

  “Don’t take it to heart,” Frederic said from the couch, not looking up from his book. “She likes to play around but isn’t too bad. She knows when to be serious. I personally wouldn't trust her an inch, but that’s just me.”

  Sarah paused for a moment before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. She must really have gotten tired. She just heard an angel compliment a demon and thought nothing of it. Only then did she remember the last thing she said. What did she mean by psychedelic? Was it the shaman and druid thing Logan mentioned on the plane?

  Sarah felt herself start to panic. She wasn’t as scared of her beast as she was before the energy training. It helped her see how it was a part of her and could be more than just a monster in a flimsy cage but a tool. She now knew the curse was closer to a ball of instincts than it was a malevolent force. She still feared becoming an innocent slaughtering monster. The thought of talking to it again made her nervous. Their last conversation wasn’t bad and they may have reached a tenuous understanding. The breakdown she had after her last shift made her hesitate.

  As she started to shake Sarah felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to find Instructor Liakos’ steady gaze. “You’ll be fine cadet. We’ve all done it.” Looking into the ancient eyes of the woman steadied her. Sarah could only nod as her pulse and shaking slowed.

  “Good girl.” The amazon said while patting her shoulder. “Let's get you started. Logan,” she turned to him, “I’ll get this one started. I leave the others to you. When it's time, take them to the forest and do your thing.” When Sarah saw the sinister smile on Logan, her and her beast agreed on one thing. They were glad they weren’t one of the poor bastards who’ll be in the dark with him. After placing her plate on the counter she followed the instructor down the hall, past the classroom she was in earlier, and to whatever insanity was waiting for her next.