Logan yawned as he ate his breakfast. The Cadet’s night training ran a little long leaving him with only a handful of hours of sleep. They were a little disappointing in his opinion. They had potential and room to grow so there was hope there.

  The whole thing was held in the zone they called the Forest. It was the quartered forest visible from the landing strip. Multiple kilometer wide quarters were quite literally picked up and brought there from different continents. The forests were a North American pine, a European oak, an Asian bamboo, and a central African tropical. The masterpiece of nature magic was a personal project of a previous representative. They were long before Logan’s time but Master Sigurd said they were an “antisocial, eccentric, mossy, genius.”

  The cadet’s challenge was to get from one of the edges to the small lake in the center. He wanted to see how aware they were of their surroundings while in a stressful situation.

  He chased them through each biome and took all but one of them down multiple times. The only cadet to have only lost once was Cadet Wen. She was at home in nature. No matter what forest she was pushed into, she acted like she was born in it. The only reason he was able to catch her was because he was able to distract her. He purposefully wounded a mana-constructed animal to activate her hunting instincts. While she focused on filling her stomach with the wounded animal, he was able to ambush and subdue her. It was another lesson in when to use her instincts and when to ignore them.

  After eating he once again requisitioned a car and drove his way to the barracks. He arrived at 06:50. With training beginning at 07:00 the cadets should have been doing their last preparations for the day. He was met at the door by Amara. After they exchanged pleasantries she got to business.

  “Cadet Jacobs,” she said, “did the vision ritual last night and things went…different than I was expecting.”

  “Oh?” Logan asked. “Did she damage something?”

  “Quite the opposite really. She came out calmer than she went in. From what I was able to gather, she talked to her tiger.”

  Logan paused at that. “What do you mean by talked?”

  “I mean she literally talked to it. Apparently a nice conversation where they reached a tentative understanding.”

  Logan’s mind spun at the implications. It wasn’t unheard of for a curse to have some remnant intelligence from their origin resulting in an animalistic intelligence, but to have a full conversation with one is different. If that was true then it was more than just a remnant of the original creature that formed her core. He felt the center of his own core shake as the realization. He clenched his teeth as he forced it to still.

  “Thats…concerning.” Logan said.

  “Yes and no. Yes they have a tag-along. No, I don’t think there will be a fight for dominance, at least not yet. She still needs to learn how to control her energy and how to appease her beast. I guess that isn’t completely right in her case. She needs to appease her beast’s leftover energy.”

  “You’ve already reported everything?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ll have me sit in on the next ritual?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’ll be a beast to beast talk?”

  “Yes.”

  He sighed. “So what’s my day look like?”

  “We still need to get Cadet Jacobs up to standard while boosting her confidence. We need to show her that this is more than just one negative after another. You know her better than me. What would show her she has a future?”

  Logan thought for a moment. “She was an archaeologist and ate through the intro database. Maybe talking to one of our historians or giving her one of our history books would work. If that doesn’t work we’ll need to talk to Dr. Rigas.”

  “Not unreasonable. I’ll see what can be done. For today you’ll be working with her on control and taking her on her first hunt. I doubt her beast has been appeased lately.”

  “I’ll take her to the Forest and get it done.”

  “Now get to work. You have a week to get her to go hybrid without going feral. I’m not asking for full integration, just enough to have human level intelligence.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Normally he would say that wasn’t possible. It took most people a long time to accept their beasts enough for the two to get along. Amara was probably counting on Dawon to somehow speed up the process.

  After their quick conversation, they separated the cadets with Sarah with Logan while the others went with Amara. He took her to the training room he had “introduced” himself to the other cadets.

  She paused in the entrance and gaped at the formation covering the walls, floor, and ceiling.

  He let her stay like that for a few seconds. “Cadet Jacobs, if you would stop gawking at the walls that would be great.”

  She blinked a few times before nodding, “sorry.”

  “Sorry Sir,” he emphasized. “When we are instructor and cadet you will refer to me as sir.”

  She straightened, “yes, sir.”

  “Good,” he nodded. “The reason I brought you here is to do some more exercises on controlling your hybrid form. Instructor Liakos told me you had a conversation with your beast. How do you feel about it now.”

  She hesitated in apparent thought. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m still not afraid of it, but I’m not as reticent as I used to be.”

  “While it’s good that you’re coming to terms with your beast, to succeed you’ll need to keep a level of caution. There is more than one reason we are called beast cursed. Our beasts are our power and our burden. You could see it like a violent pet. If you learn how to treat and work with the animal, it can be a powerful if unstable weapon or a deadly liability. Either way it has the ability to rip whatever it wants apart. What direction their claws are pointed is up to you.”

  He watched as her anxiety rise.

  “I’m not saying this to scare you. Now that you understand what your passenger is, you need to know their dangers. Our goal today is to get you and your beast into an understanding. That will include energy control and communication. We’ll start with going back to yesterday’s lesson but focus on collecting energy without being taken over.”

  He instructed her to go to the center of the projection circle and sit in a lotus pose, once she sat he Knelt behind her. For the next hour he guided her through some energy control exercises. He was glad they didn’t have to go back to the forceful suppression like on the plane. The only reason they used such drastic measures was because he wanted to make sure she understood her situation. She saw the potential danger from her first shift but needed to see that just because she shifted didn’t mean there was no turning back.

  The exercises included pulling energy into different muscles, spreading it out evenly, and finally into her senses. Every attempt was as sloppy as he expected. Fortunately, she was improving each time. Each pull was getting smoother and she was able to keep it in place longer.

  He had them stop after an hour when she was starting to make mistakes. Pushing too hard in these early exercises could lead to dangerous outcomes. He called for a break when she slipped and was almost pulled in by her beast. She immediately turned and collapsed. Even though it was entirely mental she still had a layer of sweat and was breathing roughly.

  “Damn, that was hard,” She panted.

  “You’ll get used to it. It’ll eventually get to the point that moving your cursed energy will be second nature. You have five minutes before we go again.”

  True to his word Logan had her restart the exercise after exactly five minutes. The second round only lasted thirty minutes before she started making mistakes and he called for another break. He was impressed she was able to last so long on the admittedly dull exercises. The average newly cursed were only able to last thirty minutes at most in their first round. He attributed this focus on her lifetime of academics and a light layering of desperation.

  “Alright,” he said after the second break was over. “Now that you have more of a grasp on energy control we’ll do some more exercises with your beast.” He saw her worry but not the panic he would have found the day before. “Instructor Liakos gave us a week to get you in control of your hybrid form and it’ll take work. From what I understand, you’re more comfortable with your beast after your smoke journey?”

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  “Yeah I am. I’m not going to lie and say I’m still not a little scared but I’m a lot more confident. Dawon is nicer than I thought she would be.”

  “Good. A tag-along like yours is extremely rare but not to the extent of being unheard of.” His core shivered as he spoke. “You’ll need to remember that your curse and Dawon are two separate creatures. Your beast will still be an animalistic ball of instincts and power that you’ll have to wrestle and subdue.”

  “And here I was hoping I could talk it down,” she said with a weak smile.

  “Don’t we all?” He left the still splayed out Sarah and went to the training room’s computer and started setting up a projection. “What we’ll be doing is similar to what we were doing on the plane. This time I want you to use your energy control to try and have more influence on your hybrid form. For now you’ll only need to focus on putting as much of you into your beast as possible. As soon as it was ready he activated the program.

  Sarah returned to her previous awe as the magic became visible and solidified around her. That quickly changed when the visible magic filled the outline and solidified into a steel cage.

  “I’m guessing this is so I don’t run around feral?” she said, standing and pulling on the “metal” bar of the cage.

  “Correct. Now take a seat and try to control your energy as you come in contact with your core. Don’t let yourself be pushed all the way back. Remember that the more out of sync you are with your beast the harder the battle will be, and you two don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

  Sarah sat and with a deep breath closed her eyes.

  *******************************************************

  Sarah was once again nervous. She felt like over the last few days if she wasn’t nervous she was crying, angry, or outright panicking. She was on a non-stop emotional roller coaster. If she didn’t have her beast to give her a boost of courage she would probably be comatose in a corner somewhere. She sat, took a deep breath and focused on her core.

  The small flame was as bright as ever. She could feel its irritation and rising anger. Whenever it thought it had the chance to come out, it was forcefully pushed back down. The last few hours of teasing it didn’t help. She thought back to her previous communication exercises. Whenever she got near her core, her consciousness would be suppressed. The only reprieve would be when Logan pushed her beast back.

  Instead of recklessly going for the core like she had before, she thought about how to use her energy manipulation exercises. She started slowly approaching instead of going in head-first. The first time the core reached out to grab her, she drew back and dodged the attempt. It took her a few seconds to recenter before trying again.

  When her core tried a second time she let it connect. She felt the same suction as before but also felt how she could resist. She was still pulled in but it took longer than before. Like before, her consciousness was split in two while still being connected. One part fell into a gaping pit while the other remained aware of what her body was feeling and doing.

  Unlike any of the previous shifts she was able to stop her descent by reaching for the pit’s wall on her and finding a handhold. She barely held on as the shock of her stopped fall tested her grip. She looked down and found that she was about halfway from the bottom. Just stopping her descent was enough to be higher than she ever climbed on the plane.

  Her excitement was quickly extinguished by her hand starting to slip. She frantically tried to figure out how not to fall. Now that she knew what internal energy felt like, she noticed how much surrounded her. She pulled it in and formed it into the first thing that came to mind. As energy made it look like her fingernails were replaced with wicked claws the gravity pulling her down somehow increased.

  “Shit,” she cursed as she restarted her fall.

  With a severe mental strain she reinforced the claws and dug them into the wall speeding by. She grit her teeth as it felt like her fingernails were being torn out. She was about a quarter from the bottom by the time her claws finally stopped her descent. After checking her position she understood how important the exercises were. Without the exercises she wouldn’t even be able to feel the internal energy around her let alone manipulate it.

  While her human mind was gaining a foothold, her body shifted. It grew and her clothes only slightly tightened, probably magic. Her fingers extended their own set of claws as she finished her change. As soon as the shift was over, her beast threw itself against the magically conjured bars. The many feelings she was simultaneously experiencing almost made her lose focus on her mental battle as her now heightened sensations sent her a myriad of new scents, sounds, and textures.

  The cold “steel” bars were solid and kept her contained as her beast raged for escape. She refocused on her mental battle. During the energy manipulation exercises Logan emphasized the importance of mental imagery. Apparently, these battles were a little different for everyone. Logan, for example, described his mental battle as chipping away at a growing iceberg to get to the center. With a pull on her constructed claws she refocused and started her mental climb.

  “OUT! ASS!” she felt herself roar at the passive Logan.

  “Focus on your battle. Remember that the more out of sync you are with your beast the harder it’ll be,” he said calmly. “Your goal right now isn’t to take control but to fight. Find what works so you can do it better next time.”

  She followed his instruction and changed her goal from ascension to technique. Already her hold was getting weak as the hole’s gravity pulled her down. Her control shook when she tried to add claws to her feet and use those to get a better hold. She could almost feel that when she got better she would be able to create additional limbs and/or tools. She abandoned her attempt at making more claws and instead reinforced the ones she already had. As they were empowered they dug further into the wall and solidified her position. She was once again distracted by the beast throwing itself kicking and screaming against the bars.

  “Oh shut up,” she mentally grunted as she got back to work.

  She was only able to climb a little upwards before the steadily increasing gravity forced her to lose grip and fall. When she hit the bottom her mind was jarred like he just hit her head on something. As she recovered she felt her beast lose all intelligence. It started circling the cage with a snarl and the urge to tear Logan apart.

  It took a few seconds to be able to focus enough to re-conjured her claws and stick them into the wall. Hand over hand she restarted her ascent. Over and over she climbed and fell. Even though she was met with repeated failure she didn’t give up. Every attempt she climbed a little higher. She got more and more control over her beast.

  Through her experimentation she learned little things to change to increase her chances. The top three techniques she picked up were that if she put more energy into the claws they got stronger, she could lengthen and curve the claws for a better grip, and it was possible to create something like a rock climber’s anchor to catch her when she fell. The anchor wasn’t strong enough to actually stop her fall but did show she could make one.

  She was pulled from her planning when the cage dissipated and her beast started a lunge for Logan. She watched as he once again captured her by the throat and slammed her against the floor. She was practically shot out of the pit as Logan pushed her beast back by showing his superiority. She could tell now that instead of just showing her beast he was stronger, he was using his own internal energy to push hers back to her core before retreating.

  Sarah panted as she recovered. She was mentally exhausted. “How long was that?”

  “A good half-hour. I think you’re progressing well,” he said. “What was it like?”

  As she described her ordeal he nodded. “I think I get it. The representation of your beast’s dissatisfaction is either the strength of the gravity or depth of the pit. Either way I can see how things could get easier for you. By the end of the day I can guarantee your beast will be much happier and your merging much easier. For now let's go again.”

  For another hour he had her repeat the exercise. By the end of the hour the pit’s gravity became stronger and stronger. By the end, her highest point went from a quarter up to about a third. It didn’t seem like much progress but with the increasing difficulty she was happy. Well, happy might not be the most accurate description of her current state.

  She wanted to sit up but was pretty sure Logan tweaked her back on his latest slam. She knew why he had to be so rough, but why? She let out a light whine as her magical body began repairing itself. It was less than a minute before her back stopped hurting and returned her to full motion. She sat up carefully with only a light twinge from her disgruntled spine.

  “Let’s move on to the next exercise.” He said, leading her out of the training hall. They then got in the jeep Logan had apparently requisitioned that morning and headed off.

  She recognized they were going in the direction of the big temple. If she remembered correctly they called the Temple, not the most imaginative.

  “So, what are we doing next? I’m not getting more scans am I?” Although mentally tired she was excited that she was making progress. She was looking forward to the day she would be in complete control of her hybrid form.

  “No. The next thing we’re doing is making your beast a little happier. We’re going for your first hunt.”

  Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. “Hunt?! I’ve never hunted anything in my life!” The only thing she had ever killed larger than a spider was a squirrel she had accidentally run over. Even then she had felt so bad she had nightmares of a zombified squirrel looking for revenge for the next three days.

  “Do you want your beast to calm down?” He asked pointedly.

  She hesitated before resigning herself. She should have known she had to do it eventually, she was cursed with an apex predator after all. Why couldn’t she have been cursed by a rabbit? All she would’ve needed to do to appease the critter was hop around and eat some grass.

  “Yes,” she grumbled.

  “Then this is necessary.” He then explained their destination as the multi-forest thing she saw when she arrived. She distracted herself from the idea of hunting something by wondering how they’re able to combine forests from completely different biomes into one location.

  By the time they arrived her leg was bouncing and her finger was tapping the armrest. How the hell was she supposed to kill something? Will she be doing it herself or would she just let her beast do the work?

  After slowing to a halt at a wall of pine trees they got out. The first thing that hit her was the smell. It was the moist smell of wood and dirt she grew up with. The sound of the occasional bird in the upper branches was also coming from the dense branches above. It felt like she was back in Oregon. Her worries faded away as her childhood memories calmed her. She was only able to bask for a few seconds before Logan interrupted.

  “It’s time to get to work.” He said, “I want you to shift and instead of fighting back, let it go free.”

  Her nerves returned. “Uh, are you sure?”

  He nodded, “I’m sure. Your beast knows what you know and it should rather go on a hunt than get forced back again.” He saw her hesitation. “Don’t worry, I’ll be behind you the whole time. I’ll make sure you don’t hurt anyone.”

  Although reassuring, she was more worried about hurting anything than anyone. She took a deep breath before reaching for her beast. More than ever before it lashed out and gabbed onto her. She let it consume her and drop her into the pit. She let herself fall but before hitting bottom she conjured her claws and slowed her descent. She aimed accurately and stopped just as she touched the floor.

  Let’s hope Logan can handle whatever the tiger is getting ready for him.