All I felt was the pain. The excruciating pain as a dozen spears hit my battered body and I blinked tears from my almost lifeless colbalt blue eyes. I heard my love scream my name, and then everything became white. A couple of moments later, the pain disappeared. I was a human again. The tiger part of me had somehow disappeared. I looked up at my surroundings and I saw Kelsey running toward my tiger body with tears streaming like a waterfall from her eyes. In the back of my mind I faintly realized that I must be dead, and what was now my conscience was my spirit before it departed. According to my mother's religion the spirit stayed close to it's body for three days in case it wanted to return to the world of the living. I saw my iadala kneel beside my broken body and pick up a white paw. She stroked it and my brother came up behind her with tears in his eyes. He gently took hold of each spear and pulled them from my now lifeless body.

When most of the spears were gone Kelsey asked Kishan, "He's really gone, isn't he?" in a broken voice.

He said nothing, but instead looked at my body as tears filled his eyes. He took the last spear roughly from my body and turned around before stabbing it into what was once Lokesh before Kelsey strangled him. Kishan stabbed the spear into him and then sank to his knees in despair. Durga approached my body and attempted to use the kamandal to revive me. But even Kelsey knew it couldn't revive the dead. Since my spirit was still there I longed to rejoin the living. To rejoin Her, was my only purpose now. I floated gently toward my body but each time I tried to enter I was blocked by a golden light that acted like a shield, preventing me from coming back to life. I didn't want to die, there was so much I wanted to do still. All I care about now is going back to her, holding her in my arms and whispering how much I loved her. I once told her that it was asambhava for me to leave her. Alas though, I could not ever hold her in my arms again, not even one last time.

My emotions had now tuned out listening to my friends around my body, grieving. But I saw Kelsey shove away Durga, I didn't blame her. She probably believed that I intended that I was going to stay her consort after the war. I knew that Durga did love me, but I more filled the empty space that her brother once occupied rather than a lover, more like family. But I did not reciprocate her feelings. All I could think about the three weeks I was gone with her was Kelsey. I then saw Durga turn away from her. Kelsey asked the scarf to take away her disguise as Durga, and it felt like someone threw my heart in a fire when I saw her as herself. I knew I loved Kelsey wholeheartedly, knowing I could never go back to her I nearly died again. She took the brooch and deactivated it, leaving my body without the heavy silver armor. She then threw it at Durga, and with great effort she picked it up and slunk off into the bushes.

Kelsey scooted as close to my body she could get, picked up my head and rested it in her lap. She rubbed my ears as she once did in Oregon and whispered.

"Please come back," she sobbed "I need You."

She rocked my body back and forth, Kishan came up behind her and with a hurt look in his eyes brushed her hair away from her face. Fanindra appeared from the bushes and became her jewelry form on Kelsey's wrist. She hugged me and pressed a lingering kiss on top of my head and whispered "I love you."

"We need to leave, Kelsey." Kishan softly said .

Her hands clutched my fur and she said angrily, "I won't leave him here."

"I'll carry him." Kishan volunteer.

She gently set my head down on the ground before tying the fire amulet back around her neck and stared at my lifeless eyes that she loved so much. Kishan went over to Lokesh and retrieved the rest of the amulet before placing it gently in Kelsey's outstretched hand. With tears in her eyes she turned to look at the battle field, then she clutched the fire rope , cracked it against the ground and created a chasm with flowing magma that swallowed Lokesh forever. Then whipping the fire rope once more she closed the chasm for the rest of time.

After Durga reappeared with the kamandal they all drank from it. Then Kelsey gave the army that was left before her life again. She used the power of the Damon Amulet combined to breathe life back into those that were frozen or encased in rock forever. Durga and her brother Sunil started to lead the army back to their camp. Kishan gently lifted my lifeless body from the cold earth and we started the long walk back to camp. Though I was a spirit and not tied to my body, I still felt a pulling to be near it, and I had no wish to leave my meri adoo yet. The entire time Kelsey stayed by my side, though tried not to look at my broken body.

When we arrived at the camp Kelsey told Kishan to put Ren in a tent by himself so I could prepare his body for burial. I was set down on soft looking blankets that the scarf had created. Kelsey used the gifts to create a warm bucket of water. She gently started to wash the blood and dirt away from my still body as she spoke quietly to my body. The light dimmed as Kishan stepped into the tent. He was followed by Durga, Sunil, and finally Phet.

He witnessed my body and spoke. "This is a most unfortunate turn of events." he said softly.

Kelsey replied, "You have a gift for understatement." As she started to cry once more.

Phet kneeled by Kelsey and said "There is hope yet, my flower." He said as he took her hands in his. "Do you have all the pieces of the Damon Amulet?" He inquired.

"Yes." was all she said.

"May I see them." He asked softly.

She handed him all the pieces and he quietly put them together until the amulet was completed.

"The Damon Amulet is an Astra. An Astra is a cosmic weapon or tool, if you will, that channels great power when properly invoked. He explained.

He explained it in further detail while Kelsey carefully put the fire piece into it and asked.

"So now that it is complete, what do you want us to do with it now?" She asked carefully.

"Well, the first thing I would do is to bring back your handsome prince." He said with a wink.

Kelsey gasped at his words and asked softly, " Can I really do this?"

"You can't, the Damonastra can, but you must invoke the power of Damon." Phet said.

"Damon as in Durga's tiger?" she asked.

Phet looked thoughtful before he answered " The one and the same. Damon sacrificed himself, giving the tigers life in the very beginning," he explained gently. "He can grant the same gift again. All you have to do is read the incantation."

She looked closely at the sanskrit words that circled the amulet and asked Kishan to read it.

He took it and traced the words with his finger around the edge. He murmured "Damonasya Rakshasaya Mani-Bharatsysa Pita-Rajaramaasya Putra."

It says:

"The Amulet of Damon

The Father of India

The Son of…

Rajaram."

Our name Rajaram had barely escaped his lips when the Damon Amulet began to glow. The outer edge of the amulet where the sanskrit words were seemed to create a white light that spun so fast it seemed like a line.

"Now, use the power of Damon to bring life back to your brother," Phet instructed.

"But how?" Kishan asked confused.

"The difficulty is not in the knowing; it's in the choosing." He answered.

I witnessed Kishan close his eyes, he body seemed to burn with a white light as he trembled and cried out.

Kelsey looked alarmed and asked "What's happening to him? Is he in pain?"

Phet steadily replied "Kishan must choose whether or not to accept the price in order to save his brother."

"A price? What price? Kishan, don't do this. I can pay whatever price is necessary." She cried hyperventilating.

Phet squeezed her arm and said " This is something Kishan must choose, Kahl-see. This is his destiny."

Kishan was sweating now, his head and arms jerked back violently and he cried out in pain. A small white light rose from his chest for my body. A glittering mist hovered over my body, I felt a desperate pulling to come back to life, but this time much stronger. So I obliged. I quickly went to my body, I hesitated before the golden shield. As I slowly came closer to it, it started to turn into the white light and I could have sworn I saw the sanskrit words in it. It enveloped me in it's light as I returned to my tiger body and everything turned white once more.

A moment later I became aware of breathing again, and the smell of peaches and cream in the tent. It gave me the incentive I needed to come back to the light and I slowly opened my eyes to slits, and gazed in her beauty once again. I groaned as I felt all the pain come back, but it lessened when Durga bade me drink from the kamandal. I could feel my body repair itself as the mermaid's elixir did the job. Kelsey then came to me, and she channeled of of her power to me through the golden flame that came with our touch. We both knew it didn't come from the fire amulet. I was a special connection that was very rare between people, but I knew that I couldn't live without her. As she poured the golden light into me I began to recover rapidly as she whispered endearments and soft words to me. I could feel her will for me to live through the flame that had saved my life. Within a few minutes I was healed enough I was to open my eyes completely and Kelsey cried with joy as she buried her face in my white fur. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I was content to stay like that forever if she would let me. I shifted forms and I reached out to her, I held her close and I wouldn't let go. For what seemed like forever I pressed my lips against her temple as I whispered to her in Hindi. She responded to me by putting her arms around me and held me in an embrace as if she would never let go again. And I hoped with all of my life that she never would.

Necessary (Ren)

I went from life

To death

Many think it was the Damonastra

That brought me back to the light

But that is entirely incorrect

You were necessary,

The amulet gave me the chance to return

Yet I could not have without you

You are all I live for

Without you

There was nothing to live for again

I will never leave you again

Hridaya Patni