Call of Beast
"Ryan, would you mind staying after class for a few minutes. I'd like a word with you," said Dr. Boyd.
"Uhm...sure." I said reluctantly. I got a strange disturbed feeling in my gut. I did notice she was giving me strange looks all class period. I was contemplating what she could possibly want. Was she coming on to me? I mean she is pretty attractive for someone her age. She had a mature and knowledgeable face with youthful curly blond hair. Not to mention her body hasn't aged over 25—though she had to be at least forty.
She walked me to the back of the class into a dim-lit room. The walls were lined with books and scrolls. At the end of the room there was another door. Dr. Boyd faced the door and I could see her doing something with her hands before she placed her right hand on the center of the door. She opened the door and motioned to follow her. I walked into a black room that was only lit by the dim light from the previous room before she shut the door. I was sure I was getting laid at this point.
It was starting—I felt her hand on the small of my back. Before I could even turn around, I felt a tremendous force shoot from her palm, sending me flying in the darkness. I could barely stand, but I turned around and I could barely see her outline in the blackness a few feet from me. I could see her place her hands together. In what seemed like an instant, I was blinded by a bright blue light. Once my eyes readjusted, I could see that the room was infinitely large. In front of me where Dr. Boyd was standing an enormous cat with two tails that was covered from head to toe in blue flames. It had massive piercing eyes. One of its eyes was yellow and the other was green. It opened its large mouth and shrieked—reverberating throughout my body. I started crawling backwards in utter shock. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. Before I could speak—a piercing immobilizing pain struck deep in my gut. I was losing consciousness. Griping my gut, I lay hunched over on the floor. This was it for me.
I was barely coming into consciousness when I noticed I was lying on a wooden table with my shirt off. My stomach burned and was sore. I looked down my body to see strange black markings on my stomach that looked a tattoo. I scratched at it vigorously—but nothing. I started to panic and look around the room. I sat up clutching my stomach to see a closed door in front of me. I was in a house. There was a glass cabinet with Japanese antiques to my right and a window to my left. While I was surveying the room I noticed Dr. Boyd walk in from the door in front of me.
"Ryan, you're awake. I didn't expect you'd be up so soon. How do you feel?" she said sweetly.
I looked up to her in disbelief. "What are you?! What did you do to me!?"I tried jumping down from the table towards her but I instantly fell to the ground holding my stomach. It was burning more intensely.
"I'm sure you have lots of questions, but you need to rest easy for a while. That seal on your stomach needs time to heal." assured Dr. Boyd.
"Seal?" I said quietly still in pain.
Dr. Boyd approached me, "Yes. That seal should help that the pain in your stomach subside soon. It is my presence that is causing your stomach to act up."
"What? None of this makes any sense. I usually have stomach pains-"
"But not as bad as what you experienced earlier, am I right?" she asked.
"Yes—"
"And you often have trouble sleeping and have reoccurring nightmares, am I right?" she asked stepping away from me turning around.
"How did you know?"I asked, starting to panic again.
"I'm like you Ryan." She said still not facing me.
"Like me?"
She turned around to face me, "Yes, there is something inside me too. Earlier when you entered my sacred study, you saw what was inside me."
"That huge cat?" I questioned.
"That 'huge cat' is the two-tailed beast, Matabi. She has been with me for over 30 years." She corrected me.
"Are you saying I have a cat inside me too?" I asked sincerely.
She chuckled slightly under her breath, almost like a sigh, "Not exactly, I am Matabi's, or the Two Tail's host. You are the host of the One Tail, Shukaku. He was feared as a malevolent and mad beast with an innate blood lust. Previous hosts have been condemned as madmen. Shukaku is full of hatred. He seeps into the mind of his hosts and breaks their will before taking over their body completely. I was worried, so I placed an ancient seal on your stomach in order to protect you from being taken over completely by his blood lust. He is very angered with my presence, but the seal should keep him suppressed for now." She explained.
"...so, I'm a monster?" I asked still confused.
"You're not a monster!" She snapped angrily as if she was talking to herself. "This is a gift, and don't you forget that. Whether you like it or not you are now part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than the world you think you know."
I gave her a look of disbelief, "A gift!?" I said starting to get worked up. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me, don't pretend you didn't just use the words 'innate bloodlust' or give me some half-ass history of some stupid 'hosts' who were condemned before me! You keep me after class, kidnap me, burn a seal into my stomach, tell me I'm a monster and then expect me to just go with it? Fuck you!" I said angrily, tears welling in the horizon of my eyes. I stood to my feet, ignoring the burning pain coming from my stomach.
"I understand that you'd be upset, but you must understand. I'm not here to hurt you, I am here to help. And you are going to need me more than you could ever know. This is just the beginning. I know I am not the only one that could sense the immense power coming from you. We don't have much time and we have a lot of work to do before you can protect yourself properly."
"Protect myself? From what?" I asked, calming down.
"Not from what, from who." She said bluntly. "But we will deal with that in the morning, it's getting late and you still need to recover."
"Getting late? What time is it?" I asked confused.
"It almost 9"she answered.
"I've been out all day?"
"It's Saturday Ryan."
"I've been asleep for two days?!"
"Yes. You woke early, one more goods night rest and the seal should be healed. Now follow me."
I was too tired to argue. She led me into the hall and downstairs to a small bedroom. "You can sleep here, tomorrow we have a lot of work to do."
I lost myself in sleep.