You look at the crystal mesmerized in its ethereal glow, not even questioning its source, and grasp the crystal in your hands. It’s not big, able to fit within one of your palms, and is cool to the touch.
Wait… now it felt warm?
The crystal began to heat up as it’s glow became stronger, blinding you with a bright orange light. You shut your eyes and feel the crystal become incredibly hot. Suddenly, the light vanished as the crystal returned to it’s original cold temperature. Confused, you open your eyes and look at the crystal to see it was now white.
“What the…? What was that? Some sort of heat activated light-up feature?” you begin questioning yourself as you examine the crystal again. It was cold and white as snow, a stark difference to it’s previous appearance.
“No it was I, Hu the tiger, escaping from my containment,” a deep voice bellows.
You look up to see a translucent tiger standing in front of you. It had a faint color of orange throughout its form and looked at you calmly.
“What the fuck!” you shout in surprise and crawl behind your couch, attempting to hide from the creature.
“Was he the one who spoke just now?” you wonder before dismissing the idea. “No it can’t be! Tigers can’t talk! But… maybe ghostlike spirtual tigers can?”
“Do not be afraid human. I have assessed you are a worthy candidate of inhabiting me and my powers,” the voice (Hu was it?) states.
“This isn’t real. This can’t be real. I must simply be going crazy after being rejected from another job, that’s all,” you mumble to yourself as you shut your eyes and grasp your head in disbelief.
“We must now become one to progress,” Hu continues speaking, his voice sounding much closer for some reason. “Do not worry, the process is painless.”
He catches your attention with his last word as you open your eyes. “Painless?”
You look to see Hu now standing in front of you and in an instant he pounces on you.
“Ahh!!!” you scream, expecting pain, but find none as the incorporeal tiger doesn’t attack but merely enters your body.
You can’t utter a single word in response as you watch him completely enter you before feeling a sudden warmth rushing through your body. Sweat begins dripping off your head as the strange heat envelops your body, causing you to fall to the floor. You moan from the peculiar sensation as your mind grows numb before passing out.
***
You awaken to moonlight trickling your eyes.
Opening them, you find no heat, no ghosts, nothing unordinary at all. Your apartment window filling your living room with lights from the city and the full moon.
Everything looks the same but everything feels different. You feel heavier and warmer along with a strange influx of strength coursing through your body. Strange smells enter your nose, scents you couldn’t notice beforehand, as you look at your surroundings with an unfamiliar state of focus. You have become more alert to your environment and aware of any sudden movement and noises. Equipping a stronger sense of hearing and a vigilant pair of eyes.
“What happened?” you say, but the voice comes out much deeper and rougher than your own. Alarmed at the noise you struggle to get up but find your new weight impedes you from doing so properly, unaccustomed to the change.
“What’s going on? What happened?” you panic as you continue speaking with your new voice. You eventually manage to lift yourself up and look at your hands but are met with a pair of tiger paws instead. Orange and striped fur now cover your arms, with a pair of furry paws with black claws at each end.
You race to your bedroom on all fours, running at an incredibly fast pace, as you bring yourself to your full length mirror to only be met with an unfamiliar face.
You don’t see yourself staring back, not even another human, instead you see a tiger glaring back at you. The tiger is large and strong, muscle built within his arms and legs, a long tail resting beside him.
“It can’t be! That can’t be me…” you say incredulously, the reflected tiger moving his mouth to every word you speak.
“Surely it is, for we have now unified,” a voice says within your head. “And what a marvelous sight to behold!”
The voice sounds pleased and familiar, it takes you a few seconds to link it to the tiger from before.
“Ghost! Er… Hu? Is that you?”
“Yes human, I can communicate within your mind as our souls have been connected.”
You didn’t think it was possible to freak out anymore than you currently were but it looked like you were wrong. Shock freezes you on the spot as you try assessing everything you know.
You ordered a crystal that released some sort of spirit tiger, named Hu, that entered your body. Afterwards, you passed out and woke up hours later as a tiger. And currently, Hu was speaking directly to you in your mind.
You felt so confused as you try to come to terms with the recent set of events, the details making you question everything.