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  .

  “Then someone evil caused it?”

  “Yes, The Yama, The Destroyer. You know… We are the Destroyers of Death instead. I think you could understand their difference?” I nodded.

  “So, you could be a tall and fluffy Drakmast, at the same time a Dharma protector, a young novice from past practice, and at our practice house?”

  “Something like that…” He paused, smiled, tilted his head again, his soft ears twitching, though his fur now bore no resemblance to the dog I’d known all my life. “In this world, this life, I am always more than you could see. Only specific people can see the true nature of me. And you too.”

  “Me? What do you mean?” Intrigued, I opened my eyes wide. Eventually, it sank in about me after this entwining. Well, not that they aren’t grasping. Let’s talk about me, Drakos!

  “Haha, ?ri’—look at yourself. You are as white as snow, as white as the snow lotus you haven’t had a chance to witness…”

  Immediately, I looked down at myself—at my chest—only to find that I was glimmering, my body now a shimmering white, like a white avatar. A rush of joy surged through me, mixed with something heavier. Sadness? Realization? Something had happened to me in the avalanche. I touched my body. For one second, it was solid, tangible—then, in the next, it was as if I had been cloaked in mist.

  “Is this magic, Drakos? Like what the travelers boasted about?”

  He hesitated. I could sense him swallowing down something glum, gathering a kind of surreal mood—or courage.

  “No, ?ri’-verā. You were dead. I dug you up. The white lotus avatar came to your rescue. Now, don’t be afraid, don’t be sad. Everybody dies, but no one gets a new body—”

  “Don’t be silly, Drakos! Haha, look at me! I got a super magical body! I’ve never been this strong!”

  “…”

  He had to continue. His face turned serious—like a human.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “There’s no magic in this, ?ri’. They got to you before I could react. I’m sorry, ?ri’...”

  He turned his back to the young novice, as if it was proper to speak of such things this way.

  I cooled down a little. I couldn’t blame him for anything. The fact that he was apologizing before I even understood what had happened only made me feel worse.

  “What… happened to me?”

  “They killed you.”

  There was hesitation in his tone, but I rushed in anyway. “How?”

  No answer. It must not have been pretty. I was speechless.

  “The snow lotus avatar came to your rescue by giving you their parts…”

  “Parts!?”

  I had never been so shocked in my life—I heard myself bark the word out loud.

  “So what is this strange body?”

  How could I not be reeling? Just moments ago, I had been leaping with joy over the magical power suddenly bestowed on me, and now—

  You are made of snow lotus now.

  “Made of what!?”

  I exploded again. I had already heard what he said in my mind, but—?ri’-verā, get a grip on yourself—no good could come from raising my voice. I cooled down again, but this time, a deep sadness crept up inside me.

  “Lotus?” My voice was quieter now. “Drakos, I know you said lotus. What the hell!? I’m made of stems and lotus roots? I don’t want that, Drakos!”

  I couldn’t believe I swore.

  “I want my body back. There’s nothing wrong with that! I was good-looking, I was strong, I was hardworking—I still have my family! I hate you! It would’ve been better if you had let me die! I just wanted to play around with you. I just wanted to enjoy your company. I just wanted to get away from the practice house. I don’t wanna die—I want me back. Please, Drakos…”

  Drakos tilted his head away. Inhaled. Exhaled. Paused. His eyelids lowered, as if taking in my entire reaction.

  “Yes… I couldn’t imagine how I would react if I were you. But ?ri’, my dear—you must embrace it fully. This is your fate. This is your mission. This path was chosen specifically for you—because you also chose to be a Dharma protector in your past lives.”

  I was sobbing, turned my anger to sorrow and lost. It took me some time to take it in. Seems like… “It makes sense, Drakos. I can try… But I wanted to know, why was that?”

  “That was the only way. Give you some quality to start to gather strength…you saw all those faces, those lights shown out there, giving you good and bad feelings right—so, we do have good and bad avatars right, and you will be the righteous one.

  “Those are the Yamas and their minions, those that we must fight and get rid of for the sake of humanity…”

  “But, how? We are just mundane. I can’t even see nor know myself…”

  My tears, like pearls on a broken string, cascaded down my cheeks. At the same time, Drakos’s amber eyes flickered with something I couldn’t name—an emotion too deep, too raw.

  Drakos exhaled slowly, his shimmering form shifting in the dim light. “Even I do not fully understand that yet. I still have to meditate to attain higher powers of chakra lights… Everything is about lights and the consciousness line connecting the universe, especially when we are dying...” He paused, then added, “But I do know this—the avalanche was not an end. It was a beginning.”

  “Hammond Hound” or Leonberger? Newfoundland? Mastiff? Drakmast? Or Great Pyrenees, as you are big, as big as I am, I like your fluffiness.”