Page 2 of Tiger's Tale
Kishan cracked open an eye. “Can you stay with me for a while? I’m finding being alone difficult.”
Taking a seat again in the wooden chair, Kadam removed the Divine Scarf from around his neck and draped it across the cot, asking it to transform into a comfortable blanket for Kishan. “I suppose I can stay for a time,” he replied.
“Thank you, again. Why don’t you tell me one of your stories, then? That should help me drift off.”
Raising an eyebrow, Kadam chuckled. “I didn’t realize my stories bored you so much. They never appeared to tire Miss Kelsey. Very well. Let’s see if I can find one to distract you.” He stared into the flames for a long moment, his mouth slightly lifted as if he were remembering a song or words meant only for him. When he looked at Kishan again, it appeared as if the firelight was dancing in his eyes. Steepling his fingers, Kadam touched them to his bottom lip, considering. “Perhaps the time has come to tell you one of the lost tales.”
“Lost tales? What do you mean?”
“You recall when I was drifting in space and time and that it took me many of your months to return to our world?”
“Yes.”
“As you know, I was searching for a way to remain with you and still have a successful outcome in defeating Lokesh.”
“Right. You told us that you had to die. That there was no other way to defeat him.”
“That is correct. To be exact, there was no other successful way, where all of you would have survived and would have ended up happy. But there are and were many other possibilities. Many other outcomes. In some timelines, we lost the battle. In others, we won, but you or Miss Kelsey perished. Those timelines were... not ideal. One or more of you did not become your best selves, or ended up alone; I could not accept that.”
Kadam left off, and Kishan could read between the lines.
The idea of what he might have missed out on had his life not turned out the way it did brought Kishan renewed sadness.
“So I selected the best outcome for all of us,” Kadam finished.
“Then you chose well. I do not regret my life. Though I am grieving over my loss, I’m still grateful for the wealth of memories and experiences I treasure, as well as your sacrifice on our behalf. Without your discerning choice, I would not have those.”
Kadam dipped his head briefly in acknowledgment. “You’ve gained much wisdom over the years, my boy.”
“As you know, there were many others influencing me. It definitely wasn’t all my doing. But you’re saying there were other possible outcomes? You spoke of lost tales?”
“Yes. Many others. Countless others. In fact, there are many timelines where we don’t even exist. These were very dangerous for me, as I nearly came undone in those places. To begin finding myself, I needed to latch on to timelines that closely paralleled our own and seek the aid of those souls that were essentially my mirror image.”
“What?” Kishan asked incredulously. “Why have you never told us of this before?”
Kadam smiled wryly. “It was never the right... time. Perhaps now you will allow me to tell you the story of one such dimension—the first one, in fact, I ever encountered. Sadly, it also nearly undid me. Though, in truth, I never would have learned what I did had I not struggled to the point of death.”
“So, you’re saying there’s a world somewhere out there with no Tiger’s Curse?”
“Ah,” Kadam replied, lifting a finger. “I never said that. It would seem the world—or at least the versions of it I encountered—always needed the tigers in one way, shape, or form. There was indeed a Tiger’s Curse in this place. But neither you nor Ren nor I were ever born in that place.”
“Remarkable!”
“Yes. In that timeline, you see, there was a major shift in history, one mostly due to the actions of one man, Sviatoslav I Igorevich, the Grand Prince of Kiev. Our timelines, as far as I can tell, synced up until his reign. Then, instead of going to war with the Khazars and the Bulgars, he made a treaty with them, allied with the Slavic tribes, and recruited the Varangians to be his Royal Guard.
“Together they created a mighty Kievian Empire, defeating Poland and Hungary. They made inroads with the indigenous tribes to the east, providing enough land and stability in the region for future royal generations to prosper. They took over trade routes and with them incorporated many Chinese and Mongolian cities into their empire. Because of this, Genghis Khan never rose to power.”
“That’s why we were never born. Our mother was a descendant of Genghis Khan.”
“That is correct.”
“But... then where does the Tiger’s Curse come in?”
“Ah... that’s where it gets interesting. It would seem, in this world, the Damon Amulet was broken not into five pieces, as it was here, but into seven.”
“Seven?”
“Yes. And the inscription was different. Not only did it have new words but they were written in Samoyedic or perhaps another Uralic tongue. It’s hard for me to remember exactly, as I was looking at it through the eyes of another.” Kadam paused for a moment and then added, “Of course, it’s entirely possible the language I recall is completely their own, but I suppose for the purposes of our story, it’s close enough to the Samoyedic of our own world, as near as I can detect from my memory anyway.”
