Page 51 of The Last Tiger

“Don’t be afraid, Seung,” says the Tiger spirit. Behind her, through her, the tiger waves its tail. “You are taking in the memories of the Tiger people. The ones who have lived before you and made your life possible. You have nothing to fear from them.

“Mount Tangun is the spiritual center of the Tiger Kingdom. Here your ki powers are amplified a thousandfold. This is your chance to restore balance to the colonies.

“You must do it now.

“Pull down into the depths of your emotion, and harness that source. Here it can multiply within you, drawing on the collective memories of the entire Tiger people. Reach for the memories of your ancestors—it is this force that will free the colonies—”

I feel the world in my hands, not knowing what I’m supposed to say, what I’m supposed to do. The Tiger spirit told me that this moment would reveal the answer to all our problems.

But I don’t see it. I don’t know what to do now any more than I did before—

From far away, I feel myself nod distantly. I see Seung reach down into himself, gathering up the now-familiar emotions—the indignity, the hunger, the burning desire to be free. The desperation. Frustration.

Anger.

A rust-red fog flickers in my heart, coming to life.

Anger burns inside, seething, a bed of coals, yearning to burn free.

The feeling multiplies now, amplified through the lives of generations.

I feel the slap of the Dragon marshal stinging on my cheeks; the weight of my daughter’s body in my arms; the cold steel of a Dragon blade running through my chest…

Not just a lifetime of anger. Lifetimes.

The spark inside me catches fire. It grows, crackling, taking on the intensity of a small sun—

It’s hot—no, hotter than hot. It burns —

A piercing, red light emerges from my chest. It begins rotating like the blades of a fan as the frustrations, the thwarted dreams of generations, multiply within me. A great rumbling shakes the mountain beneath my feet.

In the far distance, I hear someone’s panicked cries. I sense movement somewhere behind me, but I’m too far gone to stop now.

The cave shakes as an earthquake ripples out from my body, cracks forming in the rock face underneath me, spreading rapidly—

Whole chunks of rock fall from the roof of the cave as the stone rattles and buckles under my feet—I should feel afraid, I know, but I’m no longer quite myself—

The collective anger of the Tiger people surges through me, channeled into a single, surging river of emotion—

I part my lips, ready to release it with a savage cry—

Suddenly the Tiger spirit cries out.

Her face flickers, then disappears.

In front of me, instead of the Tiger spirit’s face, I see—

“I told you ,” Eunji shouts.

The panic is thick in her voice as the cave comes crumbling down around us. Her arms are wrapped around the tiger’s body.

“You have no idea what you’re doing—I told you this was a bad idea—”

Eunji pulls—

Dragging the tiger out of the cave—

“No—n-no.” I stumble, reaching out my hand. “Eunji—”

The great wheel in my chest comes crashing all at once to a halt. The mist falls to a standstill, freezing straight in midair, falling away—

I struggle to catch my bearings. My head feels as though it was split with a hammer.

I catch a hazy glimpse of Jin passed out on the floor.

Around her head are collapsed sections of the cave roof; she must have been knocked out when they fell.

Kenzo, gasping, struggles to stand as another powerful quake rocks the cave.

I stagger to my feet, reeling. A chunk of rock falls by my side.

“Eunji, stop —”

But it’s too late. Eunji’s already left the cave, dragging the tiger behind her.

I stumble out of the cave, into the harsh sunlight, my head screaming with pain as the earthquakes continue to rattle the mountainside.

My vision swims, turning double. I look down at my hands; they flicker, becoming the wrinkled hands of the old woman.

“EUNJI!” I shout.

Outside, Eunji wrestles the tiger for control on the plateau, a windstorm brewing above. Clouds have passed over the previously blue sky. The earth shakes under my feet—

“Eunji, you’re making a mistake—”

“No, Seung,” she cries back at me. “ You are. Look around you! This mission is a death wish—”

“You have to trust me—”

“ Trust you?” The howling wind across the plateau whips her hair over tear-stung cheeks.

“Don’t you?” I’m begging her. “Eunji, you know me—”

Eunji shakes her head, tears dropping from her face.

“I don’t,” she says, “and I don’t know if I ever did. You’re going to destroy yourself and all of us—”

“This is our only chance ,” I cry. “This is all we have left—”

“No, you’re wrong—” Her voice catches. “This is exactly what you did before, Seung. You threw everything away because you thought you had nothing left , but you were wrong. You had me. We had each other. You knew that I—that I loved you—”

And that’s when I see it: the glint of the light reflecting off something in Eunji’s hand—

Jin’s knife.

She’s holding it to the tiger’s neck.

“Eunji, NO —” I shout.

From somewhere under my feet, I feel a rumbling deep in the rock beneath the mountain.

The tiger releases a guttural, pained roar as the mountain quakes openly now under our feet. A crack in the rocky surface opens, winding its way across the plateau, splitting it in two. Above us, the rabid wind shrieks. The sky boils over, gray clouds looming overhead.

I stumble, almost losing my footing. Behind me, Jin and Kenzo stagger out from the cave.

“Do it, Eunji,” Kenzo cries. “Do it now—”

Eunji stumbles, struggling to hold on to the tiger, her knuckles turning white around the haft of the knife—

“NO!” I shout.

Then another quake shakes the mountainside, and we lurch, nearly thrown over. The crack beneath our feet widens as the shaking of the mountain seems to tear at its very foundation.

The blade clatters to the ground as Eunji loses her grip on the tiger—

The mountain heaves one last time as a deafening CRACK! splits the air.

Trees drop over the edge.

An earthquake ripples through the rock; the mountain splits itself clean in half, the two halves widening, falling apart from each other—

The tiger howls, writhing—

She falls into the widening chasm, toward the river below—

I scream. But it’s too late.

The mountain reels again, thrown by another resounding quake, and I lose my footing too—

Eunji, Kenzo, Jin, and I—

One last earthquake rocks the mountain, throwing us all off our balance. I watch almost in slow motion as my feet slip over the edge, the others spilling beside me, over the cliff—