Join My Cult - Original Falcon Press

“I’d say…go in that direction. It feels, I don’t know. The air is thicker
there. If there’s a path, follow it down and to the left.”
Alexi smiled, looking over at Ken.
“Interesting,” Ken said, his lips so numb from the cold that the words
felt funny as they left them. He was doing his damnedest to light a
cigarette in the howling wind and sleet.
“I think you’re right, J.B. Lead the way,” Alexi said. Then, still staring
intently at him, he mouthed “panther,” almost as if he was saying it
to himself. Nodding, he continued on.
“J.B.?” Jason asked, now behind him.
Still nodding, Alexi said “Jason Benson” over his shoulder, although
he wasn’t sure if it got lost in the chaos around him.
He winced. “Just call me Jason, ok?”
As they slowly made their way across the field in the miserable conditions,
Jason tapped Alexi on the shoulder.
“You mentioned a panther? What did you mean?”
“I was just talking to myself.”
Jason had a far-away look on his face—his mind was elsewhere,
although only for a moment. When he came out of his trance, his eyes
were a little more lively, his movements possibly more refined.
“Right…we’ll work on focusing that more sometime. It’s inside all of
us—I mean, an animal…what’s the word I’m looking for? Archetype, I
suppose. There’s a saying that ‘you don’t choose the animal, it chooses
you.’ You’ll just know.” He paused. “The totem is an anachronism from
a distant time, and although it can bring you closer to your center, it can
also further fragment your ego. It can be an ally, or a beast. If the animal
gets out of control—look out.” Alexi smiled, all of his teeth glinting from
the otherworldly bluish glow reflected off the snow.
“My totem is the bear, if you haven’t already figured it out,” Ken
added, flatly. “Right now, my focus is on another issue. It gets in the way
of totem work. I keep having these dreams…this dream, actually. It’s reoccurring…bizarre.
It’s simultaneously surreal and more real then my
waking state.”
“I like cats,” Renee piped in. Alexi quickly nodded at her. No one else
seemed to notice.
Ken gazed up at the stars in the sky, his vision of the field completely
dropping away as the night swallowed him. “I don’t know if I can really
say it in words…” His voice had a monotone quality to it, as if he was
talking to himself. “I think Alexi knows. Don’t ask me how, he just…
Well, I don’t want to puff up his ego any more…”
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