Enshrined

"So I had to build a new shrine. And I did.

"I was all set to go back to life as normal, when, just as I was about to complete the Kumbhabhishekham - the, um... consecration ceremony - you wandered in to the boundaries of the shrine and disturbed it," Chaarvi said, staring at him through her glasses with gentle accusation in her eyes.

A chill of guilt settled within Simon's gut. With everything that had been happening in the past few hours, he'd completely forgotten about the shrine on the roof!

So it was her shrine!

"Yes. I was up there that night," Chaarvi continued. "I don't think you saw me, did you? But I saw you."

It was the softest rap across the knuckles Simon could've imagined. There was no bitterness, nor condemnation hidden within Chaarvi's mild manner. She merely spoke the plain truth. Simon's conscience did the rest.

It'd occurred to him, not long after the fact, that he'd been disrespectful in disturbing another person's religious shrine. Up until now, he felt like he'd gotten away with it; that the owner would never know and there'd be no harm, no foul.

But now, looking into Chaarvi's eyes, his delusions of innocence were shattered.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"What's done is done," Chaarvi shook her head. Her tone was oddly upbeat, indicating she had no interest in dwelling on the past.

"No, really. I shouldn't have... I had no business being up there," Simon humbly insisted.

Chaarvi didn't argue.

"Um, look... Come take a seat!" Simon said, gesturing over towards his modest breakfast setting. He suddenly felt the need to be a gracious host. It was the least he could do.

"Thanks!" Chaarvi chimed with a warm smile, as she followed his direction.

"Can I get you some coffee?" Simon offered.

"Oh, that would be lovely, thank you," Chaarvi accepted.

"Hmm. You haven't had it yet," Simon chuckled. Chaarvi smiled broadly at the lame joke.

He went over to the counter and started opening the cupboards hunting for a second mug. He was sure he kept one around here somewhere.

Once he'd found it, he started pouring. He wasn't sure he had enough in the pot for two people, so he decided to fill Chaarvi's mug first and just settle for whatever was left over for himself. Only once he began pouring did he notice his breakfast sticking out of the top of his toaster.

They were probably cold by now, but they'd still be edible.

"Can I get you something to eat?" he offered his guest. "I've got Pop Tarts and... Pop Tarts," he added unenthusiastically.

"No, thanks. The coffee will be fine," Chaarvi politely declined.

"Yeah, here's hoping..." Simon muttered under his breath.

He placed the mug down on the table in front of her, receiving a gracious, "Thanks," before he turned back to the counter to fetch his own mug and plate his lukewarm breakfast.

"Sorry, but you caught me in the middle of breakfast," he apologized as he sat down opposite her, "Do you mind if I..."

"No, please!" Chaarvi consented.

Simon watched her keenly as she took her first sip of the coffee. She responded with a flawlessly polite smile, but Simon suspected that she didn't really care for the drink. He wasn't surprised; he couldn't make a decent coffee if his life depended on it.

"So, um... your shrine," Simon solemnly began, "I'm sorry, of course. I hope I didn't do any serious damage?"

Chaarvi furrowed her eyebrows in a way that made him feel as if he'd just said something incredibly stupid.

"Damage? No, I wouldn't put it that way," she replied, gently shaking her head, "But it's made things a lot more complicated.

"When the stars aligned that night, the Kumbhabhishekham did take place; a channel of cosmic energy was opened - just not upon the shrine I had built.

"Because you were in the middle of that sacred space, the channel of Kundalini appeared within you! You became my shrine, m... master."

Simon was stunned; partly because he didn't fully understand what Chaarvi meant.

"I... I'm sorry, but why do you keep doing that? Calling me 'master'?" he asked with mild annoyance. Just when she was starting to feel like an ordinary person, that bizarre tic reminded him how disturbed her behavior had been that morning.

Chaarvi shrugged and shook her head lightly, as if she didn't even know the answer herself.

"I guess because I'm devoted to you, master. You are my shrine! You're holy now - to me, at least. I have to humble myself before you," she explained.

Simon considered her words with a raised eyebrow. He still didn't know what to make of her. But being called "master" made him uncomfortable. Her other delusions may have been relatively harmless, but when she used that word, she worried him.

"Okay, so you think I'm your shrine..." Simon began, not really sure how he was going to finish the sentence. He just wanted to prompt Chaarvi for some more information, hoping it would help him figure out what was going on inside her head.

"You are my shrine, master," she gently, but confidently corrected him. She didn't seem to take any offence at his skepticism.

"Right. Sorry," Simon apologized. "So I'm your shrine now because I got the blessing that was intended for your actual shrine..."

Chaarvi nodded in confirmation.

"...and because I got that blessing... you're saying I have mind control powers, now?" he asked.

This time Chaarvi shook her head, "No, not exactly.

"The Kumbha... the consecration..." she corrected herself, likely deducing that Simon would follow the conversation better if she kept the Hindu terminology to a minimum. "...isn't the final stage of the process.

"Once the channel of cosmic energy has been opened within the shrine, I need to draw upon it. Otherwise I won't actually get the Kundalini I need.

"Now normally, when the shrine is actually a shrine, all I need to do for this last step is to pray at the shrine and I will feel the Kundalini beginning to flow into me. But it seems that, when the shrine is a person, the rules are very different.

"I tried praying before you yesterday, in the library, but nothing happened. That was quite scary, to be honest; discovering that I couldn't draw any Kundalini from you," she confessed, with a tense glance. "I realized that I was going to have to figure out a new way.

"Fortunately, there is one sure-fire way to get a man to release his transcendent energies," Chaarvi remarked with a smirk and a suggestive tone. "Not as discrete as I would've liked, but it got the job done."

"Wait..." Simon jumped in as she paused to take a sip of coffee. "You're saying that the reason you had sex with me..."

"...was to draw upon your cosmic energy, yes," Chaarvi confirmed with shameless candor.

That claim made Simon a little nervous. He had just begun to feel comfortable, chatting with Chaarvi over coffee. But hearing that she'd slept with him because she felt some religious mandate to do so instantly rekindled the dangerous stalker vibes he'd picked up from her earlier.

"And that's where things get complicated," Chaarvi continued, leaving Simon little time to dwell on his concerns. "Because you aren't just some inanimate structure. You're a human being. You have a will of your own. And, I'm guessing, that will of yours is leaking in to the Kundalini stream.

"So, now that I've connected myself to that flow of Kundalini, your will - your thoughts and desires - are coming to me through that stream and are influencing my actions."

Simon stared at her in silence, still struggling to form a judgement about her. The things she was telling him were clearly absurd. But he remained mesmerized by how lucid and coherent she was. If she had been any more eloquent, she could've halfway persuaded him to believe it.

He was troubled by the previous instances that morning where he had seemingly dictated her behavior through sheer will alone. Even though he had deduced a rational explanation for those incidents, there was still something about them that felt a little extraordinary.

"But it's ridiculous, isn't it?" he privately reminded himself. "I mean, if I really do have mind control over her then... why don't you make bunny ears?" he sarcastically 'willed' her with his thoughts, maintaining a calm poker face and direct eye contact so as not to give her any subconscious hints about what he was thinking.

"Okay, so... what happens now? Can't you just redo your ceremony at the shrine, so you can get your 'Kundalini' from it, instead?" Simon prompted, largely to conceal his private little experiment.

"No," Chaarvi replied bluntly, after swallowing a sip of coffee. "You'remy shrine now, master. I have a solemn allegiance to you."

As she spoke she laid the coffee mug down upon the table in a smooth, uncanny motion that seemed almost robotic. Then she lifted her hands up behind her ears, making soft fists with them while extending her index fingers up to protrude from the tops of her ears like bunny ears. She began to wiggle them playfully up and down, as if she were trying to amuse a baby. All the while, she continued talking normally, seemingly oblivious to what her hands were doing.

Simon's blood ran ice cold as he stared at the spectacle before him. There was no possible way she could've guessed what he'd been thinking!

"I can't just defect to another shrine just because there are... complications with the one I have," Chaarvi continued. "I'm bound to you forever. Or until you are... destroyed," she explained, in a lighthearted tone that tried to deflect the awkwardness of discussing his death.

Only then did she seem to notice the look of wide-eyed shock on Simon's face.

"Are you..." she began, before pausing for a moment to try and figure out what was distressing him. As soon as she realized she was doing something silly with her hands, she turned her gaze back to Simon. Her brow furrowed as she humorlessly stared at him in a way that begged, "Seriously?"

"Holy shit!" Simon exclaimed, beginning to hyperventilate. "This is really real!"

"Yeah. I guess we're both having a fucked-up morning," Chaarvi dryly responded. She lowered her hands and flexed them one at a time before her eyes, to check that she had regained control of them.

"I really just did..." Simon excitedly babbled, making incoherent gestures with his hands towards her. "I mean, I really can control you! Which means you really are... you really are...!" Simon stopped mid-sentence. If Chaarvi's unlikely claim about him having mind control powers was true, then the odds were that all her other fantastic claims were likely to be true as well. She really was part-goddess!

Chaarvi offered him a sympathetic smile and gently nodded in confirmation.

"Wow!" was all Simon could softly sigh, as his entire concept of reality began to crumble down around him.

"I guess this must all be pretty overwhelming from your point of view," Chaarvi observed. "I hadn't thought about that.

"But there's really nothing to be anxious about."

Despite Chaarvi's reassurance, an awkward silence descended upon the room and lingered for some time.

"So..." Simon eventually muttered, "What happens now?"

Chaarvi swallowed uncomfortably and her gaze dropped to the table top.

"Ordinarily, once I've connected with a source of Kundalini, I go back to living my life as normal. So long as the shrine remains intact, it will continue to sustain me.

"But in this case, the ball appears to be in your court, master. You seem to be in complete control of me. So I suppose that 'what happens now' is entirely up to you."

Simon didn't know what to make of Chaarvi. With her deadpan expression, she appeared remarkably resigned to this strange, unexpected fate which had befallen her. But as he studied her closely, Simon could see apprehension in her eyes.

Earlier, while she had been aggressively chewing him out, he had mentally commanded her to calm down. He wondered if she was still sedated by that command; if it was sparing her the full weight of her current predicament.

Chaarvi's words echoed in Simon's mind.

"The ball's in your court... What happens now?"

It was a damned good question. Here, he had a woman who was completely under his control... an incredibly beautiful woman, at that.

A blissful smirk curled on to Simon's face as he contemplated the possibilities of his newfound powers.

He remembered what an insatiable minx Chaarvi had been yesterday. He remembered how gorgeous she was beneath those dowdy, loose clothes she insisted on wearing. How he would've loved to get another good look at those magnificent tits of hers; to play with them for a little while, even.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind then Chaarvi's hands rose up and began unbuttoning her blouse.

Adrenaline flooded into Simon's bloodstream; his heart began to race. This was a dream come true!

But a split second later, it dawned on him that the only reason Chaarvi was stripping for him was because she couldn't resist his mental suggestion to do so.

"STOP!" Simon snapped.

Chaarvi obeyed immediately. The command clearly startled her. Simon got the distinct impression that she hadn't even realized she'd been undressing until he ordered her to stop.

He sighed as he watched Chaarvi look down in confusion at her partially-unbuttoned blouse and wayward hands. This was wrong. He was taking advantage of her, forcing her to do things she didn't want to do.

Yet the temptation was unbearable. Here he was, sitting only a few feet across from the most stunning babe he had ever laid eyes upon; a woman who would literally do whatever he told her to. If he told her to sleep with him right now, she would do it, without the slightest hesitation.

He could do it. Just once. Just one round of heaven, to appease the infuriating desire that was burning in his loins. He knew it would be the most satisfying experience of his life. How could he pass up such an incredible opportunity?

While Chaarvi waited for Simon to decide her fate, she unconsciously brushed her rich, raven-black hair away from her graceful feminine features.

Simon sighed; deeper than before. He wanted a drop-dead gorgeous, red-hot sex machine girlfriend like Chaarvi, more than anything in the world. But not like this. Not with her held captive against her will.

For a moment, he mused on the idea of taking things slow. Perhaps meeting Chaarvi for lunch later, and seeing where things went?

But then he flashed back to that image of Chaarvi bursting in through his apartment door, fury burning in her eyes, outraged by the fact that he had inadvertently dragged her back to him. That was the real Chaarvi; the real woman, with her real attitude toward him laid bare, before he'd subdued her into her present complacency.

Inviting her to lunch might seem innocent enough. But she would only attend because he wanted her to. And if he was able to make his peace with that, then where would he draw the line? How many 'little steps' would he compel Chaarvi to take, before he realized he'd gone too far?

It was evident that Chaarvi had always intended to make a clean break with Simon, as soon as she'd completed her 'ritual' with him. His only ethical choice was to respect that.

"You wish all this had never happened, don't you?" Simon asked her softly. "You want to move on as if I wasn't tangled up in this at all, don't you?"

The question surprised Chaarvi. She hesitated a moment before answering solemnly, "Yes, master, I guess so."

Simon nodded softly.

"So, what happens to me, now?" he asked after a thoughtful pause. "I mean, now that I've got this 'energy channel' stuck inside me...

"Kundalini is a beneficial force, master," Chaarvi answered with confidence. "Although, it is also subtle.

"It won't do you any harm. More than likely, I suspect you won't notice any effects at all."

Simon forced a smile.

"Good to know," he responded absently. It was a reassuring answer. But he was still left with a bitter pill to swallow.

"Then... I guess we should probably say, 'Goodbye,'" he declared sadly.

Chaarvi was visibly shocked.

"Master?"

"This was all just some stupid accident. And all because I stuck my nose in where it didn't belong. You shouldn't have to suffer for that.

"We can just go our separate ways. I'll stay out of your life, as best I can," he promised. "Is that okay for you?"

Chaarvi was lost for words.

"I... It's... It's a relief to hear you say that, master," she eventually responded.

In a strange way, it was also a relief for Simon. Although it was painful, surrendering his chance to get to know this absolute babe better - much less to relive that fantastic sexual encounter, he could feel a weight lifting from conscience, now that he had resolved to leave her alone. He was doing the right thing, and that gave him comfort.

"But all this... It's a lot to process," Simon remarked, as they both stood. "I can't promise I won't have more questions. If I do..."

"...You know how to call me," Chaarvi concluded with a smirk.

Simon chuckled, eventually. Her humor had caught him off-guard. She certainly wasn't making this goodbye any easier on him, with her dry, charming wit. It was such a pity they hadn't met under more normal circumstances.

"Goodbye, Chaarvi," said Simon, concealing his sorrow behind a brave smile.

"Goodbye, master," Chaarvi warmly replied.

Simon extended his hand, without really thinking about it. Chaarvi grasped it gently and shook his hand 'farewell'.

After their passionate tryst the previous afternoon, it seemed such a shame to Simon that they weren't parting with a goodbye kiss. He almost leaned in, before he realized that this was the same slippery slope he had just resolved not to venture down.

He let go of her hand. Chaarvi's friendly smile never faltered as she turned silently and made her way to the door. Upon reaching the door, she turned her head, offering him one final grateful smile, before stepping out of his apartment - and life - for good.

As the door closed with an unceremonious "thud", Simon buried his face in his hands with a quiet moan of anguish. Why did doing the right thing have to be so fucking painful? And lonely?

She was, by far, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon. Why'd she have to be under some fucked-up magical spell that crippled her free will? Why couldn't she have been normal?

"If she was normal, she never would have slept with you in the first place," he coldly quipped to himself.

Chapter 4

The journey to college was long and wearying for Simon that morning. Everything was an effort. After his disappointing conversation with Chaarvi over breakfast, it was all he could do not to crawl back into bed for the rest of the day.

He'd missed half an hour of class by the time he managed to slink quietly into the lecture hall. His meeting with Chaarvi had already held him up too long to possibly get to class on time. Then once she'd left, Simon opted to have a nice, long shower, to help soothe his pain. Even when he eventually left his apartment, he'd been in no hurry to get to college.

He took the nearest available seat, in the back corner of the hall.

Scanning the curved auditorium, it took him only a split second to locate Chaarvi, sitting in the fourth row, on the opposite side of the room.

She had completely reverted to her typical frumpy appearance. Her luscious hair was once again tied back modestly. Her shoulders were hunched and her upper arms were pinned defensively to her body, making her frame appear much smaller than he knew her to be. Her lips were perpetually agape, giving the vague impression that she was a dull-witted girl.