I set my new purchase upon the table in my living room, pulling the guidebook out and opening it. Inside are basic safety rules for burning incense, such as ensuring the ashes are completely cold before disposal, not burning directly on flammable surfaces, and leaving a window open while doing so. The window rule didn’t make very much sense to me-wasn’t the special scent the entire point of burning incense? I ultimately decide to leave the window open, just in case the smell is something I don’t like.

Having gone through the booklet, I toss it on the table, and open the box. It comes with a basic manual and a set of 10 incense sticks, as promised. They looked like old-school cigars, except at roughly a third of the length and with a visible wick on one end. Each one apparently only lasts 15 minutes, and that didn’t seem like it was a very long time for me to work with, but it would have to do. I take the top off the house, sliding a stick into the slot and putting the top back on before using a camp lighter on it.

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I lean back into my couch, as I try to focus on what I had been doing back in the dream, trying to search within myself to ‘find my center’, whatever that means. At first, all I could think of was what happened yesterday and that unpleasant part of me that dared to show its hand. As I feel a curious but somewhat pleasant smell fill the room, I steer myself away from those thoughts, instead reaching into a void and finding something oddly familiar, but uncertain all the same. I brush my hands against it. It feels like cold steel as I see it light up, now keeping the encroaching darkness off my back for the moment. The nerves creeping up on me are held back, for now, at least.

I slowly come to a stand as I let an idea form in my mind. I focused on my tail, letting it out from under my shirt where I usually have it. I take a few seconds, and then walk into the bathroom, looking over to the mirror to find myself with four tails instead of one. Looking closer, I can move them independently of each other. I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I thought to try the other trick I remember pulling off at the lake, but remembering the anguish it caused last time, I decide not to open that door just yet.

I guess I really do have hidden potential, but that leaves me with a question: How far can I push this?