“Are you sure you want to do this?” Alex asked, looking at his boyfriend skeptically.
“Why not? What’s the worst that could happen, hun?” His boyfriend Yukai responded, matter-of-factly.
“We get cursed by some sort of ancient magic, forced to wander the woods forever?” Kalvin piped up in his smartass tone.
“Like that would ever happen!” Alex scoffed as he pulled out the weathered tome from his backpack and started flipping through it.
The three 26-year-olds were on a camping trip, a welcome break during their vacations from work. It was supposed to be a relaxing endeavor, but Yukai, with his interest in the occult, brought along what he considered a set of souvenirs. He had been wanting to practice this particular ritual for some time, but it required a more natural setting to be most effective. This trip seemed like the perfect chance to try it out!
Yukai was always into the occult, and though Alex supported his hobbies, he didn’t believe himself. Most of it was relatively religious in nature, though Yukai always claimed that he could do more with practice. Still, it was all harmless, and Alex loved him dearly.
Alex was not expecting his love to bring along a spell that was supposed to grant them the power of the wilderness. Whatever that meant. Being more in tune with nature did sound cool, so Alex was on board. He might have thought deep down that some good beer would do the trick just as well, but either way, he was down to give it a try.
Kalvin was invested in the occult as well but was a little more skeptical about the idea of this particular ritual actually working. But, he often followed Yukai’s lead on these things, and it was hard for him to hide his excitement about what the process would entail.
Scraping a series of ruins in a circle around them, Yukai pulled out three talismans, handing one of each of them. They simply had to hold them while Yukai chanted a prayer in Latin and, if the spirits listened to them, would hopefully grant their request to commune with nature.
Alex couldn’t understand the words but paid little mind as he allowed himself to relax and get in the mood. He closed himself off from the sounds of their camp to those around the woods. It was almost relaxing to reflect on the sounds of crickets, owls, and scampering creatures around him. Perhaps this was simply what was meant by communing with nature?
Yukai’s chanting soon stopped, and Alex found himself holding his breath. He didn’t want to say anything, lest he ruined the ambiance. He would wait until Yukai let them know if the spell had succeeded or failed.
Several seconds passed by, and nothing seemed to come of it. Alex let himself exhale at that. It had been a dud, something that Yukai might have done wrong, or a spell that didn’t work altogether. Alex found himself wondering why he had even expected anything. He’d never really been a believer of magic. He had allowed himself to get too in the ritual, it seemed.
Suddenly, the talisman in his hands seemed to grow warm, as though a match were set to it. Alex went to let go of it, but he could not pry his hands away. It was as though his fingers were stiff, unable to flex enough to drop the object from his hands. What the hell was going on?
Opening his eyes and looking around, he saw that both men were struggling with their own talismans. Both Kalvin and Yukai wore frightening expressions on their features that made Alex shiver. Whatever was happening was not what they had been expecting!
Just then, the light of the fire burned out with a sudden gust of wind. With only a waning moon to light their campsite, Alex found himself feeling alone. He wanted to reach out to his love, but he couldn’t even see Yukai in the darkness!
Just then, the talismans in their hands started to glow, lighting the campsite in an ethereal embrace. It was almost stunning enough to bring Alex away from the fear of what was happening. He couldn’t let go as several dozen ghostly shapes burst from the talismans, floating in the air above them and dancing around in intricate patterns.
As the lights continued to play over the open campsite, Alex could have sworn he saw different shapes within. All looked like various animals, ones that might exist in the forest around them if Alex wasn’t mistaken. Deer, raccoon, fox, weasel, chipmunk, rabbit, skunk, rat, a variety of birds, and other things that were dancing too fast for Alex to comprehend.
His thoughts were going a mile a minute as the shapes continued to play in front of their eyes. Was this what the spell meant by communing with nature? Were these some sort of animal spirits? Or just a glorified light show?
Alex was stunned when one of the shapes, though he couldn’t ascertain which one, fell from the hoard and burst into Kalvin. Alex wanted to cry out, but it was too late as another descended and penetrated his boyfriend. Finally, one of the shapes fell towards him, leaving Alex frozen in place as the warm light entered his body.
Too stunned to even try to move, Alex only came to when their fire suddenly came to life, illuminating them all in its familiar glow once more. The three of them looked at each other fearfully, not comprehending what it was they saw. Even Yukai was baffled, evidently not knowing what to expect from the spell that he had cast. Or, at least, not expecting this!
A sudden cry from Kalvin finally broke the silence. “W-What! My hand! Guys!” Kalvin yelled, holding it up for their inspection.
The digits were shrinking, diminishing before their very eyes. His thumbs cracked and twitched as they started to push forward on wrists that were stretching as the three of them stared on in terror. The rest of his fingers were shrinking as well, pulling into his hands as their entire surface seemed to shrink.
“Your face!” Yukai yelled, as Kalvin reflectively reached up to feel it.
Though his fingers were changing, it was still likely he could ascertain how much his beard was thickening, fur brushing against his growing paw pads. His cheeks were growing puffy and fat as thick hairs burst from their surface. Worse, however, were the two buck teeth that seemed to protrude from his former incisors. The off-white coloring of his teeth started to darken to yellow, then orange as his quivering lips exposed them in the orange light of the fire. Even on Kalvin’s somewhat human features, the image was familiar. Kalvin looked like some kind of rodent!
Alex sat there unsure what was going on, nervous as hell as he watched his friend start to quiver all over. Kalvin’s hands continued to twitch uncontrollably, fingers still diminishing into his shrinking palms. Dark lumps started to swell on the insides of his palms and digits, looking almost like pads of some sort. Worse, his nails had darkened, thickened from their nail bed as they started to rise into curved crescents that stuck out from the diameter of his fading fingers. Kalvin was developing paws!
Yet, what was even more frightening was when Kalvin’s gaze lifted to stare towards Yukai.“Yukai, your ears!” Kalvin managed to call out, even as the bones in his skull started to crack audibly, making his voice sound more high-pitched.
Yukai reached up to touch his face, a horrified expression on his features. Alex’s gaze followed his lover’s hands as they brushed against something brown and elongated where his ears once sat. Fingers reached further to trace the growths that were easily triple the size they had been. Pointed at the tips, they curved inward as long hairs coated the insides. They almost looked like the ears of a…
A series of cracks and snaps brought his attention back to Kalvin, whose changes seemed to be accelerating. His eyes were bulged, larger on a scalp that seemed sloped and streamlined. More of that hair seemed to cover his face now in an obvious line of black and white against a brown background. His hair seemed to be lightening from its normal dark brown to a shade that matched that of the hairs peppering his head. It looked like he was growing fur!
Alex looked on to see that Kalvin’s ears were growing rounded, curling on themselves as they seemed to extend on his head. More of the hairs grew on their insides as the entire surface expanded relative to his head. It looked for a moment that they were rearranging themselves on his anatomy like they were rushing to the top of his scalp. They were massive, twitching of their own accord as they took on their new configuration.
It was obvious from the billowing of his clothes that Kalvin was shrinking all the while, easily a third of his normal height lost as he continued to diminish. Yet, his loose pants and larger shirt could not hide the growth that seemed to be sticking out above his ass. It popped out of the back of his pants, growing up over his spine as it quickly puffed out with brown hairs. The base of it seemed to be caught on his pants, causing it to stand stiff in the air. To Kalvin’s apparent shock, it began to twitch of its own accord, and then at his prompting as he subconsciously tried experimenting with his new tail.
Kalvin tried to speak, but all that came out was a series of high-pitched chitters. “YuKKKKKKKKKai! Alexxxxxxxxxxxxxx! Help MEEEEEEEE! I don’t want to BBEEEEEEE a CHIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!”
“No, make it stop! Kalvin… Alex… Help!” Yukai’s pained cry caught Alex’s ears, and his attention was shifted back towards his lover in time to see that he, too, was shrinking. Alex was shocked to see that Yukai’s 5’5 was closer to 5’0 as he continued to visibility shrink before Alex’s eyes. His clothes now looked several sizes too big as Yukai struggled to stand. His feet slipped out of his shoes and he nearly tripped, causing him to pitch forward in panic.
Yet, it was the changes to his face that really had Alex worried. His nose seemed to cave in on itself, the cartilage cracking as the bridge peppered with short brown hairs. Two slits formed from the indent on his nose and stretched down towards his mouth. His lips quivered as they pulled back, revealing massive incisors. Unlike those of the rodent that Kalvin had become, there seemed to be a second pair just behind them. What was happening to his love!?
Kalvin was changing much faster now, as though his rapidly beating heart was making the process accelerate through his body. He crawled out of his clothes, leaving them behind as he stood there naked and a little under three feet tall. Alex didn’t want to see his buddy nude, but couldn’t help but look down to see that his balls were bulbous, his nutsack hanging under him as his legs continued to shorten. His penis was gone, a furry sheath in its place.
His arms were shortening, chest and ribcage compressing as his elbow attached to his torso with a flap of skin. Hips grew thicker relative to his mass even as his body continued to diminish. His knees, too, were attached with a thick flap of skin as his shrinking legs pulled his feet under his body. Nails popped from each digit as the toes cracked and burst out into a similar length.
A few more inches were all that separated the former man from the soon-to-be chipmunk. The patterns of white and black stripes on the side, in tandem with the mostly-brown fur, was a dead ringer. There were no human features left on his face, only fear in the dead eyes as the chipmunk shivered, his head twitching as though fighting with internal bestial instincts.
Yukai, meanwhile, stared as his hands changed, his thumbs cracked as he desperately tried to move them to keep his humanity intact. But nothing he could muster forced his fingers to retain their composition; they stiffened and shrank, a thin sheen of webbing forming between them to keep them immobile. Alex could see the muscle in his wrists try desperately to twitch them. Yet, it was to no avail as brown hairs covered their backs and started to crawl up his arms. Even his palms were coated with a thick covering of brown hairs, completely obscuring the skin.
Alex went to cry out when the tingling of his own hand caught his attention. His thumbs felt stiff, the joint straightening until they could hardly stretch. He didn’t want to look, didn’t want to know that he, too, was losing his humanity. He didn’t want to be a chipmunk, or a rabbit as was becoming his love!
Yet, there was no denying the inevitable as he glanced down in time to see black fur sprouting on the backs of his hands, coating and obscuring the skin. His nails pushed out of their bed, thickened, and grew into sharp crescents as they curved towards his palms. Wrists stretched as though made of wax, and bits of skin on his palms grew thick and raised into bumps the shape of paw pads. Fingers continued to crack and shrink until nothing was left but nubs that were held together by short, fat webbing. Only paws persisted where he once had hands!
What was happening to them? Why were they turning into animals? Were they affected by the spirits that seemed to have descended into the talismans? How was such a thing possible? How could this trip have gone so horribly wrong!?
“Aleeeeex! Yoooour facccce!” Yukai managed to call out in a voice that was much different than his own. It scared Alex to the core to know his love was changing!
Alex went to raise his hands to touch his face but quickly forgot that he no longer had hands he could use to feel it. Rubbing his fur-covered paws against the skin only served to remind him of how much of an animal he already was. Alex had to settle for the sight of his nose thickening, the skin turning black and moist as slits formed on the sides. It looked more like the rounded nose of a canine.
For a moment, he was relieved to know that he wasn’t turning into a chipmunk or a rabbit. Being a frightened prey animal was terrifying in its own right.
Yet, a pang of guilt flooded his conscience as he realized that he would not be a rabbit as was his love becoming. They would not be the same species and not be able to be together. Would that even matter? Would they keep enough of their minds to know who they once were? The notion of that change was horrifying!
It was clear from Yukai’s warping Asian features that he was indeed becoming a rabbit. Alex turned to see that his love’s changes were coming faster as well, likely due to a rabbit’s rapid heartbeat. Struggling with extending feet, heels pulling to the length of his legs, and he tripped, front paws only catching him due to his decrease in stature.
It seemed that Yukai was destined to stay on all fours as the changes assaulted his back, making him hunch over in fear or pain. His spine grew curved, forcing a small tail out of his backside, which sprouted short brown hairs. His pelvis seemed to snap and reform as his hips sank into the flanks of his stomach as he continued to shrink.
Yet, it was the sight of his lover’s eyes that scared Alex the most. A scared scream escaped Yukai’s lips when he tried to speak, not a sound a human could make. He tried to mouth what Alex assumed to be ‘I love you,’ but it was impossible to tell from rabbit lips. A sloped skull forced his ears to the top of his head as they continued to extend to an almost comical proportion.
His eyes were the only thing that remained human as brown hair coated every inch of skin. They were wide in fright, larger on his features than they had been. But the light in them slowly faded, giving him what seemed to be soulless black orbs.
There was some intelligence in there, some shaking of his head as though Yukai was battling his internal thoughts. But, soon, the struggling rabbit seemed to sniff the air, as though detecting a scent that Alex was unaware of. With little fanfare, the rabbit hopped a few meters away, just outside the range of the fire as it looked into the night.
Alex hardly had time to form tears for his lost lover as his own changes took place. His 5’11 height was steadily diminishing, making his clothes billow all around him. Even with his new paws, Alex struggled out of his clothes, not wanting to get caught in them regardless of what he was becoming. His waist was far too lean for even the tightest belt notch to provide. Besides, the itching of his beige and black fur against his shirt was getting to him, making him quiver in irritation!
His body was growing leaner all the while, thinning out in relation to his shrinking form. A series of painless cracks echoed from his form as his spine seemed to stretch, curving slightly and forcing Alex to hunch down. The ache in his stretching spine continued downward as the bones in his coccyx seemed to separate painlessly into a growth that was sticking from his backside. Pressure growing worse moment by moment, Alex desperately tried straining muscles in the areas to alleviate the discomfort. Yet, his efforts were met with a bizarre twitching from the growth that made him sweat from the implication. Alex was growing a tail!
Alex tried everything he could think of to slow the changes. He even managed to get a few feet from camp, though the motion was difficult after his loss in height and unwieldy body proportions. Barging into the dark, Alex was scarcely able to see a foot in front of him as the firelight faded from view behind him. He had to get away and prevent himself from becoming an animal, no matter what kind!
Yet, the aches of change over his facial features made him realize how futile his efforts were to escape. He could tell his face was stretching out into a muzzle. He could feel the bones shifting and cracking and pressing in on his brain as he continued to shrink. Alex knew from the tinglings in his ears that they were growing rounded, forced higher on his head as his skull continued to warp. And there was nothing he could do to stop it!
“Sssstop! I dooooon’t rraaaaawww be an anirraaawwwwl!” He yelled, a mix of hisses and barks getting into his voice that Alex shudder. What kind of animal made such bizarre noises? Did it matter? He didn’t want to change into any kind of animal!
Yet, what scared him more was the sight of his nose in his field of view, pushing towards his lips as what seemed to be a longer muzzle extended from his features. He could feel his teeth lengthening, his canines growing sharp as many of the other teeth in his mouth became serrated. Whatever he was becoming, it was some sort of predator. Would he be compelled to hunt and eat his former friend or his lover? He would never!
Yet, his shrinking skull sent slivers of instincts through his mind, urges, and twinges of alien thoughts that frightened him to the core. He wanted to hunt, to chase something running in front of him. He didn’t want so much to kill, rather, he saw the animals smaller than he as toys. The thought excited him, leaving Alex with an almost child-like sense of play. Was this what it was like to be a…?
Alex blinked a few times, the world losing its focus as his blue eyes shifted to brown. Though the now-distant firelight and the stars still illuminated his path, his eyes could not pierce the darkness any better than his former human ones. He could not see his still-shrinking body. He could not see his thick tail swishing behind him of its own accord. Yet, the sensation filled him with a familiar mental image in tandem with the color patterns adorning the still-growing fur. He was starting to look like a ferret or weasel!
At the realization, Alex could feel all the bones in his body start to snap and reform, as though the changes were starting to accelerate. He could tell he was diminishing, that his legs were growing stocky and short. He could feel his toes twitching, his large toe sinking in line with the others to form five digits with pads. Immobile claws dug into the forest floor as Alex continued to shrink with no reprieve from the changes assaulting his form. He could scarcely feel the earth under his bare feet as his paw pads thickened while his toes diminished to stubs felt fast by sturdy skin.
Due to an elongated sternum, his top-heavy body tipped over, forcing Alex to reach out with shorter arms to brace himself. But with the much smaller size of his body, no pain was felt as his front paws hit the earth. Shoulders rotated forward as scapulas sat behind neck bones and made his four-legged travel comfortable. Similarly, his hips and back snapped and popped until his pelvis was realigned parallel to his body, permanently setting him on all four feet. His lungs, his stomach, nothing about his internal structures were human as they sloshed and gurgled and reformed in ways that should have killed him several times over. But, the sensations only caused the newly-forming ferret mild discomfort.
As his muzzle cracked to his full length, nose sniffing the air instinctually, Alex started to realize that the compression against his brain was changing the size and shape of the organ. It was getting harder to think of why he was so panicked with the process. He was always a ferret, wasn’t he? And his boyfriend was always a rabbit. A plump, relatively slow…
He struggled frantically against an onslaught of instincts. He was there, he was himself. But he wanted to hunt, wanted to play. He would see a rabbit as a food item or a toy rather than his former human boyfriend. The scents of frightened bunny assaulted his nose as he reflexively scampered forward, eager to hunt and play. Though he could hardly see, the pungent scents of the woods threatened to overwhelm him. Had he not been assaulted with overwhelming ferret instincts, there would be no way Alex could possibly make sense of all the smells!
Part of his mind was afraid as he did so, senses reaching out to the world for things that could kill him as well. There were a myriad of threats, of owls, of foxes and coyotes and other things larger and more deadly than he. He had to be cautious; his form was not meant to live in the wild, domesticated as it was to require human hands. He would barely be able to find food, much less avoid predation had he not his human awareness.
Alex scampered into the woods, the scents of interesting animals in his nostrils as he instinctively chased after the rabbit that had been his lover in another life. However, his human side rose up enough to allow the rabbit to get away at the last moment. His former love would be spared a ferret’s abuse, for now.
Yet, the instincts to hunt and play were stronger than Alex could have imagined, and he found himself sniffing the air looking for another animal to entertain him. He wanted nothing more than to hunt, to find a den or human dwelling and protect himself from the predators that would eat him in turn.
He could force his body to avoid chasing chipmunks and rabbits, at least for now, but he was still at the whims, instincts, and drives of the ferret he had become. It was easier to allow his humanity to fade, as the new ferret began his life, having properly communed with nature.