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The Druid's Cure
Kris has been inflicted with a condition which is ruining his life. After seeing many healers, he finally resorts to visiting a druid who he heard has cured people similar to him. However, the druid's cure might involve giving up his humanity...
This story is my part of a trade with KrisSnow! He has a bunch of really good stories and I would really recommend checking them out!
I actually have a soft spot for 'taurs', but this is the first time I have actually written about them. This was fun, so maybe I'll revisit it in the future :)
Funny thing: this is actually set in the same fantasy setting as my "Draythix's Awakening" story.
BTW: I hope it isn't too distracting that I am using one of my dragon tf icons for this story. I didn't have anything that really fit the theme XD
The Druid’s Cure
A hut built into the side of a hill slowly came into view. Its stones appeared to have been carefully fit together by hand rather than being held together with mortar like the houses from town. Between the building’s rustic look and the amount of life in the forest around it, Kris figured it was pretty likely that he had found the right place.
After guiding his horse up to the wooden fence surrounding the building, Kris carefully dismounted and tied his horse’s reins to a fencepost. Making it here on foot in his condition would have been impossible, but he figured that he should at least be able to make it to the door without his horse’s help.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be too much to hope for. A wave of vertigo hit Kris before he even made it halfway to the door, and he clutched his walking stick to steady himself. The sensation that walking on two legs was somehow wrong overwhelmed him. Gritting his teeth, Kris closed his eyes and fought to tell himself that he was a human and was walking exactly the way a human was supposed to be walking. All he needed to do was take a few more steps and then…
A rough voice interrupted Kris’ thoughts, “Are you alright?”
Slowly, Kris turned to see who had spoken to him, and was surprised to see a grey furred demihuman staring at him. The humanoid figure wore hides over much of its body, but a long furry tail, digitigrade paws, and a distinctly canine head were clearly visible. For a moment Kris tensed as an instinctive fear of werewolves overcame him, but he forced himself to calm down as he reminded himself that he true werewolves would be more feral looking. “Um, not exactly,” Kris finally replied uneasily, “Are you the druid ‘Theron’ that lives here?”
“I am, and considering how you look I bet you’ve come to ask for a cure of some sort,” the wolf grumbled, “Very well, come with me. We’ll see if my methods seem a good fit for you.”
The druid took one of Kris’ arms and guided him to the hut. The inside of the building was surprisingly roomy. It was lit by golden magical flames and filled with wooden furniture which looked as if they had been shaped rather than carved. The home’s most interesting feature was the large number of animal hides that lined the walls, which gave it the appearance of a hunter’s home rather than a druid’s. Kris couldn’t help but tense as it crosses his mind that wolf demihumans might be carnivores.
“You’re lucky that I arrived when I did,” the druid explained, “I don’t spend very much time at home. What is your name?”
“I’m Kris,” he said as he sighed in relief that he had survived the trip, “I was told that you can help people with… spirit afflictions.”
“I have helped a few, but probably not in the way you’re hoping,” Theron replied before sitting on a wooden stool which allowed his tail to hang freely, “How about you tell me about what is happening to you?”
“Well, I guess it started around when I was fourteen or so,” Kris began while trying his best to not stare at the demi-human. While they were not uncommon in his town, he had never seen a half-wolf before. “I used to be a pretty athletic kid, but around that age I started becoming… awkward. I would trip over myself at random times, and began feeling these weird phantom limbs that I didn’t have. I started getting these sensations that I should have a tail, and then it turned into a sense that I wasn’t supposed to be walking on two legs.”
“Does crawling on all fours seem more comfortable?” asked Theron, who seemed to be staring at Kris intently. It might have been a trick of the light, but he could swear the wolf’s eyes were glowing.
“No, that feels weird, but in a different way,” Kris replied while shaking his head, “It was annoying when I was younger, but I was still able to function for the most part. Things have gotten much worse recently though. I used to just have an episode every few days, but now it is happening every hour or sometime even more often than than. I lost my job because of it, and a few days ago I couldn’t even get out of bed for an hour because my body wouldn’t move the way I wanted it to! I’m starting to fear that I’m going to turn into a monster like in the old stories...”
“If you were going to turn into a monster, it would have happened years ago,” Theron interrupted, “Whatever spiritual energy has changed you wasn’t strong enough to actually change your form, but it sounds as if the condition went untreated for so long that it has changed your soul’s… shape.”
“So, you know what is happening to me?,” Kris did his best to hold in his excitement as he spoke. It sounded like he had finally found a healer who knew enough about spirit affictions to cure him! “People just assumed that I was an awkward kid, so no one thought to bring me to a healer until it was too late. Can you cure me? I brought gold with me…”
“There is no cure,” the demihuman stated bluntly, “At least it isn’t what most people would call a cure. More than one person that has come to me has refused my treatment.”
“Wait, people refused your treatment?” Kris slumped back in his chair as he processed this, “What sort of cure would someone refuse for something like this?”
“The problem is that the only safe cure for you means giving up on being human,” Theron stated with a sigh as he stood up from his stool and began looking over the wide array of animal hides that decorated his hut, “Simply put, the spiritual energy that has done this to you has been at work for so long that it would be nearly impossible to reverse. Your spirit is no longer that of a human, so the only solution is to change your body to better match your spirit.”
“Wait, that can’t be right!” Kris nearly shot up out of his chair, but instead slipped down it when his legs ended up not moving the way he expected. For a moment he considered arguing, but the druid had already clearly stated that there was no other way. He remained silent as he processed this for several moments before replying, “If… if the choice is between becoming bedridden for the rest of my life or being transformed into something inhuman, I would rather be transformed. Would I become a demihuman like you?”
“Considering your symptoms, that is unlikely,” replied Theron as he continued inspecting his collection of furs and hides, “You probably need to become something a bit more unusual. I would prefer to train you in druidic magic so you could just naturally shapeshift to become whatever you need to become, but you people always come to me far too late for that. Instead, we’ll have to resort to another method that I’ve developed. Tell me, do any of these furs appeal to you?”
“Appeal to me?” Kris repeated as he tried to understand what the mad druid was talking about, “What do you mean?”
The druid’s tail twitched in annoyance. “Look at them. Do any of them seem like something you’ve seen in a dream, or do you feel drawn to any of them?”
Kris inspected the collection more closely. It seemed to have come from a wide variety of creatures, including deer, foxes, squirrels, and many that he couldn’t identify. There was even a wolf fur, and he couldn’t help but be surprised by this considering the druid was an anthropomorphic wolf. In fact, the entire collection seemed like an odd thing for a druid to have in the first place, though Kris supposed that maybe it was there specifically for whatever this cure was supposed to be.
After nearly a minute, Kris found his eyes drawn to what appeared to be a grey raccoon pelt. Somehow, it brought about a strange feeling of dejavu, like he had seen it many times before but couldn’t remember where. As he stared at it, he began remembering half forgotten dreams that involving being covered in fur just like what was on the pelt. Kris pointed at it and said, “I think it is that one.”
“Ah, that’s what I suspected,” Theron replied as he pulled it from the wall, “It will take me a few days to prepare things, but first there was the matter of payment that you mentioned. I have no use for gold, so you would have to agree to help me watch over this forest for a year in return for my help.”
“A year!” Kris stared at the humanoid wolf with his mouth agape, “But that’s….”
“It isn’t like you have a job anyway, “ the druid interjected with a toothy smile.
The preparations that Theron mentioned took some time to complete. In the meantime, Kris mostly stayed within the druid’s hut since his limited mobility made walking even short distances difficult. Since he had so little to do, Kris had a lot of time to come to terms with the impending loss of his humanity. Since the druid had not been able to determine exactly what Kris’ new form would be aside from it having to do with raccoons, Kris was afraid that he would never be able to walk into a town again without a mob chasing him out. He also couldn’t help but worry that his family and friends would not accept his decision.
The druid Theron seemed to be putting a lot of work into his preparations, and to Kris’ surprise one day the druid limped back into the hut as a human. It was then that he learned that Theron wasn’t actually a demihuman, but actually relied on his druidic magic to manage a spirit condition similar to Kris’. On that day Theron had used up so much of his magic that he was not able to maintain his transformation.
Eventually, Kris asked Theron why he didn’t transform himself using one of the pelts. The demihuman replied that the type of permanent change his pelts provided tended to interfere with other shapeshifting magic, and he didn’t want to lose the ability to assume feral forms when need be.
After three days Theron returned to the hut with the raccoon fur in hand. “Everything is ready, and this is the perfect night for the transformation,” he stated while seeming quite pleased with his work, “Come with me.”
The druid helped Kris walk outside to a circle of stones which stood near the hut. The circle had eight pillars which stood as tall as a man, with rows of smaller stones dug into the ground between them. Despite how late it was, the moonlight lit the stones clearly and Kris could swear that the runes carved into them were glowing.
“Wait, it is a full moon out?” Kris suddenly noted with concern, “This isn’t going to turn me into a werecreature, is it?”
The druid snorted in disgust, “Of course not. The full moon is simply the time when our physical world is closest to the world of the spirits. During a full moon a lycanthrope’s animal spirit overtakes their human spirit because they lack balance. In your case, your problem is that your own spirit has been transformed, and the full moon will allow us use your spirit to alter your physical form.”
“With the help of that animal hide?” Kris asked hesitantly. The pelt that Theron was carrying with him seemed much larger than it was before. In fact, it looked larger than any raccoon he had ever seen, but it still looked as if it had been made from a single creature.
“This is less a skin and more of a magical item now,” the druid stated as he unfurled it so Kris could get a better look. It looked like a hooded cloak now, with an attached half-mask and a raccoon tail hanging from the bottom. “You’ll need to wear this while standing in the circle. I recommend that you take off anything that you don’t want to have destroyed or consumed by the transformation.”
After taking off his shirt, belt, and his shoes, the druid helped Kris walk into the circle and then gave him the pelt. It didn’t have clasps to hold it around his neck, so after a moment’s hesitation Kris pulled its mask over his head. Though it only covered the upper half of his face, the mask seemed to easily serve as an anchor for the rest of the pelt which hung limply over his back. Despite how ridiculous he felt, the fur felt strangely comforting to wear.
“Try to focus on the sensations that you have been experiencing over the years,” Theron said to him from outside of the circle, “Welcome them instead of resisting them.”
“Easy for you to say,” Kris grumbled before closing his eyes and trying to focus. Almost immediately, the strange phantom limbs came back and threatened to throw him off balance. After steadying himself, Kris tried to explore the feelings instead of fighting them.
Somehow, under the full moon the sensations were far clearer than they ever had been before. He felt four feet on the ground, a tail, and even claws on his hands. Even though he had not even begun to transform yet, somehow he could feel a muzzle extending from his face. For the first time in his life he began to realize just what he was supposed to be.
A different sensation startled Kris out of his trance, and he quickly realized that the pelt was wrapping around his body. Fur had already encircled his chest, and he watched in amazement as it seemed to weave together and close in around him. Once it had sealed itself, it slowly tightened around his chest as it seemed to shrink down to fit him like a second skin.
“Stay calm and don’t fight it,” Theron instructed, though Kris was so distracted he barely heard the druid. “Try to keep focusing.”
Kris gulped and tried to do as he was told as he watched the fur quickly climb up his arms. It formed paw pads on the palms of his hands as it grew over them, and stopped around the edges of his fingernails rather than growing a new set of claws over them. At the same time the pelt had somehow managed to slip under the pants he was wearing rather than growing over them, and some of the fur spread around his neck. Rather than covering up his mouth, it seemed to grow outwards into a loose full face mask in the shape of a raccoon. A strange tingling was spreading all over his body where the pelt was touching his skin.
Without warning, the strangest sensation spread through his body. It felt as if something was pushing outward from within him. It felt the strongest around his stomach and lower body, like something far larger than him was trying to get out. It wasn’t very painful, but Kris still gasped and fell onto the ground as his body convulsed under the sudden assault.
All at once, he felt his body begin changing as his spirit pushed outwards. His face stretched out into a muzzle, and Kris gasped in surprise as he felt the pelt fuse with his face to become his new skin. At the same time, his pants were quickly ripped apart as his lower body stretched out and became longer. His spine bent at a sharp angle where his tailbone once was, and a second set of legs grew out of his midsection. The feeling was so alien that Kris had not even noticed his fingernails extend into claws. All distinction between his skin and the pelt that he was wearing quickly disappeared as even its attached raccoon tail fused onto him.
Though the transformation had only lasted a few minutes, it seemed to take an eternity for Kris. By the time it was over he was gasping for air while sprawled out on the ground. His body felt so wrong, but at the same time so right. It wasn’t just that he had six limbs now; the sensation of having fur, claws, and even a snort snout all felt like things he had been supposed to have all along. Instead of having phantom limbs, he actually had those limbs now! However, even though he thought he had resigned himself to no longer being human, he found himself feeling incredibly conflicted about how good he felt in his new form.
“Well well, a raccoon taur?” Theron said with a hint of awe in his voice as he walked up to Kris, “I have never even heard of one before. You might even be a unique creature! Are you alright?”
“I… think I am,” Kris replied awkwardly, and was quickly startled by how he spoke with a slight whistle with his new mouth. He tried to look at his body, but had some trouble twisting his back to adjust his view of it all. “A raccoon taur? Like a centaur?”
“Yes! Except your upper body is that of the animal as well of course. In any case, it should be safe for you to move now. Try standing.”
It took a few moments for Kris to puzzle together how to control his new body. After a few tries he managed to roll onto his belly, the larger belly at least, and then he tried standing up with his four legs. At first he found himself only moving two or three of the legs at a time, but eventually he managed to unsteadily stand up on all four. Feeling the cool grass beneath his paw pads further drove home the fact that his life had changed forever.
When Theron took Kris by the shoulder to help him stand, the taur was surprised that the druid seemed slightly taller than before. Slowly, the druid helped Kris take his first steps in his new form. Kris simultaneously felt like he had more and less control over his new body than his previous one. Unlike with his old body, every time Kris moved a limb it more or less did what he wanted it to, but he had no idea of how to handle having six limbs and two chests. He had no instincts or muscle memory to act on, so he had to think very carefully about every step he took as he was carefully guided away from the stone circle.
After finally reaching Kris’ pile of clothes, Theron handed the raccoon his old shirt. “This might be the only thing of yours that will still fit you at all,” the wolf stated with amusement, “Luckily your fur and body structure will hide everything anyway.”
Somehow, it had not even crossed Kris’ mind that he wasn’t wearing anything. The sensation of the raccoon pelt enveloping him had left Kris with the sensation that he was wearing his fur even after it had merged with his body. He quickly pulled the shirt, which seemed slightly too large for him now, over his upper chest. Afterwards he couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose as he noticed the nasty scent his human self had left on it.
“Since your new form seems like it will take some time to get used to, I’ll give you a week before I start training you,” Theron began explaining as he helped Kris walk back to the hut.
“Wait, by training does that mean you’ll teach me to be a druid?” Kris suddenly asked.
“If you show the potential and you wish it, yes,” the druid replied with a smile, “Though I must warn you, druidic magic isn’t something that can be used for yourself like you were a sorcerer. It requires devotion to nature and pacts with the spirits. I intend to simply teach you how to patrol the forest’s borders at first...”
Despite Theron’s warning, Kris couldn’t help but smile. Even though he already missed his life in town, the combination of his new form and druidic magic may become more than an even trade.
This story is my part of a trade with KrisSnow! He has a bunch of really good stories and I would really recommend checking them out!
I actually have a soft spot for 'taurs', but this is the first time I have actually written about them. This was fun, so maybe I'll revisit it in the future :)
Funny thing: this is actually set in the same fantasy setting as my "Draythix's Awakening" story.
BTW: I hope it isn't too distracting that I am using one of my dragon tf icons for this story. I didn't have anything that really fit the theme XD
The Druid’s Cure
A hut built into the side of a hill slowly came into view. Its stones appeared to have been carefully fit together by hand rather than being held together with mortar like the houses from town. Between the building’s rustic look and the amount of life in the forest around it, Kris figured it was pretty likely that he had found the right place.
After guiding his horse up to the wooden fence surrounding the building, Kris carefully dismounted and tied his horse’s reins to a fencepost. Making it here on foot in his condition would have been impossible, but he figured that he should at least be able to make it to the door without his horse’s help.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be too much to hope for. A wave of vertigo hit Kris before he even made it halfway to the door, and he clutched his walking stick to steady himself. The sensation that walking on two legs was somehow wrong overwhelmed him. Gritting his teeth, Kris closed his eyes and fought to tell himself that he was a human and was walking exactly the way a human was supposed to be walking. All he needed to do was take a few more steps and then…
A rough voice interrupted Kris’ thoughts, “Are you alright?”
Slowly, Kris turned to see who had spoken to him, and was surprised to see a grey furred demihuman staring at him. The humanoid figure wore hides over much of its body, but a long furry tail, digitigrade paws, and a distinctly canine head were clearly visible. For a moment Kris tensed as an instinctive fear of werewolves overcame him, but he forced himself to calm down as he reminded himself that he true werewolves would be more feral looking. “Um, not exactly,” Kris finally replied uneasily, “Are you the druid ‘Theron’ that lives here?”
“I am, and considering how you look I bet you’ve come to ask for a cure of some sort,” the wolf grumbled, “Very well, come with me. We’ll see if my methods seem a good fit for you.”
The druid took one of Kris’ arms and guided him to the hut. The inside of the building was surprisingly roomy. It was lit by golden magical flames and filled with wooden furniture which looked as if they had been shaped rather than carved. The home’s most interesting feature was the large number of animal hides that lined the walls, which gave it the appearance of a hunter’s home rather than a druid’s. Kris couldn’t help but tense as it crosses his mind that wolf demihumans might be carnivores.
“You’re lucky that I arrived when I did,” the druid explained, “I don’t spend very much time at home. What is your name?”
“I’m Kris,” he said as he sighed in relief that he had survived the trip, “I was told that you can help people with… spirit afflictions.”
“I have helped a few, but probably not in the way you’re hoping,” Theron replied before sitting on a wooden stool which allowed his tail to hang freely, “How about you tell me about what is happening to you?”
“Well, I guess it started around when I was fourteen or so,” Kris began while trying his best to not stare at the demi-human. While they were not uncommon in his town, he had never seen a half-wolf before. “I used to be a pretty athletic kid, but around that age I started becoming… awkward. I would trip over myself at random times, and began feeling these weird phantom limbs that I didn’t have. I started getting these sensations that I should have a tail, and then it turned into a sense that I wasn’t supposed to be walking on two legs.”
“Does crawling on all fours seem more comfortable?” asked Theron, who seemed to be staring at Kris intently. It might have been a trick of the light, but he could swear the wolf’s eyes were glowing.
“No, that feels weird, but in a different way,” Kris replied while shaking his head, “It was annoying when I was younger, but I was still able to function for the most part. Things have gotten much worse recently though. I used to just have an episode every few days, but now it is happening every hour or sometime even more often than than. I lost my job because of it, and a few days ago I couldn’t even get out of bed for an hour because my body wouldn’t move the way I wanted it to! I’m starting to fear that I’m going to turn into a monster like in the old stories...”
“If you were going to turn into a monster, it would have happened years ago,” Theron interrupted, “Whatever spiritual energy has changed you wasn’t strong enough to actually change your form, but it sounds as if the condition went untreated for so long that it has changed your soul’s… shape.”
“So, you know what is happening to me?,” Kris did his best to hold in his excitement as he spoke. It sounded like he had finally found a healer who knew enough about spirit affictions to cure him! “People just assumed that I was an awkward kid, so no one thought to bring me to a healer until it was too late. Can you cure me? I brought gold with me…”
“There is no cure,” the demihuman stated bluntly, “At least it isn’t what most people would call a cure. More than one person that has come to me has refused my treatment.”
“Wait, people refused your treatment?” Kris slumped back in his chair as he processed this, “What sort of cure would someone refuse for something like this?”
“The problem is that the only safe cure for you means giving up on being human,” Theron stated with a sigh as he stood up from his stool and began looking over the wide array of animal hides that decorated his hut, “Simply put, the spiritual energy that has done this to you has been at work for so long that it would be nearly impossible to reverse. Your spirit is no longer that of a human, so the only solution is to change your body to better match your spirit.”
“Wait, that can’t be right!” Kris nearly shot up out of his chair, but instead slipped down it when his legs ended up not moving the way he expected. For a moment he considered arguing, but the druid had already clearly stated that there was no other way. He remained silent as he processed this for several moments before replying, “If… if the choice is between becoming bedridden for the rest of my life or being transformed into something inhuman, I would rather be transformed. Would I become a demihuman like you?”
“Considering your symptoms, that is unlikely,” replied Theron as he continued inspecting his collection of furs and hides, “You probably need to become something a bit more unusual. I would prefer to train you in druidic magic so you could just naturally shapeshift to become whatever you need to become, but you people always come to me far too late for that. Instead, we’ll have to resort to another method that I’ve developed. Tell me, do any of these furs appeal to you?”
“Appeal to me?” Kris repeated as he tried to understand what the mad druid was talking about, “What do you mean?”
The druid’s tail twitched in annoyance. “Look at them. Do any of them seem like something you’ve seen in a dream, or do you feel drawn to any of them?”
Kris inspected the collection more closely. It seemed to have come from a wide variety of creatures, including deer, foxes, squirrels, and many that he couldn’t identify. There was even a wolf fur, and he couldn’t help but be surprised by this considering the druid was an anthropomorphic wolf. In fact, the entire collection seemed like an odd thing for a druid to have in the first place, though Kris supposed that maybe it was there specifically for whatever this cure was supposed to be.
After nearly a minute, Kris found his eyes drawn to what appeared to be a grey raccoon pelt. Somehow, it brought about a strange feeling of dejavu, like he had seen it many times before but couldn’t remember where. As he stared at it, he began remembering half forgotten dreams that involving being covered in fur just like what was on the pelt. Kris pointed at it and said, “I think it is that one.”
“Ah, that’s what I suspected,” Theron replied as he pulled it from the wall, “It will take me a few days to prepare things, but first there was the matter of payment that you mentioned. I have no use for gold, so you would have to agree to help me watch over this forest for a year in return for my help.”
“A year!” Kris stared at the humanoid wolf with his mouth agape, “But that’s….”
“It isn’t like you have a job anyway, “ the druid interjected with a toothy smile.
The preparations that Theron mentioned took some time to complete. In the meantime, Kris mostly stayed within the druid’s hut since his limited mobility made walking even short distances difficult. Since he had so little to do, Kris had a lot of time to come to terms with the impending loss of his humanity. Since the druid had not been able to determine exactly what Kris’ new form would be aside from it having to do with raccoons, Kris was afraid that he would never be able to walk into a town again without a mob chasing him out. He also couldn’t help but worry that his family and friends would not accept his decision.
The druid Theron seemed to be putting a lot of work into his preparations, and to Kris’ surprise one day the druid limped back into the hut as a human. It was then that he learned that Theron wasn’t actually a demihuman, but actually relied on his druidic magic to manage a spirit condition similar to Kris’. On that day Theron had used up so much of his magic that he was not able to maintain his transformation.
Eventually, Kris asked Theron why he didn’t transform himself using one of the pelts. The demihuman replied that the type of permanent change his pelts provided tended to interfere with other shapeshifting magic, and he didn’t want to lose the ability to assume feral forms when need be.
After three days Theron returned to the hut with the raccoon fur in hand. “Everything is ready, and this is the perfect night for the transformation,” he stated while seeming quite pleased with his work, “Come with me.”
The druid helped Kris walk outside to a circle of stones which stood near the hut. The circle had eight pillars which stood as tall as a man, with rows of smaller stones dug into the ground between them. Despite how late it was, the moonlight lit the stones clearly and Kris could swear that the runes carved into them were glowing.
“Wait, it is a full moon out?” Kris suddenly noted with concern, “This isn’t going to turn me into a werecreature, is it?”
The druid snorted in disgust, “Of course not. The full moon is simply the time when our physical world is closest to the world of the spirits. During a full moon a lycanthrope’s animal spirit overtakes their human spirit because they lack balance. In your case, your problem is that your own spirit has been transformed, and the full moon will allow us use your spirit to alter your physical form.”
“With the help of that animal hide?” Kris asked hesitantly. The pelt that Theron was carrying with him seemed much larger than it was before. In fact, it looked larger than any raccoon he had ever seen, but it still looked as if it had been made from a single creature.
“This is less a skin and more of a magical item now,” the druid stated as he unfurled it so Kris could get a better look. It looked like a hooded cloak now, with an attached half-mask and a raccoon tail hanging from the bottom. “You’ll need to wear this while standing in the circle. I recommend that you take off anything that you don’t want to have destroyed or consumed by the transformation.”
After taking off his shirt, belt, and his shoes, the druid helped Kris walk into the circle and then gave him the pelt. It didn’t have clasps to hold it around his neck, so after a moment’s hesitation Kris pulled its mask over his head. Though it only covered the upper half of his face, the mask seemed to easily serve as an anchor for the rest of the pelt which hung limply over his back. Despite how ridiculous he felt, the fur felt strangely comforting to wear.
“Try to focus on the sensations that you have been experiencing over the years,” Theron said to him from outside of the circle, “Welcome them instead of resisting them.”
“Easy for you to say,” Kris grumbled before closing his eyes and trying to focus. Almost immediately, the strange phantom limbs came back and threatened to throw him off balance. After steadying himself, Kris tried to explore the feelings instead of fighting them.
Somehow, under the full moon the sensations were far clearer than they ever had been before. He felt four feet on the ground, a tail, and even claws on his hands. Even though he had not even begun to transform yet, somehow he could feel a muzzle extending from his face. For the first time in his life he began to realize just what he was supposed to be.
A different sensation startled Kris out of his trance, and he quickly realized that the pelt was wrapping around his body. Fur had already encircled his chest, and he watched in amazement as it seemed to weave together and close in around him. Once it had sealed itself, it slowly tightened around his chest as it seemed to shrink down to fit him like a second skin.
“Stay calm and don’t fight it,” Theron instructed, though Kris was so distracted he barely heard the druid. “Try to keep focusing.”
Kris gulped and tried to do as he was told as he watched the fur quickly climb up his arms. It formed paw pads on the palms of his hands as it grew over them, and stopped around the edges of his fingernails rather than growing a new set of claws over them. At the same time the pelt had somehow managed to slip under the pants he was wearing rather than growing over them, and some of the fur spread around his neck. Rather than covering up his mouth, it seemed to grow outwards into a loose full face mask in the shape of a raccoon. A strange tingling was spreading all over his body where the pelt was touching his skin.
Without warning, the strangest sensation spread through his body. It felt as if something was pushing outward from within him. It felt the strongest around his stomach and lower body, like something far larger than him was trying to get out. It wasn’t very painful, but Kris still gasped and fell onto the ground as his body convulsed under the sudden assault.
All at once, he felt his body begin changing as his spirit pushed outwards. His face stretched out into a muzzle, and Kris gasped in surprise as he felt the pelt fuse with his face to become his new skin. At the same time, his pants were quickly ripped apart as his lower body stretched out and became longer. His spine bent at a sharp angle where his tailbone once was, and a second set of legs grew out of his midsection. The feeling was so alien that Kris had not even noticed his fingernails extend into claws. All distinction between his skin and the pelt that he was wearing quickly disappeared as even its attached raccoon tail fused onto him.
Though the transformation had only lasted a few minutes, it seemed to take an eternity for Kris. By the time it was over he was gasping for air while sprawled out on the ground. His body felt so wrong, but at the same time so right. It wasn’t just that he had six limbs now; the sensation of having fur, claws, and even a snort snout all felt like things he had been supposed to have all along. Instead of having phantom limbs, he actually had those limbs now! However, even though he thought he had resigned himself to no longer being human, he found himself feeling incredibly conflicted about how good he felt in his new form.
“Well well, a raccoon taur?” Theron said with a hint of awe in his voice as he walked up to Kris, “I have never even heard of one before. You might even be a unique creature! Are you alright?”
“I… think I am,” Kris replied awkwardly, and was quickly startled by how he spoke with a slight whistle with his new mouth. He tried to look at his body, but had some trouble twisting his back to adjust his view of it all. “A raccoon taur? Like a centaur?”
“Yes! Except your upper body is that of the animal as well of course. In any case, it should be safe for you to move now. Try standing.”
It took a few moments for Kris to puzzle together how to control his new body. After a few tries he managed to roll onto his belly, the larger belly at least, and then he tried standing up with his four legs. At first he found himself only moving two or three of the legs at a time, but eventually he managed to unsteadily stand up on all four. Feeling the cool grass beneath his paw pads further drove home the fact that his life had changed forever.
When Theron took Kris by the shoulder to help him stand, the taur was surprised that the druid seemed slightly taller than before. Slowly, the druid helped Kris take his first steps in his new form. Kris simultaneously felt like he had more and less control over his new body than his previous one. Unlike with his old body, every time Kris moved a limb it more or less did what he wanted it to, but he had no idea of how to handle having six limbs and two chests. He had no instincts or muscle memory to act on, so he had to think very carefully about every step he took as he was carefully guided away from the stone circle.
After finally reaching Kris’ pile of clothes, Theron handed the raccoon his old shirt. “This might be the only thing of yours that will still fit you at all,” the wolf stated with amusement, “Luckily your fur and body structure will hide everything anyway.”
Somehow, it had not even crossed Kris’ mind that he wasn’t wearing anything. The sensation of the raccoon pelt enveloping him had left Kris with the sensation that he was wearing his fur even after it had merged with his body. He quickly pulled the shirt, which seemed slightly too large for him now, over his upper chest. Afterwards he couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose as he noticed the nasty scent his human self had left on it.
“Since your new form seems like it will take some time to get used to, I’ll give you a week before I start training you,” Theron began explaining as he helped Kris walk back to the hut.
“Wait, by training does that mean you’ll teach me to be a druid?” Kris suddenly asked.
“If you show the potential and you wish it, yes,” the druid replied with a smile, “Though I must warn you, druidic magic isn’t something that can be used for yourself like you were a sorcerer. It requires devotion to nature and pacts with the spirits. I intend to simply teach you how to patrol the forest’s borders at first...”
Despite Theron’s warning, Kris couldn’t help but smile. Even though he already missed his life in town, the combination of his new form and druidic magic may become more than an even trade.
Category Story / Transformation
Species Taur (Other)
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 93.6 kB
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