… You were having the strangest dream!
It’s very dark, a lone candle flickers somewhere above you, but you’re too tired to do more than blink slowly and wriggle into a more comfortable position. Stretching your legs out and arching your back, you roll around for a minute. Your shoulders feel funny, flatter, like they’re pressed in from your back to lie parallel to your spine.
Weird.
And thinking of it, your spine is tingling a bit, feeling kinda… stretched. You twist your neck to relieve the crick, tilting your heavy head up and down. Something flops under your thighs, tickling and pulsing. Huffing a sigh, you reach up to rub the sleep from your eyes, your fingers feeling rough and stubby while your eyelids feel fuzzy.
Blinking, you realize you can see a little better, the candle must have gotten a bit brighter. The details of the rough wooden walls and ceiling are much clearer. Stretching once more, you allow your arms to reach above you, and you blink again, this time in surprise.
Two black forearms with wide, heavy paws are extended above your head, and even as you think it, the toes flex and curl, wicked claws extending outwards. Fascinated and still in a sleepy daze, you lower your arms, the paws lowering as well as your gaze follows them down. A black mass protrudes, blocking your sight as you look where your chest should be. Shifting to your side, the mass moves with you, and you realize with a jolt that it is your chest, your ribs elongated outward instead of side-to-side.
Shaking the fuzz from your brain, your alarm grows as your eyes adjust and your… body becomes clearer. Where are your clothes?! Did you take them off when you decided to take a quick nap?! Your skin is all black, but it seems to gleam in the flickering candlelight and you realize you’re covered in jet-black fur, iridescent flecks tossing the light back! Turning quickly now, you place your arms under you, still shocked when you realize the paws from before are where your hands should be. They’re as large as dinner plates! Your hips twist as well, your thinned pelvis curved under and your legs feeling funnily folded, silky fur rubbing against silky fur as you wiggle and get them beneath you. Pushing up, you find yourself standing on the balls of your feet, your legs seemingly shorter as you straighten them, your spine parallel to the floor. Glancing back, you are no longer really surprised to see two more paws where your feet once were.
Something twitches behind your rear legs, and as you focus a long, sleek tail comes into view, the tip giving little jerks. What’s more, you can feel each movement, whipping it back and forth without thought, the appendage twice the length of your legs! Slowly, still mesmerized by your new tail, you become aware of a protrusion closer to your eyes, as if your nose had flattened and broadened, pushing your mouth and jaws out in front of you, a dark muzzle sporting extra-long whiskers that quiver as your focus shifts. Carefully, you open your mouth, probing with your dry, raspy tongue. Your front teeth feel tiny, but you quickly find four enormous canines sprouted from your upper and lower jaws, somehow easily sheathing themselves together behind your thick lips.
Abruptly, your hind legs collapse, and you find yourself sitting in disbelief. An unfamiliar pressure between your thighs alerts you to another change, and you almost collapse completely, unsure if you can take in any more. Reluctantly dropping your gaze, you lean your hips against the wall, allowing your thinner fur-covered thighs to fall open. Yep, just as you suspected: balls. Large furry, black balls right behind a slight bulge that you just know contains a furry black… erHEM!
You can feel a scream building in your throat, but it seems to get stuck, coming out as a deep, raspy cough. Peeling your lips back, a frustrated snarl builds, coming out as a coughing growl of fear at your inexplicable predicament. Clenching your paws, claws extend, and you cower back against the rough wall as you carve deep gouges into the floor.
A light breeze suddenly picks up, winding gently down the corridor and your whiskers twitch as a scent reaches you on the wind, completely new but somehow soothing and alarming all at once.