Troy woke up, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
What an amazing dream! Some of the Books he’d seen were amazing. Hell, with the Book of Transmutation, he could literally print money. No, wait, with the Book of Time, he’d live for as long as he wanted, go back in time and undo mistakes he’d made. The Book of Body was a bit…well, lame. He wasn’t ugly.
At 6’0 even, he was a relatively nice looking young man, 25 years old, just out of college. He had short-cut brown hair and a bit of a goatee growing on his chin, and a thin, mildly athletic build. Troy never had trouble finding dates, considering he was bi. He yawned again and looked at the clock. 7 AM on a Saturday.
Ugh.
Part of him wanted to go back to bed, sleep in during his precious moments on the weekend. Another part knew that his best friend, Dustin, was asleep on the couch in his living room/kitchen combo and they hadn’t cleaned up after playing League together until 2 AM. If he let it go, the mess would pile up and he’d never get around to cleaning it until his parents showed up and shamed him for being a dirty bachelor.
He rolled out of bed and stretched, tendons and sinews popping pleasantly, and got dressed in his usual. A t-shirt and mesh shorts, for when he worked around the house. Then he laboriously went to the bathroom and emptied his bladder. It was a long piss. He’d down a two-liter of Mountain Dew before bed.
Stumbling towards his door, he walked out into the living room. He looked around and sighed. A mess. Two boxes of pizza were on his counter, soda cans were everywhere. Dustin, his best friend since middle school, snoring on the couch. He was a bit different than Troy. Chubby, curly brown hair, he was mostly unemployed. Dustin lived with his parents but he would often stay over with Troy, especially on night when their game group would play DnD together.
He quietly started shoving everything into a garbage bag, then paused when he reached the coffee table their two laptops sat on. Near Dustin’s outstretched hand lay a large, leather-bound tome. The Book of Beast was stamped into the cover in gold-leaf. Troy placed a hand on it and found it warm and thrummed at his touch. He pulled his hand back. It tingled a little from the contact.
Wait, wasn’t that one of the Books he’d seen in his dream? Hesitantly, he reached over and picked it up. It had to have weighed at least five pounds, hefty for a book this slim. The thrumming grew as he lifted it away from the coffee table and Dustin’s hand, until it jarred his bones. Then it went silent.
Troy blinked, aware something significant had just happened, but unsure what that might be. He flipped through the pages and recognized the spells that lay within. Just like his dream…
I. Summon Animal
To summon an animal and take control of it is quite simple. Just speak the command word "companion" and concentrate on the animal you wish to summon. The closest animal of that species will be transported to you. It normally consumes very little energy to summon an animal, and you can spend a little more to summon a specific animal, for example your pet. A summoned animal is normally easy to control, as most normal animals have a weak willpower.
II. Familiar
This spell allows you to form a permanent bond with an animal of your choice. The spell puts some of your power into the animal, and even allows you to grant the animal the ability to cast some of your spells. The command word is 'Familiar'. It consumes a large amount of energy to initially cast the spell, however requires no energy to maintain it, and the familiar is often able to supply you with extra energy. A last note, you can communicate telepathically with your familiar.
III. Beast Shape
This spell allows you to transform yourself or another target into an animal of your choice. You must speak the command word 'shape' and focus on the animal you want. To designate a target, point at what you what to transform. If you do not point at a target, you will transform yourself. This spell requires very little energy.
IV. Half Shape
This spell allows you to transform yourself or another partially into an animal. Point at a target to designate it, or if you don't point at a target you will transform yourself. The command word to initiate the spell is 'Half'. This spell can be used to make the target any part animal and part human. You can do something quite simple as just a tail, make one 50% each, or even just have them only retain their abilities to speak in the human tongue. This spell requires a mild amount of energy.
V. Control Animal
This spell is similar to summon animal, but was made to be used on hostile animals. It allows you to completely take control of that animal and order them to do your own bidding. It requires only a mild amount of energy to use, and the command word is 'control'.
VI. Borrow
This spell does not control or manipulate an animal in any way. Instead, it just allows you to temporarily borrow the animal's senses. Basically, if you use this spell on a bird flying in the sky, you'll be able to see everything the bird sees, and could use that to get a general idea of the area or who else is in the area. It requires only a mild amount of energy. The command word is 'borrow' and you must focus on the animal you wish to see through.
VII. Control
This spell is a stronger version of borrow. While borrow only allows you to borrow the senses of an animal, control allows you to transplant your soul in an animals body in order to have full control of the animal. It can be used to scout, or. In the event the caster is near death, this spell has sometimes been used to transfer their soul so they could live on as an animal. It will not effect humans though. The command word is 'transfer' and you must concentrate on the animal you wish to control.
VIII. Mass Summon
This spell allows you to summon either one of two groups of animals. You can either summon all animals in a given area, or a large amount of one particular type of animal. The spell's command word is 'mass summon' and requires about twice as much energy as a normal summon animal spell.
IX. Mass Transform
This spell works like the beast shape spell, but effects a large area. The caster can pick a type of animal such as felines, or a particular animal such as wolf, but can not select the spell to turn everyone in the area into a different type of animal. The spell's command words are 'mass transform' and the caster must focus on the area and the animal or animal type. If the caster is in the area he will be effected. The spell consumes a large amount of energy.
X. Mass Half Shape
This spell works like Half Shape, but allows the caster to effect a general area. The same rules apply of animal and animal type as in mass transform, and requires a large amount of energy as well. The command words are 'Mass Half'. If the caster is in the area he will be effected by the spell as well.
"This is insane..." Troy muttered to himself as he looked over the book a little more.
The rules were printed clearly on the front page, but they were painfully vague. It was clear, based solely on his experience with it a few moments ago, that it was an object of great magical power. But what did it mean by spells requiring energy? And would anyone know if they had been transformed? Or would the world just assume everything was normal?
And, more importantly, why had he been given such a lame-ass Book? It was worse than Body, for crying out loud! Control over animals? Pfft, who fucking cares when he could have had a Book that made him immortal or gave him mind control powers or, at the very least, a bigger dick!
“Wait, wait, how the fuck do I even know this is real?” Troy muttered to himself. “This just doesn’t happen in real life. I need to calm down. Evaluate the situation.”
Troy walked the Book back to his room and set it on his bed, near his Desktop computer, where he had a full streamer set-up. He;d tried his hand at being a pro-game streamer. It hadn’t been working out so far. But…if the Books were real, he’d never have to worry about anything as petty as a full-time job. He could be a fucking God!
He shook away the thought and went back to cleaning. What he needed was to calm down, stop his heart from racing, from beating so hard he could feel it thumping against his chest. If it were real, and he wasn’t saying it was, then….well, wouldn’t it be easy to disprove if it wasn’t?
All he’d need to do was cast a spell and get confirmation of the fact, right? Troy continued tidying up the house, taking out the trash, mind running through scenarios. If it were true that he had a Book, then it stood to reason that other people would also have received Books. People he didn’t know. Would they clash? Could he win?
Troy shoved the thoughts from his mind. One thing at a time. He needed a test subject. As he walked back inside, quietly shutting his door behind him so as not to wake his sleeping roommate, he grinned. Dustin. Test subject number one. Did he want to try it on him while he was sleeping or awake? Oh, no, wait, maybe he should ask Dustin what he would do?
Dustin was smart. Despite his crappy degree, the guy was in MENSA and loved True Crime stories and Legalese and if you asked him about any serial killer or gangster, he could tell you everything about them. Who they were, how they were caught, how they could have prevented themselves from getting caught, if only they’d played things a bit smarter. He loved strategy games and was, basically, the perfect guy to bounce ideas off of in this exact situation.
Troy went back to his room and passed out for an hour, staring at the Book of Beast on his desk. When he woke up, he could hear Dustin poking around his kitchen, frying bacon and eggs. Hopefully he’d made enough for two. Troy rolled out of bed and walked back into the kitchen. Dustin was plating two sets of eggs and bacon and munching on toast.
“Hey Troy, how’s it hangin’?” Dustin asked brightly.
“Low and to the left.” Troy replied, like always.
“Heh, breakfast is served.” Dustin handed him a plate.
They sat down in front of the TV that Troy used as a computer screen. DeathNote was playing. Troy watched along with Dustin, enjoying the game of cat and mouse between Light and L. He wasn’t that big into anime himself. He’d rather watch Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad if he was watching a show like this. The live action version of DeathNote sucked, though. Troy took another bite of eggs, then realized he’d eaten the whole plate. Dustin noticed.
“Uh, you must be hungry, I guess. Don’t worry, there’s enough left for seconds.” Dustin said, getting up and taking Troy’s plate with him before plopping a new serving onto it and setting it in front of Troy. “So, you look…tense. Something on your mind, man?”
“Yeah.” Troy said, through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “I had a dream. Listen close, okay?”
Dustin listened intently, eyes widening as Troy went on. Then he finished.
“So, let’s say this is real and you received the Book of Beast. What would you do?” Troy asked.
“Dude, change myself!” Dustin grinned.
“...Eh?”
“What, you think I call myself RedRocket69 for fun?”
“...Eh?”
“Troy, are you okay?” Dustin asked, staring at his best friend.
Troy cleared his throat. “Right. Uh, good. Well, it’s just-”
“Oh, hold on.” Dustin held up a finger and his eyes clouded with thought. Troy waited nervously. This was one of Dustin’s ‘thinking fugues’. “Actually, I’d test it on someone first. Then, verifying its authenticity, I think I’d advertise.”
“Go on.” Troy leaned forward. “Advertise what?”
“Transformation, duh!” Dustin rolled his eyes. “To the Furry community, dumb-dumb!”
“How would that make money, I’m confused.” Troy replied, not quite following.
“Okay, so you know how we talk about fursuits costing thousands of dollars, and artwork of OCs going for hundreds of dollars, right? And we joked about them having expendable cash?” Dustin spoke slowly.
“Oh.” Troy nodded. “Yeah…no, I don’t get it.”
“Dude, these people will fork over thousands if you told them you could really change them into their OCs!” Dustin said excitedly. “Like, you could set up a booth for temporary changes at a convention and like, you’d be a millionaire in a year when word spread!”
“Word…spread…” Troy licked his lips. “How about something more…covert?”
“Like…illegal?”
“Uh, well, like, I don’t want people to know I’m the guy doing it. How would I maximize my profit, like, immediately and not over a year?”
“Like I said, man. People are willing to pay big bucks for that kind of stuff.” Dustin paused, licking his lips, then leaned forward. “Okay, so if I had this Book, and I wanted to make money-morals set aside, purely profit driven, mind you-I’d make them give me their bank account information.”
“Whoa.”
“Easy as pie, bro, I’m telling you.” Dustin grinned, nodding to himself. “Yeah, give them a test, like the drug dealers say. Turn them into an animal and then reverse the spell. They’d be super convinced. Oh, and record it!”
“Record it?” Troy asked. “Evidence?”
“Sure, yeah, they’ll figure out you were with them when they went missing…” Dustin mused.
“Missing?”
“Oh, sure, yeah, if you want tons of money, get them to give you their bank account information. If they aren’t going to be human anymore, why would they need it?”
“Then change them into what they want.” Troy nodded.
“What? Fuck no!” Dustin laughed sinisterly and leaned forward. “You browse local wanted ads for things like bulls and horses. They can sell for upwards of $15 grand. Purebred dogs, shit like that. Then you just change the people into that.”
“Wouldn’t they, like, resist?”
“That’s what the Control spell is for, man!” Dustin said, exasperated. “Turn’em into proper loyal steeds and horny breeding bulls! Fuck, this is getting me hard!” Dustin adjusted himself. He was not very well endowed. “Man, are you hitting on me with this stuff? Cause this is really turning me on.”
Troy smiled, gears turning in his head. “Maybe.”
“Tease.” Dustin pouted. “But now that I think about, there’s a few flaws, like what to do about being the last person seen with them, what to do with their vehicles-”
“Hey.” Troy cut him off, ready to test the Book out now. “You wanna go to my bedroom and do some roleplay with me?”
“You…uh, want me to be the helpless victim?” Dustin licked his lips, brown eyes shining.
“Mmmph. Yeah. That’d be hot.” Troy winked. “Gimme a second to get my room ready.”
“Hoho, wow, one dream and my best friend wants to be my best friend with benefits!” Dustin snorted. “I thought you said I wasn’t your type, that’s why we could be best friends?”
“Times change.” Troy smirked and walked back into his room.
He quickly walked over to his desk and set up his streaming camera to record, angling it to better focus on his bed. The he moved things out of the way, adjusting the lighting setup so it gave a better view, then made sure his phone was on a tripod to get another angle of the bed. It would be perfect, barring a few adjustments he’d make while Dustin was…otherwise preoccupied.
There was a knock at his door. “Troy, you ready yet?”
Troy plastered a fake smile on his face, picked up the Book, and opened the door. Dustin stood outside, shorts tented, and leaned over to kiss Troy. Troy gave him a kiss and a quick slap on his chubby ass, then pulled away, directing him to the bed.
“Just sit right over there, babe. And look, a Book!” Troy held up the Tome.
“Oh, you even made a prop, huh?” Dustin smirked, pulling his shirt off, letting his chubby gut wobble free, then slipped off his shorts, his 4-incher rock hard. Then he sat on the bed. “Like this?”
Troy checked his phone. “A little to the left. Now more to the center. There, perfect.”
“Are you recording this?” Dustin chuckled. “Man, you really are getting off on this, aren’t you?”
“Not yet.” Troy murmured and made sure the cameras were recording. “I’m going to turn you into a dog.”
“Hot!”
“Mmmhmm. Try sucking your own dick.”
“Sucking my own…” Dustin snorted and shook his head. “Okay, I’ll give it my best. I’ll be your naughty pupper. Woof!”
“Hmm, well, not naughty,” Troy said, pointing at his friend and concentrating. “But you got it Half right.”
He suddenly felt odd, a little colder, stomach hollow and lightheaded. Troy shook the feeling off as he watched a fluffy tail begin to extend from Dustin’s tailbone. The chubby nerd was too busy trying to bend over to lick his dick, tongue waggling pathetically, a foot away from his cock.
“Keep it up,” Troy encouraged, pointing at his friend again, “You’re Half way there.”
Again, he felt a strange feeling. It was like something being pulled form him, some vital force. Was this what the Book meant by using energy? Dustin’s spine popped and his head descended, face now mere inches away from his cock, tongue lapping precum from the tip.
“H-holy shit, Troy, I’m-mmm!-doing it!” Dustin said, fluffy tail wagging, thumping on the bed. “What’s that sound? Something feels funny on my back.”
“It’s nothing.”
“I feel weird.” Dustin said, voice sounding worried. “This isn’t messing up my back, is it?”
“Keep licking, bud.” Troy smiled. “The more you talk, the more I have to edit.”
Dustin sighed and began lapping at the tip of his dick, tongue uncoordinated.
Troy smiled and pointed. “We’re Half done.”
Dustin’s tongue began to droop out of his mouth, lapping more and more of his small cock. But it didn’t stay small. As Troy watched, the cock began to lengthen, growing tapered, skin color reddening until it was a bright crimson. Dustin was moaning, his eyes closed, tongue encircling his doggy shaft, saliva dripping down onto it. His nose wriggled, blackening, and began to snuffle as the air in the room filled with smell of horny dog.
His face began to quietly creak and crunch as his jaw lengthened, carrying his nose with it, forehead beginning to slope. Dustin’s eyes opened, clouded with lust, muzzle halfway down his cock. A sort of bulb began to form at the base of his dick, and as Troy watched, Dustin’s eyes opened wider, focusing on his nose.
“Wrrah?” Dustin exclaimed, beginning to lift his growing muzzle off his red rocket.
Troy leaned forward, cock hardening at the panic in Dustin’s eyes, and pressed his head back down. His chubby friend gulped and his arms flailed, grasping at Troy’s hand. Troy narrowed his eyes, dick fully erect now, tenting his pants.
“No. Stay. Half.” Troy pointed, feeling more energy drain from him.
His grip wobbled as more energy was sucked out of him. The hands clawing at him swiftly transformed into paws before falling away, snapping into position on Dustin’s sides, unable to move properly to grasp at anything above him, at least in the bent-over position he was contorted into right now.
“Nrrooo, stahhp” Dustin gurgled around his throbbing dick. “I dunnh wanna be a dawg-HURK!”
Dustin’s protests were cutoff as Troy gently shoved his head further down, forcing Dustin’s knot into his muzzle, silencing him. Dustin’s eyes watered and his throat worked, lewd slurping noises filling the room.
“There’s a good boy!” Troy kept his tone light and happy, hand gently keeping Dustin’s muzzle firmly around his cock. He unzipped his pants and stroked himself off as he watched his best friend struggle under his grip, sucking himself off. “Yes, it was all real. Like you said, I needed to verify my power on someone. You volunteered for it. Now for another test. Shape!”
Fur began to spring up over Dustin’s body in a distinct brown and black saddle pattern. His friend twisted a little more, body contorting and cracking as he transformed into a purebred German Shepherd.
“Keep sucking, boy. I’m not letting you go until you do.”
Dustin whimpered and resumed sucking and lapping, eyes focused on Troy’s. Troy jerked himself off as he watched his best friend-turned man’s best friend gently bob on his own turgid meat. Dustin’s mouth kept making lewd sucking sounds that drove Troy wild. The German Shepherd choked as a whitish wetness dribbled around his muzzle. Troy gasped and came, groaning happily to himself.
“Good boy. Very good boy.” Troy murmured.
He lifted his hand off of Dustin’s head, giving it a quick pat as he did, rubbing his friend’s big, furry ears and turned back to the cameras. He ended the recording and began taking down the lighting. Dustin watched him the whole time, mouth still stuck around his knot.
Troy sat back down and scrolled through the footage. Yeah, this was hot. But would it be enough to attract the Furry crowd he was going to take advantage of? Some clever editing would hide any talking and Troy’s interference. Thanks to the phone camera, he could switch between angles to make it look natural.
A growl rose from behind him.
Slowly, Troy swiveled his chair around. Dustin was on all fours on his bed, hackles raised, sharp teeth bared in a snarl. Troy slowly moved his hand towards his Book. Dustin snapped at it, making Troy jerk his arm back.
“Look, Dustin, I was gonna change you back. I’m not going to sell you, I swear!” Troy said, though even he wasn’t entirely sure if he was telling the truth. Then he hit on something. “Come on, DeathNote, bro. Think about it. How would it look if you disappeared while over at my house and I’m the last one to see you alive?”
Dustin appeared to be angered past rational thought, though. Troy realized, with a growing sense of horror, that the light of sentience that he’d seen in Dustin’s eyes had faded. All he saw now were the wild eyes of an enraged animal. He darted another glance at the Book. If he offered a diversion, he’d likely get bit, but he’d survive.
He waved his right hand in front of the German Shepherd's maw. As the dog snapped at it, Troy’s left reached for the Book. As soon as his left hand landed, his right hand pointed at the dog, whose jaws snapped at it.
“Control.” Troy said.
He felt the jaws close around his hand, the bite hard and painful. Troy yelled in pain, trying to finish the spell. “Be-ACH! Be a Good Boy!”
The jaws shaking his arm out of his socket slowed, then the maw fell away, revealing a bloody and torn hand. Troy got up and stumbled, feeling his body growing cold. He could see darkness around the edges of his vision, the energy pulled from him…massive. He…needed to stop the bleeding before he passed out.
Stumbling Troy picked up a sock and tied it around his wound. He sighed in relief and winced at the pain. The room spun just before the floor raced up to meet him. He was flat on his face and unconscious before he realized it.
Dustin stared at the prone man on the ground, thoughts warring, eyes growing bright, then dulling back into liquid animal eyes. Finally, the liquid eyes won out, and the dog went to check on his master, sniffing and licking his face, whining. Then he laid down next to Troy’s prone form, as a good dog needed to protect his master.