The genie!
Chiffee realized he could still use the genie. It was one of the biggest thoughts he could make in his devolving brain, but it was a pretty good one, in his opinion. But what could he say.
“You going to be good mount.” Szrel said, lovingly combing his talons through Chiffee’s silky fur.
It felt good, but he couldn’t let himself be distracted! “I wish YIP wasn’t YAP mount!”
He hadn’t quite gotten it out, would it still work-?
*GRANTED* Boomed in his head, scattering his meager thoughts.
A black crack appeared in the center of Chiffee's vision, right before the world around him shattered into hundreds of jagged shards. He reflexively closed his eyes and pressed his furry belly to the ground as though either of those things would protect him from the very fabric of reality shattering around him. Chiffee panted, terrified, as the world spinning underneath him.
Then the spinning sensation came to a sudden and abrupt end. He could feel wet grass pressing up against his paws and belly. The smell and sounds of nature reached his twitching ears. Slowly, Chiffee opened his eyes and looked around him.
He was lying on his belly outside a direfox kennel. Chiffee could smell their musk from here, all of them in happy, playful moods, and one female in heat, kept separate from the others. Excited kobold yaps came from the large grassy burrow nearby. Chiffee slowly got his bearings, beginning to recognize the landscape.
Chiffee had somehow been transported to the kobold den a couple miles down the road from his human house. Thoughts were getting harder to hold onto, the smells beginning to drive out most of his remaining human reason. Many of his memories were gone, save for the most recent. Direfoxes weren’t known for their great memories.
He did know that he wasn’t supposed to be here. Chiffee had wished to not be a mount. So why was he outside a direfox kennel?
“Chiffee!” A high, yappy voice called.
Chiffee's ears perked up. He turned his head and saw a kobold holding a saddle behind him. He recognized him as a young kobold, entering his teenage years, and the one who had…raised him? Wait, why was he holding a saddle?
“Come on, boy, time to get you trained to be a proper mount!” His Owner said, snapping his fingers.
Chiffee didn’t want to go to him. Obviously, the genie had interpreted his wish to mean that he wasn’t ‘yet’ a mount. And had transported him somewhere that meant he would ‘become’ one. The direfox stood, stretching, then found himself trotting towards his Owner.
No! Why was he moving towards him? All he had to do was turn and run for his house. It was only a few miles away. He strained to fight against the order, but it was like the primitive direfox brain was hard wired to obey the kobold’s orders.
He tried to move away again, but his body kept trotting, tongue hanging out, tail wagging. With dawning horror, Chiffee realized he had no control over his body. The kobold slipped the saddle on over his back and cinched it tight. Chiffee grunted as he felt the weight of the teenager settle on him.
“Let’s go Chiffee!” Owner shouted as he kicked his heels into Chiffee's sides. Thousands of years of careful kobold breeding suddenly kicked in as the direfox YIP’d happily and began running around the kennels while carrying his forever owner on his back.