Gently, and with more respect for the miniature chest than he'd previously possessed, Timothy picked it up and walked slowly back to his bedroom. Outside, he could hear the sounds of the crew getting to work, breaking down the piles of junk and inherited garbage from the Mansion.
Setting the box down next to his bed, Timothy sat down and looked at it.
Still the same.
His heart was racing as he slowly reached out a taloned finger and hesitated before tapping the fifth button once more. "Gods, I hope this works..." he muttered to himself. Biting his bottom lip, Timothy pressed the ruby-like stone with the etching of the radiating arrows.
Again, the lid popped open; but this time, there was no reddish dust. Rather, to his sharp eyes, a thin cloud of sparkling, black dust emerged. It swirled into the air around him, in an almost pretty way that he could have appreciated were he not so scared of what might happen... The black dust settled onto his fur ... drawn there as if by some magnetic force.
Timothy held his breath.
Another wave of delicate, tingling slowly coursed through his veins and muscles. He could feel his body throbbing as he shivered from a sudden, faint chill. Then, before his widening eyes, his fur began to blacken. The darkness spread out from his wrists where the dust had first touched him and began to spread to his arms, chest and legs.
He could feel his bones reshaping themselves painlessly again, his muscles changing ... shifting. His face ...his muzzle... seemed to be thickening, not reverting to his old, flat face... Taking a sharp breath, he slowly stood, his paws splaying much wider on the floor.
Already, he could feel a difference: his tail no longer tugged as heavily against his lower back as once it had. Glancing back over his shoulder, he watched it shorten and grow a white tuft at it's tip. Still somewhat canine in appearance, it seemed to have shifted species ... but little else.
Minutes passed, and as they did, he could feel his canine teeth lengthen and get thicker ... his whole body undergoing this new shift in such a short time. As the feelings faded, he walked to his small, dressing stand mirror and looked into it.
His eyes widened at the blue eyes staring back from a sea of black fur.
He was no longer a humanoid fox...
...He was a muscular, black wolf...