Art is in the eye of the beholder.
That is a common saying and in some cases very…very true.
Spread around the world are pieces of art, which are not actually pieces of art but are something else. They can be simple items one may buy form a yard sale or be master works that sit in museums or art galleries. They can be found in college dorms and in the private homes of the rich and famous. They can be life size or small enough to fit on a desk. None of those matters, they seam to have nothing in common.
Apart from one thing.
These pieces do have one thing in common, they show mythical or monstrous creatures of some kind. A painting of a beautiful mermaid, a centaur running across a rolling grassy hill or a werewolf howling up at the night sky. They can be statues as well but they all still share the same requirements a mythical or monstrous creature.
Some may call them magical, some may call them cursed or some may try to explain them with science but in the end whoever looks at it for too long or is around it for too long the same fate befalls them.
They disappear.
What actually happens is that they are transported into the world of painting or piece of art. Be it a beautiful rolling field of flowers, a tropical ocean or a dark scary woods with a full moon overhead. It would be just like in the painting or other pieces of art.
Then the change will begin.
They will become the same creature which was shown in artwork, be it a mermaid, a centaur, a werewolf or anything else. It will not be a 1 to 1 change, they may become a different type of that creature, different scales, fur or feathers colors for example but more drastic changes from age to gender changes can and do happen.
Now where is this piece of art, what does it show and who is about to leave humanity behind?