Throughout the next few hours, Troy would steal glances at Mark's cubicle as he got coffee or went to the bathroom. Mark seemed to have his book out most of the time, writing in it. Troy found this a bit odd. He thought about this as he entered the bathroom.
"Hey! Troy!" Dustin said. Troy nearly jumped. The man was only a few inches from his face as he opened the door. "Have you found the guy with the book of myth! I have been searching everywhere like a good… *Dog*?" The lilt at the end showed expectations of a reward.
Troy sighed. He should fix this now while seemingly no one is in the bathroom. "Half" He said pointing at Dustin. Dustin's body was suddenly covered in fur. His face pushed out into a muzzle. Besides this his form was still very much human. Dustin looked like he was on Cloud 9, his tail thumping eagerly in his pants. Troy pushed the changing dog-man into one of the stalls.
Troy had to hope that his plan worked and didn't leave him too drained to deal with Mark. "Control" He said, "You can disregard my first control spell, you will act like you did before you became a dog, you will march back to your desk, and forget everything related to the book of beasts." Dustin stood there for a second, taking in the command. Suddenly he straightened his back and began marching out of the bathroom. As he left, Troy whispered,"Shape." Dustin's doglike attributes fell away leaving the cheating asshat completely human.
Troy held onto the bathroom wall for support. The spells had quickly become a lot and in very little time. The caffeine in Troy's system could only carry the spell so much and now Troy felt like he hadn't slept the night before a 100 meter dash. He straightened himself up, focused on getting back to his desk and would figure everything out after taking a second to breathe.
*******
The hour for lunch was coming up and Troy was still incredibly exhausted. He had tried to relax a bit but his mind kept returning to why Mark was writing in his book. Several theories came to mind. The least likely was that Mark was taking notes. He is a DM after all and Troy was pretty sure they would be inclined to note the changes. Didn't explain the changes to the environment or how quiet Mark was despite people continuing to be changed around him.
No, no. The only real explanation was that Mark was somehow… writing the changes into existence? If that was the case, then what was Troy going to do about *that*? Troy sighed. How would the Book of Myth even do that? Surely that fell under a different book's purview… unless… Unless… Mark was writing Mythology into existence.
Troy blinked, staring off into space. That made sense. Mark was literally bringing the changes into existence by affecting the very backstory of reality. He had stumbled onto that ability to create lore out of pure imagination. If the Book of Myth can write mythology directly into existence, what might the Book of Beasts be able to do? Troy was excited before a subtle ache reminded him of how tired he was. If he wanted to test it… he would need energy. His head gently lowered and he nodded off.