Cold water surrounded him as the ground beneath him crumbled away and he fell face-first into the stream. Struggling to get out of the water, powerless against the torrent, he was pulled under and downstream. Spinning around, striking things, soon disorientated as to which direction was which, the timber wolf still tried to get above the surface, but due to being unable to tell where he was going, was soon closer to the bottom of the river.
The river having swelled with the spring thaw and run-off from nearby mountains, under any other circumstances, the male wolf would have avoided it and what was quickly becoming rapids. Tracking prey too close had been an error the part of him which was still human realised as he inhaled water in his struggles. Coming close to blacking out, understanding on the vaguest levels he might drown, though not able to comprehend what any of this actually meant, with a surge in what seemed to be the right direction, he at last broke the surface. Paddling hard, his victory was short lived as again he was forced back under.
Carried further downstream, well past the area he and the female had established as their territory, had come together a number of times, often to mate, to produce offspring, which grew and went off on its own, sometimes returned grown, but not always, had anything of Richard been in charge, he'd been surprised to discover how close he was to The Cottage.
At last able to get his paws under him, the male timber wolf weakly headed for shore. Exhausted, ready to drop, he stood on shaky legs and began to cough and throw up whatever he'd inhaled. Bruised, cut, one ear, the one tagged, torn, the timber wolf looked rather bedraggled and near death as he stumbled away from the water, got a couple steps away, couldn't go any further, and flopped to the ground. Lying where he was, he breathed heavily for some time before his breathing evened out. Listening to the forest around him, alert for the first hint of danger, the timber wolf stood after some time, shook himself and ambled back to the stream. Lapping at the water, he was overcome after a moment with the strangest sensation, as if a part of him was being drawn somewhere.
Head up, tail down, the wolf peered about. Uttering a combination whine and low howl, he paced back and forth for a moment before lopping off in the direction it felt as if he was being pulled to. Woods passing around him, he slowed, then stopped when he reached an open area. Wary of the lack of cover, he sniffed for any hint of danger before crouching low and slinking forward. Crossing the field, he again stopped when he smelled humans. Before him, several human-constructed buildings rose up, and a part of him understood on some level what they were for. Smelling they had had animals in them at one point, but were empty at the moment, the timber wolf crept forward.
Within the main building, stored in an upper room, a long disused laptop slowly woke up. A software engaged, and detecting the one it'd been waiting for was near, coding became engaged as it attempted to correct something its own programming insisted had gone wrong.
Outside, the timber wolf stopped. Crouched low beside a building, wanting to go back to the cover of the woods, not liking there was a smell of humans all over the place, but unable to bring himself to turn about and go back the way he came, he uttered a low whimper. Torn between the need to be here and the desire to go back, he suddenly stood splay-legged. Hackles rising, he growled, shook his head, then began to turn in place. Falling to the ground as he was overcome with a sudden discomfort, bladder releasing, the timber wolf started to squirm in place, looking as if he was having a fit of some kind.
As he was doing this, and the Chronivac was going to work, fur began to recede, leaving behind nude, pale pink skin. The wolf's ears taking on a rounded appearance, then dropping to the side of his head, he uttered a gasping, gurgling sound as his muzzle pushed painfully into his face. Left soon with a human nose and mouth as eyes shifted hue, he started to gain height and weight whilst his bones popped and rearranged to a bipedal state. Hands and feet morphed as four teats, similar to what an otter had, formed on his abdomen, all whilst his cock and balls took on a more human look to them. Transformation speeding up, even as the timber wolf struggled to hold on, but Richard's human mind took more and more control, the man started to spit out his canine teeth as they were replaced by his usual ones. Within moments, where there'd been a wolf, Richard lay on the damp ground, gasping, trying to figure out what'd happened.
Thoughts jumbled, perplexed by so much, he tried to stand. But, before he could, a wave washed over him. Reality morphing around him, he didn't understand what he was witnessing, it only it lasted a few seconds. Dizzy from it, not sure when he’d stood, Richard waited a few minutes before stepping away from The Cottage, then promptly doubled-over as another wave hit him. Squeezing his eyes shut, seeing just before he did what looked like a timber wolf taking off, he was relieved when the oddity passed, and opening his eyes, he stared in confusion at the laptop before him.
Software still running, it took him a moment before he realised it was the Chronivac. Struggling to make sense of this, his first inclination was he’d just had a very vivid daydream about becoming a wolf. But able to see on the screen the transformation information, as well as still remember living somewhere around eight years as one, he peered down at himself. Seeing he was dressed in what he'd had on before using the programme, he looked back at the Chronivac. A timer catching his eye, he was even more confused, and looking at the date, Richard gasped when he saw it was only a couple minutes after he'd changed himself into a timber wolf. Reaching out to tap a few keys, he saved and minimised the current profile, and after a thinking about it, he tapped out another series of commands as he began to explore the software in depths as he tried to work out what had gone wrong and what had happened.