Nick turned to the audience. “Minotaur! Our young friend here is going to get very beastly!”
“Oh, wow! Big and shaggy, with horns and stuff?” Nate grinned. “This will be wicked!”
The Game Show Host chuckled. “Wicked? Oh, you got that right! Let’s bring out our special guest top help Nate find his inner bull. Please welcome the infamous and lovely enchantress from Greece, the lady Circe!”
The audience fell silent – surprised by the famous name. Then the woman herself emerged from the wings, a stunning blonde in a slinky blue silk gown and diamond jewelry. She looked like a 30-something movie star or fashion model. Nick whistled. “Looking good for being a few thousand years old, my lady.”
Circe smiled and nodded her head. “Thank you. I work out.” She approached Nate, who smiled nervously. “Ah, this is the young man who wants to be a minotaur? I believe he said big and shaggy with horns and stuff?”
“Um, yeah.” Nate blushed. “I mean, uh, yes m’am.”
That made her raise an eyebrow. “A polite minotaur? This should be interesting. Let’s start with ‘big’.” She reached out her hand and slid it down Nate’s chest, then back up, gently cupping his chin. Nate was a couple of inches shy of 6 feet tall, and couldn’t weigh more than 150. However, this quickly started to change. Nate’s clothing filled out, then stretched as he gained mass and height in the space of seconds. She kept her hand on his chin, lifting is as he grew. He gasped and cringed as clothing pulled painfully tight, then shredded and fell away to leave him naked on the stage.
When Circe pulled her hand away, Nate was 7 feet tall and built like a professional weightlifter. Though his face was still recognizable, the rest of him was totally different. He was a giant, looking like a living sculpture of Hercules. This included his nether parts, which were substantial and uncut.
Nate turned to look at himself in the mirrors that lined the back wall as the audience applauded. “Oh, wow!”
“Oh, this is just the first step.” The enchantress winked at Nick and moved behind the towering young man to rub his back with her hands. Nate’s smooth, taught skin erupted with dark hair that thickened into a shaggy mat, spreading rapidly over his body. Handsome changed to horrible in under a minute as his tanned skin became shaggy animal hide, and those closest to the stage wrinkled their noses as a bovine stink began to fill the air. “Shaggy.”
Nate gaped at his reflection – he looked like someone’s caricature of Sasquatch. The coarse fur was thick enough hat it now hid his genitals, and looked dirty and matted.
“I believe horns were next?” Circe guided Nate to face the audience. “Squat down.”
The shaggy fellow did as ordered, and Circe placed her hands on either side of his forehead. She seemed to grab something with each hand and pulled out with a sudden yank that drew a started yell from Nate – a yell that become a deep bellow. Horns pulled out of his skull, which seemed to collapse at the top even as his face thrust forward into a muzzle. She stepped back to let the audience and camera see the fully bovine head that now sat atop Nate’s shoulders. He snorted through mucus-damp nostrils, bull’s ears flicking as he slowly turned to look at himself again. “Oh, man.” His voice was a deep rumble, barely intelligible.
Circe looked back to the audience and gave them a mischievous grin. “And I do believe that last item was ‘stuff’” She grabbed at the base of his spine and yanked, this time drawing out a ropy tail. Nate gasped and bellowed this time, a fully animal sound, as he spun around and nearly fell over. His legs and feet were twisting, and reformed into what looked like the legs of a normal bull with a bull’s sexually equipment proudly displayed. His build had changed as well – he was thicker, massive and barrel-chested, his body that of an animal. He looked like a true monster now, dirty and frightening, the acrid stink of his body making eyes water.
“And there we have it! One minotaur!” Nick grinned as the audience broke into thunderous applause. “Many thanks to the lady Circe, and of course, to our splendid and very beastly Nate.”
Nate’s eyes were wide with sudden fear, and he tried to speak. What came out was an animal bellow.
“Sorry, Nate. I don’t speak Minotaur.” The Game Show Host chuckled. “Then again, I doubt anyone but other minotaurs do. But you are in luck – we’ve had a job offer for you – Farmer John is waiting in the wings to take you to your new home at the Bayville Dairy Farm, where you will stand guard and keep the cows in milk!”
Nate gave a sad bellow as a brawny older man in coveralls came out with a rope and expertly flipped it around the minotaur’s neck. Then he led the massive monster off stage.
Nick faced the audience and the camera. “Guess he should have thought that one through a little more. But I am sure our next contestant will be a lot smarter than Nate!”