What you leave behind

It had been a very exhausting day for Matt as he got into Mazda and started his journey home, but he knew he'd have no time to relax working a full time job. Considering he was also a part time student studying law at home in his spare time, this also took precious hours from his relaxation time.

His online community of friends were a nice distraction at times, and provided moments of relaxation in between his very busy work and study time, which sometimes threatened to overwhelm him from exhaustion.

His journey home, however, took a turn for the unusual. As he turned into a street near his home, he was instantly met with complete darkness ahead of him, There was no street lamps, there was no light from any properties, there was no sign of life in any vehicles ahead of him or behind him. Before he could figure out what was going on, his own vehicle suddenly died. Electrical and mechanical energy literally drained from his vehicle in an instant.

He made to grab his cell phone and again finding his phone completely useless as it too was no longer working, drained of all power.

As he climbed out of his vehicle to figure out what was going on and what to do next, he was suddenly hit by an intense white light that surrounded him. The light was starting to affect his senses. Suddenly feeling light headed and dizzy, Matt reached out an arm to lean against the side of his car. However, not only his car was no longer by his side, and he fell right over onto his side, he didn't hit asphalt. he landed in a muddy puddle in a grassy field.

The light that consumed him just moments ago dissipated as quickly as it had consumed him. The first thing he noticed has he climbed out his muddy landing was that he was no longer in a night fallen city, but a wide open plain which gave the feeling it had never been touched by man. Grassy fields as far as the eye can see, with a range of snow capped mountains in the distance. It was incredibly sunny and warm. However when he looked up into the sky, he didn't see the usual bright blue skies, the sky was a vivid green.

Nothing was making sense to him at this point. One minute he was driving home, the next he was surrounded by darkness, then his car and mobile are suddenly drained of all power. And before he can figure out what was going on. He suddenly finds himself with nothing but the clothes on his back in the middle of nowhere, going from early nightfall to noon in the space of just a couple of minutes.

“Hello Friend!" a voice suddenly chirps out cheerfully from behind him.

Spinning around, Matt comes face to face with a strange creature that could only come out from his interest in the furry community. Studying the other creature momentarily, it could only be described as a Sergal.

Matt just stood there taking in the white furred creature almost completely speechless before managing a reply. “Err...Hello?" He asked, tentatively.

“We don't get many humans around here." The white furred Sergal pulling his triangular muzzle into what could only be described as a smile.

“Erm, don't take this the wrong way but, I wouldn't have thought so? This can't be real."

“Oh I'm very real, my human friend. I'm well aware of the human portrayal of us from the furry community back in your own world."

“M-My own world? You mean this isn't Earth?" At this point, Matt started to feel overly concerned about his situation.

“Oh this is Earth alright. Except not the Earth that you're familiar with. You could say it's another dimension. Humans can't live here very long as much as we can't live in your world for long without ...certain sacrifices. You see, every so often a small rift opens and anything or anyone caught in these rifts fall through to the other side. 99.9% of the time, they don't bother either side. However, you just happened to get caught in one and here you are."

“Wait wait wait, slow down, I'm going to die here? How long do I have before this...this so-called dimension of yours starts killing me?" The hysterics in Matt's voice were audible at this new discovery. His mental state slowly deteriorating at the prospect of his demise.

“Killing you? No, you misunderstand me. This so-called dimension of mine is going to transform you. Humans can't exist here, just as mythical creatures from here can't exist in your world. You, my new friend, will be starting a new life here, and I'm going to help you! Fear not, human. I go by the name of Ethas. I... enjoy meeting new people."

Before Matt could reply, Ethas flicked his tail, circled the human once and took a firm bite out of Matt's shoulder with his sharp looking fangs.

“What do you mean?....Ouch! Hey! Why'd you bite me!?" Matt exclaimed, gingerly nursing his wounded shoulder as he stares at the sergal in shock.

“Well, it's now time to surrender your humanity to me. You're going to get a new sergal body. Since I found you, I get the honour to transform you!" Ethas grinned in response to Matt's perturbance.

That was all that was needed to begin his transformation as grey fur started growing from the bite wound that Ethas inflicted. The wound quickly healing as the growing fur started spreading, right across his front and down his arms. His arms starting to grow long and slender while at the same time the muscles grew more dense. Dark grey fur grew from his wrists to consume his hands, as he watched in fascination his middle digits fused together, while his remaining digits grew slightly longer and thinner. He winced at the first feeling of pain a little as sharp claws replaced his pathetic nails.

He dropped to his new hands and knees, growling under his breath as he began to feel his spine stretching making him grow a little taller, gaining about a foot in extra height. But the changes to his spine weren't done there as his lower spine started extending from his tail bone. Growing into a long fluffy tail about half his new size, three shades of fluffy fur decorating his new tail. Cream coloured along the underside of his tail, grey along the sides, and a darker shade of grey along the topside, growing up the length of his spine. His new tail wagging in the air as it gained a large cream coloured tuft of fur.

The sounds of his hips crunching and cracking signaled the next changes, biting his bottom lip, grunting and moaning at the discomfort while rolling over onto his back to try anything to give his hips and legs as much comfort as possible for the changes as they readjusted themselves to an digitigrade configuration. Light grey fur following the changes to his legs which followed the pattern of his arms, growing thinner but his musculature becoming more dense. As the fur reached his ankles the fur turned darker much like his new hands. His feet started growing in size, ankles rising upwards, toes growing longer into rat-like claws, middle toes merging leaving four long toes on each new paw like foot.

Gasping for breath he could feel the changes building in his head. He knew it was only a matter of time before the final changes to his transformation began. Sitting up glancing down at himself, brushing his spindly hands through his fur, as the fur started growing up his neck he rolled onto his hands and knees and braced himself. Ethas stepped closer and kneeled at Matt's side.

“This is it, you're almost done, hang in there, keep taking deep breaths the head will always the toughest hurdle." Ethas comforted the newly changing sergal, being sure to be analytical at each change.

Matt drew blood from his bitten bottom lip and a loud screech left his throat as the discomfort reached breaking point as his nose sunk into his face as his skull pushed forward and reshaped into a more triangular appearance. His ears began growing and reshaping long and pointed, his tongue grew longer and forked into his growing triangular muzzle. Growling and yowling, he tried working the discomfort from his newly shaped jaws as new serrated fangs/teeth grew into new jaws as his transformation came to a close. His final change was his eyes changing colour to a sapphire blue and the pupils changing to a more cat-like appearance. The cream coloured fur that adorned this chest matched up to the tip of his new chin. The same grey colour on the rest of his recently changed body matching the fur on his head.

Matt took one deep breath and flopped down onto his back as relief spread across his new form, taking a moment to compose himself. Ethas holding out a hand, to which Matt took and climbed to his new feet-paws for the first time, flicking his tail to stabilize his new balance.

“Well this is certainly different." Matt confessed, his bones mildly aching from the recent change as he looks down at himself. His body feeling much stronger than it previously was. The dense muscles not giving away how much strength they contain.

Ethas grinned at Matt with mirth. “Well look at you! Your new form kinda suits you, you know."

“So what now? You took a bite out of me that started this! Changed me into one of you!" Matt burst out. Looking at Ethas before resuming to look down and explore his new body, shaking himself down and fluffing out his new fur.

“Well, it was either this or watch you eventually fall ill and die. Like I said humans couldn't survive here. Not for long anyway. C'mon, the town's not far from here. We'll get you registered and help you get a new life sorted. I know its a wrench leaving everything and everyone behind. Time to begin a new chapter in life, and a new body to explore to boot"

And with that Ethas led Matt northwards to the nearest town begin a new chapter in his life. In a world full of different types of mythical creatures.

The end?