*Luke's POV*

The first indication that anything was wrong was my alarm going off…about twice as loud as usual. In my immediate post sleep haze I stumbled out of bed only to promptly face plant on the floor. Then I began to notice something feeling off, parts of my body that should have been in contact with the floor weren’t, though in the post sleep fluff that clouded my mind I couldn’t really care so I was content to lay there with my face still squashed against the floor…at least until the alarm began to aggravate me enough into moving.

That was when I noticed the second thing that was wrong. Opening my eyes to look for the phone I noticed that. 1. I seemed to no longer have the need for glasses, if anything my vision was sharper. 2. Reaching out in front of me was an arm covered in feathers at the end of which was a rather nasty set of talons. I stared…

And stared…

That alarm was really starting to get on my nerves…

I shook my head to regain my focus before looking for my phone. It’s glowing screen shining like a beacon. Good thing I prefer low down beds else it would have been a long drop when I stumbled out of bed, that also meant my phone was usually on the floor. I sighed in relief after finally struggling to shut off the alarm. The silence that resulted was almost defining. Like, unnatural levels of silence. I just laid there belly-down on the hard floor. Studying my arm, or what I thought to be my arm, my mind going through some serious mental gymnastics to try and comprehend just what the fuck had happened to me. This arm was. Not. My. Own!

Honestly. I don’t know how long I laid there just staring at my arm but eventually I plucked up the courage to get my lazy arse into gear and try to find out what the hell was going on, a quick check of my phone deduced it to be sometime around 1pm. Meaning my lazy ass had slept in again whilst the alarm went blaring away all morning. Not to mention me freaking out over…whatever the hell I’d become. Standing up in a bipedal fashion failed, eventually I managed to get myself to stand up in a sort of stable fashion on all fours. Then I could get a good look at myself…

HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK WHY AM I A FUCKING GRIFFFIN!?

Instead of…me, I was covered in light tan-coloured fur, except my neck and chest, which was covered in brown feathers. I must have been about 4 foot tall if that but holy fuck those wings!!! I must have had a wingspan close to 7 foot, almost too big to fit in my room.

“Ok” I said aloud “that’s a little cool…okay maybe a lot cool”

Looking closer at my new body I seemed to have shed all of my body fat, not a single ounce remained. I’ll admit, I wasn’t the healthiest person before, not obese but…yeah, it was definitely noticeable. All I could see now under fur and feathers was rippling muscles.

“nutritionists hate him” I thought “find out how to shed pounds of fat overnight with this one weird trick!” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that before steeling my resolve. The night before I’d had friends from the states staying in a hotel towards the center of town. We had planned to go on a fortnight-long whistle stop tour of Great Britain with me as their guide, but this happened. I’d need to find them. I tried giving one of my friends a ring but to there was no answer. I didn’t bother to ring the others as I got the feeling I’d most likely get the same response. I needed to get my arse over there and find out what was happening

But first I needed to actually get used to walking. Can’t be that hard, can it?

Yeah…no! long story short, I fell down a flight of stairs…twice, sleeping in a converted loft will do that. Oddly enough I didn’t feel that much pain. Don’t get me wrong if fucking hurt. But a lot less than I expected, akin to falling over…which I technically did. But you get the idea. By the time I reached the ground floor I was laid belly down with my chin resting on the laminate flooring. Sat there right in front of me was my pet cat, Tigger. Who looked like he couldn’t give any less of a shit about my current predicament, simply staring down at me with that bored, condescending look of his.

“Unsympathetic cunt” I muttered as he sauntered off into the kitchen. I growled as I rose to my…paws? Talons? Honestly I wasn’t sure of the collective term that applied to my situation. Before heading out I fed the cat before kicking him out. I quickly learned that, although I couldn’t really stand upright unsupported, if I could hold onto something I could reach about 5ft or so, perfect for opening doors. Whilst I was upstairs I had tried putting on clothes, but between tearing them and it simply not feeling right over fur and feathers I chose to forgo them almost completely, instead picking my favourite battle jacket (that’s the term Metal heads or bikers use to describe those jackets with patches), though I as a little put down at having to cut holes for my wings in them, whatever, I could always get it sowed back up if this whole thing reversed. And after peeking out the window and deeming it to be glorious sunshine, a rarity in this country, I also chose to don a black Stetson that I had lying around that I’d gotten years ago when I went to Texas that one time, I was surprised to find it still fit and decided “what the hell, may as well use it”, well you know what they say, when in Rome…

OK, so this isn’t Rome, it’s Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, perceived by near enough the entire country to be a gigantic shithole because of that one TV show a while back, but you get the idea.

Steeling my resolve I made my way outside and locked up the house, before letting out a sigh, thinking “what the hell am I doing”, and making my way towards the center of town.

*Ian's POV*

I lay half awake on my back in the hotel bed, having just finished transitioning to the waking side of consciousness. What a dream...

I barely had two seconds to revel in the warmth under the sheets, and try to reclaim slumber, before my phone abruptly went off. The ringtone I'd selected long ago was chosen to be as loud and attention grabbing as possible, so it woke me up pretty darn quick. As my phone continued to blast the Game of Thrones theme (floppy drive edition,) at full volume, I flipped onto my stomach and reached out to silence it.

Unfortunately, my body wasn't responding properly, and seemed to bend at all the wrong angle. So, I only managed to knock it off the bedside table, which in turn caused it to yank itself off the short charging cable. It tumbled through the air as it fell, and landed right smackdab on the power button, hanging up on whoever was trying to contact me.

With my eyes squinted in the very early morning light, I slumped over the side of the bed in an attempt to pick up the errant device, and promptly fell to the floor myself.

"Ah, ow!" I exclaimed, and swore a little. It was too early for this. With many muttered curses about people calling at ungodly hours, I turned to look up at the clock... and had to keep on tilting my face towards the ceiling, because I was closer to the ground than I'd anticipated. I hardly registered the time, however, because as I opened my eyes wider, I realized something a bit more important. Everything was somewhat blurry and distorted, and slightly greenish too, though that last bit could be attributed to the curtains. I reached an arm up to rub at my eyes...

Only to have something long and hard bop me under the chin. I shook my head, blinking, as I finally became awake enough to register my surroundings. While still greenish, everything also seemed taller than it should've, somehow, and there was something large and black in the central part of my peripheral vision. "Shit!"

I scooched backwards on my butt, and tried to swat it away with one arm, only to discover something else black and shiny entering my vision in a strange parody of my intended movement. It bopped the black thing in front of my nose, and I felt pain in my nose, cheek, and jaw. I swore again, more out of panic than anything else. I then continued to do so as I saw a new problem.

The larger black object, which had mimicked my arm's intended motions, turned out to be attached to where my shoulder had been. I looked down at myself, as I was leaned against the side of the bed, and started screaming profanities like no tomorrow. Where there should have been the scrawny physique of a 5foot10, 130 pound Caucasian male underneath my dad's old Hard Rock Tshirt and a pair of shorts, there was... well, there wasn't, let's just put it at that.

In its place was something vaguely equine in construction, but instead of fur everywhere, there was what mostly looked to be some sort of rigid, shiny black shell, except around my midriff. That was encased in a translucent, lime green, and apparently highly flexible material, as it was expanding and contracting rapidly in time with my accelerated breathing. The shirt was still on, though very loosely, while everything south of it seemed to have fallen off, because my entire body had literally shrunken overnight, on top of everything else.

Which meant that the black thing in front of my face... was actually a part of it now. As if to prove the point, I finally realized that it had been opening and closing in time to my prolonged cursing.

"Somebody help!" I finally shouted, as my fear began shifting to fury. "If this is supposed to be some 'Welcome to England' prank or something, it's not fucking funny! And when I find out who's responsible, imma give 'em a good piece of my mind! There will be a reckoning, ya hear me? A RECKONING!"

I was rewarded for my little outburst with the sound of something heavy falling over down the hall with a loud thud, followed by a voice that was similarly distressed to my own. After that, there was the sound of something breaking down a door, then a rapidfire "thud thud THUD THUD" of something heavy coming down the hall at speed, closely tailed by the sound of said heavy object crashing to the floor with a room shaking BAM as it tried to stop too quickly.

"In here!" I cried. A scant half second later...

No amount of onomatopoeia could honestly describe the explosive sound that was produced as something sent the door (and half the adjacent wall,) flying across the entire room. The whole mess went tumbling end over end, above myself and the bed, knocking out the window on the far wall and it's distinctly purple curtains. They landed out in the street, causing quite a few car alarms to go off.

That wasn't important, though, as I turned to see the figure in the hall, and all my physical worries became irrelevant in that moment. There, in the wreckage of the wall, was an honest to god Minotaur, whose face bore a dark expression that I couldn't read. And he was most definitely looking at me.

"What's going oooon?!~~" I whimpered, as I ducked back down on my side of the bed, then tried to wiggle my diminished body understand it. I got stuck, and it felt like something was trying to tear itself off my shoulder blade

*Thane's POV*

A loud mechanical sound woke me from my sleep. Grunting, I closed my eyes as I sat up and stretched, sticking my arms out as far as I could. A loud crash made me pause in my stretches. Opening my eyes, I saw that my arm had imbedded itself into the wall of my hotel room. Blinking, I slowly drew it back towards me, noting that my previously pale and skinny arm was now absolutely ripped, bulging with muscles from every inch. On top of that it was covered in a coarse grey fur that seemed like it belonged on some kind of cow.

Looking down at my uncovered torso, my slightly out of shape body had been replaced with bulging muscles and coarse grey fur, same as my arm. Ripping off the blanket that covered my lower body, I was greeted to the sight of grey digitigrade legs, like on cows and wolves. Thankfully, my shorts had remained intact, so I was covered where it counted.

Looking around, I saw a floor to ceiling mirror on the wall near the door to the bathroom. Swinging my new legs over the side of the bed I tentatively put weight on them. My legs, being now far, far smaller, caused me to have some doubt on whether they could hold my new massive body. Thankfully, upon standing, my legs showed no sign of breaking. I attempted to walk over to the wall, only to stumble. My arms shot out to catch myself and ended up going straight through the floor.

Blinking, I slowly brought my arms back through the floor and crawled to the mirror, Gingerly, I stood up and put my hands on the wall to brace myself. As I stood up, I dumbly noticed that my head was almost touching the ceiling. But that was pushed aside when I saw the two massive horns reaching upwards. These horns did actually touch the ceiling, which caused me to lean down. They were big, white and curved in a ninety degree angle.

Shaking my head, I looked around the rest of the room. The light coming through the windows was somewhat dim, and there was a large hole in the wall where I had accidentally punched it, were even more light was streaming through. My phone was still on the bedside table, plugged in as always.

I started to move towards it when I heard a voice call out for help. The voice was familiar, but it was so faint I couldn't tell who it was. Something snapped inside of me. I turned right around and charged towards the door. Unfortunately, since I still wasn’t used to moving with digitigrade legs, I stumbled before I reached the door, crashing through it instead of opening it normally. “I’m coming!” I roared louder than I meant to. I managed to get to my feet and ran forwards again. For some reason, the hotel had doors in the hallways for no real reason other than to slow people down.

Snorting, I lowered my head and ran even faster. My… Hooves, I suppose, thudded heavily against the carpeted floor as I rammed into the door and blasted it from his hinges. On the other side of the door was a cart that maintenance would use to clean up spills.Eyes widening, I tried to stop, only to end up slamming into it. It slammed into the floor with a massive bang, shaking the walls and what felt like the entire floor.

I heard the same voice from before scream, “In here!” To my surprise I recognized the voice. It was Ian. We had been talking over Skype with another friend of ours for a few months before we had planned this. I had just met him for the first time yesterday with our other friend Luke.

I tried opening the door, but of course it was locked. Losing patience, I reeled back a fist and slammed it into the door, managing to take it and part of the wall with it. The resulting debris flew through the room and out of the open window and onto the street outside, activating some car alarms as it did so. When the dust cleared, I saw a small, equine looking creature with black skin, insectoid wings and a horn try to hide behind the bed.

I heard the creature whimper, “What's going on?” In my friend, Ian's, voice. Did he change into that thing?

*Third Person POV*

Ian flinched as the bed was lifted off the ground, and curled up into a ball as best he could.

"Oh God, please!" He begged the monstrosity as it set the bed to one side. "Don't eat me! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please! I don't know what--" His babbled words came to a halt as the Minotaur spoke.

“Dude. Calm down.”

The smaller figure remained silent, save for a soft whimper, and curled up tighter. To put a not-too-fine point on the subject, he had been thoroughly cowed.

Seeing that his friend was terrified of his rather explosive entrance, Thane took a step back and spoke again; “Ian, it’s me, Thane. I know I look different, but you need to trust me. It’s me, and I’m not gonna hurt you.” As Thane waited, fearing for his friend’s stability, the smaller figure cracked open one blank, emerald green eye.

“Oh, y-yeah?” Ian asked, unsure. “Prove it. What were we talking about last night, with that clip I showed you…?”

Thane paused, thinking for a moment, “Wasn’t it that one part of Moonquest?” He said, “When Ianis ranted on Simon for forgetting some buckets?”

Ian's eyes were both open now, but he was still slightly squinted with suspicion. He had loosened up, and his tail(!) twitched. “Maybe. Go on…”

Thane thought for another moment. “Grabbing oil by hand and sticking it… somewhere inappropriate…”

“Heh, 'And we’ll go to SPACE!’ It is you!” Ian smiled, trying to stand, but only managed to fall over. “Thane, I'm scared. Augh, Lewis brought up a good point, though… why are we so shit?”

Thane shook his head as he walked over and tried to help Ian up. “We've been dealt a shit hand, that's why.“

“Mine are worse,” Ian noted, his legs all splayed and wobbly, like those of a newborn deer. “At least you still have hands… and you're something recognizable.”

Thane snorted, “Yeah, the horns are a real defining feature.” He looked around, “Weren't you bunking with someone?”

“Yeah, that Phoenix guy, can’t remember his real name… dunno where he is, either.”

Thane looked back towards the door. “I would think that with all the noise I just made, someone would be coming to check out what happened… “

“I'm more concerned about the folks on the street!” replied Ian, unconsciously flicking an ear as he slowly stumbled to the remains of the window. “I hope everything's ok down there…” He squinted into the midday sun.

Thane walked over to the window with him to see the street outside absolutely deserted. The cars down on the road below were going off, but they couldn’t see anyone attending to them. “Where… Is everyone?” Thane said.

“Dunno… why is the sun so high?” Ian muttered, and mentally shook himself. “Oh, damnit… I hate jetlag; I'm still on Pacific time. Of course, it’d be noon-ish here, judging by the sun…” He turned back to the clock, which read 1:06pm.

Spying the clock himself, Thane shook his head, “Doesn’t matter right now, we need to find our friends and see if they’ve been changed like us.” Thane looked back to Ian, “Was anyone but Me, you, and Phoenix staying here?”

“Yeah, Link should've been here, too… but I think he offered to make a run for supplies. Obviously he's still out, because that car we rented isn't parked down there…”

Thane nodded, “We can look for him and Luke once we get out of here.” He said, “I need to grab my stuff from my room; laptop, phone and the like.”

Ian, still a little distracted and standing by the window, made a swinging motion with one foreleg, and fell over again. “Dammit!” He shouted. “I was trying to snap… I just remembered that David was staying here too, or at least somewhere nearby. and Matthew, too.”

Thane helped Ian get up again. “We can look for them too. Again, once we get out of here.” He said, “Anything you would like me to carry?”

“Um, maybe. Hey, where are my shorts?” Ian suddenly asked, self-consciously. Thane nodded to the bed he'd moved earlier.

“Maybe they fell on the ground when I moved the bed?” Thane suggested.

“Ah, right. Thanks,” said Ian, as he stumbled over to the bed. “Damn, I'm getting tired of these legs… I think I got it from here, my minotaurian friend. You grab your stuff, and I'll do my best to gather mine.”

Thane nodded and walked out of Ian’s room, cringing slightly at the sight of the destruction he'd wrought. “Jesus…” Thane muttered to himself as he lumbered over to his room.

Now that he was alone, Ian turned to the bed he’d slept in. True to Thane’s words, the blue gym shorts he’d been wearing previously had, indeed, fallen off the bed. Ian stared at them, then at where his hands had once been, wondering how he'd manage to get them on again. A quick look at his backside revealed yet another problem he had to consider: he now had a tail, and it didn't seem very well kept, either.

Scowling, and setting aside the rising panic, he decided to forego that particular set of shorts, and turned his attention to his luggage. He had to use his teeth to open the zipper, and began using his elongated nose to root through his clothing. Finding the pair of cargo shorts he was looking for, he spent the next minute or so writhing on the ground as he got them on. Most of the time had been spent getting the fly buttoned above the base of his tail, which was a learning experience and a half. He'd found a useful feature of the holes riddling his forelegs in the process, in addition to discovering just how flexible his spine now was.

That done, he stood upright, slightly panting from the exertion and feeling quite overheated. As he did so, his shirt slid forward on his torso and allowed a cool breeze from the former window to play across the glittering shell on his back. It was the bright green of new growth on a conifer in early Spring, and shone in the direct sun like a polished and well-cut gem.

“Mmm… that feels good…” he muttered, oblivious to the twin, gossamer-thin wings that had begun to stand erect on his shoulders and push the shirt even further forward. Slowly, slowly, they began waving up and down, which allowed the tepid air to reduce the temperature of the blood that raced through his veins to a more manageable level.

Rolling his shoulders and enjoying the cool-down, Ian adopted the “downward-facing dog” pose as he stretched and yawned. It was so peaceful, with no traffic to break the silence, no people shouting down below. So tranquil… if only he could just go back to sleep for a little bit. Surely a short power-nap wouldn't hurt?

“Uh… Ian? What are those?” Asked Thane from the doorway, startling Ian from his reverie and causing him to shoot a foot and a half into the air.

(A few minutes earlier…)

Thane walked through the ruined remains of the hallway that led to his room. “I guess I’d better learn to watch my own strength.” He muttered as he entered his room. His backpack was leaning against the wall, thankfully uninjured. Gingerly opening the zipper, Thane was pleased to see that everything in it was unharmed.

His laptop, charger, and mouse were all inside. Nodding, Thane moved over the the dresser and opened it up. He grabbed all of the shorts inside and stuffed them into his backpack. And finally, Thane grabbed his phone and unplugged the charger from the wall. He put the phone in his pocket and the charger into his backpack. Finally, he grabbed his necklace from his bedside table. It wasn’t anything more than a simple leather cord with a yin-yang charm, but Thane wore it everywhere. After a failed attempt to get it over his neck, he tied it around one of his horns to the best of his ability, where it hung loosely.

Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he walked out the door and back to Ian’s room, where he saw Ian in a very restful pose. More surprising were the things coming out of Ian’s back. They were slightly see-through, and moving slowly. “Uh… Ian? What are those?” Thane asked from where he stood in the doorway.

Ian jumped in surprise. “Wh-what? What are you…?” He looked around, and spied the insectoid wings protruding from his back. “Holy--!”

Thane moved closer and looked them over, “Wings?” He said quizzically, “Almost like a Dragonfly’s.” He mused, poking one of them gently.

Ian stiffened, and shied away from the contact. “Gah, woah! Shit, those are sensitive!”

The surprised Minotaurian jerked his hand backwards, “Jeeze, sorry!” He exclaimed, not expecting that to happen.

“No, no, it's just…” Ian shook his head, as if trying to clear away a bothersome gnat, “I wasn't, either, to be honest. Makes sense, though.” He looked about the room, chewing his lip. He'd wasted time, again, and gotten nothing done.

Thane nodded, “I’ll make sure to stay aware of that from now on. Do you have anything that you need me to carry?” he asked.

“Um…” Ian looked at his few belongings in the room. “I guess you could grab the luggage… I might be able to get the backpack, but… how with these wings?”

“Could you wear it inverted?” Thane asked, looking over both Ian and his backpack. “Like on your stomach instead of your back?”

“That… that might work. Lemme try it.” With that, he spent a few moments getting the backpack, containing his laptop and other possessions, into place, making sure the zipper was on his right.

Looking it over, Thane nodded. “It looks like it should work for now.” He concluded, “If we stay like this for much longer we’ll need to find a better thing to do.” Ian nodded in agreement.

“Besides, it kinda feels weird. Augh, and this shirt…” Ian carefully shrugged it over his head and forelegs, then stuffed it into his luggage. “There. Better. Now, let's go-- Wait, my phone!”

Thane had started to grab the luggage when he heard Ian yell out. “Where is it?”

“Sorry, I left it charging on the bedside table with my other crap. Almost forgot it…” Ian stumbled back to said piece of furniture, went to get the device, and then remembered it was on the ground. “...Shit. Well, I guess I can just… kind of reach down… and…”

Carefully, using his teeth, he managed to grab it by the silicone case and deposit it inside his backpack. It was soon followed by his charger and twin USB cables, whilst the small Bluetooth he’d been charging went into a pocket on his shorts with his 4-in-1 stylus/pen. His tungsten ring was carefully strung onto the chain of his favorite necklace, which in turn was painstakingly threaded through some of the holes in his left foreleg, to be secured alongside his watch.

Phoenix's phone, on the other hand, had been left on, playing muted YouTube videos, and it was at full charge…

The massive Minotaurian frowned as he saw Ian staring at his friend’s phone, “You want to stare at the phone for the rest of the day or you want to keep moving?” He asked.

“Oh, sorry.” Ian gave Thane an intense look. “I had an idea. Phoenix is missing, right? Well… what if I left him a message on here, in case he returns? Let him know we're looking for him, and the others?” He carefully pulled out his stylus-pen with his mouth, intent on doing just that.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Thane agreed, “Any idea of what you planned to say?”

“Um… 'Hey, if you see this, we (Thane and Ian,) are out looking for you, so let us know if/when you return. We’ll come find you,’ or something like that,” Ian said around the pen. “Wait, no, that won't work.” he then pulled out his own phone once more, clumsily navigated to Skype, and input the message into their group chat. “There. Now I can turn Phoenix's phone off to preserve his battery…”

“And he’ll see it if or when he comes back. Brilliant.” Thane said, before turning to the door and grabbing the luggage.

“It's more than brilliant. I sent it in the group chat on Skype. Everyone will see it.”

Thane nodded, “Anything else we need done?”

“Nah. Let's blow this popsicle stand.”

A smirk appeared upon Thane’s face, “If only we had an RPG and two sets of sunglasses.” He quipped, as they walked out of the room.

“Well, I've got a pair. Don't think they'd fit either of us now, though.” Ian hummed in thought for a second. “Say, weren't you wearing glasses before?”

Confused, Thane rubbed one of his eyes, almost expecting to feel his glasses on his face. “I can see fine without them now… And I’m not wearing my contacts…” He shrugged, “I dunno.”

“Shame… they set off a certain intensity in your personality before. Made you look like a barely contained badass. Now, though… you're just freakin’ intimidating, even without them.” Ian paused, stumbling both physically and verbally. “I-I mean, no offense…! Just… damn, you're huge.”

It was at this point that the strange duo reached the elevator, and Thane pushed the down button. “None taken. It’s kinda an improvement over what it was before.” He said, waiting for the door to open.

“Eh, I guess I can agree with that.” Ian gave his best approximation of a shrug, then continued. “I can't say the same about myself, because I don’t even have a clue about what I am. What about you? Any ideas?”

Thane shrugged, “I’m drawing a blank, little buddy.” He said, before putting a hand gently on Ian's back, “We'll figure it out, don't worry.”

Ian shifted the way hid backpack hung as he unconsciously leaned into the gesture, reveling in the warmth he felt from it. “Mmm, yeah, but don't call me small.” He paused. “Hey, dude, you’re reeeeally warm, you know that? Like, you're positively radiating heat… feels nice.”

A frown appeared on Thane’s face as he felt his forehead, “I feel normal, are you sure I feel that warm?”

Ian touched a foreleg to his chin in thought, momentarily scowling at said appendage before he replied. “I know what I felt. Maybe I'm just--”

*Ding!*

The door to the elevator slid open with a gentle thunk, revealing itself to be empty, with wood paneling on all sides.

“Maybe I'm just cold,” the smaller figure continued as they both not-so-gracefully stepped inside, “or perhaps I'm cold-blooded now? Who knows, with this stupid body. There’re too many questions… and I swear, if somebody says 'The knowing will come’ if I ask any of them, I'm gonna go effin’ ballistic on their ass…”

The Minotaur smiled thoughtfully as the elevator continued downwards. “We seem to be taking this more calmly than I would expect.”

“Trust me, I’m freaking out already.” Ian replied shaking his head. “I’m just doing it on the inside now, thanks to your help, and I'm waiting until it calms down enough to toss onto the ever-growing, oxygen-deprived pile of volatile shit that is the back burner of my soul. And if any of that ever comes to the forefront… man, that’ll be a day to remember.” he yawned, internally wincing as he felt his mouth stretching wider and farther than it ever had before. ’This must be how a cat feels when it yawns…’

Thane stared at his friends new and, frankly strange mouth. “Thats… mildly disconcerting…” He said.

Ian finished yawning. “Haaah… sorry, what’d you say? Didn't hear you there…”

Thane yanked his gaze from the sight, “Nevermind.” He said as the elevator finally slowed and opened, revealing the completely abandoned lobby of the hotel. “This is… Ominious…”

Ian nodded as he carefully looked around. “Yeah, as Harrison Ford would say… 'I’ve got a bad feeling about this…’ ”

His companion slowly walked into the room, “Don’t forget Luke, Leia, C3PO, Qui-Gon, Obi Wan and Anakin…” Thane said as he looked around, “This is all levels of wrong.”

“Yeah… hey look, a mirror…” Ian walked unsteadily over to it, trying to be as quick as he could, only to freeze when he saw his reflection.

Thane plodded alongside him and, having already seen both his and Ian’s appearance, took it far better than Ian did. “You don’t look too bad.” He said to his seemingly frozen friend, “It could be worse.”

What Ian saw in the mirror… it wasn't easy to describe unless you were to see it for yourself. At best, it was like some kind of fusion between a crudely designed parody of a unicorn and an unknown species of insect. At worst, it was as if someone had tried to take a xenomorph, give it a horse-like form, stuck a curved horn on its forehead, and then make it “cute,” perhaps in the hopes of getting little kids to be interested in the Alien saga.

In place of where a normal equine would have a mane, there was some sort of frill, reminiscent of that on the back of a Spinosaurus. Even now, as Ian felt his hackles rising, the fin was straightening itself. The reflection's ratty, cone-like ears were pinned back, and his mouth was starting to stretch itself into a snarl. Those ragged wings were buzzing above the glimmering emerald shell, and the tail was swishing back and forth. As Ian looked, he felt a strange itch in the sides of his eyes, then movement as the thin green films that had been distorting his vision slid aside, and everything looked much clearer, not to mention brighter.

The eyes that were revealed underneath were themselves a shocking shade of green, but with slit pupils like those of a cat or snake. Ian found himself opening his mouth in a hiss, which revealed a narrow forked tongue, and twin fangs on the top of his jaw, just between his canines. These had been folded back along the roof of his mouth, up until now.

Ian blinked in shock, and took a step back. His reflection's demeanor immediately changed as well, mimicking him perfectly. Now, it looked scared, and seemed to shrink as tears welled up in those freakish eyes. Ian dropped his head, screwing his own eyes shut as he did, and stood there, stiff-legged.

Seeing this, Thane knelt down and put an arm around Ian, careful to keep the sharp, curved spike on his friend’s head out of his own eye. “We’re gonna get through this, alright? We’ll figure out a way to make things back the way they were, and everything’s going to be ok.” Inside, Thane was just calming down from his own internal freak out, but he forced himself to be calm for his friend.

Nonetheless, it was too much for the small figure to bear. He gave no indication, save for a half-audible growl, before he suddenly reared up, dropping the backpack around his hind legs, then charged forward. A few steps later, and he was smashing his forelegs into the surface of the mirror itself, once, twice, thrice, all the while letting out a cry of rage and sorrow the likes of which he'd never known before. Ian could hear himself shouting various curses and obscenities as he went berserk, but he just didn't give a damn.

The second Ian reached the mirror, Thane was running over to him, wrapping his arms around him in a tight but gentle hug, making sure not to gore himself on Ian’s jagged horn. “Let it out, just let it out…” Thane said softly.

Ian thrashed and writhed in Thane's unrelenting grip, cursing his lack of conventional limbs. With a half planned motion, he dropped his head, then snapped it back, hard. He felt it hit something soft, then found himself on the ground again. Ian scurried off out of sight, tears streaming down his face as he sought shelter and solitude.

The Minotaur let out a muffled curse as he held his nose gingerly. It wasn’t broken, but it did hurt. “Bloody hell…” He muttered to himself as he stood up, looking around for Ian. “Ian, where’d you go?” He called to the seemingly empty room. He needn’t have bothered though. The sound of soft, quiet sobbing was eerily loud in his ears.

Thane sighed, walking over as softly as he could. Once he got close to the source of the noise, which happened to be the receptionist’s desk, he sat down on the opposite side of it. For a moment he was silent. “I’m not gonna say I fully understand what you’re going through,” Thane began, “But I’ll wait here for however long you need before you feel you’re ready to come out.” He paused for a moment, “Sound good?” He heard a muffled moan that sounded vaguely affirmative. Thane nodded, “I’ll be here.”

He saw Ian turn to him, his face a mask of untold negative emotions, but what struck him most about what he saw was the eyes. That solid green color was back, and though the rest of his friends seemed to be in the shadow of the desk, those eyes looked as if they were still illuminated by the overhead lights.

“You sure you wanna wait there?” Choked the small figure. “After all, I don't think I'll ever be coming out of here…”

Thane frowned. “You ain’t spending your whole life under a desk.” He told Ian, “I promised you that things will get better, and that won’t bloody happen under a shitty receptionist’s desk.”

Ian was silent for a moment, though the occasional tear still dripped from his emerald-clad eyes. “How do you know…” he muttered darkly to the carpet. “How do you know that it's going to get better? After all, you’re a Minotaur, I'm some sort of monster, and everyone else is just FUCKING GONE, as far as we know! HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY GET BETTER? CAUSE IT SURE AS GODDAMN HELL AIN'T GETTIN’ WORSE!”

His friend snorted, something that sounded far more intense than it had before. “You said it yourself, it ain’t getting any worse. You really want to stay under this desk, or do you want to go out and try to find someone and make it through this fucking shit?” Thane asked. “And honestly, I’m not gonna take desk for an answer.”

Ian was silent for a spell, considering his options. Eventually, he surged to a standing position under the desk, and gave a mighty kick with his back legs. This actually managed to partially uproot the desk from where it had been bolted to the floor, and it jumped half a foot towards the doors.

“Let’s just goddamn go outside, then. Maybe we’ll find who- or whatever’s responsible for this, and I can give 'em a piece of my mind.” He switched into a crude imitation of a Scottish accent. “Crivens, they’re due such a kickin’. “I’ll gi’ 'em a face fulla’ dandruff they’ll nae forget…”

His musclebound friend cracked his knuckles, “I have a few words for them myself…” Thane said, his voice taking a slightly darker tone.

“Yeah,” Ian said, momentarily sitting down to smack the ends of his forelegs together. He then tipped his head to the left and right, eliciting several very loud pops. “Los gehts, mutterficker.” Thane gave him a confused look. “It's German for ‘let’s go, motherfucker’.”

Thane let out an “ah” of understanding. “Good to know.” He said, before going to grab Ian’s backpack and suitcase. “You might need this.” He said, holding the backpack out. They got it situated on Ian's back again, and headed towards both the doors and their future.

As they did, Ian gently hummed an old familiar tune to himself, mentally chuckling at the irony. “♪They're going on a new adventure, and they don't know what's in store… they're coming from the closet, and they're heading out the door!♪” he muttered at last, as they stepped out into the sunlight. Of course, Ian tripped over the strip of metal that marked the delineation between inside and out, and subsequently had a nice hearty brunch of concrete. All in all, a good start to a day that had already been going so well.

Author's Note

Hey, I'm Nova_Blast and I'll be writing as Luke, hopefully you'll come to enjoy this just as much as my previous stories.

Hey, I'm Thunder Quill, and I write as Thane. I hope you enjoy this story, and check out the other stories we've written.

Hey, guys! Glad to see you've made it this far! The name's Ian, and I'm some sort of... wierd... snake-bug-horse thing. I don't have a clue what that's all about, and it certainly doesn't ring a bell with anything I remember from mythology...
(What are these "Changelings" thou speaketh of?)

Hope you enjoyed this first recollective entry in the chronicle of our journey. Seriously, check us all out. And if you're curious about that refer between Thane and I... It's sorta NSFW, so we can't post a link.

I can't stop you from looking up "Moonquest Christmas Special" on YouTube, though. ;)

As for the ringtone... It's basically this: