Ancient Obsession

                            College students always look for deals. It’s the understated fact that no one ever seems to think about until they themselves find themselves in the same position. John Miller was one such college student. In the unending search for deals, he found himself browsing through the nearby flea market. Another understated fact was that college students didn’t need to have something specific in mind to buy. As long as something was on sell, and had an interest in it, the college student would buy it.

                Currently, John was looking around for something to decorate a very sparse apartment. Currently, he had by numerous fake flowers, even more numerous cheap pictures, and by even MORE numerous disgusting, decrepit furniture, all of which John did not want to be seen housing. He wanted to find something more… whimsical. He didn’t want to be like the usual home decorator. He was a guy who liked Pokemon, who liked werewolves, and, in essence, all nerdy things in life.

                “Alright… come on… there’s gotta be something cool here.” he thought, fingering through some crudely made dragon figurines. These were more along the lines of what he was looking for, but, he didn’t want them either. Maybe he would have bought them, if they looked pristine, and not as if they had been shredded and chewed on by rabid bear. He figured that, if he couldn’t find anything at all here, he would buy them. They were only 3 dollars for the lot of them, and would surely personalize his room.

                As the rest of his search seemed to turn up nothing more of interest, his prowling eyes caught a glance of a lustrous glimmer. He took another glance at the shelf he noticed it come from. There was a bunch of shabby looking knick knacks, as well as dirty grey blanket that seemed to have been hastily placed there. He noticed the gleam again, coming from a small hole torn in the blanket. John wasn’t too surprised that whatever was under the blanket was covered like this. This flea shop had so far proved that organization was the last thing on their minds. He bet if he spent days here, he would be no closer to discovering everything this place had then the chances of him studying 24 hours a day.

                The moment he pulled the blanket off the object hiding under it, John knew he found what he was going to buy. He picked up the imitation pearl, surprised by both its quality, and its realistic weight; It was as heavy as it looked. The worn price sticker on the pearl said it costed ten dollars. As far as he was concerned, that was a steal, and gladly payed for the pearl.

                Half an hour later, after setting the pearl on his desk, he was feeling rather happy. He had got a really cool decoration item for his room, and his schoolwork, after a few hours, went as smoothly as he could have expected with four classes worth of medical homework.

                “Finally done.” he smiled, stretching his limbs. A quick glance at his phone, and he noted a couple of messages wondering if he could come over to hang out with a friend of his.

                “Of course I will be over man. See you in a few.” he wrote down. He just was putting on his shoes when he noticed the pearl sitting on his desk. He smiled, and looked at it closer. It was very exquisite, and very surprising that it had only cost the amount it did. He placed a hand on it, admiring the smooth, almost silky texture, before leaving.

                “Cool pearl.” He thought as he started the car, and headed over to his friend’s house. The car ride was as normal as one could get on a Friday night in Provo Utah. The traffic of students heading home was the same, the various shops were full of university and families, and it was as cold as one could expect in the middle of winter. The only noticeable difference in this drive occurred to John halfway through it. He noticed that as he was nearing his friend’s place, his mind could not seem to focus on anything longer than a few minutes before switching back to the pearl he had back at home. He could remember its exact color, shape, sheen… everything, and he was getting increasingly annoyed by it.

                “Come off it won’t ya?” John thought, shaking his head, managing to clear his mind of the beautiful pearl… that magnificent stone….

                “Come on dude! Stop thinking about that! It’s not that special, it’s just a decoration.”

                That thought seemed to snap him out of it. To further help clear his mind, he turned on the radio, tuned into his favorite station, and was soon tapping his foot in rhythm to it, and all the way to his friends apartment.

                Parking was always hard to find in this particular complex, more so when everyone at this time of night was settled at home. Driving around the parking a couple of times, a student finally got into his car and drove off. John promptly filled the spot, and hoped he wouldn’t annoy the pants off of the individual who left. He got out, wrapping his coat around him tighter as he transversed his way up the stair and to his friend’s door. A couple of knocks later, and James opened the door, and smiled.

                “Hey dude! What’s up?”

                John chuckled. “Oh the usual. Homework, going over to a friend’s place. Pretty standard.”

                “Seems like you’ve been up to more then just the same old same old. Since when did you get that mustache?”

                John was not expecting that question. Since the moment he could grow a beard and mustache, he had been clean shaven. “What do you mean man?” he reached up to his face, “I don’t have… a….”

                John noticed James raise his eyes. “You seriously hadn’t noticed that thing growing dude?”

                John’s hand brushed over the long, handle bar-like mustache he had. It was not thick, rather, it was thin and string like.

                 “I guess not?” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

                “You okay there John? You really look out of it.” James said, voice growing concerned.  

                “Yeah… yeah I’m fine man. Just tired I guess.” He was lying of course, but he did not want to be worrying James. It was just a mustache after all. It was nothing to get worked up about, and he could shave it off when he got home.

                “Well…” James didn’t seem to be buying it, “Alright I guess… um… got some board games out. Figure we could get some of my roommates to join in for Apples to Apples.”

                “Yeah.” John smiled, nodding, “I like that idea a lot.”

                After gathering together three more people, and a few more comments about John’s mustache, everyone started playing. As the game went on, John was finding his mind flashing back to the pearl back at home. Only this time, rather than admiring the pearl from his memory, he was growing worried about it. What ifs flooded his mind… what if someone knocked down the pearl… or stole it…

                “You alright there John?” James asked, placing down his card. John shook his head, putting a hand to his head. He noticed he was tapping his fingers on the table, a nervous habit he had gotten control over a while back.

                “To be honest…” he paused, thinking. Better not mention this pearl to them…

                “Yeah?” James asked, eyes narrowing in concern.

                “I just have a lot of work to get going on.” John managed a smile, “I thought I had done enough, but, the more I’m thinking about it…”

                “Hey dude, its fine.” James said, nudging John. “We understand. Could have told me that sooner… makes sense why you were so flustered when you came in.”

                This couldn’t have worked out better, and John nodded at the group. “Thanks for understanding guys, sorry to bother you all with this.”

                “Just get outta here man, finish the work, and THEN come over when you’re schedule is clear.” James said, waving goodbye as John left the room, waving farewell back at them. On the way to the car he was feeling the new mustache. It seemed longer then the last, but he couldn’t be that sure… he hadn’t even seen what it looked like yet. In the car, he got a glance at the fine, thin string like mustache he had grown in the rearview mirror.

                “Looks like whiskers…” he mused, touching them again, before driving into the roads. He already vowed that the weird mustache would not see the light of day. The ride back home was quick; most of the streets and roads were less jammed at 9:00, and John was more than pleased with this. The sooner he was home, the better… once he checked if the pearl was alright, he figured he could get his mind off the blasted thing. Why he was so concerned about it now… and to leave a game night for it… was making less sense as the drive reached its conclusion.

                “Something is not right here.” He muttered, parking his car hastily and running to his apartment. He burst through the door in a hurry, and went to his room. The pearl was still there, still standing exactly as he had placed it. He glanced at it, coming close to touching it with his face, as he examined it in its entirety.

                “Good… no one else has touched it.” He confirmed, nodding. He blinked, shaking his head, and glancing at the pearl again, suspiciously this time. This was not right. It was just a cool decorator’s item, nothing more. So why was he obsessing so much about it? When did he ever obsess about anything?

                “Pokemon… Legend of Zelda…” he stared at a Link poster he had set up in his room, “Alright, I guess I do obsess about things… but why this thing? Why, after only a few hours owning it am I already obsessing about it? At least with Zelda it happened because I loved all the games after years and years playing them. This thing…” he shook his head in disgust, directing it at himself. “Get your head on straight dude, its just a decoration.” He rolled his eyes, and left the room. He went on with the rest of his night, making and eating dinner, and watching some television shows. Even during these moments where his mind was focused on the show, his mind would drift back to the pearl, and he’d dwell on how it looked good, before shaking his head, and going back to watch T.V. At least he could focus on it, and wasn’t worrying about the safety of the pearl. No need to. He was only a few feet away from it.

                Around 11, John got out of the couch, shaved off the ridiculous mustache he had, and walked to his room. He found it somewhat weird how his roommates never seemed to be around. From the moment John got up, to the moment he went to bed, he never saw them. Possibly, this was because their schedules conflicted, and they had late night activities with friends going on.

                “Least I can watch what I want, and do what I want while I’m here.” He thought, as he sank into his bed, and drifting off to sleep.

                His dreams were… nothing but images and views of the pearl. And he didn’t bother to dismiss them. It looked amazing, the view were spectacular, and he didn’t want them to leave in this dream. Heck, he reasoned he wanted to have that pearl around all the time, always by his side. His dream-self grabbed it, and he felt a rush of calm, peace, and power rush through him.

                John didn’t know, but he had grabbed the pearl as he slept, curling his body around it protectively. The mustache he had shaved off grew right back, growing longer than before, and becoming more akin to whiskers than anything else.  His blue eyes shifted in colors, turning green as he placed a protective hand on the pearl. If an onlooker were to be watching, they would notice that John was also filling out and growing taller. John was short by any American average, and as the night went on he grew from 5’4” to 5’7”. The pearl itself was becoming more luminous, more polished if it were possible… more attractive to John as he curled himself more around it.

                His normally blond hair darkened, changing to a milky brown, and grew longer, growing past the nape of his neck, and to his shoulders. The hair also seemed different, as if it was more like fur, so much in fact that his neck was contributing to the new hair, and not just his head. After some time, John had a short mane of fur, and his back was noticeably hairier as well. It was the irritation of the hair the awoke John from his dream, as he went to scratch his back.

                John was not a morning person, and getting up for him was always a chore. HE would lie there for some time, tossing and turning in bed, sometimes thinking about the need to get out of the bed. After a couple of minutes constantly tossing and turning, he sat up, eyes still partially closed. The pearl he had been curled around during his sleep rolled right up against his right leg. He didn’t notice it.

                “Alright… alright, outta bed man, outta bed. You are up, now you gotta stay up.” He encouraged himself halfheartedly, the mantra he always went through in these situations slowly working. With a sigh, and his eyes now unwillingly opened, he pulled off his covers, and stared at the pearl.

                “What in heaven’s name…?!” he muttered in shock, unable to tear his eyes off it. How in the world did it wind up there? Had it somehow fallen on his bed and wound up there, or else… and this worried him, did he somehow get it and move it there in his sleep?

                “No no…” he denied the latter idea weakly, “I’ve never done anything like that with anything! That’s…. “ he found he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the thing. His eyes were shifting colors again, going from green to yellow now in the short space of time. “Not possible.”

                Yet… those dreams… he remembered fragments of them, tiny portions of them that made him realize that his denial wasn’t going to go anywhere. He could remember himself cradling the bloody, beautiful thing, and saw in those dreams himself grow more attached to it… which right now he was clearly showing.

                “GOSH BLAST IT MAN STOP!” he yelled at himself, preparing to knock the pearl away. It was raised in the air for a second, then several seconds, and John soon realized that he couldn’t knock it away, even as his heart screamed at him to do so for his own sake. He dropped his arm in defeat, breathing deeply and staring at the pearl, mouth agape in shock.

                “This thing… I…. I need to get rid of it. It’s not right. Its screwing up my mind!” he thought, hoping maybe realization would help him, and, finding it did nothing. He couldn’t let the pearl go, he couldn’t harm it, though he knew he needed to, or whatever was happening to him would continue to do so. The fascination, it seemed, was completely out of John’s control, now to the point he could not fight it.

                “Okay…” he continued glancing at it, feeling thoughts of admiration of the gem hovering around in his mind. “Okay… now what?” he thought, picking up the pearl in his hand… a hand he noticed didn’t feel that small compared to the thing.                                                 

                “Wha…” his shock realized with the pearl, it soon shifted to the fact his pajama bottoms were tight on him, and riding up his ankles. His shirt didn’t even cover half of his stomach anymore.

                “When… what?” he stammered, eyes wide in fear as he rubbed the sides of his head… and he felt the whiskers… and the thicker hair he now had.

                “What…. What…” he could only stammer, hurrying to the bathroom to glance at his reflection. It still looked like him… but a different him. He saw the changes to his hair, the return of the whiskers, and his body… noticed that his chest hair, arm hair… anything hair was thicker and more prominent. He looks as if he was going through a second puberty, and while he had sometimes wished in his youth that he could have gotten taller, this was outrageous.

                “What in heaven’s name is happening to me?” Yet, in his mind, he had already solved what was happening. That pearl… it was messing with him. Now not just mental, but physically too. He was starting to look like some jock in High School with his new height, mass… and body hair. 

                Turning his head to the side, he noticed the full extent of what the changes to his hair had wrought on him. He rubbed the back of his neck, shocked to feel how fur like it was.

                “This pearl….” he began, before gazing in his room, and finding he could not see the pearl, his mind panicked.

                “Where…. Where did it go?!” he said loudly, running into his room, and peeling off the covers of his bed. A quick glance of the pearl’s sheen was all it took for him to dive in, and grab the object in his hand, holding it close to him. Just like in his dream, he found he couldn’t let it out of his sight, and felt extremely comforted when holding it. Enough so that his original frame of mind returned. He looked in horror at the pearl, and noted to that his hands had seemed to have grown larger to hold the item better.  What was even stranger was that the hair on his hands was clearly noticeable now, and was white in color. He watched in shock as it grew more in volume, each strand poking through his hands one by one, covering them in a new coat of fur. His hands, proportioned to his body, looked oddly like a puppies paws, like he was going to grow into them.

                “Ah woof… “ he huffed out. He one hundred percent knew that it was the pearl causing these alterations. The other point he also knew, as he grasped the pearl in his hand tightly, was that he was becoming dependent on the pearl. The thought of leaving it anywhere unnerved him, and he could guess that if he did, he would have a nervous breakdown like before. It wasn’t something he realized he could avoid. It would happen again if he left the pearl all by its self, and he did not want to have that happen in a class.

                “Question is… is class even an option anymore? He looked at his furry hands, noticing his fingernails were sharper, and darkened. It didn’t take a genius to realize he was forming claws. Or the fact that the fur on his arms was spreading, the white fur turning cream colored as it went past his wrists and up his forearms in a slow, deliberate manner.                                   

                He began pacing in his room, watching as the pearl seemed to keep changing him. He didn’t want this… and the contact with the pearl was only changing him more. He didn’t want to be a furry monster or something, and he didn’t want to have a mental breakdown because of the woofing pearl.

                “Darn it…. Ummm…” he looked around, spotting his bag. Now there was an idea. If he didn’t hold the pearl like he was doing now, and just have it close by, maybe he could keep the rest of his humanity, and maybe be able to shave the fur he had grown.

                “Worth a shot.” He reasoned, grabbing his bag and, reverently, placing the pearl inside it. The obsessed part in him wasn’t satisfied still with the pearl’s safety, and he didn’t want the pearl to toss and turn while in the bag. A while later, he had cushioned it with towels, and he felt at peace with it in this situation. To this, John felt satisfied. He noticed the changes had stopped, and felt he was still his normal self.

                “This will have to do…. Now… about this fur… maybe if I can get rid of it, and shave off these ridiculous whiskers,” he tugged at the single strands, “then maybe… MAYBE I can make it for my classes.”

                John was in the bathroom as quick as he could, and pulling out his razor, he aimed it at the whiskers, the razor humming in the air. Upon contact, nothing happened, in fact, the razor jammed. He tried again, and the same result happened.

                “What in the world?” he thought, worried, as he tried to use the razor on his arm fur. The moment it contacted the fur, it bounced off, seemingly unable to cut it. John, ever more desperate, went back to his room, and picked up the pair of scissors he had. He didn’t care how he tried to cut anything or where he did, so long as it was cut. He pulled a whisker up, aligned the scissors, and snipped. Nothing happened. In fact, as he applied more pressure to the scissors with his awkwardly big hands, it felt like he was trying to cut through metal.

                “Ah woof….” He grumbled, throwing the scissors away. He brushed his hand along his arm fur. Somehow, while soft, John could tell this fur was far stronger than any other hair.

                “Screw me then… Heh…. I don’t have much a chance getting along with society like this am I?” he chuckled weakly, clenching and unclenching his fists.

                “Not much I can do with schooling… I could try hiding all this for a while… but… how long? How long will these changes not continue?” he thought carefully. School, his future even, was being put at risk by the pearl. All the exams and studying he took, his previous successes, were being threatened to go down the drain. There was something he could do though. He could request a leave of absence, something to give him some buffer time to decide what to do next, based on where these changes went. If they stopped, he would just have to hide what he could, and accept what he looked like. If they continued… well, he didn’t know what he would do then. He was in the middle of Utah Valley, and if he was to get somewhere without being noticed for his changes, he would have to decide on that soon. He could go to his Grandparents condo in Ogden… take a bus there while he could still pass as a human. No one lived there at the moment. It kinda just existed to be there. While he was there he could keep up with his assignments as much as he could with the books and online material he had. He just wouldn’t be able to take the tests… The very least he could do is retain a 70 in those classes, and switch to online courses or else take a semester or two off. He could get an online degree… but, even if he had that, no one would take in a monster, let alone tolerate it. He’d only have a degree for no reason.

                “Better that then just doing nothing but sitting around in that apartment. Then again… how the heck will I pay for it all? I’ll lose my job, and there is no way I can continue schooling if I can’t pay for it.”

                He was pacing around his room, a hand rubbing his furry hair in thought. He would only be able to finish the semester he was currently in, and have enough money to feed himself for that and a little more, that was assuming his appetite didn’t change to anything else. The more he thought about it, the more that the option of hunkering down in that condo was seeming to be the only option. He figured sooner or later, considering how fast the pearl was taking over his life, that he would have to hold it to feel like nothing would happen to it, and that of course would push the changes on. Even without holding it, it seemed that the pearl also could cause him to change, considering how he had got the whiskers in the first place from it during his drive to James’ place.

                “Man, guess I better get packing then.” He thought. For a solid hour or two, John packed essentials such as clothes (for however long they would last… his jeans were riding up his ankles) undergarments, toiletries, his laptop, and finally his drawing supplies. He didn’t want have nothing to do while in Ogden, living in his self-imposed exile.

                All of it fit in a large suitcase, and after getting a ticket out of Provo as soon as possible, John donned a baggy hoody (which now was rather tight fitting, but it masked his arms, and the hoody coved his mane of fur) and left his apartment, leaving a note to his roommates stating he was going to be out of town. The backpack that contained the ever precious pearl was tightly strapped to his back. He almost could sense the shape of it despite all the padding in the bag, and felt comforted whenever he felt the slightest bump it made on his back. Those slight, indirect impacts were changing him, resuming the growth of his mane, which grew down half his back when he got to the bus stop and noticed the hairs pushing against his shirt.

                “Good thing I’m leaving now…” he thought in relief, getting in the bus to sit down, “If I stayed there any longer, I might not have made it out without being noticed.” He acted as casual as he could, but found himself always scratching at his hands with his new claws. Granted this was a nervous habit he always had, but if anyone caught whiff of it, he’d have a lot of explaining to do.

                No one did, it seemed, and the bus trip lasted around an hour and a half, plus the few minutes spent on two stops along the way. Now off of the bus, he pulled his hoodie more over his head, trying to hide his whiskers in the shadows. Fortunately for him no one did seem to notice him as he walked through the streets, all the way to the empty condo suite in which he locked himself into. He immediately slumped into the chair, laying his suitcase haphazardly on the ground. He took off his backpack, and held it in his lap, both disgusted with it and unable to part with it.

                “Darn it I hate you…” he said, looking at the bag, knowing the pearl was in there, mocking him as it continued to transplant itself into John’s life. Even in the bag, it had managed to continue changing him, and he could see it as he looked at the fur that now ran halfway up his upper arms, and felt down his back at the mane that seemed to have stopped at his posterior. At least, in the darkened rooms of the condo, he was safe from prying eyes, and would be able to finish his changes as they came in peace, however long they may take.

                Getting out of the chair to turn on the lights, he placed his laptop on the table, and began to work on the assignments that he could finish. The backpack with the pearl inside remained on his lap as he worked. He found it funny how, even in the utter isolation he was in, his mind screamed in worry at the simple thought of leaving it anywhere else but in contact with him. The thought of just putting it on the table literally made him almost have a nervous breakdown.

                “Clearly getting worse… as is everything else.” He thought as he finished his zoology assignment, submitting it online. The claws on his fingers had progressively gotten longer over the course of his work, and he was now forced to use them to click the keys. While his fingers seemed even thicker than usual, they retained enough dexterity that he didn’t run into any serious typing issues, though the thickening skin on the tips of his fingers and the top of his hand was getting problematic. He gazed at the swelling areas.

                “Pads… I’m growing woofing pads!” he exclaimed in exasperation, throwing his hands down. Just having the pearl near was now enough to change him, and maybe it was because his mind was always flashing back to it as it connected it with his transformation. He did not want to imagine the consequences that would occur if he were to be in full on physical contact with it. In one night he had grown in height and weight, and had his hair changed. He did not want to imagine what another night would do.

                As the evening wore on, and John finished more of his homework and assignments, his arms became fully covered in the fur. The fur on his shoulders was a darker brown then the color of his arms, almost a light charcoal. The fur was nowhere to be seen down the center of his chest, but did run down a ways his sides. He poked as some of the fur that now took residence on the side of his neck, surprised at how much he had changed in the course of a day.

                Alright… if I grab that thing tonight, I am a goner.” He thought as he yawned. He was tired, and that meant his mind would weaken due to sleep. John worried (and secretly, subconsciously hoped) that at some point he would be unable to resist physically grabbing and holding the pearl. Even if he went asleep, he figured he might take it out of the bag in his sleep.

                “And there is no way… Uuuggghhh… as much as I would like to, to lock the bag away so I can’t touch it!” he mumbled, feeling that rising sense of panic the moment he had any idea of having it depart from his side. The more ideas he thought about that would protect him from an increasingly probable fate, the more his mind panicked, and the more he felt himself wanting to hold it… look at it at the very least, just to see that it was still safe. He found his hand close to unzipping the bag, and he knew he would have grabbed it soon after.

                “No…” he pulled his hand away, feeling slightly mad at himself as he did. Wouldn’t it just be easier to let go of that resistance, to feel like the pearl was safe, to feel like he was alright?

                “No… no no no no no!” he said, dropping the bag as he resisted those urges. The moment he let go, everything seemed to slow down, and his eyes watched as the bag fell to the floor.

                “Oh Woof no!” he said, diving for it, the adrenaline pumping in his veins as he watched it fall. His eye’s pupils narrowed into slits, and traces of fur began to sprout from around his eyes. He fell to the ground, and the backpack containing the pearl landed square on his chest with a soft thud. His heart was pumping in his chest as he grabbed the bag, hugging it close, feeling the muffled shape in his arms. It was incredibly hard to not open it and hold it close to him, but maybe the change happening right now was giving his mind enough will to fight the strengthening urge. His bones were popping as he felt himself grow slightly as he hugged protectively. His pant grew tighter around his legs, as did his shirt, before he felt the growth spurt stop. He had to be around 5’9 or so now, and it was weird seeing everything from this taller perspective.

                “That… that was quick.* he gasped, shocked as he looked at himself again. He didn’t have much longer, that much he could tell, all from the fur covering his sides down to his hips. He assumed his back was just as furry, and he confirmed it by scratching the fur that he now had. His vision was blurry too… something with his glasses had gone wrong, and the moment he took them off, he saw things in a new clarity.

                “Just… why?” he said, collapsing where he was, a tear running down his eyes as his will to fight was all but shattered. He was not even close to human anymore, he sure didn’t feel like it, and that pearl, the need to hold it, was becoming so overpowering…

                “Fine darn it! FINE! You bloody win!” he screamed, ripping his bag open and holding the pearl in his hand. With that, his mental anxiety ceased, his worry dissipated, but the feelings of loss were still there, and he doubted they would leave anytime soon. The pearl, it seemed, did not change who he was inside, rather, all it did was create an inseparable link that, if severed, made him lose his mind to fear, worry, and loss. Now, as he held it, he could think as clearly as he could before. His hands seemed to finish changing, fingers fully thickened and paw pads fully formed, which severed to hold the pearl very well. He doubted anyone would be able to take away that pearl with it in his iron grasp.

                He continued lying there, depressed as he felt the changes continue. He could feel his body grow longer and thicker. His arms and legs, it seemed were finished growing. As his body, then his neck, began to lengthen, he went past 6’0 feet tall, and grew steadily from there as his hand caressed the pearl, a sort of nervous habit he had now. His body curled reflexively around the pearl, and his head lied right next to the pearl. Opening his eyes, he watched his reflection shift in the glossy surface, watched white fur cover the bottom of his face, saw grey fur take up his forehead. He watched his nose grow thick brown, scale like plate, and then winced as he felt it push out.

                He whimpered as his human face was taken from him, and in its place a distinctly draconic one fill the pearl. What was once his nose turned black and leather like, looking very akin to a wolf’s nose. The changes felt like water rushing across his skin. As he continued to elongate and grow, his shirt gave way with a snap. As if on cue, thick, cream colored plating coalesced from the skin remaining on his chest.

                John didn’t care anymore. He stopped caring when he lost to the pearl’s influence, and didn’t watch these changes progress, only felt them. He could feel his jeans getting tighter and tighter as his legs thickened, but unlike his shirt, they did not give way, at least not entirely. He could feel the fur flowing down his legs, and down to his feet. His feet seemed to explode out, growing wider and larger as his toes elongated and grew claws. New paw pads formed on them, and his tow outer toes fused into one, while the others grew thicker. His big toe moved up his newly structured feet a bit, not by much, but enough to where it was clearly disjointed from the rest. With his heels cracking and reshaping into a ditigrade stance, he felt one last change happening at his posterior.

                It started as a tightening of his pants around his posterior, but he felt a new limb extending soon after. It was restrained by his pants a little bit, but not before bursting out. A tail, he reckoned, and a very thick one at that as he continued to feel it elongate and grow. The mane of fur that had once stopped there restarted growing, keeping up with the new extension to John’s spine. Longer and longer it grew, reaching out five and a half feet before it stopped growing. It soon was drawn up close to John, wrapping around his new body and the pearl, as he silently sobbed and mourned the loss of his humanity, and the loss of a future he had worked so hard to achieve.

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                John hadn’t realized he had fallen asleep on the floor. All he knew was that he was some sort of Eastern dragon as his eyes fluttered open.

                Everything. Felt. Wrong. The way his hands grasped the pearl, the way his more snakelike body contracted and raised itself off the floor. The way the floor felt against his fur and anterior scales. His reflection in the pearl confirmed what he was, and he lowered the pearl to his sides as he stood up on wobbly legs. His tail acted on its own to keep his balance, but John realized he could still move it any in which way he wanted to.

                “Well…” he looked down as his serpentine body, noticing he wasn’t as big he was afraid of being, “least I’m not breaking anything in here.” His voice was deeper, but still his old one.

                The more he thought about it, as he looked over at himself, the more thankful he was that, at the least, he hadn’t grown any larger. He could still successfully hide in the apartment. He just couldn’t leave it without being caught. And, knowing that he’d need to get food eventually, (his stomach was rumbling hungrily) he’d need to leave sooner or later. He had only brought some snack with him in his suitcase. He hadn’t believed that he’d finish changing in just one day and night.

                “Ah woof…. I feel trapped.” He muttered, stating the clearly obvious. There was no way anyone was going to confuse him for anything else then what he was, no matter how elaborate the disguise. Sides, his tail was something he was not used to, and it swung this way and that, sometimes knocking over a small piece of furniture that he’d clumsily put back in place. It was interesting how he’d subconsciously grab the pearl with his right foot as he used his both hands to move large objects around. Otherwise, the pearl was always in his left hand, tightly grasped.

                “What to do…” he thought darkly, lying on the couch which creaked under his weight.

                “If only I could just… freaking disguise myself… heck, I might have been able to somehow… but this tail… there is no way I can hide that. Come on man… think… how can I get outta here without someone catching me and putting me in the zoo?

                “Maybe Eastern dragons have powers to do that.” Came a rather unexpected thought. IT surprised him, but, somehow or another, he realized that the notion was really the only good way he might be getting out of his self-made prison cell. He got off the couch, pacing the room, his claws clacking against the panel flooring.

                “Okay… if I ‘do’ have some sort of power, how in the world could I access it?” he grumbled, knocking over a lamp for the fifteenth time.

                “Maybe I just imagine myself as a human?” he thought with a dark chuckle. It couldn’t be that easy. Now way. Yet, the moment he focused on that image, he felt something inside him… spark, that’s how’d he describe it. He looked at his hand. It didn’t seem any different, just paw pad of a dragon.

                “Well… that was a total….” He stopped mid-sentence, looking at the mirror hanging up in the living room. It wasn’t a dragon staring back at him, but John. The human John. He glanced at his hand, still a draconic paw pad, and waved it at the mirror. It looked like his old human self was waving back at him with a normal human hand with the most dumbfounded face possible.

                “Is… is it working?” he questioned, but feeling a growing sense of excitement. If it was… he could live his life out at school! Graduate! Do all the things he could do. In fact, the feeling of success he had was so powerful that he left his room, and walked in the hallway.

                “No better way to test it… sides, heh, if I’m not looking like what I think I am, its as good a time to run as any.”

                Someone came walking up the stairs. John froze up, and watched as the person’s eyes glanced at John.

                “You alright there?” the middle aged women asked, frowning.

                “Yes….” John said, elation filling him, “yes, everything is better than alright actually. Thanks for asking!” he said excitably, and ran down the hall yelling ecstatically, leaving behind a very confused lady who watched as John tripped over himself, and fell to the floor. His tail was still there, and he had managed to get himself tripped over with it.

                “Ummmm…” she walked closer to John, to check that he was fine. “Are you really… REALLY sure?”

                “Yeah yeah… totally.” He said picking himself up. “Just got the best news in my life is all.”             

                “Oh, um, alright?” she mumbled as John walked away, down the stairs. John had one route in his mind. He was going back to the University, and he was going to live out his life, no matter what happened to him. The only thing he was worried about was his tail… even if no one could see it, he winced whenever stepped on it, or he tripped someone with it.

                “Well… better that then being locked in a zoo.”