Ritual - Guardian Transformation Pt. 01

It was ridiculous how one incident, with the air of the logical, could shape his life, having him avoiding even the waterfowl of the noble dignitaries that they did so enjoy having in the grounds of their large, expansive homes. He'd had to make up excuses to get away from interacting with them, back then, yet his fear seemed to race towards him as he sweated coldly, his underarms damp in the worst of ways.

The slick chill was not grounding for him, not as Siren's head twisted and his neck cracked, something happening to the bones. Tyree gagged and wrenched himself away, yet he could not keep his eyes from Siren, not even then.

More feathers covered Siren's belly and chest, his nipples sinking back into his skin. It didn't look like they would be needed anymore, not as his massive jaws elongated viciously, drooling through his teeth. Yet those very teeth could not remain in the facsimile of a human construct anymore, oh no, not when they could be sharper and sharper, drawing out into vicious points, so sharp that Tyree could feel the bite of them even from a distance.

What the hell was going on? Why was Tyree becoming a feathered monster? Something like a dragon-bird, with jaws like that, though his mouth had a beak-like look to it. All eyes were on Siren, ignoring Tyree for the moment, as his beak-like mouth exploded.

"No..."

The word was a whispered plea, though the only one Tyree would utter, considering all that was going on, not rooted in the moment. He huffed and panted, short, shallow breaths clawing at his lungs, yet all he could see was the straining of Siren's jaw, how the lower one cracked out for further than naturally was possible, extending three inches beyond the upper. The changes did not come in evenness or time with one another, jerky and uncontrolled, his eyes squeezed shut and then wide open, as if he was struggling with every aspect of it. And who wouldn't?

Yet the beak-like mouth snapped shut, teeth interlocking with one another even as they turned pointed, a little curved so they all slotted together neatly. He growled, strangled as if something was tightening around his throat, and snapped at thin air, bobbing and weaving his head back and forth.

The transforming creature, something between a dragon and a bird, with all those feathers, keening and warbled. There may have been words tangled up in there, though Tyree could not discern them.

Yet he did not know Siren well enough to comfort him, no, not in the slightest, not as his jaws settled, his nose rounding a little, so it was not tapered to a point anymore. His feathers smoothed out in a ripple of feathers and flesh, like clay being moulded by human hands, and Tyree shuddered, the man's ears sucking back into the sides of his head. Something about that made his stomach churn and lurch, feathers streaking down his arms, longer ones sprouting sharply, as if they were actively stabbing their way out from his body through the paper-thin barrier of his skin.

His arms didn't seem to want to stay bent at the angle they were, stretched out nearly straight, and the transforming man fought the moment, clattering his jaws as his teeth sharpened further, knocking against the others. A black snout offered him leathery skin across his nose and around the front side of his muzzle, lining up to his eyes, where a feathery deluge, with brighter blue splashes, began just between his eyes. The feathers framed him, but there was nothing soft about them, even as their brilliance caught Tyree's eye.

Where a flicker of colour should have brought with it a sparkle of beauty...it was despondent. A human body was never meant to twist and contort like that, the man's bones crunching and cracking, even though Siren seemed little a man anymore. His hips pushed back sharply against the rock slab and he grunted deeply, drooling.

Then and only then did Tyree realise what his somewhat friend was becoming, though the knowledge did him no good either. For Siren was no longer a man, nor either a dragon or a bird.

What the hell? Tyree blinked, his jaws parted. No... This is...no... This can't be happening!

That's not real!

He was a raptor. That mildly assuaged his avian fear but didn't make things any less horrendous as his stomach lurched humiliatingly, the transforming Jaguarhawk snarling and drooling, saliva gleaming off the dark skin of his snout.

Snarling and heaving, fighting his bonds, eyes wide and wild even as they migrated, very slightly, closer to the sides of his head, allowing him a wider range of vision than before. It wasn't about to do him any good, of course, the rope cutting into his arms as they transformed into strangely feathered appendages: not quite wings but better than mere arms too. Tyree exhaled in a puff of breath, eyes flicking to the side where a second orange bottle of fluid, the potion that had transformed Siren, was being decanted.

No... This isn't right, this is screwed up! The lizard people... No!

No, no, no -- he couldn't turn into a raptor! Not like Siren! Not like that! Tyree screamed and heaved, fighting madly, maniacally, single-minded in his intent to free himself. Arrogance stripped from him in a spray of spittle, lazy eyes turned towards him, even though Tyree was not the focus in that moment, not as the raptor's legs re-set themselves.

After all, Siren, from what it looked liked, would remain as a biped, even though he would run tipped forward, like the raptors he had seen around the temples. They'd come in all sorts of colours, bright ones and more muted ones too, but they hadn't been a threat to anyone, except if they'd tried to approach the altar or place of worship with aggression. Thieves were the ones most likely to fall foul of the raptors, the guardians.

He groaned, shaking his head, though the raptor's transformation all fell into place now that Tyree knew what was happening to his friend. The shift and change to Siren's hips made sense, along with the toenails curling out into wicked, black, hooked claws came quickly, scraping into the stone and leaving white marks in their wake.

"Unff..."

Was that a chuff from Siren? Tyree wasn't sure if he'd imagined it, his heart drumming a beat in his ears as a tall, slender lizard-person with long, elegant limbs approached him, the potion delicately cupped between two hands. Tyree panted and tried to twist away as much as possible, even as it was lifted to his lips.

He couldn't let them. No... Not to him! No feathers... Even if a Jaguarhawk was not a bird, he couldn't let it happen to him!

"No... No, don't..."

Even then, he did not beg. He couldn't be, not even when he knew he was far, far out of his depth, that he had to find a way, any way, to get them to understand he didn't want to be transformed. The mostly transformed raptor, looking like the Jaguarhawk he'd seen depicted in their paintings and writings of the artistic side of the city, twisted in their bonds, something pink and fleshy looking protruding, ever so slightly, from the slit that their genitals had retreated.

Oh, and he so very much didn't want to consider what had happened to the raptor's balls, where they were, what even was behind the shiny yet uncomprehending eyes of Siren's. Was that even Siren in there still?

Resolve settled, chilling, into Tyree's bones.

They're not taking me too, no! No, they're never going to make me like that!

Tyree would never know, not as they fought him to get his head up and back, ignoring him snapping at them, heaving and twisting, fear giving him fresh strength with which to fight back with. Yet another pair of anthros, a hyena and one of the lizard folk, framed him on either side, helping force the neck of the bottle between his lips, his head back and liquid spluttering from his mouth.

And yet he swallowed, against his will, someone rubbing his throat, a teasing claw tracing down his neck. They encouraged him to swallow even as he tried to pull away, heart pounding, horror melding with fear as he fought the urge to retch.

"Do you not wish to join your friend?" The lizard said in a low, gravelly tone. "You are honoured... And all for your misdeed. Many would be fed to the raptors for such a sin."

"But... I..."

He tried to protest, the liquid oddly warm as it slipped down his throat to pool in his belly, his stomach sloshing uncomfortably from the weight of too much in there, all at once. Opposite him, the raptor twisted and broke one of their bonds, though Tyree wasn't sure it was even right to consider Siren by that name anymore.

Was he human? Could he see him? Or would he hunt him as a temple miscreant, as the other raptors were trained to do?

Continued in part two of two.