On the day of Tempest's thirtieth birthday, Aida prepared a three course dinner. The sun had set over an hour ago and none of them were sure when Tempest's transformation would take place. It was a waiting game that had everyone on edge. The moon had risen and was slowly working itself across the night sky, its glowing orb a testament of the change that was about to take place in Tempest's life.
"You need your strength," Aida said matter of factly. "Looks like there's a solar eclipse coming. This will be interesting."
Needless to say, Tempest didn't have much of an appetite.
"Eat," Aida said for the umpteenth time.
Tempest forced a smile and put a fork full of food into her mouth. Chewing slowly, grimly, like she was on a mission, she smiled at Aida around her full mouth. Aida nodded, satisfied, even though Tempest felt like the food was going to stick in her throat. She took a sip of water from her glass and forced the sticky gob of rice down.
"It's really good," she wanted to assure Aida. In her head she actually said the words. She really thought she did but when she got no response from either Aida or Papa Sam, she realised the words had not left her mouth.
A deep heat had started to simmer in her belly. She had felt it earlier and had assumed it was just because she was nervous. It had been a dull throb in her stomach, like how she felt when she was about to start her period. Now, suddenly, it became so much more than that. It spread rapidly throughout her body, leaving a wicked tingling in its wake that made her drop her fork and gasp. She thought she saw Aida and Papa Sam look at each other in panic but the heat in her body quickly overrode every other sense she had. All she could focus on was the rapid fire spreading through every cell in her body. It was like she was being purified from the inside out.
She wasn't sure but she thought she was screaming as she felt like every single inch of her was being torn apart and being remade. She felt arms hold her and lift her, probably taking her to the area they had prepared for her transition. She was trying hard to breathe, trying to get oxygen to the cells that felt like they were using it up faster than she could suck it in. She felt like she was panting like a rabid dog left in a desert. Her flesh felt like it was peeling off of her and then the real pain started.
"Frigus," Aida said and for a moment, her body was covered by a coolness that soothed her. "Get her into the tub, Sam. Her body feels like a furnace." She heard Aida say this but it felt like she was listening to her speak from a great distance.
Her breathing slowed down as the fire seemed to abate a little bit. Her body was sunk into some cool water which felt like heaven. Slowly her senses seemed to regroup and she looked up into the worried faces of the two people who had accepted her into their home and taken care of her. She tried to smile at them in reassurance but that seemed to backfire as their eyes widened in alarm.
She felt her lips stretch wider than what a normal smile should have felt like. She felt it then, her teeth growing through her gums. She hissed in pain and grabbed at Sam's hand. The teeth seemed to grow impossibly long before they retracted.
"Hang in there, kiddo,' Papa Sam told her as he wiped at her face with a cold towel. Aida pressed a glass to her lips and told her to drink. Without questioning it she chugged the liquid down, feeling relief as it soothed her parched throat. Aida's cooling spell was fast losing its potency and Tempest's body was starting to heat up again.
Aida mumbled "Frigus" again and the water cooled down to the point where shards of ice were continuously regenerating in the liquid that was getting hot enough to be uncomfortable.
Pieces of fur started to poke through Tempest's skin, rolling over her body in waves and disappearing. She moaned and clutched at the sides of the tub she was in. The hands that grabbed the bathtub started to change, to elongate and crackle like pieces of wood being broken apart. Tempest watched in horror as her fingers morphed, as her bones were rearranged and settled into something else. The bone crackling moved slowly up her arms, towards her shoulders and back. At the same time, it started at her toes, breaking the bones and transforming them into something else, working up her shins and towards her thighs.
Tempest screamed, the sound piercing the night sky like a sharp knife cutting through a white cloth. One after the other, she felt each bone as it broke apart and rearranged itself into something that was foreign. She felt her body changing incrementally until every part of her was not left untouched. Her teeth grew and grew again, going past the previous point, but this time, not retracting. The bones in her face and head morphed, became larger, transforming. Changing into a form more suited to the long canines that seemed to grow longer and longer.
The pain rolled over her like ocean waves over a beach, letting up some and then coming back with more vigor, waning then attacking viciously. Tempest moaned softly, panting, wanting this to be over. But it didn't let up. Hours passed as her transformation continued, her body slowly rearranging itself into its new, more powerful form.
Then, when everyone was exhausted, when they were all not sure how much more they could take, it stopped.
"Oh, my," Aida whispered. Papa Sam just stared at her, and Aida would tease him mercilessly later about the moisture in his eyes as he looked at Tempest with pride.
Papa Sam stood up and helped Aida to her feet. "Tempest," he called out softly as he ran his hands over the fur on her head, "you gotta get up girl."
A soft whine escaped her as she tried to lift her head from where it lay on the carpet. It was a struggle but after long minutes of trying she managed to raise her head and roll over onto her stomach. Her legs were at an awkward angle and she huffed as Aisa giggled, her eyes wide and a hand held over her mouth.
"Stand up, Tempest," Papa Sam told her again.
Moving slowly, feeling weak and unstable, Tempest willed her body to obey her. Her legs wobbled beneath her and she felt like she was going to keel over, but she persevered. Minutes dragged on as she struggled to her feet. Her body betraying her often and causing her to fall back down repeatedly. Finally, she stood on all fours and looked at Aida and Papa Sam with pride. She rubbed her head on their chests and was shocked to realise her best was huge, almost a meter seventy at the shoulder.
Her fur was a mixture of orange and brown, with white and black stripes and spots, while her legs and belly were snow white. Her canines were extended and were about sixteen centimetres long, emerging from a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth. She had a short, black main that grew from the back of her head and trailed halfway down her back. Her eyes, though, had remained the same piercing blue they had always been and they now gazed at her family with glee.
"You're beautiful," Aida whispered in awe as she ran her fingers through Tempest's fur. Tempest purred softly and Papa Sam chuckled.
"Wanna go for a test run?" he asked her and she nodded eagerly. She stumbled slightly as she tried to figure out how to walk on four legs and grumbled deep in her chest as she realized it was harder than she had anticipated. Finally though, she had wobbled her way through the house and was standing outside.
The light of the moon seemed to give her an extra boost and she felt her body strengthening by the second. Her four-legged steps became more sure as she got used to the foreign body she found herself in. She took a few tentative jogging steps forward and promptly fell. She huffed when she heard Papa Sam's chuckle. This time, she stood up quicker, however, and walked quickly around the house while Aida and Sam kept a sharp eye on her. Finally, she felt sure enough to start jogging and this time she stayed up.
Her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth as though she was silently laughing. She jumped around excitedly, fascinated by her were. She ran over to Sam and nuzzled his chest, as though asking him to join her for a run.
He looked at her for a second and then took off. "Catch me if you can!" he yelled and Aida rolled her eyes at his foolishness. A tender smile graced her lips, however, as she stared at the two as they ran through the trees. She watched them for a few moments more before she turned to go back into the house.
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16 September 2020
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