Purple
Blue
Green
Purple
Light blue
Dark orange
Green
Green
Green
Green

It took Steve a couple seconds to realize that his vision wasn't a swirling mass of colors anymore. It took another second to realize that the blurry green color was trees swaying in the wind above him. This led to his next conclusion. He was lying on his back, staring at a leafy canopy above his head.

Which was weird. Last time he checked it was supposed to be winter right now. In fact, last time he checked he was in his bed, having just passed out after a short trip home from fencing, and a nice shower. Also, last time he checked he was in his bathrobe. A quick check confirmed that he was still in his bathrobe.

“I tried to summon a swordsman, but I’m not sure how well it worked.”

“Hay! Get up. I didn’t summon you just to lie around all day!”

A hand grabbed steve’s and pulled him to his feet. Standing in front of Steve was a panda.  She was wearing a pointed blue hat with plastic-looking stars attached to it. The only logical conclusion was that steve must still be dreaming.

The panda waved a paw-hand in front of steve’s face. Steve pinched himself. It hurt.

“What the…” Steve murmured, not entirely convinced he wasn't still dreaming.

“Great, you're with me. I need you to distract the guard long enough so that my compatriot can deal with the emperor.” the panda pointed at a bat-like-man-thing standing over to the left. It is worth noting that he was not Batman, nor was he a bat-man, which are two entirely different things and should not be brazenly lumped together with a bat-like-man-thing.

“Oh, also it would be best if you defeated that guard as quickly as possible. Summonlings tend to acclimate to this plane pretty quickly. You’ve got about an hour or two before you’ll be stuck. But this shouldn’t take too long, less than half an hour. My companion will provide a weapon. The guard is in the grand hall. You'll know when you see him. Good luck!”

A sword flew through the air and impaled itself in the ground at Steve’s feet. Then the pair ducked past Steve. He hastily grabbed the sword and turned to follow.

Steve pulled his head around just in time to see the wall behind him get blasted apart by the panda. Half a second later both creatures were through the hole. They ran off without even a half glance behind them.

That seemed to be the way his life was going so far. Also Steve’s hand felt a bit weird. He held up his left hand, the one not holding the sword, and noticed a fair amount more fuzz on it than usual. Also his palms seemed a bit darker. Perhaps this was what the panda had meant by acclimating.

In any case, Steve figured he may as well get on with it, and stepped through the hole.

The ground on the other side was littered with rubble, having been strewn about by the panda’s explosive entry strategy. About two hundred yards to his left was the actual entrance. A finely paved path ran straight from the archway up to a squat palace, situated upon a small hill. The panda and the bat were running straight up the grassy slope. With only a couple second thoughts, Steve followed.

In no time the group had made it to the top. At which point the panda blasted a hole in the wall, not unlike what she had done to the last wall that had gotten her way.

After stepping through the destruction, Steve found himself in a lavishly decorated hall. A glowing red carpet slithered up a short flight of stairs. The walls were decorated with tapestries and massive paintings of everything from bamboo forests to scenes of battle, waves of animal people crashing against each other. The ceiling was black, speckled with stars. Some of the stars were connected like constellations, but none Steve recognized.

“There he is! Don’t let him follow us!” the panda quickly said, before applying her abilities to another wall.

Steve sized up his adversary. The tiger-man was clad in a gleaming suit of plate. Two things gave away his species. The fact that his helmet was currently tucked under his arm, and his tail, which had no armor. In his hand he held a massive sword, almost twice as long as Steve’s.

“I am the guardi- Hay! Where do you think you’re going! You must face the guardian!” The guardian clearly wasn't prepared for the situation.

Steve looked back. The panda had disappeared through the new hole. The guardian was furious. The tiger-man in full plate shoved his helmet onto his head, readied his sword, and ran straight towards the new hole.

Steve moved, it took only half a step to cover the new opening. By then the tiger had almost reached him. The guardian moved fast. Soon he was bearing down on Steve.

“Stand aside summonling! I must pass!”

Steve should have done so, should have allowed the steam train of steel and muscle to pass. Instead, Steve shook his head.

Steve leveled his sword at the oncoming tiger, he was going to be trampled. For some reason Steve was not as frightened as he possibly should have been. He was still afraid alright, but he was also determined. He would not let the tiger through.

Just before the anvil that was that impeccably shiny breastplate slammed into his face, steve stepped aside, carefully allowing his right foot to lag behind.

The tower of armor crashed to the ground, sliding to the edge of the hole that the panda had created. Steve’s foot was in agony. Turns out, you could kick a flesh shin without hurting yourself, but not a metal one. Steve quickly grabbed his foot, hopping about as if, well, as if he had just tripped a knight in full armor with an unprotected foot.

All of a sudden the pain began to recede, as if it was running from some invisible foe. Steve looked at his foot. He was wearing no shoes of course, who wore shoes during any of the times it was appropriate to be in a bathrobe? Thick, grey fur was spreading across Steve’s foot, pushing the pain away. It felt almost as if a fuzzy sock was pushing itself from his skin. The fur stopped abruptly about half way up Steve’s shin, looking exactly like a sock that for some inexplicable reason, had been made out of grey fur. Steve watched as the fur slowly continued to climb, making it’s way up his leg. When his attention returned to his foot Steve noticed some more subtle changes. Parts of the bottoms of his feet felt leathery, and his toenails were now short claws.

Steve returned his gaze to the tiger, foot no longer aching. The suit of plate was slowly rising to it’s feet, first kneeling, then standing. The tiger man rounded on Steve, almost lost for words, “I have never seen such a dishonorable action in my entire career as a guardian! You clearly are no better than those scoundrels destroying the walls! My honor demands that I defeat you!”

Worked for Steve. He had gotten the tiger’s attention, which was his goal. Now, he was going to get crushed.

The guardian’s sword came around in a sweeping arc, heading straight for steve’s waist. Steve only had a moment to think, luckily the most important rule of not getting stabbed applied both in fencing, and when facing a tiger-man in full plate wielding a ridiculously long sword.

Steve stepped back, allowing the sword to fly right past, missing him completely. Without giving the tiger a moment to realize his mistake, steve stepped in, thrusting with his sword.

The results were disappointing. Steve’s blade bounced off the plate, hardly even nicking it.

“Ha! You’ll never get through my armor with that puny blade!” The tiger laughed, swinging his sword above his head.

Once again Steve merely sidestepped the blow. It was a bit awkward, but the blade went slamming down into the ground beside him, clearly demonstrating the success of the maneuver.

Steve was about to swing at the tiger again, but then reconsidered. He would never get through that armor, even if he had a thousand years to fight this guy. No, he only had an hour. Steve redirected his attack, going for one of the two places not covered in metal.

Steve’s slice almost missed, just barely nicking the tiger’s tail.

It must have been a gut reaction, because milliseconds after he had sliced the tail, Steve’s vision was filed with metal, then pain, as the armor wearer’s elbow connected with Steve’s face.

Steve stumbled backwards, just catching himself before he fell to the ground. If that happened, it would be game over for sure.

Steve clutched at his face in pain. It felt slightly swollen, in fact, the pain was receding very quickly. Just like it had on his foot. Steve’s hands shot back to his face as he felt it swell out, his jaw and nose extending. It wasn’t painful, but steve wouldn’t call it comfortable either.

It felt as if a dentist was tugging gently on his teeth, and when he felt them he noticed they were a lot sharper than they had been originally. Four in particular it seemed were getting extra attention, growing longer than all the rest.

The outside wasn’t done yet either. The fur grew over the affected section of his face as well, the pins and needles traveling down the new protrusion. Steve’s nose turned outwards, and grew moist.

Steve was nearly knocked off his feet once again as his senses were bombarded with new smells. The wood paneling, the rugs and tapestries, the tiger-man’s scent was particularly distinctive. It was quickly overwhelming steve’s brain, unused to the highly detailed information pouring out of his nose.

The sensation of his face changing seemed to recede, although he felt the fur climbing his cheeks and spreading down his throat.

“Ah, a wolf, a noble creature. Such a shape is wasted on you summoning. I can see it in your eyes, you want to leave this place as soon as possible. Well let me tell you something, I honestly doubt that panda intends to return you to your plane. Summoners are known for using then abandoning their summons. Very dishonorable creatures. It is also dishonorable to attack a summonling while they’re changing, so as soon as you recover, I unleash the full power of the guardian upon you!”

Steve took a the moment to check up on the rest of his body. The fur was spreading, slowly but steadily, up his legs. Yes both. On his right, the one that had been used to trip the tiger, the fur had traveled up just past his knee. On the left, his foot had undergone a similar transformation, and now looked a lot more like his right foot. The progress of the fur was lopsided, it only reached his ankle on his left.

His arms were another matter. The fur had spread up his arms, and had almost reached his shoulders. It felt strange against the sleeves of his bathrobe, but was manageable. That seemed to sum up most of the changes so far, strange, but manageable.

Steve readied his blade, and the guardian charged, swinging wildly. In a fencing duel, such an action would get you nowhere, but with a much longer reach, the tactic might sometimes work.

Steve needed a new tactic as well, so he turned on his heel and ran. He was just distracting the guardian, not fighting him.

“Coward!” The tiger accused, “Fight me like a man you chicken!”

Steve was not impressed by the insult. If your opponent was a chicken, how could you expect them to fight like a man? Chickens couldn’t hold weapons after all. Plus, hadn’t the tiger said that Steve was a wolf mere seconds ago?

The tiger gave up on his flash display and raced after Steve, making up the distance remarkably fast. Steve pushed harder, running as fast as he could from the encroaching tower of metal. He felt a burst of speed. He felt the fur on his left finally reach his torso. The right had been spreading up it, but now that his legs were completely covered it seemed as if he could run even faster.

The extra speed allowed steve to just barely keep pace with the tiger, who was running with his sword outstretched in front of himself. If Steve slowed even a hair more, he would probably get skewered. This revelation was what prompted Steve to run even faster. Despite the fact that his legs were beginning to feel weird again.

Steve tripped, his gate interrupted by his ankles refusing to touch the ground. Steve slid across the wooden flooring. It was as if the wood had suddenly become comically slippery, just for him.

He plowed into one of the rugs, and instead of bunching up and stopping his momentum, Steve slid straight underneath it. The resistance slowed him to a stop, but not before the rug had him completely concealed. Under the rug Steve scrambled, trying to escape the dark prison.

Meanwhile the tiger was laughing, and proclaimed Steve's honor as equally hurt as his own. Steve got his nose out from under the rug just in time to see a fireball collide with the guardian, throwing him all the way across the room, where he faceplanted into the wall.

“Quick!” It was that panda again. “We got it! Now let’s go! Summonling if you want to return home you need to follow!”

In the panda’s hands was a ginormous (any other word would hardly do it justice) staff. It was twice as tall as the panda herself, but she carried it with one hand. A glowing gem topped the thing, root like tendrils holding it in place.

They were off again, this time using the actual entrance. Steve was a bit unsteady on his new legs as first, but soon grew accustomed to them. They sprinted past the gates, where an eagle and a rhinoceros stood idle. Their eyes widened as the party left the wall in their dust. A distinctly modern alarm sounded, presumably alerting the entire fortress, even though I had only seen three people actually in it: the tiger and the two guards.

“We just need to get out of the anti teleport field, then I can teleport us back to the lab! This should do, grab my hand!” The panda held put her hand to Steve.

The bat-like-man-thing grabbed her left hand, and Steve grabbed her right. Steve had imagined teleporting like being sucked through a tube, like in Harry Potter. Instead it was more like the word around them changed. Cobbled path became smooth bricks, which gave way to walls and a roof. A small window appeared allowing light into the space. Bookshelves and workbenches cluttered the walls of the circular room.

Steve let go of the panda’s hand, and they dropped about a half inch as the teleportation finished. After she had sent the that-like-man-thing to go put the staff somewhere, the panda turned to Steve.

“You should step into that circle if you ever want to go home.” The panda indicated a glowing red ring lined with intricate symbols.

For the first time since his arrival, Steve had a chance to speak. “wait, but why?” Steve knew his time was limited, but he guessed that he was only stuck if he completely transformed.

“Why go home? Or why everything?” The panda immediately launched into an explanation without allowing Steve a chance to respond. “If you don’t go home you'll eventually turn into a full wolf-man. Then you won't be able to go home. And to your second question, the magic of my universe slowly leaks into you, making you fit into my universe. Getting injured makes it leak faster. Once you get home, as long as you aren’t full wolf, sleeping for a few hours will change you back. Is that enough for you?”

Steve nodded.

While she had been talking steve’s tail had been growing. He almost winced as each additional bone in his spine was added. Thick fur was blossoming from the skinny appendage.

“Now you really need to get going, unless you want to stay here forever.” The panda said, waving him into the circle.

Steve complied, stepping into the intricate magical carving.

Purple
Blue
Green
Purple
Light blue
Dark orange
Beige
Beige
Beige
Beige

The beige was his ceiling.

Steve was back in his bedroom. He let out a soft sigh, sinking into his bed. Scents of his hasty dinner and the lingering scent of soap greeted his nose. His wet nose. He was still a wolf-man. Mostly, his entire body was covered in fur, except for most of his head. His face was still dominated by that protrusion he supposed was a muzzle.

Steve didn’t even bother to look in the mirror. He was home, and now he could finally sleep. So he did.