“You’re not supposed to be here, human.”

       The voice shook Mason from his thoughts, the startled human looking at the forest around him. It was meant to be a shortcut, heading through the woods near his home, but wherever he was it sure wasn’t Kansas anymore. Trees at the edge of the path grew in strange shapes, twisting and twirling branches leading to the bright canopy overhead. Brightly coloured birds flitted from branch to branch, their tail-feathers weaving rainbows behind them. Down below, the trees lining the path were choked with thick undergrowth of alien flowers, vines creeping up bark, and flowers glowing softly in the shade. Looking behind himself, two trees dominated either side of the path; their thick branches arched over and intertwined together, suggesting a doorway… a portal to another world.

       Turning back around, Mason was stunned by the sight of a woman standing there, appearing without a sound. Tall, thin, and towering over Mason the mere sight of her inspired awe. Her skin was the rich brown of bark, the cascading hair framing her statuesque face, the brilliant gold of autumn leaves, dotted with flowers from the plants around her. Even her clothes evoked the plants around her, a dress fashioned from broad leaves, a brilliant emerald green, bright against the dirt path behind her.

       “I, well,” Mason stammered, unsure what to say, what was even happening… “where am I?”

       She was staring at Mason, studying the interloper, almost appraising him. Pretty average, for a human. Messy brown hair, green eyes, fair skin… maybe he was good-looking for a human, she thought, but his plain features set him apart from the elegance of her people. Plenty of height, muscle, good potential… she might be able to make some use out of him. His clothing would have to go, of course, the dull black t-shirt and grey jeans not befitting the elegance she was used to.

       “Somewhere no human should tread,” was all the strange woman replied, raising a hand towards Mason.

       “Wait, wait…” Mason raised his hands, stepping backwards, edging himself back the way he’d come, “I’ll go, it- it was just an accident!”

       “I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” a twist of her arm, then the sound of disturbed earth and clanking chains, “besides, we clearly need someone to protect this gateway…”

       Another step back, and Mason caught something hard against his foot, sending him tumbling backwards. The world spun around him, streaks of colourful plants against the blinding blue of the sky. He met the cold ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. Stunned, body stinging from the sudden impact, Mason barely felt the cold weights snaking their way around his legs.

       “Pathetic, typical human…” that familiar voice spoke, voice sounding muffled and distant. Mason blinked, staring up at the blinding sky, watching the blurry shape of her stand over him.

       Mason groaned, slowly pushing himself up by his elbows, feeling something hard dragging against his legs. Looking down, his heart sank at the sight of the thick iron chains coiled around each leg. He tried to tug at them, the chain giving only slightly, anchored somewhere deep in the hard dirt beside him.

       “Oh, don’t struggle,” the fey chided, “I’m sure you understand I can’t have you running away, not while the gateway is unguarded…” Another flick of her hand and a second pair of iron chains burst from the ground beside Mason. Each danced into the air as if alive, quickly coiling themselves around his wrists, pinning him there.

       “I-” Mason’s mind raced, looking for a way out, “I could always guard it for you?”

       “You could?” her voice instantly brightened, a little unnervingly. Gone was the haughty venom, replaced with seemingly-genuine delight, “you’d guard the gateway? For me?”

       “S- sure, of course…” Mason replied, trying to project more confidence than he felt.

       “Oh, that is a relief,” the fey beamed, reaching out a hand to Mason. He felt the chains loosen slightly; still heavy around his wrists, but enough to let him reach out to the fey, letting her lift him out. Her hand was warm to the touch… too warm, spreading through his arm. The cold iron around his wrist stung a little.

       “Normally, I have to trick humans,” she continued, a coy smile across her face, “but you made it so easy…”

       “What- what do you mean?” Mason stammered, taking a step or two back, chains still dragging across the dirt. The heat from her touch lingered, spreading through his body, seeming to magnify the aches and pains from his fall.

       Mason’s whole body seemed to groan and protest. Every muscle in his body tensed, aching from phantom exertion, bulging and pressing against his straining skin. Pain flashed through his bones and joints, barely able to withstand the pressure from his muscles. His heart pounded in his chest, pulsing blood echoing in his ears, breath growing hard and ragged.

       “Why, you agreed to guard this gateway,” she smirked, slowly stepping around Mason, “but of course-” a finger trailing across his shoulder, “a mere human wouldn’t be good enough.”

       Mason opened his mouth to reply, trying to make sense of what she was saying and growing discomfort inside of him, but couldn’t find the words. Something was very wrong, besides from the strange woman chaining him up in a weird forest. His clothes drew tight around him, revealing the shape of muscles Mason never knew he had, “I’m… growing?”

       Sure enough, Mason’s body continued to grow. Muscles twitched and spasmed, bulging in turn as they grew stronger. Despite how strange everything felt, how impossible it seemed, Mason couldn’t deny the feeling was strangely invigorating. Bones cracked and popped, adapting to his expanding muscles, strengthening and thickening as they grew longer. Reaching to his side, he could feel his thighs straining against his jeans, hands slipping back to feel a swelling ass threatening to spill over his waistband.

       “Enjoying yourself, my dear?” the fey asked with a touch of amusement, perhaps the first genuine emotion she’d shown. Her eyes flickered down to Mason’s hands, still clutching his ass.

       “Strangely… good,” Mason reluctantly admitted, looking up… no, across at the fey, the once towering woman now as tall as he was. Had he grown so much already? Every so often, a chain would rattle, another link lifting off the ground, another inch taller.

       “Excellent, then I’m sure you’ll love the rest of the changes.”

       “The rest-?” Mason began, interrupted by a sudden pain in his feet. His shoes were impossibly tight, crushing against his toes. Cursing under his breath, he reached down, fumbling with the laces before the pressure was abruptly released. His shoes burst open, fragments littering the ground, Mason’s eyes growing wide as he stared at the razor-sharp claws jutting forth. Pulling away the last tatters of his shoes, Mason saw just how much his feet had changed: they stretched out longer, toes thick and heavy, nails changed into powerful talons digging into the dirt. Even the skin had changed, turning a deep dark brown, flecked with rough fur.

       Stunned, Mason took a couple of steps back. New instincts kicked in, adjusting the way he stood, lifting his heels and resting his weight against the base of his toes. Somehow, it even felt comfortable. Freed from the confines of his shoes, his feet continued to stretch out, joints popping and snapping as they settled into his new stance. It wasn’t long before the changes spread up to his legs, the same rough fur growing across his skin in a wave.

       There was a subtle crunch from his shins as they shrank down slightly, better suiting his new digitigrade form. His jeans hung awkwardly around his changing legs, bunching up around his knees, straining against his growing thighs. Grunting with frustration, Mason squatted, bulging thighs stretching his jeans into ribbons. Behind, his ass pushed outwards, swelling thick with fat and growing muscle to match his thighs.

       “Feeling better?” the woman cooed, perched on a chair of vines sprouting from the ground, clearly watching with amusement.

       “What’s happening to me?” Mason asked, his voice taking on a rough edge he didn’t expect, chest rising and falling under his straining shirt.

       “You’re becoming our new guardian, of course!” Still that hint of amusement, and still perfectly unhelpful.

       “So what’s all this?” Mason cried, exasperated, gesturing down at his bestial legs. He might have continued, had it not been for the sight of his hands: the same deep black hair was sprouting, running thick along the back of his arms. Turning them over, sunlight glinted off the tips of his nails, catching off their pointed tips. He could only watch, transfixed, as wicked claws slowly pushed their way out of each fingertip. No, not quite claws… they were too matte, the colour a pale tan… bone.

       Half-curious, half afraid of hurting himself, Mason curled them in his hand, flexing his arm. A ripple of bulging muscle spread across his chest, the final straw stretching his shirt to the limits, shredding it to tatters. Looking down, limp scraps of fabric caught on his bare chest, catching in the same ash-black fur that was spreading over the rest of his body. With a quick snap of his fingers, he freed the rest of his shirt from his body, the razor-sharp claws making short work of the fabric. Some part of his mind should have been terrified by what was happening to him, his body more like a demon than a man; yet he couldn’t deny just how good his new body felt, how powerful.

       Something tensed in his spine, his bones strengthening themselves to support his animalistic form. It rolled down his back in a wave, a growing pressure as thick bones jutted out of his back, straining against his skin. Reaching down to his pelvis, the sensation only grew, a pressure slowly building at the base of his spine. Reaching back to his rear, already thick and full of muscle, Mason realised it must be something new… Slowly, almost purposefully, something began to emerge. Just a short nub of flesh at first, pushing down what remained of his waistband, it quickly billowed out behind him.

       Thick with ash-black fur, the tail flicked this way and that as it grew, new muscles and bone knitting together. Though something was off about it, Mason thought, the skin and bone still aching even after it had stopped growing. Sharp pains ran along its length, only for a moment. Flesh and fur parted, tail twitching as sharp spurs of bone pushed their way out of his body. Wicked spurs to match his wicked claws, Mason thought.

       “Got to have you looking fierce,” the fey joked, standing beside him. Mason had almost forgotten she was there, “wouldn’t want anyone to mistake that fluffy ass of yours for a teddy bear’s." As if the claws weren’t dangerous-looking enough, Mason thought.

       With his tail finished, Mason could feel the wave of changes spreading back up, that now-familiar straining feeling in his bones. His chest heaved, barreling outwards, shoulders cracking as they pushed out wider. Then, a stretching feeling against his skin, hard pressures under his belly forcing their way out. Reaching down, Mason felt the hard touch of bone under his fur. Thick, rib-like plates of bone were painlessly forcing their way out of his chest. Armoured plates to suit a new guardian, Mason thought.

       “Now you’re getting it!” the fey shouted, clearly pleased if a little patronising. Had she been reading his thoughts this whole time, Mason wondered?

        Finally, the aches and pains reached Mason’s neck. Rubbing the sore skin, he could feel the muscles underneath tensing, as if in anticipation. Thick fur pushed past his fingers, growing longer with each moment; the beginnings of a thick mane running down to his chest. What he wasn’t prepared for was the feeling like his skull was splitting open.

       Aching bone pushed forward, a mounting pressure behind his face. His skull cracked and popped, the pressure released for a brief moment as his head stretched outwards, soon building again for the next growth spurt. His vision shifted slightly, eyes moving forwards and sideways, more and more of the world coming into view around him. Behind, his ears twitched and stretched, lifting away from his thickening hair, growing to tapering points. The sounds of the forest became clearer: every chirping bird, every rodent scurrying in the undergrowth. His ears twitched and swivelled with a mind of their own, pinpointing the location of each and every one.

       Mason’s attention was focused ahead of him, though, his nose stretched almost flat by his growing skull. He could feel his teeth shifting, carried along by his jaw as it lengthened out ahead of him. He ran his tongue along them, his increasingly sharp canines separated by a gap before his wide molars. The pressure inside his skull kept increasing, focussing on two spots behind his eyes. Something was pushing out of him, that he was sure, reaching up to feel strange growths emerging from either side of his forehead. More bone spurs? No, they were faintly grooved, and kept branching out; creaking and groaning like a tree in the wind. Clawed fingers moved from sharp point to sharp point, feeling the curving shape reaching out behind his head. Antlers.

       Still that pressure inside his head grew, his skull still determined to grow its way out of his skin. He could see the shape of it before him, the animalistic muzzle of a creature from a nightmare. Gradually, his skin began to draw back from his skull - or perhaps his skull was emerging from his skin? His mouth first, exposing the jagged teeth now filling his jaw, powerful fans on clear display. Next, his nostrils flared out, shrinking away, leaving only bare bone. The smells of the forest were clear and sharp, even the faint honey smell of the fey woman beside him. Finally, the rest of his skin grew away from his face, framed by the thick mane of black hair. His eyes sank deep into the sockets of his skull, the pale off-white framing his vision.

       “Allow me, my guardian,” another graceful gesture, and a thousand dewdrops cascaded around her, swirling together into a mirror pool before Mason. The creature staring back was unrecognisable. All black fur and jagged bones, that bare skull ready to terrify anyone who’d dare enter his mistress’ realm.

       The thought caught Mason off-guard, a new instinct to suit his new form, but he didn’t seem to mind. This new body, however alien, felt somehow… right. Like it was always meant for him. Full of power and purpose. He glanced down at his arms, those chains still looped around them. His new claws and muscles made quick work of them, snapping them where they hung down, leaving the length looped around his limbs: once anchoring him, they now felt like armour.

       “The name’s Meabh, by the way,” she paced around her new guardian, running a hand through his thick fur, “could I have your name?”

       “Mason,” the guardian replied, voice deep, almost guttural.

       “Thank you,” Meabh replied, stepping closer to him, “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your new home here.”

       "I’m sure I will,” the guardian nodded. He looked over towards the gateway, the path that had brought him to his new life. His newfound purpose was to protect this realm and all the people who lived within it. His home.