Chapter 1: Arrival

John and I rented an old cabin near the lake for one week to get some rest after work. The first day was amazing! We went to the forest for mushrooms and berries, we went fishing, had a campfire. It was an incredible day.

In the night, I accidentally knocked over a shelf, and we found a door hidden behind it. We opened the door and went inside. Stairs led down to an old room covered in spiderwebs. There were odd ancient books, scrolls, some bottles. It was scary being there, and then suddenly John knocked over another shelf and some liquid dripped onto us.

It was sticky. We ran out of there and immediately started washing our hair. What if it was toxic? We spent the next hour checking if we were alright, but nothing happened — we seemed totally healthy.

We went to bed together, like we always do. John wrapped his arms around me, and I fell asleep to the sound of his breathing.

Then suddenly I woke up to John's screaming.

I sat up in bed, still groggy, and looked over at him. He was standing beside the bed, his eyes wide, his body twisted. I froze.

His lower half was a deer. Dark brown fur covered his legs, hooves on his feet, a small tail flicking behind him. His torso was still human above the waist, but between his legs—God, between his legs, there was something impossible. A long, curved penis poked out of a sheath, and below it, testicles that hung differently than any man's I'd ever seen. And then I noticed the teats nestled between his thighs, small and pale. He was... both. Male and female at the same time.

Holy fuck.

"What happened?!" I shouted, still half-asleep.

"I don't know!" His voice cracked. "I woke up like this! Look at me!"

I started to throw off the blanket to get up, but then I stopped. I felt... off. My skin was tingling everywhere. I looked down at myself, still covered by the blanket. My arms were in front of me — and they were covered in black feathers.

My heart stopped.

I slowly moved my hand under the blanket, touching my legs. They felt strange. Hard. Scaly. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again. I pulled the blanket up just enough to peek underneath.

My feet weren't …