Transformation in the Cave (Patreon)

Based on the scene in Episode 13 - Art by Shahab

"In the dim light of the cave, Emily’s breath came out in ragged bursts. The faint glow of her campfire flickered against the stone walls, casting fleeting shadows that stretched and slithered like restless phantoms. She tried to focus on the rhythm of her breathing, each inhale sharp, each exhale trembling. Mei Ling had promised to be back, to guide her through this—this thing, this grotesque transformation that crept nearer with each passing second. But now, as the cave's cold seeped into her bones, Emily was alone.

The air was thick with the scent of rot, the viscera Mei Ling had left behind to appease the beast Emily would soon become. The smell clung to her nostrils, metallic and pungent, a reminder of what awaited her. She felt it, stirring beneath her skin, a burning tide rising. The wolf, biding its time. She closed her eyes and pressed her trembling hands to her temples, trying to hold onto herself just a little longer.

A whisper—a fleeting sound like wind through brittle leaves—carried through the cave, so faint that Emily wasn’t sure if it was real or just the murmur of her fraying mind. “Mei?” she called out, but there was no answer. Only the rising pulse in her veins, louder now, beating in time with the growing fire inside her.

Then, the change began.

It started as a prickling under her skin, as if her blood had turned to needles, prickling her from the inside out. She gasped, her hands clutching at the earth beneath her, nails digging into the soft moss and dirt as the pain intensified. Her bones shifted, cracked, lengthened. Her muscles rippled and stretched as though something alien was trying to push its way out of her body. She bit down hard, a desperate attempt to stifle the scream building in her throat, but it tore free anyway, a raw, animal sound that echoed through the cave.

Her spine arched, twisting, bones grinding against one another as her form bent and warped. Fur sprouted along her arms, her chest, coarse and dark, as her fingers thickened, stretching into claws. The world blurred at the edges, her vision swimming with the intensity of the transformation. Her teeth—sharp, jagged—grew too large for her mouth, pushing her jaw forward into a snout.

The wolf was coming, and this time it wasn't creeping.

This time, it was raging, demanding its place at the forefront of her being, tearing through the fragile remnants of Emily’s humanity with reckless abandon. She could feel it, snarling and snapping within her mind, a wild, feral thing that had no room for doubt or hesitation, only hunger. Her skin was stretched tight, muscles bulging beneath the surface as her body grew, distorted into something monstrous.

And then, she howled.

It was a sound that shook the very stones of the cave, an unholy cry that carried through the night, raw and untamed. She threw her head back, now fully wolf, her eyes burning a deep, savage yellow. The transformation was complete, the wolf unleashed.

There was no turning back now."