While Stan held the mother half-buried in her bed, Oswald contorted in impossible positions. Most of his articulations bent backwards before coming back to their initial position, few centimetres away. The flesh extended and the bones grew. Less than a minute later, his head touched the ceiling.
He stood way over two meters tall. His nails thickened and curved to make ten sharp claws. His feet extended and his heels slimmed down to the size of a wrist.
Stan caressed the woman's cheek with his horn. He licked his lips before saying. "Watch carefully, woman. A whole new specie is being born." He taunted her inability to make proper children.
Oswald's nose stretched out and its tip darkened, his jawline followed the cartilaginous structure, his teeth turned upside down, the roots filled themselves with enamel to have a solid build and a perfect organisation. Where there was space, more teeth popped out of the gums, they were as sharp as knives.
His ears became pointy and full of hair, his two round eyes had golden colours and his mind seemed completely shut off. His muscles enlarged all over his body, making his tight clothes rip apart.
More hair covered his shoulders, arms and legs. His head was totally covered as well. Air racked inside his throat, his growl marked every of his breaths.
At the end of his spine, more vertebra formed and a tail shaped itself, it moved according to the top of his body to re-equilibrate each unbalance.
Stan looked at the human-wolf hybrid, the few emotions he displayed were from his surprise. "Never seen one like this! Wonderful! He looks solid, doesn't he? Your transformation process is nearly over. You need only one more step." He brushed his hair backward, as if it was the sole annoyance that troubled the spectacle unfolding.
"Alright Ozzy, time for us to part ways! Do it." He said, patting the beast's back. "Meryl, endure it, and see you next time!"
He kissed Meryl's forehead and gave two thumbs up to the monster.
When she blinked, Stan had vanished and the red glow that illuminated the room with him. The tremendous wind shook the house once more. The only monster remaining, her son, towered above the bed, his nose now moving according to his breathe, he came closer to the lifeless baby on his mother's torso.
"Oswald, I'm sorry, it's all because of me. Don't be angry, don't harm the one who made everything she could to protect you. I love you Ozzy." She said, half-crying.
But the thing in front of her wasn't listening at all. The smell of blood and the shine of the moon made his environment suitable for a midnight meal.
The monster's maw opened, it neared her head, the sound of the snap made everything turn pitch black.
Next thing she saw was the light of the sun. She sat in the kitchen while massaging her temples. When she lowered her eyes, she saw how flat her belly was.
'My baby!' Was her first thought. She rushed upstairs to discover a new nightmare, one that covered the room, top to bottom, layers of fear. What remained of her body tainted the bedsheets and the walls. There was no traces whatsoever of the baby. The second after she gulped down her saliva, her mind went numb.
Oswald was somewhere far away. He was so dizzy he wasn't sure whether he was still alive or not. The snow had stopped, the chirp of the birds woke him up gently.
'Fuck!' As per usual, he wasn't able to remember how he ended up here, and what happened during the night, he was worried about his mother but he had no idea how to go back home.
His senses hit him straight away.
His sight captured every wing flap a hundred meters around. Every cricket jumping over the same distance. He could pick up the sound of leaves hitting each other, drops falling from the trees. The thing he had the hardest time to control was his sense of smell. The snow and emerging roots were rainbow coloured and the mess was complicated to decipher.
The last thing he remembered was his sick mother in the bed. Nothing about the uninvited guest. He was very uncomfortable sitting on a rock, when he checked the source of the unpleasant sensation, he got shocked. His coccyx had a pointy tip, only one centimetre out yet awfully protrudent.
He had never noticed it before, it wasn't the only thing that happened to him after the nightmarish night, so he checked the rest of his body when he managed to walk straight anew.
His numb muscles lessening his speed, he managed to find a stream nearby. He dug on one of its side a large hole with less than a coin of depth. He then made a self check-up on his mirror.
At least, he noticed he was nearly naked. His underpants remained but they were in a dire state. His nails had a cloudy coat, they were less transparent, a little thicker. His canines had a slight point at their tip, it completely changed his smile however it did not hinder his ability to chew properly. In the contrary, it felt somehow easier to close his mouth.
The hair he usually had up to his wrist grew to the back of his hands and there was some on his fingers too, it was a little too manly for him who was about to reach the age of eighteen. His eyes were normal even though he could see better than usual which amazed him.
His hair was entirely black, not the dark brown he was used to, as for his ears, they had changed shape too, his way of hearing changed with it, the minuscule point at their tip was barely noticeable but it was another change nonetheless.
He wanted to cut his beard, it wasn't pleasant and made him look neglected, his hair was too long and the shortcut hairstyle he saw once on a lone adventurer would probably fit him.
'Why?' He thought. The many differences with his older self shocked him, even though last time he paid attention to his looks was long ago. 'How will mother be able to recognise me if I keep changing?'
Judging from the size of the stream in front of him and the proximity of the mountain's top, he decided to go downstream. His chances to find the village were fifty-fifty. Either it was the flow passing through Revel, either he was lost.