Kazuma awoke with a gasp and found himself staring at a smooth ceiling. Sunlight poured in through the white curtains, serving as the only light source in the room. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to make things clearer.
"Just a dream... Another nonsense hallucination..." Who was that woman he saw, why was he tied up and in a dark room, and what in the world did she inject in his left arm? There was a lingering pain in said arm, but he imagined it was just some phantom pain crafted by his overactive imagination. Kazuma sighed and sat up... or at least he would have if it wasn't for a weight on his chest. "What the...?"
Looking down, he spotted the deer-like head of a large creature with a blue-furred body lying on his chest. Two small yellow antlers jutted out of its head, both of them curling backwards. A silver mane lied on its head and trailed down its tail. A thick, purple-scaled tail lied near his right side. The tail was tipped with a brush of sliver fur and bore a red orb near its end. The creature itself seemed to be asleep, if its relaxed posture and closed eyes was any indication.
"What is this?" he murmured as softly as he could, trying not to wake it up. How did it get in his room? He looked around for any signs of forced entry but found, to his shock, that he was not in his bedroom. The room, he realized, was much larger and had an unusual but pleasant smell. How did he end up here? What in the world did he drink last night? As he looked around the room, he wondered if anything happened between him and his... host.
"It sure is beautiful." Kazuma reached forward and ran a hand through its mane, sighing from the plush, warm feel.
"You're awake." He recoiled upon hearing the soft voice. Instinctively he looked at the creature, wondering if it owned the voice. It glanced back at him with sapphire eyes and hopped off the bed, landing on four feet. Before he could say anything, the unusual hybrid backed away and coughed up a small white ball. As soon as it hit the floor, he was blinded with a sudden burst of light. By the time he regained his vision, the creature was long gone and he found himself in his own room.
"What... what was that thing?" There was no way he could have imagined it. It felt far too real to be a lucid dream. His arms ached, despite him having only slept on his back, and as he inspected them he saw what looked to be stretch marks, further confirming his suspicions. Whatever had been holding him had no intention of letting go, to be sure. The confused man looked at the clock and saw that he woke up just an hour before his alarm activated.
"Ugh, too bad I don't feel like going back to sleep. I've reached my limit." Deciding he had nothing better to do, he got out of bed and prepared himself for his workday.
Work was strange for Kazuma. Things seemed to move at a slower pace than he did, but despite it all he felt an odd sense of inner peace. Normally he was someone who constantly worried about the world at large and his own future, a concern most people would be understanding of if it wasn't expressed frequently. His worries were almost completely gone, save the dream he had. The strange creature that appeared in his dream continued to show up as he typed away, resulting in him occasionally spacing out when he was speaking with a customer. During his break, he managed to get a hold of a friend.
"I don't know," was her reply after hearing his description. She took a few sips of a drink from her thermos. "You oughta go see a shrink or something, 'cause that sure is freaky. Kinda neat tho', if you ask me."
"Neat, Betty?"
"Yeah. Sure, it sounds weird, but I don't see anything bad coming from such a nice-sounding thing. How big did you say it was?"
"Slightly bigger than a draft horse. Had hooves like one, too." The clerk cupped her chin in thought.
"Now that I think of it, that... actually sounds cute. Still, you should think about seeing someone. It'd be a shame if you lost you job because you were seeing things. There's this clinic I know that's not too far from here." She pulled out a card from her wallet and gave it to him.
"Just an address?" She shrugged at his skepticism.
"It's all I remember. Besides, does the title really matter? I promise you it's nothing shady." He sighed as he pocketed the card.
"All right. I don't have anything better to do after work anyway. Thanks." At least he wouldn't have to compromise his work schedule just because he was hallucinating, and if anything happened to him, he had witnesses. The rest of the work day was business as usual. He decided to take advantage of his newfound calm and completed his tasks swiftly. The day eventually ended and he found himself driving through the thin snow on his electric bike again, sunglasses equipped to protect himself from blindness. He returned home and changed his clothes before preparing dinner.
Five hours later, after everyone else fell asleep, he left behind a note saying where he was going. When he stepped outside, he spotted something blue out of the corner of his sunglasses. Turning to face it, he spotted the same creature from before. It was lying in the snow and seemed to not really care about it, focusing only on him.
"Hello again," he greeted it, trying to be friendly. Kazuma wondered why he was talking to a hallucination, but shrugged and got on his electric bike. Just as expected, it stood up and ran off, fading into the snowfall. Fifteen minutes later he arrived at the clinic and signed in, and within moments a man dressed in a yellow shirt and brown khakis called for him.
The room he entered had walls that looked as though they had recently been given a fresh coat of white paint. A long chair stood near a brown, large desk. The room's lighting came from three blue light bulbs that hung from the smooth ceiling. Somthing purple was burning in a bowl on the desk, filling the room with a vaguely familiar scent that, combined with the lighting, encouraged him to relax. A small clock ticked on the desk, its dial set at what looked to be seven minutes.
"Have a seat, Mr. Ridge," the shrink said amicably. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Thanks for being available... and at such a late time, at that. 8 p.m. is late, to be sure, but I just had to get this thing off my chest..." He took off his coat and placed it on the hanger.
"Not your coat, I'm sure," he joked. Kazuma chuckled as he sat on the cushion.
"Uh, I never really got your name..."
"Don't worry. Just call me Quinn, that's my first name you know."
"Quinn it is, then. Again, thank you." The shrink grabbed a clipboard and pen. He sat in a nearby chair and put on a pair of glasses.
"Right then, Kazuma. Look only at the ceiling and take a deep breath." He took off his coat and sat on the long chair. He nearly gagged from the strong smell pervading the air, but managed to hold himself together. The shrink offered him a bottle of cold water. "It's just lavender incense, don't worry. I heard it has a calming effect."
"So that's what that smell was..." he muttered as he drank. He quickly downed the water and thanked him again. Satisfied, he cleared his throat and lied down.
"I do what I can to make my visitors comfortable. Now then... close your eyes." Kazuma lied back and closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he relaxed. The smell of the room was the same as that of the creature, now that he thought about it. "Imagine, if you will, that there is a blank canvass before you. The only way you can draw on it is if you talk about your current issue. Describe what is going on to create this... world that is troubling you." Immediately Kazuma saw the creature again, standing on four legs this time. Just like before, it seemed to be keeping its distance, watching him with those gentle eyes. "Now, what do you see?"
"I... see a creature I've never seen before... until today, that is. It looks so unusual, but strangely beautiful."
"Hmm... Would you mind describing its appearance?" The shrink's tone had become increasingly softer, though he knew it was just part of the job. People like that had to deal with all sorts of scenarios, and Kazuma was sure his was just a usual case of the strange and unusual. He thought back to what happened earlier, noticing that his memory about the creature seemed clearer than before.
"Okay, so its head resembles that of a deer's and a dragon's put together, if that makes any sense. It has two short, red antlers that curve upward. It has some gray-ish fur on its head that goes down its back, and um... most of its body is covered in blue fur. I think that's all the colors it has." Quinn wrote notes on his clipboard as the man spoke.
"Blue fur, red antlers, a silver tuft of fur... That is odd. Can you tell me anything else?"
"Its tail is covered in purple scales... not sure what kind of purple..."
"Royal, perhaps?"
"Probably. Near the end of the tail there's this red ball, and the tip of the tail itself has silver fur. Oh, and I don't know anything about... uh, pardon me, down there." Quinn jotted down some more notes.
"I believe... I think I might actually know what creature this is. Sounds like a kirin, but I don't know for sure. If you could just give me some more information..." He wrote down some more notes before speaking again. "How about interactions? Can you recall your interactions with it?"
"It showed up after this really weird dream I had. I ended up in someone else's house somehow. I was tied to a chair and a cloth had been shoved into my mouth, keeping me from speaking. A woman in a yellow robe came in and injected some purple liquid into my arm. I blacked out after that and woke up in a different room than my bedroom."
"Purple liquid, you say? Is it possible you were poisoned a while back?"
"Well my family and I went through some food poisoning recently thanks to a waitress being a real jerk to us for some reason. Anyways, when I came to, I found it lying on my chest. Before I could say anything, it left in a hurry, and with a flash of light, I found myself in my room again. I wonder if it was protecting me from something, based on where I met it."
Quinn scribbled onto his clipboard once more. "A strange dream, to be sure..."
"But what?" He interrupted hastily. "Do you know something about it?" Realizing he interrupted him, Kazuma quickly apologized.
Quinn chuckled. "Well, it sounds like you fit the information I know about it. It is indeed a kirin, and it's a mythological creature said to only appear when either the world is at peace or a sage appears." Kazuma couldn't help but roll his eyes as the shrink clicked his pen repeatedly.
"A kirin, huh? The world's far from peaceful and probably never will be 'cause people here can't stand the concept of getting along and working together. As far as I know, I'm nowhere near sagely. There's lots of other people smarter or wiser than me, and they may even be in worse or better conditions." This time Quinn put his clipboard and pen down.
"Don't sell yourself short. Even if that's true--
"And it is... sorry again."
"Exceptions exist for just about everything," he continued. "I doubt you were hallucinating if you were physically affected by it." The shrink stirred the contents of the bowl with a small stick. "Pardon my bluntness, but my insight tells me this could be a part of you trying to resolve a deep-rooted inferiority complex. This is a creature that appears when great people come and go. Seems to me like you should stick to a higher opinion of yourself."
"I guess..." Kazuma gave the man a skeptical look, unsure if he should believe him. The man stared back, adamant in his words. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted a tuft of blue fur sticking out of Quinn's shirt. He blinked several times and saw a handkerchief in place of fur, leaving him wondering if the fumes were getting to him. Kazuma shook his head and decided this visit had to end before he started seeing more things. He stood up and grabbed his coat.
"I think I'm seeing things. Thanks for being here Quinn. Still, what does this... kirin mean? Am I in for some pain?"
"As far as I know they're gentle and peaceful beasts unless slighted. I know you're not the type of person to pick fights. I doubt you--" Suddenly the clock rang, making Kazuma jump. It was in the moment Kazuma turned around when Quinn grabbed the bowl and flicked its dusty, heated contents at the startled man.
"What the?" he coughed out, collapsing to his knees. Quinn merely smiled.
"Got the timing exactly right again," he said confidently. Kazuma stared at him in confusion and anger.
"W--" He could barely get his word out before he broke out into a coughing fit. "What did you... what did you do to me?"
He noticed that Quinn's brief confidence disappeared as he watched the convulsing man. "I'm taking you away from this world. It's a shame I will not be able to save all of you, but I plan to do what I can." Suddenly Kazuma felt a sharp tingling in his feet. The moment his shoelaces were loosened, the shoes popped off, taking his socks with them. To his shock he saw black hooves where his feet used to be. His jeans eventually gave way to thicker, more powerful legs that were coated in blue fur.
"What the heck is happening to me?!" It was a rhetorical question; of course he knew what was happening to him, if the countless stories he read and shows he watched were any indication. Kazuma had fallen into a common scenario, a trap made by some vengeful or mischievous magician disguised as an ordinary person. The off-season clothing should have made him more suspicious, but he had imagined it was a way to redirect stress. He groaned as he felt something in his back shift, and when he looked back, he saw that a thick, purple-scaled tail had sprouted from his backside, its spines tearing through his jeans with little resistance. He barely managed to catch himself before he hit the ground.
"I apologize for the discomfort you are going through," Quinn said, prompting him to look up. To his surprise, the man seemed genuinely unhappy about this. Even as Kazuma's body expanded in both weight, height, and power, there was not a trace of glee to be found on the wizard's face. He didn't seem as proud of his handiwork as the transforming human expected.
"Why aren't you happy about this?" he asked him, somehow shrugging off the pain of his head reshaping itself. A pair of sharp, yellow antlers sprouted from the top of his head as he grew larger. His hands gave way to a pair of hooves while his arms and legs widened to support his new, heavier frame.
"I dislike seeing people in pain. Unfortunately I have no way of giving people their peace without compromising something in return," he explained. Kazuma ran his tongue along his teeth, noticing they felt a lot stronger than before, with a few of them gaining an unusual sharpness. He lied down and stared at his new body when Quinn pulled out a mirror.
"Amazing," he breathed, thankful that the transformation was swift. His voice was still a soft one, perhaps slightly softer than he remembered. Kazuma looked exactly like the creature, down to his eyes gaining the same color. He found that he was not at all upset about the change. In fact, compared to the rather somber wizard, who he now towered over, he was happy. "Why me, though? I'm nothing special."
"Oh, but you are. You are a rare kind of person, if your new form is to be believed. You have nearly no faith in your abilities. I imagine that you restrained yourself out of fear of being outed by others."
"...It's true. Making my point has never been my strong suit... but you get me." He swished his tail, not too surprised at how easily he was able to control it. "So... why did I turn into a kirin?"
"Actually, I don't know. I suppose that is the animal you are closely connected to on the inside." He stepped forward and tapped the orb on Kazuma's tail. The new kirin watched as a spark danced inside the orb. "Perhaps what you need is a fresh start with new experiences. You may return to your life here at any time, should you want to continue it, of course. I left something in your new home. You should have a look."
Kazuma closed his eyes. "I think I'll take up your offer, as long as I can eventually resume my life in this world. I still have to finish it." When he opened his eyes he found himself standing in the home he had previously seen in his dream, only this time there was a grey book on the bed. It lacked a title and design on its cover. The moment he touched it, he found himself standing on two legs again.
"Whoa," he breathed. "A spell book, huh?" Said book's color changed to a purple one and gained an emblem that resembled two pairs of crescent moons crossed over each other. Between them lied a small, yellow sphere that reminded him of the sun. He picked up the book and smiled. "One custom-made for me, at that? This should be interesting." He sat on the bed and began browsing the pages. "I wonder who else that man will rescue. Maybe I can help him one day."
Interesting story, though.
Thank you.
Ex:
The rock was lying in the middle of the road.
The rock lay in the middle of the field like a grey sentinel.
She lied to me about where she had laid her head last night.
He is going to lie to his boss in order to lay the ground work for getting a new job.