I still have a fondness for this one, not just because the commissioner became one of my closest friends, but because I think I really nailed the final taur form. It's an image I'm still trying to top to this day.
Yuriko's smile was a combination of relief and anticipation. She slowly
ran her fingers along the polished gold of the collar, noticing a
brilliant gleam of sunshine on the cat's eye embossed into the metal.
The day she had spent in that horrid cesspool of a town felt like a
month. Its denizens, driven to paranoia by their conservative ways,
would have lynched her on the spot had she not disguised herself. Now,
finally, she was more than ready to shed her human form and again become
the powerful feline she truly was.
Snapping the collar around her neck, Yuriko immediately felt a warmth spread over her. Her fists clenched as the collar released her from her human shackles, endowing her with the fur, muscles and claws she had deeply missed. A tail sprung from her back, thickening into a wide spotted tuft. Her clothes--illusions also--morphed from spun cotton to rich black leather.
Yuriko felt mass building on her chest like sand pouring into pouches. In a rush of heat, six proud breasts emerged from her bodysuit. With increasingly sensitive ears, she heard the tightening of her leather bodysuit as it was stretched to its limit. Hair erupted from her scalp, growing inch by inch, her trademark shock of red hair appearing down the middle as her locks grew thicker. Yuriko enjoyed the mildly ticklish sensation as her hair was bound tightly together by a golden band.
Yuriko surveyed her form with immense satisfaction. She was back. And yet, as she was about to continue on her way home, she realized she could still feel the warmth of the transformation. Her magically-tuned senses began telling her that something was amiss.
The heat intensified once more as Yuriko's body was suddenly wrenched upward. Her legs grew bulkier, becoming much more feline in appearance. Across her body, her muscles pounded with energy, thickening to become even stronger than they already were. Yuriko could feel the power ripple across her ever-growing form.
Yuriko's alterations weren't limited to her legs and muscles, however. Her torso elongated, building new assemblages of bone and flesh. It began with two little nubs at her waist, forming quickly into feline paws. Yuriko stared aghast at this mutation. Had the collar been damaged in some way? Was the spell itself faulty? She had little time to ponder the reasons as her new appendages grew in size and weight. She could no longer stand upward and her spine itself cracked backward, demarcating the point between her humanoid upper body and her new four-legged feline structure.
The giant feline-taur growled in frustration at the defilement of her form. She had so longed to return to normal, and her wish was both granted and taken away in the same exact moment. She clawed through her mind, honing her magical instincts to seek out the reason for this atrocity. At last, she detected a thread of foreign magic still lingering from the transformation. Following its trail, Yuriko became aware of a latent aura surrounding her. In fact, the entire garden in which she sought seclusion was stepped in magical energy. Harmless under normal circumstances, it must have been awakened by Yuriko's activation of her collar, fueling her transformation to the point of overflowing. If the energy hadn't manifested itself by increasing her form, Yuriko would surely have been torn apart from magical feedback.
Although she now realized the truth behind her situation, Yuriko still found herself reacting to it with strong emotions of anger and annoyance. Her four paws clawed large chunks of dirt up from the ground as she tensed nearly every muscle in her body. Throwing back her wild red-and-black hair, she cursed through clenched teeth. She was fortunate to still be alive, and quite happy to be rid of her human disguise, but no pleasant thought could bring her peace. The abundant energies of her transformation cranked up her emotions, and she was fighting a losing battle to keep them under control.
She bounded homeward on her strong but swift legs, taxing herself to the limit...a limit that proved almost impossible to reach. Faster and faster, across hills and forests, Yuriko felt an unstoppable excitement growing with every leap and bound. The raw power she possessed seemed infinite. Her paws devoured the terrain, reducing an overnight journey to an afternoon romp, after which she would arrive at home and find a way to dispel the extra magic and regain her true form permanently. Until that time, though, she decided she may as well enjoy herself. As night began to fall, her keen eyes spotted the glimmer of lights from her hometown. She continued on, reaching impossible speeds as she craned her neck to the early evening stars in a wild roar of anxious joy.
Next in series: Delilah
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