Rescued and Roo’d Sydney tossed and turned as she lay in her bed, clenching and gripping

Rescued and Roo’d

Sydney tossed and turned as she lay in her bed, clenching and gripping at her blankets. Her entire body was covered in sweat and she moaned deeply as she tried to kick off the blankets covering her. The unconscious girl’s struggling form, illuminated by the sickly green glowing amulet at her neck, cast twisted shadows on the walls that coiled and writhed. The shadows stretched, looming shadows with curled fingers like the branches of an old tree. The shadowy shapes pressed closer against the girl, reaching toward the neon light that burned around her neck. The amulet drew them like moths to a fire, drew them closer until they could touch the girl, and pry free the amulet that kept them at bay.

Sydney, who up until this moment had felt feverishly hot, suddenly was overcome with a numbing cold. It felt like she had dipped her toes into an icy bath and even in her dimly aware state she could feel something amiss. As the shadowy forms crept closer and closer to the amulet they brushed over her skin, grazed against flesh, and tugged at her hair. As the creeping shadows touched her skin they left behind coarse black hair. Every inch of her body that was gripped by the otherworldly forced grew steadily more inhuman as the darkness twisted her shape.

The dark force yanked on her toes and pulled her feet, stretching them as fur sprouted upon them. Visions of wild beasts entered the girls mind as she continued to cream. Dark and viscous animals that stalked the edge of her vision in the mass of shadows that followed her. Some of the beasts seemed wild and monstrous, while others shrewd and wicked. Sydney tried to run from the nightmare, but no matter where she turned there was naught but biting shadows and strange creatures in the dark. One of the shapes broke free from the darkness and she was surprised to see that it was not another of the shadow beasts, but the massive form of a brown furred animal. Toned muscles, covered in fur, a long face, and a thick tail dragging on the floor behind it. It looked like a kangaroo, but far larger than any real animal. The great beast locked eyes with her and she begged for it to help her. She immediately felt the biting cold of the shadows lifted as the beast reached out and touched her.

The dark forces assaulting her prone body were burned by the blinding flash of the glowing amulet and they shrieked and howled as the recoiled back to the walls, then behind whatever objects could give them shelter. The room grew lighter and calmer as the darkness dissipated.

Sydney still lay in a state of half dream, unaware of her surroundings or her body. Every spot that the foul darkness had touched and corrupted had been purged of it’s taint. Her long scaly feet had turned into long furry paws, a whipish tail had thickened into a thick sturdy shade, the dense mass of tangled black hair had been replaced with a layer of brown fur. The spirit creature which had saved her had not done so without leaving it’s mark, and her form now bore resemblance to it’s shape of choosing, that of the kangaroo.

Sydney groaned as she stirred, her body heavy and weak. She felt like she had run a marathon and not slept in days. She must have been sleep deprived in truth, how else could she explain the wild nightmarish dreams that had haunted her the night before.

A heavy object brushed against her leg and she reached back and grabbed her tail, her thick kangaroo tail. Her eyes went wide and she felt her body over with her hands. She found soft brown fur covering large portions of her body. Strangely long feet ending in thick nails, her ears had grown in size and stuck out of her hair, even her nose was thicker and darker. Somehow Sydney knew this was the price she paid to be saved from whatever had assailed her in her dreams, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she would much rather be half kangaroo than one of those wild beasts from within the shadows…