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"The Creeps of Corvus Cove"

by Wolfhound Baxton

It took me the longest time before I decided I should write this all down. It was not an easy decision to come to. There are those who wouldn't want you to know these things. I know that certain ones who have read this are probably already busy tracking me down to end my life. It is not the way of our kind to make ourselves known, for the world wouldn't understand us. For this reason, we are compelled to keep silent, but I can hold this in no longer. I can't go on living a lie as I have been, only opening myself up to those few others who are like me. And so, I hope that you, dear reader, will at least understand, as horrifying as you may find me and what I have become to be.

My father was a professor of philosophy at Markham University. He had an extensive library and I was a curious and smart little fox. My father encouraged me to read and develop knowledge of the world from a very young age. Despite this, there was a little room off to the side of his library which he always kept locked and forbade me to ever enter. One evening I had my little fox nose buried in a large map, as was often my way, sprawled out on the rug on my stomach with my bushy fox tail swishing behind me. My dad was away teaching a night class that night. I looked up and saw the door to the forbidden chamber open.

My little fox whiskers gave a twitch as I stood up from the floor, my map curling up as I let it go. I quickly trotted over to the door to the corridor and peeked out to make sure nobody was looking. I was excited as I'd always wondered what was hidden in that room and what my father had done in there so late on so many nights. I pressed the door open ever so slowly with my little black paws, sniffing the air as I stuck my muzzle inside. It smelled old and musky like rotting paper.

Inside was a small and simple room. There was one desk with a light hanging down from the ceiling over top of it. On one side of this small room there were several stacks of newspapers which went over halfway up to the ceiling. On the other side was a shelf holding what looked like very old books. I didn't dare touch those as my father had always stressed to me the value of such things, and I wasn't supposed to be in here anyway. I took at the top newspaper on the shortest stack, but was careful not to move it. Some stories about missing persons were highlighted and circled. Then I turned on the light over the desk and noticed that a very strange and very old book, which looked like a medieval manuscript, was open on the table. It was written in a strange script and was accompanied by pictures of horrid things - slimy green creatures with long tentacles. There was a notebook next to it where my father had been taking notes on the book and was also copying some of the illustrations. The whole thing just gave me the creeps, so I left, being careful to leave the door as I had found it. I never went back into that room again.

I put these events behind me and just went on with my life. I continued to bury myself in books, ever soaking up knowledge of science and history. Though I got good grades, I was never a popular kid in school. I didn't relate to my peers very well or have much in common with them. When at home, while not busy with homework or with a book I was often out behind the house playing around in the small wood with a stream going through it, throwing sticks around and pretending I was a great explorer or a knight of one of the kingdoms of old.

After graduating high school, I was accepted into the University of Westport. As you probably know, this town has quite a reputation for unseemly conduct and I was a bit of a shy fox. As you can imagine, I was rather lonely. I had not had enough good friends in my life to count on a single hand, let alone a girlfriend. By the time I was in college I had also needed glasses, which made me feel like even more of a nerdish type.

And so it was that, one day, a few weeks into my first semester, I walked into my literature class. There were two males, a wolf and a cougar, across the room from me that always seemed to be very good friends, always having some conversation with each other when they could. They both wore green hoodies with what looked like black frat letters on them, but I hadn't seen that particular arrangement of letters anywhere on campus before. Sometimes when the professor was lecturing though I felt their eyes upon me, looking me over. Every time I tried to look over to see what they were doing, they'd turn away and pretend to not be looking or doing something else. This made me a bit annoyed and slightly nervous but I'd just twitch my fox whiskers and adjust my glasses on my muzzle and go back into my notes.

One day after class, as I left the room and was walking down the hall I felt someone grab my backpack and pull me over to the side into a small indented area in the hall which contained the water fountain and elevator. I yipped and squirmed a little in surprised and then turned around to see the cougar looking me in the eye and giving a lick of his barbed tongue across his feline lips.

"Well look what we have here," sneered the cat. "Looks like I caught me a foxie."

I felt the strong paw of the wolf on my shoulder as well as I looked up at the cougar, who was significantly taller than I was. "Look, what do you want? Just let me go okay? I mind my own business and you mind yours."

The wolf's paw turned me around a bit so I could look at him now as he also looked at me and spoke. "Don't worry, fox. You see, Sancho and I here are part of very special group, and we think you've got what it takes to be part of that too."

I looked up at the wolf and pointed to my chest rather shyly. "Me?"

"Yes, you, shrimp." The wolf handed me a piece of paper with an address and a time scrawled on it. "Be here, Friday night, Eight o'clock. And don't be late... and you'd better show up, cause otherwise, you're gonna be missing out."

I shifted around a little and flashed up a sheepish smile at the wolf. "Will there be girls?," I asked, rather awkwardly.

"Oh sure, suuure," said the Cougar. "Lots and lots of girls, and real hot ones too. Our crew is real popular with the bunnies."

"Maybe if you impress us, we'll introduce you to one. How about that fox?," continued the wolf.

"I smiled a little bit again as my tail started swaying slightly and I looked up at these two guys. Something about them appealed to me even though I was thinking about the girls. They just had a way of putting me at ease and making me feel I had to obey what they said, though I didn't know what it was at the time.

"That's right kid," said the wolf. You just show up, stick with us, and do what we tell ya, and everything will be ok. Got it? Good. Now head along and we'll see you Friday night."

The wolf gave me a pat on the back as I went back along my way.

That afternoon after all my classes I went back to my dorm and flopped my backpack down on the bed. I couldn't help but think of how much those two had creeped me out when they were watching me in class before they spoke to me. Still, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to really get involved in something on campus, especially something that promised to get me acquainted with girls. After I ate dinner that evening I went to the computer and booted it up, pulling the paper with the address on it from my pocket. I opened up my browser and went to the search engine for a map search on the address. I was a bit surprised. It turned out that the address was not for anywhere on or near campus or even in the city of Westport at all. The address led to what looked like an abandoned mansion on a cliff's edge on a hill above a small town just down the coast from Westport, called Corvus Cove.

Curious, I did a search on Corvus Cove as well. Aside from the location and the usual statistics on the town - population and all that, I found a very strange history. Seems that the town was once doing rather well and had an economy based on the fishing industry. Something had happened though about twenty years ago that ruined the town. There was a fire and some kind of disturbance that the article didn't go into detail about, except to say that the Army had to be called in to deal with the situation, so it must have been rather bad. Also, the town's population dramatically decreased after this incident and then at a slow and steady rate after that. I went back to the map search and look at the street level view of the old mansion. The building didn't look all that stable and there appeared to be some burn marks around the side. I looked down to the address on the paper and back up to the address on the screen to make sure I had it right. Indeed, I did. I was a bit nervous now. Grabbing my bushy tail in both of my black paws and giving it a squeeze, I felt that I probably wasn't going to get much sleep for the next couple of nights.

The next day I looked up the bus schedule to figure out when and where I would have to be to get to Corvus Cove by Friday at eight. Thankfully I didn't have any classes to interfere and would be able to return to campus the next morning. The bus arrived at the Corvus Cove stop and let me off at about 7:00 PM. I looked around and the first thing that struck me was how quiet the town was, though this silence was briefly interrupted by the sound of bells chiming the hour. After that, there was no sound but the wind and that of the debris it kicked up and blew down the street. As I walked from the bus stop across the empty street to the opposite side I noticed most of the buildings appeared to have been boarded up and abandoned for many years.

Turning the corner I saw a strange figure covered in a shaggy black garment rummaging through a shopping cart full of miscellaneous items, making frustrated noises. From the sound of the voice and the overall appearance of the body I could tell that this was an older woman. She was mumbling something to herself which I couldn't quite understand. I decided I would speak to her and ask if she could help me find the place. After all, she appeared to be the only other living thing in this town besides myself, at least that I could readily see.

"Excuse me Ma'am," I piped up politely in my shy little fox voice. "But do you think you can point me in the direction of umm..." I looked back down at my printed out map and then back up. "322 Hawthorne Hill?"

The older lady stopped rummaging through her cart and then grabbed for her cane, which hung by its crooked handle off the edge of the cart with her shaky paw. She turned around and scowled at me. She was a badger with unkempt fur and a very worn and old face, covered with moles and other marks. She was very short and shaky and by the look of her jaw she seemed to be missing her teeth. She wore a very worn out and faded old fashioned outfit with a long skirt and a black shawl.

"Oh!" She said, as if she were very surprised to see another person at all. "What are you doing here!?"

"I go to school in Westport. I just came to town to see a couple of friends who invited me to their place tonight."

She huffed and snorted and then looked up and down at me. "You don't know what you're getting into, boy!" She yelled at me as she pointed a spiny finger at my chest. "You'll be sorry you ever came here. Oughtta just up and leave right now. Get out!" She shambled back over behind her shopping cart and hung her cane off of it with some uncomfortable grunting noises. She then started pushing her cart forward. She appeared to be in quite a hurry to get away, but still moved slow due to her age.

I ran after her a bit and tried to get her to get her to tell me what was going on and why she was so upset. She ignored me for a few seconds before huffing and then turning to me and screaming in my face. "Stay away! Stay away from me!" She then took off with her buggy, huffing with great effort as she moved as fast as her old aching body would safely take her.

Now this had put me off a bit and I felt a bit more uncomfortable now. I wrung my little fox paws a bit as I watched her disappear around the corner of a building. I looked around, not knowing how I would find the place I was supposed to. I saw the golden sun hanging low in the west over the sea and knew it would be dark soon. I thought to myself that I had better find the old mansion quickly. I didn't like the thought of being alone in this place after dark.

It was then that I remembered the mansion as seen on the map search. It was on a hill above the town. I looked around and saw a hill above the town with the mansion on top of it. It didn't look like it would take that far to get to as it was just outside of the town. Trotting quickly on my fox fox feet, I followed one of the streets in that direction and hoped I would get there before the sun made it all the way down over the horizon.

The red sun began to dip down below the horizon as I passed the outlying buildings of the town, my ears twitching and rotating, keeping alert for the slightest off noise. I kept thinking I heard strange things slinking or creeping off somewhere behind the rocks or the buildings. I looked up the winding road that went up the hill to the mansion. It was still quite a ways up and the stars were beginning to appear in the dark blue sky above it. Darkness finally had nearly taken full hold by the time I reached the wooden porch of the mansion.

I timidly began to climb up the steps of the imposing structure. It looked like something out of a creepy movie or TV show. There was an eerie blue flickering glow showing through the curtains of the windows. The wooden boards of the porch creaked as I walked across it and finally came to the door. It had an old fashioned ornate copper knocker on it in the shape of an ornate but fierce-looking lizard's head. The knocker itself appeared as an oversized septum piercing looping down from the lizard's nostrils. I lowered my ears to my skull a bit nervously and took hold of the knocker with my paw and gave it three good knocks against the door.

I lowered my head some and picked my paws up a bit nervously, twitching my nose and ears as I heard the door being unlocked. It sounded as if there were more than one lock and maybe a couple bolts, as if security as something very important to whoever was inhabiting this place.

The door finally opened with a creak and I saw the wolf there who I had met in school the other day. He was wearing the same frat-like hoodie that he and the cougar wore to class. He was very handsome and I couldn't stop looking at him, even though I tried to tell myself I ought to be thinking about the girls he was going to be introducing me to. He grinned down at me a little but then gave me a light snarl. He knew just how to control my by his manner and appearance, appealing both to my subconscious attraction to him as well as my nervousness and latent fears.

"You're late," said the wolf with a scowl. "You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago."

"Ah... well I'm sorry you see um... I had a hard time finding the place. Got into town on the bus. I don't have a car in town, you know, and it took me a while to get up here."

The wolf raised one of his eyebrows curiously, as if a bit worried about something. "You were down in the town? You didn't see anything odd I hope.. er, I mean. I hope you didn't have too much trouble getting up here."

I looked around a bit before stepping inside the house. "Ah... I don't remember if I ever caught your name." I twitched my ears about. The house was very quiet. Nothing at all like the wild college party I was expecting.

The wolf grinned and then held up his fist to his now puffed out chest as he stood up proudly. "Me? I'm Stone. That's what you call me."

"Ahh," I replied as I walked through the rather dark entry hall and looked around a bit. Curiously I peered up the dark stairway and sniffed the air. Finally my eyes darted to the living room to the left where I could see the cougar sitting on the couch in a very cool, relaxed pose, apparently snacking on something out of a bucket. My nose twitched as it caught a whiff of a strange and unfamiliar scent from that direction. I turned back to the wolf.

"Um, if I'm late then where is everybody."

"Oh, heh... well the thing is, you see, everyone else doesn't come until later. But we've got some special things we've got to to do with you first."

I lowered my ears and gave a nervous yip, putting my paws up like a pup and backed away a step. I had heard of frat hazings before and I was very uneasy at the prospect of going through one, but at the same time I never thought that someone like me would ever be given the opportunity to join such an organization. I gathered myself and then shyly walked into the living room. To my left was the couch the cougar was lounging on. In the middle, directly in front of the television, about twenty feet from it was a brown leather easy chair. A table sat between that chair and another easy chair next to the wall.

"Hey there fox," the cougar said as he stood up with a smile on his big feline face, looking down at me with deep green eyes as his fuzzy paw reached for and grasped my shoulder. "You've been keeping us waiting.

Stone walked back into the room and stood beside the cougar, both of the other furs towering over me. I was rather short and we foxes never grew that tall anyhow. I heard a the door opened and turned quickly to look back at the door in the entry hall and saw an older male canine with grayed fur. He appeared to be in his early fifties but still in decent shape. He shut the door and fiddles with the lock a bit.

"Home a bit early tonight, eh?," said the wolf.

"Yes," responded the older canine. "I think we've gotten everything squared away and ready. You boys have fun tonight, ok?

The wolf and the cougar grinned back at the older canine, their paws in the pouches of their hoodies.

"Sure will," responded the wolf.

The older male then walked up the stairs and disappeared.

I felt a paw grab my shoulder and squeeze down roughly.

"It's time, fox-boy," said the wolf with an evil grin. "You're never gonna be the same after this."

"I struggled in the wolf's grip and gave a yip and a whimper. "Hey! Let me go!" I could see the grinning cat getting up from the couch and walking over towards me also. I finally managed to wrest myself free of the wolf's grasp and rushed for the door. When I got there I grabbed and pulled at it but found it would not open. It had been locked from the inside. I looked behind me and saw the cougar and wolf coming at me again. They had already pulled their hoodies and t shirts off, showing their well-toned young torsos. The cougar's paw grabbed me and pulled me back from the door as I clawed for it, then kind of slumped and resigned to the fact that I had no escape here. "Please. Let me go! I'm sorry, whatever please I'll do anything for you guys."

The wolf walked over in front of me as the cougar held me to his body and down with his powerful paws. "Oh yes, you'll do anything for us right, won't you foxie?" He pawed at the growing bulge under his jeans as my eyes went down to it and I began to understand his meaning.

"Oh... no, that's not necessarily what I meant. I just mmph!" My eyes went wide as something warm and thick entered my muzzle silencing me. I could feel the cougar's paw on my head now and I couldn't turn it. I was also paralyzed with fear. Something on the thing which had stuffed my muzzle seemed to be sending little jolts through my body which kept me still though scared. My eyes turned down to my muzzle and I tried to see what the thing was. It was green and slimy and I could feel it moving around inside me. It was tough and didn't at all seem affected by my teeth and was strong enough to force my jaws open, yet felt soft and squishy in my mouth. It was covered by a strange goo that, while a bit odd was somehow pleasant to the taste. I couldn't exactly see where this tentacle or whatever it was was coming from.

The wolf looked directly into my eyes and smiled. I was transfixed. It was as if his eyes had a hypnotic effect on me. "That's it fox," said the wolf. "Look directly at me and relax, and everything will be ok. You like this don't you? Now take a deep breath, then suck it. You know you want to... it tastes good. Swallow it and let it go deep inside you. You'll see.

I nodded a bit and did as I was told. I sucked on the tentacle that was stuffing my muzzle and swallowed the juices it was excreting. It tasted somewhat sugary and fruity, like an apple pie.

The wolf reached down for his jeans now and undid the top button, beginning to unzip his pants and then drop him, then sliding down his boxers as well, revealing his white-furred sheath and balls.

My eyes fixated on them and after a moment I was amazed at what I saw. The hair began to retreat into the sheath and sac as the skin pulled back from the sheath and one of those green slimy tentacles like what was now stuffed in my muzzle emerged from it. I squirmed a little and blinked. I contemplated trying to run for a moment but then the wolf's growing tentacle lashed out like a snake and wrapped itself around my arms, then squeezed holding me tight. It pulled me forward as he tentacle in my muzzle slipped out. I looked behind me for a moment to see the naked cougar with a similar long tentacle-like appendage and knew then what must have been in my muzzle. The cougar's arms then began to transform into tentacles as well and both of them reached out and grabbed my legs, pulling me up so that now both of these creatures held me horizontally.

"Like we said, boy... we think you have what it takes to be part of something big, and we're going to make sure that it happens." The wolf's arms began to transform now, slowly. It began with his handpaws and then moved up his arms until they had both transformed into long, shiny dark green tentacles. The tentacle around my arms and torso loosened up a bit to make some room as the other two slipped their narrow ends into the collar of my shirt and went down my body, feeling all over it before ripping out the shirt and then pulling the bits of it out, as the third tentacle wrapped around me helped shuffle the shredded material out and to the floor before tightening its grip on my arms once again. The wolf's two arm-tentacles reached down now and held my legs while the cougar's pulled off my shoes and then they began to tear off my pants I was speechless and scared, not really knowing what was going on... I thought about trying to scream or say something and my mouth opened up, but only to find itself stuffed by the slimy tip of the tentacle which the wolf had wrapped around me.

"Suck it and swallow it good, fox," Said the wolf, his voice sounding somewhat distorted and changed now. "I promise you'll like it.. won't you?"

I sucked on it as I had for the cougar, tasting the sweet liquid in my muzzle again and swallowing. It tasted similar to the cougar's, sweet and fruit-like, though not quite exactly the same. The arm-tentacles of the wolf then grabbed my tail and pulled it back as they curled around me and the tentacle coming from his crotch slipped further into my muzzle, forcing it open. The cougar's tentacle then wedged its way up under my fox tail and against my tight hole, poking around at it a bit before pushing itself in. I whimpered muffled around the wolf's tentacle in my muzzle and closed my eyes. Suddenly it came to me. The empty town, the incident from twenty years ago, and the frightened old woman. These creatures were not furs like us. Something horrible had happened and these things were behind it. Then my mind flashed back to my youth and I remembered the drawings of the tentacles in my father's manuscript in the forbidden room, and knew what they must be now. My body had given way to this violation and my mind surrendered. I turned my eyes up to the wolf now and saw his face and head and upper body transforming into something green and hideous. A single large, dish-sized eye and an o-shaped mouth surrounded by tiny moving feelers. I yelped muffled and closed my eyes again, trying to forget it, but I couldn't. The taste in my muzzle was sweet and pleasant and it seemed to come more freely and reward me whenever I resisted. In spite of my circumstances it gave me a surreal comforting feeling in my muzzle and in my belly. It made me feel so warm inside. Even the pain in my tailhole from the tentacle of what had once appeared to be a handsome young cougar was beginning to subside as it instead filled me with a warm comforting sensation.

My body relaxed completely. My muzzle, tail and arms began to tingle in the grasp of these tentacles and I felt as if some kind of change was coming over me. My worst fears had been that these creatures planned to eat me or put me to some more fatal use. Instead I had an overwhelming feeling as if everything would be alright. I sighed softly as I felt another tentacle rub softly over my head and then continued sucking the juices of the one in my muzzle. I then felt another one rub softly over my fox sheath. I opened my eyes and looked up at the creature in front of me again. It didn't seem so horrible anymore. A bit strange perhaps, but it seemed uncannily familiar now as well. I squirmed a little in the grasp of the tentacles and suckled harder, becoming more and more relaxed as the tentacles also petted me and rubbed over my sheath. Finally my eyes closed and I drifted off in this relaxed state, opening my eyes again later to find myself in front of the TV on the leather easy chair. I looked over and saw the wolf and the cougar lounging on the couch, both of them looking at me with knowing smiles. I looked down at myself and found myself fully dressed, though I was now wearing one of their green frat hoodies.

I blinked and then looked around. "I... I must have had a very strange dream," I said.

They both just smiled at me and shook their heads. "No. It's all very real. You've been asleep for a few hours," said the wolf, handing me a white bucket.

I sniffed at the bucket. It smelled kind of like fish but also smelled very good, very tasty. It wasn't quite like anything I'd ever smelled before.

"Well, eat up." said the cougar, as he and the wolf both looked me over. "Enjoy your first meal as your new self."

I opened the bucket and looked inside. It was filled up a bit of a ways with water and also filled with these small green sharks about six inches long. I instinctively wrinkled my nose and then looked over and saw the wolf opening his muzzle and holding one of the sharks over it by the tail before dropping it in and then swallowing it headfirst, licking his lips and rubbing his stomach. "Delicious."

"I sniffed in the bucket a little and let out a bit of a whimper. "What is this?"

"Odiatus shark," replied the cougar, using his fangs to rip off the head of one he held in his paws and then swallowing it.

"Make sure you eat it headfirst," added the wolf. "It's kind of rough in the other direction."

I watched him for a moment and saw how the wolf downed another one and then reached into my bucket and grabbed the tail of one of the sharks and held it above my muzzle and dropped it in. My throat stretched out wide immediately as I gulped it directly down into my stomach. It tasted nice in my muzzle and the sensation of it going down my throat and filling my stomach, though different, felt very pleasant. I set my bucket back down on the floor and put its lid on it.

The wolf and cougar both snickered at me a little bit. "Not hungry hm? Well, why don't you turn on the TV and watch a bit?"

I reached over to the remote control on the table to the left of me and turned it on. There was some annoying late night infomercial on. I fiddled with the volume a little and noticed something strange. As I turned up the volume a bit the sound from the television was very different. It was more vibrant. The sound from the television sounded like water flowing in my ears and sent vibrations over my body which felt good. I looked over to the two on the couch who smiled back at me.

"Feels nice doesn't it?" said the wolf.

I nodded. "Yes it does."

"Get up," said the wolf. They both stood up and motioned me to follow them. "It's time for you to experience your new new body."

"My new body?" I said as I followed them out the back door of the mansion and into the backyard, next to the edge of the cliffs.

"Oh yes," said the wolf, as the cougar nodded next to him. He poked his finger at the frat letters on the chest of my hoodie. "You're one of us now, pup. Your life will never be the same again. You see, you have the blood in you. Yes, you're one of the ones whose blood is compatible with ours. Trying to put others through the change would kill them. See, you can see those who are compatible now. They'll have a red aura around them when you see them. We've been around for over a thousand years, but few know of our existence. We don't like to be open about it. When people find out, bad things happen. They tried to burn the town down once to get rid of us, but we've rebuilt. You see, everyone of us comes to this town. It's a special place of safety where you can be protected and with your brothers. But you can go anywhere in the world you want."

"How?," I asked, curiously, taking this all in.

"You need to transform into your true form, just like we did." The wolf took my paw in one hand and the cougar took my other paw. "And in that form you can swim swiftly across the seas. And you'll have plenty of little sharks and other fishies to eat along the way. Just relax and we'll show you."

And so they taught my how to transform into our true aquatic form. We took our clothes off and laid them on the grass and then the three of us stood there in a circle, holding paws. Our arms slowly became tentacles and then twirled around each other in a grip. Then our third tentacles emerged from our groin areas. Theirs rubbed against mine gently though mine was a bit shy, pulling back despite the overwhelmingly pleasant feeling of it being touched by theirs. Then our feet also transformed into tentacles and our bodies became smooth green surfaces with a bulbous head and a single eye. I saw the world so much differently now. I could see colors and objects I had never seen before. I felt silly for having been afraid and felt victimized before. Truly this was the greatest gift anyone could ever have bestowed on me, for I was so much more powerful now than I had ever been before and could sense so much more of the world than I ever had before.

"And so now you understand," said Stone, formerly the wolf, now transformed into his true form. "You are special and have been chosen to be one of us. It is a great gift. And you must give it to all others who can receive it. You see, this is why people fear us. Those who know us think we'll attack them and turn them, but they don't understand that we can only take those whose blood would receive us. It would kill anyone else, and we don't want to kill. We only wish to live in peace, but we've learned that secrecy is the only way. If those who had the blood only understood the magnificent gift we offered, they would embrace rather than fear us, as you now have. But it is our responsibility to see to it that all those of the blood are opened up to their full potential. For when you turn one of the blood into one of our brothers or sisters, it is then when joy unspeakable showers over your being, and inevitably once they have the gift, they understand and accept what has been done for them. Now you must go and find one of the blood to turn yourself and bring them back here to join our brotherhood"

And so, they took me down a special pathway down the side of the cliff and pressed their tentacles close up to mine in a pleasant and friendly gesture and then I turned to the sea and plunged in, submerging myself beneath the waves. With my new eye, I could see clearly under the sea despite the murk of the waters and the dark of the night. My feelers around my mouth twitched as I tried to take a sniff, and the smells permeating the waters flowed to me. I could sniffed out the direction I should go and instinctively opened me mouth, then pulling myself forward I shot through the water like a jet, going faster than I'd ever imagined possible as water entered my mouth and shot out behind me through small vents on the rear of my body, my tentacles flowing gracefully behind me. The waters flowed through me like air through the lungs of my fox form, sustaining me on my journey.

Many days later I found myself sitting in a mall on the opposite side of the ocean in my fox form. I pulled a bit at my baggy clothing as what I had been able to pick up after I landed was a bit large for me. After experiencing my true form, I had grown less comfortable with my old fox self than I was with my true form, but I needed to blend in with fur-kind. It was a bit more difficult to blend in as I had difficulty understanding the language of the people. Perhaps it would be better if I had stayed close to home, but I had gotten a bit carried away with the freedom of my true form and swam on for days and days, cavorting through the waters. No matter, I had been given a task by my new brothers and I would not leave without my mark. And so I sat here in this place, frequented by many people passing by constantly in search of the sign, and then, finally I saw it. A husky walked past me, surrounded by the red aura I had been told of. Silently I stood from my place and followed him out of the mall, onto the train and to his apartment. He was the first one I turned, and a pleasant experience. Though we could not understand each other verbally, I could tell when it was over that he understood the meaning of his new gift and appreciated it. After some demonstrations, I got him to transform into his true form and we set out to sea on our journey back to Corvus Cove.

And so, dear reader, I must now close my tale. Think of me what you will. If you think I'm a monster, I am not surprised as our people are so misunderstood and unreasonably feared when people find out our true nature. But I do hope that at least some of you might open your eyes and not fear those thing you do not understand simply because they are different. And for those of you whose blood stirs when you hear this tale, I ask you to seek out Corvus Cove and the house on the hill above the town. You will be glad you did, and you will finally find peace and hope in the arms of your brothers and sisters. But for those of you whose blood is not stirred by this tale, I beg you to forget our town and to live your lives as you normally would, as we wish only peaceful coexistence. May your journey grant you peace and success, and may you always have an open mind and a spirit of tolerance for those whose lives are just a bit different from yours.