This is a trade I did with Shadowfox014. I don't usually do stories, but you guys are all lucky enough to get 2 of 'em pretty close together!

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Travis peeked through the crack in the wardrobe. The dust swirled around him, causing his eyes to water and his lungs to burn, but he had to stay quiet. Everything was at risk here.
“Any in opposition?” The woman tapped the bottom of her lip repetitively as she glanced over her coven. There was silence, save the stifled groans of the young man tied in the magical bonds.
Travis could feel his breathing intensify, but he had to do his best to stay quiet. His friend, the one who was tied up, looked at the wardrobe with pleading in his eyes. Travis bit his lip as he watched the witch walk up to him, running a long fingernail along his cheek.
“It’s been decided. Raccoon is fitting for you. You’re nothing more than a sneaky thief, so that’s the fate you’re being resigned to.” The witch smiled as she reached into the air and pulled a wand out of nothing, as if picking out a hair from someone’s head, “Don’t worry. This doesn’t hurt… Just be grateful we’re not the kind of witches who do animal sacrifices! No, no. What kind of punishment is it if you’re dead?”
The friend, whose name was Luke, squirmed in his seat, knowing full well what was about to happen. The goat tied to the stair railing was an indication of that.
Pestimorti Procyonix Lotorotom!
The spell hit him on his barren chest, and Travis held back a cry of panic. He couldn’t help his friend, and now…
There was a blinding light, and Travis pulled his cadet cap over his eyes so he couldn’t see. There was no way he could watch this, at least, not again…
Groans, screams, and pleads could be heard, before they resorted to nothing more than the sounds and cries of a feral creature. The witches all began to laugh. Travis lifted his cap up, and with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes, saw his friend sitting on the floor, dazed, with nothing more than his Maui hook necklace around his furry neck signaling his former self. The lead witch, who had cast the curse on him, procured a cage with a flick of her wand, and with another swift motion, the new raccoon found himself in a cage, struggling to get out.
“Now that all the pests have been dealt with, we can continue our gathering. There is nothing worse than finding mere mortals that have invaded our sanctuary.”
Travis found himself sliding to the bottom of the confined space, holding his knees close to him. He fiddled with his necklace, rolling the Canadian coin in his finger, as he tried to keep his calm. He was trapped. His friends were animals. He had abandoned them…
“…of the era.” Travis looked back up, deciding it was in his best interest to listen to them, “Now, let’s go get those ingredients for the elixir, shall we? They can be found in the cabinets and cupboard in the back. I believe there are some stirring sticks tucked in the wardrobe there.”
Before he even knew it, the doors flew open in a sudden, unexpected movement.
The coven stopped and stared at him for a moment in silence, save for a stray bleat that came from his goat friend.
“One more pest, it seems.” The lead witch just looked at him, no expression worn on her face. Not even surprise.
Travis didn’t hesitate. He ran, pushing himself up and out of the wardrobe. He stumbled a bit, and crawled along the ground for a brief moment, before standing again and going into a full sprint.
Most of the witches stood there in shock before their leader snapped. “After him, you daft-“
Travis didn’t hear the rest. He was already down the stairs and making his way for the door.
He stopped.
“I can’t leave them. I can’t.” He muttered to himself and looked back. He could hear the witches coming, clumsily, down the stairs behind him. “But I need to hide.”
He opened the backdoor, but went beneath a table. Most of the witches fell for his ploy, but one lazy one stood back, in the doorway, looking out, watching the other confused witches scatter looking for him outside.
It was now or never. Silently, but quickly, he crept up and tiptoed to the stairs. His heart was racing. He wanted to run away, far away, but a part of him knew it wasn’t right. He had a duty to his friends. It was his idea to come here and they paid for it…
As he made his way to the top step, he glanced around the wall. The leader of the coven was still here, and probably watching his friends. He wished he had a plan, but between the adrenaline and the fear, none of his thoughts were coherent. Try as he might, nothing came to mind.
He slid into the hall, his back to the wall, as he looked in each direction. The other witches could come back any moment. He peeked into the room, and sure enough, the main witch was turned, her back facing away from the door, looking at his friends. Luke, the raccoon, saw him and chittered, and it caught the witches attention. She looked behind her just as Travis turned his head back.
Did she see him? He didn’t know. His breathing was erratic. All he wanted to do was sleep; maybe cry a little bit.
His question was answered as the wall he was leaning against began to waver, as if it had suddenly become an illusion. He fell backwards, through it, and into the room with his animal friends and the witch. He tried to stand and go back forward, but just hit the wall, which had turned solid again, head on.
Everything went dark.


When he came to, he was bound in magical chains to a chair, and wore nothing but his underwear and his necklace, much like his friends before him. He began to panic, and the witches were all in the room like before. They chuckled at him, and he felt a wave of embarrassment.
“Any more of you?” The coven leader looked at him sternly. She didn’t find any comedy in the situation, unlike her sisters. “If you’re honest, then I may just spare you.”
Travis wasn’t hesitant to shake his head no.
“Well, that’s good, but you see, I lied. If you’re the last one, you need to be dealt with.”
She flicked her wrist, wand in hand, and pointed it at him.
Avinia Arana Militarisino.
The spell hit him square in the chest and he couldn’t help but shake his head. It felt like a static charge had overcome him, and everything around him began to spin as his vision faded once more. It never cut out completely, just an overwhelming discomfort as he tried to fight the curse.
The witch ruffled his black hair a bit as she looked him in his brown eyes. “You’re rather flighty, it would seem, so what better fit for you than a bird? And you trying to take up arms; save your friends. You’re braver than you originally let on. While I could go with quite a few different species, such as a falcon or an eagle… None of them seemed right. I think macaw will do nicely. A military macaw.”
A bird!? Travis struggled with the thought. He didn’t know anything about birds. They had beaks, they flew, they- A sharp pain dulled his senses, and he began to groan. His face began to shift and adjust, his mouth and nose pushing out and hardening. The changes were beginning.
“His first thought was a beak. That’s quite interesting. Most think of their wings first. Or that vibrant plumage. But beaks are a great start. Let’s see how you look.”
She snapped, and a witch that was seated in the front stood and held a mirror up to him. He was himself, save for a large misplaced gray beak in the center of his face. He opened it in surprise and let out a squawk.
“Seems like he likes it! Let’s keep this show going!”
Travis began to lose feeling in his arms, and slowly, sharp pins began to protrude from his skin. Blue, yellow, and green feathers burst out, which were a vibrant contrast to his darker skin tone. The feathers grew quickly, enveloping his arms, shoulder, and neck. He looked at his hands, and his fingers merged together, becoming a long nub that stretched out. It only looked horrifying for a moment as more feathers grew, hiding what used to be his hands.
He felt even more discomfort as the small of his back was overcome with the same prickling sensations his arms had experienced. Long tail feathers began to grow out, pushing against the seat he was invisibly bound to. Having no choice, they bent upwards, and he found himself forced forward, bending down towards the ground.
“Now, see, I’d like to allow you to stand, because that looks very uncomfortable, but you would just run again. No, you’ll have to learn to deal with this until you’re done.”
The crowd let out a few stifled laughs. They enjoyed watching his struggles and his pains.
He could feel the next part of his changes beginning. The skin on his legs thickened, taking on the same grey coloration his beak had, as they lost mass and thinned out, losing all human qualities to them. As his feet began to shift, sharp talons replaced his toenails as his toes themselves spread out and grew longer. He could wiggle them, and they opened and closed, like a claw machine found in an arcade. The sensation felt all too natural, which only frightened him more.
Then a ringing hit his ears. Everything around him, all his senses, dulled, and he could feel his mind slipping. A bird? What was so horrible about being a bird? No- He couldn’t think about that!
He tried to fight through the mental changes. He wasn’t going to let go that easily. “Kaaaaaw-K-Chawwwwnge EEEEEeeeee BAAAAAWK!” He struggled to get the words out, but it only led to the witches, who were already amused by his plight, to laugh even louder.
“No, dear. We’re not going to do that.” Her response was swift, blunt, and disheartening.
Travis found himself sitting back in his seat in defeat. Those words were all it took for him to slip away into the mind of his new bird self. He had no more hope.
He looked up at the witch and squawked, but there was no fear in his voice. Just a newfound love for the witch that cared for him. His new master.
“Yes, darling. That’s it. Slip into your feral mind.” She held his chin and beak, his goatee fading away into nothing more than a distant memory as his face grew a spread of plumage.
“Who’s a pretty bird?” The witch kissed his beak. There was a pause, before Travis the macaw let out a squawk.
“Who’s a pretty bird? I’m a pretty bird! CRAAAW!”
“Yes, yes you are!”
“I’m a pretty bird?”
His chest barreled out, and the invisible binds loosened. The witch smiled as he stayed seated, just looking at her, and tilting his fully formed head.
“Yes, dear, that’s it. Now, come. Perch.” She held out her arm. Travis looked at it and spread out his new wings, ready to take flight. As he began to lift off, he shrank, leaving his only clothing behind him. He wasn’t going to need it.
“Yes dear! Yes dear!” He repeated back at her, and in a swift movement, he was on her arm, now a full macaw. He squawked in anticipation as the witch procured a small treat for him. He ate it swiftly, before she led him into a bird cage beside his friends. With a gentle hop, he landed in front of the cage mirror and began to preen himself.
“I’m a pretty bird!”
The raccoon looked at him, clearly mortified at the sudden change of behavior.
The witch looked at the raccoon, then at the goat, before looking at the macaw. “My new menagerie. I think I will sell you all as pets to nice homes. Yes, that will do nicely. And you, my dear.” She looked at the raccoon, “you still have your thoughts, don’t you?”
There was a panicked chitter.
“I can remedy that.”