(ART BY  ohViola)

This is a reboot of my old 'Darewoof' stories! those projects are old and were incredibly rushed so I'm rewriting them here, and putting the old ones in my 'scraps' folder.


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Chapter One: The Brave Volunteer

Zach had thought it was a little bit lame or on the nose how ‘Master Morpheo’ looked and dressed. He was an old man who wore a black suit with a purple button down shirt, a tophat, and newly shined shoes, and he carried a pocket watch with him. It was such a stereotypical ‘hypnotist’ look that Zach was sure he had to be fake, but sure enough, as he hypnotized various groups of people, making them forget their names, or talk backwards, or making them do silly dances, it was clear that it was all real, that is, unless this ‘Master Morpheo’ was paying each of these students off.

“Thank you all for coming to my show,” he called to the crowd, “but before we end, I have one more special act for you all… and for that I need one brave volunteer, someone who is not afraid of change… someone confident and cool.” 
 Zach’s stomach twisted into knots as he began walking up without giving it a second thought. He knew he was none of these things, but he wanted to make other people believe he was. However, right when he walked on stage, he began to doubt that he made the right decision, worst case scenarios flying through his mind.

“Give a round of applause for our brave volunteer!” The old man shouted, to which the crowd of mostly freshmen college students clapped. “Very nice to meet you, what might your name be, young man?”

“Zach,” he replied. He tried to play it cool and act cool, but his stomach churned in that moment, realizing he didn’t know how to act and didn’t know what to say.

I look ridiculous, he thought, I already look ridiculous.

“Okay Zach,” The man said. “Like I said, I have a very special show for you, so if you could kneel down, we could get started.” He knelt on the ground before the hypnotist, and looked up at him. The spotlight from the stage irritated him, but the pendulum the man swung drew his attention away, watching it swing left and right…as he watched the pendulum swing back and forth, a green light emanated from the crystal, his eyes soaking in the vibrant light, making his body feel warm, and making his muscles melt. Zach found it strange that the man was using a pendulum instead of the pocket watch he was using before, but he wasn’t opposed to it. After all, the glowing crystal was oddly beautiful.

“Allow yourself to fall into trance. You’re feeling better and better the deeper you go… going deeper and deeper the better you feel. You’re not thinking about exams, in fact forget your exams… you are here now… You remember nothing. You know nothing but now.”

Zach had always considered himself to be a dork, or just a social outcast.That lead him to being a man of few words, which lead some of his peers to think he was weird, and others to think he was mysterious and cool. Zach had thought “fake it until you make it,” and played into this “cool guy” that people thought he was. He had worn more dark colors and bought a grey hoodie. He spoke little of himself because he thought little of himself. But that was what synthesized into who “Zach” was that day.
And that Zach began to disappear.

With each swing of the pendulum he would forget a little more, feel a bit sleepier, and fall deeper into trance. At first only his eyes followed the pendulum, then he began to rock back and forth, his jaw falling open. The trance felt good to him as it weighed on him, and crept over his mind and body. He was curious how deep he could go, but another part of him wondered the opposite… could he resist this hypnotist, and overcome the trance? Zach thought he would look so cool doing so.

He blinked, and shuddered a bit as he tried to look away from the pendulum, but found he couldn’t take his eyes off of the crystal as it swung right… and left… and right… and left… Still, he clenched his jaw, and furrowed his brow, trying to make himself seem less relaxed.

“Ah, I always love to see a fighter,” the hypnotist cooed. “If you would like to try to resist and stay out of trance that’s fine, feel free to do so, but you also find that it just feels so good to sink into that feeling of peaceful calmness, and to just follow the pendulum left and right, letting go of all of your thoughts, all of your worries, listening to my voice, and letting me do all the work.”

Zach’s expression went blank as he slipped deeper down into trance once more, his mind feeling quieter and his entire body feeling soft and numb. He couldn’t even push back against what the hypnotist was saying. The hypnotist had told Zach that it was better to sink, and Zach subconsciously believed it.

“Feeling so good, so relaxed, as you listen to my voice and follow my words, letting them shape your reality, just wanting to obey… because you’re a dog… yes, you’re a dog, aren't you? It would make sense as to why you feel so warm, and why your fur feels soft…”

As the hypnotist spoke, Zach felt the words manifest themselves as truth. His skin tingled as an intense warmth spread across his body. The tingling briefly got more intense and then subsided as a layer of fur broke the surface of his skin, all over his body all at once. His stomach as well as his the bottom of his face, his chin, and his neck all became covered in white fur. Everywhere else, he became covered in brown fur that matched his hair color.

“It would make sense as to why your tongue is lulled out of your mouth.”

Zach stuck out his tongue; it felt much longer than before and unusually heavy. It lulled out the side of his mouth, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t pull it back into his mouth.

“It would make sense as to why you can’t stop panting…”

Continuing to watch the green pendulum swing back and forth, his eyebrows curled up with curiosity, he began to pant. This uncontrollable urge brought about an odd feeling of excitement within him, a type of joy he hadn’t felt in years.

“It would make sense as to why your ears are big and pointed, and why your nose is black.”

The skin on his nose and on his palms became darker and softer until his palms had black paw-pads, and his nose was soft and wet. He felt a light tug then a satisfying stretch on his face as his nose and mouth effortlessly extended forward, growing longer into the muzzle of a dog. The tips of his ears extended and grew pointy, folding and becoming concave at each of their tips, stretching high before they became rooted at the top of his head. The final change was in his feet, as his shoes morphed under the pressure of his growing toes, before it burst open revealing fully formed paws.

“It would make sense as to why you can’t stop wagging your tail…”

There was was a brief but intense pressure in his lower back. His jeans ripped as a tail emerged and wagged wildly. He didn’t realize what he was doing, but the more he wagged his tail, the happier he felt.

“The fact that you had thought you were college student named Zach now seems ludicrous to you."

He wasn’t Zach, he knew nothing. He let himself melt further and his eyes followed the pretty green light, feeling as if it seeped into his brain, taking roots in the forefront of his consciousness and silencing his loudest thoughts. As the tendrils of light continued seeping deeper into his brain, more and more thoughts and memories subsided. He tilted his head with confusion, trying to make sense of what was happening, but his mind wasn’t working, and his confusion was replaced with pure joy. He felt the green light swirling around in his brain, emptying his mind and replacing thoughts with doggish excitement. All he could see was green light as green and blue ethereal rings spiraled above the surface of his eyes.

“Between your obedience, your looks, your actions… The fact that you’re a dog is undeniable.”

He didn’t respond, still following the pendulum, involuntarily panting, his head tilted in confusion. His mind was empty, not processing these words at all on a conscious level. Dogs couldn’t talk, after all, so he didn’t understand the sentences his master told him, aside from the commands he, as a dog, was trained to obey. Even so, Zach’s subconscious took in these words so that way his consciousness would conform to them. And with these words: Zach did not see any other possibility, only knowing the reality of a dog.
The hypnotist snapped his fingers. Zach snapped his head back upright, eyes wide and still panting with joy.

“Speak,” the hypnotist commanded.

“Grroof!” Zach replied

“Shake.”

Zach offered a hand covered in white fur.

“Good boy,” The hypnotist said, scratching Zach behind the ear. Zach nuzzled up to him, feeling immense joy and comfort. He didn’t know what was happening or why he felt this way, but he loved the way he felt. Zach’s ears perked up at a squeaking sound. He looked up and saw a blue ball held in the hypnotist’s palm. He pointed his muzzle toward it. The hypnotist moved his hand to the side. Zach jumped up and followed the ball, keeping it in his gaze. The man threw the ball into the audience. Zach bounded through the crowd on all fours, and picked up the ball in his maw. He was rewarded immediately by pets from the audience, He rolled over for belly rubs. He shook his arms and legs as each pet tickled him. He felt immense love and appreciation he hadn’t felt in years. He was in heaven in that moment, in a world without any worries or fears, just joy.

The hypnotist snapped again. The dog was gone in an instant and the college boy was back. His tail fur and muzzle were gone. There was joy lingering, as if a friend had told him a joke that left a smile on his face even as his mind wandered elsewhere. Zach spat the ball out of his mouth, eyes widened as he processed what had happened. His mind had gone, and he wasn’t himself… but he was still himself, and he knew what he was doing as he did it. Was it an act? Thinking about whether or not he wanted to be a dog in that moment: the answer would be no, but when in trance the answer was yes. He wanted to do this… it was fun…. And he sort of wanted to do it again.

There was applause as the hypnotist took a bow, and walked off the stage. Slowly the crowd began filing out of the small theater on campus, and then the hypnotist walked right up to Zach and gave him a business card.

“You put on a great show,” the hypnotist told him. “If you ever want to be a dog again, and you’re looking for work: call me.”

Minutes earlier: Zach never wanted to be hypnotized. He thought that this would be a ‘one and done’ type of deal. Now: he found he wanted to take the hypnotist up on his offer.