This transformation sequence was brought to life as a commission I got many years back from the amazing  bersickr!

It depicts my character transforming from a human into a hideous three-headed hound monster, also known as a Cerberus, after putting on a cursed necklace.

To go along with the above art piece, please feel free to read the below story told from the character’s perspective! ^^

The Canine Curse:

“Man, what a weird assignment this is,” I mumbled to myself.

I was doing a homework assignment as part of my anthropology course in college. One of the things about this class in particular that I never liked were the aspects of it involving us having to pay to succeed in any form.

The assignment of having to drive all the way to the history museum to find a random artifact and explain how it casts light on humanity’s progression in the field of metalwork was not how I wanted to spend my Saturday evening.

The drive was over an hour long (which meant I had to buy gas), and I had to pay to get into the museum. Why can’t I just find this artifact online and write the paper on what I find there? But nooooo.

Truth be told, I like history. But then again, this paper is 20% of my grade for the course. I can’t even enjoy the museum if I have so much riding on this one paper.

Okay I’m venting a bit. But still. My belief is that school should be confined to the classroom, and museums should be for fun.

Anyways, personal opinions about curriculum aside, I thought that the Greek or Roman section of this museum would have the most abundant potential subjects for my paper. So, one of the museum guides pointed me in the right direction.

This museum was bustling in the Roman section. It was way too crowded for my liking. This place would close in just 30 minutes and I needed time to write an overview and make observations without any distractions whatsoever.

“Guess the Greek section is my go-to,” I said to myself as I moved on through the hallways, following the directions on my map.

Eventually, I arrived at a relatively empty part of the museum in the Greek section. Which made sense, since it was farthest from the center of the complex as well as the main entrance. The crowd here was starting to thin out somewhat, with less than a dozen other people looking at the exhibits and displays this section had to offer.

This was perfect! There were so many coins, ancient weapons, and jewelry artifacts I could write about! Since I was pressed for time, I didn’t take long to settle on a golden necklace with an interesting looking canine head shaped brooch adorning it.

It sat in a rectangular display case by itself. Its label said “Dated to the 16th Century BC, Minoan gold-plated adornment discovered in the ruins of Knossos in the 1910s.”

“Ooh my professor should give this one an easy A+!” I said quietly to myself as I began writing an overview of my paper, describing what the artifact looked like, copying the display label, and using some of the surrounding artifacts from the same excavation to draw conclusions about the overall trends of the time, place, and culture from which the artifact originated.

With what I had to work with. I had written several paragraphs within just over 20 minutes. And by that point, everybody else in the room had left to start making their way out. A security guard approached me.

“Excuse me sir,” she said politely to me. “Sorry but we’re closing in just over 5 minutes. Can you please finish up here?”

In response, I nodded and said with a smile, “Can do ma’am. Just about done here so I’ll be making my way to the exit shortly. Is it ok if I write a few more notes about this necklace? Shouldn’t take more than 4 minutes at most.”

The security guard politely nodded and smiled back. “That’s fine,” she said with raised eyebrows. “But no more than that. You’re not the first student from the university to come here for this assignment.”

“Thanks!” I said with appreciation. “I’ll be quick.”

As the guard left the room, I began hurriedly writing a few more scribbles in the paper. It didn’t even take me a minute to finish.

“Done!” I said to myself with satisfaction. “I have enough notes here to finish the rest at home.”

Grabbing my paper, I slipped it into the binder I had been using as a hard surface to write my paper against, and started to head towards my backpack to put everything away and leave.

Then I heard a metallic clink as something hit the floor behind me.

Whirling my head around, I discovered something very strange. The display case holding the artifact had apparently vanished, and the necklace was now lying on the floor; still intact from the impact of the fall.

I kept my body still for a few seconds trying to make sense of what had just transpired, and staring at the necklace as if it had sprouted wings and started flying. And the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to get closer to it.

Initially resisting the urge, I shouted to the door where the security guard left and called “H-Hello? Somebody?”

When nobody responded, I whispered under my breath, “I should just leave and tell somebody the artifact fell out of its case. The security footage should verify this, right? I didn’t touch it!”

Just as I was about to leave, I chanced another look at the artifact on the ground, and something about it seemed so…alluring. Without lending much thought to it, I put my binder on top on my backpack and turned towards the artifact. The same way our generation is so inclined to reach towards our phones when they aren’t in our hands, that kind of what I felt towards the artifact, as if it had some sort of hold over me I couldn’t explain. Before long, I was reaching for it.

My mind screamed at me to stop what I was doing. But it was no use. I knew I was being filmed doing something illegal. I couldn’t even stop my own movements! And before I knew it, I had grabbed the necklace and put it around my neck.

Then the spell broke.

Not realizing I was holding my breath the whole time, I exhaled and started gasping to catch my breath again. Whatever allure I had towards the necklace instantly evaporated, and I could think freely again!

But now I was in soooooo much trouble. I’m sure at least 6 cameras had an angle of my unwilling stunt.

Still catching my breath, I said to myself, “I need to…immediately report this…to the staff. I may get arrested. But people need to know…that this object…this talisman, isn’t safe around people!”

Moving my hands towards my neck to take the necklace off, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my left hand. Holding it out to glance at it, I discovered with horror that some of my fingers were developing some kind of reddish brownish fur with sharp claws replacing my nails.

“Hey what’s…?” I started in confusion. “My hand…It’s….turning into a…?”

Before I could finish my sentence, my whole body began to experience this same pain, which started afflicting both of my shoulders, chest, backside, feet, and my other hand as well. All the while, my shirt violently ripped to shreds while my body grew taller and top heavy. My nose started to feel like it was contorting and growing larger too. Too much was happening at once!

I could now see both of my outstretched hands continuing to be consumed by the same reddish colored fur that had started growing on my left hand at the start. And my hands now resembled something else entirely.

P-Paws?! My mind screamed at the sight of them. I was so confused at what was happening to me. I wanted to shout for help but at this point, I was too confused to even try. “Uh-! Wha-! What’s…happening to me?!”

Then two small reddish furry moving things grew out of each shoulder, one of the even Yapped! “What’s!! What’re these…?” I exclaimed to myself, yet again unable to finish my sentence.

Continuing to feel sharp pangs all over my body, no one single thing could hold my attention for long. Everything about me felt like it was changing. But I could discern two things through it all. One, I was growing much…much larger by the second. Two, I could feel some sort of essence flowing into my body from the necklace around my neck, which also felt like it was growing tighter and more secure around my neck, and some sort of ringing sound came from it.

“Urgh…C-Can’t…Grrgh…” I chocked out, my voice growing exponentially raspier and less human. I attempted to ignore the pain. Can’t breathe-! The talisman, it’s…! I hear… Putting together even a thought was extremely hard at the moment.

“GRRRAOOWW!!” went a loud sound to the right side of my head. But somehow, as inhuman as the sound was, my brain could decipher it as some kind of speech! And it was coming from what I could make out in my peripheral vision to be some sort of canine head growing out of my shoulder with monstrous horns, a forked tongue, sharp teeth, mischievous eyes, and a panting mouth.

Even without making any sound, this entity seemed to have some sort of direct line of connection with my mind, and seemed to be communicating to me through its thoughts! “Ah…! Not exactly what I had in mind, but yes…This body will serve us well!” It said.

Still reeling in pain from the ongoing transformation, my face continued to contort its shape, and the balance i had maintained on two legs up to this point was beginning to fail. I was trying to muster the strength to yell for help to somehow get the security guard’s attention, but the changes put such a strain on my entire muscular system that I felt almost frozen in a temporary state of paralysis.

All I could do was respond to the voice and say in my thoughts, “B..? Body?! My body?! Who are y…huh?!”

My attention was diverted by the sound of a deep barking on my other shoulder, followed by a different voice that I could hear in my head.

“Yes! Yessss! Haha, oh boy, I can’t wait!” It said joyfully.

By this point, I had lost almost all balance control and fell, instinctively catching myself with both frontal paws, which by now had grown massive sharp claws. At this point, my body had become almost entirely furry and had grown to the size of the aisle I was standing in. And I could feel what was definitely some sort of tail wagging behind me as I struggled to regain my balance standing on all fours. With my tongue, I could feel huge sharp teeth lining the full extent of my jaw as slobber involuntarily fell out of my mouth.

The glasses I had been wearing were all that remained on me in terms of clothing. Everything else was reduced to torn up shreds on the floor. But the pain was starting to lessen and the growth began to slow down.

I tried speaking but couldn’t make any remotely human sound anymore. All that I could do was whine, bark, growl, and pant just like the two other dog heads on either side of me. It began to creep in my mind with horror that my own face had come to look much like theirs by this point. And I now had a vague idea of what I was becoming.

“I…! I can’t talk? I can’t stand up!” My thoughts were a jumble of confusion and denial.

“Heh! Of course not! Foolish pup!” Went the head on my right shoulder with a sneer.

“Pup…? What did you do to me?!” I demanded with a whine.

“Hahaha! Oh - haha!” Went the other head on my left shoulder. “Isn’t it obvious?!”

Breathing heavily, I grunted as the last changes were made to my body. The talisman stuck around my neck stopped pulsing with energy, and I lifted my head to fully assess the situation now that the pain had finally stopped too. I still felt sore all over, and my limbs and body could still be felt. But it now felt as if I was sharing control over them somehow…as if my will wasn’t the only one that could move this body.

I kept panting, having had so much energy forced out of me over the past few minutes. It felt like hours had passed from this change. Drool leaked from my mouth, and I knew I must’ve become some sort of Cerberus creature. That was the only possibility given the place this talisman came from.

The fact that this basically proves some of the myths to be true would’ve been a good thing to add to my paper. But it was the least of my worries now.

“You’re a HELLHOUND now, brother!” The right head said to me.

No, no, no, it couldn’t be true. This had to be a dream! I was sure of it!

“A WHAT?!” I whined back in denial as the left head laughed maniacally.

Now that it was being said to be, reality crept in. And if that wasn’t enough, I heard the sound of footsteps from what must’ve been the security guard from earlier. She was coming back!

Oh nooooo… I thought with complete despondency. Now what am I gonna do?


Thanks again to the amazing  bersickr for the art! I hope you enjoyed both that and the story if you made it this far! ^^