Stolen. Metamorphosis.

So, this is rewrite of sorts, of my first work. This should be more enjoyable - I, hopefully, have become slightly better at writing stories. Fanfiction of "Stole" by TidakSense. I intend to make this a series; next chapter is underway.

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"See you later, pal!"

"See you guys!" I waved to the slightly unsteady backs of my colleagues, who were already disappearing down the deep stairs to the underground station.

Phew, that was one exhausting social gathering. I smiled, feeling an overwhelming desire to stretch out, as if after a gruelling eight-hour shift behind a desk.

Or to call things by their real names. I watched people get drunk and did my best to pretend to do the same.

I've never liked drinking, and I don't understand what people find in it. Nor do I like feeling drunk. People act stupid enough when they are sober; there is no need, in my opinion, to lower their already questionable wits.

Sadly, I couldn't help but join in today's 'going out' or visit the nearest pub. It was the last day before Christmas break, and people are determined to get drunk before dragging their drunken butts home to face the judgement of their significant others. And I include our few ladies in that list.

Even the big man, our boss, had come with the rest of us. He is a decent guy, but I would like him better if he could forget my existence in such moments. When the big boss invites you for a beer, you don't just say no; I already have a reputation for being a bit of a weirdo.

Luckily, that is over now. I'm looking forward to a few weeks of blessed solitude in my bachelor's den, with only my PC for company, and I won't have to think about a job or anyone in it. I can't wait.

My home was within walking distance, so no more sweaty tube carriages or buses for me tonight. A brisk walk helped me get rid of the small amount of alcohol I had in my system; unfortunately, I could not 'lose' all of my beer.

The bright lights of the convenience store just outside my house made me hesitate for a moment. Eh, why not, I decided.

I quickly picked up my usual fare of gamer's snacks and energy drinks. I contemplated long hours of fighting pixelated monsters and solving puzzles that took a toll on a guy. It was hard to get any gaming done in a week; the anticipation made me dizzy. But not tonight. I decided with a touch of self-criticism.

"Alex? Is that you?" A familiar voice stopped me at the exit.

What? It seemed my ordeal was not over for tonight.

With a polite expression, I turned to face someone I had not expected to see today. Or ever, for that matter.

The woman I looked at was slightly shorter than me, with dirty blonde hair falling in ringlets. A reasonably pretty face, with too much cosmetics on it, in my opinion, looked at me with a wide, well, she probably calls it a 'seductive smile'. I would call it the grin of a hungry hyena, but hey, nobody asked me.

"Rita. " I greeted her. "I fancy meeting you here at this hour and in this place. What happened? I thought you would be at some party by this time."

My ex-coworker and ex-girlfriend flipped me the bird and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Still smoking like a chimney, I see.

"Still the same gentleman, aren't you?"

She tossed the cigarettes back into her handbag, clicked on a lighter, and took a long drag. The disgusting habit was just one and by no means the worst of the reasons I was glad to see her back disappear into the distance.

"Always."

What did she want anyway? I thought we had said everything back then. I was a few years younger and still occasionally tried to find a woman who did not make me want to blow my brains out after more than an hour in her presence. Fool, I knew better now.

"Where are you going?" She looked at my shopping bag. "Don't tell me you're spending Friday night at home playing games!"

"And what if I do?" I shrugged. The day I'm offended by the clumsy bullying of social butterflies like her, I'll book a visit to the shrink.

In the second half of my third decade, I would still be considered young enough for social life, except that it held no appeal for me, thanks to a huge amount of cynical attitude I had accumulated. My character certainly contributed to this, so while the fairer sex well enough received me, I did not see myself as husband material.

"Is it better to spend it in some den of sin with some skunk?" My gaze caught the silhouette of another woman coming into a bright circle of streetlights. Oh, look, her sister, another hyena. It must be a girls' night in the making.

"Still talking like a posh idiot." She chuckled in mock disappointment. "How did we ever start going out?"

Is it my fault that your vocabulary is so poor that it hurts your brain to hear anything more complicated than primary school talk, woman?

"Please don't remind me." I gave her sister my best smile and got a huff for my trouble. "I still cringe at the memories. Hormones are pure evil."

"Rita, it's time to go!" She ignored me as she spoke to her sister.

She continued in their language, looking at me sideways. Even though our countries are neighbours, I don't know it, so I only picked up a few familiar words. Not that it matters--some sort of nonsense, no doubt. What else would you expect from someone who tried to shag her sister's boyfriend and then blamed him for initiating it?

I should be grateful; I was already tired of Rita's nagging and nonsense and thinking of ways to end our affair politely anyway. anyway. No amount of booty could make up for it. However, the resulting drama was worthy of a soap opera and far too sordid for me to feel grateful.

Well, maybe I should be grateful after all; she didn't try to accuse me of something worse, I suppose, like rape.

"It was delightful to see you!"

It wasn't. I could have done without your smug faces to make my upcoming sleep restless.

"Take care, Alex." Rita waved, and they were off, giving me a glimpse of their bums, swaying with exaggerated amplitude. Their best-selling points are prepared and ready, I see.

I can't believe I fell for her charms long enough, even then. Hormones are evil. I sighed, finally setting my sights on home.

The home welcomed me with blessed silence and the view of a cactus I, for some reason, kept forgetting to replace from the narrow hallway. Its thorns always got in the way, too.

Since I didn't feel like playing, I browsed the Internet for news but quickly got tired of the same old political stuff and so-called "celebrities." Why would anyone be interested in someone's dramas, no matter who or what they were? That was a question I had no answer. The big politics are way out of my realm; what's the point of breaking spears over them? People are crazy.

I picked a playlist of music to listen to, and soon, I was engrossed in reading some colourful and flashy fantasy manga to the sounds of dark techno music.

I can spend my time reading the flights of fancy of some Asian dude or watching cartoons if I choose so; at least they are entertaining. Or listen to whatever the heck I want, no matter what age it is attributed to by public opinion.

Some people I know said I had never grown up and was a man-child. They usually had to quickly shut up when I proved to be both more knowledgeable and quicker on my feet than such self-proclaimed "grown-ups."

Following the protagonist's adventures in a world of magic and beautiful ladies with human and not-quite-human looks, I didn't notice how several hours had passed. I laid down an empty glass and leaned back in my chair, stretching and rubbing my eyes. It was a good read; I should call it a day. After a few hours of reading, my eyes were a little blurry, and my joints were stiff.

When I got up, I looked at the browser page, which still showed an overly muscular guy with a background of several beauties staring at him with lovesick eyes. Meh, the protagonist was a dumbass, after all. Like many other protagonists I have seen, he chose all the wrong targets for conquest. Why did he ignore a perfectly good sorceress in favour of a boring Knightley-type follower? So, what if she was a little unhinged and consorted with dark forces? She loved him; what can I say about the second? Another silly hero for mass consumption.

Maybe I should dust off my weight rack soon; I thought as I made my way to the kitchen for a refill of divine nectar in a tin. It had been a while since I had done that. All those drawn muscle plates stirred something in me.

As I walked past, my wandering eye caught the movement, and I stopped in front of the mirror.

The guy in there looked like someone younger than I was. The decent shape I tried to keep myself in helped. Short hair, broad shoulders, and medium height, just below what's considered tall. Pale, somewhat gaunt face--I disliked going outdoors or into the sun.

I shrugged. Then again, what's the point? Whom was I going to impress? I was happy enough with the way I looked. Huffing, I turned away.

I should watch something before I go to sleep.

I first wrote off movement--a ripple in the air at the corner of my vision--as my eyes played tricks with me. It repeated itself, and my gaze jumped back in alarm.

Suspended between the floor and ceiling, an oval of grey, swirling mist rapidly expanded into existence, its surface bulging as if trying to contain the force within. It swayed, twisted, and unfolded, its size in constant motion like a growing soap bubble. The thing was also silent, with no sound coming from its rapid developments, making the sight even more unrealistic.

Whoah, I spent too much time reading all that supernatural stuff. Can you get a trip from a bad energy drink? I'd never heard of such a thing, but it had to be; what else could it be?

Still calm, even a little amused by the whole thing, I blinked, wishing it would go away, even rubbing my face vigorously. I felt the first puff of unease as I looked up; the thing was much larger now, almost touching the walls. Under my incredulous gaze, its side touched a chair I had been sitting on earlier. It turned grey and disappeared as if it had been sucked in. Unease turned to a jolt of fear as a fluttering wrinkle in space, suspended mid-air, turned towards me. It leapt forward in a movement too quick for me to follow, cutting off the curse, ready to fly out of my mouth. The following sharp jerk and darkness heralded what felt like the longest second of my life.

The light returned, coupled with a sense of acceleration.

"...!!"I swear I screamed, but there was no sound, only a feeling like air being released.

My guts lurched as the momentum was strong enough to throw me down and roll me forward several times before I stopped, my bare heel hitting something soft and wet.

The eerie pressure in my ears exploded with a cacophony of noise. The world was spinning in a kaleidoscopic carousel of colours, my insides trying to leave me at what felt like both ends.

The first sign that this might be more than just me having vivid hallucinations was a wave of warm, dank air blowing over me. Humid and filled with the unmistakable smells of the acrid smoke of burning wood and, strangely, fresh fruit, it hit me with an almost palpable force.

I opened my eyes. I was sprawled on the ground, lying on something soft and squishy, giving off the strong fruity smell I sensed earlier.

The sky above me was wrong; there could be no such sky. The unnaturally bright, swirling purple haze was so disorienting that I spent a few seconds trying to make sense of its movements. I blinked, cursing my shortsightedness, but there were no clouds or signs of the sun--just a swirling, bright mist above me. The air that swept over my face smelled of smoke, vaguely of something rotten, and was damp with humidity that I'd only experienced in hot tropical areas.

The dull, buzzing sound in my ears abruptly stopped. The sounds of a rush of heavy bodies close, as well as the definite noises of screaming and objects shattering, washed over me. The ground began softly shaking like a herd of enormous creatures were running.

I pulled myself up. The things I had crashed upon landing turned out to be a lightly constructed wooden bench, used as a table for many bowls, and boxes of various sizes containing what could only be fruit. They looked strange, though. I grabbed a purple banana-shaped thing, which seemed to have aubergine in its ancestry, and felt its sweet, fruity scent. Yes, the touch confirmed it; it was not my hallucination. I dropped it and looked around, falling immediately behind a broken merchant's lot.

Oka-ay... So, if I am hallucinating, then my problems are already too big to worry about now; there is no point in fighting them. It is better to accept the hypothesis of my transmigration as a reality, for now, however much it smacks of the eighth-grade syndrome. I felt nervous, laughing, fighting its way out, as I stared around in fascination. Nerds' dreams had come true?!

I gave myself a hearty slap, feeling sick with hysterical glee and a stinging sensation on my skin. Let's concentrate here.

My surroundings looked like some sort of flea market. Or a western bazaar. Apart from the impossible sight of the sky above me, it looked pretty normal--stalls and boots all around me as far as I could see, bursting with colours and shapes of various things. But they were far from the most interesting things to see; I realised as I quickly sank even closer to the cobbled floor.

The source of the unholy noise, still assaulting my ears with panicked shouts in foreign languages, was a frenzied crowd running from what could best be described by the simple word monster. With a roar of frustration, a hulking four-legged abomination forced its way through the wreckage of the burning stalls.

The figures it chased scattered from its path like panicked rats fleeing from a cat, making use of space too narrow for the beast's bulk.

It was a real fantasy monster, an unbelievable abomination. It was a manticore with the lower body of a lion, a large, segmented tail that curled up high, and the torso of a human that stood well over two metres tall--or at least humanoid.

I said humanoid to myself as, in the moment after I saw it, my eyes picked out the details of the crowd it was chasing. I pushed the word human out of my mind--no human I had seen had a working set of wings.

Or horns, I added, my eyes widening in silent amazement at the sight of a ram-horned female leaping over my hiding place, her wings too small to be used for proper flight but apparently perfect for long glides. My somewhat shortsighted eyes failed to get a good look at her face, but I could not mistake those prolific breasts for anything else; this was a female, all right.

In her panic, screaming something, she did not see me, but I noticed a long appendage sticking out of her bottom. A tail. A tail?! Horns, wings, tails... I missed her feet, but she had long, silky legs that were not twisted like a goat's. I could say this with confidence, for she was not wearing any trousers, and a short skirt, or rather a kilt-like thing, could not hide the complete lack of underwear beneath. By the way, those are great-looking glutes, lady.

The woman disappeared behind a high pile of rolled-up carpets, leaving me to stare after her with a face numb with confusion. I had no choice but to accept that I had just seen a real, breathing succubus.

Being chased by a real, live monster?! Oh damn, where did that beast go?! Still hiding behind a ruined pile of fruit, I peered out, listening for the sounds of heavy leaps and screams coming from the next row of merchants' boots nearby.

From afar, obscured by a haze of colourful chaos and muffled by distance, came the roar and what seemed to be the sounds of battle. Not gunfire but the clash of metal against metal. Melee weapons? That made sense, as the whole setting suddenly looked archaic; I saw no sign of modern technology. Sudden flashes of lightning and blinding flashes of light made me reconsider the intensity of the distant battle. Monsters, succubus, lightning... That's the cornerstone of a good fantasy battle. What the hell?

Was this some kind of monster attack on a peaceful... ugh, sex demon market?! Do they have those in Hell? Wait, what the... Something was wrong with that thought, but I had no time to process it.

The beast roared nearby, but this time I heard words. A language? Was this thing sentient?!

I didn't understand a thing, so it was safe to assume that my isekai--holy shite, I can't even believe what I'm saying in my head--didn't have any knowledge of the local languages. It sounded rather triumphant, though. I risked another peek out of my hiding place, shoving aside squashed vegetables.

A desperate, heartbreaking scream was followed by more roars as my gaze landed on the dirty yellow fur on the hindquarters of a monster. It was dragging something out of the rubble. As it stepped back, a massive tail hovered over its back, and I noticed that its tip was fat and bulbous rather than having a sharp sting. Its hind leg, reminiscent of a lion, kicked away some of the debris, and it turned, revealing its human front and the prey it held in its arms.

It was someone--a tall, thin twig of a human, or should I say succubae? Desperately kicking and writhing in the creature's grip, it was hard to see much more than an amazing, eye-catching snow-white mane of ruffled hair swinging around the head. The beast growled something--harsh, rasping words spoken in a tone that betrayed a savage joy. Its face, a cross between animal and human, was framed by a heavy mane of dark, lumpy hair that fell over its eyes, leaving only a massive jaw and mouth full of yellowed, jagged teeth.

The beast shook its quarry violently. It was a girl, I realised with a start, with wide black bat wings flapping uselessly. She screamed in horror as the beast, enjoying what it was doing, slowly grabbed one wing, then another, and lifted its writhing victim by them.

I had felt like a watcher, up to this point, disconnected from reality. There was too little time for a proper reaction, and I still felt a pain in my heel where I had hit it when I crash-landed. But now, the sight of unfolding atrocity in front of me felt like a kick in the guts.

The creature extended its tail and swept away the loosely flying white hairs, exposing the sight of a pale face twisted in fear beneath them.

My emotions returned with a vengeance as my teeth gnashed when the beast said something with a broad sneer. Its animal torso arched, revealing a feline member's rapidly erecting, bulging girth, with barbed protrusions visible even from this distance. The monster threw her to the ground and placed its front leg on her wing while clutching the other with both arms.

I looked at mutilation and imminent rape in progress. Human or not, this was a terrible fate for anyone. And there was nothing--nothing at all--I could do. I could rage as much as I wanted but I would not beat this monster with my bare fists.

A distant part of me, which remained calm despite everything, wondered if I should. It was not very strong, though, and I felt disgusted, even if what it said rang true.

I clenched my fists in helpless rage. There was no way for me to be anything other than a brief distraction for the monster, to be dispatched by a swipe of clawed feet before it returned to its captive.

Sorry, girl, I would if I could. If only I could...

I felt my rage shift something in my head--an almost physical sensation of something I was unaware had come to life, like a blood flow to numb legs.

If only I could... kill it.

The pressure I felt building in the back of my head exploded out of me like a bullet. No, it was a bullet of some kind, I realised, seeing an image of a projectile forming in my mind moments before I felt the pressure transforming into the shape, I wanted it to be.