Shapeshifter

A little excerpt from my fantasy novel...

The change began when Rahoul started to fall for her. He could feel it in the way his shifting stalled each time he willed himself into another animal. At first, the shapeshifters are encouraged to transform into any animal form that might present itself. And since being a toddler, Rahoul had been a natural at studying animals and becoming them with the flick of a switch inside of him. It came to him instinctually, and the only training he really received from his elders was on how to refine his outer appearances. The way he moved, sounded and behaved as said animals was flawless, every time. The older he got, the more he gravitated towards bigger animals, towards predators. He realised early on that flying wasn’t for him, he just didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the boys in his year did. And though he loved being in water, he also realised that the creatures of the lakes were too restricted to one area. Rahoul had always felt an urge to roam. To explore and to learn. So, he gravitated more and more to bigger mammals that travelled the mountainside, and by the age of sixteen years old, his most common form had become a wolf. He had absolutely mastered its appearance, so much so that when he was the wolf, Rahoul found it hard to shapeshift back to his human form.

When Dorothea joined the academy, and he got to know her not just as the annoying young sister of one of his best friends, he realised how drawn he was to her. She smelled of frost and pine when he passed her in the hallways, a heavenly scent he couldn’t help leaning into. She had grown into a great beauty, with locks that went down to her very appealing backside and beautiful rosy cheeks he had an urge to pinch every time they darkened. One evening he was going to her house, his intention to meet her brother and convince him to go explore the mountain in a shapeshift form of their choosing. But along the way he spotted Dorothea, standing by the small lake near their house, staring down into the still waters, breathing deeply as if preparing herself for something. Then she leapt in with a soul piercing cry and at that moment, he fell for her. She was the most beautiful, most free thing he had ever seen. And he knew his heart would never be his own again. As the realisation set in, his left shoulder began to throb, and he felt a pain like fire on his skin at his back. Crouching down in agony, he tore at his shirt, trying to get it off. In his pain, he did not realise that Dorothea had noticed him and was scrambling out of the lake to come and help him. He heard her gasp as she towered over him, but he couldn’t do much but press his heated skin to the cold ground.

“The rune…” she whispered. “It has manifested.” Rahoul stiffened even more but managed to pull his head up to look into her gorgeous, widened eyes. She had done this to him. The certainty of their fates being entwined, his shape, had settled on him. From now on, he would only be able to shift into one animal form. The one that was meant for him. And for her.

“What is it?” he croaked, but even as he asked, he knew it was the wolf rune.

“Wolf” she said reverently, bending down next to him, her hand hovering above his shoulder, where the tattoo had burned itself into his skin. “It is beautiful” she said with an intensity he hadn’t expected. “And it fits you. Very much.”

Rahoul watched her cheeks grow redder as her words settled into both of them, and he realised, she felt similar things to what he was feeling.

“Will you show me?” she asked tentatively, still hovering above him. “Will you show me your wolf?”

Rahoul reached for her hand and without a moment’s hesitation she gave it and pulled him up. He was surprised at her strength and appreciated the way her hair brushed against his shoulder on the way up. After stretching his still over sensitized limbs, Dorothea looked at him expectantly, and he chuckled as he rolled his shoulders.

“Give me a moment, Thea” and he saw her narrow her eyes at him as if he wasn’t going to keep his promise. But how could he ever deny her anything? Rahoul took a deep breath and reached inside of himself. He looked for that wolf he had shapeshifted into many times over the last years. But he wasn’t there any more. Instead, there was a burning, a longing to be something grander, something more majestic. Once again he felt that burning sensation at his back and when Dorothea gasped with wide eyes travelling down his chest, he realised that the tattoo was spreading, as well as the burning. It was slowly travelling over his shoulders, down his chest and disappeared into his low-hanging pants. When he met Dorothea’s gaze once again, it had grown hooded, and for a moment, he was distracted by the desire flooding him. He had never thought of her like this, it was disorienting. But he couldn’t dwell on it too long, for his body was doing the shapeshifting all by itself. The tattoo spread all over, and slowly he transformed into a much bigger wolf than he had ever been. His hind legs grew larger than some tree trunks and his torso expanded so much, Dorothea had to stumble back and make space for it, for him. When the shift felt final, Rahoul realised he had never felt more at home in any other shape before. Slowly, he made his way over to the lake, prancing carefully on his powerful paws. The lake’s surface revealed his new shape, and Rahoul would have gasped were he able to. He had become the colour of an autumnal forest. Brown, reds and oranges were framing his amber eyes, the same he had as a human. His head was enormous, as well as the neck and the front paws. He saw his huge tail swing behind him, with luscious fur waving around. Then Dorothea stepped up beside him, stroking his neck, as she also stared at him in the water’s reflection.

“You’re beautiful” she whispered and Rahoul lay his ears flat against his head. She smiled at that and added: “A shy wolf…Oh my, what a sight.” Then she once again stroked him, now behind his ear, and Rahoul couldn’t help himself but emit a growl of utter contentment. He was beginning to feel the inner draw to join his pack – the shapeshifters who had chosen the same shape and would now be his family, his division. But he wasn’t yet ready to leave her side. Dorothea took a step back to stare up at him and, putting a hand just above his wet wolf nose, she said: “I know you have to go. You have to join the others, fulfil the rites. But let me just say Rahoul, you are the most magnificent shapeshifter I have ever seen. You shall do us all proud.”

His heart swelled with pride and for a moment, he saw the queen that this young girl by a lake would one day become. And then his heart shattered, into a million pieces, as the realisation set in, their feelings would never matter in the grander scheme of things. He was destined to be a general. She would be the queen. There would be no love allowed between them. And with a soul piercing howl, he went on his hind legs and stormed off. Towards his destiny, away from his heart.