The man’s consciousness struggled to wake only to find himself in a strange purple and black space. He sat up and felt around. 

“Do not bother searching for answers. You will find none here.” My voice bellowed out around the space. The man flinched when I spoke but did not understand. I had hoped from within my mind’s eye my words might have been translated but alas. At least there was one here that seemed to understand me. “It’s time for you to wake, I promised you blood after all.” The small beast’s consciousness coalesced in my mind’s eye across from the man. Integrating was a risky procedure. If you left it too long you could easily lose yourself however, if you were able to find a surrogate to pass the integration onto then you could quite easily avoid any possible ramifications. Normally this small beast would be no match for a fully intelligent creature however memories were not the only thing I stole from this man. The small white beast grew with power as the energy I had siphoned from the man flowed into it, empowering its mind and being. The man screamed as the beast opened its mouth and consumed him. 

My small form had returned and with the loss of my fur, the biting winds began to take their toll. My limbs were once again hard to pilot, I was starting to realise that age or development wasn’t my only obstacle, the weather and unbearable fatigue and injury were much more likely culprits. Oh well, discomfort and fumbling was a small price to pay for my new pet. Having fed the man to the beast, I had birthed what many might call a monster. If one were to lose control or the human be particularly strong it would result in a typical lycanthrope, a person constantly at war with the beast within themself. However, if guided and nurtured correctly you could aid the bestial side and net yourself an incredibly powerful and incredibly loyal pet. The creature before me had lost much of its humanity aside from its bipedal nature. Its small antlers jutted out its forehead, its legs had morphed to a more digitigrade form and its hands were tipped with retractable claws. A thin cover of white and brown fur covered its body. It had lost some of the size of the human used as part of the process but did seem to keep some of his stockiness. Due to the difference in mass between the two the human side had won out in terms of representation in the face and overall shape but that mattered not. What mattered was that it had kept the mind of the beast. One who was now indebted to me for saving its life and freeing it from the trap. A common misconception is that integration simply adds two strengths together. When done correctly by an expert the resulting creature will be more akin to having had their strengths multiplied.

“Baa, da baaa.” Huh… seems I can’t even speak my old native tongue. In that case, I will make a mental note instead. I will name my new minion Jack. Through our bond, I should be able to direct his attention enough that my instructions will be clear even without speech. Not that Jack would be able to understand them anyway either-even if I could. I motioned my hands to signal Jack to crouch which he followed perfectly. I walked around him and pulled myself up onto his back and held tight, outstretching one of my hands and pointing towards the direction of the camp. Jack tensed his legs and with a sudden spring, we were dashing through the frozen woodland at a blistering pace.