A gentle breeze stroked Leo’s cheek as the sound of leaves brushing against each other greeted his ears. As he stirred, he imagined the trees waving to one another in the soft, warm wind. The sun that beat down on his face caused him to force his eyes closed as he rested on ground that was so hard it may as well have been rock. In fact, as more time passed, the more certain he became that he was indeed sleeping on a bed of rock. Reaching out with his hands, he felt grass and mud at his fingertips.

‘Hey guys,’ he groaned, assuming that he had embarrassingly fallen asleep whilst out with his friends.

No reply.

As more of his senses came back to him, and as his brain began to function, Leo remembered what had happened.

A tornado.

He had been in a tornado.

His friends had been with him, as had a winged man.

Leo shook his head, his brain rattling around and smashing against the sides of his skull as he tried to think more clearly.

The man with wings. Devolo. He had promised to take them somewhere. To another world.

Everything came flooding back to him. His heart rate increasing, as everything started to feel warmer than before.

Deep breaths, Leo, he thought to himself.

But the heat did not relent, wherever he now found himself was a fair bit warmer than the crisp winter air he had left behind.

With one hand pressed against the floor, Leo pushed himself up with surprising ease. An ease that echoed across his body as he realised that everything about him felt different. He felt stronger and leaner, with power positively pulsing through his muscles as he stayed there with his eyes closed, listening to his surroundings. Leo's ears involuntarily twitched as he heard unfamiliar sounds from the distance.

Cautiously, Leo squinted his eyes open to find himself in the middle of a clearing during what seemed to be mid-day. As he looked at the trees surrounding him, he could place some of them from the forests back home. Others were unfamiliar, only seen on television if at all. Breathing in through his nose, Leo could smell the sweet scent of flowers mixed with the grit of mud.

‘Libero,’ he whispered, remembering what Devolo had called it.

 Three entrances surrounded the clearing with paths leading through thick, green bushes that were doing all they could to protect their contents. Leo went to ask his friends which way they should go but remembered that he was alone.

Planting one foot on the ground, Leo stood up. Though he knew he should have been worried, he did not fight his smile as he felt strength surge through him. His legs ready to spring into action at any given moment, like a stretched elastic band ready to be released.

Forgetting for a moment about the immediate danger of being alone in a new world, Leo decided to find out what else was new. Praying his lips had stayed the same colour, he raised his hand to touch his face but had to stifle a scream at the sight of his palm. There, in the centre of his hand, was a dark circular patch of skin.

Naturally, his first instinct was to prod it, which he duly did and found that his skin was thickening into pads. Next, Leo looked underneath his top, in his trousers and tried to feel his back, and to his relief everything was still there, and still the same shape and size as before. His feet however, had also started to develop the same padding as his hands.

Twitching, Leo’s ears picked up a rustling coming from within the forest. Branches cracked, and Leo realised that the cause of the cracking was coming his way. Taking a step back and deciding he could inspect the rest of his body later; his heartbeat resumed increasing as he anticipated the newcomer.

Devolo’s words about people changing into animals came back to him as he imagined what might be heading his way; a man with a shark’s head? A woman whose entire body had become a snake, hissing as she slithered towards him? There did not seem to be a favourable outcome.

Bending one knee, Leo tried his best to prepare himself for an attack as he listened intently to the advancing noises. It now sounded like there was more than one person.

Edging his way to the opposite side of the clearing, Leo chose to hide from view until he knew what his pursuer was.

They were close.

Leo fought to decipher the sound of the footsteps from the pounding of his heart. He heard a voice. A female one. And his heart lifted from the ground at the voice he would recognise anywhere.

‘Why do you even have your bag with you? What have you got inside it that’s so important?’ Kaira's slightly husky tones carried through the trees.

‘I have my pen and my notepad. I did not know what we would find and thought we might want to make a note of it.’

Leo smirked at the dull tones of Dorian.

‘Great, let me guess what you are going to note about me!’ Leo heard Bailey shout as they broke through the bushes and into the clearing.

From where he crouched, Leo could see that Bailey had the beginnings of tusks breaking through the skin beside her nose … a nose that had also grown.

‘You’ve no idea how glad I am to see you guys,’ Leo said, causing them all to jump before spinning to face him.

‘LEO!’ screamed Kaira, immediately breaking into a run to give him an incredibly tight squeeze.

‘I … can’t … breath,’ Leo gasped.

‘Oh yeah, sorry! I think I’m stronger here. And taller too,’ Kaira said beaming, before measuring herself up to Leo and basically matching his height.

As Leo watched her, he saw that she had developed faint black markings on her skin, markings that snaked across her entire body and beneath her ripped top and leggings.

‘You look awesome!’ Leo blurted out, before realising he had spoken aloud, ‘I mean … look at your markings!’

‘What?’ Kaira asked, stepping back to see where he was looking and instinctively going to pull her sleeves over her wrists, ‘oh, these? Cool, right? Look at my hair as well!’

Kaira dangled her hair in front of her face, and Leo saw how her dark orange hair was now infused with black highlights that matched her markings.

‘So, do you think you’re a tiger?’ Leo asked.

‘I guess. What other animal would a ginger be?’

‘You could have been an orangutan,’ Bailey suggested, smiling as Kaira froze.

‘Yes, yes, we’re all extremely impressed. But can we just take a moment to figure out what we’re going to do now?’ Dorian tried bringing them back to more pressing matters, but instead he only inspired Leo to look for his changes.

Dorian’s hair was the same. A dark brown infiltrated with lighter patches that were almost red. The only noticeable change was in his nose, which was going a little yellow.

‘Only once you tell me what’s new with you,’ Leo demanded, continuing to stare.

‘If you must ask such ponderous questions before we can do what we came here for, then fine. My eyesight is the biggest difference, although I can’t really test that while standing in the middle of a forest.’

Dorian arched his back slightly and reached over his shoulder to give it an itch.

‘Oh, and I've got stumps growing from the top of my back,’ he said, almost as if he had expected them to be there.

‘Standard,’ Leo nodded.

‘Wait, you have stumps growing too?’ Bailey excitedly looked at him.

‘Don’t get your hopes up, Bailey. I think Dorian’s growing himself a pair of wings,’ observed Kaira, peeking down his top.

‘Great,’ said Bailey, sinking to the floor.

‘So Dors is becoming a bird whilst Kai is a tiger … Bailey I cannot figure out what you are yet,’ Leo thought out loud.

‘Oh, can you not? Stop being polite, Leo, and just look at me,’ Bailey said, throwing her hands up, ‘it is obvious!’

‘Nothing is obvious yet, Bailey,’ Kaira said.

‘I guess that’s true. I just have lumps growing from beside my massive nose, so it is pretty hard deciphering if I’m an elephant or a bloody walrus!’

‘Don’t worry, we are going to be gone soon,’ Leo reminded her.

‘Anyway, Leo. You’ve stared at us, so can we just take a second to laugh at your hair,’ Kaira said, giggling as she sat beside Bailey.

‘Why? What’s wrong with it?’

Now incredibly long and thick, Leo’s hair had an almost straw-like texture. He tried his best to settle his new bushy mane, but to no avail.

‘Well at least you will now appreciate a bad hair day,’ Kaira smiled, stroking Bailey’s back as they sat on top of the rocky mound in the centre of the clearing.

‘He’s still a boy. Like he will care how his hair looks,’ laughed Bailey, just as Leo shrugged his shoulders and let his hair do its own thing, bouncing with each step as he wandered over to join them.

‘It is what it is,’ agreed Leo, ‘anyway, before Dorian gets us side-tracked with our appearances again, how long have you guys been here? Where’s Devolo?’

‘We woke about half an hour ago. But we’ve no idea where he is,’ answered Dorian, looking towards the path they had emerged from.

‘We were lucky to find you,’ Kaira exclaimed, ‘who knows how big this place is.’

‘So, we’ve been abandoned by him in his world? Not exactly ideal,’ Leo sighed as he looked around the clearing, stumped on which way to go. They had come all this way, and yet there was still so much to figure out.

As he thought, a shuffling sound came from the trees above them as something made its way across the skyline. As soon as Leo looked up, whatever had made the noise had completely disappeared into the tall trees.

‘I guess this is a job for your new and improved eyesight, Dors,’ Leo teased.

‘I think we’re being watched,’ replied Dorian, his eyes fixated in the direction of one of the larger trees with a long, light brown trunk that was topped with branches full of bright green leaves.

‘Watched by what?’ Bailey asked, rising to her feet as quietly as possible.

‘I’m not sure. But whatever it is, is coming this way.’