The Prologue of a series. Multiple authors contributed to this one, I continued it. Read this first.

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“Please..... Can you hear me?"

Troy looked around, confused.

Everywhere he looked was darkness. A moment ago, he’d been laying down in bed, trying to fall asleep. And then…he was here.Troy guessed that it was probably a dream. And yet, for a dream, it was strangely empty of scenery, actions, or anything else, really.

Instead, an infinite void stretched out to the horizon.

“Is anyone there?” It was a girl’s voice.

Troy turned his head in the infinite void, trying to track down the sound of her voice. Then, he spotted her.

The girl-a woman, he realized-was wearing a silver dress, a few bracelets and anklets, but no shoes or socks, the dress falling down to her ankles. Her hair was black, but like an oil slick was black, with a rainbow of colors shimmering along its surface. She had skin that was pale but she was clearly Hispanic.

“Please, can you hear me?” The woman said again, her eyes staring sightlessly into the void.

Troy realized she couldn’t see him.

“Hello?” Troy called to her.

The woman’s face lit up.

“Thank God I managed to contact someone! Please, I don’t know who you are, the spell doesn’t work that way, but I need your help! My name is Saphira.”

“Okay?” Troy asked. “My name is Troy.”

“Troy.” Saphira smiled. “I’ve lost control of something very important. If I don’t get it back, the whole world will suffer.”

“What is it?” Troy asked, intrigued with the dream now.

“A Book that can conjure and create Myths.” Saphira said. “It’s one of the Seven Ancient Tomes, The Books of Power.”

“That…does sound powerful. So do you know where it is?”

“My brother has it.” Saphira’s eyes shined with tears. “Normally, in the hands of someone nice, the Books can bring great joy to this world. But my brother… he’s a monster.”

“So why contact me?” Troy asked.

“Because if I managed to contact you, that means you must be near a Book of Power. Which means you can fight my brother on relatively equal grounds.” Saphira smiled. “I can try to help you when I can, but my access to the Book of Myth is limited.”

“Wow. Pretty contrived stuff.” Troy yawned and rolled his eyes. “This dream has more holes in the plot than Swiss cheese.”

"Wait!" She cried. "This is not a dream. Well, shit, yes, it is a dream, but it's not a dream. Let me explain. The only way I could contact you was with a summoned creature. And no, I don’t know where these Books come from."

“Okay.” Troy said, crossing his arms.

Until he woke up, he didn’t have anything better to do but listen.

“But I *do* know that the Books get more powerful with every Book you own. I’m not just asking for your help, I’m warning you that soon, seven people are going to be drawn into the conflict.”

“Oh, I see,” Troy nodded. “It’s like one of those death game mangas. Fate/Stay Night and Zatchbell, but with magic books.”

“I have no idea what those are.” Saphira seemed annoyed, “But with the summoned creatures I’ve been in contact with, I managed to find out what the seven Books are.”

“And?”

“They are:

"The Book of Beast: This book gives control over all animals. With it, you can command any animal to do any bidding for you. That is not the book's only power though. Whoever owns the book will also gain the ability to transform themselves or others into animals, or partway. For example, if they wanted, they could just give themselves the claws of a beast to increase attack power, or a monkey tail for an extra arm. You can make anyone with this book any combination of man and beast."


"The Book of Time: This book is a powerful book that grants one the power of chronomancy. They can use this power to change the flow of time of others, making them younger, or older, or even stop them from aging ever again. It also has abilities such of that as freezing time, freezing just certain individual's in time, or even traveling through time. Probably the best ability of this book is that whoever owns it is immune to time paradoxes."


"The Book of Body: This book gives one control over the shape of their own and others' bodies. For example, they could make themselves more and or less muscular, and thus stronger or weaker, as well as make them and others larger or smaller. Another power of this book is to change the gender of the one a spell is being cast on. Basically, it can change one's body in any way without changing its species, or giving it a supernatural ability. For example, if you give one wings they will not be able to fly."


"The Book of Transmutation: While most books give you power over other people, this book gives you the power over the inanimate. You can transmute one substance into another with this book. For this reason, it is often sought by alchemists who want to transmute lead into gold. However, the book has one extremely formidable power. If used on a living creature, it can transmute them into an inanimate object."


"The Book of Myth: The Book of Myth is similar to the Book of Beast. However, instead of controlling nearby animals, you gain the ability to summon and command fantastic creatures such as dragons, phoenixes, and unicorns. However, a warning. The wielder of this book's willpower must be stronger than the creature summoned or they will break loose of his control. For this reason, it's best to summon benevolent creatures who could understand your need for them. The tome also had an alternate ability like the Book of Beast, that allows the owner to transform themselves or others fully or partly into the fantastic beast you could summon. The form of everything from a simple elf to a fearsome dragon can be achieved through this book."


"The Book of Mind: This powerful tome allows one to alter the mind of another. While they can not enslave the mind of another, they can alter their memories to make them think they were loyal to the wielder, or to make them think they're something else all together. It's a powerful book in the right hands, though lesser minds who use it will find themselves in ruin."


"The Book of Arcane: Possibly the most sought after book. This book does not contain the ability to alter oneself or other people or objects like the other books, but instead contain the power of arcane magic. Everything from throwing fireballs, to summoning a thunderstorm can be achieved through this book."

“Obviously, the Book of Myth is in my brother’s possession.” Saphira finished. “So you won’t have that one.”

"This seems relatively complex for a normal dream." Troy responded.

"I suppose that you won’t believe that this to be something other than a dream until you receive the book in reality and witness its power." Saphira said sadly. “Just be careful with your Book. It can destroy you if used incorrectly. Good luck.”

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Troy woke up, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

What an amazing dream! Some of the Books he’d seen were amazing. Hell, with the Book of Transmutation, he could literally print money. No, wait, with the Book of Time, he’d live for as long as he wanted, go back in time and undo mistakes he’d made. The Book of Body was a bit…well, lame. He wasn’t ugly.

At 6’0 even, he was a relatively nice looking young man, 25 years old, just out of college. He had short-cut brown hair and a bit of a goatee growing on his chin, and a thin, mildly athletic build. Troy never had trouble finding dates, considering he was bi. He yawned again and looked at the clock. 7 AM on a Saturday.

Ugh.

Part of him wanted to go back to bed, sleep in during his precious moments on the weekend. Another part knew that his best friend, Dustin, was asleep on the couch in his living room/kitchen combo and they hadn’t cleaned up after playing League together until 2 AM. If he let it go, the mess would pile up and he’d never get around to cleaning it until his parents showed up and shamed him for being a dirty bachelor.

He rolled out of bed and stretched, tendons and sinews popping pleasantly, and got dressed in his usual. A t-shirt and mesh shorts, for when he worked around the house. Then he laboriously went to the bathroom and emptied his bladder. It was a long piss. He’d down a two-liter of Mountain Dew before bed.

Stumbling towards his door, he walked out into the living room.

He looked around and sighed. A mess. Two boxes of pizza were on his counter, soda cans were everywhere. Dustin, his best friend since middle school, snoring on the couch. He was a bit different than Troy. Chubby, curly brown hair, he was mostly unemployed. Dustin lived with his girlfriend but he would often stay over with Troy, especially on night when their game group would play DnD together.

Or when he got into a fight with his girlfriend, Amy.

He quietly started shoving everything into a garbage bag, then paused when he reached the coffee table their two laptops sat on. Near Dustin’s outstretched hand lay a large, leather-bound tome. The Book of Beast was stamped into the cover in gold-leaf. Troy placed a hand on it and found it warm and thrummed at his touch. He pulled his hand back. It tingled a little from the contact.

Wait, wasn’t that one of the Books he’d seen in his dream? Hesitantly, he reached over and picked it up. It had to have weighed at least five pounds, hefty for a book this slim. The thrumming grew as he lifted it away from the coffee table and Dustin’s hand, until it jarred his bones. Then it went silent.

Troy blinked, aware something significant had just happened, but unsure what that might be. He flipped through the pages and recognized the spells that lay within. Just like his dream…

I. Summon Animal
To summon an animal and take control of it is quite simple. Just speak the command word "companion" and concentrate on the animal you wish to summon. The closest animal of that species will be transported to you. It normally consumes very little energy to summon an animal, and you can spend a little more to summon a specific animal, for example your pet. A summoned animal is normally easy to control, as most normal animals have a weak willpower.

II. Familiar
This spell allows you to form a permanent bond with an animal of your choice. The spell puts some of your power into the animal, and even allows you to grant the animal the ability to cast some of your spells. The command word is 'Familiar'. It consumes a large amount of energy to initially cast the spell, however requires no energy to maintain it, and the familiar is often able to supply you with extra energy. A last note, you can communicate telepathically with your familiar.

III. Beast Shape
This spell allows you to transform yourself or another target into an animal of your choice. You must speak the command word 'shape' and focus on the animal you want. To designate a target, point at what you what to transform. If you do not point at a target, you will transform yourself. This spell requires very little energy.

IV. Half Shape
This spell allows you to transform yourself or another partially into an animal. Point at a target to designate it, or if you don't point at a target you will transform yourself. The command word to initiate the spell is 'Half'. This spell can be used to make the target any part animal and part human. You can do something quite simple as just a tail, make one 50% each, or even just have them only retain their abilities to speak in the human tongue. This spell requires a mild amount of energy.

V. Control Animal
This spell is similar to summon animal, but was made to be used on hostile animals. It allows you to completely take control of that animal and order them to do your own bidding. It requires only a mild amount of energy to use, and the command word is 'control'.

VI. Borrow
This spell does not control or manipulate an animal in any way. Instead, it just allows you to temporarily borrow the animal's senses. Basically, if you use this spell on a bird flying in the sky, you'll be able to see everything the bird sees, and could use that to get a general idea of the area or who else is in the area. It requires only a mild amount of energy. The command word is 'borrow' and you must focus on the animal you wish to see through.

VII. Control
This spell is a stronger version of borrow. While borrow only allows you to borrow the senses of an animal, control allows you to transplant your soul in an animals body in order to have full control of the animal. It can be used to scout, or. In the event the caster is near death, this spell has sometimes been used to transfer their soul so they could live on as an animal. It will not effect humans though. The command word is 'transfer' and you must concentrate on the animal you wish to control.

VIII. Mass Summon
This spell allows you to summon either one of two groups of animals. You can either summon all animals in a given area, or a large amount of one particular type of animal. The spell's command word is 'mass summon' and requires about twice as much energy as a normal summon animal spell.

IX. Mass Transform
This spell works like the beast shape spell, but effects a large area. The caster can pick a type of animal such as felines, or a particular animal such as wolf, but can not select the spell to turn everyone in the area into a different type of animal. The spell's command words are 'mass transform' and the caster must focus on the area and the animal or animal type. If the caster is in the area he will be effected. The spell consumes a large amount of energy.

X. Mass Half Shape
This spell works like Half Shape, but allows the caster to effect a general area. The same rules apply of animal and animal type as in mass transform, and requires a large amount of energy as well. The command words are 'Mass Half'. If the caster is in the area he will be effected by the spell as well.

"This is insane..." Troy muttered to himself as he looked over the book a little more.

The rules were printed clearly on the front page, but they were painfully vague. It was clear, based solely on his experience with it a few moments ago, that it was an object of great magical power. But what did it mean by spells requiring energy? And would anyone know if they had been transformed? Or would the world just assume everything was normal?

And, more importantly, why had he been given such a lame-ass Book? It was worse than Body, for crying out loud! Control over animals? Pfft, who fucking cares when he could have had a Book that made him immortal or gave him mind control powers or, at the very least, a bigger dick!

“Wait, wait, how the fuck do I even know this is real?” Troy muttered to himself. “This just doesn’t happen in real life. I need to calm down. Evaluate the situation.”

Troy walked the Book back to his room and set it on his bed, near his Desktop computer, where he had a full streamer set-up. He;d tried his hand at being a pro-game streamer. It hadn’t been working out so far. But…if the Books were real, he’d never have to worry about anything as petty as a full-time job. He could be a fucking God!

He shook away the thought and went back to cleaning. What he needed was to calm down, stop his heart from racing, from beating so hard he could feel it thumping against his chest. If it were real, and he wasn’t saying it was, then….well, wouldn’t it be easy to disprove if it wasn’t?

All he’d need to do was cast a spell and get confirmation of the fact, right?

Troy continued tidying up the house, taking out the trash, mind running through scenarios. If it were true that he had a Book, then it stood to reason that other people would also have received Books. People he didn’t know. Would they clash? Could he win?

Troy shoved the thoughts from his mind. One thing at a time. He needed a test subject.

"This is insane..." Troy muttered to himself as he looks over the book a little more.

There just seemed to be so much power stocked in it. But what did it mean by spells requiring energy? And would anyone know if they had been transformed? Or would the world just assume everything was normal? Troy figured it'd best to just try something easy. Half beast shape seemed to have the least amount of consequences if it went wrong. He lived alone. And it didn't say anything about him becoming a wild animal.

Troy thought about a lion's tail and said, "Half."

He felt a minor shock, a shiver of cold rushing down his spine, and tasted copper in his mouth.

A lion’s tail was long, covered in tawny fur and had a bit of a tuft of fur at the end. He focused on it more and more, thinking about what it would be like if it was behind him. The more he thought about it, the more he could feel his spine elongating. The appendage drooped further and further down his back and swayed behind his legs. Golden fur quickly grew in covering it completely and then a dark brown puff ball grew in at the tip.

It took a second to register.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" he screamed as he spun around trying to grab at the tail, not quite realizing that it was spinning right along with him.

When he finally touched it and felt the feeling rush through him, he paused.

"It actually worked..." Troy stood there a bit astounded that something like that was possible. He continued to pet it as the bit of disbelief still held onto him.

"It actually worked..." he repeated.

Now his mind was running wild.

If this was possible then the other spells would also be possible. However, he still didn't understand what it meant by energy. It's not like he really felt tired. Not much more than usual. But then the excitement of having a tail really excited him. He kicked off his shoes.

"Half," he said again. This time focusing on his feet. Troy made sure not to close his eyes this time.

He wanted to see what was happening.

Through his socks, Troy could see the bones in his feet start reshaping. Each of his toes grew larger and more round. Thick black claws jutted from his socks, tearing them apart. The stretchy fabric couldn't hold their growth. Each foot rapidly grew wider and fuller. He could feel the bones stretching longer of the midpart of his foot. No longer did he feel like his heels should touch the floor as the forefront of his foot grew so wide and full that he could easily step on it.

Looking under his foot, he could see paw pads swelling underneath each toe and his foot.

"Woah..." he chuckled as he touched the sensitive pads.

Golden fur ran up his feet and to his calves. Troy stood up. It was shaky at first as he had to adjust to standing on his tip toes. But it was a quick adjustment as he took a few steps. "This really really works!" troy cheered.

His next stop was the bathroom. He stared at the mirror.

"Half!" the excitement was getting the better of him.

He instantly focused on his face. He watched as his teeth became to sharpen. They quickly grew far too large for his mouth. But that was quickly changing as his jaw pushed further out in front of him. It transformed more and more into a maw. His nostrils no longer pointed down, instead they pushed forward as his nose turned a bit more pink and black. He touched at his snout. Whiskers started to grow along with the golden fur.

Troy hadn't even realized as his ears migrated to the top of his head.

They quickly rounded out. His hair turned dark brown and billowed out from all sides. It grew long and wild. Completely untamed and untamable. He smiled through his maw as he looked over the wild hair and fur covering his lion face. "Half!" he said again without hesitation.

He was thinking of the rest of his body.

Imagining it like the fursonas he'd seen online. Instantly he could feel the strength of a lion filling his human muscles. Each one started to bulge more and more. The shirt and shorts he was wearing couldn't hold the 570 pounds of muscle building on his body. Pecs pushed far out in front of him. A bit of a belly formed underneath them but it only made him look all the more imposing. His arms and legs grew to accommodate the new weight. His mane pressed against his 8 foot ceiling.

"AWESOME!" Troy roared, leaning back to full effect.

Then leaning back against the sink to get a better view. His massive black claws ejected from his fingertips scraping the counter.

"Better learn to control that..." but he went to feeling his new feline face.

Troy wanted to examine every bit of his new body. However, he wondered what else this book could do.

There came a loud knock on his front door.

"Shit!" he called out trying to make himself as small as possible. But in his massive lion form, that would be anything but possible. “Go away!”

"Yo! Troy! I need you to open up man! Now!"

"Dustin?" Troy recognized the voice. "Shit. I can't look like this." He grabbed the book. "Sh-shape" the word stumbled out of his mouth as he tried to think of his human form.

It took a little bit of thought but he could feel the muscles, fur, claws and fangs disappearing.

"There..." he angerly glared at his reflection.

Even though it'd just been a few moments, he was still missing that lion form. Part of him still was upset that he couldn't keep it. But he needed to test some things first. And until he knew what this book was capable of, he needed to make sure that he kept it a secret.

He opened up his door and Dustin barged in.

"Dude. You have to hide me. Amy's pissed off again."

"And you came here?" Troy asked. He knew Dustin and Amy's relationship were a bit on the rocks. Normally he had to be a had to be a hiding spot for Dustin. However, Amy quickly caught on. "She's going to come straight here."

Troy crossed his arms, even more annoyed that he had to change back into his human form.

"That's why you have to hide me," Dustin said.

He was already looking for hiding spots. Somehow thinking that putting himself into a closet or in between the couch and coffee table would be enough to hide his adult body.

"Your car is in the driveway!" Troy shouted.

"Shit! You're right! Damn it!" Dustin looked out the window. "Motherfucker! She's here! Hide me man! Hide me!"

Troy felt his anger boiling over. He grabbed the book.

"SHAPE!" he shouted as he pointed at his friend.

Dustin looked over at him.

"Huh? What was that woof?" Confusion hit him quickly. "Whaoof woof!" a long tongue lolled out of his mouth.

He kept barking, but his tongue kept flying all over the place as slobber dripped from it. He tried to take a step forward but tripped, dropping down onto all fours. His feet had already started shifting into paws. The bones shrank in size and his toes shifted and molded into thinner ligaments. All the while his nails turned pitch black and jutted further out than they had before. His big toe shifted up his leg.

Looking down, Dustin couldn't believe what was happening.

Seeing the brown and black fur erupt from his legs or seeing them thin out and the muscles shifter and mold into something completely different. He felt his shoes slip off his feet and shorts drop down under his paws. The fur continued to rid up his body and a tail pushed out of his spine.

"WOOF WOFF!" he barked as his hands followed in a similar way to his feet.

It was weird watching his thumb pull into his palm and then his palm stretch further and further back as his bicep shrank in size. The elbow joint was just barely a few inches away from his rib cage which had been changing to that of a dog’s.

Dustin shook his head as the muzzle pushed out in front of his face.

He could feel his nose grow wet and licked at it a few times. His ears had migrated to the top of his head turning into large points. For a second, he paused. Looking up at Troy he didn't know what happened. But looking back down at himself, he knew he was a dog, specifically a German Shepard. Brown and black fur covered his body.

"Listen," Troy panted. He suddenly looked a bit more tired than he had before. "You need to calm down. Okay? Listen to me."

"WOOF! WOOF!" Dustin continued to bark.

He jumped up onto Troy.

"Get down!" Troy shouted back. He grabbed Dustin by the shirt he was still wearing. It hadn't come off from the transformation. "You have to pre--"

That's when there was another knock on the door.

"TROY! DUSTIN! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE! NOW!" The two looked at the closed door, knowing full well Amy was on the other side of it.

Tory hissed at Dustin. "You have to be good. Okay?"

"Woof," Dustin almost looked like he nodded after the bark. He went to the other side of the couch and stood there.

Troy nodded. He reached for the door and opened it.

"Hey Amy," he tried to sound casual, but was a bit out of breath.

"Hey..." Amy's eyes narrowed. She looked a bit more worried than angry. But quickly flipped that switch. "Where's Dustin?"

"Huh?" Troy continued to try to act innocent.

"His car's in your driveway. Where is he?" Amy pushed past Troy. "You know what? Fuck it. Dustin, get your fucking ass out here!"

Dustin hid below the coffee table. The big dog couldn't quite fit properly and banged his head. Amy looked down.

"OH MY GOD! Look how cute he is! I didn't know you got a dog..."

"Uhh.. Yeah. It's really recent," Troy said.

"Is that why you look so tired?" Amy asked. "Has this little guy been keeping you up all night?"

She spoke in a higher pitch as she looked down at Dustin. Dustin's tail began to wag. Even he seemed confused by it.

"Is he a good boy? Hmm? Are you a good boy?" Dustin barked but kept his distance on the other side of the couch. Amy looked back at Troy. "Is it alright if I pet him?"

Troy made eye contact with Dustin. "I think so. He's still getting used to the place, but I think it should be fine."

His eyes narrowed and Dustin seemed to calm down a bit. When Amy sat down on the couch, he went and sat down next to her, allowing her to pet him.

"I see Dustin likes playing pranks..." she glared as she touched the shirt the dog was wearing. "What's his name?"

Troy felt himself choke a bit.

"His name? Ummm... Rosco," he answered. "Yeah. His name's Rosco."

Dustin barked at the answer.

However, Amy misinterpreted it. "Well Rosco, are you a good boy? Hmmm? You're a good Rosco? Bet you don't go find other dogs around the block to get knocked up? Hmmm? Do you Rosco? Hmm?"

Dustin's ears folded back. His tail wagging slowed to an almost stop.

"Is that what he did?" Troy glared at 'his' German Shepard.

"Apparently. Got the call this morning from a Susan. Once I said the name, he sprinted out the door. Figured he'd come here. Just tell him to come home when he comes back. Alright?" Amy said. "We've got a lot to talk about."

"Su-sure," Troy answered. "When I find him, I'll tell him to head home."

"Thanks," Amy said. She gave 'Rosco' a few more head pats and then headed out.

Once the door was closed, and Amy clearly gone, he turned his attention back to Dustin.

"Really!? You really got Susan knocked up!? I thought you were leaving right after me. But you stayed and waited for her. Didn't you? Damn it! You know what, I think you should stay a dog. At least for a little while."

Dustin started barking wildly. He put his front paws on the couch and barred his teeth.

"Down," Troy answered. But Dustin didn't listen.

Troy grabbed the book of the beast.

"Con-control," he stammered. His body swayed a bit. "Be a... Good boy."

Then fell forward onto the couch. Troy had exceeded his amount of energy and fell unconscious.

For a second, Dustin paused. The command took a bit to register. But he went to check on his master, licking him to make sure he was okay. Then laid down next to him.