FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Body Snatcher"

By Patrick D. Lambert

Teryx stumbled into his apartment, quickly falling to his knees. The sky-blue dragon began to feel dizzy after leaving the gym, and the sensation worsened on his way back home. Now his entire body felt heavy and it was hard to control it. Not even those mornings when he woke up after sleeping less than 4 hours had left him so exhausted.

Leaning against the closest wall, Teryx struggled to get back up on his feet. Each movement demanded his absolute concentration, regardless of its simplicity--dragging his paw forward some inches got him frustrated and tired. His vision blurred unless he stared directly. The heartbeats increased, along with his anxiety. All fingers tried desperately to grasp anything close enough, afraid of falling again.

With great effort, he managed to reach the living room just in time to fall over the sofa. But rather than feeling better, his dizziness increased and the entire room began to spin around him. Teryx held from the armrests, afraid of being thrown away.

His head got all scrambled. Fragments of memories of what he did that day disappeared as his symptoms increased. He couldn't formulate a single thought, unable to link the words together. So the dragon sat there without an answer about what was going on with him. And with nothing left to do, Teryx waited for the symptoms to stop, gnashing his fangs as a way to contain his desperation.

But nothing happened. After seconds that felt like minutes, Teryx didn't see an improvement from his affliction. In fact, it got worse the more he waited. The room continued spinning and his body felt heavier than before. And now, added to that, the dragon experimented a pressure on his chest as if something was pushing against it.

Teryx grunted and tried to take off his shirt. The tank top absorbed most of the sweat from the effort to reach his apartment, and it splashed some of the white tiles after he threw it to the floor. He looked around for anything that could offer some type of comfort, finding nothing at reach. His fingers ran through the golden mane, and Teryx dared to pull it, finding out how numb his body was, as it didn't hurt at all.

He was feeling awful. He couldn't even think of a day in life when he had felt worse. That moment was the worst one. Teryx wished to put an end to it. And that's when he heard the voice again, loud and clear.

"You are mine."

The scare was enough to make him jump away from the sofa. Teryx turned on his heels. His golden eyes inspected everything behind the sofa. Unlike the previous times, he heard the voice right next to him, and it was too real to assume he hallucinated it.

The heaviness came back to his body, but the shot of adrenaline helped the dragon to stay on his paws. For some reason, he was convinced someone was in the house with him and proceeded to inspect behind the furniture, truly expecting to find someone there. But he was alone, and as he came to that conclusion, he also felt the energy slipping through his fingers.

Before that could happen, Teryx rushed to the bathroom, hoping a splash of cold water could help him regain some control. He was feeling tired now, and his eyelids got heavier. The dragon had a bad feeling that going to sleep was a bad idea, even when it was exactly what his body was demanding.

The feeling that someone else was with him followed him across the hallway leading to the bathroom. Even when he had no evidence of that, he couldn't get it out of his head. He was sure of the existence of an unknown presence. He just knew it. But wasting his time trying to resolve an already confusing issue wouldn't help him at that moment.

He walked into the bathroom pushing the door open with his shoulder. His vision blurred again. Teryx walked with his hands forward, trying to find a sink that he knew very well where it was. And when he finally reached it, he let out a sigh of relief for getting back some balance to his shaky body. He was now getting a headache.

Using both hands, he splashed some water on his face, which slightly reduced his dizziness. All the other symptoms continued. Teryx stared at his reflection. The dragon there was visibly tired, with an expression of disgust on his wet face. Grunting, he splashed some more to clean himself from all that sweat.

When he looked back at the mirror, all that disgust transformed into fear, and the dragon jumped away from the sink. In his eyes, Teryx caught a flash of blue. He didn't dare to approach again, but even from there, he saw the color of his eyes was still golden. Did he hallucinate that? No. The dragon was sure of what he saw. His eyes were blue for an instant.

"Stop fighting."

The voice again. Listening to it caused Teryx to jump again. The blue dragon got out of the bedroom and rested against the wall in front of him. Immediately afterward, Teryx felt something pushing from inside his chest.

"W-what's going on?" Teryx muttered and dragged his paws toward his room.

The weird sensation continued. With each step he took, Teryx hunched and pressed his hand hard against his chest, as if that could help to contain whatever was trying to get out.

"Stop resisting. Give up."

There was it again. As he walked into the messy bedroom, Teryx looked all around him, expecting to catch the stranger standing behind him. But no matter how real the voice sounded, the dragon couldn't find anyone.

"What the fuck is going on?" Teryx repeated in a desperate tone.

He fell over the bed and rolled on the sheets, holding tightly to them as his grasp on reality grew weaker. Nothing of what was going on made any sense to him. His mind couldn't make a single logical thought. And that pressure against his chest not only had increased, but it also expanded to his head. Teryx grunted as he began to feel something growing in his mind, trying to get free.

With his mind being squeezed against the invisible walls of his conscience, Teryx came up with the only crazy idea that brought some light to his problem: there was someone else inside him. The ridiculous idea made him question his own sanity, but nothing else felt close enough to explain his malaise than the possibility that another being was forcing its way out from inside him.

"Yes, you are getting crazy."

His voice followed him even under the sheets. Teryx grunted and fell off the bed. He was sure of the voice he heard, and no one was close to him, so it must have come...

"...from the inside," the dragon muttered the last words of what was the first complete thought he had made since he got dizzy.

He stood up with great effort and went to open the window to get some fresh air. When he was at that, he caught in his reflection an intense blue glow coming from his eyes, and the mark of a crescent moon on his brow. Teryx's face distorted in horror, but his reflection didn't change.

"You can't escape from me," the dragon in the mirror said.

Teryx considered running out of his building while screaming he had someone inside. But even doing something that wild was no longer among his options, not with the heaviness coming back from his body. He only stepped back from the mirror before getting too exhausted to move.

"You are gonna be mine, no matter how hard you try to escape," this time, the words came from the reflection. Teryx saw a white star pattern manifested on his face.

Again, something pressed from inside his head. Rather than pain, Teryx felt a strange discomfort. He could swear something was pushing him out. He felt the hands and paws over his back and head. And that presence grew in size with each passing second.

"Big, dumb dragon, fighting against something you don't understand."

Another push. Teryx grunted. His tail lashed from side to side, throwing everything in its path. His headache increased when the presence began to push even harder. His grunt turned into a deep growl as he grew desperate for not having control over his own body. Even taking a single step became an impossible task for the dragon. It was like being in a grueling arm-wrestle against someone equally stronger but with higher endurance.

"Fight as much as you want. You can't push me out. I'm inside you. I'm a part of you. And now I will become you. Resist as much as you can, it only makes things harder for you."

He perceived a cocky tone in the voice. Now more than ever he wanted it to be real so he could erase that smile from his face. Teryx growled until smoke came out from his mouth, a gesture that rather than scare the strange presence entertained him.

"You can be as proud as you want to. But you feel me now. You listen to me now. You know I'm inside you. You can feel it as I expand inside your mind. Taking more and more space. Pushing away your thoughts and memories, your very soul. You are gonna turn into nothing but a mere empty shell for me to control."

Listening to his words sent a shiver across his body. Despite how serene his tone was, the message behind them was terrifying. Teryx struggled to find a solution to his problem, but how could he stop someone from growing inside him? The question sounded stupid. He felt stupid for asking that. And he still couldn't come up with an answer. How could he? Until that afternoon, being pushed out of his body wasn't a problem.

"Keep trying. Nothing's gonna change. I'm already inside. I'm crushing your mind. I'm taking what it's mine."

"Th-this is MY body!" Teryx exclaimed with huge effort. He clenched to the anger burning in his chest, fueled by the prepotent tone in the stranger's voice.

"Not anymore. You can't be as angry as you want. Nothing's gonna change. Growl and scream as much as you want. Kick inside whatever is left of this mess you call your mind. You can't stop me from taking over."

Teryx knew, strangely, that the voice was right. More and more memories disappeared with each passing second. Treasured memories faded to black, and both names and faces got blurred until he couldn't recognize them. Anger alone wasn't enough to stop the advance of the presence inside his head.

"Keep struggling. It won't change a thing. You are only delaying the inevitable. Feel as you lose control but not awareness of your limbs. Feel as I take control over a body you can still feel. You are becoming a mere spectator of what it's about to become my life. I will be Teryx. And you are gonna be a faceless memory."

Just like the voice said, Teryx whined when the connection with his body got cut out. For a brief instant, he felt lighter, and it terrified him. But the sensation was still there. His legs, his arms, his torso, everything was still there and Teryx felt it. He couldn't see how that was a good thing.

"Give up. You can't stop me. Feel the way I expand, taking control of the body you once moved. It belongs to me now. And you belong to me too. A mindless, nameless spectator of a life you won't even remember was yours. I will keep you inside, watching in silence how I give Teryx a better life than you did."

Cut out from controlling his body, Teryx directed all his efforts to fight back the presence stepping over him. The dragon noticed he was no longer being pushed out, but rather shoved into a tight space, like a wardrobe. And he couldn't stop it from happening.

"You notice it now, right? Yes. That will be your place. A small room in the corners of my mind, where I'll keep you locked. A place from where you can watch me going on with my new life. And you won't be able to do anything but watch. And feel. And I will make you feel so many, many things."

He was feeling tired. The more he resisted, the more the stranger pushed him into that corner. He didn't want to be there. Why? The dragon couldn't remember.

"Watch. And feel. You won't have to worry about anything ever again. I will take care of your entire life. And you will watch and enjoy. A life without worries. A perfect life for you to enjoy. All you gotta do is stop fighting. And it will be yours."

That...! That... that didn't sound too bad, did it? The dragon snapped out of it and pushed the presence back, only to forget again why was he fighting. Each memory had lost all meaning, and he questioned his struggle. Nothing but a hunch told him to fight back, and he continued doing so, losing confidence with each passing second. What was the point of it? Who was he fighting? Where was he going? ... who was he?

"Yes. Good. Stop thinking. Stop fighting. Just walk into your room. Quiet. Obedient. And I will reward you. You won't have to worry about anything ever again. Just stop fighting and obey."

Obey... who? And why? It didn't matter. He was too exhausted to think about anything else. His hunch got drowned under the voice coming from his mind, and he didn't see a reason to resist. The dragon was pushed carefully and locked in the little room gifted by Teryx. The new Teryx.

Outside, the empty vessel stretched as its rightful owner finally took control. He closed his eyes and growled as his body began to transform, getting taller and stronger to match his actual power. The already tight clothes were torn apart when they could no longer contain his muscles. The sky blue scales adopted a darker tone; added to the star pattern on his face, it gave Teryx a completely new appearance.

Deep growls came from his throat as Teryx struggled to adapt to his body. It was so different from the real one, and he needed to get used to the new center of gravity before daring to take a step forward. It was good Teryx didn't have wings; it made it less complicated.

Moments, Teryx relaxed his muscles and took a good look at himself. He wasn't the first dragon he possessed, but it was by far the best one.

"Much better," he said after flexing a couple of times. Then he looked up, not at the roof, but at the drone now living in his head. "And now, time to teach you how to use this body properly."