FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Atop a mighty hill surrounded by a natural lake stood a small but sturdy tower. The stone was weathered, with some pieces dating back centuries and others having been replaced mere years ago. It stood as a monument to the dedication of the various mages and wizards who'd made use of the structure over the years, and while not the largest place in either size or popularity for the study of magic or archival of mystic arts it was nonetheless a respected and well frequented library.

In the dark of the night, lit only by the moon, a young man approached. A wizard by trade, he brushed his long, dark hair out of his eyes as he approached, pulling his archaic cloak tighter over himself. He never understood why it was that, despite the tower allowing modern devices such as phones and firearms, even having computers set up just like any mundane one, they enforced a dress code of these silly old robes and pointed, wide brimmed hats.

Still, at least it was a warm outfit, and he did appreciate the classic look. He pushed his glasses up, glad he only had to deal with the wind chill. The night was cold, but as he stepped near enough to the tower for its ambient aura to affect him, he began to grow warmer, before finally pushing the door open.

Wayne let out a sigh as he realized the building was empty. Of course it was. The tower itself was alive, in a way; it never directly communicated to those who entered the space, but nonetheless it was able to make its will well known. He supposed that an animate building would have relatively few options to properly communicate; it could move doors around, shuffle rooms, but it had never once altered any written text in itself, even that which was written on walls, beyond this relocation. He supposed that by being allowed in at all, the tower was welcoming Wayne into itself, although he could only guess as to why that was.

In any event, he was thankful that his journey was at least a safe one. He smiled when he turned around to see a fireplace, already lit, that hadn't been there before on the outside wall. To an outside observer, nothing would have changed, but for the apprentice mage it was a godsend. He eagerly sat down on the bare floor in front of it, enjoying the warmth for a few moments as he recalled what books he sought.

A flick of his wrist allowed a spark of the flame to come out of the fireplace, settling in his hand. He smiled down at the little spark, before pulling his phone out and gently sticking the flame inside. Within moments a new icon appeared on the screen, showing the flame as it wobbled and burnt, and when he tapped on it the image enlarged to fill his screen alongside a few directional pointers. It was a classic, simple spell, creating a flame and having it guide one towards a destination, but in his day and age folk often combined it with maps and machines as a safety measure against uncontrolled fire. He sometimes pondered why it was that some believed magic and science weren't two sides of the same coin, as if they couldn't be combined despite their innate differences.

The flame guided him as he began to explore the library tower's halls; lights turned themselves on and off as he walked, always highlighting wherever Wayne's phone would point him towards. The tower must have agreed with his end goal, or at least that was his guess, as it was easing his travel. Still, he was surprised when he passed directly by the rooms with actual, ancient books, in favor of being led to an area full of computers, and then sent further back into an archival room of otherworldly objects. Eventually, he found the flame glowing brightest as he pointed the phone at a loose box, and he opened it to see what was inside.

"Cassette tapes?"

Wayne nodded towards his roommate, the sweet young lady who he was splitting rent with. Aurora was only a little older than him; she kept her crimson hair tied back, and while he wore loose and baggy clothes even when not donning his magical garb, she wore much more tight and revealing outfits regularly. Wayne couldn't help but be jealous of her self-confidence, although it also didn't hurt that she was, frankly, the more successful of the two. Not learning magic meant she had more time to actually work a day job than he did, although he would never give up his mages gifts, not when he was naturally talented and had worked so hard to refine that into true skill.

"I don't know, either." he said, still holding the cool gray case in his hands. He'd accidentally picked one up with a worn out label, the text mostly torn away. He was at least able to make out a sticker left behind, depicting what he could only guess was a goat's head. "I wanted something to help give me a boost of magical strength, or some new stuff to learn, not some old mixtape from a parallel dimension."

Aurora nodded, gently taking the tape from his hands and looking over it. "Well, maybe in that dimension, people record their magic lessons into audiobooks?" she asked, turning it over in her grip. "This symbol here looks vaguely like magic, at least."

Wayne sighed, leaning back on their shared couch. "Maybe. Still, I'd definitely appreciate it if the box was actually like, labelled. But of course the library has to be all mysterious and shit." he muttered, before letting out a deeper sigh. "Well, whatever. Since both the library and my guide spell pointed to it, I guess it'll help me somehow."

Aurora handed the tape back to him, before standing up and stretching. "Well, give it a listen!" she said, before walking over to a drawer and digging around inside. It took a few minutes; as much as Wayne's magic was helpful in daily life, she had to wonder if making a drawer-of-holding was really the best idea when actually finding what she wanted required manual sorting. Still, as she pulled the old tape player out of the pile of loose electronics, joined by a set of headphones, she smiled, leaving them on the table.

"You can borrow my player, since I got all my tapes ripped anyway. Let me know how it goes, alright?" she said, and Wayne nodded before yawning.

"Yeah, sure, just... after I get some sleep, alright? If you're not back from work when I wake up I'll fill you in." he said, tossing the tape down with the player and making his way to the shared bedroom.

"Of course, dear~" Aurora teased, giggling when she saw him blush. "Alright, good sleep!" she said, as she gathered up her things and made her way out the door. Wayne, meanwhile, simply fell onto his designated bed, not bothering to pull off anything other than his socks as he buried himself in the covers for a deep, refreshing nap. He struggled to properly sleep at first, trying to get comfortable, but soon enough he was claimed by sleep.

By the time he woke up, it was already almost time for Aurora to return from work; Wayne would only have at most an hour or two before she returned. He sighed, looking at the tape player and considering listening, but he passed on it for the time being, leaving it where it was. Instead, he caught up on what he'd missed doing in the rush of last night; brushing his teeth, having a cool shower, and eating a simple breakfast. By the time he was finished, he realized that Aurora would likely arrive extremely soon. An odd bit of guilt and embarrassment ran through his system as he realized he still hadn't listened to the tape. With a deep breath, he popped it into the player, put on the headphones, and hit play.

The song started off slowly, a little haunting. Wayne settled onto the couch as he listened, taking in the calm yet sad feelings, looking down at his own body for a bit before closing his eyes. He wasn't sure why, but he felt oddly in tune with the music, as if it was reflecting him in some way. His skin prickled as the track continued, growing more full in instruments, the haunting feeling only growing. Like the song depicted a figure, burdened by their existence, seeking a way to change things for the better. He opened his eyes to examine the player, curious as to why this song was meant to help him, guessing it was meant more as a moral lesson than a practical one, but as soon as he looked over himself he paused, suppressing a scream of surprise.

Static was overtaking his skin, manifesting itself into reality in uneven chunks.

He panicked, jumping down onto the couch, watching the static overtake his whole body. Throughout this the music continued to play, soft bleats seemingly attempting to calm him even as the sad piece continued to play, shifting between chords as appropriate for the somber mood. His legs felt weak, his hands still, and his body warm; he wished for a moment that his clothing would vanish off his body as he felt an uncomfortable itching against his chest. After a second he remembered he had a spell for exactly that, a teleportation incantation; he didn't know if he was capable of the precision to only take his clothes off, but he felt oddly confident in his power, and so discomforted by the static building up under his shirt that he tried.

In an instant, it was done; he was now lying nude on the couch, which would've panicked him given Aurora could burst in at any moment if he wasn't already more perturbed by his changes. The music still kept on playing, and he only now realized it was likely responsible for the changes, but he dared not stop it yet; he knew from experience watching his peers attempt transfiguration spells that it was a crapshoot as to whether stopping such a change midway through would undo the progress or not, assuming it even worked. So for now, he took a deep breath, trying to stay calm as he twisted and turned on weakened legs, sticking together as he returned to an upright position.

He was growing taller, now; the static was starting to obscure his vision, but he was able to see enough of himself and the world around him to tell. In the brief moments before he was forced to shut his eyes again, he could see his nails turning a dark gray, matched by a bit of hair on his chest. While it grew in, coarse but soft, he realized it was actually wool; he raised a hand to feel it, but found his fingers touch was dulled, while they grew still more stiff, melting into each other to leave only three stiff digits.

His body was stinging, burning in a sense, but the music was growing more hopeful, more upbeat; still somber and serious, but in a way that was less evocative of tragedy and more of authority, of power. The burning sensation matched the feelings, his very being feeling strange, magical power flowing more strongly around him, his body tapping into it more closely. His legs were more than weak by now, they were outright vestigial; Wayne was unable to pull them apart at all, and his attempts amounted to flailing the new limb back and forth, feeling it brushing against the couch. His rear, meanwhile, wasn't feeling the fabric anymore, his body slowly floating upward.

He tried to open his eyes, but once more found resistance as his eyes could only open partway, letting out a soft, feminine bleat on cue with the track still playing into his... ears? His head felt funky, hard horns slowly growing out around his newly reshaped ears, and his face was forcing itself awkwardly into a blunt snout. He shook his head, confused by how much he felt... at ease, when he heard his new voice. He raised a hand up to feel around with his new hooves.

As Wayne explored himself, he continued to shift and change. Soft, dark wool was overtaking his chest, but the warmth he felt only kept growing as his body shifted. From his back, a pair of wings were beginning to grow, disconnected from his body but still just as real, flapping within his control. And in the front, while obscured by the thick, round wool, was a tenderness to his chest, pushing out into breasts. He let out a confused bleat, giving one a gentle squeeze, only to wince in pain as he still overdid it thanks to the hooves.

At what remained of his hips, he felt more oddly feminine changes occur. A small skirt was growing, just as sensitive as the rest of his flesh, and just as weightless as the rest of his new, ethereal body. His tail floated in the center of it, and he felt both his genitals and his butt fade away into it, although a small and sensitive spot remained in front, invisible unless one were to peek under the skirt. As the new clit formed, a small recess opening to fit, however, Wayne thought worriedly about how that would interact with floating everywhere.

The song was nearing its climax, bleats mixed in with ethereal pads and somber strings. It felt stern, but powerful; sad for the past, but hopeful for the future. Wayne wished he could feel the same way the enchanted tape did as his remaining human hair grew longer, a large tuft forming atop his head to rest between his horns, the rest floating behind him as his body literally swelled with cosmic power. A floating disk materializing above his head finalized the changes, and with it the static faded, letting him take in the new dark and pale blue-grays of his fur and wool, the gold of his halo-equivalent and tipped horns, the sheer towering height he had.

It was disorienting; he moved to sit up, and his head nearly brushed the ceiling. He tried to move forward, finding it awkward to move forward until he remembered he was flying, and when he did his new tail passed through the table in front of him. He wasn't yet sure where the player had vanished to; wasn't yet sure what he could do to undo the change. Still, he felt off, trying to acclimate to his new body. He blushed as he ran a hand through his wool, exploring his new chest, unsure why it felt... good, besides the obvious sensitivity.

Before he could properly explore himself any further, though, he heard the doorknob turning. Aurora was returning, and in a panic he rushed away, phasing through the building's wall, thankful for once that their shared apartment faced another building as it meant almost no one would see. Passing through a solid piece of brick and mortar was yet another disorienting experience that he struggled to process in the moment, but he set his fear aside for the moment, quickly casting a spell to spy on the apartment, only noticing afterward how quickly and easily it went despite his new vocal chords and stiff digits.

"Wayne? You awake?" Aurora asked, setting her bags down and looking around. She saw the missing player, and guessed that he'd listened to it, but she couldn't see him. She looked in the bedroom, then the bathroom just in case, but was visibly confused when she couldn't find him. "Wayne? Where'd you go?" she asked, not yet distressed but clearly confused. He hesitated, still feeling nervous about his new form, but dismissed the scrying spell and phased back inside.

"I'm, ah, here." he said, his voice far more ethereal, deeper than before and yet more feminine at the same time. Aurora turned around only to jump back in surprise at his appearance, but she didn't flee, instead simply looking over him with shock and surprise in her eyes, looking at what she could only describe to herself as a towering angelic ram ghost. Which Wayne had apparently transformed himself into while she was at work. After a few seconds, she began to approach, taking his hoof in her hands and gently feeling it.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Wayne's explanation was brief, but effective, and within a few minutes both were on the same confused page about what had happened to him. Aurora settled onto the couch, taking a moment to think, while Wayne clutched at the side of his new caprine head. While the transformation itself was only moderately painful, his head was starting to pound, his mind and body struggling to process the new sensations. He rested a hand on their kitchen counter, only to awkwardly adjust himself as something felt off about the plastic tools left on it.

"Well, this was caused by music, right? Maybe you can listen to something else to overwrite it?" Aurora asked, before pausing. "What would a human-transformation song even be like?"

Wayne let out a small, mournful bleat. "Damned if I know." he said, before picking his phone up and attempting to enter. No biometric would work, and his hooves proved ineffective for the touchscreen. Still, Aurora picked up on his intentions, taking her own phone out and opening up a music video before plugging in a set of headphones to pass to him. Unfortunately, after awkwardly jamming the headphones onto his new head, all that happened was that he got to test his new ears hearing.

Another sad bleat came from him as he took the headphones back off. "I'm sorry." Aurora said, and Wayne waved his arm dismissively.

"No, it's alright. It was a good idea, I just... can't get this song out of my head..." he replied, before realizing that despite the player being physically gone, alongside his clothes, it still existed in some way, inside himself. He paused for a moment, concentrating on his body as he tried to find the source of it.

Aurora looked at him with concern, but smiled when she saw his body starting to shift and wobble, static overtaking it once more. The process of turning back into a human was working; his wool shrunk away into body hair once more, legs reforming, natural skirt fading. It was far faster than the initial change, but no less alien; he stumbled and hurt himself as he suddenly wound up back on the ground, and his head was suddenly too light without the horns. He flexed his fingers and closed his eyes, the tape falling down next to him and popping out of the player on its own. Before he had the change to properly review it, however, he found himself collapsing and falling unconscious.

He awoke lying in bed, a blanket on top of him. Aurora was next to him, but at the shared computer, looking at something online. Wayne tried to groan, but his voice was still weak; he found himself forced to wait a little bit, sitting upright in the bed. His head was pounding still, but the pain was fading; conversely, fresh pain came from his shin and hand where he fell, although thankfully there wasn't any bleeding and minimal bruising. Although, as his shirt and blanket shifted atop his chest, something still felt off to him.

"Ah... Aurora?" he moaned, leading to her beaming as she got out of the chair to approach him.

"Shh, it's alright. How do you feel?"

"It hurts..." he said, adjusting himself a bit more. "But I'm fine, I think. That change was... intense."

"Looked like it." Aurora replied, running her fingers along his hand. "But I'm glad you're alright. I, um, couldn't find anything about this tape online." she said, before standing up to grab the plastic case from where she'd tossed it onto the bed. "I guess this doesn't normally exist in our world, or isn't well known on the internet. Do you recognize it?"

The tape had somehow restored the sticker label on it during the transformation. Wayne weakly took it in his hand, reading over the renewed text.

"Ramtasm."

Aurora nodded, sitting back down next to him. "The tape doesn't say anything about who made it or how it was made, but it seems to have a connection." she explained.

Wayne nodded, thinking back over his studies regarding magical storage. He recalled various methods one had to record a being's essence into an object, or seal them away wholesale. He wondered just why the hell the tower would have tapes with monsters recorded onto them, but as he looked more at the tape, he began to think more about it. He hadn't found himself met with a sudden headmate, and his own mind obviously still existed, so this wasn't a possession type artifact most likely. But it did contain a full creature, with new powers, strengths, weaknesses, which his magic and the tower both guided him towards.

"Aurora, I think... I might try using the tape again." he said, only for her to pull it from his hands gently.

"Look, I may not be a witch, but I know that doing something you know is dangerous twice in a row is just silly." she said.

"I know, but it felt... kinda good?" he said. "It's weird, yeah, but it's not bad... and I was guided to this for a reason, I think." he elaborated. Aurora nodded in understanding, but tossed the tape into her drawer anyway.

"Yeah, well, save it for after you recover. Even if it gets easier - and we don't know it will - you'll wanna be juiced up for it." she said, before giggling a little and sticking her tongue out. "So you stay in there until you've recovered! Doctor's orders~"

"A first aid course doesn't make you a doctor, you know." Wayne teased back, before coughing suddenly. Aurora just nodded, before easing him back into a lying position.

"Still better than what you know, Mr. 'Healing Bolt'!" she replied, before looking over the clock. "It's a good time to sleep anyway, really. Just... use your phone or something if you can't, I guess." she said, letting out a conveniently timed yawn as she trekked to her own bed, flicking the room light off.

"Good night, hon." Wayne said, and Aurora just gave a happy grunt in reply before she began to sleep. Wayne couldn't help but envy how she could enter true sleep quickly and easily, when he always was restless and often only fell asleep quickly when he was slouched over a desk trying to overwork himself. Still, at least it was convenient as an excuse for him to use his phone light to investigate himself in more detail despite the sharp pain in his skull and limbs.

Cautiously, he lifted up the blanket to investigate his chest, running a free hand along them. A quick spell to hold the blanket in place made this task easier, and he shivered and blushed a little at how oddly sensitive he felt, how his chest gently rose up higher than before. Out of curiosity, he squeezed a nipple, and found it to have a somewhat stronger sensation than before. Lifting his shirt, he looked more closely at his new chest, and realized something; although he'd returned to a human form, some changes from Rantasm must have leaked into it, such as... breasts.

At the very least, he still had a human penis. Although, as he paused and thought about it, reaching down to touch, he couldn't help but notice it was a bit... smaller, than he was used to. He vaguely recalled the few transfeminine folk he knew; he remembered talking about it with one, who mentioned almost casually that she'd shrunk when on hormones. Wayne at the time thought that he was just being a good ally, an invested listener, but as he started to think more on it, he was starting to have second thoughts, as these changes felt... good, better than before.

The nighttime came and went otherwise uneventfully; Aurora simply slept until the sun rose, while Wayne spent about half the night gently exploring the differences in his body and half actually sleeping. Still the sound of Aurora's work alarm forcefully brought them both back to consciousness, Wayne groggy as he found himself stuck getting out of bed anyway. He sighed as he looked over their closet, taking a selection of new clothes out, heading into the other room to change.

As he took his shirt and pants off, switching out his underwear, he found himself uncomfortable in his new clothes. Experimentally, he compared his two selected shirts; the clothes he was wearing while transformed had changed with him, fitting hips that were slightly wider, a body that was slightly taller, and breasts that were meaningfully present at all. Unfortunately for his physical comfort, this change wasn't a retroactive one, nor a widespread one; his old clothes were now ill-fitting, and he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't change further given he fully intended to experiment with the magic tape. Still, he forced himself into the clothes awkwardly, figuring he'd only be in this a short time anyway.

When his roommate stepped back into the room with him, he was doing his best to adjust his shirt. She yawned and stretched, moving to prepare food. "Sleep well?" she asked.

"Not really, no..." he said, before giving up on the shirt. "I think I'm feeling good enough to try the tape again, at least. I can undo the changes now, after all." He paused, looking around the room.

"I have the tape." Aurora said, pulling it from a surprisingly deep pocket in her skirt. "And this time, I wanna be here to watch. Alright?" she said, holding it tantalizingly in front of her roommate. "So let's wait until after work. It'll be a good excuse for you to get some more sleep in, if you had a hard time with it earlier."

Wayne nodded, slinking back into the bedroom and pulling his uncomfortable shirt back off. He was careful to wait a moment so that Aurora wouldn't see the small breasts; he knew objectively she wouldn't judge them, but somehow it felt a bit awkward to just strip in front of his roommate like this. "Alright, alright." he said, before remembering something. "Say, when did we pay rent last?"

Aurora took her own moment to pause in place, trying to remember. "Shit, you're right, I thought I forgot something." she said.

Wayne nodded back to her. "How about I pay it today?" he asked, digging around a drawer for his wallet. Aurora recognized the sounds of him rifling through it, before pulling her own out.

"You know, I can afford it." she reminded him, and he sheepishly turned to face her.

"Oh, yeah, I know... but can I pay it today? I'm staying here anyway." he explained, omitting how he was also going to use it as an excuse to talk with the landlord. Aurora took a deep breath, but relented as she handed him the cash.

"Alright, here you go." she said. "But I've gotta get to the bus in like, five minutes now. See you later~"

Wayne nodded, before trudging back into the bedroom and collapsing onto the bed. One hand drifted to his chest once more as he gently rubbed it, thinking about the tape. If it had caused this persistent change to him, then maybe it would... change him further, as he used it? It was an odd thought, and in some ways scared him. But in others, it was an odd comfort, like he'd been missing some piece of himself throughout his life.

He couldn't wait to get another chance to listen to the tape, once he woke up. And got permission to actually explore his new powers in full from the landlord.