Alex Becomes Mythical

Alex was cleaning his closet, trying to catch up on his spring cleaning. The closet was filled with clothes that he needed to give away, clothes that wear dirty, and miscellaneous items that he didn't know what to do with.

"Oh, what a bother," he said, throwing a sweaty shirt out into his room.

Eventually, he stumbled upon what looked like a jewelry box the size of his forearm. "Hmm, I don't remember this," he said to himself. Then again, he didn't exactly remember some other offbeat things he found so far either. But this object in particular really caught his eye. He picked it up, blew the dust off of it, and opened it. Inside he found a pile of various coins and colorful beads.

However, there was something else sticking out of the pile. It looked like a black disembodied claw. "I wonder what this is?" Alex wondered. He reached his hand into the pile of beads and coins and felt that the claw was connected to something a bit bigger. He pulled the entire object out.

"Hey, look at this," Alex smiled, "An eagle claw."

It was indeed an eagle claw. But it didn't appear to be just any eagle claw. It was a tad bigger than the average eagle claw, almost as big as the box it came in.

"Well, looks like all that stuff covered this quite well," Alex said to himself. Maybe too well.

He examined the claw with great interest, until he noticed some writing carved into it.

"This is strange," he said. "I'm surprised someone took the time to carve something in here at all."

Alex took a closer look at the writing. While he could clearly see what was written, he couldn't understand it. It looked to be written not in English but in Gaelic or something similar.

"Looks like I'll have to investigate this when I get a break," he said to himself.


When he got a break from cleaning a little later, Alex went to his computer to look up the meaning and pronunciation of the writing on the eagle claw.

"OK, I think it's Gaelic," he said to himself, opening up Google, "So....'Gaelic pronunciation'." He found a good website to check out for his purpose, as well as a Gaelic-to-English translator.

After much searching and researching, Alex finally was able to properly understand the writing. "Sounds like a spell chant," he said to himself. "But one way to find out." He then took several shots at pronouncing the writing. Once he finally got it right, a quick burst of light ran from the claw and Alex felt a strong, sudden energy enter his body. Then everything seemed normal again, aside from the fact that there was a warm tingly sensation all over Alex's body.

"Uh, oh bother," he said, "What have I gotten myself into now?"

All of a sudden, Alex's muscles in every part of his body started swelling. Both his sky blue T-shirt and his jeans started straining from the unexpected swelling, his jeans more so than his shirt. The pelvis of his jeans formed small vertical rips all around.

"Oh no, this is not good," Alex told himself, getting worried.

He looked down at his hands. They were swelling too, along with his wrists and arms. But they and his forearms were changing in terms of texture as well. The skin on them turned black and hard, looking suspiciously like the texture of the eagle claw. Then the three outside fingers on each hand merged together as the gaps separating his fingers and his thumbs moved up to the top of the hands, taking the thumbs with them. All fingers assumed the same texture as the hands and forearms, and the fingertip bones pushed out and formed shiny black talons. Alex now had eagle claws as well.

He glanced back at the claw on his desk. "So it was a spell chant," he said. "So now I'm turning into an eagle? Wait, if I were turning into an eagle, then my legs and feet would have changed like this. Oh, bother...." He realized that it wasn't an eagle he was being turned into, but something else.

Above the elbows, Alex's arms and shoulders grew silky dark brown fur. He felt fur growing on his chest and stomach as well, but it felt thicker and poofier than the fur on his arms. The rips on his jeans expanded and lengthened as his pelvis did the same. The most prominent rips were long ones running the entire length down both sides of his pant legs. His jean button popped off and his zipper undid itself. A big rip formed in the rear due to both his swelling pelvis and a long, thick tail growing out. The tail was covered in silky fur as well and sported streaks of feathers at the tip.

All this swelling of his body also caused his chair to feel too tight. "Oh, I guess I'd better get off this," Alex said, falling over the side and out of the chair. "Well, that's better, somewhat."

Then his feet elongated and widened, ripping his sneakers off their soles and tearing a big hole through their fronts. The feet also ripped through his socks in the front and sides. At the same time, the two outer toes on each foot fused together into one as it and the other toes turned thicker and grew fur. Small but sharp black claws grew out of each toe, replacing the disappearing toenails. Large black paw pads formed on the balls of his feet and the undersides of his toes. The fur then proceeded to grow all up and over his feet and legs. What was left of Alex's socks and shoes fell off his feet while they changed.

Eventually, his jeans burst open and peeled out, unable to take the pressure of his growing body any longer. They fell off, revealing his new lower body. Everything was covered in silky fur, and his legs had rounded out slightly into more animal-looking legs.

The pressure on his shirt was just starting to take its toll. Big long rips were forming on every side, particularly running down from the neck. Then two big holes formed on the back as a pair of new limbs grew out. Those limbs elongated and grew out beautiful brown feathers. As they spread out against his wall, it was apparent that Alex had just grown wings.

The rips expanded until they tore the shirt apart and let it slip off Alex's torso, still in one singular but shredded piece. With his shirt off, Alex was naked. However, that also allowed the fur of his chest and stomach to poof out. By this time, he had grown to nearly twice his original size. The thing he had wore before that he was still wearing was his glasses.

"Oh no," he said as he look down upon his new body, "This is quite inconvenient indeed. But really nice, too." But then he put a big hole through his wall, revealing the world outside. "Well, that's not good," he commented.

The fur then got up to his neck, becoming poofy just under his chin. As it crawled up his head, his ears closed shut and faded into his skin, causing his glasses to slip off and onto his poofy-furred stomach. His vision turned blurry with his glasses off, but he didn't have to worry about that for long. Then his hair merged with the rest of the fur growing on his head.

As the fur reached his face, Alex's vision restored itself. But then his chin, nose, and lips faded into his skin, and his entire nose, mouth, and chin area pushed out and turned black and hard. His teeth disappeared and his tongue turned pointed as his nose and upper lip areas curved and turned pointed as well. He had form a strong black beak.

With that, Alex was now a strong gryphon, sitting against his wall. His wings twitched awkwardly, still pinned against the wall.

"Wow," he said as he looked over his final transformed state with his radiant blue eyes, "Now this is amazing!" He then managed to flip himself onto all fours. He let his new wings breathe a little too, even as they propped themselves against the ceiling.

Taking another look at his talons, Alex took one last look at the claw, still on his desk.

"Aha, so that WASN'T an eagle claw," he told himself, "It was a gryphon claw!" But as of now, he didn't care about how it got into his closet, as he was just so happy that it made such a majestic, free creature.

"Thanks," he said, smiling at the claw as if it could see and hear him. "OK, so now that I'm like this," he said, looking at the hole he made in his wall, "I might as well enjoy it the best way nature had in mind!" He then tore through the rest of the wall with his talons. It all crumbled down and away, revealing the outside world for Alex to explore.

"Now to try out these wings," he said to himself. He folded them, then backed up as far as he could. He took a running leap out of his room, quickly deploying and flapping his wings. Flying now felt like nothing to him, as if he had been doing it his entire life. He flew around the entire area before climbing to a higher altitude, up to the clouds themselves. Once up there, he started enjoying the breeze rustling his silky fur and pushing against his wings. He also looked down upon the landscape, further iterating the fact that he was FLYING. It was one of the most amazing sensations he ever had.

"Ahh, this is so wonderful," Alex sighed contently as he glided through the clouds. "Being light and free....And being free from any more chores or spring cleaning. Whoever put that claw there must have wanted this for me. I owe them one, whoever they are." But for now, he could do nothing but fly and enjoy his new self.