The Link Between Mammals and Reptiles
You enter the laboratory at midnight wearing your lab coat. The professor you work for as an assistant has called you in to test a new "transformative" syringe they've been working on for the past few months, but for some reason, they weren't going to be there. Knowing the professor, they were always vague about their studies and never revealed anything to you, not even in private. With the rise of weight-loss medication, you assume they're just working on an improved formula and shrug it off. You approach the locked door to the professor's laboratory and take out your keycard before sliding it into the reader next to the door. The door unlocks, and you open it before going in.
You enter the laboratory and are greeted by the sight of multiple whiteboards with written equations from the professor you don't understand, a table with multiple lab bottles and test tubes filled with colorful chemicals, a computer set up and designed for lab work, and on the table, a syringe with a strange dark green liquid inside. This must be what the professor was talking about. You walk up to the table and pick up the syringe. You flick the syringe a few times to move the air bubbles to the top, and push the plunger to force them out. You place the syringe onto your wrist, insert it, and take a deep breath before injecting the supposed medication into your bloodstream.
After the injection, you take the syringe out of your body and throw it away into the biohazard bin. You look at yourself, and nothing seems to be happening. The effects of these weight-loss drugs weren't supposed to kick in immediately, so you wait for something to happen.
Then, all of a sudden, your body begins to painfully tingle, almost as if you were being stabbed by a thousand knives all at once. Suddenly, you see the whole room begin to grow all around you, or rather, yourself, beginning to shrink to the size of a cat. What the heck was the professor working on? Before you can contemplate further, you feel your legs pop as you move your feet out of your now-large shoes and onto the ground. You gasp as you see your toes extend and splay out while your nails extend into sharp, reptilian-like claws. You feel your pants fall off before you begin positioning your legs sideways like a reptile. You then realize: you are turning into a reptile!
Before you can think about it any further, you feel your face crack, causing you to place your paws... No! Hands! Your hands on your face as it begins to extend into a long snout. You feel your teeth multiple and begin to sharpen, but something's off for a reptile...
You feel your teeth sharpen, but they are varied in size and length, like a mammal. That's strange, because reptiles have uniform sets of teeth. Just then, your canines begin to sharpen into long points, designed for capturing prey. Then, the most striking change occurs when a vertical ridge, or philtrum, forms between your upper lip and nose. And then, you feel your nose turn dark and leathery before mucus begins to excrete from it. But reptiles don't have wet noses. Are you really...
Before you can think further, you begin smelling the air, as if out of instinct. Everything seems so sharp now: the metallic scent of the laboratory, the intoxicating scent of the chemicals on the table, it's all so vivid and colorful that you fail to notice your fingers losing their fine motor skills, becoming paws as your nails extend into the same sharp claws as your feet. Have you always had... Yes, you've always had paws for walking through the jungle.
What were these memories suddenly popping up in your head? Hatching from an egg, crawling through the jungle in search of reptiles and large insects to eat? These are not your memories, and yet, they feel like they are.
You claw at the strange cloth on your body as you try to take it off. As you do, you feel your mammary glands flatten, your external ears shrinking into your body, your breasts shrinking into your body, and your navel sealing up, because whatever you're turning into, it doesn't need those things. What were they called again? You've already forgotten. You feel your skin toughen and turn leathery as faint yellow fur begins growing out of your body.
You snap back and realize: The prufeser-thing wanted you to try their kemikul-thing so he could transform you! Terrified and almost to the size of a cat, you try to call for help, but all you can emit are badger-like growls. You can no longer speak. You feel your hips crack as you fall down on all fours, your forelimbs positioned to the side like your legs, and you can feel your genitals morph into a single cloaca.
As your muzzle finishes growing, you feel a sharp stabbing pain in your... coccy-thing, you've already forgotten what it was called. A long, reptile-like tail begins growing out of your spine, giving you balance. As you nearly finish your transformation, you try to fight your mental changes, struggling to speak. All you can emit is a faint "Help" before all your memories of speaking turn to mush. You then close your eyes as your muzzle finishes growing, you reach the size of a cat, and the mental changes completely take over your mind. You can feel the surface change from a concrete floor to some kind of warm soil, and you can smell the laboratory morph into what smells like a jungle. You open your eyes, and all your memories of being human are gone.
You are in a Late Permian jungle, as a Thrinaxodon, the link between mammals and reptiles, and you are out hunting for large lizards and insects. The jungle is filled with prehistoric flora, a nearby Stegosaurus, and you can hear the roar of a Tyrannosaurus rex from a distance. You smell the air and catch the scent of a nearby small lizard, food. You emit a loud roar and begin running towards the scent, your tail moving back and forth as you do so.
You pass by a puddle from the rain, a few rocks, some trees, and a large footprint before you reach the small lizard. It is tugging at a beetle with another small lizard, competing for food. Before either side wins, you rush towards the lizards and grab both of their heads with your mouth before you chomp down and begin chewing them. You eat their bodies whole before walking off, the blood stained on your fur. You walk away victorious, surviving another day in Sauria, the orb of the giant reptiles. You then feel a sharp, instinctual pressure in your body; it's time to find a mate. You begin walking across the forest, emitting loud calls as you continue your life in the Late Permian, forever.
