Tails' Notes on Lycanthropy (LYC-N73)

The Transformation

The worst part of being infected is the excruciating pain of having your body morph every single night. Then you have to focus on controlling the transformation as it happens. I referenced before that the process takes 7-35 minutes to complete. If you let it happen too quickly, the brain will shut down due to the pain and bodily stress, killing the host and keeping the body in that form. If you fight it and drag it on for too long, the same will happen, you will die. In order to not die, you have to balance the time without going too far on either fighting it or letting it happen.

The first set of symptoms settle in at 3-5 pm. These include nausea, dizziness, difficulty breathing, and a bit of swelling pains wherever you may have been bitten. You'll feel as if you need to vomit, this is the body using metabolism in order to prepare for the transformation to begin. The dizziness and the breathing problems are a result in the cells being infected and O2 usage being slowed. The swelling pain is technically the stage where the transformation begins, if you were bitten on the forearm, your forearm will begin to swell, if you get bitten on your abdomen, your abdomen would swell. You get it. 

The victim will also start feeling hungry, to the point where it could be taken as starvation. They will start having a craving for meat, if they don't have meat, they'll eat anything they can. Thankfully, they don't literally eat anything, but they'll eat anything in the fridge.

Come 5-7 pm, the symptoms become more severe. The host will experience bodily cramps, minor convulsions, major breathing problems, swelling, difficulty standing up, and heat strokes. The cramps can be explained by the body internally stretching, and yes, it's painful to experience. The convulsions are partly responsible for the cramps, except it happens externally. The pores begin to open further, which causes the heat strokes for the mass-energy consumption, and the fur begins to grow. Like a third coat. Although the swelling is minor and relatively unnoticable, parts of the body begin to swell with muscle mass. The slight increase of mass is a cause of the viral cells absorbing proteins and injecting them into infected cells.

Then the transformation process begins as the moon is above the horizon and the sun is completely gone. Now, the process has different stages and comes in waves. Here is the list of stages in order:

1. The body will stiffen and convulse as the fur stretches outward and becomes disheveled.

2. The jaw will lock shut, there is a chance the host could bite their tongue off. The teeth will begin to outstretch, forming wolf-like canines, molars, and other sets of teeth.

3. The second wave started by the arms and upper body increasing with muscle mass. The hands will forcibly form fists to contain the stress of the growing limbs while the arms involentarily flex, every flex adds a small amount of mass. 

4. The chest will contract, making breathing difficult or even impossible for 1-2 minutes. After it un-contracts, the ribs will stretch outwards from the body, exposing them against the chest.

5. The third wave is probably the least painful part, although it burns the tips of the fingers. The melanin in the fingernails will form claws. Hopefully, the host doesn't wear gloves, the claws grow bigger than their hand was meant to have.

6. The fourth wave will force the body to hunch over, this is so the spine has enough room to protrude from the back. And yes, having your spine stretch is horrendously painful.

7. At this point, the internal organs begin to produce organ tissue, this happens so they can grow to support the newer body. However, in order for the organs to produce tissue, they have to fail for 2-5 minutes. This includes kidneys, liver, and heart.

8. The legs will lock straight up and curl into each other at random, every curl and stretch is a response to the legs stretching and, again, swelling with muscle mass. By the end of the transformation, the host would have grown by 2-3 feet. 

9. The body would mass grow, the brain would slowly start to stop functioning certain things. It would revert back to its primal instinct, stop having the ability to create memories (which gives the host an amnesia effect), and it would begin to crave meat.

10. The final wave is the skeletal structure. The palms would stretch, the heels and ankles would break apart and stretch to make it easier to stand and run on all fours. The entire skull would morph into something similar to a bear-wolf mix. The jaw would lock up again and stretch a few inches, then another few inches, all while the canines and teeth stretch to match the size.

11. The transformation is complete by this point, the mindset would be swapped with a primal state.