Chapter 1

Drake opened his eyes a little before eight in the morning, lazily opening one eye as the sun streamed in through his window. He was required to turn up at school by the time class started, which unfortunately meant getting up well before class started.

“Another boring day.” He lazily stretched, before getting out of bed. Like many things over the years, it was just another thing that he had to do. Another thing that he was forced to do, if he wanted to make the best out of his life.

He dressed himself and fixed his hair. For the most part, he was alone in the house. The woman who he rented the room from had already gone to work, and she didn’t arrive back home until late in the evening, which left him alone for most of the day, if he didn’t have class that day.

Unfortunately, it was exactly that, and the general lack of direction that Drake felt made his life so dull and boring.

For most of his young life, he had lived with his parents and gone to school, like most others. While he always saw himself as intelligent, and his grades in school reinforced that, but he never really felt that did anything for him. He had good friends in school as well, but all that passed away when he went to college, and the few friends he made there had either dropped out over the years, or he had… other problems with.

Worst of all, Drake had discovered that as the years passed, that he really had nothing work forward to. Nothing he really wanted.

Most guys his age at least had an idea. Engineering, computer science, even something as mundane as working towards a degree in medicine. None of that, any of it, appealed to him.

Of course, college itself wasn’t much better. While the thirty-minute drive wasn’t all that bad, the classes just droned on.

It was the same schedule he went through every day, just a continuous daily slog of sleeping, working, and eating, day in and day out. He was left in his usual position of sitting next to the window in his college class, listening to the same small talk and gossip that people typically did before class started.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed, laying down on his desk to wait for class to start.

“Hey Drake, what are you doing?” Surprised, he slowly looked over to see Taylor, one of the friends he had made during his college life. If you were able to describe a person at a glance, she would be beautiful. Brown hair with a few blond highlights, a pretty face, and a bit on the small side. She covered her ears with piercings, and had a relatively cheerful personality. Guys would often make small talk just to talk to her for a little longer.

“Nothing really, just sitting here.”  Sitting back in his desk, he leaned back, trying to stretch a bit. Glancing at her, he could see the same, expectant gaze he always saw from her. It was always something that bothered him. He was just an average guy. Barely shy of six feet, and somewhat above average in terms of his appearance, he never really understood how their friendship started in the first place.

Sitting down next to him, she looked at him curiously, “I was just wonderin’ why you are just sitting there with that gloomy look on your face.”

Looking outside, he thought back to what he was thinking of earlier. “Have you ever wished you could change something about the world? How everything seems too pre-planned and set from the moment you’re born.”

“Unfortunately, that’s just how things are these days. It’s not like we can just go back to the old days where everyone is fighting to survive. Sure, it’d be more adventurous, but is it really what people want?” She gave him a questioning look, before seeming to smirk a bit at his question.

Feeling his stomach drop, he sunk back into his usual stoic attitude. Her attitude always bothered him. She always seemed to just shrug off his ideas. Of course he didn’t actually believe everything would change. Everything is just too set in stone.

He shook his head, before propping his head up on one hand and turned to her. “Yea, I get it. So, what’s wrong lately?” Drake said, frowning slightly. She normally didn’t talk to him first unless she wanted something or wanted to complain about someone, typically a certain someone. “Boyfriend trouble again?” He guessed.

She looked to Drake, her eyes narrowed angrily. “Of course! All he’s done is yell at me lately. We fought again this morning and it feels like I just can’t do anything right. It’s like he wants one thing and wants the exact opposite the next! What the hell am I supposed to do about it.” She threw her hands up indignantly, before sitting down angrily next to him.

That wouldn’t happen if you actually did anything about it.. He thought to himself.

He sighed, and said, “Why don’t you try to stand up for yourself for... once… what the hell..”  Looking around the class, he could see that everything had gone almost completely dark, even the lights in the classroom. Looking outside, he could see that even the sunlight had disappeared, leaving everything in an almost twilight state.

Descending from the skies, he began to see spire-like structure come into view, followed by a massive monolithic structure. As it slowly encroached upon the earth, Drake began to hear a voice slowly begin to talk to him, the sound seeming to come from all directions.

“To the beings known as Humanity, it is a pleasure to be able to make your acquaintance. We, are the Caracatia.”

Jumping out of his chair, Drake looked around, eyes wide in confusion. What the hell… am I dreaming right now?

Taking a moment of pause, the voices began to speak again, seeming to thunder in his mind.

“We are currently speaking to every individual on the planet through relays above the major cities on our ships. It puts quite a strain on us, so let us begin. What we are here for, is a new chance.”

Frightened, Drake looked up at the massive structure that had descended. A chance? A chance for what? Is this actually happening?!  

The thundering voice continued, “We’ve been watching you through the radio waves coming off from your planet for quite a while now. Most interestingly, we’ve been examining a wide variety of races that don’t seem to exist on your planet currently, but appears all throughout a variety of historical texts and other entertainment sources. Quite honestly, we’ve all become quite enamored with a variety of those races, but don’t seem to be able to find any DNA records on your planet itself. So, we all came to a decision regarding the future of the planet you call Earth.”

Eyes widening with fear, Drake could only stare in horror at the massive flying structure, his thoughts racing.

“We are willing to make a deal regarding your species. Choose to become something more than human. We have the ability to change you, each and every individual, but only you will be able to make the choice to change yourself. After one week, we’ll begin setting down creations of our own that we are particularly fond of. I hope you make the right decision and let it be fun for the both of us. That is all.”

*****

“So brother, do you think they will do it? It’s quite a large decision. Of course, whether they choose to accept or not, the current state of humanity is doomed, but if everything goes right, it’s going to be so much FUN!”

Aboard a gigantic ship located behind the Earth’s moon, two of the leaders of the so called Caracatia were speaking with one another. They were a bipedal species, roughly seven feet tall as an average across the race. If someone from Earth saw them, they could easily be mistaken for an octopus that had grown a body. The two brothers, one wriggling with excitement, continued to talk.

“Who knows how many will take the chance. However, with the chance of potential evolution for so many individuals, it’s going to require a large amount of power. We need to send out a division to the opposite side of this system’s sun, parallel to the Earth. We need to be able to do this discreetly, otherwise it could cause problems. Tell them to collect as much energy as possible, this plan was ambitious from the beginning.”

The shorter Caracatia spoke, his tentacles wiggling in anticipation. “How many do you think will be willing to take the risk? I say we spice things up for the first of each race, just to make it more interesting, what do you think?”

The older brother laughed, a sinister smile seeming to form under the mass of tentacles. “How long have we been watching this species, brother? Up to the last child, they become obsessed with power so easily.” Glancing left to a large display, the younger brother excitedly combed through the different potential species, leaving the older brother to continue speaking. “We were in luck. We spent so long look for an ideal race, one that isn’t restricted by that damn council, only to find billions hidden and waiting for us on this blue pearl. Ohhh, the creation of so many unique species on one planet. Just how interesting do you think it will be?”

The shorter brother smiled, the tentacles on his face wriggling with joy, “Enough to keep us entertained brother, enough to keep us entertained.”

*****

As he continued to watch the large spire floating in the sky, a slew of thoughts raced through Drake’s mind. He began to mutter to himself, “This can’t be real. There are actually aliens, and just for fun they want to change all of humanity? And what the hell did they mean by choice?”

At that moment, he felt a piercing pain shoot through his head. He looked around, and strangely, he saw letters beginning to form, floating in front of him. After a moment, they came together to form one word. Draconian.

What the hell is a Draconian? He thought.

None of this made any sense. As he looked around, he could see that the strange letters continued to stay consistently in his field of vision. Whatever was happening, it seemed to have something to do with that choice the aliens offered.

Turning to Taylor he asked, “Hey, do you see any strange options in front of you? It should be some kind of mystical race, at least I think it should be. It just appeared for me after I started thinking about that choice those aliens offered.”

She looked at him oddly before answering him. “Options? What are you talking about, I don’t have anything like that. Wait, are you actually taking this stupid choice thing seriously… owwww.”

She scrunched her face in pain. After a moment, her eyes widened in shock, and she slowly nodded to Drake. “Yea, I see what you’re talking about now. Umm, I have a few options. There’s a Succubus… High Elf… Hey Drake, there’s something in my list that’s called a Nekomimi. What the hell is a that?”

Laughing internally, Drake desperately attempted to keep a straight face in front of Taylor.

Oh god, how did she end up choices like those. Space creatures, whatever the hell you are, you truly are amazing. He thought internally.

Taking a moment to calm himself, he tried to think about her various choices. Honestly, the real problem is that besides the elf, I can’t really think how those races could be useful. If this ends up turning into what I think it is, she would probably die to the first monster that looked at her weird.

Discard your human form, and transform into a new one. That was basically the purpose behind the list of choices that they were given. Well, Drake was only given one, but even then he could make an educated guess. Draconian. Considering that ‘Draco’ literally meant Dragon, it likely had something to do with Dragons, although he had never heard of that particular race himself. Heh, he never imagined his familiarity with medical Latin would have helped him, even if it was somewhat obvious.

Putting on his best act for Taylor, he tried to explain it the best he could. “I wouldn’t recommend choosing to become a race called a Nekomimi for combat purposes, after all, you don’t even know what it is. It could be anything. As for the succubus...”

Stolen story; please report.

He desperately tried to think of something, anything, to tell her in a less awkward way. There really wasn’t any way to downplay that particular race. It was too well known.

“Well, it’ll probably be used for the more obvious reasons.  Maybe it’ll have other uses once you get used to the body, but we don’t really know what it’ll be good for.”

As Drake tried to give an explanation, Taylor seemed to be just staring at empty space from Drake’s perspective. Looking back, she gave him an amused look. “Hey Drake, you do know it tells you what the forms can do.”

What, seriously? Why didn’t I get that option?!

He looked through his options again, this time noticing faint lettering under his option.

Wait, I think there was still something under mine.

As a beast race, the effects of the transformation are unstable, and may end in failure. Be warned. The risk is worth the reward.

His eyes squinting in disbelief, he could barely contain the pure look of confusion on his face.

The risk is worth the reward, what the hell does that even mean? He thought.

Shaking his head, Drake listened to Taylor as she continued her explanation, “Well, apparently the Nekomimi race has enhanced senses and strength that is double that of normal humans. The elves live for a really long time, and their agility is three to four times that of a human. I can’t even imagine what being able to move around like that is like…” Her words trailed off in amazement and then looked to the next option. “As for the succubus..” She stopped mid-sentence as her face slowly started to turn red. Of course, it was obvious what that particular race would be good for. If the aliens really did base it off our myths and other shows, it’s really only popular for one reason.

She continued, “Well, um… they are pretty good at charming others. According to what it says, they have a light form of mind control, but don’t really seem to have any combat abilities. At least not any that it’s willing show me.”

Drake’s eyes widened in surprise. It looks like they at least they gave the races a few more unexpected options. Well, whatever she chose, hopefully she could take care of herself.

He took a moment to think and gazed up at the massive airship in the sky again. For some reason, he just didn’t have a good feeling about his own choice. It was far too vague in comparison.

“Taylor, I’m going to head home. I want to see if I can find out anything over the internet, and I’m not sure if you want to stay here for much longer either.” Drake remarked as he turned to Taylor.

“If I’m right, you’ll want to be somewhere safe, and soon. I’ll call you if something comes up.” He ended skeptically.

He grabbed his things and rushed out of the classroom, only taking one last look at Taylor. She had been his friend ever since the first day of college, but now, he was doubtful if he could even help her at all. He shook his head uncertainly, and began to make his way to his car.

The sooner I can get home the better, if this offer works like I think it does, then there’s going to be trouble. If people are able to turn as soon as they want, then it’s likely we’ll be seeing new races around the world. There’s going to be trouble and soon.

******

“Finally home.” Drake looked around his room. It was pretty typical for a college student, small and out of the way. He had lucked out, and was renting it for a cheap price, since it was relatively far off from campus and the other renters didn’t like the size.

He cracked his fingers out of habit and sat down at his computer. “Ok, time to see if anyone was actually dumb enough to transform right away. With any luck, I’ll be able to know what to expect at the very least.” Turning on his computer, he starting searching for any news related to the offer. Surprisingly enough, aside from major news sites covering the alien ships, there was no one talking about the offer itself.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, there seriously can’t no one talking about this.” Muttering to himself, he kept combing through the various news sites, hoping to find information. After another five minutes of constant searching, he hit a wall. Everywhere he looked, there seemed to be a complete lack of information.

“Dammit! Seriously, all you have to do is think about the damn offer and..” *BUZZZZ*  As he reeled from the sudden headache that hit him, he looked down as he watched the strange, wispy lettering begin to appear before him again.

Ahh.. that hurts. Does it really need to do that every time? And what was that warning for the beast races anyway?

He looked at his own offer again. As a beast race, the effects of the transformation are unstable, and may end in failure. Be warned. The risk is worth the reward. Slamming his fist into his desk, Drake stared angrily at the vague meaning behind the warning.

Running his fingers through his hair, he muttered, “Dammit, I still have no clue what kind of risk it’s even talking about.” It was as if the offer was being intentionally vague, although he was unsure why. While it was obvious how his own offer and Taylor’s differed, the real question was why.

Frustrated, he tried to interact with his offer. As he did, his fingers passed through the lettering, leaving him with a small shock. More irritated than intrigued, he continued to try, leaving him increasingly angry. “I know Taylor said that she was able to see what her races were actually capable of, so why can’t I see anything for mine. Then again, the better question is why the hell do I only get ONE OPTION?!” He slumped down in his chair, irritated.

Did it have to do with the power of the race itself? There’s no doubt that something that was related to Dragons would be powerful, but was it balanced in a weird way like that? If that was really the case, he’d at least expect that more information would be provided, at the very least.

“Haa…” He let out a small sigh, a perturbed look crossing his face. Nothing in the offer would tell him anything, and even everything on the internet over the choice was either censored, or just not there. What could he even do?

As he was stewing over his situation, an idea suddenly struck him.

“Wait... beast race.” He perked up instantly, before turning back to his computer as he waved away the offer. He quickly searched for that term explicitly, leaving out any mention of the offer, and just like that, hundreds of posts from different message boards flooded in.

“It didn’t even hit me before. Of course, the government would try to censor something as big as this. You don’t want people listening to the big bad aliens, so they block any mention of it.” He smiled in victory for a moment, before leaning in to his computer.

“Well, time to get to work.” As he scrolled through all the different posts and videos, he learned one thing very quickly. For some reason or another, there tended to be two different types of people.

The first type, were people like Taylor. They tended to have humanoid, or at least semi-humanoid races choices. The second type were, unfortunately, people who were stuck with Drake’s situation. They all had strange, and sometimes horrible race choices, and all they were given was that one choice. Drake managed to stumble onto a message board and had luckily found that a few people who met up on the forum that were going to meet up in real life. They all had a similar beast race choice of Minotaur and were going to try to transform. They said they were going to meet up just to be safe, and would post an update. Apparently, they were going to take roughly half an hour to get together. Given that it had been almost twenty minutes since they post was made, hopefully it wouldn’t take too much longer.

Sighing, he sat up from his desk, he looked outside to see the giant structure still hanging in the sky.

He muttered, “So I’m stuck with this huh. Honestly I wasn’t expecting much, can’t really choose when there is only one option, but seeing other people have choices like turning into a hellhound or an orc, and suddenly I feel a lot better about my situation.”

He turned away from his computer, and thought back to his drive here. He had the radio on just in case something major happened, but even there it was just a blackout of information.

Honestly, why haven’t I been hearing anything at all about it? It can’t be a coincidence that no one is talking about it. Shaking the nagging feeling away, he turned and made his way over to his bed.. Grabbing the remote, he made himself comfortable and turned the T.V. on.

Guess I might as well watch T.V. while I’m waiting for those guys to meet up. Not like I have much else to do.

As he turned on the T.V, he was startled by a blaring noise, and what he saw horrified him.

“BREAKING NEWS, it seems that the aliens have broken their promise to wait a week before sending all manner of horrifying creatures to attack citizens. It’s only been an hour, but there have already been reports of strange creatures wreaking havoc on the city and nearby rural areas.” As he looked at the television, Drake couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a griffin dive bombing people in the streets, with blood already on its talons.

The creature’s movements seemed to be haphazard and uncoordinated, but it was undeniably powerful, just judging from the speed it was flying. As Drake watched, the griffin suddenly dived into a crowd of people. It clumsily lashed out with its beak and claws, just barely missing those who could just dodge out of its way until it managed to snatch a large man who wasn’t able to move quickly enough. As it grabbed the large man, it viciously bit down on the upper half of his body, the large beak covering the man’s head completely as it bit down on his chest. Blood gushed out of the body as the griffin struggled to take to flight, only to stabilize itself moments later and carry off its prize. Drake could barely stand to watch the scene, only laying in shock as the griffin quickly turned around a large building, losing the cameraman as it did.

“Was that real…” Drake muttered, his eyes wide in disbelief, “They said they’d wait. If they’re doing this for fun, then why set down creatures early, why tell us anything in the first place, it doesn’t make any sense.” Drake was in shock. Looking at the TV, he watched as the cameraman slowly panned over the scene of carnage.

It was a simple truth. If they had the ability to talk to every person on the planet, then there was no way anyone on Earth could have stopped them from just releasing monsters at will. Rather, giving them such a warning encouraged them to prepare for the deadline, and prepare themselves to go through with accepting the choice. News that there were already monsters attacking people would spread like wildfire, it would practically make the official announcement meaningless.

“What if…” Drake quickly shut off the television and hurried back to his computer. He went back to the message board that was supposed to have the group turning into Minotaur’s one by one, to make sure it was safe.

The forum had updated roughly a minute ago with a new message. He felt his stomach go into knots as he clicked on the link. As he read the forum post, it confirmed his fear. “Dammit. I can’t believe that’s what it actually was.” The post read as such.

“It wasn’t safe! After she changed she just went berserk, and killed everyone else she could get her hands on. She seemed to be ok at first, but after a few seconds the light just went out of her eyes, and she gored the man who was standing in front of her! After that, she just seemed to grab anything in range and rip it apart.”

Drake cursed to himself for being so stupid. The aliens never summoned any creatures. They didn’t have to.

That must have been what the warning was for the beast race offers. While I’m not sure how high the chance is, or if it even differs in between the race or the person, there’s a chance I could go berserk.

*****

“HA HA! Look brother, the fun has already started.” Aboard the mothership, the two brothers were watching the mayhem. “Did you think those humans would ignore the warnings so easily? While the humanoid group doesn’t have anything to worry about yet, the beast races are already running amok. HA HA.” The younger Caracatia was standing over the viewing platform, joyfully taking in all the carnage.

Clarota looked over at his brother. He had always been excitable, but ever since we arrived at this planet, he seems to have gotten worse. Well, it shouldn’t cause any major issues.

Rather nonchalantly, he said, “I didn’t expect them to create as big of an impact as they did either, brother. I’m curious how many will choose to turn once they learn that their fate is to likely fail in the transformation. Honestly, I’m quite surprised this has turned into an issue already. What is the concentration of mana in the atmosphere currently”, he asked curiously.

The younger brother turned to him, a downcast look on his face. “Barely 4%. I imagine it would be much more interesting if we hurried brother.” Althari was upset his brother wouldn’t allow him to speed up the process. If too many of the beast race turned right away, the likelihood of something going wrong with the process increased greatly. Without sufficient mana, there was no telling what could happen.

“No. We are already converting mana as efficiently as possible,” he said strictly.  “Leave the few of the beast races that transform quickly. They are negligible. After all, between that cryptic warning we left to deter any from immediately transforming, and the human’s natural response of fear of the unknown, it’s likely the humans will do all the work for us.”

*****

What do I do? Between berserk humans and the monsters that are going be dropped down in six days, I need to be able to do something! Drake’s mind was scattered. While there was a chance he could go berserk, he could also be killed instantly if he was unlucky to be found by one of the beast race that was already berserk. Even if everything did go well, he could be shot at by others until he was able to explain himself. Boarding himself up wasn’t an option either. Who knows what kind of changes the Earth is going to go through after the aliens are done. In the end, there was no choice but to go through with the alien’s plan, the only real question was how to do it.

Drake sat down, before taking a breath to calm himself. Everything may seem simple at first, but in reality, it was anything but simple. Just what instigated those who went berserk, it all came down to that alone.

“Heh. There really isn’t anything to think about.” With a resigned sigh, Drake made his decision.

I need to transform, and I need to do it in a place where there aren’t any people. At least that way I won’t cause any damage to the people around me if something goes wrong. He paused. This could very easily be the last day of his life.

“Then there’s Taylor…” Drake mulled over his situation. He initially thought he’d be able to help her. As he was now though… telling her anything at all would only make things worse. She was one of his only real friends throughout college. One of the only ones that actually stuck around at least. If he failed…

“No. No sense in thinking like that.” He muttered. When he succeeded, he would get ahold of her. Only then.

Taking a moment to sort out his thoughts, Drake renewed his determination. “I don’t know if the chance is random or not. If I don’t know the answer, there isn’t any point in worrying about the consequences. I’ll only be pointlessly wasting time. That griffin attack wasn’t too far away from here.”

And with how fast that thing is able to fly, there could be any number of monsters moving around. He thought to himself. With a final reluctant smile, Drake moved without a second thought.

A place well out of the way, and where he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone easily even if he went berserk. Within fifty miles, there was really one real choice. Berry Park. A nearby nature reserve that was created to protect an endangered species, and to help provide a place to renew their population. An utterly fruitless effort given the situation now, but a place perfect for someone like himself.

A little over half an hour later, and Drake was crossing over a bridge into the reserve. Without a doubt, it would be one of the most deserted places nearby that he could get to easily. A place that he could be content if this was his last day on Earth.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself. “Well, let’s see what being a Draconian is all about.”