So, the elders have asked me to write down my memories of what we call "The
Change". I suspect that eventually they will ask all first-born to do so, so
that our children may learn of the history of their race.
Very well, I shall try to be as clear and precise as possible, but I am sure
that whomever reads this knows of the minds ability to forget what it does not
deem important.

Before The Chance, I, like all the first-born, was a member of a species called
"humans". I need not go in detail as to the exact nature of humans, since this
has been discussed to great lengths in many other writings. (in fact, you might
want to read the book "hyoonamity snoomanity", written by yours truly)
I would like to think that I was no ordinary human, that I was somehow different
from those half-witted simians, but the fact remains that until the change I was
a hairless ape.
It all started a few days before the actual Change, when a new star had appeared
on the night sky. Scientists soon explained that this was a super-nova, the
remnants of an ancient star that had exploded, its light only now reaching us.
For reasons I still do not understand, this supernova was extremely interesting
to the humans, and the entire world spent most of its time watching or
discussing it. Me? I simply continued doing what I always did, not at all
interested in joining the crowd. Off course, the nova interested me, but after
watching it for several minutes I could not see what the fuss was about.
Eventually, the bright glare of the nova dimmed somewhat, the light turning a
green hue. I remember standing outside, watching it longer than I had watched it
during the previous days total. There was a certain sense of foreboding about
this alien light, about the way it gave all things around me a soft green glow.
By now it was casting soft shadows, as if it drew closer with every passing
hour. Off course, scientists tried to calm the public, telling them once again
that the nova was harmless, that no-one would need to be afraid of dying in a
nuclear hellfire.

How right they were.

Later that night I retreated to my room, too tired to paint or go online. Which
was quite strange since it was not that late. I was always tired in a certain
way, as if I had missed several hours of sleep the night before. Yet normally I
did not tire either, or at least very slowly. But that night I *was* tired, and
could barely manage to undress before falling down on my bed. Hugging my two
biggest plushies, I fell asleep, and dreamt.

The memory of my dream has faded over time, yet I remember clearly that I woke
up, and that my bed felt somehow smaller. Both the fox and panther plushies had
fallen on the ground, since I could not find them, but there was something else
in bed with me, something large. Before I managed to further contemplate this, I
noticed how light it was. It was the middle of winter, only 2 weeks after the
shortest day. The only possibility was that I had slept longer than normal,
which was not surprising considering how tired I had been.
Then I realized I was not tired at all. The light fatigue that normally haunted
me was gone, and I could see my entire room with a sharp, light yet slightly
color-less vision.
I tried to roll over, onto my back, but whichever it was that was in bed with me
prevented me from doing so. I brought a hand (side note: Yes, we used to call
our paws hands) behind my back, and gasped when I encountered... feathers.
Sitting up, I turned around to look towards the wall where the feathers should
be, yet all I could see were the fox pictures taped to it. At the same time, I
heart something fall to the ground further into the room.
Again I turned around, noticing a soft drag pulling on my back. And again, I
could see nothing out of the ordinary. Until, that is, my eyes reached the
mirror in the back of my display case on the other end of the room. There,
besides the miniatures I collected, was the reflection of an anthropomorphic
male fox.
Immediately I saw what it had been that eluded me before. Attached to my back
were two large white feathered wings, and between my legs was draped a long,
bushy tail.
The floor felt colder than normal as I got out of my bed and moved closer to the
mirror to study my form. Yes, I was a fox. A 6 foot fox with wings. I recognized
the fox as me (yes this sounds strange, I will think of a better way to explain
it later). I was Hakar.
In a certain way, I had been Hakar for longer than that, but only in my mind.
Yet now, for some reason, my body had been changed to the shape I had had in my
mind for all that time. All the details were there, the silver hair, the black
strip of fur that ran over the inside of my right arm.
Then I noticed I still bore the scar of the operation I had undergone earlier in
time. A doctor had removed a swollen gland from my arm to investigate what it
was. It turned out to be harmless, like the other 6 I had at the time. The
others were gone too, but the scar remained. A rough pink spot about 1
centimeter in diameter, cutting the black stripe in two.
At a certain point of time in the night, my underpants had come off, so I could
view that part of my body as well. I no longer needed to wear clothes, since my
entire body was covered in soft fur.
I must admit that by this time I had an idiotic grin on my face. My new body was
gorgeous. I was lean and beautiful. Yet, it retained a lot of characteristics of
my old body. I was not weak, but aside from my shoulders no muscles showed. The
only reason I seemed stronger was the absence of the fatigue. Before, I had been
slightly overweight, I still was, and my belly was rather wobbly, though not
extremely so. I felt reborn.
I picked up my plush panther from the ground, and stroked her soft fur. It felt
different with a pelt of my own, though still very pleasurable. A faint hunch
made me lift her paw and rub it over my head. Giggling at the sensation, I set
her down on my bed and did the same with my fox.
My eyes glanced over the pile of clothes at the end of my bed. I no longer
needed clothes to protect myself from the elements, but my parents would think
it strange if I were to be naked to the fur. Off course, they would think it
strange I was a 6 foot fox, despite their knowledge of my love for foxes. (True,
they were no longer there, but I did not know this at the time)
So I put on my pants, turning them around so the zipper was at the back. Aside
from these, I decided against putting on my socks and shirt, they would not
cover up anything, and my wings would hinder the shirt anyway.
After this, I was kinda at a loss what to do. Yes, I had been transformed into
my furry character with no explanation why and how, but that didn't prevent me
from being bored. In the end, I turned on my pc and started painting some
miniatures while I waited for it to boot. I could not go online, since it cost
too much money during the day (money? a substance humans used to replace
bartering), so instead I played a game until I got hungry and made my way
downstairs.
Like always, it was quiet, and the curtains were still closed. Just like any
other morning then, I always woke up before anyone else. With irritation I noted
that the newspaper hadn't been delivered. It only happened a few times per year,
but it was still an unwelcome interruption of my morning ritual. (later note: as
if turning into a fox was not an interruption) (even later note: On the other
paw, it was not turning into a fox that was to be an interruption, it was what I
was to discover soon)

I went trough my regular morning ritual (minus the newspaper) of eating,
drinking, visiting the bathroom (which proved to be a little awkward, in a
manner I will not describe here) and watching a little television. While I was
doing so, and especially during the eating, I noticed how acute my senses had
become, especially my smell. But it was my hearing that first became apparent,
as I was aware of all the little whizzes and throbbing of pipes and machinery,
and the soft creaking of the wood.
The fruit-hail that I put on my bread was especially delightful, it was almost a
shame to eat it, such was the scent of it.
It was then that the phone rang. I though it would be someone to speak to my
sister, it was amazing how some people would not figure out that she slept till
one in the afternoon on weekends.
And true enough, after answering the phone like I always do, with "Aron Postma"
which was my human name, I was greeted with an unfamiliar voice.
It was soft and a little scruffy, as if the owner was sick. I was already
walking towards the stairs when it spoke "Hakar?"
"Who... who is this?" I asked.
"Its me, Aroun."
He normally referred to himself with his human name, so at that moment I
realized he had changed too.
"Hihi, I guess you grew some fur too?"
"Yes I did, a rather different sensation to my normal form."
"What do you think caused this?"
"I don't know, but I thought you´d like to know that my entire family is gone."
"Gone... as in disappeared? Not just gone shopping?"
"Yes"
I swallowed softly, the icy knowledge worming its way into my consciousness.
"I guess my family is gone too then..."
"Such would appear to be the case. At least my most important housemate is still
here." Aroun spoke, and I could hear a soft mewl from somewhere below the phone.
"I was actually worried you would have been gone too."
"Er... thanks." was all I could manage to utter.
"Yes, well I think I´ll hang up now. I suppose you have certain other things to
attend to."
"I... yes... thank you."
"Bye."
With this Aroun hung up the phone, and I was left alone with an eerie silence.

I will not deny that I cried, nor that I griefed deeply for the loss of my
family. What I did exactly is my own memory, which I feel no need to write down
here. Suffice to say that I was very unhappy. (several stains are on the paper
here, presumably tears)
In the end, I wound up back in my own room and quickly connected to the
Internet. Yet when I tried to access Yiffnet all I got was a single message.
"We are currently upgrading our servers to accommodate for an increased
capacity. For the duration of this procedure Yiffnet services shall be
unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience."
Connecting to Tapestries gave me more or less the same message, and I quietly
powered down my pc, sitting down on my bed with my ears dropped.
Sometimes I hated how fast my brain could work. It was obvious that somehow, all
the furries as we called ourselves had been turned into our online characters,
and all the mundanes had vanished. Gazing outside, I could see the ominous glow
of the nova, the hair on my neck standing upright as I sensed that it was
somehow responsible.
After giving all my plushies a tender hug and kiss, I went downstairs and
flicked trough the TV channels. Cartoon Network which I had been watching
earlier that morning was still happily running, since no human action was needed
to make it work. Yet many channels were... empty. They´d show the
pre-programmed, pre-taped shows, but all the live shows were off the air. Some
channels were even completely gone.
The Turkish channel caught my attention when I reached it, which it normally
doesn't, since it showed what appeared to be an empty studio. I quickly realized
this was supposed to show the news, but all the people in the studio had
vanished in mid-broadcast.
Only then did I think of the pets we kept. There were 3 pets in our house, the
rabbit Nik, the Guinea-pig Frits and the rat Luna. I didn't know what to do with
them, even if I were to care for them, I´d have to care for all the pets that
were now owner-less. After some consideration I decided to set them loose. Some
might find this immoral, but it was the best I could do. I have given them a
chance to live in freedom, and whether they lived or died was out of my paws.
Not that I didn't want the responsibility, but I had the feeling I´d be having a
lot more of that soon. I would never be able to take care of them all, and even
if I tried I´d have to leave some anyway. Letting them all free and giving them
all a chance was the best I could do.
Off course, I didn't simply throw them out in the garden. No, there was a
petting zoo in town where I could let them live with their own species. I knew
there was a rabbit-hill there, and I was certain there were other Guinea-pigs
too. As for Luna, I guess rats can live almost everywhere.

The city was quiet, as could be expected when all the humans had disappeared.
All three animals managed to get along quite well in Frits´ cage, though there
were obviously a little stressed from flying several meters in the air.
Why not higher? Well, I´d have to admit that, at least back then, I was rather
afraid of heights. No not really afraid, I just didn't like them at all.
But eventually I reached the zoo. I set the cage down next to the bunny-hills
fence. That would need clipping too, the bunnies deserved to run around on more
than that little hill.
After setting Nik down, I noticed with more than a little glee that she was
larger than any of the other bunnies, and that the few that tried to fight her
got their tails handed to them. The bunnies seemed in no way frightened of my
presence, and neither were the goats who´d by now noticed me and were closing in
to see if I had anything to eat for them.
The fact that I didn't have anything did not disencourage them in any way, and I
had to fly into the air to escape their well-meant but obnoxious attention.
Frits quickly adapted to life amongst others of his kind, and Luna seemed to
appreciate the shed the Guinea-pigs lived in.

My stomach was growling at me, letting me know just how it felt about the lack
of attention I was giving it. Since they kept all sort of animals I assumed
they´d have something to my liking here, and I made my way to the main building.
The door was locked off course, everyone had disappeared before work began. And
because everyone was gone, no-one would mind that I threw a rock trough a large
window. Careful not to cut myself, I went inside to what appeared to be an
office.
The walls were nearly invisible with posters covering them, all showing one or
more animals. A large desk stood in one corner, with a chair on either end.
Grabbing the keys that were lying on the desk, I made my way trough the
building, and eventually found the food storage. Even better, it was the food
storage for the human staff, so I feasted on several sandwiches while the
realization dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to do this forever. Eventually
the power would go out and all the food would spoil. Some food would spoil
sooner than others, but even the canned stuff would go to waste eventually.
There was no denying it, I´d have to hunt for food.
But at the moment, my stomach was full, and I leaned back in a comfortable
chair. These things could wait, I didn't have to worry about them right now.
What I *did* have to worry about was the fact that the chair was crushing my
tail and wings.
"Yeoww!" I yelped, grumbling and rubbing my poor tail. Obviously I needed to
find something else to relax on. The bar served my purpose, it was flat and the
hard wood was somewhat tempered by my fur.
My eyes glanced over the alcoholic drinks, but I resisted the urge to take one.
I hadn't touched a drop in my former life, no way I was starting now. I´d find
some fruit-juice later on.

Instead, I began pondering the new society I was in now. First fact, aside from
talking to Aroun on the phone, I hadn't met anyone else. And even if all the
furries (yes, even Sibe. Never met him fortunately) had turned into their online
characters, we´d have a population count of no more than 50,000.
And with all the different species, we´d be a heck of a nightmare for any
extra-terrestrials who would try and classify us.
Most importantly, we´d have to somehow meet each other somewhere. I believed
that at that time there were no more than 70 furries in the Netherlands, that
was a 230.000th of the population the day before. And with a chuckle I added
that only 4 of us were female. Fortunately most of the males were either gay or
bisexual, otherwise we´d be bored out of our ears.
My mate Jiffies would probably be moving here. I wondered how long it would take
hir. It was obvious shi´d be the one who did the traveling, I was sure shi was
much faster than me. I just hoped shi´d be able to find me. At that moment I
decided to stay in Ede as much as I could. Not like there was a lack of things
to do anyway.

"Beware the man with the power tools." someone once said. Well, I was a man, and
I was loaded with power tools. True, the only things that needed to worry were
fences and doors, but I´d still enjoy it a lot. (I guess thats male nature,
enjoying cutting things into small bits)
I would start here at the zoo, and slowly work my way outwards, freeing all the
animals like some avenging vulpine. None of the animals would have to worry
about getting run over, since there wasn't anyone left to drive cars. (I didn't
know how to drive, and with no humans around to run over, it wouldn't be fun
anyway)
And I was pretty sure they´d be able to find food, especially the herbivores who
could eat grass. With no human interference, grass would soon be growing
everywhere. I could hardly wait how that would look, the entire city covered in
a green blanket. Most buildings would eventually collapse, the higher the
sooner, but aside from the pets they didn't contain anything I would need any
time soon.
I did promise myself to try and safe the library though, it would break my heart
to see such a large amount of knowledge go to waste.
So there I began my quest, cutting and slicing all the fences I saw to bits. At
first, the animals didn't wander outside, but eventually curiosity, hunger, or
random wandering would lead them out. Especially the Guinea-pigs didn't seem
like they planned on leaving soon, though the goats make a sport of it to follow
me around as much as they could.
Only ten minutes later, with a combination of flying and remembering what fence
had already been cut, I had `liberated´ the entire zoo. The school next to it
didn't have animals to free, I´d worked there as a sys-op before.
At that moment, two things came to my mind. Firstly, there were dogs. I don't
hate dogs, but I severely disliked them (no offence meant to any dog who reads
this, you´re probably groomed, washed and able to control your drool). I was a
little uncertain whether to release them, but quickly shook that thought out of
my head. If I released animals, I had to release them all, even if they were
dogs.
Even then, I was certain some dogs would go on a killing spree, and it would
probably be best I didn't release them. In the end I decided to view every case
on its own.
Secondly was the little show I often visited known as De Tinnen Soldaat (The Tin
Soldier for those Dutch impaired furs that read this). I had several
`addictions´ that the shop supplied, in the form of Magic the Gathering cards
and Warhammer miniatures. Now that all the humans were gone, I could take them
all. True to my being, I spent exactly one second pondering the morality, then
flew to the shop. After all, it wouldn't be stealing would it? The owners were
gone, so there wasn't anyone who could say "Hey, thats mine!"

I always wondered what kind of alarm the shop had. I had been visiting it for
years, and never have I noticed anything that resembled an alarm. And after
forcing the door open, I was sure that they didn't have one, or at least a
silent one. There were, and certainly will be people who questioned the sanity
of plundering a toy store in a situation like this. But hey, I´ll admit it, I´m
a hedonist. Besides, I only took one binder of Magic cards back home, figuring
the rest rest could wait until after I freed all the animals.
And so I spent the rest of the day freeing animals, letting them out of their
cages and leaving the door open so they could find their way out. I ate whenever
I felt like it, and when the day came to an end I made one last visit to the
little shop, taking another binder of cards and some candy with me.

And this is how I spent the next few days. During the day I would travel around
the city and free all the animals I believed would contribute to nature, and
ended or prevented the suffering of those who would go insane. And all the while
I would snack on foodstuffs I found in the houses or shops, even though much of
it was already spoiling.
I did not hear from Aroun again during that time, nor met any other sentient
being. I was alone on the world. Even then this did not frighten me, I had
always been a `loner´ (though I despise stereotypes, I guess I fit in this one).
What I certainly did not miss was the constant pressure of all those people
around me. The streets were quiet, no cars polluted the air, no humans literred
the ground with their trash.
Eventually the power went out. It actually amazed me how easily everything broke
down without maintenance, how fragile mankinds constructs were. And by this time
many of the houses I visited were morgues. I was simply not fast enough to
rescue all the animals before they died of starvation or dehydration. And a full
week after I started my task, I ended it.
I had been thinking of others for an entire week, now it was time to think about
myself.
Now the Netherlands was a small country, and even with only 68 furries in it
you´d think I would have seen one by now? True, I had not left my hometown at
all, but surely some of my kind would have? Thus I decided to visit Aroun. He
lived closeby, only 1 hour travel on bike. Who knew how short it would be on
wing?

I spent the next day emptying the Tinnen Soldaat, storing all the boxes and
binders in my house. There was a larger shop in Arnhem, I would go and plunder
that later on, though I´d need a larger form of transportation. Again,
considering my situation it was insane, and I´ve received a lot of comment on
it. Eventually though, I´d have to find a more permanent place to live. I had
the whole province more or less for the taking, and there were nicer and
sturdier houses around than this one.
It was then I decided to go and visit Aroun. Not only to see if he was alright,
but mainly because he was and still is a good friend. Jiffies knew where I
lived, so all I did was leave a note stating where I was and that I would be
back in a few days.

In my former life I had traveled to and from Arouns house quite often, but never
before had I done so trough the sky. To keep myself from getting lost I more or
less took the same route I used when on bike, but still swooping trough the air
was a wonderful sensation. Everywhere I looked cars were scattered on the
street, their engines having long since died down when their occupants
disappeared. Even if I had taken a car I would have had to barge all the others
out of the way.
I did not fly very fast, fox-bodies were never designed for air-speed. So in the
end I reached the mountain (stop laughing Jiffies! Stop laughing!) that lay next
to my destination. The forest that was spread over it called to me, so I landed
on the edge and made my way inside.
Off course, it still had a human-made path trough it, with several houses next
to it no less. The path curved around the mountain, separating it from the river
on the other side. Several living-boats floated in the water, and I pondered
taking up residence in one of those later on.
Somehow, even with my enhanced senses, the forest seemed more active than ever.
It was almost as if nature sensed the human cancer was gone. I inhaled deeply,
taking in the wonderful scent of the forest, and I wondered why I had lived in
the city all of my life.
My travel trough the forest itself was uneventful, so I took the time to cut
trough some of the fences that kept the animals inside. They too no longer
needed to fear cars and trucks. A soft eep escaped my muzzle as I realized there
was a zoo closeby. Perhaps Aroun had freed the animals already, but I knew he
might have been rather selective in what exactly he had set free.
Shaking my head I banished that thought for later, all that mattered now was
meeting Aroun.

Arouns house lay at the edge of Rhenen, and after diving underneath the large
bridge crossing the river here I could see it. It was dark, just like mine was
since the power went out, and somehow I got the feeling it was abandoned.
Yet when I came to the corner of the road leading to the house, I saw something
moving on the far end of the street. It had to be Aroun, there was no other
possibility.
"Aroun!" I shouted while waving my paw.
He was pushing something heavy along, that despite the fact that it was on a
cart of some kind was not moving very fast. My shout did not seem to have
reached him, as he continues moving, not looking up at all.
So I swept towards him, finally hovering several meters above the cart. It was
carrying some sort of engine, presumably to provide electricity to his house.
Again I called his name, and this time he looked up briefly, looked down again
as he adjusted some sort of lever on the cart, then looked back up.
"Oh, its you."
I landed on top of the engine, which seemed to erk Aroun a little, though he
said nothing of the matter. Wagging softly I asked "Hey, how are things?"
He shrugged a little "Quiet, I like it that way. Darn power went out though, so
I´m hooking this generator up somehow. What have you been doing?"
"Me? Well, mostly flying around and freeing all the animals."
A soft chortle escaped his throat "I figured, you do have a tendency to think of
others before yourself."
"Heh yes, and you? What have you done?"
"Besides celebrating the fact that I don't have to go to work anymore? Hmm the
usual actually. Until the power went out I did some programming, I stroked my
cat, fed her, growled at the other cat." Another small shrug told me more than
his words. As was the case for me, his life simply continued, aside from the
lack of certain annoying elements.
Only then did I take the time to study his new shape. At first glance he looked
like a cross between a cat and a monkey, with dark golden fur and a flat black
nose. He was now a member of a species know as Aaroun, one that most of you will
never have heard of.
"Other than that I have set free most of the animals in the zoo, and some cats
in houses in the area. Couldnt let them starve could I? I had some fun with the
felines in the zoo, whom I'm taking care for right now. They seem to like me,
even if they for some reason miss the humans who cared for them before.
Its nice to see you again, you look much better than last time I saw you."
I giggled softly before replying. "Well last time you saw me I was a human.
Anything I can do to help?"
"You could help this poor small feline by pushing this generator towards his
house."

So together we pushed it the last 250 meters to his house. I wondered how he
would get it hooked up to the power-grid though, but I was sure he knew more of
the matter than I did. As I wasn't going to be much help with the generator, I
started exploring Aroun's house. I had been there countless times before, so I
could see several modifications he had made to it to accommodate for his new
shape.
One of the dining chairs had had its legs lengthened with the legs of another
chair, so he could sit at the table. He was roughly two-third his previous size,
the normal chairs would have been difficult to use.
I don't think he had many problems with the book-cases, he probably climbed up
them to get his precious books. Most of the books in the living room were still
in their original position though.
The cat Aroun mentioned before wasn't really his cat, but she seemed to like him
most when his family was still here. She was an old, blue-gray cat, with several
patches of fur short and scrawny. He really liked her too, and he war genuinely
grieved when she died 2 years after the Change. Unfortunately, she didn't like
me that much right now, and while she wasn't hissing, she didn't look too
friendly either.
She crawled back as I approached, one paw raised in defense. So I let her be and
turned away, stumbling onto the other cat in the kitchen. The cats weren't
allowed in the kitchen before, so I guessed Aroun didn't care much whether they
got in or not. Unlike the first, this one was red-white and quite round. Aroun
nicknamed him Food-Processor, since that was what he did most of the time.
Also, he didn't pay much attention to me, years of experience had given him the
power to determine within a second whether someone was going to feed him or not.
I wasn't going to, so he ignored me.
He even ignored me when I stroked him, and I was sure I liked it more than him.
Upstairs things weren't much different, only Aroun's room and the study having
changed much. It seemed Aroun had salvaged as many computer components as he
could and built them into three computers in his room. His book-case was
bulging, and I wondered how he slept at night with that huge weight of books
barely managing to stay upright above his head. It seemed fitting though that if
he were to be buried, it would be in books.
While I was watching the laws of reality being broken by Aroun's bookcase, a
whining sound behind me caught my attention. One of the pc's had turned on, so
it seemed Aroun had managed to hook the generator up, and quite quickly too.
Within seconds, the Windows logo appeared and it started booting. As I watched,
Aroun appeared besides me and grinned.
"Want to play a game?" he asked.
What else could I say? "Sure."

After he turned on his laptop, I suffered the attacks of professor Dokelidokus
while running trough a small storage facility, desperately trying to gun him
down while avoiding the dozens of trip-bombs he had placed.
Later, we zoomed around side-by-side in our space-fighters, watching our
wing-men and enemy cruisers burn.
When night fell, we enjoyed a small meal of meat, bread and meat before
returning to our computers and joining together to defeat the evil demon lord
Diablo. I had always enjoyed spending time with my friend, especially like this,
but the fact that we had both turned into furries, and had no other
responsibilities made it even better.
Eventually, even we became too tired to continue. Without words, we both laid
down in Aroun's bed, and hugging each other, we fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found Aroun had already left the bed, and I could hear him
downstairs in the kitchen. He was baking an omelet, and was just adding bacon
when I entered the kitchen, together with Foodprocessor.
"Goodmorning Aroun."
"Morning. Do you want breakfast too?"
"Hmm do I, I'm starving."
"How terrible. Well I´ll be done in a minute, then you can use the frying pan."
With a soft nod, I leaned against the only available wall. "You´re up early. Is
this because of your new body or because you had a fox in your bed?"
"Yes its your fault. I´ve slept very well the earlier days."
"Not that I didn't enjoy my pillow." he added with a small grin.
"Glad to have been of service."
With that he put his breakfast onto his plate and moved to the dining table back
in the living room. I opened the fridge only to find it empty. Aroun called at
me from the other room.
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, I put the food in the garden when the power went
out. Its in a bag hanging down the stairs. It was cold enough these days to keep
the food cool."
Sure enough, the bag contained, cheese, ham and some eggs. Aroun must have
gathered some eggs from a garden that kept chickens. By the time I put my food
down on the dining table, Aroun had finished his'.
We chatted a little while I ate, about fur and tail problems, and how to get
food later on.
"Where did you get these eggs? I didn't know there was a chicken farm in
Rhenen."
"There are some people who keep chickens in their garden. I´ve set most of them
free, and took some eggs and a chicken as payment."
"And what are your plans for the future?"
He shrugged "Same as before, eat, sleep, program, write and read. I don't have
any special ambitions. And how about you?"
"Well I think I will need to go back to Ede soon. Jiffies will probably arrive
eventually."
"Ah, yes. When will you go back then?"
"In a few days, no need to rush things. Besides I want to spend some more time
with you first. Not that we´ll never see each other once I go home."
"I'm glad to hear that." He smiled. At first the sight of a fur smiling seemed
odd to me, but I got used to it pretty soon. When a human smiled you just saw
teeth. When a furry smiles you see sharp teeth, and lots of them.

Again, nothing much happened during these days. I have heart some furs spent the
first few days of their new lives in constant excitement and adventure. I
didn't. Not that I think I missed anything, all I cared about was being with my
friend, and looking forward to being with my mate.
Aroun and I played behind his computers, ate, slept, and went for an occational
walk. But after three days I decided I needed to go back.
We gave each other a tight hug, and I turned around and took to the sky. We both
knew where the other lived, so if we ever needed to see each other that would
not be a problem.

The road to home hadn't changed much from when I saw it before. There were still
cars littered across the road, though not so many as in Ede. Some cows were
crossing the road somewhere halfway between Rhenen and Wageningen, but other
than them I saw no animals. There was a strange aura over the land, a sort of
feeling of waiting.
It seemed as though nature was waiting, as if she could not believe the humans
were really gone. Already though, creepers were growing on the walls of the
houses I passed. Nature sure was in a hurry to reclaim what was taken from her.
Several buildings had collapsed in Wageningen, though I could not find out the
reason they did. It was quiet.
I landed on top of a low apartment and perked my ears for any sign of life. In
the distance, I could faintly hear the barking of dogs, but nothing else.
Somehow it seemed the lack of humans alone could not cause this lack of sound.
But if there was something else, where was it? And what was it?
Another bark demanded my attention. This one was different. The first had been
general barks, barks of communication. This one was a bark of fear.
Swooping up to a higher building, I got a clear view of what the dog had been so
terrified of. Even now its memory sends shivers down my spine, and causes my fur
to stand on end.
At first it appeared to be a large group of animals, making its way trough the
streets. From one end to the other, the group covered the entire width of the
street, and seemed to sweep everything in its path away. What was worst though
(before I knew what they were off course) was that they made no sound at all. I
could hear the faint brushing of fur and clicking of claws, but no animal barked
or mewled, instead they advanced relentlessly.
Again I changed building, this one lower than the first. My heart almost stopped
beating in my chest as I realized what I saw. All the animals were dead.
On the street below me was a mass of living dead, a horde of undead animals, in
various stages of decomposition. There were mainly dogs and cats, though I was
certain there were many rats and other rodents between their legs. An occasional
deer or pony loomed above the crowd, as pale as the rest. Their fur was all in
various shades of gray, and their skulls seemed to gaze left and right for
something. While I was watching, I even noticed some birds hopping along, their
wings broken beyond flight.
Somewhere to the front I could see a rather dead but obviously fresh dog, its
brown fur matted in its own blood.
I had heard its final cry for help, and feared I was to be next. At that moment,
several of the animals spotted me, gazing in my direction. The crowd tried to
turn on the spot, some stepping on their comrades in a desperate attempt to
reach me. Their intent was obvious, and some started to grunt and moan at me.
The sounds they produced were even more horrible than their sight, ranging from
a sickening gurgle to high-pitched shrieks.
There I was, rooted to the spot as the horde swarmed around the building I was
on. I was certain some had already broken in and were climbing the stairs to
reach me. Quickly I shook off the spell and returned to the second building,
much to the horde's dismay.
Their skulls followed my every movement, and I could feel their thoughts
projected on my mind. Pure and unconditional anger, a hatred of all that lived.
Again I stood still for a while, unable to move. Within a minute my new location
was surrounded. Though I could fly off at any time, something prevented me from
doing so. For a moment I considered an attempt to communicate with them, to
explain to them I meant no harm.
The door leading downstairs burst open, and several of the corpses poured out
onto the roof before moving in on me. The matter whether to talk or not was
taken out of my paws as the droning of their voices seemed to combine into one.
"Death. Hunger. Revenge." it spoke.
"I have not done anything, why do you want revenge on me?". My voice was
trembling wildly, and it seemed I had wet my pants.
"You... abandoned us... hunger!"
"I have not abandoned you! I have never been here before!"
"Death... betrayal."
"It was the humans who abandoned you, I'm not a human, see!" With this I spread
my wings and wagged my tail.
If it made any impression on the horde it did not show it. Relentlessly it
stumbled forward, more and more corpses emerging trough the door-opening.
"What is it you want from me?"
"Death... flesh."
"Ok, how can I make it up for you? Want me to fetch some biscuits?"
"Must... silence."
I do not know why I did what I did then, it must have been divine inspiration.
"Bad dog!" I yelled.
This seemed to halt at least part of the horde, and the droning broke apart into
confused chatter for a few seconds before continuing.
"Hunger?" it asked.
"You are dead, you cannot feel hunger. Go, join your masters."
"No masters!"
And with this it surged forward, driving me to the edge of the flat.
I stepped on the ledge and turned to the horde. I shook one finger at them and
spoke "You know, you have a serious attitude problem." before flying off.
The horde started howling loudly, shattering a few nearby windows. Some of the
corpses flung themselves off the building, shattering onto the concrete below.
Relentlessly it followed me trough the city, making a rather good effort of
keeping up with me. Off course, I did not fly at full speed, partially because
it couldn't get me anyway, and partially because I didn't want to lose it out of
my sight. Something like this could not be left to roam around the land, even if
I had no way of stopping it.
Off course I did not even have a clue what caused it, not even today, but I
needed to know whether they were simply passing by or whether they appeared here
in the city.
This question was answered for me when I reached the city border. Somehow the
horde was unable to cross the invisible line, and the last thing I heard before
I got too far from it was a single cry.
"Betrayal!"

I did not stop flying until Wageningen was well out of my sight. When I did my
fur was still on end and my heart beating like mad. What did I just encounter?
What was it?
Fortunately it seemed to be unable to get out of Wageningen, so there was no
need to alert Aroun just yet. And if Jiffies had arrived in Ede yet shi would be
able to deal with those creatures.
Plucking some grass from the ground and throwing it up the air, I pondered what
it was that could have caused all the pets in Wageningen to turn undead. They
were right about one thing though, they had been abandoned. Even as I had
started setting animals free I had known that I would never have been able to
get to all of them in time.
While in Ede I had managed to rescue most of the animals, and Aroun doing the
same in Rhenen, no-one had been there to safe the animals in Wageningen. When
their human masters disappeared from this world, they were left to starve.
I may not be an expert in necromancy, but it seemed to me that the humans had
left behind their life-force, and that this life-force was responsible for what
had nearly killed me back there.
And if that was the case, this might have happened in other cities too. But why
hadn't it happened in the countryside? Obviously there wasn't enough free
life-force here to cause mass undeath.
I shook my head and continues my trip home. This was something that went above
my poor foxy head.

Again silence welcomed me as I entered my hometown, but any fear was quickly
banished as it was clear this was the silence that came from a lack of activity,
and not from a lack of life.
In the distance I could see several dogs running over a street and birds flying
around. The city sure had grown nicer without the humans.
My home was still in one piece, and to my disappointment there was an extreme
lack of Jiffies. So I spent the last few hours of the day flying trough town,
enjoying the tranquil aura hanging around it.
One of the larger flats was damaged in what appeared to be a minor collapse, but
other than that nothing seemed to have damaged. I did make a mental note to get
rid of the cars someday though.
Tired, I returned home and plopped down on my bed, snuggling my plushies that I
hadn't seen in several days and quickly fell asleep.

I awoke because of a bird´s chirping, and muffled softly as I searched for
something to throw at it. It was rather early, even for my taste, and that bird
was going to pay.
Before I could find something not too valuable however, it occurred to me the
bird was sitting in my window. It was looking at me, giving an occasional chirp.
When I got up it hopped left and right in excitement before swooping down on the
ground. A dim yet powerful flash of light forced me to close my eyes, and
several seconds later when I opened them again, a silvery shape was growing in
front of me, taking on a humanoid form.
It grew arms and legs, a head and a tail, then wings, a muzzle and ears.
Before me stood a gorgeous white anthro wolf, Jiffies, my mate.
Shi was also quite obviously a hermaphrodite, and while I just stood there
looking at her, she said "Hun, you´re drooling."
I moved my paw to my chin to wipe off the saliva, then hopped forward into hir
arms. "Jiffies!" I exclaimed, wagging frantically. Then shi kissed me, threw me
on the bed and we greeted each other in a rather personal fashion I wont explain
here.

I woke up who knows how long later, with a happily snoring wolf on top of me. I
purred softly, stroking hir fur and watching her chest go up and down as shi
breathed.
When I touched hir wings, shi opened hir eyes and smiled at me, giving me a soft
lick on my muzzle.
"Morning sunshine." I said.
"Morning hun. Nice place you got here."
"Why thank you, I was waiting for you."
Shi giggled "I know, I hope you had fun while waiting."
"Hmmm you're beautiful hun." I kissed her nose.

Fortunately for me Jiffies was a far better cook than I was, and even with the
limited supplies I had shi was able to whip up a rather decent meal. Over
breakfast we talked about what we needed to do now. Obviously we couldn't
continue to live alone.
Shi suggested moving into the countryside. I told hir I had lived in this town
all my life. Shi countered with the fact the countryside would be better. I
pointed out that in a few years this town would be countryside too.
Besides, while we remained in town there was a far larger chance of finding
other furs.
"There are almost 80 furs in this country hun, we need to round them all up in
order to get a proper society."
"What about the other countries?"
"Belgium and France are empty I'd guess (at this point I did not know that it
were not just furries who had changed), and England is over-seas. You might be
able to fly there, but it's too far off. Germany harbors a lot of furs, and I
think they'll be able to hold out pretty good themselves."
Shi pricked her chicken with a claw "You'd think national borders don't mean
anything anymore. Online they meant very little anyway."
I nodded "True, I'm mainly using them as a base of comparison."
"I think we should go an look for the others here, they might already have
started grouping up."
After a few seconds of silence I spoke again "You are right off course, you have
always been the more sensible of us two."
Prodding a piece of potato, I added "Somehow that seems to be the case no matter
who I hang out with."
Shi giggled, I poked out my tongue at her, shi kissed it.
"Oh yes, one more thing hun."
I told hir about the town to the south, and the undead creatures that inhabited
it.
After a final lick at hir plate shi looked up at me "And you're sure they
couldn't leave the area?"
"Yes," I nodded "But we need to do something about them nonetheless."
"Let's blow them up then." shi shrugged.

The pavement was slightly cracked from all the roots underneath it, the trees
outside finally freed from their chain-saw wielding oppressors.
Jiffies was standing in the middle of the street, and as I watched she changed
form. Within a few seconds the wolf was replaced by a large dragon, its red
scales shining in the morning sun.
"Hop on." he rumbled.
After I found a comfortable location on his back, he lifted off effortlessly
into the air. My wings acted as large wind-catchers, and even with them held
close to my back I had to hold on tight so as not to be blown off.
"So what direction are these pests in?"
"To the south my steed!"
He looked back at me. "Watch your mouth hun, or I'll show you what a stud I can
be." Somehow a dragon's wink is not re-assuring in the least.
Lack of humor aside, riding a dragon was a great thrill. The speed was amazing,
and we reached Wageningen within 10 minutes. Off course, the speed had to be
amazing, because even after only 10 minutes sitting on scales my bumm felt like
sand-paper. In a rare moment of common sense I decided not to mention saddles.

The town was quiet, just like before, as we both flew over its outskirts. The
undead horde was soon spotted though, still walking its eternal circle around
town.
The moment Jiffies landed on a nearby building, its roof gave way and both
building and dragon crashed to the ground.
Quickly I flew up to see if the horde's attention was drawn, but it seemed they
were used to collapsing buildings. Somehow they had not spotted us so far.
"You ok hun?" I asked, landing next to the dragon's head.
He gave a loud groan, causing the building next to him to collapse also, and I
winced slightly. We might have well have come here with a full orchestra.
"I fell trough a building, what do you think? Besides, so what if we attract the
undead. We are here to destroy them anyway."
"Yes but I'd like to do that on my terms, not while running away from them."
"I know, lets set a trap. You can be the bait."
"Why don't you just fly over them and fry them?"
"Because that wouldn't be any fun."
Believe me, there's no sense in arguing with a dragon.
So I set out, holding one of my wings at a weird angle, trying my best to act
crippled.
"Ow, ow. I am so hurt." I said in my best whining voice "Can someone help me?"
Jiffies remained nearby, ready to incinerate any undead being that would rip my
soft belly to bits. The fact that he might hit me was not reassuring either.
But soon enough the horde appeared, nearly silent as before, and quickly closed
in on me.
"Hi, remember me?" I said to it.
It was not amused.








---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The (unfinished) story above is not all I have to contribute to society. We are
still left with many questions.
While I won't call myself an expert on the subject, I will try to answer some of
the questions as best as I can.


What happened?

10 days before the Change a new light appeared in the sky. Scientists ruled that
it was a super-nova, and that it was not harmful in any way.
At the night of the Change, all of us furs who call ourselves of the First
Generation, changed from our human shapes into the shapes you know us as. All
the other humans (whom we called 'mundanes') vanished without a trace.
As far as we know, no-one witnessed the Change, aside from the mundanes off
course. But what we do know is that we woke up to find the Earth strangely
quiet.
Eventually furs managed to find each other and start communities, and over the
years these communities have established communications and trade.


Where did the humans go?

We don't know. No bodies were ever found, which rules out violence or sickness.
No evidence of their disappearance was ever recovered, not even dust, the only
clues were the accidents caused when the driver of a vehicle vanished causing
the vehicle to go out of control. No-one has ever found evidence to suggest they
were abducted by aliens.
The only thing I can think of that would leave no trace is some form of
teleportation. That or all humans were broken down to their base molecules.
If they are still alive, which many of us First-Generations hope, we will most
likely never find out where they are, short of being transported there
ourselves.


How is the supernova involved?

Assuming that the nova had nothing to do with the Change, when it appeared just
before and disappeared soon afterwards, would suggest too great a coincidence.
Again, whether or how the supernova created the Change, we may never know.
Some claim the nova generated some magical form of radiation, but that brings up
so many more questions.


Were only furries changed?

No. At first it seemed as such, but it turned out that the Change was triggered
with people who had a desire to be 'something else'. Everyone who felt like this
changed, and all others vanished.
So now the world is filled (not really, it is estimated that the world
population at the time of writing is 0.0005% of the population before the
Change. i.e. from 6.000.000.000 to 300.000) with all manners of creatures,
though the majority are in fact furries.


What other species are there?

Of all the non-furries out there right now, the majority is made up of dragons,
gryphons and weres (who refuse to call themselves furries, though most humans
and quite some furries would be fooled).
And the remaining 10% consist of dwarves, elves, centaurs and other fantasy
creatures.


What do we know of humanity?

A great deal, seeing as most adults right now were humans earlier in their
lives.
After the initial struggle for survival (which was made a lot easier by the lack
of bodies, negating the risk of plagues), most furs made an effort to safe
cultural items, and most communities have a museum in or nearby their
settlements.
Though many furries looked negatively on humanity, now we decided to allow our
offspring to form their own opinion, based on the knowledge we leave them.


What did you do after the Change?

The first though on most people's minds was survival. That meant a supply of
food and a suitable shelter. Especially dragons found their needs changed
drastically, seeing as a human's food and home were no longer sufficient.
Fortunately, most furs knew the location of at least one other fur, and as
groups formed, they eventually settled down somewhere safe and hospitable.
Off course, the old human cities were impractical to maintain, and they now lie
abandoned. Sometimes a fur travels to one to look for equipment or some other
commodity, and by now they are rarely dangerous. Anything that could burn or
explode has already done so, and all they need to look out for are collapsing
buildings.


Is there any hostility between groups?

Aside from the initial confusion and fighting over resources (which turned out
to be quite abundant anyway), there have been few reports of large-scale
incidents.
War is certainly not something any of us desires. Right now, we are all equal,
and we are all important. It seems we are united in a knowledge that fighting
amongst ourselves serves no purpose.
That being said, there will always be personal issues, and when one or both of
the furs are particularly powerful, much effort is done to break them up and
prevent excessive damage to others.


Do furries really have superpowers?

Yes and no.
Some furries to indeed have certain powers that put them above the others, but
the change seems to have also curbed some of the more extreme ones. If all furs
really did have everything they had had online, the world would be very
different now.
Off course, even a 'normal' dragon is very powerful, so it is wise not to offend
one needlessly.


What is the current state of the world?

Again, this question has two answers.
While one fur would claim the world is in decline, with most of the population
gone and most of the cities and infrastructure decaying, others will argue that
the planet itself is sighing in relief.
Certainly, humans did put an enormous strain on the ecosphere, and now that
they're gone that strain has been taken of Earth's shoulders.
Yet the old glory of civilization will take a long time to rebuild, and after we
of the First Generation are gone many of Mankinds great monuments will exist
only in texts.
Right now, those cities we are unable to maintain (and they are many) have been
over-grown.


What is the current level of technology?

One of the great problems with humanity was the extreme specialization it
demanded of its members in order to maintain all its knowledge. While in earlier
ages a man could learn many trades, a decade ago a man would know only a tiny
portion.
This in turn means that when no-one remembers knowledge, it is gone.
This has happened a lot in the last decade. While we had the objects that
provided us with so many things in out lives, few of us had the knowledge to
maintain them. And on the other side of the coin few of us had the knowledge
needed in today's world.
So soon furs were struggling to maintain a standard of living, learning how to
provide for themselves without humanities machineries, while at the same time
allowing those machines to decay.
Right now we are easily capable of sustaining ourselves, but much of the old
works have been undone. Man walked on the moon, and while we maintain the
memories of that, none of us has the knowledge how to follow in their footsteps.
After the Change, power was the greatest problem, but currently it is mainly
provided by windmills, watermills and solar power.
The only real lack we feel right now is the lack of a proper form of global
communication. Travel is easy for many furs, but only a few dragons are able to
cross an ocean to deliver a message.
But now that we have established ourselves, we can begin to rediscover and
rebuild our heritage.


Are the furries spread out evenly over the world?

No. Furriness, or whatever caused some people to change and stay on Earth seemed
to be something that mainly occurred in the First World.
What the First World is? I'll try to explain.
Before the Change, the world was split up in hundreds of countries. Some big,
some small. Some rich, some poor. At one point in time someone had the great
idea of splitting up these countries into 3 different groups. The First, Second
and Third World countries.
It was a sort of grade for how good a country was to live in, First being nice
and fluffy, and Third being poor, harsh and unhealthy.
The First World countries were mainly North America, Western Europe, Oceania and
Japan.
Third World countries were South America, Middle and South Africa, some parts of
Asia and assumably Antarctica (even if the average human population there was
10)
The rest, Eastern Europe, North Africa, Russia and the rest of Asia were Second
World.
Anyway, furriness was either a form of luxury or a form or religion. The more
luxurious a country, the more people would indulge in a luxury like this.
Coincidentally, the largest group we know of whom had a form of furriness as
religion were the native Americans, who obviously live in America. We assume
many tribes in South America Changed as well, but as of yet we have had no
contact with them.
But even then some First World countries were strangely devoid of furries. Aside
from a few fantasy creatures, France and Belgium were devoid of sentient life
after the Change.


What happened in Wageningen?

I don't know, and aside from me and Jiffies no-one ever saw anything like this
anywhere in the world.
Personally, my idea is that with the Change, the life force of the humans
somehow stayed behind, and entered their pets when they starved.
Off course, the last thing on their pet's minds was the fact they were
abandoned, and they were rather upset about this.

This theory has several ups and downs.
It does explain how the horde was able to speak. If the animals had been mere
zombies they would not have spoken to me and Jiffies.
But the most curious thing is, it did not happen anywhere else. Situations
similar to Wageningen popped up all over the world, so why did it happen only in
Wageningen.
I fear we will never know, but perhaps this is for the best.
Source: geocities.com/hakar2002/stories

( geocities.com/hakar2002)