A fuzzy ball of wiry, brown fur stuck its head through the entrance of the oddly shaped cave, taking in the sight of the enigmatic structure. It reminded the creature of the little cage it used to live in when it was nothing more than an adorable little guinea pig.

However it was no longer the cutesy little 'pet' it had once been, useless and confined within a cage. No longer did it have to amuse itself with a wheel, or be confined within the dreaded orb. Now the world would be its wheel! It had become a truly mighty beast it deserved to be, and it was ready to assert itself into this new world as the ultimate Apex predator. For what was superior to the guinea pig?

It was now over a metre and a half long, a stocky build with muscles that rippled with hidden power every time it moved. It had a large hump on its back, which meant that it stood just under a metre tall.

Its once adorable face had elongated, giving it powerful crushing jaws. Jutting from the lower half of its mouth were pairs of fearsome 12 inches long tusks, with a smaller pair curling upwards from its upper jaw.

The only remnants of the former guinea pig's previous life was its stubby legs, which forced it to waddle as it walked, and the small pink bow still attached to its head.

It was safe to say that it was now closer to a boar than anything else. The creature itself was uncertain whether or not it was truly related to a genuine boar, however it also didn't care. It was happy to take up the mantle, feeding the new instincts that were pumping through its wonderful new body.

The guinea boar raised its head and sniffed at the air, drinking in the various scents that filled the area. It took a few minutes to sort them out; there were various different animal scents but the best of all, was the addictive scent of blood that lingered throughout the strange human cage. It was new to the concept of hunting, but it knew one thing for sure. Blood means food, and food is good.

The scents of other beasts were weak, they could only be made from a creature passing by no more than once. There was only one exception, a strong scent that lingered and danced around the entirety of the human cage.

It marked the area as a den, it knew that much. However the scent was also fading, meaning that the beast would have probably abandoned its den.

With meat and an empty home, why wouldn't it let itself in and pick at the scraps? It might even get a lovely new home in the process, much better than it's previous cage.

It snorted at the air a few times, catching the right trail, before its little legs started to waddle it deeper into the human cage. At first it was worried by the pale humans, some standing and others sitting, but when it charged into one and attempted to gore it with its tusks the pale human simply fell apart.

Leaning down, it gave the body parts a few sniffs before it huffed in annoyance. This wasn't food! It wasn't alive. No meat, no blood. Just stupid faceless humans wearing their silly coverings.

After deciding to relieve itself on the head of the useless, pale fake human, as a show of dominance, its stubby legs happily trotted away as it followed the trail of lovely, metallic blood. Every sniff made its mouth water more.

When it came close to a cluster of the fake humans, it simply turned up its nose at them and smirked to itself. It had figured out their little trick, it was too smart for them. As if it was going to be tricked again just because they gave one a pointy thing.

Letting out a series of snorts that an onlooker could only assume was laughter, it pushed past the fake humans and toppled one over as it came closer to the source of the blood. The food.

It raised its stubby leg as it stopped next to the cluster of fake humans, ready to mark its new territory as its tiny mind wandered to the feast that was awaiting it.

Oh it couldn't wait to sink its teeth in, to tear it apart with its new tusks. It was already dreaming of how it would taste, how juicy the meat would be. It wanted to-

SSHRK

Before it could finish its gluttonous thoughts, a sharpened length of metal erupted from the side of its head and sent splatters of blood across the floor. As quickly as it had pierced the guinea boar, the impromptu weapon was torn out, leaving only a gaping hole through its skull and a crimson waterfall trickling down its wiry brown fur.

Its ridiculous little legs trembled before giving way, causing the beast to collapse onto its side with a resounding thud. The small pink bow that had been attached to its head fluttered softly to the ground, eventually coming to float in the growing puddle of blood leaking from the slain boar.

A lone salmon island in a sea of crimson.

One of the 'fake humans', also known as the mannequins it had been about to relieve itself on, stood up straight as it retrieved its weapon from its kill. It was the style of mannequin that was designed with a simplistic face, in an attempt to look more approachable and humane, yet all it did was unnerve people.

It tilted its head, its blank gaze staring endlessly at the bow floating in the expanding pool of blood. Whether it was trying to understand the bow's purpose, or simply enraptured by the contrasting image of innocence and death, no one would ever know. Nor would it ever say.

After a few moments, it pulled its lifeless eyes away from the modern art piece and hooked its fingers into the mouth of the guinea boar. Silently, it lifted the creature's head and began to drag it behind it as it made its way deeper into the clothing store, passing many similar pools of blood on its way. Some of the crimson puddles were still wet, while others were long dried into the wooden flooring, yet all of them were curiously positioned beside clusters of lifeless mannequins, forever stuck in their glamorous poses.

The room that the living mannequin entered only had three notable objects within it.

The first, a nest composed of various scraps scavenged from the department store and slew bones from all manners of creatures. Nestled within it was an egg, which was the size of a pumpkin, that was gently rocking back and forth on its own. A pulsing blue light rhythmically washed over the egg, which would glow in response as it suckled at the energy.

The second, a strange entity formed only of swirling rings that were, in turn, composed entirely of letters and symbols. It hovered in the air without a care for the law of gravity, never once moving from its spot as it watched over all like an eternal guardian, or a wrathful god ready to spite.

The third, was a human sized cocoon made up of ethereal threads that were the cause of the rhythmic, pulsation of light. A web of strings emanated from the cocoon, attaching to the wall, floor and ceiling to keep the cocoon suspended a few inches off the ground.

There were other threads, floating in the air like the tendrils of a jellyfish, while a single string formed a bridge between the two gestating creatures, the egg and the cocoon.

Dragging the corpse over to the chrysalis, the mannequin dumped it onto the ground below the silken structure before taking a few steps back.

It watched with its fixed and painted expression as the floating tendrils wrapped themselves around the fresh kill, like a spider swathing its prey, until it was completely covered much like the cocoon.

Yet they only stayed wrapped around the corpse for a few seconds, before unravelling themselves and returning to their neutral state, floating in the air harmlessly. Where the corpse had once been, was nothing but empty space littered with a few heaps of dust.

Not even the bones had been left, devoured by the entity within the cocoon alongside every morsel of meat that the guinea boar had to offer.

The mannequin showed no reaction to the process, simply turning its lifeless gaze to look at the floating orb of letters and tilting its head, as if it was silently asking a question. A question that was quickly answered, a voice resounding within itself.

[External factors have altered sustenance requirements. Previous calculations invalid. Please provide more sustenance to the Catalyst. Metamorphosis status… 93.7%]

The mannequin stood silently for a few more moments, before giving a curt nod and swiftly leaving the room to fulfil its purpose. Father would awaken soon, everything must be perfect for his arrival.