Miles below the surface of the city in a compound known as 'the facility' a room was being prepared. Word had come down that a new monster had been discovered and special requirements were to be met. No creature had been found that was capable of changing form up to this point, there had been theories that they exist and screening methods were being developed but until now since they had yet to find one it was purely based on guesswork.

There was a buzz amongst many of the researchers. The facility was one of the greatest secrets of the Crystalshard clan and had been around much longer than the system, information was supposed to be compartmentalised and everything was need to know but as was always the case interesting news always seemed to get around that. Dozens of researchers were brainstorming experiments as mages and engineers worked to try to create a room capable of holding a shapeshifter of unknown capabilities.

A large triple doored hatch system was created to ensure that nothing would get in or out that wasn't supposed to. Earth mages created a cube-shaped room made entirely of extremely dense glass. Runes were inscribed across the entirety of the outside of the glass, leaving barely an inch uncovered. The floor was covered in runes designed to drain the mana from everything within the room extremely quickly. The entire thing was floated into the air so that there was no connection to the ground. Every safety precaution they could come up with was incorporated, they did not want to lost this specimen.

Eventually, it was brought in, placed inside the prison and the entire thing was sealed.

John woke up hungry, a notification he had only seen once before entered his vision before he once again had no control of his body.

Warning Warning you are [ravenous] due to extensive biological changes your body is in need of sustenance, HP and MP regeneration reduced by 100% until hunger satiated Warning Due to your monstrous nature, your hunger has driven you wild, conscious thought will be suppressed until hunger is satiated.

The specimen had been kept unconscious for several days and this was a common occurrence, as such it had been prepared for. The corpse of one of the large buffalo-like creatures John had seen once before lay on one side of the room. The inside of the cage was lit brightly and the outside was dark so the creature was unaware of the many gnomes around his prison watching with notepads prepared.

The creature first looked around and saw its own reflection and it attacked it with wild abandon, raking at the glass. After several seconds it seemed to realise the problem and looked around he room. It was a testament to the earth mages that there wasn't even a scratch on the glass after the onslaught. The creature noticed the corpse of the cattle and pounced on it, letting out a very canine growl as it did so which was unexpected and disconcerting to the researches.

The sound of bones snapping and the sickening gurgle of a happy monster slurping up the meat and blood of the cattle was all that could be heard. Skin, organs, meat and hair were devoured with little care and the minimal amount of chewing.

It took only 5 minutes for the entire thing to be eaten, the researchers in that time took note of the extreme strength of the jaws and sharpness of the claws of the creature. They were also perplexed at how the sheer volume of food the creature seemed to eat, devouring more than its own body weight in several minutes was something that would have to be looked into.

John's conscious thought returned to him soon after and he looked around the room he was in. It was made entirely of glass but all he could see were reflections of himself and the now blood stain that was beside him. He stared into his own 4 eyes for several seconds, covered in gore and in his monstrous form a part of his mind trembled. He tried to activate shift but nothing happened. He tried to open up his status screen and saw the problem. Status Window Name: Johnathan Simmons Alignment: NE Level: 9 (15%) Class: Mage Race: Doppelgänger Gender: Male Acheivements First Blood, Matricide, Babelfish, David, It's about how you use it, Elemental Mage Fame: 0 Infamy: 0 - Health: 350/ 350 Health Regen: 3.5/ Min Mana: 0 / 510 Mana Regen: 9.2/ Min Stamina: 300 / 330 Stamina Regen: 3.3/ Sec - Strength: 25 Agility: 13 Vitality: 35 Endurance: 33 Dexterity: 11 Intelligence: 34 Wisdom: 34 Luck: 12 Undistributed stat points: 0 Physical Resistances Slashing: 5% Piercing: 5% Crushing: 5% Elemental Resistances Fire: 5% Water: 3% Wind: 2% Earth: 6% Lightning: -17% Darkness: 4% Light: 0% His mana was empty and being drained by something as fast as it was recovered. His mana manipulation skill at least allowed him to feel that his mana was being pulled out of him and towards the floor but there was nothing he could do to fight it. He tried meditating, hoping the increased mana manipulation would let him overcome the drain but his mana still remained empty. He tried to pull a gun from his inventory but failed. Even the tiny amount of mana to remove something from his inventory was not afforded to him. John just decided to sit there and wait. After feasting the creature seemed to calm down, it stared at the glass for several seconds, staring directly into the eyes of one of the researchers. Everyone began to stir as it just looked at him but abruptly it sat down, legs crossed and eyes closed and did not move again. Everyone was confused as to the nature of the event. Could it see through the glass? Could it sense someone was there? They did not know and it was decided that perhaps today was not the say to conduct any more experiments. John eventually fell asleep on the cold glass, only to be awoken by the opening of a door in the wall, another of the cattle slid in and before he could even move the door closed, leaving a seamless wall in its place. John waited to eat, he did not expect to be poisoned, if he was going to be killed so quickly he would be dead, he was just not hungry. He eventually got bored of trying to meditate and started to pace around the room whilst eating one of the buffalo things legs. The room was about 5m x 5m x 5m so there was plenty of room to move around in. After he had eventually eaten the entire corpse he returned to staring at himself in the same spot as before. He had not changed much since he changed. He was definitely heavier but he didn't seem to be any more muscular, he was maybe a little taller but it was hard to tell without any reference. He studied himself for a few minutes, looking himself up and down and after a while, something happened. The glass where he was looking became transparent and a young woman with bright blue hair stood in a lab coat with a notepad in hand. She looked at him, shaking slightly in fear which John found odd considering the situation they found themselves in. "H..h...hello. Please stand still, this will be much easier if you do" At that gouts of flame sprang up from the floor.