"No, I'm a monster, RAWR. Who else would it be you moron?" Mason stretched, muscles rippling under his scale-covered skin."Man, I feel fantastic!" he continued, before inspecting his friend. "Hey, we are different colors."

Jake tsked. "Way to go, mister obvious. I wonder if that means we have different dragon lineages?" He started fiddling with his nails, carving small figures in the wooden armrests.

"You mean like fire and ice, or gold and silver? Could be, it would make sense." Mason shakily walked towards a tipped-over table and picked it up it. "It's like its made of cardboard!" He tossed it to the side, creating a loud ruckus and startling Jake.

"Don't make so much noise!" Jake said as he covered his ears. Feeling the pointy ridges shocked him, and he rubbed them before tracing the contours of his face. His jaw was sharp and pronounced, and his nose had changed into something longer and more like a snout. He started inspecting the rest of his body but was distracted by a soft gasp.

Next, to him, Mason was standing, his trousers pulled outwards, looking down. "Holy shit... That will need some getting used to."

Worried, Jake pushed his back against the chair and opened his trousers. "Are those armor scales?" He muttered, slightly horrified, as he looked at his pride and joy. Looking across what remained of the coffeeshops second floor, he made eye contact with his friend. "Why would we need armor down there?"

Shuddering Mason sat down on a table. "I don't want to think about it right now. How do you feel?

Jake stopped looking down his pants and flexed his arms. "Good. I feel stronger."

"Try moving a bit. It feels peculiar as if I cant feel the sole of my feet. Wonder what that's about."

Raising a leg, Mason looked at the underside of his foot. "Fuck, more armor plating. What are we? Tanks?"

Standing, Jake moved around a bit, balancing with his arms and tail.

"Jake… You have a tail..." Mason was gazing spellbound at his friends rear before grabbing behind his back. Tugging something from behind, he revealed a tail of his own. Before he could say or do anything else, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Staring at the ceiling, Mason blinked. "Ok, mental note to self. Don't tug your tail, or you fall over."

Another crash came followed by a very unmanly giggle.

Mason facepalmed. "You never believe me..."

A scream pierced the air, causing both of them to tense up reflexively. Sharing a quick look, they scrambled to the window, by force of habit stepping around the glass shards on the floor.

Before they could find the source of the scream, they were stunned by the changes to their familiar surroundings.

In the distance, high-rises were half gone or missing entirely. Large plumes of smoke rising into the air from where they used to stand. In front of the coffee shop, cars were flipped over or partially buried inside the rubble. Roads were split apart, and everything was now overgrown as if hundreds of years had passed. Except, the cars and buildings looked as old as they had yesterday. One enormous tree stood in the center of, what used to be, an empty square lined by coffeehouses and shops.

"Jake, look at the sky." Mason prodded his friend

Looking up, Jake saw something he had only seen in sci-fi movies. Next, to the sun, that seemed unchanged, was an enormous red moon.

"We aren't in Kansas anymore..." Jake whispered.

"Lame… that's something I wanted to say." came a dry reply.

Another scream echoed, quieting the two friends. It lasted longer than the previous one, and a dangerous vibe hung in the air.

"Shit. I guess this isn't some fairy tale." Mason said.

"That sounded like someone in trouble. What do we do?" Jake asked, his voice shaking.

"Look at us, we have claws and teeth and can lift cars. What are you afraid of? Let's see what's going on. Maybe there are monsters!" Mason raised a shaking fist, holding it outstretched towards Jake, trying hard to mask a shuddering breath.

Exhaling deeply, Jake grinned and bumped the hanging fist. "You're right, let's go."

--

As they stumbled out of the room, Mason suddenly tipped forward, as he started flailing his arms and tail.

"Woah!"

Reflexively Jake caught the swinging tail and held on tight, pulling backward. As if by some instinct he sunk his claws deep into the wooden flooring, securing enough grip to keep his footing.

Waving his arms around, Mason was staring down towards the rubble.

"Hey Jake"

"Yes?"

"The stairs are gone."

"You think I'm blind?" Jake held onto his friend, leaning back to stop him from falling. With a solid tug, he finally managed to pull Mason back. Sitting on the ground, he was just about to say something when Mason looked down.

"Think we can jump? I think we can jump… Let's jump" Not waiting for a reply Mason jumped down. He landed on his taloned feet, and the floorboards cracked a bit but held. Using some new instinct, he managed to keep his balance with his tail. "Hahaha, we can jump!" Mason was dancing around, doing the fist-piston, a silly grin plastered over his face, as parts of wooden debris were cracking under his feet.

Wondering why he even went through the trouble of dragging him back up in the first place, Jake facepalmed. "Seriously… Move over, so I don't jump on your head already!" Grinning as he watched his friend's silly antics, he jumped down, effortlessly landing on his feet.

"Hey, Mason.."

Mason was standing still his head cocked, ignoring Jake. "Do you hear that?"

Jake stopped dead cold and listened, any joy he had been feeling moments before vanished. Then Jake heard the sound of running coming from one of the streets behind the coffeehouse. Immediately after, another scream tore through the silence, softer and with less strength than the previous two.

Jake grabbed Mason's arm and rushed out of the door, ramming the doorpost with his shoulder. Outside, the last rays of the sun highlighted the destruction even more, and they froze for a moment. Jake shook his head before looking around.

To the side, connecting them to the main street, was a small alleyway, miraculously untouched by the chaos surrounding it. Entering it, they started picking up speed and soon found, running was going to take even more practice. Mason cursed under his breath as he repeatedly slammed into buildings, and Jake was having considerable trouble staying on his feet.

At the end of the street, they slowed down and crept up to the exit. The footsteps had stopped, and they could hear shouting and laughing coming from not too far away.

"Can you make out how many there are?" Jake whispered.

"Do I look like a dog? I can only tell there are more than two." Mason hissed back.

While they were whispering, the laughter increased in volume, and it had a nasty ring to it. Unintelligible voices were talking, and then a young voice screamed, followed by another burst of laughter.

"Damnit, let's go!" Jake ducked around the corner, closely followed by Mason. Greeting them was a nasty sight. In front of a shop not too far away was a group of small humanoids with large pointy ears and yellow or green skin. They had cornered something that was huddling on the ground.

The ugly things wore baggy clothes, at least two sizes too large and they were kicking the small figure. Blood was pooling on the ground, creating an eerie sight.

"There's eight. We can take them!" Mason whispered in a low and dangerous voice. Without further consultation, he clumsily rushed forward. Growling deep in his throat, Jake followed him.

--

"You should have chosen the same race as the rest of us, didn't you hear what the president said? We need to stick together. Do you think you're special? You're not! There isn't a place for you here. Now we will have to kill your sorry ass so you can join your friends in hell."

Standing slightly behind the others, a green goblin with a horrible fake posh accent was looking on, an evil grin on his ugly face. As he spoke, spittle sprayed from his mouth, between small curved and yellow teeth. The other goblins moved in for the kill, laughing and screeching, seeming like the perfect examples of their race, even if they had only become them mere hours ago.

Realizing he wouldn't make it in time, Jake picked up a trash can from the ground and hurled it forward. The grey object flew through the air, completely off direction and bounced against a wall, creating a loud racket. The interruption caused the goblins to look up, and they noticed two things moving their way.

Scrambling and lurching forward, where a couple of large kobolds, struggling not to trip. The leading one had its mouth opened, showcasing a row of vicious-looking teeth. Behind it, came another one, who was picking up a broken road sign and hurling it their way. Again it missed, this time almost impaling the first kobold in the back.

Some of the goblins stumbling back a bit, trying to get to grips with what they were seeing. Others were laughing at the spectacle. Then the leader started yelling again. "Don't stand there like little pussies! There are only two of them. You five go bury them next to the others, the rest of you finish the brat." Some of the goblins, who had been indicated by their leader, were carrying baseball bats with sharp nails, and they moved forward threateningly. The others turned around and started kicking and beating the silent form on the ground.

Mason heard the leaders words and burst forward, colliding into the first goblin he came across. Using his superior weight, he knocked the goblin back, before he started slashing around with his claws trying to make his way to the others. The goblins, startled at first, began hitting him, aiming mostly for the arms and back, afraid to come too close to the large and clawed kobold. Getting hit in the side of the knee, Mason staggered as a shocked look crossed his face. The goblins yelled as if in victory, redoubling their efforts, trying to batter Mason to the ground.

Before they could succeed a loud screech startled them, and looking at the direction it came from, they saw their leader dangling in the air, a scaled hand around his neck.

"Back off, or your boss gets it!" Jake yelled, his voice shaking a little and cursing himself for his cliche remark. His heart was racing, and he was praying the goblin turned humans would stop and listen. He was strangling the goblin as he was lifting him off the ground. The creature didn't seem to mind much, as it was glowering at him, using its hands to hold onto his wrist.

Looking at Mason, bleeding from multiple wounds, Jake growled and squeezed harder, causing the leader's eyes to widen, almost popping out of their sockets. Its face now held a fearful, shocked look.

The goblins looked at each other askance, seeming unsure on what to do. Then they backed up a bit, giving Mason time to scramble towards the still cowering shape. As he bent over, he saw it was a blue kobold child, shaking and bleeding from many wounds. Suppressing another burst of anger, Mason picked up the little child and shakily made his way to Jake, wincing every time his weight landed on his right leg.

"Good thinking there. I kinda got carried away..." Cradling the child, Mason had a pained look on his face, as blood dripped along his cheeks. He was standing slightly behind Jake, watching the goblins for any sudden movement.

"You think? Damnit, I'm the one who does things without thinking. But still..." Jake took a quick look at the girl in Mason's arms. "Well done, now let's see how we get out of here."

The goblins had been paying close attention and were now circling them, trying to cut off their retreat.

"Stop moving!" Jake growled as he raised the struggling goblin higher, squeezing even harder. "We are going to back up, and you will let us leave, or you will need to find another leader."

The goblins stopped moving, looking uncertain until one stepped forward, a particularly nasty one with only one eye.

"Perhaps we don't mind another leader, have you ever thought of that." He had a rough voice as if something was wrong with his throat.

The goblin let out an eerie laugh as he looked at the other's beside him, trying to garner their support.

Swallowing, Jake tried to calm his stretched nerves. "You might be right. But then after this guy gets it, I will kill you next!" he shot back, trying to look as menacing as he could.

What he didn't know was that the changes to his face made him appear feral and wild, and the goblins froze in midstep. From the side, Mason was also looking at his friend, his mouth hanging open in shock.

The loudmouthed goblin, seeing how hesitant his friends were, grumbled a bit. "Fine, leave. We already killed most of your filthy kind anyway."

Mason's eyes narrowed when he heard the goblin, while Jake growled in anger. The goblin looked at their still captured leader, shivering a bit from the cold look he got. Glancing around, he quickly noticed that three of the goblins who previously seemed ok with his insubordination had moved to stand next to him. Straightening his back, he glowered around. "Alright, let's get out of here, we need to clear our turf."

Jake and Mason watched, as over half of the goblins walked off, occasionally swinging their bats in a blustering show of force. The ones that stayed behind were waiting and looking at the kobolds.

"Let's go inside a shop before tossing him back. With any luck he will break his neck," Mason whispered, backing up towards the nearest shop.

Jake followed him, holding the goblin in the air. Stepping across the broken door frame, Jake grabbed the goblin's leg with his free hand and, using all his strength, threw him. He was aiming for the small canal in the middle of the shopping street, but overestimated his strength and aim. The goblin fell short, thrown against the remains of a car.

Roaring, the goblin rolled to his feet and looked at the now-empty shop entrance. He cursed and beckoned the others to come over.

"You two go around the building, and you follow me!" Then he stalked inside the building, picking up a broken pipe along the way while grumbling. "I am going to finish that little runt. Think he is all that because he is a bit bigger? I will rip his legs off and keep him around as a pet to eat the garbage and shit from the ground."

A few minutes later the lead goblin exited the other side of the building, meeting up with the other two, who were empty-handed. "Where did they go?" He hissed, grabbing one of the others.

"We don't know, Anthony. They must have been faster than us and ran off." The other goblin replied in a young and shaky voice.

The leader hit the other goblin square in the face, knocking him over.

"I told you not to call me that anymore! I am Orcslayer. And did you see how crappy they walked? How could they possibly be faster than us, moving like that." He screamed as he walked towards the fallen goblin, kicking him repeatedly in the face. Eventually, he grew tired of it and cursing the others for their incompetence he walked away.

"Pick up the idiot! We need to hurry and find that bastard, Dirk, before he takes off with all our loot."

--

While the goblins were walking off, a pair of eyes were watching them leave from the second floor of the shopping building.

Seeing the goblins disappear, Jake let out a pent-up sigh. He felt himself turn a bit faint, and just when he decided it was time to return to Mason, something moved in the shadows of the street. Freezing, he saw a large animal walk out of the shadows. It moved towards the spot the goblins had been standing at before.

It resembled what a large cat might look like, that was if it had two extra limbs, was the size of a large dog and had teeth the size of daggers. It sniffed the ground and licked up some of the goblin blood. With a flash it disappeared in the direction the goblins had walked off in, so fast Jake could barely follow it. After waiting for a while to make sure nothing else would show up, Jake sat down and let out a long breath. His heart was racing again, and he wondered if he should wait for the screams of the goblins as they were slaughtered by something even more vicious.