The darkness begins to fade into fire. My lips part as I wake. Heat presses its light little fingers against the side of my face. I sit up, blinking, licking my lips, and feeling things. I've never felt before, never breathed before, never saw before. This is my first time.

I'm in what must be a bunk. What lies beneath me is something that must be a bed, with sheets covering me. Above me is something called a ceiling, made of wood. This wood, it surrounds me, pressing close except on one end, by my feet, where it opens to dark and fire. There is also something called a shelf in the space where I lie, which seems to have something on it. A box, I think. Yes, a box.

I lift my legs from the bed, pushing off with my arms, which seem strong. The thing called ground, which is beneath my bare feet, is hard and cold, especially compared to the heat of the fire beyond my bunk. The box has a lid, which I lift.

Inside is a stack of paper, which I can read, though this is the first time I have even breathed. My chest tightens, and my stomach flutters in what is called confusion. I don't understand.

I read the papers. They say more things I don't understand, like my name. My name is Eblys, I am of the species cuscan, and of the breed jaeger. What on hell's surface is meant by that?

There is also a very long check-list of accomplishments. The first one is something simple: Eat breakfast. I don't know what breakfast is yet, but I'm sure I'll find out soon. My eyes wander down the rest of the list, until it rests on a word I wish I didn't know. It's a terrible word; kill. It has an ashy taste in my mouth.

For the first time, I hear things. Noises, like voices. I peer outside of the opening in my bunk, to see a giant wall full of square holes, like the entrance of my own bunk. Thousands of bunks just like mine. Thousands of cuscen just like me. I may be confused, but it would seem that I am not alone.

There is a platform of a substance called metal running along the outside of each bunk. I step out onto the hot surface, feeling the heat sting my feet. But it feels good, it feels right. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling the heat enter my lungs and run into my veins and back out again. My feet take me another step closer to the edge of the platform, and I see the mother of the fire; the large pit of heat and yellow light far below me.

My nails dig into my sweating palms and my chest clenches. Heights. I don't think I like heights.

"Aye!" A shout comes from somewhere close-by, "The little guy's awake! We got ourselves a new jaeger!" I step back from the edge of the metal platform, and along it, from the right side of me, comes a rather large, gray male. His belly is almost as large as he is tall, and his nose isn't too small either. Nor is his mouth, which is open and filled with sharp little teeth, probably the smallest things about him. Something rock-like rests on his shoulders, across his arms and legs, and on top of his chest like armour, though it seems more like it's actually part of him, like his scaly skin.

"How do you know what I am?" I ask.

"You's a gots it on your bunk door."

"Are you a jaeger?"

"Ho! Eh! Yeh hear that? Me, a jaeger? Neh, I'sa too big for that!"

"Are you a cuscen, then?"

"Ques'ons, quest'ons! Yeh, I's be a cuscen. We's all be cuscen's here. We're the good guys! Eh, actually, we be the bad guys, but the bad guys be the good guys now!"

I crinkle my eyebrows, confusion fluttering in my stomach again. Seems like that's going to be happening a lot.

"Eh, what's yer name?" the big guy bellows at me.

"Elbys, apparently," I reply.

"Well, I think this 'uns a pretty smart fella. He talks all proper, eh Vemnin?" Another male, similar to this other one, steps out from behind. Instead of rock, he's covered in sharp-looking metal, which glints greedily in the firelight.

"Yeh, he's a lookin' smart too, eh Brunfur?"

"Eh, that he is, in't he?"

"Where's breakfast?" I ask, lowering my chin slightly. Brunfur bursts out laughing, regarding me with skepticism, "Maybe he in't too smart, then!"

"Isn't it a perfectly good question?" I say.

"Ya didn't read the whole thing, did yer?" Vemnin says, crouching to look me in the eye, "There's a bit more to it."

I look over my shoulder at my bunk, staring at the papers I had put down on the disheveled bed-sheets. I look back up at the two large males, who stare back expectantly, if not a little blankly, eyes black and glazed.

"Well, yer gonna get it, right?" Vemnin asks.

I nod, pinching my face as I turn towards my bunk. I pick up the papers, turning them over, laying them on the bed. There are so many sheets containing the check-list. So many times my eyes pick up a word like kill or steal or disable or dispose of. At last, I get to the word I want. Breakfast.

The words Bed and Breakfast, you make both appear on one of the last pages. Vemnin and Brunfur are peering in, staring at the sheet of paper in my hands. Their mouths are curled into slightly unpleasant and idiotic grins.

"There y'are," Brunfur says, "Now you's in the know. Ya gotta catch the breakfast. Gotta kill the meat to eat. We'll show ya the exit, though. They don't write that down on the paper stuff."

"It a ways, though," Vemnin adds, "So ya gotta be careful. Your new little legs may'nt be able to step so much."

"Soon you'll a be able to check a box, though," Brunfur says, "Get some pay and stuff in your pocket."

"Pay?"

"You gotta read the whole thing, ya know," Vemnin says.

My stomach clenches, dull pain making it growl. I think it's called hungry" Breakfast first, though." I say.

I hurry up the black obsidian staircase, passing countless levels of bunks, careful not to watch the ground that's surely fading and shrinking beneath me. My stomach growls again, such a demanding thing. A new light, whiter and purer than the golden firelight flickering dimly on the staircase, appears above me. The word sunlight comes to mind.

The walls around me are beginning to close in, creating a tunnel. A thing called wind comes down the narrowing passageway soon, fluffing my hair. The scent of grass and rain fills my nostrils. My feet continue to pad up the stairs. Gosh, they must be never-ending. Vemnin was right, my new legs don't seem quite ready for the task of getting out of here. I haven't got any idea how I'm supposed to get food. I don't know where to find it, or where I can catch it, or what it is.

I take a deep breath, slowing down, but still pushing on. My legs shake somewhat from the exertion, but the wind and the scent that comes with it, they help me forward. Something deep and feral awakens within me. My legs pick up speed, almost making me trip. All at once, my perspective changes, and I'm on all fours, racing easily up the stairway with my nose twitching and my claws clicking against the cool metal. The spot of sunlight grows at a rapid pace, until it's all around me, and the scent is all around me and the grass itself is all around me.

Freedom; it tastes great.

I push my paws into the earth, feeling the cool mud squish up between my claws. A warm, musky scent rises on the wind, causing my nose to twitch. Something called food, called rabbit. My legs itch to get going, already pulling me forward. The scent of the rabbit is close-by, but it's fading. If I want to eat, I must catch the rabbit.

I charge, the grass sweeping past, tickling my flanks and my underbelly. The scent of the rabbit grows stronger, almost sour. There are more scents now, too, scents that begin to overpower other scents; crushed grass and something dark and feral. Something female, and somehow familiar.

The scent of the rabbit is very strong, and very sour. Sour with fear. The fear spurs on adrenaline, which spurs on me. I run on. Trees rear up before me, their deep green branches of scaly leaves keep the grass from growing properly, making my run easier. But the rabbit is not in sight. Only its scent still lingers. I have lost it.

My tail and shoulders slump, my head lowers, and my eyes stare forward, searching the sparse underbrush for signs of more food. My stomach growls again, angrier and more painful. If this breakfast thing was the easiest on the list, how hard will everything else be?

Perhaps I won't be able to do it, and I'll get no pay. Though it's not like it means much to me. I have no idea what I would need any pay for.

"Hey, wolf!" my head snaps towards the sound behind me, my body following shortly. A tall, pale-skinned man stands there, only a pair of short pants on his body, "Forgot how to hunt?"

I cock my head to the side, unsure of how to answer, mostly because my lips don't move in human speech, partly because I thought I was hunting perfectly fine.

The man figure throws himself to the ground, twisting into a large, black cat-like thing. My nostrils widen and sting at the strong, unfamiliar scent, "I'm gonna guess you're the new guy?" he purrs, tail flicking back and forth.

"Yes, I suppose that'd be me," I reply.

"Well, you suck at hunting."

"I just woke up. How do these cuscen expect me to know already?"

"They're all about hands on learning. I wouldn't diss their methods if I were you, though. They're not the most pleasant sort. Then again, very few of us are."

"Well, can you teach me?"

"To hunt? Nah, I'm a panther, I don't hunt like a wolf. You gotta figure it out on your own, same as the rest of us. Lucky for you, we jaegers have it a bit easier than most. We've actually got instincts to follow, and our noses. Or, if you're a hawk, your eyes."

I cock my head to the side again.

"Well, clearly you're not a hawk," says the panther, "so you'd better start using those legs and that nose, or you'll starve." He jumps up, twisting back into man-form, and stalks away. Even when he's a man, he still walks and struts like a panther.

"Try sneaking up on the prey!" he shouts over his shoulder at the last minute, "They won't run away so quickly, then!"

My ears prick at a sudden sound; a sound like the rapid beating of a heart or the thumping of careful feet on soft pine-needles. I sniff at the air, hackles raised, legs tensed. I crouch low, crawling forward, feeling the feral instincts take hold again and listening to the advice the other jaeger gave me. That slightly familiar scent from before drifts on the air again, not rabbit, but something else predatory.

A large, fluffy rodent-creature sprints from the roots of a tall pine-tree. My legs bunch and spring. Wind ruffles my fur. My paws stretch out, landing swiftly on the creature, killing it.

Breakfast is served.

I lay on my belly, ready to take a bite, though my insides twist at the sight of the blood and the fur and the blank, staring eyes, until the strangely-familiar scent grows stronger. I lift my head, twitching my ears every which way, muzzle in the air. There's a sense of aggression to the smell, and it just keeps getting stronger. I'm not sure I like it.

Something swishes. My ears swivel in it's direction. Then boom! I'm hit in the side. I stagger, hitting the ground, twisting around to watch another wolf, a female, with bright blue eyes snatch my meal. She regards me with a look of disdain, then scurries off.

"Hey! That's mine!" I shout, getting up.

She stops abruptly, looking back over her shoulder, her eyes blank and emotionless,"I guess you've got to find something else to eat," she flicks her tail and bounds off.

I clench my jaws, hackles raised, a growl starting in my throat.

Whatever she is, whoever she is...she'll pay.

Vemnin and Brunfur stagger along the platform while I follow a short distance behind them. Their voices are like thunder, washing over the entire expanse of the cavern we seem to be in. High-pitched clinks like metal being pounded on metal can be heard from way down below, where the fire comes from. I don't look to see what it is, though.

"When did you awaken?" I ask. My voice sounds so small and shrill against the booming of Vemnin and Brunfur.

"Ah, well, it's been a while. We're old fellas," Vemnin says.

"Quite a shock when we a woke up and it was all quiet and stuff. Then I'd a tried to read meh paper, and I found out what was a goin' on like you, eh? But we a didn't have any nice cuscen to help us. No, you is a lucky cuscen, to have two Grakens helpin' ya," Brunfur says.

"Grakens. Is that what you are?"

"Yeh, that'd be what it were," Vemnin says.

"What's a jaeger?"

"Well, ah, you is a jaeger," Brunfur smirks.

"But what do I do? What am I?"

"Well, you's a got to figure that 'un on your own," Brunfur says.

The two Grakens turn to face the metal pathway again. I keep my head down, glancing involuntarily into each bunk as we pass. They're each the same size, holding much the same things, though the cuscen inside are all very different. Some are as dark as night, with shadowy figures, hardly tangible. Others have serpentine bodies, with slick, dark scales and yellow eyes. Some have wings; feathered or scaled. Most of the cuscen are darkly coloured, with malice in their eyes.

"We be approachin' the stairs and the crossings," Vemnin rumbles, looking over his shoulder at me. I stare up at him, watching his dark, glassy eyes. I see no malice in them, so I relax slightly.

"What are they?"

"They get ya around the place," Brunfur says.

"What is this place?"

"Got a lot ah questions, don't yeh?" Vemnin says, "This is a place that'd be called Daelor, or somethin' of the sort. Can never rem'ber it myself. It'd be on your paper."

"When do we get out?"

"Right now, and a then yeh come back and go to the Knowers," Brunfur says.

"Them Knowers, they teach yeh stuff, and you learn it. Then yeh go out and do what yeh have to, and get the pay."

Clearly, I'm not going to get any proper answers from these two.

"We is at the stairs and crossings now," Brunfur says, "Yeh can just go all the way up the stairs, and the exit be at the top. Yer won't miss it."

"Thanks,"

"Good luck a huntin'"

"Wait, Venmin?"

"Yeh?"

"What do I look like?"

"Yer look like a little man, yeh do. Gives me shivers, it do. You'd a be a great spy, methinks."