Gamekeeper

The air smells of pine. It's July, and I am surrounded by taiga. I'm a gamekeeper and I know it like the back of my own hand. I'm out for boar today. Then suddenly a shot is heard, and everything goes dark. When I awake, I'm . . . seventeen, and my name is now Max. I'm a sickly kid that everyone around here avoids like the plague. My hands bear the crimson tattoos of a Huntsman. I have to capture my first pet, survive, and help my family. I have to get my bearings in this insane world—a world where people hide behind flimsy walls and fight for survival, and the woods are filled with magical creatures. I will learn how to be a Huntsman. I will use all my knowledge. With my experience, and the Animal Code, that shouldn't be difficult. After all, the woods are the woods—you just have to know how to read them. And I do that better than I do anything else.