A sleepy morning for fifteen-year-old Zeiss Talid begins with the smell of crisping bacon. In the kitchen of a hobbled home, Zeiss quickly makes his breakfast. Two eggs, three pieces of bacon, and one piece of buttered toast.
Sitting at his table in jeans and a sweatshirt, he eats his morning meal and pours some orange juice. Zeiss loves breakfast, it's his favorite meal of the day. Sighing, he thinks of all the things he must do that day. All of his hopes and dreams rest on the outcome of today's test.
Living alone since he was thirteen; Zeiss was used to being the person he had to rely on. Both of his parents passed away suddenly two years ago from an accident. An only child with no other relatives to speak of; he received the insurance money. It was barely enough to allow him to rent this small one-bedroom apartment.
He attended public school and today would decide the field of study he would pursue for the next several years. Ever since he was a child; he always dreamed of becoming a Zoologist and a General Curator of a zoo. One day, he believed he would become the world's greatest Zoologist.
In order for him to get on the right career track, he needed to pass today's test. Looking at the time it was time to go or he would be late to school.
Scarfing the last bits of his meal, he grabbed his bag and rushed out the door. As soon as he locked the door he started running as fast as he could. Being a curator wasn't just about what you know about animals. A strong curator needed a strong body. You see, in this world, Zoos were not just for regular animals. They were for monsters!
To become a world-class curator you needed to become a world-class monster hunter. Strength, speed, intelligence, none of it could be lacking. A strong empathy towards animals was also important. If a person could resonate with his empathy with a monster, then he and the monster could fuse, and the human would possess a monster form!
As he ran toward school, Zeiss noticed a dog laying on the sidewalk. It was a purple medium-size dog. As he drew closer to the animal, he heard it whimpering. It was still alive. Forgetting about school; Zeiss bent over and examined the animal. The dog looked at him sadly. It seemed friendly.
Feeling around on the animal, he found a protrusion. Zeiss removed his scanner from his backpack and scanned the dog. One of its ribs was broken and stabbing into its lung. He winced when he saw the results.
"There, there, fella, it will be okay. I'll take care of you and then you'll be chasing those girl dogs all over again."
Zeiss reached into his bag and pulled out a kit he used in school. The kit contained his last batch of nano-bots. He planned to use this for the test, but what could he do? Zeiss programmed the bots on the patient's problem and programmed the course of action they were to take. After everything was ready, Zeiss injected the nano-bots into the whimpering dog.
The bots set to work and within a few moments, the rib was healed and the pierced lung was fixed. All bone shards were removed and soon the dog was healed. It immediately stood up and rubbed its head against Zeiss's hand and jumped up to lick him in the face.
"Easy boy, no problem, no problem. Look I've got to get to school, maybe we can play later."
Just as Zeiss was getting up, the dob bit his right arm and ran off.
"Owwww! What'd you do that for?" Zeiss was slightly perturbed, but animals were animals. Without time left to consider what happened; he rushed to school. After taking a few steps, Zeiss felt a pain in his head causing him to fall.
Sitting on his knees, he grabbed his head as if it were going to explode and he was trying to keep it together. Images flashed in his mind and he heard a voice.
"I present you with the key to The Universe Zoo. It will guide you on your quest to become the curator of the greatest zoo in the universe. I have finally found a human who touched my heart just as my master asked. Farewell young man we will meet again!"
He saw in his mind the dog he just helped. It was communicating with him through his mind! He was stunned. "Was this a monster beast?" He didn't have time to think as pain gripped his entire body and he fell to the ground and rolled around.
Struggling to his knees he felt a sudden need to throw up; which he did. Disgusting and foul-smelling liquids erupting from his innards as the spilled onto the ground. Not only did his breakfast come up, but black and brown ooze came up. He suddenly had the feeling that he needed to use the restroom.
He stood up and rushed back to his house on his swaying and weak legs. He was just in time when sitting on the toilet before all sorts of fowl things exploded from his butt into the toilet. After a few minutes of this; his entire body felt weak. It was then he noticed filth and grimed had come out of his body and reeked while staining his clothes.
He flushed the half-filled toilet and stripped off his clothes. Turning the shower on, he flopped into the bathtub and let the water wash over his body while he lay in the tub. After laying in the tub for an hour he had enough strength to stand up and wash his body off.
After changing into some clean clothes, he intended to get back to school, but instead, he fell onto his bed in a deep sleep. It wasn't until late that night he finally woke up feeling hungrier than he ever felt before.
He was confused as he slowly sat up. He wasn't even sure he was at first. Then, he remembered!
"The test, I've missed the test, I've missed the test!" He was beside himself in agitation and sorrow. It was the most important test of his life and he missed it. Before he could calm down he felt completely exhausted, he fell back onto the floor once more and went to sleep.