The left of the wooden walkway was lined with tall stone fences that came up to chest high on a grown man. For Mark, crawling as he was, the other side may as well have been a different world. The right side followed the arena walls and gave way to large fenced in pastures. Mark's eyes bulged as he spotted beings in various states of transformation from human to animal. In just a cursory glance he spotted a boy clad in a thick brown coat of fur, a pair of antlers sprouting from his head. Nearby was what looked like an armless centaur with the four legs and body of a horse. The girl's breasts swung freely as she lowered her upper torso and began to crop at the grass.

The walkway had been worn smooth by the passage of the countless beings that had been led down this path in the years before. Apprentice Colvard moved with surety as he walked past first one intersection followed by another. When the leash went taut he glanced back at the animal he was walking. The beast had frozen in place staring at the herbivore paddocks, its face frozen in a rictus of horrified fascination.

"What's the matter 91161, do those grass eaters look tasty to you already?" He taunted sarcastically. "I know you're probably going to turn into a carnivore but the other stock really is not for eating."

Mark's attention snapped back to the apprentice. "We're people you bastard! How dare you do this to us!? You are stripping us of our humanity!" The words came out in an animalistic snarl.

Colvard snickered as he turned down a lane marked by the number forty-two, and led Mark away from herbivores. "Don't forget 91161, you were given a choice to drink the awakening potion. You chose this."

"It was supposed to awaken our ability to communicate with animals." He protested.

"We never said it would give you the abilities of a Beast Tamer. We said it would awaken your magic. And it will. Once you've completed the transition into a magical beast, you will naturally possess magical abilities. You failed to awaken your magic naturally in the three years we were teaching you. Did you really think you could obtain something for nothing? All power comes with a price. As I said, you chose this. The Order gave you plenty of chances to back out over the last three years." Colvard ranted as he stopped outside a pair of gates carved with a variety of snakes in the shape of the letter B.

Mark growled. "If I had backed out my family would have had to return the fifty gold, plus interest. I know the Order's policies when it comes to recruits."

The apprentice snickered again as he opened the gates and a blast of cold air wafted out. "And that didn't make you suspicious? You were purchased like livestock. The Order is the only one who pays the families of the trainees when they take them in. For everyone else, it's the other way around."

Mark was led into a large courtyard with aisles branching off from it. The aisles were lined with transparent enclosures, the walls were made of some sort of magically strengthened glass. Only half the cages were occupied. When Colvard opened the door to an empty cage Mark dug in his heels and tried to stand as he turned to run. His legs gave out beneath him and his body spasmed uncontrollably as a strong burst of electricity coursed through him.

"Stupid beast." Colvard tossed a contemptuous glare at 91161 and entered the stall, dragging the newly changed animal behind him. When he reached the center of the stall he crouched down and pushed his end of the leash into the stone. The leather shimmered again and turned into metal, which spread to the stone and raced up the length of the leash, transforming into a sort of chain.

As the pain subsided Mark tried to stand again, but each time he made the attempt a bolt of electricity would drop him to the ground. He flushed with humiliation, as he remained on his hands and knees. There was no other position he could take without lying on the ground. The enchanted collar wouldn't allow anything else. To make matters worse Colvard crouched down in front of him and pushed back his light brown hair, scratching a spot behind his ear as though he were a common pet.

"There's a good boy, you'll get used to your new home quickly enough. It won't be so bad once you learn your place, I promise. You are our beast, nothing more." He crooned to Mark.

***

By sunset, the new crop of magical beasts had been profiled and put through a preliminary sorting. The six master beast tamers sat in their places at a long table, at the head of which sat the black-robed elders who had overseen the three awakening ceremonies. Grandmaster Hadrix leaned forward resting his chin on his clasped hands. "Alright, people lets get started. You've had time to compile your results. What exactly are we dealing with in this latest crop of magical beasts?"

Master Beast Tamer Erika cleared her throat and stood from her seat. She was the youngest person in the room as well as the most senior of the master beast tamers. A prodigy and the daughter of the Retreat's Head. "Reporting to the Grandmasters a grand-total of six hundred initiates went through the awakening ceremony. Of those six hundred, a total of forty-two of them exhibited the traits of a failing vector. That is, the mind of their inner beast was awakened while their bodies failed to show any changes. Blood tests were taken to confirm the diagnosis and once they tested positive they were put down. This gave us a failure rate of seven percent, well within the 5-10% range we have come to expect."

Erika took a sip from the glass of water in front of her and continued her report. "This left us with a grand total of five-hundred-fifty-eight. Of those, the majority showed evidence of feline or canine characteristics. We know that most of these will end up becoming low-class magical beasts whose form is similar to that of a domesticated cat or dog. A smaller percentage exhibited the traits of herbivores, such as horses, cattle, or deer."

Bird types were the fourth rarest in this crop, hopefully, we will see a larger number of the higher class magical beast from this group. The gods know we don't need another parakeet." She scoffed, briefly remembering the low class magic beast she had cared for as an apprentice years ago. It was one of the weakest and most useless magical beasts in existence.

"Continuing on with my report, the fifth and sixth rarest were the reptiles and aquatic species. Some of which proved to be slightly problematic, having developed gills during the initial transformation. Luckily their lungs are still functioning properly so none of them suffocated before we could submerge them in the aquatic tanks. The remainder was made up of a smattering of other species such as ursine, primate, rodents, and insectoids." Erika bowed as she completed her report and took her seat again.

During her speech, Hadrix and the other grandmasters had been flipping through the notebooks containing the basic profiles of the beasts. "Good work Master Erika." He commended. "The next week is going to be quite busy for everyone as the animals get acclimated to their new stables. We also need to flesh out these profiles more, get the weights and measurements of the animals and continue to document any further changes as they move further into their transition. The challenge of taking a crop of magical animals through the transition into their bestial forms is daunting but I have faith that the six of you will rise to the challenge and I have no doubt that in a few years you will all be wearing the black robes of a grandmaster."

"It is important to remember in these early stages to instill obedience in the animals but it is equally important to both encourage their animalistic qualities while simultaneously discouraging attempts to cling to their previous humanity. This is the reason we strip them of human accoutrements, such as their clothes and names. With that final word of advice, I will bid you all goodnight." Hadrix stood along with the rest of the grandmasters and they left the red-robed masters to plan the next steps in their final test.

***

Mark had spent the afternoon tugging at the chain and the collar around his neck. He paced in circles in a panic, as much as one could pace on their hands and knees. His manic attempts to escape eventually subsided as dusk set in. His heartbeat slowed as he breathed in deeply, forcing himself to survey his cage with a rational mind. The first thing he noticed was that he was kneeling in a sandpit that took up most of the stall. There was a narrow deck of stone on the back of the cage with a short metal bar protruding from the only wall that wasn't transparent. When Mark shuffled over he saw four circles set into a square pattern in front of the bar. The arrangement was identical to the white room, and Mark could only surmise that the equipment served the same purpose of restricting his movement and holding him in place.

Through the leftmost wall, Mark could see a room filled with chests and boxes, some of which were open, displaying a variety of supplies. No matter how he thought Mark couldn't discern the purpose of the tools. A portion of the leftmost wall bulged out in a hollow column that was filled with some sort of red liquid that reminded Mark of fruit juice. A tube protruded from the base of the column into Mark's cage. Next to it was a long empty stone box. The more Mark studied the contraption the more it seemed familiar. His eyes widened as realization struck. The box was a feeding trough, like the one that could be found in stables. As for the column, it reminded him of the water bottle that attached to the cage of the class hamster.

"Finally calmed down have you boy?" The sudden question made Mark jump and he whirled around to stare at the cell on his right as he realized it was occupied. A bald teenager regarded Mark through vertically slit pupils from where he sat in the darkened corner of his own stall.

"Who are you?" Mark demanded, a growl slipping out involuntarily.

The man moved forward in an oddly graceful movement, entering the light and Mark's jaws dropped at the sight of the snake tail that had replaced the lower half of his body. He was covered in a fine patina of scales rather than skin. Around his neck was a steel collar much like the one Mark was wearing. He slithered up to the stall studying the new arrival without blinking. "I am 88427, some times known as Slithers. My human name was Drew Hanson. With how new you are they must have held the awakening ceremony today. That makes it three years to the day since I began my own transition."

Mark shivered at the confirmation that this had been going on for years without the outside world realizing it. With the setting of the sun, he realized that he was much colder then just a simple lack of clothes would indicate. "Drew right? I'm Mark. Can you tell me what's going on? And why is it so cold in here?" His teeth chattered.

"The answer to the first question is quite complex but the second is much easier. With the exception of the aquatic areas, paddocks are all kept at a temperature just below freezing. In mammals, it encourages the growth of fur and feathers as protection from the elements, since we have been stripped of our clothes. Since reptiles like us are cold-blooded the low temperature keeps us nice and docile."

"But we'll freeze to death." Mark protested.

"That will not happen, Mark. You see the other reason the temperature is so low is to encourage us to take in plenty of fluids." Drew indicated the liquid-filled column in Mark's stall, and the one on the opposite side of his own stall. "That is the only form of liquid they give us. It's a mixture of several potions, primarily it speeds up the transformation process from human to animal."

"Then why drink it!?" Mark cried out.

"For one thing it's laced with a warmth potion so that we won't, as you say, freeze to death. There are also a number of pain killers mixed into it that can at least dull some of the pain of transformation. Without it, we would likely go completely mad from the pain alone. Besides the transformations continue regardless, the potion just speeds up the process, on the order of years rather than decades."

"Bessidesss." A second voice came from the stall across from Mark and he turned to see a man crawl up to the wall he was bald and covered in deep green scales but otherwise still looked human. When he spoke though a forked tongue slipped out from between his lips. "If you refusse to eat or drink, they'll leave you in the limb sshacklesss and forssse feed you." He hissed and then introduced himself belatedly. "My number isss 9027, I wasss onsse called Barry."

In the cell beside Barry, which was the stall diagonally across from Mark, was a boy with dark brown hair. He was curled up into a ball his back towards the others, an odd slightly raised pattern spotted his bare-back and he kept moaning in a barely audible voice. "Not me, not me, this can't be happening to me. Not me man, not me."

Barry rolled his eyes dismissing his panicked neighbour. "I ssuggessst that you get ssome of that potion in you now Mark. It getsss colder at night."

Mark turned to look at the water tank and studied the tube, he grabbed it and tried tugging at it to see if he could get some of the potion out of the tank. Drew sighed behind him. "You have to suck at it with your mouth Mark. It's one of the ways that they encourage you to act like an animal. Animals don't eat or drink with their hands after all." Mark looked over and watched as Drew glided over to his own tank. He had to lie down completely as he bit down on the plastic tubing and sucked at it like a babe at its mother's teat.

Blushing with shame Mark wondered if he could afford not to drink. A chilly evening breeze blowing over the open top of his stall changed his mind. That and the reminder of Barry's warning about being further chained and force-fed encouraged Mark to place the tube in his mouth and suck at it like a straw. As the red liquid travelled into his mouth his body noticeably warmed up, as if he was sitting beside a warm fire. It made Mark wonder if he was already becoming cold-blooded, losing his ability to produce his own body heat. The potion tasted similar to the one that had caused his initial transformation but didn't cause pain. Instead, a soothing sensation spread throughout his body relieving him of the dull ache as well as the sharper pain at his shoulder and hip joints as well as his throat.

As the moon rose lights came on in the hallways as well as a single small light on the back wall of each stall. They weren't very bright, more like night lights than anything else. Mark continued to talk with Barry and Drew eventually the fourth boy, who he learned was named Jake, calmed down and joined the conversation. Questioning the older victims about what they could expect in the coming days.

"Right now, just get as much sleep as you can." Drew ended the conversation, having done most of the talking so that Barry could rest his changing vocal cords.

"All right. One last question then." Jake sulked. "Where's the toilet?"

At that question, Mark looked around his stall and noticed that one item was conspicuously absent from the cage. There wasn't even a pot for them to use. Although, Mark realized that even if there was a chamber pot he would be unable to use it since he couldn't stand or sit properly without being electrocuted.

"Toilets are for people, not animals." Drew's voice took on a snooty accent as he imitated one of the Beast Tamers who cared for him. "You'll just have to make do with the sandpit in your room. Pick a corner and use it as a bathroom. Just make sure to bury any mess that you make. The smell can get really bad as your sense of smell gets stronger."

Mark stared at Drew's shadowy form with wide eyes. "I am not going to live in what is basically a giant litter box." He snapped, growling.

"I had the same thought once upon a time." The half-snake sighed in defeat. "But you can't hold it in forever. Eventually, everyone has to go."

Shivering, Mark took another drink from the water tank to warm himself up. He laid down on the sand, piling some of it up into a makeshift pillow, and tried to forget that last piece of advice from Drew. He clung desperately to the fading pieces of his humanity as he drifted off into a fitful sleep.