FADE IN

PANNING ABOVE LEO-- DAY

NARRATOR:
Leo is a vast place. From the towering waves of the Bay, to the searing heat of the Underforge, there always seems to be something going on in the cave.

CUT TO:

FOREST FLOOR-- DAPPLED SHADE

A forest clearing deep within Leo's jungle. NARRATOR enters from stage right; he is wearing a suit. Camera focuses on JASPER CRYSTAL in the center of the clearing.

NARRATOR:
I'm out here in the Leonian bush to tell you a story. But not just any story, no. This is the story of a man, from his birth to his death. The story of his loves and losses. His vices and virtues.

NARRATOR:
This is the story of my life.

The Jasper Crystal cracks.

-----

He opens his eyes.

It's dark. Suffocatingly dark. He tries to move, only to find something cold and dark constraining his movements. Panic rises within him. He's only been alive for a couple moments now, but already he knows this is not the way it's supposed to be. He's supposed to be... he doesn't know the word. Free.

So he kicks. Little felid legs, pushing with all their might against a thick gemstone shell. He strains. Large round ears crush against his skull as he headbutts the wall. He pushes. And finally--

He's free.

Yes. Free.

The little puma tumbles out of his chrysalis in a flood of sticky fluid and crystal shards. His lanky body flomps to the ground ungracefully, big blue eyes blinking themselves awake as they adjust to the light. He's a pitiful thing, smaller than even most gembound at birth, and the wobble in his step as he stands up for the first time proves it.

Shake your fur dry. Rub the fluid out of your eyes with a paw. Take your first step.

It all comes naturally to him, far more naturally than words or even complex thought. That will all come later. For now he is just another one of the wild creatures, driven by emotion rather than reason. One of the creatures he will come to love as his kin.

A baby blue gaze looks around, curious. The world is just a blurry haze of green-brown-blue-light to him, too young to differentiate from one item to the next. This, too, he will learn with time. But for now:

"Mew."

The tiger is out.