Hansen's transformation did not happen in a single moment of clarity. It was not a sudden epiphany under the flickering lights of a warehouse.
For the first three years after the "adoption," Hansen did not live in a home. He lived in a series of transit camps, basement gyms, and remote outposts that spanned three continents. The hunter organization did not believe in traditional schooling, they believed in the curriculum of the survivor. While other teenagers were learning geometry and the nuances of high school social hierarchies, Hansen was in the high-altitude deserts, learning how to distinguish the scent of a beastman from the scent of the wind.
"The beast is not a man, Hansen," Commander Vane's voice would echo over the sound of wind-whipped sand. "It is a predator wearing the skin of your neighbor. It has a faster heart rate, a higher body temperature, and a soul that is tethered to primal violence. If you hesitate because he has a human face, you are already dead."
