Ember's eyes opened. The light was strange, unnatural. The smells were strange, unnatural. She shifted and a pile of refuse streamed from under her, tinkling to the floor. She shook her head. Even more junk dislodged itself. Something sharp poked into her. Ember sprang to her feet.
The unnatural light filtered through metal bars. She was in some kind of cage. Appalled, she immediately backed up, bumping into more stacks of junk and then eventually the wall itself. What was she doing in this sort of place? Nothing here even smelled like Vykeli. It smelled like metal and decay and leavings of the others. She hated it. She mentally struck of 'hunter of other artifacts' from her list of possible callings. She just wanted out of this cage. She paced, looking for a clue. The door in front of her was shut hard. She carefully approached it and leaned her weight into it. It didn't budge. Ember gulped.
Her eyes scanned the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Opposite to the door she spied a hole far up on the wall. Was that a key hole? She shook her head. It was so far above her, she was quite sure even if she stacked up all the crap in here she'd still fall short of the required height. Still, she reared up on her hind legs, squinting at the hole. It looked like there was some sort of mechanism behind it. Regardless, she couldn't even be sure that the hole was linked to the door.
She cast her eyes around all the junk. There was just so much of it. Bits of paper and metal and plastic, all covered with dust. How had she ended up here? She swallowed hard again, and shook her head forcefully. It didn't matter. All that mattered was getting out. And just like the rest of her life, she needed to rely on herself. No one was coming to rescue her or help her. Only she could save herself.
She set her ears against her head, and approached the door again. Carefully, she considered its construction. It was long bars of metal. They looked old, some were spotted with rust. The door itself was held closed with some sort of mechanism. It too was rusty and in a state of disrepair. Ember narrowed her eyes. Some hunk of metal wasn't smarter than she was. It wasn't more resourceful that she was ... The way it held the whole door closed, and the gaps in the metal around it, she wondered if she could wedge something in there, and pop the whole contraption open.
She turned to the nearest pile of junk and started kicking through it. She simply booted the crap would be no use towards the corner of the cell. Ember didn't waist too much time being precious. There was a lot of trash to shift through, and she didn't know what circumstances had led her to being trapped here, so she needed out as soon as possible.
She shifted all of the first pile, to no avail. She moved towards one of the larger piles in the back of the cell. A broken beam of wood was stuck unceremoniously into the top of the pile. As she kicked at the trash, her hoof struck something hard, something metal. Quickly, she scrabbled to uncover it. It was a long metal pole. Just like those that made up the bars of the cell. Ember grinned. Now this might work.
She dislodged the pole and dragged it to the door. She got under it, and hefted it up. With much careful maneuvering she managed to wedge the pole between the metal bar and the lock. She then backed up, to make the most of the pole. She leaned into it with all of her weight and was rewarded with a popping noise, followed by the clatter of old metal hitting the ground. The door sprung open. Ember didn't waste a moment making her escape.
