"I hope you know what you're doing."

He smiled. "Of course I do."

Vulir was a Hunter—well, an Apprentice Hunter—and he was trying to take down a Natus—a creature that could shape-shift. He wanted to test out his skills; his friend, Énaba, decided to come along and help him out on his mission. Right now, the Natus was a deer, eating grass. And they were in their wolf form.

"You go around one side while I go around the other," He turned his head to her. "Got it?"

She nodded .

Vulir turned away from her and focused on the Natus. He crept slowly, testing the ground as he moved forward—being sure not to step on anything like a twig or dried leaf as he did so. He made it to the Natus's side. He got in position, waiting a few seconds to make sure it didn't see him and so he could steady his breathing.

Wolf form was normal for them; they could shapeshift into wolves using their magic. Depending on what type of magic they had, the transformation was different. For a wolf with the power of fire, the transformation would be smoke and embers. He and Énaba weren't sure what their powers were yet; so their transformation was just a cloud of smoke.

He took a breath and jumped, growling.

He opened his jaws as the creature looked up and bellowed. He saw it disappear in a cloud of grey smoke and reappeared as a bird. He closed his jaws, falling shoulder first onto the ground, rolling once. He yelped, hearing the Natus shapeshift again. He stayed there for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

He heard the Natus bellow again as Énaba came out of hiding and attacked the creature. He finally caught his breath and he pushed himself up as fast as he could in case the creature charged at him. He looked up to see Énaba's jaws clasped around the creature's back leg. There was a little bit of blood on the creature's neck. He ran and got the Natus's neck, tightening his grip. The creature struggled, trying to shapeshift. Clouds of grey formed around it, but they kept dissolving.

His eyes were watery; he felt his grip loosen. The deer bucked. His grip was slipping. Before he knew it, he felt the deer's head hit him, the antlers nearly missing him. He stumbled backwards groaning, shaking his head to clear it. He heard it shapeshift again. Énaba yelped. Blood was dripping from his head. He didn't realize he was falling until he caught himself. This wasn't going as he planned. He took a breath. His head was a little clearer.

That's when heard a growl; and it wasn't Énaba. The growl was deeper. He looked up to see a large cat. It's fur was brown and it had large paws. Its tail was thin and its body looked like it was meant for climbing.

The cat sunk itself low to the ground; it was going kill them.

He tried to think of something; he wanted to do something, but he was stuck there. He was frozen as the cat lunged at them.

Then the cat yelped in surprise and pain; it's head turned and he heard the crack of bones as it flew to the side.

He blinked, trying to steady his breathing. That was—before he could finish his thought, a wolf came out of the bushes; Evander, his mentor.

"Vulir! Énaba!" He yelled, running to them. He looked at the Natus and then at them.

His ears went back. "You lied to me? ....What where you guys doing?"

Vulir looked at the ground, clenching his jaw. It was a stupid decision he made—

"That thing—Do you realize you could've been killed?"

"Yes..." He heard Énaba whisper.

"And what about you, Vulir?" Vulir felt his mentor's eyes on him.

His ears went back as he saw Evander's paws in front of him.

He heard him growl when he didn't answer. "Vulir! Answer me! ...Please."

"....Vulir? ...Are you ok?"

He looked in the other direction only to see the dead Natus with blood seeping from it. Its jaw was open and eyes were lifeless.

"I know I shouldn't have done it. I thought I was ready to take it on— "

"That's the thing. You weren't. We need to get your wounds healed," He turned to Énaba. "and I also need to take you home."

Once they made it to Evander's hut, Vulir and Énaba's wounds were cleaned and wrapped in cloth. Énaba was lead home by Evander later on in the morning.

They were outside when Evander spoke to Vulir about what happened, out of their wolf form.

"Please don't lie to me like that again. If you just asked—"

"I thought I could handle it."

Evander looked at him. "With Énaba? You two are just apprentices! I mean—" he sighed, looking back at the trees. "What I'm trying to say is, you're apprentices who are still in-training. You're still learning. If you wanted to try your skills at hunting... I could have come with you and helped."

Vulir nodded. He looked at his hands. Lesson learned. He promised himself to never lie to his mentor, ever.

After a while he looked up, watching the sunrise. He was somewhat looking forward to the future. He wanted to become a good Hunter; he got into it because he was fascinated on how they could move unseen and unscented, along with the thrill of it. He loved the chase and danger that came along with it. Although the danger wasn't fun in the moment, it kept his senses sharp. He had the mark of an apprentice Hunter—which he was proud of. The mark was red, outlining his right eye with an arrow on the bottom left and the blade of a dagger on the top right. He wanted to achieve something great.