At the rearward of a one-story house, situated in a village at the eastern part of the capital, a virtually two-meter-long canine was waiting for a chance to come out of hiding.
Under the illumination of a quarter-moon, its fur replicated the sparkling sheen of the finest silver jewelry. The canine's eyes were essentially animated golden orbs, fooling everyone that they were nuggets of gold.
The streets were almost deserted, except for the business owners who were closing down their stores. There were a handful of citizens roaming about, taking some time to go on a stroll. However, it was only a matter of time before that part of the village would be empty.
It would soon be the time for the canine to free itself from the shadows.
'Ha! Take this, you mean Ius! I will do what I want!' Herkel screamed in his thoughts, bobbing his muzzle up and down.
The canine in hiding was Herkel in his wolf form. No matter how Ius insisted on not using their alternate form, Herkel only desired to rebel for his petty vengeance.
'It's extra convenient to search in this form since my senses are heightened. I just won't inform Ius that I transformed. It won't hurt him what he doesn't know. But if he sees me, I'll just tell him that it was for fun.'
He surveyed the surroundings anew, trying to see if it was the right opportunity for him to move. Once he made sure that the roads were completely barren by smelling the air for the scent of any creatures, Herkel slowly stepped out of the darkness. He looked at both ends of the street where he was standing, ecstatic that solely the darkness was his companion.
Be that as it may, his eyes caught a slight movement by the northern end of the street.
'Who is that? They seem suspicious. Well, there's no danger in checking where they're going.'
Herkel proceeded to ponder on his options. In the end, he opted to trail the unknowing woman.
Rather than a bulky four-legged body, it's more reasonable to utilize one that could be easily concealed for a covert operation. It was a reasoning universally accepted by beast people.
As such, Herkel's decision -- wherein he's attempting to trail a possible suspect in an inconspicuous manner in his wolf form -- would be proven to be quite the opposite of this accepted perspective. Though his senses were heightened, that didn't mean that the wolf form would be more effective for his current job.
Nevertheless, the common lot wasn't privy to the fact that shape-shifters have better control over their beasts' natures.
Their beast nature was innate. Their bipedal human nature was acquired. They were born in human form, but their instinct as beasts would prevail from the very beginning. The beast people would have to slowly integrate the human nature with their beast nature as they grew older.
Herkel's decision to transform into his wolf form for his mission was not solely because he wanted to rebel against Ius. It was backed by the outstanding abilities that their race was gifted with despite the inconvenience of their size.
The wolf clan was known for their robust biting power that could decimate their enemies' bones in one bite, allowing them to achieve an impeccable victory when attacking in a pack. Moreover, even though they're not the fastest canines, the wolves were still feared for the way they ferociously pursue their prey.
But that's not all there is to it.
The wolves were capable of fully masking their presence, a deadly trait that never failed to instill panic in the minds of their prey. Only the noble wolves had that ability, so it was not known to the public. And for those who might have been informed, they were all dead.
Herkel quickly hid himself behind a house one block away from the alley where the entity had waltzed into. Once he confirmed that there was no one else around the area, he walked towards the facade of the establishment right beside the target alleyway.
The young Avret did his best in silencing his footsteps as he repeatedly glanced at both endpoints of the main street. Subsequent to his arrival, he leaned one side of his body on the wall of the building, occasionally peeking at the gradient darkness of the one-meter wide passage.
'Hmm, I thought that it would be straight, but this alley branched out into three paths. Which route should I take first? Should I go to the right first then make my way to the left? Should I call the others?'
Herkel contemplated but it was unfruitful for he wasn't the type to strategize ahead of plunging to action.
'Ah whatever, my head hurts. Let's do this on my own. It's not like I will be killed tonight.'
After scrunching up his snout to clear his nose, the young man finally entered the murky alleyway. He immediately lowered his nose to the ground to follow the fresh scent on the stone trail. He sauntered deeper and deeper down the short road, making sure to look up once in a while if the woman was in sight.
As he reached the edge of the fork, Herkel fully lifted his head, curious of the abrupt stoppage of the smell's print.
'How is that possible? At the moment, unless this person was capable of flying, there's no other method that they could use to blanket their scent from a canine's keen sense of smell. How did they do that? Is this a skill? If it is, then I have to find out what type of beast they are. They can be a thre-'
Interrupting his musing was a sense of caution that suddenly assaulted his nerves. He hurriedly twisted his head towards his back where he had felt it came from.
Directly behind him, he noticed someone hiding behind the shadows. Thankfully, the wolf brethren's sight cannot be impeded by the mere absence of light. Thus, Herkel could perfectly outline the cloaked figure.
It was the woman he had been trailing.