It was still dark, but the sky was already turning the red of sunrise when Dust pushed aside the tarp of his tent and breathed in the fresh morning air. He saw his sister sitting on the same log where he had fed the sickle claws during the night. 

When she noticed him, she turned and smiled at him and said, "Well, someone didn't seem to have slept very well."

"I had a really weird dream," Dust hesitated for a moment, "Well, I'm probably just excited."

His sister raised an eyebrow, but then replied, "Maybe. It's your first real mission, after all."

"Is Flare up yet?" asked Dust, pointing to Flare's tent.

Ash pointed to the bushes about 20 yards next to them and said, "He woke up just before you did and needs to take a leak."

As if on cue, Flare came out of the bushes and laced up his pants as he walked. "Ah good morning Dust!" he said, raising his hand in greeting.

"Looks like your wolf isn't interested in us," Ash said, turning back to Dust.

"Glad you brought that up. Come on, I wanted to show you the trail from yesterday," Dust replied and started walking towards the bushes.

After a moment's hesitation, Ash and Flare followed him and made their way through the undergrowth together.

When they reached the spot, Dust knelt down and examined the prints. They looked exactly as they had the day before, since it had not rained during the night.

"The critter is apparently bigger than I thought," Flare said, comparing the paw prints to his own.

Ash shook her head and looked around, "I really don't like this. Hopefully the shipment will come soon so we can get out of here soon," she said worriedly.

Back at camp, the three ate breakfast and began to take down their tents. Dust was the slowest, as he kept going over his strange dreams in his mind. 

What did it all mean? What is the duty of the claw? What is this two-legged wolf?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he was startled when the sound of hooves and wheels approached. When he turned around, a cart drawn by a dark brown horse was just approaching from the other end of the clearing. On the buck sat a light brown Felinae with black spots, waving in a friendly manner.

Dust packed up the rest of his things and then walked toward the wagon with the other two. 

As they got closer, the Felinae stopped the wagon and jumped off the buck. He walked past his horse toward the three and now Dust could see him more clearly. 

He wore a dark, short-sleeved doublet and short pants. Over the doublet he wore a leather apron, full of scratches and stains, some of them deep. From one ear hung a pair of copper-colored glasses, which consisted of two individual round pieces held together by leather straps. He also looked somewhat different from the Felinae from this region. His fur on his cheeks was longer and his ears were slightly longer and had small tufts of fur at their ends.

He grinned good-humoredly and held out a hand to Ash. "You must be from the southern hunters! I'm Lux from the big craft clan, nice to meet you guys," he said as he shook everyone's hand.

"I'm Ash, this is my brother Dust, and this is Flare," Ash introduced.

"Great, I have a total of four blades for you guys. I was afraid I was going to have to give those to just one person," the Felinae replied.

"My grandfather said they were already paid for."

The new Felinae paused for a moment and asked doubtfully, "Is that what he said, then?"

There was a moment of tense silence when suddenly a broad grin sprang onto the Felinae's face. 

"I'm just messing with you guys! Of course, everything is already settled," he laughed.
Dust, Ash and Flare also laughed in relief and Lux walked to the back of his cart.

The three followed him as Flare stopped as if rooted to the spot and hissed softly. Dust saw his ears twitch as he apparently searched for something. When it grew quiet in the clearing, Dust could hear it, too. Like a few days ago, it was a sound that most would have barely noticed. But Dust quickly realized that it was footsteps. Who or whatever that is is bigger than any of us, he thought.

Flare seemed to notice this as well, for he whispered sharply, "The weapons. We need the blades!"

Lux quietly pulled himself onto the cart and handed each a blade, always glancing briefly at the guard. At last he bent over the trestle and pulled a fourth sword from under it.

The sword Dust now held was about an arm long and had a broad blade that curved slightly backward. The blade was fully sharpened on the outer side only. On the inner side it was slightly wider and had several large barbs.

When he looked at the guard, he was overcome with joy, then confusion, then joy again. Centered on the wide piece of metal were three characters in the written language of the Felinae. Translated, he read his own name there in his hand.

He raised his head to say something, but at that very moment he saw something coming towards him. As in his nightmare, a toothed shadow leapt out of the bushes at him with a terrible roar, and before he could react, Dust felt a dull pain in his back and was pushed to the ground. He saw teeth coming at him and closed his eyes. He expected the stabbing pain of being pierced by those same teeth, but it didn't happen. 

He opened his eyes and saw an oversized, dog-like snout just inches from his face. The wolf tried to snap at him, but couldn't reach Dust's face, because between its jaws Dust could see Flare's blade, which the cat held with difficulty. Dust tried to roll away to the side, but the wolf shifted all its weight onto his shoulders and its claws began to dig into his upper arms. 

All at once the wolf flinched and yelped in pain. He reared up on his hind legs and Dust could see a long gash on its side that Ash had apparently inflicted.

The wolf put his head back, snatching the blade from Flare's hands, which fell to the ground moments later, and let out a bloodcurdling howl. Only now did Dust see the full extent of the beast. Standing upright, it measured at least two meters and the dark gray matted fur indicated a slender but still muscular physique.

He got back on all fours, tensed up, and before anyone could react, he jumped over Dust and yanked Lux, who only cried out in surprise, off the wagon.

Dust scrambled to his feet and jumped onto the cart almost simultaneously with Ash and Flare, who had picked up his blade again. They saw the wolf now bending over Lux, who only with the greatest difficulty escaped the furious attacks.

"We'll hold this thing down and you finish it off! Got it?" said Ash to Dust.

He nodded and Flare and Ash threw themselves at the monster with all their might. They managed to push it away from the grounded Felinae and threw it backwards to the ground, pinning it down on both arms.

"Now!" shouted Flare through the wolf's angry growls and yelps.

Dust took his blade in both hands, tensed his legs, took a deep breath, and then leaped at the wolf. He thrust where he thought the beast's heart was and the blade slid through the body with surprising ease. As it stabbed into the ground Dust felt the resistance so strong that he almost let go of the weapon's grip.

He saw the wolf's eyes widen in surprise and it howled once more. The wolf twitched uncontrollably a few more times before it stopped moving at all. Ash and Flare let go of the animal's arms and stood up, while Dust pulled his sword out of the wolf's chest with a jerk.

"Not bad Dust. What the hell is-" Flare began, but fell silent as the creature began to twitch again.

Dust stared in disbelief at the creature on the ground as its fur began to fall out. Its snout and limbs began to shorten and gradually the wolf turned into a human. The wounds also seemed to shrink in proportion to the body size and after about a minute, there was no upright walking wolf with dark matted fur, but a human with short black hair lying in front of the Felinae.

Dust looked at the lifeless body in front of him and began to feel sick. It was a human? Did I just kill a human? But how did he turn and why did he attack us? he thought.

Next to him he saw Ash helping Lux to his feet and heard her say, "What was that? Hey Dust, are you okay?"

The world began to spin around Dust and all he could feel was dull as he fell to his knees. He wanted to take his eyes off the dead man, but couldn't. He felt someone hold him by the shoulders and shake him gently. Then Flare's face shifted into his field of vision and his senses slowly returned.

"-Good? Hey, come to!" he heard Flare say.

When his vision cleared again he saw that Ash was also kneeling beside and holding him.

"Hey brother, please answer," she said anxiously.

"I h-have killed a... It wasn't an animal," Dust stammered, still a little dazed.

Ash gently stroked his shoulder and said, "It's fine. That's perfectly normal when you first.... Well you know."

As his senses fully returned, Dust also noticed for the first time the pain in his shoulders where he had been pinned to the ground by the wolf. He also noticed warm blood seeping through his fur on his left arm.

"I think it's going to be okay. Can you guys help me up?" he asked, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

Ash and Flare reached under his arms and helped him stand up, Dust wincing in pain when Flare touched him on his left shoulder.

He looked around and could see that Lux was busy calming the horse, which was threatening to break away from the cart. His gaze wandered once more over the body on the ground, its eyes still wide with shock.

Flare turned away from Dust to help Lux, and Ash led Dust to the back of the cart.
"Here, sit down. Are you going to be okay? You look really banged up," she said, still a little worried.

Dust nodded slowly, squinted his eyes briefly, and then replied, "It's just.... I've killed some animals before, and when... it... was still a wolf, it wasn't a problem for me either. But knowing that it was a person like you and me.... I don't know what's wrong with me."

Ash now looked deep into his eyes and said, "I understand. It's a good thing, because that feeling is what separates us from other animals. That being said, I think he attacked us and he wouldn't have hesitated to kill us. Listen, we both know that the world works by one simple rule, right?"

"Kill or be killed," Dust replied, nodding. 

"Except that wasn't a normal person," Flare agreed over the cart, "I don't know how he did it, but so far I haven't heard of people turning into monsters like that."

"What do we do with him now?" asked Dust, nodding in the direction of the body.

Ash rubbed the back of her head and said, "We shouldn't leave him here to rot. The best thing we can do is pack him up and have our healers take a look."

"Do you think they would take a look at me, too?" asked Lux, and only now did Dust see his injuries. Blood was seeping through his right pant leg and between his neck and left shoulder his fur was turning dark.

"That shouldn't be a problem. We'll probably be back a little faster with the cart too, and if you want I can steer it too, then you can spare your leg," Flare said.

Lux nodded and he, Ash and Dust took a seat in the back of the cart while Flare sat down on the trestle and took the reins.

After they started moving, something heavy slid against Dust's foot after a few feet. At first he didn't want to look, fearing it might be the makeshift covered body they had also tossed onto the truck bed. But when he realized that this object must be significantly smaller, since it was sliding around a lot more, he directed his gaze downward.

There beside his foot, to his relief, was not the arm of the corpse, but a sword that looked identical to his own. He reached behind him to make sure it wasn't really his sword and felt the hilt of his new weapon behind him. Only then did he look at the blade's guard and read Smoke. 

Figures, Dust thought, and pushed the sword away a bit again, He's not even in it, and he's getting rewarded, too. One day I'll prove I'm better than him.

"Have you ever seen or heard of anything like that?" asked Ash, looking at Lux.

The latter looked thoughtful and shook his head, "No. I know some mages can turn into animals, but not beasts like that. I mean no normal wolf looks like that."

"Those footprints we found yesterday," Dust interjected, "Maybe they weren't battle scars, but the moment he turned."

"But then they didn't look like a planned or voluntary transformation. Either way, we'll have him examined in the village. Maybe then we'll find out more," Ash said, looking over at the bundle at the other end of the truck bed.

They arrived in the early afternoon at the tree wall that surrounded Homegrove like a protective wall.

Just before they passed the opening between the trees, Flare turned and said, "I'm taking Lux and the human to Moon. Ash and Dust, you'd best go to Grandfather right away and tell him what happened."

Ash and Dust nodded, jumped off the wagon and went to the house where the head of their clan lived. Once there, they knocked on the door of their grandfather's living room and a moment later, the old cat was standing in front of them in the doorway.

"Ah you are back already? I wasn't expecting you for another couple of hours," he said happily.

"We came back with a wagon. Something happened-" Ash began, but was interrupted by Grayhaze.

"Slow down! What happened?" he looked closer at Dust, "You're hurt!"

Dust made a dismissive gesture and replied, "I'll be fine. The merchant got it more, not to mention the attacker."

Grayhaze smiled briefly in relief and then let Dust and Ash describe what had happened, and as he listened to them he became more and more agitated. Dust noticed this and therefore refrained from telling about his dreams.

When they were done, the three of them went to the other big building where the healer Moon lived.

After a brief conversation with Lux and a glance at the human's corpse, Grayhaze shook his head thoughtfully and muttered, "Strange, very strange."

He looked at the others and now said a bit more confidently, "First, I want to say how glad I am that you got off comparatively easy. I have never heard of such a creature, but if what you say is true, then it is good that you have slain the monster. I will arrange a meeting for tomorrow. Until then, I will also have your blades stored and cleaned."

Dust couldn't help but grin, knowing what this meant. Tomorrow, he, Ash, Flare, and Smoke would officially receive their blades and would then be allowed to go out into the world and take orders themselves.

As they split up again, Dust decided to take a bath. He grabbed some fresh clothes and headed to the bathing pond.

Just before he reached the pond Even came towards him. She was wearing light clothes and her fur was hanging wet from her body. When she saw Dust, she quickly approached him and threw herself around him.

When she broke away from him again, she said excitedly, "Dust is back! How was it? What did you bring back with you? Oh, your shoulder! Who was that? I'm going to kill them!"

Somewhat exhausted, Dust shook his head and replied, "It's all right, they're already dead. I... am really fucking tired. I just wanted to take a quick bath and hopefully not fall asleep in the water. I'm sure Ash or Flare can tell you everything in detail."

"But I want to hear it from you! Besides, I can make sure you don't fall asleep!" she said and started walking towards the ponds again.

Damnit! Thought Dust, rubbing his temples, moaning softly and then walking with Even towards the ponds.

Once there, he saw Even was undressing and averted his eyes. Only when he heard her get into the water, he went to a nearby bush and stripped down to his underpants. 

Well, then it will also be washed directly, he thought, and then also got into the water.

He placed himself diagonally opposite Even, but she immediately slid towards him and he almost groaned in annoyance.

"Well, tell me," she demanded teasingly, leaning on a rock at the edge.

At first he tried to keep the narrative as short as possible, but Even asked again and again for more details. So Dust gave in and told exactly what had happened, leaving out only his dreams.

He noticed several times how she was getting closer and kept backing away himself.

Only when the sky turned red, Dust managed to get rid of Even and got out of the pond. He hurried to throw something over so Even couldn't see anything she wasn't supposed to.

He said goodbye to Even before she could get out of the water and headed back to the houses and his room.

For the rest of the evening, the images of the day kept running through his mind, and especially the moment when the huge wolf in front of him turned into a human.

Maybe I should tell grandfather about the dreams, he thought, After all, he is really experienced and can at least make some sense of them.

At some point he fell into a restless sleep, in which he relived the events of the day over and over again. He kept seeing the face of the wolf, which turned into the frightened face of a dead person. The images from his dreams also kept coming back to him. 

Thus, he kept waking up in the night and got up the next morning barely rested.