the canines raced down the rocky pathway to the solid land, having dashed out of their cavern. it was dawn, merely five o'clock in the morning,
but this was their normal hunting time. they were the salvation───they are morning birds, and morning birds get up at dawn to get their job d
one well. two sturdy males raced after their leader, their dear patriarch───yuuta───feeling the untimely autumn breeze in their thick, admir
able coats of long, luxurious hair. "wait for us, your majesty," called one of them, an tan hued anatolian shepherd with dark facial and body ma
rkings. the great pyrenees turned his head to him, "keep up, we must get to the hunting grounds early─── later," he, yuuta, was not to give int
o their wishes────he instead went faster, letting his long limbs take him far. he heard his henchmen in tire, but he reacted little to it. yuuta i
s the newest patriarch of the salvation, and he cannot be seen as a weak, soft, inferior mutt──he needed to be strict and stoic at all times.──
the grounds were serene and blissful, making it a perfect place for prey to stir up. the dogs heard the ever so pleasant chirps and caws of comm
on birds in the sky, what could they be─────jays, cardinals, finches, songbirds? yuuta, as he never told anyone, was secretly fond of the birds,
how could someone not see their calls as simply calming, sure, most dogs found the chatter of an avian to be very irritating, but he thought oth
erwise. it wasn't just the birds either, he loved everything about this world they were born in, and he desired more knowledge over it, the more
knowledge the better of a ruler he'd be. the three of them drooped their sensitive noses to the earthy ground, tracking down prey to gather for
themselves to subdue their famine days of winter. sometimes prey would like to peek out of their hiding in the dawn, so this was actually a very
nice time, and it would be likely to find a snooping critter wandering far from its den. everywhere he scented, he smelled the crisps of faint sc
ents of animal, but one scent struck him the most───it was the scent of a canine, and it wasn't too faint. this scent consisted of earthy plants
and delicate blossoms, and it was a very nice smell. yuuta scoffed at his thought, it was a scent and nothing more, there was nothing important
about appealing smells, the important thing here is why was their a lone canine trotting their filthy paws in the salvation's territory? they didn't
belong here whoever they were, and they weren't going to get away with stealing their prey, drinking their water and rolling in their land, no...
"your majesty, what's the matter?" a gruff, brash voice inquired. it appeared that one of his henchmen, sadik, had already picked up on his tense
ness. the pyrenees turned his large cranium to face the akita with a blank, empty scowl, "there is one prowling on our land, not of salvation blo
ood." the akita didn't appear surprise, looking at his highness unaffectedly. they, his henchmen, were not born of salvation blood like him, but t
hey were granted respect for their hard work and obedience. sadik came to him eight seasons ago, he was in bad condition with a measly, taint
ed collar digging into his neck. the collar is no longer equipped to him as yuuta ripped it off a long time ago, seeing it in disgust. sadik, never t
elling yuuta, was fond of the collar as it was a gift from his deceased, beloved owner, but since he was not particularly fond of man and their pr
issy mutts, he let him do so without complaint. sadik wanted to be strong like yuuta, he did not want to appear inferior to his majesty and acte
d strong and worthy in front him of all times. kade, the brawny shepherd, was a different story, but sadik hadn't become close enough with him
for the shepherd to tell him of his past, that was apparently only for yuuta to know and not him. "what shall we do about that?" he answered, e
arning a grimace from the pyrenees. "you know very well what we should do, we must drive them out──i will not allow them to take what they
want from our land without my approval. we must find them," sadik sighed in response, yuuta discerning his thoughts well. "not now, later, afte
r we hunt. i'd figure you'd all would enjoy a resting break after hunting, so do not worry too much." he nodded and turned away. "yes, your maj
esty." yuuta turned away as well and continued on with his tracking, this talk was wasting time and the sun──luther──was beginning to rise up.
an hour later, kade held a limp body of a rabbit in his jaws while the others were empty-handed. he was given praise by yuuta for his quickness
on getting a kill, and he gladly accepted such praise. he was a good hunter, he did say so himself, and deemed the best out of the three──he s
ecretly thought so himself, the others──after all──did not catch anything as of yet. kade lay deep in the overgrown foliage, holding his kill wi
th pride after receiving his majesty's thanks. his body tingled, but not from exhaustion, rather from a sense of him watched by someone. his ha
irs rose up on edge, and his paws tingled with anticipation. maybe it was nothing, probably those stupid birds laying eyes on him again, or thos
e sneaky rodents. kade cocked his head to the side as he glanced up at the trees, nothing in his gaze. a growl began to rumble in his pharynx,,
already getting pissed with this thing observing him. it clearly was something and it was bothering him. he came to his fours and dropped his ki
ll, having came to the decision of finding this peeping ass. the shepherd sniffed the perimeter, the dainty smell of blossoms causing him to
gag from how strong it was. blossoms──what? was a thought that came to mind. why blossoms? they shouldn't be active as winter is making its
arrival soon. he approached yuuta, "your majesty, i think i should go search for this mysterious loner, yes? it would do good to get this over wit
h after all." the pyrenees did nothing but subtly nod at his decision, and he was off and away from where they currently stood. he felt such de
termination to find this pest, and it would be terrible to let them get away like this. kade started in a random direction, trying to track them..
as much as the shepherd searched and searched for the loner, he could not find them at all. it was approximately thirty minutes later and he w
as beginning to give up a little bit, he was losing his determination that is. having fleeted upon this mission, he decided to head to the hallowa
y river as it was in proximity. he let all worrisome thoughts slip from his mind, wallowing in the cooled waters. he was up for a good bask today,
and he was already stressed by the majesty's requests, maybe this would sooth him. he thought about his family, trying his best to keep away fr
om tragic memories and focus on sweet ones instead. he thought about his past life, how it was fill of carefree thoughts and having to do nothi
ng but lay free of mind. he thought about his mother──akane──and his father──sylvester──and his brother, kaden. they were all dead... "ha
ppy thoughts, kade, happy thoughts." he murmured to himself, keeping his face blank as he transferred deeper into thought. the akita was soon
to be disturbed, however, as he noticed the faint rippling of the river's water, a sign of movement. "your majesty, is that you? sadik?" he called o
ut but received no answer. why would they know of where he went everyday? he never told him about his place to relieve stress. kade turned to
face whoever or whatever and got a glimpse of someone who he was not familiar of. this was no one of the salvation, definitely, it was a lone f
emale taking a drink from the river, not distressed of his presence. she appeared unaware of his own awareness, and proceeded with her action
s. the female was of an elkhound bloodline, her coat in disarray with black, grey and white, her eyes a jet black. she was neither tall nor short,
but she was shorter than him──kade also caught sight of a long scar plastered on her snout. his eyes wandered from her to the rabbit carcass l
ying right beneath her. he instantly growled at the sight of it, causing the other canine to look up but not appear startled. she looked at him wi
th deadpan. "who do you think you are?" kade dared to ask of her, glowering in her presence. the female did not reply but instead picked up th
e carcass and began to trot away. the shepherd snarled and immediately stood, water dripping from down his coat. the loner began to trot fast
er, but kade race after her, and that caused her to run too.
the loner made various attempts to drag him off her tail, but it only made kade able to catch up. since she was stubby legged, kade was faster a
nd once he was close enough he attempted to make his attack. he pounced on her and ended up causing her to lose her balance and fall to the g
round. kade was knocked to the ground a couple of tail-lengths away but he regain himself quick and pinned the loner beneath him. "how dare y
ou run away from me?!" he spat angrily, glaring at her with aggressive eyes. "and you roam in our territory? you pest, what are you doing here?! y
ou don't realize that this land belongs to the salvation!" he bantered, but the female only looked up at him in confidence. "i don't care who this l
and belongs to, its just land and i was only staying for a couple of more moons." she spat back in a hasty tone. kade was more angered with her r
eply and lowered his head to hers. "this land has belonged to the salvation for a thousand of years, no pesky mutts are allowed to call this their
home!! why are you so ignorant? so illiterate?" he was getting tired with them already, becoming a bit pissed off. "i'm not ignorant, i know what t
he salvation is, and as i said, i do not care for them. i'm only staying for a while longer and then i'll be off your backs. i'm just raising my pups..."
pups? kade glanced at her, she looked fairly young and full of youth. how could she have pups so soon? "i don't care if you're raising pups,, you wi
ll either leave or... we will find and terminate these pups of yours." this response gained a reaction from the female, her face twisting in disgust, a
nger and slight fear. "you wouldn't do that! you don't know where they are!" she growled in attempt to intimidate him, but it did nothing as anxie
ty was showing on her features. "you're right, we don't know where they are at this moment, but that doesn't mean we will search for them──fi
nd them──kill them." fear was overtaking every other emotion the loner was showing at this moment, his words clearly were getting to her, kad
e smirked in response to it. he wouldn't actually kill her pups, but the king would probably do so. "no──no!" the loner cried out, and with all her
force, knocked him off of her, completely catching him off guard. he was thrown to the ground and attacked by the loner, receiving claws to his
chest and nips to his throat. she was quite the weak fighter, but he sort of admired the bravery she had for being such a weakling. he easily pus
hed her away, making her realize that she was not strong enough. in fright, the loner darted away from him, but he made no attempt to follow
her. "you won't have long! you better be off our lands by tomorrow!" he growled to her, trying to frighten her once more. "filthy mutt."
