CHAPTER 1

Link looked across the landscape. The only word to describe it was beautiful. The sun was rising between a far off range of peaks, casting a purple-red hue across the sky and on the snow beneath him. He looked across the camp. Two tents, a fireplace, and a tarp stretched over the supplies.

"See what I mean Link? This place is beautiful, yeah?" Ashei said, stepping out of her tent. "Its going to be a few more days before we get to the fortress, are you sure you're up to it?"

Link nodded in agreement, "Trust me, I can do this."

"Well, we better get started, yeah. Got a long day ahead of us." Ashei said as she started towards her tent. "We can eat on the way."

As Link went back into his tent to pack up, he thought about the past while. He felt so bad for leaving Colin, Ilia and the rest of the village, but he just couldn't stay there. Not after what he had done, what he had seen. Spending the rest of his life as a ranch-hand just wasn't right, he was meant for more.

To this end he got back in contact with Telma and the group. Ashei mentioned that she received word from her father that her order was in trouble. She offered to take Link, thinking that he could help.

They set off traveling north. Today they had to cross the Hyrulian Ice field. It was a glacier miles wide, between two mountains. The glacier eventually melted and feeds directly into Zoras Domain and eventually Lake Hyrule. But in the middle of this blizzard, Link found it hard to believe that this world of ice could ever melt.

Link tightened the hood on his parka against the fierce wind, whipping cold against his face. Even with the new equipment he got, the cold still penetrated his clothes, and bit at his finger and toes. "Be careful Link," Ashei yelled at him over the roar of the wind "I don't want you getting lost or falling in a crevasse."

Link looked around. If it wasn't for the rope connecting them, he wouldn't have been able to see her, even though she was only 6 feet ahead of him. All of a sudden, he felt a slight rumble. "Ashei," he called out, "somethings not ri-!" In a split second, the ground opened up and swallowed him. He was dangling off the rope. His vision was blurry and blood was coming from his head.

Ashei was standing over top of him, pulling on the rope. "Link, are you alright? Try and climb up, I'll help you."

Link noticed that the rope was running over a shard of ice jutting out from the wall. Before he could do anything, the rope snapped and he fell. He managed to brace himself against either wall of the crevasse, and started to climb upwards. The wind was blowing so hard that in the narrow space he was in, it created a deafening roar. He could scarcely hear the cracking. His foot pushed through into an air pocket and he fell.

He hit the ground hard. It felt like he had broken every bone in his body. He lay on his back looking up to the sky. With loud creaks and groans, the glacier shifted and the crack closed above him, leaving him cold, alone and in the dark.

He started fading in and out of consciousness, not knowing whether it he had been there for a few hours, or a few days. Unable to move, and in almost complete darkness, he could just lay on the ice, waiting for oblivion.

Suddenly he saw a pair of dark and slender legs before him. "I must be dreaming." he thought. A hand reached down in front of him, and all went black.

Link awoke some hours later, still in pain. He had enough energy to raise his head. Instinctively he sniffed the air around him, and then stopped. "Did I just do that?" he thought to himself. He looked at his hands, but saw paws. He was a wolf. And he was thankful for it. His fur provided him more warmth than his parka ever could and he was smaller, so he could squeeze out of this dark hole. If he could ever move again, that is.

After a few days of rest, Link finally got to his feet. He could move, but he hurt all over. Nothing was broken, so far as he could tell. He looked about. In the ceiling, he could see a bright spot. It was either a hole, or thin ice he could get through. Regardless, this was his only hope.

Climbing was hard. It hurt to breathe, and sharp spikes of ice cut into his paws. Trying to forget the pain, he trudged on. At some points he would fall, almost back to the bottom, but each time started again. After hours, he managed to reach the spot. It was a small hole in the ice.

He broke through the hole and took a look around his surroundings. The blizzard had stopped by now, but he had no way of knowing were he was. He randomly walked along, not knowing where he was headed, but it felt better than just staying there.

He noticed in the sky something odd. A portal that the Twilit Assassins left behind in Hyrule. When he reached the ground underneath it, the snow was stained in blood. He smelt it, and found the scent of Ashei. He followed her scent off into the distance.