A/N: 'Feral' is set after the events in 'Twilight Princess,' but don't be put off by that if you haven't played the game; I've attempted to make it as easy to access as possible, without prior knowledge required. I've recently begun writing for this again, and it's coming along quite well - I hope. The first two or three chapters are fairly short, and need reworking, but I'm pushing on with others before rewriting earlier ones. Don't be put off by their brevity! It gets better once you're a little way in. *hint* Reviews are great motivation.

This first chunk is especially tiny as it's a prologue. Don't worry, it picks up a bit very quickly.

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A divine beast is still a beast. He is neither truly beast nor man, but closer to a god. Should the unseen lines in his heart flicker, the power of the gods will change his shape to what he believes is his true form. He holds the greatest power, but first must learn to control it, before it begins to control him.

- Taken from 'Legacy of heroes', third book of the sage Rauru

Stars dotted the sky above the Direm wastes. The moon hung in the sky, part-way through its endless journey across the heavens. A wind rose above the arid plains, winding its way past the hillocks sparsely decorated with a greying cousin of heather. Roe deer, a group of five, stood by the base of one, nibbling at the stalks of these hardy plants, the only vegetation to survive in such a barren land. For many miles the wind blew, carrying the sharp tang of heather to even the dull senses of a human, but to a wolf, another scent was ripe in the air. Deer. Prey. The hunt!

Two legs it stood on, yet it was a wolf. Its forelegs, arms, hung by its side. Higher, was its head. The eyes were the colour of blue, but the eyes of a wolf nonetheless. The wolf, no, it wasn't a wolf. It was a man. Any observer would be almost confused by this. It, he, was a man, and yet there was something that seemed distinctly wolfish about him. Here was a man that, at the fist glance, appeared to be a beast. Raising his head to the sky, he let out a long, mournful howl. Then all of a sudden, he was gone. Racing across the near-desert scrubland, he moved with both the speed and grace of a true wolf. Towards his prey.

Meat! Warm flesh, still dripping with the blood of a fresh kill. Nothing else could hold any sway over his thoughts. In what seemed like an instant, he was upon the deer. It was finished before the chase had even begun. Leaping onto the back of the nearest animal, sharp canine teeth sank into the furry hide of its neck. Not a quick death. A sharp twist of the head, coupled with powerful jaw muscles, ended that problem. The broken carcass fell to the ground, the only sound to break the all-consuming silence other than the fading beats of a dying heart. Twice the moon had risen since last he ate. The hunger rose from deep within him, like a demon crawling out of the depths of Hades to roar defiance against the world.

Sleeping, within a hollow at the base of the small hill, the beast-man was surrounded by an array of bones, small and large, each picked clean of meat. Tattered and bloodstained, a faded green tunic adorned his otherwise naked body. Against all the odds, his feet were covered by a pair of earthly brown boots. Pointed ears marked him as a pure blooded Hylian. Light brown, nearly blonde hair, surrounded his head. Unruly, but relatively clean, considering the circumstances. Watching this beast-man sleep, he seemed almost human. Almost, but not quite. On the surface of his left hand, three triangles shone with a golden light.

Very few existed who could scratch a living out of a place so desolate, but a single group of plainspeople called the wastes home. This tribe, known as the Dermines, lived in a small village on the warmer westward face of the plains. Not so much a village as a ragtag collection of deer-hide shelters, near invisible against the sandy earth they stood upon. From one of these shelters emerged a woman, well into her third decade, possibly even her fourth.

"Mother!" The voice was that of a child. Stopping, she looked back at the owner of the voice, her face an unusual blend of worry and frustration.

"Ah must fetch they herbs, Strae, othe'wise ye will no heal in time for winter. Ah cannae stay with ye. Get some rest now, ah'll no be back till dusk has fallen." She was worried about more than the rate of his healing. It was a wasting sickness, one of the worst she knew of. Having neither the knowledge of remedies to treat him, nor the guidance of one who did, she had sent a message through the hawks to Hyrule. The best doctors in the world, the merchants had told her when they passed through some years ago. If only he could survive till they arrived.

Before she had gone three steps, Strae called out again.

"What of the beast? It made another kill, they do say, deer, Matrim found the carcass. He did say it be larger than any of they wild dogs, and leaves strange tracks, nothing like anybody has seen before." The drawl of the plainspeoples desert ancestors was strong in the boy, despite his ten or so years of age. His mother frowned. Nobody had seen this creature, but subtle traces of its presence were everywhere, to one who knew how to read them.

"Its ne'er attacked one o' us and ah've no enough meat on mah bones teh make any beast hunger after me. Sleep now, keep up your strength." A smile, faint, but reassuring flickered on her face as she walked away. This beast was no trouble to her, not when the life of her son hung in the balance. That tended to put the rest of the world into perspective.

The wild hawks had an affinity of sorts with the Dermines, and would take the message swiftly and surely, even across so great a distance. For anyone to make such an arduous trek across the desert, and then partially across one of the next most inhospitable places ever known, that was a miracle. Miracles can come true, but only if you are still alive to see them.

A spear in one hand, and a restorative flask of her own concoction in her belt, she began the long walk across the plains to pick a plant only marginally less rare than the diseases it treated.

"Goddesses be with me," she murmured to herself. Reaching the plants was no easy task, let alone finding them.

oOoOoOo

A/N: So it begins…I'm getting further and further along with this, so I hope there's enough interest for it to continue. Leave a review if you want more; I need to know that you want it before I can deliver the goods. ^_^

Poorfox