Winter was upon them now. Its misty tendrils of darkness were creeping up on the land of Relic Lore, and the wolves within, cocooning it in its embrace, leaving no way to escape. Soon the snow would fall; the final piece in the jig saw puzzle, and then the real battle for survival would begin once more. They had barely made it through the previous year, what if it would be the same? Another hardship like that would be devastating, wolves would die, families be broken apart, loved ones separated. But that was the cruelness of winter that happened every year. No one could escape it, and no one ever would be able to. That was just a fact of life, and one they had to live with.

The day was misty and cold, but not miserable. At least, not for Ace. He loved the nice parts of winter: the snowfalls, icy lakes and rivers, and sometimes during his younger years he had thought he had clairaudience after seeing strange shapes in the mist. But as he grew older he grew out of those childish fantasies, mostly. Every now and then he would go back to pretending he could see things and hear sounds that were said to only exist beyond the reach of ordinary experience, if only to get away from the hardships of life.

It was only when the Silver Male caught sight of a huge lake far below the edge of the cliff, glimmering and shimmering in the misty light of the weak, winter afternoon sun that he paused his travels. He had been looking around for prey, other wolves, things like that, maybe even a pack nearby, kind of like a scouting mission. The lake, however, was something of interest to him, as there wasn't any large rivers on the mountain close by. Glancing around, Ace teetered on the edge of the cliff to look down at the lake, marveling in its beauty.

Ace lifted his muzzle into the air, closing his silver eyes, letting the calmness and serenity of being high up on the mountain and so close to the sky, feeling the wind gently brush through his thickening fur, and slowly letting everything bad slip away. The Silver Male didn't have many chances to forget about the bad things that had happened in his past, though he supposed it had been happenstance that everything fell into the jig saw puzzle of life the way it did, or he wouldn't be the wolf he was today, or even standing where he was at that moment.

His peace was interrupted when a female voice asked if he was alright, one that was familiar, but upon inhaling deeply the aroma that she brought, her scent was unknown to him. Mostly. "I am fine, ma'am, thank you for asking though," he said softly, gazing far into the distance at the land below where rivers intersected and trees grew sporadically in forests, leaving wide open spaces in other areas. It was beautiful, and he was glad he could see it now. Backing up a few steps from the edge, Ace slowly turned his head around to look at the female, and when his eyes met hers his posture stiffened, eyes widening.

The female that he had loved so long ago with all his heart was standing before him, like a stranger. He could see the scar that ran underneath her right eye, remembering when she didn't want him to see, thinking that he wouldn't love her because of it. He could also see the faded marks of claws on her muzzle from that fated bobcat, as well as new scars, such as the teeth marks on the bridge of her muzzle. She looked so different than he remembered, but exactly the same.

Instead of feeling happiness and love coursing through his veins at the sight of her, all he felt was anger, hurt, betrayal. "YOU LEFT ME!" He shouted at her, teeth bared and ears flattening against his skull. "YOU LEFT ME WHEN I NEEDED YOU MOST!" Ace took a step forward, silver eyes flashing with hostile emotions, but they didn't stick around for long. Within moments his anger faded, and all that was left was nothing, coldness. He felt nothing at all. "You left me..." He whispered softly, closing his eyes and turning his head away so he didn't have to look at her.

The dark female that he had once loved so much backed away from him, stumbling over the uneven ground in her haste to get away from him. Her form crumpled, ears pinning back, tail tucking underneath her as she cowered, a whine slipping through her jaws. Ace felt no satisfaction at the sight of her curled up in a ball, eyes looking down at the ground, body screaming out confusion and fear, but he felt no remorse either. She deserved to feel the pain as he had for so long, to feel what it was like to lose something, be afraid of it happening again, fearing it to come back and haunt you. His past had been hard on him, he had hidden it well, though, but after everything he had felt and seen, it was more than enough to break a man down to the very core that he tried to hard to cover up. He was a monster inside, but it hadn't reared its head in a long time. All it took was one woman, the woman he had loved so much, to bring it out again after so long.

"Why have you come back to haunt me?" He said softly in a dangerous tone, exhaling deeply and ever so slowly turning his head to look into her eyes, his own devoid of any compassion; there was only coldness left behind now. The monster he feared had returned. "What have I done to deserve so much... hate and pain I feel," he said in that same soft voice, not exactly talking to her, but just saying his musing out loud. "Were you really something good in my life... or were you just another object sent to cause me more misery in my life?" His cold gaze found Silver's once more. "TELL ME!" He suddenly roared, taking another single step closer to her cowering form.