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.