Errin walked across the packed snow, moving silently like a fox. He pulled up his rifle, and pushed a branch from his path. A rabbit bounded past his feet towards a nearby den. He checked the ammo supply for the sixth time, thinking what would happen if he ran out. Errin jumped over a badly hidden bear trap, picking up speed. He had a large elk in mind that lived a half mile straight ahead.

He caught sight of it five minutes later. She walked with a kind of grace, grazing on the scarce grassland. Errin knelt down onto one knee, cocking his rifle. The sound alerted the beast, it pricked up its ears, and looked in errins direction. He sat there a moment waiting for the elk to forget him to other matters. It soon pulled its head down and started its meal.

His eye trained on its temple, he slowly pulled the trigger back. A sound attracted his attention. He looked to his right to see a gangly looking bear headed straight for  the elk. Sighing slowly he lowered his weapon, thinking of a good meal. When the bear lunged for its prey he lurched up and sprinted for cover. The cold bit into his skin, peircing his jacket. He wrapped the fur coat tighter around himslef, looking for warmth.

He tripped over a small boulder and went tumbling to the soft white earth below. Errin landed with a dull thud. The run had drained his stamina, and the cold wet of the fall even more. He didn’t bother getting up, so he crawled.

Lying in the dirt underbrush of a tree he started to sharpen his gerber hunting blade from its sheath. He hit the blade to stone aimlessly, staring to the darkening sky. A roar sounded in the distance, slicing into his eardrums. The sound was a shreiking, keening noise that set the senses on fire.

He quickly sat up, and looked around. Nothing, was insight, save a dead elm tree. Creeped, he walked quickly away from the noise. He stumbled and fell, the ground gave way beneath him. A loud click sounded near his ear, and a rumlble began. He fell.

The ground had opened up into a chasm, reaching into the darkness. Errin fell through this, screaming the whole time. He was not sure if he was awake or dreaming but one thing that didn’t make sense was that he had fallen long ago, yet eyes stared from the opening. They were one pair, but filled with emotion. Hate, and malice clouded the yellow pupils. They glowed in the shadow of the setting sun.