The snow was white, there wasn't a creature in sight, and that was the problem. Ailas wasn't sure if there was anything out there, but he knew that if there was, he wouldn't be able to see it. The yeti, creatures who thrived in this this frigid environment. Ailas had never seen one in person before, but he knew that they were a force to be reckoned with. Ambush predators that hunted in packs beings of great ferocity that would take a creature like him and tear them in half. And on that day Ailas was hunting the most dangerous, one of all, the alpha yeti. In this land of ice and snow, it rained supreme, the only thing with more authority was the Snow Queen herself.

  Ailas wore a special cloak that was designed for this environment. It was the same pure White color as the snow around him, and was enchanted to cover his heat, as he had learned that the yeti could see creature's warmth. It was uncomfortable to wear, all things considered. The way it bunched up at his joints made it hard for him to compress himself, and added resistance to his speed. He felt cumbersome and stuffy.

  But every time he thought of how difficult it was, or questioned why he was putting himself through this, he would remember. Remember that there were greater monsters out there than the one he was looking for at this moment. Monster so vile that they would kill a family just for the joy of seeing the look on their child's face when their parents hunt them down as walking corpses.

  Remembering that was motivation enough to risk even this notable danger. So he did. Ailas searched. Ailas quested. All for the sake of that creatures destruction.

  Despite his reminiscing, Ailas was still careful of his surroundings, he searched diligently looking for any sign of movement that was more than just falling flakes of snow. Thankfully he had yet to see one hint of anything larger than a rabbit. Not that those didn't have their own kind of danger associated with them.

  More time passed as Ailas let himself fall into a trance of sorts, his senses peaked and searching in all directions ahead, behind, to the left, to the right, and with those senses, he found what appeared to be a small cave. Seeing as how he had been walked nearly 34 miles at this point, he figured a break would be good. While the trances so far had left him alert, they might not always have that effect.

  In order to mitigate any lapse of judgment or senses, Ailas took a small detour. The cave itself was shallow, and tucked out of view behind a large ridge. The fact that he had spotted it was a miracle.

  After arriving, he began to his tent. It wasn't very large, but it had a special enchantment that made the environment inside the perfect conditions for him. Temperature, smell, air currents, and light levels were all things that this tent would adjust to fit his whims, changing as needed. Once he had walked inside, he eagerly removed the clunky suit covering him, and stepping out of the tent, he stretched and did a small jog around the tent a few times to loosen his joints and get his blood flowing.

  That little bit of motion outside the tent, so far as Ailas was concerned, was safe. He wasn't out for long enough to cause a noticeable change in the temperature, and the combination of the ridge and cave made it impossible to see him from where he had set up to outside. After a few more laps, Ailas returned to the tent and sat in a meditative posture.

  Ailas' senses began to fade, the feeling was familiar to Ailas, as this form of meditation was common for his kind to preform, and it offered a very strong connection to the land itself. He felt his consciousness blend with the distant sounds of the blizzard raging outside, the beating of his heart, and a growing understanding of the ground around him. He expanded his awareness to everything around him, and he felt it all.

  The Cold.

  But the Cold wasn't harsh or violent like he felt outside. It wasn't alien or strange in this land of warm colors and places. It came from outside, yes, but so did everything else here in the Twilight Realm. It adopted the Cold, and welcomed it as an end of heat. It was right. It was natural and normal and right. It Made Ailas feel comfortable and at peace.

  After his trance, Ailas' apprehension and discomfort in this frosted land of ice and snow vanished. He felt right here. But he had a mission to achieve, and that couldn't be done in this cave, so Ailas rose to his feet and began putting the white suit back on. Not long had passed, but he had already broken down his camp and was making his way out of the cave.

  There was a great crash as something fell from the large ridge above the cave. Ailas dove to the side. How had he been noticed- no he didn't have time to think about it. He looked about him and saw that he was surrounded by a group of 3 of them, which was far from where he would want to be. Ailas knew about the danger of these creatures from tales of them told by those in Creyena, Seat of the Frost. Even if those stories were second-hand from those who he had met on his way here, he couldn't take the risk of underestimating them, so he readied himself to dodge the moment the first attack came.

  ...And yet, even after drawing close, no attack came, they all just stood there, staring at him.

  "Uurgh Ra Ooh!" Growled the one in front of Ailas, and despite it not being words, he got some sense that it had meaning. It was a question. A question about him? Yes.

  "...Ailas..." He responded, hesitantly. Once hearing this, the one in front looked at it's companion on Ailas' right flank.

  "Phrrg, Rha Ri Irr Rhagg" It growled again, and as Ailas listened closer, he thought he could adjust his mind to this speech, and as he did, he could somewhat decipher what they were saying, at least somewhat.

  "Gro Gnow, Go Reak Kra eer" Responded the one on the right, and Ailas tuned in more, his mind stretching.

  "Grell, I no Speek good Ka Eer Troo." Grouched back the first, each sound still a growl like before, but with weak, unclear impressions tied to them.

  "Food." Said the one on Ailas' left flank. That impression was very clear, unfortunatly, but in response, the one on the right walked over and smacked the left on the head.

  "Gno Food! Wge no allow eet Kla Eer Skoopid!" The Right said to the left.

  For a moment, Ailas considered bolting in that direction, but, unfortunately, that would only lead him back to the cave, which would only trap him more. Well, that, and Ailas couldn't deny that he was curious about this. To his understanding, the Yeti didn't have any kind of language. They were supposed to be mindless apex predators. While Ailas watched the two "talk", the one that dropped in front of him kept it's eyes locked on Ailas. It was more than a little unnerving.

  "Gwat Want." Said the one in front to him while the others behind him squabbled, their conversion fading back into growls as Ailas turned his focus away from it.

  "I want... to talk to the alpha." Responded Ailas, but was just returned a vaguely confused impression. He had heard another word for it, but couldn't quite-

  "Yar-ga-keen." He said aloud, remembering the word. In that moment, the Yeti stood a bit straighter, eyes narrowing, examining Ailas. Then it growled a single word.

  "Follow."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The walk was long, but after a time, they did come to a large hill of solid ice. A hill so large that it completely dwarfed anything in Ailas' memory. It stretched up as far as he could see, and even longer into the distance. It was so big that calling it a hill felt wrong. It was like the stories of the great thorn highland he had heard, but listening to stories was different than seeing something like that in person.

  In the side of the seeming wall of ice and snow was a tiny opening. Or rather Ailas thought it was tiny at first, but once they got closer, he realized that he was just thinking of it as being a tiny mouse hole in the wall of ice, when instead, it was as grand as anything he had seen. It was nearly 100 ft tall and nearly twice that wide. Inside of the hole Ailas could see dozens of great pillars of ice stretching from floor to ceiling. Each was so thick that even these 3 Yeti, with their long arms and large builds, would have trouble wrapping them around, even if they all joined hands and tried at once.

  The four of them entered, and Ailas, despite his usual composure, couldn't help but gawk a bit. As he looked around, he spotted other creatures. More Yeti. A LOT more. There were dozens, even this close to the entrance, and as they got deeper, Ailas noticed branching passages off to either side. At first he felt like they were rifts in the ice, but as he observed, he saw what appeared to be hundreds of Yeti, all walking from side cave to side cave, as if there were rows or rooms that bent around a corner in the distance, leaving his sight.

  They walked for a while longer, and in total Ailas assumed he had seen at least a few thousand Yeti, but the numbers were large enough that he could hardly bring himself to fathom it all. The Scale. The population. All of it.

  Ailas had heard a claim once that Creyena, Seat of the Frost, had a populous of over 100,000. That had always seemed absurd to him, but after seeing this, he couldn't deny that maybe it was possible, even if this few thousand was still a ways away from that estimate. The largest town he had ever seen only had a population of around 200 people, so he assumed that a big city like Creyena, Seat of the Frost would only have maybe a thousand people at most.

  "Stop." Growled the Yeti who Ailas had been following behind. So Ailas stopped. In all honestly with the large creature in front, and the two others behind, Ailas couldn't really see past the Yeti in front of him. And with the sides being as interesting as they were, he couldn't help but gaze at them. After a moment, the Yeti spoke again.

  "Yargakin! We find claw ear out while hunt. It say want talk to you... I think?"

  "You think? Do you not know?" Came a voice from beyond the large white creature. The voice was incredibly easy to understand. Even though it did still speak in the same growls as the others, the impressions those growls brought to mind were as clear as words, maybe even clearer.

  "Sorry. I no speak to claw ear good like you. Hard understand." Responded the first, going to one knee. Even doing that, the yeti still managed to obscure most of his view. Although, Ailas thought he caught a glimpse of something moving beyond, up against some kind of wall. It was still hard to make out though.

  "It is fine. All is forgiven. Show Yargakin the Elf." Responded the other speaker. The moment the 1st Yeti stepped aside, Ailas was greeted with another awe filled sight, but a sight that caused an intense feeling of instinctual fear to fill him. For a moment, he wanted to run. To Escape. The sheer presence of this creature made his brain have to wrestle back control of himself.

  In front of Ailas was a Yeti, as expected, but instead of the pure white fur, it had large growths of deep blue ice spreading across it's coat in rippling wave patters, almost like some cross between stripes and lightning. On it's head it bore a quartet of horns, each the same fathomless blue color as the ice across it's body, and they curved up and over the head, the top two coming from around the forehead and curling backwards, where as the two lower ones right above the ears curved upwards and tilted slightly forwards.

  But the most intimidating thing was the size. Even though each yeti was around 9ft tall, this yeti dwarfed them. Even despite being seated in some sort of throne it's head was still a good head higher than the two yeti standing at either side of it's massive seat. It's build was still massive and bulky like the other yeti, with bulging muscles and long arms. But unlike the others, it didn't feel overly clumsy looking or bloated like some did. Instead, it felt as though it had as much grace as it did strength, as if there was nothing you could do to resist it if it wanted you dead.

  "What do you want, Elf?" It asked harshly, as if suspicious of Ailas. It took him a moment to process everything and answer the question, but he could finally get himself to do it.

  "I wished to speak to you." Ailas answered, his voice much calmer than he felt.

  "Why?" It sounded a low growl that vibrated the cave around them, cutting to even Ailas' core. He looked up and could see it's teeth ever so slightly bared. They were mostly sharp, but some were more flat looking Ailas could tell, even from the distance and short span of time.

  "I wanted to make a request of thee." Ailas responded, his voice even more resolute in contrast to the emotions causing his body to try and betray him by fleeing.

  "And why do you think Yargakin should grant you any request? After all, Yargakin is greater than you by leagues of power that you cannot even begin to understand." The worst part, was that this creature was right. It was greater than he. It could squash him like an insect. It could-

  Ailas' brain wrestled control over his thoughts again, and managed to formulate a response.

  "I don't think I have a say in what you should do, I just..." Ailas trailed off, trying to sort through his own thoughts. How did he word this? He had never been good with those.

  "...I just need something. Some of your hairs-" he began, but was cut off by a roar of fury.

  "MY PELT?! YOU CAME FOR MY PELT?!" It roared at him, the whole cave seeming to amplify the sound around them. Ailas couldn't help but recoil slightly. For a moment, he considered drawing his bow out of instinct, but managed to stop himself. What could his bow and arrows do against this thing? His best chance was to explain himself clearly.

  "Not your whole pelt! Just a few hairs!" Ailas quickly added, putting his hands in the air and pulling back his hood to reveal his own hair, then he pulled a few strands out and pointed to them as an example. The extra clarification seemed to drastically change the mood of the great yeti, who sat back.

  "Hmm... That does make sense. Yargakin can make a mistake from time to time with understanding elvish." Came the Yargakin's response. The contrast of before with how it acted now was unsettling, as if it's rage was always there, but it now had full control over it. This Yargakin was a terrifying beast for certain.

  "But tell Yargakin, why do you seek it's hairs?." It asked. The growls sounded the same as always, but the feeling of the words changed slightly, as if becoming more inquisitive. More... Curious.

  "I seek to make a weapon. I need your great and powerful hairs to make the bowstring." Ailas explained honestly.

  "Ghmm..." Came the reply. A growl in both sound and intent. At the same moment, the Yargakin narrowed their eyes at Ailas. After a few moments of tension, it spoke.

  "Why? What purpose can you have for this weapon?" It asked, a new sense of suspicion and rage now festering under the surface of it's previous curiosity.

  "I have to kill that monster." Ailas spat. His tone caught the yeti around him off guard, and one actually backed away slightly. Memories. The face. The sadistic smile. Those eyes. The laugh. Blood. More blood. His parent's blood. His sister's blood. His Blood. All over the floor. His blood... dripping to the snow?

  Ailas looked down at his left fist to see that there was a small trickle of blood running down the side and dripping of the side of his palm and onto the snow. Seems he had punctured his palm with his nails. It didn't hurt, but he still took a second to fish a bandage out of his pack and apply it. All the while the yeti all watched him, not saying, or growling, a single word. But eventually, the great Yeti did break the silence.

  "Your hatred is seen. Yargakin understands that hatred. Yargakin has felt it in their own heart. This monster you speak of has taken something very dear away from you, yes?" It asked, a tiny hint of respect in it's impressions. Ailas simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak. A few more moments passed as the great Yargakin seemed to think.

  "Fine. Yargakin will provide you with the hairs you will request. On 2 conditions." Ailas looked up, hope entering his heart.

  "First, you will never harm a Yeti. If you do, I will seek out out and kill you myself. In return, should a yeti harm you, they shall meet the same fate." It said, holding up a finger to represent the number 1. Ailas could do that. He saw no reason to harm them anyway.

  "Second, should you meet a human while you carry this weapon..." It said, narrowing it's eyes at Ailas.

  "Kill them."

  As Ailas left the cave, hairs in is bag, he thought about what he had just agreed to. When they had mentioned 'Human', Ailas saw that same hatred that burned him up from the inside. That hatred that sought to burn him to ash from the inside. They had lost something to monsters as well. He had never heard of a 'human' before, but if they were anything like his monster, he would be honored to put an end to it's reign of pain and terror. Honored to drain the life from them, and leave them a husk of a corpse.

  Dry....

  Empty...

  Cold...