Wally scurried happily along a trail that wound its way along the river, fed just ahead by a great falls. His last time spent upon this particular trail had proven most prosperous having found several trinkets that he could sell, if the right buyer would ever come along, as well as some rare herbs that could catch as good a price as any little knick-knack he was likely to find just lying around. There were of course some drawbacks to this form he had been bestowed with not long after entering this strange world, even beyond the obvious but it did come with its perks as well, he could smell distinct plants, food and even water from long ways away and he could all but taste metal objects if they lay near enough to him. That is why it never took him long to fill his pack when in a new place and why he was rarely in want for food or water.

He continued down the path towards the falling water but he did so with an appropriate amount of caution. It was by chance that he had ended up here again, or at least as far as he could tell so far that is how the power worked. His life had been threatened not 2 hours ago and he had blinked away from the danger. This meant that he would have to be careful for the rest of the day or he might find himself losing out on his second chance at life. The exterior of the “rat-man” was content and assured but just below the surface he was as skittish and paranoid as ever, after a blink though this balance was all the more precarious.

As the path passed closely by the water, just before the waterfall, Wally stopped and sat down on the bank to soak his feet in the water; he was a bit disappointed that he had yet to make any good finds. The water was cool, must have been being fed by the melting ice from upstream he thought as his stretched his weather-beaten toes under the water, dirt and grime from between them making dark streams flowing on downriver. He pulled his feet out and leaned out over the water to get a drink. Just as his lips touched the water a glint from the sun reflected off something under the waterfall and shined into Wally’s eyes. The bank slipped out from under him and he ended up face first in the water but for only a moment as he was frantically scrambling to his feet. Could they have tracked him down so quickly? Was he to be the latest victim of the rampant unicorn attacks? Was there a bombing squad trained on his location with some sort of yellow laze beam? And other such nonsense ran through his head as he ran and hid behind the closest, most safe thing he could find, a sparsely leaved bush.

A few agonizing minutes past as Wally waited for fiery death to rain down from above ending his miserable existence for a second time. Nothing happened and slowly he opened his eyes which he had not until that moment realized he had closed. Gently he crept away from his hiding spot behind the bush and peered inch by inch over the foliage towards the waterfall where he had seen the light. Could that be...Is that...Ice? as it came into better view he could see just behind the waterfall a great collection of ice. Doing what anyone else would do in that situation or at least that was Wally’s thinking he searched around nearby. “Ahh there is a good one” And with a great heave he sent a rock about the size of a cantaloupe hurtling towards the pile of ice below the water as he waited and watched to see what would happen.