The quick origins story to set up the series. Three men are traversing a glacier in Alaska sometime in the 1800's. They take not of the amazing aroura borealis that is taking place above their head. One of them remarks that it is an unusually vivid one.

They find themselves about to be caught in a snowstorm with no shelter, so they manage to find a cave within the glacier. After winding around curves and turns they enter a large open cave that is much warmer and has a running source of water. The three frontier men take drinks from the water and immediately feel "funny". One is turned into a crow, the other turns into a seal, and the narrator turns into a wolf. Eventually, they wake up, naked and human. After leaving the cave (which ends up almost caving in on them), they find an abandoned shack where they hole up for a few months to get a handle on their new "other selves". After a few months they decide to go back to their previous lives and keep their new changes a secret, agreeing to return in a year (I think) to compare notes.

That's about it, but there are teaser chapters of upcoming books in the series after this. A very, very short read. ( )