Northern paled as the snow-laden forest unfurled beneath him, revealing a hidden terror. His pupils dilated, trembling with shock.
There had been a monster here all along?
'But why hadn't it moved before now? Of all times… why now?'
There was an eerie pattern to the way these creatures had been emerging. Everything that had gone wrong seemed as though it had been waiting, biding its time—until the moment they came.
A wicked, unreasonable premonition crept through Northern's mind.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on it.
The creature loomed before them, massive and imposing, stepping forward with slow, deliberate force. It resembled a giant turtle—if a turtle could stand on two legs, hunched slightly like a grotesque mockery of human posture.