Frozen Sea

5. Snowstalker

The biome the group arrived after their long swim was at the Glacial Basin. When they had successfully finished crossing through the Twisty Bridges and evading any sharks, they had entered a cave system that was lit by colourful plants near the kelp forest. After a long swim through the dark tunnels, they had resurfaced in a lake located in the southern parts of the Glacial Basin. They were now on their way to what Yeosang had called the Phi Excavation Site. It was an Alterra base that had been build specifically for the purpose of researching the Frozen Leviathan. Apparently, there were no other scientists apart from them around at the moment, but San was supposed to introduce the other teams scattered along the arctic to the site one by one.

Their visit today would be purely educational, so they took it slow and wandered the Basin with deliberate peace, so everybody had the opportunity to look around. After they had emerged from a lake and climbed up the ladder up to the planes, Hongjoong and Seonghwa were allowed the time to look around.

Orange plants decorated the icy cliffs that were crossed by purple veins and the occasional spike of ice growing out of the snowy mountains. The clear sky bathed the scene in a whitish-grey that got interrupted sometimes by bright blue lakes or waterfalls; some stopped in their movement by the all-consuming cold. The place looked frozen in time, but less untouched than the rest of the land Hongjoong had seen so far. He had seen some traces of Alterra here, just like that ladder they had used. Their orange and white colours blended in well, but the equipment occupying some corners was still prominent enough for Hongjoong to notice.

San led them further land inwards with no worry in the world. Thankfully, they had evaded the dexterous Sea Monkey well without losing their precious belongings (or Seonghwas) and had little to worry about now that they were wandering on land again. Hongjoong didn't expect to run in any more troubles on their way to the site.

However, despite his expectations of not meeting any sort of animal on the solid ice where they had no food resources or natural nesting opportunities, he was proven wrong. When Yeosang suddenly tapped his shoulder and pointed in some direction, his first reaction was to tense.

"What is it, danger?" His voice was hushed despite the creature he soon spotted still being far. Its white fur camouflaged it well in the icy planes as he sniffed around. It reminded Hongjoong of a hybrid between a polar bear and an anteater, but the snout seemed vaguely familiar to him in another way.

"It's the maritime relative to the Stalker that we met in the Kelp Forest in the crater. We haven't met them up close so far."

Hongjoong squinted at the animal. Contrary to Yeosang's words, it didn't seem too intimidating. It was trotting around searching for food, and sometimes stood up on its hind legs to survey its surroundings. Even standing, it seemed smaller than Hongjoong. Curious, Hongjoong tilted his head as he watched it.

"Sorry, but I don't think that-"

"It's a baby. The juveniles have larger eyes and are far smaller than the adults."

Hongjoong just lifted his eyes to look curiously at Seonghwa and see what had triggered the softness in his voice, as the man already took a step forward, past them. His eyes were set on the Snowstalker baby as he approached it carefully and with his body balancing out effortlessly on the ice.

Hongjoong exchanged a glance with Yeosang.

"Is it safe?"

The man shrugged, already following behind Seonghwa so their group wouldn't get separated. Not minding it much since there were at least all six of them, and San and Jongho had some sort of guns strapped to their thighs, Hongjoong followed suit. He couldn't deny his curiosity about the little creature waddling about through the snow.