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Prompt 5: Though Destiny City is a busy metropolis, dense forests encircle the city. It's uncommon for wildlife to wander into the city--especially larger creatures--but something is making its mark on Destiny City. Large footprints, humanlike but far too large to belong to any ordinary human, are appearing around Destiny City. They always lead to the woods, and back again--and the strange part is that no one seems to be able to see what has caused them. Cameras distort, and anyone who thinks they've come into contact with the creature can only make out a thick, white fur and something easily nine feet tall. Oddly enough, any surface near the tracks are covered in a sheet of ice, as though whatever passed close to them was so cold it left a frosty trail.
Overheard panicky whispers of something wandering the snowy streets of Destiny City had piqued Bestla’s interest. Of course, it could just be people letting their imaginations run wild. Or maybe they’d taken something that had resulted in a bad trip. But she didn’t think that many people in the city were all tripping balls at the same time. Not to mention that all the rumors she’d heard had the same basic narrative. No drug she knew of was capable of giving various brains the same vision.
So here she was stalking the outskirts of the city, looking for monsters in the snow. Sighing a little just for the pleasure of seeing her breath float in the cold air, she followed a set of tracks that looked, well, jumbled. Like something had come in and gone back out by roughly the same path. That certainly scanned as far as she understood animal behavior. But these tracks were big. Crouching down, she wished for the umpteenth time that she had two working eyes instead of one. Reaching out, she delicately traced a footprint with a fingertip. More human than animal like. And as far as she knew, no one had ever reported bears out in the woods.
“Who knows though,” she muttered. There could be bears and they were just very good at keeping to themselves. A bear would be heavy enough to make these tracks. But the shape was all wrong. She simply couldn’t shake how human-like they were. But any person making them would be even bigger than like, Andre the Giant. And who in their right mind would walk around barefoot in the snow?
Of course, it could be some a*****e playing pranks. But how would they be managing this many tracks and the muddling that looked completely natural? It just made zero sense. But one thing she could say with certainty was that this wasn’t youma. Nothing about these tracks set off the little spark in her head that meant Bad Things. Frowning slightly, she knelt closer to the tracks and stared hard. There was a faint, icy sheen over every single one. Making a fist, she tapped with her knuckles and cursed. It wasn’t just a sheen, it was actual damn ice. And she knew for fact that they hadn’t experienced warm enough weather to melt snow nor had there been a freezing rain. So how…?
A sudden stillness in the air sent her head shooting up like a dog catching a scent. You know, the edge of the woods was just a little on the creepy side. At night. In the cold and snow. And she couldn’t detect anything truly wrong or bad. Maybe it was time to go home and chalk all this up to clever pranksters.
Standing quickly, she turned to head back into the city proper. And within a few feet, felt her smack into something large, cold and surprisingly furry. She heard a surprised Whuffing noise and for a split second clutched thick, white fur within her hands even as she stared up at something that easily towered over her own 6’3” frame. Then, she was aware of a swift rustling noise and within the space of a heartbeat she once again stood alone in the snow.
Lips narrowing in a frown, she shook her head and forced herself to head back into the city. She ignored the newest tracks and tried hard to not think about how something huge, and fur covered had stared down at her in mild shock. Once she was back in the city proper and she was certain that no one else was around, she powered down and scurried back to her apartment.
Only once did she pause and turn to stare thoughtfully back the way she’d come. There was no way, she thought. There is absolutely no way I just saw a yeti. It’s impossible!
(Word Count: 661)
