He begrudgingly made his way back across the continent when the tunnels near the Shimmering Shore had collapsed. Katsu told himself it wasn't a move driven by fear, no, it was motivated by the desire to find more answers. It felt better that way. Less shameful. His fiery red back made him stick out like a sore thumb against the terrain of the blisteringly icy north, even as he tried to stay under cover. All of the animals had begun acting strangely - he'd even seen, disgustingly, a walrus trying frantically to dig beneath the ice with its blunted tusks. They had been chipped and bloody, the animal gored by its unnatural efforts. He shuddered and avoided the bloody scene, trekking around the long side of the massive structure of the ship. A similar thing laid off the shore of Auster, and it was a frightening reminder that beneath all of this ice, the cold and unforgiving ocean still waited.
Kat's eyes roved the tundra, locking on to another troubling sight: a large musk ox was battering the frozen ground with its horns, baying loudly with the effort. Again and again it lurched back, bringing its face back into the ground to try and scrape beneath the ice somehow. Blood dripped from its nose and he thought he could spy more injuries scattered across its body, but he was too far away to be sure. This was worth investigating. Katsu sunk into a hunter's crouch and began to track closer to the ox.
