You have been hiking in the northern mountains for hours now, and at every turn you feel more lost than before. The roaring wind slashes at your face, a chill that cuts through your numerous layers of clothing as you wince and trudge through the thick snow, feeling more and more soaked, more and more hopeless. Stopping to rest yourself against a bare, skeletal tree, your shivering hands dig your phone out of your pocket. No signal. No telling where you're going. Despair starts to settle in.
Crack.
The sound of branches snapping makes you turn in a hurry, only to find what can best be described as a monster looming over you. It bears the head of a deer, a number of jagged antlers spiking up into the air. Its glowing eyes bore into your soul as the muscled, fur-covered body towers above you by several feet. It stands on two legs, hooves burrowed into the snow beneath. Its arms are long, worryingly long, tipped with sharp talons. The air around the thing seems to only get colder.
You stagger back, gasping, your breath hanging in the air as you tumble into the snow. It's only when you're reeling and falling on your back that you realize that this figure is... quite obviously female, if the fur-covered breasts are anything to go by. The creature huffs out a breath of its own, a cloud of air hanging before her as her tongue flits along her upper lip, baring jagged, needle-like teeth.
She could rip you apart with ease, you know, as she leans in close enough to sniff at you. Your body tenses. Your nose wrinkles from the smell of her. Even if you could scrabble your way through the thick snow, you couldn't outrun her if you tried. The rasping voice tickles at your ear as you draw a few more rapid breaths.
"You... are lost," she huffs, sounding as if she's speaking directly into your ear. "Cannot take cold..." One of those talons trails, sharp but careful, along your cheek. The sensation sets your whole body on edge. "In danger..."
Your mind reels. You can't tell if she