Mother made the first move. She sprinted towards the fox closest to her and went to attack it by jumping onto its face. The moment she did, all the other foxes scattered and backed away from the ensuing struggle.

The fox struggled to shake her off its face, but mother took a firm grip on it with her claws and dug her teeth on its skin. Its howls of pain resounded through the room.

But the fox showed its intellect, having the idea to charge towards a wall headfirst while mother was still on its face. As it rammed its head on a wall, mother squeaked in pain as it took the brunt of the damage. And so, the fox succeeded in shaking her off.

But mother brushed off the pain and suddenly charged towards another fox, attempting to do the same thing again.

But the other foxes saw everything, their cunning and intelligence were nothing to be scoffed at. So the moment the fox saw that mother was running towards it, it nimbly avoided the jump aimed for its face.

Then suddenly, a fox dove and nipped at mother's leg. With the fox's sharp teeth, Mother's leg was grazed and bleeding. Afterwards, the fox stepped back and circled her. Then another fox also dove and nipped at mother's other leg before retreating.

This is a very common tactic amongst pack predators with increased intelligence. They would employ hit and run tactics, slowly whittling down their prey as they bled to death or exhausted themselves.

Seeing as mother was the only threat in the room, the foxes took a glance at me and my siblings before focusing back on Mother. While they did so, a fox went to guard the entrance to make sure that none of us escaped.

As for mother, in just a few moments, she was suddenly covered in cuts and small bites. Although they were small and superficial, they were numerous. Her legs, arms and face were nipped continuously. Due to the onslaught of attacks, mother was exhausted and had trouble managing the pain of her injuries.

As a member of the Ratkin race, mother was inherently born with a strong body. As Ratkin lived in human cities, they often roamed dirty sewers and areas where waste disposal wasn't properly managed. Due to their lifestyle, it wasn't long before they contracted viruses and diseases. But thanks to their body and tenacity, they successfully developed an immunity for poison and disease.

It was this that made Ratkin more dangerous and fearsome, they could contract deadly diseases and would be completely unbothered afterwards. As they possessed diseases, they made it harder for monsters and predators to hunt them. Predators have a strong sense of smell, so it was easy for them to smell that the Ratkin are somewhat compromised. It would not be good if they ate something that would hurt them later.

This led to predators actively avoiding them. The combination of diseases and the immunity to it made an incredible defense system for the Ratkin.

But alas, Ratkin aren't the only ones that evolved as fox monsters also experienced evolution alongside the Ratkin.

Beforehand, foxes preyed on small animals and also ate fruits. But whenever food was lacking, they resorted to scavenging, eating the carcasses of dead creatures. They were able to eat the rotten flesh of dead creatures as they naturally possessed strong stomachs and strong digestive systems that broke down the germs and bacteria contained within the meat.

But as they encountered Ratkin, they were unable to eat their corpses as the diseases they had were too deadly. But at some point, there came a time where there was nothing left to eat except for the Ratkin.

So the foxes had no choice. The only thing left to do was evolve and develop even stronger stomachs in order to eat and digest Ratkin. With this evolution, they became a natural predator of Ratkin.

And now, five of them are overpowering a single Ratkin. The chances of achieving a successful hunt was rising by the second as they continuously nip and bite at mother's body. By this point, there was no place on Mother's body that wasn't covered in bites. She was bleeding intensely as she staggered in pain and exhaustion.

It was only a matter of time before she collapsed. And Mother knew it. With five hungry foxes, there was no escape. Death was certain.

So, with the last vestiges of her will, she shrieked and did a suicidal charge towards a fox, intending to do her earlier actions. And as she jumped onto its face, she made sure to dig her claws and teeth extra deep.

While this was happening, me and the rest of my siblings could do nothing but watch. We watched as the foxes injured our mother bit by bit. We were too young to do anything, too weak to be of any help.

It was hopeless. It was infuriating.

Mother was so injured and tired, it became clear that she will die soon.

But suddenly, as she ran and clamped onto the face of a fox, she somehow seemed like a predator that pounced on its prey. No matter how much the fox howled or shook its head, not even when it tried ramming mother on a wall, mother still gripped on its head.

But what was the point of it? Why did she do that? Well, mother showed us by proceeding to bite the fox's eyes out.

The fox's movements became delirious and rabid, the pain of having its eyes bitten blinded it. It thrashed all over the room, bumping into the other foxes.

But mother wasn't finished. She opened her mouth wide, displaying her teeth. Then out of nowhere, her fangs glowed. Mother's fangs somehow glowed a resplendent white, so bright, it lit up the entire room for a brief moment. With a shriek, mother savagely bit down on top of the fox's head, her fangs easily piercing through its skull as if it was a hot knife on butter.

And when all was said and done, the fox stopped moving before suddenly collapsing on its side. The remaining four foxes, me and my siblings watched as mother defeated and killed a fox all on her own.

To me, it was something I couldn’t comprehend. We were supposed to die, mother was about to lose. And yet, she came out as the victor. It was conceivable. Gazing upon my mother’s weak and sluggish form, I was filled with varying emotions. Shock, confusion, worry. Happiness.

But before I could say or do anything more, the rest of the foxes suddenly rushed Mother. She squealed in pain as the foxes sunk their fangs into her. One by one, they took turns biting her, swiveling their heads around with mother in their mouths, turning her into a rag doll. My siblings and I could do nothing but watch in fear.

But then, while the others tore Mother apart, one of the foxes turned to us before approaching with slow steps. Terrified, we stood still as death was steadily making its way towards us.

But just as it was about to reach us, we all heard a sudden loud squeak. Looking over, we saw mother looking at us. Looking at me. And she hissed.

Suddenly, I knew what to do. I ran.

With the help of mother’s timely distraction, I sidestepped the fox who stopped approaching us to glance at mother. Before it could react, I ran towards the only possible safe place I could hide. With a fox guarding the entrance, I couldn’t escape safely. They were stronger and faster, much faster than me. So I couldn’t take the chance to escape through the blocked entrance. So I could only take a breath and run towards the corpse of the fox mother had killed just moments ago.

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There were no other places for me to hide or escape. I had no idea why I thought of this, but the corpse seemed like a decent place to hide. And I wasn’t complaining. The moment I reached the fox corpse, I went to its mouth and burrowed my way to its throat. This was an ingenious plan, at least according to my instincts. If I had no chances of escaping, I could just hide! And if I had nowhere to hide, I could just make do with what I have.

I shivered in fear and anticipation. As I literally burrowed in the very throat of the fox monster mother had killed, the stench of its breath hit me full force. The place was tight and cramped, it was not meant to house a large creature like me. It was only luck that I was still small enough to fit through.

I didn’t even think much of it as I was still riddled with fear. The foxes saw me dig my way through the maw of their fallen kin and chased after me, their snouts peeking through the mouth of my new sanctuary that took the form of a dead fox. I could hear them clearly. They were so close to me, causing me to feel powerful waves of fear to wash over my skin. The foxes’ noses twitched, each of them sniffing my scent coming from the dead fox’s mouth.

They tried to look for me inside the mouth and tilted their heads to get a better angle. I watched in terror as a single yellow eye appeared in my view, staring straight at me from the opening of the fox’s mouth. While this was going on, I could hear the other foxes going after my siblings, their high-pitched squeaks ringing in my ears. Each of them squeaking and chirping in distress before eventually dying out.

Soon after, silence returned. I couldn’t even hear my mother’s squeaks anymore nor any distinct sound of battle or struggle going on. It was as if time stopped and the world stood still. The only thing going through my mind was the question of what happened to them.

And the glowing yellow eye remained on me, still staring at me. Then the owner of the eye tried to snatch me by pushing his maw towards me, putting its mouth through the mouth of their dead comrade. But thankfully, it was futile. I burrowed my way as deep as I could, managing to squirm my way through the throat of the dead fox. The fox that was trying to snatch me couldn’t even reach me as its mouth was too big to fit through the mouth of my new refuge.

And when that didn’t work, it pulled out its mouth and inserted its paw inside to try to claw me out. But this time, it succeeded in reaching me.

With my situation and circumstances, fear and adrenaline was coursing through my body completely. Seconds ago, I thought that I might have a chance of safety within the body of the dead fox. But it seems that the other fox monsters were smart enough to try to get me by reaching for me with their paws.

Within the dark and moist throat of the fox, I saw the paw of a fox trying to snatch me out. It was certainly long enough to reach me, but I was stubborn.

I was desperate. I want to live. So, following my mother’s steps, I fought back.

As the dirty paw kept waving around inside the mouth of the dead fox, I lashed out and gave it a vicious bite. And it was a success judging by how the owner of the paw quickly retracted its appendage and howled in pain.

Hearing its screech and wails, after its friends bullied and killed my family, sounded incredibly pleasant.

Afterwards, after my retaliation, it seemed that they became afraid of me. The fox no longer tried to snatch me away and was content with staring at me from outside the mouth of the fox. Its yellow eye glowed with indignance and fury.

But it soon turned its head and went away. I could hear the other foxes nudging and moving the body I was in. Some of them also peeked through the mouth of my refuge. But they were intelligent creatures indeed. Earlier, they saw one of their pack members trying to get the Ratkin out of the mouth of their fallen kin. When it resorted to using its paws to swipe it out, it suddenly yelped in pain before it retracted its paw and limped away. Seeing what happened, they understood that if they tried to go after the last Ratkin, they would also end up limping away with a bitten paw.

So with fury in their eyes, they could only glare at the Ratkin hiding in the throat of their dead pack member.

Then they turned away, dismissing the last Ratkin. If they couldn’t reach it, they shouldn’t waste anymore time and effort on it. After all, they would rather celebrate and feast on their spoils of war.

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Two Hours Later

Sitting inside the throat of a dead animal for lengthy periods of time did not do wonders for anyone.

Alas, I had no choice. I was too afraid of going out just yet. If I wanted to live and not be made into fox food, I could only safely hide. But after what seemed like an eternity, boredom started to settle in. I could no longer hold it in after hiding and waiting for so long. Surely by now, the foxes had left.

Slowly, I crawl out of the fox’s throat tentatively. The fear and rush of adrenaline was still lingering in my mind.

After a while, I crawled out of the dead fox and saw the state of disarray my home was left in. Bones of different sizes and shapes, the ones that my siblings and I gnawed on, were scattered across the room. The small patch of dried grass and leaves my family slept on were also scattered. But what I noticed first was how quiet my home was. Swiveling my head around, no matter where I looked, I was the only one left in the room. Thankfully, the foxes were gone. It seems that they left as there was nothing else to eat. Though they were able to digest rotten flesh from the dead bodies of other monsters, they weren’t cannibals. And since they couldn’t reach for me, they left as there was no point in staying.

Looking around, Mother and my siblings were nowhere to be seen. They are gone now. Dead, killed and eaten by the foxes.

The foxes appeared, they ate my family because they are the predators and we were the prey. Because they were hungry. We were unable to escape as the foxes were stronger than us. Stronger, smarter, bigger. Better than us.

They were the higher life form and we were the fodder. They ate and survived while we died. My instincts told me that it was only natural. Within myself, I somehow knew that everything is natural, that things were going the way it is supposed to go. The foxes were hungry, so they ate. We were a suitable food source, so they understandably had every reason to prey on us. I understood that clearly. I was unhappy but there was simply nothing I could do about it.

But what now? Now that my family is dead, what do I do now?

Looking around the nest that was once bustling with life, my home was now empty and cold. There was nothing except for the scattered bones and the corpse of a fox.

Haha, how amusing.

It wasn’t that long ago that I mused to myself about how I would soon need to leave home just like my other siblings who had left in order to make a life for themselves as Mother wasn’t providing sufficient food. It was only recently that I had a growing impulse to leave home and find better food.

Never have I thought that I would leave my home at the same time fox monsters ate my mother and the rest of my siblings.

It was a saddening thought. Whereas I still feel fear for the near-death encounter with the foxes, the fear was overtaken by grief.

However, despite the tears threatening to spill over, I had no choice but to find shelter, a place safer than my nest. If those foxes were able to find us, that means that my home is not safe. Not only that, other monsters may also appear either to eat me or take my home as theirs.

In other words, I need to leave.

So I did just that, I scurried towards the entrance of the nest.

But just as I was about to take my very first step outside my home, I almost forgot something. Turning back, I saw the corpse of the fox that turned into my safe haven for the past hours.

Crawling back, I sniff at its body a bit. After taking a deep smell, not to mention the blood pooling around its head, the fox quickly smelled like a delicious meal.

I was getting hungry anyways. So with haste, I went ahead and took big nibbles on its exposed flesh. Starting with its head from where mom inflicted her piercing bite on its skull, I tore into the skin and began eating the meat within.

It was my very first time eating meat. The meat was unlike anything I've ever tasted! All I've ever eaten before were milk, seeds and the occasional tiny lizard. As I chewed and savored the meat of a fox monster that was leagues above me in terms of power, I felt as if I was on top of the world. With big gulps, I swallowed bits and pieces of its dark, red flesh.

Though it was delicious, I had no time to relish in its taste as my stomach roared for more. Continuing on, I moved from its head to its chest and began digging in.

After sinking my teeth in and munching on its chest, my eyes snap wide open. The meat on its chest was far more delicious! Compared to the meat on its chest, the meat from its head was like tasteless water!

With a sudden urgence, I quickly went to work and ate away at the body of the fox. For every bite and nibble I took, the meat shockingly got better and tastier!

Not only that, I could sense something calling out to me coming from inside its chest. To me, it was as if mother was alive again and was calling out to me. So while I ate its chest, I slowly began burrowing my way through.

The deeper I burrowed, the stronger my instincts blared. The voice inside my head grew stronger and louder, calling out to me. And soon enough, I was laid bare to a sight that surprised me.

A magic core was lying quietly within the fox's chest, glowing dimly, lighting up the fleshy walls encasing it. It was different from the one Mother gave me. The core of the fox was bigger and glowed much brighter than the one I ate. Even though I'm a rat-man, a young child at that, I had enough intelligence to realize that the fox core was very precious. When I had eaten the core Mother had given me, I grew stronger and my senses became sharper. If my body was boosted by such a small core back then, wouldn’t the fox core be much better?

I gingerly picked up the fox core and squirmed my way out of the bloody fox corpse while holding onto the core, accidentally smearing its surface with the blood on my hands. Indeed, it was bigger in size and glowed a bit brighter than the one Mother had gifted me back then.

Standing up on my legs, I consciously lifted it up to my face, closer and closer to my mouth. Some part inside of me was eager, excited even. After having my family eaten with not even a single hair left as evidence they even existed, power was everything I needed. I live in a world where I could die at any given moment. By gaining power, my chances of survival will simply increase.

But just as my mouth opened to take a bite, I suddenly reminisced about the time I ate my first core. I had no idea what it was back then, Mother had given it to me and I ate it like a good boy. Although it was a new and terrifying experience, it helped me become stronger and smarter.

But what would my siblings think? Back then, they had started avoiding me. They began to hate me for what I had become. We feared the new because we didn’t know any better. After I ate the core Mother gave me, I somehow grew more powerful. To my siblings, it was unprecedented. Impossible, incomprehensible. New.

And inside my heart, I wondered to myself. ‘Would my family hate me more if I became even more different?’

Gazing intently at the glowing core on my hands, I could almost see my reflection on its glossy surface. But after a moment of deliberation, I went ahead and took a bite of it. Instantly, my mouth was assaulted by a myriad of flavors and sensations. It was unlike anything I’d ever tasted, it was so delicious. Noticeably, the fear and adrenaline still coursing through my body suddenly disappeared. After taking a couple of bites and swallowing, my body had calmed down.

The sensation I was feeling was good, so good. It was addicting. I had eaten only a few bites and the effects were already very potent, I felt my body and senses grow stronger and sharper. Now, any traces of fear in me were all washed away. I now continue to eat the fox core, happily chewing the surprisingly soft texture. It was delicious. It would help me survive against the world.

As I ate the core, bit by bit, my worries on whether my family would still accept me if I had changed a lot in new ways were all forgotten now.

After all, there was no need to worry about them if they were dead.