The rixis had started to struggle and so they quickly stopped and huddled together while shivering and shaking and each decided to light a torch.

Hopefully, with multiple torches, it would stave off the cold for even a little while but they could only hope for the best.

The fire helped but the rixis now had ice forming around the parts of their clothing and their sharp teeth shattered as they slowly moved deeper into the blizzard.

It got so bad they could only see a few feet in front of them and had to check behind to make sure no one was left behind or had been ambushed.

The attacks on the group had lessened but there was always another side to the coin so because of the conditions the Jackrixis we're in now when they did get attacked it was very hard to prepare properly.

Most of the attacks were ambushes and usually only by 1 creature who would try to drag them off into the clouded frosty darkness that had formed because of the blizzard that now blocked out the sun from their position.

Once or twice the rixis had to stop to help one of their own get back up after exhaustion or from the cold sapping their strength.

It had been over 2 hours since they had left the last igloo but to the rixis, it felt like days had passed for them.

But hope would soon come for the cut and bruised rixis whose bodies screamed at them to give up and take a nap in the embrace of the frozen lands.

The chaotic snowstorm brought by the blizzard slowly dissipated the further they went and the temperature slowly went back up.

It was still cold but it was like comparing it to an ice bath to going into the arctic ocean you could very much tell the difference.

Giant grins were stuck onto the rixis faces as they quickly sped up to get out of the darkness and further into the light.

After quickly trudging through the snow which constantly tried to pull them further in until eventually, they found some solid ground.

They did it they managed to break through and now in front of them was a winter forest like the one outside the blizzard.

The group decided to cut down a tree and quickly used the last torch they had to create a large bonfire to warm them up so they would be ready for what was to come.

At this point they didn't care if the smoke was spotted as being in proper shape to fight was more important and they are as much as they could.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As the fire raged the rixis stood around it eating the last of the rations it may not be the best decision but after surviving the blizzard they just wanted to kill whatever was here and get it over with.

"We..made..it"-Leader Rixis

"yes we...did...well"-Rixis

"Must be..ready"-Rixis

"We stay for one stick burn then we explore"-Leader Rixis

Besides the sun and moon cycle, they need to use something for smaller time scales so they used however long a stick burned to show how much time they would stay for.

9 minutes later the stick they chose fished burning and they packed up and started tracking through the forest and kept an eye on their surroundings.

They so far didn't find much but there seemed to be a lot of berries and such so they collected some and are them for the extra energy.

There were strange signs they started to pick up on like small holes or a few stick bundles in the trees but other than that they saw no living creatures.

That was until they came into a small clearing and saw one of those red hounds feasting on the small corpse of another creature who had blue skin.

The creature didn't notice them straight away while it was eating but after the rixis got closer the hound quickly turned and growled at the new enemy.

It was only by itself however and against a group of Jackrixis it didn't stand a chance and was quickly dispatched and the rixis continued exploring.

Soon they noticed signs of fighting if small and barely noticeable but the rixis could still tell there was a type of small blue creature.

These strange little beings confused the rixis as they didn't seem like much of a threat to anything or anyone.

Soon the battle started however as more of those red hounds came running towards them so the rixis spread out and made sure to use the trees to their advantage.

They used the trees as both weapons and shields as they slaughtered the oncoming hounds who seemed to struggle in this type of environment.

It was also obvious these hounds didn't have much energy in them which meant they had been running around a lot or they had been fighting.

Soon over 20 hounds lay on the ground dead with this being one of the first examples in Jackrixis history of how deadly they would be in groups.

They soon walked past the red-dyed snow as they moved forward and would encounter the odd hound or two.

What the rixis didn't know however was in the background among the highest of the trees and deep under them, they were being watched.

Soon they were shocked to come across some dead hounds that had all sorts of injuries from sticks in their eyes so rocks and even for some reason berries.

This both confused and worried them as they now had something else killing hounds and they may have neem killed by the berries they had eaten not long ago.

The rixis weren't sure what they should do now as they had fought off the hounds and now knew there was another race here but they hadn't seen any of them.

"What...Do?"-Rixis

"We..rest then..we look"-Leader Rixis