Permafrost

20: Snow

⭐️Chapter 20: Snow

They had been walking for at least half an hour now. They didn't know how much further this place was, but they weren't even sure they could keep going for longer. The cold snow had gotten to their toes, their faces had gotten colder, and well...their hands were in their pockets, so those were safe. Their anxiety levels kept rising throughout the entire walk. Evening walks like this were not fun.

Any small noise made by anything made all of them freeze. They thought it could be anything, from another person to a beast. At least they were together, though. They had each other to rely on. They could only hope for the best as they continued through the moonlit path.The cold began growing on them more and more, and they began to worry even more. Would they make it to the town in time? Silvia wondered how her teammates were doing, and Cosmo wondered if Ryn was okay. She hadn't said much for quite a while. Jack was trying to last as long as he could for everyone.

Ryn was the one leading the group, but it was Cosmo who stopped her. Seeing her halt, Jack tugged on Silvia's arm to get her to stop. Ryn looked down at Cosmo, curious as to what it could be. Cosmo was pointing, so she followed his finger. The other two had a look as well.Her jaw dropped.

"What...is that?" she whispered.

In front of them were several white and blue mutant anglerfish, and leading the pack was a fangtooth that looked different from the ones the group had previously encountered. It was white with a diamond shaped eye and strange ice-looking spikes on its body. The Infernos froze in the spot they were, watching quietly as the pack seemingly moved past them. They weren't about to make any sort of noise now. If the fangteeth back by the tavern were rough, who KNEW what kind of damage these weird ice ones could do.

The group waited patiently but anxiously as the pack made its way through the forest area. Hopefully there would be no trouble after they literally JUST arrived from some. The pack eventually left fully, and just to be extra sure, the group tiptoed quickly past the area the pack had passed. Once they were past that, they broke into a bit of a sprint. They were NOT going back there again.

Once they were pretty sure they were far away enough, they slowed down to catch their breath. That was stressful, hopefully they wouldn't have to run into more of those things again. The air was cold, and every breath they took in was a little uncomfortable because of it. Then again, it was better than possibly being chased by...Ice fangteeth or something. Whatever, it was over, and they were good now.

They resumed their walk onwards. The setting sun in the sky was their only source of light. The path continued to twist and turn, and no new or separate paths showed up. It was also awkwardly quiet, so Ryn decided to talk with the rest of her teammates. She hesitated, before clearing her throat.

"So...I wonder why a fangtooth of all things was leading a pack of anglerfish..."

"It is very curious," Silvia said. "Especially considering the fact that wild species don't intermingle like that."

"Maybe it killed off their pack leader in an attempt to become alpha? Or maybe it knows them somehow?" Jack suggested.

"Maybe it brainwashed them or something..." Cosmo said, shuddering at the thought. He wouldn't want himself or his friends to be brainwashed as well.

"Yeah, maybe so. I just don't want to run into any more of thoooooo....."

Ryn drifted off and her eyes widened as she halted where she was. The others saw her, and stopped as well.

"Um...Ryn? What's wrong?" Cosmo asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

"The...the ice...ice fangs...fangteeth..."