Frostgnashers are active only in winter. They hide in deep caves and hibernate in the summer.

  Warming causes the ice and snow to melt and drip down into their caves where it cools and freezes.

  During winter they become active again. They sleep in random intervals so they're active during the day and night.

  They have no sight and so are attracted by smell, sound and unnatural vibrations.

  They can distinguish between the vibrations of falling water and a creature running.

  There is a legend that the Frostgnasher species has been mentioned in a document far before the discovery of the creature.

  The paper said that it would be a creature that seemingly appears overnight and many others just as disturbing if not more would appear after it.

  This Frostgnasher sensed Reiji Kurozuma's footsteps, smelled and heard him.

  Frostgnashers usually become apex predators in any territory they inhabit during winter.

  But how does one run from such a creature? They don't.

  Reiji pulled out his katana with a distinct shing of the blade.

  He decided to run at it. When it pounced on Reiji he slid under its body, avoiding its attack.

  He quickly slashed its underside and grinded to a halt in the snow.

  The Frostgnasher hit the ground, kicking up a lot of snow as it slowed down from an incredible speed.

  The impact rocked the frozen ground. Reiji turned and stood up, getting a good look at it.

  It had pale skin stretched tightly over a muscular body. Its mouth formed a wide, gaping maw filled with sharp, uneven, needle-like teeth. It had reddish lips.

  Its front limbs are very long compared to its hind limbs, making them support a lot of its weight.

  The front limbs end in two long, bony fingers. The creature's shape and posture make it move with a low, predatory crawl, hugging the ground.

  It had a long, muscular paddle-like tail. The creature had a bone attached to the humerus of its front limb, unlike birds, which had two. Tissue connected these bones, creating a wing-like appearance.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  The Frostgnasher is cold-blooded, so it would spread these 'wings' and warm its blood in the sunlight. During the night this bone was tucked in against the humerus.

  It slowly crawled towards Reiji. Reiji decided to knock on the tree next to him to try and confuse the creature.

  It worked but as Reiji took a small step forward the crunching of snow and the smell, he gave off clicked in the creature's brain and it ran at him.

  Reiji decided to go for the same trick again, but the Frostgnasher had other ideas.

  It suddenly stopped and turned around, using its tail to hit Reiji's left side with bone crushing force.

  He let go of his katana, making sure it wouldn't harm him by accident.

  He landed in the snow but withstood the pain, refusing to let out a scream.

  He looked up and saw that the Frostgnasher lost interest and was crawling away.

  Why would it waste so much energy on a creature so much smaller than itself?

  Frostgnashers usually never attack humans. They can tell their vibrations and gauge their size based on them.

  They can also distinguish humans by sound.

  The truth is, Reiji's running while fighting the frost people caused such strong vibrations that the Frostgnasher thought it was a much bigger creature.

  Based on the sound, vibrations and how far away they were when Reiji landed into the snow the creature figured out that Reiji wasn't food.

  He laid in the snow until he felt that the Frostgnasher was far away. He stood up and searched for his katana.

  When he found it, he cleaned off the snow and put it back into its scabbard.

  He then walked back to the clothes and boots he threw away and picked them up.

  He carried them all the way back to his living spot, dumping the stuff into the hole.

  He cleared some of the snow away and used a pair of fur pants to light the fire.

  He placed the firewood he cut up on the logs he slept on to try and keep them dry.

  Of course, the strong wind covered them in a thin layer of snow.

  He cleared it off and grabbed a bottom piece of wood that was dry and threw it into the fire.

  He decided to gather some sticks. He cut off some branches using his katana, four to be exact.

  He used his katana to dig small holes into the frozen dirt, two on each side to the fire.

  He stuck a stick into each hole, and they made an X shape on each side of the fire.

  He placed his katana on these two Xs so that it was over the fire, drying any water on the blade.

  He grabbed a piece of firewood that was covered in snow and placed it on the blade.

  The heat from the blade and the warm air would cause the wet piece of wood to dry, hopefully.

  After some time, he took the wood off and took his katana into his hand.

  He placed it right over the fire as he untied the fur around his right forearm.

  He placed the hot blade against the open wound.

  "Agh!"

  He yelled out in pain as the blade closed the wound. He then placed the blade on the inner part of his forearm.

  He screamed again but the wound was now closed, a scar taking its place.

  He placed the blade back on the sticks and the piece of wood on the blade.

  He threw the strings and torn cloth into the fire.

  After an hour the fire burned out and he used the boots he took to move the coals under the logs he slept on.

  He laid down on the logs and went to sleep.

  Reiji woke up when it was daytime. He got up, cooked and ate the meat left over from yesterday's deer and decided he couldn't fight the frost people like this anymore.

  He stood up, took his katana and went back to the spot where the fight happened last night.

  This time he walked deeper into the forest.

  He walked and walked. He climbed to reach higher ground in order to find the frost people.

  "How would such a race live? Snow keeps warmth trapped. Houses made of snow. That'd be too easy to spot. They would be like giant piles of snow."

  He climbed back down the hill. It was incredibly steep and that's why he decided to go down the same way he went up.

  After he had a bunch of close calls, he made it down and walked on a wide path that carriages used for transporting goods.

  The sun was setting. He refuses to turn back because if he doesn't find their colony or whatever it is, he'd just die fighting them.

  He walked through the dark forest, trying to find a place to sleep. He then heard clicking.

  He felt really uneasy all of the sudden and looked up.

  There, on a tree, looking right at him was a creature with a long, swollen, segmented body like a giant centipede.

  Its back was covered in thick, reddish brown Armor of keratin.

  It had multiple insect-like limbs gripping the tree. The front limbs were yellow and transitioned to red further down the body.

  Its head was disturbing and had sharp, protruding mouthparts.

  This creature was six meters long and was currently staring at Reiji like he was a piece of food.