HEIR OF GRIEF

Chapter 1 – Like The Wind

Written by Ben

You can find the rest of the story in the Fjordur Tamables filter. The story starts in Dimorphodon.

~~~

Hoots and hollers echoed through the grassy valley. It was filled to the brim with bushes and other thick foliage, all naturally grown from the great soil of Fjordur. Today was a big day, because today was the day that the Seasonal Valley Race would take place, here and now.

There were Iguanodons everywhere up above, watching the valley below. They were all split up into small groups, each one standing on their hind legs and screaming at the air.

“Wooooooo!” a brown Iguanodon cheered. He had a lightning bolt painted on his side. Another Iguanodon with green stripes was munching on a pile of purple mejoberries with his hands, watching the four contestants at the start of the valley in anticipation.

“Looks like there’s a new racer this season…”

Just then, another Iguanodon bumped into him. He squinted his eyes.

“Hyuk hyuk! Howdy, Bass!” the Iguanodon snorted.

“What do ya’ want, smelly tramp?” Bass glowered.

“That’s not my name, my name is Huckleberry!” Huckleberry snorted, stamping his feet into the dirt. Bass let out a huff, his chops flapping sporadically.

“Shut up! The race is about to start.”

Down below in the valley, stood four Iguanodons at a poorly drawn line of white paint near the entrance of the valley. A short, chunky Diplodocus with a rather long neck for her species stood at the entrance, her tail swishing back and forth enthusiastically. All the Iguanodons and their ancestors knew her. Her name was Amar, because she had such bright yellow eyes, and she had been the racemaster for the Iguanodons for the past forty seasons that had come and go.

MOOOOO! Amar’s bellow rumbled through the crowd of spectators. All the Iguandons began to quiet down. Amar’s head looked back and forth. She began to speak.

“My fellow Iguanodons, today we come together as one to watch our amazing racers speed through the Valley and give us their best!” Amar’s deep voice squeaked. All the Iguanodons roared in response, stomping their feet into the ground in quick succession. Dirt began to fly up into the air.

WOOOOOOOOOOOO! All the Iguanodons screamed at the top of their lungs. Amar tilted her head down with a wince at the noise. The Iguanodons below at the starting line began to shuffle their feet expectantly.

One contestant with blue scales and yellow stripes seemed thinner than the others. She glanced to her left and right nervously. The Iguanodon to her left, quite large in stature, let out a huff, stomping his feet into the ground, while the Iguanodon to her right began to kick at the dirt, getting into a crouching position. A glint of metal shined at the bottom of his soles.

A smug Iguanodon suddenly butted in between the young mare and the Iguanodon to her left. “Watch your step, newbie. You don’t want to trip during your first race.”

She gave him a weird look. “Um. Thanks?” she said, her voice shaking slightly. The Iguanodon to his left grunted.

“You’re late again, Larry,” the racer said. “I thought they didn’t let racers in once the sun became centered?”

The cocky Iguanodon let out a haughty laugh.

“Oh Blitzer, we’ve been over this! I give those watching us a good show. Security loves me. You think they care I’m a few minutes late?”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s been more than a few minutes,” the young racer shot back.

“HAH! Ha, ha!” Larry neighed, tears spilling from his eyes after a few more seconds of hearty laughter. “You’re funny, girl. What’s your name?”

“Lightning. My name is Lightning.”

“Lightning, okay, listen here, and listen closely,” Larry said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You know the rules of the race, right? I hope you do. All racers need to know.”

“Of course,” Lightning said softly.

“Then you would know the finish line is by the big oak tree just in the center,” Larry said, waving his thumb to a thick trunk of wood that provided shade in the middle of the valley. “And nowhere else.”

“I’m pretty sure the finish line is past that–”

“Great. Good luck out there, newbie. You’re gonna need it.”

“On your marks, racers!” Amar’s voice broke their exchange. Larry let out a smirk, stepping up so close to the finish line it looked like he was over it. Lightning let out a nervous gulp, stretching her legs and back.

Okay, deep breaths, just like Father told me, Lightning thought. She felt the sun melt her scales into warmth, warmth that continued to spread through the rest of her body.

“Get set…” Amar’s long, studded tail whipped the air. SNAP! “GO!”

And the racers were off! The five Iguanodons took off from their positions, leaving dust behind in the air. The clopping of hooves rang throughout the Valley as the rest of the Iguanodons above cheered as loudly as they could for their favored contender.

Lightning huffed as she ran, her heart pumping faster than it ever had before. She looked to her left. Larry and Blitzer were keeping pace, but they barely looked like they were jogging. Off to her right, the other two Iguanodons were slowing down. One particularly fat one had even stopped running altogether.

NEIGGHHHHH! That Iguanodon came to a halt, collapsing to the ground. There were boos from up above. A few Iguanodons were hurling rotten berries at him.

“Get up, you lazy narc!” Bass yelled. “I put a lot of berries on you!”

“Not a good idea, Bass. He never wins!” Huckleberry whined.

“Ughh, just let me rest,” the lazy Iguanodon mumbled. “I only came this season for the festival. Larry always wins anyway…”

Lightning felt her heart quicken when the other racer mentioned that.

Is that really true? Has Larry won all the times before this?

“Looks like the tree is coming right up, newbie!” Larry chuckled. “You look out of breath already. Why don’t you take a little break? Let the adults do the racing.”

WOOSH! Larry began to pick up the speed, leaving Lightning behind in the dust. Blitzer neighed in protest.

“Oh now you wanna race?” Blitzer barked. He galloped forward as quickly as he could. At this point, Lightning’s heart was beating so fast that she didn’t know if she could even keep going. She had burnt herself out in the first few seconds of the race, and her hooves were even beginning to ache.

Dust was thrown up in the air as she came to a stop, panting up as much air as she could. Clop! Clop! Clop! One of the Iguanodon racers stopped right next to her just then, just as tired.

“Hey. Lightning, right?” the tan-scaled Iguanodon said. Lightning nodded, too tired to speak.

“You’re doing fine for a new racer. Don’t tire just yet. The race is not even close to being over,” the Iguanodon encouraged her. “Don’t give up so soon like Plumbum over there.”

“Did someone say my name?!” the Iguanodon racer who gave up earlier yelled.

“NO! Nobody did,” the Iguanodon called back. He turned to give Lightning another friendly smile.

“I’ll see you at the finish line then.”

Clop! Clop! Clop! The kind Iguanodon was already off running. Hoovesteps were pounding from outside the Valley. It appeared the spectators were jogging along the edge, trying their best to keep up with Larry and Blitzer. Lightning’s legs shook as she tried to carry herself past the shade.

This was never cut out for me, she thought. I should have just been up on those cliffs watching–

“Let’s go, Lightning! Let’s go, Lightning!”

A familiar voice rang down into the valley. Lightning’s head jerked up. A brown Iguanodon with a yellow lightning bolt painted down his side was eagerly cheering her on. Her eyes sparkled.

“Father!” Lightning shouted.

“Run like the wind, Lightning! RUN LIKE THE WIND!” he reminded her. Lightning couldn’t help but smile.

I need to keep moving forward.

She turned her attention back to the racing Valley. The racer from earlier seemed to already be slowing down as he approached the corner, but Lightning couldn’t figure out why.

I just need to keep going.

Lightning took another deep breath, and with an exhale, she was off again. This time, however, she was taking it a bit more slow. She was jogging to a point where she wasn’t walking at an Achatina’s pace, but she also wasn’t exerting so much of her energy that she felt like dung.

The Iguanodon racer at the end of the Valley turned the corner. Lightning didn’t let it sway her though. She knew the race was far from over, despite what Larry told her. The Valley stretched on for quite a few steps.

Keep going.

WOOSH! Lightning turned the corner to see a small watering hole right in the middle of the track, crystal-clear, so much so that she could see the clouds within their reflection. Larry and Blitzer were gulping up so much water that it looked like it was about to run dry. The third Iguanodon racer bent down to lap some up for himself too.

So that’s why… Lightning realized. She hadn’t been aware of this when the security hooves debriefed the rules to her, and the last time she went to a Seasonal Valley Race, there hadn’t even been a watering hole.

It did rain recently, Lightning thought. Her eyes darted from Larry, then to Blitzer, and then to the third racer. None of them seemed to realize that she had made it to the ‘checkpoint’. The other Iguanodons above murmured to themselves as they drank.

“They’re taking their sweet time aren’t they?” Bass scoffed.

“Hyuk hyuk, don’t blame ‘em. I’d be gassed on the first step!” Huckleberry said in response.

Lightning carefully stepped around the watering hole. Her hooves were quiet against the grass, barely making a noise. The other racers were too preoccupied with the watering hole to notice that Lightning was already steadily jogging away, making more and more progress to the finish line.

“Someone’s smart enough to keep runnin’,” Bass said. “I should have placed my berries on her!” The spectators began to jog down the cliff to keep up with Lightning’s pace. The shuffling of hooves above stirred Larry’s attention. His head jolted up. He huffed, his chest rising up and down in rage. He spotted Lightning turning a corner and disappearing.

“That damn mare!” Larry screamed, bolting off as fast as he could. Blitzer smirked, taking off in suit.

“Clever one, is she not?” Blitzer teased Larry as he was just a few tails behind him. Larry huffed again, shaking his head, his tongue flopping back and forth.

“No, no no! Clever cannot describe someone so dishonorable as to neglect the watering hole!” Larry bellowed.

The third racer from earlier quickly ran off too to catch up.

“Seems we got caught up in our break… maybe you might lose this season, Larry?” he chuckled.

“Hah! As if, she hasn’t raced a day in her life. She isn’t winning,” Larry shot back.

“Don’t underestimate her. She’s got potential.”

“Shut it, Rye. Like you know anything about racing.” Larry gritted his teeth. “Later, losers!”

Larry’s legs blurred. He was running so fast that even at top speeds, Blitzer and Rye couldn’t catch up with him. Blitzer and Rye slowed down to catch their breaths.

“Looks like he’s going to take the Feast now,” Blitzer murmured. He hacked, spitting a glob of saliva onto the grass. Rye hummed in response.

“I have faith…” Rye muttered under his breath. “Come on, Lightning. Show that foal what you’re capable of.”

~

Lightning looked up ahead. The finish line was getting closer. It was a red painted line on the grass, with a skinny tree ahead of it to signal the nearing end of the Valley. The Iguanodons were all cheering at Lightning for her to pass the line, not caring too much that she was new and all.

“Go! Go! Go! Whatever your name is,” Huckleberry hooted. The other Iguanodons’ voices blended together, and Lightning’s hearing began to drown out the noises. She licked her chops, her vision tunneling to the end of the Valley.

Run like the wind, she reminded herself of her father’s mantra. Run like the wind!

She picked up the pace, her legs carrying her farther than they ever had. She was about to do it. She was about to finish her first race. She was about to finish her first race with first place, and a Feast to come with it.

CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! CLOP!

The hoovesteps were getting faster, but they weren’t Lightning’s. Lightning gasped as Larry ran right up to her, his legs blurred. His tongue was out, feeling the rush of the warm, spring air. He didn’t seem to regard Lightning at first.

Lightning neighed, trying her best to keep up with Larry’s relenting speed. And for a second, it seemed to be working! Larry was faster, but not fast enough to overtake Lightning in time. The finish line was getting closer, and it looked like it was coming to a tie…

Get ready to lose, Lightning thought, smiling to herself.

“No, NO!” Larry cried. “I’m not losing to a mare like you!”

BUMP! Larry’s body slammed into Lightning’s. Lightning couldn’t even howl. She stumbled forward, losing her footing when her back hoof tugged on the root of the skinny tree. The audience let out a roar, but Lightning still hadn’t crossed the finish line yet. She already knew why.

Lightning crossed the finish line shortly, but by now the spectators couldn’t care any less. Even the hooting of her father wasn’t enough to shake the sense of shame she had in her heart. Lightning looked up to see the Iguanodons crowding around Larry excitedly, and soon he was somehow carried up into the air. He howled with the rest of his loyal fans.

“First place,” Amar yawned from a distance, her neck perked up into the sky slightly. “Larry. Second place, Lightning.”

Second place, Lightning scoffed. Nobody came up to her to celebrate her standing. With nothing more to do, she trotted away from the crowd to find a place to herself, a place for her and her failure.

~

KAKRACK! Lightning ripped some barely-ripe azulberries off the branch of a bush. She munched loudly, occasionally stomping her foot on the other berries that spilled on the ground around her feet. THWACK! THWACK! With each stomp, the berries were crushed into tiny seeds.

PTEW! Lightning spat out a piece of bark that got in her mouth. She leaned down to gobble up the seeds she had grinded up.

Snap! A branch broke in the distance. Lightning didn’t tilt her head up to acknowledge the noise. The familiar noise of hooves hit the grass. She huffed, focusing on the crunch of the seeds in her jaws.

“I’m sorry, Father,” she said. “I didn’t win the race.”

A neigh came from the Iguanodon behind her.

“If it’s your Father you’re looking for, you’re out of luck,” Rye’s soothing voice rang. “Why are you here alone? The Racers’ Banquet has plenty more berries and seeds for the rest of the participants.”

“Racers’ Banquet?” Lightning looked up in curiosity. “I thought only the winner earns the Feast?”

“The Banquet is just a small get-together we other racers have.” Rye cleared his throat. “Since, you know, Larry has won nearly all the races since he became one. We just pull together some berries, eat, and chat. Why doesn’t the one who earned second-place join us?”

Lightning sighed. She stepped away from her pile of berries. “Okay, fine. Show me the way.”

~

The cheering and yelling of Iguanodon spectators from afar could be heard even at the edge of the trickling river. The river was a quiet place, despite Fjordur’s noise. Only a few small herbivores roamed the coast, along with the occasional Dilophosaurus. When Lightning and Rye trotted down the river, a skinny Dilophosaurus screeched and rattled its frills, running up with its jaws wide open.

“Shoo!” Rye warned it, waving his front hooves at it. Upon seeing the large spike for a thumb on the hoof, the Dilophosaurus wilted its frills and quickly scurried away. Rye rolled his eyes.

“Carnivores, am I right?” Rye laughed. “Can you believe they need to eat flesh to survive? And they don’t eat berries…”

“That sounds miserable,” Lightning noted.

“It is. They’re dumb brutes, the whole lot of them. Dumb brutes who don’t know when to stop taking.” Rye squinted his eyes, narrowing at a pair of Iguanodons sitting by the water. “If I could wipe them out, I would. But they always keep coming back.”

“They’re not so bad. They don’t really mess with us, do they?” Lightning whispered.

“You wouldn’t know.”

The lazy Iguanodon, Plumbum, looked up as the two approached. Blitzer was munching on some mejoberries, not paying much mind to their entrance.

“So… second-place has decided to join us?” Blitzer said. “Welcome to the Losers’ Club, kid.”

“Take any of the berries you want, just don’t touch any of these!” Plumbum said, motioning to the white stimberries. “I called first munch already.”

“He loves stimberries. I don’t know why.” Rye gagged at the thought of it. Lightning’s eyes darted the berry pile and saw the blue azulberries mostly untouched. She took her hoof and scooped them toward her. Blitzer plopped another mejoberry in his mouth, munching on it loudly. Rye gave him a look.

“Hey. Don’t hog those. I want some too.”

“Your loss for recruiting second-place over here,” Blitzer motioned his hoof toward Lightning. Plumbum raised one of his eyebrows.

“You don’t seem to like her much.”

Blitzer didn’t have anything to say in response.

SPLASH! Plumbum dunked his head in the river, swallowing as much water as he could. Lightning noticed a strange metal lining the hooves of the Iguanodon.

“What are those?”

“Oh, these?” Plumbum raised a hoof. “I don’t really know. Larry wears them. He had a bunch when he first started racing. Mentioned how he got them from his old master… he gave some to us. They’re kind of uncomfortable, but… it must be why he wins so many times.”

Old master? Lightning thought. Did a magic-ape… it must explain why he has such an odd name.

“Hey, if you don’t know,” Rye said in realization. “You don’t have those do you? And you got second place.”

“Quit bringing that up,” Blitzer huffed, digging into his mejoberries again. The mood grew silent again. Rye nudged Lightning with a leg.

“Hey, don’t mind him,” Rye muttered. “He used to be the fastest racer, until Larry came along. And now you…”

“I get it,” Lightning said, her voice still shaking.

She thought about the outcome of the race, and how it had all been spoiled because Larry had decided to cheat. But maybe if she had kept running and hadn’t stopped at the oak tree… she wouldn’t have lost either.

She could have won that race. She could have won that feast.

“Don’t neigh too loudly about it,” Plumbum said. “The racing is the boring part, in my opinion. It’s the festival afterward that’s great!”

“You’re bound to have at least some fans,” Rye said. “Why don’t we check it out right now? I bet the merchants have plenty of trinkets to barter for.”

“Trinkets?” Lightning asked.

“Yeah. Every spring, travelers come by with their spoils. It’s some pretty neat stuff,” Plumbum said, standing up. Lightning soon realized why he was called Plumbum– his bottom was lavender in color.

Rye walked off. Plumbum followed. With nothing better to do, so did Lightning. Rye looked back at Blitzer.

“Blitzer? You comin’?”

“Go without me.”

He didn’t seem to be in the mood today. The three Iguanodons traveled to the festival without him.

~

There was plenty of chatter when the three Iguanodons walked through the busy Valley, which was now filled with plenty of Iguanodons looking to pick up new treats or trinkets. Amar lay down near the entrance, dozing off. A few Pteranodons were perched on her, plucking at the bugs that were crawling on her skin.

Lightning looked around in anticipation every few seconds, just in case her Father was somewhere in this crowd.

“Berries! Berries! Try these new berries!” a gruff merchant shouted from the distance. Rye’s head perked up.

“Quinoa? Is that you?” Rye said excitedly. He galloped through the crowd, pushing a few Iguanodons out the way. They all barked at Rye in warning. Lightning and Plumbum quickly followed.

“Quinoa!” Rye neighed, approaching the merchant. The female, tan-scaled Iguanodon neighed back at the sight of Rye, standing up and rushing over to nuzzle his head.

“You look taller than since we last met. How was the race?” the Iguanodon asked.

“It was fine. I got fourth,” Rye said. “A new racer joined us this season.”

“Oh really? Is it her?” Quinoa asked, nodding her head at Lightning. Lightning nodded back shyly.

“Yes. My name is Lightning. Who are you?”

“She’s my sister,” Rye explained. “She always hooks me up with new stuff.”

“Darn right I do! It takes a lot of scrapping to find these,” Quinoa presented her findings. Colorful berries that didn’t look like the traditional ones were all laid on the bright magic-ape-made carpet. There appeared to be three types of berries, all either magenta, green, or cyan in color. Quinoa nudged the bunches toward them.

“Try ‘em,” Quinoa beckoned. Rye gently picked a few of the green berries up in his mouth to taste. Plumbum took a step back.

“If it ain’t white, it ain’t right.” Plumbum shook his head. Quinoa giggled.

“Still in that stimberry phase?” Quinoa asked her brother. Rye nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it…” Rye’s eyes popped. “Wow. Okay. That’s got a kick to it. It’s a bit sour.”

Quinoa turned to Lightning next. “Would you like to try?”

“Sure.” Lightning decided to try the cyan berries. They reminded her of the azulberries she was fond of. Scooping them up with her tongue, she tried her best to savor the flavor of it.

That’s a bit weird, Lightning thought. It’s really sweet…

Lightning chewed thoroughly, getting more used to it before swallowing it down. Quinoa huffed.

“So. Yay or neigh?”

“Yay!” Lightning said cheerfully. “Could I… get some more?”

“Sure. Take a whole bundle.” Quinoa turned around and gently picked up a small bag that almost looked like it was made of… animal hide? It had a string attached to it that seemed to keep the bag shut. She dropped the bag on the ground in front of Lightning. She nudged the string with her head.

“You can sling that string around your neck.”

“Oh… t–thanks. What is this?” Lightning asked, slipping the bag onto her neck.

“It’s a bag. She found a whole lot of them a while back, when she first started traveling. We don’t know where they come from… but they’re convenient for her to use,” Rye explained.

“Yeah. I don’t know why other merchants don’t use them. Helps carry cargo around pretty fast. Don’t blow through those too fast, alright? I’m not sure if I’ll find more like those in the future…”

“Of course. Thank you again, Quinoa,” Lightning thanked her.

Just then, a panicked holler came from the end of the Valley. Plumbum’s head perked up.

“Who was that?”

Clop! Clop! Clop! Soft hoovesteps rang throughout the air as Huckleberry galloped through, his tongue flailing about. Confused whispers came from the passerbys.

“Flesh-eaters! FLESH-EATERS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED!” he cried. “They’re big! Big and horned! Go, go!”

The crowd of Iguanodons were stirred into a panic. Before long, they were rushing out through the entrance of the Valley. The Pteranodons flew off as fast as they could when the Iguanodon crowd went running. Amar stirred in her sleep, her eyes fluttering open.

“Huh?” Amar mumbled. “What’s going on?”

Plumbum looked from where Huckleberry had come from, and then at the nearby exit. With a neigh, Plumbum went running on his hind legs.

“There’s a flesh-eater, Amar! We gotta go!”

Amar wasted no time. She shakily stood up from the grass and ran with him, leaving Rye and Lightning behind.

“We should go with them. If they’re horned… then…” Lightning said, shuddering. She had heard stories of the Carnotaurus, fast predators with an insatiable appetite for blood and flesh. They hunted anything beneath them, which included Iguanodons like them.

Rye stomped one of his feet into the grass.

“The Feast is that way, at the finish line. I need to see if Larry’s okay,” Rye said. Rye began to run off.

“Wait–” Lightning said. “Ugh!”

Lightning began to run after Rye. She wanted to tell him how it wasn’t worth risking his life over someone so pretentious and dishonest, but she couldn’t gather the words together either. A part of her wanted to make sure Larry was okay too, Iguanodon-to-Iguanodon.

But by the time they had reached the end of the Valley, it already seemed too late… a pair of large, horned beasts with small arms had backed Larry into a corner. He neighed shakily, his legs trembling. The Carnotaurus were already here.

“HELP! Someone, help!” Larry cried.

The two Carnotaurus began to close in, snapping their jaws at him…

I hunt down diplos on my argy, and drop them in my diplo sanctuary. All wild btw. One u p d o o t=one diplo for my sanctuary.

PLEASE HELP US THE SARCOS AND KRAPOS ARE EVERYWHERE AND ARE KILLING US ALL

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 34

The wolf clung to the wyvern’s tail, thinking of all it had been through. It used to confuse the wolf, but now he understood.

—-

A tan wolf appeared to the soon-to-be-wolf-with-a-cloak.

“Hello,” the tan wolf said.

He curled his tail to reveal a younger version of the wolf.

“That’s.. me?” The wolf asked.

“Young you,” the tan wolf said. “It’s quite confusing, but I’ve meddled with time before. You will go to the future. You will never have any memory of being pulled into the future, which one would expect if young you experienced that. But you will have the memories the young you had once you go to the future.”

The wolf was still confused.

“Do not worry. You don’t have to understand. All you have to do is come with me. You’ll see.”

The wolf set its paw on the tan one’s and they travelled to the future.

“Ack!” The wolf said as memories flooded its mind. Heart wrenching, and sweet, and terrible, and beautiful memories. It half collapsed on the floor.

The tan wolf lifted it up and looked it in the eyes.

“Do not worry, for you are with me. I shall protect you, and in return, you shall protect others.”

The tan wolf pulled out a cloak for the wolf. It put the cloak on.

“Goodbye now,” the tan wolf said. “I will communicate with your mind.” He then paused. “And be patient. I know you remember the wolf from young you’s memories. You will meet that wolf. In time.”

—-

-Young me had taken my place- it thought. -but we are like two different wolves, because I have no memory of being young and led by the tan wolf. We are the same but different.- (lol do u readers understand? It is a bit odd)

The wolf’s cloak billowed in the wind.

###

Prince wasn’t exactly healing, but was able to fight off the pain and walk around.

Astra looked at his handsome face.

She then looked away.

She had to do this. She knew she had to.

“Prince..” she began to speak. He turned and looked at her as they were walking. “I.. I love you..”

###

Ridley trudged on with the other three. Pax had found them and joined.

“Here we are,” he said, as his paws sank in mud. Jane jumped on his back. “Hey,” he snapped.

“What? I’m not getting my boots dirty..”

They walked through the swamp. “We just have to find a diplocaulus and ask them to get the weed.”

“A Diplo?” Reign asked. “Why would we need that creature? ‘R they something special? Are they the only ones ‘o can get it?”

“Yep,” Ridley said, with a soft sigh. The cold mud felt good between his paws.

A creature soared at them and ripped Jane off Ridley’s back.

Ridley turned around, clawing the Kaprosuchus. It hissed but Ridley killed it in mere seconds, turning to Jane.

She frowned with a deep scratch in her left arm and mud all over her soaked clothes. “Fun times, guys. That was a great experience.” She said sarcastically as she stood up and hopped back on Ridley.

He huffed but softly smiled as they continued looking for a Diplo.

###

Prince’s eyes gleamed.

Astra looked away.

He was confused.

“I..

Love..

You..

As a friend.”

He gulped nervously as she continued.

“I’ve thought about this. You.. you feel more like a brother to me than a lover. You’ve been there for me.. but.. no one can beat Apollo..”

“..I understand.”

She sighed and looked down. “If only he was here..”

Prince nuzzled her head, but not like a lover would do.

Like a brother.

###

KJ had paused his search near a ridge at the swamp. He silently ate something as he saw a flash of orange.

He sent an arrow flying at Reign.

“Not so fast, are yeh?” She asked, as Jane showed she had caught the arrow moments before it would have hit Reign’s chest. Reign’s words sounded like barks to KJ.

“Gotta say, humans have good aim,” Jane said.

KJ slid down the side of the ridge, splashing water on Jane.

She grimaced at it hit her wound.

The wolf in the cloak followed.

“I’ve been practicing,” KJ said, grabbing Jane’s wrists that were flying at him.

A few humans alighted wyverns out of nowhere and joined the fight.

They didn’t have Astra, so it was chaos.

“I taught you,” said KJ, “but you can’t beat me.”

He thrust a knife in her wound, opening it more.

He kicked her head and she fell into the water.

Pax thrust himself on the humans, knocking them onto a ridge.

“Jane!” Yelled Ridley, but a human blocked his view for a moment. A shadowy creature pulled her down in the water. She disappeared.

Reign was caught by a net and cried, “WHY ARE THEY NETS ALWAYS AIMED AT MEH??!?!?”

She was shot with tranq darts.

“Astra must’ve been the wolf holding us together,” Ridley said, battling a human with his claws. “Or Prince. He wasn’t terrible with a sword.”

Pax was hit with darts, and went out cold.

Ridley was surrounded.

The cloaked wolf pounced on a human and was still invisible.

Ridley saw the humans fall to the ground in seconds to something that could not be seen.

Then the wolf revealed itself as it clawed KJ’s face and made him fall unconscious.

It turned and looked at Ridley under its hood.

Ridley’s heart pounded with fear.

It sauntered toward him and whispered in his ear.

“I’m back,” it said, then it vanished.

Ridley breathed in sharply and tried to look for the wolf.

Was it a relative of his?

Was it one of his friends?

Was it.. Shadow? From another time?

All of these questions flooded Ridley’s mind.

He huffed as he noticed KJ had disappeared with the wolf. So did the other humans.

Reign and Pax woke up.

“Where are the humans?” Reign asked.

“They were taken down and disappeared to a wolf.”

The other two watched Ridley, hoping he had more information.

“The wolf.. it said it’s back.”

Reign huffed. “But who’s been gone that came back?”

-DiploLover24

Diplocaulus face be like: ._________.

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 37 (or 38)

“It- can’t be you-,” Prince whispered.

“In a.. in a way, yes, I am Apollo. But all I have are the memories.” His voice was cold and sober. He obviously had been through a lot. “No one can know I’m alive.” He said. His face was stern.

Astra had been bewildered when she first saw him. Yet.. this wolf looked like Apollo, had Apollo’s memories.. But how could it be him?

“I’ll be near here to help you all on your mission to Carnivore Island.”

“Wha’ aboot going to meh Cloud Kingdom?” Reign said, flapping her wings.

“That’s the thing.” Apollo said, his voice still sober and frozen. “It’s been attacked. No one knows where your flying wolf kind has gone. Anyways, you don’t have time for a detour.” He stuck out a paw into the snow, and used some kind of white magic to create a map of carnivore island and some numbers above it, going down rapidly.

“The wolf population on this island has been decimated by Tyrannasaurus (is that how you spell it?) Rex and other carnivorous creatures. They need to be rescued, or else we will be the only wolves alive.”

The group looked at Apollo. He seemed.. older. Mature, serious, and had no scars cutting his face. His cloak draped over his back, hiding what would be Apollo’s bright splotches of an array of colors.

And his magic, white. Not manipulation, and no swirls appeared on his back. No one, not even Apollo, knew why these changes had happened. Perhaps it was because he was from another time. Or perhaps it was because this was how Apollo was meant to be, truly.

After thinking hard, sitting in silence, the group nodded.

“What are we waiting for?” Prince said. “Let’s go.”

Back to finish my story! I’m busy the next two weeks tho, so I can’t promise the release date for next chapter, or what the new animal will be. See y’all!

-the returning DiploLover24

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 35

Prince was half distraught, half.. relieved.

He liked Astra, but it seemed they weren’t meant to be. It seemed to give him closure. After all, now he wouldn’t be chasing down Astra’s heart.

Hers belonged to Apollo.

But he was gone.

If Prince could be the “brother” of Astra then he would. They had never really had any romantic moments, even. Just playing around.

-I guess we’ve mainly been like siblings..- he thought.

###

The wolf had transported the humans back to the base and they had no recollection of the incident.

So it had some power.

It watched the humans scattered around their base.

And then its mind went to its memories.

The heart wrenching ones. The sweet ones. The ones he would always remember.

Then there was one memory.

One that always played in its mind, scaring him, but calming him.

It shook its head and focused on the humans, its hooded cloak hiding him in the shadows.

The wolf wondered whether it would ever see the wolves from its memories.

That would be nice.

###

“We need to find Jane,” Ridley said.

Pax and Reign nodded.

“She had been pulled under the water. We should probably be her size.” He immediately made them humans.

“Again with this? I ain’t loving meh thumbs..” Reign yelped.

“Let’s swim in the water.” Ridley fell back into the water, splashing the other two. They followed him as he swam, using the tree roots as a boost.

A sarco swam in the water near them. They hid behind tree roots as it passed. Ridley led again.

He was looking for some kind of hole, something a size Jane could fit in. Ridley suspected a Diplocaulus had taken her. Of course it would’ve. It would’ve known she was a wolf.

They were smart creatures.

-DiploLover24

lol I see this and it is so short but I gtg

Once opon a time I was at redwoods swamp I saw this diplocaulos it was dark blue body and orange tail I was like that low level I bet then took out my spy glass and it was a 140 and it was getting bodied by two kapros I was flying fast then caught it took it to my taming pen and it had ony 43 health left and had good stats decided to tame it then when tamed it was level 186 I was proud of its health 1.0k heath and named it slimy boi the end.

Ultimus Chapter Twenty-Five: Injuries

Andrew laid wherever he may be. He wasn’t sure where he was or what happened to him. His eyes closed, his ears rang through the and his head throbbed. He opened his eyes, his vision was fuzzy but he figured that he was in a tent since the above him was red. The ringing in his ears died down as he started hearing yammering nearby.

“Ouch!! Watch it, Paul, that hurts.”

“Ya darn right that it hurts Erica. Ya cracked three ribs, now stay still while I bandage ya up.”

“I am Paul!!! But you keep hurting me!! Here, just let me take the bandages from here.”

“Fine, here. Let’s see ya try it yourself.”

Andrew started sitting himself up slowly. His head throbbing from whatever happened before. He was having trouble seeing as his vision went in and out. He felt dizzy as he tried sitting up. He heard a woman grunt in pain as a man tried giving her suggestions. The woman seemed to be irritated by this from her tone. He looked at the two of them, he knew them. He just was having a moment where he just couldn’t remember their names. But he soon remembered, though it was a bit foggy.

“Ya gonna let me handle it now Erica?” The Paul said,

“I got it Paul- gah…” Erica winced. Paul nodded.

“I assume this is a part of yer plan?” He said in a joking manner. Erica just glared at him in irritation for being right.

“Shut up and finish it.” She said, the man chuckled as he walked up to her and started bandaging her up again. Andrew flipped himself around so that his feet hung off and touched the floor. He grunted as he forced himself off the bed he was on and onto his feet. He started staggering as he couldn’t find his balance, the world was spinning around. He crashed into something and made some noise. He staggered to a table and grabbed onto it. Paul looked over at him and gasped.

“Andrew, what do you think you're doing? You need to rest right now; you might have a head injury,” Paul said as he jumped away from Erica, who grunted as he did and scowled at Paul. Paul rushed over to him, helped him back to the bed, and laid him down. Andrew, though, looked over at him and took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Paul, but I’m fine. My legs are just asleep from the armor. It does that when I sleep in it.” He fibbed as he sat back up. Paul looked at him with doubt.

“Ya know, you and Erica are a lot alike.” Paul said,

“Excuse me?” Andrew said,

“Ya, both are more stubborn than a couple of oxen. Just rest, only for a little while at least!” Paul said, Andrew nodded for a moment. He would for the moment, he knew wasn’t feeling well. But he wanted to show and prove he was strong enough to be a part of this group.

Paul got up from Andrew’s side to finish Erica’s. She looked irritated with Paul for leaving her half-finished and slightly irritated that he went over to aid Andrew. She seemed still upset about him being there with them. But it was less of the cold shoulder and more judgmental. Andrew couldn’t make sense of this woman. The first people he’d seen in twelve years, and one for some reason hated him. But I guess he could understand her too. She just seemed judgmental and mistrusting. But above all protective.

‘Geez, why always me with these people?’

Rue herself was judgmental and the jealous type too, but she always played it down as jokes around them. Even though later she would talk Andrew’s ear off how much she disliked someone from their first meeting. Two weeks later they would be best friends. This was a trait in their family though. The same was true for Salmon. They were both judgmental and kinda jealous of people when they wanted to be. But they had their good sides too and were easy to be friends with. How was he going to make friends with a lady who had a mean streak along with that type of behavior? He wasn’t sure.

“How, how did she get hurt?” Andrew asked aloud. Erica looked at him and stared with a slight glare.

“It’s your fault, when you got kicked by that horse. I had to sit and stay by you while Jonathan finished up taming your Equus. While I waited, a Sabertooth Cat came out of nowhere and attacked me. I got it knocked out without it killing us, but not without the animal landing on top of me.” Erica said rather annoyed. Andrew was surprised by this, he couldn’t remember anything about taming the Equus— whatever it was or why he got kicked by it.

“I’m- sorry.”

“Yeah, you better be— This can endanger us all now because I am injured Andrew, because of you. If someone dies or is further injured. Sorry, won’t cut it. And it will be your fault!!” She snarled.

“Erica. Ya acting worse than my daughter did when she was four and she wanted something from her big brother. This was his first time riding a horse, I know I have seen a couple of people have a horse get the better of them when they were experienced. You need to cut him a bit of slack.” Paul said to Erica while looking at her. She huffed as she looked back at him. They kinda had a staring contest as they did before Erica rolled her eyes.

“Okay. I’m sorry Andrew for making it sound like your fault.” She said, almost half-heartedly, she looked at Paul irritatedly and raised her arms signaling that she needed Paul to finish. To which he did.

Andrew sat there watching Paul bandage Erica around her waist. He was careful and delicate as as wrapped her waist. He and she talked casually as he did this, almost as if this was a normal day for them. Andrew though was having trouble concentrating on their conversation. His mind was having trouble in general processing things around him, his head throbbed as he sat there. It seemed to be consistent, his vision getting better but everything else was either the same or getting worse. He got up again and started walking towards the tent entrance.

“Hey, ya okay Andrew? Do you need me to check ya out?” Paul said as he was giving Erica a bottle with some sort of brown liquid. Andrew shook his head.

“No, I am fine. I just need to take a walk.” He lied, he wasn’t even sure why he was. He just was restless and needed to do something. He thought if he got up and did something he would start to feel better. And he walked out of the tent.

~

Paul stood there and watched as Andrew left the tent. It concerned him. He didn’t seem well, he wanted to examine him to see if he was ok. But he wanted to respect their guest’s privacy. He sighed to himself. He just hoped that he was telling the truth and was okay. He turned back to see Erica, she seemed concerned—in her way at least. He caught the agitation that she had with Andrew. She took a swig of the medical brew he gave her. Her face puckered with the taste of the brew. She was holding something up about trusting people, he knew she had some sort of problem in childhood or something that caused this. But she was so secretive that she wouldn’t say. And he respected that. But he was disappointed that she would keep trying to throw blame for something that hadn’t happened. It just seemed like an unnecessary threat and just hurtful. He had heard from Sylas that she had done the same to Jonathan; and as much as Jonathan did deserve it for what he did. She still went too hard on him. She looked over at Paul and looked at him in a puzzled way.

“What? What did I do?”

“Erica, I want you to relax with the lads. Especially Andrew. He doesn’t know how to work with a group nor does he know how to do things we can do. Don’t blame him for going unconscious while taming a horse. And you shouldn’t put so much pressure or effort into scaring him. He to worry about our group’s lives being at risk if he makes a beginner’s mistake.” Paul said,

“It’s not wrong. Rookie mistakes here can get you, Freya, Tweedle Dee, and tweedle dumb seriously injured or even killed.”

“Aye, it’s not wrong. But it’s certainly not right to scare him even more. That’ll make him doubt and feel worse about himself. Which’ll cause him to make more mistakes.” Paul said,

“I am just afraid of losing you guys. I can’t lose anyone, not for someone I barely know. I can’t go through any more death Paul.” She said,

“Then think about this, why did you sit with him?”

“What?”

“Why did you sit with him and protect him? when you could have run away and saved energy when the saber came?” Paul asked, Erica stayed quiet while she stood there. She bit her lip. Paul raised an eyebrow.

“Well, why?”

“I don’t know okay? I just stayed.” She said gesturing her hands wildly. Paul leaned against the table in his tent and smiled.

“Just go easy on him from now on, he’ll learn— now ya get rest, go take a nap. That medical brew won’t work if you move and undo what my bandaging did. It’ll only aid your healing if you can heal from it naturally.” Paul said, Erica gave an odd look at him before she nodded.

“Alright. I need one anyway. Watch on him for me then while I do.”

“Aye, I will Erica.”

~

Andrew began to wander the camp, his head wasn’t getting better. He was having trouble remembering where he was in the camp. Everything was spinning around more and more. He was beginning to feel like a drunk, he kept staggering and was afraid he would knock into something. He found himself that he was at the area they cook their food at. He struggled his way to the table and plopped himself in a chair next to the table. He said his head on the table. His head was pounding, and his vision was going in and out even more. He groaned in pain.

“Why did I lie? This was a mistake to do.” He whispered to himself. He thought that he should probably set his head down back on the table, his memory about what exactly was coming back, but he was still a bit fuzzy about some stuff. He just wanted to think of something else for a moment. Then he realized something, he thought about Samantha earlier. He remembered something he thought he would never remember, he nicknamed. Salmon was a pet name that her sister Rue gave her for two reasons, one was her love for ichthyology. She just loved fish way too much that it was an unhealthy obsession for her. But the other was because of her skin condition, she had extreme atopic dermatitis or eczema and she was always lathering up in lotion so she was always slimy to the touch like a fish and was slightly pink due to her skin being inflamed. To this, Rue like the kind sister she was; came up with the fun nickname of Salmon to make fun of this in a light heart. Sam didn’t care, she in fact loved it. Samantha wasn’t one to get mad or upset when teased about her skin condition. She saw it as funny, she would say she was born to love fish. Rue meant no real harm by it either. Andrew watched Rue drop a kid to the floor who was making fun of her skin and her frizzy black hair, and then he punched out another kid's lights; and incapacitated another to the floor. Andrew realized Rue was a bit of a brute, and that there were too many kids who didn’t hear of her reputation.

Andrew lay with his head against the table, reminiscing about his past while he was feeling sick. He heard humming coming from nearby, the sound of someone trying to make some food on the grill. Andrew looked up to see Sylas Fennec cooking some meat for himself. Sylas looked over at him and smiled as he pointed the makeshift spatula at him in excitement as he trotted over to him waving the spatula back and forth.

“Andrew!! Andrew your up!!” He said excitedly, Andrew looked at him like it hurt. To which it did. Though he tried to play it off.

“Yeah, I am. Though I wish I wasn’t right now.”

“Didn’t the doc fix you up?”

“I refused to get ‘fixed’ up, I thought I just needed a walk.” Andrew said, Sylas nodded his head.

“Understandable, I don’t like getting meds from him always. So do you want some meat?” Sylas asked, Andrew looked over at the grill and saw flames coming from it.

“I think your food is on fire.” Andrew said, Sylas looked over and his eyes widened.

“Oh shoot!! Shoot shoot shoot!!” Sylas shouted as he ran over the grill and pulled the burnt chunks of char off of it. He sighed in disappointment as he took them off.

“Boy, that sucks.” He said with a depressed tone. Andrew got up and decided he would leave Sylas alone and go head to bed for some rest. But as he started walking out of the camp’s kitchen area. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Andrew turned to see Sylas directly behind him.

“Hey, are you busy?” Sylas asked.

“No, not really b-” “Great, because I really need some help. I was supposed to finish some droids for resource gathering. However, I kinda got distracted the past two days… I got them finished now, but I need to get them out of here before anyone realizes that I messed up. There are a couple of wagons we can hook up onto our creatures and we can go drop them off across this city!! I mean, as long as you want to help. I can do it on my own if needed.” Sylas said. Andrew looked at Sylas, he was desperate. Andrew sighed knowing that he wasn’t gonna get the rest he needed.

“I’ll meet you down by where the tames are at.” Andrew said, Sylas nodded as he grabbed some raw meat from a wooden box with some heat being emitted from it.

“Jonathan hadn’t put the horses away yet. Can you bring your horse over to the back of my tent? I’m gonna one back there and load up Tuba with a few of the droids on his wagon after I cook up this, and then I’ll get the rest of the clankers on the back of the other wagon your horse will have.” He said, Andrew nodded as he stood up. His head already began to throb as he did.

“Ok? But why are we hiding this so much?” Andrew asked, Sylas looked at him and lowered his head in shame.

“Because I always feel like I am the weak link in the tribe. I feel like I am always failing at what I need to do. And if I reveal that I did it again. I feel like they’ll be disappointed in me.” Sylas said, Andrew looked pity on him. He understood. He felt he was holding them back, that he didn’t belong. Maybe if he helped someone who felt the same way but was obvious to be respected and appreciated, they would treat him similarly. Andrew smiled softly.

“Alright, I’ll meet you over there.”

Andrew walked off back towards the outside of the building. Everything was quiet, he didn’t see anyone. However, he was having trouble with his hearing and sight a little bit. He still was dizzy, and it was getting hard to remember what he was thinking about earlier before Sylas started talking to him. What was he even bringing up when he first started talking to him? He was getting fuzzy on that too. He just knew he had to meet Sylas in front of his tent, or was it behind? Andrew paused in his thinking for a moment. Stopping in his movement as he did so. What was wrong with him? Why was he having this trouble? Andrew ran his gauntlets over his head and through his hair, his gauntlet so smooth, hard but soothing. He squatted for a moment while rubbing his head with his hands.

It felt good, he slowed down his breathing as he sat there. It was rare to have these moments, even when he had Reuben. Life was getting so much harder for him. The deer were getting scarce around his home. Which would push him further out, but rounds of ammunition were just as scarce for him. Andrew didn’t know how long he would keep himself alive, let alone Reuben. Andrew had lost twenty pounds in the last four months as he tried to keep Reuben as healthy as possible. Reuben was all he had left in this world. But looking back, was it possible what happened was some sort of mercy? He wasn’t entirely sure. Heck, it happened a week ago and he acted like it happened years ago. Tears came down his cheeks, in total remorse. It was no one's fault but his, and there was no mercy in his death. He regretted spending his time hunting the raptor out of anger instead of not spending his time with the last few moments he had... Andrew’s self-pampering to aid him only began to make him worse. Andrew opened his eyes, realizing he had gotten sidetracked within his mind. He needed to help Sylas now. This mattered, not the past. He got up and trotted as best he could to the entrance of the building.

Andrew finally got to the entrance and saw the creatures that had been tamed up by this crew of almost superhuman people. He saw the horses as he walked through the creatures. He looked around through all the creatures. He saw the Rex once again and saw the creatures he walked alongside when he first met them. Then he saw the horses. He walked up closer and saw the one that he chose. Its black and grey coloring made it look older, yet it was young and strong. He stood with his head raised in confidence, the animal itself stood a foot or so taller at the shoulder than the other next to it. And stood up to Andrew’s eyes at the horse’s shoulders. He was unsaddled as was the other one. From what the others said. It was one of the largest stallions in the herd. Maybe he should’ve heeded their warnings, then he wouldn’t be in such a painful predicament.

“Now, how does Sylas expect me to get on this thing?” He said to himself.

The animal was quite tall and he didn’t know how to get on this thing from this point. Although he could do what he did before, he squatted down and jumped up high onto the horse. It was startled at first but immediately calmed back down after realizing what was going on. Andrew however was in agony, his headache began to feel like he was getting run over by a car from exerting himself with the jump. He laid himself against the horse’s neck as he tried to figure out how to make the animal move.

Once he got the horse to move, he had a rough time trying to figure out how to control it, he was having as much control over it as he did when he first was taming it. However, it was only walking or at most trotting as it grazed on the grass coming from the abandoned streets. Nonetheless, his stress of having no control wasn’t helping his head.

“Come on, go into the building.” He said quietly, but the horse did nothing. It just continued to graze on the grass. Andrew growled and yanked the animal's mane towards the entrance of the building and he made small kicks against the animal’s sides in frustration. But to his surprise, the animal stopped and stood to attention. Andrew was surprised for a moment. He tried yanking the mane again—Nothing. He was confused now, how did he stop now? Was it the kicking? He kicked again lightly, and then the horse started moving forward in a walk.

‘Okay, so that’s how.’ Andrew thought. He kicked again and the animal stopped, he then got the horse back to moving. He tried yanking the mane again in the direction he wanted to go. But again the animal didn’t go that way.

‘What if I try this—’ he kicked his left leg only and the animal turned left.

“Okay, now we're talking.” He said to himself, he had the horse go to the entrance of the building and move silently through the camp. But from how it sounded, he wouldn’t have to worry. Music blasted through the camp, Andrew looked and saw a dinosaur sitting behind Sylas’ tent. Though it was by no means hiding as it stood above

‘Back of the tent.’ Andrew said remembering where he was supposed to meet. He directed the horse to the back of the tent where a wagon was hooked up to the dinosaur. The wagon itself had a half dozen spheroids on the back and a ramp leading up onto it. The other wagon lay unhooked and resting on the ground as it waited to be hooked up to something.

Sylas then walked out of the tent, he was dancing and singing along with the song. And behind him walked a seven to eight foot metallic giant. And while Sylas danced his way up the ramp, the robot followed. As the music was ending, and the robot aligned itself onto the wagon. Sylas deactivated it, he then turned and saw Andrew sitting on the horse.

“There you are!! Perfect timing, Tuba is at his max of carrying and still being able to run. There’s only a few of them left and it should be easy for your horse to carry them, but you're gonna need a saddle to hook up the wagon.” Sylas said, Andrew nodded as he got the horse to walk up to Sylas.

“Okay, but how do I make a saddle for my horse?”

“Ah it’s easy, I can show you, I made a saddle for a horse’s back on- hey, this is The Hollies playing!!” Sylas said getting distracted as Long Cool Woman played. ‘Whatever that meant’ Andrew thought as he looked at the stereo. Andrew wasn’t concerned about Sylas forgetting what he was going to say. Andrew was honestly feeling the same at this time and wasn’t sure if he could retain this knowledge.

“Alright, then let's get started.” Andrew said trying to get their conversation back to saddle-making. Sylas looked back at Andrew and smiled widely.

“Alrighty!! Come into my natural disaster area I call home.”

~

After he showed Andrew how to make a saddle, hooked up the wagon and got the rest of the droids on the wagon. Sylas and Andrew went on their way out of the camp being unseen or heard. He left his stereo playing in his tent to ease suspicion and reduce the sound of their leaving. No one was outside, everyone was busy preparing to mass tame and figure out the plan to reach their destination. One of their goals was to get these Sir-5rM8s out and harvest resources like Refined Element. But, he kept getting so carried away with other stuff and getting tricked by Jonathan wasn’t much help either. He just would hate for someone else to have to try to clean up the mess that he was supposed to do. He was really glad that Andrew could help him out too. Though, he didn’t look too well, then again if he was kicked in the head by a horse. He wouldn’t feel too good either. But he was a bit worried. He looked back to see him resting against the horse’s neck.

“Hey, you alright?” Sylas asked, the guy turned looked up at him, and smiled holding his right thumb in the air.

“I’m doing alright. Just tired, that’s all.” Andrew said, Sylas smiled. Sylas thought about the case, but still, he wondered if he was alright. He just would leave it at that though. He didn’t want to push him.

“So did you just get Tuba? I don’t remember you having him.” He asked,

“Yeah!! Tuba is a Muttawhatasaurus, I think... But I accidentally ran into him while trying to tame a horse. He honestly is so cool!! Tuba can roar like a Rex or listen to this.” Sylas said as he tapped Tuba, Tuba let out a raptor call with his throat pouch expanding. Sylas looked back at Andrew.

“Cool right!! He can copy calls!! I don’t even know what all he can copy yet!!” He said excitedly, but his excitement died down seeing that Andrew was now sitting straight up. His face flushing out and his eyes wide.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Sylas said, his lip and mouth started moving like he was trying to say something before it finally came out.

“I-… I don’t have a good history with Raptors. And their calls just remind me of the time that I dealt with them.” Andrew said,

“Aw, geez man. I’m really sorry, I probably should’ve-” “No, no. It’s alright. You didn’t know that.” He interrupted, there was a moment of silence. Sylas felt like an idiot, again like usual. He should’ve been more cautious with what actions he did. He didn’t know the guy or what he had been through. He should’ve asked or just said it out loud than rather showing it. He turned back to see Andrew ok, he was relaxed and seemed to be taking in the area around him.

“So you're from the twenty first century? What was it like? Your life I mean?” Andrew asked as he turned and looked at him.

“It was interesting!! You know, I was born a half decade after a global pandemic so it was a bit weird for my early childhood. But you know, it really got better and less weird from there from there. My adulthood was crazy because I became this big shot overnight.”

“Really, oh right. Millionaire thing, how did you become that?”

“Well, a bit of a long story but I was sort of a programmer in my high school, but I was also lazy. And I had poor grades because I didn’t do well in anything but computer class. So I got expelled at sixteen. I held a job for a bit, before a buddy of mine who was in school dared me to do something and have it done by the end of the school year. And if I did, he’d owe me big time.” Sylas said, Andrew seemed really interested in this, especially when he heard he was expelled.

“What did he dare you to do?”

“Create a code that could access the DOD’s archive.”

“The DOD?” Andrew asked,

“Oh, right, you come from a two-nation world, kinda weird in my opinion. Well DOD was a military research program run by the United States in my time. It was a big old conspiracy theory that they had alien technology, super soldier programs, cryptids, you name it. There was a whole show about it thirty years before me being born. Anyway, he knew I was a good programmer. Winning most of the small computer competitions when I could enter. Anyway, he bet me that I couldn’t get passed the first firewall by the end of the year. I accepted on the terms that he would be my Uber for free if I did. By the first week, I got passed it using an old program I used to bypass my lockouts on those extremely high-security phones when I locked myself out. But I really wanted to show my skills, so I dialed my work on it to eleven and for the next six weeks, I created the most complicated and beautiful program I had ever done. I tested it, and well got through all of the DOD security in less than an hour. The next day I called my friend over and I showed him, even printing up soon to be announced project for DARPA. But, a couple of months later, the CIA arrested me coming home from a summertime job. I was interrogated, threatened, and asked what I knew. Literally told them a half dozen times what I knew, but they thought I was lying.”

“Geez, why did you get yourself into that if you knew that this was a likely outcome?”

“That’s what they said when they finally believed me. I said I needed a challenge, and then they offered me a hundred million with no taxes needing to paid on it for the program, which I agreed to, and quietly held onto the money, but I knew I could do better. A year later after six months of grueling hard work. I debuted a program at the Consumer Science Show ‘42 which was declared the most advanced program in the world at the conference, which to the DOD for 1.8 billion dollars. To which I nearly had a heart attack to. Landing me as one of the youngest stupid billionaires in history.” Sylas said,

“Just like that, what did you do after that? Cure cancer?”

“No, that’s silly. At least I don’t think I did. I moved to Silicone Valley, gave a good amount of my money to charities, invested and saved most of it though, and became a multi-billionaire, made a search browser and online store, learned dancing for two years then became a national sensation for two years. Tried to learn to fence but my instructors quit on me, same with self-defense class teachers. All of them said I couldn’t hit the side of a barn, I tried to prove them wrong by practicing against a barn. But… let’s just not get into that. But what about you? What did you do for fun in the age of apocalypse?”

“Eh, it was alright for my young childhood. Watched a lot of ancient movies, especially Japanese monster movies. Played with my friends when I lived in Arat Prime, read a lot of history when I moved. It’s interesting to me about the world of yours and the world before your world. I still read history when I get the chance, while I try to find guidebooks on survival or what foods are edible for who.”

“Eheh, that would’ve been helpful my first few days with the tribe here. I ate Narcoberries on three occasions because I thought they were blueberries.”

“Hey, this is a perfect location to drop off a couple of these droids!!” Sylas continued, and it was. The area looked like either a futuristic food court or a poorly made colosseum with tables. And the entire area looked like it was made from Element. Sylas dismounted and walked down the back of the Muttaburrasaurus and jumped off the tail to the ground.

“So, how did you get the Tek armor?” Sylas asked, Andrew got off his horse slowly, and a bit sickly. He stumbled and caught himself against the horse for balance.

“My parents… they were high-ranking military. High enough to keep weapons and armor at their homes. This one is my father’s active duty set.” Andrew said as he leaned against the horse.

“So, was it only the five of you?” He asked turning his head. He was pale, he was slurring his words. Something was wrong.

“No, there were more of us at several points. But, they didn’t make it. A lot of them… died helping us get our way here.” He said, he could feel his lip quiver remembering those they lost. He looked back at Andrew, who was not doing okay. He walked over to him, taking a calming yet shaky breath in. Trying to calm his own nerves before putting his hand on Andrew.

“I’ll take it from here, I’ll get the droids off the wagon and you just need to go back to base. I can set up the storage station and the other droid locals.” Sylas said, Andrew looked down to him, he looked like he wanted to say something in objection. But his look became a nod. Sylas helped him back up on the horse. Sylas went back and started turning the droids on and whistled them off the wagon. Andrew looked back and Sylas waved them off. Andrew got his horse to start moving and off did they go back in the direction they came.

“Gosh, I really hope he gets back alright.” Sylas said to himself.

“Keek was, that, a, dir-ective?” A droid asked,

“YES, WOULD YOU LIKE US TO MAKE SURE HE GETS BACK SAFELY?” A deeper, heartless-voiced droid said,

“No, guys. I want you guys to start harvesting. Now get on it while I make you guys a storage area.” Sylas said, all of the droids looked back at him.

“An affirmative, it is.” A third one said. Many more chimed in as they got immediately to harvesting the area’s resources. While Sylas built a storage center.

~

Andrew was getting worse, his vision was blurry more often than not now. Ringing in his ears was loud and a bit overbearing, his head felt like a skyscraper was sitting in it. He just needed to get back to the camp, he should’ve never taken that walk. Not that he regretted helping Sylas, just that he wished he had let his body recover before he tried to help. Now he felt like he was going to die. He could see the paths that they made on their way out of the camp. He just had the horse follow them back, even if he lost his vision from time to time. The horse knew the way back if he followed. And from the last moment he could properly see. He wasn’t too far away.

The more that time passed around him, the more that Andrew was getting worse. And it was rapidly getting worse now, he just had to keep his mind off of the pain and handicaps he was dealing with. Thinking about those from his past and the Survivors. He laid against the neck of his horse and he stroked him. He had to figure out a name for him. But he wasn’t sure what to name him. He thought for a minute before coming up with a name he thought worked perfectly.

“Knight Sky, that’s your name.” He said quietly, though Knight Sky had heard it too, and snorted. Andrew didn’t know what that meant. He’d have to ask about what the calls meant for a horse. His vision slowly came back, he looked to find himself at the entrance of the base camp. He sat up in excitement, and as the pain struck his head from his movement. He kicked his legs as he directed Knight into the camp.

Andrew heard the music still playing through the camp, it was to a song he had never heard of like with all the songs playing. And it messed with his head even more. He was slowly no longer able to ignore the pain. He heard another noise in the background. Fighting, he looked up to see nothing through his blurry vision. Grunts and thuds he heard. He didn’t know what was going on, and at this point, he couldn’t say anything from the pain and exhaustion.

~

Paul and Freya were in the ring sparring with each other with boxing gloves on. Although Freya disliked the idea of wearing padded gloves as while it doesn’t hurt the hands, but damages the face much more. He though felt that it was a good way for them to practice both restraint, but also encourage them to work harder at blocking and dodging hits. Paul was also quite used to fighting with gloves on. After all, he did place 2nd on the Boxing team for NYU three years out of six, he also held two first-place state titles and a sixth-place national title for his six years on the Boxing team. They two put mouthguards in as Erica had suggested during their first time sparring with each other.

They would swiftly started sparring, juking, or blocking each other’s strikes, jabs, and cuts. This is where Paul held back slightly because he knew she was. Several times before had he seen moments of hesitation, spots he knew were easy positions for her to get if she was fast enough, but she held back. At the time, it was because he was rusty since it had been twenty or so years that he had been in the ring, but still, it was obvious to him that she ignored these. She still would win the sparring matches. Even though she had shown her prowess in combat much greater than his skills. Erica noticed this too, saying she held back significantly. Paul didn’t know what to do, so he held back too. He had been doing it for a while, just to see how she would react. She didn’t seem to react or anything. Paul knew that the first day he held back she on purposely left herself open, and he wasn’t sure if it was a test or just her holding back. For now, he was still doing it until she confronted him.

Thrust, dodge, block, this is all they were doing. Neither of them was going to get a hit on each other for a while. Erica had come out to watch by now, hearing all the thuds of the padded gloves from her tent as the center of the camp became a boxing arena. Paul and Freya fought for what seemed like hours, their endurance was running out, but both kept on strong. Paul was waiting for her to leave herself open and call this sparring match. Paul looked up at Erica, who was watching them for a time, but he watched for a moment as she took a glance away, then did a double take and stared at something else. This caused Paul to pause, and leaving himself open as he then tried to see what she was looking at. Which Freya took as an opportunity and thrust her fist into his gut. The strike was unexpected, though foolish to not expect this. He bent over in pain as the strike concluded their sparring. Freya bent down and helped Paul back to standing straight up.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” Freya said, she profusely continued apologizing.

“Ah, yer fine Freya, it was just unexpected. That’s all, I got distracted at what-” “Paul!!” Erica interrupted, Paul looked over at her. She pointed over to the other side of the camp. He looked down to see Andrew, riding his Equus with a wagon strapped to its saddle. Paul smiled, before his face filled with dread. Andrew looked like he was on the verge of death. His Equus had stopped about twenty or thirty feet or so.

“Andrew… are ya alright?” Paul asked, Andrew was trying to get off his horse and slipped. Still landing on his feet, but he fell back onto his haunches after his losing his balance.

“No, I don’t think I am…” he said before falling completely over and starting to seize.

“Andrew!!! Erica, get my medical equipment!!” Paul shouted before he and Freya ran over to Andrew.

Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 40

Astra could feel her body dragging through the light snow. Her eyes fluttered open, and Bonebreaker must have noticed because she bit down harder on her neck. Astra winced in pain. She couldn’t even move her own body.

“W-where are you taking me?” Astra muttered.

“To my den. A trophy for my collection-”

Bonebreaker paused. Then, she dropped Astra to the ground, licking her lips.

“Well look what the cat dragged in!” Bonebreaker cackled.

Five large Yutyrannus trudged up to them, their bodies more skinny than usual. The Yutyrannus looked at one another, nodding heads, making clicking noises. Bonebreaker grinned, and then kicked Astra in the head.

“Get up.”

Astra saw the Yuty’s, and adrenaline pumped throughout her body again. She rose from the ground, coughing violently. Ice began to collect around her body.

The wolves and Yuty’s stood off for a moment, before Bonebreaker made the first move. She lunged at the pack leader: a Yutyrannus with a blue coat. Latching onto her torso, the blue Yutyrannus flailed around weakly, too hungry to do anything effective. Astra slammed her paw into the snow, and ice spikes shot up into the orange Yutyrannus. The orange Yutyrannus suddenly let out a roar, and Astra’s eyesight narrowed.

Fear overcame her body, and with that, she began to run.

~

“COWARD!” Bonebreaker shouted, unfazed by the Yutyrannus’ fear roar. She tore off a chunk of flesh, and dropped to the ground. One of the other Yutyrannus picked her up by the tail, and Bonebreaker let out a howl of pain as another Yutyrannus tore her body in half.

Bonebreaker was dead.

~

Astra stopped to take a breath, too exhausted from the fight with Bonebreaker to do any good. She could see a cave up ahead. Weakly, she trudged up to the entrance, and then collapsed in the warmth inside.

There was a cozy feeling inside.

It reminded her of a time far, far away. A time that never existed.

Astra passed out.