Blackness and sorrow surrounded my soul as I plummeted through what seemed like a sea of blackness. Ironically I slammed into solid ground, elbow deep in water as ripples extended outwards from my body, glimmering in light from no source. My entire surroundings were completely covered in darkness, and I could barely see my own claws in front of me as my head darted around.
Drip, drop, drip, drop.
Silence ensued after every disturbance, my ears twitching from the quiet alone. It was unnerving to be alone in my own head like this, and I wanted to scream, the silence beating my head around as my body tensed and convulsed, moving in rhythm with each quiver.
Drip, drop, drip, drop.
I felt like going mad, hoping for response from somewhere. But the dripping of water in the distance reminded me where I was. I knew I wasn't alone.
'Why have you brought me here?'
'I did nothing. You brought yourself here, just like every time before. I have no control over your thoughts. Just influence.'
'Then why are you here? What are you?'
'Like I said: influence. I am just here do advise you. A figure of your imagination I am not, just a fragment of your mind. The voice in your head. An emblem of your conscience.'
'Why do you always speak like that?'
'Why do you always ask so many questions?'
'You said it yourself: you're supposed to be an advisor.'
Silence. I decided to keep pushing, finally having them backed into a corner. They had been bugging me long enough; I wanted answers.
'Yet you keep controlling my feelings. You enact your will upon me all the time, driving me to insanity, to the point where I think you're more than what you say to be.'
'How about a different question; why have you shown me these things?'
Still silence. It irritated me. I knew they had heard me.
'That's your memory working there. I did nothing. It seems as if your conscience is trying to tell itself something. Perhaps you should listen.'
'The second one was no memory. Why did she appear in my mind? I had let go a long time ago, and yet you keep pushing! What do you want from me?!'
'Nothing but for your safety. I don't think you understand your position here.'
'What do you mean?'
'Here you are getting lovey dovey with the humans, when only two months earlier you had promised you would not stop until you watched them all burn. What happened to you? You're setting up your own doom.'
'It was you who promised that, not me.'
'We are one and the same, you and I. I am you and you are me. There is no 'me and him'; there is only us. You seem to have forgotten that.'
'Because it's not true.'
'Humans only have greed, with no regard for the others around them. Don't tell me this is a lie, for you have seen it with your own eyes. I'm telling you: sooner or later, they will turn on you. Then you'll come running back to me. Even now they keep you in this cage.'
'It's not a cage; I can leave of my own free will. You can tell me these things all you want, I know I'm right.'
I sensed the room begin to significantly rise in temperature, a sign I knew all too well. I closed my eyes like a bolt, squeezing them shut. I felt dread build up in my body, and I just wanted to run away and hide.
But I couldn't.
'Here's something you need to know.'
'Humans never did change, they still haven't changed, and they never will change. They are all the same, just like all of you hybrids will never change. You will continue to be used as the tool of them, their weapon, their toy. They designed all of you to be their plaything, and the longer you allow them to the more this power will be abused and the more our kind will continue to suffer.'
I heard all of it, but there was one thing said that I continued to latch onto.
'All of us? Our kind? ...Are you telling me you know more hybrids out there?'
Once again a deathly silence fell upon the room, apart from the whistling sound of the wind, getting stronger and stronger as it continued to rise in temperature.
'You seem to know an awful lot about how this works. I can't understand it, especially since you say you only know as much as I do. What are you speaking about?'
The sounds and feelings came to a sudden halt, and I knew it was safe to look. I opened my eyes slowly and looked up at the fully formed figure towering over me, bright white scales glistening in light that I wasn't sure where it was coming from. It narrowed its blazing red eyes and continued to speak with no voice, as its words just seemed to materialize in my head.
'You can't really think that you're the only one out there Ripper. There must have been predecessors to you, based on what the scientists speak about, and I'll bet there'll be successors after you. They will all experience the same pain that you have if you let them. Just like me'
'You're not real, never were. I've had enough of this useless debate. You're wearing down my patience.'
'I'm supposed to be the one to say that.'
The space in my thoughts became a whir as I tumbled and sunk into the dark ocean, now longer very shallow. I felt myself begging for air, but instead of holding my breath I simply let it out of my lungs. They caved in and filled my being like a possessed puppet, inky water lining my veins.
Then everything stopped.
**************************************************
Mumbles and muffled sounds entered my ears, sounding of distress. It was enough to stir me from my sleepy trance, and I warbled my displeasure with being disturbed even though I was thankful to have escaped that place. It still haunts me, day in and day out, lurking in every shadow of my brain, every corner of my mind.
Peeking through slitted eyes I looked to see that I was alone. The boy had disappeared, and I could no longer smell him. The entire room seemed still, nothing moving even a bit. A dust bit floating down would immediately draw the eye.
But this was not concerning to me nearly as much as the sounds coming from outside. Yelling and ferocious roars pulsed and ripped through the still air.
'Am I in another dream?' No. It felt too real, those sounds too authentic without echoes, the air breathable, my vision clear. At least as clear as it could be. Eventually that problem would be concerning, but it wasn't my primary thought at the moment.
Something was going on outside. It didn't sound nice. It was enough for me to jump up from the bed, landing with a loud thud rippling through the house.
Once again I grasped hardwood frames and climbed out of the window, claws sinking into vinewood as I traveled up the side and hauled myself onto the tile roof. I caught a whiff of something, and I heard a roar that sounded quite familiar, and I quickly realized it was the same sound I had heard from the forest. It sounded and ringed in my head, aching as it resonated in my memory and bile built up in my throat.
I came to a halt when I could no longer see the edge, but that wasn't why I stopped. I peered down to see what was causing all the racket, and found myself teeming with rage.
The humans seemed to be trying to run away, heading towards the door of the house. They were running away from the fight. The wolf pack was engaged in combat with a large dinosaur, and it looked to be the same kind as the one a fought outside the mansion. The bean body with osteoderms was its torso, with a thin crocodilian snout and long claws on the tips of its fingers, even though it had smaller arms than my own.
The wolves and the baryonyx were circling around, each waiting for the other to make a move. Both looked a hairs' away from ripping each other's throats out. I then looked too see the baryonyx advancing on a little human, a small girl, who simply held her arm in her face as she screamed in terror. The wolves snarled and barked fiercely at the intruder, distracting it, making sure it didn't hear me when I screeched at it and pounced on its body.
I had made it half way down when I jumped, so I didn't splatter like a stain when I knocked him down. My claws drew blood from his armored body, tearing through it with ease as I clamped down on his chest. My teeth sunk into his flesh and ripped up the hide blocking me from his insides.
A large claw smacked me right in the face and sent me tumbling across the moist soil, caking my scales in mud and dirt, and debris got in my mouth. I sputtered, trying to get it out of my jaws, coughing up grass and brown soil.
The baryonyx turned around to face me, staring me down with those empty eyes. Saliva dripped from its maw as it hungered for its next meal, and apparently I would do just fine. He clicked his teeth together and bellowed at me, spit flying everywhere as the grass covering my body blew off, scattering in the wind and flying in all directions.
It was a challenge; one that I was happy to accept.
Roaring back, I prepared my claws to pierce his flesh and rip apart his hide. He struck first though, breaking into a mad dash, charging at my flank, the cast still drying off. I only managed to side step in time to not be knocked back down to the ground, though his claws still raked across my snout, and I felt warm blood trickle out of the shining red marks.
I leaped onto his neck and grappled my teeth around the exposed back, and I dug my death talons into the base of his shoulder plates. He wobbled around, trying to stop the inevitable as he came crashing onto his side from the force of the impact.
Dust flew through the air in the hundreds as the giant fell to the ground, and I landed next to his head, surprisingly without a sound. Of course this didn't matter at the moment, as he just kicked and hollered at me, trying to get up. I went in for the final blow, but he only knocked me away with his large talons, spinning me around through the air as I hurtled away, landing on my feet a little sloppy.
He shot up and fled the scene, tail and head down low as he sprinted for the tree line. Looking at my wobbling legs, I knew I couldn't chase him right now. Too weak.
The heavy smell of blood wafted into my nostrils as I panted heavily on the ground, having lost my breath. I turned around to once again see a familiar sight before me, and I choked from my sharp inhalation, almost sending me into a coughing fit as I tried to register this.
My legs moved for me, though they felt as if they would collapse at any moment, my elbows feeling like a lock had been undone. The fresh crimson blood flowed from the corpse slowly, soaking into the ground, the grass already splattered in the red liquid.
The wolf had died. Probably did before I had managed to get there. He died because I couldn't help in time. I was too busy arguing with myself, and that's why he now lay on the ground, motionless, fur reddened with blood, large teeth marks covering the entirety of his body.
Rick I think his name was.
I knew it was my fault, and it pained me to think that. Perhaps I really was only what they said I was: a monster. A weapon of war, born for killing those around me. The evidence was right in front of myself. I thought death was the answer to everything, yet it didn't seem to do anything but cause more problems, and it seemed as if there was no way to escape it. I was trapped in a circle, and I saw no way to break free. Was I destined to destroy everything I touch?
"I'm going to get a drink." The other wolves looked at me for only a moment before returning to their friend, as if at any moment he could rise up again and bark at them, happily wagging his tail.
It was impossible though. All because of me. It seemed hard to think about, but it was the only reason.
As I walked through the forest towards the river, I felt myself lower to a place unexplored in the past. The woods were deathly silent, and it gave me time to think.
It seemed like I was a danger the longer I stayed. I suddenly found myself concerned about the creatures around me, their lives just as valuable as my own. Didn't that mean I should protect them? It made sense, and was the only thing that had so far. They were what I had left, all that was keeping me from the dark realm of insanity, and that made them important to me.
But they didn't need me. In fact, they were better off without me, for I was only a danger to them as long as I stayed. I was why they were missing most of the members of their pack. I was the reason that Omega now walked with a limp, and had a large scar in her shoulder. And it was because of me that another one of them had died.
It was clear I didn't belong there, but I was still not completely on board with leaving. I didn't want to leave them hanging, but I didn't know how to say that I was going somewhere else. It was confusing, and I needed to figure out what to do, and fast.
As I approached the rushing water, I became mezmorized the more I looked at the water gushing over the river rocks. It was so free, not held down by thoughts or feelings. It simply went wherever was easiest.
Was this thought a sign? Was somebody watching over me? It seemed like a definite possibility, but at the same time also seemed like a joke concocted by the stranger parts of my mind.
"What's going to happen? What should I do?" I began mumbling to myself, for I had too many thoughts held in my head to be contained. "What am I anymore?"
As I lowered my head down to the water, it was then that I noticed there was a slight change in the amount of light out here. It seemed to be getting... darker? What was happening? I thought my eyes may have seen wrong, but blinking them didn't seem to fix anything.
I looked up at the sun for answers, only to be blinded by the light. Shoulda seen that coming.
I closed my third eyelid, sliding over my pupil. Everything became fuzzy, but when I glanced up at the sun again, I noticed that a portion of it was being blocked out by a big black circle. It looked astonishing to my eyes, and I wondered if it was a trick of the mind.
Nope, it still remained after a while. Eventually it looked as if the entire sun would be covered by the big black circle at any moment, but the beautiful light kept shining with intensity, illuminating my eyes forever more. There was never a part where most of the sun was covered, and instead it repelled the large object blocking it.
When it was out of sight, my mind trailed off at what I had just witnessed. What could it have possibly meant, I had no idea. I was convinced of one thing though: it was no ordinary coincidence.
During all of this, the shadows had darkened the river, and I wasn't focused on it. I didn't notice as a large figure swam through the water towards me, disguised by the sudden shade the world was smothered with. I didn't smell it, for water, and anything in it, have no smell at all. I still gazed at the blazing sun above, making its way across the sky towards the horizon.
Hungry jaws pierced the surface of the water like a spear, and came menacingly close to my neck as my reaction time saved my hide. I rolled away on my side when the sickening teeth snapped shut on each other, and I stood back up, still slightly shaking from the bitter cold water.
The baryonyx stood up in the river, revealing its body that had gone unnoticed by me in the river. Its eyes met mine, but all I could see in those hollow organs was intense fury and hurt, and I could tell it wanted my blood, looking at me with crazed eyes that told me almost all sanity had left this thing. I knew why, as my eyes were drawn the the irregular scar it bore on its chest, and I realized this was a different one than just earlier, but I still knew who it was.
"Have you been following me?!" She stared blankly at me, water rushing around her legs and splashing over her. She seemed to not mind, as if at home in the cold waters.
She roared fiercely at me, and I felt fear inside my body as the baryonyx's stance brought back revolting memories of terrible times. A vision of my dead body hanging from the horns of the agujaceratops skull caused me to shake in fear. I was scared, convinced destiny had finally come for me now, no longer holding back my inevitable fate.
She charged at me in a blind rage, swinging violently as her hungry maw snapped on nothing but air, her claws yearning to tear into my flesh missed my scales by inches. I did my best to avoid her, but after jumping up to dodge her tail she lunged up for me, those teeth ripping through flesh and trapped my neck.
I flew through the air in a sudden state of confusion, landing with a hard splash into the cold water I had come to drink from. I had never truly known how deep it was, but I could tell now that the riverbed was far below me.
Scrapes and cuts materialized on my body as hot needles dragged along my skin. More claw wounds leaked blood from my body, painting the river an ominous red and further blurring my vision as I continued to be thrashed around like a toy. This brain wasn't functioning, and I could no longer tell up from down. I just hurtled around while being torn apart by the baryonyx, who clearly was more experienced with fighting in the water than I was.
Its jaws trapped my neck, and blood leaked from my mouth as I thrashed around and injuring her, trying to escape the iron grip. The oxygen in my lungs was forced out, precious air floating away towards the surface. My vision tunneled in, everything else becoming a blackened haze.
I looked over at the baryonyx, who glared at me with a hungry gaze, triumph clear on its face. I hated that look. I wanted it gone. I wasn't going to die with her staring at me like that.
My leg shot out like a blur, and I saw my death talon flex out and strike soft flesh, burying into her eye while blood shot out. It painfully unhooked its jagged teeth off of me as it recoiled back to scream in pain, jerking through the water with ferocity and rage, and this gave me a chance to escape.
I took it, digging my claws into the mud and dragging myself through the rough waters, and finally hauling my limbs onto the ground. I coughed and hacked up the water in my lungs, and greedily filling them with oxygen as I gasped after each convulsion. Slowly my brain began to clear up, and the darkness receded from the edges of my vision, allowing me to turn around in time to see the baryonyx leap from the water in another attempt to maul me.
I dashed away, and leaped onto her back to do some damage. She spun around and around, trying to get me, snapping and waving her claws around in frustration. She seemed to not be able to reach me, but all this shaking made me lose my balance.
When I came tumbling over the side my bloodied death talon got caught in her bony armor. This resulted in me dangling from her back as I tried to get loose, and her crocodilian snout closed onto my tail cast and threw me to the ground. The wrappings were still dangling from her mouth, and what was left of the cocoon lie in shreds on the ground.
Her jaw closed on my head, and I kicked around violently to try and escape. It was moist and hot, and I felt pressure increase heavily, and her large teeth ripped open my underbelly. The armor plates on my back prevented me from being completely bitten in half though. I was desperate to escape this choking grasp just like before, feeling a lack of oxygen set in again. I screeched, only able to open my mouth a little, before clamping shut on something soft.
Whatever it was, it certainly did the trick, as I fell out with a plop.
The baryonyx snapped its mouth shut again with another roar, and it began frantically rubbing its mouth on a rock. Teeth marks now were visible on its tongue.
I turned and ran, but instead tumbled onto the ground, my body unbalanced without my weighted tail cast. I heard a growl behind me, and I didn't stop to look, instead running up the side of a large red tree nearby. My paws grasped a large overhanging branch, and I began trying to balance my teetering self on the shaky plant stem.
The baryonyx snapped up at me, wind gushing past my face upon each boom of its gaping jaws when they barely missed my hands. I saw no clear exit from this situation, and the only way to possibly escape would be to fight my way through.
But I was too shaken. I could fall off my perch at any moment, my limbs shaking so much I barely could control them myself. My heart beat rapidly, about to pound out of my chest, and I was actually scared. My foolish decisions had gotten me here. Why couldn't I just do something right for once?
Bang
She recoiled back with a scream of agony, blood running down the side of her belly. It looked grotesque, and I cringed in empathy.
Bang
Another shot rang through the forest air. The baryonyx lowered to the ground, shaking out another roar at her sudden attacker, looking around in confusion. She looked bewildered, obviously never experiencing the sting of a bullet.
Taking the sudden opportunity, I darted down from the branch and landed directly on her back. Digging in the death talons, I bit, scratched, and clawed her up, careful to avoid the nails and teeth reaching out for me.
My jaws found soft flesh, and I sank my teeth into her neck. My muscles convulsed as she toppled to the ground, and I rolled through the wet med to move out of the way of the collapsed baryonyx.When I stood up, I looked over at her, lying on the ground, breathing heavily. I approached her, ready to kill her. I was done with this; she was causing a problem, and this would solve that problem.
Like always.
Like always?
I hesitated. Why? Why couldn't I do it? She was right in front of me, all I had to do was bring my claw down.
I saw her eyes. She was staring at me, the light seemingly dying out, and fear was present. She looked a lot like me, in a way, but also not. I looked harder, and I remembered it was the look I was given by that man. The one in the mansion.
His terrified face when I rose up from those annoying little copper stingers that he pelted me with, the way he backed against the wall, horrified of what was to become of him. He was only saved by another murderer, probably had planned my death. They never tried to spare me. Why should I spare this creature either.
'Because I'm not them...'
This baryonyx no longer wanted anything to do with me, it was clear. I reared up in front of it and slammed down, all my remaining force exiting my claws into the ground.
"DON'T COME BAAAAACK!" I roared. I turned around and darted away, not looking back when I heard more footfalls behind me. The trees seemed to almost lean to the side, trying to block my escape. My current problem must have been at fault for the illusion, and it seemed to be getting worse as time went on. Soon enough it will just be better to let fate do what it had in store for me.
A guy waving up ahead directed my attention and course a bit, and running up to him. I wasn't able to stop, and eventually I crashed into James. I flipped over when we hit the ground, and he lost his breath. We both laid there for a minute, me lying against a tree and him on the ground, rifle still smoking with that gunpowder smell. It was nauseating, and my mind recoiled in disgust, but it had saved my life.
Still. I hated it.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked when he noticed me staring at the weapon. His grey shirt was covered in mud, and he looked like he could've been a part of the ground if it wasn't for those sunglasses positioned on his forehead. His shorts had green stains on the edges of them, probably from kneeling on the ground.
"That wasn't something you see everyday." He muttered. I looked back up to the sky, the sun now hanging out in another location across the sky, then I looked back at him. "Oh, no, I wasn't referring to the eclipse, but yeah, that too. I was actually talking about the giant dinosaurs with the scissor hands."
We both chuckled at that, mine sounding more like a gargle than a distinguishable noise. We both just sort of laid there for another moment, before conversation continued.
"Them doggos were upset when you left, and after a bit I decided to go see what was the matter. I owe ye; ya saved my daughter's life." I looked at him when he said that. Then I remembered. That thing the male was approaching: that was a little girl. She was trying to get away from them. "Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. I suppose that I owe ya."
I had protected them. Sure, they may have only been here for me, but I ignored that. It felt good to know that I had done something good for them. Maybe I could stay for a bit. Just a bit.
'Waddya think of that, Mr. Know-it-all, huh?'
'Yay. You saved a foul human from its doom so that it could grow bigger and add to the problem. I'm so proud of you.'
'Don't get too excited...'
'Trust me. It won't be hard.'
No matter what he said, I was too happy to care. I could stay, and protect them from danger. I wouldn't have to let them go.
"We should probably head back." he grunted as he rose from the ground, patting the dirt off of him. I got up too, though not quite as easily. Almost fell the second I pushed up.
We both headed to the house, me more staggering than walking, which I was used to at this point. Along the way he mostly just told jokes. I didn't understand some, but I didn't care. I was too happy, and excited for the future.