ORIGIN

There were no teachers in Lacerta. At least not willing ones.

It'd have to make its own.

Everything here was larger than life, though Brother hadn't known of anything smaller, so it was the norm. But, if it wanted to survive, it would have to learn. Instinct told it that. It was still small, tiny compared to most on the island and he didn't want to become someone else's prey.

Being prey meant you were weak. That you were food.

Too many close calls had left him feeling like prey, almost getting lost under trampling feet or snatched by jaws that seemingly came out of thin air. He would not be made prey. He was a predator and predator alone.

He'd learned that the core within his dorsal gave him an edge over these creatures. And he'd practice using it to his advantage...

With a little effort, the sounds came alive; it felt like he was a bystander listening to them. Stuck within his own skull as the sounds penetrated and echoed around it. Heartbeats, he could hear the sneaky creatures now.

One was louder than the others. He crept through the underbrush, using his small size to his advantage, until he saw it. A scythorn. Though, it was odd to see it alone. The others he'd seen via almost-trampling had been in a big herd together.

So, he lingered and watched. Settling on his haunches under the shade of an oversized fern.

The heartbeats in its ears thrummed one last time, then fell silent. It couldn't tell if the herd was nearby any more. Or what else lingered around. It tried not to shuffle its feet.

Keep eyes on the scythorn. Was it sniffing around for something? Should it be doing that too? Sniffing for things? The scythorn's head was low to the soil, and occasionally it would push some of the undergrowth about with its nose.

It wasn't very good at this 'thinking' thing. So it settled back to just watch. The beast moved slowly, pausing to push dirt aside. Then, it suddenly began pawing at the ground, shifting the dirt aside. Once it seemed content with moving the dirt, it crunched on something that was beneath the soil.

Had it found food? Should he be digging for food too? Brother looked down at its feet and only saw dead leaves and soil, none of it looked too appetising and he wasn't about to start digging and possibly alert the much bigger gembound to his presence.

It made a mental note to try later. For now, it'd keep watching...

It let out a quiet sigh, not wishing to alarm the much larger creature. This was getting boring. The scythorn was just looking for food, and it didn't even get to try it. It'd try to find something else more interesting to watch, something it could really learn from.

He tried to summon the energy to use the spell, the one that let him hear the other creatures when they weren't making sound, but it still didn't work. It was growing frustrated, why didn't it work all the time? It didn't care enough to find out, it should simply just work!

Stuck in its own frustrating thoughts, it almost didn't notice in time. Something was slinking about in the ferns across from it. The sneaking beast would've been near invisible if it hadn't looked up at just the right time. Thankfully its eyes were on the scythorn and not him.

Was there someway he could do that too? Blend into the foliage around him? There must be some way. He wasn't a good colour, most things could spot him if he tried to sneak up on them and didn't have a good hiding spot. But this thing moved silently and effortlessly flexed around the foliage to stalk its prey. Invisible and silent.

It wanted to know how to do that too.

Save file ? ( Y / N )

It watched and watched as the other creature lay in anticipation. Brother assumed it was looking for the right time to strike. It knew enough to know nothing wanted to get caught on the massive spines and blades of a scythorn.

When it waited for the inevitable ambush, it looked down at its own claws. Then thought about them blending into the dirt. Imagined it happening. It felt disconnected from its own body when it imagined it. Seeing it from the outside, the shapes and patterns it didn't know about conveniently blotted out of the mental image. Then it imagined them different colours, green to match the ferns, stripes to blend it with the patterns of the foliage. Dark browns and pale browns to match the soil, both dry and shaded.

It imagined how it may look to the scythorn if it looked over right now, it imagined it would seamlessly blend into the backdrop of ferns it hid under. Only its shadows betraying where it stood.

Then it focused back on itself and was startled to find that it had changed! Not exactly like its odd outer body experience, but it has changed. It looked at its foreclaws in wonder, turning them to find the fern green scales covered the entirety of its 'arms'. Then it's feet too! They matched the fern green of its arms. It was only the reminder that it wasn't alone that stopped it from standing to look at what colour its belly was.

It'd done it! Maybe it could learn more from the two. So, it settled back down and watched, feeling confident it wouldn't be seen anymore.

Settled back, it watched the two.

The deinocornus was taking its sweet time, observing the scythorn just as Brother had. Perhaps it was also learning, or maybe just waiting for something. For its herd? Brother swivelled its head, trying to make out any shapes amongst the brush; not that scythorns were in the habit of hiding. Their bulky figures usually cut distinct shapes amongst the foliage.

But it was admittedly odd to see one alone. Were they cunning enough to set a trap? It wouldn't make any sense for creatures that could pummel the life from another creature to need to lie in wait. Especially when Brother had never seen one eat anything that wasn't a plant. So, what was this plan? Ugh, all the thinking was making his head throb.

Instead, it would simply wait and see and learn. Maybe one day it could take down a scythorn too, once it was big and brave enough, like the adult deinocornus across from it.

The creature had begun slinking up a fallen tree, which rested at a diagonal against one of its siblings, making it a good ramp for the predator to climb. It would be a good meal if it could kill it. Brother did not doubt that a kill this big would even feed itself and its sibling for days to come. Yet, once it reached the peak of the ramp, it continued to stay low, just watching.

Why was it waiting? Brother resisted the urge to grumble in its impatience. Brother wasn't the brightest, but it didn't have a death wish either. Surely there was nothing else here...

It strained its ears, small holes at either side of its head, then that odd feeling struck again; the sensation of controlling its body through levers and pulleys opposed to simply living in it. It heard the mighty thump of the scythorn's heart, big, slow, powerful. Then, just under it, the deinocornus', faster, lighter, but no less strong. Brother strained his ears for more, but the large heart of the scythorn was deafeningly loud compared to anything else.

So it sat miserably for what felt like the longest time it'd known since hatching. Its legs were beginning to ache from being scrunched up for so long, but it couldn't blink; it couldn't lose sight of the deinocornus, this may be the only time it could ever catch one in action. It just had to focus and stay still. And not be seen. No small feat for someone so young.

Then, finally, it happened in a quick motion. The deinocornus leapt from its perch, and its jaws opened wide to clamp around the scythorn's neck, the momentum of the fall dragging its teeth down the scythorn's hide into a deep cut.

Brother licked his own teeth; he could do something like that. Really crunch down on the next unfortunate piece of prey that passed him. It was this daydream that stopped him from realising in time that the struggle was heading in his direction. The scythorn, carrying the deinocornus were charging in his direction. A flurry of action struck him; blade-like edges and claws were brought onto him, along with the titanic weight of the walking giant.

Needless to say, a baby spinosaurus didn't stand much of a chance.

It was all over so fast. It heard the crunch of its own bones and flesh -- felt its own skull bend then give and shatter under the weight in just a split second -- then it was enclosed in brilliant crystalline walls, and consciousness was very quickly swept away...