“Yeah well, next he’s going to start saying the star is going to kill us all and that Raptors are going to take flight one day,” Og quipped, putting his bulbous nose into the air as he snorted.
“That’s not what I’m saying. I just wish we’d had a little more detail as to why exactly we have to follow the star,” Aegy said, glancing up again at the afternoon sky. The large star had appeared so suddenly and so brightly, that the elders of their land declared it was a sign of a prophecy no one had really heard of before. Aegy, Og, and T had been selected to follow the increasingly bright and beautiful star to a new land. The white, glorious star was so bright now they could even see it during the day, and the trio kept moving whenever it was safe to do so.
“I heard the new land is supposed to be free of predators and endless food,” Og said in a very matter-of-fact way.
“Why would we need to bring gifts if we’re going to a new land? No, I think we’re supposed to meet someone.” Aegy nodded to Og’s bag. “What gift did you pick to bring?”
“I brought leaves from the best ferns. They’re so filling and delicious that it would make the best gift,” Og smirked, quite proud of his choice.
“What if whoever we’re giving this to eats meat?” T raised his eyebrows, Og shooting him a dirty look.
“Why would the elders send us to meet with someone who eats meat, T?” Og snapped.
“Maybe we’re a sacrifice,” T tilted his head to shrug, Aegy erupting into laughter.
“Glad you’re here then. We’ll just hide behind you,” Aegy said smiling and T snickered in response. Og didn’t think it was funny.
“What did you bring?” Og asked a little snippy like.
“Flowers,” Aegy said. Og gave him a bewildered look.
“Flowers taste terrible, Aegy. What were you thinking?” Og scoffed.
“That maybe they don’t eat plants?” T offered, Og narrowing his eyes at him.
“They’re pretty. I brought the best colors I could find,” Aegy explained. “They’re not for eating, just...appreciating.”
Og rolled his eyes so dramatically Aegy thought they’d spin out of his head. Hadrosaurs had a flair for theatrics.
“What about you, T?” Aegy glanced up at his taller friend.
“A rock,” T said.
Aegy and Og stopped and looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed in either annoyance or curiosity.
“A rock?” Aegy asked.
“A rock,” Og said flatly, unimpressed.
“Yeah,” T said a little defensively. “It’s a really pretty rock.”
Og mumbled a series of flabbergasted gibberish while Aegy nodded in appreciation. His gift was pretty too, so he could understand where T was coming from. Rocks weren’t colorful though, but Titanosaurs must have different beauty expectations.
They had started their journey earlier that week, stretching far past their normal roaming lands and migration routes into areas they had never seen before. The rich flora of the area was amazing, thick plant life prospered by the shallow inland seas and they had seen more birds flitter about than they had back home. The star burned brightly in the sky, beckoning them to keep exploring and finding new adventures and lands to see.
Every so often they would pass by another herd they didn’t know of various sauropods and small pockets of hadrosaurs, the group watching them like strange oddities since they were without a group of their own.
“Stick close. I can smell something,” T warned as they drifted towards a freshwater source in the area. Since T was so tall, he often picked up on things like that first, which was very handy. The other groups drinking didn’t seem to have noticed anything terrible yet, so the trio stuck near their big friend. The water was cool, flowing fresh and didn’t sit long in the humid heat.
Aegy gathered the water into his mouth and sighed happily. He was pretty hesitant about the whole trip, but had to admit he was enjoying himself now. The new area was exciting, with new smells and sights and so many new flowers to see. He started to feel bad about bringing flowers as a gift after seeing so many different shaded he’d never seen before. The elders told him to bring whatever he thought was precious, and those flowers had been his most favorite thing.
Whatever it was they were doing, whether the star was leading them to meet someone or just off a cliff, he was happy to be out on the adventure. He’d probably never be able to do something like this again once he got back home. From the pleased look on T’s face as he looked over the horizon at the bright star, he knew he felt the same. Og still seemed annoyed to be there, but Aegy caught him smiling every once in awhile, but kept it to himself.
The water under Aegy’s face shifted, catching his attention. Instinct caused him to immediately take a step back and draw his head up, his sudden shift getting concerned glances from his friends.
“What?” Og asked quickly, glancing at the water nervously. “What did you see?”
“I don’t know,” Aegy said, uneasy as he backed away from the calm water.
T was already looking down river at the other herds still drinking, sniffing the air but not catching anything in danger range. A group of hardosaurs, similar to Og in size, were still drinking from the water's edge a good sixty feet away from them. They were yellow and red with bright stripes like Og’s, but didn’t have the tall spines like him. Aegy took a breath once he saw the water shift again towards the drinking herd.
“Look out!” he called out in alarm, but they were too far away to hear him over the sounds of the stream and the surrounding herd’s noises.
Aegy wheeled quickly to his friends, looking at them desperately. “Og, call out to them! You’re louder than I am!”
Og inhaled deeply and bellowed out a deep, resonating noise that rippled down the stream to warn the others. His hardosaur call was rumbling and alarming, full of warning and panic that immediately caught his kin’s attention, pulling them back from the water’s edge. The water’s surface exploded suddenly, exposing impossibly large jaws that snapped around a poor fleeing hardosaur’s tail and began pulling it towards the water. The crocodile hissed in its throat as it pushed back on strong, meaty legs, sinking back towards the murky depths.
T was already on the move, walking as fast as his large body would allow and taking mighty steps. The surrounding herd was bellowing alarms and yells for help, dancing around the helpless hardosaur that was fighting for its life. If the crocodile was able to sneer, it would have at seeing the giant Ttianosaur stomp towards the battle, his huge tail building momentum.
“Get back!” T shouted at the herd as he started swinging himself around to put his backside towards the struggling hardosaur, who was desperately pawing at the mud to keep ground and failing miserably.
The crocodile hissed something with his mouth full of hadrosaur tail, but the deafening thunder crack of T’s huge tail swinging through the air drowned out whatever insult he was tossing his way. The force was so strong the blow landed before the sound did, the whipping tail shattering across the croc’s snout and sending him flipping over sideways a couple feet. The hardosaur was free from his grip, but didn’t escape without getting bite marks all across his pretty tail.
Limping, sore but alive, the wounded and very grateful hardosaur rejoined his group while the crocodile sunk back under the water, thoroughly defeated.
“Great job, T!” Aegy cheered, joining the commotion. T tilted his head modestly.
“That was rather impressive,” Og had to admit. “But we should get going. If that crocodile is still alive, he’s going to be very upset.”
“I doubt highly he’s still alive, but yeah, let’s go. We still have a long way to go I think,” T said, glancing up at the bright star burning in the sky.
They had to get to where the star was trying to point them, and as the days drew on, the star seemed to be getting closer to something. They travelled a bit more that evening, the rest of the day a lot more calm than the stream incident. As the sun sunk below the horizon and the star light up the night sky, seeming brighter even still, they sat together watching it glow.
“Damn thing still going, is it?” a small voice piped in from the ground, catching all of their attention. They had smelled the small rodent Maelestes but hadn’t been paying him any attention since he was so tiny and well...a mammal. It’s not like they were dangerous even remotely.
“Evening,” T said, his voice friendly. “Well, I guess good morning to you.”
“Heh, yep. Morning for me, my friend. Though that bright thing makes it a little tough to get around and hunt without getting snatched up,” the small, brown, furry thing winced. His body was fat with fur, brown and shiny, with a long skinny tail and oddly shaped hands he could grab things with.
“What a shame,” Og said flatly, unamused by the small creature.
“How’s the hunting going tonight mister…?” Aegy asked, pausing to let the small mammal introduce himself.
“Oh, I’m Mal. How rude of me,” Mal squeaked, wiping his whiskers back.
“A mammal being rude? The hell you say,” Og quipped, still watching the star.
“That’s Og, he’s a jerk,” Aegy nodded to the scowling hardosaur. “I’m Aegy, that’s T.” T nodded his head at the mention of his name and Mal gave them all a happy squeak in reply.
“Huntings going alright. Got some small crunchy bugs so no complains. Are you all...going towards the star?” Mal asked, sitting on his haunches by the group to snack on his crunchy bugs.
“Yeah, we’re following it to where it’s pointing. It’s supposed to---” Aegy explained but Og cut him off with a shushing noise.
“That’s none of his business! We were instructed by the elders of our combined herds to take on an exclusive and important mission. We were specifically chosen to do a very secretive task involving the Bright Star,” Og explained very seriously, his head high in pride of their status and hidden knowledge.
“We’re bringing some ferns, flowers and a rock to the farthest we can get to in the direction of the star. We think it might be leading us to someone,” T confessed much to Og’s protest. Og gaped at him, horrified he so willingly gave up their mission to a ball of fur.
“Oh, wow! That’s really something! You really think you’re meeting someone important there? Like...what, exactly?” Mal asked, his little fleshy ears twitching.
“Not sure,” Aegy tilted his head for a shrug. “We’ll find out when we get there. Say, Mal...do mammals have any theories as to what that star means?”
“Well,” Mal wiped his whiskers back again as he finished his crunchy bug from his pile. “According to the stories passed along, some say it’s not a star but something else, like a big ball of rock and fire that’s going to change the world. Some say...well...that it will usher in a new age. Maybe even help mammals become as grand as dinosaurs,” Mal explained calmly. The three dinosaurs looked down at him as he spoke, listening to his story before erupting into laughter.
“That’s ridiculous!” Og laughed, his head tilted back in amusement. “Mammals being as grand as dinosaurs! What, are they going to grow to be as big as T?”
“Yeah, yeah. Ha. Ha. Laugh it up,” Mal said as the group roared with laughter.
“I’m sorry, but that is a little far fetched, Mal. No offense,” Aegy said, trying to rein in his giggles.
“It’s just what I heard,” Mal said easily, used to dinosaurs not taking his kind very seriously so he wasn’t too surprised by their hysterical laughter. They were probably right anyway.
“We should really try and get some sleep before the morning,” T said once his laughter calmed down. “It was great meeting you, Mal. Thanks for the company.”
“Of course. Can I give you something to take with you on your quest? I’d like to give an offering to whoever you find,” Mal asked, causing the dinosaurs to exchange looks.
“It’s supposed to be something precious to you,” Aegy explained.
“Ah, here,” Mal scurried up Og’s side, causing him to squirm and sputter in annoyance at the feeling. Mal flipped open the leaf pouch around his neck, and dropped in some dead crunchy bugs he had hunted down that night.
“Bugs?!” Og snapped, outraged.
“Crunchy bugs! They’re the best and my favorite. Very good for you.” Mal closed the pouch up and scurried back down to the ground. “Good luck on your travels!”
The star was burning even brighter as the trio woke the next day, and seemed to be even bigger than the sun itself. Whatever it was the star was trying to show them, they had a feeling they were drawer closer. The landscape had changed as they neared the west coast, small bodies of water feeding into a massive ocean and sandy beach.
“We’re running out of land…” T said, scanning over the horizon at the endless sea. Small pockets of lush vegetation and tall trees surrounded the area near the beach, birds chirped and waves crashed slowly.
“Is...is this it? Where do---” Aegy started, the confusion in his voice interrupted by the start pulsing with a new, fiery light. Streams of red and orange now surrounded the star as it shined, the colors mesmerizing as they were beautiful. Brilliant, small pieces of the star seemed to be reaching out in all directions, firing off the bright light like outstretched claws.
“There,” Og breathed as a small flutter of spark soared over a small patch of greenery near by, the trees moving with the wind of the ocean. “I think it’s in there.”
They watched the trees a moment, apprehensive and nervous, as another streak seemed to flitter that direction again. The star was telling them to go inside.
T took the lead, scanning the area for danger as they calmly started pushing through the lush, wonderful smelling plants around them. If they hadn’t been so terrified, they’d be stuffing themselves with yummy food. Nothing seemed particularly impressive about the area until they spotted a nest tucked away quietly under a mound of dirt and leaves.
The trees swayed softly, the star throwing off waves of red and orange, making the trees and water seemed hued in pinks. Sunlight peaked through the rolling clouds, spilling on the lonely, quiet nst.
“That’s definitely it,” Aegy whispered, his gut tightening with anticipation. He glanced over at Og and T, who seemed to be waiting for him to make the first move. With a calming breath, he approached the nest. It was mound nest, not what Aegy was used to seeing when it came to eggs. His kind, probably the same with Og’s and T’s, had their nests open and guarded. Aegy could see shards of eggshells scattered about, the nest’s dirt and leaves pushed away by what had been burried inside.
“I think it’s empty,” Aegy said confused, sniffing the next and pushing it with his nose to see inside. He could smell something faint, very small and unknown. A small wiggle was reacting to his investigation, still inside the dirt covered nest. A small pip came from under the dirt and a tiny, skinny snout poked out, little claws reaching out for light.
Aegy pushed more of the dirt away, exposing the small baby inside who pipped happily at the sight of sunlight. Crawling from the next, the baby had a long, narrow snout, two clawed hands and hind feet, and the tiny start of what would be a massive sail down his back. Aegy stared in amazement as the tiny think chirped happily at him, its snout lined with sharp little teeth.
“Well I’ll be damned,” T said, watching over Aegy’s shoulder at the baby Spinosaurus who gazed up at them lovingly.
“Why’s it by itself?” Og quizzed, watching the baby with a scowl. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Give him the gifts, Og,” Aegy nodded at the pouch around Og’s neck.
“Are you sure this is...this is it?” Og glanced up at his travel mates and the star exploded again, soaring now even brighter. The trio jumped and T gave an uneasy nod.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s it,” T nodded at the pouch again and Og pulled the bag loose with his teeth, placing it out for the chick.
Og shook the contents out of the bag, the ferns and flowers fluttering to the ground by the crunchy bugs and T’s prized rock. The rock, they had to admit, was pretty nice. It was a white color, with spectrums of blue and pinks in veins running through its pearl, smooth surface. The baby trotted over to the presents and sniffed them, trying to chew on the opal first before deciding happily on the crunch bugs.
“What do we do now…?” T asked, glancing up at the sky which was now in a rainbow of fire at the horizon of the sky, like a sunset burning into the landscape on the other side of the ocean. It was beautiful, and the star was totally gone within the molten display.
“I don’t know,” Aegy sighed, smiling a little at the chick who was rolling happily in the flowers he had picked. He liked them, and that made him a little happy.
“Well, we have to figure out something. What are we supposed to do with...with that?” Og nodded down at the chick, running in circles around their feet.
“We’ll figure it out, Og,” Aegy laughed and glanced again at the pretty, rumbling sunset. “It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”
