Somewhere in a secluded forest clearing untouched by the hands of progress and technology, the sun slowly rose, as it always tended to. As it cleared the mountains and started to shine its light over the trees of the forest, it began to focus its light on the only life to be seen for miles. Below the sun and the clouds was a small, cramped nest of raptors, protected only from the elements by a thick sheet of deer skin held up by a few hefty sticks. Some of them had the fortune of being tall and muscular, a good way of expressing dominance over the clan without much of a fight. Others were blessed with a certain roundness that defended its bearer surprisingly well, making them the first pick for the hunt.
One raptor had none of these qualities, leaving him little more than just a short, diminutive reptile with only enough weight for one to take notice and not enough to serve any practical purpose. His one skill he prided himself most on was his speed, although even this was usually debated by his brothers. It was this little raptor that noticed the coming of daybreak, feeling the sun's rays burning into his eyes even through the makeshift tent above. He slowly rolled over onto his belly, letting off a soft sigh through his snout and silently wishing to anybody who would be listening that the sun would just slink back behind the mountains for a little longer. His prayers would go unanswered for another day.
He could feel his brothers and sisters that had been huddled together with him under the tent starting to writhe around, jabbing into him with their knees and elbows. The young raptor would have had much more enthusiasm for the mornings if his siblings didn't give more than he could possibly muster. The other raptors were already wide awake and on their feet with barely even a yawn, some of them already huddled around the fire speaking of the hunt from the day before. The little reptile was the slowest to pick himself up off of the soft nest, slowly staggering towards the bonfire to let himself warm up, his head buzzing violently.
At the very least, the fire was inviting, the young saurian taking advantage of its heat to warm his scales on this cold winter day. Keeping the fire going was one of the most prestigious tasks a clan member could be given, due to the cold-blooded nature of the clan. The little raptor gave a silent thanks for the one who had to trudge out into the woods each day and stagger home with a bundle of heavy sticks. Some days it was him who had to go out and fetch the wood, and while the sticks were heavy and hard to carry across the treacherous forest ground, it gave him some time alone to think, something he never seemed to have much of.
The scene around the fire was the same one the younger dino had seen hundreds of times before. A few of his brothers were currently in one of their sessions of roughhousing, hooting and squawking as they rolled across the grass trying to pin the other down. So far, it seemed like the fat one, the one who could take a hit, would as usual, end up on top. The younger reptile pondered for a moment to join in, but thought better, figuring he'd have no chance of winning.
For now, he decided the best thing to do is head to the lake and clean himself until he was needed for something. Hopefully, the cool water would clear his mind of the malaise he was in this morning. As he wandered to the lake, the young raptor tried to figure out what it could have been that seemed to be troubling him. By the time he had reached the watering hole, he began to wonder if he had always really felt this way.
While it was true he had what he needed for basic survival, food, shelter, and what could possibly referred to as companionship, what he really wanted was something else. For as long as the raptor had lived, he had slept in the same nest, talked to the same people, and ate what seemed to be the same deer since he was a hatchling. Surely, the raptor guessed, that he and his clan couldn't possibly the only people in the land. But what else could there be?
As he entered the cool, clear waters of the lake, he sighed softly, feeling the dirt held tight against his muddy-red scales slowly loosen himself. There was only one other raptor in the lake at the moment, one of the caretakers for the hatchlings. Like the young raptor, he seemed to lack the passion for fighting that the rest of the clan he seemed to share, so he became one of the few people the little reptile was willing to share this most private thoughts with.
The young raptor turned to the caretaker, who was busy trying to clean a spot on his back. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether it'd be worth it to even bring up the problem, but eventually, the need to tell somebody at all won out. "Caretaker," the young raptor asked softly, afraid to speak too loudly. The older raptor seemed a little surprised at how the young one managed to sneak up on him in such a large lake, but smiled softly. "Good morning to you, my young one. Have you been well?"
The younger raptor sighed and scratched his head, pondering how he should phrase himself. "Yes. Well... yes. I have worry, though. I have been thinking much." The caretaker chuckled and slowly turned to face the young raptor, figuring he'd be here for advice. While the caretaker knew the young one wasn't the strongest in the clan, thinking was something he did especially well. "Oh? And what worries you?"
The young raptor closed his eyes and let off one more sigh, longer and more frustrated than the one before. "Caretaker... is there anything besides the clan?" The older reptile opened his eyes in surprise. Nobody had ever asked him that before, nor had he actually began to ponder that himself. "What could you mean, my young one?" The younger one began to speak with a little less hesitation now that he had brought up the subject. "We can not be the only life here. There has to be something more. More people. More things."
The caretaker let himself slip under the waters a little, trying to decide how to possibly answer the young one. "I... I could not tell you. I never left the forest, because the clan has always taken care of me. Are you not happy here?" The young raptor began to wash his legs off, feeling a little offended by the question. "No, caretaker! It was just a question." The older reptile seemed to relax a little, nodding slowly. "I see. Well, may you find the answers you seek somewhere."
The young raptor slowly pulled himself out of the lake now that he was a little more clean, although now he had the problem of being cold and wet. The raptor turned towards the lake slowly. "Be well, caretaker." The other reptile nodded back, beginning to drag himself out of the water as well. "As well, my young one."
As the raptor headed back to the fire to warm himself up from the cold water, he began to feel even worse by the caretaker's answers. It was true that while life was boring for the young dinosaur, things would more than likely be too difficult on his own. As he sat on the ground and began to warm his hands, he decided to himself he would stay. For now, anyway. After what only felt like a moment or two, one of his brothers poked him on the shoulder, dragging him out of his own thoughts. "Caretaker says get wood," he said, gruffly. "So go get wood."
The young raptor sat up and nodded. Normally he would have been bothered by the tone of voice his sibling took, but at the moment, any chance for some peace and quiet would be appreciated. The raptor took off towards the forest, the sounds of carousing and conversation slowly fading off into the distance as he left the clearing. The raptor slowly headed deeper into the forest, keeping an eye out for any trees with thick enough branches for a good fire. He prided himself on having a good eye for firewood, which was probably why he was always the one asked to go fetch it.
The raptor continued upon the path of dead leaves, the only sound now being the crunch of them beneath his toeclaws. Up ahead were a line of trees with some particularly hefty branches, looming over a small drop that, at the very edge of the young raptor's vision, seemed to thin out. The raptor made a mental note to find a way down there some day, for now focusing on breaking off some branches to carry. As they snapped off, one by one, the weight of each branch in the raptor's arms made it more difficult to properly balance himself.
As he got enough branches to make a respectable fire, one of the pieces of wood he was carrying snagged itself against the tree, causing him to stumble. As he tried to catch his footing, he could feel himself being dragged towards the steep hill below, trying desperately to not slip. The weight of the logs in his arms, however, seemed to have more say in the matter, and the last thing the young raptor saw before he shut his eyes tight was the ground below coming in fast.
He could feel himself rolling, faster and faster as gravity took hold, but everything for him seemed to play in slow motion. The ground, even covered in soft leaves, was not the raptor's friend, which he was reminded of each time he was slammed against it, harder and harder. He could hear the trees rushing past him, hoping he wouldn't end up hitting one. Eventually, however, he found himself staring up into the sun once more, the branches he had been carrying scattered around his beaten body.
The first thing he did was give himself a quick check for anything broken. He had quite a few bruises, mostly against his arms and legs, but all of his bones, thankfully, seemed to be where they should have been, as far as he could tell. As he staggered to his feet, the bruises took their effect, making it hard for him to move around at his usual zip. As he looked behind him, he noticed that the small cliff he had dropped down off of would make it nearly impossible to get back to the clan the way he came.
His only option, then, would be to find another way. As he turned around, however, the raptor came across a strange sight. It seemed to be some sort of path, only made of black stone, with two lines of yellow dividing it in two. The raptor slowly leaned it and touched it with one of his claws, finding it cool to the touch. Pressing his foot against it, he found it a little painful to walk on, but otherwise safe.
The raptor started to walk down the path, keeping an eye out in the forest behind him for somewhere to climb back up to higher ground. As he pondered how to explain what happened, he started to hear a gust of wind behind him. As he turned around to face the source, he squawked, a huge shape coming toward him. He quickly jumped back towards the grass, the colossal metal object rushing by him. The raptor couldn't possibly begin to describe it to himself, other than deciding it looked heavy and hard to stop. At least he knew the path wasn't safe to walk on.
As he continued on against the side of the path, making clear to keep himself far off of it this time, another shape rushed by him, only to slow down, sputter slightly, and come to a halt. The raptor decided to take a closer look at a safe distance, hiding behind a tree to take a look at the shape. It seemed to be much like the one that had nearly hit him earlier, only smaller, and with a brownish-green shade to it, like the color of the dead leaves below him. Under it seemed to be a few circular objects, with a shiny silver disc in the middle. A large container in the back held a few logs under one of the canopies back at his clan, only this one was made with a strange blue sheet rather than deer skin.
Somebody began to step out of the machine from the inside, muttering something to themselves he couldn't quite understand. Its operator seemed to be reptilian, but that was where the similarities ended. The reptile was bright green, for one thing, and most of his bumpy scales were covered in cloths of different shapes and colors. He was much taller than the young raptor, too, and much more rotund, probably able to beat his fatter sibling in any fight. The male flicked his tail a little, the appendage covered in the thick, bumpy scales his arms and head seemed to be covered in.
"Egg-suckin' bastard," the machine's user muttered at the machine, wandering towards the front of it. "Gonna have to go fetch the spare battery, just friggin' bought one, swear to god..." Whatever the machine was doing, it seemed it wasn't actually supposed to be doing that. The larger reptile reached into the interior of the machine and grabbed another object, pulling open the front of the machine and staring into its insides.
The young raptor wasn't sure what the other reptile was doing, nor was he sure how long he was going to take. Those logs seemed to be the perfect size for the bonfire, but, the raptor figured, the reptile would probably need them, too. As he pondered what he should actually be doing, the reptile slammed the machine's guts shut, pulling him back inside of it. Whatever the case, if this was the same machine that nearly trampled him a few minutes ago, maybe this one moved as fast. If he wanted to get out of this life he seemed to be stuck in, this would be his only chance.
He quickly clambered into the container on the back of the machine, hiding under the canopy with the logs, hoping he wouldn't be noticed by the reptile on the inside. The machine started to growl and roar under the raptor, before starting to purr. The raptor gave one last look towards the forest he was raised in before he felt himself being dragged away down the path...
