Thanks for the feedback!
I haven't been working on the story too much lately, as I got stuck. However, I still managed to write some more. So I'll post what else I had managed to write for the time being.
It didn’t take Littlefoot long to reach the nest again. He had been able to get back quicker than he had expected. His friends hadn’t really noticed he was there. No called for his name were heard, and his friends wouldn’t have kept quiet if they saw him. After all, he was supposed to be sick, and seeing him walking around anyway would confuse or concern them.
Cera especially would nag him. Out of them, she would be the first to realize he had lied to them, and she would demand the truth. Not simply ask, but demand. She was like that. Not always the most polite dinosaur. But she still had the best intentions at heart, even if her methods were...questionable to say the least.
She was certainly better than how she used to be. He often could not believe the yellow threehorn that he played with everyday was the same one that he initially met long before he ever set foot in the Great Valley. She had been different then. More aggressive. More spiteful of other species. Harder to deal with. Less sensitive about certain matters. More likely to say something inappropriate. She had been willing to leave Spike behind and she had insulted his mother.
Looking at her now, it was a surprise at how much she had changed. He guessed that the experience had ultimately humbled her, and living in a largely stressfree valley certainly helped. But no amount of staying here could get rid of her stubbornness, and she certainly wouldn’t let him live this down if he was caught in his little lie.
His thoughts soon turned to the previous topic at hand as his grandparents rapidly came into view. He watched as the two massive dinosaurs, still keen even in their old age, rested on the ground, their tails curled slightly towards their bodies. By this point, some of the stars had already started to shine. Not many, just enough to slightly decorate the colorful sky, the colors emptying into blackness in the far distance.
Littlefoot approached his grandparents slowly, not wanting to disturb them. They appeared to be having a peaceful moment just staring out into the stars. Normally, he’d call out to them, but today, it was different. He was still in a deep, contemplative mood, and his grandparents almost seemed to reflect that. He can save his question for later, whenever his grandparents decided to speak. He still needed a bit of time to think.
The young longneck went to his usual sleeping spot, which was not far from his grandparents. The two old dinosaurs hadn’t yet noticed him, or perhaps they just didn’t acknowledge him yet. He laid down on the ground, curling into a small ball. He looked over at his grandparents, who still didn’t seem to realize he was there. They were too busy looking at the stars to notice him. Littlefoot thought about calling out their names, but chose to remain quiet. He instead looked at the stars as well.
There weren’t too many in the sky, but the ones they could see, they were quite pretty. They seemed to almost sparkle in the colorful, darkening sky. If he were to stare long enough, the number of stars would increase. It was quite fascinating, and often left him in awe. Sometimes he wondered where the stars went during the daytime. Do they fly away scared off by the bright circle? Possible; the bright circle’s light was pretty intense.
But enough thinking about stars. He turned his mind back to Bron. He could feel the insides of his stomach start to burn as he longed to be able to talk to his dad again. He didn’t know what his grandparents would be able to do. He couldn’t ask them to go on that incredibly long journey again just to ask his father a question. He also didn’t want to endanger his friends. Knowing Cera, she would convince them to join her in tracking him down again. They were lucky to have run into Pat during their first trip. They might not be so fortunate next time.
His grandparents might know of something that he could do. He wasn’t sure what, but if he could just ask them, then maybe...
Oh what good will it do? They would not travel that far for a question, and he had his doubts Bron would come all the way over here. His only chance was to play the long game, and just...wait. Not the answer that he wanted, but...waiting seems to be his best choice.
He could simply wait until he was old enough to leave the valley on his own. Then he wouldn’t need to worry about his grandparents taking him; he could just go on his own. He wasn’t sure how well he could handle this burning sensation of wanting to know, but he probably could manage. Just remind himself each night that, one day, he’d get the answers he so desired.
Littlefoot suddenly felt tired. He wasn’t sure what it was. He hadn’t really done much of anything. Perhaps he thought too hard. His head felt like it was on fire. He should probably get some sleep. Yes..that might help him clear his mind and think of how he was going to word things with grandma and grandpa. Rest had helped him out before, and it could do so again. With that resolve, he looked over at his grandparents and uttered a single word before closing his eyes.
“Goodnight, grandma and grandpa.”
His eyes shut, and he instantly welcomed the darkness that followed.
“Do you think he knows, dear?”
“No...he has never asked.”
“Maybe he is just too afraid.”
“That isn’t like him. If he knew anything, he would bring it up.”
Littlefoot jostled on the ground, trying to keep his eyes closed. But how can he? His grandparents..what were they talking about? Curiosity swiftly got the better of him and he opened them up.
Only to be greeted by the most surreal sight he had ever seen.
No longer was he on the grassy land, with a dark sky overhead. No longer was the night circle up, giving a soft, white glow, or the stars hanging overhead, sparkling in the blackness above him. No longer did anything even appear remotely normal. It almost reminded him of that dream he had with the bright circle falling. Only this was much more bizarre.
The land he was on was blackened, almost like fire had scorched it. Yet, when he looked at the trees, the leaves still remained, even though they were several shades darker than they used to be. They swayed in visible wind, pale grey lines that moved through the air, hitting against the trunks and making them bend much further than usual. The mountains that made up the walls of the Great Valley looked more jagged and foreboding, nothing like how he was used to. This was not the comforting valley he had grown to love.
His grandparents looked rather odd as well. Their bodies were much darker. Not black, but close to it. They appeared much taller, more stretched out, more mysterious. Almost an enigma. He couldn’t even see their faces, and they hardly moved, save for a bit of swaying from their tails, and their heads moving ever so slightly from one side to the other. When they spoke, their mouths didn’t appear to open, at least from his angle.
“Sooner or later, he is going to question us.” His grandmother said. “It is probably best if we tell him now.”
His grandfather shook his head. “Do you know what that might do to him? He’s happy right now. Let’s not tell him. He’s having a fun time right now. Let’s allow them to have their fun.”
Littlefoot tilted his head, perplexed. What were they talking about?
“Grandpa? Grandma?” He asked, but he got no response.
Littlefoot approached his grandparents cautiously. He continuously called out their names, only to be greeted by silence. His grandparents didn’t speak again after that. They merely nuzzled each other, which in itself, the longneck didn’t find too weird or unusual. It was only when he got closer did he see something very wrong with this picture.
The two masses of flesh were getting fused together...
Littlefoot let out a terrified scream, scrambling to get back as the two old longnecks before him started to become part of each other. Literally. The skin turned into something like mud, and it stretched and swirled around each other before they become locked in place. Gone was the familiar shape of the longnecks, and present was a massive form of a shape he could not fully comprehend. It was round, angular, and just all over the place. The massive size of it put Littlefoot in its shadow, making the longneck back up more.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. He watched as the shape stretched and bent on the ground. It danced before him, and then there was an opening in the center. Something with sharp, jagged teeth... Letting out another scream, Littlefoot dove into the ground and put his legs over his head. He shut his eyes and stayed where he was, too afraid to try to get up and run.
When nothing happened, he worked up the courage to open up one eye. The shape was moving. Opening both eyes and raising his head, Littlefoot watched as the thing appeared to stretch towards the sky, leaving behind a long, winding trail. Littlefoot stared in awe at this, his young mind trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
He didn’t get long to think about it. Below his feet, the ground started to quake and shiver. Littlefoot was knocked from side to side. His feet slipped out from underneath him and he let out a grunt as he hit the grassy floor. He spluttered out dirt and grass as he pushed himself up on one leg.
Looking to the left, his eyes widened in horror when he saw something round and white, shining in the bright light above him.
An egg... What was it doing out here?
Litltefoot looked on as the egg wobbled from side to side, increasing in frequency as the quake got stronger. A crack began to form around it, and he could hear the grinding of rocks, loud cracks filling his ears. Panting heavily, the longneck scrambled back up to his feet and rushed towards the egg.
“Hold on! I’m coming!” He shouted.
He tried to move as fast as he could. He pounded the ground with his feet, propelling him forward as quickly as possible. The ground beneath him grew more and more unstable. He could feel it begin to crumble underneath his weight, causing him to fall a few times. Each time, he’d get back up and continue running, but for some reason, it felt as though each tumble increased the difficulty of this challenge.
Through the challenge and difficulty, Littlefoot managed to reach the egg. He looked down at it with concern, doing a cursory look to make sure that it was fine. He sighed with relief when he saw no marks on it.
Suddenly, the ground underneath them broke. Littlefoot felt his footing crumble into small pieces and he plunged downward. The egg was no longer in sight. He looked around frantically, seeing nothing but blackness.
That is, until he saw the eyes...
Littlefoot screamed and he flailed his thick legs as he tried to gain some kind of leverage. He struck out against the blackness all around him, but he found nothing. Just empty air. He looked down below, shrieking as the thing below him, its glowing yellow eyes staring at him, opened its giant maw, rows of what appear to be sharp teeth growing around the edges. He shut his eyes and waited for the end.
He hit something solid and flat. Confused, he opened up his eyes. Where had this platform come from? He looked out at the beast still below him. To his terror, he could see the egg plummeting down, the jaws snapping around it and the sickening crunch could be heard.
“No!”
sss
“Littlefoot? Littlefoot, wake up!”
The young longneck opened up his eyes. He was instantly greeted by the blurry vision that was his grandmother. Her familiar face, though fuzzy, was easily recognizable. If he didn’t recognize that, then he’d recognize her voice. Soft and soothing, it instantly reminded him of where he was.
Littlefoot looked left and right, seeing that the land hadn’t changed. The land was still green...or at least, as green as it could be in the darkness of night. There was no quake, no breaking of the ground, no egg that was being swallowed up by some strange rock-like sharptooth. Just him, his grandparents, and the silence of the valley. Sighing with relief, he rested his head back on the ground.
He didn’t get a chance to close his eyes again when he heard his grandmother speak to him.
“What’s going on, Littlefoot? Did you have a bad sleep story?”
Littlefoot looked up at his grandmother. He wanted to just dismiss it and forget it ever happened. He was still shaken up by the events of the sleep story. But the words flowed out of his mouth before he had realized it. “Yes.”
His grandmother gave him a sympathetic look. “Do you mind talking about it? The night circle is still high in the sky. We have a bit of time to talk if you’d like.”
Littlefoot paused for a moment. He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to talk about it right this second. He could feel his eyelids growing heavy and even the stars felt too bright for him right now. All he wanted to do right now was go back to sleep. And yet he could not. That sleep story... It was so strange.. It gnawed away at his insides, threatening to make him expel his food from his stomach. Curiosity made its presence known, and it made it impossible for him to close his eyes, no matter how much he tried.
He supposed he could stay up a little while and speak to his grandmother. She was right. They did have some time. They would be able to get enough sleep for tomorrow even if they decided to stay up a little and chat.
He looked at his grandfather. He thought about waking him up to talk to him as well. He thought better of it. A bad sleep story was no reason to wake up his grandfather. He didn’t want to disturb him from whatever sleep story he might be enjoying right now.
Looking back at his grandma, he nodded his head a couple of times. “Y-Yeah... I don’t think I can get back to sleep just yet.”
His grandma nodded in understanding. She lowered her head and gently nuzzled him. “It’s okay, Littlefoot. Sometimes, sleep stories can do that, good or bad. They can make you think.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Littlefoot said. He lowered his neck and pushed his foot against the side of his head. “My head hurts just thinking about it. It was...one really strange sleep story.”
“Go on and tell me all about it, Littlefoot.” His grandmother said in a soothing voice. “I’m all ears.”
“I’m..not even sure where to begin, grandma.” Littlefoot looked up at his grandmother. “I never had a sleep story like this before. I mean, you and grandpa were in it, then this egg, and...”
“I understand, Littlefoot. Take all the time you need.”
Littlefoot did his best to gather up his thoughts. He tried to think about how he was going to explain this to his grandmother. It was one thing to experience the odd sleep story, but it was another to tell it to another living dinosaur. The sleep story was almost...beyond description, and parts of it he feel he was forgetting.
How would he explain this to his grandmother? How could he take a sleep story like that and summarize it in a way that she would understand? Or anyone for that matter? Yet he knew he had to try. This sleep story was going to keep him up all night long unless he talked to someone about it. Even if his grandmother couldn’t explain anything about it to him, he’d feel better at least trying. Then he’d feel more at ease.
“Well you see, grandma...it’s like this...”
The longneck paused for a few seconds. He tried to think in his head exactly what he was going to say. He scrambled through his mind, doing what he could to remember as much of the details as he could. If his grandmother was going to help him make sense of it, then she was going to need as many details as possible. Nothing, not even the smallest detail, should be left out. After all, the smallest thing can yield the biggest results, right?
When he felt as though he was ready, the longneck began to explain his sleep story.
“In the sleep story, I was here..and yet I was not. The land had changed, and everything looked so dark and scary. Even you and grandpa. Then you were talking. You appeared to be talking about me..or maybe you weren’t. I don’t know. I tried calling out to you, but you did not hear me. Then you and grandpa...melted together. Like...your bodies turned into water and you fused together. I’m not sure how to explain it. After that, there was a massive earthquake that broke the land apart, and a sharptooth that appeared to be made of rock appeared and I started to fall. Oh and before that, there was this egg that I had found. It fell with me. I landed on some ledge, but the egg fell into the sharptooth’s mouth and it got crushed. That’s when I woke up.”
His grandmother stared at him with widened eyes. “Oh my...” She lowered her head a little. “You were right, dear. That is some sleep story.”
Littlefoot nodded his head slowly, his gaze facing towards the ground. “I can’t make sense of it. I mean, I don’t even know who you were talking about. I thought it was me but..thinking about it.. Maybe it wasn’t.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “It might have been someone I don’t know. Maybe my mind just made it up.”
“Sleep stories are often the manifestation of thoughts and feelings. Perhaps whatever you were thinking of during the day has crept into your sleep story and is trying to tell you something. I know it’s hard to understand at first, but if you give it some thought, I’m sure you’ll figure out something.” His grandma said.
“In the sleep story, you and grandpa were talking about things like ëdoes he know’, ëit’s best if we let him have fun’, ëshould we tell him’, things like that.” Littlefoot explained. “And when you were talking, you were darkened. This was before you melded together and stretched like you were some kind of large, flexible treestar. Well not a treestar but...” His voice trailed off for a few seconds. “Anyway, you were talking about someone. Grandma...is there someone whom you and grandpa were keeping information from?”
His grandma stared at him with wide eyes. There was a look of recognition in her eyes, and right then, Littlefoot knew he had hit something. “I... Well that could just be a coincidence.”
“Grandma...” Littlefoot narrowed his eyes. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
His grandma let out a soft sigh. “Well I suppose you deserve to know.” She stared down at him quietly for a few moments. She closed her eyes and turned her head away. Then she tilted her head up, meeting gaze with the night circle. “Those words do sound familiar... They remind me of when your grandpa and I were talking about Bron... your father.”
Littlefoot widened his eyes at this. “My dad...? Wh-What about him?”
Yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger. This is where I got stuck. I'm not sure where to take this. Rhombus was nice enough to give me some idea, but I'm still at a bit of a loss of how to handle this.
