Young Denton lay awake looking up at the stars. It was late, his mother lay close by asleep. It would seem that all in the valley would have been asleep as well, but the eternal chirping of insects and small toads would make it seem otherwise.
As the young longneck lay looking up at the cosmos he'd study each star, some would seem to twinkle others just stayed perfectly lit. Some were bright, others were dim, Denton was fascinated by them and he'd often wonder in silence about them
The moon was at mid peak now, full and bright, an ominous dead-like grin smiling down upon the sleeping valley, Denton never liked the look of it, there was something about that giant orb of white light that always spooked him but he could never figure it out.
It was indeed late, but Denton was having trouble getting to sleep. Those past few nights before he had been having terrible dreams. But when he would awaken he would remember nothing about them, except that they were truly terrible and he felt very bothered about trying to get back to sleep. He, being the ever shy creature that he was never spoke of these dreams, but the few that were friends with him started to notice that he started to grow increasingly more and more tired each day.
Denton knew he needed his sleep, but he feared the strange nightmare that kept haunting him, but even as he tried to fight off sleep this night, he felt his eyelids starting to give out, he was too weak to fight any more and so he gave in, his eyes snapped shut and he was swept away once more into that recurring nightmare.
He awoke finding all about him in complete darkness, a cold breeze blew constantly around him and he had the feeling of absolute loneliness, he cried for his mother but she was nowhere to be seen or heard, the only sound came from the howling wind. Suddenly the sky above lit up, a bright and terrible light came erupting from the west and it shot into the east and at a terrifying rate before disappearing behind the mountains, lighting up the clouds around it as it went. The wind went silent and Denton stood shaken by the terrible sighting, he knew not what to make of it.
Then suddenly...
BOOM!
Denton awoke suddenly, his ears ringing from the terrible sound from his dream, or was it really from his dream?
The whole valley was now awakened and it was still night. Everyone seemed disturbed by something and they were all looking towards the western walls of the valley. Behind those walls there seemed to be an eerie glow illuminating the sky. Denton's mother was already up with the other adults and they each spoke in hushed voices.
"What is that strange light? What was that horrible sound?"
"It shook the valley whatever it was!"
"Should we go investigate?"
"No! Its beyond the valley... it would be much too dangerous."
Denton slowly made his way towards the silent meeting, he looked around to see who all was there, his mother was busy conversing with the other valley inhabitants so he dared not interrupt her. He still crept near looking to see if any of his friends were there hoping they'd know more about what was going on.