Cretaceous - Final Copy Ben Cracknell

08/10/2012

Annora watched Rothum as he flourished his brush, applying the final strokes to his work. Annora enjoyed watching, as she herself wished to become skilled in this avocation as well, if only to impress her friends. They all seemed so much more interesting than Annora herself, who had yet to uncover any discerning talents, besides her uncanny ability to knock things over with her large, unwieldy tail. Rothum set down his brush, and inspected the painting. It was a portrait of a young female apatosaurus, seeming to look past the viewer into the distance, as if more important things awaited her. She was not especial beautiful, but her striking features and intelligent eyes insured an overall attractive form. Behind her was only a blurred meadow, meeting near the middle with an equally blurry sky. Rothum, his expressing longing, gazed at his painting for a few more minutes, before he finally began putting his supplies away, leaving the painting itself out to dry. Annora didn't know why the artist looked so mournful, but she was beginning to feel the same way herself, just looking at him. She decided to leave Rothum alone, and explore around the lake. *** *** *** The wind picked up as Annora left the shelter of the village, so Annora increased her pace to get to the forest quickly. It was still windy when she had got to the forest, but the chilling effects were now dampered by the tall trees. By slowing down to a steady walk, Annora was able to more closely inspect her surroundings as she continued. After a few minutes, she stopped to admire a small yellow flower growing defiantly out of a crack in the barren rock. She would have studied it longer, but she quickly noticed a trail of ants crawling near it, which seemed much more interesting to her young mind. She followed the trail of ants over more rocks and across a log, until she reached a large mound of dirt and twigs. This must be their home, Annora thought, as she watched them all go about their business. She sat back on her haunches, wanting to watch more, when suddenly a gust of wind dislodged a fallen branch from its perch in a tree, impaling it into the anthill. Annora yelped in surprise as the ants and their home were scattered around the forest floor, many of them falling into a nearby stream, drowning. After recovering from her shock, Annora was hit by a sense of despondency, seeing all the ants and their hard work obliterated in an instant. But, she realized, this was the natural order, and there was nothing that could be done about it. She sighed, getting back up, and continued on her way, engrossed in her thoughts on ants and life. She was interrupted from her introspection by angry, but hushed voices coming from the village monk's hut on top of a hill in a clearing. Annora could only just make out a few words. "... break it to them? It's not like they would believe us anyway, and even if they did, what would that accomplish? Only mass panic!" "We have to say something! If we..." Annora tried to listen closer, but the two arguing had quieted down. She decided it was best to just leave them alone. She didn't want to be caught eavesdropping, especially when she wasn't supposed to taking a shortcut through the forest anyway. She again continued on towards the lake. Eventually, when Annora arrived, she spied a patch of soft looking grass. Deciding there was nothing better to do, she laid down, intending to watch the clouds. It was nearing sundown, so the sky was turning red, and some stars were already visible against the darker, eastern areas of the sky. Annora noticed the moon had come up already too, currently looking like a half circle. She was surprised to see what looked like a second moon, grey in colour, and appearing as a full circle. It was only just visible behind one of the distant but massive mountains. Her interest piqued, Annora studied the second moon. It was darker than the normal one, and not as round. Its darker areas were much more pronounced too, with certain spots appearing almost black. Annora continued to examine the darker moon, memorizing each line and ridge, as she did with all new

things she discovered. Her exceptional eyesight helped tremendously with her little pastime, and combined with her excellent memory, made her a quick learner of the world she was only recently introduced to, about 5 years ago. After familiarizing herself with the second moon, Annora tried to find some of the constellations the village elder had shown her. She thought she saw Unitaria, one of the ancient warrior goddesses, but still only some stars were discernible, making it difficult to distinguish between random stars and ones belonging to a constellation. Before long, Annora's back started to ache. She rolled over and stood up, relieving some of the tension in the small spines on her back. She padded softly over to the lake, and slowly waded in, enjoying the cool water as it soothed her cracked leathery feet. She leaned over, peering at her reflection, and smiled to herself. She looked pretty, her ivory teeth shining in the evening sunlight, and her pale brown skin complimenting the spines nicely, with just a hint of pink blended in. She continued to relax in the water for some time, until the sun had completely hidden behind the mountains across the lake. Although the water was fantastic, Annora didn't want to worry her mother, Diyota, so she would have to be heading home soon. After a few more minutes of leisurely swimming, Annora stepped out of the lake, munched on a nearby fern, and headed home. *** *** *** Annora reached her house, a small hut near the middle of the village, supported by three oak trees. Just before she walked in, she glanced up at the second moon again. Annora was shocked to see it had grown to twice it's original size, and had been turned completely upside down. She stood there for a few moments, wondering what it could mean. She would ask the elder about it in the morning, she decided, and walked inside. Annora smiled brightly as she saw her mother, who in return smiled back, and offered some dried conifer as a snack. "How was your day?" Diyota asked, nudging the dried conifer over to her daughter. "It was fine," Annora replied, as she reached for her snack. "I learnt some things from Rothum, but he seemed sad, I didn't want to stay long." "I know. He's been feeling that way for a while now. But don't worry, I'm sure he'll get over it soon. He just needs some time alone." "Why is he like that?" "Oh, Annora, I wouldn't want to worry you with such matters. Just eat up, and you can go to bed." Annora frowned, not yet feeling tired. Maybe she could stall her bedtime by talking about the second moon. "Mom, when I was outside, I say something really strange! I was looking at the sky, and you know how the moon is half-shaped now right?" "Yes..." Her mother replied, confused. "Well, I saw another one! It was just as big, but darker than the normal one, and it's shaped kinda funky. But now it's even bigger! It's like it grew out of a star! Is that how the moon was made?" Diyota shot her daughter a knowing glance. "Your not staying up any later than you should. Now finish up, and get ready for bed." "But it's really there! Just go look!" Diyota gave an exasperated sigh, but decided to indulge Annora. She walked outside the hut and looked up at the sky. After a few moments, Diyota reached hear head into the hut. "I'll going to talk the the elder for a minute dear. I'll be back soon." She walked away from the hut towards the western side of the village.

Annora returned to her snack, sipping the last of her water from the dish, waiting for her mother to return. It wasn't long until Diyota arrived back at the hut, nearly breathless, a stricken expression on her pale face. Annora watched, troubled, as her mother tried to regain her composure. "What's wrong mom?" "Annora, I need you to go to bed now. I'm going out, but I'm going to be a while, so don't wait for me." Diyota picked up Annora by the base of her neck, and set her down gently in bed, pulling the woven blankets up to the small child's neck. Diyota had left Annora alone before, the village was a very safe place. "Is this because you think I lied about the other moon?" Annora asked, her voice wavering as tears threatened to escape her eyes. "No, no dear, it's not that, I saw it too. Please, just go to sleep, I'll talk to you about it soon." "Alright mom." Diyota hugged her daughter, wrapping the blanket tighter. "See you in the morning mom!" "See you in-" Diyota voice broke, her eyes watery. "See you soon Annora." *** *** *** Annora awoke to her mother shaking her. She groaned, felling much more tired than she should have been. "No, I want to sleep more. Just a bit longer." "Annora, wake up." Diyota's urgent tone disturbed Annora, so she got up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Looking around, she noticed the hut was lit with a strange light. It looked like sunlight, but it had a slightly red tinge to it, and it flickered slightly. Intrigued, Annora woke up completely, and quickly stepped out of bed. She took a few steps, feeling unbalanced as blood rushed to her head, her mother watching with sad eyes. "What's going on mum?" Diyota said nothing, but lead daughter out of the hut and into the open air. All the other residents of the village had also gathered outside, and were looking up at the sky. Annora looked up. The second moon no longer looked like a friendly light in the sky. It had grown much, much larger, and had changed from darks grey to a fiery red. Annora noticed for the first time, that there were many other smaller objects surrounding it, all of which had also taken on the sinister red glow. Annora watched, transfixed by the frightening but oddly beautiful show in the sky. After a few minutes, and the strange object had grown even bigger, Diyota finally spoke. "Annora, we are going to leave this place soon. Were going to take a trip, somewhere far away." She nearly choked again as she looked into her daughters innocent eyes. "But why? I like it here. I don't want to leave my friends, and in school, were were just about to go bird watching!" Diyota tried to put on a reassuring smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sometimes it's best just to move on. Don't worry, everyone else will be coming too. Just trust me." She turned to face the meteor. It was close now, she could almost feel the heat radiating off it. It wouldn't be long. She turned back again to embrace Annora, nuzzling her one last time. "Let's play a game, yes? We'll go once were done."

"Okay! what should we play?" "Let's play pretend. Close your eyes and imagine a place you really want to go. When your done, open them, and that's where we'll be." "How will I know when to open my eyes?" Diyota took one final look at the meteor. It was almost here. "Close your eyes and imagine the place, then count to sixty out loud. Just like when we play hide and seek." "Okay, you you have to too, so we can go there together!" Diyota smiled, for real this time, and closed her eyes. They both began counting. "One, Two, Three, Four, Five..." The mother and daughter both felt a large shock coming from underneath them, followed by a sudden rushing noise, and finally, nothing. The two had not yet reached sixty, but it was over. *** *** ***

10 years later A small, fox-like creature pulled it self out of it's den. He basked in the sunlight, glad to have it finally warm his fur after so many years. He and his kin were finally able to thrive, now that the threat of attack by viscous predators had been significantly reduced during the black ages. After cleaning itself, the creature stepped quietly trough the early spring snow, in search of food.