They didn’t remember much of the before times. They remembered shelter, and cold, such terrible terrible cold. They remembered others that looked like them but taller. They brought food. Then the bigger ones started to get slower. They brought in less and less food. Then one by one they stopped coming.

Then the few big ones who were left changed. They looked thinner, and so very tired. It was cold and scary, and they didn't like it one bit. Suddenly they were taken to a new place, the water was warmer, but not warm enough. They remembered being carried down a lot of long passages, towed by the tall ones. Who passed them on to some new creatures. They were strange. Suddenly they were in weird green water, and the world outside was moving so fast they could barely understand what was happening. Eventually the creatures watching them changed again.

They wanted to get out, the world outside was moving so fast, it was so different. But they couldn’t leave, they could barely move.

Something was different today, the green was vanishing and reappearing. When it vanished the world slowed down. If they left what would happen. It was a scary thought, would they suddenly speed up too? Would they vanish in a blink like the others?

Next flicker another vanished, and it happened again and again. The fish that were trapped with them were vanishing too. Was this how it ended? They were scared, so when the next flicker happened and something grabbed them they bit as hard as they could. The hairless ape things though seemed more amused than hurt. They bit as hard as they could, but they were aware they were only little.

They were let go, and back in something, but it wasn’t green. They could see through it (well.... ish,) and it felt so familiar. Like the first place where they hatched. The place with the tall ones. No they couldn’t be here, they couldn’t go back to the col........ wait......... It wasn’t cold, had the tall ones found a warm place for them? Were they safe? It felt strange being out, they had felt something else in there. at first it had been nothing much. But eventually they had started to see it like the tall ones. It kept them safe from the bad things outside, and they knew it was still here. Except now there was another with them. The two had joined together to keep them safe. They could feel the need to protect from both of them. Then there was the strange monkey creatures. To them those creatures had barely been around for the blink of an eye before the flicker. But here they were trying to help. They were making the w.... water, that was the word. Water, warm and helping the others get free. The fish were being helped too. But they were being taken somewhere else. Maybe they needed a different kind of help? Or maybe the monkey things didn’t know they were supposed to be food yet. That had to be it.

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They still felt something was missing though, it had been given by the tall ones. A name. They were Calmbrook. That’s right. The cold had made remembering harder. But now they were warming up.

Calmbrook looked to where the feeling of protection had come from for all that time. In front of them was a big dark slab. They didn’t know the name for that, but they had decided on a title. They were mother now, the other one was father. They looked at the others hungrily, but just for a moment as a feeling of admonishment came from Mother. A new word too Family. They had been warned, no matter how hungry you do not eat family. That was something from the cold times, it should never have happened.

You protect family, Mother explained. They protect you, to harm family was bad because they were too few. Acting like the tall ones would lead to vanishing like them. Calmbrook did not want to disappear. They remembered the cold times and didn’t need them to happen again.

It seemed the other creatures had slowed down, or they had sped up now, as it seemed to take forever before they were taken out, panic seized them as they thought that maybe they weren’t supposed to leave, that they were to go back into the green to watch the whole world pass by without ever seeing it. But instead they were taken out, into a place with the biggest light Calmbrook had ever seen up above. Last time they had seen that the light had been different, and hiding behind the horrible cold stuff.

Next came another familiar sight, it was different. But it looked like the tallest. Same swishy tail, same big teeth. It was comforting to know some things stayed the same, no matter how much the world changed. The tallest had looked after the big ones, they remembered. Then they felt another pang as they realised there were no tall ones with them, and the tallest was alone. They didn’t smell the same now, the new smell was of stone and death. Maybe they were out of place too.

The world changed once more around them, as the thing they were in was gently placed in the water, and not just a little bit this time. So much warm water. This they realised was the place the big ones had been trying to take them. This was safe.

Lots of fish swam around them, enough to make sure they wouldn’t have to turn back to the ways of the cold times. Fish made more fish, and as long as they weren’t greedy and didn’t take too much there was enough here for them to grow big too. They would be the new big ones, and they would have little ones of their own one day. The biggest may be gone for now, they realised. But now they were out of the green it was time. Life would go on.