Leave the nest

I STOOD WITH A FRUSTRATED huff and began to slink out of the den in a somewhat accurate recreation of Mother’s earlier gait. One of my siblings chirped and stood to follow me as I exited the den, but after a moment of contemplation, I turned and growled at them as Mother had earlier… At least I meant to growl, but the sounds that escaped my maw sounded more like an aggressive, high-pitch whine than it did a growl. Either way, the sibling seemed to get the message as they stopped before promptly scuttling back deeper into the den. As I had earlier.

Hmm...

With that done, I turned around and continued towards the exit. A slow and tiring trudge uphill soon brought me out, my pace greatly hindered by my shorter and weaker limbs. Despite that though, I quickly concluded the effort was worth it. Though not much brighter than inside the den(which was good?) the outside world was still amazing, especially after I pushed out the shrubbery to get a better view.

For one, it was much bigger than inside the den. All around was a clearing many Mothers long dotted with little shrubs, twigs, bushes and rocks. Surrounding the clearing were tall shrubs. No trees! Great trees many, many Mothers high and filled with twigs, leaves and… food?

I tilted my head slightly to the left as I watched creatures smaller than myself dart around in the branches above. Well, some of them were about my size or even a tad bigger, the rest were smaller. Much smaller. They should be food right? They did look, sound and move like food.

That should be food, I ascertained to myself after a moment of thought as I stared at one in a branch above me where it sat staring back cautiously at me.

Processing Visual Feedback

Identifying

Anchiornis Huxleyi - Juvenile(Prey item)

Prey item? That meant food right? But, how do I eat it? I asked myself as I stared at Food sitting up in the branch above. I sat down for a moment observing the food before quickly giving up. There didn’t seem to be a way for me to catch one with most only scurrying in the branches above. Their feathered arms and tails granted them remarkable balance and ensured, unfortunately for me, that none fell to the ground. While a few did descend of their own free will, they only did that a fair distance away whilst keeping a keen eye on me.

Just to be sure, I tried approaching one but once I reached within a few Mothers away from it, the cursed creature immediately made for the branches above. It bound up the tree’s trunk and branches with annoying dexterity, claws digging into bark and feathered arms propelling it farther up with each jump. Just as my frustration began mounting I paused, as a thought crossed my mind. They had claws. I looked down and realised I had claws too! Bigger, much more curvy claws. They had feathers, I had feathers too. I should be able to reach them, right? Nope. Not even after carefully observing them for several minutes on end could I replicate the esoteric feat of scaling the great trees. Hence, I soon gave up on the thought.

I sat at the bottom of a tree and stared upwards in anger. I just want to eat you, I hissed at Food in annoyance and once again the sound came out not as I intended. Whiny and high pitched. Despite that, I wasn’t deterred in the slightest from my attempts at coercing my meal down from its hiding place. Come down! I clicked and again, I was promptly ignored, the cursed food eating something in the tree above as it stared down chirping back at me.

Hmm, wait... Food eating food? Then Food’s food must be food, right? The strangely confusing thought refused to leave my mind as soon as it settled. I stood again, my eyes scanning the forest litter for Food’s food and soon I found a few.

Processing Visual Feedback

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Identifying

Primordial Beech-Nut(Non-edible)

I gnawed on the Food’s food for a moment before promptly spitting it out, disgusted. Blurgh. I looked up at Food again, glaring, before turning to leave with an annoying realisation forming in the back of my mind.

Food’s food was not food.

I returned to the den’s entrance and began sniffing as Mother had earlier. It was getting really dark and the yellow ceiling outside the den was starting to slowly turn orange. Was that bad? I don’t know, the den was dark too so that shouldn’t be too bad. Right? Either way, I had to find Mother soon. Maybe if I found her she would catch the annoying food and let me eat it. Or if that didn’t work, she might convince the foods to come down from the tree obediently to be eaten. I hope they did soon though, I was starting to get very hungry. Very, very hungry.

I soon caught her familiar scent and began trailing her out of the clearing, leaving the foods to chirp annoyingly behind me. I trudged through the shrubs snout to the ground, sniffing as I walked. I could feel her scent incrementally grow stronger and somehow I knew I was getting closer. For several minutes I continued on this path until I smelled it. A downwind draft blew over me, carrying the scent of something foreign yet foreboding. But, more importantly, it carried the scent of food. Fresh, sweet food.

I paused, caught in a dilemma as I turned my gaze between the direction to Mother and the direction to food. For several moments I was stuck until my stomach decided for me, grumbling much more fervently than before and urging me to feed. Mother was near and I would surely find her, but food? I knew, instinctively, that the more I waited the more likely food would no longer be my food but someone else’s food. So, I turned slinking towards food as fast as my legs could carry me, and soon I arrived.

There, hidden behind a tree was food. The shredded carcass of some large creature. I approached, cautiously, the foreign, foreboding scent in the air growing stronger with each step. A voice in the back of my head urged me to return to the den, but my stomach urged me forward, towards food. I paused weighing my choices before resolutely slinking forward.

Cautiously, I approached my food, the corpse almost indiscernible in the crimson darkness of dusk, but somehow I still managed to make out its outline from the shrubbery.

Processing Visual Feedback

Identifying

Gallimimus bullatus - Adult(Carcass)(Edible)

I slinked closer and took a careful nibble from a chunk of meat on the floor just beside the disembowelled creature. I took another cautious bite before ruthlessly tearing into the food as my baser instincts took over, driving me to feed faster. The meat chunk rustled noisily against the forest litter with my rabid feeding, so much so that I failed to detect the approaching silhouette until it was just a few Mothers away.

I looked up from my meal towards the figure that emerged from the bushes with widening eyes and a quickening heartbeat. The monster, larger than even Mother herself with two white crests upon its head stared rather maliciously at me, and in that split moment, a primal fear arose in my heart.

Processing Visual Feedback

Identifying

Guanlong wucaii - Adult(Predator)

I turned to flee, but with an explosive bound the monster was upon me, its maw wrapping around my neck before ruthlessly crushing down. In that instant I lost all feeling in my limbs and suddenly the forest became a whole lot dimmer. In my last moments, I watched stupefied as the monster dropped my dying body carelessly on the floor beside the carcass before slinking back to its hiding place underneath a nearby shrub, a striped pattern of black and grey feathers allowing it to seemingly melt into the forest shadows.

<>

The corner text read as my vision darkened...

Permanently.