Darkness That Lies Within
~*~
By Taratron and Onyxfang, 2008
Would you mind if I hurt you?
Understand that I need to
Wish that I had other choices
than to harm the one I love
What have you done now!
I know I'd better stop trying
You know that there's no denying
I won't show mercy on you now
I know, should stop believing
I know, there's no retrieving
It's over now, what have you done?...
~Within Temptation, What Have You Done, 2007
***
150 Million Years Ago…
A massive insect, emerald hued in color, vaguely resembling a modern praying mantis, flitted amid the massive, hairy ferns which dotted the lake's shorelines, pausing like a moth drawn to a flame by a clear green orb amid the foliage. The insect hovered motionless except for the ceaseless beat of it's wings, then a thin, delicately scaled eyelid flicked over one the orb one, twice, it's pupil contracting to zero in on the admirer. Disconcerted, the mantis shot away and landed on the branch of nearby tree, flexing its long forelimbs.
The brush rustled as the owner of the bewitchingly green eyes emerged, flexing the membranes of skin which stretched between its frail, birdlike thorax and leanly muscled limbs. A nightmarish beak stretched open in a yawn, displaying fully-toothed jaws perfect for spearing fish or frog .No one would ever accuse the Rhamphorhynchus of being a beauty, and in all truth, it couldn't have cared less. It was a simple creature, an efficient cross of reptile and bird situated in the heart of the food chain.
Its keen gaze took in its home territory, the same into which it had hatched, a beautiful tropical terrain, a place far the opposite of the Badlands composed of molten lava and blackened rock nearby. It was sheltered by elaborate planting, huge, hairy ferns, exotic, spiked flowers, long, curling vines. But the glorious foliage had a drawback: it hid other, more formidable predators.
Claws scraping bark from trunk, the pterosaur scrambled up a tree and took flight, gliding over the lake. A shimmer below the ripples caught its attention and with one swoop it skimmed down and broke the mostly calm surface, scooping up a sizable fish in its bill like a modern day pelican. The weight of the fish and water expanded its throat pouch, weighing it down until it drained the liquid back into the lake, landing on the far side to swallow.
They came at it from both sides. A pack of velociraptors, so silent and swift it'd never known they were there. They are lean, ferocious killers, more like cyborgs than anything organic. Their shrill hunting cries mixed with the pterosaur's screeches of agony as they tore it apart. Its blood drained into the lake rippling the clear water with pink crescents. The raptors fed on flesh and vital organs, scattering bones along the shoreline where they remained till many years later…
***
The pod gleamed unnaturally in the sun.
Unlike many before it, it was undamaged, the protoform in it complete and whole. This could perhaps be because of its landing destination among the thick ferns and trees, which had somewhat slowed and cushioned its crash, or perhaps Primus was in a generous mood. Whatever the case, if one judged this newcomer lucky to hand arrived on the planet of the Beast Wars with it's locking chips, data tracks, and DNA scanning array all intact, directly upon the fossilized remains of a compatible life form, no less, they would have been a fool.
Green eyes peered over the edge of the bank at its reflection, and then lifted claw-tipped hands in front of its face curiously. It lifted its small head and gazed up in awe at storm clouds brushing the tops of purple mountains framed by the massive trunks of ancient trees. The tranquil silence was shredded to remnants. A flame-thrower roared, scorching through the abundant foliage and reducing it to ash.
The newcomer shuddered and cowered as shadows overtook it, shadows of beings far larger and more powerful. They engulfed the new warrior and swallowed her whole.