Past Reminded

The young sharptooth, Chomper, slept contently beneath the starry night sky. The mostly eaten carcass of a young spike frill lay a short distance away. Watching from the rock outcrop above, the dark shadow of Sharptooth surveyed the seen. Scattered around the ground lay dozens of partially eaten bodies, all belonging to the same herd of spike frills. The scavengers had come, drawn by the scent of fresh blood and the promise of a feast. They picked away at the decaying bodies.

Sharptooth gave them no notice. His concern was with the small predator below him. He choose to follow Sharptooth for the sake of a friend, so much like what happened before. The great predator gazed up at the stars above and the great night circle which cast its silver light across the barren landscape. It was a night much like tonight. Over a hundred years ago, he met the love of his life. Razorclaw.

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They met on a hunt. He had been stalking a three-horn across the land for days and it was finally succumbing to fatigue. Just as he was about to take it, she appeared. Being upwind, Sharptooth never even noticed her until the moment she struck. She charged the three-horn head on and dug her claws in its flesh just before clenching her jaws around its neck. It was dead in seconds.

As she gorged herself on it, Sharptooth had approached. It was his hunt, his pray she had just taken. But she was significantly bigger and stronger then he, as a general rule female carnivores are more powerful than males. She just chased him away. Sharptooth didn't go far. Later that night, he returned. Most of the three-horn was left uneaten, the female sleeping not far away with a full stomach. Sharptooth approached with caution and as quietly as possible began to eat.

It wasn't as quiet as he had hoped. In a split second, the female awoke and attacked. She lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. She placed her foot atop his neck, pressing her claws against his throat. "I thought I chased you off. If you want to live, get the hell away from here."

Normally, this would've been enough to send him away. But he hadn't eaten in over a week and needed the food. Sharptooth summoned as much strength as he could and shoved her away. She staggered, obviously surprised that someone had managed to knock her back. Sharptooth rose to his feet. In retaliation, the two dinosaurs clashed with each other. The ground shook from the battle. For the whole night they fought, Sharptooth clearly at a disadvantage. At daybreak, he lay nearly dead at her feet, gasping for breath. She was not uninjured, her arm was broken in two places, a large gash cut in her leg, a blood from a broken tooth dribbled down her lips. She panted for air as well.

As Sharptooth lay on the ground, she limped back to the three-horn carcass. After a second, she returned carrying on of the legs and dropped it next to Sharptooth. "Eat." She stepped away and rested on the ground to nurse her wounds.

Sharptooth rose slowly up and closed his jaws over the meat. He ate it all greedily. Feeling a little stronger, he struggled to stand up. "Why did you do that?"

"I was impressed my your strength. No other male has ever tried to fight me and come out of it so well." Her tongue slid along the gash in her leg. "Perhaps we could work together to hunt and kill better pray, rather than starving ourselves or stealing food."

"I was doing fine until you came along and stole my food from me." Sharptooth retorted.

"Clearly. Chasing an animal to exhaustion before finally killing it, nearly killing yourself in the process." She got back up, looking down on Sharptooth. "Clearly the mindset of weakling. Rather than confront it and kill it up front in person."

"I do what I have to in order to survive."

"But survival is reserved for only the strongest."

"If that was the case, then why didn't you kill me just now. I was helpless and dying. And then why did you kill an already weakened dinosaur rather than find your own and fight it to death?"

She stepped forward and placed her face inches from his. "I don't need to explain myself to you. I gave you a choice, you can take it or not."

He snarled. "Very well. I accept."

"Good. You are my servant now. You shall call me Lady Razorclaw. And you are?"

"Sharptooth."

Three Months Later…

Razorclaw pushed the rocks and sticks of her nest around with her snout. Three eggs rested soundly in the nest. Sharptooth gazed down at the nest. "You need nourishment. After just laying those eggs, you're not as strong as you normally are."

"I don't need you to comment on my strength."

"But you are still in no condition to hunt competently." Sharptooth remarked. "I'll get some food for you."

"I never asked for your kindness." Razorclaw shot back.

"But I will bring back food for my hatchlings." Sharptooth started walking towards the mountains in the near distance. "A valley full of herbivores is not far off. I'll be back in less than a day."

As he set off, Razorclaw called off to him, "Be careful! Don't get yourself too hurt!"

He smiled back and nodded.

He trekked to the Great Valley, maneuvering his way though the rock maze of the land. He came to the gap in the great wall and emerged in the valley. A herd of longnecks looked up at him and were struck with horror. Sharptooth tore a tree out of the ground as he stepped into the valley, growling and snarling.

The longnecks screamed and started to run, moving as fast as they could. Sharptooth gave chase, storming after them. The ground shook beneath his feet with each thundering step, his claws sinking in the mud. Saliva dripped from his fangs.

As a they ran in fear, a young hatchling longneck tripped. His leg was caught in a root. He struggled, squirming and tugging, but his leg was trapped firm. "Mama!" He shouted. His voice trembled in desperation as Sharptooth closed in. A female longneck turned and raced back to her young. She grabbed hold of the baby longneck in her mouth and pulled him out from under the root, but it was too late. Sharptooth was upon them.

They quivered in fear in his presence, the shadow of a monster falling over them. Sharptooth opened his jaws as far as he could and was just about to kill when a familiar voice shouted above the chaos.

"SHARPTOOTH!" A shadow fell over the predator and prey and the ground shook from thundering footsteps.

Sharptooth looked up and saw a longneck, standing proud silhouetted against the setting sun. "Doc. What are you doing here?"

"Back off, Sharptooth." Doc raised his tail and slammed it back against the ground, shacking the earth. "I'll fight you myself. If you want them, you'll have to go through me."

Sharptooth grunted. "Fine." He stood opposite Doc, sizing him up. In an instant, Sharptooth charged, teeth bared. Doc stepped back and swung his tail. Sharptooth stopped just as the tail swished past his face.

Doc swung and missed, again and again. Sharptooth roared in aggravation. He charged in for an attack. A great impact slammed against his back and he crashed to the ground. Doc has managed to land a blow. Sharptooth bellowed a roar as shots of pain ran through his body.

"Leave, Sharptooth, before I start to fight for real." Doc held his tail at the ready.

Sharptooth struggled to stand back up, his legs shook beneath him. He shook his head to clear his hazy vision and turned to face Doc again. "I'm not leaving until I've killed something." He charged again, teeth bared.

Doc managed to evade the two rows of teeth, but a claw from Sharptooth's hand scraped the side of his face just above his eye. He cried out in pain, blood spilt down his face dripping across the ground. With Doc distracted, Sharptooth spun around and rammed headfirst into the large longneck. His lost his footing and Doc came crashing to the ground, the earth shook from the impact.

Standing above his fallen friend turned enemy, Sharptooth couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of regret and pity. In his own tongue, Sharptooth began to say, "My friend, and my worthy opponent, it is sad but probably fate that you had to die by my teeth. I only wish that-AAHH!"

While Sharptooth was giving his eulogy, Doc had wrapped his tail around the predator's leg. With a mighty tug, he toppled Sharptooth down. The carnivore fell and crashed headfirst into a jutting rock along side a small canyon. As the dust settled, Doc got back to his feet and stepped over to his fallen former-friend. Sharptooth began to stir just as Doc started to push him towards the canyon opening. With a final heave, Sharptooth fell over the edge and roared.

The giant predator lay at the bottom of the canyon for days, unable to move, unaware of where he was. However, a great earth shake awoke him from his coma. Once the ground subsided, he began to walk, following a small stream. His body ached, his vision blurry. He was hungry, and tired, yet he walked. Eventually he came to the end of the canyon and left it behind. He knew what would await him once he got back to the nest and to Razorclaw.

After a day of walking he finally managed to see the rocky labyrinth of their nesting sight. He maneuvered his way though the rocks until he caught the scent of the nest. But something was off. He could clearly smell blood in the air. Razorclaw must've made a kill when he didn't come back. He turned the corner of the rocks and found the nest. And a sight that burned itself in his mind.

Razorclaw lay dead in a pool of red. A trail of blood reached up the side of a jagged rock point. The eggs in the nest were all crushed, the white shells scattered around the embryos and egg remains. A half developed hatchling lay coated in his own egg casing. The bodies had all turned cold. All around the nest, footprints in red of a longneck. Only a single longneck.

Coldness filled Sharptooth from tooth to tail. A cold horror that tore at his heart. His body shook and trembled in anger. His jaw tightened as a deep rumbling grew in his throat. Unable to hold it back, he lifted his head to the sky and bellowed a thundering roar which split the air. "!" In the distance a flock of flyers took to the air in fear.

This was Doc's doing. He could feel it. This was Doc getting back at him. All this, everything that had happened to him, was because of Doc. That was when he made his choice. Doc would be made to pay. Not just Doc, but all longnecks. He would personally hunt them down one by one and slaughter them all. He would have vengeance, he would have blood.