Act 2: The Black Dawn
Prologue:
"Tyrus and his father Tyron were self proclaimed royalty… they believed that they were superior to all other sharpteeth, and in some ways they were," began the older Sky as he spoke to the gathered circle of children, "Tyron's empire began with but a single thought… a thought which turned into an idea, and then it eventually manifested itself into an ideology."
The children looked at him like he was actually speaking sharptooth, and even some of the adults looked lost. In the hours of the night since Mr. Sky had begun his story a crowd had gathered the likes of which he had never had before, and it pleased him that the spirit of story-speaking was still alive and well in the valley. Ever since Grandpa Longneck died, many feared that it was an art that would be lost. But as fate would have it, Mr. Sky happened to be very exceptional in the field of 'art' and a lively replacement.
"What are you talking about?" asked a much older Cera, "remember we all don't speak the way you do…"
"Ah, point taken," submitted Sky as he waved a finger, and then he continued, "It is common knowledge that Sharpteeth are not as smart as you leaf-eaters as well as those who have a choice, like me and Ruby here," he pointed to the fast-runner, who smiled back. The two of them had long gotten over the rift that laid between them, and were now best of friends.
"But it is believed that one day, in the distant past, Tyron was hungry and after going for many days without eating, he finally felled another dinosaur. Upon finishing his meal the sharptooth decided that he did not want to be that hungry ever again – a conclusion that most sharpteeth never reach. He began to hunt all the time, even when he wasn't hungry, and he stored away his kills in a cold, damp cave to be eaten later."
Some of the children were shivering, even the brave Xavier, for sharptooth stories were often scary and tended to cause nightmares. Sky continued.
"Eventually he attracted other lesser sharpteeth to his cause – sharpteeth such as fast-biters, sickle claws, and spine backs. They wanted a piece of the products of his hunt, and in turn he enjoyed their company as servants and they split the kills and divided the meat amongst themselves. This was certainly not done out of kindness however, but to expand his influence to the point where he could take on whole herds and win, and achieve a unity between sharpteeth that had never been seen before in the world."
Sky resettled his wings as he finished, and there were whisperings among those gathered about what his story meant. If the sharpteeth ever united like that again, it would surely mean the end of the Great Valley. Xavier shivered at the thought, for he had heard his father's tales about sharpteeth, and they terrified him. Unlike his father, the young longneck had never come face to face with a real sharptooth. Coming upon the thought made him wonder about a particular story his dad had once told him, and he decided to ask about it.
"Mr Sky. what happened to the friendly sharptooth, you know the one daddy hatched and named Chompy?"
Littlefoot and the other members of the old gang present laughed at his mistaking of Chomper's name. Sometimes the story was changed to be more appealing to kids as it passed from parent to parent, so all of their offspring carried different versions of it.
"Don't you mean Biter?" Wayne corrected.
"Oh no it was Sharpie, it was, it was!" called out Aura, one of Ducky's daughters.
"Whatever, who cares what his name was… just tell us the story already!" Landar said bluntly as he munched on a handful of bugs he picked out of the tree. The loud crunching noise was grossing out some of the other younglings around Guido's son, and so he had plenty of space to himself. Littlefoot laughed.
"I see that story has been told more then just a few times," said the older longneck, "I'm glad that everyone has decided to remember Chomper for what he was, and not what he has become."
Xavier had been resting on his father's front arm, and looked up at him in surprise at the statement.
"What do you mean dad? What did he become?" the young blue longneck asked.
"Perhaps we should let Mr. Sky tell us… provided he would like to continue," Littlefoot suggested with a smile.
"Yeah, tell us what happened to Chompy… I mean Chomper!" Xavier insisted. The rest of the children echoed his desire. Mr. Sky looked around in amusement… there were so many parents present he wondered whether he was teaching the children or the whole valley.
"Very well, see after the Eye of the World…" Sky began.
"Hold it!" boomed a longneck from the far back. Everyone turned to see Ali pushing her way through the trees, and man did she look mad.
"Oh hi my lovely, umm… out so late?" Littlefoot stammered as he tried to make the best of the situation. It didn't work.
"You should be ashamed of yourself Littlefoot, letting these children stay up so late past Great Circle set… and that goes for the rest of you too!" Ali turned on the crowd which included the male parents of just about every one of the present children. Sometimes Ali wondered what would become of the world if it wasn't for moms.
"Come on Wayne, Ali's right I should have never let you stay up so late," Cera said as she ushered along her son. Soon it was only Littlefoot, Ali, Xavier and Sky left.
"But, but… you can't just stop now! You haven't even told us anything yet… what about the Eye of the World… what is it? ... and the Black Dawn, what was it and why was it so bad? Did you and Star ever meet again?"
The young longneck was so full of questions, he was almost bursting. Littlefoot smiled proudly at his son. The little one had turned out just like he was when he was a kid. Maybe Xavier would have as many adventures as he did in his youth, but Littlefoot doubted it. He would never allow it, for one. It was ludicrously dangerous when he did it – so there was no way he was ever going to risk his only son by letting him off on his own.
"You can find out tomorrow Xavier," chided his mother, "there's plenty of time for stories some other night."
"But mom…" Xavier whined, but he obeyed and moved to follow his parents. Halfway out of the circle with the Glowing Cracks he turned and asked another question.
"Please Mr. Sky, can you at least tell me something?" the longneck begged.
"Very well," the wingtail said, and he cleared his throat, "Star and I did meet again… but like all good memories it was too short to last."
Satisfied, Xavier ran to catch up to his parents. Mr. Sky stretched briefly, and in a whoosh of air he was gone into the trees.
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