Chapter 13: The Waterfall
The cave was long and dark and the raptors and Aurora were tired. 'This is taking a while,' Delta chirps and licks at a blister on her toe.
Aurora gently rubs her feet as they were covered in blisters. "Ouch, I hate blisters," she said. Blue gently nudges her alpha to keep moving.
Then, they saw a light and head towards it. They heard dripping water and they came upon a sight no one had ever dreamed of.
A waterfall coming from an opening at the roof of the cave, where light was illuminating from. The waterfall looked like a thin sheet of paper and Aurora gently pokes her finger through it.
There was nothing under the falling water, it just came down in a perfect way.
"What is this?" she asks Ulyssa, but the big raptor does not answer.
Then, Aurora notices the water on her finger moving on its own. It flows from her hand and down to her blistered feet. The blemishes then disappear.
'How did that happen?' Echo asks, but then Delta touches the waterfall with her blistered toe. The water also heals her blemishes.
Aurora looks at the waterfall and notices her reflection. The sheet of water acted like a mirror.
She notices Blue next to her in the water, but when Aurora turns around, the raptor was not beside her.
"Blue?" she asks and the real raptor, who was a bit further away, looks up at her.
Aurora looks back at the waterfall and this time, it showed something dreadful.
Aurora saw a young girl being hit by a man and Aurora recongizes him as Esteban. He said something in Spanish and a woman, Joana appears beside him.
"Why can't you just die?" Joana said in English and the young girl is locked up in a room.
Another scene featured the young girl, again, surrounded by some older girls. "We need to run away," one of them said.
"I can't take it anymore," another replied.
"But where will we go? They'll catch us in no time," the third asked.
"We have to do something, otherwise they'll kill us," the young girl said to the others.
The scene fades to feature another. The three older girls were crying and screaming as men pulled them apart.
"Lidia!" one of them cries out to the young girl. Another tried to reach for her, but they were held back and the three girls were gone.
Esteban and Joana had a stack of money on the table and they were counting them. "Damn, after paying off my debts, this will not be enough for us to find a proper house in San Jose," Esteban said to his wife.
"Why not just leave Costa Rica?" Joana asked and then, Esteban points to the girl, Lidia.
Then, a new man enters the picture. He was wearing a suit and he was speaking to Esteban and Joana. Aurora saw that it was Dr. Lewis.
"She is a feisty little bitch," Esteban said to a man.
"But that makes her a good test subject," Dr. Lewis replied after he looks over some papers. "Here's the deal, I'll pay you half now and the rest later, that is if the test is successful," he added.
"Half?!" Joana shouts at him, "You said you would pay in full!"
"And I will, once the experiment is done," Lewis replied.
The girl, Lidia had overheard the conversation and hurries to pack what she needed. There really was nothing, so she slips out her bedroom window and began to run.
It didn't take Aurora long to realize that the girl, Lidia was her!
Aurora returned to the present and collaspes to the ground. Blue comes to her side and gently nudges her.
"They really are my parents and they didn't want me and my sisters," Aurora said to the raptor.
Blue nudges her muzzle against Aurora's cheek and chirps, 'But you are lucky to have us. If you didn't get caught by that bastard, we wouldn't have met. I am sorry that you went through hell.'
Aurora gently caresses Blue's muzzle and kisses her nose. She then stands up and Ulyssa steps forward.
"Now I understand what this place is. It's where all of the magical properties come from," Aurora said to the big raptor and she nods.
'And it's where anything or anyone will go mad. When the humans invaded before, they tried desperately to destory this place because the water only showed them their past crimes. Without this place, the afterlife for dinosaurs will cease to exist,' Ulyssa chirps at her.
'Then we have to force them to go back to Hell, right?' Charlie asks.
'Or kill them before they drink the water from here,' Silva replies.
"What do you mean?" Aurora asks.
'Not all parts of the river have the magical properties. The further the river is from here, it loses the magic and is useless for healing or become invincible,' Shadow explains.
"Oh, so that's why you guard the jungle from intruders," Aurora replies and Ulyssa nods.
'As I said, this water has to be protected from anyone or anything with a black heart. Otherwise, we'll be powerless to stop them,' Ulyssa chirps.
'I say we go back to the northern forest and wipe them all out,' Echo chirps to the group.
'I agree, but we need more teeth to help us. Can't you do the Raptor Call, again?' Delta asks Ulyssa and her pack.
"We need all of the dinosaurs to participate in this," Aurora said and Ulyssa nods.
'And we need to seal up the barrier, this time for good,' Blue chirps.
'But how exactly?' Charlie replies.
The raptors and Aurora began to think, but they really couldn't think of a plan. Then, Aurora thought of something.
"We need to wipe out the connection to Hell," Aurora said and the raptors look at her.
'How do we do that?' Moriko asks.
"Remember the geodes we found? They must've come from a volcano nearby. If we somehow made the volcano erupt, it might burn the connection or the bridge," Aurora explains and the raptors look at one another.
'That is not a bad idea, there's actually a whole chain of volcanoes in the Land of Shadows, but how do we make them erupt?' Shadow asks the human woman.
"With explosive force, like a bomb," Aurora answers.
'But where will we find a bomb?' Charlie asks her alpha.
"We have to sneak into the human camp, I think they might have TNT or something," Aurora answers, again.
'That is a very good plan, but I'm afraid you, Aurora will have to deploy the bomb yourself. Dinosaurs can't enter the Land of Shadows,' Ulyssa chirps and Blue looks at the big raptor in shock.
'There is no way I'm letting Aurora go there by herself! What if she gets trapped in there?' Blue screeches at Ulyssa.
'As I said, dinosaurs can't enter the Land of Shadows. When the humans invaded last time, some of the dinosaurs got so scared that they ran pass the barrier and disintegrated like ash. I'm sorry, but Aurora has to do it by herself,' Ulyssa replies, but that made Blue angry.
"Blue," Aurora said and comes to her beta's side. "It's fine, I can do it," she adds, but Blue begins to cry.
'I don't want to lose you like last time,' the raptor replies and Aurora pats her cheek.
"You won't, I promise that I will be back once the volcanoes begin to erupt," the woman said.
Blue began to think deeply, if Aurora were to die in the Land of Shadows then the raptor would be miserable for the rest of her time in the afterlife.
"Please Blue, trust me," Aurora urges, "And when I get back, we're going to celebrate."
The other raptors began to chirp in excitement, but Blue growls at them, it was more in frustration than in anger.
'You promise you will be back?' Blue asks.
"I promise. Cross my heart," Aurora answers and hugs the raptor. Blue purrs and the two gain their composure.
'Let's get the show on the road!' Charlie chirps in excitement and they left the waterfall to begin the fight against the human invaders.
From the author: Things are heating up! Will Aurora's plan work? Will the raptors and the other dinosaurs be successful in eliminating the humans? Find out next time!
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