Ripper: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Alone

There was some truth in the concept of loneliness. 

By man's word, it is said that no matter how different, how hospitable, or how evil one may be, they can never truly live a lonesome life. It was so simple, flawed, yes, but real. Either your shadows condemn you to decades of sorrow, or they drown you in a river of broken hopes and dreams.

Eventually they'd lead you to death. For the fortunate, their spirits live on forever. For a loner, death was inevitable.

I had learned such foul lessons from my own maker, which, in truth, came in more forms than one. 

Oftentimes these humans would enter my cell with a rather ominous warning -- carrying some distinct weapon or a piece of warm flesh for the beast they sought to tame. Some would lay the flesh down like a worried parent, while others would simply toss it forward and sprint into the shadows. But I accepted their offers, all of them in fact. And, truth be told, their 'hospitality' made me understand that I was never -- nor ever -- alone. 

If anything, I must never be forced the chance. 

And so, I worshipped them -- to be my feeders, my caretakers, my saviors, one of my kind. And despite their commentary, their strikes, or the burns and wounds that they created, I had no other option but to accept them as my own. Alas, I had no father or mother (or friend) to call family. The Doctors were my alibi of good will. 

Now it sickened me to think that. Which now makes me reconsider this term: loneliness.

There was no such paradise to being locked up and caged, surrounded by devils that poisoned my existence with their greed. If anything I longed to be alone. I wished only to think for myself, to act independently, to simply breathe... like my ancestors did. Oh, how I dreamt of the day when I could run freely through the silken forests, tasting so many scents, and skimming the greenery of a foreign meadow. 

If only I could find such promise. Alas, I had other issues to deal with.

Somehow, in this darkness, I felt a need to keep going. Despite the two massive holes in my chest, I salivated over this promise, this wish -- if you will. I had to take the chance, no matter the cost. 

Still, deep down, something still held it back. 

A need to do something first.

It wasn't long before I came to in the same location: the cold, empty ground. Though that mattered not: the wounds I held were now an aching throb on my sides, a spasm if I could describe it any differently, and it grew increasingly worse through and every breath, forcing yet another whimper to escape my maw.

Toughen up! my mind suddenly snarled, scowling at my pathetic whines in the wisps of the glowing night. You're an indoraptor, the emperor of all dinosaurs, and the king of power. Fight this pain, like the demons you slayed the night before. Accept the monster that you were born to become!

But... I'm not a monster...

Am I?

I blinked once, my eyes scanning the dusty world for a sign of promise. But rather than to be met by the everlasting darkness I've succumbed to earlier, I experienced something rather different. From the edges of the windows came a sparkle of light from heavens, but not that of a human's flashlight or a flickering fire. This smelled real. This orb that took control of the moon appeared rather alive!

I couldn't find the words to name such a bizarre sight. Something couldn't just illuminate without power, or glow without strength or a purpose. The orb simply sat there, a sparkle trapped against a bright blue cloudy ceiling, motionless and smiling. It's rays flashed of gold and yellow, sparkling upon the broken mansion floor and across my reptilian body -- still bloody from my recent attempts to escape.