Her Tale

by C009 

It was cozy, with closed eyes, she was lying as embryo would lay - in safety of utero. But it was just the time for moments of coziness to end, for it was time to leave.
And soon, with the first flash of brightness penetrating her skin, there she was - juvenile in this harsh world.

She wasn’t the only child there though. There were her two siblings. One a bit taller - probably older. He had a white stripe on his back.
The other one, smaller, had big eyes, almost out of proportion. He looked cute.

The newcomer, the daughter was small, to say the least. At the moment she wasn’t hungry, but that would soon change - desire to eat soon would strike. Fortunately, mother’s milk would supply the newborn with enough nutrients for her to survive. But as she was sipping the milk, mother had to eat to sustain her, and her children.
Capiticrimena Gelidvultusa were omnivorous - they could digest plants just as well as meat. They lived in southern, colder climates. Vegetation was quite scarce at the moment. Many other creatures starved to death just trying to find something to eat But this would benefit our family. Carcasses found lying upon the ground would serve as the ultimate food source, and with cold climates preserving the valuable meat, it would last for many months to come.

4 months old, young female had episode of hunger, alongside her family. Most carrion they happened to stumble upon was long frozen, unbitable. But a bit of luck made them encounter a herd of Bootleg men. They haven’t noticed the family, well that was until big-eyed child began to run towards them…
Bootleg men appearently didn’t run away - they wouldn’t stand a chance in a running competition for life and death with our fellows. Stoic attitude of the prey staggered our young individual. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea?
Penguin-like creatures started to approach him, very possibly without friendly intentions.
That’s when the mother comes in. Bootleg men, who lost their focus for sake of the young male started to run in panic.
Soon they regained the shape of their herd, and that’s when the older white-striped siblinbelgiumted young creatures protected by a wall of adult males who were willing to sacrifice themselves for sake of the youngest.
But hunger was too high to retreat now. Big-eyed tried to keep defenders focus on him - for mother and the older stroke from nowhere. Young female didn’t risk it.
Too young to do so… probably.
One penguin was really beaten hard, they focused on him, even a single one would benefit them with enough source.

Another day, where the battle took place, all that remained was Bootleg man’s body. Lying on the frozen ground, it fueled the family to push forward, another day.

Next 3 months were quite safe with only a few dangerous encounters from other species. Food reserves of dead creatures who starved to deatg were running low by now.
After many days of wandering without anything to fulfill the need to eat. They found a carcass. At least what remained of it since it wouldn’t be an easy meal - someone was already feeding on it.

A majestic Icthyoraptor was enjoying his meal. Just as well as our protagonist, it didn’t eat for a long time. It, previously starving, under control of instincts, had one thing in the mind - eat. Eat more.
For she was carrying eggs and would soon lay them, the more food you have, the greater the chances of survival. Survival of you and your offspring.

Odds were seemingly against the lonely raptor, but that would soon not be the case - a blizzard was coming. Cutting the vision out, loner disappeared in the storm of snow. Where was it? Or where was the big-eyed? He got lost.
And won’t find its way back for soon his screams can be heard, somewhere from behind the snow curtain. He was gone.
Mother, grieving from within tried to at least save the remaining children.
They tried to run - mother following the children.
Something grabbed her and she was fighting back. Blizzard soon reached her and all that remained was sounds of fight. Children in panic ran. Ran as fast as they could.

Young female wakes up. No sign of her sibling. He was adult afterall, she also was anyways, and he had greater chances if they split up. Noone around her. But it was time to move forward.

Considering there wasn’t much food left in desolate deserts of snow, she decided to move to warmer regions, to the north.
Soon she stumbled upon a forest. It used to look beautiful, but now, as it is becoming colder and colder it starts its… other life.
It is the Dødshorden forest.
Withered plant matter hangs from trees, which survive somehow, even though it is seemingly cold and dark. How it lived here for so long is a dark twist…

Now adult female walked alone. Chills from the creepy atmosphere climbed her back as she ventured through the fog. She ocassionally heard some weird noises, like if something was walking there, just under the cover of the mist.
It didn’t take long for first skeleton-looking lemur being, standing nearly 2 feet tall emerged from the dark, and after trading sights for a few seconds, it attacked. Trying to climb her, this little boney man wanted to cut into her spinal cord. Luckily the long fur served thick protection layer.
As female started to run in panic, she noticed she wasn’t the only one who fell prey for the dark forest. Some creatures, some dead, were getting overwhelmed by the amount of creatures attacking them. They would soon serve as a fuel for the forest, to keep it going for years to come.
She was running, not paying attention on her surroundings, for that didn’t really matter now. She just wanted to escape. Just running.
As trees started to become less densely packed, she soon left the forest, but she triped on something, presumably some rock. The lemur attached to her has been smashed by her body - it doesn’t pose a threat now. She successfuly escaped the forest and moved on.

As she is now mature, there was no time to waste - it is time to have some offspring.
She began broadcasting hoping for a reply, but for several days - unsuccessfuly. That was, until one day a young male emerged from horizon. Soon after, the act was done and their ways separated. Now the female is pregnant.

For next ten months, the female played safe - she still had to find food, but didn’t risk embryo getting killed by external blunt force. It wasn’t too hard though - sometimes carcasses would lay on the ground, sometimes small prey could be hunted, somewhere sometimes tasty fruits would appear on trees, and, as she is an omnivore, she could eat all of that.

But it was finally time to give birth. After few minutes of struggling, baby was finally out in the open world. He - because he is male - would feed on the mother’s milk for few months to come. The female is now a mother.

4 months later, the small family would wander around. They ventured into an open, snowy area. Quite unfortunate - a blizzard. Bad memories came into the mind on the female.
Blizzard was too fast to try to run away from it. But that wasn’t the biggest concern - something was running in the distance. It was running towards them.
Eventually blizzard reached them. Fear filled the family, as they knew something was out there, but they didn’t know what. The female then felt the pain. A strong, burning pain on her torso.
It was Icthyoraptor. The very same species who killed her mother and sibling, it now had her herself on its sights. And it already dealt the hit.
She was bleeding. Soon next strike would come, with her unable to do anything due to short eyesight range. Her vision started to black out, but in last effort to at least save her child, she tried to locate the aggressor.
And she heard.
She heard footsteps from the left, getting louder - it was preparing to attack yet another time.
But this time she fought back. single bite from her was enough to hurt Ichtyoraptor who soon fled, quite slowly as she broke his bone, but still.
Unfortunately the female lost a lot of blood. She felt she was running out of energy to even stand still and - she fell.
She was lying, and lying, blacked out, lying…

She remember the light she had seen. She remembers her mother. She remembers her brothers. She remembers the death. She remembers the life. She remembers the danger. She remembers the safety. She remembers her mate.
She remembers her own child.
She remembers she is, and that she must continue.

She continues.

She stands up. Her child right next to her, glad that she did it. She was glad too. They rubbed each other, and moved on.

Featuring (Credits):

In world of Chimarion by doomlightning

Creatures by community:

Capiticrimena Gelidvultusa by C009
Bootleg Man by Kopout
Icthyoraptor by Lithornis
Dødshorden by TwilightWings21