New Mystery

It was a sunny day, the traces of winter gone months ago, and the cold mornings replaced by the warm embrace of sunlight. At the edge of the forest surrounding a lake of crystal-clear blue water, the sun's rays filtered through the leaves and branches, creating a pleasing environment. There was a tremor in one of the trees, and the leaves touched the ground after falling in a side-to-side dance. The one causing it shook its feathers and with it, the jingle of a small bell rang out. The Pterosaur was comfortably perched on the taut branch he had chosen to rest. His iridescent black plumage absorbed and, at the same time, reflected the patches of sunlight that passed through the first layer of leaves. Curious, he tried to bite the rays of light in vain when he saw the illuminated particles before its eyes. Deep down, he knew it would be impossible to taste something as intangible as the light, but he still tried again and again. He was a very curious animal, but he didn't usually spend too much time on one thing. He put the invincible light aside and proceeded to rub the side of his toothed beak against the branch he was perched on, scratching itself and removing some impurities.

 

From his vantage point among the branches, he had a view of the lake and all around it, even the tree itself beneath his winged feet. In the distance, he could see a group of beavers building a dam at one of the lake's outlets; they seemed rather busy hauling branches and gnawing the wood to shape their structure. No other animals could be seen near the effluent around them; they were very territorial creatures, wary of any invader who dared to approach their precious refuge.

 

With an exhalation, his attention was drawn to the two large beasts resting beneath the old tree. One of the beasts yawned, opening its jaws wide and displaying a row of teeth. Both stood together, their similar brown scales and feathers allowing them to hide in the shadows. They didn't tend to stray far from each other upon leaving their companion behind to become independent and seek out their own territory together, or at least that was the initial plan. For now, they're content with a nomadic life across the islands. The Theropod shook its head; the distant sound had caught her attention now that she was a little more awake.

 

Myrlo's gaze was fixed on the two large dinosaurs he'd been following since dawn. He noticed they were somewhat restless; perhaps they were hunting or patrolling before stopping to rest and enjoy the warm summer breeze. Either way, he knew full well that if he followed the predators, he'd probably get his share of food or even get a bite of leftovers.

 

One of the Albertosaurus, Calisto, was inspecting the pesky rodents from a distance. She snorted, suppressing the exasperation these mammals provoked in her every season, and decided to look elsewhere, examining her surroundings. Then she noticed a bipedal creature with white plumage and a strange head stalking them. Wasn't that a Cryolophosaurus?

 

Artemisa also watched the creature's stealthy movements with curiosity. No instructions were needed; they knew their hunting strategy perfectly, so rising from their small shelter in the shade, each of them walked with incredible calm along the lake shore. The plan was to surround it on each side; at the moment of the ambush, it would flee in the opposite direction of the first Albertosaurus it saw. If that weren't the case, they were more than prepared to race and catch it within seconds. The Pterosaur preferred to remain watching from the branch, letting them do all the work.

 

Meanwhile, the strange white dinosaur waited patiently for some beavers to approach the shore, although their posture seemed to indicate they had already detected something. It had been approaching step by step until at one point, using its long legs and neck, it propelled itself toward one of the large rodents and grabbed it tightly, using the momentum to lift it up the beaver into the air as it squealed in fear and carried it back to the bushes from which the predator had come. The large dinosaurs moved a little faster along the shore, camouflaging their steps with the commotion left among the beavers, who were squealing and rattling their teeth in the direction of the bushes. After a while, the two managed to find each other on the other side of the lake, observing the crime scene. There were three-toed footprints in the mud, along with a few white feathers and what appeared to be seeds. How strange that an animal of that size would have the time and energy to dedicate itself to such an unhealthy diet.

 

Both hunters followed the trail, going deeper into the vegetation. The Tropeognathus, opportunistic as ever, took advantage of the opportunity to collect a few seeds while keeping an eye on the two. As they went deeper into the vegetation, they came to an area where there were more of those dinosaurs. Now that they could see them properly, they weren't Cryolophosaurus at all; their gait was more upright and their bodies were completely different. The initial impression of their appearance was a little disconcerting, but nothing out of the ordinary, although their large eyes gave off a certain bad feeling. By the work of Karma, just like with the beaver, whose whereabouts were already unknown, they waited for the female to let the other dinosaurs disappear into the plants, entering the darkness of the forest so they could pounce on the creature.

 

When Artemisa managed to take a long stride and hold her against the ground with her jaws, the hostage showed no signs of discomfort, fear absent in her. The teeth were around her neck and yet she remained incredibly calm. Callsto approached to inspect her, annoyed with her lack of reaction while Artemisa held her down. Obviously, she should be begging for her life by now. They both looked at each other; the strange being had its eyes open and was breathing but showed nothing; the black eyes represented no emotion. The tension that was beginning to form was broken by the Tropeognathus that casually walked near them, losing the predators' interest as soon as they saw it. A little more confident, Myrlo approached the creature as well. It wasn't the first one he had seen in this short period of time, but he also realized that she emanated some strange vibes. Should they let her go and hope they never see her again, or get answers out of her?

 

They opted for the latter, and Artemisa released her grip, now lifting her, clutching her limp body. She didn't react; she didn't run away from either of them as soon as Artemisa moved her jaws away from her neck. The atmosphere was beginning to feel heavy, with a certain pressure around them. Myrlo ruffled his feathers and quickly stumbled toward the lake, where there was no dense vegetation, waiting for the Albertosaurus to follow him. The three of them moved away from this place, returning to a brighter area; they hadn't even noticed that even the trees had a somewhat eerie and hollow appearance. After a while, making sure they were leaving, the Oviraptors slowly began to emerge from their hiding place, looking suspiciously at the new detectives.