Baptised by Blood

                It took months for Relic’s leg to completely heal, and then many more after that before he was back to himself completely.

                The slower pace in that year and a half had given Ghast and Hunter the perfect time for them to teach the two growing juveniles their own beliefs and viewpoints on the world. Until that point, the two boys had been learning the ‘basics’ from the pair. Such as how to hunt, find shelter, and what plants could be used for healing and how to heal wounds. Relic and Blight had both grown to know the Oviraptor and blinded Acro, but the reasons and logic behind their actions had never been explained.

                For the first few years of their lives, Relic and Blight had come to understand that Hunter simply seemed to enjoy hunting down other dinosaurs. He relished the hunt, the chase, the begs for mercy or the curses screamed at him. Every skull and carcass put outside their den was another story for him to remember while insisting to the boys that there was a purpose to all the carnage and death he reigned in his territory.

                And occasionally outside his territory.

                Ghast didn’t seem to mind the wild hunts. She never said anything to the Pale One as he terrorized the land. And as far as Blight and Relic could even see, she wasn’t opposed to it. Nor was she as excited as he was at the thought of a hunt. It confused the two boys to see the Oviraptor wasn’t indifferent to the adult Acrocanthosaur’s acts of violence. She always quietly approved and then moved on with life.

                It made Relic and Blight wonder what it had been like where Hunter had been from. How violent had the Alpha labs been?

                Even through all of the bloodshed they had witnessed, the hunts they had started to help in as the Carno and Acro got older, it never fully sat well with the pair. There was hardly any explanation as to why they would go out one day and track down what seemed like a random dinosaur that they would then hunt down and slaughter. Whenever Ghast was asked, she would refer the pair to Hunter, who would then reply with vague answers that always could be summed up to ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’.

                “I found them. They’re heading through the city tomorrow with their hatchlings.”

                Relic and Blight looked over as Ghast ran into the cave and settled in with the group as they ate in the main cavern. The remains of a deer laying in the center of the group that they all had been picking at that morning while they rested.

                No kill was ever to be squandered or wasted. Which meant ensuring the bones of their previous kill had been picked clean before they could go and hunt anything else. But the murder of another dinosaur was not treated with the same respect. Though, Blight figured that was mostly because if those kills did have the same amount of respect, there would be far less hunting to be done. Far less ‘balance’ to meted out.

                “Hatchlings? We’re not killing hatchlings.” Blight said, laughing as he looked over at Ghast then at Hunter.

                “They can’t fight back. You both taught us that no fight is honorable if they’re not old enough to fight back.” Relic added quickly.

                Ghast glanced the two boys over as they started to get antsy from her report. She could feel it over the last few months. Feel how restless they were getting. She could see how they were starting to doubt what she and Hunter did. She didn’t blame them. How many times could anyone be told to go kill another for reasons your parents never elaborated on before you started to doubt the good that you were doing.

                “When have I ever asked for you to kill children.” Hunter asked as he leaned back over and ripped off another piece of meat from the buck in front of them.

                “Never. But we’re not going to start.” Blight replied quickly, his tone quickly changing into something far more aggressive.

                Relic fell quiet as well, glancing over at Ghast as she surveyed the situation. He didn’t know what to make of everything. The last ‘hunt’ they had gone on had been difficult for him. It had involved another Carnotaur that had started to flee at the mere sight of Hunter’s pale hide. She had shrieked in terror as Blight and Hunter had taken her down and ripped into her. How close had he been to being just another meal for the Pale One? Would he have been hunted down and slaughtered if he had not been a hatchling that day he’d gotten lost?

                The soft touch to his side made Relic blink quickly, coming back to the here-and-now as he looked over and saw Ghast smiling gently up at him. She’d seen the look of doubt and discomfort that day when they had returned. Hunter and Blight walking side by side with bloodstained hides while Relic trailed behind them in a daze that he would never admit to in front of his adopted father or brother.

                “Why do we do this. What is the reasoning behind all this killing. We are old enough. We both have fully grown into our dimorphic markings. We’re old enough to leave and be safe if we wanted. We’ve been through thick and thin with you and mom. Blight and I…we’ve been talking about this. All of it. It’s wrong. To kill without reason is something you told us to never do. And we’ve been doing it this whole time because you have never told us the reason behind our ‘hunts’. We waste their hide, waste their meat, we just let them waste away outside. We are doing more harm than good in these lands.” Relic said, finally breaking up the sound of quiet mixed with the ripping and tearing of meat being eaten.

                Hunter stopped for a moment before flicking his head up slightly, tossing the chunk of food back into his gullet where he then swallowed and sat up a little straighter, “And you, Blight? Do you agree with what your brother is saying.”

                Blight was quiet for a moment, glancing over at Relic and then Ghast before his attention went back to the sightless Acro, “I have started to consider that maybe we are the ones that should be brought to the same justice you like to hand out.”

                “Why have you both waited so long to voice your opinions?” The Pale One asked.

                Neither men spoke, looking between each other as they thought about the question as well. Why had they? Why had they been so complacent in what they were doing?

                “Ghast and I have taught you that you should never obey what you think is wrong. But you continue to come with me and hunt. So, then, maybe it is from fear? Do you fear that I will turn on you? Do you think Ghast would look the other way while I lay a hand on you? Do you believe that I would ever turn a claw to you?” Hunter pressed.

                Relic turned his gaze to the ground. He knew the answer from Blight would be ‘no’. His brother had always been much more comfortable around the older male Acro just because they were the same species. But Relic?

                “I have no doubt that you would, if needed. If we no longer followed the teachings you and Ghast set forward and we gave you no other choice. You would hunt us like the others we’ve been hunting with you. But I do not think you would hunt us, or lay a hand on us, for anything less. I just expected answers sooner than now.” Blight replied, causing Hunter to give a slight nod as he then turned his sightless gaze to Relic.

                “And you?”

                Relic was quiet for another moment. And then he replied.

                “I have started to have that concern more and more lately. There is no difference between Blight and I and the dinosaurs we hunt. You and Ghast teach us of the balance that must be kept between nature and Dinosaur. But the skeletons outside our home say that we’re a danger to the balance on our own. I see no evidence that we’re keeping the balance. Ever. Just dead bodies. They never scream for forgiveness. They just beg for their lives and they don’t know what they’ve done is wrong. I obey what you and Ghast teach, but I fear the day that I don’t listen. I fear the day that I say no because I am nothing to you. You are not my actual father. You kept Blight and I because we do what you ask without question. We are useful to you.” Relic replied, keeping his gaze set on the ground so he wouldn’t have to see the expression from Hunter nor Ghast.

                “No. My sweet boy. Noo. Do you really think that?” Ghast asked, standing up and went to stand in front of the nearly grown Carnotaur. She put her hands on either side of his head, holding him and kissed the top of his head between his two horn-crests.

                “I fear it might be true.” Relic replied quietly.

                At what his brother had said, even Blight lowered his head closer to the ground, and Ghast could only frown at how distress the two boys were. She loved them to death. As far as she cared, they were her own hatchlings. She might as well have laid them herself and she knew for a fact that Hunter felt the same. For as stoic as he was, she knew it brought the pale Acro such pain to never be the type to let himself show his emotions. It was simply not something he did or had ever done. And as she looked back at him now, simply staring at the two boys, she knew he was hurting inside at what they had said.

                “Never. Even if you two left today and started to go around the countryside and break every single rule that I and Ghast had set for you, I would not be able to stop you. I would not raise a claw to either of you, ever. You both are the same to me. You are my sons. You will always be my sons. I am only disappointed that you have never come forward until now with your concerns. But I am not disappointed in you, I am disappointed in myself for not being something you both feel like you can approach. Somewhere I have gone wrong and not shown that you can be open with me. And I will also admit fault for waiting so long to explain why we do what we do.” Hunter replied at last and gave a mighty huff as he shifted his weight to the side and then kicked a leg out to roll himself completely back up onto his own feet.

                Blight and Relic looked up, Ghast moving between the two boys and held both of their heads in either of her arms. They both kept quiet as she pet them, gently tracing her claws along their hides and held them close to herself.

                “Come. You both deserve explanations. And then I will explain why it is important we hunt who we are tomorrow.” Hunter said, motioning for the pair to follow him as he lumbered outside the cave and came to a stop in the sunlight.

                The boys got up carefully, reluctant to leave the embrace of Ghast but did so anyway. As they headed outside after Hunter, Ghast followed after them and held her hands close to herself as if guarding her chest and heart. A pose that both boys knew as her feeling deep sorrow. It was a look she had commonly as Relic had recovered from his leg injury years ago.

                Once they were outside, the group stopped behind their quilled sire, the Acro staring ahead to look over the massive clearing full of bones and rotting corpses. To both boys, the death seemed endless, too many dead to count that they’d had a hand in over the last year or two.

                “How many skulls are there of other dinosaurs are out there? Do you remember?” Hunter asked.

                “I’ve never bothered to keep count.” Blight replied.

                “Maybe…sixty or seventy?” Relic added.

                “There are exactly thirty-seven skulls out there. Thirty-seven individual dinosaurs we have hunted down because they threatened the balance of the islands. Do you remember their names?” The older Acro asked.

                The brothers looked between themselves. There was no way that Hunter had been counting how many they’d killed, let alone all the ones he’d already killed over the years. And even less of a way he would remember every single dinosaur that he’d hunted over all that time. As far as either male was concerned, they never paid respect to any dinosaur they killed. Those that they hunted were below them, not worth their time or memory.

                “You can’t be serious. You don’t remember every single person out there. And you have certainly killed more over the years than just what we see here.” Blight said and snorted, a sound of annoyance and aggression as he looked back at Hunter.

                “I am serious. I remember all that are there. I know why we hunted them, where we hunted them. Or where I hunted them. They are not worthy enough for us to eat, for them to be a part of us, but they were living creatures just like you and I. So they are worthy to be remembered. There is a reason I require us to bring their bodies back here. It is so that the lands they are from can heal, and in time forget them there. But they will never be forgotten by nature as a whole. If no one else remembers them where they came from, then I will remember them. By walking their body back here, you are forced to contemplate them. Or that is what I had hoped you were doing.” Hunter replied, making his way forward and stopped beside the skull of a Sty. He leaned down, skimming his claws and hands across the surface of the weather worn skull.

                “His name had been Evocatus. He was the first thing I had hunted up here not for food. A bull that led a herd of four or five others. He enjoyed chasing and killing carnivores before they could grow. He would destroy nests and had started to leave a dent in the local population of carnivores. People avoided him because they feared him, they didn’t want to try and fight him and his herd. And he was smart enough to only pick on those that weren’t already in a herd or pack already. So no one would come to hunt him in return for his actions. Ghast and I killed him as well as two of his mates before the rest ran off. It was not easy. Don’t mistake me for saying I was just that great of a warrior. But we did it because it needed to be done.” Hunter replied and continued on.

                Blight and Relic followed after him. It was always so easy to forget the pale hided Acro was blind. He moved around so easily and seemed to know exactly where each skull was that he brought them around to and told them about. He explained each and every one of the dead that lay in the field, going into detail on even the ones that Relic and Blight had helped take down recently.

                It took three hours before they got to the last skull. The skull that had yet to be picked completely clean by birds. The carnotaur that haunted Relic’s dreams with her screams for mercy.

                “Jessabelle.” Relic said as they looked down at the skull.

                Hunter and Ghast gave a nod.

                “She enjoyed hunting the cows that live down by the human lands. It was easy prey for her. Ghast kept tabs on her for months before we decided to act. We had hoped that maybe she would stop. Maybe she was just killing more than she needed for a short time but she would eventually stop. But we heard rumors of carnivores being unable to find food for them or their families. And with winter coming up, it will effect who all can survive. All because one person would kill cow after cow after cow. And leave their bodies to rot in the sun, the meat not something anyone should try and consume. She didn’t know what she did was bad until we showed up. It’s why she yelled so much. People are starting to know us. Fear us. They don’t know why we do what we do, but they know that whenever we show up, someone is going to die.” Hunter replied.

                “That sounds super…” Relic started.

                “Edgy.” Blight finished.

                “I agree completely. But it does have a purpose. If people associate us with such things, maybe they’ll think about what they do. What effects they are having on the area around them. Maybe they’ll be more careful as they pass through a forest if they fear that we’ll pop out of the shadows like some sort of boogyman.” Hunter replied.

                “Like the Teeth Tape.” Relic muttered.

                “Exactly. Except we exist and the human-toothed tapejara does not.” Hunter muttered and shook his head but turned his head to ‘look’ at Relic, “Sometimes, some hunts never leave you. And that’s alright. Now you know why it was important that we brought her down. I hope you find some solace in that.”

                Relic listened and gave a nod, looking back down at the skull.

                “Have you ever actually killed hatchlings?” Blight asked after a moment and looked back at the Pale One.

                “No. No hatchlings or juveniles. Ever.” Ghast was the one that spoke up, her tone final as she looked up at Blight. Hunter just gave a nod to back up what Ghast said but never commented on the subject.

                “Alright. So who are we hunting now. Why are we going to take away the parents from a few hatchlings.” Blight asked, looking down at Ghast and then at Hunter as well.

                “It’s a family of Acros. By killing the parents in the city, the hatchlings can scatter and group back up. It’s a well traveled area normally, so they have a chance of people coming across them and adopting them. They should be perfectly fine. Their parents are overeating in the area, however. They do not value using a carcass to its fullest. We do not need those ideals spreading to their hatchlings. They hunt an area until it is dead and then move on with no regard for nature in the area. They are displacing dinosaurs and prey items. This one is no grand hunt. We’re not fighting anything that is a main villain in any story. We’re just stopping casual disregard for nature.” Hunter replied, turning fully to the two boys and pressed his head against both of theirs.

                “This is not one I can do alone. I would like to make this the final task for both of you. With everything that I have said, everything we have told you today. I would like for you both to accept this task, kill the Acros, and bring their bodies back up here. But there is the added challenge of ensuring the hatchlings are kept safe. It makes you both think about what you are doing. Where you are, and who you are hurting as well as the good you are doing for the balance of nature.” Hunter said.

                Relic glanced at his brother. It felt as if their father was stretching, trying hard to make the pair be alright with the idea of separating a family. All because they killed and hunted whatever they could in their area before moving on. Surely the hatchlings would grow, remember who they were, and come back to fight them as adults?

                But…what if Hunter and Ghast had a point. Ghast would not allow nonsense to continue. The Oviraptor was smart. Caring. She would not permit needless murder.

                “I’ll do it.” Blight said.

                Relic gave a nod. He knew Hunter took joy in bringing terror. He snapped at mice that got too close to him in their cave. He went out of his way to bite up at branches to scare away birds on occasion. But. He never actually ate them. Just scared them off. Relic had doubted the reasoning of his father all day, but Hunter had proven himself and his reasoning. There was bound to be more that drove the Acro that Relic didn’t understand. What might seem hypocritical at first might have logic rooted somewhere deep in it that the carno just didn’t understand.

                “Then we will get some sleep. And we will go late tonight to the city to get ready.” Hunter said, turning and headed back into the cave to get settled in. Ghast looked up at the brothers, patting their legs with a small smile.

                “What we say today. I can see it still does not make full sense to you. But in time, I hope it does. We do this for the good of the islands. And for the good of both of you. Come on.” Ghast said and smiled at the pair before heading back towards the cave as well, stopping to look back at the pair and waited for them before continuing on.

                Getting to the city that night had been easy. They’d seen the two adult Acros on their way into the city as well and had got into place to spring a trap on the group as they passed through one of the crowded streets. Hunter had taken shelter inside one of the buildings that was large enough to house him. Even in the dim light, his hide was easy to spot and they had all agreed he would sit out and watch as Blight and Relic took on the two adults.

                Hunter seemed uneasy about the idea, but allowed it.

                Relic had crouched down behind a massive garbage truck that sat, rusting, in the middle of the street. Blight was on the other side of the street, his head carefully tucked between two cars to hide his bright yellow hide until the last possible moment. The position of the two boys allowed them to see the adults as they headed down the street in the early morning. By their feet were their hatchlings. Looking only days old. One of them brightly colored, just like Blight himself with vivid yellows and browns on her egg-down.

                Given everything they had learned the previous day, and the ideas they had slept on and come to terms with, the hunt should’ve been an easy one. Or so the boys had thought. The hatchlings should scatter easily and they should be able to kill the two grown Acros with very little concern.

                What had been planned was not what had happened.

                As soon as the adults got closer, the pair sprung out from their cover. Blight’s powerful jaws snapping closed around the male Acro’s neck while the female turned quickly to fight the attacker of her mate. Only, instead of fighting a single adolescent Acro, there was suddenly a Carno that was crashing into her hips and knocking her onto her side. She stared in horror as her hatchlings screamed out in panic at their parents being attacked, one turning to fight Blight only to have Blight adjust his stance and brought his foot down on the hatchling.

                The female Acro roared, rage and sorrow filling her in an instant as she went to get back up but was met with Relic smashing his head into the side of hers and knocking her down again. The last thing she saw was her smallest hatchling, the little feathered female, running for her life. At least one of her children would make it. She had known this world to be cruel from her time in Alpha labs, but she had hoped her children would find the outside to be a better world.

                At least one had that chance.

                The scrap lasted a few minutes, the two adults fighting hard but their lack of preparedness for the attack was their downfall. Relic and Blight were quick to dispatch them. And once the dust settled, the pair were able to see the final result of their ‘hunt’.

                Both stared down at the bodies. Not of the adults they had murdered, but the three hatchlings that had died as a result of them not paying attention to what they had been doing. They had simply expected the hatchlings to run. And some of them…hadn’t. They hadn’t even seen the hatchlings that had stayed and died.

                They had done something that not even their father had admitted to. What would Ghast say? What would Hunter?

                Relic looked over when he heard the soft footfalls of Ghast, seeing her stopping between the pair and looking down at the hatchlings. The larger footsteps of Hunter came a moment later, the older male rumbling softly as he walked, head close to the ground to ‘see’ where he was going and what was in front of him. He got to the hatchlings and stopped the rumble, instead inhaling deeply.

                “We…We’re sorry. We thought…” Relic said, his voice a near whisper.

                “We thought they would run.” Blight said as he stared down at the three tiny bodies.

                Ghast made her way forward, picking two of the hatchlings up but the third was a lost cause. When Relic looked over at Ghast, he watched as she knelt down and closed her eyes, falling still for a moment as she bid the soul farewell.

                “Ghast. Give them one each and all of you start back home. I will take care of these two.” Hunter said, moving over to stop beside the two adults. Relic and Blight looked up quickly and over to Hunter. How was he going to bring two adults back up to their cave himself? It was then that they realized there were no Acrocanthosaurus skulls or bodies up on the mountain. These two had been the first two even Hunter had killed outside of Alpha Labs.

                Neither questioned Hunter about the adult Acros. Their attention instead focused on Ghast as she walked over and held out a hatchling to each of them. Blight was able to hold the small creature in his hands while Relic had to carry his in his mouth, forcing him to taste the blood of the innocent hatchling.

                “This will be a lesson I hope you both remember. I hope it stays with you. Just as mine has stayed with me. Don’t be sorry. Be better.” Hunter said as the three started away.

                The words bit. They bit deep into the hearts of the two boys. The whole way back to the cave, the boys thought only of the lives that had been lost due to their own carelessness. What was already going to be a bloody task had turned into something so much worse.

                “Why can he say something like that to us. He talked down to us because of what had happened. It was an accident.” Blight hissed down at Ghast hours later, the three going up the mountain. Their home in sight.

                “It was an accident. And he doesn’t think about what he says before he does. You know this. But I don’t think he knows how to voice his sadness in this case. For you both, as well as the three hatchlings.” Ghast replied quietly.

                “He can’t act better than us if he’s never done something like this. We didn’t go out there to do this, mom. I didn’t mean to…” Blight started, his voice full of anger but it quickly sputtered out as Ghast stopped, making the two boys stop as well.

                “He has. One time. That Sty, Evocatus? There was a juvenile among the herd…” Ghast said, staring ahead of them for a moment before shaking her head and started over to one of the trees in their clearing. She dug two holes, carefully, and then motioned towards them. The boys needed no more invitation and put the two hatchlings into the graves.

                “Was it an accident?” Relic asked as he watched Ghast carefully cover the two graves. She used her claws to mark the graves in a script only she knew before sitting down beside the mounds of dirt.

                “It does not matter. It never does. I know you both feel exactly as he did. And I know for a fact that you both will not let this happen again. Accidents happen. They always do. Keeping the balance of things is never easy. Remember that, too. To keep the balance you have to realize things will just happen sometimes. That is nature. Nature likes help, but she is not helpless. It takes strength to know what needs to be done and when. But only the strongest can come to terms with everything required to actually follow in the path that Hunter and I have tried to teach you. This world is not a kind one. It never will be. But what we do makes it a bit easier for everyone else.” Ghast said and continued to look down at the two graves as Blight and Relic sat on either side of her and looked at the graves as well.

                “Here is a good example of how nature keeps balance herself over time. Here lay two hatchlings, killed by two of my own hatchlings. But if Hunter and I had not saved you when you were their age, then these two would still be alive. There is no right answer to any of this. But there’s no wrong answer, either.” Ghast added.

                “So then. Why do we try to bring balance if nature will just bring balance herself?” Blight asked.

                “Because sometimes things even out. But sometimes a little thing can spiral into a big thing. Look at the humans. I almost guarantee they had plenty of opportunities to balance things out themselves. But they didn’t. Little things added up to they’re now all dead. They acted against nature and nature let it happen. Fuck around and find out, if you will.” Ghast replied and smiled, snorting softly in dark amusement.

                “Nature will fix honest mistakes. But she’ll let dinosaurs suffer for her own amusement if we act against her. If we act against nature. I don’t know how to explain it. But I have seen it. Hunter has seen it. We are here to just try and show you two what we have seen. But I don’t think we can. I think it’ll be a lesson you have to learn as you get older. Though I hope you don’t have to experience it.” The Oviraptor replied and gave a nod before getting to her feet.

                “Come,” She said, motioning for the two brothers to follow her to the nearby field of flowers, “Let’s give these two a proper burial before their parents come here to rot.”