[Gift] Whisp's Journey: Dangerous Steps

What started out as a search to find the new dinosaur species had led Whisp and now two young hatchlings on a goosechase down a set of caverns far below the surface. The further they went, however, lights began to appear from above. Lamps, like the ones that were sometimes seen on the surface near an abandoned city.

‘Or the ones inside of the Alpha labs,’ Wisp thought with concern.

By now the chase had slowed to a walk, their suspect having long disappeared into the depths of the tunnels. The tiny hatchlings were doing their best to keep up with the larger cryo. 

“I’m tired,” said Tilly. The usually cheery carnotaur was now tired, barely keeping her precious red bucket from dragging onto the floor.

“We can’t stop now,” Magpie, the styra,  argued back. “If we do, then,” she parted her mouth wide and let out a sleepy yawn. “We’ll never find them and the stuff they took from us.”

Whisp stopped in his tracks, spotting a patch of ferns. “We better take some time to rest. I don’t want you two to fall asleep midstep.”

“We’re not that tired,” Magpie argued, struggling to keep her eyes open.

“Young dinosaurs like you need all the sleep to grow big and strong,” the cryo said encouragingly, gently pressing the ferns down to make a makeshift nest. “Come on, hop in.”

Tilly was the first to crawl in, setting her bucket down and then promptly falling asleep on top of it. Magpie gave a light snort of disapproval, but after Whisp blocked the way with his tail, she begrudgingly laid down by her friend.

The cryo quietly sat down and curled his tail around both hatchlings. And though he kept his promise for the first few hours, eventually exhaustion set in…

⚜···—–—⚜—–—···⚜

Tilly was the first to wake up. Bit by bit, her eyes opened, until everything came into focus. The tiny carnotaur gave a quiet yawn, and a tiny shake. 

First thing was to make sure that her red bucket was around. Tilly didn’t have to look far to see it had rolled into the ferns. She didn’t waste any time to make sure it was secured in her jaws. 

The tiny carnotaur glanced around. Whisp seemed to have fallen asleep, the huge dinosaur’s body rising and falling as he slept.

Wait.

Where was Magpie?

Nervously, Tilly began to nudge Whisp awake. “Magpie, this isn’t a good place to explore,” she whispered to herself out loud. “Whisp, wake up!”

The cryo began to stir. “Brambles, is that you?” He said in a groggy voice.

“No, it’s Tilly,” the carnotaur explained. “Wake up! Magpie’s missing!”

“Pie? Oh, Magpie!” Without another moment to lose, the larger dinosaur was up on his feet, eyes fully opened.

They had slept in a corner of the cavern leading around the bend. The lanterns above were dimly lit, and yet there seemed to be some source of light beyond the corner.

Whisp sniffed the ground. “She left a while ago, but we should be able to find her. Please stick close to me, Tilly,” he asked her.

“Okay,” the feathery carnotaur answered, clutching her bucket as she walked behind him.

The further they ventured into the tunnel, the more plants began to spring up. Not just on the bottom, but on the sides. Even the top of the tunnel had dangling roots and vines.

Finally daylight laid ahead, and the exit of the tunnel, yet something seemed off about it. The light seemed to dance about. It wasn’t until Whisp and Tilly took their first steps outside that everything became clear.

In front of them laid an immense forest. The trees towered above them full of unusual and unknown plants. And even higher than that was the sky. Or at least where it would be, but as Tilly squinted her eyes, she spotted tiny flecks above.

“Are those fish!?” She exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Whisp answered in awe, unable to believe it himself. “Tilly, I-I think we’re somehow under the ocean!”

“But how?!”

“I think… this place might’ve been made by humans. They’re the only creatures that would’ve been able to figure out how to do this. As to why… I’m not sure.”

For a moment, the two dinosaurs stared at sea, watching marine life pass by as if nothing laid below them.

Then a scream echoed out, causing both dinosaurs to turn their heads back to the forest.

“HELP!” A voice cried out faintly.

“Magpie!” Tilly shouted.

“WE’RE COMING,” Whisp roared into the forest. “Tilly, get in my mouth. We can’t waste any time getting to her.”

“Okay,” the carnotaur said nervously as she watched the dinosaur lower his head. She didn’t know what trouble her friend was in, and also didn’t know how the ride in the cryo’s mouth would go.

“I’ll be as gentle as I can be,” Whisp promised.

Tilly had a look inside, took a deep breath, and climbed inside.

As soon as she did, the cryo took off, tearing through the undergrowth as fast as he could. Every once in a while dipped his head down, trying to sniff the ground for Magpie’s scent when he could spy her footprints.

Tilly clenched her bucket a little tighter than usual, watching the forest go by in a blur between the gaps in his teeth. It was hard to place trust in the large dinosaur inside of his mouth, but the carnotaur had no other choice.

A vine whacked the side of Whisp’s head, causing him to hiss, and Tilly to flinch from the noise.

“HELP, IT’S GONNA EAT ME!” Magpie cried, somewhere close by. Whisp took a sharp turn and followed her voice.

Another shriek, and finally Tilly spotted a large plant with unusual dewdrops and tendrils, one of them twisting around something. It wasn’t until a head popped out that the hatchling knew who it was.

“MAGPIE!” Tilly screamed in horror

Whisp lowered his head on the ground, the carnotaur leaping out to try and get to her friend.

“TILLY!” Whisp said, stopping her with his tail. The hatchling bumped right into it.

“If you try to get her out, you’ll get caught in its trap,” he warned. 

“But-” she started.

“I’ll get her out, I promise.”

“But how?!”

“By stepping on it.”

The cryo then used his foot to bend down the tendril holding Tilly, sap and juice coming out from underneath. Then, with the part of the plant weakened, Whisp used his forearms to part the tendril open.

Magpie gasped loudly, finally able to take a breath of fresh air.

“MAGPIE!” Tilly said outloud, the carnotaur on the edge of tears.

“Tilly?” the styra said in a dazed voice.

“Almost out, hold on,” Whisp said, trying to stomp out any other tendrils from coming close.

Finally, the main tendril broke, and the cryo quickly peeled the styra away from its sticky grasp. Magpie coughed, leaves getting stuck on her body.

“Magpie, are you okay?” Tilly asked, nudging her friend’s head.

“Ugh…. Tilly, no wonder you hate waking up early,” she said. Tilly began nuzzling her, relieved her friend was safe. Whisp took a moment to bury the terrible plant underneath the earth before he checked up on the two hatchlings.

"You didn't eat anything here, did you?" Whisp asked worridly.

"No," Magpie answered, looking at the ground. "I just don't know how I let that stupid plant grab me."

"That plant could've hurt any other dinosaur, I got hurt by one on the way to rescue you," he argued.

The styra didn't look convinced.

"Look, the main point is that you can't wander off by yourself here. You don't know what might be here any more than I do," Whisp said, his brows furrowed. "And the last thing I want is for you to get hurt and I'm not around to help you. You're very brave, but you're still small. Do you promise to stay close to me from now on?"

"...Okay."

“We can’t stay here,” Tilly said, eyes filled with worry.

Whisp gave a glance back at the plant he stomped, but to his horror, one of the plant’s tendrils was slowly rising up.

“No, not at all,” he quietly said.

⚜···—–—⚜—–—···⚜

It wasn’t optional to have both Magpie and Tilly on the ground, not with the strange plants seemingly attacking the styra. So after a quick search, Wisp found the partial remains of a log and carried both hatchlings inside.

Whisp quickly realized there weren’t many animals roaming inside. No birds, no mammals, barely any frogs.

“Oh, look!” Tilly said quietly, watching a small lizard dart around the undergrowth. It inspected an odd plant. Wisp noted that the plant appeared to have odd spines on its leaves.

Without warning, one of the leaves snapped shut, trapping the lizard inside. Tilly gave a startled gasp, Magpie moving closer to the hatchling to comfort her.

‘If those things can eat small lizards, I don’t want to know if they can eat something larger,’ Whisp worried, glancing at the bigger plants that were far bigger than the hatchlings, and even himself. 

What had appeared ordinary and familiar on the surface was twisted into something else. Predator had become prey, and he became all too aware of the plants silently moving towards them, their tendrils brushing against his skin.

Just waiting for the moment to make their move.

Some appeared more dangerous than others, like the vines with sharp thorns. Others seemed to be pitchers of water, but upon a closer look held insects and lizards that drowned inside. 

And that was just inside the smaller ones. 

They couldn’t rest, nor could he stop to allow Magpie to eat any vegetation. For all they knew, any plant was poisonous like the ones found growing on the surface.

“Whisp?” Tilly said quietly.

“Mhm?” He mumbled, unable to speak with the log in his mouth.

“I think I heard something.”

“Like a fly?” Magpie asked.

“No, something bigger.”

Whisp, uncertain, placed the log carrying the hatchlings down. All three dinosaurs stayed quiet, the air filled with nothing but the sound of insects buzzing around.

Then there was the sound of footsteps.

Then another, rumbling ever closer.

“We gotta move,” Magpie said warily, trying to walk.

“No, you need to rest!” Tilly insisted.

“We don’t have any more time-”

Magpie’s sentence was cut off as the two hatchlings screamed. From the bushes and vines came four large but short legged dinosaurs, their bodies covered in what appeared to be thorns and strange looking armour. They held up their clubbed tails in the air, poised to strike.

“FREEZE!” A voice shouted.

The trio turned around. From behind stood an enormous dinosaur, far bigger than anything Tilly had encountered. Even Whisp seemed small, compared to her, not even reaching her thighs. 

She had a beak like a styra, but lacked a frill. Yet on her forelimbs were a set of sharp claws.

Tilly didn’t want to know how sharp they were.

“By order of her majesty the queen, you are hereby made prisoners for trespassing the kingdom of Atlantis,” the big dinosaur announced. “Any attempt to disobey this order can and will result in punishment to adults.”

Tilly quickly fled to Whisp’s legs, cowering at the sight of the more intimidating clubbed dinosaurs. Magpie tried to appear tough, but the carnotaur could tell that she too was scared.

The big glanced at Whisp with stern eyes. “I suggest you come quietly, if you’d rather not make a fool of yourself in front of the children.”