Follow that trail!

The young Cryolophosaurus trudged along, eyes peeled for anything interesting as she walked. The sun shined from up above, the warmth from the sun’s rays having already heated up her scales in record time. Her dark colors soaking it up like a sponged dunked in a bucket of water. 

Herring had been on her own for a while now, being all grown up and all. Though the Cryolophosaurus would often go back to her roots once in a while, wanting to meet up with the familiar faces of her parents. On occasion, she’d be introduced to new siblings of hers. It was always an interesting time when she went home to where everything began. 

Herring never stayed put in one place for long, so she didn’t currently have a territory of her own to call home. It was comforting to know she could always go to her parents, that she would always be welcomed there. Her wandering often led her to new places and old. How the land and the flora would change from when she last visited, what other creatures had wandered through to cause a shift. 

Currently, the dark colored Cryolophosaurus was making her way over the crest of a hill, heading down into the small crater landscape that held a lake. Yet it wasn’t just any old lake. It was a lake that had extreme alkaline in its waters. Rainbow Lake is what it was known as. If the sun shimmered just the right way, one may see a glimmer of a rainbow on its surface. 

Out there in the middle of the lake was a flamboyance of flamingos, otherwise known as a group of flamingos. The lengthy birds were most likely munching away on the blue-green algae and other microorganisms. Herring glared at the pink birds. Oh, wouldn’t it have been a nice treat if she could catch one. What would it taste like? But alas, the waters were too much for her due to the high salt and mineral content in the lake. Blasted birds. Blasted lake. It was foolish of her to think she’d be able to nab one of those pink freaks in a flick of luck. It would seem that luck wasn’t on her side today.

Well, for the most part, at least. Thankfully luck and fate were being kind enough to let her live.

The Cryolophosaurus growled softly, the noise rumbling in her chest; annoyed. Those were pretty much the only creatures that hung out around Rainbow Lake. Then there was the occasional other creature, or creatures, that were simply passing through. Just like her. Though some didn’t make it. The bones that peeked out of the earth was more than enough evidence. Along with some decaying bodies, some newer, and others close to being just bones; yet to be consumed by the earth itself. She wanted a fresh meal. Though perhaps she could try to scavenge one of the more recently deceased bodies. Not that there were a ton to begin with here.

Herring slowed down to a halt when she noticed some prints in the earth. Who did those belong to? She took a few tentative steps forward, head lowering down to the ground as she sniffed. Trying to figure out if she’d ever come across any kind of footprints like these before. Her nose hovered over some of the footprints, breathing in deeply, nostrils flaring. Hmmm, she’d never smelled something like this before. The scent was faint under the other smells that lurked around, the smell of the earth and sand, the lake, and the flamingos. Yet still there.

Though with how faint it was, whoever these footprints belonged to must have passed through a while ago. How long exactly? Herring didn’t know. This was just one trail of footprints she noticed, maybe whoever these belonged to was potentially still lurking around? With a huff and a flick of her tail, Herring trudged onwards. Carefully following the trail of footprints in the earth, her eyes flicking about like a hawk. She was on the lookout for any kind of movement that could potentially be this creature. 

As Herring continued, she began to notice something odd. It was weird. There seemed to be something like a seed every few steps, others every few hundred steps. What were seeds doing appearing on this trail of footsteps? The Cryolophosaurus halted once more, head turning this way and that as she looked around her. Even going as far as to step around in a circle a few times. What was this? It seemed out of the ordinary for seeds to be following a trail of footprints made by who knows what. Or was it the other way around? Could this mysterious creature have noticed the seeds and then decided to follow them? In that case, which direction was the right direction? 

Well, the seeds didn’t matter. Even if they were extremely odd. She was trying to find this mysterious creature, even if she happened to be days behind on its trail. Perhaps it’s something she could eat. She was hungry after all. It had been a little bit since her last meal. What would this thing taste like? With a shake of her head to get her thoughts back in order, Herring once again continued on, following that trail. It wasn’t long before another oddball thing came into view.

Was that…

Was that a blue feather?

Herring paused, head tilting to the side. This couldn’t belong to any of the flamingos, those guys were pink after all. Unless… was there some random and rare blue flamingo? Herring looked over to the middle of the lake, easily spotting the flock of pink flamingos. Some were more vibrant than others, some taller, some shorter. Yet there was no blue flamingo in sight. So it couldn’t belong to a flamingo, it just couldn’t. It had to belong to someone else. Maybe… maybe it could even belong to whoever she was trying to track down? Well, maybe there was a way to figure it out. 

The Cryolophosaurus walked forward until she towered over the feather, eyeing it for just a moment before lowering her head. She took in a deep breath, the feather tickling her nose slightly. She then sneezed, before lifting her head and gnashing her teeth together. It smelled like the scent of the footprints, though something seemed a bit… off? 

First it was the mysterious footprints and the scent that lingered on them, then it was the odd trail of seeds appearing that were following said footprints, and finally, a blue feather. What other weird things were going to appear? What would be at the end of this trail? Who would be at the end? Herring hummed, her talons clicking against each other for a moment.

She glanced around once more, squinting. It was then that she noticed something in the distance, though it wasn’t far away. The young Cryolophosaurus slowly trotted over to it, not daring to go any faster. She wanted to save as much energy as she could just in case she had to make a run for it. Though she was also at Rainbow Lake after all, there wasn’t any drinkable water. It’d been a good trek away to find some. 

Her trotting gait soon slowed to a walk, only getting her to halt and sit down on the ground. She tilted her head and twisted it around a bit as she inspected a plant. Though it wasn’t like any of the ones she’d ever seen before. No, it was new and a bit exciting if she was being honest. Although she was cautious as well, could this plant be dangerous? It was bright orange and blue, the petals looked like it had little barbs on it. Yet the most intriguing thing about it was the petals seemed to move, the stem swaying a little as if trying to get her to get even closer. Something about this felt off. 

Herring got up to get feet and gave her body a shake, some dust, dirt, and sand falling off her. What did this all mean? She was used to stumbling upon things she’d never seen before and encouraged new smells. Yet this all just seemed weird. Something just didn’t seem right…