In a new Light

The alpha labs were always a harsh environment to grow up in. Fights were violent, and the individuals even more so. To survive in this hostile labyrinth of twisting hallways and dark secrets you have to learn quick and grow quicker. Being born into this place promises a rough start into life, but not always a hopeless one. As little light as there was, the old labs were alive and teeming with critters, predator and prey alike.

Slinging between corridors, a young acrocantosaurus chased the vermin left in the facilities. The rats annoyed Arden with how fast they could disappear in cracks and behind wall panels where he couldn't reach them. Rodents even climbed up cables and jumped between the broken flood lights above that long failed to illuminate the halls. If he was lucky he could gorge himself on the carcasses left by bigger hunters or unfortunate accidents, but he had no such luck yet. He was still so small and fragile. To survive this place he had to grow up and grow fast, and he was disturbingly aware of it. As an acrocanthosaurus he'd be among the apex predators of this environment, but he'd have to live that long first to stand as tall as his peers. His clutch mates didn't have that opportunity, so he would make his attempt count.

Running after another rat, he had to skid to a sudden halt. He was so used to the barely lit tunnels and halls of the facility, so when he took a turn the bright floodlights of the greenhouse area blinded him enough he staggered back. Craning his head back over the corner he couldn't explain what he saw.

This is the brightest place he had ever seen. Blinking against the light, he took cautious steps into the lit area and found himself under the canopy of a dozen plants. There was so much colour, so much green with vibrant speckles of flowers, and the ground was warm and soft with leaf litter. The plants spread out all around him, and when he looked up the green reached all the way up to the tall ceiling. He had to squint against the blinding lights above to even make out where it stopped.

Even the air here felt different. It was still stagnant in a way, but also so… clean? Breathing seemed easier between the green and there was a fine mist in the air that tasted funny against the roof of his mouth. Ventilation failed long ago when the power grid fried in parts and systems failed across the underground facility. These plants might as well be the reason the air down below was breathable at all, though he wouldn't know anything about air circulation. All he knew was that the air here was fresh and sweet.

His eyes flit around the place, and he spun on the spot, taking everything in. His eyes caught vibrant red or pink on… himself? He craned his neck back and saw his own back covered in pink patches. Wait, that's what he looked like? In wonder he glanced at his back, his flank, his own feet. He never guessed he'd be such a creamy colour. In the dark, murky areas he started his life in everything seemed so grey and dull. The harsh, blinking lights of abandoned panels or failing emergency lights found in the dark gave him the impression he'd be just grey and purple. Red lights painted everything red, and the blues of the frozen area of the facilities drowned everything in that cold blue hue.

Here? The light was so clean and bright, he saw his own coat in a colour he didn't think he had. It's creamy and the tip of his tail faintly a cool cyan. He chased the colour for a moment, before he gave up and sat down on the silt. This was comfortable. The space, the atmosphere, the visuals filling his young mind. He awed at the different leaf shapes above him, and licked his lips. Wait, was that blue? True to his suspicion his tongue was indeed blue, as he stuck it out into the light for him to glance at it properly. Even his mouth had a colour he didn't know he had. Yellow, red, blue. He kept circling between looking around the place, taking in the various colours of the flora around, and delighting at his own colours speckling his body parts he never inspected in broad white light. This area felt safe and right to him, even if the shadows were banned from these chambers. He'd like to stay here and learn to hunt between the green, not the concrete and darkness.

When he heard steps, instincts kicked him out of play and into motion, and he took cover under a large leaf. Right… As wonderful and strange this place seemed to Arden, he was still surrounded by danger. Anything could take him by surprise, and a hatchling was a worthy morsel to snatch up. Dacentrurus were always scary creatures, spiked monsters in the dark, but when he saw one waltz right past him it didn't seem so scary anymore. Seeing the herbivore crane its neck high to munch on the plants of the greenhouse area, Arden was fascinated how different they looked than he imagined. The tail was still worrying him as the sharp spines at its end were no fabrication of the shadows, but he noticed that the structures on its back flowed down in neat rows. They weren't as numerous and not as sharp as he first believed.

This time he hid away, but he's so sure one day he will slay one of those large spiked animals. And for that he had to grow big and strong. Bigger and stronger than this dacen he's eyeing from his hiding spot in the shrubbery. One day he'd figure what they tasted like. Maybe this little hatchling is getting a tiny bit too bold for his size, but he snapped at the air as if he could bite the answer out of it. When the dacen stirred, the motion ceased and Arden crouched deeper into the foliage. Maybe he should stick to rats for a first. They do have rats here, right?

[1044 words according to Ellipsus]