*****
Brachiosaurs, being among the most massive animals ever to walk this planet,
are not the easiest to bring down. Indeed, even the biggest meat eaters
generally leave the imposing sauropods alone. It takes quite a force to
knock down a eighty-ton animal, and that's what happened with the first
shock wave.
The force was so great that it took Kenric by surprise and knocked
him to the ground. He tried to pull himself upright -- that's a feat in
itself, to gather all that bulk into a standing position. Then the second
shock wave came, greater than the first, and sent Kenric reeling again.
Oww!!
His head struck a rock, and Kenric was considerably dazed. He tried
to focus, to raise himself, only to be frozen in fear. His eyes glazed
over as the wall of flames bore down upon him. Kenric could feel the intense
heat searing his hide. O the pain!
The last thing Kenric did before being completely consumed by flames
was call out to the one who he wanted to be with more than anything.
"Baylene!"
After the firestorm passed, nothing was left of the brachiosaur except a pile of ash and bone.
At that same time Kenric met his fiery end, a pteranodon family frantically tried to escape the blast, but the air was too hot, too thick with smoke. They became separated; one retraced her steps to find a friend, but it was too late. She felt the heat upon her as she desperately searched for the gentleman brachiosaur who had become a cherished friend. The last thing Glennis remembered before her mate found her was wailing over Kenric's smoldering remains.
"Ah, Kenric! What a worst fate to befall one so!"
She was quite unaware that she was in pain herself, that half her body
had been burned away by the blast. She ignored the searing pain as she
mourned Kenric's death. It was Donovan, her mate, who finally found her
wailing and bawling over the brachiosaur's burning remains.
"Glennis! There you are! The children...O Glennis, our wee ones got
caught in the blast...Oh Glennis, the fire got to you! Oh my love..."
Yes, it happened: Glennis' children both fell victims to the Fireball's intense blast. The poor little fledglings couldn't keep up; both parents and children became separated. When Glennis flew back to check on Kenric, the blast had already reached them. Only Donovan escaped serious injury. It was he who finally convinced her to leave this madness; then he hoisted his mate onto his back and carried her all the way to the Nesting Grounds.
Not too far away, within that same time span, a lone male iguanodon, carrying his precious cargo, made a frantic, last-minute dash into the sea just before the blast consumed his island home.
*****
Ordinarily, Sarama's blasts could be heard for miles; however, on this night, they were of no use. The ear-splitting roar of winds and rumblings of the earth drowned out her loudest voice. Her heart ached for Ola, her mother, and Doli, her eldest child.
"Come, Sarama!," called her mate Hadron. "We must take cover!"
But she didn't listen; she insisted on staying on that hill, bellowing
and calling out to her family.
"Will you come on!," Hadron shouted, finally nudging her toward a cave not too far away. "These winds will overtake us all! Don't worry about your mother and Doli; I'm sure they'll be all right..."
They huddled together in the snug confines of a small cave which served as shelter from the wind and heat. There they were, several Herd members who Sarama had known since childhood. There was Eema of course; then there was the usual number of iguanodons, chief among them were the Herd's leader Kron and his sister Neera.
But where was Baylene?
Oh, Sarama knew the brachiosaurs never migrated but she was worried
about her friend. It would be well into the next day when reality would
finally hit home. During that march toward what they thought was a now-devastated
Nesting Grounds, the stranger appeared. Everything that Mother Adah foresaw
those many years ago would happen.
Odd, how out of sorrow and tragic, hope grows and flourishes. Even
in the face of catastrophe...
*****
When dawn broke, the full impact of last night's destruction was evident. The ground was scorched, the air dry and dusty. There was no sign of life, not even a scraggly plant grew through hot rocky soil. There was no water, no cool moist forests in which to play. The plains and gently rolling green hills were no more. In a matter of minutes, Paradise had been transformed into an endless lifeless wasteland. How can anyone or anything survive this!
~~~~~~~~
Sarama's voice cracked with emotion as she finished recounting that
horrible night when fate changed everything so cruelly. By now, every Herd
member – dinosaur and lemur – learned Baylene's entire life history, the
fate of her family, and how she became the last of her kind.
"Where the deep forest used to be, there was now a shattered wasteland.
All the trees and greenery were gone. The earth was cleaved with such a
force. Nothing was recognizable...."
"Our search ended when we reached the remains of the forest. Deep within a newly split chasm – and it was still smoldering – we found them...My mother, Doli and her mate, and Ember. Or what was left of them..."
Sarama could say no more; she immediately broke down as Hadron comforted her. It was his turn to speak.
"Sarama took it hard; she nearly went mad. But there was little time for grieving as Kron insisted that we get underway...But Baylene..."
Eema said, "Later on that day, we found Baylene wandering aimlessly. She babbled on and on...I think she knew that her sister was gone, as well as the rest of her kind. I took it upon myself to watch over her since she never traveled before. Poor old girl, to face the world without family or friends."
She then looked at Aladar, saying, "Honey, before you came along, Baylene would've died along the way. She seemed so out of it, so dejected. I guess she felt that it was her time, and the sooner she died the better."
Aladar pondered Eema's words. He then remembered Baylene's words to
him
that day she broke through the cave wall. He did inspire her, just as Mother
Adah foresaw long before he was born. Aladar inspired the Herd; he inspired
Baylene, who at this moment, relived painful memories.
How uncanny, thought the idealistic iguanodon, that the very place which
served as Baylene's turning point a few years ago would serve as stage
for yet another confrontation.
This time, though, Baylene confronted those from her past; she felt she
had good reason to lash out. The Herd could hear her voice ring out from
within the cave. It was an angry voice, full of fire and spit. After all
these years, Baylene, who seldom allowed herself to "lose it", did just
that.
Just who is she talking to?
*****
In uncharacteristic anger, Baylene, the elderly brachiosaur, lashed out at the apparitions before her. There they were -- her parents, mate, daughter, sisters, brothers -- appearing as they did in life. There was also someone else, a pteranodon, whose unlucky hunting expedition resulted in a dropped egg. That egg turned out to be none other than Aladar, just as Mother Adah prophesied.
Right now Baylene could care less about how Aladar inspired her life, for she dwelled upon the past and lashed out at those she perceived as causing a life of pain and misery.
"Baylene!," began an elderly brachiosaur couple, "We never meant for you to suffer as you did. We only put the responsibility on you because you were -- are still -- the most reliable, most giving, most selfless..."
Baylene glared at her parents' spirits, her eyes blazing the longest
at her mother. She interrupted, ,"But I gave it all: my time, my love,
my patience. And for what? So I could watch my own children die while they
were barely hatchlings? So I'll take on the burden of counseling my brother
who, incidentally, abandoned his family at worst possible time?"
Baylene's mother, Madame Sybille spoke up, "No, dear daughter, all
your sacrifice was not in vain. Look what's become of you! You've matured
in ways that makes me envious! You've earned your awards, Baylene. Enjoy
life to the fullest! And you can do this once your mate reveals your lasting
legacy."
Suddenly, all the apparitions disappeared, save one. That would be Quivier, Baylene's faithful mate. He and she stood by each other through good times and bad, through tender triumphs and painful loss. He appeared to Baylene as the elegant, stately gentleman, not the sickly, broken creature who literally died at Baylene's feet so long ago. "Baylene, my love, I believe it is time to forgive and forget. But not after you've seen your true destiny. Come along, dearest..."
What he showed Baylene would truly "blow her mind."
COMING UP IN THE CONCLUSION
Copyright©2001 by "Sarama"
(the FanFiction Diva)