I didn't feel anything for hours. Or perhaps it was minutes. I could feel my own weight, but not my body exactly. Or it's the other way around. I couldn't move was the official problem. I could push the energy inside to my muscles. For some reason it wasn't physically possible. And I eventually stopped trying. Then, as I laid there in the darkness, a light came alive from inside. And my muscle feelings lifted. But so did the pain. Being only close to adulthood, it was strange enough to have never hunted or fought with creatures my size and bigger, unlike Thunder, my father. So when I felt the pain from my last fight come back alive, I wanted to wail out to the heavens for an eternity. I couldn't explain the pain, sort of like fire burning me from the inside out, or a nauseous feeling that rang my head like a bell. I wasn't quite certain which one hurt more, since they were oddly the same. Eventually, the feeling raced through me to the tip of my tail, which was when I was able to function for the first time. The first thing I noticed was that my breathing was really slow, painful slow. My eyelids felt heavy as I strained to open them, and when I did, a light came to my pupils. Was it truly the sun? Unfortunately no....it was fire. But it wasn't like the fire I've seen before, not at all, this one was contained permanently. It emitted heat equally around its roots, melting the permafrost that covered its rainforest sand. It danced as if in a ballet, capturing every flick from the toxic air. I stared at it in wonder, opening my eyelids a bit more, until I saw it clearly without a type of blur. I blinked a few times, seeing the orange flame wave in all directions in the air, then groaned. Something poked me. Then again. I felt a piercing pain strike me hard once again and winced, squeezing my eyes shut. What, or who was poking me? I wanted to crush my jaws in the pain that roared from my chest and back, when suddenly, it ceased in a warm and cool feeling. What was going on? Then I felt foot stomps. And there appeared a greenish, brownish paw. It wasn't clawed like mine, nor was it flat like a long-necks. It was a herbivore's. My eyes went up slowly, embracing the picture of a huge thorned Three-Horn, glancing down at me. A hot breath of steam exited its nostrils as she stared at me. There was another one behind me, two others in fact, two males, and one Triceratop youngling. And behind them was the longneck and its youngling. And they just stared. The she-dino looked at me, back at her group, then whispered something under here breath. They spoke in grunts and groans, little roars from their pointed beaks. I couldn't understand what they were saying, though I wish that I could. They seemed to be having a conversation of their own. But about me? Suddenly through the conversation, a triceratops busted through the crowd, running straight at me! All the other triceratops cried out either in terror or glory, yet I went into total shock, and quickly tried to jerk to my feet. Then I heard a rip, and a splash of blood stained the earth and my claws. Pain boiled over my head like the weight of the world, and I began to stumble once again. What did I do? I wanted to scream, but screaming wouldn't help me anyways. The Triceratops lunged, knocking me down like a rock to the earth. The ground shook violently as he pinned me to my back, exposing my underside to its most vulnerable point. I tried to swipe him with my tail, but one of his four legs was on my tail, two planted on the ground, and one deep in my belly. Its breathing was harsh and deep, and its eyes were locked on me in pure hatred. But why? I strained to get him off, but his weight and power overcame me. And for the first time, I felt completely useless.

"Don't hurt me!" I choked, "Please....I didn't do any-" Then a sharp pain sank back into my chest. I saw its horn suddenly begin digging into my flesh like a knife. I never felt anything as worse and brutal as that. I let out a roar of pain as the light before my eyes went red, and stars twinkled on my pupil. With the thought of dying once more, I felt my tears begin to return to my eyes as a last resort. That's when something odd happened. The long-neck let out a cry of anger, thundered down towards us, then slammed its foot into the earth. I felt my body rumble, catching the attention of the Triceratops. A few more grunts and wheezes emitted from both of their mouths, until finally, in frightening fear, he released, slipping his horn from my body. I saw my blood stain its horn, eyes wide in how deep it got. Then, I doubled over in pain, gasping endlessly as I gripped my chest, now with two holes bleeding out. The agony was beyond approach, and I felt like I needed to die at that point. I felt spasms of electricity snap through my veins like liquid metal, and the tears finally swept down my face. It hurts so much! My mind howled, and I'm just a kid...! I shuddered violently again, holding on to my own flesh, hide and scales to never let go as the pain increased. The Triceratops that attacked me then got bodied by the other female one angrily. The female looked older, and I saw her face of wisdom, and also great power over the others. Her horns were bent not like theirs, and a bit old and useless, but she looked healthy. She ordered for something to the others as she stumbled over to me, and two Triceratops lumbered slowly away into the dead forest. I gritted my teeth, squeezing my eyes hard to make the unbearable pain disappear, but despite my tries, it only continued on. The Triceratops was now over me, glancing at me as if trying to decide what to do with me. For me, I felt the deepest fear rise up into my skull, and panic unlike anything else. But then, she spoke. At first I heard a grunting sound like usual, grunts, clicks, honks. I shook my head.

"I don't understand..." I whimpered, tears flooding down my face. But when she spoke again, first with the grunts, it turned into words. And then miraculously, I understood.

"Are you okay young-one?" The Triceratops spoke. I couldn't believe my ears. I could understand my own prey. My own nemesis. I shook my head as a painful response, gasping in a violent cry, and feeling the warm taste of blood rush to my mouth.

"I-It...hurts....s-so....much...." I wheezed, partially crying in my sentence.

"I could tell," She seemed playful and honestly calm, but also furious over my wound, "One of my herd members attacked you because I wanted to keep you alive unlike the rest."

"And I still will," A voice growled, stomping over. I saw the stain upon the horn and remembered immediately who that was. I saw his face, angered and threatening, bony and strong glance over me with pure anger,

"He's already weakened, and I could easily squeeze the life out of this carnivore if I have too-" He began, edging towards me. A sudden thrust of strength bolted from the female, knocking the young male backwards to his original spot. She slammed her paw into the earth, cracking it literally. The male flinched in worry as she spoke again, puffing steam, much alike to how smoke exits, from her nose above her beak.

"Don't touch him again," She growled, then turned back to me. The male cursed under his breath, then turned away angrily. I stared at him with deep concern and unprotection, feeling sorry for him, yet terrified of my own safety. My breathing was now slowing down, and it became harder to sink in a whiff of air, while at the same time spatting out blood. The older Triceratops looked at my belly, which I unraveled from my tail to open up. She swallowed hard, tapping at the two wounds, both in which opened up from the sudden attack, on my chest. Waves of pain came from all directions until she stopped, shifted her paws, and walked over.

"Stand still!" She growled, "It'll only make things worse if you keep moving around like a dead fish."

"Okay," I breathed, seeing her body vanish again. Another few waves knocked the sense out of me, and I gritted my teeth once more to stop the pain, until she walked back over, thinking first before talking.

"Its deep," She finally concluded, "really deep. There's a lot of blood everywhere, so I could see why you're acting this way."

"Am I going.....to be.....okay?" I whispered. Silence. She didn't even say a word. She looked down firstly, swallowed again, then back up at the sky. Thinking once more, she looked back at me, and smiled positively.

"Yes. You'll be fine." She didn't seem honest with me for some reason. I had that gut feeling that something was wrong. Literally too since the fire burned there. Questions scrambled in my mind like a tornado, and I couldn't really find out which ones I could ask for, since there's too much to bear, and too much pain to bear especially, but eventually I managed to get one out, one simple question to even the odds.

"I never...really got to know your name yet," I begin to ask, "what is it?" She looked at me calmly fiddling with her paws and tail, glancing at me as if I was some tasty green plant waiting to be eaten and spoke softly like a common mother.

"Stella," She smiled. I nodded my head, taking in the name from the side of my ear into my brain.

"Shadow....that's mine..." I responded back. Stella dipped her head as a sign of respect.

"Shadow...that's an interesting name. Like a darkness that can't be destroyed right? But to me, you're sort of like a lightning bolt, kind and caring. You act like the lighter part of the darkness." Usually, I've never been respected. She then lifted her paw upwards to the long-neck.

"That's Timber. He came to the watering hole weeks ago with his only surviving son." Then she thought, "And you save his son's life." I looked up to the dark sky above, seeing the smoke and toxins dance like leaves in the spring breeze, then back at Stella.

"Yeah, I guess I did-" I cut off, groaning in pain as another wave of nausea came across my face. Blood rushed to my face for a few seconds, which silenced the noise, then disappeared once more. She sat down to the elbows of her arms and back legs, already getting engaged into a new conversation. But this was about Timber's son unfortunately, not anything else like the nature or the watering hole.

"Why did you save his son she asks politely I've never seen anyone especially like you do something like that if you're rare and unrealistic not even normal I looked up at her inside I couldn't even answer that question myself I inhaled quietly taking in the air that surrounded me and breathed out a partial answer.

" I didn't know what happened Stella. I-It's like.....I couldn't even control myself to be honest. I didn't even know how to fight but somehow I ended up attacking the Spinosaurus, and well, everything went south. I didn't even know how to respond to what I did. I remember the feeling however, I felt strangely powerful in my muscles but at the same time I felt useless in my mind. It was when my body and my mind didn't cooperate enough when I finally lost." I said. Stella smiled with a strange and confusing look as if she really enjoyed what she heard.

"Fighting.......well......it really is a typical feeling that embraces your every move, and makes you uncontrollable of yourself,......but doing something that's right and just.......that's something different. You saved Timber's son.......and that amazing act to stand up for someone who can't can change your life forever." I felt a heartwarming sensation uplift over my struggling pain as she spoke about my courageous act, and silence tore through the valley, listening to her words petrify the earth, "And I've never seen a carnivore help a herbivore before....but it was something special. You did something special, and you should be proud of that."

"But its like you said;.......carnivores are not supposed to help herbivores. It's just not how nature works."

"That's sincerely true........Shadow,.......but think about this: Nature's dying already, right beneath our very feet and through the air, and if we are in need to survive........we need to adapt in the best way possible. Sometimes........adaptations can lead to certain and strange acts.......and those acts could be beneficial for our future." I thought about what she said and nodded. But I had something hidden beneath my jaws that I had to spill out. And I did.

"I.....acted.....because I saw something that haunted me. This blossom tree,........when it fell.......I saw all of its flowers come down along with it, as of life just gave up on it........never to be seen again. That scared me.......and I didn't want the same thing to happen to something......much more......alive.....than a plant."

"Well its a good thing that you did," Stella rumbled with a grin. Finally, after fighting myself from the pain embedded inside, the two Triceratops from before arrived back with some strange plants and objects. I couldn't quite understand what those objects were being used for, but perhaps it was for my own good, and maybe, just maybe to heal my wounds that were slowly killing me from inside. Nervousness crept through me like an internal shadow, and my heart race quickly and silently as I saw Stella approach the strange and unusual objects that lay waste on the ground. She picked one up, fiddling with it confused, until she realized what it was, then stumbled over to me, quietly and cautiously handling the object as if a newborn egg was just laid seconds ago. It was this yellow substance that I had no idea as to what it was. It contained a strange aroma to it, like honey but not sweet honey; rotting honey. Stella placed the liquid onto a couple of white cobwebs, fluffy and sticky to anything it touches. Using 3 balancing paws to walk over to me, she slowly and carefully placed each cobweb with a yellow substance on to my deep and gushing holes. Abruptly, a few seconds later, I felt a irritating sting whelmed up on my wound. I let out a peep of a cry, but not as big as expected. I never felt anything like this though, it was like a bee sting, but a bit worse, and it clouded up my vision for a few seconds until finally......everything stopped.......thus including the pain. I lifted my large toothy head around to face my belly, and noticed that the yellow substance was actually a sort of tree sap, designed to encrust whatever flowed into it's amber. It was a plug for my wounds in this case, a little bandage. I stared at it in wonder and amazement, unable to say anything. But I could think of something first; these herbivores are truly smart.