Chapter 10

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Twenty four hours later, and Dune had picked up the scent of Shadow, the next victim of his violent vendetta. In those twenty four hours, many things had happened- the most important of which being the following.

Dune had taken some vines, and wrapped them around him- he had some constricting his two arms and his two legs, as well as some draped around his neck. On his left arm, there was a bloody Velociraptor skull strapped to him, the vines going through the orbital cavity and the fenestrae to secure it in place.

The other vines will have their skulls soon enough.

Of course, the one skull on him currently was that of Blood's. It was his trophy. His left leg was saved for Shadow. The right leg was for Sand. Right arm, Bone.

And the one on his neck would harbour the skull of his most beloved most despised, most affectionate most bitter, most trustworthy traitorous kind cruel respectable disgraceful true superficial honest lying gentle monstrous caring heartless naïve manipulative sister.

Ah, yes.

Fern.

His sister.

The One who brought him out of his shell only to thrust him back in it.

The One who taught him that trusting others is okay, only to betray him and teach that everyone will abandon him in the end.

The One who hurt him and got away with it.

(But not for long.)

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Shadow had had a rather normal life for the most part.

He had been born to his parents, Soil and Dust, amongst a clutch of five. He was the strongest of his siblings, and managed to overpower and kill the runt of the litter himself. Blaze, the alpha, was not very surprised- while it was normally the alpha's job to cull the runt, occasionally, a stronger sibling will kill them themselves (which led to utter disappointment when he would realise, years from Shadow's birth, that Fern, his strongest offspring, was defending his runt of a son, who she had even dared to give a name. It had been the first named runt since anyone could remember.)

Shadow was known for being very calm and calculating among the other youngsters. He was quiet, only speaking when he felt like it, and extremely intelligent. He wasn't particularly liked or disliked, but he didn't really care.

He didn't care much for many. He liked his mother, but didn't feel much for his father. And for the longest time, he felt little for anyone. In fact, he seldom experienced any emotion.

But, things took a different turn after a while. When he was a young adult, he had noticed something- whenever he was around one of the raptors, his heart would race. A lightness would heave in his chest, and he would feel like he was flying. This only happened around a very specific raptor- just looking at her gave him a rush of ecstasy. Thus, for the first time, he felt a strong, compelling love, all of which was preserved for the raptor known as Blood. She was always so excited about something, and the way she ruffled her red-brown feathers and widened her big blue eyes was adorable to him. She was small, and not the strongest of raptors, but she was fast, and the best tracker in the pack. He, honest to goodness, loved her with all his heart, and wanted to protect her until the end.

Of course, he never brought it up to anyone. He was embarrassed, knowing everyone would be shocked that he of all the raptors loved her. Instead, he showed his love by doing small things for her which he never did for anyone else. He hunted for her and shared his food with her. He defended her, always, and gave her strange little gifts.

Blood had noticed his actions, and thought they were charming. She herself did actually return his feelings. But, she never told him that- she knew it would make him uncomfortable, and if others overheard, he would probably become even more embarrassed. So, she merely accepted his actions, and occasionally, she would do something nice for him too. Their love was of a strange, unspoken love, yet however subtle it was, it ran deeper than the widest of oceans. After his mother died of a terrible infected wound, Shadow cared for no one other than Blood, and he would give up his life to preserve her own.

Shadow, of course, cared nothing for Dune. But, his reasons for contributing to his 'death' were not personal- he didn't particularly dislike Dune. He only helped Fern and the others because Blood disliked Dune as a leader (mainly because of him destroying tradition and enforcing his ideals) and she wanted his more conventional sister to take over instead. He himself held no bitter feelings towards the raptor.

But this would not, in any way, change Dune's path of carnage.

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(To trust and to love is to be weak.)

(I must not be weak...)

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