Ancient Lives:Episode 2:Changing Tides

Hello All! It's time for episode two of Prehistoric Lifes. Todays episode takes place in the Ordivician period. The winner of yesterday's reader vote was the Orthocone, so now our main character today will be an Orthocone. If you want more information on some of the creatures featured in todays story, check out the Paleozoic section of my website alldinosallthetime.weebly.com Now, on with the show! Changing Tides In a warm, tropical, and temperate ocean, an egg is hatching. It is an Orthocone, and it's first glimpse of the sea floor is bright with light. When the little Orthocone's eyes adjust to the light, he sees a managiery of colorful coral growing everywhere. His environment is teeming with life, something the little Orthocone, now named Leon, is about to be very aware about. As Leon looks around a little bit more, he realizes that there are at least one hundred other eggs in his nest, but a large Eurypterid is feeding on about eighty percent of the eggs, and the new hatchlings. As Leon positions himself to swim a little above the nest, the movement catches the eye of the massive six foot Eurypterid. It's heading Leons way, but he instinctively does not leave the nest so that he can live with his siblings for the first few years of thier life. The Eurypterid is coming tword Leon, and he bolts upward, but is not fast enough and soon finds himself caught in the Eurypterid's strong claws. Leon in feeling his long shell getting squeezed, and his entire body is now searing with pain. Leon begins to struggle free, but the Eurypterid tightens his grip. Suddenly Leon feels an increadible pain in the tip of his shell, and tastes blood. In the same instant, Leon is freed from the Eurypterids grasp, and bolts upward. He the realizes that his shell is missing the topmost tip. It is quickly healing though, and in a few minutes it is covered over with new, more fragile shell. Suddenly, the Eurypterid swims away, and Leon notices that it is missing it's left paddle. Somehow, the Eurypterid accelerates quickly and is soon gone from Leon's sight. Then, Leon sees a fully grown, thirty foot Orthocone. It immediately begins eating eggs by the dozen. By the time the male has eaten his fill there are only two eggs left in the nest. An hour later Leon's two remaining siblings hatch, and as soon as the newborn's eyes are fit, the three go off into the unknown world. At only about two inches long, the baby Orthocones are small, especially by Ordivician standards, but with a little bit of luck, they can see at least one of them survive to adulthood. As Leon and his siblings are swimming along they feel a slight disruptance in the water. They speed up a little bit, but then suddenly Leon feels an increadible pain all over his body and he realizes that the one paddled Eurypterid has slammed into his body in an attempt to finish what he started. Fortunately for Leon, the Eurypterid was aimed a little bit too high, and could not grasp onto Leon, but the Eurypterid is coming back and this time he will have Orthocone. Leon is increadibly stunned, and is blacking out as he sinks slowly to the bottom of the ocean floor. The one paddled Eurypterid is coming again, and this time he catches Leon in his claws. Leon is quickly losing life, and hardly feels pain anymore, until suddenly it stops. He tastes blood, but he isn't dead. Leon has made a lucky escape, the single paddled Eurypterid called Scarge was charged by a fully grown female Orthocone. Leon realizes that all the Eurypterid got away with was one of his arms, and he swims away from the scene while Scarge and the female Orthocone fight in the distance. As Leon swims away, he realizes that he has lost his convoy. Then, he seems them out in the distance, and charging them is Scarge. Leon can do nothing but watch as Scarge kills off all of his remaining siblings in a blooodbath of torrent. Leon swims away, knowing that there is nothing he can do but move on and make his own in the world. His chance of survival is unlikely, but Leon will have to keep going anyway. He has barely survived his first day of life, but his other siblings are not as lucky. One Year Later Leon is now about three feet long. He has been growing at a quick rate, and is now very noticable, with his blunt shell, missing arm, and battle scarred body. Leon however has spent his first year of his life completely alone and is hardened by his experiences. He is a great hunter, but still sees constant torment from the Eurypterids of the Ordivician. Leon is now feeding on medium sized Trilobites. As Leon is searching for his next meal, something catches his eye, something farmiliar. It's an Orthocone, only he recognizes this as one of his siblings. Missing several legs and housing several three inch deep scars, his sibling is dying quickly, and barely swimming. In the next instant Scarge is charging Leon's sibling. Scarge hits with pinpoint accuracy on one of the deep scars, and the force of the impact splits the shell of Leon's sibling. As the flesh body, still living, sinks to the bottom, Scarge comes out of the pool of blood and swoops down, scooping up the body and eating it alive. Scarge is eating his meal, and suddenly feels a strong impact from a rage filled Leon. Scarge is stunned, and quickly sinking down to the bottom of the ocean. Leon comes in a second time to finish off Scarge, but Scarge turns the tables, and attacks Leon's face. Leon has stopped swimming and is going tword the bottom of the ocean with Scarge on his face, attacking and pinching, but Scarge knows he can't get a good attack now. Before Leon can wrap his tentacles around Scarge, Scarge swims away, and agin that missing paddle torments Leon, who leaves the scene as well to go search for food. Two Years Later Leon is now about fifteen feet long and a reasonably sized opponent for any Eurypterid in the area. Leon knows that he can catch food with ease, but he has devoted most of his life to finding and killing Scarge. Scarge the Eurypterid has been aging badly, and is on the verge of dying, but Leon will very soon have much worse problems to deal with. As Leon spots a small Eurypterid on the ocean floor, he dives down fast, and makes the catch. Leon is swimming away with the Eurypterid and is unsuspectedly targeted by a hungry twenty foot long male Orthocone. Leon is ambushed from above, and at first thinks the male just wants the Eurypterid, but when the larger male Orthocone begins to try to crush Leon's face with his beak. It is now a fight to the death. The two lock arms and begin to attempt to rip small chunks of flesh off of each other until Leon slips free from this attack, and charges onto the older male's shell, and starts trying to break in the larger male's shell with his own bony beak. Suddenly, Scarge arrives on scene and want's a piece of Leon as well. Scarge is attacking Leons face, and throws Loen off of his target. Leon in out in the middle of the ocean now, and the male Orthocone is coming fast. Suddenly, Scarge slips and his remaining paddle foot falls straight into the beak of Leon. Scarge, searing with pain can only manage to putter away slowly. Suddenly Leon is hit in the flank with a tremendous force. It's the other Orthocone, but his starvation induced attacks are sloppy and therefore Leon easily slips away and in turn throws the male Orthocone into a lengthwise spin. The male Orthocone careens into the nearby cliff, and explodes in a pool of dark red blood. Leon swims away and retrieves his Eurypterid carcass off the ocean floor. Suddenly, Scarge comes back powered by his tail, and hardly able to steer. This time Leon can't defend himself. Leon braces for impact, but it never somes. Scarge looses control, slows down, and putters uneasily tword Leon. Scarge then falls stiff and lifeless, but Leon doesn't bother to eat the carcass, because his mouth is already full. Three Years Later Leon is twenty five feet long, and has reached adulthood. His missing tip has take about six feet off of his total length. No matter though, because Leon is the most rugged and feared Orthocone of the Ordivicain seas. Leon is swimming along, and spots a nest of Orthocone eggs on the ground, and begins to eat them. There is something farmiliar here though, and as Leon eats the eggs in the nest he realizes that this is his birthplace. As Leon eats his fill he swims away, but before he can get out of the small coral cove, the Earth shakes tremendously and the sky is luminated with many streaming colors. The water turns brown, and suddenly Leon is surrounded by a swirling frenzy of panicked animals. Suddenly, Leon feels out of energy, and starts to black out as many panicked animals crash and die into his sinking body. TO BE CONTINUED... Well, I hope you enjoyed this installment of Ancient Lives. The next one will come soon, so stay tuned and keep on the lookout for the exciting conclusion to Leon's story. Until next time!