The Tyrant's Roar: Chapter 15

Finally, after one month of editing and some time of losing my word document for this tale, here is the final chapter.

Chapter 15:  Revival

Poppaea’s eyes were wide with shock.  Never had she seen so much destruction.

She was following the scent of an Edmontosaurus herd earlier in the afternoon, when she felt faint tremors in her toe pads.  They were coming from the eastern woods.  Poppaea began to worry, because they seemed to come from her nest.  Tytus and their children might have been in danger, and no matter how strong a protector her husband was, Poppaea could not let him him face the threat alone.  They were a team, and nothing could break the bond they shared.

Adrenaline and maternal instinct ran high as Poppaea turned around and headed back in the direction she came from.  Her long, muscular legs powered her forward, and her heart beat ever faster.  By the time the distant roars of her mate and his adversary became audible, Poppaea was running as fast as she could across the darkened plain.  She had to get back to the nest and help Tytus, or at least be there for him and their children.

The wind and thunder were in full force when Poppaea reached the hill where the roost and forest were situated in.  Just as she reached the summit of the shallow incline, Poppaea stopped dead in her tracks.  Tytus’ death roar blasted forth from the trees so loudly that Poppaea had to close her ear slits, but it didn’t help much.  The sound was only slightly muffled, but even so, Poppaea felt just how strong Tytus roared.  She was incredibly dizzy, and the ground was shaking so forcibly that she could barely stand.  Her whole body felt like it was being concussed and buffeted by the wind and sound.

But worst of all, Poppaea felt the emotions behind the sound.  She felt Tytus’ anger and protective instinct reach her heart, but the underlying psychotic ferocity that pierced her soul terrified her beyond all reason.

For a grand total of fifteen seconds, the tyrant’s roar pounded the valley.  Then, it stopped, and Poppaea was left shaking and hyperventilating.  In her paralyzed state, she became scared to even enter her own roost to see what terror took place.

But the thought of Aries and Celeste possibly lying dead and Tytus’ throat being slashed open willed Poppaea onward.  She ran into the dark forest faster than she had ever ran before, smashing her way through the trees as if they weren’t even there.

All sounds and physical pain were blocked out of Poppaea’s mind.  She barely heard Tytus’ second earth-shaking roar, because there was only one thought in her brain:  “Get to the nest!”

And when she finally did reach the nest, her worst fears were realized in cold murder.

Before her lay Tytus on the blood-soaked ground, seemingly dead.  His head was covered in blood, while his face contrasted the bright red fluid with a blackened crimson.  His eyes were shut, and many of his teeth were either broken or missing.  And then, Poppaea looked at Tytus’ neck.

Huge holes and slashes leaked even more blood from Tytus’ neck, and even more pooled from his throat.  Poppaea’s mind lurched and her heart froze as the shock swept over her.  Her hero, champion, and true love lay in a pool of his own blood, dead.

A clap of thunder from above shook Poppaea from her stupor of shock, and she looked around the clearing to survey the damage.  All the rocks had been reduced to rubble and dust, and the trees were splattered in red.  Not only that, the branches from many of the large trees surrounding the roost had fallen off as if a huge wind had imposed its will.  In fact, the place looked like a tornado had swept in.

Poppaea pondered how it was possible.  Then she remembered Tytus’ massive, earthquake roar.

“Did Tytus do all this?!  With SOUND?!”  Poppaea was thoroughly impressed with the resonance and strength of Tytus’ roars, from the first time his courtship bellows reached her ears.  Even when he roared out of anger towards any adversary, seen or otherwise, she was turned on.  But knowing that his roar could match a force of nature in power sent her reeling back in indescribable fear.

Then, something caught Poppaea’s eye at the other side of the clearing.  Something was at the foot of a fallen tree, but she couldn’t make out what it was.  She stepped cautiously around her husband’s fallen body, and tentatively tip-toed towards the toppled tree.  The bulk of a huge therapod came into view.  First the hips, then the legs, and then the ribs.

Poppaea was getting more and more freaked out the closer she got to the body, but she couldn’t stop herself.  She finally did stop when she saw the body end just above the chest, with a few vertebrae poking through the sopping wet tissue.

She stepped back, eyes wide.  The creature must have been the cause of the fight and Tytus’ killer.  But Tytus went all out in destroying it, and in such a brutal way that Poppaea now felt sick.

Seeing Hades’ decapitated neck and head with his upper jaw ripped off and crushed induced Poppaea’s gut-wrenching vomit episode.  Hot, wet, half-digested meat flew from her mouth, and her whole body shuddered from the reverse peristalsis.

She barely registered the high-pitched screaming from Aries and Celeste over her vomiting and the fear she felt.  But once she did, she hurried towards the tree that Tytus was facing, and scraped away the fallen branches.  She was praying very forcibly that they would be alright, at least alive.

Slowly, Poppaea lowered her head to the ground so she could peek through the root cage and comfort her frightened children.  They were indeed deeply shaken from their father’s ordeal.  As Aries and Celeste shakily walked towards their mother, their eyes wide with shock, Poppaea’s heart broke.  They had witnessed that night’s terror, while she had only heard it.  All Poppaea wanted to do was to lick them, nuzzle them, even hold them in her arms just to keep them close and let them know that everything will be alright.

Miraculously, Aries and Celeste did not suffer any degree of deafness.  In response to their mother’s soft purring, they squealed in relief as they rubbed their faces against Poppaea’s.  They were also the first to hear the rain start, and turned their heads up towards the sky.

Poppaea needed to stay with her babies.  They needed her as much as she needed them.  She looked back and forth between her children’s refuge and the partially trampled nest, debating where Aries and Celeste should be sheltered from the rain.  Both places provided problems.  The nest mound was covered in blood, and it was closer to Tytus and Hades’ bodies, but at least she would have been able to shield them from the rain and grisly sights with her own body.  If Aries and Celeste stayed under the tree, Poppaea couldn’t keep them warm and close, and they would be in plain view of their father’s body.  However, they would be far away from the carnage.

But amidst the rain, Poppaea saw some very slight movement from Tytus, so slight that she thought that it was her mind playing tricks on her.  But in her desperate and fragile state, she just had to check.

She chuffed at Aries and Celeste to stay put, and then slowly walked over to where Tytus lay.  The rain peppered his body, washing away the blood and dirt from his wounds.  It was through this cleansing that Poppaea realized that she wasn’t imagining things, no matter how unbelievable nor extraordinary it seemed.

Tytus’ nostrils were quivering.  They opened and closed very slowly and surely, and his chest rose with the same rhythm.  Poppaea placed her nose very close to Tytus’, and she felt a soft breath exit his nose.  He wasn’t dead after all!  He was only unconscious!

Poppaea quickly ran back to fetch Aries and Celeste.  She needed to be close to them and Tytus at the same time, and she decided she would transport them in her mouth back to the nest near Tytus.  When Tytus regained consciousness, Poppaea wanted to be right beside him, and she would be able to shield Aries and Celeste from the storm.

Very gently, Poppaea placed her brood in the nest.  Then, she sat down facing it, and laid down just over said nursery.  Her chest was now just above the heads of her son and daughter, preventing all rain from soaking them.  But just as she laid her head down, Aries poked his head out from underneath.  He saw Tytus’ slow, heavy breathing and chirped in surprise.  But Poppaea just purred deeply, a signal to her son that he should go to sleep.  He slunk back in, his down tickling Poppaea’s thick skin.

Despite the exhausting toll the evening’s emotions took on her, Poppaea could not fall asleep.  She just stared at Tytus, longing for him to wake up and embrace her and their children.  As she watched the rain wash away the blood and drip off his handsome and muscular features, all the memories they had shared flooded her mind.  The first time they met.  Their first intimate moment they had together.  The hatching of their children.  They all tugged at her heart.  Finally, her eyelids closed, but it was just before dawn, so she barely got any rest.

The rainstorm stopped that night, and for the following twenty-four hours, Poppaea stayed in the roost to care for her family.  She rarely left Tytus’ side, closely monitoring him.  But when she did move, it was only to feed herself and her young with the meat from Hades’ body.  Aries and Celeste didn’t mind though; they were too hungry to care.  Poppaea was focused on her fallen mate.  Every so often she nudged him gently and licked his wounds clean.  She saw that, although Hades’ bite-marks on Tytus’ neck were deep, his neck wasn’t broken.  As well, Tytus’ wounds were showing signs of healing already.

However, as the sun traveled farther west, Poppaea’s hope dwindled.  Tytus had barely shown any sign that he would wake up.  He did tilt his head once when Poppaea purred, and groaned softly, but there was no other response for the rest of the day.  She fell asleep that night wth a heavy heart.

The night was quiet and uneventful.  No one stirred.  The forest was still and sombre, until the sun started to rise.

It was painful for Tytus to move.  He was extremely stiff and sore.  His whole body hurt.  It was painful to breath at first, but it got easier; Tytus had suffered from broken ribs before in his past, so it was nothing new.  However, his neck injuries were severe, so he had to be careful.  If he wasn’t, his neck would erupt in sharp pain.  Worst of all, his voice hurt from how strongly he roared at Hades.

At last, Tytus was on his feet, with his back to the rising sun.  He looked around at the carnage of his home.  He was amazed that he could have done so much damage, especially with his roar.  All Tyrannosaurus were very vocal, but he never could have imagined that a member of his own kind could produce such a deafening and powerful force with sound.  Nonetheless, he would gladly do it again if anyone dared to kill him or his family.

Tytus slowly turned himself around.  Poppaea and the kids were sleeping, but Poppaea didn’t look rested at all.  And yet, she was still so beautiful.  Tytus didn’t know how much time had passed since he vanquished Hades, but even a minute was too much.  He could only imagine Poppaea’s sorrow, begging and praying that he would be alright.  Now, he was going to answer that prayer.

He walked over to his mate, lowered his head, and licked her snout affectionately.  Poppaea’s eyes fluttered open.  Tytus then carefully stepped back, giving her lots of room to get up.

Poppaea looked up and saw Tytus silhouetted against the rising sun.  She stood up in disbelief.  The last time she checked on him, Tytus was still unconscious next to her.  She thought that he was a phantom, until she saw that Tytus’ resting place beside her was vacant.

Still, she did not quite believe.  Cautiously, she approached the male T.rex.  She looked into his eyes and saw all the fear and love he had.

Without a doubt, Tytus was truly back.  Poppaea rushed towards him, and he placed his head above hers.  Both shook with emotion, grateful for each other’s presence in their lives.  Each shed tears of joy, and cherished being enveloped with the other’s scent.

After their long embrace, Poppaea and Tytus looked into each other’s eyes again.  While Tytus saw surprise and love, Poppaea saw something more.  Nothing had really changed in Tytus’ eyes, but there was something like a deep fire, burning inside of him that wasn’t there before.  It was like he became more powerful and fearless.  This was a Tyrannosaurus that no one should tangle with now, if not before.  Tytus now had a new presence of strength and charisma, even ferocity.  But at the same time, Poppaea knew that Tytus would never use it against her or their children.

Together, Tytus and Poppaea walked back over to the nest.  It would be such a thrill for Aries and Celeste to wake up and see their father’s face looking down at them.

Tytus peered down into the nest and blew warm air onto them.  At first, they were very sluggish to awake, but as soon and they looked up and saw their father, Aries and Celeste immediately perked up.  The rexlings began to chirp excitedly, jump up and down, and wag their tails with so much enthusiasm that it looked like they would jump right out of their down.  Only when Tytus bent down to their level did they stop jumping.  Instead, they nuzzled their father’s face, grateful to see him again.

Later that morning, after his family had eaten their breakfast, which consisted of Hades’ corpse, Tytus lead his family out of the forest and to its edge.  This was the first time that Aries and Celeste had been outside the nesting area, so they stuck very close to their parents.  But Tytus decided that they were old enough to see more of their world, and his mate agreed.

Aries and Celeste were astounded by the vast grassland, with its wide open spaces, glistening lake, and towering mountains.  They had never seen anything so cool in their short yet promising lives.

“Is this all yours Dad?” chirped Aries.

“It’s ours, son.  All ours,” growled his proud father.

Aries then proceeded to roar, to let the valley’s residents know that this was his land.  However it came out more like a cute growl, similar to a lion cub’s.  He didn’t mind though.  He was too excited.

Celeste, jealous of Aries, began to try and out-roar her big brother.  Then Poppaea bellowed to join in on their game.  It was loud and deep, enough to silence the squabble.  Celeste scampered up to her mother, glad that her brother was shut up.

Aries then looked up at Tytus, knowing what was coming next.  Tytus gave his son a wink, puffed out his chest, and roared louder and prouder than all of them.  It sent chills down the spines of his family, and it carried for over fifteen miles.  Aries squealed in delight, and Poppaea looked at him admirably.  He took her breath away, and her head started to turn orange.

Together, the T.rex family roared, with Tytus’ being the loudest and longest.  This was their land, and no creature, dinosaur or otherwise, would ever displace them.

The end