Chapter 16: Hitch a Ride on a T-Rex
Oblivious to Rialyne's hidden joke, the dragon merely scoffed at her for trying to become familiar with him by giving him a new nickname. But since he neither denounced or accepted or it, Rialyne decided to call him Leno later.
As they started the sensory sharing of the Domain's visual surroundings, the dragon was visibly excited. He tried to hide it, but Kyferne could clearly see the slow swishing of Lenodryv's tail and twitches of his forearms.
Rialyne guided the dragon through her domain and showed him various creatures and monsters. Afterwards, she used Brownie's eyes and sent the hawk flying above the forest. Lenodryv gasped at the endless space in all directions. He could see civilization on both corners of the right and left horizons, and mountains in the far distance in front.
These mountains were completely new to him, and he wondered why the peaks were covered in white. And beyond the forest behind him, rolling hills and grasslands were dotted with various villages and farms. Lenodryv felt so free looking at the vast expanses, and the held-back sentiment for adventure swelled in his chest. He truly was grateful for this experience.
Once the short excursion over, Lenodryv was silent, thoughtful and lost in contemplation. To be honest, he wasn't all that angry about Rialyne killing his kin. Although most of the monsters lived in peace here, he was mainly just looking for some excitement. Being an apex existence in this small space granted little competition, and the pact with the other dragons was to keep them sane and united while they continued carving out the valley.
After witnessing the end of the wyrm by the entrance, Lenodryv surreptitiously stalked them in the clouds. He made his move after observing the human for some time and seeing the boy take down monsters on his obvious path to the abyss. Even if Rialyne hadn't stopped him, he would've just played with the ant before wringing out the reason why they were here. Although it didn't exactly go as planned, in a way, it went better than expected.
"You two may move on. I'll pretend I didn't see anything. Remember your promise." And with that, Lenodryv took to the skies.
Startled by the abrupt departure, Rialyne nudged Kyferne in his mind. "Hey, did we just survive a dragon encounter? And possibly gained his trust?"
Kyferne pensively stared at the receding silhouette. "Maybe not completely, but somewhat. I have a feeling though that he wouldn't have actually killed us."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Well, he's stuck in this valley, right? He probably was looking for an excuse to learn about the outside world."
Rialyne pondered this for a moment. Kyferne made a good point, and she was surprised that she didn't realize this herself. Wasn't Lenodryv also actually similar to her? He was trapped in one place, but at least Rialyne could eventually explore the rest of a much larger world.
This then made her realize that everyone seemed to struggle with something that "confined" them. Maybe even Kyferne himself had that something, too. After all, he picked up the subtleties of the dragon's predicament and possible feelings when she hadn't.
With that encounter behind them, the two continued quickly on their way to the abyss. But an hour later, they realized that they weren't going to reach it anytime soon, at least, on foot.
Rialyne harrumphed at their predicament. "Couldn't Leno have at least offered us a ride? I bet we could've been exploring that place right now!"
"Maybe we can find another monster to take us there?" Kyferne suggested.
"Right! We should've done that from the beginning! I just didn't realize that the chasm was farther away than how it appeared from the ledge… These skies really are so clear. You can almost see the entire valley from that vantage point!"
Kyferne looked around for suitable targets. His eyes landed on a small head above the treetops. It belonged to a monster that looked like a brachiosaurus.
"Maybe that one?"
Rialyne shook her head. "It's huge, so one step definitely could take us farther than one of ours, but I don't think it's very fast…"
"Hmm, you're probably right. It seems like a very leisurely kind of species."
This made Rialyne wonder if dinosaurs were known in this world. "Are you not familiar with dinosaurs?"
"Dinosaurs? I've never heard of them. Is that what this monster is?"
"Yes, a lot of the monsters in this valley remind me of dinosaurs from my previous world. However, they're just similar to them. The ones here look more mythical than the ones I know."
Kyferne struck a thinking pose with his chin upon his right knuckles. "Then which of these dinosaur-like monsters would get us there the fastest?"
"Actually, I think we're better off not choosing a dinosaur…"
Rialyne searched the premises for another agile enough beast to ride. She hadn't gotten far when a hair-raising roar resounded nearby. Following it, the ground shook slightly with the heavy steps of a fast approaching creature.
She whipped Kyferne's head around and watched with wide eyes as an enormous theropod raced toward the long-necked dinosaur. Small trees and thicket cracked and scattered as the prey and predator dueled it out—one used its massive jaws while the other used its thick tail.
Rialyne watched the scene with confusion. She wasn't super knowledgeable about dinosaurs, but she did remember a museum guide from a school field trip inform the class that Jurassic Park misconstrued a lot of facts. One of which was that dinosaurs weren't actually that fast due to their size. Even a toddler on a tricycle would likely be faster than a tyrannosaurus!
And yet here this theropod was clearly able to move its massive body quite agilely, and even the sauropod which was three times larger could swing its tail quick enough to contend with the large-jawed monster's attacks.
As she debated the inconsistencies, the long-necked dinosaur fended off the bipedal carnivore with a sufficient enough number of tail whacks to numb it into submission. The theropod stalked away with guttural indignation at its defeat, and Rialyne resolved that this world of magic allowed creatures to overcome the limitations found on Earth.
A wicked light sparked in Rialyne. "On second thought, let's catch that pseudo-tyrano!"
"Huh? Why not the other one? Even though it's not as fast, it's still larger, so won't it get us there quicker?"
"Possibly. But riding on that pseudo-tyrano will be epic!"
"Err…" Kyferne didn't know what to say. This girl was oddly efficient and inefficient at random times.
"Egh, let's go!" She dashed after the said-monster and jumped up onto one of its hind legs. The startled carnivore was in disbelief at the sight of this bold yet small, weak-looking creature crawling over it.
"Gwarrggghh~!!" What are you doing, you pathetic creature! How dare you climb up on me! The pseudo-tyrano protested. But it couldn't shake the creature off nor reach it with its maw or short forearms.
"Calm down, so-called apex predator!" Rialyne teased as she reached the crook of the theropod's neck.
The pseudo-tyrano didn't know why, but it felt like this small creature had just insulted it. After the failed fight with the sauropod, the theropod was thoroughly not in a good mood.
Patting the helpless beast as it repeatedly roared its dissatisfaction, she reached the top of its massive head and sat down in a criss-cross position.
"Oooh~ What a nice view from here!" She exclaimed and lifted a hand to Kyferne's forehead in a sightseeing gesture.
The pseudo-tyrano was starting to feel dizzy from shaking its head so much. It was like this creature was stuck to its body like glue!
"Hey now, it's ok. I just wanted a ride to that chasm over there. Can you take us to it?" Rialyne bent over so the monster could see where Kyferne's arm was pointing. But seeing as the pseudo-tyrano didn't understand, she sat back up straight.
"Kyferne…" she whined, "Isn't there some way to communicate with it? Why don't all monsters speak our language?"
He shrugged. "Ask Aionos that. I don't know."
Pouting, Rialyne racked her mind for a solution. "Ah! A contract!" Like with the unintelligible Brownie and Minty, she could create a contract that was understood by both parties.
She quickly drafted a contract and sent it to the pseudo-tyrano. Upon seeing it, the monster was shocked by the audacity of the weak creature. But as it read the contents of the contract, its expression changed. Immediately after reading, the monster accepted the temporary deal.
Delighted, Rialyne directed the beast toward the previous brachiosaurus-like monster it had lost against. When the long-necked dinosaur saw the theropod again, it laughed to itself. These theropod blockheads just loved challenging their sauropod race. For whatever reason, these predators saw them as pushovers; even though, they usually never won.
But to its surprise, the pseudo-tyrano stopped short in front of the sauropod. This was when the long-necked dinosaur noticed a small creature on top of the other monster's head. Confused, the brachiosaurus squinted at the waving creature.
Suddenly, thick vines wrapped around the tall monster. And to the monster's further surprise, those vines actually hurt! Along with the vines, three orbs rammed into its sides followed by a shower of needles.
The baffled brachiosaurus couldn't believe that it was not the tyrannosaurus fighting it, but this small creature that it could squash cleanly with one foot!
Meanwhile, pseudo-tyrano couldn't help laughing at the situation. It was a real riot, watching a creature smaller than the larger monster's head beating up the said monster. For merely a ride to the chasm, the pseudo-tyrano felt that the contract was worth it.
As for Rialyne, she didn't understand why instead of a predator and prey relationship, these two acted like each other's nemesis! This valley was mystifying indeed.
After teaching the brachiosaurus a lesson, the pseudo-tyrano triumphantly kicked up dust with its heels and strutted away from the exhausted monster lying on the ground.
This also made Rialyne even more perplexed. The scavenger-hunter didn't take advantage of the down-trodden dinosaur as its next meal and acted almost like a conceited brat instead. It would only be later when she arrived at the chasm that her questions would be answered.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Chryiss
Chryiss Now that I've realized I can write more quickly if I put my mind to it, I'm going to switch the focus back onto my main story, MWTL.
This means no more daily or frequent updates, but I won't be dropping the story since I already figured out the end to it and put too much effort into the system details.
As for the valley arc...yup I'm officially taking back my words for making it short. New ideas just keep coming up because I didn't plan out this story beforehand.
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