death is a knocking

After pushing away the broken shell, the baby raptor crawled onto the warm cave floor. It was pale grey with streaks of white plumage on its arms, sides, and legs. The god, still watching, noticed that this newborn would be the last dinosaur born on this planet.

'What a sad existence,' he thought as the weak newborn began to call out for its mother. However, she was no longer with the living. A warm floor and silence met its calls as it unintentionally rang the dinner bell for the approaching predator.

As a newborn, the raptor's eyes were sealed with mucus membranes that it tried to claw off. Following each attempt, it would call for help before clawing at the membrane again. Suddenly, the membrane disappeared, and a clutch of eggs appeared in its vision.

Seeing its struggle, the God named Bados decided to help by using his power to remove the membrane. Afterward, he let out a soft chuckle when he saw it looking around the cave with curiosity. Bados continued to watch the Raptor as it experienced many things for the first time. The first time, it registered certain smells and noises. Yet those moments would be tainted by the occasional call for its mother. It continued to make the calls, drawing a long sigh from Bados.

'This was a mistake,' he thought as he knew from his past actions what he was about to do and the consequences that followed. Logics tried to persuade him from this choice, but his instincts prevailed.

Bados then shifted his gaze toward the predator, watching as it moved through the entrance chamber of the cave. This particular cave system was where the female raptor had lived with her pack for generations, leaving a scent imprint on the cave, confusing the tired and starved predator. The cave was medium in size, with a single curve blocking one's view from the entrance. After that curve were three paths that led to different parts of the cave. The first path was the shallowest, with a length of 20 meters, and a slight decline started from the entrance. This particular cavern was a resting place for the pack's hunters and protectors.

Four meters from the first path was the second. The second path was the cave's most extensive and profound part, with a maximum length of more than 8 km and various offshoots leading to dead ends. This was where the raptors stored their food when the prey was close enough to drag it to the cave. The blood left an overwhelming smell, covering the female raptor's scent and drawing the predator to this path.

The third path, which contained the baby raptor, was on a different side of the chamber. It was slightly longer than the first but significantly shorter than the second path. It was 50 meters long with a sharp incline that leveled out after the first 10 meters. This was the communal egg chamber that the raptors used, as it faced away from the entrance, making it harder to find and easy to defend.

"Luckily, she had traveled through the different paths recently," Bados said, watching as the predator, an Albertosaurus, descended the second path.

The baby raptor had no idea it was in perilous danger as it was still chirping for its mother. Ten minutes after its birth, fatigue started to set in from the constant calls for its mother and flopping around in an attempt to move.

The Albertosaurus made its way down the path before noticing the lingering blood smell was old, leading to it returning to the entrance. After reaching the path's entrance, it saw another path hidden from view. Walking towards the hidden path, the Albertosaurus suddenly heard some soft cries coming from the middle path. Hearing the cries caused the Albertosaurus to speed down its path, as its hunger spurred it to consume the weak-sounding prey.

The Albertosaurus had crossed the entrance threshold when it suddenly stopped hearing the cry. It slowed down as it tried to find what made the noise. Ambling, it came to the edge of the incline and saw the body of a Velociraptor with a clutch of eggs nearby. Unable to contain itself, the Albertosaurus rushed towards the bountiful display in front of it. In its rush to eat, it failed to see the baby raptor in the middle of the cluster. The 'Alberto' soon crashed into the mother raptor's body, rapidly consuming it unbridled.

Bados watched as the dinosaur consumed the raptor's carcass, knowing it wouldn't satisfy its hunger. He felt relieved in his decision to put the baby raptor to sleep, saving it from such a traumatic experience.

After eating its mother, the Albertosaurus approached the eggs and unknowingly snatched the sleeping hatchling. Without knowing, the dinosaur snatched up the hatchling along with the eggs. Finally satisfied, the Albertosaurus left the cave, heading back to its territory. It had gained the energy to survive in this chaotic time.

A white light imprinted the baby raptor's soul before vanishing from the mortal realm. The hatchling's soul arrived in its new destination, the soul purgatory. It woke up to a world where the souls of every mortal being traveled before being processed for reincarnation. Though, unlike the other souls, it had kept its consciousness. This led to the best mistake and opportunity it could have had in the afterlife; the baby raptor released a chirp of distress.

'A tragically short life such as this one deserves a second chance, ' thought Bados as he stopped looking at the earth and began to put his plan in motion. After a brief moment, roughly comparable to an hour in the mortal realm, Bados started pulling a soul out of the soul purgatory. Soul purgatory was where souls went before being sent to their final destination to be judged by the god of death for reincarnation. Despite being a god of nature, Bados could pull souls back into the realm of the living, even though he would have to pay the price for such actions.

Though this action didn't immediately benefit him, he was known as an erratic and energetic god who acted without hesitation, choosing to rely on his instincts instead. Plus, when something caught his attention, he could have great compassion or disdain.

In purgatory, souls come in different shapes and sizes. The being dictated the soul's shape, size, and power before death. Souls closer to their original form were stronger and fed on weaker souls to continue strengthening themselves. This would continue until the soul returned to its original form and regained consciousness. Those who regained consciousness before reincarnation were reborn with slightly increased physical and mental capabilities and the chance of recovering memories.

The weakest souls were the souls of the unborn/newborn beings, usually consumed by the more complete souls on arrival. Yet, for the first time, one of those souls had retained its consciousness after death. This meant that any soul that assimilated it would regain their consciousness immediately. It was for this reason that all the souls, both conscious and unconscious, attacked the raptor's soul after it rang the dinner bell with its cries for help.

The soul of the raptor was now hovering in the same spot as hundreds of souls swarmed it. The only reason the soul hadn't been assimilated was a glowing white imprint attached to it. Upon the first attack, it created an orb-shaped shield around the raptor, protecting it from the other souls by absorbing the damage and reflecting it on the attackers. The souls surrounding the raptor were quickly destroyed and turned into particles before a quarter of the particles were dragged into the shield to repair it. The remaining conscious souls immediately retreated while the rest of the souls continued to attack. This led the raptor's soul to absorb particles continually. However, instead of the soul growing in size, it grew in density since it was already in its original form.

Increasing the density of the soul was the second stage of strengthening one's soul after regaining consciousness. This would add to the benefits earned by gaining one consciousness. The raptor's soul began to change as its original density increased by 4 times. This increase soon became enough to affect the shield by increasing its power and range. This increase allowed the density of the soul to skyrocket as the souls continued to rush the tiny soul.

Meanwhile, Bados focused on the mark he had left on the soul and prepared to draw it back to the physical plane. With a wave of his hand, the Raptor's soul was pulled to the edge of purgatory. At the edge, the imprint on the soul glowed brightly before passing the barrier surrounding the purgatory. Once on the other side, the soul teleported away and appeared before Bados. What appeared in front of Bados was a densely packed soul that throbbed with power.

'What have I done!' Thought Bados, shaking his head in disbelief. The simple task of merging the body and soul of the raptor had now become quite the conundrum. Bados stood with a blank look on his face before taking a deep breath. "It's time to finish what I've started," Bados said to himself with a determined look. Bados created a duplicate body of the baby raptor and fused the soul and body.

" I, Bados, bless thee as the beast God of nature," said Bados. After combining the two, he ensured the baby raptor was alive and well. Having completed the task, Bados began to walk back to his chambers, lost in thought, thinking of the backlash his actions would cause shortly.

"What shall I call you, little one?" he pondered as he stared at the sleeping raptor.

'I suck at naming things. Where's Teka when you need her,' he thought.

"Hmm, I shall call you Rapt," said Bados.

Having completed the task, Bados began to walk back to his chambers, lost in thought. He thought of the backlash his actions would cause shortly. He knew full well that his actions hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Little brother is at it again. Cher-Cher isn't going to be happy about this. This is going to cause some big problems.", a goddess said as she felt the vast amount of power that Bados was using.

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Back in the soul purgatory, a being was seen frantically rushing through its different sections, leaving pandemonium in its wake. This being only stopped when he reached the center of the realm, where only a massive throne resided. Seated on the throne was a gigantic being covered in a cloak, with only his grayish skeletal face and blazing blackish-green eyes visible.

"Speak," said the entity seated on the throne.

" Lord Tetanus, there's has been an issue with the souls of earth. A new soul appeared and consumed 250 thousand souls before being dragged back to the mortal realm."

Tetanus had sat undisturbed for millennia, leaving the realm management to his Hel knight, but now it seemed his peaceful time was ending.

"How did the soul escape?" He asked.

"My Lord, there was a god's imprint on the soul. It seemed to be the imprint of the beast god, " the Hel knight replied.

Suddenly, a powerful surge of pressure assaulted the entire soul purgatory, destroying everything and leaving only Tetanus and his throne. Unperturbed by his action, Tetanus reached his hand out in a grabbing motion before pulling out a large scythe.

With his scythe in hand, Tetanus stared blankly at the space before him and snapped his fingers, bringing the entire soul purgatory and its inhabitants back.

'I will find that soul,' Tetanus thought as he proceeded to call out to his Hel knights outside of the purgatory realm.