Troublesome the darkness was during the night, a common fear is of the dark. While that's the consensus for most, the true nature is not the fear of the dark, but the things that potentially lurk within. Trees became silouhettes of giants with long, peircing arms behind the swift light of the clouds. Wind howled past the hills, mountains and plains, hovering over all ears, like a preadator one can never see but always hear. Rain fell down with the sound of pure static noise, a roar of nature that the ground was forced to embrace, unless there were some winter trees that could shield said floor. One mountain in particular, the mighty Clawtooth Mountains, had such shape so that the howling wind was almost completely silenced. Their sheer size also protected the land in front from the downpour of rain and snow, after already being so nearly covered a glistening white.

Every now and then, the flash of lightning would light the area, a fraction of a second, like it was day. With the trees swaying in the remaining wind, now turning in the oposite direction, the downpour of rain had layed on the homestead grounds. Winter flowers surrounding the land of the five fields of corn, berries, and other foods had long been stripped down by the ferocious storm, which seemed to last for at least the remainder of the night. While the plants that did not give in swayed everywhere, the homestead buildings moved only the tiniest of amounts, albeit the creaking was loud enough. Fortunately, everyone had gone to sleep long before the torment arrived, so it was no doubt they'd be surprised when morning would soon arrive.

At least, almost everyone.

Feeling a strong feeling of uncertainty and danger, Henry of all apatosaurs rose from the usual position he'd lay in. Subconsiously making sure not to lift his head up too high as to avoid knocking into the ceiling above, he steathly turned to observe the outside. Blackness. That's all he saw when looking out there, though the lightning would reveal the not-to-far fields and the hills past them. There was nothing to be afraid of out there, at least, that's what he thought to himself at the time. Whilst going back to rest however, a flash of lightning seemingly revealed more than just the fields and hills. Frozen in place Henry was, though it was the corner of the eye, he knew that something was different that time. Peering out, the blackness felt more ominous than before. A new flash, and there it was; a silouhette of someone.

"Possibly just one of the tyrannosaurs, or maybe Arlie." Henry thought to himself as he kept looking, continuingly staring out into the darkness. A crack and a flash, and the silouhette was closer now and the shape, more defined, was definitely not Arlie nor the tyrannosaurs who were least seen in the other two homestead buildings. Instead, it looked more like an apatosaur than any other species. With all of his family behind him in their slumber, this was one that was not of this place- an intruder. Now alert, he walked closer to the entrance of the homestead, ironicly hoping for a flash of lightning to reveal at least something. Something in him was screaming to stop walking, and he did, more fearful of what any kind of light would show.

The next flash that came round, whoever had come into the homestead was less than a feet from Henry. Holding back his urge to yelp in surprise, he remained quiet as he could hear beyond the noise of the rain, footsteps of one walking away. By the time the next flash of lightning came, there was no outline of anyone. However, that would not stop him from finding out who it was.

"Whoever's out there, leave now, or else!" Henry shouted, mostly away from the homestead. Nothing replied apart from the continuation of the rain and wind.

Until that is, a lone whisper in the darkness called out, not loud, not quiet, not near, not far, there was no way to tell anything of the voice that came through other than it was there no matter the interpretation. "You know who I am... Henry."

There was one thing about the voice that only Henry could interpret: it was familiar, he didn't know where from but it was for some reason familar, in an uncanny way. "You're not helping, I said get lost, this is our place!"

"Your place...? Perhaps now, but not always. You should know that." Whoever it was, whether it was some distant, old friend, or some close, new foe. It knew at least something personal of Henry. Deciding to play what ever game this one was up to, he replied. "That is true, this used to be my wife's mothers place here. But it's ours now, and we'd do anything to keep it that way from intruders like you!"

This time however, the voice was more defined, masculine, and coarse. "Intruders? I was merely passing by, sorry for the inconvenience, this place just gives me memories of my family. I miss them, but hopefully I'll see them again. As for now, it's quite interesting what you've made of it, I'm guessing that the statue was built by your slaves in order for them to prase such a powerful being... I'm kidding by the way, just some light hearted banter. However, mustn't spend too much time here, the rain's gonna freeze soon and if I were you, being inside would be the wisest of decisions, if you can make those."

"WAIT!" Henry shouted, realising and remembering to tone down his voice, "But who are you? You know me..."

"Fine, fine, I daren't have much time left, and I can't explain myself in said time, however a riddle might help. Listen now, for careful ears are needed to understand clearly. You ready? Good!"

"Beyond the hills of the east, past the forests, the plains, the falls and the cliffs, lies a valley of circular shape, of which contains the wall of...?"

There was nothing left to be heard but the same noise of wind and rain, which had started to transform into proper snow and hail as the freezing point finally came through the air. Instinct did not trust who ever was hiding in the shadows, but if he insisted on just merely passing by, there was nothing to worry about...

Right?

Except that riddle, the only thing that stood out from the night, no one could answer it on the following day, not Arlie, not Ben. No one.

Out in the east, only a few white hills away, a lonesome apatosaur was hid in the shade of a hill during the morning sun, too dark to see his exact shape, colour and other features.

"What was all that about last night Mr Apaton?" A feminine voice from the apatosaur's right spoke, turning only his head and upper neck, he observed the stegosaur that stood beside him, with a bright green skin; spots and faint stripes on the top of her back, and yellowish plates that sailed higer than her rounded head. "Ah, Mary Alice, glad to see you. It was nothing really, just some... interruptance."

"But that apatosaur, you knew him." Another voice, masculine, soft, more smooth than the apatosaur's, mumbled from the left, blending into the soft dirt, the ankylosaur looked up to the apatosaur. "Jack, you too? All we need now is-" A third figure, blue, and with a set of three horns, the triceratops lumbered toward them all. "Looks like their gathering again, possibly discussing about another trip for more berries?"

"Nah, I don't think it's that, Will. Most likely it's that stupid riddle I gave them. I'm glad we're all here, but now's time for some real fun." The apatosaur so coarsely worded out, still in the unusually dark shade of the hill. "You know Mr Spinos right? Well, I plan on meeting his son regarding over... certain things- that'll surely make our trip more enjoyable."

All three of the apatosaur's companions looked at him in a sudden outburst of shock. "M-Mr Spinos? But he'd kill any apatosaur on sight! You'd be a gonner!" Mary said loudly.

"First of all, keep your damn mouth shut, or at least be quiet. This place is known to echo really far, and it would be wise not to get their attention over there. Secondly, Mr Spinos has passed away due to some... unfortunate events regarding some apatosaur and a river a couple years ago. And thirdly, Master Spinos-Jr will be certainly pleased by what I have to say. He'll be very pleased."

As they all looked to the homestead that looked so small this far away, it was clear that those down there were out on another trip past the mountains to collect more berries. "Oh Henry, I'll be coming for you. Sooner or later, I'm coming for you"

A/N: While it's nothing like a christmas or a new year themed chapter, it's certainly winter themed, or at least takes place in the winter. Sorry that it's not much, I forgot that from christmas onwards it's really hectic, hopefully tho, I should be making a comeback- wait I'm going back to school, crap (not a swear word in my book). Okay, I'll probably be posting two chapters for the SOAM story on the weekend, I've been using Google Earth to track the family as of now and it looks like they're making progress. Can't say too much regarding this chapter and neither the SOAM story, but hopefully it'll be as , if not more enjoyable.