Literature

The crowd at this abandoned human building was perhaps the biggest Quinn had ever encountered. The silvery grey utahraptor carefully ducked out of the path of the heavy feet of a passing therizinosaurus, raising his head and attempting to sniff out his companion. Quinn huffed in annoyance as he finally caught a hint- all the way on the other side of a room. With a sigh the raptor began to make his way through the crowd, thankful for once for the sharp spikes on ...

The festival was like nothing Felix had ever encountered before, especially during this time of the year. Usually the depths of winter were a miserable time, only made bearable by retreating to the thicker, more tropical forests. This winter has been especially harsh- Felix had even considered trying to retreat to the Atlantean dome to wait it out, but doubted they were in a good mood- most of the plants they had brought up were unable to survive the cold, only ...

Rime followed close behind her mate as they trailed through the once grand halls, left abandoned and forgotten by their creators along with the rest of their world. But tonight, the walls long dead were alive once more with the sound of laughter and stomping feet, trampling their way through the world in joyous partying that clashed with the outside world. It was a far cry from the alpha labs, despite the similarities; two abandoned buildings full of death and b...

Blitz was down on his luck, to say the least. Not that his luck had ever run good, but it had somehow gotten worse as of late. That was about to change though, he could feel it. That feeling might have just been his stomach though. He’d heard rumors of a carnival going on, some kind of party with food and games. He was interested in the food. Between the winter and the war, food had started getting a little dicey. Especially for old lone bulls like him. He’d gotten by for a little while ...

It was a quiet evening on the docks. The recent unseasonable snow, while beautiful, had quickly lost its novelty as it piled up everywhere. Alleys were left impassible to all but the most determined. Fresh water had frozen over and the wind howled down the streets. Those drafts of angry, biting air seeped into everything. It made going out a chore. Not to mention the crunchy wet sludge underfoot that bit at the skin, and left Cavalli’s joints aching. He always ached, of course. That had sta...

The festival was a lively, curious, cheerful atmosphere with fascinating displays that had been in place long before the archipelago residents came to show off their skills or set up games for the islanders to play. It was loud, with laughter and joy filling the air as dinosaurs conversed amongst themselves, cheered for victors of the various games that were littered throughout one wing of the museum, and gasped in awe at some of the more daring displays of tale...

“June, this is amazing!” Flycatcher chirped. Her feather crest raised excitedly as she spoke, and there was a bounce in her step as she walked. It felt like every direction they turned, there was something more to see - because there was. Once they had made it past the food vendors outside (the cooked meat that they were serving was strange, but it really was delicious), the...

The trio stepped forwards, the unknown building looming ahead of them. Like everything manmade in this world, it was abandoned to the sands of time, vines slowly overtaking once pristine walls and floors. It didn't seem to matter much to the cryos that approached, curious and cautious.   “There could be something massive hiding inside.” Yunnan murmured, her head held high to observe the structure, “I don't know about this.”   “You worry too much.” Gho...

The mood was noticeably lower than it had been among the small family as they slowly explored the busy, crowded halls of the museum. Petrichor was irritated and frustrated at Tobias and Ghostlight for sticking their muzzles where they did not belong and giving Callahan false hope, Callahan was painfully lost in thought as she blankly searched the crowds for a familiar face, and Tar was left… wondering. His heart hurt. ...

The sky was tinted orange with the first burst of sunset when Phoenix awoke from her slumber, stretching out her wings as wide as she could. If she squinted hard enough, she could almost pretend the clouds brushing the edges of her wings were a mothers touch, gently preening and cooing to her. But it had been many years since Phoenix had hatched alone from her egg, abandoned on top of a sea stack. She was an adult now, fully grown into her feathers- although the...

Word count: 2320 Kas Felix laughed raucously as he swooped through the air, a skewered fish held fast in his beak. A worthy prize for only the best and… definitely one of the most arrogant tapejaras on the island, particularly given his size. The cryo that he’d swiped it from wasn’t entirely pleased with him - he’d heard the shouts as he flew away - but it wasn’t anything more than a ...

The icy ground was an adjustment that Turbo found difficult to adapt to. The cold, wet air nipped at his scales uncomfortably, and it was harder to find food. His beloved blackberries did not even grow anymore, the familiar bushes looking pathetic and dry, as if their life had withered away as the cold arrived. From his grumpy snort, the air condensed, forming delicate clouds at his nostrils while he used his snout to shove the snow aside. The tip of his curved ...

It was the gathering of prey that first attracted Whiteout and Blackout to the site. The frozen night was their kingdom, the freezing shadows were theirs alone to roam- yet creatures ventured out, in numbers unprecedented. It was curious enough that it stirred the two huge apex predators into motion, slinking through the midnight sky and following the trail left behind. The sky above, streaked with falling stars, was reflected upon their scales of snowy night, m...

Fade roamed through the halls of the museum, trying to not bump shoulders too many times with the other dinosaurs that had come to see what this “festival” was all about. He was not… incredibly impressed just yet, but it was something. Outside of the occasional winter gatherings, this seemed like the most dinosaurs he had heard of being in one place without bloodshed or vi...

It was the sudden loud clatter of many creatures moving by at once that first caught the attention of the three tapejaras. Oboe had been the one to notice it first- in the dead of winter, you rarely saw other creatures, especially at night- but for some reason there was a whole herd of parasaurolophus traveling excitedly, loudly whispering to each other. The tapejara thought nothing of it- only to be awoken once again by a pack of raptors following in the exact ...

There were so many sights, sounds, and scents around the museum that it was almost overwhelming, all layering on top of one another. Past, present, future. They were walking the same paths that humans had walked hundreds of thousands of times but instead of coming purely to bear witness to and learn about the events of the past, the islanders were here for something entirely new. Twisting, intermingling, tangling together in a way that might never have happened,...

The museum was filled with life - which was not something classically said about most museums, let alone this one which lay almost empty for most of the year, occupied by little else but bones, dust, and ghosts. Now it was so full that it was difficult to walk through without bumping into someone, which was inconvenient for Matriarch, who was more or less stuck on the ground for...

It was a cold night compared to most, a kind of cold that bites at your hide and claws, while also freezing your very breath. The dark sky was softly snowing, white specks swirling in the sky and clinging to anything it landed on. Cloud’s scrubland home was covered in a coat of white, although it, thankfully, wasn’t super deep. It wasn’t often that she saw snow, she really ought to be enjoyin...

“Let’s go - we’re going to miss it!” Tar teased his moms. Well. He teased Callahan, he still was not sure how much Petrichor actually liked him versus simply tolerated him because she loved Callahan. She was warming up to him though. Slowly. Petrichor snorted. “The sun has hardly gone down past the horizon and the stars neve...

Freedom… That was what emerging from the underground meant. The herd had learned that an exit had opened when islanders started to trickle into the facility in search of the source of the anteos and apparent oddities that had flooded the island when the anteos poured out. The visitors had been kind enough to tell them stories of what lay beyond, encouraging them to leave. It was still hard to believe that there coul...