They're in the trees, man.

                Word reached Argent in little time after Atlantis had been found. The spirits were restless, and Apocrypha said the plants were nervous.

                “The Pale One wants answers.”

                He and Blight had been in the safety of Blight’s home cave when their orders had come in that simple sentence. The dinosaur that had delivered the message was gone as soon as they’d come, leaving the pair to their own thoughts. Argent could feel the concern from the Acro beside him, even if the curse marked creature didn’t outwardly show it.

                Weeks ago Waverunner and Riptide had found an entrance to something base on the story of an Oviraptor that they had beat information out of. That same entrance had turned out to be the tunnel that led to the underwater biodome. It had sounded far too small for an Acro to go through, but there could have been space.

                But something told Argent that wasn’t why the larger carnivore was apprehensive about going over. It was the possibility of a plant being his downfall.

                “You know plants better than I do. It would only make sense.” Blight said, turning his head to look at the Parasaur in all his dismal beauty. To the Acro, that was the only logical plan. Send in the plant muncher that wasn’t completely right in the head anyway. If they didn’t get proof of what lay in the biodome for the Pale One, or told him what was in the dome, there would be repercussions for the both of them.

                “My knowledge of plants only extends to the ones we have lived with out here. I know little of the plants your species knew in the labs. I will know nothing of the ones in Atlantis. But it’ll do no one any good if you go down there and get stuck. You are worth more alive than you are dead, at this moment in time. And do not think that I can commune with the plants like Apocrypha can. You take our gifts for granted, Blight.” Argent said, raising to his feet and looked at the Acro.

                There was silence between them, the Acro finally exhaling and relaxed on the ground, lifting his head to tower over the mutated herbivore. Argent didn’t care. The creature could think himself better just because of his brute strength, but there would be a day when that did not matter. Without any other words shared between them, Argent turned and headed from the cave.

                The male navigated through the underwater tunnels, recalling what Riptide had said about where he and his brother had gone. Left at a broken wall marked with blue paint. Right, into a half open gate that whined as its gears longed for death. And then finally over a catwalk that led to a massive door that had been sealed with the two Cryolophosaurs had found it. Though now it was open, a cool breeze coming from the entrance. And just beyond the entrance, Argent could see nothing but greenery and the blue of sky even though he knew, he could feel the pressure, from how deep under water they were.

                Deep enough that the dome of Atlantis hadn’t been seen by oceanic dinosaurs. Deep enough for his ears to need to pop.

                The Para stood at the gated entrance, waiting. Listening. There was the sound of insects, birds, mechanical whirring. The humans before them were incredibly talented and smart. They could perform feats of engineering like what he was looking at, but somehow they couldn’t stop whatever had happened to them.

                Most importantly, there were no calls from deeper in that broke Argent’s train of thought. No screams of anger, no territorial challenges. Birds and bugs were the only natural things he heard. So he started through.

                The plantlife was aggressive, to be sure. It grew thick and everywhere. There were plants growing on plants, plants growing on stones, plants growing over the water itself. Lilies, moss, reeds, vines. It was magnificent, beautiful. There was little wonder why the oviraptors had been so good at growing crops if this is where they’d come from. There were no doubt massive stores of food for herbivores down there in the biodome. But the fact stood out to him of how overgrown everything was.

                Either the dinosaurs down in Atlantis did their part to keep a perfect balance of things, so no one overate the plantlife, or there were things that kept the population of herbivores in check.

                Argent continued walking. Slowly, careful as he made his way through the overgrowth and only stopped when he reached an overlook that allowed him to see a little further ahead in the dome. The humans had made it so that there was sunlight in the dome, and had even gone so far as to make the roof of the dome look like sky. It was nearly perfect, looking just like the actual thing so many thousands of feet above them somewhere. He doubted the dinosaurs in the dome even knew they weren’t looking at actual sunlight. But then ahead of him was more jungle, a small clearing, and a waterfall that cascaded down from a ‘mountain’ built into the dome.

                Of all the places in the dome that Argent could see, his money rested on that waterfall being the next place for answers. It was such a prominent area that there had to be dinosaurs over there. Or at least Oviraptors.

                He turned on his heel, planning his next course of action to try and get to the waterfall but was stopped immediately.

                It was like a Venus Flytrap, but horrifically large, directly behind him and slowly moving closer to his head. Argent didn’t have time to think, to see the plant was coming down from a vine in the tree behind him. Nor did he see the other vines that had started to slither closer to his feet. He simply yanked his head back at the plant snapped its jaws shut where his face had been moments before.

                He back peddled, but felt a vine quickly wrap up around his foot and caused him to lose his footing. As he fell back, he realized his tail didn’t feel the firm touch of earth, but instead just air. His other foot had kept plunging as well, his step backwards revealing nothing at all behind him.

                Argent felt his stomach drop as he fell over the edge, ripping the vine around his foot from the tree as he tumbled down the cliff face.

                The thick overgrowth of plants softened his fall but did nothing for the rocks that jutted from the cliff that he fell into, causing him to feel bones breaking as he fell into the ledges and then continue to fall. He hit the ground with a thump moments later, his arm twisted painfully under himself and his head bent at an unnatural angle  so he could see his tail broken and deformed as well.

                The plants around him seemed to hug closer to him, small tendrils unfurling from the grass and clover he lay in and reached out for his face and body, gently caressing him where he lay. Pain quickly overtook him, and his vision started to fade as his eyes closed.

                “Ah shit. Well that’s not good.” Was the last thing that he’d heard from an unknown voice before sleep overcame him.