Strange Creatures

Leyte exhaled loudly, sending up a cloud of sand that rose into the air with a soft rustle. Some of the grains fell onto the female’s snout, slightly irritating her scaly skin. The disgruntled cryolophosaurus waved her forelimb, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her hand – a manoeuvre that clearly brought her relief.

Somewhat frustrated, the female rolled onto her other side, searching for a more comfortable position. The sand on which she lay parted violently to the sides, forming small dunes closely framing her body. Every movement, even the slightest, caused changes in the terrain’s architecture. Leyte was definitely not a fan of this – she usually preferred to stay away from these shifting, unstable beaches. This was, in fact, valued within her pack – most of its members stuck to urbanised areas, and it served them well. This time, however, Leyte had defied her leader’s will. She had decided to head to the coast to celebrate another anniversary of her ancestors’ escape from human laboratories. Now she was facing the consequences.

Their impromptu celebration went on until late in the evening, so the whole group decided to stay on the beach until morning – it was far safer to stick together, especially in an unfamiliar place, than to scatter and return to their respective territories after dark. Leyte, admittedly, would probably have been able to handle this challenge (she had overcome far worse problems during her time as a scout and recon for the cryolophosaurus herd), but the rest of the assembled dinosaurs could not be so sure. None of the four present tapejaras were keen on such risky expeditions, for they knew that in the event of a surprise attack, the only thing that could save them was their speed. Costel, though a rather large male, was still young, so he too feared the chance of getting into trouble. The last of the group, the utahraptor named Silvercloud, also did not like to take risks – she was not among the bravest of her kind.

Despite her aversion to the coast, Leyte was in no great hurry. The female knew full well that a host of duties awaited her upon her return to the pack’s territory. As one of the most experienced and trusted members of the group, she had often had to tackle a wide variety of tasks assigned to her, but now it would surely be even worse – the leader would certainly want to punish her discreetly for this insubordination, so Leyte could be sure she would be forced to set off on a gruelling, multi-day reconnaissance mission the moment she set foot on the pack’s territory. She therefore wanted to stay near the ocean for at least a few more hours, to enjoy her relative idleness.

However, the cool, crisp sea breeze whetted her appetite. She knew that when she finally decided to return, a long journey awaited her, one that would completely drain her of energy. She had to eat her fill if she wanted to cope with the expedition without too much trouble.

Leyte wasn’t a fan of the beach, so she preferred to avoid fish as well. Here, however, it was hard to find any other nutritious food – if she didn’t want to spend hours catching tiny crustaceans that wouldn’t even half-fill her stomach, she had to settle for fishing. The cryolophosaurus sighed at the thought of having to go into the water. She was already frustrated by the fact that as soon as she returned to the shore, an irritating, scratchy layer of sand would immediately cling to her body.

The female had no intention of hunting in the specific spot where she found herself. The beach here was wide, and the shoreline very gentle. The water remained very shallow for many metres from the shore, so there were few fish here that could satisfy Leyte’s hunger. The fussy cryolophosaurus had to go elsewhere, to deeper waters.

She decided to head west, thereby moving slightly closer to her pack’s distant territory – she didn’t want to go out of her way if she didn’t have to. Moreover, fortunately for her, the western part of the coast was somewhat more challenging terrain. The beach there was much narrow and quite rocky, and the ocean shore much steeper and rougher, criss-crossed in many places by dark rocks jutting out of the water. Despite its inhospitable appearance, this type of terrain seemed to her far more promising in terms of future hunting.

She walked with a brisk and easy stride, completely unconcerned that the vast beach offered her no cover. She was aware that she was visible from a distance, but she also knew that the same applied to other large predators that might potentially threaten her. So she felt safe.

However, she had overlooked the fact that in places like this, it is the smaller carnivores that tend to dominate.

She only remembered this when a small white patch glinted amongst the rocks. Leyte strained her eyes, trying with all her might to make sense of what she was looking at. At first she thought it was some sort of bird or human rubbish washed up on the shore, but she soon realised she was wrong. 

The white, irregular spot was undoubtedly a dinosaur. Leyte frowned, surprised by the sight. The creature that appeared before her eyes was small and densely feathered. At first, the female suspected it was simply a juvenile utahraptor, but something didn’t add up – utahs, especially such young ones, rarely strayed from their pack and ventured into this sort of terrain. Moreover, the creature she was watching was much slimmer and lankier than a typical utahraptor.

Fascinated by the sight, Leyte stepped a little closer, paying no heed whatsoever to the potential danger involved. Then the pale shape took on clearer contours – the piebald patch turned out to be situated in the centre of the unfamiliar dinosaur’s body, whilst the rest of it was a pale yellowish colour, fading into a dark, not particularly saturated purple on the extremities. White markings also covered the head and tail crests, as well as the strange, broad feet – completely different from those of a utahraptor. These features alone were distinctive enough, but the intriguing creature did not stop there – along its head, back, tail and limbs, purple stripes were visible, changing colour from light to dark purple as they extended deeper into the body. Moreover, set within the animal’s long, slender skull were small, intensely blue eyes, surrounded by a pinkish gradient.

Leyte was so absorbed by this intriguing sight that she completely failed to notice two speeding shapes that darted into the left side of her field of vision. When she finally spotted these rapidly moving blurs, she jumped in surprise.

The dinosaurs, which seemed to have emerged from the ground, clearly belonged to the same species as the previous ones – thanks to having observed the other one a little earlier, Leyte at least didn’t have to rack her brains over what she was seeing. The other two animals looked just as eccentric, though observing them was much more difficult – the crested dinosaurs were jostling each other on the beach with loud hisses, occasionally landing on the dark, warm sand. One of them had a glistening silver fish in its jaws, which was presumably the cause of the dispute.

The slightly smaller of the two was brown. This would not have seemed strange were it not for the fact that all the animal’s limbs, snout, distant part of the tail and underbelly were marked with a light blue gradient, almost reminiscent of the colour of the ocean waves. Moreover, its crest and dorsal line were characterised by a much darker, bluish hue. Some of its joints were also covered in a dark, blue-green coating. As if that were not enough, the dinosaur’s entire body was dotted with large, multicoloured rosettes resembling the markings on a jaguar’s flanks – differing from them only in colour, which, of course, was also blue. The mysterious reptile’s eyes shared the same colour palette.

The last of this intriguing trio, clearly a male and the largest of the three, was currently clutching the fish – the cause of the conflict. His feathers were various shades of grey, and here and there they were marked with even darker, large patches with sharp edges. Here and there on his body, much smaller, round spots were also visible, resembling some strange splash of colour. This species was apparently renowned for the blue hues in its colouring, for this was precisely the case with this specimen as well – on both of his sides and the tip of his crested tail, intense blue stripes were visible; this was likely his dimorphic marking. As with the previous dinosaurs, his eyes had a deep, saturated blue hue.

Leyte was truly amazed by the sight. It wasn’t just the eccentric colours and markings that surprised her – in fact, that was the least of her concerns at that moment. She was more intrigued by what species these strangers belonged to. Where had these strange dinosaurs come from? She had never before seen anything like this. Could it be that another Morpheus laboratory had just opened, hidden somewhere so deep in the recesses of the archipelago that no one had discovered it before? How likely was it, that after all those years, some species still weren't discovered?

All these questions would have to wait, however. For now, Leyte’s immense hunger was growing more acute by the minute, and the little dinosaurs, whatever species they might be, looked like a far better meal than just some sea fish…

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