Rex didn’t hang around for very long. After watching me eat my fill of the xaptor I’d slain, he tossed the bleeding corpse into the air and swallowed the rest whole, leaving his line of heads behind to rot in the sun.

Nasty…

Then my titanic friend smacked me over the head with his massive tail, knocking me to the ground, and with steps that shook the ground, wandered away. I tried to follow, but the tiny reach of my legs compared to his ginormous ones just made keeping up with him exhausting, and eventually, I had to stop running. I was out of stamina.

And Rexcelcis was gone. I watched him fade into the distance of the plain for a while before dropping my head to the ground, staring into the bright noon sky.

What a beautiful blue…

A shadow crossed my vision as I watched large flying creatures sail past above me. I reached a clawed hand out towards them.

Flight… that would be nice.

A flash in the air.

Wings that were only just flapping down fell to the earth nearby, completely severed from the creature they’d been attached to.

A scream from the creature that hovered in the air for only a moment more, before it too plummeted to the ground.

Just before it hit, a scaled monstrosity the size of a fighter jet swooped by, the force of the winds that followed blowing dirt and grass into my eyes.

I blinked it away to see that the group of similar creatures, Pterocelaurs, apparently, had scattered. They flapped desperately in all directions, and I glanced around for the hunter I’d seen take one out of the sky.

It was nowhere to be found.

Well, I thought as I stood up and blinked away the rest of the debris in my eyes. That’s all the signal I needed that it’s time to go.

I began my hike back to the woods, intent on finding another one of those brush dens to sleep safely within, when something caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

The wings…

A furtive look around confirmed that there were no predators nearby that seemed interested, only some long-necked dinosaurs skirting the sparse treetops for food, and a pack of something that might’ve been Deotrexaptors running in the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust. I observed the long-necks as I walked to pick up the wings.

Vronterasaur of the Plains [Lvl ???]

They were impressive, huge creatures that were the equal of Sailboat in size, even bigger if you counted their necks.

Things just keep getting crazier around here…

I grabbed the wings, glad to see no other dinosaurs were approaching the area, perhaps due to the recent presence of the Chaotic Monarch.

Maybe he’d be back to the watering hole. I’d just have to find a spot to set up nearby.

I feel kind of used, though…

He’d just enjoyed some free snacks on my behalf, and slaughtered that siren. Well, since he did it like that, perhaps he was actually saving me? I couldn’t reason any other possiblity that a creature that strong would kill a siren just to obliterate her body.

I shrugged. The machinations of mega-monsters were beyond me.

I hauled the wings towards where the trees began near the watering hole, and by the way, they were a lot heavier than I expected, considering birds are supposed to have thin bones and all. But I guess these things weren’t birds, after all. They were dinosaurs…

Finally, after dragging the things through the dirt and brown grass for what felt like an eternity (perhaps I had to regenerate some stamina and so it became harder at times. I should’ve checked, but it only occured to me later.), I reached the woods, dropping the wings on the ground to go in search of a temporary den for myself.

Alright… I thought, a little apprehensive of returning to the place that was the source of the Deotrexaptors that had pursued me. At least I wouldn’t be going too deep in…

I really would rather stay closer to the destructive dino I knew was at least sparing of me on a whim. Trying my luck with Sailboat was not on my agenda. In fact, it was a huge risk I was unwilling to take.

But sleeping in the open wasn’t going to make me feel any safer so, inhaling deeply, I proceeded into the outside of the jungly woods.

Time to find a place to sleep.

I pushed my way through the undergrowth, looking for another of the massive bushes I’d found before. But it seemed that everything in the area was thinner than if I were to proceed back to my egg, a few miles in. I passed by a massive boulder that reminded me of Rexcelsis' head and stepped cautiously over a low, thorny bush, down onto a patch of soft leaves.

Well… what I thought was a patch of soft leaves, anyway.

My weight was already commit to the forward foot, and as the leaves collapsed around me, I could only think that this was how I’d go out. I didn’t want to die falling into a pit.

My toe caught on a jutting edge of the pit, and my body swung around, as I landed on my belly, sliding down a decline that wasn’t uncomfortably steep.

As I sat at the bottom in a heap, I looked back up to the top of the pit, which had been covered back up by the leaves. From the outside, they shielded the view of the opening from sight, but the leaves were transparent enough that they let light flood in, illuminating the dark area around me.

I sat in the middle of an empty cave, with no traces of life, and as I sniffed the air, no traces of death, either.

I tried something new, observing the area.

Cave

This area is a cave. Certain types of creatures like to live within them.

Very helpful… I thought sarcastically.

There needed to be some exploring, of course, and I could definitely decorate the interior so it wasn’t so… empty, but all in all, this place could really shine! It would make for a nice home base! Though… that was provided I could remember how to get to it. But, a hidden entrance, eh?

I could definitely live with this becoming like my very own private club--ahem--guildhouse.

...

No guild, but...

Have I just stumbled into my very own Dino Cave?