"Thauren!" Veera shouted in a high-pitched voice from afar.
Snapped back to reality, Thauren blinked rapidly and scowled. 'This isn't the ti to mourn.'
He directed his troops to keep running. 'Who told you to stop, you fools?'
"But, Khaezur—"
"To hell with Khaezur." Thauren grabbed his soldier's cheek. "That's what happens when you run too slow. Stay here any longer, and we'll all end up the sa—or worse. Is that what you want? No? Good. Now move."
By then, the T-rex had finished chewing Khaezur's corpse into nothing and stared at them with the sa unrelenting hunger.
'Greedy bastard.'
They finally reached a bushy area. Yet the T-rex, undeterred by the wild grass, rampaged through with savage force.
It even let out a thunderous, intimidating roar. Its eyes locked onto one target—Thauren's unit.
Because of that, the T-rex didn't notice the massive trap prepared specifically for it.
When the beast fell into the concealed pit, covered by layers of leaves, the ground shook violently. The onlookers from afar were thrown off balance, tumbling to the ground.
As the dust settled, Thauren's troops returned, joined by the rest of the ambush squad led by Veera.
They gaped into the pit. It was 15 ters deep and less than 10 ters wide—fitting for a grave for the monster that had tornted them.
The T-rex struggled to climb out, its tiny arms clawing at the steep walls looked almost pitiful.
Veera called for the firebenders, ordering them to deliver the finishing blow.
As they encircled the pit, the mages glanced at Veera. She nodded as the signal. "Now."
Five massive fireballs ford in the sky and plumted toward the T-rex with destructive speed, roasting it alive.
When the flas finally died down, the T-rex stopped resisting. Most of its body was charred, with only slight, aningless twitches remaining.
Veera ordered the firebenders to stop, earning confused looks she understood.
She had promised to bring back the monster's at as a trophy, but the thought that she might be able to control it tempted her.
So, Veera approached the pit and descended into it, floating down. Her actions drew shouts, even from Thauren. "What are you doing?"
Veera didn't respond. She closed in on the dying T-rex, the stench of burnt flesh filling her nostrils, making her mouth water on instinct.
But she suppressed the hunger for now. Upon landing, Veera gently stroked the T-rex's head.
The beast let out a weak growl.
"It's okay, it's okay. I won't hurt you anymore." Sensing its muscles finally relaxing, Veera began chanting a taming spell.
Outside the pit, Thauren sat cross-legged, unable to believe what he was seeing. "She's completely lost it."
"That's why she's our village chief," soone behind him replied.
'Is that the real reason I lost? I'm not crazy enough for that cursed "blessing" the elders always talk about.'
But Thauren's thoughts were interrupted by a greater distraction—the sa earthquake they had felt when the T-rex fell into the pit returned.
Panic spread as the ground rumbled harder. So assud it was Veera's magic.
But sothing felt off.
The "earthquake" seed to be getting closer.
Then, they saw it. Erging from the sa bushes they had taken cover in—another T-rex, more alive and healthy.
Not just one.
Two. Three. Four. No—hundreds.
Everyone knew they should run. But their legs wouldn't move, as if nailed to the ground by sheer terror.
The fear gripped them tighter than instincts could overco.
Fortunately, Thauren managed to shout, "Run!"
Instantly, the troops scattered. But this wasn't just an alert for the alhara anymore—this ti, the T-rexes gave chase.
Thauren ran for his life, the pack of beasts devouring his comrades one by one. There were screams, blood, pain—pain that seed to pierce the heavens.
But Thauren kept running. Running. Running. 'Run.'
He lost track of ti. Hours, days, maybe longer.
If this was a storm ant to wipe everything away, then Thauren—the once-mighty warrior—was no more dangerous than an ant.
Years seed to pass. Thauren survived just by eating berries and small animals. Nothing like his forr self, but he had co to appreciate this simple life.
Far from danger. Far from death's stench. Far from the T-rexes' presence.
As he plucked a persimmon from a hill for his breakfast, he noticed the ruins below.
What had once been a thriving civilization of thousands was now reduced to rubble—fragnts of wood, fabric, and the biting stench of destruction.
The T-rexes had chased them back to their village, and they hadn't stopped there.
They trampled hos. Tore through the people. Slaughtered n, won, elders, even children.
Even their respected late chiefs, resting in the village shrine and believed to protecting them from heaven, was powerless against the rampage.
The shrine itself was obliterated, reduced to nothing but debris and dust.
Since then, Thauren had never seen another alhara.
Perhaps they had fled far, far away from the monsters' reach.
Perhaps they were hiding—like him.
Or, perhaps, none had survived. Perhaps he was the last of his kind.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." While cursing fate, his thoughts drifted to Veera.
'That wretched witch. If she hadn't been reckless. If she never led us. If she never existed...'
But why hold a grudge against the dead?
Thauren clenched his fist and slamd it into the ground. 'Damn it!'
But instead of relief, the ground beneath him cracked. And before he could react, he was falling.
As the earth rushed up to et him, Thauren thought his end had finally co. He would finally reunite with his fallen comrades—and his brother.
But instead, he awoke in a strange place.
Surrounded by stone walls and strange tal devices he had never seen.
Yet the strangest sight of all was the figure standing before him.
Thauren wasn't sure he could even call it a person.
The man was so thin he looked like a walking corpse, yet he waved cheerfully and flashed a bright grin.
"Hello. Your na's Thauren, right? This might be sudden, but... you could say I'm a god."
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