#prolly gonna have a bit more scattershot writings this october

[serenehells]

Vivid Shadows 2024: Dinosaur

Man is but one of many species which have stood upon the Earth. Before them, they drove great beasts to extinction, only those who evolved alongside humanity surviving. Despite it, man has come up with stories of terrible monsters, massive beasts which terrorized man in their infancy, stories to tell one another in the darkness of a fire. But as mankind’s knowledge grew, these stories of monsters fell away as simple myths and stories. That is, until the bones of these ancient beasts were discovered, as terrible and magnificent as the tales of monsters of old. As humanity’s fascination grew with these beasts, so did the desire to see them return to the world. And I worked to bring about this new age, to see these awe-inspiring beasts of old to return back to our world. I spent years of my life to work on bringing them back. But it seems it was for naught.

The program I was the head of was cut as I was on the precipice of returning them to the world, to showing everyone that it could be done and that we were the masters of nature to return these magnificent beasts back to our world. But they called me a fool for seeking it, they said this would have consequences that we were not ready to handle! I have studied these beasts for my whole life, I knew what I would unleash. But they were just afraid of this change. They were afraid of man no longer being the ones on top of the food change, afraid of the beasts we told stories to scare ourselves in the dark past becoming real. But despite it all, despite being forced to vacate my position, despite seeing them destroy my life’s research in front of me to make sure nobody could bring these awe inspiring beasts back, I was prepared.

I was prepared for these fools to let fear guide their actions and attempt to destroy my life’s work. I was ready to usher in this new age weather humanity wanted it or not. When they left me alone in my office, assured they had done anything they could to destroy the research I worked so hard and so long to get, I grabbed a vial I had stored in a secret compartment of my desk for such an occasion. It was the concentrated DNA of a whole host of predatory dinosaurs I had sequenced and studied, the mighty carcharodontosaurus, utahraptor, giganotosaurus, of course the tyrannosaurus, and my favorite species which inspired this love for these ancient beasts, spinosaurus. There were many other species whose dna was used as basis for allowing these species to return to life, notably many species of flightless birds and birds of prey. However, unlike what I planned to do initially with these sequenced DNA, this was not intended for embryonic specimens, it was intended for myself. It was one of many at least, some intended for other specimens, but this experimental one was for myself, to change me and allow me the strength to drive out these people from my facility and keep them out.

It was a choice that will change me forever, and sever me from being able to call myself a part of humanity again, but after what they did out of fear, I do not think I wish to be part of humanity, there is a new age approaching, and if humanity is not to let it come gently, then I will begin this new age with the blood of those who tried to hold me back on them. With no further hesitation I injected the mix of dna into myself, and what I felt first was a sweltering heat as my body went into overdrive to try and deal with these foreign bodies. But they would fail, I designed them to be much stronger than humanity’s poor immune systems, and soon I began to feel a sharp pain run down my spine as the beginnings of a tail began to form. It was pain, but I knew it was merely the first step to a true evolution past humanity towards something beautiful. The pain would all be worth it when I reached this perfection, perfection crafted through pain. As the pain flared up, I collapsed to the ground, and could feel my body begin to change more, bones cracking, tendons tearing, my body breaking down to recreate itself from scratch. I could feel the start of my claws grow, and my skin begin to itch. It was so much so that I had to scratch at it, and underneath, shimmering green scales now revealed beneath the weak flesh. But there was more, there was always more. My body continued to develop, the tail growing longer, and my legs taking on a digitigrade gait. Along that, the pain in my spine took a new form, as from it, a spine began to form.

But finally, it was done. Through the pain and agony, I was reborn. I found myself able to cope with the new gait rather easily, and in turn, found that I was no longer able to stand up fully in my own room, that the dna had accelerated the growth of not only new body parts, but bringing them to a size consistent to the beasts of old. But once I got my bearings adjusted, I found that my body was blessed with colorful plumage. I knew it was likely not from any of the dinosaurs whose DNA I sequenced, but that of their descendants, colorful birds. It suited me, beyond the mere aesthetic enjoyment I got from it. It also showed others that I was something large, and dangerous. I took a deep breath, and could smell the trespassers on my land. They did not know what they had unleashed. And now, with everything ready, it was time to usher in a new age, and topple man from its throne.