Forgotten Worlds

On the outskirts of a plain filled with impossibly large beings the edges of the forest are the perfect place to hide, and hunt. A scaled snout, short fangs and curious eyes emerge silently from the hedges, rustling the branches aside to peer closely at the unsuspecting creatures grazing below. The hunter patiently waits to seize the opportune moment… Now! It leaps out from the shadows and dashes forward in pursuit of foolish adventures.

A few terrifying heartbeats later, the gigantic quadrupeds of the Land finally recognise the fast-approaching blur, a young tyrannosaurus, curious of the world and the wonders it holds in store! Truly nothing to be feared.

The young T-Rex — who sometimes prefers to be called Rex — is thrilled to be running alongside his friends, their towering legs as high as tree trunks thundering beside him. Adeptly avoiding their footfalls he runs until sunset before finally turning toward the safety of home.

The next morning he is awakened by an unpleasant smell. He opens his eyes, sniffing tentatively, instinctively knowing that something — somewhere — is wrong.

As he looks up to his mother his stomach rumbles and for a brief moment the nauseating smell is forgotten. Rex eventually looks up from his delicious breakfast, and discovers the disturbance that has been plaguing his morning. A malevolent force hiding in the sky behind his mother’s impressive head. He does not understand what it is, but he can see it growing rapidly.

Mother notices a burning light reflected in her child’s anxious eyes and peers closer. Through no fault of their own the Land they have always known is about to change irrevocably. In little Rex’s eyes she becomes witness to a world which has surrendered to madness, an unrelenting harbinger looming inevitably closer.

This world brings an end to all beginnings, and an end to Rex’s short beginning. She understands that this planet, unimaginably different from her own, is in fact of the same blood as the Land she cherishes. They are connected through time, space and infinite generations of evolution.

She musters all of her courage and turns her head to face the Doom, standing protectively in front of her child with unshakeable devotion.

As the Doom draws nearer she begins to discern shapes and silhouettes within the inferno. The rogue planet is not too different from their own. Pillars of dark smoke rising from all horizons darken the air, there are no rivers and the last forests have long since disappeared. An entire world covered in endless crowds and infinite structures reaching higher than the clouds. It seems to be a lonely planet, where meaning has been sacrificed to immutable absolutes.

The blazing inferno is imminently closer, and all that is living in the Land looks up toward these unknown beings, wearing masks where they should be breathing and staring down into empty hands. None of them think to glance up, not even for the briefest moment. They do not see the frightened Mothers and Children contemplating them from afar.

The silence is deafening as the watchers hold their breath. The collision stops time, and the Land convulses. Rex’s legs buckle under him as a wave of burning air pushes his mother to the ground. A searing white light blinds him so he closes his eyes, hoping that this is all just another night terror.

When Rex wakes up, it is to a very different world from the one he has known his entire life.

His ageless friends from the plains are nowhere to be seen and his favourite hiding places have been torn down. Anguish doesn’t begin to describe the overwhelming sorrow growing in his tiny heart. More than anything, he wishes he could understand.

Left without much of a choice, Rex begins marching forward. He stops for a moment and stares down at a single blade of grass growing between his feet, a miraculous remnant of a forgotten world.