Mami was thirsty and that was a problem as large as a dinosaur. Before her, the river shimmered in the sun. Every delicious drop was an invitation, but also a danger. She peered at the beautiful spot through the bushes, waiting for the right moment.

Because she knew she was not alone. To her left, kindred spirits hid behind rocks. Tiny ape-like creatures that still walked on four legs.

Of course, dear reader, that wasn’t their name yet, because apes did not exist. Mami belonged to the Gosti.

Across the water she noticed several salamanders slither through the ferns. Above them, lizards clung to the trees, hoping their dark brown bodies made them invisible.

But at any moment—

The ground rumbled. Mami dug her paws into the mud to stay upright. The Gosti next to her shrieked. Above the wall of branches and leaves, a thick tail whipped, dark gray and covered in spikes, and effortlessly sliced through trees.

Each step of the dinosaur felt like an earthquake, though he moved as slow as a snail. All life around the river held their breath. But the dino did not look their way and walked on. Even better, the giant dino droppings that followed landed far from Mami’s area.

A red-yellow baby dinosaur, no taller than the bushes, took her chance. Supported by two big hind legs, she hopped toward the river. She looked around again, leaned her little front legs on the rocks, bent her neck, and swiftly drank as much water as she could hold.

Now that the first Small One had emerged from hiding, the rest followed.

Creatures of all kinds raced to the river. Mothers held their babies tight. Fathers tried to collect water and bring it back to their families. They ran in wide arcs around the baby dino legs, but some took the time to thank her.

Within moments the river teemed with life; a few moments later it was deserted again. Like bees and wasps suddenly swarming around flowers when the sun shines on them, but nowhere to be seen when clouds hide the light.

There was an Agreement, though creatures could hardly talk yet. Someone had to be the first to come out from the bushes. If a meat-eating dinosaur was waiting nearby, it would strike and reveal itself. If that didn’t happen, the rest knew it was safe.

But Mami hesitated. She had no group to help her, no one to fetch water and bring it back. Her family had been eaten by a dino, so long ago she couldn’t even remember what the monster looked like. She only survived because she was too tiny to be a delicious meal for the dino.

Come on, she urged herself, it’s clear. Run over there and drink!

Her front paws reached for ground outside the bushes. Slowly she pulled herself out, then back in again, poking her head through the leaves, yet still crawling back. Don’t hesitate, she thought. Run!

She burst through the branches and sprinted with all her might toward the river, leaves fluttering like wings around her.

But she never reached the water.

A medium-sized green dinosaur ambled toward the river, blocking her path. She bumped into his foot and tumbled backwards. She quickly jumped up and looked skyward, but the dino hadn’t even noticed. It’s so unfair. Why are they so big and we so small?

He mumbled. “Bla bla bla, dreams aren’t real, come hunt with us now, if you don’t join we’ll kick you from the herd.” Suddenly he looked back and shouted. “I’m a plant eater! I don’t need to hunt!”

Mami had to jump left and right to avoid his giant feet. A plant eater!

She felt safe in his shadow and joined him on his path to the river. While the dino gulped down gallons of water, with a noise that echoed across the clearing, Mami could finally quench her thirst in silence.

She had, however, forgotten The Agreement.

Again, Small Ones burst from the bushes, headed for the river. They thanked her and ran around the dino, who watched with growing bewilderment. He tried to walk away from the chaos and lifted his foot.

A few young Gosti ran right underneath. He’s going to crush them!

“Stop! Stop! Don’t put your foot down!”

The dino searched for her voice, his foot hovering in the air. Which was an issue, as he only had two legs to stand on in the first place. By the time he found Mami, his heavy body had already started falling sideways.

“Aaaah!”

“Look out!”

The dino fell in the water, sending high waves over the Small Ones. Most had fled in time, but not all. A few salamanders were crushed on the seabed. Other animals lay unconscious on the sand. The dino’s tail landed right on top of Mami, breaking her hind leg.

Pushing off with his front legs, he quickly rose up halfway again. His hind legs did the rest of the work.

The Small Ones glared angrily at Mami and the dino, but said no word. A few moments later the area was deserted once more.

“Sorry!” he called after them.

“Also sorry,” said Mami. She crawled away, but with three healthy legs she couldn’t get far.

The dinosaur bent his neck until his face hovered right in front of hers. He said nothing. He just looked at her. And the longer it went on, the more uncomfortable Mami became.

“Leg broke,” he whispered, along with other words Mami didn’t know. “Climb on back.”

“Oh!” Eyes closed, she stretched out her five-fingered paws and climbed on his head. She slid down his neck until she wedged halfway against some scales. What are you doing, Mami? You’re not riding on a dinosaur’s back! This is why your family is gone.

“Donte my name.” He strolled away from the river, but stopped when he couldn’t see which way to go. “How suddenly so foggy?”

Another word she didn’t know. Mami opened her eyes, but saw nothing. The sunny clearing had become a white hazy blotch. That could only mean one thing.

“Sorry, sorry, so sorry,” said a cheerful voice from within the cloud. Not long after, a friendly young face took shape, made from the vapors. “It was just a little accident.”

“Little accident?” Donte blew through his nostrils to push away the cloud vapors.

“Yes, you see, I had to deliver a message to your father, when such an odd event happened that I lost control of my mists!”

The fog dissipated. Donte tried grabbing the cloud with his front legs, which would obviously never work. It was, after all, a Cloudbeing.

Mami let curiosity get the best of her. “What? What happened?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Willi Smallcloud, messenger of the Chiefcloud. During my descent a panda appeared on top of me and said I must warn the dinosaurs.”

Mami laughed and forgot she lay on a dino’s back with a painful broken leg. “I’ve never heard anything so silly. You must have been dreaming.”

“Clouds don’t dream. Because we never sleep.”

Donte lurched at Willi, his voice full of panicky dino words that sounded fearful to Mami’s ears. “Warn of what?”

“Yes, you see, the panda didn’t say. Or wait … " The cloud looked thoughtful, spinning circles above the river, which created a whirlwind. Leaves slapped their faces, but their eagerness to know the answer kept annoyance at bay.

“We’re waiting … for some time now … "

“Oh yes! An asteroid is heading your way.”

That, dear reader, is a chunk of rock drifting through space. Sometimes they call it a mini planet. A comet looks similar, but is made of ice and gas. When parts break off of these, we call them meteoroids. But Donte doesn’t know the difference at all: to him that word simply means “big rock.”

Donte shook his shoulder blades. “Then we eat it.”

Willi grew thick wooly eyebrows, just to furrow them. “Do you know how massive an asteroid can be? How fast one of those things hits?”

“Then dino’s work together and stop it.”

Willi shook his clouds. “No, no, no, you don’t understand. Everything has been peaceful and balanced for thousands of years now: sunny, warm, flourishing. An asteroid impact is like earthquakes happening all over the world. Even the gods can’t predict the consequences!”

Mami thought it all nonsense. For us, an asteroid strikes every day: dinosaurs stomping their huge clumsy feet into the ground. I don’t see the problem. But if that asteroid comes … then all the dinosaurs will be gone in an instant! Wonderful!

“Dreadful!” cried Donte and he bounded away. “Must warn dinosaurs!”

“Hey! I’m still on your back!”

“Will leave you be. Am certain. Say you friend of dino!”

“I feel less certain about that!”

But he was deaf to Mami’s shouting, the doom of the dinosaurs a nightmare in his mind. Whether she liked it or not, she was being taken to the Dino Nest.

If they couldn’t swallow her in one quick bite, Mami would have found the dinosaurs beautiful.

In the Dino Nest she was surrounded by bright colors. By giants that hid the sun, but also babies, just hatched from their eggs, trying to play. How can a creature start so small and grow so gigantic? she wondered. The gods must have something to do with it.

Their teeth could be larger than entire animal species. Their feet big enough to crush a whole Gosti family at once. And sometimes she had to play the game: “is that a tree or an extremely long dinosaur?”

The dinosaurs with feathers amazed her the most. One had a small body but a high, round tail with alternating red and white rings. If it wasn’t wandering the Dino Nest she would have mistaken it for a squirrel she wanted to cuddle.

But Mami always thought their front legs gave them the biggest advantage. She needed all four of her paws, always. Now that one was broken she was helpless. Powerless.

A dino, however, could break a front leg and still be just as fast and frightening. Though she did see some with very tiny front legs sticking out on the sides. What use are those?

She clung to Donte’s warm back, like a tree she had climbed from which she absolutely did not want to fall. A group of red-yellow dinosaurs shot past his feet. From Mami’s height, even these beasts looked like dwarves. Do dinosaurs even see Small Ones? she wondered. Or do they think we’re grains of sand?

“Donte! I’m proud, little brother! Finally you’ve learned to hunt.” A dark blue dinosaur, slightly bigger than him but with the same round spikes and light belly, bounded toward them.

“Oh, no, no! This friend of mine. Bring terrible news.”

“Indeed! Friendship between Dinosaurs and Small Ones is ridiculous!”

A pink dinosaur, with a back like a hill and head held low, spit right past Donte. “Get thing off your back. We no Taxeies.”

“What’s that?” Mami whispered.

“Foolish creatures that carry Small Ones on backs. Like cowardly porters.” The pink tongue emerged again, nearly licking Mami’s fur.

They drew more and more attention, as a sea of bared teeth surrounded them.

“You bring tasty morsel to our nest, my son,” said a heavy voice hidden behind the thick tree trunks. “No friend, not now and not ever. Give her to us.”

“Already have enough food,” said Donte. “No need to devour every creature you meet.”

“But it is delicious.” The dinosaurs laughed.

Finally his father came into view. The jet black fur was already invisible in the shadows of the trees—at night no creature would spot this danger approaching. His head was four times bigger than Donte’s and his spikes genuinely had points.

Donte stepped backward. “Doesn’t be like this, Rexes. I dream of time when—”

“Perhaps you should dream of hunting and helping your herd. Or stop dreaming altogether.” Mami closed her eyes. Rexes’ breath blew over her entire body. His breath was searing hot; she got goosebumps.

“But I bring warning!” Donte yelled. “Asteroid coming for us and will destroy!”

“And why do you think that?”

Rexes circled around them. Mami only dared breathe when he was on the other side. At least then Donte was a shield between them.

“Cloudbeing heard it from panda.”

Rexes bellowed with laughter. “Then it must be true! Of course!”

He slowed and looked away. “Oh, but that’s peculiar. Just now another cloud was here too. And it said we should punish our underlings more when they don’t obey our rules.”

Mami didn’t know the word underlings, but the way he pronounced it didn’t sound good. She tried hiding completely behind a spike, eyes still closed. Let it be over. Let it be over.

“We are rulers, Donte. Don’t let anything scare you.”

Rexes lifted his left front leg into the air. Donte followed, but Rexes’ head stayed put. “We don’t look up, only look down. Any danger we can defeat. If that danger even exists … "

A shudder passed through Donte’s body. Rexes had pressed his head against his son’s and didn’t let go. “One last chance. Give us your little friend and stop your strange dreams.”

“Don’t do it,” Mami whispered. She trembled from head to toe, and even her broken leg briefly returned to life.

“I will show so doubt disappears,” Donte said quickly.

“Prove,” Mami whispered, “you’re looking for the word prove.”

“Yes, I will prove! Who knows such things? Ask the gods.”

“Gods?” Rexes laughed. “We no longer listen. Only help Small Ones. Even steal our eggs!”

Rexes pushed harder. Even big Donte couldn’t withstand it and slid backward, leaving tracks in the earth.

“Give us food.”

“No.”

Rexes pulled his head back. His eyes looked sad for a heartbeat, his front legs dangling loosely.

“Then you are banished from the herd, my son. Lose your protection. I declare you outlawed.”

Mami quickly learned what that word meant. Donte didn’t waste a second, spun around, and raced from the nest. Most watched sadly or went back to tending their children.

But ten hunting dinosaurs licked their teeth and rushed after him.

Donte ripped a small tree from the earth with his large jaws and flung it over his shoulder. A few hunters stumbled, but most gracefully leapt over it.

Mami wanted to help but could do nothing except hold on tight and hope she didn’t fall off. The hunters grew closer. Donte was big, but not in the slender way that makes you fast, more like a round stone that can roll well. That’s it!

“Start rolling!”

“Have you broken your brain too!?”

“I’m serious! Roll along the edge of Longneck!”

As soon as they reached the river, Donte bent his neck and legs until he was nearly round. Only then did Mami realize she’d be crushed, so she quickly slid to a new spot on his warm belly.

And they rolled.

Sometimes splashes covered them, and Donte knew to turn the other way. Sometimes they slid over a rock and flew as if performing a stunt. But with each roll, the hunters’ volume grew softer, until they heard nothing at all.

They kept on rolling anyway. Just to be sure. Until it felt like the sticky ground sucked them in, accompanied by smacking sounds, and shortly after a big splash. Donte could stand, but Mami had to swim back to shore with three paws.

“I told you so!” she cried. “It was dumb to bring me along.”

“I thought … I think we herd-merge. That be the dream.”

“Herd-merge?”

Donte searched for other words Mami might understand. “Live together?”

“Oh. Well, you’re thinking wrong.”

Footsteps came from the trees surrounding the Wise Sea. They were far too soft for a dino. They didn’t need to ask if someone was there, because a voice sneered: “What buffoon nearly rolls over a goddess?”

A beautiful rosy fox tapped her nose against Donte. “Hmpf. Dinosaur. I should have known.”

“Sorry, Miss Fox,” Donte mumbled.

Mami nudged him and hissed: “This is the goddess Feria!”

The fox smiled. She gently picked up Mami between her teeth and lifted her onto her back. “The dinosaurs have been avoiding the gods for years. No wonder their children have forgotten we exist.”

She walked away. For every one of Donte’s steps, she had to take twenty. But Feria did not feel afraid or small, just irritated.

In the middle of the water stood a thick tree reaching for the sun. As soon as they stood in the shade, Feria walked into the water—but her paws did not sink further. A bridge of starfish made a solid path to the opening in the tree.

“Are you going to explain yourself?” Feria asked when they were almost there. “Or do you dinosaurs consider yourselves too good to even talk to a goddess?”

“No, it’s not that. I was banished by my kind. I don’t know the feeling that goes with it.”

Feria froze and looked at him. “Banished? Then you must be the cruelest dinosaur ever to have lived. Normally they just eat you right away if you make them angry.”

She walked inside. The tree was not hollowed out, cut and chopped into a house as humans would do, but grew naturally around Feria’s cozy little cottage. She had a few rooms with soft carpets, plants, insects, and small animals. Besides that, she relinquished all control and let nature do its thing.

As such, large Donte had to stay outside.

Feria put Mami on one of the carpets and took her paw. “I can’t make any promises, but …”

She gently kneaded the muscles in the paw. Mami’s hind leg glowed. More and more she pulled her own fox fingers away, until she gave a little kiss and the glow immediately disappeared, as if it was sucked up by the wound in the leg.

“Thank you, Feria,” said Mami, as she stretched her leg to see if it worked again. It did, like new.

“Not to be rude or anything,” Donte called from outside. Which, instead the tree, sounded as if Mother Earth herself was talking to you. “But I have a question about an asteroid that might or might not be coming for us?”

“I don’t control that. You’ll have to ask Cosmo or Darus.”

“How many animals does asteroid have to kill before it becomes your problem?”

Feria flashed outside and nearly slapped Donte in the face with her tail. “You are not welcome here or with the other gods.”

Donte sighed. “If you convince asteroid, uh, is coming for dinosaurs, they’ll let me back. No more trouble from me.”

Mami hesitated. He had saved her, multiple times now, and had been kind. But the world would only be better off if those awful beasts disappeared.

Feria climbed upwards. “This is the Tree of Life. It is my throne, the very first tree on this planet, which I planted together with my sister Eeris. The more balanced life is, the bigger and greener my throne grows.”

She traveled along a thin branch like a tightrope walker and pointed her tail backwards. Mami leaned against Donte’s hind leg and saw what she meant.

It was as if someone had taken a bite out of the tree. Branches were splintered, leaves misshapen and withered. Outside that black stain, dark streaks radiated in all directions, like poisoned rivers through the rest of the Tree of Life.

No, someone really DID take a bite out of the tree. And that sickness is now spreading through the rest of the Tree of Life.

“Your … kind has been a nuisance for years around the Mouth of Din. Then you spread to the Saursea. And now you’re coming here, the last place where Small Ones can still live.”

“That’s normal,” Donte objected. “We just big. So many animals are meat-eaters. Those Gosti are everywhere too, right?”

“Yes, but a Gosti eats one plant stem per day and is tiny as my paw. If I wasn’t immortal—because, you know, I’m a goddess and the being who created you—I would have been eaten by one of you long ago.”

Feria landed gracefully next to Mami. “The gods are not going to help you. We’re more likely to do the opposite.”

Donte lowered his head. “Okay, I understand,” he mumbled, and he sauntered away over the starfish path.

“He … he’s not like the other dinosaurs,” Mami said carefully. Feria only shook her fur. But he almost crushed me too.

When he was back on the beach, Feria did run after him.

“It gives me no pleasure, believe me. I am the goddess of animals, I want nothing more than to give everyone a good life.”

She placed a little kiss on Donte’s drooping forehead. “But understand that your lives wipe out so many other lives. Please, stay away from here.”

Mami waved goodbye. Donte didn’t see it anymore.

When Feria stood side by side with her, she whistled a high melody. Mami didn’t know an animal could produce so much volume, but at the same time it didn’t hurt her ears. It was beautiful and fitting, as if she had heard the melody many times before.

“You trust Donte? You say he is good?”

“I don’t know that. But I’m the reason he was outlawed. He’s not the cruelest; he’s the kindest.”

Feria looked at her closely. “Then I believe you.”

Suddenly she ran off. Mami could barely keep up, but certainly didn’t want to lose sight of a goddess.

“Very nice, yes, sure. But why do you believe me, and not Donte?”

“The Gosti are the most intelligent creatures I ever made. They are pure wisdom.”

“Oh, well, thank you—” Mami bumped her head on a branch. Feria effortlessly ran up the tree sideways, pulling Mami along, and they continued their way above the treetops and branches.

Below them two dinosaurs stomped by, one purple and the other yellow. Both their noses held a large horn, which didn’t seem so threatening now. This is much smarter! They can’t crush you if you’re above them!

But Mami wasn’t used to this. She couldn’t swing from branches, barely had a tail, and also discovered she was terribly afraid of heights. She soon had to allow Feria to pick her up again.

“Why the hurry?”

“We’ve known about the asteroid for a long time. It’s almost here. And my family plans to do nothing and let it through.”

When Mami’s mother used to tell her about the godchildren, she forgot to mention that their throne is the most beautiful place in the world.

Mami watched with mouth agape and unblinking eyes. The stairs to the entrance were decorated with diamonds and along the side ran a waterslide. Over the years, ivy had fought its way through the stone and wide trees formed a roof over the last hundred steps.

Feria stood before the wooden gate, also decorated with gold and jewels, large enough to let a dinosaur through. It was always left ajar, mother said, because the gods wanted the animals to be able to visit anytime.

And that’s why Mami had not believed, for the whole trip, which took a day, what Feria said about them wanting to let the asteroid hit.

She heard splashing. Gulvi the dolphin, god of water, took the slide upwards. A high squeaking sound was his greeting, after which he swam on, through a maze of small rivers built into the castle. Not much later a large bird landed on the door.

“You better have a good reason, Feria.”

“Cosmo, you’re not going to pretend you’re terribly busy again, are you? Nothing flies in this world. Of what are you even playing god?”

“I have a wise lesson for you, called insects.”

“They don’t fly higher than treetops. Darus swears he can’t even see them!”

“Maybe if you give them a little hand …”

Cosmo flew inside.

When they stepped into the throne room, Mami felt like an intruder. She didn’t belong here. All those divine beings and she was just a small helpless pre-monkey who didn’t even know her own opinion. Should the asteroid hit? But then … then Donte will die and the forest will be destroyed. But the dinosaurs are the very reason I’m so small!

“What’s the meaning of this?” Bella, a raccoon with a shiny fur coat, sat on her throne. Her voice sounded sweet, but her face was thunderous.

“The dinosaurs. They know an asteroid is coming.”

“How?”

“That … I forgot to ask. I sent him away, I don’t want any more bites taken out of my tree.”

Bella stood up. “That news is very bad. If the animals find out we’re deliberately letting the asteroid through now, we’ll lose their support forever.”

“But,” said Mami’s faint voice. She wanted to crawl back into Feria’s fur again, but it was too late now. “You can stop it?”

Cosmo huffed and flapped his wings. “Of course! Darus can break it into a thousand snowflakes. And I can blow mighty winds until it flies past us safely. A small task for gods, I’ll have you know.”

“How much time do we have left?” Feria already stepped aside, hearing noise behind her.

“At most a couple of days. The asteroid seems to be a chunk broken off of what was once the planet Karet. We already redirected it so it hits precisely on the other side of the supercontinent.”

“Not so super anymore,” said Gulvi. “Plates are already breaking off into their own continents.”

Eeris hopped through the entrance, but had to bend her long giraffe neck quite a bit to do so. Not much later Darus followed, a wolf leaning against the wall as if exhaustion had overtaken hem.

“Geez you guys, why did you have to put this castle so far away? And has the stairway suddenly received a hundred more steps? Again?”

“You’re the one who absolutely wanted to live in your mountain range,” Feria joked, and they bumped their snouts together.

“Silence!” Bella called out. “We vote again.”

“Maybe,” said Eeris, “if we want to keep the animals’ friendship, we should let them vote on this?”

“There’s too many. The dinosaurs will of course vote fiercely against. We have no time and will achieve nothing.”

Eeris picked up Mami until she hovered above everyone. “We can at least ask one creature. An intelligent creature.”

Everyone looked at Mami. She felt naked, even more powerless than under dinosaur feet, while she now actually held all the power.

A little plan formed. And she said it oud loud before doubt could creep in. “Let the asteroid go through. But pretend you tried to stop it.”

Eeris placed her back on the ground, a disappointed look on her yellow face.

“Against,” she said. “Always against.”

“For,” said Bella. “And Ardex would be too if he was here.”

“Against,” squeaked Gulvi.

“For,” said Cosmo.

“Against,” said Darus. “The impact of such an asteroid is terrible. The stone and earth take centuries to recover!”

Everyone looked at Feria. Her voice would be the tie-breaker.

Loud footsteps echoed through the hall. Growling, panting and buzzing turned the corner until a colorful collection of small animals stood in the throne room. Young dinosaurs mingled with lizards, snakes, crabs and even a swarm of insects.

“This day just keeps getting better,” Bella sighed.

“The dinosaurs,” said the frontmost lizard. He glanced sideways at the baby dinosaurs. “The big, scary kind. You know them. They … they’re on their way here and destroying everything in their path.”

“Don’t know everything,” squeaked a little purple dino with a stump from which a horn was meant to grow. “But heard of a plan once. A collaboration with the Chiefcloud.”

Feria stamped a small dent in the stone floor. Her voice was soft.

“For. Let the asteroid through. While we pretend to fight it, actually redirect it towards the dinosaurs.”

Donte walked back to the Mouth of Din, dreaming.

I’m going to make as many friends as I can among the Small Ones. And then I’ll go to my father and show that we CAN live together. And then we’ll help each other and flee from that asteroid. Everyone will live long and happy. They’ll talk about us for a long time. “Life was so nice under the dinosaurs,” they’ll say. “And they were so kind.”

He narrowly avoided stepping on a rabbit. “Sorry! Lost in thought!”

The rabbits looked up fearfully and hurried away. “I’m a plant eater, like you!”

That was stupid. Now everyone’s running away, because they hear a dinosaur growling. You’re always so stupid, Donte. If only you would do something smart for once, then they would listen to you.

But he couldn’t think of much that was smarter than fleeing from a life-threatening asteroid. So he—carefully—walked on. Going up took much longer than going down. He took a detour and hoped not to encounter any dinosaurs before reaching the nest.

He could handle a lot, but lately it had been exceptionally hot and dry. When did it last rain? He couldn’t remember. After walking alone for a day, all life having fled from his feet, he had no choice but to visit the river and quench his thirst.

It wasn’t deserted.

It was littered with the bodies of Small Ones, more dead than alive. Bellies half-eaten made red rivers. Torn-off legs formed a desperate path to the bushes.

When the survivors saw him, they screamed and dove into the water. “I won’t hurt you, I … I …”

The horrifying sight made him lose his voice. He didn’t want to come any closer, but he was dying of thirst. What happened here? Maybe he could warn his dino herd about this danger. That was smart, right?

There was no raincloud to be seen. In fact, the Cloudbeings seemed to be piling up in the distance. Only the burning sun heated him to the boiling point.

Stepping between the bodies, he reached the water and took a sip. It was quiet. Suspiciously quiet.

A red horned dinosaur stormed out of the bushes, blood around his jaws, bigger than him.

Donte spun on his right foot and whipped his tail against the attacker’s belly. His red scales were so tough that Donte mostly hurt himself. He had to turn away to keep his balance.

The horn chased after his neck, but Donte curled downwards. He jumped and slammed his neck against the underside of his attacker, who fell sideways.

Give up. Go away. I win, right? But the horned dino was already up again and bracing for a leap.

“I’m trying to help!” Donte yelled. “I’m warning you about an asteroid. If we flee, we can survive. I’m one of you.”

“You’re only helping yourself, traitor.”

The horn thrust towards his front leg. Just in time, he lifted his leg and grabbed the horn, but his attacker was too strong and pulled him along, dragged him through the soaked earth towards the raging river.

He was forced to let go and stumble backwards.

“We can do this for another hour. But I’m bigger and stronger. I’ll win.”

“Unless he’s not alone.”

A second dinosaur broke through the trees.

She was just as green as him, but her neck was much longer and her round mouth filled with ferns. She didn’t have small front legs, but walked on four thick legs with an even wider bottom. Like an elephant, even though those didn’t exist yet.

“Nisah, pleased to meet you.”

The attacker looked between Donte and Nisah. If he went for Donte, Nisah could hit him in the side. If he struck at Nisah, Donte could push him into the river. He growled and ran away from the fight.

The remaining Small Ones walked back towards the water, but always kept their distance.

“Donte, pleased to meet you,” he said. “It was stupid of me to come here. I’m a bit stupid, you don’t have to say it.”

Nisah continued chewing leaves. “You’re not stupid. The clouds have been evaporating all the water for months, but refuse to let it rain, refuse to block the sun. It’s hot and everyone is terribly thirsty.”

“But why? I thought the dinosaurs and the clouds were collaborating.” As they walked along the water’s edge, Donte noticed some animals were listening to their conversation.

A lizard came up to them, chest puffed up and curled tail.

“To murder us.” His eyes spat fire. “All these animals here …”

Nisah finished it. “All these Small Ones could no longer restrain themselves. They had to drink. The dinosaurs were already lying in wait in the bushes to strike.”

“All along the river.” The lizard slapped his tail twice into the ground. “You are disgraces. The gods should destroy you. With every breath of yours, I lose faith.”

Are we really that bad? Does everyone hate us? Are the dinosaurs even worth saving? Donte looked at Nisah. Looked at the baby dinosaurs who were in just as much danger as the other Small Ones. No, they are not bad. Some dinosaurs are worth it, I still have to warn them.

The river was almost deserted again, many of the bodies taken by the water. “Hey! An asteroid is coming. Find a hiding place.”

The lizard looked into his eyes. His flexible body curled around a rock until he clung to it as if they were twins. “We’ll survive just fine if nature changes. We are flexible. You demand hiding places, because stone cannot change, only break.”

Donte only partly understood what the lizard said, but still it saddened him. He sauntered the other way, along the river.

“Where are you going?” Nisah asked.

“The Dino Nest. To repeat the same thing, but hopefully they’ll listen now. They have to. I dreamed we had a future.”

“That’s pointless. There’s no one left in the nest.”

“Huh? Were they attacked too?”

Nisah’s mouth fell open. The many half-chewed leaves fluttered down. “Donte! We are NOT being attacked. We ARE the attackers.”

“But …”

“The only reason Rexes held back all these years is because he was afraid of the gods. But he’s not afraid anymore. They’re on the way to the Throne of Tomorrow to steal power from the godchildren. And when that happens … then this battlefield by the river will repeat itself all over Somnia.”

“Feria said the gods were immortal.”

“Then Feria lied. Just like you’re lying to yourself.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I’m not allowed to say.” She took another big bite out of a shrub.

The sky was dark blue by now. Donte looked up and could see it with his own eyes. A little dot of light in the distance: the asteroid.

The longer he looked, the more certain he grew that the dot was growing. But he also saw another dot, a gigantic bird that seemed to be flying towards it.

He started dreaming again, but this time he caught himself doing it. Everyone is right. I have to stop dreaming. The asteroid is coming, and I need to find a safe place for myself and my … kind. But if I’m not a real dinosaur, what am I then?

Mami regretted asking Cosmo to drop her off at a treetop. The plan was to learn climbing, to move safely above the dinosaurs. But she couldn’t climb at all. After sitting still for an hour, she slid down the tree trunk to walk on the familiar earth.

Above her, Cosmo pretended to slow down the asteroid. When the trees were a bit further apart, she could see how Darus stood on a hill in the distance, pretending he wanted to break the asteroid into pieces. Groups gathered around him. Creatures who watched in wonder as this great wolf god demonstrated his powers.

Creatures who wanted to know if they had to start running right now or not.

And then she didn’t see the asteroid anymore. Did they stop it after all? Or is it just behind a tree?

She wanted to shout it from the treetops. The dinosaurs will be gone soon! Finally we can live!

As expected, however, the plan with the gods had to remain a secret. And the closer the asteroid came, the more she understood that it would destroy more than just dinosaurs upon impact.

She followed the fork of The Longneck into a river that small animals called The Wing, but dinosaurs called The Spine. Of course, the dinosaurs never looked up. Because if you did look up, you would see why it’s called the Wing: on most days, a gigantic flying creature passed overhead.

Safety was therefore not the main reason the Gosti lived here. No, the wingbeats of the creature were so strong, it could throw leaves, stones, even water into the air, until a whirlwind formed as thick and impenetrable as a dense fog. No one standing on the outside could look inside the Ghost Den—and the Gosti liked that.

But they also couldn’t do the reverse: look outside from the inside.

Mami stepped through this gray mist. I’ll say an asteroid is coming, and I’ll help them flee, and then … then I’ll be part of the group again.

The first group of Gosti nibbled on a pile of nuts. They squatted, their smaller front legs curled around strong hind legs. Two big beige eyes were nearly invisible in beige fur. At first, they only had eyes for their food, but when Mami appeared, they dropped all of it.

“An asteroid is coming! We have to flee!”

“With you, I suppose?”

“Um … yes?” She stepped closer, but the frontmost Gosti stuck out a paw and hissed. Dozens of Gosti came towards the sound.

“The Gosti who drops a dino on top of Small Ones? Who then climbs onto his back and merrily goes along?”

“That was an accident.”

“We can’t afford accidents.”

They threw a nut at her. Soon the rest joined in throwing nuts, some laughing as if it was a game in which Mami voluntarily took part.

“But the asteroid is real. Believe me.” Nuts hit her everywhere. She jumped backwards and grabbed a branch to bat away the nuts.

“Either you’re stupid and clumsy, or you’re working with the dinosaurs. Either way, we don’t want you here.”

“But …”

She got a lump in her throat. She didn’t even feel the nuts anymore when she turned around and shuffled away. My family is gone. My kind doesn’t want me. Where can I go?

Behind her, the Gosti picked up their food again and continued nibbling. The creature flew by overhead and thickened the mist, until her whole world was gray and she lost her sense of direction.

Until she realized she hadn’t heard any wingbeats. And there’s only one other creature that can kick up this much dust.

She sprinted back to the middle of Ghost Den.

“Dinosaur! Dinosaur!”

“Please, Mami, just go away,” said an irritated Gosti.

Their protests died when everyone toppled over due to the trembling earth.

A gray foot smashed three trees on her left. Sharp teeth flew over her head, but not low enough to grab anyone. The apelike creatures ran away without looking out for each other, without looking back. She heard screaming behind her and knew some hadn’t gotten away in time.

Two youngsters stayed behind, left of Mami. The next foot threw a shadow over them. No! No more Gosti lost.

Her sprint soon turned into a roll through piles of leaves. The foot came down. Mami grabbed the youngsters and rolled through.

The ground rumbled, but Mami couldn’t get away and rolled up the tree trunk. She placed the youngsters on a branch just in time; she herself fell back down helplessly.

The leaves broke her fall. But she also felt something else: the sticky fingers of a Gosti pushing her aside. Their mother.

“Children! Children! Fall into my arms!”

Mami jumped up. “No. We have to get into the tree. We have to get into the tree!”

“You can get into the tree with your strange ideas.”

The dinosaur had already passed their tree. You could never forget their tail, however. The wind around Mami already whistled. She roughly grabbed the mother by her fur and pulled herself up on the first few branches.

Not a heartbeat later, a dino tail cleansed the entire floor of the Ghost Den and flung Gosti into the air as if they were mere grains of sand.

The mother hugged her children and studied Mami with intense eyes. Then she shouted at the Gosti still fleeing from the dinosaur: “Climb the trees! Get up high!”

They looked around, saw her on a high branch, and immediately tried it themselves. The dinosaur lashed his tail in all directions, dove down with his teeth, stomped his feet, but no longer got hold of any Gosti. They all sat in trees, places he couldn’t easily reach.

“Those dinosaurs don’t even see us from their height,” the mother mumbled.

Mami nodded. She remembered her conversation with Donte, which briefly elicited a smile and then a tear. “If we climb trees and move around, we could … herd-merge with some dinosaurs.”

“What?”

The Gosti were clearly uncomfortable on the branches. They immediately let jumped down again and found each other in the middle of the destroyed Ghost Den.

Mami stayed up high, alone.

“What an idea! You saved us all,” they said to the mother of the two youngsters.

“No, it was … her idea.”

She pointed up, but Mami had already turned her back.

Without fear, she jumped from branch to branch, for that’s what was needed to get away from this place. Her front legs hurt tremendously—not used to supporting her body weight this much—but she kept going.

She didn’t belong here. Donte, an annoying dinosaur, had been nicer to her than her own kind. Yet she was the one who convinced the gods to just destroy them all.

She climbed to the highest point of the tallest tree. Her tired legs received some rest.

From up here, she saw the asteroid again. Partially at first, like how you usually don’t see the full moon, then completely, noticing it was already quite big. Our world turns. That rock was never gone, it was in our own shadow half a day ago.

Cosmo and Darus still kept up the charade, but many of the creatures slowly lost confidence and sprinted away in groups. One more day, at most.

Everything was going exactly as planned. And she had never felt so horrible.

She cried there, at the highest point of the forest, where she could see everything and the magical moonlight illuminated her, until she made the decision. I have to run to the gods and say they should stop the asteroid after all. Maybe it’s not too late yet.

Donte and Nisah weren’t fast, but they were also hard to miss. “Jump on our backs!” they yelled into the forest in unison. “Flee while you still can!”

Despite all their effort, the yield so far was two young dinosaurs walking with them, and an old lizard who slept between Donte’s spikes.

“The asteroid will hit soon!” Nisah was hard to understand with all those leaves in her mouth. By now, though, the asteroid was visible enough that a warning was barely needed.

A group of lizards crossed their path. Donte had learned to pay better attention and stopped walking well in time.

“Looking for a Taxeies?” Donte tried. No reaction. “Oh, sorry, I mean a porter?”

The group stopped. “Where to?”

“As far away as possible.”

“Doesn’t sound like a clear place.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Throne of Tomorrow. If anywhere’s safe, it’s under the protection of the gods.”

“You realize all the dinosaurus are also headed there?” Nisah asked.

“Yes, and the gods will stop them easily.”

“You’ve too much faith in gods,” Nisah and Donte said at the same time.

“They can’t even stop the asteroid!” Donte swung his neck towards the flaming dot in the sky. “No time for pleasant conversation! Coming or not?”

“Have faith in gods. They will stop asteroid.”

“Oh please.” Nisah ducked down, picked up the lizards with the tip of her mouth, and placed them on her back. “The gods aren’t going to stop the asteroid because they’re pretending.”

“What? Nonsense!” The lizards curled around her scales until they lay comfortably. The group ran on.

“Again, how do you know this?”

“I’ve spent more than enough time with the gods to know they can easily stop that asteroid.”

The lizards looked back and forth between her, Cosmo in the air, and the asteroid. “It’s … it’s not actually that large of a rock, right?”

Donte felt like nothing made sense anymore. Everything was not as he was told. His father’s hatred towards the gods was justified. But walking to the throne to overthrow them was nonsense.

He shook his shoulder blades. I have to stop trying to justify what the dinosaurs do. I’m fleeing and I’ll live my dream somewhere else.

“The gods are lying! They’re not stopping the asteroid!” the lizards shouted.

That drew the attention. Swarms of Small Ones joined the group and ran along, especially to ask what on Somnia he meant. More and more creatures climbed onto Donte’s back and held on tightly, for his round body still couldn’t sprint gracefully.

The other animals shouted their own sentences. “Asteroid is going to hit! Gods are fooling us! Flee with us!”

Only when Donte reached the Wise Sea again, with the beautiful Tree of Life radiating in the sun as if nothing was wrong, did he dare look around. Their group had grown to at least a hundred Small Ones, some on his back, some on Nisah’s.

“What are you doing?” Feria sneered from a branch. “If you can’t knock me down, you’ll flatten me with a hundred animals?”

“We demand you stop the asteroid,” Donte said, bolder than he felt.

“We’re trying, aren’t we? But we aren’t all-powerful.” Feria’s prying eyes fell on Nisah. She hung her head and swung down. Whatever their relationship, Feria knew Nisah could call her bluff.

“It’s not up to us to control and steer nature,” she said. “My dear Father called that principle Zyme, and it’s a very important one. That asteroid is simply coming. What happens … happens. Nature balances itself, we’ve seen this many times over the past millennia.”

“Feria,” Donte tried to put on a kind voice, but everyone mostly heard fear. “I know how much you care about the animals. There are good dinosaurs among the bad. Is it really so bad to steer nature a little?”

“Oh? And what ifl a thousand years ago, the gods had decided to destroy the first dinosaur eggs? Because they grew too big and hunted too well? Would you still think it a good idea then to steer nature?”

Feria pointed her tail at a point behind the herd, on the horizon. Silhouettes of gigantic dinosaurs, black-gray in the setting sun, stomped towards the Throne of Tomorrow. “If you don’t mind, we have a throne to defend from your bloodthirsty kind.”

Feria ran off. Donte shouted after her. “What kind of leader lets their herd go extinct?”

“I’m not a leader and you’re not my herd.” Feria walked across the water without drowning, but this time there was no starfish path to explain it. “I’m a force of nature in animal form, so you understand. I’m afraid, though, you’ll never understand.”

She looked over the group, her voice clear as a song. “Head North. Gulvi guards the Dolphin Pass, Darus his mountains, beyond there you’ll be safe. As safe as you can be, that is.”

The beautiful fox left towards her family.

“You heard the grumpy red mutt,” a lizard shouted. “To the North!”

The rest cheered and marched around the Wise Sea, towards freedom and safety. Donte could only see the entire continent behind them, which was far from empty.

“Yes, go there,” said Donte. “But I help here. There’s room on my back for more animals. The gods are in danger from things my kind is doing.”

He expected an angry or disappointed look from Nisah, but she smiled. “My mother was right about you.”

“What? What did she say about me? How does she know me?”

“She knows everyone. And she said people would speak for a long time about what you’re going to do here today.”

Donte hoped they would speak of him because he was going to do something great and succeed at it. Not because he would die during a silly act.

Something I would do. I run to the gods to help, I trip over a twig, and I fall into a ravine or something. “Dumb Donte,” they’ll say. “He was always an odd fool. Let’s remember his mistakes for the future so no one makes them again.”

“Donte, you’re daydreaming again,” said Nisah.

He shook himself awake and sprinted back into the forest with her. When he passed the first tree, a small animal suddenly landed onto his head.

Where did that come from?

Mami wrapped her front legs around Donte’s thick neck, as far as she could, and smiled wide. “Donte! Sweet Donte!”

“Gosti? Sorry, you never told me your name.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m Mami.” She held on even tighter.

“Well, not that bad.”

Mami had spent hours convincing herself that she would tell Donte. Don’t doubt, just do it. That sentence over and over. But now that she lay on his warm back, it was harder than ever.

“I did something stupid.”

Donte stopped walking. “No, I did something stupid. Mami, go sit with Nisah. I’m not carrying you on my back towards dino danger again.”

“What are you planning?”

“Helping gods defend their throne.”

“But … but … they’re the villains!”

“No villains. Would you rather have the gods as rulers or those dinosaurs?”

Mami cried and held on to his scales even tighter. “It’s my fault. I told the gods they should let the asteroid through. That it’s what the Small Ones desire. It’s all my fault. We have to turn around, run, run, and then I’ll tell the gods it was a mistake and they have to stop it after all.”

Donte just smiled. “You think they listen?”

“They apparently find the Gosti pure wisdom. Not so wise, if you ask me. Just don’t be mad, okay?”

“No time for mad. Just survive.”

Still, Donte hesitated. Frighteningly loud growls sounded in the distance. A dinosaur silhouette slowly toppled over and flattened trees with cracking noises just as loud.

The battle had begun. The asteroid was a falling star in the sky, hotter and hotter, faster and faster.

“Yes, it’s dangerous. But this time I choose to go on your back. Just like them.”

During the conversation, ten more Small Ones had crawled onto Nisah’s back. A few young Gosti tried stealing the leaves from her mouth. They had no clue about the danger, no clue as to why their mother had placed them on a dinosaur neck.

“Okay. Wanted to shout something brave, but dinosaurs no word.”

Mami laughed. “A hero. We call that a hero. The heroes are coming!”

Donte sprinted along the longneck, leaving a forest full of green trees and tall hills, traded for white trunks and pink leaves, until he found the crossing where the Green Path and the Throne Path met.

The place where the gods decided enough was enough.

Rexes bit towards Eeris, each tooth as big as her head. She curled her neck away and pulled five trees out of thin air, which hit Rexes under the jaw and nearly flipped his neck backwards.

He had barely recovered when high flood waves washed him and Donte’s brothers to a spot fifty treelengths away. A dolphin jumped from the river and froze all the water flooding the fields, forcing the dinosaurs to ice skate, which they certainly couldn’t do.

“Hey!” Mami shouted. She was unable to rise above the noise.

“Listen to my little Gosti!” Donte tried. He got the attention of a few smaller dinosaurs nearby, who had paws on their sides and a mountain of feathers, but they just laughed at him.

The gods are … divine, Mami thought. Before her eyes, they conjured forests from the earth, stomped waves back into oceans or turned them into blocks of ice, then morphed the entire landscape to trap dinosaurs in caves. Every dive of Cosmo caused a whirlwind that blew a group of dinosaurs into trees further away.

And still they never seemed to win. The dinosaurs could take anything. There were too many. They were too hungry, too aggressive, incomprehensibly wild.

Bella sat on Eeris’ back and commanded the gods. She probably shouted very wise strategies, but to Mami it sounded like a raccoon screaming in panic.

Feria slid across the ice until she stood right in front of Rexes. A tiny fox in the shadow of a giant. Rexes laughed at her.

Some things, however, are so small that you don’t even know they’re there.

Thousands of wasps descended on the dinosaurs. Feria smashed the ice with her tail, and right at that moment all the wasps stabbed their stingers between the leathery scales.

The dinosaurs shrieked in pain. Their tails lashed so wildly that they hit their own faces, but each of those blows also killed hundreds of wasps.

Donte tried to run around the battlefield. Far enough to not get hit, but not so far that the gods couldn’t hear them anymore. The feathered dinosaurs chased after him, but he was faster.

“The gods don’t want to use deadly force,” Mami whispered. “That’s why they’re not getting any further.”

“Then what?” Donte looked back with a frozen stare. The asteroid was close. Almost here. Cosmo had already given up and joined this battle. Only Darus still stood on a hill, waving his tail.

“I changed my mind!” Mami shouted. Only Cosmo looked at her, surprised, or maybe irritated. Two seconds later he was knocked from the sky by a dino foot.

“Look up! Look up, you fools!” Donte shouted at his fellow dinosaurs.

Rexes’ eyes briefly locked with those of his son. He didn’t obey the command. None of the dinosaurs did, as they continued their flight.

Only the feathered dinosaurs slowed down.

They looked up.

They saw the asteroid, a fireball that could no longer be missed. What seemed an innocent brick at first, had grown large enough to compete with Darus’ mountain range. It was headed for the other side of the continent. The gods pretended that was a safe distance, as if nothing lived there and all would be well, but Mami felt differently.

She spoke loudly: “The Small Ones have changed their minds—”

The entire field burst into flames. Through the flames leapt a saber-toothed tiger that sent lava ghosts at every dino that came too close.

Ardex was the fire god, and Ardex was angry.

Rexes had to walk backwards. The flames licked his feet, blurred his vision. Many dinosaurs turned around and fled, back to the Mouth of Din, back to the nest where they stood strong.

Ardex didn’t let up. He set all the trees on fire and shot lava rivers from his feet. Burning leaves fluttered down onto dino bodies, like falling stars. Small Ones squeaked and ran away from the fire. They climbed into the gods’ fur, they climbed onto Donte’s back, they climbed into trees.

The feathered dinosaurs looked at him. With their feathers and weak front legs, they couldn’t flee as fast as Rexes.

So they bowed their necks and let small animals walk onto their backs. These dinosaurs, at least, joined the gods.

A frenzied audience for an unbelievable spectacle: the asteroid hit.

The light came first, then the sound. A bright white circle grew above the horizon, accompanied by deafening booms in the distance only moments later.

“Don’t look! Run!”

Eeris was the only goddess not rooted to the spot. The other godchildren stared with the same fear and amazement as the animals around them. Defeated by the nature they claimed to rule.

Cosmo took off and tried to get closer.

“To where?!”

The other dinosaurs were a splatter of dots on the horizon. The white circle grew quickly and enhanced their silhouettes. Mami put a hand before her eyes against the bright rays.

“Where you always go in danger,” Mami shouted. “A cave.”

“What is cave?”

The Small Ones pulled Donte’s neck and pointed in all directions. The group of dinosaurs let themselves be led by their gestures and tried to haul as many as possible onto their backs.

Mami looked behind. Around the impact, two tall mountains had appeared, surrounded by high waves, as if a gigantic hammer had struck the seafloor. The impenetrable Thunderwood on the horizon was completely on fire and in some places already scorched earth.

“All nearby is already dead,” Cosmo cried with tears in his eyes, flying faster than Mami thought possible. “Won’t be long before it gets here.”

The ground shook. The mountains around the impact shrunk, the displaced water flowing back to the middle, where one even taller mountain now arose.

That left the water no more room in the ocean. It saw only one way out: sending high waves towards the land.

Donte and Nisah ran, and ran, and ran. The feathered dinosaurs flapped their front legs in panic, causing them to lift off the ground for one or two heartbeats.

The new water mountain spat out the asteroid, but now in millions of pieces. Stone, gravel, gas, trees, everything around the impact was aggressively blown towards the clouds.

Between all the flying rocks, something moved in the opposite direction. Something alive, displaying gigantic wings. Not one creature, but a whole row. Her eyes followed them back to a familiar place: the Ghost Den. The winged ones chose the skies, the fire of the explosion on their tail, and Mami hoped they found clean air in time.

“Aaah!”

The ground ripped open and sank away. Several dinosaurs suddenly stood a tree length lower than their friends, who were right beside them moments ago.

The white circle grew relentlessly. At the speed of light, all life it encountered was ripped apart or flung into space.

“Herd-merge!” Donte shouted.

Nisah took the leap. Her landing sprung new cracks in the earth. The other dinosaurs flapped their front legs and could soften their landing.

They ran on. It grew hot, hotter, and still hotter. Mami heard the rumble of everything the circle swallowed. She heard the crashing of the waves, even higher than the Throne of Tomorrow, that washed over the land. Forest fires were immediately extinguished, but the reward was violently washing away in a hurricane of water.

The Horizon Giant, a volcano on the other side of the Dolphin Pass, spontaneously erupted and joined in, spewing lava and rocks.

The air grew grayer and grayer, until it was pure black, filled with so much stone and debris that no sunray could get through. What did get through, were the burning meteoroids the planet had just spit out.

“Watch out!”

Donte dodged a sky rocket.

“Keep looking up!” he shouted at the animals on his back. “Guide me.”

The Small Ones scanned the sky for meteoroids. Whenever one came, they steered the dinosaurs around it. The ground was rough now, torn, and still growing hotter. Donte didn’t dare put his feet on it for long. The feathered dinosaurs flapped their wings in a panic, permanently trying to fly for small stretches.

Ardex leapt over their heads with a mighty jump. Even from a distance, he could calm the Horizon Giant, push its lava back into the earth. Behind him ran Darus, who closed the holes in the ground and stomped extra mountains from the earth in the hope of stopping … something.

The hungry waves easily broke through his creations, which left only Gulvi, who sternly spoke to wave after wave and sent them home.

The temperature rose further. It was hot enough to spontaneously ignite trees. The dinosaurs couldn’t take it anymore. The Small Ones fainted on their backs. Some slid off and needed to be rescued by outstretched legs.

And then they found the caves.

They flung the Small Ones off their backs. The difference in temperature shocked Mami’s body and gave her goosebumps. Shivering all over, she became dizzy. When they were all safely inside, the smaller feathered dinosaurs followed.

Donte and Nisah still stood outside. Their faces were illuminated only by the many fires. The air itself was pitch black. Everyone saw there was only room for one of them. No one dared say it.

But there was no time to wait.

Donte swallowed. “You go in, Nisah. I’ll close off the cave from outside.” He gently pushed his nose against hers. “I’m … hero.”

Meteoroids fluttered down like a hail of falling stars, tapping like a drummer on the rocky top of the cave, as they looked at each other.

Nisah smiled and gently pushed his head back. “No, you fulfill dream.”

In a flash her neck curled around his legs and yanked Donte towards the cave. He fell through the opening and rolled down. The Small Ones jumped aside to let him roll to the back wall.

Nisah grabbed all the trees she could find and threw them against the opening. She picked up hot stones from the ground and filled the gaps.

Just before she plugged the final hole, Mami saw Eeris come stand next to Nisah. Nisah looks more like a giraffe than a dino. Thank you, Nisah.

With a flick of Eeris’ tail the trees grew ten times thicker, the leaves hard as stone, and the cave was definitively sealed off.

They waited. In the dark, every impact sounded louder. They heard exactly when the waterstream tried to overcome the entrance of the cave. They heard the stomping feet of animals still looking for their own cave.

Until it became quiet. No splashing water or drops on their roof. No tapping of falling rocks. No sign of life anymore.

They lasted two days. Then Donte kicked against the opening, again and again, with help from the others, until they broke it down.

“Nisah!”

His shout died in the dark winter landscape that had taken over the whole world.

Donte collapsed to his knees at the sight of the statues. His brother stood there, still taller than him, but encased in stone. The magma from the explosion had wrapped around his brother, then cooled, and hardened not long after.

The rest of the Dino Nest met the same fate. Even eggs had been preserved in rock.

There stood his father. Rexes, the largest of all, still displaying sharp teeth and a fierce gaze. Encased in thick layers of stone, with deep lines where lava must have flowed. A lifelike statue that hands could never make.

And he looked to the sky.

The clouds suffered a similar fate. The endless debris in the air suffocated them. Clouds could not die, but they could get sick or vanish.

The huddled herd continued through the thick snow. At least some sunlight shone through the gray clouds here, but it wasn’t enough for the handful of plants who still dared grow.

The first few weeks Donte had to stay in the cave. The Gosti went out, climbed the trees, tried to gather food. If he moved around, he needed too much food. They cared for him, even though he didn’t understand why, because it cost them almost everything.

Mami kept saying how sorry she was for her choice. Maybe that’s why.

He was smaller, thinner and weaker than ever before. The same went for the other dinosaurs, but now they saw it was an advantage. They could fly better and better. The new children were smaller, with thinner bones and forelegs that looked more like wings.

Although the dinosaur that crash-landed in the snow proved their flights did not yet last long. They were not strong enough yet. Legs were not yet wings. But Cosmo was happy and had already proudly named this group “Protobirds”, which apparently meant birds before they become birds.

It was also the only sense of pride the gods showed.

Darus ran around the Stone Dinosaurs and felt the rock. His tail drooped.

“No, they are no longer alive inside.”

Mami slid off Donte’s back and climbed over the statues to him. “I’m so sorry. Again. You said the impact would be worse than we thought.”

Darus shook his fur. “It happened. The gods ultimately voted to let it happen, so it’s our fault. We didn’t know how serious it was.”

“Something has only crashed down once before,” said Feria. “Back then it didn’t do much. Darus made his mountains, we got a moon, that was it. We thought this time would be the same.”

“But we forgot,” said Eeris, who didn’t want to walk with the group, “that we now had a world full of life. With water, plants, animals that need food and clean air. It’s not your fault or mine, Mami, it’s my family’s fault.”

Eeris cried again and stomped away from the statues. Gulvi slid toward her through the snow. The paths he constantly left behind were already being used by Small Ones for traveling.

He also had little good news. The lack of sunlight caused almost all the plankton in the sea to die. Because of that, all sea creatures also had barely any food. They might have survived the asteroid, but not the consequences.

“We have to be more protective,” said Bella. She initially wanted to stay home, but joined the group anyway, just before they left. “We do indeed have a world full of life. We can certainly adjust the rules a bit, make our presence felt, if that prevents such … disasters.”

Mami felt as if she had to care for the dinosaurs her whole life, to make up for her mistake.

No, not only the dinosaurs. The Gosti felt responsible for the damage they had allowed to the entire world, and might never lose their guilt.

Donte would not stop searching until he found Nisah.

The Third Ice Age had begun. And three-quarters of the world had gone extinct.

And so it was that life continued …