Three teenagers tried to find their way through the depths of a lush, coniferous forest. Trees towered lofty around them, the shade of their canopy helping to set up a primordial atmosphere around.
They knew not where or what this place was, and their efforts to find out has so far come up short.
"I can't get any phone reception here," said Milly as she held her phone up.
Sophie tried to use an app on her phone to pinpoint their location to no avail. "GPS isn't working either."
"So…we're lost, aren't we?" asked Rivalz apprehensively.
"Afraid so," answered Milly grimly. "We're still trying to figure out just where we are. We're certainly not in phone reception range, and this certainly isn't the forest at Shinoi. But GPS should work globally, and yet even that's failing. Something's clearly up..."
"Whatever it is, we have to keep moving. Let's get into a place with less trees so we can have a better view and find out," said Sophie.
"Right," said Milly. "We still have the compass, but we don't have any landmarks to use."
"So, um, which way should we go?" asked Rivalz.
"Well, before we got here, the closest settlement was Nambu to the northeast," said Milly. "If by any chance we're still nearby and our GPS is simply broken by that…portal or something, we might be able to get to an inhabited area by going northeast."
"I don't know about that Milly, but let's give it a try," said Sophie. "I'm afraid I can't think of any better ideas."
"I-I suppose it's the best we have," said Rivalz. "We're lost in who knows where and it's all my fault…"
The Ashford trio began walking to the northeast, hoping to find some clue, any clue, on where they ended up in…
Euphemia stood before the worn and overgrown pedestal she had landed on earlier. Retracing her steps there have been easy for she had walked in more or less a straight line.
What had happened to her was still so hard to process, and still not enough time.
It had become clear to her as she looked around that she could not use this decrepit wormhole generator to travel back. It was utterly inoperable from this end – the control panel was nowhere to be seen and the stand which would have once supported it stood worn and broken.
It clearly has not aged anywhere near as well as the one she had entered through.
And even if she could come back to Japan, what's the use? She had been on the run from the very people she tried to help, incited by someone she had once loved only for him to turn on her. She had tried to talk it out with them but all her attempts had failed.
"There's no way back for me," thought Euphemia. "And there is nobody for me back there…the ones I have held close have betrayed or abandoned me..."
She was now safe from the vengeful Japanese, but now she has a new problem to face. A strange and unfamiliar realm lay before her, and all she could do is venture further into it.
"I have to find out where I am now."
The three students have been trekking the forest for a little over a minute. A large ruffling of leaves had caught their attention.
"I think something's moving nearby," said Milly.
"I hope it's a person," said Rivalz.
The magnitude of the ruffling, however, made Milly think otherwise. "Uh, Rivalz, I think it might be a bit too big to be a person…"
"It might be a wild animal. I think we have to be careful," said Sophie.
"Well, we still have bear repellent for that at least," said Rivalz.
The trio continued on their path, now more wary of a potential danger nearby. After a few more minutes they came across a shallow stream cutting through the woods.
And the sight before them, the three could not have prepared for…
"Wha-what in the world!?" Milly exclaimed at what she was now looking at, her eyes wide open in shock.
Sophie was speechless, her jaw dropped and her eyes wide as dinner plates.
Rivalz gasped as he was spellbound by the same sight.
Before their very eyes across a fallen tree trunk in front of the trio, a herd of Sinoceratops were gathered along the stream. These bulky dinosaurs each possessed a singular horn over their noses, six smaller forward-curving horns atop a frill protruding from the back of their heads, and smaller hornlets along their frills' rims. A mottled brown colour covered their bodies for the most part with a light beige on their undersides and tails. Their heads bore a reddish colour which faded over the neck, and their noses yellowish. Their frills were adorned by light banded markings with dark borders as well as a pair of yellowish eye-like spots on the middle.
They grazed the vegetation along the banks as their beaks effortlessly cut through the foliage. They were massive creatures about the size of elephants, with their heads alone easily about as long on average as Milly was tall, give or take.
The trio stood stunned for several moments at what they were seeing.
"I…can't…believe it," thought Sophie.
"Holy…shit," Rivalz gasped. "Wow…"
One of the Sinoceratops bellowed as it passed by the group, snapping them out of their stupor.
"Di-did w-we just g-go ba-back in time?" Rivalz stuttered.
"I-I don't know," said Sophie. "I-I still can't believe what I'm seeing."
"I can't blame you," said Milly. "It's not every day that you run into dinosaurs in your hike…"
Sophie took out her phone, leapt up atop the log and snapped a picture of the Sinoceratops, with Milly following to do the same in a few moments.
"Taking a few pictures shouldn't hurt," said Sophie.
"Just be careful to not provoke the dinos," said Milly. "And definitely don't get too close to them."
"Got it," the purple-haired lass affirmed.
"Eh, might as well join in," said Rivalz as he took out his phone and joined in to take photos of the horned dinosaurs.
He had been a bit too engrossed to notice something walking up just behind him. A higher-pitched cry rang suddenly from behind, startling him and catching the attention of the two lasses.
As Rivalz turned around to look at what was behind him, he came face to face with a baby Sinoceratops. It was quite young, roughly as long from beak to tail as he was tall. It was lankier in build than the adults with larger eyes in proportion, a smaller and less-developed frill, and small nub-like horns. It was of a mottled brown colour with a beige underside, lacking the display colours the adults possessed.
"Heh…hey there little guy…" said Rivalz nervously as the juvenile ceratopsian stared at him, walking slowly closer. He backed away slowly, unsure on what to do.
"No sudden moves, Rivalz," said Milly in a hushed whisper as Rivalz looked more apprehensive.
Running off looked like a good idea…but neither was startling the baby around the herd. They had no idea how such a creature would react, and she wouldn't want to take that chance. These dinosaurs were very clearly herbivores, but this wasn't the movies…and Milly knew just enough to realise how dangerous large herbivores could easily be when provoked.
Meanwhile, the young Sinoceratops looked at Rivalz not with any aggression, but rather it seemed to be more curious than anything…
Sophie looked unsure on what to do. "Uh, Milly, how do we...you know, help him? Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm not exactly experienced with handling baby dinosaurs," said Milly.
They had assumed that the air horns and pepper spray they had could perhaps drive away the youngster, but to use those on a baby did not sit comfortably with them. Furthermore, with the adults around, that was more than enough for them to take that as a terrible and utterly suicidal idea.
They just hoped that the baby Sinoceratops would lose interest as they continued to cautiously step back.
However Rivalz was losing his composure, his voice turning frantic and higher. "Okay, little guy, this is too close! Too close! Someone please help me!"
The boy slipped on the loose pebbles and branches as he tried to run backward in his panic, unintentionally kicking up some of them towards the direction of the dinosaur in the process. Sophie moved quickly in time to catch him.
The baby ceratopsian stepped back and squealed, having been startled and frightened. As Sophie helped Rivalz up, Milly suddenly became very anxious.
A sudden loud roar took the trio in a few moments.
They turned towards the source to their right and found an adult Sinoceratops facing their way, swinging its frill back and forth, its horns pointed at them.
This didn't look good in the slightest…
As if one wasn't enough, another Sinoceratops then stepped in with an angry roar. Like the first nearby, it pointed its horns at the Ashford students and swung its frill.
The three stepped back, tense with fear in the face of the four-tonne horned behemoths.
"I-I think it would be the time to run now," said Sophie in a fearful whisper.
Taking them by surprise as they turned around to run, a third Sinoceratops broke through the nearby foliage to their left with a loud bellow.
"Oh shit!" Rivalz screamed out.
The trio ran as fast as they could, frantically trying to make as much distance as possible from the closest one. However the earlier two Sinoceratops stood in their way, and without thinking they turned around leftward.
The Sinoceratops that had been behind them caught up – the ceratopsians were surprisingly quick despite their great bulk – and the trio ended up dangerously close to it as they tried to run from the other two. Milly was narrowly saved from being hit by its large horned head by Sophie tugging hard on her arm to pull her away as they ran past its side.
The two others advanced closer as the third joined up with them, and the students continued on their run from the attacking dinosaurs. Spotting a large log ahead, Sophie leapt atop and helped Milly climb up, while Rivalz managed to climb on his own. They wasted no time and quickly jumped over the other side.
The Sinoceratops stopped their chase behind the log, their roars from behind filling the air around the Ashford trio as they continued to run over the stream banks.
Euphemia had gone back to the hilltop she had been earlier, surveying the landscape around her in search for the highest point accessible in the area. And to the best path towards it.
This has not been the first time she had found herself in a wilderness.
The difference, of course, was that Kamine Island did not have giant dinosaurs roaming around. But she had some confidence that she could manage for a while as long as she avoided encounters with the dangerous fauna.
She had her eyes on a hill to her left in the distance.
"Whoever built and used those things, they clearly worked from both sides," thought the pinkette. "There's a possibility that there's civilisation here. I haven't seen any yet from this point, but if there's one in this region by any chance, I might be able to spot it from the tallest vantage point here."
From the looks of it, it seemed to be at least several hundred metres, perhaps a kilometre or so away. A straight path across the plain there, unfortunately, wasn't an option due to the herds of huge dinosaurs that roamed it.
No longer was she as impulsive or reckless as she had been just a few months ago. Going through the Iguanodon herd, let alone the gigantic Apatosaurus, would have been a foolhardy action that she would not take.
The forests carried a risk too great of losing one's way, especially in such an unfamiliar location with no navigation equipment or map on hand.
She decided to take a route leftward to go around the plains in the lightly wooded fringes.
Descending down the hillside, the terrain had turned rocky after she had gone over halfway down, but it had been manageable for her so far.
She found a sturdy wooden branch about a metre and a quarter long amongst the rocks. "This could be useful." She picked it up. Not really the most effective weapon in case of dinosaur attacks, but it was better than nothing.
As Euphemia neared the base of the hillside next to a ledge, a deep rumbling sound rang in her ears.
Quickly, she looked around and hid behind a nearby tree as a gargantuan Apatosaurus walked by from the forest past the ledge.
She hoped it didn't take notice – the stick she carried was certainly not going to do anything to this beast. The ledge face was about nine or so metres tall yet their eyes stood at about the same level. Its' sheer size made the knightmare frames she had been familiar with look tiny, and it certainly looked like it can crumple them as if they were mere soda cans.
The mighty sauropod let loose a resonating deep, booming roar that rang throughout the landscape. The pinkette shuddered as she was a bit too close for comfort to the source, but managed to hold herself together.
Fortunately the titan gave her no further attention as it walked away towards the plain, its footsteps shaking the very ground beneath it.
Now that it had gone, she exhaled in relief before proceeding down around the ledge to the bottom.
There was still a long way to go, and she has to keep moving…
Along the sides of the forest stream, the Ashford trio had slowed down in their running as they realised that the Sinoceratops were no longer after them. They found several large, smooth boulders half-buried on the ground. They looked around and finding no sign of any immediate threat, they took a seat on the rocks for a moment to rest and recuperate, placing their backpacks down next to them.
"Those were plant eaters," said Rivalz. "I thought plant eating dinos were supposed to be peaceful!"
"Based on what the movies told you?" asked Milly. "We just had that first-hand experience to show us otherwise. I mean we have had news reports were people got attacked by cows of all things."
"Wait, cows have attacked people?" asked Rivalz incredulously.
"Big herbivores can get pretty dangerous Rivalz," said Milly. "I did say not to get too close to them or provoke them."
"Well, Sophie was the one who went in to take pictures," said Rivalz.
"I kept my distance like Milly told us to," the purple-haired lass countered.
"That baby dino was the one getting close to me!" Rivalz replied.
"And you were the one who lost your cool and freaked out," said Milly. "I told you not to make any sudden moves. You scared that baby, and the big ones came in. So it's really your fault if anything."
"What was I supposed to do, Milly?" asked Rivalz.
"Let's not go around blaming each other," said Sophie. "What matters now is that we all made it."
"Quite right Sophie," said Milly. "Blame games aren't helping any of us here. We should stick together, and with luck we might be able to find out where we are and what exactly is going on around here. For now, we should take a break and eat our lunches."
Euphemia had stayed on the outer fringes of the forest and plains as she made her way towards the hilltop she had sighted. Tree density was moderate at best, but the path hadn't always been smooth. Halfway across, the treacherous rockscape of a heavily worn dyke swarm bordered a passage across that had been the only ground ahead of her suitable for safe walking.
It wasn't too narrow, but enough that a large wild animal wouldn't find it too hard to block off the path. And unfortunately, as if by some cursed luck, that had been what exactly her situation had become.
A spiked Polacanthus stood in the way, feeding on a bush growing on the rocks.
Around four or five metres from snout to tip, it was easily large enough to be a major obstacle. Sensing the pinkette approaching, it ceased what it had been doing and turned towards her. The ankylosaur bellowed aggressively and swung its tail.
"And just what I needed…" Euphemia thought sarcastically.
She assessed her options.
If she went back, she'd be back where she started, and yet once more carried the risk of such similar encounters. Climbing atop the rocks to the side would be quite difficult, and if she slipped in her attempt, that can't be any good. Crossing the path ahead would take her more than a bit too close to the ankylosaur for comfort.
But her choice has been made for her as another Polacanthus had arrived from an intersecting passage in the distance behind, blocking off her way back.
Surrounded by rocky walls to her sides and spiky ankylosaurs on the front and back, she only had one choice left. She had to somehow safely get past one of them.
The Polacanthus ahead started advancing towards her, bellowing and swinging its tail as before as it went. It wasn't very tall, the top of its back being just over Euphemia's hip level, its legs short and stumpy. But that wasn't to say that it wasn't a formidable threat – it was still around a tonne with a wide and bulky body.
Armed with but the stick she had taken, she knew she wasn't going to take on such a well-armed and armoured creature in a fight. Part of her wished she had brought that gun with her right now. But another part of her had doubts it would have been enough to stop these dinosaurs before they could kill her. But it was too late to find out either way in any case.
She had to look for an opening and take it at the very first chance.
The Polacanthus in front of her ambled in closer and closer. She swung the stick close to the face of the ankylosaur, causing it to flinch and take pause for a moment to avoid it.
Seems like while it might not be able to cause much damage, it could still have its uses.
As the Polacanthus went in to attack again, Euphemia took another swing with the stick on its head. This time it hit. While the blow did not have any effect on it, it did make the ankylosaur take another momentary pause. But this was what she just needed, a little bit of extra time.
She climbed up the lower portion of the rockscape around her, as high as she could go.
She couldn't make it very high and the terrain wasn't suitable for her to escape by moving along the rocks, but it was just enough to bring her out of the reach of the ankylosaurs.
Now just for the right moment…
It was risky, but there weren't many alternative options.
Polacanthus bore their spikes over their backs and tails. But their hips had none, but rather a rectangular plate with small studs…
Euphemia leapt unto the Polacanthus, landing atop its hips. Not sparing a moment lest the dinosaur shake her off, she then took another leap onto the ground, and made a run as fast as she could along her course.
With her dress now largely torn on its bottom half, it had provided no impediment.
Fortunately the Polacanthus could not pursue, not being built to run. After having tried to pursue in futility for several metres, it had gone back to grazing, paying the pinkette no further attention.
The rest of the trek had fortunately not been of much incident. The fauna encountered afterwards were small ones that dashed away when she came within sight, did not bother with her, or encountered in areas she could easily take cover from or go around.
After some time she had reached the hilltop.
It had provided Euphemia with a better vantage point than the last. This time, she had picked up what might be fortunate news for her.
Scanning the surroundings around, she had spotted what appeared to be a settlement – very much not in the Britannian sense, but the more traditional one – in the distance further ahead amidst rolling hills and light forest.
"So there is civilisation here," thought the pinkette. "I'll need to get a closer look first. I don't know if they would be hostile or not, but I don't have any other choices right now…"
From the looks of it, its outskirts seemed to perhaps be at least several hundred metres away or perhaps a kilometre, maybe even a couple away from her position.
But at least she has a destination in sight now.
The trio had continued on trekking along the stream side, it being the only landmark available to them. As they travelled downstream, they ended up in a ravine with rocky ledges a few metres high around the banks.
Sophie caught a glimpse of something passing by quickly atop the ledge.
She could not figure out what exactly it was, as the glimpse was quite brief and the foliage had obscured a good portion of it, but it seemed to be bipedal and…vaguely birdlike.
"Did anyone see that?" she asked.
"See what, Sophie?" asked Milly.
"Something ran up there," said Sophie. "Couldn't get a good look at it."
As they continued on, ahead the stream and its ravine split into two. From the adjacent ravine came a young, subadult Iguanodon for a drink.
"Let's not provoke the dinosaur this time Rivalz," whispered Milly.
There then came the sudden rustling of the leaves above. The Iguanodon turned up its head.
Apprehension welled up within the Ashford trio.
Out of a sudden, what looked like some giant beakless bird with a long tail, some five metres or more from snout to tip and lengthened even further by its feathery tail fan, leapt out from behind the Iguanodon atop it, latching onto its back with clawed wings and a couple of large hooked talons on its feet.
The attacker, a Dakotaraptor, bore brown plumage around the back of its head, its neck, legs, and underside, and a darker brown over its upper side from its body over its tail. The transition from its neck to its torso was ringed by blackish plumage that continued over the top of its back, with the wings and tail fan tipped in the same colour. Its featherless snout and scaly feet bore the same lighter brown as the neck and legs.
The trio's apprehension had in a sudden turned into terror.
"Run!" Milly exclaimed.
The trio quickly turned around to run away from the attack as the Dakotaraptor bit unto the Iguanodon's back. The ornithopod thrashed around in an attempt to shake off the predator.
"What in the world was that!?" asked Rivalz.
"Was that the thing you saw earlier, Sophie?" asked Milly.
Before Sophie could answer, however, another Dakotaraptor leapt from above and landed in front of the Ashford students. The three yelped in surprise and fear, turning around on instinct and ran once more. The fact that the theropods ran past them to get to the Iguanodon was but cold comfort.
However, the clash between the dinosaurs was now ahead of them.
The Iguanodon managed to shake off the first attacker, which was thrown into the river close to the students. The trio quickly dashed from the location to avoid it. The second Dakotaraptor rushed in to attack, but the Iguanodon then reared up with its massive thumb spikes on the ready, keeping it at bay.
Just as the Ashford students were about to turn around, two more Dakotaraptor came from the way behind. The earlier thrown theropod had got up, now also standing in the way of going back on their path.
Ravine walls to the sides, dinosaurs ahead and back. No easy escape on any direction.
"We're trapped!" screamed Rivalz.
The only good news was that the dinosaurs were too preoccupied with one another for now.
"This way!" Sophie pointed towards the direction close to the Iguanodon. There was more space there for them to run past.
Taking this chance, the trio ran for the left ravine.
Heartbeats were at a high and tension gripped over their beings as the three ran as fast as they could, just about avoiding the ornithopod as it managed to throw one of the theropods that jumped unto it from behind.
Their legs took them as far as they could go as they left behind the clash, running for a minute or two, perhaps three, but it felt like hours.
Eventually it seemed like they had arrived to safety. Well, relative safety. They took a moment to catch their breaths.
"T-that was close," said Rivalz.
"I hope we've lost them," said Milly.
Sophie turned her head around. Her eyes widened. "Uh…"
"What is it, Sophie?" asked Milly.
"B-behind us!" the purple-haired lass exclaimed fearfully.
A couple of Dakotaraptor had gone in pursuit, apparently having broken off from the rest for easier prey…them.
"Oh fuck," cursed Rivalz.
"I'm too tired to run," said Milly. "And we can't exactly hide here!"
They turned over to Sophie to find her frantically digging into her backpack.
"We have to get the bear repellent!" said Sophie.
"Those aren't bears, Sophie!" Milly argued.
"I know," said Sophie. "But what else can we do!? I just hope it works!"
The purple-haired lass pulled out a can of pepper spray in her hand. She aimed it at the fast-approaching Dakotaraptor.
Milly, who had gone digging into her bag as well, pulled out her can, as did Rivalz.
Sophie yelled and momentarily closed her eyes as she frantically sprayed just before the Dakotaraptor got to her, directly into its face. The theropod stopped in its tracks and shrieked out loudly as it quickly stepped back, the inflammatory mist burning a searing pain into its eyes and nostrils.
The other Dakotaraptor took pause for a moment as the first ran across the stream shaking and shrieking. As the students slowly stepped back with the pepper spray cans aimed towards the theropod, the predator, after hesitating for a moment, lunged for its own attempt to attack.
Sophie sprayed again, blasting inflammatory mist on the Dakotaraptor's face.
As with the first, it stopped and stepped back as its eyes, mouth, and nostrils were hit by a burning pain and ran off. The threat repelled for now, the Ashford students exhaled in a small relief.
Still needing to recuperate, they walked at a brisk pace as they went further along the ravine.
"We've just been chased by giant birds." Rivalz tried to process what had happened. But something then struck him – the large sickle-shaped claws they bore on their feet. He took out the claw he carried in his backpack and was in disbelief. "Wait…don't tell me, those…those were raptors?!"
"Now that you mention it, yeah, looks like it," said Milly.
"But those are giant birds!" said Rivalz incredulously. "I thought they would be more, well, you know, like the ones we've seen in Jurassic Park!"
"Well, they're not, as we've just seen," said Milly. "But still really scary if you ask me. I don't think the movies prepared us for this."
It had been an hour or two, Euphemia could not tell. But she had finally reached the settlement.
However, it wasn't much if any comfort.
Her surroundings stood bleak in stark contrast to the blue skies above. Buildings, houses were decrepit, torn, burned, or broken. Those that were intact enough to recognise resembled those of classic European style.
It looked to be deserted, with apparently nobody around aside from herself. And it didn't take her long to find out why. Scars of war and the corpses of the fallen littered the pavement of the streets around her.
Around them lay various weapons, from swords, axes, spears, to what looked to be rifles.
What looked to be black, glossy birds – or birdlike creatures – with four wings and long tails, about an arm long from snout to tip, flew above like ravens or vultures, feeding on the dead, roosting on the rooftops around, scurrying away when the pinkette walked too close.
Euphemia could not help but be reminded of the similarity the place bore to the ghettoes of Japan that she had known, to the Shinjuku ghetto where she had been.
She had gone from fierce dinosaurs to a warzone – this place wasn't very friendly as far as she was concerned! But then again, neither was the one she had come from. That had been made clear to her now.
The bubble that her older sister – no, former older sister, if even that – had forced her in was broken, shattered permanently. It would have been a good thing, were it not for the specific circumstance it had been.
But there was no changing said circumstances, no changing the past now.
Her concern now was survival here. And grabbing better weapons in such a treacherous place would work to improve her chances. Her encounter with an aggressive Polacanthus had been more than enough of a reminder.
"I need more than just a stick here," she thought.
Euphemia picked up one of the rifles. It had felt a little bit light for a gun of its size.
"Perhaps it's empty?" she thought. "I'm going to need a loaded one if I'm going to have to use one of these to defend myself."
It could be used as a blunt instrument, but with all those melee weapons already around it wouldn't be of much point.
But perhaps the guns worked differently? It sure wasn't exactly any of the models she had been more familiar with. But there was only one real way to find out – fire it.
She aimed at the ground and pulled the trigger.
What came out was not a bullet. But rather…a bolt of incandescent plasma.
"Huh?" she raised an eyebrow.
This seemed like something from a science fiction story.
Yet it was real. She held the gun in her hands, she pulled the trigger with her own finger, and she had seen it fire with her own eyes. She had known about the hadron cannons used by the Gawain during the Yokosuka battle. But that was a weapon in its infancy, a prototype, one of a kind. The plasma rifles here, there were several of them around as if they were standard issue.
"This place has to be more advanced than where I've come from," thought the pinkette. "Sadly still just as ravaged by war."
Euphemia hung the gun on her back by its strap over her body. She then picked up two of the swords, they could come in handy if the gun exhausted its power supply.
Now she needed some shelter, and rest. After all that she had been through this day, she desperately needed respite.
A two-storey house, scarred by battle but intact enough to take shelter in, stood just down the street.
It wasn't very lavish, but she cared not.
She looked carefully through its windows around its first floor to find out if there was anyone she could spot inside. Having not found anyone, she carefully tested the front door to see if it was locked.
To her fortune, it wasn't. The door creaked softly as Euphemia pushed it open, trying to make as little sound as she could. She was still worried that there could be occupants inside the house that she could not find from the windows, and she could only imagine the worst should they be there.
Her footsteps were light and careful as she went through the rooms and hallways, looking over carefully to check for any other occupants. Upon finding none, she made a few makeshift barriers using some of the furniture, either still standing or strewn across the floor, between her and the door and laid a mattress on a corner to rest on.
Yet while she could sit and lie physically, she could not really rest. Her mind was in turmoil, refusing to give her respite, rife with painful questions demanding answers.
"Why?"
Once more, tears began to flow down her face. "All I ever tried to do was to help them. I only wanted to make them happy."
"Why me? Why must I be forsaken?"
"What did I do wrong? What have I done to deserve this fate? Why? WHY!?"
She wracked her head for answers, any answer to why she had ended up like this. She tried to recall memory after memory, trying to bear the pain that came with them now, to find out why…
A pattern emerged with memory after memory, flashback after flashback. And soon enough, she had traced what she saw to be the source of her misery.
It had been that title, that name.
The possession of a royal title, a royal name, the title of princess has been a dream, an object of covet by lasses across Britannia, and outside. Being a Britannian was seen as a badge of honour by those who bore it, pride in their nationality and nation so far as to believe that their people were above all others.
The princesses of Britannia revelled in both to no end.
But for Euphemia they were nothing but a curse. A disease. A plague. All of it. The title of princess. The title of Britannia. The very name of 'li Britannia' itself.
"If I had not been a princess, if I had not been Britannian…"
They all had given her nothing but misfortune.
Its first curse had been a gilded cage, to be a prisoner in the guise of a supposed lofty position. Seeing all the suffering around her, continually teased with the idea of being able to change it, yet unable to do so. A yearn to venture into the world around her and learn and explore, only to be shackled by that accursed overprotective Second Princess. To be treated as nothing more than a doll, a figurehead, a pretty face for glorified decoration. All because she had to be born as Cornelia's sister.
To be deemed complicit of the crimes of Britannia, crimes she had no part herself in and only had ever been against. To be unjustly condemned. To be deemed as a target, to have made all those enemies, only because of that damnable heritage and nothing else. To have had her dreams crushed to dust. To have the man she held dear, loved, and trusted use her, exploit her, and betray her. All because she had that curse of a title, that curse of a name, that which allowed him to use her, that which made her his tool.
That damned name. That damned title. That damned heritage.
She had decided. Even dying would have been preferable to bearing that name, title, and heritage as far as she concerned herself.
And now that the wardens of her gilded cage were not here to shackle her in whatever this place was…
No more. Never again.
The ravine had given way to gentle slopes, then to flatter ground, as the Ashford trio continued along the stream to find out where they ended up in.
Tree density was now significantly lower.
No luck – still not a clue on where they are. They could still not find any clear recognisable landmarks, with the only backdrop they could see beyond the trees being hills and alpine mountains.
A somewhat pungent odour came into their noses.
"What is this smell?" asked Sophie.
"Smells like raw chicken taken out of the fridge for a bit too long," said Milly.
A look across the bushy corner revealed the source. It looked to be a partially-eaten theropod carcass, about eight metres long from snout to tail, with blood-caked feathers on what remained of the skin on its back and sides.
Whatever had eaten it had been powerful enough to chomp through its flesh and bone alike. And it was too clear given the size of the bites that it would have been enormous.
"I have a bad feeling about this," said Milly. "And I'm not talking about the stench."
It wasn't long before the predator revealed itself. The footsteps of its arrival were deceptively soft in sound for its bulk, but their eyes saw the hulking behemoth in its terrifying, towering form. Twin orbs stared down at the students with a piercing visage underneath a pair of prominent dark horns that adorned a head larger than an entire human being.
The Ashford trio paled as they stood face-to-face with a massive Giganotosaurus.
Some 14 metres from snout to tail, heavier than a knightmare frame, the immense theropod bore a dull brown over its body, darker atop its back, with a whitish colour on its underside. Its tail bore whitish stripes as did the top of its back, smaller and fainter for the latter. The underside of its throat stood out blue, and a row of small spines topped its thick, muscular neck. A row of small filaments ran under each of its forearms, appendages small for its huge body but bore no detriment to the imposing draconic image that stood before the students.
"Oh shit." Rivalz tried to stand as still as he could, giving his all to stop himself from shaking.
Sophie and Milly nearly froze in fear, only being able to take small steps back as the latter pulled on Rivalz.
"D-don't m-move a muscle," the boy whispered, refusing to budge. "It c-can't see us if we d-don't move."
The Giganotosaurus stepped closer, grumbling with its mouth closed as it stared down at the three teenagers, evidently still being able to see them. Its jaws opened and revealed its rows of teeth as it let loose a loud roar which could be perhaps described as vaguely, roughly similar to a more fearsome version of an elephant trumpet.
This snapped the two lasses from their near-immobile state as they screamed loudly, while Rivalz barely managed to hold his own scream in. Milly was the first to run, followed by Sophie a quarter of a second later as they yanked Rivalz from his place, forcing him to run as well.
They ran across the stream as the gigantic theropod walked at a slightly brisk pace behind them, the air around rippled by its roaring.
One could barely imagine the terror they felt.
After a while to their fortune, the Giganotosaurus had soon stopped its pursuit, turned away and gone back to where it had been as the three teenagers continued to flee into the light woods.
It had been quite a predicament that Anna had found herself in. Captured and imprisoned in what seems to be some sort of military encampment outpost in the midst of a forest, in a place she knew not where.
She had been held in what looked to be a large metallic box-like cage, resembling a wide shipping container somewhat, with the side containing the locked door comprised of bars like a traditional prison cell. On the side of the outpost opposite to her were several dark coloured tents.
What looked to be humanoid lizards with dull grey skin guarded and patrolled the area. Some armed with swords, some with axes, some with lances, and some with what appeared to be futuristic rifles of some sort, dressed with black armour that bore spikes from their armguards and on their backs behind their shoulders. They stood about 150-200 centimetres tall on average and possessed notable brow ridges over their eyes.
Anna had to be sure those were the humanoid reptilians she had seen portrayed by the petroglyphs on the walls back in that stone chamber. They were real, she was now sure of it. And she had unfortunately ended up as one amongst their many captives.
"I had let my own curiosity get the better of me," thought the lilac-haired girl on what had led her up to this. "I had pushed on with the experiments on that machine, despite the potential dangers made apparent to me even before that accident. I at least hope that Chloe and the others are safe."
"I would be lying to myself if I said that curiosity was my only reason though," Anna continued her thoughts. "I had wanted to help, wanted to do my part. I had wanted, no, I needed to get some results, but I had failed on that yet again. I'm so sorry, Leila…"
"You seem to have a lot going on in your mind lady," said one of her fellow prisoners, a young man of Nordic appearance with moderately long ginger hair, pale blue eyes and a trimmed beard, toned build and was somewhat taller than Anna. He was dressed in what looked to be light armour in the style of a Nordic warrior with a slight futuristic touch.
"I do," said Anna. "I've been thinking about my friends back home."
"I'm sure we all do," said the man. "You seem like a pretty nice lady, shame you got caught up here with us. Hey, if it doesn't hurt to ask, what's your name? I'm Ralf."
"I'm Anna," the lilac-haired lass introduced. "Anna Clement."
They watched as several of the reptilians took out a group of prisoners out of one of the nearby cages to the left of the one they were in, corralling them into a line marching towards an open gate to the right.
"They're to be sent over to their empire as slaves," said Ralf.
"That's horrible," said Anna as she looked over to the prisoners. They looked worse for wear, giving no secret on how terribly they had been treated.
She also easily noticed the...variety in them.
While many of them looked like the different peoples present back home, others were stockier and had noticeably large brow ridges – Anna recognised them as Neanderthals. There were also dull green humanoids with the ears and tusks of boars, on average taller and burlier than the humans. Others looked like fairies without wings, pale-skinned with pointed ears and the hint of fair appearances through the wear.
One of the prisoners tried to make his escape and tried to run off as he came through the exit.
Anna wasn't able to see it through the wooden perimeter walls, but she heard a few shots of what must have been gunfire and a yell of pain. Instead of silence afterwards, it was followed by yet more cries and groans of agony and pain that went on for several seconds before being finally silenced with a few more shots.
"Let him be an example to all of you," came a low, guttural growly voice from one of the guards.
Anna was horrified and disgusted to her core at the brutality and ruthlessness happening around her at the hands of their captors.
This was all too reminiscent of how Britannia treated its occupied peoples…
She felt that something desperately needed to be done.
But alas, in her state she could not do anything about it.
She needed to find a way out of here…
The three students continued on their journey through the forest.
They were still a bit shaken by their encounter with the Giganotosaurus, and hoped that they wouldn't run into yet more nasty surprises. But there wasn't exactly a place for shelter for them yet so far, and they had to keep moving.
"If there's one thing the movies got right, it's that big dinosaurs are scary," said Rivalz.
"Indeed," said Milly.
"I'm just glad we got away from that thing," said Sophie.
"Damn right," Rivalz concurred. "I mean even Princess Cornelia would have wet herself from it!"
"Scarier still that I don't see any reason to doubt that," said Milly.
"Same for me," Sophie concurred.
It had become relatively peaceful for them now. There has not been any instance of threatening or dangerous fauna on their way since they left behind the territory of the Giganotosaurus. Now that they were better able to process their situation, they had come to a few possibilities on where, or perhaps when, they had ended up in.
Some of the scenarios were nothing short of grim.
"If we did go back in time to the age of dinosaurs," said Milly, "Then we're screwed, sorry to say. We would be the only people around in the world, all alone."
"Oh man," said Rivalz as a wave of fear went through him at the thought. "And this would be all my fault. If only I haven't pressed that button…"
"It's scary," Milly concurred, "But if this was someone's Jurassic Park or something, we could maybe find the guys who run the place."
"We could ask them for help," said Sophie.
Up ahead, through the foliage they picked up glimpses of what seemed to be…buildings?
"Hey, that looks like civilisation!" Rivalz pointed out.
A sense of relief washed over the students as they began to rush towards it. This was it! There were people here!
They hoped that their other questions could be answered here. Maybe.
Notes: Took a while, finally here it is. This chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated – I had expected some ~5000-6000 words, but instead came out at more than 7500. I had planned for Euphemia and the Ashford students to run into each other at the end of this chapter, but it was cut and had to be moved to the next since it was getting a bit too long.
Euphemia's…going through some stuff.
The world of 'Behind the Warp Gates' was loosely inspired by ParaWorld and Turok, which together with several other works had led me to envision a science-fiction/fantasy fusion world roamed by Mesozoic dinosaurs and other prehistoric fauna. This chapter here serves to introduce and set up several elements of this world.
It should be very clear at this point that this work is not going for Jurassic Park/World-style dinosaurs, so if you were visualising JP ones here you're doing it wrong, much like visualising Lelouch with a bodybuilder's physique or Kallen with small boobs, sorry to say. I'm going for palaeontologically and palaeobiologically accurate/credible designs (for the time of writing) with the stylisation and creative choices within the bounds of plausible speculation.
The sounds described for the Giganotosaurus was meant to be those from the Carcharodontosaurus from Dinosaur Planet (2003). I actually spent some time deciding between that and those of the Tyrannosaurus from Walking With Dinosaurs before deciding on the former.
I originally thought of having Shirley as part of the main cast in this story. I had intended a character conflict between her and Euphemia, but it didn't work out due to Shirley having being geassed to forget about Lelouch and her love for him by the time. Thus she got replaced by Milly in the end.