Preservation

Drake Zenith slowly opened his eyes. He had closed them in the wake of the tumultuous shaking and turbulence of his travel, afraid that perhaps he had miscalculated in the calibration of his transport and had doomed himself to oblivion. The shaking had ceased, however, and he was still alive to acknowledge such a fact. He quickly examined his instruments to assess if any damage was sustained and to ensure that he was at his proper destination. The many blinking lights and flashing numbers told him precisely what he needed to know: he was where he needed to be. This included, of course, at what precise time he had arrived as well, for this vessel had been specially designed to traverse both time and space, to venture into what has been known and recorded but heretofore out of reach: the prehistoric age of the dinosaurs!

Drake had arrived here for purely scientific purposes, to formulate and observe the results of an experiment like no other. It was the general consensus within the community that the past could not truly be changed, no matter the amount of meddling any time traveler could provide. Any change made to any event that had already transpired could not change the present or future in any meaningful way, otherwise, the meddler would not have any purpose to take action, to begin with. Instead, it was believed any alteration made would create its own separate timeline, a new universe forged by an entirely different chain of events generated by such an edit. As a result, many had decided the effort to master time travel was simply not worth the trouble and abandoned such projects. Drake, however, continued the work to make full use of such a multiverse of data, seeing a great deal of potential in experimentation with these alternate realities.

It was his belief that this phenomenon of impactless chronal interference would provide a perfect opportunity to test all sorts of hypotheses without any real consequence to his own timeline. The possibilities of such applications were quite literally endless, and he felt he had the perfect first choice in mind when it came to the prehistoric age. He wondered just how the world would change if, by some miraculous intervention, the conditions which caused the end of the Earth’s original rulers were to be averted. What would happen if there were no meteoric impact to wipe out the dinosaurs? With no massive ecological change brought from beyond the stars, would these mighty beasts have eventually followed the path of primitive primates to evolve into an intelligent species capable of creating its own civilization? Such ideas would normally get him laughed out of a room, but with the power of time travel at his disposal, he could get all the proof he needed to make people listen. After all, knowing that such progression is possible for a species in the right conditions would do wonders for animal treatment and care, revolutionizing how mankind sees the more wild side of the world. Humanity would finally come to understand that intellect is not a purely human trait, giving them room to build more empathy towards their fellow planetary inhabitants. Beyond that, he just really liked dinosaurs as a whole.

Once he was sure that his equipment and transportation were all in working order, he stepped out to examine the primeval world around him. It was just as he had always imagined; dense jungles of exotic flora thrumming with life, all sorts of strange auditory stimulation from creatures long gone, and a sky clear of smog and pollution only populated by clouds and gliding pterosaurs. He had to take a moment’s pause to breathe it all in, to see a world he had only dreamed and observed simulations of before now flourishing and thriving before his eyes. This world untouched by the stain of humanity’s pride and desire for the conquest of nature was a thing of beauty in Drake’s eyes, one that he would be protecting with a single act of interference.

He pulled out a telescopic lens to peer further into the skies above, reminding himself of the stakes at hand as he spotted the herald of this land’s destruction: a massive space rock hurtling towards the atmosphere, ready to impact the Earth in a burning mass of debris and devastation. He glared at his chosen enemy and reached into the time machine to pull out his weapon of choice for this mission: the epitome of mankind’s destructive capabilities in the form of an immensely powerful laser meant as an attachment to satellites to rain death from the skies. With the same futuristic advances that gave him access to chronal travel came a considerably condensed version of this weapon, small enough to both fit into such a transport and be set up on earth by a single scientist. While it did take more than a few minutes to set up - Drake had to make sure the calibrations were exactly right to ensure the least amount of debris from the resulting explosion to save as many species as possible - he had already planned the proper timing of this course of action to account for such a delay. In the end, it all amounted to pressing a button to change the destiny of the dinosaurs.

With that mere button press came a massive beam of crimson light, cutting through the atmosphere like a knife through butter as it illuminated the surrounding jungle in a fantastic display. As it hurtled through the sky into space towards the descending arbiter of genocide, Drake could hear roars of confusion and fear in the distance, perhaps believing the blast to be something akin to a volcanic eruption unlike any they had seen. He watched as the two opposing forces made impact and waited a full minute to hear the thunderous boom of such a collision, a sound amplified even further once the laser pierced through the other side of the asteroid and scattered it to pieces. Following the direction of Drake’s prior calculations, the laser adjusted its angle along a set path to continue to eradicate as much of the flying debris as he deemed possible. The fear amongst the inhabitants of this primeval world grew to panic, as he felt the earth shake from stampedes all over. If only they knew that his efforts were going to save them, he thought as he started to pack up his things. Once the weapon had finished its work he had to move quickly to avoid these stressed behemoths should they decide to flee in his direction. Satisfied with his work, he made adjustments to his machine so that he may move further ahead in time by a millennium, just to see the effects his efforts had wrought upon this timeline. With a burst of light and a tremendous shaking of machinery, he disappeared from this point in history, leaving little trace of his presence beyond the lives he had saved.

When he arrived at his next destination, he had only found disappointment. What he had expected to find was a world filled with newly evolved dinosaurs never seen or recorded by history, thriving without the cosmic interruption that was the massive meteor he destroyed. Instead, all he found was the arctic tundra of an ice age, with no sign of any scaled beasts to speak of. It seemed that regardless of the meteor’s destruction, the progression of the species was still thwarted by a harsh change in climate brought about by his weapon acting as a scalpel through the ozone. Frustrated but not deterred, Drake made determinations to prevent this fate as well, providing means to stabilize the environment long enough for them to evolve more feathers to adapt. In such a scenario he found that the beasts he was helping survive had all died due to newly grown viruses that would have died out in the freezing temperatures.

This process repeated itself over and over, seemingly with no end in sight. Every time Drake had felt he had found a foolproof solution, some new obstacle worked to undo his progress just as quickly. Even in this divergent timeline that had no impact on his own future, it seemed fate was determined to make these magnificent masters of the world extinct. He wondered at just how such constant obstacles could keep popping up regardless of his calculations and planning as he reviewed recordings he had made of his grand experiment. It was when he was examining footage of the destruction of the meteor that he noticed something off. It was brief and nearly imperceptible, but he saw the slightest glimmer in the sky at a distance far from the point of impact. Given the refraction of light through the air and with the most generous of assumptions, it did not make sense for there to be any visual disturbance at that point.

It was at this time he came to the stunning realization that not only had there been some kind of observer to his activities but an active interloper. Of course, it wasn’t as if he had room to judge, as he was making his own meddling in prehistory, but he couldn’t help but wonder just what the motivation for such a thing might be. Who or what had such a vested interest to maintain the status quo, to keep him from making all kinds of discoveries about evolutionary potential? He could hardly fathom the answers to such secrets, but he was determined to find out.

As he took his aim and prepared to fire, the world seemed to slow down to a standstill. Strangely enough, Drake seemed capable of moving just fine as the beating of wings above him grew silent and the roars of jungle life faded into nothing. Confused, he took a quick glance around for the source of this mysterious phenomenon before a shining golden globe appeared above him, bursting into existence where there was once nothing but empty space. He raised a hand to cover his vision from the luminescence as an opening appeared on the surface closest to him. Through the gaps in his fingers he could see long, slender, digitgrade legs descending to the primal earth below his feet. The figure the limbs belonged to did not seem capable of deciding whether it was a solid, liquid or gaseous structure at any point, the only consistency to it being the vibrant assortment of colors that shifted and shone throughout its form. It seemed to have at least two pairs of arms, elongated in the same manner as its legs and seeming to reach at unseen mechanisms within the air to manipulate. The figure’s head seemed to be the least maintained aspect of its body, changing and twisting into new shapes as fast as Drake’s mind could register just one of its appearances.

As he slowly moved his hands away from his face to stare in awe at the form, he could feel something at the back of his own thoughts. A curiosity, a probing desire to understand the purpose of his presence in this place and time. Before he could respond to such a query, he felt the satisfaction of finding an answer. It seemed to Drake that this creature was communicating in a way difficult for most corporeal beings to understand, sharing in both information and emotional response from the deepest recesses of his mind. The creature understood his desires to see these creatures thrive, but did not anticipate the consequences of such a massive change to a timestream. There was a possibility, heretofore unheard of, that such evolved creatures would eventually find means to interact with other timelines, to affect the multiverse at large on a supremely massive scale. Drake couldn’t fathom how such a change could occur, but to the understanding of this unusual life form it had already happened and will happen over and over. It similarly believed itself capable of stopping this flow by hindering Drake’s efforts, but had now come to believe that neither process could be stopped. Now it only wondered if the human would still strive to achieve his goal even equipped with this knowledge.

Drake pondered this newfound flux of information for some time. He thought of the legitimacy of this creature’s claims and whether his pursuits were truly worth the risk his experiments posed. He certainly didn’t want to put the multiverse in danger, but he knew that if he stepped away from this now, after all the effort he had put into this, he would never be able to get past the regret of not knowing the truth. The figure seemed to nod in comprehension just as the thoughts passed through Drake’s head, then proposed its own solution to both of their issues. This mysterious, otherworldly being knew of a rift, a space between realities that could house these magnificent creatures, an alternate Earth separate from any time and space. From this realm, the two of them could observe the growth of these dinosaurs together, to see them reach their full potential without bringing untold harm to millions of worlds. It was not a perfect solution by any means, but it was the last hope this observer had to prevent disaster.

The two formerly opposing forces came to an agreement on this course of action in silence, both ready to embrace whatever chaos would come from this path. From now on, they would not have any calculations or prior knowledge over the flow of time to aid them in plotting the course of the beast’s survival; all they had now was faith and trust in newfound cooperation. Little did they know, however, it would be this very course of action that would birth a force like no other, a mystical powerhouse set to be the catalyst of untold universal transformation. This event would come to be known as the true origins of the Primal Realm, home to greater warriors and beasts than any reality had ever seen: the Saurians.