Cheering for Life

By Zihao, Dong (Cloud)

Ancient HUG

Foreword

The first thing that comes into one's mind when we talk about ancient earth history, is dinosaur. However, you have to forget dinosaurs now, because our story began 300 million years ago, while the age of dinosaurs started 200 million years ago, which is much later.

300 million years ago, the first group of amphibians evolved from fish, had just conquered the land of the earth (before, all animals lived in the ocean). However, those amphibians could only live in areas where water is abundant because they can't leave the water for a long time. In that case, they cannot truly conquer the attractive continents.

While most amphibians were satisfied with the embarrassing state, a new group of animals with a lofty idea, which is known as Amniote, appeared. They have stronger structures that can support them living in areas that are far from oceans and ponds. They rapidly conquered most areas of Pangea (All continents were connected at that time, and they composed the supercontinent Pangea).

Amphibians refuse to admit to being inferior, they efforted to upgrade themselves. They became much stronger and bigger than before (some amphibians in that time-weighted over tons), and finally got the qualification to compete with Amniote.

Compared to the competition between Amniote and Amphibian, the competition insides the Amniote family is more intense and violent. There are two major parties inside the Amniote family——Synapsid and Sauropsid. The front one includes all subsequent mammals (includes we, human), while the latter one includes all subsequent reptiles and birds (as we know, birds evolved from dinosaurs). By the way, these two groups are brothers, which means they evolved from the same ancestor.

The competition between these three sides became more and more intense. Each of them was fighting for becoming the lord of the land, and each of them was powerful. In 250 million years ago, however, that event happened——the Permian extinction, which is the most intense mass extinction on earth that ever appeared. It is even more intense than the extinction event that killed all dinosaurs. A supervolcano, which is nearly as big as the area of the United States, led 90% of all organisms on earth to extinct. This disaster turned all lands on earth into a desert and plunged all living things into an abyss of misery.

After this disaster which is dare to recall, Amphibians and Synapsid got unbelievable heavy losses. After ruling the world for hundreds of millions of years, the empire of Amphibians and the empire of the Synapsid collapsed. Nevertheless, those Sauropsid, or reptiles, successfully conquered the continent in ruins and deserts and established a new order.....

South Africa, 250, 546, 804 BC,

after the Permian Extinction.

Standing on a dune, a Thrinaxodon (the following text simplifies it to Thrin) is watching on the small pond that he relied on for a living, and making sure nothing is nearby for obtaining scarce resources near the precious freshwater. He found this small pond just a few days ago. Water is the most precious resource in this big desert, which This desert extends and covers the entire Pangea Continent (All the continents were put together and formed Pangea Continent at that time).

He is a Synapsid, and probably the ancestor of modern mammals (always remember humans are mammals!).

He has just built a new house, which is a small hole near the pond. His last hole was destroyed by a sand storm last week. He was forced to leave his friends and look for a new place to live after the storm. He can't live without a hole providing shelter, because the desert is extremely hot, with a temperature of about 50 Celsius. Furthermore, he has to avoid being eaten by those big retiles……

Every time while looking out over the desert world, Thrin would be lost in thought. While the world was not covered by desert, and while the water is not a valuable resource, the whole world used to belong to the Synapid family. They didn't have to feel alarmed under the shadow of reptiles, and they didn’t have to live in dark holes for their whole life. Time past and everything changed……

"Ahhhhh", suddenly, a voice was sent to Thrin’s year. He found it is an Amphibian, running with all strength. It is quite rare to find an amphibian at that age. Thrin found he is a Broomistega (the following text simplifies it to Broom). That is the first time for Thrin to see a living Broomistega, while he had met a dead Broomistega before, near his seventh home cave.

"Roar!!!", suddenly, a roaring with the smell of blood was sent from the back of Broom. Once Thrin move his eyesight, he saw a horrible giant figure rushing out from a dune. The fear of this figure was carved into the DNA of Broom and Thrin——it is an Erythrosuchus, a reptile, as well as the biggest predator on land at that time, with a length of over 5 meters, and weight of over 1 ton. He was the unquestionable lord of land in that period, and nobody can survive under his big mouth. It gives everyaliving thing infinitive fear to just look at his violent head, which is well-designed for killing and torment. The big reptile just rushes following behind Broom. His disproportionate big head gives his body extreme pressure. For moving faster, He uses unbelievable big brute force to drive his short, stiff legs in a very violent way. The horrible sound of friction between his foot and sand resounds in all directions.

There is nowhere to hide in this huge and flat desert, except Thrin's home cave. At first, he doesn't want to help Broom. He sees Broom run with all he might. His four short tiny legs trembling helplessly, and his salient big eyes were nearly shaken out of his head. It seems that he could be crushed by the head of the retiles at any time. Thrin starts softhearted.

Thrin hated Amphibians, which is the Synapsid's enemy of generation, but he hated reptiles more. Those ugly reptiles robbed the status of Synapsid when they became weak after the Permian Extinction. He didn't want to give reptiles any kind of benefits, so he decided to help Broom.

"Jump into that hole beneth the dune!" Thrin called to Broom.

Broom rushed into Thrin's small hole, and the heavy lizard bumped his head against the stone at the mouth of the hole.

While the reptile haven't got over it, Thrin skis down the sand dunes and jumps into the air and ready for punching his face. His majesty in the air is as dazzling as those former synapsid kings. However, The reptile knocks Thrin right into the hole by just shaking head.

"What a tough day. I walked for hours to find these water resources. Then I met this horrible creature. Thank you for saving my life." Broom's large eyes sparkled with gratitude.

"Don't put it in mind, I just don't want to give food to those stupid reptiles. Once the reptile left, you leave." Thrin comes round behind Broom, effort to find a good position for sleeping in the narrow hole, and then tried to sleep.

Suddenly, the reptile smashes the mouth of the hole. Broom was startled. "Don't worry. It is in vain", Thrin still sleeps in silence.

[Silence]

After a few minutes, Broom spoke"Hey, have you heard those old stories.

Those stories about our ancestors before the big disaster. "Those stories about the arms races between Synapsid, Amphibian, and fullish reptiles? Yeah, every member of Synapsids knows that." Thrin spoke while napping. He was intrigued by this topic.

"We don't have to hide in those dark and dirty holes in those ages. It is hard to imagine that we've had our days instead of hiding in holes all the time."

"I have more things to say than you. I'm a member of the Theriodontia family, and we were the strongest family on earth ever. We could kill reptiles with tons of weight at our fingertips. The stories of our conquering are still told today." Thrin raised his head and looked at Broom.

"While your ancestors were the lord of the land, my ancestors were Temnospondyli, the absolute ruler of all ponds and lakes on the Pangea continent. I can't even imagine our ancestors can grow over tons and over 9 meters! How big is that? It is much bigger than the ugly reptile that is waiting to eat us outside the hole."

"Our family also used to have a more violent structure for killing than that ugly reptile. We tyrannized all living things in all mountains and forests. Seas would rise when we give the word. We used to feel the fear in our enemy's eyes. We used to listen to the painful groan of crows. We used to have no fear in our hearts. Every generation of Synapsid was so powerful and so honorable…"

"Then, that disaster came." Broom bowed his head.

"That disaster came." Thrin bowed his head.

The reptile knocks on the entrance of the whole, and everything shakes.

"That was a hellish age. Animals can only live inside narrow spaces between big chunks of a lava sea. Everything struggled among fires and acid rains. And this age kept for a long time. It is already a miracle that we survived."

"Because of the blamed disaster, those reptiles steal the glories and thrones of us! As a synapsid, we have a more elegant body than reptiles. We have better teeth than them. How can they ride on our heads!?" Thrin gradually became emotional.

"How dare they!"

The reptile knocks on the entrance again.

"Anyway, it is meaningless to talk about all those things now. We lost too much in that big disaster, while reptiles had grown too strong. Our future is in a mist," Thrin sighed.

“Maybe our futurities will have a chance to rebuild our empire in the future. Who knows?” Broom heads down, and losses the light in his eyes.

A roar came from outside the hole.

"Looks like he's not gonna leave us alone today," Thrin Looks at the changing shadows at the entrance, "Maybe sleep now is a good idea."