You are in the coastal shorelines of China, 38 million years ago.

The morning mist was still clinging to the grey sand of the Eocene coastline when you saw it. The air smelled of salt and decaying kelp, but something else cut through the scent—musk.

You were searching for stranded fish near the mangrove roots when a shadow fell over you. You looked up.

Standing not twenty paces away, on the edge of the dunes, was a creature that seemed to have been designed by a madman. It was a terrifying mixture of a wolf, a boar, and a hippopotamus, roughly the size of a modern rhino, with a head that felt much too large for its body. Its muzzle was nearly three feet long, lined with terrifying teeth designed to crush bone. But it wasn't the jaws that terrified you—it was the eyes. Cold, intelligent, and focused entirely on you.

It snorted, a deep, resonant sound, bringing its front hoof down, sinking into the sand. You remembered the stories of the Andrewsarchus, the "sheep in wolf's clothing" that acted like a bear, scavenging and hunting along the coast.

You froze, knowing that running would only trigger a chase. The massive, hairy beast tilted its head, pondering. You could see the muscles moving under its coarse fur. It seemed to consider you not as a threat, but as a snack…