You are in the rocky valleys of Europe, 210 million years ago.

The air in the German Triassic valley was thick, humid, and smelled of wet ferns. You pressed yourself behind the buttress roots of a towering conifer, your heart hammering against your ribs. You hadn't come for this. You were supposed to be mapping the Plateosaurus nesting site near the floodplain.

Then, the jungle went silent.

A flash of orange and tan caught my eye through the foliage. It was long—easily seventeen feet from snout to tail—and moved with a horrifying, bird-like grace.

Liliensternus. It was a slender creature, nothing like the lumbering behemoths you expected from this era, but it looked incredibly fast.

It stopped ten paces away, raising its head. You could see the light crest on its snout, a soft red stripe running down its back. Its jaws, lined with sharp, serrated teeth, were slightly parted.

It turned its head, yellow eyes scanning the brush. It was hunting. It sniffed the air, directly in your direction, and a low, guttural hiss vibrated in my chest.