Prehistoria. The raptor's tail / До истории. Коготь раптора

Four months later, the slow breezes of the coming dawn ebbed and flowed with the changing landscape. The heat of the sun and the cooling brought about by the flowing rivers caused an oscillation of temperatures, crisp cool and wrapping heats, feeding the rich viridian Eden of forests and marshes with the cusps of the gentlest winds.

70 million years ago, in what will one day be the deserts and plains of Mongolia, life existed in a verdant brilliance.

Amongst the leaf litter and low-lying ferns of the understory, a small brown form scampered through the foliage; kicking up loose leaves as it did. Dawn had come for this small beast, and with the light casting aside darkness and its protective cloak, so too came the dawn’s dangers. Colored a mottled brown hue across the body with a pale strap crossing the back, in shape it might vaguely recall the appearance of a shrew or marmot; but the peculiar beast had no modern counterpart. <...>