"Gather all the dinosaurs and flying reptiles by tonight, all of them. I intend to talk to them". It was this simple order that Sobek passed on to Buck, Carnopo, Al, Old Li and Rambo. After that he lay down on the warmest and most comfortable rock he found and waited.

After a long time it was time to tell the truth. He could no longer keep it hidden: now thanks to Apache he had a large number of propagandists, but they were useless without something to propagandize.

Besides, the dinosaurs weren't stupid. They knew there was something underneath. Basically Buck was training a legion under his command, Rambo and his followers were constantly flying from east to west and back, and Apache had brought an unimaginable number of flying reptiles. Dinosaurs weren't really buds, but anyone would have realized at that point that something was boiling in the pot. Sooner or later they would start asking questions, so they might as well spill the beans right away.

Sobek initially didn't say anything for a reason: generating panic wouldn't lead to anything, it would only delay his operations. But now the dinosaurs were much more cohesive, they trusted each other, besides they were numerous and they trusted him. Although the news would have created fear, Sobek was certain he could handle the consequences.

Evening came quickly. The dinosaurs had gathered around him like a tide. There were so many that his voice would have difficulty reaching the farthest. Everyone was trying to be cool, but it was clear they were eager to find out what their leader meant to them.

When Buck came up to him and whispered in his ear that they were all there, Sobek stood up on the rock and immediately all his eyes were on him. "My pack! Friends! Siblings! Please listen to my words to the end very carefully. What I am about to tell you is the most important announcement you will ever hear. I will tell you what I have known for some time, but that I didn't want to reveal so as not to feed the panic and fear"

Dinosaurs didn't dare move a muscle, some of them didn't even breathe. "I find no better way to say it than to just say it. Within a few decades we will all be dead. And this is because of an enemy that until now none of us has been able to defeat: humans. Few of you know them, most of you have never even seen them; but they are coming. Very soon they will be here, and they will come like a never ending rain. And they'll take everything from us. They will tear our lives apart and destroy our home, as they already did in the place where they live. There is no green there and all creatures live in cages, devoid of freedom. Humans are an arrogant and destructive species, and they will tear us apart if we stand still and watch"

The dinosaurs were starting to fidget. Clearly such an announcement was frightening them. "I would take too long to tell you all the horrible things humans do and will do to us, so with your permission I prefer to show you. I have already been to their lands; look now through my memories, and see for yourself the horror that humanity brings with its presence!"

Sobek obviously had been too short on human lands to see anything really bad, but the dinosaurs didn't know that, so he could peddle the images from the Internet as he remembers him.

As he had predicted, the dinosaurs bellowed in terror when they saw the terrifying images that Sobek had already shown Buck and Carnopo. Even Old Li, Al and Rambo, who was the first time they saw them, couldn't help but shake like leaves. Many dinosaurs had to sit down because they were unable to stand on their legs. Touching the worst of the human race was a traumatizing experience, and Sobek was certain that if humans had a sharing system like the [Contract] there would never have been such a thing as pollution, because everyone would have lived first. person those horrible events.

"I know it's terrible, but that's nothing compared to what they're going to do here. Humans just want to eat everything, drink everything, tear life apart piece by piece until there is nothing left. They only know how to take and give nothing in return. If we continue to let them do this will be our destiny!"

Sobek sent a new set of images to his subjects. A luxuriant forest enveloped in flames, transformed in a few hours into an ash desert...

"They will take everything from us and tear everything from us. Every plant of this earth will die, and we will find ourselves fighting for the little food left in despair..."

A hungry ankylosaurus tried to eat a sapling, but a triceratops arrived and the two herbivores fought for that miserable piece of food; then a tyrannosaurus desperate for a prey would arrive and the three fought bloody, until killing each other...

"And even if some of us survive, it won't last long, because the air will be poisoned and the earth will become sterile..."

In a desert a hungry caranosaurus tried to drink from a pool of water, but then the air was engulfed in poisonous fumes and the animal scrambled to the ground dead, followed by a saurornitoides trying to eat the carcass...

"And in the end, there will be nothing left of us. All that will remain will be an empty and sterile world, studded with our corpses. We will go to the extinction of our species, and we will do it in the worst way"

In an endless expanse of ash, thousands of alamosaur skeletons lay in unnatural positions, and among them a single, young alamosaur moved aimlessly, desperately looking for a similar one or even just something to show him that he was not alone...

Sobek decided it was enough. He had treaded his hand enough. So he turned off the image sharing feature of the [Contract].

The latest images did not actually come from the Internet, but were memories of his past life of him: they were extracted from the Discovery Channel documentary 'The last day of dinosaurs'. Sobek obviously hadn't shown the asteroid's fall or the volcanoes: it must have seemed humans were responsible. He had also retouched some scenes, making the dinosaurs more scientifically accurate (for example, carnivores with feathers).

As he expected, many vomited. Fortunately he had been foresight: he had summoned everyone towards sunset precisely so that they would not have time to eat before he made his announcement of him. In this way the vomiting was slightly limited. But the fear, that could not be contained. Many dinosaurs, especially the slightly dumber ones like sauropods, were agitated. Fortunately, they could not stand on their legs in terror, or they could have crushed someone unintentionally. Everyone's eyes were quickly on Sobek again, as if hoping he would say it was all a joke and that he had made it all up.

The spinosaurus could see their despair in their eyes. But unfortunately he couldn't say it was all false. "I know you would like to believe otherwise, but it's all true. Anyone who has ever been to the far west can confirm that there is nothing there but a desert. That land, which until recently was a paradise, is now reduced to a barren wasteland. Rambo and those who patrol the border with him can confirm, and so can Carnopo. And if you still have doubts, then let all the flying reptiles fly beyond the forest, and admire with their eyes that not a single plant grows there"

He didn't need to say more; after a moment's hesitation, thousands of pterosaurs took off. Sobek had foreseen it: like Carnopo, dinosaurs and pterosaurs were also in denial. Denying the truth was a natural mechanism that was activated in the brain when confronted with terrible things. It was normal that they wanted to check with their own eyes. Sobek was in no hurry: he remained silent to await their return. The wings of the pterosaurs could travel the distance from the lake to the human colony in no time.

In fact, after less than an hour, the pterosaurs were seen in the distance. The dinosaurs, who had stood motionless waiting for them all that time, began to fidget with trepidation. When the flying reptiles landed, everyone could see the discomfort and horror in their eyes, but they deliberately ignored it in the impossible hope that they would tell them something positive. "What did you see?" was the question posed to the pterosaurs in at least thirty different ways.

The flying reptiles waved their trembling wings: "Nothing!" they shouted. "No forest, no plants, nothing at all! Beyond the border there is only a desert! Humans are cutting down trees and digging the earth with gigantic machines that emit smoke and toxic steam!"

The desert that used to be Odaria's colony didn't look that shocking: if humans ceased their operations, life would easily flourish in no time. But after the horrific visions they had had, the pterosaurs were unable to process that information. For them the desert was proof that Sobek was telling the truth.

The dinosaurs shook in terror and more than one risk of being crushed. "We must escape!" was the common scream. "Let's go further!"

Sobek raised his head and used [Devastating roar]. The shock wave was directed upwards, so it did no damage, but the noise was enough to draw attention to itself. "There's no place to escape" he said. "Humans want all lands around the world. They will not stop until they have occupied everything. If we flee, we will only delay our extinction, and only by a few years. What you have seen is just an outpost: very soon millions of other humans will arrive, and they will occupy more and more land. This world is not big enough to offer us a place where we will be far enough away from this plague"

As he pronounced what was effectively a death sentence, the dinosaurs were growing small and shivering. None of them saw a way out of that nightmare. The little ones had approached the older ones, as if hoping they could protect them.

"Listen to me. When you encounter a predator, you can only do two things: run away or fight. There is no third option. In addition to these two possibilities there is only death" Sobek continued. "Now, however, we can no longer escape. Even if we manage to get far enough to survive, our children will witness the extinction of our species. So we can only fight. Those of you who know humans already know how dangerous they are. But I tell you, we can win this fight!"

Sobek slammed a paw on the ground with such force that the rock shook. A grain of hope was rekindled in the dinosaurs' eyes. Being a reincarnated human, Sobek knew very well how to awaken certain emotions in the audience. "Humans are so powerful because they have something we don't have, and it's their machines. With them they destroy, devastate, corrode and create imbalance. The worst of them, which they call weapons, can kill any creature with extreme ease. But now that power is no longer just for humans!"

Sobek opened the [Weapon system] and selected a flamethrower. The weapon condensed at his feet under the astonished gaze of the dinosaurs. "Buck, come here and get it!" Sobek ordered. The tyrannosaurus obeyed and picked up the flamethrower. "Admire the power of human technology! A power that is now ours too!"

Buck pointed the flamethrower upward and pulled the trigger. In an instant, a flame tens of meters high broke out and lit the sky red. Many of the dinosaurs in the front row backed away: like all animals, nothing scared them more than fire. In their eyes, Sobek had just captured the most destructive thing in nature and placed it under his service! If dinosaurs had had a religion they would have called it the work of a god.