Ssardus was hopping through the fields and forests, enjoying his day. He was a happy little dinosaur; friendly, he would even say; unlike those viscous meet-eating thug-like reptiles that seemed to kill indiscriminately. They seemed to do so on a whim; driven more by bloodlust than hunger. Ssardus respected all species equally. Why, he would even allow the most tiny of dinosaurs, lizards and butterflies to hitch a ride on his back or even his tail- some got to ride all at the same time!

On this fateful day, however, his friendly and trusting nature would be his undoing. The cruel human people were out and about, looking for specimens to take back to their world and cage and enslave and show off and put to labour.

Ssardus quickly found himself in one of their traps, his foot swelling from the strange jaw-like device. He was quickly transferred to a container of bars and then loaded onto an impossibly long steel snake; the likes of which he had never seen before. He watched through the strange transparent square thing as the fields and forests sped by, faster than even he could run.

Ssardus was on a train, bound for somewhere unknown, at least to him. He thought of his old friend Thoreno, wondering where Thoreno might be, wondering whether they would meet again…

Suddenly, the sky ripped open and the wind kicked up, the top part of the snake had been torn off! The sound was deafening! Hovering above him was Thoreno, snakeskin flapping from his clenched teeth, as he opened his mouth and let the steely skin fly away. Ssardus gawked in utter disbelief. Is this really happening?! Thoreno spun around facing the other way and used his tail to flip open the latch that held Ssardus trapped and caged. Ssardus instinctively jumped up onto the spine of the beast, where Thoreno was riding high. Thoreno said “I think we should get off this thing” to which Ssardus replied, “when are we ever gonna get the chance to ride a metal snake this big again?”

Thoreno settled in, enjoying the breeze on his face and the speed of the passing trees and mountains. Ssardus marveled at the world as the two rode off towards a dying sun, having conquered the venomous and winding steely snake of train.