Manipulator Of Time: Year One Hundred Million B.C.E.

The familiar red gate opened again upon planet, then expanded to allow the man to exit. He stepped out onto the ridge of a mountain that stood near a small valley. As the gate closed behind him, his sharp eyes spotted several green creatures; they were large and walked on four limbs, grazing on grass that was plentiful.

They seemed to be a bit on the stupid side, however; there was no organization to their movements, there was no signs of communication. For all intents and purposes, they appeared to not be sentient, much less capable of thought beyond eat, mate and run away from predators. But such was to be expected from the grazers; herbivores of such a large and impressive bulk didn't need much in the way of brains.

However, as luck would have it, they were to be the very first lifeforms on the planet to be blessed with the power of the red crystal. They would be the first part of the great plan. For when he held out his left hand, the crystal reacted with a bright red glimmer, causing the ground to shake violently.

The beasts cried out in shock, scampering away from the epicenter with all the speed their bulk afforded them as the land split open and heaved upwards; from the crack emerged a large, towering crystalline lattice that stood proudly, seemingly reaching for the sky.

The mighty structure glistened with a deep red hue, its reflected and dyed light filled the valley as the quake came to an end. The large beasts were at first afraid; but they soon became transfixed by its glow and, willingly, moved toward it. They came so close, in-fact that, in a moment of either bravery or stupidity, one touched it with its snout.

When nothing horrific happened, the others followed suit; soon, the whole herd had physically touched the crystal that stood before them. In a heart beat, then, were they covered by the unnatural red light, their bodies fully engulfed by it. It almost seemed to sink into their bodies, passing through every cell. But soon it passed and the crystal stood silently, a monument to the power of the great engine below the surface that forced it to rise.

As the man turned once more, a larger beast suddenly appeared; a carnivore of fearsome strength and power that held no fear of the simple herbivores. The bulky creatures turned their attention from the crystal to the threat at hand, but they showed no fear of it, they didn't run away even as he mighty beast attempted to attack the nearest to it.

Instead, the plant eater who would have, only minutes ago become little more than a meal fought back by turning its bulk and swinging its incredibly thick and long tail at the predator.

The gate opened once more, silently calling for the traveler to its embrace. As he entered its maw, the rest of the herbivore herd entered the fray, sweeping with their tails in a method that seemed to belay intelligence of some sort. Instead of simply swinging wildly, they recognized and actively targeted an open wound on the predators leg that had been caused when its prior meal got a little too frisky.

The gate closed as the herbivores brought the creature down, not with pure instinct but with cunning; a cunning they didn't posses before. As the mighty carnivore fell before their combined onslaught, something inside of them began to click, began to change. They realized, for the first time that they could be dangerous, and that together they could protect one another.

Not by sheer numbers or brute strength as they always had, but by concentrated efforts, by finding a weakness in a foe and exploiting it.

They would win by thinking.