Regardless of the tension, the confrontation finally settled down, and the heavy atmosphere broke.
Aurora's parents had no intention of lingering. Since they had lost the physical dispute, their instincts told them that the territory and the food now belonged entirely to the victor.
Casting a final, longing look at the easy al , mastodon yearling, the adult pair could only turn away and retreat back into the brush.
With the sabertooths cleared out, Jas saw no reason to stand guard by the pool like a statue. If other flesh-eaters wanted to risk their lives for the juvenile elephant's carcass, they would have to face the consequences themselves.
Before pulling away, Jas cast a final look at the trapped yearling.
Only its heavy head remained above the surface, its long trunk extending high into the sky, tightly curled as if trying to grasp onto sothing in the empty air.
Jas turned away, wasting no ti as he guided Aurora and the cheetah out of the clearing.
"SCREECH! SCREECH!!"
The cats had barely left when a small flock of giant teratorns coasted over the valley.
Driven by intense hunger, the massive birds grew excited the mont they spotted the stuck mastodon and dropped straight out of the sky.
The birds didn't know why the juvenile elephant was immobilized, nor did they care. All they cared about was that this free al would fill their bellies!
"SCREECH~~ SCREECH~~"
The giant raptors touched down directly on the mastodon's skull, using their sharp, hooked beaks to rip through the dense hide and feast on the flesh. They happily fanned their wide wings, even snapping and fighting each other to contest the choice cuts.
"SCREECH!!"
Suddenly, one of the heavy birds let out a frantic shriek. During the squabble, it lost its footing and slipped off the skull into the muddy liquid below.
The mont it tried to beat its wings to launch back into the air, it discovered its feathers were completely bound by a thick, pitch-black sludge.
The teratorn thrashed violently, but the struggle only pulled it down faster, burying half its body in an instant.
Terrified by the sudden danger, the remaining birds took flight, entirely unable to process what was happening to their companion.
The stuck bird kept fighting, but within monts, its small body was completely swallowed by the soft tar, vanishing right before its flock's eyes.
Horrified by the loss, the remaining teratorns didn't dare linger, scattering in all directions to escape the valley.
Before nightfall, the mastodon yearling died.
Its carcass, alongside the body of the bird, slowly settled into the deep, suffocating layers of the black tar pit.
A week later, a solitary flat-headed peccary blundered into the sa depression.
Under a blazing midday sun, the prehistoric peccary was searching for a shaded thicket to drop its body temperature. A cool mud wallow to roll around and bathe in would have been even better.
The reflective surface of the tar pit caught its eye. Though a sharp, foul chemical scent rose from the pool, the oppressive heat overrode its caution. It trotted toward the water with a series of low grunts, eager to cool off.
Within a few steps, the peccary discovered it couldn't lift its feet.
Beneath the shallow water lay a thick layer of dense, black substance. The pig managed to wrench one hoof free with a wet pop, but the movent only drove its other legs deeper into the mire.
The harder it thrashed, the deeper it settled.
The peccary squealed in absolute terror through the quiet woods, exhausting its muscles to break free.
But the pig's distress calls brought an even worse danger—a few gray wolves, their eyes hollowed out by starvation, erupted from the brush.
The wolves raced across the bank and sward the peccary, burying their teeth into its neck until the poor pig fell silent.
The wolves wanted to drag their prize back onto the dry bank to eat, but when they tried to move, they found themselves completely anchored to the earth.
This ti, it was the wolves fighting for their lives, but the outco was exactly the sa.
GURGLE. GURGLE.
By the following dawn, both the peccary and the wolf pack had vanished beneath the surface, leaving behind nothing but a few dark, clear bubbles breaking across the black pool.
This exact scene would repeat across the La Brea networks for another ten thousand years.
A week later, Jas and his companions had cleared the primary spine of the Rockies, descending into the Pacific Coast Ranges bordering the western edge of the continent.
Tracking their journey over the past several days, Jas had finalized the destination for this migration.
Alaska!
If he could navigate his path to the far northwest—witnessing the massive, exposed plain of the Bering Land Bridge connecting Asia and the Aricas—the core purpose of this journey would be fulfilled.
However, the distance separating these coastal mountains from the Alaskan interior was a daunting two to three thousand kiloters. Covering that distance would require weeks of continuous travel.
Jas felt no urgency. As long as they managed to return to their primary Rocky Mountain reservoir before the winter freeze locked down the landscape, the timing was safe.
The defining characteristic of these coastal mountains was their extre humidity. Massive, old-growth temperate rainforests choked the valleys, fueled by the heavy moisture rolling off the Pacific, generating a dense, unique ecosystem.
Jas had transitioned into a deep valley along the western slopes of the Olympic Mountains.
This was the largest pristine temperate rainforest on the planet—a landscape that would later be designated as the famous Olympic National Park.
Even without active rain, the air within the forest was incredibly damp, with thick curtains of low-altitude mist drifting through the trees like a fairytale landscape.
Colossal coast redwoods ford the dominant vegetation of the rainforest. These were the tallest trees on earth, soaring over a hundred ters into the sky.
Walking between their imnse roots, Jas felt a sudden, distinct appreciation of his own miniature scale within the wild.
A system of clear, snowlt streams ran through the forest floor. The cats tracked these water channels, quickly arriving at a wide, deep pool where the stream emptied.
Scanning the clear current, Jas spotted dozens of massive, fat salmon navigating the pool, instantly triggering his appetite.
He wondered briefly how his friend beaver was managing back ho, and whether the giant rodent was keeping the mud walls reinforced.
"REOW~~"
Beside his shoulder, the cheetah suddenly emitted a sharp, defensive hiss, its eyes locked onto the opposite bank of the pool.
Jas swiveled his head to look, staring in utter disbelief.
Squatting at the edge of the water were two exceptionally massive bears.
One possessed a coat so dense and pitch-black it absorbed the light.
The other possessed a coat of flawless white without a single dark hair on its body.
"What the hell is going on? A black bear and a polar bear hunting salmon out of the sa pool?"
Jas couldn't understand how such a bizarre combination could exist. This was far more absurd than crossing paths with Aurora's parents!
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