Such technology was an important development, thought of as a solution to a problem the saurians found throughout their history. Theirs was a coumpound civilization, an amalgam of species that evolved together, from tiny chicken-like raptors to the sauropod behemoths. Not only that, the size disparity between each individual species could be massive - not unusual for a few individuals being born twice, even thrice as large as average. Once in a blue moon, their kind would see the birth of a veritable titan, who'd dwarf entire buildings.
Accomodating a collection of individuals like that had always been a challenge to the saurids, especially since interactions between the big and small were not always kind. The analyzer was but one of the most important tool for that - it allowed the greatest of giants to perveive even the tiniest of beings, warning them of their presence down below. Much damage and harm was prevented by this tool. Much conflict was avoided. With that, the saurians as a whole thrived. They multiplied, built far, deep, wide and tall, filling every possible niche they could find. They developed agriculture to the furthest extent, feeding the exponential growth of their ever-hungrier civilization.
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Ironically though, the invention that aided in crystalizing the coumpound saurian race as a populational powerhouse had found a new use under their most recent owner, one who had diametrically opposite goals to them.
It came out of nowhere as well. One day, he simply appeared to them, that... thing. Something of myth. He was a mammal, a pangolin, and he looked like something that would be worshipped by the early primitive saurians. A god, put simply, of godlike proportions, bigger than anything thought possible. So big, . They as a whole could be a microbe to him, and he seemed to think of them as such.
Naïvely, in a panicked rush, they attempted communication with the giant, who they came to know as Ralerin, and as soon as possible, gave him the one thing they thought could help prevent a disaster - they crafted him a bracelet for him (which meant making the most massive structure in their long history), one fitted with the most powerful form of the lifeform analyzer thus far. Then, they hoped, the giant pangolin could see them better. In exchange for the gift, they wished him to help them. Maybe he could terraform the planet for them? Who knew how much a being this size could do for them?...
Unfortunately for them, Ralerin had very different plans.
"Hah~ How foolish of you mortals... To think your technology would help you? In the end, it only seals your doom tighter~ Well, thank you for that. I will enjoy crushing every last vestige of your civilization from the face of this world... And in such a variety of ways~" cooed the pangolin god, strolling along at a multi-mile high size... feeling yet more mortals crush under his sandals while the counter for deaths ticked up to precisely 2,65,300,167.
"But fear not... I won't wipe all of you out. Some of you need to live, and know what I've done... Know how much your hubris has costed you, and learn from your failure... and then rebuild your civilization... In my image~" said Ralerin, taking another step forwards and grinding his sandal from side to side, aiming deliberately in the heart of a city.
The god admitted that even if a product of the hubris he was punishing them for, that device was very handy, even for someone like him. Where before he only went by his divine sight, his "feeling" of the creatures below, now he had absolute perfect knowledge of every one of his subjects, across the globe. As he took off his sandals and let his bare soles touch the ground, he could not only feel the deaths with his divine senses, but see the exact numbers jumping up in the holographic console. It was an interesting experience, an exhilerating one.
"Twenty billion of you on this world... My, that's far, far too many." he explained, derisively looking around him, at the carpet of buildings, each taller than the last, spread across the rocky landscape. Mile-tall geodomes, needles that pierced the clouds, blocks and blocks of skyscrapers, none of that seemed to impress the lone deity that dwarfed those marvels of engineering with just his body. "You treat this planet as if you owned it... how arrogant of you." he added, as his soles landed on another city, crushing countless of those buildings in a blink, his device blinking as the alerts skyrocketed once again. "I think I'll need to cull... hmmmm... all of you. All but one hundred million." He took another step, paying no heed to the next tens of thousand deaths. "It will give you plenty of time to think before being able to reach the threshold of unsustainability again."
The only people that could protest that draconian ultimatum were the scientists that gave Ralerin his device. They still had a live feed with him, and inside their facility, they scrambled in a desperate attempt to placate the titanic killer... They begged for mercy, they offered everything to him, but the bigger-than-life mammal shut it down with a simple comment:
"I aknowledge your thoughtful gift, so I'm already sparing you... ...Now stop acting spoiled. Otherwise... that survival estimate may drop a couple millions more."
The reaction was almost immediate. The audio feed was not silent, since there was still plenty of keening, sobbing, and whispers of disbelief. Ralerin, kind as he was, allowed that to them. Just as a test, he turned his attention to their physical location, conveniently just a step away. His splayed toes came down slowly, blanketing the region in darkness just before their end. The facility itself, a normally gigantic complex, now stood spared between their outstretched, splayed lengths while millions more around them perished. The pangolin wanted to test what their reaction would be to that. Thankfully, they were too mortified to even speak to the god. With a sardonic smile, he took his foot off, revealing the flat, dusty craters that now surrounded the facility. "As I thought~"
He resumed his slow walk along the rocky landscape, casually adding: "Feel free to take in any survivors from around you, as well! I -will- be counting them towards the total, anyway..."
Ralerin decided it was time to focus his attention on the culling once more. He could let his scientist subjects process their thoughts a bit while he snuffed out another chunk of their once-ambitious race. Besides... if they thought this was all he was going to do to them, they'd be wrong. His fun was not even starting...
The communications room in the facility was as far from its usual professionalism and composture as possible. Practically all of the scientists there were panicking, desolate, broken... One in particular, the regal-looking blue sauropod woman, she was shaken in her own way, glued to the screen, unable to look away from the terrifying destruction. She was completely silent, unbliking, practically the definition of awe. More than shocked, she seemed... fascinated.
[To be continued]
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A pretty old ommission for
\n\t\t\t\t\tArrogance127, involving the pangolin god Ralerin. Featuring a small story related to it made by us ^^