The tyrannosaur feeds ...
"Are you of the Eaters?" Clay asks.
"So we are known," the nightmare replies.
The thoughts of the Eater float like ice floes on a gray sea. Clay is appalled by the contact. He draws back against the far wall, telling himself that the Eater is much too big to come into this room. But the door flaps open, and the ferocious snout pushes in.
"Man?" the Eater asks. "Ancient form? Soft pink thing. Useless."
Clay replies, "Humans were created weak so their skills and reflexes would develop. If we had had your claws and teeth from the start, would we ever have invented knives and hammers and chisels and axes?"
"I too am human," the Eater boasts.
"Having taken on an animal's form?"
"Having taken on the form of power." The vast mouth opens. The Eater slips one arm into the room and crashes through the door...