Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Path of the Sea

Chapter 2

✨intense drama on the first chapter? typical me (Remember that Blicket has been renamed to Flicker!)

"Who is she?"

"Do you think she's the one Vein dreamed about?"

"Who cares!? If we kill her, the royal family would have food for days!"

"Idiot! She could save our lives!"

"Enough. You're disturbing her."

A raspy voice hushed the argument. Silentstrike heard it all, but kept her eyes squeezed shut. Fear kept her quiet, otherwise she would have clawed their noses off.

'Who are they? Where am I? Are my brothers okay?' Thoughts spiraled out of control in her head.

After what seemed like hours, she finally mustered the strength to talk to these creatures.

Silentstrike painfully heaved the upper half of her body off the makeshift nest. She had a bandage over her left eye, left leg (which was bent at an odd angle), and wherever she had been bleeding severely. Some of the creatures let out muffled gasps, but said nothing.

She opened her eye, unprepared to see wyverns standing there. Instead of a usual wyvern, they were smaller, with crystals planted on their shoulders and along their spine. They were also much brighter colored, ranging from crimson to red, all the way to purple, blue, yellows.. pretty much all of the colors were shown on their shiny scales.

Silentstrike was sitting in a comfy nest comprised of leaves, in a stone cavern. The wyverns had armor and weapons in their talons.

Startled, she let out a yelp and fell back, pain shooting through her left leg as it thumped against the hard ground. Silentstrike bared her teeth, a growl escaping her throat. She crawled backwards, ignoring the agony in her crooked leg, not letting the mysterious wyverns out of her sight.

"Hush, child, we're not here to hurt you." The eldest wyvern said in a rather cracked voice, who was a dark red. She had leaves strewn across her scales as if she was working with them. A flowered rope was hung over her withered neck.

"I'm not a child!" Silentstrike whipped her long, bandaged tail. "Get away from me! Leave me alone!" She choked.

Sadness gripped her again. All she wanted to do was see her brothers.

"You remind me of someone," the old wyvern rasped, settling down. "Would you happen to know someone by the name of- oh, what was it - Flicker?"

An image popped in her mind. Flicker.. Flicker was her grandmother. Silentstrike stiffened. How did this wyvern know her grandmother?

"Who are you, to know that name?" She replied harshly. She studied the wyvern closely. Must have been a herbalist, Silentstrike mused, because of all the leaves and flowers. She seemed kind enough, but what if that was just a trick? She knew better than to trust other creatures without first getting to know their motives.

"I am Vein of the blood wyverns. Please, don't use your leg. It is dislocated, and I need to fix it," the blood wyvern answered, "why else would we wrap you up in bandages if not to heal you?"

Silentstrike thought for a moment. If she trusted Vein, she risked getting killed. But then, if she died, she'd get to see her parents again. And if Vein was actually trying to help her, she's get to live AND get back to her brothers. Either way, it wouldn't do good to try to escape. She was in an enclosed room, and the wyverns were blocking the entrance. Her only option was to trust Vein.

"Fine. But don't do anything stupid, or I'll rip a hole in that pretty little neck of yours!" Silentstrike growled, limping back over to the nest. She flopped down and reluctantly relaxed.

Vein ignored her threat. She calmly strolled over to Silentstrike, reaching into a pouch that had been hidden under Vein's wing. She pulled out a dark purple vial, rough transparent material separated it from the outside world. A wooden cap fitted on top. Vein carefully pulled the cap off and set it down within reach of Silentstrike.

"You may want to drink this. It will help you sleep while I relocate your leg," Vein explained. As Silentstrike opened her mouth to protest, Vein continued. "Would you rather deal with the pain, or have a sleep that will restore your energy?"

Silentstrike pondered this for a moment. Hesitantly, she picked up the vial and drank from it. Almost instantly, the world turned dark as she was swept into a deep sleep.