Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

I literally ran out of space the last part of the chapter. Sorry about that.

The Tribe of Shadows

New Recruits: Pt II

(Third POV)

The trio continued their trek to Sarvenfell, Dilath with his rifle in his hands as a precaution of sky-pirates. Quint was forced to yell over the howling, harsh winds. ‘I thought I saw a few Argentavi over to the southwest. Might need to veer a little east, guys!’ Joseph partially drew his pistol, a warning sign to any idiotic sky-pirates. Signaling for them to land, the group pushed back underneath the low mist to reveal the Northwest Shores, near the Wastes. Dilath moved his rifle back to the bandolier on his back, then pressed his boot to Ambush’s left flank, signaling for the Thyladrake to land. ‘This area is particularly dangerous. I’ve heard rumors of…ice dragons.’ (Managarmr, I think that’s how it is spelled. Apologies if I’m wrong). Quint scoffed. ‘Ice dragons? Doubtful. Maybe someone just saw a rockdrake covered in snow,’ Quint exclaimed. ‘Well, rockdrakes aren’t partially made of TEK. -WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE OVERSEER IS THAT?!’ Dilath replied, then yelled. He pointed to what resembled a large half-TEK wolf with back legs like a kangaroo. Its form was warped from the radiation, but still discernible to show what must have been large holographic blue wings similar to a rockdrake’s but made of TEK and what Dilath referred to as ‘Edmundium’. The beast turned towards them, black eyes boring holes into theirs. ‘It’s a…’ Joseph fumbled for a word that would fit, ‘Managarmr.’ (Old Pyrrhian Translation: Moon-Eater). ‘Of the old myths?’ Dilath asked, still quite terrified of the silvery-blue creature. Joseph was about to nod when another creature appeared. It looked like a combination of a fire wyvern and a hyena. ‘A Ravavern. One of the Nine Archon Deimosi’ Dilath stated, terror in his voice. (Ravavern: Ravager-Wyvern). ‘No…. It-it can’t be…’ Joseph stammered, staring at the two legendary creatures.

Quint, the oldest of the group, was struck speechless. The Deimosi snarled at them, angered at the three strange creatures in front of it. The Moon-Eater looked at the central Human, scenting Raptori blood upon him. Dilath drew one of his knives, his fear turning to rage. ‘Legendary, immortal being or mundane, mortal beast, I care not.’ He hissed. Ranger, floating invisibly, high above the group, snorted. (FOURTH WALL BREAK, PEOPLE!). ‘Highly doubt you’d be able to kill me. Anyways, gotta fix the Wall. Alright, what do I need. Oh, duct tape.’ The Deimosi laughed mockingly. ‘You cannot kill me, little Human. Though the blood Raptori runs through you, I am one of THE NINE!’ The Ravavern roared.

Dilath threw his knives with a ‘Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!’ Thee of Ravavern’s paws were pinned to the ground. In half a second, there was a crossbow bolt, shot by Quint, in the Ravavern’s last paw. The Managarmr stood, watching as its worst foe was pinned to the ground by three abnormally tall monkeys that carried strange weapons that spit strange, pointed fangs. The TEK part of it recognized those weapons as bolts and knives. The Moon-Eater knew better than to get hit by those blades. ‘You dare anger Therelni, Lord of the Rava-‘Dilath shot his TEK rifle directly into the Ravavern’s open mouth. ‘You anger the Raptori Grand General, Slayer of the Champion, Blackmoon the Terror, and the Imperial General? Yes, you do. And look at what a dire situation you’re in, Therelni….’ The Yurkan of Dorban replied.

The King of the Archon Deimosi stood, eyes now glowing reddish gold, ‘I do not die, heretic. Sadly for you, mortals do.’ Therelni hissed murderously. Instead of the fear the Archon expected, Dilath looked simply annoyed. ‘Welp, looks like it’s time to bring out the big guns.’ Dilath flicked his hand out. In it was a glowing cryopod, that contained something confusing. And terrifying as Oblivion.

A TEK Giganitheritricera Dire Raptor

(Giga, theri, trike, dire-wolf, dire-bear, and a raptor. And it’s a TEK variant). The Archon looked at the monolithic beast that was well over four hundred times its length and three hundred times as tall. It had six arms, six legs, and six heads. Therelni ran faster than light. Right after Therelni shot a wave of gray energy that came from Dilath. It sliced the Ravavern clean in half, horizontally. The Dire Giga (I’m going to call it that for short) roared, screeched, howled, and boomed a terrible call that echoed its might across Pyrrhia.

Dilath chuckled. ‘Her name is Floof, by the way. And she’s still just a baby.’ He said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. ‘Well that’s horrifying. Anyways, let’s get going.’ Joseph said, barely containing the shock of seeing such an amalgamation of creatures. The Managarmr stepped towards them. ‘’Hello, Dilath. Greetings, Quint. Salutations, Joseph. I understand that you were attempting to stop the dire-wolf attacks that have been happening? Well, by chasing off, and temporarily disintegrating, you did. And also, no I’m not one of the Nine.’ The Moon-Eater’s voice was deep, but also with a scratchy undertone, like it was being played through an old tape recorder. ‘I thank you for that. I am most apologetic if my appearance alarmed you. By the way, my name is Wilknel. That translates, in your tongue, to Fallout.’ (Bethesda! I made that his name because the Wastes are pretty radioactive. And also, I felt like it.) ‘Oh, and by the way, you might need some Hazmat suits. TEK will also work. I can supply the latter, so here.’ Wilknel flicked his tail, and two sets of TEK armor appeared. ‘I know you, Dilath, already have a set. But I’ll get you a stronger one.’ A camouflage variant of TEK armor appeared, the energy lines a pale green. ‘I assume this’ll fit your type of armor?’ The Managarmr asked. Dilath nodded. ‘And Quint, this is what I call Berserker TEK.’ The armor was dark red with the element energy veins glowing gold. ‘’Iy’s much more durable than the traditional stuff. And, it has a built in energy shield.’ Wilknel explained. Quint looked at the armor with amazement. ‘And lastly, Joseph. This is a set of TEK Archer armor, designed to be light but highly strong. It also includes a TEK bow, to fit with the armor. The bow makes arrows from energy, so no need for a quiver.’ Joseph nodded, barely comprehending the armor. Instead, he examined Fallout. ‘What type of creature is you from? It looks like a wolf, but has TEK parts on it,’ he asked. The Moon-Eater seemed to raise an eyebrow. ‘I take the form of irradiated Managarmr, which is what I am currently. I have a human form, but I much prefer this one,’ Wilknel replied. ‘Well, Dilath said that a ‘Managarmr’ is some kind of ice dragon.’ Joseph said. ‘That is mostly correct, Joseph. Managarmr are a combination of wolf, wyvern, and technology.’ The Moon-Eater replied. (By the way, I’m just going off of my own idea of a Managarmr. That is what they are in my Pyrrhian mythology, so that’s what they are in this book). ‘Now, each of you shall receive a TEK weapon. Joseph already as his bow. To Quint, I give you the only TEK crossbow.’ The Crossbow appeared in front of Quint, which he grabbed. ‘It has 2,000 TEK bolts that are automatically created after the number reaches zero. So, it should prove quite useful. It also has a scope.’ The bolts appeared in a leather case, meant to be attached to a bandolier or belt. The scope appeared to be removable. ‘And to Dilath, Bane of Many, I give a TEK blade forged by the Raptori. It is called Eclipse.’ The sword was very different to the traditional TEK one. The energy veins were glowing a deep green, the blade itself silver. The vein that went down the center of Eclipse turned to a disc as the middle of he blade, and floating in that disc of pure Raptori Element was a circle of black metal that gave Eclipse its name. ‘This blade was used by your father, Dilath. The element was turned green by Raptori blood. Three drops of you father’s blood, to be exact. If you are able to charge it further with that blast of gray energy, it could even be able to cut through an incredibly, incredibly small bit of reality. That powerful.’ Wilknel said, his voice grim. ‘The only way you could is by using the opposite edge of it. The edge facing you. You’d have to supercharge it with one of those energy waves of yours, flip the blade so that the right side flips to the left, and cut something. Surprisingly simple, really.’ Fallout continued. ‘But don’t. Tampering with Reality doesn’t end well.’ The Managarmr simply disappeared after the final words, leaving the trio confused.

‘Hey, is that a beaver dam?’ Dilath asked. (Percy Jackson reference time!)

‘So. Many. Dam. Detours.’ Quint said. ‘I dam agree, Quint.’ Dilath said. ‘Dam, we gotta get to Sarlenfell.’ Joseph said with a snort. ‘Dam, you’re right.’ Quint said.

Ranger laughed from above the group, jotting down the conversation on a pad of paper. ‘Percy Jackson reference? Why not? They’re dam good.’

Dilath looked up, seeing a flash of a camouflage cloak before the ‘Author’ disappeared. ‘We should reach Sarlenfell by tomorrow evening. May as well set up camp.’ Quint said, looking at his map. The other nodded in agreement. With all their tames now stored in cryopods, Dilath set up the tents, the other putting basic supplies in them. ‘Hey Joe? Can you go grab firewood?’ Dilath asked. ‘Yeah, there’s a couple trees nearby.’ Joseph pulled out his hatchet, spending around ten minutes gathering the a few dead logs. Dilath climbed back into his tent, putting on his TEK armor. Crawling back out, Dilath began to sharpen his knives on a whetstone that he carried with his. It made a satisfying ‘zinnnnng’ as he did so. ‘Anyone else want your weapons sharpened, or are y’all too lazy to get up?’ Dilath asked jokingly. ‘No. But what I do want is dinner.’ Joseph replied. ‘I’ve been told I make a mean ovis stew.’ Quint muttered. ‘Well, I have a supply of ovis and dodo meat, so whichever you prefer. I also have a few things of spices, stuff like that. Normal food supplies.’ Dilath replied. ‘I guess I’ll make the ovis stew. If you don’t like stew…. You don’t deserve to exist.’ Quint replied. ‘Someone never said something more correct than that.’ Dilath said quietly. After they all had eaten, Dilath went to gather more firewood, setting it by the small fire they had lit. ‘I’ll take first watch. You two go get some sleep.’

Dilath was an hour and a half into his shift when he saw the eyes.

-Ranger