Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 74: Infernum

The woman slammed her fist straight into Paul, and Paul let out a groan as he was sent flying away and into the hut. The hut instantly crumbled and the roof caved in on him. Paul’s longsword poked out from the debris.

“Paul!” Carlos yelled out, outstretching his arm toward him. Carlos turned to the woman with a glare and swung his frying pan at her. She swiftly dodged, and delivered a quick roundhouse kick to his arm. Carlos was knocked off balance and dropped his pan on the ground. The woman’s arms were instantly shrouded in flames, but before she could land a scorching hit on him, a Triceratops rushed in and swiped her away.

POW!

The woman was sent flying through the air, but swiftly landed on her two feet. Blood trickled down her lips, and she wiped it away coldly. Carlos cheered and patted the Triceratops on the back.

“Nice job, dude! Now let’s figure out why she’s here,” Carlos decided. He picked his frying pan up again and quickly held it out in front of him, pointing it at the lady. She let out a sneer and twirled her pike around in her hand.

“I am the Crimson Crusader. But it’s not like that matters anyway, since you’re going to die,” she glared. Carlos’ eyes widened.

“This is the lady who sent those troops and kidnapped Ian!” Carlos realized. He glared back and clutched onto his frying pan tighter. He asked aloud, “What did you do with Ian?”

The Crimson Crusader smirked.

“Wanna know that bad?” she gave a ghastly grin, “I roasted him alive!”

Carlos’ jaw dropped, leaving him wide open for attack. The Crimson Crusader dashed forward and swung her pike at Carlos’ head. Carlos stood there, unable to dodge from the shock, when a sword came from the side and blocked the attack. Carlos was shaken out of his state and turned to see Paul with his longsword, struggling to contain the Crimson Crusader’s might.

“Carlos, I figured out her attribute! It’s fire!” Paul shouted. With a final shove, Paul managed to push the Crimson Crusader away from the two. Paul rushed forward and slammed his head straight into the Crimson Crusader’s lips. Blood spilt onto Paul’s hair, as she stumbled backwards, clutching her lips.

“Fire? FIRE?!” Carlos whispered, exasperated, “We’re never gonna be able to stop her. We don’t even know our attributes! She’s going to kill us, Paul, we should just run-”

“No. Your frying pan is not flammable, and neither are my clothes. But I have a plan-”

Paul was cut off by June’s dash to the side and an attack to Carlos’ shoulder. Paul shouted, “WATCH OUT!”

Carlos quickly turned around and deflected the pike’s attack with his pan. The Crimson Crusader let out a grin as her pike ignited on fire. Carlos glared back and held on as tight as he could, pushing back in the tussle. His pan didn’t light on fire, and it gave Paul the opening he needed. He rushed in from the side and swung his sword at her head. The Crimson Crusader pulled her pike back, causing Carlos to trip forward. Before the Crimson Crusader could be decapitated, she quickly reached her hand up to grab the blade. Paul struggled as the Crimson Crusader gripped on tightly. Blood seeped onto the blade, and flames soon began to travel from the blade to Paul’s hands. Paul let out a howl of pain as his hands caught on fire, and he dropped his sword to the ground. Paul quickly put the fire out by rubbing his hands along his sleeves. Carlos let out a growl and pointed his finger at the Crimson Crusader.

“EVERYONE ATTACK HER!” Carlos screamed.

All seven Triceratops and five Stegosaurus instantly let out a bellow and began to stampede toward the Crimson Crusader. The Crimson Crusader’s smile dropped, and she quickly jumped up into the air and onto one of them. She placed her palm on the body of one of the Triceratops, but it wouldn’t catch on fire. The Crimson Crusader raised her eyebrow in confusion.

With the distraction set, Carlos and Paul ran into the forest to plan. Hiding inside a bush, the two quickly spouted ideas toward one another.

“Can we go to a source of water? Water is fire’s weakness. We’ll get the advantage then,” Carlos suggested.

“I wish, but the nearest river is pretty far away. She might catch up to us as we try to run away,” Paul retorted.

“But we’re in the jungle! She can’t see us here.”

“And she can burn it down. We don’t want to risk that. Plus if we lose her, she might just stick around and then Ben and John will have to deal with her. We can’t let that happen. Something tells me Ben doesn’t really love a crazy person like that.”

“Then what do we do, Paul?”

SLAM!

A Stegosaurus let out a groan as it toppled over into the bushes. Carlos and Paul let out a squeak of fright and quickly jumped out of the bushes, giving away their positioning. They looked around to see most of their dinosaurs unconscious, and Crimson Crusader standing on a slain Stegosaurus. A fireball floated in her hand.

“You vermin truly are despicable. You couldn’t even protect Ben during his darkest hour!” she cried out, “So I’m going to make you suffer.”

“What is she talking about? Ben’s alive and well,” Carlos thought. Carlos didn’t have any more time to think though, because the fireball grew in size in June’s hand, and she flung it right at them. Carlos and Paul dived out of the way, but the jungle still suffered the consequences. The bushes instantly set on fire, and it quickly spread to the leaves of the tree and the rest of the foliage throughout.

“Uh oh,” Paul said as the forest was quickly enveloped in an infernum. Paul turned back and was greeted with the Crimson Crusader’s pointed pike, but luckily Carlos had adapted to this ruthless fighting technique. He rushed in with his pan and clonked her right on the head.

CLONK!

He did it so hard that she was sure to see stars. She looked dazed, and dropped her pike onto the ground. Paul kicked it as hard as he could away from the area and into the burning jungle. The Crimson Crusader wildly swung her fiery fist at Paul, and his face tanked the worst punch imaginable. Paul’s face jiggled as he was sent flying. His body twisted, and he landed in the grass head-first. His body did a whole flip and 360 rotation before he finally got back to his original position. He wiped his sleeve across his face, dousing the flames. Paul’s sword was laying on the ground, and the Crimson Crusader seemed eager to take it.

Both Carlos and her lunged for it at the same time, but only one of them would be getting the prize.

It would be the Crimson Crusader.

She grabbed onto the hilt, and Carlos’ hand slammed into the ground at a weird angle. He let out a howl of pain as he clutched his wrist in pain, but that was a blunder. The Crimson Crusader raised her sword, ready to slice Carlos down where he was. Carlos’ life flashed before his eyes. Good memories and good times sparked in his heart.

“Ugh, man I swear you cook the meanest food out of all of us! It’s like a curse or something,” he could hear John laugh, “Maybe you shouldn’t cook for us here.”

“I don’t think so, it’s great!” Paul had argued, “Well let’s not put each other down anyway. Carlos will get better eventually…”

“Carlos don’t take it too personally,” Ian said, “You know we just like to tease. You’re a good pal and that’s all that matters to me. I’m glad we’re all buddies.”

“Yes. I’m glad we’re all friends. One day we’ll all eat a fabulous feast Carlos will prepare for us, and we’ll have good times forever and ever… And nothing can stop it,” Ben decided. All five of them let out a loud laugh, slapping each others’ shoulders and fist bumping one another.

As Carlos’ memories faded, he smiled to himself, closing his eyes and the Crimson Crusader swung down on him.

…

“WAIT!” Paul cried out.

The Crimson Crusader stopped herself right as she was about to chop Carlos’ head off. Carlos began to sweat, and he opened up one of his eyes nervously to see Paul outstretching his hand in an attempt to stop the Crimson Crusader. The Crimson Crusader turned her head with an unamused look on her face.

“I see it in your eyes,” Paul exclaimed, “You’re upset about Ben. I can see you love him a lot and you really care about him. You want to do whatever is necessary to keep him safe, because you want him to be safe. That’s admirable! I love that. But whatever you think happened to him… Isn’t true. He’s safe and sound, and is out on a mission to retrieve something important.”

The Crimson Crusader gasped, but it quickly turned into a growl.

“You’re lying to me.”

“I’m not! Please believe me. We found him very badly wounded but we had him fixed up and he is all safe to go. I think you should stay around and see for yourself. It’s not like we can kill you. You are too strong…” Paul reasoned. The Crimson Crusader lowered the sword.

“Is it true?” the Crimson Crusader finally asked, “That Ben really does love me?”

Paul lowered his arm slowly, thinking as fast and hard as he could of what to come up with.

“Why would this woman love him so bad if he didn’t love her back? He is not the type of person to idly lead someone on. He would reject them and move on as fast as possible. Perhaps they are good friends… But I will say yes just in case,” Paul thought. He yelled out,

“Yes he does. He talked about you all the time. Even though he never mentioned your name, you were all that mattered to him. All of the love in his heart was for YOU,” Paul lied with a smile. He showed both of his hands to the Crimson Crusader, “So please. Lay down your weapon so we can all be with Ben. I even forgive you for killing my friend.”

She was touched by Paul’s words. She tossed Paul’s sword away, a smile growing on her face and tears in her eyes.

“I’m so glad he’s safe-”

BOING!

A pan instantly folded itself into her skull, and she collapsed to the ground. Carlos stood behind her, breathing heavily and with his frying pan in his hand. He dropped the pan to the ground and quickly checked her pulse.

“She’s unconscious,” Carlos declared. He looked at Paul. Paul walked up to the hut, put his hand to his chin, and sighed to himself.

“What damage has been done…” Paul said as the fire crackled in the background.

“Paul, are you upset that I knocked this woman out even though she surrendered?” Carlos asked with a raised eyebrow. Paul turned back with a smirk.

“Nah. I don’t really care. Either way would have been fine. Although I’m not too sure how things would go if she actually met Ben.”

“So you’re saying that Ben doesn’t love her?”

“Psh, of course not. I didn’t tell the whole truth, but it worked out anyway.”

“So, what should we do with her?” Carlos asked, picking up Paul’s sword.

Paul shrugged, “I suppose we could put that wooden cage we found in the beacon to good use and clean everything up!”k