Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Tribe of Shadows: Alternate Timeline

Chapter 1: The Frozen North: Part Two

Dilath loaded his slingshot quickly, picking a sharper rock. He didn’t see anyone, so presumably he was facing someone camouflaged. The hunter cautiously looked over to the side, seeing the faint glint of the raider’s crossbow. Dilath stepped into the clear, fired the rock, and heard the sickening dull crack as the rock slammed into the raider’s chest, probably breaking a few ribs. That would most definitely cause internal bleeding. Dilath stepped out to the raider, who he saw was a man. The raider broke out into a coughing fit. ‘May as well’ he coughs again, ‘just kill me fully,’ the man said. ‘Where is your commander?’ Dilath asked. The man feebly pointed up, towards to second floor. He knew the raider wasn’t lying; Imperials believed if they died failing to follow their code of respect and truth, their souls would be banished to the Nothing. ‘I’m sorry, warrior. But you attacked Reagath first.’ The hunter said. The raider nodded. ‘I should be the one…’ the man coughed up blood, ‘who should be apologizing. I attacked a youth!’ Dilath bent down, sliding the raider’s rough dagger from its worn leather sheath. ‘Do it…’ the raider wheezed.

So, Dilath took his first human life.

The young hunter nodded toward the fallen warrior in respect. The Reagathians, hundreds of years prior, had been a military-led country. Dilath wanted to bring Reagath back to its former glory. The teen slipped off the dead warrior’s sheath that was on his belt and clipped it to the bandolier on his own chest. ‘I thank you, Sergeant.’ Dilath said, noticing the three distinct marks on the man’s armguard as he began to walk up the stairs. The hunter held the dead raider’s dagger, his gray-blue eyes flickering for any sign of the commander. He saw a flicker of red as the commander passed, and Dilath lunged, his dagger passing clean through a chink in the man’s armor. Dilath felt a horrible stabbing pain in his leg, seeing the raider commander’s sword having passed through the flesh of his thigh. ‘Overseer!’ Dilath said with a screech. The hunter slide the dagger into the sheath above his heart, pulling out one of his spears. ‘Pathetic!’ The raider yelled. Dilath blocked an overhead strike with the hardwood shaft of his spear, the raider’s sword becoming stuck. Dilath kneed the commander in the gut, and the raider stumbled backward. The force of the raider desperately holding onto his sword and the sudden force of backward propulsion caused the raider to fall flat on his face. Dilath, the sword having gone flying out the broken window, spun his spear downward and slammed it, unceremoniously, into the unprotected chunk of the commander’s body, right at the base of his neck. The hunter slid his spear back into the quiver on his back, standing to watch the sun’s slow rise.

Chapter Two: The Journey to the Northlands

Dilath had found his camping gear where he’d remembered. Just outside the town walls, in a hollow between two tree roots. There was a five-day supply of food rations, and four canteens of water that, if he was careful, would last him around six days. The journey would probably take seven days, but he could hunt and skin his own food with the hunting knife in his pack, and would be able to get water easily enough from the springs up North. Dilath did wonder if Joe or Quint survived, but they’d likely died with the old Yurkin. (AN: Remember, in the original timeline there are raiders still out around the village. That’s not the case in those timeline, as they scattered far after the death of their commander). That saddened Dilath, but he knew he’d have to live with it. He made fifteen of seventy miles in the first day.

Three Days Later

The hunter was had just crossed through the Great Redwoods when he heard a vicious snarl. A thylacoleo lunged from a tree, right on top of a nearby Megaloceros. Dilath drew a rock from the pouch on his belt, creeped toward the thyla, and slammed the rock into its head, knocking it unconscious. Dilath quickly skinned the dead deer, slowly feeding the thyla as he had seen an old hunter who came to Reagath a few months ago do. The man had said that was how to tame Thylacoleos, and Dilath had believed him. When the beast awoke, it didn’t attack him. ‘So I guess he was right…’ Dilath muttered. Dilath cobbled together a basic saddle of the leather from his pack, fiber from surrounding plants, and a few pieces of metal he’d found earlier in Reagath. The thyla allowed him to strap the saddle to it, shifting itself slightly so that the saddle bags that Dilath had put his camping gear and food in wouldn’t obstruct its movement. Dilath gave a small smile. Perhaps things were looking at least a tiny bit up, he thought.

In three days, Dilath made fifty three of the seventy miles in his trip North.

-Ranger