Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 89: Slaughter in the Spotlight

Original Post Date: Jul 18, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Rock Drake, next chapter in Reaper.

~

“Here we are,” Bob announced. All nine of them were standing at the edge of the beach, and not too far away was a small, secluded island that reeked of death. They could already hear the roars coming from the island. And the bloodshed.

“How are we going to get over there?” Andres asked, scratching the back of his head. Neddy scratched his head.

“Hmm,” Neddy said, “We could just build another raft.”

~

“This cave is really REALLY big!” Brad cried as he looked over the ledge of the pathway and saw the big drop down below. President Loki sighed. He tried to activate his telekinesis on Brad, but the blue flame wasn’t showing up on his end. It still had not been 48 hours since he had used Attribute Amplification on their last artifact run.

President Loki peered down below at the pit. There were tons of beasts waiting for them down below, most notably giant spiders and scorpions, but worst of all, giant bats. They were sleeping upside down on the cave roof and in the pit that the spiral path led down to. Chloe walked over to President Loki, sensing his unease.

“Hey, it’s gonna be fine,” Chloe told him. She looked to the left toward her friend, Sophie, who had two mystical direwolves made of a blue dust by her side. Chloe turned back to President Loki.

“The last cave we had was a fluke. These creatures are bound to be weaker. Much weaker. And there’s less of them.”

President Loki sighed.

“I just wish there were an easier way to get rid of them. I don’t want you to get hurt,” President Loki told her, “Again.”

Mr. Ma’s words haunted his mind one more time.

“Promise me you won’t die. You’ll escape and be free,” Mr. Ma whispered, “Don’t let your morals stop you, but don’t let heartlessness rule you either. There must be a balance, Loki. There must be another way.”

Loki had promised himself that he would try his absolute best to have everyone escape the island. At least, those in his settlement. He could care less about anyone else that may have been present. It would take too much work to collect them all, and it wasn’t like he knew any of them personally.

But still, Mr. Ma’s warning lingered in his mind.

“Only two people can escape this island.”

Loki had decided that, if it came down to it…

He would escape the island with Chloe.

“You know there could be an easier way to get rid of all those monsters,” Chloe told President Loki. President Loki turned to Chloe, “And what could that be?”

Poison claws came out of Chloe’s knuckles.

“Why don’t you just fly me around and we can shoot them all to bits?”

~

The raft swam through the waters and toward the island, and eventually all of them landed on it smooth sailing. Samuel sighed as he let go of the lever, and all nine of them stepped foot onto the island. Ruby took her crossbow out immediately and nocked an arrow. The rest of them drew their weapons. They were heading into dangerous territory.

“So here we are-” Tiffany was interrupted by a sabertooth tiger that charged at them, but Andres immediately punched it away, his fists glowing white. He had punched the tiger so hard that his skull was crushed and his body flew away into the ocean. Aurora turned to Bob.

“Lead the way.”

As Bob began to walk inwards toward the island, being careful as to avoid any carnivore confrontation, Andres and Tiffany continued to speak about their future story.

“Tiffany, you never told me what you wanted to be after all this,” Andres pointed out. Tiffany laughed, putting her hands in her pockets.

“Well, I guess I’ve always wanted to go into office,” Tiffany claimed, “Sure it doesn’t make that much, but, I’ve always wanted to change the world for the better, ya’ know? Seems kind of impossible though considering the circumstances. You need a lot of money and… it’s tough work.”

Andres gently smiled at her words, looking off into the horizon.

“I could help you. You could make me vice president and I’ll help with advertising. Hey? You know what, that could work!” Andres chuckled, “I could put it in John’s Adventure and then all my readers would vote for you.”

The two of them began to laugh together.

“Yeah, yeah it would be great,” Tiffany smiled, wiping a tear away from her eye. Andres turned to Tiffany, a bit nervous.

“Tiffany… I wanted to ask this to you. But do you consider me as a friend? A real one?”

Tiffany nodded happily, a smile plastered on her face.

“Of course I do, Andres. You’ll always be my friend.”

Andres couldn’t help but smile at her words.

“Thanks, Tiffany. I’m glad.”

Bob suddenly paused in his steps. He held his hand up in the air. Everyone in their group stopped, and Alan looked ahead to see two Pteranodons that were saddled sitting there.

“There’s people here,” Bob said. They heard soft footsteps echo behind them, and all of them turned around to see four people approach them, each one with weapons in their hands. There were two men and two women. The one leading them had long luscious black hair that fell to his shoulders and emerald green eyes. He was carrying a pike in his hands and wore chitin armor. The other man seemed more cowardly, but he still had a look of confidence in his eyes. He was wearing hide armor and carried a pike too. The two women didn’t have weapons but one of them was really muscular, challenging Andres’ strength. The other woman was skinnier and slimmer and had magenta hair. She had a few cuts on her arms.

“What are you all doing here?” the muscular woman snarled, “Step away from Monarch and Slackjaw!”

Tiffany turned to Alan, who was closest to the Pteranodons, and nodded her head. Alan nervously stepped away, his hands slowly raising to the air in surrender. Neddy looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and then looked back at the group.

“We were here to collect the next artifact,” Bob explained calmly, “But it seems you all have already. So we’ll be on our way now.”

Nova waved goodbye to them all and began to head back to the raft.

“Welp that was good, let's all go now!”

But the other man stopped her. The leader nodded at him in approval.

“We can’t let you go yet,” he said, looking back at the group, “I’m Loki. President Loki. These are my friends, Chloe, Sophie, and Brad, I guess. Now how do you know about the artifacts? How did you know to come here, specifically? No one should know about the artifacts except us.”

Samuel began to sweat nervously, looking over at Bob, waiting for him to say something. Everyone seemed on edge. Bob didn’t answer his question. President Loki sighed.

“Okay then. Let me ask you another question. Did any of you happen to settle at a river near the redwood forest? A red river?”

His question was once again met with silence. Loki leaned over to Chloe and whispered something into her ear. She nodded in confirmation. Samuel walked over to Bob.

“Something’s off, I can already feel it,” Samuel told Bob. Bob nodded back, “Me too. They know about the artifacts already? It seems unlikely to me.”

“Do you think they could have sent that bloodbending guy to hunt you down?”

“...Maybe.”

Chloe’s implant began to glow, and Samuel immediately noticed this. His eyes widened.

“They’re going to attack us,” Samuel realized, “No, kill us. We need to strike first.”

“If that’s the case then we should-” Chloe was quickly interrupted by Samuel grabbing his spear and throwing it full force at Loki.

Loki’s hairs stood up on end, and with a swift motion, he quickly deflected it with his pike. Tiffany screamed out,

“WAIT! LET’S THINK ABOUT THIS-”

It was too late though, as both groups erupted into a chaotic battle. The two spirit wolves manifested by Sophie’s side and they instantly lunged at Neddy. Ruby shot an arrow at Sophie, which struck her shoulder, and she jumped toward Neddy, pushing him out of harm’s way. Sophie let out a cry of pain, and her implant glowed. Two more spirit wolves manifested from the air and began to assault Ruby and Neddy.

Strange metallic wings burst from Loki’s back and he quickly carried Chloe into the sky. Chloe pointed her fist at the group down below and began to shoot poison claws at them. Everyone began to take cover, and Brad and Sophie took their chance, rushing in for the attack.

Brad swung his pike at Bob, hitting him square on the back. Bob let out a cry of pain and swung his fist at another incoming pike attack, grasping the end of it firmly. Brad tried to pull away, but Bob’s strength was too much. Bob reached for a pair of bolas and swung them at Brad’s face, biffing him so hard he dropped the pike and he was sent flying back.

TICK TICK TICK!

Three poison claws lodged themselves into the ground next to Bob, and Bob quickly rolled to the side to avoid another incoming poison claw attack. The two Pteranodons lunged for Nova and Aurora, but Nova quickly burst, transforming into a Tyrannosaurus and knocking it away. The other Pteranodon managed to grab a hold of Aurora, taking her and bringing her up into the sky. Chloe aimed her fist at Aurora to take a shot, but suddenly a flock of Argentavis began to fly around them. Chloe cursed to herself and redirected her attention to the third party.

Nova began to stomp around, causing both groups to move out of the way and flee. Alan let out a shrill scream and dived into a bush, hiding away from the conflict. Samuel quickly took an opportunity and clambered up Nova’s leg and onto her back, planting both feet onto her back. Samuel took hold of a makeshift bow Ruby had made him and aimed at Loki.

“Enlighten me Nova!”

Nova’s chest began to glow, and Samuel’s mind quickly cleared. He let loose an arrow and it soared through the air. It hit Loki’s wing, but it merely deflected off of him. Samuel cursed to himself.

Nova let out a howl of rage, and suddenly threw Samuel off. Samuel landed on the ground with an “OOF!” and looked up to see that a black void seemed to be obstructing Nova’s vision. Samuel looked to the side to see Brad sweating profusely, his implant glowing. Samuel let out a scream of rage and hurled his spear at Brad. Brad turned just in time to see the spear coming his way but didn’t dodge it, he just stared at it in horror.

A spirit wolf dived in the way and took the hit for Brad, collapsing into dust. Brad looked at Samuel, and charged at him with his pike. He swung his pike at Samuel, but Samuel merely dodged out of the way and swung at him with his fist. Brad took the hit again, and a spurt of blood flew out from his lips. Samuel raised his foot up and kicked Brad away.

Meanwhile, the fight had attracted the attention of a myriad of other carnivores. Raptors, Carnotaurus, and scorpions began to swarm in to feast on the humans. Nova let out a roar and began to charge around blindly, the effects of Brad’s blinding attribute still active. Nova squished a raptor underneath her foot accidentally, and swung with her tail at a Carnotaurus, knocking it away. A scorpion nicked her heel, and she let out a roar of anger and lifted it up, slamming it into the ground and causing a wave of sand to fly everywhere.

BOOSH!

Sand flew into all of their eyes and mouths, causing them to cough and choke, from both groups alike. Aurora, who still remained in the grasp of one of the Pteranodons, slammed her elbow into its talons, causing the Pteranodon to drop her. Aurora plummeted to the ground, and Andres looked up at the sky and saw her falling. Andres rushed over and caught her in his arms.

Tiffany was as still as a rock. She didn’t look like she wanted any of this. Her hands remained idle by her sides, and she looked on in horror at the ensuing chaos. Sophie took advantage of this and rushed in from behind her for a sneak attack, but Andres quickly caught on and rushed in to stop her. He kicked her away, and put his hands on her shoulder.

“Tiffany you’ve gotta snap out of it!” Andres begged, “Come on we need your help! You’re the strongest out of all of us!”

Tiffany’s shoulders dropped in shame.

“Maybe I can’t save them all,” Tiffany murmured. Andres looked around at the battle. By now their group had to focus their efforts on taking down the wild carnivores that were coming in to attack them, and at the same time ward off Loki’s group’s attacks. Andres turned back to Tiffany.

“Tiff please! Just snap out of it and-”

Tick!

Andres let out a cry of pain as a loose claw embedded itself into his neck. His cries for pain seemed to shake Tiffany out of it.

“Andres!”

Tiffany quickly grabbed Andres by the shirt and pulled him away from the rest of the claws that shot at them, but it was too late. A strange green poison was collecting around the impact of Andres’ neck. Andres let out a gasp of air, clutching onto Tiffany’s shoulders tightly.

“I can’t breathe,” Andres sighed. Tears began to collect around his eyes, “Sorry… Take over for me, will you?”

Andres’ eyes closed, and his body crashed into Tiffany’s arms. Tiffany’s hands began to tremble, and five more poison claws lodged themselves into Andres’ back, which shielded her from Chloe’s attacks. Tiffany looked up at the flying Loki, and her eyes began to burn up. Her heart began to pump faster and her implant shined brighter.

“Andres…” Tiffany whispered, gently placing Andres’ body on the ground. She clenched her fists, and wings sprouted from her back. Three more poison claws flew at her body, but two arms sprouted from her shoulders and snatched the poison claws with impressive speed. Tiffany looked up at the two, and President Loki’s eyes began to bulge.

Tiffany lifted up into the air and charged at the two. President Loki couldn’t react fast enough, and Tiffany rushed forward and plunged her fist into Chloe’s stomach. Chloe let out a gasp for air, as Tiffany pulled her fist back and flew back down to the ground.

~

“CHLOE!” Loki screamed. Loki flew away from the fight and to a secluded spot, placing Chloe down on the ground. Chloe let out a cough, and blood spilled from her lips. She looked at Loki with dazed eyes.

“Loki,” Chloe whispered, “Kill me.”

Loki looked at her in horror, his eyes widening and his pupils dilating.

“What?!”

“You’ll be able to absorb my power and… I don’t want that lady to get any stronger.”

Loki blinked his eyes, and tears began to spill.

“I can’t Chloe. I can’t do that to you.”

Chloe grabbed onto Loki’s wrist weakly, the life slowly fading from her eyes.

“If you don’t do it, I won’t forgive you… For not… protecting me…”

Loki’s lip began to quiver.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

Loki reached for his pike.

~

Neddy swung his spear at a sabertooth tiger, and its head was sent flying to the left. As the saber tooth tiger turned around Neddy took his spear and shoved it into its skull. Neddy let out a sigh of relief, clapping blood and dust off his hands. That was the last carnivore down.

Neddy turned around to see Nova had transformed into a raptor and had pounced on Sophie, pinning her to the ground. Meanwhile, Brad was laying on the ground, unconscious. Everyone else was tending to wounds, while Bob was checking on Alan, who still hid in the bushes. Tiffany was sitting on the ground alone, far away from the others. Andres’ body was in her lap. Neddy frowned at the sight. Even though he didn’t know Andres for long, he could still feel his heart ache.

He looked over at Samuel, who had his arms crossed and seemed to be barking something at Sophie. Sophie didn’t reply, and whenever she didn’t, Nova would slice at her arm.

“Maybe this all could have been avoided,” Neddy thought, clenching his fist, “If Samuel had just waited for what that woman had to say. Maybe Andres didn’t have to die. Maybe we could have worked together.”

Neddy’s other hand balled into a fist, and his brow furrowed.

“Damn it Samuel… Ruby should’ve just left you to die when she had the chance.”

WOOSH!

A blur flew by their faces, and they could see President Loki swing by and knock Nova over. Nova fell to the ground in surprise, and President Loki grabbed onto Sophie, pulling her up with immeasurable strength. Ruby quickly shot an arrow at President Loki’s chest, but as the arrow hit home he tanked it, showing no signs of pain or injury. He had dry tear marks on his face. He rushed to the side and grabbed Brad’s body off the ground and flew off west.

“Andd there goes our hostage,” Samuel said, putting his hands in his pockets and looking off at the disappearing president.

~

Loki flew as fast as he could, away from the island and back home toward the tundras. His heart still pounded against his chest and his throat still clumped up from his friend’s passing. He looked down toward the ground, and more tears spilled from his eyes. Sophie looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey wait a minute where’s Chloe?” she asked. Loki shook his head, looking away from Sophie’s gaze and off toward the tundras.

“I’m sorry Chloe, I’m sorry,” Loki whispered under his breath, “I’m sorry…”