Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
The Arks: Alternative Timeline
ACT 7: Silver Lining
This is a Theri exclusive story.
Story written by Ben (OBJ).
You do not have to read TAOH to understand this story.
This is the final ACT of the story, besides the Epilogue.
Chapter 19: Strife on the Styx
“That problem is taken care of,” General Moon sighed, locking the prison doors, “I can finally attend the Story. It starts soon.”
General Moon walked down the metal hallways back to the meeting room, where the rest of the Generals had been waiting all this time. General Moon reflected on the state of this world. Apparently it had a long history. The previous Constellations had left. For what reason, she was unsure. It didn’t matter though. That meant more slices of the pie for her and the others.
General Moon felt her Influence increase. Her stats suddenly sparked, and her Teleportation Points quadrupled. She smiled. The effects of being a Constellation were kicking in, and even affecting her in-game body. She willed it, and she teleported into the meeting room. The other Generals immediately turned heads.
“Did you take care of it?” General Ghost asked. General Moon nodded,
“Yes. Sloth has been rightfully detained, and Austin slain, although not by me.”
“Serves them right. We can’t have these characters meddling in our affairs,” General Syl scoffed. General Moon blinked her blue eyes, looking at her peers with piercing eyes. Her eyes pinned to the timer in the middle. An hour in this dream world’s time. General Sun cleared her throat,
“Have any of you gotten sneak peeks on the Story? What’s it going to be like?”
“No. None at all,” General Apex replied, “All we know is that it will be a long, long ride.”
“Good. I like long stories,” General Moon said.
“I just hope there is some romance. I wanna see some cute scenes, that’s all,” General Sun shrugged.
“You’ve always enjoyed reading and writing romance, haven’t you?” General Ghost laughed.
Five minutes remaining.
“Who will the main character be? A human or a creature?” General Syl asked, “A king, a queen? A peasant? Will it take place in the cities? Or the seas?”
“I still don’t understand why the Creator of this Story is not joining us,” General Apex shook his head, “This is odd behavior. When you Constellations watched my Story I was there with you.”
“I’ve heard rumors,” General Moon proposed, “That the Creator of this Story was fragmented just like me-”
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!
Turretfire shot out as soon as the timer hit zero. General Moon’s eyes turned red and she let out a roar, getting up from her seat and slamming her fist into the wall.
“I JUST CAN’T WATCH THIS STORY IN PEACE, HUH?!” General Moon snarled, “Why did the Creator of this Story make it so difficult to be entertained?!”
A vicious roar of a carnivore emanated throughout the building.
“Uhhh, what’s going on?” General Ghost asked, getting up, “What should we do? I don’t know what to do!”
“Don’t worry about it,” General Moon’s red eyes glowed brightly. Her TP quickly tripled once more, “I will take care of it.”
She teleported out of the room.
By the time she did though, a dozen death messages of her subordinate guards popped up. She was atop the ceiling of the base, where she looked down upon a Carcharodontosaurus ravaging the mines. Turret Fire rained down upon the beast, but it just kept tanking it. General Moon squinted her eyes. Something was off.
She pulled out her spyglass and looked down at the beast. That’s when she realized it.
It was a wild.
“Someone lead this beast here, but who?”
The Carcharodontosaurus let out a bellow and bashed its head at the rickety walls. General Moon stumbled back, and looked down to see the turrets collapse. Dead guard bodies were strewn all about. Before General Moon could figure out who, the answer came to her in the form of a herd.
HONK HONK!
A pack of herbivores immediately charged in, their hoots and hollers echoing louder than the Carcharodontosaurus. General Moon looked down to see the guards had made their way to the ceiling where she resided. They all had fabricated rifles on them. General Moon shouted.
“GUARDS! FIRE AT WILL!”
BAM BAM BAM!
The bullets made their mark, but they barely hurt them. The herbivores brushed off the pain. The guards continued to fire at them, but clearly their hide was resistant to their bullets. They’d need teeth.
“You,” General Moon ordered a random female guard. She turned, her red hair covering her right eye.
“Y-Yes General?”
“Please gather the Giga Cryopods.”
The guard blushed.
“Of course ma’am.”
She scurried off. General Moon looked at her implant. More TP gathered. Down below, in the quarry, she noticed the metal doors had been blown open. Somebody had infiltrated the base. She teleported into the entrance hallway and ahead of her was a rider atop a Raptor. General Moon got into a battle stance, unsheathing her sword.
“Who are you?”
The woman turned around, a fierce look in her eyes. For a moment, she almost looked like Captain Pigeon. Determined.
“Your ender. Karma itself.”
Karma’s Raptor, Jira, let out a screech, and charged at General Moon, pouncing on her. General Moon tried to avoid her attack, but she was too slow. Being only Level 1 came with quite a few cons. The raptor managed to pin her down, and quickly took three quick bites. General Moon’s HP quickly plummeted. With just a few TP to spare, the reality around General Moon shimmered and she managed to teleport behind Karma.
Karma quickly jolted around.
“How did you do that?!”
General Moon smirked. Blue sparks shot out her hands.
“I have a Blessing.”
Karma raised her eyebrow.
“What’s that?”
General Moon shook her head.
“Nevermind that. It’s time to end this squabble.”
General Moon reached into her inventory space and pulled out a bottle with a thick red liquid and a cryopod. She threw the cryopod and a Shadowmane popped out. She took a swig of her medical brew, healing herself back up. She pointed her finger at the Raptor.
“Sic ‘em, Orbit.”
Orbit let out a roar and dashed forward at Jira. Karma was knocked off her back, and the two beasts quickly got in a tussle, leaving Karma to the wolves. Karma got up, brushing her short black hair to the side. Her navy blue eyes seemed to flicker yellow, orange, green, and magenta all at once.
“Let’s dance, darling,” General Moon laughed, holding her sword out. Karma pulled out her own sword.
“Let’s.”
~
“Now.”
BAM!
Ben, Mystery Girl, and Sloth had both broken out of their cages. By now, most of the prisoners had already logged off for the day. But those three had their missions to accomplish. Pickaxes in hand, Ben and Sloth prepared to tear down the prison doors, but Mystery Girl waved the keys she had snatched from the guard in the air.
“I got this. Don’t worry about it.”
She unlocked the prison doors, and the metal gates swung open. The three stepped outside, looking around carefully and noticing the loud roars and muffled sounds within. There was a raid going on, just as Mystery Girl had foretold.
Mystery Girl turned to Sloth. She pulled out a bunch of C4 and a detonator, handing it over to Sloth.
“Here. You can destroy all the creatures the Walkers own. Don’t worry about the cryopods. I’ve taken care of them.”
Sloth nodded.
“Thanks… I guess.”
Sloth rushed off. Mystery Girl turned to Ben. She handed him a metal shield.
“Use this to protect yourself. The doors to the mines are wide open. Get out of here while you still can. Head to the rivers and follow them until you reach the beaches.”
“But what about you?”
“I still have unfinished business here.”
Ben shuffled uncomfortably.
“I feel as if I should help you. You helped me escape, I should return the favor.”
Mystery Girl chuckled.
“Oh, this is the favor. Trust me. It’s for the best.”
Ben nodded.
“So be it. Stay safe. I hope we can meet again in the future.”
Ben rushed out of the building. It was for the best this happened. If he was ever killed by a Constellation… Mystery Girl shuddered. That would give the Constellation the right to kill the character if they pleased.
That would be the last time the two ever met. Mystery Girl sighed. A bad omen washed over her bones. A gut feeling told her it’d be the last time she’d ever get to see him again. No amount of flashbacks and unexpected memories could let her see his face one last time.
Mystery Girl closed her eyes, engraving his face in her memory. She failed to culminate him. Shaking her head, she opened her cold brown eyes, and marched onward. To the meeting room, where the Constellations resided.
~
General Moon dashed forward, slashing her sword at Karma. Karma could barely dodge to the side, as General Moon hacked a piece of flesh off Karma’s arm.
CRACK!
Karma let out a shriek, dropping her sword and clutching onto her arm. General Moon could tell that unlike Pigeon, she wasn’t a fighter. Something confused her though. How had she managed to lure the Carcharodontosaurus otherwise? Was she a split-character like her?
A thought ran through her mind, “Maybe not, maybe so.”
Another thought, “Please… Leave them alone.”
A cry rang throughout the room. General Moon looked on to see Orbit had slashed the throat of Jira. Jira was dead. Karma gritted her teeth.
“ENOUGH!!!”
Karma swung her sword as hard as she could at General Moon…
And missed.
Karma just stood there, dumbfounded. She blinked her eyes, but before she could react, General Moon stepped forward and sank her sword into her chest.
SHINK!
Karma let out a gasp, her eyes flickering all five colors. General Moon pushed it further in, and blood seeped out onto the metal floorboards. General Moon forced Karma down onto her knees, where her red eyes glowed brightest.
“It’s over little girl. Your Story ends here.”
Karma coughed out blood. Her voice squeaked,
“Ugh. How’d you know I was a little girl?”
General Moon rolled her eyes.
“Any last words?”
Karma grinned,
“You’ll get what’s coming to you. Mark my words… Mark my words.”
General Moon smiled, her eyes turning blue.
“I always win. Don’t count on it.”
Karma collapsed, and General Moon let out a sigh as all her TP recovered.
“Better go check on the Mines.”
General Moon teleported back up to the ceiling of the base, and observed the metal quarry down below. Noticeably, the Carcharodontosaurus was already wandering off, completely bored by the let down of a raid. The herbivores had completely overtaken the Mines though. It would be rendered inoperable for a while until they could clear them out.
The female guard General Moon had ordered to collect the cryopods came back empty handed.
“General, all the cryopods are gone.”
General Moon twitched a bit.
“What?”
“I apologize ma’am,” the female guard shivered, “Please forgive me.”
“Oh it’s quite alright. Don’t worry… I’ll take care of it.”
General Moon prepared to teleport, but she stopped her.
“W-wait!”
General Moon turned around.
“Don’t you want me and the others to help?”
General Moon laughed, “I can handle this on my own. Don’t worry about it.”
General Moon knew she was the only capable one, battle-wise at least. Besides Captain Pigeon. She wondered where he was. She had recruited him for this particular reason. He was one of the only combat-ready men she could trust. She herself wouldn’t stand a chance against most without her Blessing of an Upgrade Tree. He must had still been busy taking care of the Gooper tribe uprising in the Arctic.
General Moon thought about the cryopods. She thought about how they could have magically disappeared. Then, a frown appeared on her face. Of course it would be Sloth.
“That idiot. What did he do with them?”
General Moon quickly teleported to the prison room. That was already when she noticed something was off.
Both Sloth and Mystery Girl were gone, their cells vanished.
General Moon grinded her teeth. This was getting ridiculous.
“Alright Sloth. It’s about time I get rid of you.”
General Moon quickly teleported away.
~
Mystery Girl quietly snuck up to the meeting room. She peeked inside. The Generals were all lazily hanging about the table, waiting for General Moon to return. The countdown had already reached zero. Perfect. The plan had gone as anticipated.
Mystery Girl reached into her inventory space and equipped the rocket launcher she had made with the storage room’s resources. She aimed it at them.
~
Sloth threw a C4 on the Rex’s leg. He took a few steps back and then detonated it.
KABOOM!
The Rex’s leg was torn off, killing it. That was the last one of the breeding area. The Oviraptors, Breeders, and the like had all been blown to shreds. The surrounding foundations were damaged and battered from the impact. Sloth wiped the sweat off his brow, and then began to cackle softly to himself. The Walkers of the Void would pay for mistreating him.
A shimmer of reality echoed behind him. He turned around and was instantly met with a sword to the stomach from General Moon. Human blood spilled out onto the floor, mixing in with the blood of those he had destroyed.
“N-No last words?” Sloth gasped, his eyes already rolling up to the back of his head. General Moon smirked.
“You don’t deserve last words.”
Sloth collapsed to the ground. General Moon kicked his body.
“Little bugs. What an annoyance.”
KABOOM!
Another explosion rang out throughout the building, and General Moon could feel it in her feet. Her implant immediately dinged. She looked at it.
“General Sun was killed by ████!”
“General Apex was killed by ████!”
“General Syl was killed by ████!”
“General Ghost was killed by ████!”
General Moon sighed. There goes their Influence. Just one more issue to take care of, and this would finally be over.
~
SHOOM!
Mystery Girl’s head lifted up from the air. She dropped her rocket launcher to the ground. She already knew who it was.
“O-kay, I know that’s you.”
“You’re a freak.”
General Moon unsheathed her sword. Mystery Girl turned back.
“I can’t have you interfering in the Story,” Mystery Girl admitted, “It’s my duty as a Fragment to keep the peace.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just a character cursed with knowledge. You can’t exist. You’ll turn the Story upside down.”
“So will you by interfering in its plot.”
General Moon stepped forward.
“I got you there didn’t I?” Mystery Girl chuckled, “You Constellations are no different from us Characters.”
“Just finish the job.”
General Moon slashed at Mystery Girl. Mystery Girl collapsed against the wall, a weary look in her eyes. They locked eyes one last time. She grinned.
“I’ll see you soon then… huh? The plan still goes on. You’re playing into it, naive Constellation.”
Mystery Girl died. General Moon gripped her sword tighter. It was finally over. She felt somewhat ashamed by the amount of casualties, and the damage that had been done. The herbivores would still have to be taken care of, their army of Rexes were down, and she had lost around thirteen guards in the process. Worst of all, most of their valuable cryopoded creatures were probably dead, and their turrets were down. They were too vulnerable. Anyone could waltz in and cause problems at a moment’s notice
As soon as the other Generals respawned into their new bodies, General Moon would have to pull them together to assist her-
WOOOOOOOOSH!
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
KAKRASH!
The metal base immediately went tumbling down, and General Moon let out a gasp, as she could feel the base collapse underneath her. Everything instantly shattered, and General Moon fell onto the side of the mountains, sliding down. She saw Pteranodons and Argentavis falling from the sky, and a Fire Wyvern too. She quickly teleported up to the Wyvern.
Atop the back of the Wyvern, she clutched onto his osteoderms.
“Fly, Jether.”
The Wyvern quickly flapped its wings, taking to the skies. General Moon assessed the damage.
Yep. Everything was gone.
General Moon looked on to see what had caused the damage. A ginormous Titan around half the size of the mountain had its large white arms clinging onto the peak of the mountain tip, a giant TEK platform saddle atop, a singular rider on it. A glimmer of red and purple. General Moon couldn’t make it out, but it was obvious. At their weakest, this person had attacked with their strongest force. An Ice Titan transferred from the Dead Earth.
General Moon whistled, and Jether quickly began to fly away. Slay the head of the dragon, and the rest of its body will collapse. If General Moon could kill its rider, the Ice Titan would become passive. Perhaps she could even tame it. For now, she’d stow Jether away and take care of it herself.
She quickly teleported onto the platform saddle of the Ice Titan. A skinny, dark-skin man was manning the reins, with no armor whatsoever. The man turned around, a grin on his face and constellations swirling within.
“Hey there! Long time no see Chaos!”
The dark-skin man raised his eyebrow.
“Oh. You’re not Chaos. What are you supposed to be? A knock off?”
General Moon chuckled at his insult.
“Ah. You must be Mark. Another one of the Blessed.”
“Infinite level capabilities will be hard to fight,” General Moon thought, “He already knows about my teleportation. No point in hiding it.”
A red pike manifested in Mark’s hands.
“You know me by the legends. I want to unify the people of the ARKs into one state. Only then will this savage land be tamed. Only then can we defeat the King Titan, and only then can we bring the ARKs back to their home. Only then can we complete this Story.”
“I’m not looking to complete this Story.”
“Then you’re a fool, and you must die!”
Mark swung his pike at General Moon, who barely dodged it.
“This pike can kill you in one jab if you’re not careful!” Mark taunted her, “I’d be cautious if I were you.”
“Cocky much?”
“I can afford to be. A blast from even the most powerful of shotguns couldn’t put me down.”
General Moon took out her sword and swung at Mark’s face, but before she couldn’t even blink, Mark’s arm moved up and deflected the attack. General Moon’s sword broke upon contact, and she gasped. Mark began to laugh like a madman.
“IDIOT! YOU’RE DEAD!”
Mark began to run around General Moon, blitzing around like a lightning bolt. General Moon could barely keep up with him. He had to be at least five times faster than the average human. Mark quickly dashed at General Moon and jabbed at her, and General Moon teleported behind him. General Moon landed a hit on Mark with her fists, but he was barely fazed. Another jab, and General Moon teleported to his side, kicking at his legs. Mark fell down, but quickly recovered. Mark jabbed at General Moon’s stomach, but as she tried teleporting away, it was then she realized she had run out of TP.
SHINK!
The pike sank deep into General Moon’s body. She let out a cough, her blue eyes shimmering to a silver. Her mind became a flurry of wild thoughts as all three of her personalities merged into one. For just a brief moment.
“It won’t be for nothing,” Mark told her, “Your sacrifice will bring about a unified people.”
General Moon didn’t respond as she died. Mark immediately felt a burst of EXP through his veins. He looked at his implant, and it exploded with Levels.
“Moon was killed by Mark!”
“YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 1000- YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 10,000- YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 999,999!”
Mark let out a howl, as he began pumping as many levels as he could into Health, Damage, and Stamina.
“NOBODY CAN STOP ME NOW! WE’LL FINALLY TAKE DOWN THE KING TITAN, AND FINISH THE STORY ONCE AND FOR ALL! I CAN FINISH WHAT I STARTED-”
Clank, clank.
A grenade popped down next to Mark. Mark looked at it, and laughed. Grenade. How hilarious. A grenade was like a pinch to an average person.
The grenade began spewing out a green gas. Mark’s eyes widened. What was going on-
Mark suddenly fell unconscious. There was the flapping of wings, and a strong Argentavis landed on the platform saddle of the Ice Titan. A man in a green scarf, green flak armor, and half of his face scarring jumped down.
Pigeon.
The man looked at the Blessed, shaking his head.
“Didn’t put any stats into Fortitude did you?”
Pigeon reached into his inventory and pulled out a load of Organic Polymer, which he had harvested from the penguins in the Arctic on the way back home.
“Saw your Ice Titan hop from the Blue Obelisk to here in one jump. Real slick raid and all.”
Pigeon shoved the Polymer into Mark’s mouth, and forced him to swallow. Mark’s face turned white, and then he turned cold. Mark was dead. Pigeon sighed, getting up from the ground.
This was the climax of his Story, at the least.
He looked out at the horizon. The sun was rising.
“Look at that, sun’s rising.”
Pigeon looked down upon the destruction that had ensued in just the past few hours. Perhaps if he hadn’t let Albert take out his eye, none of this would have happened. No point in crying over spilled milk. Perhaps this was for the best.
There was nothing more to this world anymore.
Pigeon looked at the last remaining Organic Polymer. A part of him wanted to stick around longer, but he knew that wasn’t feasible. Best to go out now like a champ then to get offline raided by some unemployed guy with nothing better to do.
Pigeon gulped the rest of it down, and died.
“Pigeon has died!”
The Walkers of the Void were no more. And with that, the Island could breathe a little better.
Chapter 20: Resolution
Ben had finally made it to the coastline.
The sun was barely beginning to rise, and he had been on the run for around a half hour by now. All that hard work would finally pay off. He could just settle down in a thatch hut, drink some martinis, tame a few Dodos for the heck of it-
Before Ben could fantasize anymore, a pack of Troodons viciously came out of the bushes without warning and tore him to shreds. Ben knocked out before he could even die.
“You have died!”
“Respawn Timer: 1 Month Remaining Before New Character Creation!”
~
As Ben looked at the respawn screen in his room, he shook his head. The door to his room opened, and his uncle, Son, and his brother, Franklin, entered.
“Yo, how’d it go?” Franklin asked. Ben shook his head.
“Remind me to never play ARK Multiplayer ever again…”
~
Will sighed as he shut off his console. He sat on the couch, reflecting on the journey he had taken. ARK PVP had always been so much fun to him. He had only wished his older brother Gerald would let him play with him more often, especially since he would be graduating soon.
Will put the controller down. It was about time he did more with him.
~
“EMMA YOU SOLD!” Connor shouted as Emma gritted her teeth, pulling her hand away from the mouse and keyboard. They were on the death screen, and their character ‘Karma’ had just been wiped from the save.
“Bro, why did you miss?! You could have killed her with that if you didn’t miss!” Jeffrey chastised her.
“I wanna see you try that! And don’t forget I was the one who got the Carcha-whatever it was called to help us!” Emma retorted in response. Little Kayla smirked.
“She do got a point.”
“You know what I just realized?” Tanya said.
“What?” Emma asked.
“This whole time we were supposed to be looking for Ben to ask him where he went,” Tanya reminded them.
“Oh yeahhh I kind of forgot about that. We got a little carried away. Hey, that was fun though!” Connor argued.
“Yeah I guess it was. Anyway wanna play Roblox?”
“Yeah sure, I don’t think we can find him on there anyway.”
~
“Well this is annoying,” General Moon muttered as she walked up the steps of the castle.
The foothold on the Island was done for. Nothing could save the base there, which was incredibly annoying because it turned out the Story was actually taking place on the Island all along. Mystery Girl and Mark ended up taking it all down, wiping out the Constellations’ Influence entirely. The other Constellations were upset, but they tolerant of it. General Sun had begun watching the Story first, and thoroughly enjoyed it so far. General Moon suggested that they could all probably get cameo characters if they wished.
“Will you put a cameo character in?” General Sun had asked. General Moon had shook her head at the idea. There was a trick up her sleeve she had been hiding all along.
The others’ bases had crumbled. The Walkers of the Void were no more. But General Moon was never really in charge of the Island. She had only taken temporary ownership. The real ARK she was in charge of was…
Fjordur.
And that was the castle she currently resided in.
She walked up to an artifact pedestal, which contained a crown with a rune in it. A red rune, that crackled at her presence. The rune she had managed to take with her into this Dream World. It was so beautiful. Her true source of Influence. It was a gamble for sure, leaving it all in this one artifact, but she had a suspicion this would happen.
She placed the crown atop her head.
Immediately, the world shimmered around her. She felt her body change and shift into a three-headed dragon, and the world flickered around her until she was in a void filled with stars and other Constellations. The earth was down below, a singular ARK orbiting around it. She peered inside it. She could see people scrambling around as they were transported inside. She grinned.
Her Influence was running low. She certainly couldn’t do much. At the most three major significant actions. She’d make them count.
She thought, then realized what she had been forgetting. She laughed. Right. She had to take care of HER.
The Story played out, and a few dozen chapters later, she made her move, flying down to the Earth below.