Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 28: A Step Back in Time

Note: Story starts in Achatina, The Island ABC order for Section I, Scorched Earth Exclusives and Aberration exclusives for Section II and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Jerboa, next chapter in Lymantria.

NOTE to anybody who doesn’t understand what ARKtic is: This story will, in this segment and Section III, contain references to ARKtic, a hardcore survival challenge series originally made by a Ark content creator named Schwalbe. You need to survive in the Arctic and you cannot leave it. You also only get one life, so death means the end of the series. It is a great challenge and you should definitely try it. I put this explanation on the wiki, this explaination is for anyone who doesn’t use that wiki.

Chapters to the end of Segment II: 9

It was a hot afternoon. Sweat poured down Dorack’s head as he sat on the porch, next to the lake. Hours passed since they got back Nal. Dorack was using the water to keep himself cool. He had hide armor on too. The sun beat down on him as he sat, and it got hotter too. Dorack was panting and said nothing. He was still shocked of what had gone down earlier. He watched his friend get cornered and almost eaten by wolves. It had reminded him of the terrible moments of ARKtic. He knew of all the great and terrible things that happened during his time on Snowball. Then the door opened and Dorack turned around.

“Dude. You should come in. It’s hot out here.” Sodden said as he sat down next to Dorack. Dorack looked forward.

“I… seeing Nal get cornered like that brought some terrible memories of something we faced a long time ago.” Dorack muttered. Sodden sighed.

“What memories?” Sodden asked. “Come on. I can help you if I know what you’re talking about.”

Dorack groaned in exparastion as he stood up. “I can’t… no. I’m sorry. I don’t want to. I’m gonna check on Nal.” Dorack said in anger as he stormed back into the base. Sodden shook his head solemnly.

“If only you’d tell me what was wrong…”

Day 85 of ARKtic

8 days before Nal and Dorack’s escape…

Snowstorms. Caves. Death Yetis and Polar bears almost Level 450. That was what roamed the deathly caves of Snowball, the deadly cave known as Treacherous Depths of Icicles. Nal and Dorack had the best possible fur armor on them, they rode wolves of over Level 700, and they were ready to go. They had no way to get soup or otters, so they had to hope the fur armor was enough. It was midday. Nal and Dorack was scared but determined to do this cave. The two stood outside the large entrance, the large hole in the wall of the mountain, that led to a tunnel that went deep, then split into many different tunnels. Two led to the Artifact of the Arctic. The others led to deep pits filled of icicles that would sting you and break your implant almost instantly. And the water in there would freeze you to death insanely fast. No armor, no fortitude levels, inside this cave, you would lose a whopping 23 HP per second, making the Treacherous the coldest cave in the universe.

“Are you sure we’re ready?” Nal said, shaking and breathing hard. Dorack confronted her.

“Don’t worry. This fur armor should protect us in there. We’ve farmed many resources, many drops, for this moment.” Dorack said. Nal nodded. Then the two slowly walked into the entrance, and they felt a huge wind engulf them. The wind sent deep chills down their spines. The two shuddered. Their creatures whimpered too. “Oh, my god.” Nal said, shuddering in fear. Dorack walked to her.

“If we’re quick, we can get out with the artifact and we’ll be fine. It’s said, that with the artifact, you can open a path out of the Ark and back to The Island. So this artifact is going to be our ticket home.” Dorack said.

“O-okay…” Nal said, gasping. Dorack and Nal walked deeper through the tunnels, the cold tunnels. No creatures had spawned yet. They didn’t know exactly why, until they heard a lot of screeching when going through one of the left tunnels. The roaring and screeching got louder and louder until they turned a corner, then immediately pulled themselves back. What they saw was a horrifying sight. The Artifact was on a tall pedestal, on a large podium. But guarding every inch of the podium was around 20 polar bears, who knows how many purlovias, some Yutys, an Apex Direwolf, and 30 direwolves!! “Oh, no.” Nal whispered, terrified. “That’s really bad. This is one of the worst caves in the universe. Direwolves were growling, walking around. Polar Bears were walking along the paths that surrounded the podium, along with one of the Yutys. There were purlovia burrows almost everywhere on the floor.

“I think our best bet is to use grapples. As long as we don’t get caught by any purlovias, we should be fine.” Dorack said. “But wait… if they hit us once… what will happen?” Nal said. Dorack was silent for a few seconds.

“Nal… they hit you once… I’m not gonna be bringing you home alive. Remember… we can’t respawn in this Ark.” Dorack said. Nal nodded softly. Dorack got on Nal’s wolf and wrapped his arm around Nal’s chest.

“I will not let you die. Okay?” Dorack said. Nal nodded. “We are leaving this Ark, no matter what.” Then Dorack took out a crossbow, let go of Nal, hopped off her wolf, and took out some grapples from his bag. Dorack pulled back the string on the crossbow and put the grapple on it. He readied it, then aimed it at the ceiling above the artifact.

“Okay. I’m gonna get to the podium, then you’ll use your crossbow to get there too. Just be careful. Okay?” Dorack said.

“But… what will happen if I don’t make it?” Nal said, breathing heavily.

“Hey. You will make it. Like we will make it out of this Ark alive. Okay?” Dorack said. Nal nodded. Dorack nodded back, looked up at the ceiling of the large podium, then aimed his crossbow at it. He then pulled the trigger, holding the crossbow tight, and the grapple soared through the air, and hit the ceiling. Some ice fell from it. The grapple was lodged into it now. Then Dorack let out a exhale and leaped. The grapple brought him across the room, towards the podium. The bears and wolves roared in anger, but they couldn’t get on the podium. They roared as they scratched the base of the podium over and over, jumping up. But they could not get on.

“Nal! Your turn!” Dorack called out to Nal, standing on the chamber’s entrance. Nal gasped as she looked down at the creatures. Her heart pumped quickly as she backed up. “Nal! You need to come with me! The artifact requires two people to obtain!” Dorack yelled. Nal was gasping as she looked up at the podium. “Come on. You can do it!” Dorack called. Nal took out her crossbow, loaded up a grapple on it, and aimed at the ceiling. Her hands were shaking as she prepared to go. Then she pulled the trigger and she started soaring across the room.

~~~~

The four people sat in the bedroom, Nal lying on one with a ice pack on her forehead and chest, and a bandage on her arm. Sodden sat next to Dorack, who was holding Nal’s hand.

“Hey,” Sodden started. Dorack shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Okay?” Dorack said. Serenity walked around the bed that she was standing across and towards Dorack. “Well, you can’t just keep it all in forever!” Serenity yelled. Dorack stood up just then.

“I refuse to think about the torture we went through there!”

“Can you just…”

“We almost died twice there! And no one respawns in Snowball!” Rod then walked towards everyone. He took out a ball full of water and threw it at the door, exploding it and spraying water all over everyone.

“Enough! ARKtic is not what’s important right now!! We have barely progressed today! We only have two raptors and nothing else. I suggest we find a Parasaur for berries and a Morellatops for water. We at least should get levels and find metal. Can we stop arguing over this?” Rod said. Everyone shot a glare at him.

“Okay, fine. Forget it. Yeah. Let’s go out to the great desert of death in the middle of the day. Yeah. Good idea.” Dorack said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry. We’re just gonna wait until the heat wave goes away, then we’ll go tame some creatures.” Rod responded. Sodden nodded and walked to the window, using a cloth shirt to dry his face and shoulders. Rod growled as he walked to the back of the base. He stood against the back door.

“The wolves… ugh. We shouldn’t have tried to get them to Scorched Earth. They wouldn’t have gotten stuck on Snowball, then.”

~~~~

Nal swung across the room, holding the crossbow, until she was over the podium. As she hung over the podium, she let go of the crossbow and landed on the floor. “Okay. As soon as we grab the artifact, the podium will start dissolving. We will need to get to the exit as soon as possible after that, okay?” Dorack said. Nal nodded. Dorack stormed over to the glowing vest-shaped artifact with a medium-sized blue orb glowing in the center and a beam of light going through it. “Okay. We both grab it at once. Ready?” Dorack said as he lifted his hand above the artifact. Nal walked to the artifact too and lifted her hand.

“Yes.” Nal said.

“Okay. On the count of 3. 3… 2… 1…” Dorack said. Then they grabbed the artifact at the exact same time by the handles on the sides, then the ground shook. The wolves and purlovias scratching the bottom were pushed away. The artifact made a loud noise then ascended up into the air, lifting Nal and Dorack with it. Then it disappeared into a ball of light and went into Dorack’s implant. The two hit the ground just then and brushed their legs off as they stood up. Dorack’s implant became dark blue, with a white ball in the center.

“What the heck?” Nal said as she walked to Dorack and looked at the implant.

“Well, good news is, we don’t have to worry about how we will get out of this Ark anymore. We can just go to the Ripdown Mountain and activate the path with the white obelisk. But there’s a problem.” Dorack said. He got cut off when the ground rumbled and shook, and cracks appeared in the ground.

“Oh, no.” Nal said as she held her arms out to stay up.

“We need to get back. Now.” Dorack said. The two took out their spare crossbows. Dorack put a grapple on his, and Nal put another one on hers. Both aimed for the tunnel. Dorack then pulled the trigger and leaped off the podium. He flew towards the tunnel as the grapple lodged itself into the wall. Then he touched down onto the ground, and retracted the grapple, causing the wall to have a hole in it and some ice to fall out. Dorack turned around. The podium was breaking down fast. Then a large piece of it detached and fell off, causing some wolves to get scared and run from it. Nal was breathing heavily, holding the crossbow at the wall in the tunnel.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” Nal said. She pulled the trigger and the grapple shot off from the crossbow and soared towards the wall. It hit the hole, causing some ice to crack. But it was ice and not snow. Broken ice. It was not stable. Nal then jumped off the podium and she soared with the crossbow towards the podium. Then the grapple shook. Dorack gasped.

“Nal! Retract the grapple!” Dorack shouted.

“What!?” Nal yelled.

“Do it! I’ll have the wolf pull you!” Dorack said. He led the wolf to the grapple. The wolf bit the grapple with his mouth, and Nal pressed a button on the crossbow, causing the grapple to launch back and fly towards the crossbow. Dorack grabbed it with his hand. Nal was screaming as she hung over the pack of wolves below her. The Apex Direwolf was growling as it walked towards them.

“Oh, my god. No…” Nal gasped. The Apex Direwolf was miles stronger than a normal wolf. Even a 450 Direwolf did not compare. The Direwolf had 50 times the strength of a Level 1 wolf, so around twice the strength of a 450 wolf. Basically a Level 900 wolf. If it hit Nal one time, nerves would explode instantly. Her fur armor wouldn’t save her. It’d one shot her.

“Oh, no. I hoped he wouldn’t see us!” Dorack yelled in fear. He pulled the grapple, but the grapple was stuck. Nal clinged onto the wall of the chamber, just below everyone. The grapple then made a sound. The wolf had tried to be soft on the grapple’s rope. But he was far too powerful to be easy on a piece of fabric. Even the wolf’s tiniest nipple almost instantly snapped the grapple, causing Dorack to get thrown forward. The wolf screeched and grabbed Dorack before he could go over the dropoff. The wolf was getting pulled. “NO!” Nal screamed in fear. Nal held out her hand and Dorack grabbed it. The wolf growled softly as it tried to pull the two up. Then they heard a loud screech. The Apex Direwolf was right below them! Nal was gasping in fear as it roared. It lifted its front legs and set them onto the wall. It then leaped onto a rock, just next to Nal’s leg. Nal pulled back her body, but the wolf was dangerously close. Dorack pulled Nal higher as he started getting to the ground above. Dorack stood there, the wolf holding his leg, and pulled Nal from the Apex Direwolf. The wolf roared in anger. Dorack got Nal back on the ground. Nal lay down, gasping in fear. Her heart was pumping very quickly. Dorack held her hand. “Hey. You good?” Dorack said. Nal nodded. Dorack helped her up, then the two got on their wolf. All seemed calm, then they heard clanking and scratching. Then there was deep growling. “Don’t tell me it can…” Nal said, gasping. “GO!” Dorack yelled at his wolf. The wolf started running. The Apex wolf roared and ran hard and fast.

~~~~

PEW!

A tranq arrow flew through the air and into the head of a Parasaur. The Parasaur had a bola on its legs. Then another tranq arrow flew at its head. Then two more, until it fell unconscious from all the poison. Sodden, Dorack, and Serenity stood near it, Sodden holding a bow. The Parasaur roared as it fell. The group cheered. It was only a low level, a 20, but it would do. “Okay. It’s not much, but it should do us good for now.” Sodden said. He walked to the Parasaur and took out a pile of berries. He put them in its inventory, and it started munching on the berries. “Well, now we wait.” Sodden said. “I think I saw a Level 60 lone Morellatops nearby. Should we tame that while we wait?” Dorack asked as he walked to Sodden. Sodden turned around to face him.

“Okay. I think we will have enough tranqs. Let’s just get it in a rock. Okay?” Sodden said. Dorack nodded.

“We also need a Jerboa for detecting a sandstorm or heat wave. Or a superheat wave. There’s also the electrical storm, but I don’t think we should worry about that for a while.” Serenity stated. Sodden walked east from the Parasaur for a hundred meters, along with the others following him, and found the Morellatops. But they gasped in shock. It was dead. Blood poured out of its neck and back, huge wounds on its legs and body.

“What the heck? What did this?” Dorack asked. Sodden gasped as he saw some wolves walking near it.

“I think I found the hunters.” Sodden said as he jumped behind a large rock, as did everyone else. They peeked from the rock towards the wolves. They had no spyglass yet.

“Well, what level are they?” Sodden asked.

“No idea.” Serenity said.

“Hmm. I tamed a wolf in a very interesting way once.” Dorack said, pondering.

“What you got?” Sodden asked.

“I snuck up on the Alpha, bolaed the other wolves, hopped onto the Alpha, and fed it meat while it went crazy and tried to throw me off. I think I can prove now that carnivores can be passive tamed. It’s just really hard.” Dorack said.

“So… we just use all our bolas on the wolves and take them out?” Sodden asked.

“Yeah. Then I use the meat I gathered to feed the wolf. Let’s do this.” Dorack said.

“Okay.” Sodden said, taking out some bolas. The three snuck to behind the morellatops, and heard munching. The wolves were eating a large chunk of meat, which they got from the morellatops. There were three wolves. One had a red-orange glow. Sodden and Dorack looked at each other and nodded. Serenity took out the crossbow she had on her, and the three jumped out from behind the Morellatops. The wolves stopped eating and looked at the survivors that had showed up. Sodden yelled out and threw two bolas at two of the wolves, leaving the alpha wolf alone. Dorack leaped up as the alpha wolf roared and jumped at him. Dorack missed the wolf, then grabbed its tail. Then Dorack jumped onto the wolf as it hit the ground. Serenity started launching arrows at the other wolves. The alpha wolf roared and screeched as it shool and jumped, trying to throw off Dorack. Dorack held onto the neck, trying not to fall. He then reached into his bag and took out a piece of prime meat. He held it out, and the wolf sniffed it and grabbed the top of it. The wolf growled as it ate it down. Dorack took out more meat and put the meat below the wolf. The wolf was eating it. It was a Level 70. A decent level. The wolf ate through the meat, then Dorack took out a large piece of meat. It looked like prime meat, except it wasn’t normal prime meat. It was, as he called it, cataprime meat. Dorack made it himself months ago and used it for a lot of things. He gave it to the wolf, and the wolf turned to bite the meat. When it did, it stopped moving. The wolf purred as it ate through the meat quickly, ripping out the bones and gnashing through the meat. Then Dorack got a notification on his implant. It had worked. The wolf was theirs. The wolf purred as it walked to Dorack. When Serenity was done with the wolves, she walked to Dorack. Sodden walked to Dorack too. “And that is how you passive tame a wolf.” Dorack said. The others clapped in astonishment. “Never thought you could do that. What was that large piece of meat? Enhanced prime meat?” Sodden said.

“Yeah. It’s called cataprime meat. I made it while I was in Snowball. The… only reason sweet Nal is still here.” Dorack said softly, sniffling. Serenity gasped.

“Wait… you two were the survivors who went into that Ark? Oh, my god. The only way to ascend without killing the bosses is if you had an Explorer with you guys.” Serenity said. Sodden looked at her, confused.

“A what?”

“Explorers explore the Multiverse. They work with the Creator sometimes. I once had an Explorer on our tribe… but they died. They say… that if you’re on a tribe with an Explorer… and you come super close to permadeath… you can actually see the Creator. But it’s rare. The only way the Creator could’ve found you there is if one of you almost died and came back.” Serenity explained to both Sodden and Dorack.

“Yeah. I’m not talking about it, though.” Dorack said. “That’s cool. So… you left the Ark that way?” Sodden asked. “Yes. And it’s how you can get back to The Island and get to other Arks with all the creatures!” Serenity exclaimed. “That’s insane. But… there’s no explorers with us.” Sodden said. “Hmmm.” Dorack said, grinning.

~~~~

Dorack and Nal ran out of the cave, on their wolf. The roaring was getting louder. Then they saw a large, maroon-colored aura rise from the cave. The Apex Direwolf. It ran fast. It bit hard. The two survivors had to get back to the base. The wolf was catching up, though.

“It’s faster than us!” Nal yelled.

“Okay. Okay. I have an idea. It has to work.” Dorack said as he moved his bag to the front of his body, then opened it and used his hand to look through it. There was just food, water, weapons, all that. He found something, though. “You done? I think it’s about to hit the wolf!” Nal yelled, staring at the Apex Direwolf, its mouth hanging open and getting dangerously close to the tail. Dorack grabbed a large piece of prime meat, a piece of cataprime meat. He turned around andd threw it at the wolf. It hit the wolf in the face, and it stopped in its tracks. It ate the meat quickly. The two survivors were still going. After 20 minutes, they made it back home. Nal and Dorack got off their wolves and collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

“Well, we did it.” Dorack said.

“Now we just get to the white obelisk and get ready to get home.” Nal said, excited. The two laughed and sighed as they held hands. Then they heard footsteps, and deep growling.

“I was about to say something. Well, guess we’re going.” Nal said. Nal and Dorack leaped, then the Apex wolf roared as it leaped. The two jumped out of the way, and the wolf hit the door on the base, immediately breaking it apart. Normal wolves can’t damage wood, but Alpha and Apex wolves can. Nal was sitting against the wall as the wolf sniffed around and walked to her.

“NO! That’s it. Passive taming method, let’s do this.” Dorack said. The wolf was growling, walking to a terrorized Nal, when Dorack threw another cataprime meat at the wolf. The wolf looked at the meat and ate it, then looked up to see Dorack holding two more. The wolf roared as it walked to Dorack, then Dorack threw the meat. The wolf was being thrown off by the scent of the meat. After a few pieces of meat, the wolf had calmed down. Dorack walked to it as it stopped eating the meat.

“You cool with us?” Dorack asked. The wolf purred. “Oh, my god. Wait…” Dorack said. He checked his implant, and what he saw shocked him. The impossible message.

“You tamed an Apex Direwolf (Level 15)!”

Dorack did not only tame an Alpha, he tamed something stronger.

“Wait… wait. Okay. Nal, come here.” Dorack said in shock, his jaw dropped. Nal stood up and walked over. The wolf growled as he looked at them both.

“Hey. Can you stay with us?” Dorack said. The wolf whimpered as it shook its head.

“It says it needs to stay in the cave, or else the next time someone goes there, he’ll die.” Nal said sadly.

“Oh. Well, it was nice meeting you. Um… just don’t try to kill us again, okay?” Dorack said. The wolf nodded. Dorack pet the wolf on the head. The wolf purred as it walked away.

“I can’t believe it. You can, indeed, tame an Alpha. That cataprime is way too overpowered.” Dorack said.

~~~~

Inside the base, Rod sat on the bed with Nal, who sat up on it. Sodden, Serenity, and Dorack circled them.

“Yes. I am indeed an Explorer. That’s how I got from Aberration to The Island on my own.” Rod said, smiling. The group murmured in excitement.

“And you passive tamed a wolf?” Nal asked Dorack in excitement.

“Yep.” Dorack said.

“Dude. Where did you even get the cataprime?” Nal asked. Dorack sat down on Nal’s bed.

“Got it by killing a Rex this morning. I got some prime meat and cooked up the cataprime with it.” Dorack said.

“Wow. It reminds me of when you tamed that Apex.” Nal said.

“So many great times at ARKtic, yes. Like Day 85 there when we discovered we can tame Alphas. Although, it doesn’t seem like we can even use them.” Dorack said. Nal nodded.

“Well, you got the Parasaur, right?” Rod asked Sodden.

“Yep. We also got a wolf, and we’re going to go out for a Morellatops. Some of us got to Level 21, so I guess that means time to get metal.” Sodden said.

“Yeah!” Dorack yelled.

~~~~

On the tip of Whitesky Peak, Cordor sat, shivering in his fur armor, on a Giga. He was in front of a army of 20. He was Level 30. He was preparing to lead the army down the mountain.

Then someone next to him said, “When will we go?”

Cordor turned around and said, “Oh, Nal. We will go when we go.” The man nodded. Cordor looked forward.

“All of you, let’s go. Nal from Nameless and not Nudon, you got the sword?” Cordor asked. Nal nodded. Cordor growled.

“Good.”

The Gigas then began walking down the mountain.

What’s going on in The Island?

-RelatingHen8906