Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Ultimus Chapter Thirty: Truths

Paul and Sylas rode back from the Barracks and were back under the unusual structure. Sylas couldn’t help but notice how it gave him… it gave him… ah he couldn’t remember the word. But it looked eerily familiar. He was glad he went to the Barracks with Paul. There were so many graphic novels, comics, and books in there from so many different places. Too bad there were no DVDs.

He handed Phil a few berries, who grunted excitedly below him as he grabbed them out of Sylas’s hand. Sylas retracted his hand, and then sat there for a moment before smiling; then chuckling. He just realized he was riding Phil like a child would ride on their dad’s shoulders. This was pretty funny to him since it is almost the opposite now with the dad riding on their kid’s shoulders.

“Hey, Paul, I just thought of something funny.” He said as he looked over at Paul chuckling. But Paul didn’t seem to be in the mood for laughter as he wasn’t paying attention. He seemed to be deep in thought as they rode on.

“Paul.” Sylas asked, Paul looked over at Sylas. “You okay?” Sylas asked, Paul nodded.

“Aye, I’m just wonderin’ what happened back in that military facility.”

“My guess is they used it for a storage site, and they shut it down sometime after. Then over time, it got dilapidated.” Sylas answered,

“No, not about with the facility itself, with the dead raptors, the blood, and gore everywhere.” Paul said. Sylas hit his head in dumbfounded.

“Oh, you mean that… yeah that was very weird. The stench was disgusting. I’m gonna need a shower for like a week.” He said, Paul chuckled.

“Aye, but how did they die?” He retorted.

“I don’t know, they might’ve got locked in there?” Sylas suggested.

“With bullet holes in their face, and chest?” Paul said back.

“Ah… I didn’t see those. Maybe Andrew killed them?” Sylas answered.

“Aye, but why?” Paul continued to ask.

“Because, they were threatening his life like everything else in this mad world?” Sylas said, Paul nodded his head.

“Aye, yer probably right. It’s just strange, don’t ya think? Andrew could’ve told us about the corpses before we went. So why didn’t he?” Paul asked, Sylas shrugged.

“Maybe they’ve been there for months, maybe he just forgot they were there. It has been a crazy ride for him. Plus if he’s healing from a concussion, maybe his mind is still fuzzy and he simply didn’t remember.” Sylas said, Paul looked at him and nodded.

“I doubt what ya first said, but you might very well be right on your next part.—” Paul said, he looked ahead and sighed, “Aye, yer probably right… hey, what were ya goin’ ta ask me before we got on this discussion?” Paul asked, Sylas perked up as he smiled.

“Oh well… I forgot.— Oh well, I’m sure I’ll remember what I wanted to bring up.” Sylas said, for the remainder of their trip. They stayed silent.

~

Paul and Sylas journeyed out of the strange structure and onto the side of the creek that the others had crossed. The nice thing about that strange structure was that the creek had ended in a delta in there. So it was easier to cross the delta to get onto the other side of the creek. As they walked, Paul couldn’t help but think about the corpses. Why were they in the facility, and what had died in that pool of blood? These questions kept soaring through his head as they got closer and closer to where they had left the others. He really needed to ask Andrew what this was all about. His mind kept wandering if Erica was right and he was really dangerous. But none of this made proper sense to what he had seen with him.

As they got closer, Paul could smell a fire, and as they moved along. Paul could then see smoke coming from an elevated vantage point: some animals including a Rex and a couple of people standing near it. Paul could see that Sylas was relieved to be back with the others, Paul smiled and thought the same thing. He looked around at the surrounding area they were near when he noticed two people below the vantage point where they were playing archery or some sort of target shooting. He could guess it was Freya and Erica. They both liked to practice their depth of combat prowess when they could get the chance or if Paul was busy.

As they reached the bottom of the vantage point. Paul watched as Phil with Sylas riding him ran up the hill cheering and hooting as they went along. Both could smell the food that was being prepared at the fire. Paul could too. He continued to watch as he saw the two at the camp greet or so it seemed and he could hear their voices, but he couldn’t identify them. He turned his attention back towards the bank of the creek where Paul could now tell the two were practicing archery. He still couldn’t tell who they were though with their backs turned away from him. But he decided he would go there and see how they were doing rather than going up the vantage point. He dismounted and whistled Grace to follow him.

He got closer and realized it was Freya and Andrew who were practicing their archery. This felt like the perfect time to confront Andrew about what he saw in the Barracks. He watched for a moment though as Andrew and Freya practiced. He watched Andrew draw his bow and take aim, then released. Landing a bullseye on the target. Paul whistled in admiration. It was most impressive, although from the other target covered in arrows around the bullseye. So it probably wasn’t for him.

Freya turned to see him standing off to the side with Grace. She smiled and waved as she started walking towards him. Andrew turned, he smiled as he lowered his bow and waved.

“It’s great to see you’re back!! So we are leaving soon?” Freya asked, Paul looked at Freya and smiled.

“Aye, we’ll leave here when everyone’s ready.” Paul said as he looked back at the targets. Seeing the arrows hit their target one after another. It made him think more of the dead raptors. Freya noticed his interest in the targets.

“He’s impressive, no? He shoots a bow like he’s a son of Skadi.” Freya noted, she truly seemed amazed at his shooting. So was Paul.

“He is indeed impressive.—” Paul stood there for a moment. He looked over at Andrew. Andrew seemed to be curious about what the conversation was about. Paul needed to talk to him, alone.

“Freya, can I talk to Andrew, alone. I want to ask him a few questions about the Barracks.” Paul asked, Freya nodded with a smile.

“Can you tell Andrew that we’re done for the time being?” Freya asked, Paul nodded “Aye, I’ll do that for ya.” Paul said, Freya gave a small smile.

“Thank you, I’ll bring down Angrboda to pack up these targets.” Freya said, as she walked off, towards the vantage point. Paul turned to see Andrew standing there confused, he sighed.

“Freya said that was enough practice for now, ya may want ta clean up the arrows on the targets to aid her. She’ll clean up and take the targets with her.” Paul said. Andrew seemed surprised.

“Oh… okay—” Andrew said, and he put his bow down on the ground. He then went off and started to gather the arrows on the targets. Paul stood there for a moment as he watched Andrew. He wasn’t sure how he should confront this, he didn’t want to make it sound as if he didn’t trust him or was accusing him of a crime. But he needed to be straightforward and ask about it all. He sighed, he just needed to ask.

“Andrew, can I talk to ya for a second?” Paul asked, Andrew chuckled.

“Sure!! It’s not like I got anything else to do but answer questions or ask questions.” Andrew said genuinely,

“I need to ask about the Barracks, and what was inside.” Paul asked, Andrew turned and gave a curious look at Paul.

“What about it?” Andrew asked, Paul was about to say what was on his mind before he saw Andrew look back with a big smile. He looked so much better than he had when they first met. He was still sickly, and thin, but he didn’t seem so emotionally unstable. He sighed in defeat, he’d just have to ask him later. When he felt he wouldn’t undo all of their work. He had to come up with a question though to replace his big question.

“What did ya take from in there? A lot of stuff seemed ta be ripped open, and some were all but destroyed?” Paul asked, Andrew looked back at Paul.

“Ah, well. I mainly grabbed history books, survival guides, and some novels.” Andrew said,

“Oh, what did ya read?”

“Mainly science fiction novels, there were a few comic books from sometime in the twenty-first century. Although I had no idea what they were exactly about. Apparently, they act like minichapters to a book. And the URE Library seemingly didn’t have them all together, or just a lot of them at all. It was over two hundred years ago when they put them in there.” Andrew said. Paul nodded, Andrew didn’t seem like he knew about the corpses in the Barracks. Maybe they died there after he had been in there last.

“So, since you're back, does that mean we’re leaving soon?” Andrew asked as he went back to grabbing the last few arrows, Paul nodded.

“Aye, just as soon as I get up there and Freya grabs these targets, we’ll be on our way.”

“Alright, then you might want to send her down to grab these. I’m finished here.” Andrew said as he turned with a bunch of arrows in hand and walked passed Paul. Paul turned as Andrew walked passed. He stopped for a moment and looked back.

“Did you want me to divide these up to everyone so that they can have some? I don’t know if I will need all of these if I have my Tek Bow.” Andrew said. Paul sighed and smiled at Andrew.

“Aye, ya can divide them between the others, although, I don’t think anyone besides Erica and Freya will take them.” Paul said,

“Alright, I’ll give them each some, and since I’ll be giving Freya some. I’ll tell her she can come and get the targets.” Andrew said smiling. Paul smiled back and gave him a thumbs-up.

As Andrew walked away, Paul had every thought running through his head. He didn’t seem like someone who would be intentionally lying. Could he not remember? Or was he just playing them? For now, he would still trust Andrew. Nothing Paul saw really changed that, the only thing it showed was his violent nature towards the raptors. Which was something they had seen before already. The only thing that concerned him was what was in the blood pool. This was the only concern for Paul since Andrew had to have been there when it died with the prints left behind.

He would refrain for now, but he needed to confront this. He would wait until they were in the comforts of his home. Then he would discuss this in private with him.

~

Some time had passed since Sylas and Paul arrived back. Paul had told Erica that he had found what he was looking for, and they all left soon afterwards. Andrew and Sylas led the group as Andrew guided them towards this secret path that led to his entrance to his home. Erica, Paul, and Freya were in the middle; while Jonathan dragged behind. Busy writing down his notes of his discoveries on several new species he had observed.

Andrew explained that they were looking for a subway station that had a teleporter inside. Which would take them to the Camacho International Forest.

“Now, I’m not one who pretends to be a big outdoor guy, but I have no doubt there isn’t a Camacho International anything. Who would even be named Camacho?” Sylas said. Erica chuckled with a smile.

“After the Tek War, the Factions united in making sure any, and all ecological hotspots were to become international parks. With fully funded conservation. A forest was found in the western hemisphere by the Terran Federation; and named after one of the most influential soldiers and engineers in our time. Santiago Camacho. The forest’s size started decreasing in 2370, and was later aided in its protection by the URE with a ProtoArk base in 2372.” Erica said. Andrew turned and seemed shocked by the information.

“Really? That’s what that ring is around the forest?”

“Yeah. It was a little controversial at the time, but the URE felt it was worth saving.” Erica said with a small smile on her face. Andrew smiled back.

“You seem to know a lot about the forest!” Andrew said, with that Erica’s demeanor changed. She got colder and more intense towards him.

“Yeah, kinda.—” she paused, staring off as she rode along. Thinking about what she would say. “I took hikes through there in my grad school years. It was nice. I wished I had walked more through there.” She continued as she looked off into the distance.

She could hear the others talk and laugh as she stared off, but she didn’t hear what they were talking about. She couldn’t stop thinking about the forest. This would be the first time she’d be there since grad school, in some ways she missed going there after that. But she needed to stop going. She just needed to.

As she stared off, she looked over at Andrew. He was looking back, talking to Paul with a large smile on his face. She smiled, he didn’t seem to be threatening. On the contrary, he seemed kind and innocent… and while she couldn’t say she trusted him fully. She could start to. As she stared at Andrew, something piqued her interested behind Andrew’s shoulder and far up in front of them. It was almost irritating to her eyes. It was shimmering and had a flash of red with its blinding shimmer. It had to be a mile or more out from where they were. And there were more, they stretched as far as her eyes could see, and they seemed to be on the border of the old city. She never remembered these being on the outskirts of the full city.

“Hey, Andrew what is that?” She heard from Sylas, she looked over at Sylas who seemed strangely solemn, he was looking at something other than the towers. He was pointing to something else that was just ahead of them; her view was blocked by Andrew and his horse. Andrew turned around to see what Sylas was asking about, and almost instantly his mood changed, she couldn’t see his face, but his posture changed. He slumped and went completely silent. She needed to see what this was, she had Ajax move around the others so she could see what this thing was. She tapped his side and he moved, and she saw what Sylas was so surprised about… a freshly dug grave, with a cross above it. And there seemed to be writing on the cross. Although she couldn’t read it yet. She knew she would.

“Why is there a grave Andrew?” She asked, still no answer from Andrew. She didn’t like this, she didn’t like this at all.

She looked over at Paul and gave him an expression that told him what she thought, a red flag. He simply looked over at Andrew, then looked back to where he was riding. Like he didn’t care, nor was he surprised. She couldn’t believe this, why was he not!! She was mad at herself too, she thought she could finally trust him, but with this. It was back to square one.

They rode past the grave, then everyone stopped about a few meters past it, Erica and the others got off their mounts to read the grave while Andrew merely stopped.. Erica got a good look at Andrew’s face, which honestly showed something she didn’t expect. Guilt, shame, grief. Someone who was dealing with pain. It was kinda sympathetic to see. But she didn’t fall for it, she needed to know why there was a grave.

They walked up to it, and everyone stayed silent. Erica noticed that Freya and Sylas kept looking at Andrew. Paul seemed to be more curious about the grave like she was. While Jonathan was just nose deep in his notes. This angered Erica, they could be working with a murderer, and this guy doesn’t care in the slightest. It just ticked her off how careless he was about anyone, and she knew one thing about him. If anyone died, he would not give two cents about it happening. If it was his fault, he’d throw the blame, if it wasn’t, he just would not care that it happened.

They reached the grave, and with everyone silent, they read what it said. ‘Rest in Peace Rueben. For your death was not in vain.’. Everyone looked at each other, for a moment, it remained silent, but only a moment.

“Well, we should leave him for dead.” Jonathan said, everyone but Erica had an immediate reaction.

“We can’t do that to him!” Freya said immediately,

“Why not, he obviously lied to us. He had someone else here, they died. Probably by his hand. So we leave him with what he had before. We take his horse and we go for the Element ourselves.” Jonathan explained. Sylas raised an eyebrow.

“Hold on, now you're telling me, that Andrew killed this Reuben, then built him a grave out here? Well, why not build him a grave at his home if he killed him? Or why build a grave at all?! I mean look at this place, it’s a wasteland filled with bones and dead things. He could’ve just dumped the body and not cared!” Sylas said as he kicked a bone. Paul nodded in agreement.

“And how do ya expect us ta get the Element without knowing the way, let alone him beating us to it? He stays, I doubt he killed this person. In fact, I think both Sylas and I may know the cause of this death.” Paul answered, Sylas' eyes widened at the realization. Erica reacted to this too, surprised to hear that Paul had already speculated about something

“The raptors, you think they—” “Hold on, raptors? What raptors?!” Erica interjected.

“When we were looking for medical books at the Barracks. Sylas and I had come across a gruesome sight, raptors everywhere, dead. The ones I had seen were shot with shotguns at close range.” Paul answered,

“And I saw one that was shot in the chest with a gun. But not a shotgun.” Sylas said,

“But where I was at, I found a pool of blood with no body or blood trail, but no blood trail. There was also some smears and a bootprint that could only be Andrew.”

“How could it only be Andrew?” Jonathan asked suspiciously. Paul sighed.

“Because it was a Tek boot, Jonathan. And since Andrew was the last in there. I have no doubt it was him.— Let’s be done with this discussion. Andrew’s proving his trust right now by giving us his Element, and letting us talk without him attempting ta explain. He gives us that privacy, even though he’s willing ta guide us ta his home.” Paul said, Erica looked at Paul with frustration.

“Why don’t we confront him about this?”

“If he wants ta tell us, Erica. He will tell us. I don’t wish ta hurt him more by pushin’ him. I will ask him though if he wants to talk about it once we reach his home. Not before.” He said as he looked at Jonathan and Erica. Both she and Jonathan glared back in frustration. She honestly felt angry with Paul, he was keeping secrets from her. She, Freya, and Paul were supposed to be working together to lead this small team. Not having important information left out from one another.

They walked back to their mounts, Paul looked at Andrew, who still had a look of guilt and shame on his face. And nodded at him.

“Lead on, we’ll discuss this later.” He said, Andrew lowered his head and then he and Knight Sky started moving with the others following.

~

Andrew led the others for about twenty minutes, he felt ashamed for not telling them about Reuben. He felt so stupid, how could he explain that to them?! Not to mention the bodies up in the Barracks, how could Andrew forget about THAT! He was beginning to feel sick about himself. Paul, and Sylas had to have seen those… or smelled them, it wasn’t like none of them could smell. It’d been days since he killed them and they must’ve stunk the entire first level with rotting flesh smells. No way… Andrew quickly realized that was probably what Paul really wanted to ask him earlier about the archive room. Not about his searching of books in there, but the corpses. He just felt more and more guilty. Not just for not telling them, but he still held guilt for failing Reuben.

He looked back as he rode, no one but Paul and Freya looked in his direction when he did this. Freya smiled softly before looking away, while Paul looked at him with an empathetic gaze. He looked at the other three though, Jonathan didn’t seem to care, he was just writing something down. Erica purposely wasn’t looking at him, he could tell from how she was sitting and her posture… so much for their bonding helping his chances to make friends with her. Sylas seemed, awkward, and nervous. Not really sure what to do about this, or how to act around Andrew. This made him feel worse about not telling them about Reuben. All it did was hurt them, and hurt him in the process.

They were about two or three miles from the subway, but most of that would consist of mountainous travel, too difficult for their horses and Freya’s Rex to travel. He thought they wouldn’t have to abandon their mounts until to the main path to the subway line, another egregious mistake that Andrew has made. He looked back at the others, still holding guilt for holding out on the grave.

“I didn’t realize the mountain paths up to the path we need to take are so narrow.” Andrew said as he dismounted Knight Sky, the others looked at him. He could see Erica’s and Jonathan’s frustration, they both were holding back what they wanted to say. Paul nodded.

“Thank you for the warning Andrew, we’ll grab what is needed from our saddle bags and meet you up on the path.” Paul said, he looked back at Freya who nodded in agreement as she started going through her bags. But Sylas and Phil immediately walked up to his horse, where he whistled for his horse to stop. Then both walked up to Andrew.

“Do you mind if we get a head start. I got flares and glow sticks so I can leave a trail behind if needed.” Sylas said, Paul looked up the mountain. He then looked back at the two of them.

“I think it’d be alright, but I don’t think you’ll need the flares or glow stick trail. We need to save those for emergencies, and not for breadcrumbs.— We can see pretty well up the mountainside. I don’t think we’ll lose sight of ya.” Paul said, Erica thought looked at Paul with concern.

“You sure that’s okay to leave Sylas with—” She said before she got a glare shot at her by Paul. “I think Sylas and Andrew will be fine together. If they both run into trouble, Andrew has experience to fight, and Sylas has Phil. The two should be a formidable force for any dinosaur or creature.” Paul said. Erica let out a scoff.

“… that’s not what I meant Paul.” She replied. He looked back at her.

“I knew what you meant.” Paul said, he looked back at Sylas and Andrew with a smile.

“We’ll see ya up at the next junction on the path.” Paul said, Andrew nodded and Sylas gave a thumbs up.

“No problem chief. We’ll only go up a little ways, a way.” Sylas said as he, Andrew, and Phil walked off. Up the mountainside.

~

Sylas rode Phil next to Andrew as they walked up the path. They hadn’t gotten too far from the others, in fact, they were only about shouting distance from the others. He looked over at Andrew. He seemed really down since they passed the grave. Honestly, it saddened Sylas, because he seemed genuinely upset. And it crushed Sylas, since he considered him a friend. He didn’t want Andrew to feel guilty for not telling them. They didn’t need to tell him anything about their life on the Ark, why did we have to insist on knowing his? He just wanted him to feel better.

“Hey, are you alright? You’ve been quiet for a while now?” Sylas asked, Andrew said nothing.

“Look, I don’t blame you for not telling us about your friend’s death. It’s not that we’ve told you all our deepest darkest secrets to you.” Sylas said, he still said nothing.

“I-I mean, I can tell you mine since I’m here. I have Alektorophobia. It means I’m—” Sylas paused as a weird ping sound hit his ears, it was starting to give him a headache. He wasn’t all too sure why either. It wasn’t super loud or high-pitched. He was about to continue, but— “You’re afraid of chickens?” Andrew interjected, Andrew seemed surprised; so was Sylas.

“Uh, yeah. But it also seems to extend to dodos for me at least. They just give me this, vibe. Ya know?” Sylas asked, Andrew laughed as he looked at Sylas.

“Ah, no. No I don’t know what vibe they give. I never really messed with the dodo much since I was fifteen. They really don’t seem to care if you pick them up unless they have chicks. Then they give you one good pecking.” Andrew said, Sylas shivered at the word pecking. Sylas then suddenly started hearing a high-pitched hum along with a pinging sound again. Andrew didn’t seem to hear it. Sylas just thought it was his imagination. He looked at Andrew and smiled.

“See, I just told you my darkest secrets. It isn’t too hard to do that. That’s what friends do, they tell their secrets to each other and keep them. But if I hear my secret from any of the others. I’ll put your hand in warm water, and I know there’s no way you can clean those suits.” Sylas said, Andrew looked and sighed as he looked away.

“Reuben died because I was afraid. Raptors had snuck into the barracks, I started to lock Reuben up in a crate before going to the same. But something happened… something I can’t explain, it scared Reuben. He started barking. He caught the attention of the raptors. I killed one, but my rifle ran out of ammo before I encountered the next raptor. I hid in a crevice between some crates. I couldn’t reach my shotgun on my back when my back was against a crate. I thought it was over for me. But Reuben escaped, and he saved me. He killed the raptor, when he saw me he started wagging his tail like he’d never had before... I scooted forward to reach for him… and in the blink of an eye, he got kicked across the room by a raptor. And then he…” Andrew said, Sylas was saddened, and above all confused. Reuben had a tail? Barking? Was this guy a furry? Or…

“Reuben wasn’t human, was he?” Sylas asked as realization hit him. Andrew looked at him. His eyes were filling up with tears.

“He was a Rottweiler, my parents got him for my eleventh birthday. He went into the cryochamber with me. He was the last thing I really had of them, and my best friend.— When he died to the one raptor, I missed my opportunity to kill it there, I shot it in the tail, and killed another one chasing after it. But it escaped… I later searched for it.” Andrew said, Sylas sighed.

“So, was that why the others found you killing raptors out in the Wasteland?” Sylas asked. Andrew nodded. Sylas couldn’t understand that feeling entirely. But he could sympathize, very easily.

“That I think is the most relatable situation in human history, Andrew. I mean— what? You're the only human being you’ve known for twelve years, and the only thing you’ve had a human bonding experience with is literally man’s best friends. I think anyone would go out on a hunt for revenge in that situation.” Sylas said, Andrew seemed to be comforted by this. Sylas smiled before looking down at Phil.

“Yeah, I never really owned a pet before I tamed Phil. Not this Phil, but the Phil before him.— I owned a pet fish named when I was six— but ah… I flushed him down the toilet a few weeks later… alive. I wasn’t great with pets as a kid. But when I arrived on the Ark and later escaped captivity myself. I tamed my first animal, that being one of these Bigfeet. And I named him Phil. And even then, it was more like having a kid than a pet. He fed himself. He looked for his own water. The only thing I need to do is clean their pen, isn’t that right Phil?” Sylas asked, Phil grunted in agreement.

“So, you talk to your animals too?” Andrew asked, Sylas looked back at Andrew.

“Yeah, but only to Phil. If I talked to all animals like they were people, that’d be weird. And crazy, my Grandma did that with her chickens... She told me they would tell on me if I did anything wrong, which terrified me when she did that. Probably the reason I have Alektorophobia.” Sylas said, “Oh…” Andrew responded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

“Hey, how about I tell you the story of where I got this helmet and axe from? That one’s a fun story!!” Sylas asked, Andrew smiled.

“Yeah, I’d like that!” He said, Sylas smiled.

“Great, maybe that’ll get us out of this doom and gloom—” he paused for a moment hearing a sound that sounded like meat frying. “You hear that?” he asked, Andrew looked at him strangely.

“Hear what?” He replied, Sylas chuckled.

“Must be my tendinitis ringing.— Anyway, the story starts with me, Paul, Freya, Erica, and a few of our friends on the Ark going into a dungeon… dungeon castle. SOMETHING, I don’t know, anyway. Everyone dismounted as we started going in. That is except me because I was riding Phil the first. Anyway, we started walking inside this creepy place, and it was like straight out of Robin Hood, or Dracula, or whatever has an old abandoned castle. So we all walked inside, and we got ambushed by these weird, huge-headed— AHHH!!!” He screamed as he fell off Phil and landed on the ground. He gripped his left arm and looked at his implant as he screamed. His implant pulsed quickly with a bright, unnatural red, with each pulse. The pain grew substantially worse.

“SYLAS!!!” Andrew yelled, Sylas couldn’t look at Andrew as his attention was only focused on the implant. He couldn’t even hear anything else after that, except his own screaming and the sound he had heard before. He screamed all the more louder. His eyes started to see only red, and he could feel something warm roll from his eyes, nose, and ears. He screamed in pain as it was the only thing he knew at this point. He screamed in pain begging for help. Begging for someone to know what was going on and save him from this agony. He screamed out until— it all stopped…

~

Erica and the others were still dismounting and gathering their equipment. Erica glared at Paul as she looked through what she needed. Paul looked over his shoulder at her, catching her glare.

“What did I do now lass?” Paul asked. Erica spun around and looked at the back of Paul’s head. Saying, “Why didn’t you tell me about those corpses Paul!! We are all supposed to know these types of things when we come across them!” Erica shouted, she hated being left out of the loop on all these things.

“I didn’t see it necessary ta tell everyone, Erica. Only Sylas and I needed ta know. Whatever happened was Andrew’s business, and he can tell us on his time.” Paul retorted, Erica groaned.

“But it isn’t just his business Paul, and it wasn’t something to hide until you can better handle it!!! He could be a serial killer! And us not pressing him could have one of us if not all of us killed!!!” Erica said, Paul raised an eyebrow.

“So, yer the only one who’s able ta keep important information confidential?” Paul asked,

“What?”

“You, Erica Stevens never told any of us that we’d be coming ta a wasteland mess of our home. That’d we’d be dealing with creatures infected by the same resource we used up there.” Paul said, Erica looked at him with an irritated expression.

“And like I said, I didn’t know it had gotten this bad!!” Erica said defensively, Paul nodded.

“Oh aye, I know that lass. I know ya didn’t know how bad it had gotten. But ya knew it was bad. And ya didn’t tell us. Now, I didn’t know what happened at the Barracks with Andrew at all, all I know is the aftermath. So I wanted to keep it secret until I knew the whole story. Ya with me? And I still don’t yet. I was gonna ask him when I got back, but he’s still fragile. And my guess is that the reason he’s so fragile is because of whatever happened in that place back there.” Paul said, he was getting more expressive because he was tired of the way she was acting. Erica looked at him with a suspicious look.

“And how can you be sure that it has to do with that?” She said cynically.

“Well, the first clue is that he was killing raptors when we found him, and there were a bunch of dead raptors in there. And the next is how he reacted to the grave. He didn’t try to explain, he didn’t come out and say it. He went silent, and he became distant as though mourning. Similar to how you get when we ask ya about yer past Erica.” He said frustrated, she looked away in irritation, not responding.

“Ya see, trauma. Ya don’t think I didn’t know about it, lass? People with trauma usually end up like ya, one’s ta cut off from everyone and cut out people who they don’t want ta trust. Now I can see that whatever yer dealing with hurts ya severely, as they seem ta be old wounds that just won’t heal, and it makes ya cynical and distrusting. And yer gonna be one ta not tell us everything ya know. But we all here still trust ya without a shadow of a doubt, because ya proven that to us yer trusting. Now his, his wounds are fresh lass. Which means he’s at his lowest, and he doesn’t need cynical minds goin’ after him for things we don’t know the full story about. He needs those who’re gonna stand by him. Even when he can’t tell his story or his hardest moments. We need ta trust him, and he needs ta trust us. He doesn’t need ta end up like yerself. Cut off and cuts out. But it won’t help if we turn on him every time we see something that troubles us.” Paul said, Erica looked at him with irritation.

“Big talk for someone who’s never dealt with it.” Erica sneered, Paul looked at her, he was genuinely angry. She’d only seen him angry like this maybe once or twice.

“Erica—” Paul was interrupted by screaming coming from the direction where Sylas and Andrew had gone. “SYLAS!!!!” Another scream echoed with the others, everyone looked in the direction of the mountain to see Andrew. Waving his hands in a panic in their direction.

“HELP!!! SYLAS IS ON THE GROUND!! HIS IMPLANT I BLINKING RED!!!” Andrew shouted in fear. Everyone looked at each other and started running up the mountain. The screaming went on for a few more seconds before everything went silent.

“NO, NO, NO!!! SYLAS!!!” Andrew screamed. Everyone started running faster.

As they ran, Erica heard a sharp pinging sound. The others seem to hear it too, as Paul and Freya whined while Jonathan swore under his breath. They continued on without pause though, they needed to know what was going on with Sylas. Erica was hoping all she could, hoping that the silence meant everything was better… and not the worst. They continued running when the sound of something frying. It was strange, why were these noises happening? They were finally at where Andrew had been waving them down before, and they stopped for a moment, frozen at what they saw. There in front of them was Andrew. On the ground, looking like he got thrown like a rag doll by someone. He was crying, his face flushed, and he was muttering to himself.

“Andrew!!” Paul said, he looked worried. He went by his side and knelt beside him.

“What’s going on? Where’s Sylas?” Paul asked, and like a flood. Andrew burst out muttering. Saying that he was telling him a story one minute then screaming as his thing in his wrist glowed red the next. Paul tried to calm him down but Andrew just kept begging and saying he was sorry. Saying that he tried to help him but Phil wouldn’t let him get close and threw him away. Nothing he was saying was making sense.

“ANDREW!!” Paul said as he grabbed onto Andrew’s arms, he wasn’t mad though, but concerned. Andrew pointed in the direction ahead of him. As she turned, a shimmer hit Erica out of the corner of her eye. It was like the same shimmer from before, but it had red. She looked over to see a giant tower standing not a quarter mile away, with a red beacon light on it. Had it been there this entire time? She looked the other way and saw more in the distance, all in a row of each other like some kinda perimeter. She couldn’t help but stare at the red pulsing light, it almost amplified the sound she and the others heard as they were running up. Andrew said Sylas’s implant started pulsing red.

‘Could these have anything to do with that? Could these be affecting ours right—’, she looked at her implant to see that her implant was indeed glowing red, a bright and rhythmic red. What was weird was that her implant and the tower were in rhythmic sync. She didn’t know what this meant; but she had to tell Paul about this. She turned back to Paul almost forgetting everything that was going on.

“Paul, I think I know what Andrew was referring to when he was saying Sylas’s implant was red.” She said, he didn’t respond.

“Paul?” She asked again, but again he didn’t respond. He just continued to stare in the direction he had before. They all did... She then turned her gaze towards the direction of others when she swore aloud in shock.

Not ten feet away was Sylas; he was lying on the ground with Phil sitting next to him, Phil kept prodding and cooing at Sylas, but Sylas didn’t move. Sylas was holding his left arm in his right hand; to a point, his whole left hand had turned purple. What was more disturbing was the blood lines from his eyes, ears, and nose. Paul started walking towards the body, Erica watched him start to walk away before looking at his implant, it glowed red like hers, but each each step it started pulsing faster, then Erica realized what was going on. The towers were—

“PAUL STOP!!” Erica shouted, Paul looked back. “Erica, I need to check to se-“

“No Paul, he’s dead. And you will be dead too if you don’t turn around!!” Erica said, everyone seemed alarmed. Paul seemed the most

“What do you mean-” “look at your implant—” she pointed to his arm. He looked down to see his implant glowing. “—Look at the towers, they’re glowing red too.”

“What towe-” Paul paused as he saw the giant towers in the distance.

“See, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they all go around the edge of this entire area. And the towers are glowing red and in sync with all of our implants.” Erica said as she raised her implant to show everyone.

“These towers are a skybox, like back on the Ark… but unlike the skybox, this one’s lethal to those who have implants and cross it.” She said, she then heard Jonathan begin to swear off obscenity and heard someone gasp.

“DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?! DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS YOU—” He held him up and continued to swear into his face, although to Andrew’s surprise and fear. He wasn’t speaking in English.

“I don’t know what you're saying!? I’m sorry!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!” Andrew said, tears running down his face, and begging with all his might. Erica knew he didn’t know about the towers. If he didn’t know about implants, he wouldn’t know what the towers did. She was half tempted to leave him for Jonathan… but half wasn’t good enough for her.

“Leave him alone Jonathan. HE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE SKYBOX.” Erica said getting emotional. Jonathan turned around, he was seething with anger.

“I don’t care!! HE is the ONE to BLAME for ONE of US DYING. He deserves the same fate!!”

~

An uproar exploded from the Survivors, pain and anger controlled part of it while most were in pain and heartache. As the fight went on, the Ultimus, the last man on Earth felt all of the same emotions the Survivors felt. He felt guilt, loss, shame, but above all. Blame, as what had come out of one of the Survivor's mouth was of his own tongue, and he felt everything the Survivor said was true. He stared at the corpse. His emotions were breaking him more and more as he stared at it. He couldn’t take it anymore… As the others fought. The man got up and started to run back from where they came. He needed to get away from another death of his doing, maybe on the way his own demise would come to him. But one of the Survivors, with blonde hair and blue eyes noticed he was running back down the mountainside. She told the others that he was running back down, and after a few moments to get everyone’s attention. They whistled Phil to follow and ran after him.

The man ran down the mountain, tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn’t know what to do or why he was doing this. He just felt he didn’t want to hurt anyone else. That he wasn’t to have anyone around him. He was a curse to others. For he had become death, those he cared for or grew to know died around him. He only wished that his demise would come to end this torturous curse for those around him.

As he ran, the man’s footing slipped, and he fell. He balled up as he started rolling down the mountainside. Tumbling through the rock, dust, and Element that was the Earth. He rolled down the side for about twenty feet before stopping upon an embankment. He sat there in a ball, he had cuts all over his head and face from the tumble, but no serious injuries. He began weeping, before erupting to his knees and screaming. Not just from the pain, but in mourning, in blame, in regret of not dying that fateful day, or waking up at all. He wished he had never allowed his parents to put him in the cryofridge, he wished he had died when he was supposed to however many years ago that was supposed to be. He wished he had gotten to see Rue one last time.

His scream died down to a near-silent sniffle, on his knees he continued to cry as blood began to seep from his few small cuts. Soon, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Survivor found him on the ground with the others following not too far behind. He wasn’t too far from the bottom of the mountainside, she could see their tames from where he was. They tried to talk, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t want to, and if he stayed with them. He’d kill them like he did Reuben, and Sylas.

Then there was a sound, a sound the man, nor the survivors’ ever heard. The sound was unearthly and boomed across all directions. Andrew raised his tear-ridden eyes up to watch in horror. As a shadow began to block the sun from where they stood and for most of what their eyes could see. Dull, magenta lights started to appear and began connecting to each other. Forming, becoming something of monstrous proportions. A Giant Monster… Kaiju began to form around the Magenta lights. Its form towered above even the mountains or even clouds it seemed. Its cyan eyes glowed and sat below its magenta nostrils. Its gaze stares not only in the direction of the misfits, but its gaze was locked with the man’s. The man’s red eyes were filled with more fear than he had ever felt. And the monster knew this, and even grinned in delight. Then its eyes turned magenta and it roared, releasing a bellowing sound that shook the Earth around them…

As the man stared up at this towering thing that appeared from complete nothing. He could only think that all he hoped for, any hope for their plan in saving Earth, in bringing these ‘Arks’ down, in seeing other people, in knowing why his parents did what they did… was foolish. For now, he saw what this place was. This place wasn’t just a wasteland of desolation, a place of monsters, a shell of what it once was. This was hell incarnate… and this was their warden. There was no hope for any of their wants or wishes. There was no hope for life, no hope in saving Earth. For the King of the Shadows ruled these lands.

Ṭ̵̘͓͉ͪ̎h̞͇̮͈̪̦̼̻͗ͪͧͤ́͆̇̐ë͎̹̄ͪ̔͒ͫ͘͟r̴̟̙̥͕̯͆̅ͩ̎ͭ_̵̨̡̜͔̝ͦ͗̎̚͢͞ę̷͙̦̫̭̪͍̹̝̝̜̟̂͛̉̉ͬ̔ͩ̚͜͝ w̱̎́ͨa̧̧̛̦̯̖͖͈͇͚̹̤ͪ̆̍ͪͩͮ̓ͨ̃͂̑͟s͔͚̈́̀ͪ n̵̡̘͓̮̖͈̳̟̭ͨ͑ͦ̽̌́̋͗̒́̈́͝o̳̫ͭ͐͢ h̷̶̢̡̝̯̣̗̫̹̬͙̣̜̦̍̏̾̐̓̌́̆̔ͧ͟ơ̴̞͎̘͓̟̣̘͉̩͕ͫ̒ͣ̌͟͝͠͝͡ͅp͖̲͔͙͕̪̟͕̼̼̖̦͚̗̍͐ͤ̾̾̀̀ͯ̇̿͒͢͟͞͡ȩ̸̵̵̞͖̜̼̹̭̮͈̪̞̮̍̋͑͛̋͊͗̈́̾̀ͨ͆̎̏͜͜͜͝͞ͅ ȟ̢̢͇̣̘̘̓ͭ̑ͧ̽ͯ̿̀̃e̡̢̤̦̗ͤ̏̐͑͑ͯͫ͌ŗ̴̗̰̪͙̬͉͓̻̮ͦ̄̏̂̏̿͊͊ͬͧ̂ͨͩ́ͬ̎ͨ͟͞ḙ̸̢̖̼̻̻̿̅̎̅̅̀̇,̸̨͈̬̠͓̙̙̻ͮ̓͒̋ͮ̀ͧ́̀͒͛̕͢ f͍͙͈̙̖̱̤̲͙̥͐̀ͤ̃ͮ͘ơ̜͎̗̯̙̬̯̩͛ͧ͊͛͛ͥͥͯ͗̇͡ͅr̸̵̸̸̨̡̛̟͎̥̪̖̭͍͍ͨͩ͜ͅ ǎ͓̫̣̲͈̝̦̲̘̐͗̃̿̐͢͟͝n̸̵̤ͪ̑́̌_̷̭͓̙͚͉̈̎̓̑ͮ̄͜ŷ̧̤̒͂_̸̵̢̨̺̓ͦ̊ͩͬ̂͜_̴͚̤̋ͪ͛̕ o̵̴̷̶̱̲̲͉̞̻̳̳͊̔̉̉̀̌̓ͮ̓́ͩ̆͘̚͜͝͝f̾̌_̴̧͈͖̹̙̺̺̫͊̽̆͑̀͆ͫͯ̾ͬ̓͑̚ t̴̷̡̢͈̝͉̱͙̹̭̩̱̬̦̘̟̯̗̣̳̎͋͒ͩ́ͥͥͭ̽ͣ͐́͘͠h̸̴̟̼͈̝̘̙̬̣̀͂̂ͨ̿̌̓ͬ̈́ͭ̀͡͞ͅͅe̤̦̪͓̱̠̒́ͮ͆ͩͬ̓͘ͅm̡̮̼̖̩͖͇̰͙̱̘̮̖͓ͫ͗̑͌ͫ͛̾̂̆̊ͧ͛.̴̟̫̞̗̲̝̦̥̣̖͚ͯ́̆ͥ̇͒̾͌͘͢͡͠

Author’s Note:

I hope you have enjoyed the first half of Ultimus!!!! This has been such a fun adventure to write and read along with you all!!!! But as of right now, I’m putting Ultimus on a short hiatus to work on my other story, Journey. Don’t worry, this story will back very soon to read with its next chapter!!! But this time away from Ultimus will do me good as I won’t get burnt out on it, and I can better think on how to structure my story more with what I have planned to the end!!! And oh boy, the rest of this ride only gets better from here!!! I hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of Ark Legends so far!!! And with that. I say thank you for reading!!!

Until Next Time!!!

-PrimalApex:)