Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 61: Chapter That's Written When Another Story Joins The Mix

by Ben

There was nothing but an empty void.

Ben’s eyes fluttered open. His eyes darted around. There were constellations everywhere, looking down on him. Just him and his thoughts. He let out a sigh, twirling around to get comfortable. He rested the back of his head on his palms, kicking his feet up in the air and staring into the nothingness.

“Come out. I know you’re there.”

“Awww.” A current of wind overwhelmed Ben’s clothes. Ben glanced over to see a woman with swirling black voids sitting right next to him. He sneered at its new appearance.

“Why do you look like that?”

KM twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. She squinted her void-like eyes in offense. “What’s wrong with my new look? I thought you’d love it.”

Ben rolled his eyes, leaning back again to gaze at the constellations.

“You wanna explain what happened back there?”

“I thought it’d be obvious. I saved your dumb butt. Again. I should be getting paid for this.”

“Right. Because you are such a saint when it comes to heroics.”

KM brushed her hair back and crossed her legs, holding her palm out. A large iron key manifested into the void. She grabbed it and smacked it against her palm repeatedly.

“You’re unconscious now, by the way. But I don’t feel like controlling your body. Not when that other woman is around. What was the idiot’s name again? June?”

“Yes. June is her name,” Ben scratched his head, “At least she can take care of our body while we’re out cold.”

KM let out a “hmph”, crossing her arms and looking away. “You’re lucky I spared her. I considered killing her again. But I knew you wouldn’t approve anyway.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn’t. And what do you mean again?”

“Forget all of that, Ben,” KM sighed, “Let’s just stargaze for now. It’ll take my mind off your stupidity.”

~

Crackle.

The fire was warm, which helped matters since it was turning night soon. June held her hand out to feel the gentle heat, but she couldn’t feel anything from it. It was just a gentle tickle on her skin. She shivered as a breeze of wind passed by. Her hefty armor wasn’t much help against the cold.

“Come on Ben,” June whispered under her breath, looking at Ben’s unconscious body on the sand. There were even soft bundles of fiber and thatch rested under his head, serving as a pillow.

Ben’s breathing was soft and steady. He didn’t seem at unease at all, despite the relentless battle they had against the beast just prior. June couldn’t fathom what it was. It didn’t look like any sort of prehistoric creature, no less a creature from her world.

June buried her boots in the sand as she waited for Ben to wake. Glancing at his eyes, she felt another skip of her heart. He was a fascinating one, really. And the very few conversations she had with him in the past proved to her just how different he thought from others.

“Maybe… we could have been good friends,” June thought, staring at his eyebags, “Maybe more.”

June’s heart raced, reaching her calloused hands out to touch his face. But before her fingers could trace his cheeks and jaw, his eyes shot open. June retracted her hand as quickly as she could. Ben sat up, dusting the sand off his arms. He gave June a reassuring nod.

“Thanks for holding the fort down,” Ben thanked her. June nearly felt her cheeks blush.

“Um. N— no problem.”

Ben was beginning to get reacclimated to their new surroundings: an island with palm trees for miles out. It resembled their old home quite a bit, except for the navy blue obelisk that hung in the air near the center of the jungle. In fact, if they went up the river now, if they were back home, Ben would end up back at the Book Club Camp.

Ben flicked a stick nearby into the grass. He reminisced of his old home, and his old friends…

“At least back home, we were stuck on that island together,” Ben thought wistfully. “Here, there’s no one else. Nobody except that doppelganger of Paul.”

But it had been so long since he had seen them face to face, both the Book Club members, and even more so the ones back in his old home. His true home. He hugged his legs close together as the sun began to set. There was no point in thinking of bygones.

“I gave up trying to go back a long time ago,” Ben thought hopelessly.

“Are you okay?” June suddenly asked. Ben looked back, confused. He forgot that, most likely, June had feelings for him. But he didn’t anticipate her being so compassionate with him despite her attitude toward Emma before they were sent here. Ben looked away shamefully. He thought he would be annoyed at June asking him, but he wasn’t. He was grateful more than anything else, both at being able to take a breather and over the idea of someone looking out for him in this world.

“If I told you yes, would you believe me?”

“Probably not,” June reassured him. “But I wouldn’t push it after. I would let it be.”

“Really.”

“Really.” June tucked a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. For a second, June did not look like the ruthless warrior Ben had seen just mere moments ago. She just seemed like an ordinary girl with a suit of armor on… and the ability to control the flames. Ben couldn’t put it past him that the girl sitting in front of him looked so familiar. Even her name seemed familiar. But still, Ben couldn’t connect any dots. He pushed those thoughts aside.

“How do you think things are going over back in the city?” Ben inquired, trying his best to simply break the growing awkward silence. June was prodding the sand with a stick, some of her long orange-brown hair falling to her chest, covering her face as she spoke.

“They’re probably done for.” June said. “That creature and that demonic bat will probably ravage the place down to the ground, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”

Ben looked off in the distance as June predicted the fate of Constellation City. He could barely see the city lights from here, but it didn’t appear the city had either fallen or remained standing. Combined with the strange new sky, it didn’t appear either side had truly won.

“You must have lived there for a long time.” June whispered. “I’m sorry about your home.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter to me.”

June looked up at him hopefully. “But maybe, maybe we can build a new home here. Just us two. It’ll be relaxing, really. We’ll hunt the animals together every so often, cook up a storm to enjoy… we can escape the chaos together.”

Ben didn’t look so happy at June’s proposition. June quickly changed her sentence.

“Or maybe we can try finding a way out.” she offered. “We’ll return home. We'll do the things we’re supposed to do.”

“June,” Ben suddenly said, “You shouldn’t care about me.”

“Huh? What are you saying, Ben?”

“June. I’m… not too sure if I’m even your Ben—”

Footsteps crunched in the grass just then. Ben looked up, unfazed. June on the other hand, shot up from the ground immediately and sprouted flames from her fists.

“WHO’S THERE?!” June roared, her eyes burning bright.

~

“She’s got an implant attribute!” Serenity whispered in a hushed voice, grabbing Sodden and trying her best to pull him away. Dorack and Nal were prepared to fight at a moment’s notice, shotguns drawn. They were all wearing chipped and worn flak armor. “We have to go!”

WOOOOSH! Flames surrounded the four friends.

“Woah!” Sodden shouted, pulling the trigger of his shotgun instinctively. BAM! He aimed the barrel outside the ring of fire. The pellets struck a nearby palm tree, causing it to fall down and nearly crush him. POW! An armored fist struck Nal in the cheek just then, and she went tumbling to the ground, dropping her shotgun. June stood above her with a triumphant grin. Dorack looked back in fury.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” BAM! Dorack blasted his shotgun at June’s chest, causing her to fly back and hit her back in a nearby tree. The red armor she wore seemed to protect her from the gunfire, but she still groaned in pain. Dorack prepared to fire at June again, rage in his eyes, but before he could, a set of vines shot up from the ground and grabbed him by the wrists, bringing him down to the ground. Sodden and Serenity whipped around in confusion at the attack of the vines.

“What was that?!” Sodden shouted. WHAM! A vine whipped Sodden in the cheek, cutting it slightly with its thorns. Before either of the two could react, June lifted her arm and snapped her fingers. The flames around the four grew brighter. Sweat poured the four adventurers’ foreheads. Nal groaned as her body began to warm. Her hands were dangerously close to the edge.

“NAL!” Dorack shouted, still lashing against his vine prison. Serenity turned to Sodden. “Help Nal!”

“Got it!”

Sodden rushed over to Nal and gently picked her up, while Serenity ran over to free Dorack from the vines with her knife. The vines quickly retracted back into the ground. Dorack picked his shotgun back up.

“Where is that woman? We need to kill her!”

“D— Dorack,” Nal whimpered in Sodden’s arms. Dorack looked back in horror, rushing over with a gasp.

“Nal! Are you okay?”

She pointed at the ground where her shotgun had fallen. Dorack glanced at the spot in confusion.

“What is it?”

“They… took it.”

Nal’s eyes rolled up to the back of her head. The punch and the flames had taken their toll on her. Dorack gritted his teeth as the flames parted. Ben stood with a shotgun in his hands pointed at Sodden’s head. Sodden raised his hands in the air, fear written in his eyes. Dorack pointed his shotgun back at Ben. June looked at the situation tensely, her eyes darting back and forth between Dorack’s shotgun and Ben.

“Okay. Let’s all calm down, yeah?” Ben murmured, “Put that gun down.”

“You put your gun down first!” Dorack demanded. Serenity grabbed Dorack’s shoulder roughly. “Dorack. Calm down. They have attributes, we don’t.”

“Which means they won’t be able to respawn, and we can. What’s stopping me from burying you for hurting Nal?”

Ben nearly chuckled. June clenched her fists, almost stepping in front of Ben.

“Ben…”

He nearly lowered his shotgun in pity. “They don’t know. Heh. They’re new.”

“What?” Sodden seemed more confused than anything. He lowered his hands. “What do you mean by that? Do you know where we are?”

Ben tossed Nal’s shotgun to the side. Dorack lowered his shotgun in response when he realized that they were all in a similar situation after all. Ben shoved his hands back in his graduation robe pockets.

“I don’t know what place you come from that lets you… ‘respawn’,” Ben laughed, “But I doubt that will work here in this world. This isn’t your home ARK.”

The four survivors were stunned. Serenity crossed her arms.

“If this is another ARK we somehow don’t know about, then what’s stopping us from respawning?”

Ben motioned around, “Take a look around. Scorched Earth is nearby, all these new biomes are nearby… you’re in an entirely different universe.”

Sodden, Dorack, and Nal gasped. Serenity didn’t seem as surprised, but she still seemed slightly confused. Regardless, she stepped forward, taking charge.

“Is there a way out?” Serenity asked, “Do you know? Does it have to deal with the bosses of this world? Your attributes will be helpful. We can work together to escape back to our home. I know it.”

Ben didn’t respond at the mention of ‘escape’, but his curiosity was piqued at Serenity’s confidence. Serenity sighed, rubbing her forehead. Ben and June shared a glance. It was clear June did not want to stick around with these people.

“I’m not sure yet. Give me and June a moment to talk it over.”

~

It was already starting to get dark.

None of the survivors had any food on them, so Sodden and Serenity had decided to take the initiative to get food. Nal nudged Dorack on the elbow as the two walked off, talking as if they had known each other for forever.

“Look at them go,” Nal snickered. Dorack laughed.

“Yeah. They make a great duo, don’t they?”

“Just like us!” Nal grinned. Dorack laughed again. “Yeah. Just like us.”

Dorack glanced back over at Ben and June. The two still seemed to be talking about the new survivors. They almost seemed to be having an argument.

“They tried to kill you, Ben! Of course they can’t be trusted!”

“Yeah. True. But they didn’t know what was going on. Didn’t you do the same with the others back in the city?”

“But that’s different, Ben!”

It didn’t look like their discussion was going to resolve any time soon. Dorack continued to trace circles in the sand with a stick, while Nal warmed herself up with the fire June had started. It didn’t look like it was going to go out soon.

“I guess that’s the perks of having an implant attribute,” Nal thought. The duo reminded Nal of Jerboa. She looked back over at Dorack.

“How do you think he’s doing by the way?”

“Are you talking about Jerboa?” Dorack sensed with a laugh. “I think he’s doing just okay wherever he is… he managed to survive that…”

Dorack paused, his laugh fading at the thought of ARKtic. Nal reached her hand out, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

“Hey. That’s over. We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Dorack clenched his fists, hanging his head low.

“But aren’t we in the same situation now? Stranded from where we were supposed to go, in a land unknown to us, with who knows what out there?”

“Maybe so,” Nal pulled her hand away from Dorack. “But at least we have Serenity and Sodden with us now. And… those other two, if they decide to help us.”

“And—” Nal winked. “At least it isn’t freezing.”

Dorack let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah. Let’s just not go to the snow anytime soon.”

“Deal. Cheer up, Dorack. I don’t want to see my best friend so swallowed with regret. There was nothing any of us could have done that day.”

The two resumed staring at the fire. Soon, Sodden and Serenity would return with a good meal.

~

GROAAANNN!

The carbonemys fell to the sand, bloodied and beat to a pulp. Serenity loaded her shotgun, putting it on her back and drawing her pickaxe. She began hacking at the corpse while Sodden watched, twiddling with his thumbs.

“Earlier, before we made it to the TEK cave,” Sodden reminded her. “You said you knew about the Multiverse. Apparently, Rod knows too, wherever he is…”

Serenity nodded, standing up from the bones, looking away from her implant. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“Is it even possible for something l-ike this to happen?” he inquired. “To be transported to an entirely different universe, rather than the ARK we were supposed to go to?”

Serenity rubbed her eyes. “Look. I don’t know, okay? Rod was an Explorer— so he was able to travel the Multiverse if he wished. But it’s not a very appealing idea. There are so many timelines and universes out there, it’s impossible to tell if they’re ever safe or not.”

The two began making their way back to the fire. Serenity dropped all the leftover meat and hide she couldn’t carry into Sodden’s arms. They had killed at least a few dozen of those oversized turtles.

“You think Rod had something to do with this?”

Serenity squinted her eyes. “I never said that. But it’s a possibility, especially since he’s gone.”

“He has to be somewhere in this world though,” Sodden declared. “I thought I could trust him. But now…”

“We’ll think about and try finding Rod later,” Serenity said, “But we need to follow whatever plan we craft up, with or without those attribute users.”

The fire came into view. Ben and June were already sitting at the fire along with Dorack and Nal. It seemed l-ike they had already made up their mind. They were going to work with the four new survivors.

Dorack and Nal waved at Serenity and Sodden as they got closer to the fire.

“Hey! You two are finally back!”

Serenity and Sodden plopped the meat on the fire. June was sitting next to Ben, looking away from the group and up at the stars. Ben nodded his head at the two as they sat down.

“Now that you’re all here,” Ben said. “I suppose I’d l-ike to apologize earlier. The attack was unwarranted. Right, June?”

Ben nudged June on the elbow. June glared.

“Yeah. I guess I’m sorry too.”

“No. We’re sorry too,” Sodden said sadly, “We must have frightened you two, us four combined. I hope we can work together. And maybe, maybe just be friends?”

“Hmph,” Ben muttered, looking down at the roasting meat.

“Maybe.”

~

“So we never caught your names,” Nal pointed out to the two. Ben glanced over at June. She was busy stargazing. None of them could blame her. The constellations were really pretty in this world especially.

“I’m Ben,” Ben declared. He looked over at June.

“What? Oh. Yeah. I’m June.”

“June. So I’m guessing you were born in June, which is why you’re called June?” Sodden tried to predict, “And Ben… ah, forget it. I can’t figure out how you were named.”

“I’m named June because my parents named me June. That’s literally it.”

The other four survivors only seemed confused at the mention of parents. It became more and more apparent just how different their home worlds were. Ben turned back to the other four with a cold look.

“What about you four?”

“Serenity, Sodden, Dorack, and Nal,” Serenity quickly introduced them. “In our world, we are named after something we do when we first spawn into the world.”

“Cool,” Ben said, slightly disinterested in their culture, “I’m guessing that means you were composed when you first spawned in, Serenity. Dorack and Nal… who knows. Sodden?”

Sodden blushed. “Yeah?”

“How’d you get your name?”

“Um…”

“It’s a long story,” Serenity interjected, smirking at Sodden. Sodden buried his head in his hands in embarrassment. Ben blinked his eyes, feeling a bit fatigued. He laid down on the sand. Serenity still seemed to be in the mood for questions.

“Do you know anybody else that got trapped in this world like us?”

Ben looked back and nodded. “Yeah. They’re not with us right now, but there’s quite a lot. It appears, recently though, that more and more people are getting trapped in this timeline.”

“People like us?” Nal asked.

“All sorts of weirdos. It’d be hard to list them all, but there’s even talking creatures.

“Talking creatures?” Serenity raised an eyebrow. “Tell me more about some of the other people.”

“Well, for starters, there’s that other ragtag group of survivors. I hear they came from some dead Earth, or whatever,” Ben explained. The four survivors shared knowing glances. A group of survivors from Extinction of all places?

“There’s also this colorful cast. A queen, her subordinates, and some kids she lets tag along.”

“A colorful queen you say?” Serenity asked with a raised eyebrow. Ben nodded.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Serenity muttered.

When the meat was done roasting, the six of them got down to chowing down.

~

“Queen Sylveevee is here,” Serenity whispered to Sodden, Dorack, and Nal, faraway from Ben and June while they were sleeping, “And so is the Ultimus crew. There’s something big going on. And I think we got looped in too as a result.”

“Really? You think that’s actually them?” Dorack questioned.

“Well, whatever it is, we can’t stick around to find out what. We have to find a way out of this world whatever way possible. I propose we either find Rod or test and see if the obelisks can bring us back somehow.”

Serenity looked back at Ben and June.

“They’re from different worlds, for sure. Their implant attributes… I would have heard about them at least. But it makes me wonder,” Serenity whispered,

“How come I have not heard of the story they come from?”

~

“You’ve got quite a team now,” KM murmured, laying down next to Ben. Although, nobody could see her except Ben. June was fast asleep. Ben would probably be labeled a lunatic if caught talking to himself.

“Watch out for that one with brown-black hair and the green tips. Serenity?” KM warned. “She knows more than she lets on.”

“If you’re so concerned about her, why don’t you do something about it?”

“You know that’s not doable. Not now. This world’s watching. Gotta keep it on the down low, you know?”

Ben’s eyes got heavier. KM sat up.

“Go to sleep.”

“You have a big day ahead tomorrow.”