Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Under Nirvana - An ARK

Chapter 20 – The Coalition

Story by Bria!

Find the last chapter in ICHTHYORNIS and the next chapter in GRIFFIN.

The raft sailed slightly rough down the lake’s edge, carried by the gentle breeze. Ruby and Neddy were still chatting away about the numerous dinosaurs they had learned growing up– whilst silence was all that could be heard between the other four group members: Nova, Borealis, Bria, and Twinkle. Even Ocean made more noise than them, occasionally tapping its claws against the logs of the raft.

“This is so boring,” Nova thought, hugging her legs close. She couldn’t think of any good material to use against Borealis, and messing with Bria was out of the question.

Naturally, her mind wandered back to her interaction with Borealis during the skirmish against the Leedsichthys. She wondered if Borealis thought that her advice was actually sound.

“He better think that,” Nova hoped to herself quietly. “Otherwise…”

Despite the island of rather violent dinosaurs, Nova couldn’t imagine it without all the drama thus far. It was… thrilling. If anything, this ARK was nothing but a playground for her and her vision.

Her vision…

“It will be very, very interesting.”

Bria was still steering the raft. Occasionally, the raft would jerk to the left or right to avoid something rooted in the lakebed. Her eyes darted across the surface of the water, studying all the small fish that swam by. There didn’t seem to be any other threats, but she still kept to herself.

Ruby and Neddy suddenly laughed. Ruby turned to Bria.

“Hey, Bria!”

Bria looked back, slightly unamused. “Yes?”

“Why did the dinosaur cross the road?”

“Because it wanted to get to the other side,” Bria finished for her. Ruby laughed again. “Good try, but that’s not it. The dinosaur crossed the road to eat the chicken that was there.”

Her and Neddy burst into laughter again. Bria rolled her eyes again.

“Come on. Your joke needs to at least have a punchline.”

The grass around the lake was beginning to transition into something much more harsh and dry– sand. The trees looked lusher, the water looked almost tropical in a way. Bria rubbed her eyes underneath the aviators.

“Otherwise, your pun holds no weight.”

“Aw, don’t be such a Danny Downer,” Nova suddenly butted in.

“I’m not being a Danny Downer. I’m just saying.”

“You seem to know a lot about jokes, why don’t you give one?” Nova suggested. Neddy and Ruby said “Ooooh” in sync. Twinkle chirped in agreement. Even Borealis nodded.

“Sure,” Bria said. “There was a man. He was a desert man.”

“Boring joke, you suck!” Nova booed.

“I haven’t even started yet. Relax.”

CREAK! Bria let go of the lever. A single torch that was snuffed out in the sand seemed to mark a set of footprints that led further into the desert, toward a small valley tucked in between two large mountains. Bria hopped on her Raptor and walked forward. Naturally, everyone disembarked from the raft to follow Bria.

Ruby and Neddy listened attentively as Bria continued her spiel.

“The desert man loved an arctic woman. The man and woman fell in love. The man confessed his love.”

“Oooh, a love story,” Nova chirped.

“But, naturally, the woman rejected him. She wanted to, of course, but her body refused to let this happen.”

“Wait. This is supposed to be a pun? This is just sad.”

Bria ignored Nova. “The man was devastated. Finally, he asked, ‘Why? Tell me why. I promise I’ll change!’ Finally, the woman answered– ‘You’re just too dry.’”

At that moment, a wave of heat flushed from the air, striking all of them. Neddy and Ruby shared a look of disappointment. Nova was flabbergasted.

“Are you serious? That was catsh*t!”

“Absolutely not. That was amazing. Youth these days, don’t have a sense of humor,” Bria spat, tugging on the reins of Ocean hard. Ocean gagged. Ruby said something.

“You are the same age as us.”

“Not the point.”

Nova glanced at Borealis, wanting to ask his opinion on the horrible joke. But if anything, the pun only made him look more distant than ever. She turned away, deciding not to press it.

A few minutes later, they finally made it to the valley tucked in between the two towering mountains. Despite the heat and harsh terrain, the settlement down below still looked rather developed. There were numerous wooden huts. A perimeter of wooden spike walls surrounded what the mountain could not cover, and a large gate was stationed just next to the mountain. Stone irrigation pipes ran down the mountain to the lake nearby.

Notably, one of the three Rune Towers– the red one– hung right above the entire settlement. A natural bridge of rock had formed in between the two mountains, which happened to naturally pass underneath the Rune Tower too. It also provided a good amount of shade for the settlement below.

“Damnnnn,” Nova gasped.

“Yeah. It’s neat. And it seems they’ve built up more while I was away too,” Bria realized. “The farm is growing too.”

“The place looks awesome,” Ruby complimented.

“Yeah. It must’ve taken a lot of work,” Neddy agreed. Borealis crossed his arms.

“Does your ‘Coalition’ have a leader? If so, may we speak to them?”

“You’ve already met her,” Bria said. She chuckled softly. “Just kidding. No, the Coalition doesn’t exactly have one. We run just fine without one. I guess you could consider her a symbolic one though.”

“Her? Who’s her?” Nova wondered, her curiosity piqued. The idea of meeting more people seemed to excite her more than anything else. Bria turned around, walking toward the gate.

“Why don’t you all meet her yourself?”

~

Right in the middle of the settlement was a wood hut just about the same size as the rest. The only stark difference of the house was the symbol that was above the doorway– the Greek capital letter ‘Omega’. It seemed to be made of some sort of metal.

A large cat-like marsupial lounged near the front door, swishing its tail back and forth. It barely paid attention to them as they approached, but that was probably only because Bria accompanied the newcomers.

“Sup, Panther,” Bria said. Panther yawned, revealing its huge canine teeth. Twinkle chirped nervously.

“He doesn’t bite unless we ask, don’t worry. Not that I know of, at least.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” Neddy mumbled, staying close to Ruby with a hand on his bow. Nova looked at the house excitedly.

“Alright. Let’s get the show on the road.”

Bria nodded. She walked up to the door with the Omega symbol and knocked on it. THUMP THUMP THUMP! Clack. Clack. Clack. What sounded almost like the armor of a knight came closer to the door. It swung open.

A woman with flowing orange hair the color of the sun and white highlights sashayed out, donned in metal flak armor with a red paint job. Nova’s eyes widened. Borealis raised an eyebrow in curiosity at this ‘spiritual’ leader. She paused dramatically, looking down at Bria without even so much a hint of a smile.

“Bria,” the woman said shortly. Bria looked around awkwardly.

“Sup, June. You’ve got things done around here.”

The armored woman, June, gave her a smile.

“That, we did. The entire perimeter has been secured. No more viable threats as far as we’re concerned. I’ve gotten reports from Andres too. The Redwoods Colony is doing well. No attacks, yet, at least.”

“I’m sure he can hold it down. But this is perfect. I’ve brought more for the cause, as you know…”

“Great, great,” June lifted her hand. They shook Bria’s, and she turned to face the others. “May I have the honor of knowing your names?”

“I’m Nova,” Nova declared. Everyone else introduced themselves. When Borealis said his name, June only stared at him hard. There was an unreadable look in her eyes. The others gave nervous glances. They couldn’t tell if she actively disliked him or not.

She seemed to be able to tell something about him though. What? They didn’t know.

Borealis started speaking. “I was made aware the Coalition was brought together to stop some foreseeable threat in the future. What would that be?”

June gave Bria a nod. Bria started speaking.

“These… ‘Obelisks’, as he liked to call them, carry a certain power within them. The very material they are made of has it. In order to conquer them, however, a boss must be defeated for each one. That is why preparations must be made.”

“We’ve already established colonies as far as we could,” June continued. “Our good friend Andres is in the Redwoods. He’s there to gather resources and beasts.”

“And some of my own friends I’ve sent to set up a camp near the Green Obelisk.”

June froze at the mention of friends. She looked down at her armor, and then back at Bria. “Uhh… about that.”

“Hm? What is it? Did they contact you?”

“They did. And it’s urgent.”

June grabbed Bria’s wrist, leading her away. “We need to speak about it privately.”

With that, Nova, Borealis, Ruby, Neddy, Twinkle, and Ocean were left in awkward silence. Ruby and Neddy gave each other a shrug.

“Well that was weird,” Neddy muttered.

“Let’s just check out the rest of the camp,” Ruby offered. The two walked off. Ocean stood near June’s hut obediently, not moving an inch. The other three, however, had other plans.

“Eavesdrop?” Nova asked Borealis. Borealis didn’t need to be asked twice. Nova scooped Twinkle up in her hands, and the three quickly followed them.

~

“He got captured?” Bria’s voice said sharply.

“That is what they told me, yes. It seems someone has established themselves at that Obelisk.”

Bria rubbed her eyes. “Well that’s just perfect…”

“They said they’ll figure it out.”

“Will they, though?”

“They’re your friends. I wouldn’t know. But, Bria, there is something else I wanted to let you know about…”

“What is it?”

June trailed off. “Recently, I’ve been having ‘hallucinations’. At least, I think they are. They’re very telling, though. She comes to me in my daydreams– The fox with seven tails. Recently, she has grown more ambitious. She tells me what the Obelisks really are capable of.”

She taps the oval-shaped implant on her right wrist.

“It will unlock the true potential of these ‘medallions’. She calls them ‘medallions’.”

“You need to drink more water,” Bria urged her. “We can’t have the most seasoned fighter deluded.”

“I’m not deluded!” June yelled in an outburst. Bria took a few steps back carefully, putting her hands in her pockets.

“Deep breaths, June.”

“Don’t pull that on me! Of course you wouldn’t believe me… nobody does,” June muttered, pacing back and forth. “Not even you.”

“It’s kind of hard to believe though, June.”

“Just shut up, shut up!” June stormed off. “I need to talk to her again. She’ll have more advice, I know it, she’ll tell me more!”

And then she was gone.

“Ohh, sh*t,” Nova said loudly. Bria, who looked like she was about to walk off after June, paused in her tracks.

She took her sunglasses off, looking in the direction of the eavesdroppers. Borealis looked away, covering his eyes. Nova, noticing Borealis’ reaction, looked down at the sandy floor with Twinkle.

“If you’re going to listen in,” Bria warned. “Don’t be so obvious next time.”

Bria paused right in front of Nova. Nova shut her eyes tight when Bria ducked down to try and look her in the eye.

“Mmm. A little cautious, aren’t we? C’mon… where’s that spirit of yours?”

Footsteps thudded against the sand.

“I’m going to talk to Celeste. Don’t follow me. I already knew, anyway.”

Borealis breathed a sigh of relief. The three looked up to see Bria walking off with her hands in her pockets, her sunglasses covering her eyes again. Borealis looked at Nova with a slight fury.

“Of course you were the one that almost got us caught!” Borealis cried, losing his dialect. Nova didn’t respond to him. She only sighed dreamily.

“Hot damn,” Nova blushed. “She’s a badass.”

Borealis and Twinkle groaned simultaneously, rubbing their foreheads.