Saga Untold

Chapter 1: Dilo

Part 2

The compy pounced out onto the ground before scuttling off too fast for anyone to track, right for Thatch, who immediately scrambled back from what must have been a very scary blob of color indeed. Luckily, it wasn't really after him and quickly veered away, scrambling out through a small gap in the fence.

By this point, I was dying laughing on the ground and there was nothing hiding me from Sarco's murderous glare. “Dilo,” he growled, his voice tight and barely controlled.

“Hm?” I said innocently between giggles. Pearl finally came out of the shack and carried Thatch's glasses to him, who put them on and slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off.

“Oh you think that's funny do you?” Sarco snaps as he stalked towards me. I put a hand over my mouth to hide my grin. “You could have seriously hurt someone, you let a wild dinosaur into our camp, who knows that kind of diseases that thing might carry, not to mention you let it loose INSIDE of Thatch's workroom and it trashed the place and scare him half to death and bit Pearl, what if Pearl’s hand gets infected now? What will you have to say for yourself then? What do you have to say for yourself now?!” He of course didn't wait for me to answer, “you are so immature, when are you going to start taking things seriously, we are just barely starting to get by, this place is dangerous and I can not have you running around ruining things and…”

I was hardly listening to him as I continued to grin, but Thatch cut him off as he put a hand on his shoulder. “I don't think Dilo is going to cause our ultimate doom with one compy Sarco.” Sarco immediately whirled around to glare at Thatch.

“You always take her side and look what she did to you! It's not just this, it's everything, the pranks, the running off in the night or whenever there's any kind of important work to do. It was tolerable at first but now it's getting too much.” It was never tolerable, it was always too much. Sarco finally managed to take a breath right when I was starting to think he might pass out. I raised an eyebrow at him in response and he threw up his hands in exasperation. “Why am I even wasting my breath,” he huffed before stalking away. Pearl shook her head as she watched him go before turning to me and pinning me with a piercing blue gaze.

“If it were up to me,” she said with her irritatingly smooth high voice, “you would have been outed long ago, you're a liability Dilo, and one day it'll come back to bite you.”

“Ooo,” I said with a fake concerned look, “really Pearl. Like that little bite on your hand?” Pearl rolled her eyes before turning and leaving the same way Sarco did. I gave her a little wave to send her off with.

After a pause, Thatch turned to me, his face a lot calmer than the others. “That wasn't cool Dilo,” Thatch finally said, giving me a playful punch in the shoulder.

I gave him a grin, “I was just giving you a wake up call because I was concerned for you, you missed dinner last night and breakfast.”

“Right,” Thatch said with a slight smile, “just concerned for my well being,” I nodded in confirmation. “Well I'll be concerned for you too, Sarco isn't happy and he isn't going to let this slide.”

I shrugged, “Sarco doesn't scare me.” I scoffed.

“Yeah I know, not much does,” Thatch said with a soft smile, “but do me a favor, no more wild dinosaurs in my workroom.” I gave him an innocent smile and nodded.

“Of course not,” I said.

“How did you manage to catch that thing anyway?” Thatch asked once he was finally satisfied with my answer. Very pleased with myself, I launched into an elaborate tale of my latest escapades.

Saga Untold

Chapter 1: Dilo

Part 1

The compy bit down hard on my shoulder, drawing a hiss of pain from me. Instinctively I whipped my backpack off my shoulders to reveal that the clever little rat had chewed a whole right through the tough fiber. I chuckled as I gave it a little boop on the nose, narrowly missing losing my finger in the process. My raptor below me gave a concerned coo.

“Calm down Pounce,” I reassured the beast, “you bit me too when we first met.” Actually he did a lot more than that. Pounce was the first raptor I ever encountered and let's just say, he's the one that introduced me to a handy little concept known as infinite respawn. I grinned to myself, fun times. The compy gave another indignant screech as it tried and failed to stare me down. “Oh shut up,” I said playfully, “I'm not going to hurt you.” I don't think he believed me, typical.

Pounce gave another coo to get my attention and I looked up to see the spiked, makeshift defence wall Sarco kept forcing me to help build. What a waste of time. He chose the most boring place to build our camp, on the river’s edge not far from the coast where nothing bigger than a raptor ever wandered. I shook my head at it before nudging Pounce forward and over the bridge with my knees. I quickly poked the compy’s head back down into my backpack and bunch up the fabric to close the hole.

Pounce trotted through the opening in the spiked wall, already trying to veer off towards the stables. Our base was small, only holding the necessities. A bunk house, store room, work station, and dino pens and stables, the last was our newest edition, but most of the buildings had popped up fairly recently. It had been just Thatch, Sarco and me in the beginning, when we all lived out of the single tiny now store house. Those were the good fun times, but I think Sarco aged about 10 years in a few months, what with every new encounter and ways to brutally and painfully die.

Now we mostly know what we're doing if we don't venture too far inland, and there's a lot more of us too. Let's see, there's Pearl, who's all cozy with Sarco, ew. There's Archy, he's fun, and Dawn, she's boring but nice. Trike, who sucks and I regret rescuing out of a river full of piranhas, and finally the newest and youngest members of our group, the twins Snow and Swamp.

Speaking of the twins, they immediately spotted me as I entered the base, Snow giving an enthusiastic wave. It looked like they had been roped into reinforcing the wall again, poor things. I gave them a sympathetic wave but didn't stop, I was on a mission. Before anyone else could spot me, I made my way across the yard and to the store room. I hopped off of Pounce and gave him a gentle pat, he cooed a final time before wandering off, probably to find some food with the other tamed animals. Balancing my heavy backpack, I made my way up a small ramp and around to the side of the store room where another small shack was built against the side.

As I neared the shack, my pace slowed to a creep as I did my best to listen for any signs of movement inside. Finally I gave the door a quick knock, and when no one answered, I was satisfied that the coast was clear.

With a loud squeak, I pushed the door open and crept inside. This was Thatch's workroom, where he liked to write and store his journals and whatnot. He seemed to think it was important to document the dinosaurs we came across, I don't know he's weird. As I scanned the room I suddenly froze. Well it turned out it actually was occupied, Thatch sat slumped over at his desk, snoring loudly as his glasses slowly slipped from his nose. I smirked to myself as I quietly set down my backpack and untied the top, tipping it on its side. The compy instantly shot out and under Thatch’s desk with a final indignant screech. Satisfied with my work, I crept back outside and found a shady place to relax and wait for the show.

It took about 10 minutes before chaos erupted. Thatch came running out of the shack, screaming his head off. In the panic, he conveniently forgot his glasses, which resulted in him tripping over a small rock and face planting into the dirt. Trike was the first one to come running over and when he opened the door to the shack, he immediately had to slam it shut again, as the tiny compy immediately lunged at the door, “Christ! It's rabid!” He cried.

Then Pearl showed up, and finally Sarco. Together they slipped inside, both holding makeshift nets. I could hear everything that went on inside. The crashing of books and something heavier, probably a bookshelf. Sarco cursing and Pearl letting out a scream, I hope it bit her.

Finally, Sarco comes bursting out of the shack, his hair tousled and clothes slightly ripped. Even though he tried slamming the door behind him, he wasn't nearly fast enough.

Saga Untold

Prologue part 2:

The creature shook itself, howling in pain, it took a threatening step forward. But so did the woman, howling a fierce battle cry as she shook her spear at it. This finally seemed to deter the creature, and it turned and high tailed it back into the jungle. Almost as soon as it was gone, the woman turned back to me and my friend.

“Water,” she said in a breathless, but strangely exhilarated voice.

“Wha…” I stuttered. She didn't wait to explain. She grabbed Sarco and hauled him bodily to the ocean, roughly dunking his head under. Sarco came up sputtering, but he was no longer screaming as the water washed away the venom.

“Ugh it burns!” He cried as he rubbed his eyes furiously.

“Well it is salt water,” the woman scoffed before turning to me. “Come on!” She shouted before darting back toward the jungle, leaving my friend a sopping mess in the shallow waves.

“But that's where that thing went!” Sarco sputtered. The woman didn't pause, it was clear we could either follow her, or fend for ourselves. We chose to follow.

We didn't say much else that night, the woman, I later came to call Dilo, for obvious reason (if they are not obvious, we were attacked by a dilo and she saved us from it, hence her name is Dilo).

When dawn finally broke, our unspoken agreement of silence also did. “Where are we?!” Sarco instantly demanded. Dilo looked up at him from her cross legged position with a smug smile. We were still sitting where we had spent the night. Under another rock a short distance into the jungle.

“Why are you asking me? I don't have a clue,” she answered, as if she was delighted to offer no help at all.

“But! You've been here for a while at least?!” Sarco continued to push.

Dilo shrugged, “not really, 2 days.”

I thought Sarco was about to explode as he sputtered his indignation.

“Can you at least tell us your name?” I decided to ask. She glanced at me with that same easy going smile and I took the time to study her appearance a bit more. Dark eyes and dark hair. She definitely looked a little worse for wear, her long hair falling all over her shoulders in a wild tangled mess.

“Do you have a name?” She shot back.

I paused, “uh… no, not that I can remember.”

“Neither do I,” she said. Sarco gave another frustrated sputter.

“Do you know anything helpful?” He snapped. Dilo seemed to actually consider this question for a moment before enthusiastically nodding.

“the sky is blue,” she said triumphantly. “You look like an ass,” she said this with a grin to Sarco, “and… you still have dilophosaur venom in your hair.” Sarco looks udderly dumfounded at this string of true, but unhelpful observations.

I just nodded, “you do, it's kind of making your hair stick up.” I add.

Sarco proceeded to spend the next 5 or 10 minutes ranting up and down the small clearing in front of our rock shelter, cursing the jungle, life, his bad luck, and of course, Dilo.

That was my first introduction to this mysterious island I soon came to know as home, and my two friends, who have seen me through thick and thin and saved me more times than I can count. Sarco, my anxious, slightly OCD friend who keeps us all safe, and Dilo, my wild, chaotic friend who faces the danger with a grin and takes the blows no one else can. Then of course me, Thatch, who keeps them from killing each other.

Saga Untold

Prologue part 1:

I woke up, same as we all woke up, naked and alone on the beach. The jungle in front and an endless ocean behind, and the strangest feeling of deja vu that, to this day, I still can't place.

Well actually, I didn't wake up entirely alone, a few feet away from me, another human also slowly got to his feet. Our eyes met, both confused, both searching for some kind of comfort.

“He… hello?” The other human said, his voice coarse and dry. This strange person, (who I later came to know as Sarco), gave me a look like he half wanted to help me, and half accused me of being the reason why he was here on this beach. I slowly rose, scratching at something in my arm. I was about to answer when my attention was suddenly pulling to my arm. A diamond shaped implant was embedded in the skin, glowing just faintly with an orangish red light. I didn't remember much, not even my own name, but I knew enough to know that wasn't normal for my species. I stared at it with what must have been a dumbfounded expression until finally I was pulled away by Sarco’s voice again.

“Hey man,” he said, gently tapping my shoulder. Without me realizing it, he had made his way across the beach and to my side. “Do you know where we are?” I dumbly shook my head in response.

“No…” he glanced around at the deserted sand and jungle then back to Sarco. He had been a bit blurry before, but now that he was closer I could make out his features better. Mousy brown hair, average, and grey eyes, less average. “Do you remember anything before waking up?”

Sarco shook his head, his brows knitted together in an anxious expression, “I bet you don't either do you?” I shook my head.

“It’s… it's ok,” as I was talking, I began to slowly walk down the beach, Sarco following close behind like he was afraid I might evaporate if I got too far ahead.

“Hey!” He called, “I don't think we should be wandering off, someone is probably looking for us and we should stay put, that's the first rule of getting lost.” I thought for a moment.

“I guess you're right. We can't be alone here,” I finally decided.

“Did you notice you have glasses around your neck?” Sarco added. I looked down and to my surprise he was right, a pair of round lens glasses was hanging from my neck, the left lense slightly cracked. I was so preoccupied with trying to ignore the sand coating my body that I didn't notice them. I quickly put them on, the motion familiar and comforting.

“Hey look, I can see,” I said with a half smile. Sarco gave a weak attempt at a smile back, but he still looked worried, or was that his permanent face?

We stayed out for the rest of the day, first sitting at the water’s edge, before eventually moving on top of a smooth flat rock. No one came, and night soon fell, bringing a cold, howling wind.

“Some clothes would be nice right about now,” Sarco muttered miserably.

I nodded, “there would be more shelter in the trees,” I offered.

Sarco shook his head, “who knows what sort of creatures are lurking in there.” I disagreed, but was too tired to waste energy on talking. That's when I heard it, a slight trilling, clicking noise. I quickly glanced around, but it was too dark to make out much.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” Sarco answered in a shaky voice, “but I don't see anything.” Suddenly, there it was again, and again. Something was definitely out there. I quickly stood up, my eyes darting furiously around the beach. Sarco stood up too, I could hear his panicked breaths. I heard it again, louder this time, almost a shriek. Then Sarco was screaming as he suddenly tumbled from the rock. I quickly jumped down after him, my heart racing, my mind frozen in fear. Sarco was on the ground, screaming in pain and clawing at his face. Instinctively I grabbed one of his hands to stop him from hurting himself, it was coated in a sticky goo that transferred onto my hand.

Suddenly I heard it again, I turned and was finally able to make out our dark attacker. A creature, standing just taller than me in my kneeling position, took a few quick steps towards me before pausing. It trilled again, before rearing back its head as a bright yellow fan suddenly unfurrowed from around its neck. I knew I was about to die, and I couldn't make my body do anything about it besides close my eyes in terror. But tearing claws and burning venom never came.

Suddenly, it was the creature now screaming in agony as the sounds of a desperate struggle penetrated my clouded fearful mind. I forced my eyes open and was met with a horrific scene. The creature that had attacked us stumbled back, bleeding heavily from a wound in its neck, and in front of us stood another human. I couldn't make out much of her in the dark, but I could see the source of the creature’s injuries, a rough primitive looking spear was in the woman's hands, lashed together from a tree branch and sharpened stone, and dripping with fresh blood.

Yk Rouge means red in some languages.