Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 37 (or 38)

“It- can’t be you-,” Prince whispered.

“In a.. in a way, yes, I am Apollo. But all I have are the memories.” His voice was cold and sober. He obviously had been through a lot. “No one can know I’m alive.” He said. His face was stern.

Astra had been bewildered when she first saw him. Yet.. this wolf looked like Apollo, had Apollo’s memories.. But how could it be him?

“I’ll be near here to help you all on your mission to Carnivore Island.”

“Wha’ aboot going to meh Cloud Kingdom?” Reign said, flapping her wings.

“That’s the thing.” Apollo said, his voice still sober and frozen. “It’s been attacked. No one knows where your flying wolf kind has gone. Anyways, you don’t have time for a detour.” He stuck out a paw into the snow, and used some kind of white magic to create a map of carnivore island and some numbers above it, going down rapidly.

“The wolf population on this island has been decimated by Tyrannasaurus (is that how you spell it?) Rex and other carnivorous creatures. They need to be rescued, or else we will be the only wolves alive.”

The group looked at Apollo. He seemed.. older. Mature, serious, and had no scars cutting his face. His cloak draped over his back, hiding what would be Apollo’s bright splotches of an array of colors.

And his magic, white. Not manipulation, and no swirls appeared on his back. No one, not even Apollo, knew why these changes had happened. Perhaps it was because he was from another time. Or perhaps it was because this was how Apollo was meant to be, truly.

After thinking hard, sitting in silence, the group nodded.

“What are we waiting for?” Prince said. “Let’s go.”

Back to finish my story! I’m busy the next two weeks tho, so I can’t promise the release date for next chapter, or what the new animal will be. See y’all!

-the returning DiploLover24

Ultimus Chapter Twenty-Five: Injuries

Andrew laid wherever he may be. He wasn’t sure where he was or what happened to him. His eyes closed, his ears rang through the and his head throbbed. He opened his eyes, his vision was fuzzy but he figured that he was in a tent since the above him was red. The ringing in his ears died down as he started hearing yammering nearby.

“Ouch!! Watch it, Paul, that hurts.”

“Ya darn right that it hurts Erica. Ya cracked three ribs, now stay still while I bandage ya up.”

“I am Paul!!! But you keep hurting me!! Here, just let me take the bandages from here.”

“Fine, here. Let’s see ya try it yourself.”

Andrew started sitting himself up slowly. His head throbbing from whatever happened before. He was having trouble seeing as his vision went in and out. He felt dizzy as he tried sitting up. He heard a woman grunt in pain as a man tried giving her suggestions. The woman seemed to be irritated by this from her tone. He looked at the two of them, he knew them. He just was having a moment where he just couldn’t remember their names. But he soon remembered, though it was a bit foggy.

“Ya gonna let me handle it now Erica?” The Paul said,

“I got it Paul- gah…” Erica winced. Paul nodded.

“I assume this is a part of yer plan?” He said in a joking manner. Erica just glared at him in irritation for being right.

“Shut up and finish it.” She said, the man chuckled as he walked up to her and started bandaging her up again. Andrew flipped himself around so that his feet hung off and touched the floor. He grunted as he forced himself off the bed he was on and onto his feet. He started staggering as he couldn’t find his balance, the world was spinning around. He crashed into something and made some noise. He staggered to a table and grabbed onto it. Paul looked over at him and gasped.

“Andrew, what do you think you're doing? You need to rest right now; you might have a head injury,” Paul said as he jumped away from Erica, who grunted as he did and scowled at Paul. Paul rushed over to him, helped him back to the bed, and laid him down. Andrew, though, looked over at him and took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Paul, but I’m fine. My legs are just asleep from the armor. It does that when I sleep in it.” He fibbed as he sat back up. Paul looked at him with doubt.

“Ya know, you and Erica are a lot alike.” Paul said,

“Excuse me?” Andrew said,

“Ya, both are more stubborn than a couple of oxen. Just rest, only for a little while at least!” Paul said, Andrew nodded for a moment. He would for the moment, he knew wasn’t feeling well. But he wanted to show and prove he was strong enough to be a part of this group.

Paul got up from Andrew’s side to finish Erica’s. She looked irritated with Paul for leaving her half-finished and slightly irritated that he went over to aid Andrew. She seemed still upset about him being there with them. But it was less of the cold shoulder and more judgmental. Andrew couldn’t make sense of this woman. The first people he’d seen in twelve years, and one for some reason hated him. But I guess he could understand her too. She just seemed judgmental and mistrusting. But above all protective.

‘Geez, why always me with these people?’

Rue herself was judgmental and the jealous type too, but she always played it down as jokes around them. Even though later she would talk Andrew’s ear off how much she disliked someone from their first meeting. Two weeks later they would be best friends. This was a trait in their family though. The same was true for Salmon. They were both judgmental and kinda jealous of people when they wanted to be. But they had their good sides too and were easy to be friends with. How was he going to make friends with a lady who had a mean streak along with that type of behavior? He wasn’t sure.

“How, how did she get hurt?” Andrew asked aloud. Erica looked at him and stared with a slight glare.

“It’s your fault, when you got kicked by that horse. I had to sit and stay by you while Jonathan finished up taming your Equus. While I waited, a Sabertooth Cat came out of nowhere and attacked me. I got it knocked out without it killing us, but not without the animal landing on top of me.” Erica said rather annoyed. Andrew was surprised by this, he couldn’t remember anything about taming the Equus— whatever it was or why he got kicked by it.

“I’m- sorry.”

“Yeah, you better be— This can endanger us all now because I am injured Andrew, because of you. If someone dies or is further injured. Sorry, won’t cut it. And it will be your fault!!” She snarled.

“Erica. Ya acting worse than my daughter did when she was four and she wanted something from her big brother. This was his first time riding a horse, I know I have seen a couple of people have a horse get the better of them when they were experienced. You need to cut him a bit of slack.” Paul said to Erica while looking at her. She huffed as she looked back at him. They kinda had a staring contest as they did before Erica rolled her eyes.

“Okay. I’m sorry Andrew for making it sound like your fault.” She said, almost half-heartedly, she looked at Paul irritatedly and raised her arms signaling that she needed Paul to finish. To which he did.

Andrew sat there watching Paul bandage Erica around her waist. He was careful and delicate as as wrapped her waist. He and she talked casually as he did this, almost as if this was a normal day for them. Andrew though was having trouble concentrating on their conversation. His mind was having trouble in general processing things around him, his head throbbed as he sat there. It seemed to be consistent, his vision getting better but everything else was either the same or getting worse. He got up again and started walking towards the tent entrance.

“Hey, ya okay Andrew? Do you need me to check ya out?” Paul said as he was giving Erica a bottle with some sort of brown liquid. Andrew shook his head.

“No, I am fine. I just need to take a walk.” He lied, he wasn’t even sure why he was. He just was restless and needed to do something. He thought if he got up and did something he would start to feel better. And he walked out of the tent.

~

Paul stood there and watched as Andrew left the tent. It concerned him. He didn’t seem well, he wanted to examine him to see if he was ok. But he wanted to respect their guest’s privacy. He sighed to himself. He just hoped that he was telling the truth and was okay. He turned back to see Erica, she seemed concerned—in her way at least. He caught the agitation that she had with Andrew. She took a swig of the medical brew he gave her. Her face puckered with the taste of the brew. She was holding something up about trusting people, he knew she had some sort of problem in childhood or something that caused this. But she was so secretive that she wouldn’t say. And he respected that. But he was disappointed that she would keep trying to throw blame for something that hadn’t happened. It just seemed like an unnecessary threat and just hurtful. He had heard from Sylas that she had done the same to Jonathan; and as much as Jonathan did deserve it for what he did. She still went too hard on him. She looked over at Paul and looked at him in a puzzled way.

“What? What did I do?”

“Erica, I want you to relax with the lads. Especially Andrew. He doesn’t know how to work with a group nor does he know how to do things we can do. Don’t blame him for going unconscious while taming a horse. And you shouldn’t put so much pressure or effort into scaring him. He to worry about our group’s lives being at risk if he makes a beginner’s mistake.” Paul said,

“It’s not wrong. Rookie mistakes here can get you, Freya, Tweedle Dee, and tweedle dumb seriously injured or even killed.”

“Aye, it’s not wrong. But it’s certainly not right to scare him even more. That’ll make him doubt and feel worse about himself. Which’ll cause him to make more mistakes.” Paul said,

“I am just afraid of losing you guys. I can’t lose anyone, not for someone I barely know. I can’t go through any more death Paul.” She said,

“Then think about this, why did you sit with him?”

“What?”

“Why did you sit with him and protect him? when you could have run away and saved energy when the saber came?” Paul asked, Erica stayed quiet while she stood there. She bit her lip. Paul raised an eyebrow.

“Well, why?”

“I don’t know okay? I just stayed.” She said gesturing her hands wildly. Paul leaned against the table in his tent and smiled.

“Just go easy on him from now on, he’ll learn— now ya get rest, go take a nap. That medical brew won’t work if you move and undo what my bandaging did. It’ll only aid your healing if you can heal from it naturally.” Paul said, Erica gave an odd look at him before she nodded.

“Alright. I need one anyway. Watch on him for me then while I do.”

“Aye, I will Erica.”

~

Andrew began to wander the camp, his head wasn’t getting better. He was having trouble remembering where he was in the camp. Everything was spinning around more and more. He was beginning to feel like a drunk, he kept staggering and was afraid he would knock into something. He found himself that he was at the area they cook their food at. He struggled his way to the table and plopped himself in a chair next to the table. He said his head on the table. His head was pounding, and his vision was going in and out even more. He groaned in pain.

“Why did I lie? This was a mistake to do.” He whispered to himself. He thought that he should probably set his head down back on the table, his memory about what exactly was coming back, but he was still a bit fuzzy about some stuff. He just wanted to think of something else for a moment. Then he realized something, he thought about Samantha earlier. He remembered something he thought he would never remember, he nicknamed. Salmon was a pet name that her sister Rue gave her for two reasons, one was her love for ichthyology. She just loved fish way too much that it was an unhealthy obsession for her. But the other was because of her skin condition, she had extreme atopic dermatitis or eczema and she was always lathering up in lotion so she was always slimy to the touch like a fish and was slightly pink due to her skin being inflamed. To this, Rue like the kind sister she was; came up with the fun nickname of Salmon to make fun of this in a light heart. Sam didn’t care, she in fact loved it. Samantha wasn’t one to get mad or upset when teased about her skin condition. She saw it as funny, she would say she was born to love fish. Rue meant no real harm by it either. Andrew watched Rue drop a kid to the floor who was making fun of her skin and her frizzy black hair, and then he punched out another kid's lights; and incapacitated another to the floor. Andrew realized Rue was a bit of a brute, and that there were too many kids who didn’t hear of her reputation.

Andrew lay with his head against the table, reminiscing about his past while he was feeling sick. He heard humming coming from nearby, the sound of someone trying to make some food on the grill. Andrew looked up to see Sylas Fennec cooking some meat for himself. Sylas looked over at him and smiled as he pointed the makeshift spatula at him in excitement as he trotted over to him waving the spatula back and forth.

“Andrew!! Andrew your up!!” He said excitedly, Andrew looked at him like it hurt. To which it did. Though he tried to play it off.

“Yeah, I am. Though I wish I wasn’t right now.”

“Didn’t the doc fix you up?”

“I refused to get ‘fixed’ up, I thought I just needed a walk.” Andrew said, Sylas nodded his head.

“Understandable, I don’t like getting meds from him always. So do you want some meat?” Sylas asked, Andrew looked over at the grill and saw flames coming from it.

“I think your food is on fire.” Andrew said, Sylas looked over and his eyes widened.

“Oh shoot!! Shoot shoot shoot!!” Sylas shouted as he ran over the grill and pulled the burnt chunks of char off of it. He sighed in disappointment as he took them off.

“Boy, that sucks.” He said with a depressed tone. Andrew got up and decided he would leave Sylas alone and go head to bed for some rest. But as he started walking out of the camp’s kitchen area. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Andrew turned to see Sylas directly behind him.

“Hey, are you busy?” Sylas asked.

“No, not really b-” “Great, because I really need some help. I was supposed to finish some droids for resource gathering. However, I kinda got distracted the past two days… I got them finished now, but I need to get them out of here before anyone realizes that I messed up. There are a couple of wagons we can hook up onto our creatures and we can go drop them off across this city!! I mean, as long as you want to help. I can do it on my own if needed.” Sylas said. Andrew looked at Sylas, he was desperate. Andrew sighed knowing that he wasn’t gonna get the rest he needed.

“I’ll meet you down by where the tames are at.” Andrew said, Sylas nodded as he grabbed some raw meat from a wooden box with some heat being emitted from it.

“Jonathan hadn’t put the horses away yet. Can you bring your horse over to the back of my tent? I’m gonna one back there and load up Tuba with a few of the droids on his wagon after I cook up this, and then I’ll get the rest of the clankers on the back of the other wagon your horse will have.” He said, Andrew nodded as he stood up. His head already began to throb as he did.

“Ok? But why are we hiding this so much?” Andrew asked, Sylas looked at him and lowered his head in shame.

“Because I always feel like I am the weak link in the tribe. I feel like I am always failing at what I need to do. And if I reveal that I did it again. I feel like they’ll be disappointed in me.” Sylas said, Andrew looked pity on him. He understood. He felt he was holding them back, that he didn’t belong. Maybe if he helped someone who felt the same way but was obvious to be respected and appreciated, they would treat him similarly. Andrew smiled softly.

“Alright, I’ll meet you over there.”

Andrew walked off back towards the outside of the building. Everything was quiet, he didn’t see anyone. However, he was having trouble with his hearing and sight a little bit. He still was dizzy, and it was getting hard to remember what he was thinking about earlier before Sylas started talking to him. What was he even bringing up when he first started talking to him? He was getting fuzzy on that too. He just knew he had to meet Sylas in front of his tent, or was it behind? Andrew paused in his thinking for a moment. Stopping in his movement as he did so. What was wrong with him? Why was he having this trouble? Andrew ran his gauntlets over his head and through his hair, his gauntlet so smooth, hard but soothing. He squatted for a moment while rubbing his head with his hands.

It felt good, he slowed down his breathing as he sat there. It was rare to have these moments, even when he had Reuben. Life was getting so much harder for him. The deer were getting scarce around his home. Which would push him further out, but rounds of ammunition were just as scarce for him. Andrew didn’t know how long he would keep himself alive, let alone Reuben. Andrew had lost twenty pounds in the last four months as he tried to keep Reuben as healthy as possible. Reuben was all he had left in this world. But looking back, was it possible what happened was some sort of mercy? He wasn’t entirely sure. Heck, it happened a week ago and he acted like it happened years ago. Tears came down his cheeks, in total remorse. It was no one's fault but his, and there was no mercy in his death. He regretted spending his time hunting the raptor out of anger instead of not spending his time with the last few moments he had... Andrew’s self-pampering to aid him only began to make him worse. Andrew opened his eyes, realizing he had gotten sidetracked within his mind. He needed to help Sylas now. This mattered, not the past. He got up and trotted as best he could to the entrance of the building.

Andrew finally got to the entrance and saw the creatures that had been tamed up by this crew of almost superhuman people. He saw the horses as he walked through the creatures. He looked around through all the creatures. He saw the Rex once again and saw the creatures he walked alongside when he first met them. Then he saw the horses. He walked up closer and saw the one that he chose. Its black and grey coloring made it look older, yet it was young and strong. He stood with his head raised in confidence, the animal itself stood a foot or so taller at the shoulder than the other next to it. And stood up to Andrew’s eyes at the horse’s shoulders. He was unsaddled as was the other one. From what the others said. It was one of the largest stallions in the herd. Maybe he should’ve heeded their warnings, then he wouldn’t be in such a painful predicament.

“Now, how does Sylas expect me to get on this thing?” He said to himself.

The animal was quite tall and he didn’t know how to get on this thing from this point. Although he could do what he did before, he squatted down and jumped up high onto the horse. It was startled at first but immediately calmed back down after realizing what was going on. Andrew however was in agony, his headache began to feel like he was getting run over by a car from exerting himself with the jump. He laid himself against the horse’s neck as he tried to figure out how to make the animal move.

Once he got the horse to move, he had a rough time trying to figure out how to control it, he was having as much control over it as he did when he first was taming it. However, it was only walking or at most trotting as it grazed on the grass coming from the abandoned streets. Nonetheless, his stress of having no control wasn’t helping his head.

“Come on, go into the building.” He said quietly, but the horse did nothing. It just continued to graze on the grass. Andrew growled and yanked the animal's mane towards the entrance of the building and he made small kicks against the animal’s sides in frustration. But to his surprise, the animal stopped and stood to attention. Andrew was surprised for a moment. He tried yanking the mane again—Nothing. He was confused now, how did he stop now? Was it the kicking? He kicked again lightly, and then the horse started moving forward in a walk.

‘Okay, so that’s how.’ Andrew thought. He kicked again and the animal stopped, he then got the horse back to moving. He tried yanking the mane again in the direction he wanted to go. But again the animal didn’t go that way.

‘What if I try this—’ he kicked his left leg only and the animal turned left.

“Okay, now we're talking.” He said to himself, he had the horse go to the entrance of the building and move silently through the camp. But from how it sounded, he wouldn’t have to worry. Music blasted through the camp, Andrew looked and saw a dinosaur sitting behind Sylas’ tent. Though it was by no means hiding as it stood above

‘Back of the tent.’ Andrew said remembering where he was supposed to meet. He directed the horse to the back of the tent where a wagon was hooked up to the dinosaur. The wagon itself had a half dozen spheroids on the back and a ramp leading up onto it. The other wagon lay unhooked and resting on the ground as it waited to be hooked up to something.

Sylas then walked out of the tent, he was dancing and singing along with the song. And behind him walked a seven to eight foot metallic giant. And while Sylas danced his way up the ramp, the robot followed. As the music was ending, and the robot aligned itself onto the wagon. Sylas deactivated it, he then turned and saw Andrew sitting on the horse.

“There you are!! Perfect timing, Tuba is at his max of carrying and still being able to run. There’s only a few of them left and it should be easy for your horse to carry them, but you're gonna need a saddle to hook up the wagon.” Sylas said, Andrew nodded as he got the horse to walk up to Sylas.

“Okay, but how do I make a saddle for my horse?”

“Ah it’s easy, I can show you, I made a saddle for a horse’s back on- hey, this is The Hollies playing!!” Sylas said getting distracted as Long Cool Woman played. ‘Whatever that meant’ Andrew thought as he looked at the stereo. Andrew wasn’t concerned about Sylas forgetting what he was going to say. Andrew was honestly feeling the same at this time and wasn’t sure if he could retain this knowledge.

“Alright, then let's get started.” Andrew said trying to get their conversation back to saddle-making. Sylas looked back at Andrew and smiled widely.

“Alrighty!! Come into my natural disaster area I call home.”

~

After he showed Andrew how to make a saddle, hooked up the wagon and got the rest of the droids on the wagon. Sylas and Andrew went on their way out of the camp being unseen or heard. He left his stereo playing in his tent to ease suspicion and reduce the sound of their leaving. No one was outside, everyone was busy preparing to mass tame and figure out the plan to reach their destination. One of their goals was to get these Sir-5rM8s out and harvest resources like Refined Element. But, he kept getting so carried away with other stuff and getting tricked by Jonathan wasn’t much help either. He just would hate for someone else to have to try to clean up the mess that he was supposed to do. He was really glad that Andrew could help him out too. Though, he didn’t look too well, then again if he was kicked in the head by a horse. He wouldn’t feel too good either. But he was a bit worried. He looked back to see him resting against the horse’s neck.

“Hey, you alright?” Sylas asked, the guy turned looked up at him, and smiled holding his right thumb in the air.

“I’m doing alright. Just tired, that’s all.” Andrew said, Sylas smiled. Sylas thought about the case, but still, he wondered if he was alright. He just would leave it at that though. He didn’t want to push him.

“So did you just get Tuba? I don’t remember you having him.” He asked,

“Yeah!! Tuba is a Muttawhatasaurus, I think... But I accidentally ran into him while trying to tame a horse. He honestly is so cool!! Tuba can roar like a Rex or listen to this.” Sylas said as he tapped Tuba, Tuba let out a raptor call with his throat pouch expanding. Sylas looked back at Andrew.

“Cool right!! He can copy calls!! I don’t even know what all he can copy yet!!” He said excitedly, but his excitement died down seeing that Andrew was now sitting straight up. His face flushing out and his eyes wide.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Sylas said, his lip and mouth started moving like he was trying to say something before it finally came out.

“I-… I don’t have a good history with Raptors. And their calls just remind me of the time that I dealt with them.” Andrew said,

“Aw, geez man. I’m really sorry, I probably should’ve-” “No, no. It’s alright. You didn’t know that.” He interrupted, there was a moment of silence. Sylas felt like an idiot, again like usual. He should’ve been more cautious with what actions he did. He didn’t know the guy or what he had been through. He should’ve asked or just said it out loud than rather showing it. He turned back to see Andrew ok, he was relaxed and seemed to be taking in the area around him.

“So you're from the twenty first century? What was it like? Your life I mean?” Andrew asked as he turned and looked at him.

“It was interesting!! You know, I was born a half decade after a global pandemic so it was a bit weird for my early childhood. But you know, it really got better and less weird from there from there. My adulthood was crazy because I became this big shot overnight.”

“Really, oh right. Millionaire thing, how did you become that?”

“Well, a bit of a long story but I was sort of a programmer in my high school, but I was also lazy. And I had poor grades because I didn’t do well in anything but computer class. So I got expelled at sixteen. I held a job for a bit, before a buddy of mine who was in school dared me to do something and have it done by the end of the school year. And if I did, he’d owe me big time.” Sylas said, Andrew seemed really interested in this, especially when he heard he was expelled.

“What did he dare you to do?”

“Create a code that could access the DOD’s archive.”

“The DOD?” Andrew asked,

“Oh, right, you come from a two-nation world, kinda weird in my opinion. Well DOD was a military research program run by the United States in my time. It was a big old conspiracy theory that they had alien technology, super soldier programs, cryptids, you name it. There was a whole show about it thirty years before me being born. Anyway, he knew I was a good programmer. Winning most of the small computer competitions when I could enter. Anyway, he bet me that I couldn’t get passed the first firewall by the end of the year. I accepted on the terms that he would be my Uber for free if I did. By the first week, I got passed it using an old program I used to bypass my lockouts on those extremely high-security phones when I locked myself out. But I really wanted to show my skills, so I dialed my work on it to eleven and for the next six weeks, I created the most complicated and beautiful program I had ever done. I tested it, and well got through all of the DOD security in less than an hour. The next day I called my friend over and I showed him, even printing up soon to be announced project for DARPA. But, a couple of months later, the CIA arrested me coming home from a summertime job. I was interrogated, threatened, and asked what I knew. Literally told them a half dozen times what I knew, but they thought I was lying.”

“Geez, why did you get yourself into that if you knew that this was a likely outcome?”

“That’s what they said when they finally believed me. I said I needed a challenge, and then they offered me a hundred million with no taxes needing to paid on it for the program, which I agreed to, and quietly held onto the money, but I knew I could do better. A year later after six months of grueling hard work. I debuted a program at the Consumer Science Show ‘42 which was declared the most advanced program in the world at the conference, which to the DOD for 1.8 billion dollars. To which I nearly had a heart attack to. Landing me as one of the youngest stupid billionaires in history.” Sylas said,

“Just like that, what did you do after that? Cure cancer?”

“No, that’s silly. At least I don’t think I did. I moved to Silicone Valley, gave a good amount of my money to charities, invested and saved most of it though, and became a multi-billionaire, made a search browser and online store, learned dancing for two years then became a national sensation for two years. Tried to learn to fence but my instructors quit on me, same with self-defense class teachers. All of them said I couldn’t hit the side of a barn, I tried to prove them wrong by practicing against a barn. But… let’s just not get into that. But what about you? What did you do for fun in the age of apocalypse?”

“Eh, it was alright for my young childhood. Watched a lot of ancient movies, especially Japanese monster movies. Played with my friends when I lived in Arat Prime, read a lot of history when I moved. It’s interesting to me about the world of yours and the world before your world. I still read history when I get the chance, while I try to find guidebooks on survival or what foods are edible for who.”

“Eheh, that would’ve been helpful my first few days with the tribe here. I ate Narcoberries on three occasions because I thought they were blueberries.”

“Hey, this is a perfect location to drop off a couple of these droids!!” Sylas continued, and it was. The area looked like either a futuristic food court or a poorly made colosseum with tables. And the entire area looked like it was made from Element. Sylas dismounted and walked down the back of the Muttaburrasaurus and jumped off the tail to the ground.

“So, how did you get the Tek armor?” Sylas asked, Andrew got off his horse slowly, and a bit sickly. He stumbled and caught himself against the horse for balance.

“My parents… they were high-ranking military. High enough to keep weapons and armor at their homes. This one is my father’s active duty set.” Andrew said as he leaned against the horse.

“So, was it only the five of you?” He asked turning his head. He was pale, he was slurring his words. Something was wrong.

“No, there were more of us at several points. But, they didn’t make it. A lot of them… died helping us get our way here.” He said, he could feel his lip quiver remembering those they lost. He looked back at Andrew, who was not doing okay. He walked over to him, taking a calming yet shaky breath in. Trying to calm his own nerves before putting his hand on Andrew.

“I’ll take it from here, I’ll get the droids off the wagon and you just need to go back to base. I can set up the storage station and the other droid locals.” Sylas said, Andrew looked down to him, he looked like he wanted to say something in objection. But his look became a nod. Sylas helped him back up on the horse. Sylas went back and started turning the droids on and whistled them off the wagon. Andrew looked back and Sylas waved them off. Andrew got his horse to start moving and off did they go back in the direction they came.

“Gosh, I really hope he gets back alright.” Sylas said to himself.

“Keek was, that, a, dir-ective?” A droid asked,

“YES, WOULD YOU LIKE US TO MAKE SURE HE GETS BACK SAFELY?” A deeper, heartless-voiced droid said,

“No, guys. I want you guys to start harvesting. Now get on it while I make you guys a storage area.” Sylas said, all of the droids looked back at him.

“An affirmative, it is.” A third one said. Many more chimed in as they got immediately to harvesting the area’s resources. While Sylas built a storage center.

~

Andrew was getting worse, his vision was blurry more often than not now. Ringing in his ears was loud and a bit overbearing, his head felt like a skyscraper was sitting in it. He just needed to get back to the camp, he should’ve never taken that walk. Not that he regretted helping Sylas, just that he wished he had let his body recover before he tried to help. Now he felt like he was going to die. He could see the paths that they made on their way out of the camp. He just had the horse follow them back, even if he lost his vision from time to time. The horse knew the way back if he followed. And from the last moment he could properly see. He wasn’t too far away.

The more that time passed around him, the more that Andrew was getting worse. And it was rapidly getting worse now, he just had to keep his mind off of the pain and handicaps he was dealing with. Thinking about those from his past and the Survivors. He laid against the neck of his horse and he stroked him. He had to figure out a name for him. But he wasn’t sure what to name him. He thought for a minute before coming up with a name he thought worked perfectly.

“Knight Sky, that’s your name.” He said quietly, though Knight Sky had heard it too, and snorted. Andrew didn’t know what that meant. He’d have to ask about what the calls meant for a horse. His vision slowly came back, he looked to find himself at the entrance of the base camp. He sat up in excitement, and as the pain struck his head from his movement. He kicked his legs as he directed Knight into the camp.

Andrew heard the music still playing through the camp, it was to a song he had never heard of like with all the songs playing. And it messed with his head even more. He was slowly no longer able to ignore the pain. He heard another noise in the background. Fighting, he looked up to see nothing through his blurry vision. Grunts and thuds he heard. He didn’t know what was going on, and at this point, he couldn’t say anything from the pain and exhaustion.

~

Paul and Freya were in the ring sparring with each other with boxing gloves on. Although Freya disliked the idea of wearing padded gloves as while it doesn’t hurt the hands, but damages the face much more. He though felt that it was a good way for them to practice both restraint, but also encourage them to work harder at blocking and dodging hits. Paul was also quite used to fighting with gloves on. After all, he did place 2nd on the Boxing team for NYU three years out of six, he also held two first-place state titles and a sixth-place national title for his six years on the Boxing team. They two put mouthguards in as Erica had suggested during their first time sparring with each other.

They would swiftly started sparring, juking, or blocking each other’s strikes, jabs, and cuts. This is where Paul held back slightly because he knew she was. Several times before had he seen moments of hesitation, spots he knew were easy positions for her to get if she was fast enough, but she held back. At the time, it was because he was rusty since it had been twenty or so years that he had been in the ring, but still, it was obvious to him that she ignored these. She still would win the sparring matches. Even though she had shown her prowess in combat much greater than his skills. Erica noticed this too, saying she held back significantly. Paul didn’t know what to do, so he held back too. He had been doing it for a while, just to see how she would react. She didn’t seem to react or anything. Paul knew that the first day he held back she on purposely left herself open, and he wasn’t sure if it was a test or just her holding back. For now, he was still doing it until she confronted him.

Thrust, dodge, block, this is all they were doing. Neither of them was going to get a hit on each other for a while. Erica had come out to watch by now, hearing all the thuds of the padded gloves from her tent as the center of the camp became a boxing arena. Paul and Freya fought for what seemed like hours, their endurance was running out, but both kept on strong. Paul was waiting for her to leave herself open and call this sparring match. Paul looked up at Erica, who was watching them for a time, but he watched for a moment as she took a glance away, then did a double take and stared at something else. This caused Paul to pause, and leaving himself open as he then tried to see what she was looking at. Which Freya took as an opportunity and thrust her fist into his gut. The strike was unexpected, though foolish to not expect this. He bent over in pain as the strike concluded their sparring. Freya bent down and helped Paul back to standing straight up.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” Freya said, she profusely continued apologizing.

“Ah, yer fine Freya, it was just unexpected. That’s all, I got distracted at what-” “Paul!!” Erica interrupted, Paul looked over at her. She pointed over to the other side of the camp. He looked down to see Andrew, riding his Equus with a wagon strapped to its saddle. Paul smiled, before his face filled with dread. Andrew looked like he was on the verge of death. His Equus had stopped about twenty or thirty feet or so.

“Andrew… are ya alright?” Paul asked, Andrew was trying to get off his horse and slipped. Still landing on his feet, but he fell back onto his haunches after his losing his balance.

“No, I don’t think I am…” he said before falling completely over and starting to seize.

“Andrew!!! Erica, get my medical equipment!!” Paul shouted before he and Freya ran over to Andrew.

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 34

The wolf clung to the wyvern’s tail, thinking of all it had been through. It used to confuse the wolf, but now he understood.

—-

A tan wolf appeared to the soon-to-be-wolf-with-a-cloak.

“Hello,” the tan wolf said.

He curled his tail to reveal a younger version of the wolf.

“That’s.. me?” The wolf asked.

“Young you,” the tan wolf said. “It’s quite confusing, but I’ve meddled with time before. You will go to the future. You will never have any memory of being pulled into the future, which one would expect if young you experienced that. But you will have the memories the young you had once you go to the future.”

The wolf was still confused.

“Do not worry. You don’t have to understand. All you have to do is come with me. You’ll see.”

The wolf set its paw on the tan one’s and they travelled to the future.

“Ack!” The wolf said as memories flooded its mind. Heart wrenching, and sweet, and terrible, and beautiful memories. It half collapsed on the floor.

The tan wolf lifted it up and looked it in the eyes.

“Do not worry, for you are with me. I shall protect you, and in return, you shall protect others.”

The tan wolf pulled out a cloak for the wolf. It put the cloak on.

“Goodbye now,” the tan wolf said. “I will communicate with your mind.” He then paused. “And be patient. I know you remember the wolf from young you’s memories. You will meet that wolf. In time.”

—-

-Young me had taken my place- it thought. -but we are like two different wolves, because I have no memory of being young and led by the tan wolf. We are the same but different.- (lol do u readers understand? It is a bit odd)

The wolf’s cloak billowed in the wind.

###

Prince wasn’t exactly healing, but was able to fight off the pain and walk around.

Astra looked at his handsome face.

She then looked away.

She had to do this. She knew she had to.

“Prince..” she began to speak. He turned and looked at her as they were walking. “I.. I love you..”

###

Ridley trudged on with the other three. Pax had found them and joined.

“Here we are,” he said, as his paws sank in mud. Jane jumped on his back. “Hey,” he snapped.

“What? I’m not getting my boots dirty..”

They walked through the swamp. “We just have to find a diplocaulus and ask them to get the weed.”

“A Diplo?” Reign asked. “Why would we need that creature? ‘R they something special? Are they the only ones ‘o can get it?”

“Yep,” Ridley said, with a soft sigh. The cold mud felt good between his paws.

A creature soared at them and ripped Jane off Ridley’s back.

Ridley turned around, clawing the Kaprosuchus. It hissed but Ridley killed it in mere seconds, turning to Jane.

She frowned with a deep scratch in her left arm and mud all over her soaked clothes. “Fun times, guys. That was a great experience.” She said sarcastically as she stood up and hopped back on Ridley.

He huffed but softly smiled as they continued looking for a Diplo.

###

Prince’s eyes gleamed.

Astra looked away.

He was confused.

“I..

Love..

You..

As a friend.”

He gulped nervously as she continued.

“I’ve thought about this. You.. you feel more like a brother to me than a lover. You’ve been there for me.. but.. no one can beat Apollo..”

“..I understand.”

She sighed and looked down. “If only he was here..”

Prince nuzzled her head, but not like a lover would do.

Like a brother.

###

KJ had paused his search near a ridge at the swamp. He silently ate something as he saw a flash of orange.

He sent an arrow flying at Reign.

“Not so fast, are yeh?” She asked, as Jane showed she had caught the arrow moments before it would have hit Reign’s chest. Reign’s words sounded like barks to KJ.

“Gotta say, humans have good aim,” Jane said.

KJ slid down the side of the ridge, splashing water on Jane.

She grimaced at it hit her wound.

The wolf in the cloak followed.

“I’ve been practicing,” KJ said, grabbing Jane’s wrists that were flying at him.

A few humans alighted wyverns out of nowhere and joined the fight.

They didn’t have Astra, so it was chaos.

“I taught you,” said KJ, “but you can’t beat me.”

He thrust a knife in her wound, opening it more.

He kicked her head and she fell into the water.

Pax thrust himself on the humans, knocking them onto a ridge.

“Jane!” Yelled Ridley, but a human blocked his view for a moment. A shadowy creature pulled her down in the water. She disappeared.

Reign was caught by a net and cried, “WHY ARE THEY NETS ALWAYS AIMED AT MEH??!?!?”

She was shot with tranq darts.

“Astra must’ve been the wolf holding us together,” Ridley said, battling a human with his claws. “Or Prince. He wasn’t terrible with a sword.”

Pax was hit with darts, and went out cold.

Ridley was surrounded.

The cloaked wolf pounced on a human and was still invisible.

Ridley saw the humans fall to the ground in seconds to something that could not be seen.

Then the wolf revealed itself as it clawed KJ’s face and made him fall unconscious.

It turned and looked at Ridley under its hood.

Ridley’s heart pounded with fear.

It sauntered toward him and whispered in his ear.

“I’m back,” it said, then it vanished.

Ridley breathed in sharply and tried to look for the wolf.

Was it a relative of his?

Was it one of his friends?

Was it.. Shadow? From another time?

All of these questions flooded Ridley’s mind.

He huffed as he noticed KJ had disappeared with the wolf. So did the other humans.

Reign and Pax woke up.

“Where are the humans?” Reign asked.

“They were taken down and disappeared to a wolf.”

The other two watched Ridley, hoping he had more information.

“The wolf.. it said it’s back.”

Reign huffed. “But who’s been gone that came back?”

-DiploLover24

I hunt down diplos on my argy, and drop them in my diplo sanctuary. All wild btw. One u p d o o t=one diplo for my sanctuary.

Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 40

Astra could feel her body dragging through the light snow. Her eyes fluttered open, and Bonebreaker must have noticed because she bit down harder on her neck. Astra winced in pain. She couldn’t even move her own body.

“W-where are you taking me?” Astra muttered.

“To my den. A trophy for my collection-”

Bonebreaker paused. Then, she dropped Astra to the ground, licking her lips.

“Well look what the cat dragged in!” Bonebreaker cackled.

Five large Yutyrannus trudged up to them, their bodies more skinny than usual. The Yutyrannus looked at one another, nodding heads, making clicking noises. Bonebreaker grinned, and then kicked Astra in the head.

“Get up.”

Astra saw the Yuty’s, and adrenaline pumped throughout her body again. She rose from the ground, coughing violently. Ice began to collect around her body.

The wolves and Yuty’s stood off for a moment, before Bonebreaker made the first move. She lunged at the pack leader: a Yutyrannus with a blue coat. Latching onto her torso, the blue Yutyrannus flailed around weakly, too hungry to do anything effective. Astra slammed her paw into the snow, and ice spikes shot up into the orange Yutyrannus. The orange Yutyrannus suddenly let out a roar, and Astra’s eyesight narrowed.

Fear overcame her body, and with that, she began to run.

~

“COWARD!” Bonebreaker shouted, unfazed by the Yutyrannus’ fear roar. She tore off a chunk of flesh, and dropped to the ground. One of the other Yutyrannus picked her up by the tail, and Bonebreaker let out a howl of pain as another Yutyrannus tore her body in half.

Bonebreaker was dead.

~

Astra stopped to take a breath, too exhausted from the fight with Bonebreaker to do any good. She could see a cave up ahead. Weakly, she trudged up to the entrance, and then collapsed in the warmth inside.

There was a cozy feeling inside.

It reminded her of a time far, far away. A time that never existed.

Astra passed out.

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 35

Prince was half distraught, half.. relieved.

He liked Astra, but it seemed they weren’t meant to be. It seemed to give him closure. After all, now he wouldn’t be chasing down Astra’s heart.

Hers belonged to Apollo.

But he was gone.

If Prince could be the “brother” of Astra then he would. They had never really had any romantic moments, even. Just playing around.

-I guess we’ve mainly been like siblings..- he thought.

###

The wolf had transported the humans back to the base and they had no recollection of the incident.

So it had some power.

It watched the humans scattered around their base.

And then its mind went to its memories.

The heart wrenching ones. The sweet ones. The ones he would always remember.

Then there was one memory.

One that always played in its mind, scaring him, but calming him.

It shook its head and focused on the humans, its hooded cloak hiding him in the shadows.

The wolf wondered whether it would ever see the wolves from its memories.

That would be nice.

###

“We need to find Jane,” Ridley said.

Pax and Reign nodded.

“She had been pulled under the water. We should probably be her size.” He immediately made them humans.

“Again with this? I ain’t loving meh thumbs..” Reign yelped.

“Let’s swim in the water.” Ridley fell back into the water, splashing the other two. They followed him as he swam, using the tree roots as a boost.

A sarco swam in the water near them. They hid behind tree roots as it passed. Ridley led again.

He was looking for some kind of hole, something a size Jane could fit in. Ridley suspected a Diplocaulus had taken her. Of course it would’ve. It would’ve known she was a wolf.

They were smart creatures.

-DiploLover24

lol I see this and it is so short but I gtg

Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 39

Astra swung her ice club tail at Bonebreaker. She expertly dashed to the side and then lashed at her neck. Biting down hard, Astra could feel her throat tighten up as blood soaked out her mane and onto Bonebreaker’s teeth.

GASH!

Astra groaned, and then slammed her paw into the ground. Icicles formed above them and began to fall down. Bonebreaker let go of Astra and weaved left and right, avoiding the icicles with ease.

“You rely too much on your ability,” Bonebreaker taunted her, “That’s what makes you lot weak.”

Meanwhile, the other wolves weren’t having as much trouble as Astra. Jane, Ridley, and Apollo were ganging up on one wolf. Backing it into a corner, Jane rammed her body into the wolf’s, and it went tumbling to the ground. Ridley slammed his paw into the wolf’s, and then Apollo bit at its ankles, spurting blood all over the ground.

Prince and Pax were fighting their own battles. Pax had a wolf’s neck locked in his jaws, and with a twisting crunch, it was dead. The wolf collapsed to the ground. Pax looked at the sight, his eyes squinted.

“I told you so,” Pax whispered.

“ARGH!” Prince shouted. Heads turned and they noticed one of the wolves had torn a chunk of Prince’s tail off. Prince limped to the side. Red swirls manifested around his body, and then a jet of water spouted from his mouth and hit the wolf. The wolf pushed past the water like it was nothing and lashed at Prince. Prince limped to the side, but the wound was really taking its toll on him. Pax muttered to himself, and green swirls manifested by his side. Time quickly slowed down, and Pax dashed forward, slamming his body into the wolf’s. The wolf went tumbling as time returned to normal, and the swirls on Pax’s body died down. Pax felt his heart churn, and he gritted his teeth.

“Let’s wrap this up,” Pax grunted. The wolf arose from the ground, but Pax quickly bit down on its neck and slammed it into the snow. The wolf flailed around helplessly, and with overwhelming strength, Pax jerked his jaws forward and broke its neck.

SNAP!

Blood coated Pax’s teeth. Pax looked up. A savage wolf was laying on the ground, under the mercy of the other wolves. Prince was shaking in the corner. His wound was healing, the effects of the Diplo’s Weed still kicking in.

“Y-You did it,” the savage wolf sighed, “Just finish the job.”

Apollo looked at the other wolves.

“Do we really have to kill her?” Apollo questioned, confused, “She can help us in the battle against Adira.”

“I suppose so,” Reign murmured, her wings tucked in, “What’s your name wolf?”

Before the savage wolf could speak, Pax had stepped up to her body and scratched at her face. The savage wolf let a howl of pain as the gash lay deep in her face. Pax scratched at her face again, and again, and again, until there was so much blood in the snow not even the incoming blizzard could cover its tracks.

Pax let out a huff, a little tired. He looked at the other wolves, too stunned to speak.

“We can’t show mercy,” Pax declared, “They can’t be trusted.”

“H-Haven’t you guys noticed?” Prince shook. All the wolves looked at him.

“Astra is gone!”

They looked around. Sure enough, Astra and the pack leader, Bonebreaker, was gone. The wolves attempted to look for pawprints, but there were none. The blood and snow had covered it all up.

~

Trot. Trot. Trot.

A sniff.

“Crystal, I see two wolves in the distance,” Ember the orange Yutyrannus declared. Crystal grimaced.

“That must be them. Attack on my mark.”

Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 38

Original Post Date: Feb 22, 2025

The original subtitle was Bullet Train.

~

“Apollo?” Astra was bewildered by what was in front of her. It truly was that Apollo she had lost so long ago. But how? How could he have been alive, after all this time? Apollo stepped forward, brushing his muzzle against hers. This was the wolf that his past version had loved so dearly.

“There were a lot of complications,” Apollo said, “But yes, it is, technically, me.”

“My son, how could this be?” Ridley asked, “You died.”

Apollo took a step back. His father had been the one to kill him, after all this time. He furrowed his brow, suspicious.

“You killed me.”

Ridley couldn’t help but lower his head in shame. He had, indeed, killed his only son. It was the only way that he could have transformed back to his true self.

“Apollo. You can trust him. He’s allied with Astra,” the voice echoed in Apollo’s head. Apollo sighed. He nodded. Reign tucked her wings in, while Pax observed closely.

“I guess I should explain how I’m alive?” Apollo let out a light chuckle, “I’m not really the Apollo you know. I’m from the past. I don’t know how it happened, but I managed to retain those memories of the Apollo you knew.”

“So you’re not really the Apollo we know?” Prince asked, confused.

“I suppose so,” Apollo said. He seemed nervous being around his supposed ‘friends’. They didn’t feel like friends to him, despite having the memories of their Apollo, “Now, I’m aware we have to… take down some evil force named Shadow?”

“Adira,” Prince corrected him with a snarl.

“Adira,” Apollo looked from wolf to wolf, “Where should we… start?”

This Apollo, while having the memories of his past self, was still clearly naive and inexperienced. There was only so much memories could do. Astra huddled up next to him. Apollo awkwardly stood still.

“Well, we were supposed to head to the Cloud Kingdom first in order to figure out how to save the wolves from Carnivore Island.”

“Oh yeah,” Apollo said blankly, “I forgot about that. Uh, where is that?”

“In the Redwoods, aye, atop its only mountain. ‘Tis one o’ the most dangerous biomes on the Island, but it’s also the most secure,” Reign explained, her wings fluffing as she spoke, “I could fly there meself, no bother, but there’s seven o’ us, so…”

“We’ll have to take the long route,” Prince moaned, “Time’s wasting. Why’d we have to chase, uh, Apollo down?”

“Because we needed to know the name of the wolf who saved our lives,” Jane snapped, “You wouldn’t know. You weren’t there when we were attacked by the humans. You weren’t there when Ridley almost bit the dust.”

“You were attacked by the humans?” Prince scoffed, “We really needed to get a move on.”

“We didn’ leave ye behind, even though we were all banged up. Coulda made it to the Cloud Kingdom without ye, no problem,” Reign laughed, her wings ruffling, “Yer dead weight, fer a Prophecy Wolf, ye are.”

There was a moment of silence. Apollo pawed at the snow.

“Can we go now?”

“Right. O’ course, follow me lead,” Reign said, ready to bolt off when a howl cut through the air.

“Wolves?” Jane’s ears perked up, “Perhaps they could help us.”

“That’s odd, though,” Ridley muttered, “If Shadow sent them all to Carnivore Island, then who-”

There was pattering in the snow. The smell of a corpse, and then, a voracious snarl. They all quickly conglomerated in a circle, looking around cautiously. Was it an enemy wolf sent by Adira?

“One, two, three- SEVEN wolves!” a male wolf snarled, “In OUR TERRITORY!”

The male wolf let out a growl.

“Who do you think you are?” a she wolf cackled, “To stumble into my territory?”

The wolf revealed herself. She was black, with an orange underside. Then, a squad of three more wolves ran up to her side. Each one was heavily scarred and their fumes were horrible. The she wolf was noticeably larger than the others. She must have been their Alpha, perhaps even the pack leader.

“Territory? What do you mean? All the wolves live in harmony!” Astra shouted back. All the wolves let out howls of amusement.

“Harmony?! Oh, you must be one of those… magic wolves, chosen by the whatever you call it, all that bulldung!” the Alpha said, “Darling, we’re wolves, all right. If anything we live up to the name more than you ever could. We’re REAL direwolves!”

“We’re sorry for trespassing on your territory,” Pax said, “Now we have to be on our way.”

“Oh you’re not off the hook that easily,” the Alpha wolf said, “I’ve always wanted to fight one of you scornful wolves. You all think you’re so mighty and noble, simply because you were ‘chosen’. You think you’re so strong, simply because of those pathetic powers of yours. You think you can create balance, simply by banding together in mega packs.”

“We really have to be on our way!” Pax begged her, “The world’s at stake-”

“Don’t pull that dung on me now!” the Alpha wolf snapped, “Fight me, like a real wolf would! Show us the way of the Island, show us how it’s supposed to be!”

“You leave me no choice!” green swirls culminated on Pax’s back, but out of nowhere, a fifth wolf jumped out of the snow and attacked Pax, preventing him from slowing down time. Instantly, the wolves were upon each other. It was a real dog fight.

The Alpha wolf stared at Astra with a glare. The glare quickly turned to a grin.

“You and I shall fight, pretty girl.”

“My name’s Astra, not pretty girl,” Astra swished her tail, and an ice club formed onto her tail “And we really shouldn’t be fighting.”

“Enough of the talk. You shall duel me, Bonebreaker, and I shall slay you where you stand.”

“Bring it on then.”

###

The tan wolf was standing upon a cliff, staring at the onslaught with a sigh. So be it the circle of life. Bonebreaker was right, in a way. There was a reason it had chosen not to give all wolves magic. Some were simply too dangerous with it.

“Not intervening and saving your precious wolves?”

The tan wolf looked behind it to see the man walking up to it. It had its eyes on a console interface.

“I shouldn’t intervene.”

“And why not? If you’re who I THINK you are, you’re the one responsible for this… mess,” the man laughed, “You’re responsible for giving me this!”

“I only strive to create a world where anyone can be who they choose to be,” the tan wolf declared, “Tyrants and dictators have no place in my world.”

“You tolerate everything else though, right? You tolerate, hmmm, bringing innocent humans into this world like toys?” the man raised an eyebrow, “You’re a real hypocrite.”

“If you hate your creator that much, strike me down.”

“I know that won’t bring any good. You’re probably not even the real deal. This is a projection, or whatever crap you like pulling off,” the man clicked on the console interface. The swirl on the man’s wrist only grew. The man looked at the wolf.

“I promise I’ll find you. I’ll find a way back to my old life. No matter what it takes.”

The tan wolf nodded.

“Good luck with that, my son.”

The tan wolf disappeared. The man rolled his eyes.

“What does it think it is? It didn’t create me,” the man looked off the cliff at the battle, “Even if it did…”

“It has no right to do any of this.”

Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 37

Original Post Date: Feb 18, 2025

The original subtitle was Bullet Train.

Author's Note: Ben here. Unfortunately, DiploLover24 could not finish the story and had to leave due to unforeseen circumstances. This is the official continuation of the story, for now. If she ever returns, consider this unofficial.

A shimmer in the void. A shack in an isolated desert. This world was cruel. Humans and creatures alike, forced to survive through any means possible. The circle of life. Who put them in this strange world? Maybe the better question was WHAT put them in this strange world?

The man stared upon a map of the world. Islands, scattered all about an endless sea. A ginormous continent in the middle. A desert near the southwest. Nobody ever tread this desert. It was dangerous, and there was absolutely nothing there worth exploring for.

The man locked at his left wrist. A cosmic swirl glowed. Ever since he had killed that direwolf that could shapeshift in the desert, he had only become more interested in his own origins. As far as he was concerned, all humans were not born in this world. They were made. Perhaps if he could understand how wolves like the cunning Adira or those five wolves that meddled with KJ’s affairs obtained their magic, he could understand how he obtained his. And if he could understand how he obtained his, he could finally know who had created him.

It was night time. The man gazed at the constellations. He really wondered about it all.

~

The Yutyrannus trotted through the grasslands, sniffing at the ground. Herbivores all around kept their distance. They must have been confused as to why a pack of five Yutyrannus had wandered off from their homeland in the Arctic to the grasslands. They were near the Redwoods, and nearing the swamp as well. The stench of wolves only grew stronger. Those wolves the cruel FirePaw had ordered them to find were nearby.

“I do not understand why we cannot go into hiding,” a female blue Yutyrannus muttered. She weakly snapped her jaws at a Dilophosaurus in front of her. The Dilophosaurus shrieked and began to run. More prey were diverging. They hadn’t had anything to eat in days. They probably couldn’t even fend off a single Daeodon.

“She’ll know, Crystal,” the blue Yutyrannus’ mate, Ember, laughed, “There’s no point in fighting back.”

“She can’t know where we all are at once,” a female Yutyrannus named Chione growled, “There are five of us, one of her. We could ally with those wolves. Surely-”

Suddenly, all of the Yutyrannus’ eyes rolled to the back of their head. A sinister giggle rang through their ears. It was that FirePaw: Adira.

“Hello dearies. How are you all doing?” Adira asked coyly, “I’m sure you’ve caught onto their scent by now, yes?”

“Yes, we have,” Ember replied.

“That’s good to know, but it’s unfortunate that you’ll have to go back to the Arctic. They’ve already moved.”

Crystal grumbled something under her breath. Adira’s ears perked up.

“Would you like to share something with me Yutyrannus?”

“No, ma’am. We’ll head back now.”

Adira cut off the connection, and Crystal growled.

“The Prophecy Wolves are headed for the Arctic. We must head there immediately.”

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 36

The wolf wanted a break.

The Power of the Beyond allowed it to.

It wandered the snow capped mountains and the ice caves and all of that.

###

“Hey Prince, I got food,” Astra dragged a couple sabertooth salmon and set them down. “Prince?!?”

He was laying on his side, closing his eyes in pain. Blood splattered the floor.

She rushed to his side, making ice to put on his head and cool him down.

“Hurry up, Ridley,” she muttered.

###

They swam for a while, but couldn’t find anything.

“How are we going to help Prince?” Pax asked as they resurfaced for air.

“Not sure, but-“

Ridley was pulled under and so were the others.

They were pulled through a small to where creatures and Jane were.

“Diplos,” Ridley said, bubbles rising from his mouth.

They swam around him with cute sounds.

They gave them oxygen and gestured to their mouths.

Ridley opened his. “Hello?”

He could talk underwater.

“Took you long enough,” Jane said. A baby Diplo swam to her. She pet it gently. “You all were moving everywhere so that the diplos couldn’t find you.”

The diplos swarmed around them. One particular orange one spoke. “Need weed.”

“She doesn’t speak fluent wolf.” Jane said.

###

The wolf wandered and wandered, coming across many places he remembered.

Then it came to one.

Where its younger self had come to an end.

Where.. its younger self had died.

The wolf shook its head and continued on.

###

“Grab one on of the diplos.” Jane said, holding onto the orange one.

Ridley, Reign, and Pax each did and the diplos jolted out of the hole up into the swamp. They were pulled to a small area with a seaweed like substance.

“Weed,” said the orange Diplo.

Ridley pulled on it hard, putting his foot on a tree to help, but it would not budge. “Yep. That’s the one.”

The orange Diplo gingerly bit it and pulled it off. She handed it to Jane.

Jane held back onto the Diplo.

“What are ye doin’?” Reign asked.

“They will help us to the tundra. They can outrun Megs.”

For a couple hours, the diplos swam and swam, avoiding sea creatures. “Whoohooo!!!” Jane cried at the open ocean, holding with one hand onto the Diplo.

Ridley, Pax, and Reign were all cheering happily too.

###

It had been a while now. Prince’s blood was on the floor everywhere still.

But then, Astra heard a sound.

“We’re here!”

Ridley, Pax, Reign, and Jane ran to her. Jane crouched on the ground, feeding Prince the weed.

A few seconds passed. “Is it working?” Astra asked. Ridley used this time to change them into wolves. So did Jane.

His gaze went to her. Her blue white fur glimmered. His cheeks blushed as she noticed.

Prince’s wound slowly healed. The blood sank through the floor, disappearing. Prince stood up and stretched. “Hello, my friends.”

They all cheered and crowded him and hugged him.

After a while, they all sat around.

“I’ll be back,” Astra said as she whirled around to leave for a bit.

###

The wolf was walking around until it saw a large mound of snow.

It lifted its paw to brush around the snow, wondering if there was a bush.

It was cold, hard ice.

The wolf peered at it and saw many words. But what caught his eyes were the first ones.

‘Here lies Apollo,’

His heart beat wildly in fear. He brushed off snow to read the rest of the message. (Using he is not a mistake I made. U now know it’s a boy.)

A wolf walked toward him and was confused. “Hello?” She said. Astra.

He turned to look at her, then looked away.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?” She lifted a paw to flip his hood off of his head.

He dodged her paw and turned to run.

“Wait! Why are you here?! How would you know him?!” Astra followed.

She fumbled and stepped on his cloak. The wolf was pulled back as it unclasped from his neck.

###

“Have you found them?” A man said, appearing to KJ.

“No,” he said.

“Perhaps you need to help?”

“No.”

The man vanished.

“I could not rely on a human to locate a few measly wolves?” A cunning female voice said. KJ turned to see Adira.

“Hello,” he said.

“You don’t bow?” She waved a paw as he was brought to one knee. “That is better.”

Her eyes glimmered. “Trusting humans was a bad idea. Fail once more, and your race will be gone.” She vanished too.

“What have I gotten myself into?” KJ muttered.

###

Astra and the wolf had reached the group after walking for a while.

“Astra?” Jane asked.

“The wolf I saw..” Ridley muttered.

The wolf unclasped his cloak and let it fall to the ground.

He looked away as the group gasped.

Prince was confused. “Apollo?”

-DiploLover24

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 33 part 2 (I decided to add smth)

-Will you heal more of my scars?

“Not at the moment.”-

The wolf kept watching KJ.

He had a bag on his back and put an array of weapons in his bag. He mounted a wyvern.

The wolf jumped on his blood wyvern’s tail as KJ told it to fly.

“Wolves, here comes your doom.” KJ smirked.

-DiploLover24

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 33 (is it? Well, after the mystery wolf is introduced.)

Pax had left.

Prince was sleeping.

..Apollo was gone.

Astra looked at Prince. She knew he liked him. But could she love again? Apollo.. was he Astra’s only love?

Astra fell asleep, dreaming of the times she had with Apollo.

###

The mystery wolf had been watching KJ more. Peeking through a window, it saw KJ test a sword.

It sighed and walked through the window as if it were not there.

It walked closer to KJ, watching the sword gleam. KJ got a glimpse of bright eyes on the sword. Were they green? KJ spin around and looked at the wolf.

Yet he could not see the wolf. His eyes looked right through him.

The wolf had a black silvery cloak.

-“You will be like a guardian. You will not let the humans interfere.” Said a voice in the wolf’s head. “But you shall not kill.”-

The wolf’s heart longed to do something else, yet it liked this.

It was certainly different than before.

Memories flashed before the wolf’s eyes, then it focused on KJ.

Human troops tossed three wolves onto the ground. KJ looked at them and huffed.

“These wolves cannot be them. And do not kill them before I see them. I must finish them off.”

The wolf looked at KJ with a growl ready in its throat. But it could not risk revealing itself to the human. The effects would be disastrous.

“Feed the wolves to the crystal wyverns.” KJ said. The humans dragged the wolves away. “Perhaps I shall search by myself,” KJ muttered.

-“You may stop. Step outside.”- a voice in the wolf’s mind said. It walked out.

Something brushed against the wolf’s face. “Thank you for healing me,” it said softly.

-“You will never be as you were. And you will get your chance, do not worry. It will happen.”-

The wolf nodded and turned back to watch KJ.

-DiploLover24

Creatures of Nightmares

Chapter 32 (this is real commitment for me lol)

“We need to get a move on.” Jane said, putting her hands on her hips.

Prince was sleeping shakily, his wound slowly leaking blood through the bandages.

Astra looked at Prince, then back at Jane. “Are you suggesting we leave him? Leave a prophecy wolf? Are you crazy?”

Jane huffed. “What else are we meant to do?”

“I don’t know, maybe have some patience?” Astra replied.

“It’s been two weeks now,” Pax said. “We have to figure out something.”

Ridley was trying to stay out of the conversation, but finally stepped in. “I can try to manipulate and make it like he has no wound. Then we could chase down a myth.”

“A myth?” Astra asked.

“Yes. The myth of the swamp.”

“…”

“Legend says there is some kind of weed in the swamp that heals. If we could get it, we may be able to get back on track with our mission to visit the Cloud Kingdom and save the Carnivore Island wolves.”

###

KJ got his humans healed. He began making ascended items.

At night, the man appeared to him to give orders.

“You are to follow the wolf-humans. Take them down, one by one. If you fail to do so, the consequences may be severe. Adira is giving you much control on this mission. You may do as you wish, but you must take them down.”

The man disappeared.

KJ smirked.

“Wonder how they’d feel from death.. by a blood wyvern.”

###

Prince was awake and leaning against the wall.

“How would it feel as a wolf?” Ridley asked.

Prince shrugged and Ridley lifted the manipulation.

Prince, as a wolf, stood on shaky legs.

“Perhaps we should be wolves,” Prince said. “The humans haven’t seen us, except for Reign and Astra, as wolves.”

Ridley made them all wolves, except for Jane. Jane decided to stay a human, and she could. Somehow, she had made herself a human, and did not want to be a wolf.

Astra yelped and stumbled. “Just when I got used to two legs..”

“We have to travel in groups of three. That’s how direwolves travel. How about Reign and Jane come with me?”

“Sure,” Reign said, stretching her fluffy wings and walking over to Ridley.

Jane followed.

Pax walked over to Astra and Prince, his eyes gleaming.

“You all know where the swamp is?” Asked Ridley.

Pax nodded.

“You’ve been to the swamp?”

“Yeah. I’ve sped up time and ran over there. It’s a bit nasty for a wolf..”

Ridley walked out with Jane and Reign.

“..that’s it? We just go?” Prince asked, wincing from his wound.

“Yep,” Ridley replied.

The three wolves walked out too and saw Ridley and the others disappear behind a tree.

“So.. this feels like Deja vu.” Pax said.

“We should get going,” Astra said.

Pax led the way while Astra leaned against Prince, making sure he wouldn’t fall.

###

It became night.

Reign was asleep. They had made a fire.

Ridley was going to talk to Jane.

He manipulated himself into a human and watched her gaze at the moon.

“Jane..”

“Save it.” She snapped, giving him a side eye.

“Can you let me talk for a second?”

“Why should I? Don’t you know why I became a human and found KJ on another island and joined him? I had to get rid of the past! I had to forget how you broke my heart!”

“Jane.. I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me go to Adira. You were the person I loved.” Ridley saw tears form in her eyes.

“Just stop. Forget it. You’ve lost your chance with me.”

She turned around and laid down.

Ridley laid down too, stopping his manipulation as a human.

It would take a while for him to regain Jane’s trust.

###

Astra created an ice shelter for the three of them, and they laid down inside.

“I don’t know what Ridley was thinking, but I’m not sure I should travel.” Prince said, closing his eyes in pain.

Pax nodded.

Astra thought with her mind to connect with Ridley.

She was in darkness. Memories flooded in her mind as she yelled, “Ridley!”

He appeared as a translucent wolf.

“Yeah, I just now realized I didn’t manipulate Prince’s wound to stop hurting..”

“So..?” Astra said, urging him to continue speaking.

Prince had fallen asleep.

“One of you will have to stay with him. And it has to be Astra.”

“Because I don’t know the way to the swamp..”

“Yep,” Ridley said, then sat down and looked away. He then muttered, “Sorry for messing things up.” He stop connecting.

“Poor guy. Probably still feels bad..” Pax said. Then he huffed. “I will leave in the morning.”

Astra curled up, thinking of Apollo.

Wasn’t there a way he could be back? Could the weed from the swamp work for him?

###

A wolf was sneaking around. It creeped around the human civilization, sticking its nose into the air. -Other wolves have been here..- the wolf thought, walking KJ intently from the shadows. -what are you planning..?-

-DiploLover24

Diplocaulus face be like: ._________.

PLEASE HELP US THE SARCOS AND KRAPOS ARE EVERYWHERE AND ARE KILLING US ALL

The Obelisk

-Chapter 32-

They had been traveling some time.

A day had passed since they found the rune, and Runheimr towered over them, glistening with mossy redwood trees that looked taller than any plant Forest had seen so far.

The sack felt heavy on his shoulder as they climbed down a small slope, clawing carefully acrossed the loose rocks in the ground.

“This is where my journey ends,” Needles said, stepping down the slope. “I wish you the best of luck.”

“You really have to leave?” Rust asked nervously. Forest felt the same—having a giant, age-riddled Velanosaur with them was actually a bit comforting—nothing would dare attack someone so menacing.

“Yes,” Needles said ruefully, nodding his spiky head.

Forest fumbled with the sack to pull it off his shoulder—bit Needles shook his head. “You can keep it. Maybe the scrolls inside will be useful to you. And you need something to hold that rune.”

“So now what?” Spark asked.

“Find your fifth carnivore,” Needles began. “Complete your mission. One of the scrolls has Peeri’s prophecy written out—it will help guide you.”

Forest bristled with excitement. A prophecy! A real prophecy, about them—he couldn’t wait to read it.

Crimson coughed, and they all turned to her. “Erm… good luck to you too, Needles.”

“Apparently we could trust him after all!” Rust exclaimed, elbowing Crimson in the side. “Yeah, good luck on whatever your doing.”

“Goodbye, little heroes.”

As Needles slowly stomped away, the juveniles all glanced at each other.”

“Umm,” Forest stammered— now what…?

“Let’s go!” Rust roared with enthusiasm. He bolted for the Dark, looming Forest that whispered with noise as if filled with secrets. “Woo-hoo! Runheimr, here we come!!”

Filled with excitement from his friends radiant glee, Forest followed. “To the fifth carnivore!”

“Which we have no idea who it will be!” Crimson added, a bit scornfully. She ran after them.

“I always wanted to see this place!” Spark roared, catching up.

As the four carnivores jumped for the forest, they had complete forgotten… that eyes may be watching them.

Watching their every move.

But not here… surely.. where Needles had said it should be safe… right?

Once opon a time I was at redwoods swamp I saw this diplocaulos it was dark blue body and orange tail I was like that low level I bet then took out my spy glass and it was a 140 and it was getting bodied by two kapros I was flying fast then caught it took it to my taming pen and it had ony 43 health left and had good stats decided to tame it then when tamed it was level 186 I was proud of its health 1.0k heath and named it slimy boi the end.

Ok, So I’m the person that submitted the name “Dorp”, I’ll tell you a story about my Diplocaulus, Dorp, So I was mating my rexes and raptors and decided I was gonna get more mating partners, so I went to the swamp and looked for sarcos, a Kapros, and Barys, and instead of them I found Dorp, so I knocked him out and tamed him, he was a level 81 after training him, so since I know every carnivore is hostile towards Dorp I level up his health, after that, All, Kapros, Sarcos, And barys in the swamp came swarming around me, so I did what a normal person would do if they found themselves in this situation and killed of with a pump action shotgun, but of course a stupid frog killed Dorp…. 1 up = 1 Friend diplocaulus for Dorp… Ty for reading,

I found a glitch that made mine fly

i was exploring the swamp when i found a diplocaulus and a titanoboa the diplo fell knocked out and i came to his aid i killed the titano boa and tamed the diplocaulus moments later a sarco attacked us luckily i had my raptors with me … anyway I managed to tame him and he is now living a happy life at my base i named him tamak and he is also the first dino i rescued he is still alive and i am very happy with him END