Prologue: Ill-Fated

The day was sunny. The day was bright. There were no clouds in sight. All that filled the skies was the light that poured in from the sun. It seemed like the perfect day. After all, for dear Samuel, it would be his last day at the confines of Terran High. The last day he’d have to spend in a hell that he called school.

Samuel was standing amongst a crowd, along with many other waiting graduates, each one wearing a black gown and graduation cap. They were watching the stage with anticipation, eager for the big moment.

“Are you excited?”

Samuel turned around, facing one of his closest friends, Nova. Nova had a big smile on her face, and her long black hair fell all the way down to her chest. Samuel had become friends with Nova during their freshman years, when they were paired next to each other in English. Samuel had forgotten his pencil at home accidentally, so he borrowed one from Nova, and thus blossomed their friendship. Samuel never really got close to anyone else after that, Nova was Samuel’s greatest friend, and no one could surpass her.

“Well, of course I’m excited! After we finally get our diplomas, we can get outta here and do whatever we want! We won’t have to wake up so early for school and stay up so late for homework, it’ll be like heaven!” Samuel answered.

“That does sound pretty cool, but things will be so boring now! We won’t see any more school fights or get any juicy gossip!” Nova complained.

“Uh huh, since that’s the most interesting thing in the world,” Samuel replied with a hint of sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

Before Nova could talk, someone walked up to the microphone and tapped on it, startling a large majority of the crowd. Standing on the stage was Mr. Mo, their principal. He was looking extra nice today, with his gray suit complementing his blue tie and combed back gray hair. He had many wrinkles across his face, and he had a jagged scar running down his eye. Many people always asked how he got that scar. He would always reply,

“When I was little, I would scratch my face whenever I got itchy, and one day I scratched a little too hard.”

Some speculated that that wasn’t the case, and that he got into a fight and that’s how he got it, but who knows? Samuel didn’t think it mattered anyway. He probably would never visit this school again, so it’s not like he needed to know how he got that scar.

Samuel’s thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Mo’s abrupt speech.

“Attention everyone. It truly has been a wild ride for all of you, huh? You spent the past 12 years, and now here you are, ready to move onto a new chapter and become men and women. You all worked hard to get here, and I applaud you for that. But now it’s time for you all to move on to a bigger future. It might sound scary, but I’m sure you all will do well as long as you put your heart into it. That’s all I have to say, now I’ll pass the mic onto our valedictorian, Aurora Romero!”

Everyone erupted into applause, cheers, and whistles as Mr. Mo stepped off the stage. Soon, a girl with glittering dark brown hair stepped onto the stage. Unlike the other graduates, she wore a white gown and white cap, and she had a red plume which reached all the way down to her shoulders. Her walk was elegant and filled with confidence.

“Seriously, take a look at this girl!” Nova groaned, “She got a 4.80 GPA. How is that even possible?! Does she not have a life or something? And she’s the best on the tennis team too, there’s no way she didn’t cheat on her finals!”

“Now, it’s not that big a deal. I know you always tried your hardest,” Samuel comforted her.

“It just doesn’t make sense, she’s naturally talented, it’s not fair!” Nova complained. Nova stopped talking, and looked back at Aurora with a pissed off look on her face. As Aurora began to speak in the microphone, a few girls in the crowd were cheering her on.

“Greetings, fellow students. It truly is an honor to be your valedictorian, to be here standing in front of you to give you my thanks. My appreciation goes out to my parents who supported me my entire life, my teachers who helped me get to where I needed to be, to my friends who were there whenever I felt lost and hopeless,” Aurora paused, as she seemed to be contemplating if she should keep on going. “And to my boyfriend, who I will never forget. He may not be with us anymore, but he’s the reason that I have a future now.”

Everyone went silent, as they seemed to be giving her a moment of silence to mourn. Not even Nova scoffed, as she looked on solemnly.

“But, enough of me. Mr. Mo is right. Starting today, we move onto a new chapter of our lives. We’re going to need to tough it out, because life won’t be so easy now. You think high school is hard? Just wait until you get a job! That’s what my parents would say, at least.”

“She’s gotta be kidding,” Samuel muttered as he turned white.

“And even if you weren’t the greatest student, it shouldn’t stop you from being a good person. You can do it, you can do whatever you want to do, just let your heart and mind lead the way, and you will always succeed. Life is hard, and tough times will come, but tough people will last,” Aurora closed her eyes and smiled, rubbing her eyes a little as she said, “That’s all for now.”

As Aurora stepped away from the microphone, Mr. Mo ran up and grabbed the microphone.

“What are you guys waiting for? Get ready to throw your caps up in the air!”

Everyone began to murmur in excitement, as they took hold of their caps.

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT!”

The soon-to-be adults began to chant the countdown along with Mr. Mo. Samuel and Nova joined in too, smiles growing on their faces.

“SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!”

The screaming grew louder and louder to the point that Samuel’s ears started to hurt.

“FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE-”

Suddenly Mr. Mo let out a loud gasp of pain, as he fell to his knees, clutching his wrist. Everyone stopped the countdown, and whispers began to radiate throughout the crowd.

“What’s going on? What happened to Mr. Mo?” the people asked. Just at that moment, Aurora screamed out too, visible pain across her face as her wrist began to bleed. As soon as Aurora started to cry out in pain, many more people in the crowd began to feel it too. By the dozen, everyone was writhing around, an unexplainable pain in their left wrist.

“AGHHHH!” Nova screamed as she fell. Samuel caught her, yelling, “Don’t worry, I got you!”

The sky above them suddenly began to generate clouds, and the blazing ball of fire they called the Sun began to move around the sky at an alarming rate. The sky seemed to be generating streaks of red, blue, and green, spinning around in a triangle and aiming right down at them.

Samuel looked up in horror as a bright light enveloped everyone, and before he knew it his conscience slipped away.

~

Author's Note

Hi, this is the author of The Arks Over Heaven. I promise this is the last repost of the Prologue, i just combined it in one part since we just figured out how to. If you can please downlike the other repost and uplike this one instead.

To Newer Readers; if you're a new reader, thanks for taking your time to read the Prologue of The Arks: Over Heaven! If you'd like to keep reading because you're interested, Chapter 1 is also here in Wyvern, although you may have to scroll through to find it because it was posted before this Prologue. Chapter 2 is in Vulture, and the rest of the story continues on in the Aerial category reverse Alphabetical order (so Z, Y, X, etc). Anyway if you dont want to keep reading idk why youre still here, but if you are just dont bother me or anyone else. It gets old fast. If you like stories like these, drop by Achatina and say hello. There are lots of other writers with their own cool stories. Have a good day, and see you soon if you plan on dropping by!

Chapter 22: Briefing

Part 2/2

Everyone burst into conversation once again, pretty much everyone arguing over who the heroes could be, but Samuel had already figured Skyler out. Skyler was just trying to give a clear goal in mind so she could stall for time and find another solution.

“She seems to really believe in this Obelisk of hers, I don’t think she’s lying about that,” Samuel thought, “But she needs people to believe that this is the true tale, and this is how. If I create confusion, perhaps I can focus our attention on finding Tiffany instead of searching for heroes.”

“No, it can’t be from the same camp,” Skyler reasoned. Samuel cursed to himself, and Ben stared at Samuel’s eyes deeply.

“And why not?” Aurora finally chimed in. Everyone looked at her, “I’m the valedictorian. You’re the one who was given this prophecy. And who knows? Maybe me, Samuel, Neddy, and Ruby are the four heroes you’re looking for. All of us have formidable attributes, and I’m assuming you do too.”

Everyone seemed to agree with what Aurora had to say, but Skyler cut them all off.

“No, no, it can’t be as much as I’d love to say it,” Skyler said, “If these heroes in the book were from other species, it’d be safe to assume these heroes on this island would all come from different groups.”

But by now, the Book Club was torn in half. Half of the members thought that perhaps Samuel and his group were indeed the four heroes Skyler was talking about, while the other half thought that Skyler’s reasoning made sense. But Samuel’s plan worked, not enough people wanted to go look for more heroes when the five heroes could clearly be established.

“Fine. We won’t go look for heroes,” Skyler declared, “But we still need more hints from Moonflight. I’ll try to see if I get another dream tonight, so I’m going to bed early. But by morning I want to get expedition groups set up. I want to tame some more creatures, perhaps if we tame the same creatures from The Obelisk we’ll see some results.”

So with that, everyone decided that they wanted to go to bed. All the members headed to their respective huts, and Samuel and his group were given a guest hut for now until Bobby and Simon could get some houses for them set up.

Neddy let out a groan as he twisted and turned in his hide sleeping bag. He was huddled up in the corner of the room where it was most comfortable.

“Man this feels nice, I haven’t slept till’ who knows when. Welp, good night everyone. And sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams,” Ruby replied. The two fell asleep, but Neddy had to inconvenience everyone by snoring the night away.

Aurora looked restless in her sleeping bag, and Samuel’s eyes darted to her.

“Hey. You okay? You’ve been awfully quiet since our argument.”

Aurora turned away.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Samuel paused for a second. He really didn’t want to assume what Aurora was feeling, but he just had to know.

“Aurora. I want you to be truthful. Do I remind you of anyone you’ve known in the past? Like your boyfriend, Borealis?”

Aurora didn’t answer for a second. Perhaps Samuel had struck a nerve with that one. But Aurora finally answered.

“He’s dead, Samuel. So yes. You do remind me a lot of him.”

“Oh.”

Neddy’s snoring seemed to make the situation more awkward than serious. Somehow Ruby was able to sleep through all the noise.

“Those two must be in love or something,” Aurora whispered as she looked at the two, “They’ve been chatting away ever since… we ran away. I was just thinking…”

“Maybe we could be the same way?” Samuel continued.

“Yeah. Maybe, maybe we could,” Aurora said. She reached for the gold heart locket in her pocket, took it out, then tossed it away. She scurried her sleeping bag closer to Samuel, but he jolted away.

“Stop, stop I can’t,” Samuel gasped as he began to sweat, “I don’t- I don’t want to-”

Aurora frowned, sighed, and then turned away again for like the fifth time of the night without a word. Samuel let out a sigh as he felt his conscience drip away, his mind getting hazier and his thoughts wandering.

“Damn it Aurora, why’d you have to make things so complicated?” he thought as he fell asleep.

But as Samuel and his buddies were sleeping, unbeknownst to him, Star had snuck out of the hut, walking up to Rick’s hut and creeping inside…

Chapter 22: Briefing

Part 1/2

“I am glad that we’ve all been able to come together to discuss what comes next for the Book Club,” Skyler said as everyone settled down either on the floor or on chopped down logs. Additionally joining them was the infamous “Ghost Gamer”, Gary. He had with him a large cat that barred large fangs, a Sabertooth, according to Neddy. Gary had decided to name the big cat Lynx.

“As you all know, Tiffany disappeared last night without a trace.”

Murmurs of discussion riled up the members, and most seemed anxious because of it. Tiffany was their leader, how could she have disappeared into the dead of night?

“Along with Tiffany was that book of hers, so we can no longer get information regarding that book. So as things stand we’re at a bit of a roadblock.”

Everyone gasped, but Samuel’s ears perked up at the words.

“Wait a minute, that Tiffany had a physical copy of the book?” he wondered to himself, “If that’s the case then I could potentially take a peek and get some information regarding this place.”

Samuel looked at Rick, who had a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. Rick knew something the others didn’t.

“He is a hardcore reader. Perhaps he himself has read the book, like Ben has read a little bit of it.”

Paige raised her hand, and Skyler nodded at her.

“Yes? What’s your question?”

“Okay, so what exactly are we gonna do now? Is all that work we did building this camp up nothing? We don’t even know how to go forward now?”

“No, in fact this won’t affect progress at all,” Skyler answered with glee.

Skyler then explained everything that had happened to her last night. Her dream regarding Moonflight and how The Obelisk definitely took play in this island shenanigan. After her word, everyone seemed to be nodding in belief, taking her word for it.

“Yeah, yeah, now that I think of it it does sound kind of legit…” Bobby murmured while looking up at the sky.

“I guess we can go forward with the fact that that book is true?” Chris asked.

“I think what you’re saying is true, but how will this book help us? The main characters of the tale were animals, not humans like us,” Sunny suddenly argued. Everyone turned to her.

“Sister, why don’t you enlighten us,” Gary requested.

“Of course. The main characters of that story were a bunch of animals that happened to be sentient. And even so they had an entirely different goal, save the island they were on, Fjordur. We are just trying to survive. Different goals, different characters, even if they are the same idea, how will we know what to do next?” Sunny reasoned.

“That makes total and complete sense,” Neddy added while looking dumbfounded. Ruby rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, you’ll have to excuse Neddy here. Neither of us have ever heard of or read this ‘Obelisk’ story of yours,” Ruby explained.

“Oh, even more newcomers, this is great!” Paige sarcastically shouted. Skyler cleared her throat and smiled at Sunny.

“Ah, you see I do know where to go next,” Skyler told Sunny, “There were five main heroes in the book, right? According to that prophecy. Heroes of all different kinds, all carnivores, but all from different species.”

“So you’re saying we gotta recruit aliens to help us?” Simon laughed.

“We might as well, we might as well…” Bobby chuckled.

“NO guys! What I’m saying is that think about it! There’s a connection between the prophecy in that book and the book itself! The book itself is like a prophecy, and there are five heroes who need to fulfill its destiny of controlling the power of the obelisk!”

Everyone began to burst into conversation, murmuring and whispering to each other about it all. If that were the case, who would be their five heroes? Chris asked this important question, and Skyler smiled at him gently.

“Well, I was thinking it’d be me,” Skyler said. Everyone murmured to themselves.

“You? But what if it’s me?” Simon said, flexing his biceps again, “I mean look at these guns!”

“Remember the fact she came to my dream, so clearly she’s giving me the role of the hero, or at least, one of them. We just need to find out who the other four are.”

Samuel suddenly raised his hand, and all eyes turned to him.

“Do you think that the other four heroes could be here at this camp?” Samuel asked with a sly grin.

Chapter 95: Finality

Alan let out a roar of rage and slammed Dr. Aston down into the metal counter. Dr. Aston let out a grunt and looked up into Alan’s bloodthirsty eyes. He looked past Alan and smirked. Baby Wyvern quickly came rushing in and scratched at Alan’s back.

“AHH!” Alan cried as blood rippled off his back. Dr. Aston reflected the pressure back on Alan. As Alan let go of him, Dr. Aston sent a right hook toward Alan’s chest. Alan let out a grunt as he was sent flying back, tripping and falling onto his back. Dr. Aston took out his syringe and prepared to stab Alan in the throat when Bob suddenly came tumbling in and pushed him out of the way.

CLATTER!

The syringe dropped to the ground and Alan quickly took the syringe and tossed it to the side, breaking the needle. The syringe rolled away, and Alan turned back with wide and joyful eyes.

“Bob! You’re okay!” Alan screamed in delight. Alan rushed in to help his mentor, and the two quickly began passing Dr. Aston around like a hot potato, kicking and punching at him and giving him many wounds across his body.

“Yeah I am,” Bob replied with a wink, “Immune Artifact prevented the virus from doing anything so… lucky me.”

Bob slammed his fist so hard into Dr. Aston that his jaw seemed to crack. Dr. Aston let out a groan as he stumbled backwards, clutching his jaw tightly. Baby Dragon swooped down to attack them again, but they were prepared. Alan picked up his metal hatchet and swung at it, destroying it easily.

CRASH!

The metal pieces fell to the ground, collapsing into a bunch of scraps. The two grinned and Dr. Aston knew his time was up. Dr. Aston had to think of something, and fast.

Then, he came up with an idea.

“Bob, what's a Vice President like you doing on this ARK?” Dr. Aston sneered, almost triumphantly as he had thought of something so clever. Alan paused in his tracks, a mixture of surprise and pride in his eyes.

“Wait, YOU’RE the Vice President? You’re THAT Bob?!” Alan realized, “WHAT?!”

With Alan distracted, Dr. Aston slammed his foot into one of the tables and it was launched at Alan. Alan couldn’t react as the table hit him in the legs, causing him to go flying back. Alan let out a groan as he clutched onto his shin. Now Dr. Aston would be able to focus on only one person.

POW!

Dr. Aston’s head flew back and he let out a groan as his nostrils began to seep blood. Bob glared, clenching his fists even tighter than before.

“Shouldn’t have said that buddy,” he said through gritted teeth. Bob looked back at Alan and yelled at him,

“Get up!”

Alan groaned and got back onto his two feet. He rushed back to Bob’s side. Dr. Aston’s attempt had been futile. He knew his job here was done. There was no denying that victory was impossible.

“I just can’t let them take down Loki,” Dr. Aston thought.

Through it all and all, if he was going down…

He’d take these two down with him.

Dr. Aston grinned as the two approached, and then reached for his neck and moved the small collar that was wrapped around it up.

And then he clicked a button.

The collar beeped three times, and then a little indicator on the front flashed red. Dr. Aston ran toward them, and it was then Bob realized what was about to happen.

Before Dr. Aston could reach the two of them, Bob lunged forward and tackled Dr. Aston to the ground, holding onto him tight and shielding Alan from harm.

BEEP BEEP!

POW!

An explosion set off in the collar, blowing Dr. Aston’s head off and knocking Alan back, enveloping Bob and Dr. Aston in a cloud of smoke. Alan began to cough as he was still trying to process what happened. Alan’s head began to ring, and his thoughts ran rampant as he got up from the ground and stumbled forward.

“BOB!” Alan cried out, “What happened?! Wait… No… NO!”

Alan rushed forward and saw Bob laying on the ground, half of his face ripped off and most of his body charred, with bone exposed to the compound’s air. Bob began to cough as his head rolled over to the side, dazed and staring at Alan. One of his eyes was missing, the other was bulging out. Bob let out another hoarse cough.

Alan fell to his knees. He didn’t know why he felt this way, but it certainly didn’t feel good. Out of all of the people on this island, the only one who had really been there for him since the beginning was Bob. Not the Crimson Crusader, not Samuel’s group, nobody.

For some time, Alan had even considered Bob a good friend.

All in all, as memories came flooding in of their short time together on this sinister isle, he felt his eyes get watery. His head dropped in shame, knowing that he was unable to protect this man who had so selflessly given up his life to keep him safe. Whatever he had done to end up on this island as the Vice President, Alan didn’t care about. All Alan knew was that Bob didn’t deserve to die like this.

Bob stared at Alan for a moment. He seemed lost in his thoughts. But he had no regret in his eye. He stirred softly, before finally his body became still. For a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Alan,” Bob weakly muttered, “Thank you for being my friend.”

“Charlotte.”

“Dan…”

A million thoughts had run through Bob’s head as the mad scientist came running toward them. Everything he had worked for was to keep the scholars safe. He felt as if his knowledge was the only thing that could save them. But deep down, he knew that his old friend wouldn’t have kept his word. And deep down, he knew his old friend was long gone. Now he was just a man drowned within the confines of the constellations, searching for something he would have never been able to achieve. Bob knew there was no hope for him. He knew… that this was his finality.

“If I’m gonna go out… I’ll go out protecting these guys,” Bob thought meekly as his vision began to fade, “Alan. It’s up to you now.”

Bob closed his eye softly.

Alan pounded his fists into Bob’s chest, balling them up tight and curling his back in frustration and miserability. He had failed his only friend. Alan couldn’t even be bothered to go figure out where Samuel was, or if Nova needed help fighting that Rex.

“Please just let it be a bad dream,” Alan begged to the stars, “Please please please…”

But nobody came.

~

“Heh,” Dan Walker said, watching the hologram with a grin. He kicked back in his seat and tugged at the collar of his white suit, flashing his grin to the constellations above.

“Would you look at that? Guess I win, best friend.”

~

Samuel was the first to attack.

He rushed forward with a battle cry and then swung his pike at Loki. Loki’s implant glowed, and Samuel suddenly found himself blinded. He could feel the draft of the wind coming toward his face and he quickly ducked out of the way. Loki stumbled forward and Samuel charged, slamming into him and grabbing a hold of his waist.

SLAM!

Samuel slammed him into the window, but as the glass began to crack, he felt Loki disappear from his grasp. Samuel’s vision cleared and he realized Loki was seemingly gone.

Before Samuel could figure out what happened, Samuel was shoved hard against the glass.

KAPOW!

The glass began to crack more and Samuel turned around to see Loki standing behind him with raised fists. It was like staring into his mirror. Loki let out a scream and lifted his leg, swinging it full force at Samuel’s face. Samuel quickly weaved to the right, avoiding the attack, but Loki’s body shimmered away and he appeared right next to Samuel, counteracting with a punch to the gut. Samuel barely had time to react as he tensed up his stomach, preventing the punch from harming any of his organs. Loki shimmered away once again, appearing a few meters away from Samuel on the other side of the room next to the elevator.

“He can teleport?” Samuel thought as Loki glared back at him. Samuel held onto his pike tighter. Then, he dropped it to the ground. It was too much heavy weight. He’d have to full on hands…

“Guess we’ll have to do things the old fashioned way,” Samuel sneered at Loki. Samuel charged at Loki, bolting as fast as he could, but then Loki’s implant glowed again and he threw a tennis ball at Samuel’s face. Samuel stopped dead in his tracks as the tennis ball hit his nose, stinging him for a bit. Loki had two more tennis balls in his hands, and he tossed them both at Samuel, hitting him in the head and chest.

“How many damn attributes does this guy have?!” Samuel thought in horror as Loki smirked at him. Samuel’s graduation robe stood still as sand, as the two stared off at each other, wondering who would make the next move.

“My turn,” Loki whispered under his breath. Wings sprouted from his back and he took flight in the small office, charging forward and slamming himself into Samuel. Samuel let out a grunt as he toppled backwards, quickly getting back up onto his feet and analyzing the desk. There was nothing noticeable on it.

“You don’t have an implant do you?” Loki realized with wide eyes as Samuel’s head jolted back to face Loki. Samuel glared.

“What does it matter?!” Samuel screamed, “You killed Aurora! You deserve to die for taking her away from me!”

“I killed her?” Loki chuckled, “Yeah. Right.”

“Last time I checked I wasn’t the one who stuck a spear in her.”

Samuel froze in place at his words and Loki used this to his advantage. He teleported in front of him and then slammed his fist as hard as he could into Loki.

POW!

Powered by the artifact Samuel went crashing out the window and down the tower. Loki jumped out the window and dived down toward him, his hands outstretched. The wind howled around them. Loki dived a bit harder and then grabbed onto Samuel’s robes. As they neared the ground, Loki held his hands out and Samuel’s back crunched as he hit the ground full force.

A memory flew by Samuel’s eyes as quick as the night sky. A gasp of pain slipped from his lips as his vision began to wane. Loki punted him as hard as he could and his body crashed through the walls of one of the barns.

BOOM!

Samuel’s body rolled off the stone floor, and he landed next to a dead body that had fallen onto the ground. The pile of blood soaked into his graduation robes, further staining its shadowy fabric. Shocks of pain were sent up Samuel’s spine as he struggled to regain his stature.

Loki was just too powerful.

~

The jaded man slowly walked forward, his green eyes pinned directly toward Samuel. A blue mystical flame sprouted from his left eye and left hand. A blue hue quickly enveloped Samuel and Loki lifted him into the air with his telekinesis, the air not resisting against his body. Loki violently slammed his hand down, and Samuel’s leg twisted as his body collided with the flooring.

SNAP!

Samuel let out a howl of pain as his right leg was distorted in ways it shouldn’t have been distorted in. Every time Loki inflicted a heavy wound on Samuel, he could feel himself losing his grip on the world. He felt his mind wander to memories of old times, and then suddenly time skipped forward and Samuel had crawled a few inches away from him.

“W-What was that?!” Loki thought as he looked around. He heard voices whisper in his ears, and then comforting hands rest on his shoulders.

“Finish the job, you’re almost done!” Mr. Ma told him.

“Yeah… Let’s get this over with for once!” Chloe said with impatience. Loki nodded firmly, clenching his fists tightly. All the artifacts’ powers flowed throughout his body. Energy, strength, and flight.

Loki snarled and teleported in front of Samuel.

~

Samuel looked up to see Loki’s body towering over his, and then he felt a powerful punch swing at his cheek. Samuel quickly weaved to the side, barely clinging onto his life as his heart began to pound against his ears. Blood poured from his lips as Loki’s fist punctured the ground.

POW!

KABOOM!

The barn around them began to collapse in on itself. Samuel grabbed the nearby body of a girl with magenta hair and pulled it on top of him as the debris began to fall down on the two of them.

Crackle!

KA-KRASH!

Loki’s body shimmered away as he teleported from the scene.

Samuel gritted his teeth as chunks of stone fell atop him and his shield, and he felt more blood splatter onto the ground next to him and onto his robes. He shut his eyes, until it was over. The building had finally fallen down. Samuel held onto the corpse as tight as he could, the musk smell of death entered his lungs. The Artifact of the Clever rang in his head.

“I’ll suffocate soon if I don’t get out of here,” Samuel realized as he looked around. The air was smokey and toxic, “But I think President Loki will get me out of here just to kill me personally.”

~

Loki looked onwards at the calamity. He stormed up to the debris and began to kick it away with his super strength.

“I want to see this bastard one last time before he bites the dust,” Loki murmured under his breath as the stone chunks were kicked out of the walls of the town. The snowflakes began to pour down harder as the howl of wolves echoed in the air.

CRASH!

Loki looked on with a smirk, but then his smirk faded into a look of horror as his eyes gazed down at Sophie’s mutilated face, crushed and caved in by the debris of the barn. He could feel his head begin to hurt as Chloe’s voice began to scream in his ear. Loki clutched onto the sides of his head and stumbled backwards.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Chloe cried out, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!”

Loki let out a scream, and then he blacked out.

~

Samuel could hear his twin’s scream as the debris was lifted off of his body. Samuel tossed the magenta-haired woman’s body to the side and let out a gasp as he clutched onto his leg. He looked up at Loki. There were white blobs covering his face, wriggling around like a sentient parasite. Samuel didn’t know what it was, but it had given him his opportunity to flee and recover.

Samuel began to crawl away once again.

And then he was lifted into the air with that strange force again.

Loki’s hand waved on its own, and Samuel’s back slammed into the wall of another building. Loki ran up to Samuel like a zombie and punched him in the gut. Samuel let out a groan and winced. Poison claws grew out of Loki’s knuckles, and then he pressed the sharp tips against Samuel’s stomach.

“Just die already,” Loki gasped, the white blobs convulsing even more.

Samuel didn’t understand how Loki had been able to grow this powerful. But one thing was for sure. Him killing all of his tribemates led to this psychotic episode of his.

“Guess I was right all along,” Samuel thought as brief memories of him and Aurora together on the island flashed by his face.

“I don’t want you to lose yourself,” Samuel told Aurora, “And, it’s not like I can get stronger anyway. I don’t have an implant.”

Out of all the people on this island, Aurora was the only one he had willingly told about his circumstance.

Out of all the people on this island, Aurora was the only one somewhat like him.

And out of all the deaths that he had witnessed on this island, Aurora was the only one he had cried for.

Samuel didn’t understand this feeling inside his heart. This feeling of regret. And of pain. Why did he try so hard for her forgiveness? Why did he cry so hard for someone he loathed? Samuel closed his eyes and felt Aurora’s words flood his mind like a tsunami. It all hurt so bad, but at the same time felt relieving. He’d be seeing her soon, at least.

Samuel uttered his final words to Loki, and then accepted his fate,

“Do it.”

Loki reached his fist back.

~

Nova slammed her skull into the Rex, its body battered and torn. With one final chomp, Nova clamped down on the Tyrannosaurus’ neck. It let out one last defiant roar before Nova pressed down all 35,000 Newtons of pressure onto its bone and neck.

CRACK!

The Tyrannosaurus’ neck finally hung limply in Nova’s jaws, and then Nova dropped the Tyrannosaurus to the ground. It let out a deafening noise as its body crashed into the snow.

BOOM!

Snowy powder flew into the air, coating Nova’s hide in snow. Her eyes darted around, her tail swishing anxiously.

“Any other threats?” Nova thought to herself.

Her beast eyes widened as she spotted Samuel pressed up against the wall by Loki. Nova let out a roar and began to charge at Loki. Loki paid no attention to her. Nova felt her body twist and transform, and then, she was back as a human!

Nova looked at her human hands in awe. She had managed to transform back into a human without someone calling her name. but glanced back up at Loki. Despite all Samuel had done, he was still her best friend. He wasn’t dying on her watch.

Nova ran up, her black graduation robe billowing in the wind, and then reached her hand out and grabbed a tuft of Loki’s fur shoulder plate. With all her strength, she pulled Loki off of Samuel.

Loki stumbled back, and Nova was quickly lifted into the air with his telekinesis and slammed into the snow.

“Whoever did that should stop and get out of my way,” Loki snarled. Samuel gasped at the sight of Nova as he crumpled to the ground. He stood up on one kneel.

“Nova!” Samuel cried out. Nova smirked back.

“Don’t worry, you won’t fight this battle alone,” Nova reassured him. Nova’s implant glowed, and Samuel’s mind cleared of all his thoughts. With the pain rushing out of his head, Samuel grabbed a hold of his leg and snapped it back in place. Samuel grimaced and stood up shakily. Loki slowly looked back and forth at the two best friends, the white blobs convulsing and growing larger.

“So how do we beat this guy?” Nova asked.

Loki gave no opportunity for either of the two to plan. He lunged at Nova first, but she quickly transformed into a Raptor, causing a white light to flash into the sky. Nova leapt out of the way, and Loki missed her by mere inches. Nova pounced on Loki and slashed at his left eye. Loki let out a howl of pain as blood rippled down his chin and onto the snow, making it a crimson red. Nova kept her talons wrapped around his throat, keeping him in place.

“I think we need to use his past sins against him,” Samuel theorized from afar, “It makes him lose more control over himself. Those white blobs covering his face grow more and more.”

Nova chittered back in acknowledgement. But then suddenly she dropped to the ground. Loki had teleported away from her grasp and behind her. Poison claws grew out of Loki’s knuckles and he slashed viciously at Nova like a Therizinosaurus. Deep cuts embedded with poison appeared on her tail and Nova skidded away, yelping in surprise. Samuel’s eyes widened as he did this. Knowing what had happened the last time someone was on the receiving end of those dangerous claws, he let out a scream of rage and charged at him.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!!” he screamed. Samuel swung his fist full force at Loki’s cheek and more blood spurted out of his lips as Loki was flung backwards. Adrenaline and emotions poured into every little crevice of Samuel’s body. Samuel’s body began to shake as he felt his soul rise. He let out another blood curdling scream and swung his other fist full force at Loki’s liver. The shot was so powerful that Loki let out a grunt as he was launched backward. His feet skidded through the snow and Samuel felt his eyes tear up as he charged forward to launch another devastating blow.

“TAKE THIS!” Samuel bellowed as he took away Loki’s reproductive rights.

~

Loki found himself being thrown around by those he cared about. Mr. Ma, Chloe, Sophie, Brad, everybody.

A punch to the gut, and then a kick to his crouch.

Trapped inside a strange realm filled with nothing but the constellations, he let his body be tossed around. He closed his eyes gently, trying his best to drown out the pain. He felt every bone in his body ripple with pain with each hit landed on him.

Mr. Ma bashed his head against Loki’s skull, and a headache instantly washed over him as his vision began to waver. The constellations sparkled even more as the beating continued. He felt tears drip down his face, the weight of his sins heavy on his shoulders.

“You said you’d keep me safe,” Chloe’s voice echoed in the chamber of constellations, “But now you’re tearing me down.”

“Am I laid to waste?”

“Now that you’re not around?”

Loki’s lip quivered, and he began to sob as his body burnt and his head echoed with the voices of all he had harmed. All he had hurt. Loki clenched his fists and let his body take over.

“Come and leave your mark,” Loki shouted, “Vandalize my heart.”

~

In an instant, white blobs exploded and rippled all across Loki’s body. Samuel and Nova were launched backwards into the hailing snow as Loki’s body began to glow with heavenly power. Loki teleported into the air and launched a hail of tennis balls at the two. Loki pointed his knuckles at the two and began shooting his claws at them. Wings sprouted out of his back as he maintained his flight.

Nova quickly transformed back into a human and dashed toward Samuel, jumping and pushing him out of the way of an incoming poison claw. Nova seemed uninjured in her human form. Samuel quickly realized that all her animal forms retained the injuries but not her human form.

“What a relief,” Samuel thought. Tennis balls littered the ground now. Nova’s implant glowed again and she transformed into a Tyrannosaurus, making a white light flash across the landscape. She let out a fierce roar and swiped her tails, batting the tennis balls out of the way. She quickly transformed back into a human and helped Samuel up to his feet.

“Are you absolutely sure that this strategy will help us take him down?” Nova asked, obviously skeptical. Her face was already pouring with sweat and her breathing was labored. Samuel was too. But Loki seemed to have no signs of tiring out. Must have been the effects of either one of his attributes or an artifact.

“I think so,” Samuel replied back, panting.

“Very reassuring!” Nova rolled her eyes.

“No, but for real. Even though his attacks are getting faster and stronger… He’s leaving himself open for more attacks,” Samuel replied back, his voice getting huskier, “We can take him down…”

Nova sighed, closing her eyes and brushing her hair to the side.

“Okay. Let’s do this. Hop on my back.”

Samuel clambered onto her shoulders and Nova transformed back into a Tyrannosaurus. A white light flashed in their eyes and Nova let out a ferocious roar, charging at Loki. Samuel steadied his balance, and then as she got closer to him, he jumped up with all his strength.

Loki didn’t even see it coming. Samuel landed on Loki and held onto him as hard as he could. Samuel bashed his head into Loki’s cranium and Loki stumbled backwards into the air. Loki grabbed at Samuel’s robes and tried to tear him off, but he wouldn’t budge. With one last attempt at bringing him back down to the ground, he leaned forward and bit down on his neck. Loki began to squirm and panic even more, and Samuel let out a cry as he tore a chunk of his flesh off.

Blood poured out onto Samuel’s face and he spit out the flesh, coughing and gagging. Loki’s wings flapped faster and he began to fly around frantically. Samuel knew what he had to do. He reached for the metal wings and held onto them, and with all his strength, tore them off.

RIIIPPPP!

Loki let out a howl of pain as the wings were torn off his back. Stumps of flesh were left on the wings. Loki’s implant glowed and an artifact shot out of it, landing into the snow. Loki fell to the ground, and Samuel turned his body around forcing Loki to suffer the impact of the attack.

KAPOW!

Nova transformed back into a human and quickly grabbed the artifact, absorbing it and letting her own wings unfold from her back. She flew toward the two and lifted her feet up, slamming them as hard as she could into his skull.

POW!

Loki was sent flying backwards as more blood sprouted out onto the snow. By now the whole ground was filled with it. Loki made no noise as his armor was broken and dented. His chitin armor began to fall off. The damage had been done.

Loki’s head hung in shame.

And then the barking of wolves filled the air as Loki’s implant shone.

The two turned around and saw a huge pack of spirit wolves charging at them. Exhausted and unable to fight back they could only watch as the wolves pounced on them and dragged them down to the ground.

Spirit teeth clashing and lashing at them, Samuel felt his heart grow cold. Had it all been for nothing? He felt his body give out as the last of his energy began to fade.

“It’s not enough fighting against this maniac,” Samuel thought as the spirit wolves grew in number, “What’s the point…”

As Samuel closed his eyes and accepted his fate…

And then something unexpected occurred.

A grenade clattered to the ground near the back of the spirit wolves. Samuel’s eyes widened at the sight. Its pin was pulled, and it beeped a bit, before finally it exploded.

KABOOM!

Shrapnel flew everywhere and hit Samuel a bit in the leg. Snow flew all over his body and the spirit wolves were instantly torn apart. Samuel could barely make out a skinny figure in the distance carrying a bag.

“Third time’s the charm eh?” the mysterious figure quipped, oddly familiar, “Don’t worry you two. I’m here to help.”

The mysterious figure emerged from the blizzard, his bangs flowing in the wind and his eyes filled with determination. He was holding onto a spear tightly with his other hand and he was covered head to toe in flak armor.

“Neddy!” Nova cried out in surprise, “Where you’d find that grenade?”

“Heh, did I show up too late? I heard that commotion and saw that crazy dude flying in the sky so I decided why not give y’all a hand? I found that grenade in some bag in the barn by the way. I almost barfed at what I saw but… Lucky us I found it,” Neddy replied. He looked around curiously, “Where’s Bob and Alan?”

“They’re fighting off Dr. Aston,” Samuel replied quickly, getting back up onto his feet to face Loki. Loki stood in the snow, his body shaking and quivering. The white blobs intensified. Nova and Neddy looked at Samuel in confusion.

“Dr. Aston?!” they said simultaneously.

“Yeah long story short he became a mad scientist… I think they got it handled though,” Samuel said. He turned to face Loki, “Let’s just handle this guy for now.”

Loki’s spirit wolves were dissolved, and it seemed he had run out of tricks up his sleeve. With no desire to teleport, he just stood there in the snow, waiting for the trio to make their move.

Neddy took off his glasses and put them away in his pockets. He dropped the bag onto the snow and clutched onto the spear tightly.

“It’s showtime.”

The three charged at Loki with all their strength and energy. Neddy jabbed at Loki, who quickly dodged to the left, and then Nova lifted his leg and slammed it onto the side of Loki’s face. Loki’s body stumbled to the side and he was met with a powerful blow to the cheek.

The three quickly surrounded him and took turns attacking him one by one. More blood flew onto the snow as Loki’s body was passed on to the others for their pleasure.

Pow.

BAM!

Skadoosh!

KABLOOEY!

Still, Loki’s body proved resistant. He seemed unable to die.

With a powerful punch, Loki’s body was punched all the way across the settlement. He crashed through building after building, making each one collapse one by one. A trail of blood followed his path. The three quickly ran his way and eventually found themselves in an empty part of the settlement. Loki was standing on the bloodstained snow, trembling once more. Tears were streaming down his face along with the blood. Samuel looked past Loki and noticed the unmarked gravestone that was embedded into the ground. A bloodstained pike lay there.

Whose was it?

“Could it have been Mr. Mo’s?” Samuel thought, “If Dr. Aston is here… No way…”

Samuel had a great idea. If he took Loki out of this state… Perhaps he could finally end him. Samuel stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak.

“WOW! You killed Mr. Mo?!” Samuel shouted, almost laughing at the thought, “You really ARE a monster!”

Loki froze.

Suddenly, Loki began to remember!

~

“I want you to succeed. I love your stories a lot. Much better than… Nevermind.”

Why wolves? Seems like an odd choice to me. You know most stories revolve around us humans, right?”

“Promise me you won’t die. You’ll escape and be free.”

“Don’t let your morals stop you, but don’t let heartlessness rule you either. There must be a balance, Loki. There must be another way.”

“I will always see you as my son, Loki. And I will always be by your side.”

~

The white blobs that surrounded his face and body disappeared in an instant. Loki had a look of horror on his face, the realization of all he had done finally setting in. His body was battered, bruised, and bleeding in places he shouldn’t have been. He no longer looked like the cold President they had faced when Aurora was slain.

“You-” Loki paused, “I-”

The white blobs began to flicker back. There was no time left. They had to act, and fast. Samuel’s eyes darted to Neddy’s spear, and he snatched it out of his hands, much to his surprise. Samuel darted forward, and with one final stab, slammed the tip into Loki’s heart.

SPLATTER!

SHINK!

The spear went right through the other side.

Blood dripped off the spear’s sharp end as Loki groaned, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Blood seeped from the wound, and Samuel pushed Loki toward the gravestone, pulling the spear out. Loki’s implant began to dim.

Loki collapsed into a sitting position next to the grave, his back rested against it. He breathed softly. Nova and Neddy watched on as Samuel stepped up to Loki. Samuel stared down at Loki’s face. He almost felt like it was necessary to spit on him and walk away, but he chose not to.

Samuel sat down next to him, resting his head in shame. He felt his heart pounding against his chest loudly. The stars above them were twinkling brightly. He looked up for a moment.

They were so beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” Loki suddenly said, “For killing your friend.”

Samuel looked back at Loki. For a moment, it almost felt like he was staring at himself. The two looked so alike. And they were alike in their own ways. They had both done a lot of bad things. That was for sure. And they both cared a lot about those they loved.

“I’m sorry too,” Samuel apologized, “It was my fault your friend died.”

Loki muttered something weakly under his breath. Then he looked up at the stars.

“No. It’s not,” Loki whispered, “It’s mine. It’s mine…”

Samuel fiddled with his thumbs uncomfortably.

“I’m also sorry for… you know,” Samuel gritted his teeth, looking at the wound in Loki’s chest. Loki shut his eyes softly, sighing.

“It’s okay,” Loki replied, “I deserve it. I… deserve it. I…”

Loki’s breathing began to slow down. His implant shone brightly one last time, and then a stack of papers manifested in his left hand. He weakly held it up to Samuel. Samuel gently grabbed the papers and looked at the top of the front page.

It read, ‘My Story’.

As Samuel flipped through the pages he noticed Loki’s name sprawled throughout, along with Mr. Ma’s and the woman named Chloe’s. Regret and pain flooded the words of the pages. Samuel looked up at Loki.

He wasn’t breathing anymore.

Samuel looked back down at the pages and continued to read through them. He felt a lump in his throat grow as he neared the end. And then he began to tear up.

Loki didn’t deserve any of this.

One fateful turn had caused Loki’s death.

Samuel looked back up at the stars. An aurora lingered in the sky. The constellations twinkled back down upon him. Samuel closed his eyes as he wondered…

Why?

Why did they have to be put through this?

Samuel could have imagined a life as a friend of Loki’s. A friend of Aurora. And of Andres. And of everyone who had to die on the island. Of everyone who had to suffer. He knew they were all in a place over heaven now. But still. Samuel promised himself one thing.

Whoever was responsible for putting them there would die, no matter what.

Prologue: Intervention - by Ben

Once, there was a tale of scholars on an island.

Once, there was a tale of a cruel, remote city on an island.

Once, there was a tale of heroes on an island.

Once, there was a tale… of an Ultimus.

Throughout space and time, and amongst the Dex’s greatest creations, a lone, single timeline stood. An Omega Timeline, one that existed beyond the boundaries of all. A rift, that could only be accessed by pure chance.

With that, a Story Intersection occurred.

~

In, “The Arks: Over Heaven”, Chapter 40:

“Ahhh, fresh sun!” Neddy gasped as he basked and spun around on the sand. Ruby laughed at the sight.

“You know this is pretty nice weather. Sometimes I forget the fact we’re on a-”

“Dinosaur infested island!”

The two laughed and began to prance around like little kids.

“Funny,” Samuel thought, his glance moving down toward the ground. Looking at the two reminded him a lot about his best friend, Nova. Samuel still wondered where she was…

Samuel could feel someone nudge his arm. He turned to see Aurora.

“Samuel, don’t you think we’ve not eaten anything yet? How about we go hunt some fish for us?” Aurora suggested.

“Yeah. I suppose that would be sufficient,” Sameul replied. Samuel took a step forward, when suddenly a wind began to overflow them, carrying their hair above their heads. Samuel began to look around, and he could see Neddy and Ruby in a state of distress. Star was flapping her wings, floating in the air, and a chill ran down Samuel’s spine.

“Brace yourself,” Samuel warned them, “Something’s happening.”

The air began to distort with glitch effects, and a chilling bellow began to ring in their ears. A blue swirling culmination manifested out of the shadows, pulling the graduates in. Neddy was pulled in first, letting out a scream of terror as he did, and everyone soon followed. Samuel was the last to be dragged in, and as he took one last look at the island, it crackled away from his sight, and now the five were falling.

“AHHH I’M SO DEAD I’M SO DEAD!” Neddy cried as he flailed his arms and legs. He had one hand pinning his glasses to his face.

“Okay, we get it we get it,” Ruby snorted as her glasses fell off her face. Aurora was crossing her arms and let out a huff.

“I feel like we’ve done this before…”

In an instant, the falling stopped, and everyone fell down on rock hard floor.

OOF!

Samuel let out a groan, as he lifted his face up from the ground. He was on a blacktop, and the Sun was pouring in from the sky. Clouds were hanging above, and birds sung in the air.

“What just happened?” Samuel could hear Aurora say from afar. Samuel got on a knee, and took a moment to analyze his surroundings. There was a large fence not too far away that had graffiti on it, and a stage that seemed like it was half-put together.

No doubt about it, it was Terran High.

“No way we’re back here,” Neddy gagged as he got up from the ground, “Anywhere but here!”

Star seemed quite dissatisfied. She ruffled her feathers, and rolled her eyes. She walked over to Samuel, standing by his side without hesitation.

“Let’s not worry about it too much, okay? If we’re back home… then shouldn’t we, uh, go to the police?” Ruby suggested, “We might as well take the advantage.”

With that, the five exited the school, but what they were met with shocked them to the core.

Yes, it surely was the Star City that they once lived in, but mixed in with it were old-fashioned buildings that seemed to have come straight from the past. The streets that once carried cars were gone, and people wearing attire of the old times and new roamed the streets alongside each other as if it were normal. What was even crazier was that even animals were as well. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures walked amongst the humans, communicating with one another and gesturing with their limbs and speaking.

“Well this is weird,” Aurora stated the obvious. As they passed a bar, they could see a monkey sipping a jar of beer and he seemed to be talking to a large wyvern that was cooped up in the corner. A Terror Bird cawed in approval. Star gagged at the sight.

“Talking animals? I don’t think this is the Star City we once knew,” Neddy murmured. Samuel pointed at something in the sky, and everyone looked. It was a giant mansion, a waterfall pouring down from the side into a sparkling lake. There was a staircase that seemingly connected from the ground to the home.

“Let’s check that place out. Something’s attracting me toward that place,” Samuel declared. Aurora nodded, rubbing her implant with her right hand.

“Agree. I have a feeling that place has the answers about why we’re here. Let’s go, I'll lead the way."

With that, the five quickly ran toward the floating home.

Chapter 94: Memory Palace

“Did-Did Ben just activate Attribute Amplification?” Ian asked, almost stunned. John looked on in awe as a strange barrier was constructed. It was a sphere that shone in the darkness. They all ran up to the sphere. It enclosed both Ben and June inside, locking everyone in and everyone else out. John explained,

“When Ben and I went to tame the Mosasaurus, we found a beacon and he got this weird gem. Maybe that’s how-”

Ian turned to John with wide eyes.

“That’s it! The gem to unlock Attribute Amplification!”

Patricia seemed so confused.

“I don’t understand though. We would have been able to kill June off pretty easily. Why did he have to intervene and activate his Attribute Amplification? It’d be a waste and would deactivate his attribute for quite some time too…” Patricia wondered. Chris shrugged. He was just as confused as the others.

“I’m not too sure either. But something is telling me that’s not really ‘Ben’. I mean, from what I remember, he hasn’t killed a single person.”

“Wait he didn’t kill anyone? Don’t you need to kill at least one person to use it?” Landon realized. Ian nodded his head in confirmation.

“You do. Maybe Ben has killed one or two people on the island and we never knew…” Ian murmured, “But if that’s the case we’ll only need to wait a minute. Then the amplification zone will collapse.”

But as they waited outside of the golden dome,

Nothing happened.

They waited for a while. The stars in the night sky still twinkled, waiting anxiously alongside them. Carlos wiped the sweat from his eyebrow, even more worried than before. Five minutes had passed and still, nothing.

“What is going on in there?” Carlos asked, “How has it lasted this long, and why is Ben taking so long?”

Don’t worry pal… he doesn’t know why either.

~

June wandered the forest, unsure of her surroundings and of her current state of mind. Had Ben really just did that to her?

June’s thoughts were interrupted as the forest cleared away, leaving a large plains biome to her waking. It was still night time. The constellations seemed even more beautiful in this night sky than it did back on the ARK. There seemed to be even more constellations in the night sky. A few supernovae had occurred too, leaving permanent explosions in the darkness. It was like multiple universes had collided with one another.

“It’s beautiful,” June thought. She briefly recalled Ben’s Attribute Amplification. Memory Palace. Has this been a place Ben has been before? If so, where was it? It seemed so mystical, dream-like, and unknown. She had known Ben transferred to Terran High just near the beginning of their senior year, but what type of past did Ben have?

“Who are you?” June asked as she saw a large castle in the distance.

It resembled June’s in a way, but at the same time it was much more large and grand.

June walked up to the castle. There was a large moat and a drawbridge. Large stone walls surrounded the castle. There seemed to be more near the back. She crossed the drawbridge and entered the castle.

Inside was a large dining hall, with a red carpet in the middle leading to a set of stairs which ascended to the upper floors. There were large stone tables scattered all about the dining hall. It seemed eerily empty. And quiet. There was not a soul in sight. She looked around. This palace felt oddly familiar to her. Not familiar in the way that she had been here before personally, but in the way that she had been here before in a dream.

June could spot blood splattered across the red carpet.

June shuddered. She didn’t know who it could have been. But it didn’t matter. She moved past the red carpet, and into a hallway tucked away near the back of the dining hall.

She walked down the hallway, faster and faster until she reached the outside world once more. As she looked outside she saw some stone paths leading to a plaza filled with an assortment of amenities. Movie theaters, malls, and restaurants. Set in the plains, there was a large hole in the ground, seemingly created from nothing.

June walked over to the hole slowly and peered inside. It led into a deep, dark abyss. She got goosebumps and backed away from the sinkhole. She looked around the area again, and decided to let her heart lead the way.

Her legs took her to an even more familiar place.

A restaurant.

She stepped inside. She could smell a variety of cuisine, but mostly tacos. Nobody was there except for her and a mysterious figure sitting at a candlelit table. She quickly stepped back and activated her flames. As the figure turned her way, June gasped as she felt the implant in her wrist disappear. June looked at her left wrist and saw it was gone.

“W-What have you done-” June paused as she looked up at the figure.

It was Ben.

The flower still sprouted from his right eye, its petals glowing bright like their implants. His implant was unusually dim and the strange void that clustered around his left eye like a black hole remained. He was wearing a plain white shirt and black sweatpants. He squinted his eyes at her.

“We can talk face to face now,” the man said, his voice oddly clear and concise. He almost sounded like a robot. A robot that sounded human. It was an odd trait. It most certainly did not sound like Ben.

“Who are you?” June asked. She slowly walked over to the figure, taking a seat facing him. The doppelganger stared at June some more. Then, he placed his head on his left hand, propping it up.

“It’s me, Ben,” he lied.

“I know you’re not Ben! Ben would never hurt me!” June lashed out, spit flying all over the place. The figure didn’t seem shocked whatsoever by her outburst. June asked, her eyes filled with rage,

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO BEN?!”

The figure stared on, unamused by her temperament.

“You’re right, he wouldn’t have,” the man claimed calmly, “He… has a soft spot for those with unrequited love. It’s from his past. He has felt that way before too.”

The black void continued to swirl round and round on his eye.

“But since you’ve crossed the line, he let me take over.”

June stared at the entity in horror. What line had she crossed? Couldn’t Ben see that she was so much better than his scummy friends? She hadn’t crossed a line!

“What do you mean he’s felt that way before? He’s loved someone else?”

The man nodded softly.

“Yes. He has. The first was unrequited,” the man replied smoothly, “The second was never meant to be.”

“And the third?”

The flower bloomed even more at June’s question.

“The third really was something else,” he cooed, “He’d never met someone like her before. I admit I took interest in her too. Maybe… I could bring things back to how they were. She seemed to have more knowledge about our ‘world’ than even I.”

“What do you mean knowledge of our world?” June asked, confused.

The candle was still lit. Its light is unreflecting in the entity’s eye.

“You don’t know?” he smirked, “It’s all just a story. A long story with its roots engraved in tragedy and unnecessary pain and conflict. You have been a major cause of it on this island along with someone else. You are evil. And no amount of ‘love’ can save you from that.”

The constellations sparkled in the distance.

“This is for their entertainment. So they can laugh. So they can cry. So they can hope again,” he explained in a chilling manner, “So they can be shocked that one of these characters knows. Knows that they're watching. Knows they’re reading these white lines on the teal blue screen. All just clustered in the little quotation marks… and then they gasp. Wondering how I know.”

The moonlight shines even brighter. The other constellations also sparkle in curiosity. The Key Master grinned, his smile reaching his ears and seeming unusually large. He was a demon in an angel’s body.

“You’re crazy. Whatever you are.”

“I’m not crazy,” the man whispered silently, “And neither was she… That mystery girl. She knew they were watching too. I took great interest in her. I wanted to make her my new host. But her mind palace truly was indestructible. Maybe one day.”

The moonlight shone into the restaurant. June wasn’t even sure how to feel about all of this.

“Just… Just let Ben go. Please… I know him best. He doesn’t want to be controlled! He doesn’t-”

The black void surrounding Ben’s left eye faded away for a moment, revealing his bloodshot, rageful eye.

“You don’t know anything about us,” Ben growled.

The void returned and the entity chuckled at the expression on her face.

“Don’t worry. I’ll kill you right now. I just wanted someone to talk to about my problems. The things I’ve felt… You do have my thanks for that. But you are still the source of my existence.”

“Before I kill you. I’m the Key Master,” the entity smiled.

The Key Master stood up from his seat and leaned over, tapping his finger on June’s hand. Immediately, June’s brain lit on fire, and she let out a scream of pain as thousands of memories that weren’t hers flooded into her mind. Vivid dreams of her being killed by strangers and friends alike slammed into her like a truck. June collapsed to the ground, foaming by the mouth. The Key Master walked past June’s body, the flower’s power slowly fading. It began to wilt, its petals drooping softly. As June let out a scream of pain, the Key Master leaned forward and placed his finger to his lips, hushing her.

“Shhhh,” he whispered in her ear, “I want to make this as unenjoyable as possible for our dear constellations. So shut. Up.”

June’s mouth disappeared. She had no mouth. Yet she wished to scream. June would be like this for a long, long time. The Key Master got up. The flower had fully wilted by now. The Key Master sighed and looked at the constellations in the night sky YOU.

“Having fun?” the Key Master asked quietly with a giggle, “Don’t worry. Me too. I don’t blame you.”

“Just know that this was for me. Not for you.”

The world around them began to crumble inwards, and the flower fell out of Ben’s right eye, landing on the ground and flickering away with the rest of the world. The black void that blocked Ben’s left eye disappeared.

Then it was over.

~

Ben was back to his senses. He looked around. All of his friends rushed up to him, screaming over one another in worry and grabbing onto him, looking him up and down and shaking him around. Others held up their fingers.

“How many am I holding?” Paul asked curiously with a bloody nose. He held up his middle finger.

“One,” Ben muttered. Then he shook his head in confusion, “Wait… I thought June beat you up so bad that-”

“No no I’m okay! Really nothing a bit of brew can fix up,” Paul replied, rubbing his face, “Although I can still feel the sting. I really am just a punching bag aren’t I? But what about you, are YOU okay? You were acting up earlier-”

“I’m not actually too sure what happened,” Ben replied, “I… Just kind of blacked out and now here I am.”

“Well June is dead,” Patricia pointed out, looking at June’s lifeless corpse. Ben blinked his eyes.

“I guess I did that.”

John walked up to Paul, a bit worried.

“You okay? I know you wanted to spare her-”

“It’s okay. Really,” Paul replied. He almost seemed disappointed and hurt by the outcome. His eyes swallowed with pity and he turned away from the dead body. He quickly glanced back at June. He stepped forward and gave her a little kick in the head.

“Perhaps I was wrong. Nobody changes for good.”

The night was somber and gloomy. Ben’s Attribute Amplification had lasted one full hour. When the others explained what happened to him, Ben didn’t believe it. He seemed truthful about it as well. He really didn’t recall ever doing something like that.

There were a lot of casualties because of the fight.

John’s albino capybara walked up to them and snorted. John nodded in confirmation. They knew where to go next as they had planned. The Book Club Camp.

They began their travels there, without a word leaving their mouths. Their thoughts still lingered on what had just happened with Ben and his strange freakout. None of them had seen this strange side of him before. Not even his closest friend Paul.

It certainly was odd to think about. But after a while, they brushed it to the side.

…

“I hope you enjoyed.”

“Freak.”

…

“You won’t see me for a while.”

“But when we do meet again.”

“I’ll know.”

“You better watch out for yourself.”

Because one day I’ll come for all of you.

Chapter 55, Part 2: Totality

- by Ben

“There are no winners in war.”

Andrew released the string of his light bow and the arrow of light instantly shot out and hit Drain in the chest. The dragon-sized beast let out a howl of pain as its scales were finally penetrated. All the while, the light and darkness from both the Heralds were clashing with one another, trying to one up the other. Andrew floated into the air. He noticed that unfreezing Tago and combating the black mist was slowly taking away the light from his body. At the same time, Drain could also be harmed.

This was going to be a difficult battle.

Andrew looked down to see his Knights clashing with Drain’s Nights, but as he watched, Drain swooped forward, slamming into Andrew and sending him flying into a building.

BAM!

Andrew crashed through the walls and into the stairway, which barely dented. He could see the debris falling down onto Emerald, unaware of the fact because she was busy fighting Prince Caldren.

“WATCH OUT EMERALD!”

Emerald looked up, and quickly dashed out of the way, causing the building debris to crash upon Prince Caldren’s head. Prince Caldren let out a roar of rage and tossed the debris to the side, picking up his mace and swinging at Emerald again.

Andrew clung onto hope as much as he could, but the light was already shimmering. Drain let out a devious laugh, taking to the skies.

“The tide’s finally turned, Herald,” Drain echoed. He opened his mouth and let out a guttural roar, spewing out purple flames onto Andrew. Andrew quickly dashed to the side, dodging it instantly.

“I really have to focus on this guy,” Andrew thought, forming another light arrow to his bow, “He’s so aggressive. Sorry, everyone. You’ll be on your own until I figure something out…”

Drain let out a bellow and breathed more purple fire out onto the streets.

As Buddy looked at Drain, he couldn’t help but feel shivers. This must have been the vision he had all that time ago. Just looking at Drain felt as if he was staring at death itself. Buddy could feel his armor crack at his presence. Buddy needed to focus on the others, Andrew would take care of Drain.

Before Buddy could help any of the others, he was suddenly confronted by a familiar looking blue dragon. Buddy paused in his tracks. It was much too large to be the one he encountered back at his home world…

“We meet again,” the dragon bellowed.

He swiped at Buddy. Buddy instinctively dashed to the right. Most of this dragon was covered in tough, black armor, but just laying eyes on Buddy seemed to make his armor grow and his body enlarge. There was no doubt about it. This was the dragon that Rockwell had summoned all that time ago.

“I never knew your name,” Buddy told him. He jumped up and slashed at the dragon’s armor, leaving a dent. The dragon smirked. His armor only continued to harden, while Buddy’s armor continued to crack.

“I may not have had a name then, but I do have one now,” the dragon snarled, “Entropy. For I shall destroy all who have put me upon this world.”

Entropy opened his mouth and unleashed a breath of fire onto Buddy. Buddy closed his eyes, accepting his fate, when something small latched onto him and carried him away. Entropy looked confused, his fire breath halting and his head jolting to the side. His eyes pierced the savior and he snarled.

“Cursed wyvern! I thought Drain had already cast you in a prison of stone?!”

Buddy looked up to see that Tago was carrying him. Buddy looked up at Tago and nodded. Tago lurched back and then flung Buddy at Entropy. Buddy latched onto Entropy’s face and began clawing at his unprotected head, making Entropy yell out in pain and blast fire all over the buildings. Entropy reached his hand out and clawed Buddy off his face, throwing him to the side, but not before Tago swooped in and punted Entropy in the face.

POW!

The impact was so much that Entropy went stumbling into a nearby building, causing it to come crashing down. Buddy let out a vicious cough. Blood shot out onto the concrete, and he groaned to himself. He was barely holding his own, even with the armor that Andrew had given him. Tago swooped down to check up on him.

“Are you okay Buddy?” Tago asked, a look of worry on her face. Buddy shook his head.

“This isn’t working out,” Buddy coughed, “I’m not that strong anyway, I don’t know why Andrew chose me to fight. Joe would have been a better pick.”

“There’s a reason for everything,” Tago said, quickly looking back at Entropy. He was barely recovering from the onslaught of attacks, and was slightly bleeding. His armor thickened.

Tago shot her head back to Buddy.

“Look, the armor’s based on positive emotions and memories,” Tago reminded, “Is there anybody that you care about or love that could give you that?”

Buddy shut his eyes.

“Think,” Buddy thought, “Dawn Pryde? No, we barely met. What about my…”

“Family…”

A memory shot through Buddy’s head, one he couldn’t recall.

~

“So tell me you love me… Even if it’s hard…” a familiar voice began singing. Buddy blinked his eyes and noticed it was a small Purlovia singing.

“Was that the Purlovia that claimed to be my son? What was his name, Jake?”

A soft, female voice joined.

“I’m sitting here wondering… where you are!”

Buddy looked to the right. A beautiful Purlovia was nudging her head to the small juvenile. Buddy blinked his eyes. He recognized her. He couldn’t remember, but now he could.

This was his wife, Janae.

Buddy looked up to the heavens. Life had been so beautiful with her, and their three children, he could finally remember. He could remember! And his name wasn’t Buddy either, it was-

~

KABOOM!

The explosion rang throughout Buddy’s ears. He was sent flying into a window, crashing through and ending up in a living room with a turned off fireplace. He let out a groan, and blinked his eyes, looking out.

“Ughh, what was that?” Buddy thought, blinking his eyes and feeling his vision wane. Buddy’s eyes darted to the armor on his body. It seemed mostly intact. Had that memory really repaired his armor?

It all felt like a distant dream, but as Buddy struggled to get up from the ground, he heard footsteps behind him. Buddy turned around to see two humans cowering, each in the dark black armor. Buddy fully turned around, and he suddenly felt a whip lash out at him.

“S-Stay back!” Lil Jack cried out.

“Yeah, beast! Get outta here!” Michael added on, waving his sword around flimsily. Lil Jack turned to Michael.

“Hey you’re the one with the sword, go get him!”

Michael nodded weakly.

“Yeah yeah just keep whipping at him!”

Lil Jack kept whipping at Buddy, and each lash made Buddy roar out in pain. He was too weak to stand. As Lil Jack continued his assault, Michael rushed forward with a battle cry.

“YARGGHH- OWWWW!” Michael howled as Lil Jack accidentally whipped Michael on the bottom. Michael dropped his sword and clenched his buttocks, sweating profusely.

“You idiot, you hit me!” Michael cried.

“You were in the way!” Lil Jack protested, lowering his whip.

Buddy took his chance to attack. He kicked the sword away with his claws and then bit down onto Michael’s arm. Michael let out a howl of pain, and Buddy quickly tossed Michael to the side, making him crash into the fireplace. The metal grate shut down on him, trapping him in place.

“What the- HEY! GET ME OUTTA HERE THIS INSTANT!” Michael shouted. Lil Jack saw the situation unfold before his eyes and instantly thought of a plan.

Run.

Lil Jack began to scream like a baby as he quickly crashed through the other window and began making a run for it down the streets. Buddy sighed, but as he was about to return to the fight, Entropy swiped at the building’s roof, causing it to go flying off. Entropy peered down at Buddy, his eyes filled with rage.

“Found you,” Entropy snarled.

The armor on Entropy’s body began to click in place, and Entropy grew once more. By now, Entropy was around the same size as Drain, and the armor on his body had jagged spikes and was pulsating fervently. The hate was immeasurable.

Entropy opened his mouth again.

“Time to end this Purlovia’s life, once and for all.”

Before Entropy could unleash hell, Drain’s ears perked up.

His body was filled with arrows of light, but each time one of the enemies was wounded, a spurge of hate would pass through their bodies and heal him. Each time one of his own Nights felt endeavored by their pettiness, he would grow stronger. Drain grinned as he saw Entropy’s armor. While he couldn’t be harmed by Andrew, Andrew couldn’t be harmed by him either. He was just too quick. So if he-

Drain willed the armor around Entropy’s body to disappear, and disappear it did. The armor flew off Entropy’s body and clicked onto Drain’s, infusing into his scales and ridding the light that was once embedded inside. Andrew felt his spirit waver as all the wounds Drain had disappeared. The darkness continued to grow, overtaking more of the light in the sky.

Entropy gasped as he felt himself shrink back to his normal form. He looked up back at Drain. He could feel his rage boil up further. Drain had betrayed him.

“How DARE YOU!” Entropy screamed.

Entropy took off to the skies and suddenly pummeled into Drain. Drain went flying and skidded off through the buildings. Andrew drew another arrow back and shot at Drain’s scales. The arrow was simply flicked off. Andrew swore to himself.

Drain grinned as Entropy blasted fire onto Drain. Drain’s armor only grew thicker and thicker.

“Can’t you see?” Drain laughed, “You were just my pawn.”

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU-”

Drain opened his mouth and blasted purple flames onto Entropy. Entropy let out a howl as they burned his scales, and as he flew off backwards, he suddenly began to turn to stone.

“W-What’s happening to me-” Entropy howled, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I HAVE A GOAL TO FULFILL! I MUST DESTROY ALL-”

It was too late. Entropy lay suspended in the air.

Three Nights down, just a few more to go.

Andrew drew another arrow. He thought about Neddy and Ruby’s romantic relationship. The arrow grew in size and continued glowing. Andrew released the string, and it pierced Drain in the wing. Drain let out a cough, as dark purple blood shot out his wing.

“Idiot,” Drain opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of purple flames. They didn’t reach Andrew, but as Drain continued to concentrate, so did the beam of flames, until it turned into a hot, concentrated purple laser. Drain swung his head, and the laser cut through Andrew’s arm and a multitude of buildings down below, making them crash down.

Andrew let out a cry as he felt the light shimmer away from his body. He concentrated on the way Jack and Jay loved to bicker. His arm grew back.

“This is getting really tough,” Andrew thought with a wince, “Drain seems so invincible-”

“Don’t give up,” a voice whispered to Andrew. Andrew’s eyes widened.

“Who was that?” Andrew asked aloud, “The One Who Knows?”

“Not a Homo Deus. Just know there’s a way to defeat Drain.”

The voice disappeared, and Andrew let out a sigh to steady his breathing. He didn’t know who that was, but it was enough to give him some hope.

Andrew drew another arrow.

~

Aragorn and Drake were facing off against Milo and his group. Two against three, the odds were definitely uneven. Pat transformed into a Reaper King, and Drake transformed into a Giga. Both of their bodies were still covered in that armor. Pat charged at the larger Drake and quickly side stepped, swinging his tail at Drake and making him get sent flying into a building. The buildings came crashing down, and Drake lost his balance, falling down onto his side. Dr. Bubba and Milo both transformed into Reapers, and the three dashed forward to feast upon his body.

Aragorn quickly sends shadows flying out of the buildings to latch onto the Reapers. The three let out shrieks of annoyance as Aragorn forced them to stay still. Drake quickly transformed back into a human, taking his rapier and dashing forward, slashing at their legs. All three transformed back into humans.

“I probably can’t turn into a Giga for this fight,” Drake thought, looking at all three’s legs. They were bleeding, “Too hard to control. If their serum works like mine though, they shouldn’t be able to transform-”

Drake was suddenly fired at by a bolt of searing hot Element. Drake let out a cry as his arm was burnt. He turned around to see Rockwell standing there, built in Enfestius blasters on his arms. His armor glowed.

“Cease your struggles, mortals,” Rockwell grinned.

“Oh brother this guy stinks,” Aragorn rolled his eyes. Aragorn looked down upon his shadow, and nodded. Aragorn’s shadow rose from the ground, also carrying a giant sword. Aragorn’s shadow nodded at Aragorn, and as the shadows unwrapped around Pat, Milo, and Dr. Bubba, Aragorn’s shadow charged at them.

Pat and Milo both unhooked their swords, slashing at Aragorn’s shadow. Aragorn’s shadow sank into the ground, and then rose back up and slashed at the two’s necks. The two barely weaved out of the way. Dr. Bubba took out a brew with red liquid and chugged it down. He stopped bleeding, and with a whim, he transformed into a Raptor. He jumped on top of Aragorn’s shadow, pinning him down. The others gathered around to destroy it, but Drake quickly charged in as a Kaprosuchus and managed to knock Dr. Bubba off.

“UGH! You annoying little brat!” Dr. Bubba snarled, “I regret giving you that serum to this day.”

Milo suddenly swung his sword at Drake, and Drake barely managed to deflect it with his thin rapier. Milo snarled at Drake.

“You’re going to pay for killing Dr. Bubba, filthy guard.”

“You bastard,” Drake barked back.

With overwhelming strength, Drake managed to push Milo back, and Milo stumbled. Aragorn’s shadow suddenly took his sword and shoved it straight into Milo’s stomach.

Milo gasped. But as Aragorn’s shadow retracted, Milo let out a cry and collapsed to his knees, tears collecting in his eyes and his armor hardening.

Pat gasped. His eyes wavered, and then he gritted his teeth.

“YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!” Pat screamed. He clenched his fists, and suddenly the armor around his body began to harden. Spikes shot out of his armor, and two large swords grew in Pat’s hands. Pat let out a scream and slashed them both at Aragorn’s shadow, destroying it immediately. Pat swung his swords at Drake next.

But before he could, something strange happened. All of the armor pieces surrounding Pat broke, and his swords shattered in a million pieces. Pat gasped, as he looked down upon his body. The armor pieces had disappeared. Flown off somewhere.

Drake took his opportunity. He swung his rapier to the side, but not before Dr. Bubba pushed Drake, causing him to stumble to the ground, and then Dr. Bubba got into a wrestling match with him, trying his best to pin the guard down. Dr. Bubba’s armor had also disappeared, and so had Milo’s. What was going on?

As Milo seethed on the ground, clutching his wound, Pat looked up at the skies to Drain. He blasted a beam of purple flames onto Andrew, who dodged out of the way and unleashed a volley of light arrows back at him. Their battle of attrition was dragging on for too long, and he noticed that parts of Andrew were returning back to normal. The darkness continued to creep up on the light.

“HEY DRAIN!” Milo shouted up to him, “OUR ARMOR’S GONE, HELP US OUT HERE!”

Drain ignored them. Whether or not he could even hear them, they weren’t sure. But Milo was hurt badly, and needed help. Pat cursed to himself and picked Milo up. He ran forward and kicked Drake in the head, who let out a howl and clutched it in pain. Dr. Bubba got up.

“We’ve gotta get out of here. Find a safe place and help Milo!” Pat told him. Dr. Bubba nodded.

“Right. Our time here’s up anyway. No need to fight anymore. Let’s get out of here.”

Pat transformed into a Procoptodon, putting Milo into his pouch. Dr. Bubba hopped on his back, and the three hopped out of the fight zone, until they reached a facility that seemed abandoned. The door was kicked open. They ventured inside and realized it was a lab.

~

Meanwhile, Aragorn was fighting Rockwell. Aragorn swung his sword a few times at Rockwell, but Rockwell merely dashed to the side and shot more blasts of Element in retaliation. Rockwell’s armor allowed him to be quick and nimble, compared to his old age.

Aragorn sighed to himself. This was going to be annoying. He looked around him. Buddy was nowhere to be seen. Emerald, Tago, and Star were focusing all their efforts on Prince Caldren, whose armor made him tank all of their attacks, Drake was hurt, and Erica-

Rockwell let out a howl of pain as a bolt of Element hit him in the back. Rockwell’s back bent over, and he let out a grunt as he rubbed his spine. Hunched over, Rockwell turned around.

“Which dastardly fiend was that?!”

“That would be me,” Erica revealed herself, floating down in her light armor, a light rifle in her hand. Rockwell pointed a finger at Erica.

“I knew a woman like you, thought she could defeat me, but I always win!” Rockwell shouted, “I always come back-”

Rockwell paused, as the armor around his body began to harden. He shook his head.

“I really need to keep my rage in check,” Rockwell thought, as he saw a Procoptodon hopping away with Dr. Bubba on its back. He looked back up at Drain. That foul beast was taking advantage of them like pawns. Once Rockwell’s armor reached its max capabilities, Drain would just take it away for himself. Rockwell couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let it reach the max.

“For now, this will do,” Rockwell thought with a smile, “I need this armor for later, but I can’t be caught. I saw that Milo fellow got wounded badly. I could ‘convince’ them to give me some of their serum.”

Aragorn swung his sword at Rockwell again, and Rockwell dodged, snapping his back back in place. Aragorn was starting to get annoyed by this old man. But there was simply nothing he or Erica could do. He was just too quick.

~

Caldren swung his mace at Emerald. Emerald skittered up the building’s walls before the mace came crashing down onto the building. Emerald jumped off and swooped down at Caldren, biffing him in the face. Caldren let out a howl of pain.

Star, who had been mostly passive in the fight for whatever reason, finally made her move. She dashed forward and slashed at Caldren’s legs with her Terror Bird claws. Caldren let out a roar as the Dodo bird chuckled to herself. Tago swooped in and blasted fire onto his face, scorching his face further.

The three quickly regrouped, side by side and ready to face him again. The armor on Prince Caldren’s body seemed to really accelerate his durability and stamina. Prince Caldren didn’t even look exhausted yet. He let out a roar and pounded his chest with one of his fists.

“YOU ALL DIE NOW!” Caldren shouted angrily.

“I don’t think so,” Emerald snapped back. Tago grimaced as Caldren swung his mace again, and the three moved out of the way.

“Damn it,” Star thought, grinding her beak, “I just need to…”

“Transform.”

Star gasped, as she felt her body transmogrify. A white light flashed, and Caldren shielded his eyes as the white light finally passed, a woman with flowing, black hair remained, the armor around her changed to fit her body. She looked down at her tan hands, and moved around her fingers. She grinned.

“Heh. It really worked,” the woman began to laugh, “IT WORKED! I’M HUMAN AGAIN!”

“What the,” Tago muttered. The woman looked up at the beast.

“Hey there! I’m so glad I can finally talk,” the woman said. Caldren let out a roar, seemingly apathetic toward Star’s transformation, and swung his mace at her again. The woman dodged to the side, then rushed up to Caldren and slammed her fist into him. Caldren stumbled backwards a little bit, and while Tago continued blasting fire onto him, Emerald climbed up a building parallel to him and afterwards dashed down, slamming him into a building.

SMASH!

Caldren’s body went tumbling back, and his head slammed through a window. Caldren let out a roar as he struggled to get up, his head stuck again. Caldren burst through the building and swung his fist at the woman, who weaved to the side.

“Who are you?!” Emerald asked the woman, “What happened to Star?”

“I am Star,” the woman replied, “Long story short, name’s Nova. Yeah I know one of you is already named Nova, sorry about the complication. But I think I can shapeshift-”

“Like Drake?” Tago asked.

“Yeah, like Drake,” Nova replied, “Too bad for me I couldn’t control it. Only way I was able to get out of that stupid dodo form was by laying low and concentrating as hard as I could-”

Caldren picked up his mace and swung at Tago again. Tago flew to the side. This game of cat and mouse was angering Caldren by the second. He let out another ferocious roar, and his mace began to grow in size.

CLICK CLICK!

By now, Prince Caldren was holding up a mace three times his size, and almost as large as a building. Prince Caldren raised his mace, and the three looked up at the mace in horror.

“NOW YOU DIE!” Prince Caldren was about to slam the mace down when the mace suddenly crumbled to pieces. Prince Caldren let out a surprised grunt, and he looked at his body and noticed his armor was flying away and merging with Drain.

“Now’s our chance!” Emerald shouted, “GET HIM!”

Without his armor, Prince Caldren was easily pummeled into a nearby building. Emerald slashed at Prince Caldren’s arm, and blood spewed out onto her armor. Tago slammed into Prince Caldren, and his head was stuck in the walls once more.

Caldren struggled to get up, flailing his arms around and slamming his feet into the ground.

“HATE YOU I HATE YOU!” Caldren shouted, “I KILL YOU ALL!”

Nova sighed, brushing sweat off her forehead and turning to Emerald and Tago. She giggled.

“That was fun,” Nova said, “Girl power, am I right?”

Emerald and Tago raised their brows at her.

“No, just me, okay. Come on, let’s go help the others defeat that old man over there.”

Nova rushed over to help immediately, while Emerald just shook her head.

“Humans and their weird sayings,” Emerald dashed toward Rockwell, and Tago took to the skies and began to fly toward them.

~

Lil Jack crept back into the building where Michael was trapped, and as he did he saw the Purlovia they had fought was wreathing on the ground, his head in his hands.

“Jack, Janae,” it whimpered softly. Lil Jack clutched onto his whip tightly. Did it just say his name? Before Lil Jack could take action, a high-pitched voice interrupted him.

“HEY! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!” Michael suddenly shouted. Lil Jack jumped from his place. He looked over to the fireplace, where Michael had gotten stuck. Michael began to cough violently.

“This ash is irritating! Why did you run?”

“Sorry Michael,” Lil Jack apologized, “I got scared.”

“Scared? Ridiculous! Some sort of villain you are. Now come, unfree me.”

Lil Jack carefully stepped over to the fireplace. He put his fingers on the metal grate and lifted it up. Michael went tumbling out, coughing voraciously. Both of their armor was still intact, and the fighting outside was already beginning to die down.

“Okay,” Lil Jack said, “Let’s get out of here-”

Michael walked over and picked up the sword.

“Not before I kill this creature thing. It bit me on the arm, it’ll pay.”

Michael lifted his sword up into the air. Lil Jack shivered. The Purlovia opened his mouth again.

“My son, Jake, I’m sorry.”

Lil Jack took a step back, memories overflowing him. His father taking him to the shooting range. His father teaching him the rules of the streets. The first person he jumped with his friends. Mikey, Larry. And then his horrible, horrible death. Lil Jack’s lips quivered, and his armor split open and the fragments fell to the ground. He opened out his mouth and screamed,

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

Lil Jack lunged forward and knocked Michael down. Michael let out a grunt of pain, and then elbowed Lil Jack in the nose. Lil Jack screamed out in pain, and Michael lifted his sword and swiped at Lil Jack. Lil Jack quickly rolled to the side, and the sword nearly took his hand off.

“You… What do you think you’re doing?” Michael scoffed, “First you hit me with that stupid whip, and then you stop me from killing this thing-”

“We can’t, we shouldn’t,” Lil Jack gasped, getting up. He pushed Michael.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Lil Jack wept, “This isn’t right… What are we fighting for? For some demon, the devil himself! Even in Hell we can’t help but fight amongst ourselves…”

Tears fell down Lil Jack’s eyes.

“My whole life, I’ve been taught that violence was the solution to everything. It was the way it had to be,” Lil Jack told Michael. Michael gritted his teeth, gripping his sword tighter.

“It can’t be anymore,” Lil Jack pleaded, “Come on. The creature has a family. What happens if we kill him? What happens then-”

“SHUT UP!” Michael swiped his sword at Lil Jack’s face, cutting his cheek and nose and making his head whip to the side. Blood seeped down his face. Lil Jack felt the blood and looked at it in horror.

“You’re an IDIOT,” Michael shouted, “A weirdo, and a freak! Let me do as I please! I was the mayor of Tortuga, I could do whatever I wanted-”

Lil Jack slammed his fist into Michael’s nose, and he let out a shout as blood poured down his nostrils.

“Oh,” Michael realized, as the blood fell onto his lips, “You’re so dead, YOU’RE SO DEAD!”

Lil Jack quickly slammed another fist into Michael, and then another, and another. Michael let out shouts of pain, as the armor around him began to harden, and his hate continued to amplify. Before he knew it, the armor shattered, and both pieces from Lil Jack and Michael’s armor flew out of the building and onto Drain.

Both of them were breathing for air, their weapons both gone. With one last push, Lil Jack grabbed Michael by the collar and then shoved him back into the fireplace. Michael let out a scream of rage as Lil Jack shut the metal grate down again.

Lil Jack took a seat down at the couch, breathing heavily. He looked back at the Purlovia. He sighed, closing his eyes. He was tired of all of this. Just wanted to live a life without constantly fighting.

Lil Jack got up from the couch, walking out the back door and heading off into the distance. Where would he go? He wasn’t sure. He just wanted to find something, or someone that could help him in this foreign world.

Lil Jack looked back at the mayhem. A part of him wanted to help, but most of his heart told him he just wanted to survive.

Lil Jack didn’t look back.

~

Rockwell looked as Nova, Emerald, and Tago joined the battle. By now all of Andrew’s Knights except Buddy were against him. Rockwell knew this was a battle he wouldn’t be able to win. He’d have to escape. Rockwell looked up at Drain. He didn’t seem to notice Rockwell’s armor was still on. Rockwell smiled. Things were going perfectly.

Rockwell looked on at the Knights. Humans and creatures alike surrounded him from all fronts. Rockwell looked back and forth carefully, waiting for the first move.

“You’re surrounded, give up and surrender,” Emerald told him. Rockwell grinned,

“Of course, of course… hold on, what is that? Is that a Giganotosaurus?”

Rockwell pointed off in the distance. Somehow, all of them looked at where Rockwell was pointing. Rockwell grinned. Now was his chance. Rockwell ran as quickly as he could, and by the time they had noticed, he was already long gone.

Rockwell ran along the streets, using the armor to create longer strides and faster steps. Rockwell looked back. Nobody was following him.

“Perfect. Now all I must do is gather the transformation serum-”

BAM BAM BAM!

Blasts of light suddenly shot at Rockwell. Rockwell cursed to himself and looked up. Erica was following him in the sky, firing down at him with his rifle. Rockwell fired back with his blaster arms. Erica swiftly dodged out of the way, younger and more fit than the feeble Rockwell. Even with Edmundium flowing through his veins, his age was catching up.

Rockwell looked at the buildings around. He fired at the support pillars of those instead, and a building crumbled down upon Erica. Erica let out a scream as the building hit her, sending her to the ground. The debris came tumbling down, trapping her in a desolate grave. Rockwell grinned.

“The fools must learn not to interfere with a god’s plan.”

Rockwell could see a building up ahead that had its door kicked down. He could sense lifeforms inside. That must have been Pat, Milo, and Dr. Bubba. Rockwell grinned as he rushed inside.

He saw Milo writhing on an operating table, a large wound in his stomach, and his face pale and sweaty. Dr. Bubba and Pat were arguing about something.

“WHY CAN’T YOU JUST USE THE HEALING BREWS YOU MADE BEFORE THE BATTLE?!” Pat barked. Dr. Bubba barked back,

“Even if I had any left,” Dr. Bubba argued, “They won’t be able to heal the wound he has-”

“Gentlemen, I believe I can help,” Rockwell interjected, his hands behind his back. Dr. Bubba and Pat turned, and glared at him.

“What do you want?” Pat snapped.

“Your friend is gravely wounded, and on his deathbed,” Rockwell pointed out, “You are incapable of saving him. Allow me to assist.”

“What’s the catch?” Dr. Bubba asked.

“Why, there is no catch. All I request is the transformation serum you’ve taken in return.”

Pat took a step back,

“No way, we’re never giving that to you! That’s ours!”

“Tsk tsk tsk, but your friend’s life is on the line,” Rockwell smiled, “Are you willing to throw it away just for a secret?”

Pat opened his mouth to speak, but Dr. Bubba stopped him.

“No. I’ll give it to you,” Dr. Bubba begged him, “Just… Please don’t go back on your word.”

Rockwell smiled.

“Don’t worry. I am not here to deceive you, like that beast of a bat. Think of it as a business offer.”

Rockwell opened the palm of his hand out to them.

“Now. The transformation serum.”

Pat looked at Dr. Bubba. Dr. Bubba nodded. Dr. Bubba walked over to a lab counter and began to create it. In just a minute or two, Dr. Bubba had a cup with a purple liquid. He handed it to Rockwell. Rockwell gulped it down.

“Try it. It works. Not a trick,” Dr. Bubba told him.

Rockwell transformed into a Terror Bird. He looked at his claws happily, before transforming back into a human.

“Very well then, give me a first-aid kit. I will patch this man up.”

~

As the debris closed in on Erica, she could feel her breathing elevate. It felt so hard to breathe, and everything hurt. Were her bones broken? Erica couldn’t tell. This armor was unable to tell her how and where she was hurt.

“I hope the others are okay,” Erica murmured to herself, “Andrew… I hope you’re okay.”

Erica felt her heart rate elevate as well. She was tired. She didn’t know if she could hold on any longer.

“I’m… sorry, I couldn’t make it-”

The debris was lifted off of her. Erica let out a gasp of air as she felt fresh oxygen flow through her body. She struggled to lift her body up, and looked on to see a black bear looking down at her with his head tilted.

“Hey there human, good or bad guy?”

“Good guy,” Erica groaned, “Aren’t you supposed to be… back at the mansion?”

The bear frowned, looking worried.

“What mansion? You’re hurt. We need to get you help!”

“It’s too late for me,” Erica whispered, “Take my armor and help-”

“NO!” the bear shouted, “I will not let any more good guys die! Now, tell me who can help!”

Erica sighed, a smile passing her lips. The bear was quite silly.

“Andrew.”

Bear stood up on his hind legs and called out to the world.

“ANDREWWWWW! WE NEED YOUR HELP!”

~

Andrew could hear Bear’s call for help ring in his ears. Andrew looked back at Drain, who had tried in vain to shoot fire laser beams at him, and quickly dashed forward and knocked Drain through an array of skyscrapers.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Andrew quickly dashed over to Bear’s voice and noticed Erica laying on the ground, mortally wounded.

“ERICA!” Andrew shouted, dashing over and kneeling down to Erica.

“It’s over,” Erica muttered.

“No it isn’t, I can help you,” Andrew put his hand on Erica’s body and the light from Andrew’s body began to transfer over to Erica. Erica could feel her bones snap back in place. By the time Andrew was finished, half of his body was light, and half of his body was normal as it had been.

“You won’t win if you help me,” Erica told him. Andrew held onto Erica’s hand.

“But if you die,” Andrew said, “If any of you die, there won’t be a point in winning.”

Erica felt more out of breath.

“Just think of the good memories,” Andrew softly told her, “It’ll be okay.”

Good memories.

Erica closed her eyes. And she reminisced as hard as she could. Memories began flowing through her eyes, but they slowly began to transform. Of Andrew. Freya. Sylas. Paul, and Jonathan. Erica smiled. Things were going to be okay.

Erica felt herself drift off to unconsciousness. Andrew looked up at the sky. The light was running low, and the shadows were starting to grow. They were losing, despite their efforts. Was the world really so filled with hate that darkness would win this battle?

Andrew floated up into the sky and faced Drain again. Drain grinned as he saw Andrew.

“Last chance Andrew,” Drain told him, “You know I’ll win.”

“I…” Andrew paused, and then opened his eyes,

“Refuse.”

Andrew dashed at Drain with light speed and grabbed him by the wings. In less than a second, they were at the Shadowkeep, which was up in flames along with the rest of the forest around it.

“What are you doing?!” Drain snarled.

“I won’t let you hurt my friends,” Andrew declared, “Even if it means I die. So come on, let’s have a fair fight.”

Chapter 10: The One Behind It All

Original Post Date: Jan 20, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Scout, next chapter in Rhyniognatha.

~

Click.

Tick, tick, tick.

“Hm. Perfect. All scholars have been transported to the ARK.”

Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak, creak, creak.

A man wearing a light blue suit and a pair of shades entered the office, holding a file filled with papers and papers. He had a stern look on his face. The mysterious agent walked up to the table and slammed it on the granite counter.

“Mr. President, here is a list of all the scholars as requested, along with their gems and attributes,” the agent said. The President looked at the agent with a foul look on his face.

“What did I tell you about calling me that?” the President scornfully said.

“You’re right, I’m sorry… Dan.”

“Yes, call me by my first name. You know I respect you a lot, your brains along with the other agents have contributed a lot to our project, Agent Jackpot,” the President replied happily.

“Yes, Dan,” Agent Jackpot responded, “And Dan, there seemed to be a problem with one of the subjects. Samuel… Something, school records couldn’t find his last name but he was brought to the ARK with no implant.”

“And how is that possible?” the President asked sarcastically.

“We don’t know. We think it’s a glitch in the system, perhaps a miscalculation of how many implants we needed for our specimens.”

“Well it doesn’t matter. If he dies he dies, end of that,” the President replied. Then, he raised an eyebrow, “How many scholars have died since they arrived on the island?”

“There used to be four-hundred scholars, but now the number has dropped to one hundred.”

“Excellent. Then we can begin the final part of the operation.”

“Okay then, and just letting you know the other agents are preparing to release the Alphas onto the Ark. They are awaiting your approval, of course, after you activate the Obelisks.”

“Perfect. I give them full approval, all are at full health and strength, correct? This Ark won’t be a walk in the park for those who have survived till now.”

“Well… One escaped containment, the raptor did. She currently roams the plateau, but hasn’t damaged the balance of power yet. We calculate she’s currently stalking someone.”

“The clever girl- It’s fine. As long as that beast doesn’t do too much damage, it’ll all be fine,” the President murmured, “Okay then. Prepare yourselves. Tell the other agents to release the Alphas immediately.”

“Understood, Dan.”

Before Agent Jackpot left the room, he turned around with one last message,

“Oh, and by the way, Vice President Bob wants you to cancel the project, he says that this has all gone too far, and that this isn’t what we were working for.”

The President scoffed, and waved him away.

“Tell Bob to get off my butt, he should be more concerned about other things, like working on his story for the project.”

Agent Jackpot nodded, and then exited the room. Dan Walker smiled, now left alone with only him and his thoughts. He spun his office chair around and pressed a button. A case that was glowing with blue lines opened up, revealing a metal pike that was glowing red. Dan Walker carefully picked up with his left hand. He took a remote out of his pocket and clicked a red button on it, and a hologram of the Ark popped up. He clutched the pike, and with a quick jab he shoved it into the metal of his desk.

SHOOM!

Green, blue, and red lines began to appear all over the desk, and soon the hologram flickered away. Dan let out a smile, and then picked a nearby book off a bookshelf, flipping to the last page.

“To Be Continued,” Dan recited from the book. He looked up at the glass roof, and with a snap of his fingers the glass panel folded inward, revealing the night sky. Up above one ‘star’ seemed to shine brighter than all the others, it looked like red, blue, and green were coming out of it. The other stars sparkled, and Dan smirked as he leaned back in his office chair.

“Finally. I’ll be able to finish my story,” Dan grinned as the ARK in the night sky continued to outshine the constellations.

Chapter 4: Cranking the Difficulty

Original Post Date: Nov 4, 2023

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Voidwyrm, next chapter in Tapejara.

~

“The humming is getting louder and more vibrations are coming from it,” Neddy noted as he, Samuel, and the dodo bird walked through the tall grass. Samuel brushed the grass aside with his hands as the two ventured deep into the plateau’s hill. There were large oak trees that spanned across the plain and large rocks too. Samuel noticed strange dinosaurs that stood on their hind legs and had crests on their heads, like the flying ones.

“Parasaurolophus,” Neddy said in awe, “They use the crests on their head to communicate with others.”

Just then, one of the Parasaurs let out a honk of fear. A strange ringing vibrated in Samuel and Neddy’s ears. They both let out shocked cries of pain as they covered their ears to stop the noise.

“What the- What’s going on?” Samuel asked.

“The Parasaurolophus is scared right now,” Neddy explained.

“But by what?”

Samuel’s question was answered, as the pattering of paws on dirt softly whispered in his ears. Something shrieked across the field, as a strange beast with a dog-shaped jaw and huge talons jumped on the Parasaur! The Parasaur fell to the ground as the strange beast began to dig its teeth into its flesh, causing guts and flesh to spill out onto the grass. Samuel could only look on in horror as the Parasaur succumbed to the attack.

“Utahraptor…” Neddy whispered, “The largest dromaeosaurid, so large and so smart they could be deemed as one of the most dangerous predators.”

The raptor tore a chunk of meat off, a look of triumph on its face as it finally caught its prey.

“And they say they could be pack hunters.”

Neddy’s yapping seems to have attracted the attention of the raptor. It turned its head, and upon noticing the two of them it realized an easy meal could be put on its plate if it just went after the two of them.

“Run!” Samuel shouted as he picked up his dodo bird friend.

The two of them dashed for a nearby boulder. Samuel could hear the pounding footsteps of the raptor approaching him closely, and Neddy shouted with all of his breath,

“Utahraptors can run at speeds of up 25 and 30 miles per hour! We need to get to that rock now!” Neddy screamed. Samuel shot his head back for a quick moment, the raptor was gaining on them. Samuel took his rock and hurled it at the utahraptor.

Boof!

The raptor let out a shriek of pain, pausing for a break as it shook its head in pain. With the distraction set in place, the two of them bolted for the boulder. Upon reaching their intended destination, they quickly climbed atop. Samuel looked behind him to see the raptor run up to the rock. The raptor stared at the two for a bit, then jumped up, clawing at the rock as it did so. Neddy let out a shrill scream as it did. Each time the raptor jumped it got closer and closer to reaching the two. They were sitting ducks.

“Oh no what are we gonna do bro?!” Neddy asked fearfully.

Samuel opened his mouth to answer when he felt the hairs on his arms stand up on end. The wind blew his hair to the side just a bit, and it was then a primitive spear soared through the air and struck the raptor in the leg. It let out a cry of pain as it fell off the rock mid-attempt, landing on its other leg wrong. A few arrows with sharp stone tips flew in the air, hitting the raptor, although some hit the ground nearby. The raptor let out a shrill cry as it lay its head on the ground, defeated.

“What the? Who did that?” Neddy asked.

“That was a good shot, Aurora,” a girl said.

“Thanks Ruby, although we couldn’t have made these weapons without you. We have to work on your aim though.”

Two girls emerged from the tall grass, and Samuel studied the two of them intently. They both wore strange makeshift clothing that looked rough and was covered in dirt and grime. One of them had short black hair with streaks of red that was tied in a ponytail. She also wore glasses and she wielded a wooden bow in her hands, a pouch made of animal hide and filled with stone arrows was slung over her shoulder. The other was very very recognizable. Aurora Romero, the valedictorian of Terran High. She had a white piece of her graduation robe banded over her forehead to keep her hair out of her face, and sweat poured down her face. She carried two extra spears that were strapped to her back. Samuel’s eyes darted to both of their wrists. Just like Neddy, they too had the strange implants.

“Who are you guys?” Neddy asked dumbfounded, “Well I know who you are Aurora. I didn’t expect to meet you so soon.”

“I’m Aurora, as you know,” the former valedictorian declared, “And this here is my friend Ruby. The two of us found each other when we both woke up.”

“I’m Samuel,” Samuel introduced himself.

“Neddy,” Neddy blurted, “And, how’d you make those weapons?”

“We’ll explain it all, but we should probably get out of here,” Ruby suggested, “That raptor could get up any moment.”

Everyone agreed with Ruby. So the newly bound quintet quickly took their leave. Aurora led the way, and as they traveled quickly through the tall grass and the plains, she constantly jolted her head up at the skies, as if she was charting something.

Samuel looked behind him one last time, and he could see a pack of Utahraptors meeting together over their fallen comrade. Samuel noticed that one of them was bigger than the others… and a red aura seemed to be dissipating from it.

“Brrrrr,” Samuel thought as he turned around.

ACT 6: Calm Before the Storm

This is a Theri exclusive story.

Written by Ben (OBJ)

You do not have to read TAOH to understand this story.

Author's Note: There's a discrepancy for General Moon's eye colors. One of her personality's is portrayed as red and green, and the other brown or green. I apologize for the continuity error. It should be red, blue, and green, to represent the three obelisks.

ACT 6: Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 16: Pigeon

“It’s all in the footwork.” - Captain Josh Swann

~

Pigeon stepped to the right, and swung at the man’s kidney. Albert merely weaved to the left, before swinging his torch at Pigeon again. Pigeon swiftly rolled underneath Albert’s flaps and then afterwards stabbed Albert in the calf. Albert let out a groan, and as he swung at Pigeon again, Pigeon slipped on his metal shield and blocked the impact.

CLANG!

The torch shattered into pieces, and Pigeon took his sword and swung at his wrist. His hand came clean off, landing in the snow and coating it in red. Albert clutched the stump of his hand. Albert grinned as he stumbled backwards. Pigeon’s sword glimmered, the blood dripping down the blade and onto the snow. Pigeon wiped the sword on his flak armor. Pigeon reached for his helmet and pulled it off. His dark green hair fluttered in the snow, and he squinted his eyes, slight pity for him. He had been a good fighter.

“You fought well, Albert,” Pigeon told him, “But your uprising ends. The Walkers of the Void live on.”

Albert scoffed.

“The Walkers do not deserve you,” Albert muttered, “You’re too good for them.”

Albert looked up.

“What are you waiting for? End it.”

Pigeon nodded.

“If you would like to challenge me again, you know where to find me.”

Pigeon slashed his sword.

As Albert’s body collapsed into the snow, Pigeon looked at his implant, seeing the death messages of his Argies and Austin. Pigeon sighed, looking up into the sky. He couldn’t get a break.

Pigeon trotted through the snow, exhausted both physically and mentally. That was his toughest battle yet, but the Goopers were defeated. Pigeon won again. He always won. Pigeon let out a huff, his silver tooth exposed. He thought about his only loss. It was General Moon who bested him, and it was General Moon who recruited him.

He remembered the day clearly. He was just trying to survive on his own. And she came to him, seeking him.

~

Pigeon was on an Argentavis, an Ankylosaurus in its talons, and approaching the Redwoods’ mountain, collecting metal when he heard violent flapping of wings ahead of him. Pigeon looked ahead to see a large Wyvern approaching him, a rider atop. Pigeon’s eyes widened. He quickly flew close to the ground, hoping that the rider wouldn’t notice, but it was too late. She was approaching him.

The Wyvern landed on the ground, and the rider dismounted, her fluttering white hair swinging back and forth. She had calculating, cold blue eyes. There was something off about her. As if she wasn’t supposed to be a part of this world. Pigeon hopped off his Argentavis. They were valuable tames. He could afford losing his kit, but certainly not his tames. He whistled, and his Argie flew away. He turned to face her.

“What do you want? I’m just minding my own business. Please move along,” Pigeon respectfully asked her. The woman stepped forward.

“I’ve been looking for you Pigeon,” the woman said, “I’m General Moon, and I’m with the Walkers of the Void. We want you to join us. You’re a strong combatant.”

How did she know?

“What do the Walkers want with someone like me?” Pigeon asked.

“That’s irrelevant. But you will make a worthy Captain. You will not regret it.”

General Moon’s implant flashed, and a request popped through Pigeon’s. Pigeon looked at it hesitantly. He enjoyed being his own boss. At the same time, he’d heard rumors about the Walkers of the Void. It was difficult joining and ever ranking up. This may have been his only opportunity.

Pigeon thought for a moment, then shook his head. He declined the request.

“I’m enjoying my life,” Pigeon explained, “And I don’t fancy violence.”

“That wasn’t a request, though,” General Moon glared, “It was an order.”

Pigeon clenched his fists.

“No means no-”

General Moon lashed forward, swinging a fist at Pigeon. Pigeon quickly ran to the side, his movement speed superior. Pigeon noticed General Moon’s glaring red eyes. General Moon swung her fists again, but Pigeon easily dodged. As she threw a flurry of punches, Pigeon noticed how much slower she was, and how much tired she had already become. What level was she? Had she even leveled any of her stats? It was absurd to him.

Pigeon smirked. So much for being a General. Maybe she was trying to start her own tribe and have him on her side. Pigeon pulled out his pike. Time to end the battle. He lunged forward and stabbed it at her, but she suddenly flickered away. Pigeon’s eyes widened. Where was she-

WHACK!

Pigeon’s head jolted to the side, and a tooth flew out of his mouth.

ZAAAAAAAPPP!

Then, he felt a jolt of electricity course through his body, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious, but not before feeling a pair of handcuffs on his wrist.

~

When Pigeon awoke, he was in a cage. He got up and realized all of his loot was gone, and he had nothing but the underwear he had woken up with. Pigeon bashed his strong, muscular body against the cage, but it barely shook. The air flickered in front of the cage, and General Moon manifested.

“Where am I?!” Pigeon barked.

“You’re in the Walkers’ base, up in the mountains,” General Moon smirked, pulling out a map and pointing at a marker. Pigeon sighed. This was it. Since Pigeon refused to be a part of the tribe, he was too much of a threat, and thus, must be contained.

General Moon shook her head.

“Like I said, I need you as a captain here. You’re one of the only capable people left,” General Moon said, “But, you saw what happened back then and right here and now.”

“You teleported,” Pigeon observed, “Do you have a Blessing?”

General Moon nodded.

“Yes. I do. I bought this account from one of the Five,” General Moon admitted, “That’s why I’m only Level 1. Now do you believe me? Will you join the cause?”

Pigeon thought, and then nodded.

“Yes.”

Moon lifted his hand, and then she and Pigeon shook hands.

~

Pigeon blinked his eyes, as he was thrown out of the memory. No more dwelling on the past. It was time to return back to base. Pigeon tried to trot through the snow, back to his Argentavis, but just a few more steps and his eye began to throb. Pigeon felt his face, and recalled Albert had taken his eye in the gruesome battle. Pigeon’s vision began to wane, and before he knew it, he passed out then and there.

Chapter 17: Sloth

General Moon pulled on Sloth’s ears, tugging him along with a glare through the hallways.

“You’ve caused enough trouble for me.”

General Moon led him to the prison, where she opened the door and then threw him in a spare cage. She locked the door shut, and then kicked the cage to the corner of the room.

BAM!

“There,” General Moon smirked, “Suffer for your insolence.”

Sloth sighed, crumpling onto the ground. General Moon looked off at one of the other prisoners in the room. A woman with piercing eyes. The woman smiled at General Moon, and General Moon scoffed.

“Have fun rotting in your cell.”

General Moon exited the prison, shutting the iron doors behind her.

There was a shift in the cell nearby.

“Hey.”

Sloth turned to face the woman who had smiled at General Moon.

“What do you want? Bug off.”

“You wanna get back at General Moon?”

“Yeah. So what? What can I do?” Sloth scoffed, “I’ll log off soon. There’s no point of staying around.”

“I have a plan.”

The mystery girl tossed a pickaxe over to Sloth. Sloth catched it, and looked at it.

“In an hour, we break out and tear this place down from the inside. I have weapons. Break down that cage until it’s almost on the verge of breaking. On his ‘mark’, we begin.”

“Whose?” Sloth asked. Ben shifted in the cell nearby, curious for the answer.

Mystery Girl looked down at the ground.

“A raid is imminent.”

Chapter 18: Mark

A meteor shower was hailing down upon the planet. A skinny, dark-skin man observed the phenomena with his hands behind his back. Mark sighed as he observed implosions occur across the wasteland. The ARKs hadn’t fallen down, and the old Walkers of the Void had failed in their conquest to defeat the King Titan.

Thundering footsteps echoed in the distance. Mark clenched his fist, his implant glowing bright. His levels flashed before his eyes. Level 999. Mark grinned as he looked up at the skies. Reports had shown that the Walkers of the Void had a change of leadership. His old archnemesis was gone. No more. So now Mark could do whatever he wished without interference.

He had been saving up levels and scheming for so long. It was about time he finally made a stand and take them down once and for all.

Mark walked up to a city terminal.

“It’s about time I take down your empire, Dan.”

Looking around at the chaos unfolding around him, stars exploded within his eyes. He equipped a shimmering ascendant red pike, and then transferred himself to the Island.

Chapter 89: Slaughter in the Spotlight

“Dance to the beat!” a robotic voice beeped in the zone, “For each note you land on correctly you gain one point! Each box you miss you lose one point! First person to reach one hundred points will gain a boost in all physical abilities by 200% for the next five minutes!”

“Hmmm,” General Wyvern thought, “This attribute amplification is quite weak. It even allows his enemies to become stronger. What kind of amplification is that?”

General Wyvern didn’t have any more time to ponder. Arrows began to slide down from the floor as the skeletons around them began to play their instruments.

Bam bam bam!

General Wyvern began to follow the match of the rhythm, smashing his feet into the lit up boxes. He looked up to see Ian following his lead. Ian seemed to land on all the boxes perfectly, while General Wyvern missed one every once in a while. As the trumpet got louder and the drums became more boisterous, General Wyvern looked atop Ian’s head to see his points racking up at a wild rate. Not only that, but he could see his shoulder wound already beginning to patch up.

“His wounds are healing?!” General Wyvern realized.

Before General Wyvern could act, Ian was already at 90 points. Unfortunately for Ian, General Wyvern had something up his sleeve. General Wyvern’s body began to glow alongside his implant, and energy crackled at his fingertips. General Wyvern clapped his hands forward, and a bolt of lightning shot out and hit Ian square in the chest.

“UGH!” Ian cried as his body was zapped. His body began to shake wildly, and he fell to the ground. His points instantly tanked, and Patricia gasped.

Bam bam bam!

Ding ding ding ding ding!

“General Wyvern has won the game! A boost has been applied!”

The skeleton band instantly popped out of existence, and the zone faded away, leaving General Wyvern feeling stronger than ever. He could see at the corner of his vision a timer counting down five minutes. His time was limited.

“I know June has it covered on her front. I’ll go help Landon then with that brute. But first I have to check on Ben. I need to ensure he stays in that room,” General Wyvern thought. He looked back at Patricia, who was kneeling on the ground, trying to shake Ian out of his electrified state.

“Patricia, please put the prisoner back in his cell, and find the other one.”

Patricia didn’t respond.

General Wyvern rushed out of the room and headed toward the master bedroom. Patricia just stared at Ian’s lips, and squinted her eyes. Ian began to choke, struggling to breathe. Patricia began to blush, as she leaned forward and performed mouth to mouth on Ian.

~

Chris ran down the hallway, turning his camouflage off and looking past each door, trying to find which one could have the prisoner inside of it. He steadied his breath and looked behind him. Nobody seemed to be following him, all efforts seemed to be directed toward the herbivore stampede in the front and the mosasaurus assaults in the back. Chris turned back and eventually stopped at a metal door that seemed sturdier and stronger than any other door in that hallway.

“This must be the one,” Chris thought. He walked up to the door and put his hand on the big vault doorknob. He quickly turned on it, and surprisingly, it began to open up. He pulled on the door and the door shifted open. He was greeted with the smell of a lit candle and flowers. Dew seemed to hang in the air as he walked inside. And sitting on the ground, kneeling over a pile of flower petals, was Ben.

“Ben? You got captured too?” Chris asked, walking up to Ben. Ben’s shoulders dropped as he sighed. Then he began to laugh.

“Looks like I finally found you Chris,” Ben said aloud. He had a hint of grieving in his voice, “Guess you’re the one who helped free me in the end, huh?”

Chris seemed shocked by the fact.

“You came to find me?”

Ben nodded his head. Then he got up from the ground, turning around to face Chris. His face was filled with dry tear marks.

“Let’s get out of here.”

They heard the sound of a gun being reloaded, and Chris turned around to see General Wyvern pointing a revolver at them. Chris slowly backed away, and Ben clenched his fists.

“You. Chris. Back in the cell, now,” General Wyvern shouted hoarsely at them. Chris stood his ground, his fists clenched and his feet anchored to his spot. General Wyvern’s finger moved to the trigger, but it was then Ben quickly acted. His implant glowed, and the wall beside General Wyvern cracked. General Wyvern’s head whipped to the side to peer at the crack, and it was then a vine shot out and latched around General Wyvern’s hand. General Wyvern shot off the gun, and the bullet almost hit Chris in the head, if it weren’t for another wall of vines that came up from the ground to block the bullet. General Wyvern clawed at the vine with his wrist, and Chris quickly rushed in for an attack. He pulled his fist back and slammed it into General Wyvern’s face, but as he did a swarm of electricity burst forward and zapped Chris into oblivion. Chris’ body began to shake and he passed out, falling to the ground.

General Wyvern finally managed to pry the vines off of his wrist. Another vine shot out at him, but he quickly punched it away, incinerating it into a bunch of pieces, the effects of Ian’s attribute amplification still active. General Wyvern directed his attention to Ben.

“I know that this is the man that June loves,” General Wyvern thought, “But considering the circumstances, I would like to get some information out of him. If he has any.”

General Wyvern rushed forward, and before Ben could summon any more vines, General Wyvern landed an electrifying punch onto Ben’s abdomen. Ben let out a groan of pain as he was launched backwards and into the wall.

BAM!

The wall cracked behind Ben, and Ben slumped over, his body shaking from the lightning that General Wyvern had sent into Ben’s body. General Wyvern dashed forward, and pulled out his revolver, pointing it at Ben’s head.

“I know you were a part of that Book Club,” General Wyvern snarled, “So tell me. What does the obelisk have to do with all of this? Why is it so important? And more importantly how did that man manning the Mosasaurus transform into that brute? Because I know something like that cannot be his implant attribute.”

Ben chuckled. He raised his hands in the air in a shrug.

“Well you see…” Ben explained, “I don’t have the foggiest idea.”

General Wyvern stared into Ben’s eyes, and he stared right back into them. Right as General Wyvern figured he was lying, General Wyvern’s finger pressed further on the trigger.

“Well in that case, let me make it more clear…”

KABOOM!

General Wyvern’s eyes widened. That explosion seemed much closer to them than usual. General Wyvern turned around to see a man and a woman had crashed through the roof, their bodies glowing with fervor and musical power. It was Ian and Patricia. They both seemingly had the effects of the attribute amplification. As Ian looked up and spotted Ben, he gasped. Then he began to chuckle.

“Ha ha! Did you lose some weight, Ben?!” Ian cried out in a fit of laughter. Ben’s eyes widened.

“Ian!”

Then, Ben fainted. General Wyvern’s jaw was agape, but he quickly regained his composure. Lightning crackled at his fingertips.

“You again huh?”

~

John let out a fierce roar as more scouts began to head closer and closer to the Mosasaurus, and when John roared the scouts let out screams of fear and began to run off in all directions. John took a quick glance at his reflection in the water. He looked like a beast, like a combination between a werewolf and a lion. Although John knew that it was all a bluff. As soon as one person landed a hit on him, the effects of the artifact of the brute would wear off.

SLICE!

John let out a cry of pain as a deep cut seemingly embedded itself into his arm. The illusion surrounding his body instantly faded away, and he looked up from the platform saddle to see a man with puffy curly blonde hair headed his way. He was wielding a sword and had a cut similar to John’s on his left arm.

“Surrender now!” Landon yelled at John, “Please!”

“Surrender?” John yelled back, reaching for his belt and pulling out a giant mace the size of him. He held it out in front of him, and he began to wobble. Landon gulped at the sight. John continued, “I ain’t surrendering now! We want our friends back!”

Landon’s eyes widened.

“What… Do you mean?”

“Um, our friends you captured? Ben, Ian, Chris, does that ring any bells?”

Landon scratched the back of his head.

“Ben? That’s the guy June loves, right?”

“I mean, yeah.”

“Well she brought him here because he must have loved her back!” Landon shouted back, “So you can turn away now!”

John raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“What? Ben doesn’t love her back!”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t know?” John said with a smirk, “June kidnapped Ben without his consent. Ben hates her guts. You’ve been lied to, dude.”

~

June snarled as the herbivore herd got closer and closer, and she could spot the dastardly Carlos and Paul riding atop. June could spot Carlos carrying a bunch of glass bottles filled with a strange red liquid. Before June had time to react, a Triceratops rushed forward and slammed itself into June, causing her to fly back and crash through the castle walls.

KABOOM!

June went tumbling, hitting the red carpet over and over until eventually she regained her balance and got back on her two feet, glaring at them angrily. Fire burst from June’s hands, and she quickly shot them in the form of fireballs at the herbivores. But the herbivores weren’t affected at all. Their tough hide proved flame-resistant. Carlos began to chuckle, pulling his frying pan out and jumping off a Stegosaurus. Paul followed suit, pulling out his longsword.

“Ready to be thrashed again old lady?” Paul asked with a smirk. Carlos added on with a glare,

“Because you’re DEAD MEAT!”

“Do you hear me? You’re DEAD. MEAT.”

Carlos instantly dashed forward with immense speed, which caught June off guard. Carlos slammed his frying pan into June’s skull, causing her head to whip back as her skull reverberated with such intensity she began to see stars. Then Paul rushed in and slashed at June so fast she couldn’t see it coming. A large gash lay near June’s stomach, tearing away at her clothes.

“How are they so strong and fast?!” June wondered to herself.

“You might be wondering how we’re so strong and fast,” Carlos explained, slamming her frying pan into June’s skull again, “Let’s just say I’ve been cooking up some new recipes. Some eggs and… WHAM!”

Carlos whacked June with the frying pan again, cutting open June’s head and causing blood to pour down her forehead. Paul snickered at Carlos’ joke.

“We’re really cooking you alive. You know what they say. Don’t play with fire if you can’t handle the burn, capiche?”

Paul slashed at June’s arm, and she let out a cry of pain and toppled backwards.

“You know what? You’re right. We should’ve killed you when we had the chance,” Paul murmured, a dark expression on his face, “So… allow us to do it now.”

Paul slashed at June’s face, cutting her cheek into shreds. Blood began to drip down from both Carlos’ and Paul’s weapons. Paul stepped forward, his sword gleaming under the sunlight.

“Any last words?” Paul asked June. June closed her eyes and began to laugh.

“Idiots… Watch your back!”

SHOOM!

A wave of fire suddenly burst from behind them, wrapping the two of them in a blanket of flames. The two let out roars of agony as they collapsed to their knees. June began to chuckle, her implant glowing as she got up from the floor.

“Didn’t expect that, did you? Long story short, I killed off a few of my scouts and managed to evolve my implant attribute. Now I can summon flames from anywhere, including the ground, not just my body,” June boasted, walking up to the two flaming bodies. She pressed her foot onto Paul’s head.

“Now… Time for you to die.”

Carlos suddenly began to laugh. June raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“What’s so funny?”

SLASH!

A large cut suddenly appeared on June’s back, and she let out a howl of pain as she collapsed to the ground. Blood dripped onto her clothes, making them scarlet red. Two men walked up behind her, one wearing a set of red cloth armor and the other wearing a hiker’s outfit and a straw hat.

“This ends now, June,” Landon spat. His back was also dripping with blood, “You’ve taken it too far, you fiend. To think you did all this just to get with your crush… How despicable.”

Carlos and Paul got up from the ground, patting the fire off of them. They only had slight burn marks, surprisingly.

“Good thing that soup came in handy,” Carlos noted, “That felt like a nice hot bath. So who are you?”

Landon respectfully bowed to the two.

“I’m Landon,” he said, “I was a scout working for June, but John changed my mind. I never liked her anyway. I hope you can forgive me for working for such an evil person.”

“It’s okay Landon. You helped beat the bad guys and that’s all that matters,” Paul told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Landon smiled back, and then John stepped forward.

“Okay. I’m going to activate the artifact and scare June off, so close your eyes…”

It was most certainly a good idea to have John man the Mosasaurus alone, otherwise Paul and Carlos would also be affected by the Artifact of the Brute. All three of them turned away, and after taking a swig of the healing brew, John managed to transform back into the brute.

John lurched forward and grabbed June by the shoulder, turning her aching body around so she could look him in the eyes. As soon as she did, her eyes widened and her hair stood on end. She let out a shrill scream, escaping from John’s grasp and beginning to run away, leaving a trail of fire behind. She ran as far as she could, her muscular legs taking her away from the castle and toward the red Obelisk.

John transformed back into his regular form, and the other three looked on at the fleeing queen. Paul let out a sigh of relief.

“I guess we won’t have to worry about her… for now. Come on. Let’s go find Ben and Ian. And Chris.”

~

“It’s about time we had a rematch!” Ian yelled out to General Wyvern, “That dance off wasn’t fair. I didn’t tell you this, but the conditions are if anyone is attacked when attribute amplification is active, I get a second try and I get to activate my attribute amplification AGAIN, no cooldown! Isn’t that neat?”

General Wyvern glared at Ian.

“Tricky bastard…”

Just then, the musical aura surrounding General Wyvern’s body disappeared. General Wyvern cursed to himself. Now he was even at a greater disadvantage. He turned to Patricia, who had seemingly sided with this rabid prisoner.

“Patricia, what are you doing on the enemy’s side? You should be helping me take him down!”

Patricia snorted, rolling her eyes.

“I’m not working for you or the Crimson Crusader anymore. I don’t care how fair you were to us scouts, it doesn’t change the fact my friend died because of you and the Crusader.”

General Wyvern glared, ushering for the two to come at him with a hand signal.

“Bring it on then!”

Ian and Patricia grinned, and Ian snapped his fingers. Music began to blast even louder throughout the bedroom. General Wyvern suddenly froze up in a daze, the music halting his body. Ian and Patricia rushed forward with a battle cry and pummeled their fists into General Wyvern at the exact same time. General Wyvern let out a cry of pain as he was launched backward and through the wall, causing it to collapse. Electricity burst forward from his body, shocking Ian and Patricia, but it didn’t affect them at all. Their physical durability, both internally and externally, must have also been boosted with Attribute Amplification.

General Wyvern landed onto the grass, and Ian and Patricia dashed outside. General Wyvern clambered back up from the ground, tearing his ghillie mask off.

“Now THIS is really getting interesting!”

The beat began to get louder, and two microphones manifested in Ian and Patricia’s hands. As the two burst forward in unison to attack General Wyvern once more, they began to sing.

“You struck me, boy you’ve knocked me down!” Patricia sang.

“Was never lookin’ for you but you caught me out!” Ian sang back. Ian swung his foot forward, slamming it into General Wyvern’s cheek. As General Wyvern flew to the left, Patricia followed up with a punch to the gut. General Wyvern let out a scream of rage and retaliated with a bolt of lightning, but Ian quickly dodged it, weaving to the side and slamming his fist into General Wyvern’s ribs.

CRACK!

The spotlight grew brighter as the song got louder and louder.

“You got me, and I can’t get enough!”

“I’m tripping out, I’m tripping out, I’m tripping out on love!”

General Wyvern quickly swung his fist at Patricia, but she ducked low and tackled General Wyvern down to the ground. The two began to swing blows at each other, but for each punch Patricia gained, General Wyvern would gain two. Ian quickly jumped in and grabbed General Wyvern by the ear, pulling him away from Patricia and running away with him in his grasp.

“I gotta pinch myself so I know it’s real!”

“With you next to me I’m as strong as steel!” Patricia screamed back and jumped forward, landing onto General Wyvern’s back. General Wyvern let out another groan as the two stopped. Ian let go of General Wyvern’s ear.

“Boy you struck me, I can’t get enough~!”

“I’M TRIPPING OUT, I’M TRIPPING OUT, I’M TRIPPING OUT ON LOVE!”

As the two finally finished their chorus, the musical auras surrounding their body faded away. The two began to laugh, and the two stepped away from General Wyvern. Patricia turned to Ian, a soft smile growing on her lips.

“You’re a really good singer,” Patricia told him. Ian chuckled at her words,

“So are you. But that was fun. And I don’t think I could have beaten him on my own. We make a good team, Patricia.”

Patricia’s cheeks turned a slight tint of red. She shyly rubbed her hand along her right arm.

“I guess we do…”

Patricia looked up into Ian’s eyes. The two stared into each other’s gaze for a moment, and slowly but surely leaned forward.

Just then, they heard a groan. Patricia and Ian turned to see Ben get up from the ground, still dazed. Chris also got up from the ground. Ben looked at Patricia and Ian, scratching his head.

“Hey… What happened when I was gone? And where’s that ghillie suit guy?” Ben asked. Chris looked around, dumbfounded.

“Oh? We beat him up and defeated him and he’s-” Ian looked back at the ground, but General Wyvern was gone.

“Oh. Guess he ran away. Should we… go look for him?”

Patricia grabbed onto Ian’s hand lightly. Ian jolted slightly, and his ears began to turn red.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go find your other friends, we can figure it out later,” Patricia told him. Ian nodded silently.

“Yeah. You’re right. Let’s go find John, Carlos, and Paul, guys.”

As Ian uttered Paul’s name, an unreadable look crossed Ben’s face. He seemed lost in thought, his eyes empty and blinking softly.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Ben muttered.

~

June stared at the ground for a bit. She was standing on a metal platform and there was a large pedestal thing that jutted out of the ground like a sore thumb. There were four holes in the ground that seemed to fit stuff whatever inside. June grumbled under her breath.

“Everything’s ruined now,” June glowered, “I’m really going to kill them the next time I see them.”

She heard footsteps come close to her.

“Your majesty,” General Wyvern said. He let out a cough. June could hear blood splatter on the ground next to her, “I was… defeated. Landon has betrayed us. So has Patricia. And all of the scouts fled. It’s just us left.”

June sighed, getting up from the ground.

“So what now, huh Arthur?” June said, spreading her arms out. General Wyvern blinked his eyes, rubbing a bruise on his face. His eye was getting more swollen.

“The obelisk is the answer,” General Wyvern revealed, “I’m led to believe there’s something important for us waiting here.”

General Wyvern’s eyes glanced toward the pedestal, shaped eerily like the implants in their wrists. General Wyvern wouldn’t have figured this fact out if it weren’t for one of his very first allies on this island. His name was Larry. General Wyvern didn’t know where he was now, but Larry had pointed out this trivial fact. But now it seemed much more important than he realized.

“I think I know how to activate it. We need an implant. It’ll be the key to the obelisk,” General Wyvern proposed. June didn’t respond at first. But then, she began to chuckle. She turned around with a cruel smile.

“I need to get stronger. Evolve my implant attribute some more.”

June reached for her pike with sudden speed, twirled it around, and then stabbed it right through General Wyvern’s heart. General Wyvern coughed out a chunk of blood, which landed on June’s face. Blood spurted from his chest, coating his ghillie suit in a pool of red. General Wyvern grasped at the pike weakly, trying to pull it out, but his strength was already fading.

“Why…?” General Wyvern groaned, his voice failing. June smirked.

“It’s kill or be killed Arthur. It’s nothing personal. But your life is going to be in good hands, don’t you worry.”

Arthur’s eyes began to droop, and his implant grew duller. Electricity began to bubble in his eyes.

“Landon was right,” Arthur whispered, “I should’ve never sided with you. I… Should’ve killed you when I had the chance.”

Arthur collapsed to the ground, and a pool of blood slowly began to collect around his body. The electricity in his eyes zapped out, piercing June’s skin, but it did nothing to her. She merely flicked it away with a wisp of fire. Arthur closed his eyes.

“Go to hell.”

As soon as General Wyvern died, June felt fire bubble within her veins. Her body felt even warmer than before, like a volcano that was about to erupt. June quickly crouched down and pried her fingertips into the base of the implant. With one fell swoop, she pulled it out. She looked at her bloodstained face in the reflection of the smooth glass.

“Oh don’t worry General. I already am.”

June looked at the pedestal and walked up to it. It was as if it were drawing her to it, with the implant in her hand. She placed the implant onto the terminal, and it clicked into place like a magnet.

CLICK!

SHOOOM!

The red beam that spewed from the obelisk above began to glow more intensely. She looked up in awe. She glanced down at the terminal and saw that the gem inside the implant was glowing.

She pressed her finger against it, and her eyes widened as she pressed it like it was a button.

Beep.

“Activate boss fight procedure? WARNING: NO ARTIFACTS DETECTED. COLLECT ARTIFACTS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR CHANCES AGAINST THE BOSS.”

June could hear the call of a dragon echo from the terminal. It was calling for her. It wanted her. And she wanted it. With a dragon, nobody could stop her. June slyly smiled.

“Yes.”

June slammed her hand into the implant, and the red beam above her quickly shot down onto her. June was horrified for a moment, but as the world around her began to flicker, her fear turned into joy.

“All of you will pay for what you’ve done to me.”

And then, she disappeared.

~

“Ben! Ian! It’s so good to see you guys safe!” Carlos cried as both groups spotted each other. Carlos rushed up and hugged Ian, and John rushed in to join him too. Ian let out a grunt as the two squeezed Ian in their grasp.

“Okay okay OW OW! JEEZ YOUR GRIP IS STRONG!” Ian yelled. Ben looked on, his eyes wide in shock. Paul looked back at Ben with a smile.

“Hey. Glad to see you again,” Paul stated, a smile growing on his face. Ben blinked his eyes.

“You aren’t-”

“Dead? Nah. I was saved in the nick of time,” Paul chuckled, pulling his jacket up to reveal the hole in his stomach had healed, “Tis’ but a scratch!”

A smile grew on Ben’s face, and he rushed forward and gave Paul a hug.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Paul,” Ben said. Paul hugged Ben back, closing his eyes gently.

“Don’t worry dude, me too.”

Chris and Landon looked around, standing together awkwardly. Patricia looked at Ian with a smile on her face. The albino capybara that John tamed a while ago just sat on the floor, bored.

“So what now?” Chris asked, “We won. Kinda. I mean the bad guys are still alive but…”

Ben left Paul’s embrace and turned to face the others.

“I say we head back to our camp. Our book club camp. There’s people waiting for us,” Ben suggested, “Then we could try escaping this island or something-”

SHOOM!

The red obelisk crackled with energy, and all heads turned to see the red obelisk glowing even brighter than usual. John pointed his finger at it.

“Does it usually do that?” he asked. Landon shook his head.

“No it doesn’t. Something’s happening over there…”

Paul and Carlos took out their weapons. Everyone else followed suit.

“It’s probably June,” Paul said, “We have to head there. Now.”

Chapter 20.5: Reminiscent

Original Post Date: Feb 5, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Griffin, next chapter in Glowbug. This is a "decimal" chapter. This means it does not exactly fit on the timeline, but still has relevance to the plot.

~

“So. Why do we love?”

Mr. Lopez walked back and forth at the whiteboard, his gray, red striped trench coat swaying back and forth, and his sunglasses reflecting the buzzing light off. Everyone stayed silent. Some students were on their phones, some were jotting down random sketches and some were dozing off. This was a place where nobody cared about their academic careers, a place where people were trapped within their own worlds. The teachers were aware of this, and they didn’t care about it either. As long as they weren’t disrupting the classroom environment for the others who did care, they could do whatever they pleased.

Ben rapped his fingers along the desk as his eyes darted around the classroom. The vintage old wooden desks that looked like they came from the 1900s littered the classroom. Some were left empty because of ditchers. One of the desks had an engraving of the big letter B. Ben didn’t know how long that B had been around, but it must have been for a while because it was filled with dirt and dust.

Ben looked to his right. John had his head in his hands and was staring at his paper in horror, his eyes darting from sentence to sentence and word to word. Ben sighed and looked over at his other friend, Ian, who was looking at Mr. Lopez blankly. There were earpods in his ears that connected to the phone in his pocket. Ben could distinctly hear piano music coming from the earpods.

“Ben. Do you know the answer to this question?”

Ben’s eyes shifted to Mr. Lopez, who gave a smile back.

“You’re asking that as if I care,” Ben replied.

Mr. Lopez raised his eyebrow.

Just give it your best shot. At my question, that is. There’s no right or wrong answer.”

Ben shuffled in his seat uncomfortably and crossed his arms.

“Fine. Love is the strong feeling you have toward someone. It can be romantic or platonic, doesn’t really matter. A strong feeling that you wish to take care of them or be with them. Happy?”

“Eh, not really. I feel like you have a better answer than that,” Mr. Lopez replied.

“Well I can’t think of anything… I guess I’m stumped,” Ben quickly lied with a shrug.

Mr. Lopez’ smile shifted to a frown.

“Enjoy the moments as they last, Ben. You don’t have much time left.”

Ben stared down at the desk.

“Yeah. I know.”

BRRRING!

Saved by the bell, John’s head jolted up, and he instantly rushed out of the classroom with his backpack strapped around his shoulder. Everyone else did the same as well, paying no attention to their surroundings or others. A random individual who Ben did not know (nor did he care to know) brushed his shoulder against Ian’s.

“Hey, watch where you’re going punk!” the random snarled. Ian rolled his eyes and raised his fist in the air. The random’s eyes bulged and he began to back away.

“Jeez, you don’t have to take things so personally!” he muttered under his breath. Ian lowered his fist, brushed his hair back, and looked over at Ben with a smile. He adjusted the collar of his black leather jacket.

“Let’s get out of here, I’m ready to go to Carlos’ place,” Ian said with a toothy grin. Ben smiled back softly.

“Don’t be afraid,” Mr. Lopez suddenly said, “It’s not a good idea to deny your emotions. Because one day you’re going to make the wrong choice, and that regret is going to hang around your side for a loooong time.”

Ben ignored Mr. Lopez and walked toward the door. He turned back to Mr. Lopez, who sat down on his office chair dejectedly.

“Don’t pry into my business, teach.”

Ben exited the classroom to be greeted with the bright sun shining on his face. He shielded his eyes, and a flock of birds was flying overhead. They seemed to be a family.

Ben looked left to right and noticed many of the hallways empty and barren. They must have left quickly. Ben began to walk toward the entrance. Things felt a lot heavier that day. Ben knew why.

“But I can’t let them know,” Ben thought gloomily. The sounds his shoes made pounding across the asphalt path felt a little louder. The whistling of the wind mirrored that of a cavern, despite the open air and bright skies. Well, almost bright skies. Clouds seemed to be gathering a little far away.

“Hopefully they forget it’s my birthday today.”

Ben soon found himself at the front gates of Altos High, and he stepped outside to admire the view. His four friends were all sitting on a bench, talking about the school day they had.

“How was Culinary for you, Carlos?” Ian asked gently, his earpods out and the music absent. Carlos, another of Ben’s friends, smiled back. He was wearing a black shirt and tan khakis.

“It was really fun to be honest. We were cooking whatever we wanted today, so I chose a burrito because I thought it’d be funny cooking something I don’t like to eat.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but then I accidentally set the building on fire-”

Carlos paused as his eyes graced Ben, and a grin grew on his face.

“Ben, finally you’re here! What’s the wait for? Ian told me that you needed to do something really quick!”

Ben smiled back and gave a thumbs-up to him.

“Nothing. Just needed to ask that yappin’ Mr. Lopez why I got such a bad score on my paper.”

“Ha ha! Yappin’ Mr. Lopez!” Paul, the last of Ben’s friends, laughed. His face was covered in sweat, he must have just come out of PE. He was wearing his iconic bright red shirt with a white zipped up jacket with short sleeves covering it. Then he squinted his eyes and scratched his head, “Wait. What does that mean?”

Everyone began to laugh to themselves, and John got up from his seat, putting a straw hat on.

“Come on, let’s go walk to Carlos place as we planned this Thursday.”

All five of them agreed. They began to walk away from the school and down the streets. Ben turned around one last time to glance at the school. He mentally took a picture, and turned around, not daring to look back.

~

“So. What should we do now that we’re all here!” Paul asked with enthusiasm. He seemed to have stopped sweating on the way there. Ian leaned back in his seat and shrugged.

“I’m not sure. Usually we just talk, but we’ve talked about all our school days already…” Ian said. Paul suddenly pointed a finger in the air.

“Ah ha, I know! Let’s talk about fire trucks!”

“Heh, sure, fire trucks,” John sarcastically said. Paul shot a sneer at him.

“What’s wrong with fire trucks? I love fire trucks!”

Carlos seemed to be looking at his bar counter, where his parents kept all the alcohol. Obviously they weren’t legally allowed to drink, but… There was a bottle of grape juice freshly bought.

Carlos got up to get it. The more time Ben spent with his friends, the more his mind wandered to the old times. His old friends, who had gone off to another school.

“She wanted to go into the medical field. Be a scientist or something,” Ben recalled. He smiled at the thought, “That’s right. Science.”

Ben heard the pouring of a liquid, and Ben glanced over to see Carlos pouring grape juice into glasses for everyone. Paul licked his lips.

“I love grape juice!” Paul said gleefully.

“I have a good idea,” Carlos replied. As the last drop of grape juice dripped into Ben’s glass, he set the bottle horizontally on the table. He sat back in his seat and signaled at the bottle. A look of confusion spread on Ian’s face.

“You aren’t suggesting that we-”

“EWWWW,” Paul said. He began to gag, “That’s GROSS! I can’t believe you Carlos!”

“What? NO! That’s not what we’re playing you dummies, I was going to suggest truth or dare!” Carlos replied, turning a little red, “You guys… Jeez, why did you think we were going to play that?”

“Don’t know, don’t care, how is this even going to work?” John asked.

“I guess whoever spins the bottle will ask truth or dare, and the person it lands on will have to choose between the two,” Ben suggested.

“Yeah. Basically. So, I guess I should go first since I’m the host!” Carlos said with a grin. He grabbed the bottle and afterwards spun it as hard as he could. The bottle kept spinning, until eventually, it landed on…

“Ian!” Carlos said. Everyone began to “Ooohh”, and Carlos began to scratch his chin, trying to think of what to say.

“Hmmm, Truth or Dare, Ian?”

“Truth,” Ian replied with a smug look. John smirked at him.

“What, too chicken to choose dare?”

Ian looked back at John with a smirk.

“I’ll be expecting you to choose Dare when you get picked,” Ian added on. John slunk back into his seat, and Ian smiled and looked back at Carlos, who finally decided what he was going to say.

“Okay… Who was the last girl who tried to get with you?”

Ian looked up at the ceiling, biting on his finger as if he was trying his best to remember. Then, a few seconds later, he looked back.

“It was Madison.”

“Madison?!” Paul exclaimed with surprise, “She’s the most popular girl in the school! That’s surprising.”

“Yeah, I know. Last week in math class, her friend was bugging me about her. So I talked to her about it, pulled out a few flirty moves, and then… we were kissing. So yeah, we’re together now. She’s smokin’ hot, what can I say?”

“Wow, that’s just fast,” John said, a bit shocked, “I thought you were dating Alice? Wasn’t that just last month?”

“Yeahhh but she was using me for my money,” Ian said. His eyes glazed over with sadness as he said that, “We broke up. But it’s not that big a deal. There are fish everywhere in the sea.”

“I’m sorry, Ian,” Paul said, putting a hand on Ian’s shoulder, “You’re okay though, right?”

“I am. Like I said… not that big a deal. Girls are always like that. I can’t expect much from them except a little fun,” Ian sneered.

“And what makes you think Madison will be any different?” Ben suddenly interjected. Ian looked back at Ben.

“I’m sure she’s better than the last,” Ian blankly stated.

“You can’t just keep hopping from one girl to the next,” Ben said, “Sometimes it’s better to just reflect and think about who you really want in a person. It isn’t about if they’re hot or if they’re cute or anything like that, is it?”

He took a swig of his grape juice and set the glass down. All eyes turned to him with raised eyebrows. Ian chuckled a little bit.

“Well what do you know about love?” Ian asked, “Riddle me this, Ben. Ugly girl with a fun personality, or a hot girl with none?”

“I-”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. So how about this? Once you get a girl to like you… I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.”

“He’s got a point though,” John added on, “No one’s liked you yet, right?”

“No… But what does that matter?”

“Then we’re just going to have to wait and see. Till’ then your advice is just blank advice, y’know?” John said. Paul bit his lip. He seemed uncomfortable about the topic.

“Guys can we just move onto the next person.”

“Okay. Seems fair enough to me,” Carlos said, “Ian you can spin the bottle next.”

Ian smirked and grabbed the bottle by the neck. With a quick spin, it spun round and round, and each person watched on with wide eyes, wondering who would be picked next. The bottle began to slow down, and the cap was pointing at…

Ben.

“Ohh, here we go,” Ben thought to himself. Ian looked at Ben.

“Truth or Dare, Ben?”

Ben began to scratch his chin.

“Usually, I’d pick Truth, but…” he looked at Ian, who seemed to already have a devious question cooked up. Ben felt his face get prickly and the air felt sharper.

“Dare,” Ben finally replied. There was a moment of silence, as everyone just looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

“But Ben, you never pick Dare!” Paul pointed out.

“I guess… I’m feeling a bit more bold today,” Ben replied lightly. Ian seemed to be thinking hard. This obviously wasn’t part of the plan. But then suddenly his face lit up. He turned to the others.

“Bagels,” Ian randomly said. Paul’s eyes widened. He put his hands over his mouth to keep himself quiet. John nodded in affirmation, and Carlos began to crack his knuckles. He began to walk over to the kitchen and put an apron on. Ian turned to Ben.

“I dare you to stay in the bathroom until we knock on the door,” Ian blurted. Ben raised his eyebrow. What a weird dare.

“Okay… Just don’t take too long, okay?”

Ben walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He heard his friends all shuffle, whispers about a ‘plan’, and then the beeping of a stove.

~

Someone knocked on the door.

“Hey, Ben, we’re done!” Ian yelled. Ben groaned and got up from the toilet seat. He felt a little sore, which was expected because he had been waiting for the past fifty minutes. He walked up to the door and opened it up, but nobody was there.

“Come over here!”

Ben walked down the hallway and through the living room door. Suddenly confetti poured from the ceiling, and the sound of a party blower shrieked in the air.

“Woah! What the-”

Ben looked around in dumbfoundment as Paul had a party blower in his mouth, and John was holding onto a thin wire that connected to a bucket above Ben’s head. Carlos was carrying a poorly constructed cheesecake. His white apron was covered in cream cheese stains and his hands were coated in white flour. The cheesecake looked droopy, and red frosting made a smiley face. Strawberries resembled eyes. Five lit candles were stuck in the cake. Ian was wearing a party hat and was playing birthday music.

“Surprise! Happy birthday, Ben!” Ben’s friend, Carlos yelled with a huge smile.

“What a beautiful cake!” Ben said, his eyes sparkling, “You guys actually remembered it was my birthday…”

Ian smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Ben. We’re all friends. We all remember each others’ birthdays,” Ian leaned in and whispered into his ear, “You don’t need to lie, you can say the cake is ugly.”

“Hey!” Carlos shouted.

“No no, I really do like it!” Ben said honestly, “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Paul, the optimistic, cheerful dude as he always was, walked up to Carlos with a grin.

“Don’t worry friend!” Paul said with a goofy grin, “We all worked hard to make Ben happy and he is happy! That’s all that matters!”

John smiled, and turned to everyone one by one.

“Okay then. What are we waiting for? Let’s sing happy birthday!”

For the next minute or two, they all sang happy birthday, and Ben couldn’t help but smile. Life was great. Things were going well, and the friends he had been with for a while were on his side, as always.

“It’s not what I expected, but… I don’t want to-” Ben thought as the sing-song voices of his friends came to a halt.

“I don’t want to go.”

“Make a wish now, Ben, and blow out the candles!” Carlos said, interrupting Ben’s thoughts.

“I think you should wish for Carlos to get better at cooking,” Ian whispered into Ben’s ear.

“I heard that!” Carlos shouted while waving his fist in the air.

“Nah, don’t worry Carlos I won’t make that wish,” Ben reassured him with a grin. He leaned forward, his wish ready. With a soft blow, only one flame of the candle was extinguished. He blew it again with all of his might, and at last they were extinguished. His four friends cheered, clapping as Ben grinned one last time.

“Thanks everyone, thanks,” Ben said with a smile.

“Hey, what was your wish?” Paul asked curiously, and with raised eyebrows.

“He can’t tell you, otherwise the wish can’t come true!” Ian warned him.

“Oh…” Paul said with a frown.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing important,” Ben reassured Paul with a soft smile.

“Well that’s good to hear! I hope your wish comes true!” Paul beamed with a bright smile. Everyone began to laugh, and with that, Carlos carved the cheesecake up into pieces for everyone to eat…

~

Long after the occasion, everyone had decided to head home because it was getting so late. Carlos was cleaning up the mess he had created in the kitchen.

“Well, I’m going to head out right now,” Ben announced to Carlos.

“Oh, okay,” Carlos replied with a smile. He looked back at Ben with a soft smile, “It was nice having you. And happy birthday again, I can’t believe you’re already turning 17. Man, we grow up so fast.”

“Thanks for having me Carlos,” Ben waved goodbye. As he put his hand on the door handle, Carlos suddenly stopped him.

“Before you go, I just wanted to say I really am happy to be your friend,” Carlos blurted. Ben turned back and smiled.

“Me too, Carlos. Me too.”

Ben exited out of the house, closing the door softly. He adjusted his white dress shirt and thin black jacket. He closed his eyes, rubbed them, a mental picture blurred in his head.

“Me too…”

Ben opened his eyes. He was ready to go home.

Ben began to walk through the neighborhood, looking up at the night sky. The stars were distant and fading away because of humanity’s machinery and factories. But one star seemed brighter than all the others, a star that blurred red, blue, and green.

“Hey Ben, sightseeing?”

Ben turned to see a girl with golden-brown hair approaching him; she had a warm smile on her face that was as bright as the lone star above. Her hair flowed in the gentle wind. An old friend, a remnant of his past.

Caught off guard because of her unexpected arrival, Ben didn’t know what words to muster up.

“Oh, um, hey,” Ben replied. His eyes shifted away.

“What are you doing out so late? Shouldn’t you be going to bed right about now? I thought your parents were strict about that sort of thing,” she asked curiously.

“They’ve gotten a bit more relaxed on that,” Ben answered while looking away. He couldn’t look her in the face. He was afraid that she would know what he was thinking, as she always did.

“How are the others? Brandon, Ela, Elena? Are they doing alright?”

“Of course. I’ve been watching over them.”

Ben sighed, sitting down at a bench. She lingered nearby.

“Y’know I would have joined you all,” Ben said, “But we all agreed to go to Altos High. And then…”

“I’m sorry about that, but some things have to be done for the greater good, you know?”

“I understand.”

There was a moment of silence.

“What do I say?” Ben asked himself.

She giggled.

“You don’t have to say anything. I came here for a reason,” she said.

“What do you mean-”

She got up from the bench and walked past Ben, patting him on the shoulder. Ben shivered.

“Happy birthday, Ben.”

Ben couldn’t handle it anymore. A tear dribbled down his cheek. He shook slightly. She understood what was inevitable. She closed her eyes.

“You could have told us,” she whispered, her voice barely coming out a crack, “We could have all spent one last day together.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben wept with a whisper, “I was afraid. I should have told you sooner, I’ve known all this time.”

“I promise I’ll come back. And we can do the things we were destined to do. I promise.”

Soft footsteps pattered across the grass, as she slowly left, leaving nothing but solace in her wake. A lone flower was rooted near the bench. A blue hibiscus. Trembling, Ben uprooted the flower, the promises in his heart rooting itself within the plant.

Three ways to love.

Two promises.

One flower.

He felt a hum come from the flower, as the world around him began to get blurrier. Voids swirled around the flower, and the memory was gone in an instant.

He blinked rapidly, and he was back at the Book Club camp. The flames of the torch crackled under his eyes, and he rubbed them a little to try and figure out what just happened.

“Just a memory,” Ben realized. He put the hibiscus away in his pocket, and then continued walking off to the farm.

Chapter 13a: Raptor Rematch

Original Post Date: Jan 23, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Quetzal, next chapter in Phoenix.

~

Aurora and Samuel continued to follow the little dodo bird into the expansive forest. Aurora looked up at the stars so they could chart their location, and Samuel was gently rubbing his thumb across the implant he had stolen from Lil Jack. It was a dull gray, but he could still feel something coming from the gem.

“So, Samuel,” Aurora suddenly said, “You never really told me about yourself. Like what type of things you like.”

“Why are you asking me this now?” Samuel asked with narrowed eyes.

“Because, it’s good that we know each other a little bit better. That way we can work together and survive,” Aurora reasoned. Samuel pocketed the implant and sighed.

“But I’m not trying to survive, I’m trying to escape,” Samuel thought. Aurora let out a “Hmph!”.

“Fine. I’ll go first. I’d always wanted to run my own business,” Aurora said, “And, my favorite things are roses, chocolate ice cream, and cats. I love cats.”

“Chocolate ice cream?” Samuel said with a hint of disgust.

“Yes, it’s the best ice cream flavor ever! Why? What’s with that look on your face?”

“Nothing nothing,” Samuel replied.

“It better be nothing,” Aurora scoffed, “My taste is perfect.”

“Pfft.”

“What did you just say?!”

“NOTHING.”

Just then, Aurora stopped in her tracks, her eyes still pinned to the night sky.

“A green beam of light just appeared in the sky,” Aurora announced. Samuel and Star looked up at the night sky, and Samuel’s eyes widened.

“What could that mean? Should we stay away or investigate?” Samuel asked. Aurora took a spear strapped to her back and slammed it into the soft earth.

“Let’s give it a shot. Low risk, low reward. Better now than never,” Aurora deduced. Samuel sighed and unhooked his hatchet.

“Fine. Let’s check it out. Star, let’s go to the light,” Samuel ordered his dodo bird. Star nodded and started to follow Samuel. Samuel walked with Aurora toward the green light…

Until they heard the cry of a raptor.

“Rats,” Aurora whispered, “We might have trouble.”

“We can’t outrun it,” Samuel remembered Neddy’s fact that raptors could outrun humans easily, “Our only chance is to fight it.”

“But how? They’re going to eat us right up like pudding,” Aurora said with a shaky breath, “I don’t want to die.”

“None of us will die.”

There was a moment of silence, as Aurora fought to keep her breath.

“Samuel? I’m… scared.”

“Just listen to what I have to say. We will survive,” Samuel reassured her, “Have your back against mine, that way none of us can be attacked from the back.”

Aurora pressed her back against Samuel’s, and Samuel could feel her heartbeat against his.

“You need to be as calm as can be. Adrenaline can only get you so far. Take a deep breath in with your mouth, and a deep breath out your nostrils.”

Aurora did just that, and Samuel could feel Aurora’s heartbeat steady. Then, Star began to glow, and the gentle lights that came from her chest carried to Samuel and Aurora’s minds.

“My mind feels clear all of the sudden,” Aurora gasped.

“It’s because you’re staying calm,” Samuel told her. He looked down at the glowing Star, who scowled at Samuel.

“Liar,” Star seemed to be saying. Samuel rolled his eyes and looked back at the night of the forest. The cries of the raptors were coming closer, and Samuel was able to count three different pitched raptor sounds.

“There are three raptors,” Samuel murmured, “We can take them on with ease. Just remember to aim for the head.”

“O-Okay,” Aurora stuttered.

A bush rustled a few meters in front of Aurora, and Aurora winced.

“Prepare yourself,” Samuel warned.

The night was silent for a second, and at first there didn’t seem to be any danger. But with a sudden pounce, a raptor sprinted out of the bush in front of Aurora and dashed at her!

Aurora let out a battle cry and as soon as the raptor came into range, she made a jab and aimed at the raptor’s head. SPLISH! The spear made contact and the raptor’s jaw unhinged. Blood spilled out onto the ground, and Aurora pulled the spear out, making the raptor collapse to the ground. Two more raptors appeared from the foliage, one in front of Samuel and the other to their side. Samuel dealt a devastating blow to one of the raptor’s heads, clonking it so hard its head swung back like a spring. With a few more whacks the raptor went down.

The final raptor seemed to be smarter than its companions, because with a leap it landed atop Samuel. Samuel let out a gasp, as he felt the raptor’s claws pierce into his skin. The raptor swung its arms at Samuel’s face, scratching his cheek so hard it began to bleed.

“No!” Aurora screamed. She dug her spear into the raptor’s leg, and it let out a cry of pain as it fell off of Samuel. Aurora raised her spear into the air, and with a breath of air impaled the beast’s skull.

For a moment, all the two could hear were each other’s breaths. Samuel’s heart was racing, but even then it was starting to fade away. Samuel sat up, putting his hand to his cheek and feeling the blood trickle down.

“Well that hurts,” Samuel groaned, as he felt the stinging sensation reverberate around the wound. Aurora ignored Samuel, and walked up to the raptor Samuel had subdued. Aurora crouched down and listened to the raptor.

“This one’s still alive,” Aurora realized, taking his spear and preparing to kill the beast.

But before Aurora could, the soft crunch of leaves echoed and quickened throughout the forest. Aurora spun around to see a boy come skidding into the scene, waving his arms around in panic.

“W-WAIT! Don’t kill the raptor!” the boy shouted with a gasp. Aurora immediately aimed her spear at his head and Samuel crawled back a little.

“Who the heck are you supposed to be?” Aurora asked with a scrunched look on her eyebrows. The boy looked at Aurora, and upon the sight of the spear raised his arms up and let out a squeal of fear.

“Y-ya seriously don’t recognize me, valedictorian?” the boy sighed, “I can’t believe it. I thought I’d be less forgettable…”

“Well spit out your name! And what are your intentions running in here like that? And what do you mean we shouldn’t kill this beast? It’s a mindless machine out to eat us!” Aurora spat. The boy took a deep breath in and out, and for a split second the panicking look on his face vanished, but returned.

“It’s me, the one who bested you in a tennis match, at the beginning of the school year…” the boy reminded her, “It’s me… THE MAGNIFICENT BEN!”

Chapter 9: Sacrifices for Success

Original Post Date: Jan 18, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Sinomacrops, next chapter in Royal Griffin.

~

Samuel looked at Aurora, and then scoffed.

“Yeah? Seriously? After just ditching your friend you wanna team up with me?” Samuel snorted. Aurora had a look of regret on her face, and she looked down at the rough sands with pity.

“I know I did. But Ruby chose to stay on her own to help the nerd out so that’s her decision to make. I really didn’t want to abandon her, okay? Sacrifices had to be made-”

“No sacrifices had to be made,” Samuel said, “You could’ve stayed behind and helped fight the creatures off, there would be a higher chance that all of us survived, but now the chances of the two of them AND Star dying is much higher now.”

“Okay? And what about you!” Aurora shot back, “You aren’t running back to help them.”

“Because I don’t need to. That’s your job,” Samuel retorted.

“How is that MY job?!”

“Because you’re the boss, right? The leader of our squad. That’s what you said because ‘no one stepped up to the job’. So now your responsibility as leader is making sure everyone’s safe.”

Aurora groaned and shoved Samuel hard. Samuel went tumbling back a little bit.

“And besides, you don’t want to just leave them,” Samuel pointed out, “What if they do survive? The consequences could be fatal, they might want revenge on you. And both of their powers from their gems are useful. You don’t just wanna let that go, do you?”

Aurora frowned for a bit, and then nodded.

“Yeah. You’re right. We should go back then. Help them before it’s too late,” Aurora decided. She turned to Samuel with a glare, “But you gotta help out instead of just sticking to the sidelines!”

Samuel shrugged.

“I never said I wasn’t going to. Just give me a weapon,” Samuel requested. Aurora reached for her belt and took out a blunt hatchet with a stone blade. She tossed it to Samuel and he catched it midair.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Samuel commented, “From now on you’re going to treat me as an equal. Not as an employee to boss around.”

“Okay Samuel, deal,” Aurora said, raising her hand out to shake. Samuel took her hand and shook it. Aurora smiled, and began to walk off.

“Come on, let’s go save the others!”

“Okay, just breathe in, and out,” Ruby muttered. She aimed at an orange-eyed beast, and released an arrow. It soared through the air and landed right in the grass next to it. The orange-eyed beast’s head jolted from the arrow and toward Ruby. Ruby cursed to herself and readied another arrow.

“Damn it Ruby, concentrate!” Ruby shouted. Warm rays of light struck her on the shoulder, and she looked back to see the little dodo bird’s chest aimed at her. The dodo let out a squawk, and Ruby’s mind suddenly cleared. It felt like a state of bli

“I feel… enlightened,” Ruby noted. She aimed at an orange-eyed beast and let go of another arrow. It soared through the air and struck it right in the head! The creature collapsed to the ground, and five other buggers let out shrill cries and began their attack.

Ruby, in a state of panic, began randomly shooting arrows at the incoming horde. Two ended up dead but the other three still remained. Looking around the area, she spotted a bloody spear embedded in an orange-eyed beast. She grabbed it and pulled it out of the corpse, holding it out to protect herself from the beasts of the past. One orange-eyed creature jumped onto her, and she grabbed at it with her hands and pried it away before it could bite her. She threw it at another beast and it hit it so hard it collapsed to the ground. With a hurl of the spear it pierced through both of the creature’s bodies.

The final beast lunged at Ruby’s face, and her eyes widened in horror as its talons were outstretched and its jaw was unhinged…

POW!

“HA HA! Take that!”

Neddy was standing up, and his fist was outstretched and steaming from the punch. The creature’s mouth was bubbling with some weird foam, and Ruby cringed at it. Poor little Star began to gag at the sight.

Neddy looked at Ruby with a goofy grin.

“Did you see that Ruby? I just saved your life!”

Ruby scoffed, and looked away.

“Come on, don’t gloat. And don’t forget I stayed behind so that those things wouldn’t tear away at your half-naked body.”

Neddy put his arms up in the air with despair.

“Oh seriously?! And I just got clothes from you!”

The dodo bird behind began to chuckle, and Ruby turned around with a raised eyebrow. Star looked back and forth at the two of them, and then winked at Ruby.

“What the- Did that bird just wink?!” Ruby stammered.

“I don’t know, you probably just have bad eyesight,” Neddy said. He began to walk around and collect the corpses around the area. Then he pulled out a spear from a body and held onto it tightly.

“Okay, let’s go,” Neddy said.

“Well what about Aurora and Samuel? Aren’t we going to wait for them?” Ruby asked.

“The suckers probably left us, we should probably go confront them about it! Confront them for being cowards!” Neddy decided. Ruby found the idea ridiculous- Aurora was her friend, she wouldn’t abandon her.

“I don’t think so, we should just wait,” Ruby said.

“Come on, we’ll meet with them faster if we just follow their tracks,” Neddy said. Ruby sighed, and then nodded her head.

“Okay, fine. Let’s follow them,” Ruby agreed. The two began spinning around, and then Neddy began to scratch his head.

“Which way did they go?”

Ruby pointed east.

“I think they went that way,” Ruby said.

“Okay, let’s go that way then,” Neddy replied. The two began to walk off, all while Star stayed behind. Neddy turned around and called out to the bird.

“Hey, come with us!” Neddy shouted. But Star stayed put. Neddy and Ruby looked at each other, and they both shrugged at each other.

“I guess she only listens to Samuel,” Ruby declared.

“Yeah, it’s fine though. Once we meet up with those two and chew ‘em out, we can go back to get her for Samuel.”

Unbeknownst to the two though, it turns out they went in the exact opposite direction that Aurora and Samuel went in, because on the way back to the campsite Aurora and Samuel did not meet either of the two.

“Woah woah woah where did they go?!” Samuel asked as they arrived. There was no trace of anyone there except piles of drying out blood, a few giant ants, and… Star?!

“Star?! What are you doing here?” Samuel asked as he walked up to the dodo. The dodo bird looked at Samuel and squawked, waddling up to Samuel. Samuel picked Star up and hugged her.

“You’re alive Star! But where did they go?” Samuel asked her. Star made a weird squeaking noise, and then lifted her wings, then started doing a weird sign with her wings.

“What the? What are you doing?” Samuel wondered. Star shrugged, and Samuel sighed.

“Looks like we aren’t getting any hints,” Samuel shouted at Aurora. Aurora had her arms crossed and was in a judgemental pose.

“Don’t tell me you’re talking to a bird now that has a brain the size of a pea,” Aurora scowled.

“I mean, it seems like she knows English. And on an island of dinosaurs and weird gems anything is possible,” Samuel said back.

Suddenly the bushes behind them began to rustle loudly, and they could hear loud footsteps coming their way. Samuel gripped his hatchet tighter, and Aurora twirled her spear around.

“Who’s there?!” Aurora shouted.

“Don’t worry sweethearts, I won’t bite,” a mysterious voice shouted back. A few seconds later a gang of three boys emerged from the forest, all of them wearing nothing but their graduation caps and their underwear.

“Well well well, look what we have here, boys,” the one in the lead said.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Samuel asked, looking at the three with disgust, “I guess Neddy’s got clones of himself now…”

“Who?” one of them asked with a raised eyebrow, “It doesn’t matter… I’m Lil Jack. And I’m going to make you lovebirds my slaves.”

Chapter 7: Night Hunters Strike

Original Post Date: Dec 3, 2023

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Summoner, next chapter in Sinomacrops.

~

Both Neddy and Ruby arrived back at the campsite to the sight of Aurora staring at the stars and Samuel dozing away. Samuel’s dodo bird had her head perched on Samuel’s leg.

“Aurora,” Ruby called out softly. Aurora looked back at Ruby blankly. Neddy felt a chill go down his back, out of everything here on this island, Aurora scared him the most. Smarter, stronger, and better in every way, Aurora had the capability to turn her back on them all if she wanted to.

“I remember her in her freshman and sophomore years. So kind and generous. But now she’s… Different,” Neddy thought deep in his head as they approached Aurora, “I guess that’s what happens when the person closest to you is taken away from your life.”

“You have the materials, both of you?” Aurora asked with a raised eyebrow and a snidely look. Ruby reached into her pouch, but as she felt around her eyes widened. She gasped.

“OMG, I totally forgot about that! I was-”

“What do you mean you forgot?!” Aurora sneered, getting up from the ground and walking up to Ruby, “Do you not know how to follow directions? They were plain and simple. Collect firewood so we can start a fire to keep warm. Are you stupid?”

“She’s not stupid!” Neddy shouted, putting his arm out in front of Ruby. Aurora glanced at Neddy, and then back at Ruby with contempt. She took a step back. Neddy reached into his own pouch that Ruby had made for him and took out a few small logs of wood, and many handfuls of thatch.

“It’s fine anyway. I got the materials,” Neddy noted. Aurora grumbled and snatched the wood out of Neddy’s hand. She gave it to Ruby, who grabbed it complacently.

“You know what to do Ruby. Start the fire, and I expect you do what you’re told this time,” Aurora said. Ruby nodded sadly and knelt down to the ground, taking the firewood sticks and placing them in a certain order. Neddy seemed to be glaring at Aurora.

“What the heck’s your problem man? Can you not afford to be nice or something? Are you one of those emo girls or whatever they’re called-”

“I am NOT an emo!” Aurora screamed, “You wanna be nice and soft? Be my guest! We won’t survive if we act that way! You think I became valedictorian from being nice?!”

Neddy felt something stir within his mind. He clenched his fists- He almost knocked her out right then and there, but he stopped himself. If he did that, he wouldn’t know what would happen next.

“Just- Just I don’t know!” Neddy suggested, “There’s dinosaurs. Scary ones. I don’t want to draw any attention. Let’s stop screaming.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and turned around. A soft grumble came not from her mouth but from her stomach. She reached into her pouch and rummaged around for a bit, then swore to herself.

“Ran out of berries,” Aurora whispered to herself. Aurora’s eyes glanced at Samuel's dodo bird, and a strike of hunger hit Aurora in the stomach again. Neddy noticed what was going on, and a haunting thought crossed his mind.

“Oh no… If Aurora kills it, Samuel’s gonna freak out!” Neddy thought. He was about to run up to Aurora to stop her, to tell her that they already had meat, but he heard rustling coming from behind him. Neddy turned around slowly, his breath getting raggedy. And as he stared deep into the forest, he could see blazing orange eyes manifest within the darkness.

“What… Is… That?” Neddy whispered, his heart pounding against his chest. He felt his knees buckle. He wanted to run, but he didn’t want to abandon his allies. He couldn’t move at all.

“Finally. An excuse to kill this pest,” Aurora thought as she walked up to sleeping Samuel. She reached for her back and pulled out her spear, the stone tip gleaming under the moonlight. She twirled it around in her left hand, clutching it around tightly. Red filled her vision as the hunger continued to gnaw at her stomach.

“Yes, kill that damn bird. Get some meat, eat something for once. I’ve only eaten berries since I’ve been here, smoothies and salads back home.”

A smile crept up on Aurora’s face, and as she reached the two, she prepared to plunge her weapon into the defenseless dodo. She let out a soft cackle.

“TAKE THIS!” Aurora screamed as she slammed her spear into the dodo.