The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

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.”