So one day me and my dad went to the radiation zone on valguero to go get some rock drake eggs because we had spotted some earlier when we were in there. We went pretty far into the cave and we had seen nothing when we were almost to where we needed to be or about there we were kinda guessing. While we were walking a reaper queen came out of the ground and we had been killed by reapers before so we knew not to underestimate them so when we saw it we both turned and sprinted as fast as we could on our abberant equus’ and the entire time it was on our heels we thought that they couldn’t leave the radiation zone so we headed for the exit but when we got there he kept chasing us i was fortunate enough to get away. But my dad wasn’t able to so he died,his equus died, and his Bulbdog died. But i kept running in the opposite direction. But unfortunately the reaper decided that she wasn’t done killing so she burrowed then popped out of the ground d right behind me and was slashing and trying to kill me. I kept sprinting i was almost to pond and i was curios if they could go in the water so i jumped in but on my way to the water there was a pack of 4-5 raptors at least at the edge of the pond where i was going so the reaper queen and the pack of raptors was all in in the water with me me and my equus killed most of the raptors except for two unfortunately the reaper killed my equus so i was left stranded with a sword and some other things so i killed the raptor. Then i went and stood at the reapers feet and started stabbing it with my spear and it was working. Every once in a while though the reaper wold spin and it would send me flying then i would run back and start stabbing it again and while i was doing that my dad showed up and started shuttling it with a shotgun and we finally killed it then i got acid burn but it didn’t kill me so i lived to tell the tale. The is how we defeated the reaper queen. Hope that you liked it!!!!!!!!!!

When I figured out what it can do

So I spawned it in and I roared (it sounds like choking and wheezing lol) and I shot it for 68 mins then it glowed red got near it and it went away.

2Hours later I was in my base making tranqs then a baby pops out of nowhere and I was like what the heck to then I noticed then I was like WHAT THE IM A MAN HOW DID I GIVE FRICKING BIRTH

PLS UP

-AxolTheHellFireAxolotle

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 50: The Xenomorph Showdown

Part 5/5: The Great Escape

Extra note: There will now be only five parts. Parts 5 and 6 were originally pretty short, so I’m going to combine both parts for this one. Enjoy the grand finale of Section II!!

10:51 PM

Above Dread’s base…

Aberration was in a massive transition phase. The sunset on Aberration showing the final sunset for Dread and his tribe. This would hopefully be the end of Dread’s regin over Aberration. Sodden and the others were on their Rock Drakes, right above the front walls to Dread’s base.

“Well… what now?” Dorack asked. Sodden sighed.

“We go. Now.” Sodden said. Then just as Syl was about to launch herself, a Rock Drake suddenly launched forwards from behind and right at Sylveevee’s butt,, causing her to screech and lose her grip on the ceiling. Sodden and Dorack shouted as they gripped tightly on the Roock Drake. Drake roared and glided down too Syl, then another Rock Drake shot forwards at Drake and rammed into him, and he began to fall towards the base. Syl yelled as Sodden and Dorack gripped tightly on the drake. They were doing it easily. Nal, however, struggled to keep a grip. She screamed as she got thrown around, barely holding onto the tail. Dorack gasped as he saw Nal beginning to slip. Dorack shouted and tried to climb down the back of the Rock Drake, but he accidentally misssed a step and he almost fell off. He shouted and gripped tightly on the fur. Nal yelled as she slipped from the tail and fell straight downwards to the base.

“NOOOOO!!!” Dorack yelled. He then leaped off the Rock Drake, and Sodden gasped in shock.

“Dorack!!” Sodden yelled.

“Sodden! Just go and kill him! I’ll handle Nal.” Dorack yelled as he continued to freefall to the ground. He glided downwards to Nal, then grabbed her back, then before they could pull a parachute, they slammed right down into a bush near the base’s front door. Some blood was oozing out of the bush, parts of it pristine and gray-colored. Syl managed to regain her traction and glided down to the ground and slammed onto the path to the base. Sodden leaped off and ran to the bush, then rustled through it to find Dorack holding Nal in his hands. Nal was badly bruised, with her lower leg dislocated. She was unconscious from the injuries. Sodden gasped. Drake then came down too, managing to regain his traction, and Skyocean and Cooper leaped off. They ran towards Nal. They then helped Dorack out of the bush. He limped as he groaned, trying to get out of the sticks and leaves. He got out, then Cooper picked up Nal and carried her towards Drake. Nal was laid down on the wings of Drake.

“I’ll help her. You two get in there. Skyocean will help. Syl, morph back into a human and help me out!” Cooper yelled. Everyone nodded. Syl then glowed brbight magenta and shrunk down to a human, then she ran to Cooper, and crouched down near Nal, and put down a bag.. She took out some bandages while CCooper tried to keep her leg stable. They had to make sure she did not die. Stable respawning is possible for essence over 85 percent stability. Nal only had 45 percent. Dorack sniffled softly, and Sodden grabbed his arm.

“Come on! We need to go! They won’t be fine if we stay out here.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded and turned to him, then they and Skyocean ran to the door. Skyocean took a metal shield out of his bag and ran as fast as he could to the door, shattering it and causing him to be launched forwards. He managed to pick up his feet again. He turned to Sodden and Dorack, who walked into the base with them. The base’s interior was quiet. No one seemed to be around, not even on the stairs. Sodden didn’t know if Dread had actually left. Dorack and Sodden pulled out their shotguns, and Skyocean walked forwards, then towards a metal door on the opposite side of the room. The door had an alarm right above it. Access to tribe members only. As soon as they entered the room, there would be no turning back. Skyocean breathed deeply then began glowing bright blue. He morphed into Dread again. He then used his arm to unlock the door, and open it, and as soon as it creaked open, the alarm went off. Flashing red and white, it made a loud blaring noise. Sodden and Dorack immediately ran through the doorway, and the three walked down the hall, which was flashing red from the alarms. Then they heard deep growling, and Sodden gasped. They stopped moving, then looked around the area, their shotguns out and aiming at whatever came for them. Skyocean morophed back into a human because he had to stay with the others for as long as he could. Then 5 Megalosauruses ran from the lower hall and lunged right at Sodden. He and Dorack then shot two of them in the head and leaped away, dodging the creatures. The other three growled and ran at Dorack, opening its mouth to pick him up. Dorack shot him down too, then another one lunged at his back, and knocked him down to the ground, He opened his mouth to clamp down on his neck, then Sodden struck the Megalosaur’s head hard, and it fell over, and Sodden immediately swung it back around to shoot the creature in the head. Dorack gasped as he gripped his back, and stood up.

“You good?” Sodden asked. Dorack nodded as he turned to his right.

“Yeah.” Dorack said. Then they continued to walk, then they heard a deep, booming voice.

“Don’t go any further.” The voice growled. Sodden and Dorack gasped.

“I knew it.” Sodden whispered softly.

“I’ve been waiting here. I knew you’d come back. Why can’t you just give up? It’s over for you guys. Don’t you see? All I need to do is send you guys back when Serenity dies in two hours. Oh, wait. It should be one… nevermind. It doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead long before then.” Dread sneered as he stormed to Sodden. Sodden then took a cryopod out of his bag and dropped it on the ground. Reaper came out of it. She looked around, then noticed Dread slowly walking towards Sodden.. Reaper growled deeply and lowered her body, ready to pounce. Dread stopped moving and chuckled.

“Go ahead. Send her at me. I’ll just defeat her again. There’s nothing you can do. Okay… any last words?” Dread sneered. Sodden scoffed and walked ahead of Dorack, towards Dread at a slow pace.

“I’m the one who should be asking that question. Though I think you’d just go on and on about that crap with the… “cycle” that you describe.” Sodden shouted. He then whistled loudly, and Reaper screeched loudly and leaped over Sodden, right at Dread, then Dread got knocked down, and Reaper tried to hold him down, but Dread was holding her neck and legs and tried to throw her off. Skyocean scoffed and morphed into Dread again to hold him down. Skyocean ran at Dread and lunged at his arms, trying to hold down his left arm. Dread gasped and kicked Reaper backwards, and she rammed into the wall, and got up, groaning softly. Dread then took out a sword from his bag and struck Skyocean in the shoulder with it. He yelled in pain as he released his grip on Dread, and he morphed back intoo his human form as he was too injured to shapeshift. Dread growled and stood up. Skyocean groaned softly as he tried to get up. His shoulder had a crack in it, and it was bleeding out. He fell down to the ground again, and he was lying on his hips, and he clutched his shoulder. Dread then yanked the sword out of his shoulder violently, causing Skyocean to shout in pain as his shoulder became even more fragmented. Reaper then lunged at Dread’s head, pinned him down again, and Dread roared as he tried to shove her off. Dread grabbed Reaper’s neck with both hands, then Dorack ran at Dread and swung his shotgun down to his left shoulder. He slammed down onto it, and Dread yelled in iain, then he kicked Dorack hard, then threw Reaper off and stood up. Reaper hit the wall again, and got back up, slightly disoriented. Reaper growled and ran at Dread again. Skyocean scoffed and took a medical brew out of his bag. It was the last one he had. He quickly drank it down, and his wound began to shrink. The blood stopped pouring out. Then as he finished drinking it, his wound was gone and he no longer hurt. Skyocean growled and stood up. Sodden was sitting besides a doorway, gripping the device in his hands. He was waiting for the right time to strike. Dorack leaped at Dread, then punched him in the face and grabbed his left arm, and Dread then grabbed his legs with his right hand and swung him upwards, and slammed him into the ground. Dorack shouted in pain as he hit the floor, and he tried to get up, then Skyocean and Reaper ran at Dread, striking his back at the same time. He shouted in pain as he got launched forwards, hitting the wall hard. Dread growled softly and groaned as he got up. He scoffed and turned around to Skyocean. He took a sword out of his bag, then ran at Reaper, and swung the sword right at her neck. Reaper leaped out of the way, dodged it, then Skyocean leaped at his shoulders and grabbed his neck, pulling him down to the ground. Dread slammed into the ground again, shouting in pain. Skyocean growled as he took a sword out and stabbed his left shoulder with it. Dread growled as he lifted his feet, trying to crush Skyocean’s legs. He repeatedly struck them, and Skyocean groaned as he tried to break apart his shoulder, but he groaned in exhaustion and dropped the sword right on his back, then fell over. Reaper lunged at his neck and grabbed it, then lifted it up and slammed it down into the ground again. Dread then flipped over and grabbed Reaper’s legs, then stood up and threw her across the hall. She slammed into the ground again, and she was becoming more bruised, and blood started coming out of her legs. Dread then turned to Dorack and grabbed his neck, then pinned him down to the ground. Dorack gasped, trying to hit Dread’s hands away, but he wouldn’t budge. Reaper could barely stand. Skyocean couldn’t even stand at all. Dread groaned as he pinned down Dorack’s legs with his legs.

“This ends now!” Dread yelled as he took a sword out of his bag, then took his left arm and pinned down Dorack’s left wrist with it. He lifted the sword high in the air.

“Any last words, idiot?” Dread sneered. Dorack scoffed.

“No one… messes with my friends… and gets away with it!!” Dorack screamed. Dread growled and was about to bring the sword down, when Sodden ran right behind him, and swung the device right into Dread’s left wrist. Sodden barely missed Dorack. The impact was directly into his singularity, immediately causing Dread to shout in pain, and he dropped the sword on the ground and released his grip on Dorack. Dorack gasped and stood up, thenn Sodden knocked Dread down to the ground. Dread’s implant was crackling, glowing orange-red. Tons of purple-blue ooze poured out of it. The singularity inside was pulsating red. It was critically damaged. It was a direct hit. The biotoxin began flowing through his essence, causing his essence stability to drop rapidly. Dread groaned as he was pushed down on his belly, trying to move his legs. He could barely move them. Sodden then picked up Dread’s sword and lodged it into Dread’s implant, further damaging its essence. Dread shouted in pain as he began to feel queasy, and he coughed some blood. He could barely breathe. Sodden growled and crouched down near his head.

“Where’s Serenity?” Sodden asked. Dread scoffed.

“As if… as if I’ll tell you…” Dread said weakly. Sodden then grabbed the back of his head and pressed it down further into the ground. Dread yelled in pain as he continued to lose his stability.

“I’m going to guess she’s in a room somewhere down here.” Sodden said. Dread growled softly.

“Yeah… incubator near the tip. Speeds up… embryo growth by 10 times. You only have 50 minutes to get that Reaper out, Sodden. How are you going to… ugh. You’ll fail. You will not win. All it takes is for her heart to stop… and…” Dread said weakly.

“Listen. If that happens, we go to Ragnarok immediately. My tribe will protect us.” Sodden said. Dread growled softly.

“Okay, okay… yeah. You’re smart. You’re the one to kill me. But she… she’s the real catalyst. You… you’re done… you won’t be able to do it… just… can’t…” Dread said weakly. His speech began to trail off. His essence began to decay. Essence stability was down to 20 percent. Dread sighed softly.

“Just… go… get her… just leave…” Dread said quietly. Finally, his speech stopped, and he was barely breathing anymore. Sodden stood up and walked forward. He picked up Dread’s sword and ran down the halls, and Dorack crouched down near Skyocean to help him. Dread’s implant flashed rapidly, a red and orange color, then it made a ding noise and became gold, then its color darkened and faded away. And a death message appeared. For Sodden. Dorack. All of Nudon. For everyone in Drake Death. The culmination of what had lasted over an year. Sodden ran down the hall, then saw a giant blue door near the bottom. He looked up at it, and it was wide open. Inside was a giant cryopod like structure. It had a glass hatch on the top. There was a panel on its side. The inside was soft and warm, and warm air was pouring in through the machine. There was a tube attached to Serenity’s belly. And on the panel, there was a countdown. The embryo’s picture was shown next to it. The embryo had quadrupled in size since then. It was getting close to being done. Sodden scoffed and swung the sword at the panel, smashing it and causing it to malfunction. He didn’t have time to lose. It caused the cryopod to make a whirring noise, then it faded away. The tube then disconnected and the air stopped pouring in. Then the hatch hissed as it began opening. Sodden gasped. He walked to Serenity, then put his hands inside the hatch, and picked her up with his hands, and when Sodden was done, he found her bag, then put it on his back, making him quite heavy, then he walked out of the room, trying to get back to the exit. Dorack had put bandages on Skyocean’s legs, then he saw Sodden slowly walking with Serenity in his hands. Dorack ran to Sodden.

“I’ll carry that other bag. Get to Drake. Okay?” Dorack said. Sodden nodded. He walked up to the exit, about to leave the place.

Sodden rose from the entrance, and Cooper gasped as he stood up and looked at Sodden. Every piece of Drake Death’s tribe was gone. All their tames and structures were unclaimed. There were multiple soldiers from the tribe dying due to their creatures going wild again. Some lost control of their creatures, others were eaten. Sodden hadn’t won yet, though. He still had to get that Reaper King out. Cooper ran to Sodden and Sodden gave him his bag.

“Syl, we need to go.” Sodden said as he turned to the other Rock Drake, a magenta colored one. Syl nodded, and Cooper picked up Serenity and put her on the back of Syl. Sodden climbed down, and after he did, he saw Dorack coming out, with Skyocean limping on a crutch. Both went to Drake, and got on too. Nal had recovered mostly and she was on Drake’s back. Cooper climbed up onto Drake’s back, with Dorack and Skyocoean. Both Drake and Sylveevee took off and went to fly back to the Aberration Kingdom.

11:18 PM…

The group had just arrived back in the Aberration Kingdom. Syl and Drake were morphed into human form now. They were running towards the main entrance to the castle. Sodden had Serenity in his hands, and Nal and Dorack were besides each other, running behind Sodden. Syl, Drake, Skyocean, and Cooper had opened the door and had cleared the way for them to enter. When Sodden entered, Syl walked to him.

“Come with me.” Syl said. Sodden nodded, and Syl walked to the left, towards a door. The door led down to a basement, and there was a chamber at the bottom. Syl opened the door, and Sodden walked down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he saw three big cryopods lined up on the right of the wall. They all had a panel on the front, and there were two holes in each one, with a rubber like formation hanging from each of them. The pods were for Reaper extractions. Syl walked ahead of Sodden, and towards one of the pods. Syl stood besides the panel and Sodden walked towards it.

“Okay. I know you’ve never done something like this before. Basically, you gotta use a rotating drill made of wool to softly push the Reaper towards the… well…” Syl said as she pointed to her behind. Sodden gasped softly and nodded.

“Okay, then if its head starts sticking out of the opening, you gotta get that thing out. It’s not fully conscious. But it will wake up after a few minutes of being out, so you have to get her out quickly. This will not be easy, but it has to be done.” Syl said. Sodden nodded. There was a small pair of steps near the side of the pod, and Sodden walked to it, then walked up to the top of it. Syl then looked at the panel and activated the hatch. The glass door hissed as it opened slowly, and Sodden then placed Serenity in the hatch, her head facing to the front, and the soft rotating device on her belly. Sodden placed her body inside, and Syl closed the hatch. Sodden sighed and walked back. Syl then activated the rotating sphere, and as soon as she did, gas began to pour into the pod. It was cool and soft. It would ensure the Reaper King came out. Then, sure enough, they heard quiet clicking noises, and then quiet huffing. Syl gasped and walked to the other side of the pod, then walked up some smal set of stairs. She then put her hands inside the rubber, then watched carefully as her behind began to move softly. The Reaper King screeched softly, half conscious. It was growling softly, trying to move. Then it got moved backwards, towards the lower end of Serenity’s stomach and towards her behind. Syl gasped as she saw a small, dark brown and slimy head poke out of the hole. Its eyes were shut, and it could barely move its head. It tried to move out, but it was stuck. Syl sighed and put her hands on the head,, slowly and carefully pulling it out. The Reaper King was still half conscious, so it barely moved. Syl then finally got the tail out. Serenity then gasped softly as she opened her eyes, noticing where she was. She looked behind her to see Syl holding the Reaper King in her hands. Serenity gasped softly as she looked ahead. Sodden walked to the panel and looked up at her.

“Hey. How you doing?” Sodden asked. Serenity sighed softly.

“Alright, I guess. A lot better since that thing’s gone now.” She said. Syl then turned to Sodden, and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could do it, a arm suddenly wrapped around her neck and a dart suddenly got slammed into her neck. She screamed and gasped softly, groaning a bit, then she fell over to the ground, unconscious. Then someone walked from behind Syl. Sodden gasped in shock. It was Rod.

“Did you really think you would get away with this?” Rod sneered. Sodden scoffed.

“How did you even get in here?” Sodden asked in confusion. Rod chuckled.

“That’s not my concern.” Rod growled. He then took a pistol out of his bag then pointed it at the cryopod.

“You are going to step away from that panel right now.” Rod growled. Sodden gasped. He had no choice. He backed away slowly. Rod growled softly and walked closer to Sodden.. Serenity gasped in horror and yelled as she tried to bang on the hatch. She was able to flip over, but she couldn’t sit up right. The Reaper King was on the floor besides her, curled up and growling softly. It would wake up soon due to the conditions. It had woken up completely in Dread’s base, but after losing the conditions it needed to live, it fell asleep again. But now, its consciousness was returning. Sodden backed away, holding up his hands as Rod aimed the pistol at his chest, walking towards him.

“Why couldn’t you just… give up when you had the chance? Like Dread said, all it takes is for a death message, red or gold, to appear on Terad’s tribelog. I’ll just kill you and put you out of your misery.” Rod growled. His fingers rested on the trigger, about to pull it. Syl groaned softly as she began to open her eyes, her vision was blurry. She groaned as she got up. Her torpor had drained completely, and she felt a deep pinch in her neck. She took the dart out of it, and gasped as she noticed Rod trying to kill Sodden. Syl scoffed and took a sword out of her bag, and ran at Rod to strike him. Rod scoffed.

“Yeah. I’m not dumb.” Rod growled. He then turned around to Syl and pulled the trigger, launching a bullet into her shoulder. Syl screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, gripping her shoulder. Rod chuckled and raised the pistol again, aiming it at her chest. Syl gasped as she looked up to Rod, aiming the pistol at her. Syl’s sword was on the ground, besides her. Sodden ran at Rod, trying to tackle him, then Rod took another pistol out of his bag and aimed it at Sodden. Sodden gasped as he stopped moving. Rod scoffed.

“Well. Unless you wanna return to the Island with base stats, and unless Sylveevee wants to die, I’m gonna suggest you stop moving. Just watch the carnage unfold. You see… that Reaper King was about to wake up in Dread’s base. But you stopped the process. But you merely delayed his awakening. And it’s even better when Serenity’s awake… heh. Yeah… you’re done.” Rod sneered. He looked up at the cryopod. And sure enough, the Reaper King was beginning to stand up, growling deeply. Serenity gasped in terror and started banging on the glass. The Reaper growled as it crept closer and closer to her. Sodden gasped in horror.

“No…” Sodden said. Serenity was gasping quickly, trying to keep the Reaper away from her. The Reaper King would not budge. Serenity then kicked it against the wall, and held her foot against the wall, trying to pin down the Reaper. Serenity gasped as the Reaper shoved her foot away and lunged right at her chest. She screamed loudly as the Reaper punctured her shoulders with its claws, ripping her body apart and causing blood to spray across the pod. Syl yelled and ran to the side, leaping forwards. Rod pulled the trigger but Syl dodged it, and Syl lunged at Rod. Sodden gasped in shock.

“Go save her! I’ll handle Rod!” Syl yelled. Sodden growled and ran at the pod, which was beeping loudly. It was broken. Serenity screamed as the Reaper dug right into her chest, causing blood to pour out of her. She tried to hold the Reaper back, but to no avail. Sodden picked up Syl’s sword and swung it at the glass, and it directly struck the sides, causing the whole thing to shatter and vanish, with shards falling onto the floor. Sodden immediately grabbed the Reaper King and pulled it right off of Serenity. It screeched loudly as it tried to escape. Sodden ran to a nearby cage, reserved for Reaper Kings, and Sodden kicked the door open with his foot and threw the baby into the cage, then locked the cage immediately. The Reaper couldn’t get out. Sodden then turned around to Serenity and ran towards her. Sodden picked up Serenity, who was coughing and sniffling, gasping softly. She was barely conscious. Then, they heard quick footsteps. Cooper and Drake ran downstairs.

“Hey! What’s all the commo- OH MY SWEET JASPER BERRIES!!! WHAT HAPPENED HERE!!” Cooper yelled in shock. He noticed Serenity bleeding out, blood all over the pod, and Sylveevee being strangled by Rod. Drake gasped in horror.

“Tell Skyocean to get down here!” Drake yelled. He ran at Rod and grabbed his neck, throwing him off of Syl. Syl gasped as she stood up, gasping for air. Syl whimpered as she walked over to Cooper. Cooper embraced her just then.

“Cooper. Go help Sodden.” Syl said. Cooper nodded. He let go and ran to Sodden. Blood was dripping onto the ground. Sodden had gotten a few gauze pads on her chest and shoulders, but it wasn’t enough.

“Okay. Come with me. Fast.” Cooper said. Sodden nodded, and they both ran straight upstairs.

11:48 PM…

It had been 30 minutes since the attack. Aberration Kingdom almost had to go into lockdown mode. Rod was inside of a cage in their dungeons. Their dungeon room was on the second floor of the castle. Syl was inside the throne room, along with Cooper. Drake, Skyocean, Dorack, and Nal all stood outside of a big room, lined with raised beds. Each one had a blanket sweeping over them. To the corner was Sodden, sitting on a chair next to Serenity, who was lying on a bed. She was unconscious. She had stitches and staples on her chest, a blood bag attached to her right shoulder, and stitches on her shoulders. Her health continued to decline. It was at 9.4. Another second passed. 9.34. Sodden sat there, nervously. He hoped it would be enough to get her going again. But her heart was slowing. Sodden really did not want a death message to show up, for obvious reasons. Sodden sat there, tapping his foot against the floor. Then he stared down at her chest, and noticed some blood was oozing out of her shoulder. Then a crack appeared. Sodden gasped. He immediately grabbed a bandage out of his bag and pressed itt down on her shoulder. The blood bag unfortunately got disconneccted. It tore itself out of the shoulder because of the pressure of the stitches. Sodden stopped the bleeding, but he had to pray she would be fine on just 6 pints of blood. But the health was declining faster. 8.9. Then 8.8. Then 8.67. Then 8.49. Sodden scoffed and walked to the other end of the room, where there was a debifillaltor inside a small glass box. Sodden openned the box and took the debfillator out of it. He walked to Serenity, then took the debfillator out of the bag it was in. But he noticed, it was dead. It had a red light on the bottom. Sodden groaned and sat down on his chair. 7.8. 7.6. 7.45. Nal and Dorack walked in to see Sodden’s head down. Dorack sat down on the bed besides him.

“Dude. What’s wrong?” Dorack asked.

“Freaking debfillator’s dead.” Sodden said. Dorack sighed.

“We need gasoline for that. Is there gasoline in here?” Dorack asked. Nal then took a bin out of the underside of the bed Serenity was on. Nal looked inside, and sure enough, she found a small cup of gasoline. She ran to Sodden, and Sodden grabbed the can and oopened the defib’s fuel tank. Sodden poured it into a metal sphere, then closed the tank down. Sodden turned it on and stood up, then placed the pads on Serenity’s chest. 4.7. 4.5. 4.3. Sodden had to act fast. He then held the shock machines over her chest.

“Clear!” Sodden yelled as he brought them downwards, sending a shockwave through her body. But her heart could barely start. 3.8. 3.6. 3.3.

“I’ve been here before, Sodden. Just keep trying.” Dorack said. Sodden took a deep breath, then did it again. Her heart couldn’t start well. It was barely going. And Sodden scoffed and looked inside of her mouth. He opened up Serenity’s mouth and looked inside. Sodden groaned and reached inside, then slowly lifted it out. It was some kind of device. It was made to block her airway over time. To ensure Sodden couldn’t get out of the place without consequences. Consequences that would arrive in 15 seconds. Sodden groaned softly and put his head down, and he activated the defib again, sending another shockwave through Serenity’s body. It barely accelerated her heart enough. 1.3. 1.02. 0.89. Sodden refused to give up. He then put his hands on her chest, then began rapidly pressing down on it. Sodden groaned as he kept doing it 10 times, two per second. Sodden kept trying. Then after a minute of going, Serenity’s eyes suddenly shot open, and she woke up, gasping quickly. She then moved her arm towards her chest,, and Sodden then sat down near her, right on the bed, sighing softly. Serenity chuckled softly. Sodden sniffled softly, gasping in relief.

“Oh… thank god…” Sodden sighed. He held Serenity’s hand, relieved that everything was okay. Sodden looked down at her, and Dorack gasped softly as he put his hands to his mouth. Sodden sighed softly as he stared at her. Serenity sighed softly as she tried to sit up. Her back hurt, and she was still in pain. But she was here. That was all Sodden cared about. It was over. The Aberration Ravage was over for good this time. Sodden sat on the bed near her, and Serenity sat up against the wall. Sodden embraced Serenity with his arms, and so did Serenity.

“I really thought it was the end…” Sodden said, his voice cracking. He sniffled a bit. Serenity chuckled softly.

“Yeah. Me too. Thanks, bro. We’ve come quite far, huh?” Serenity said. Sodden nodded softly.

They then heard soft rumbling across the ground. The ceiling of the Ark seemed to shake. The surface was clearing out. Reaper Kings, Seekers, all were digging underground. Ready to invade the underground caves. There were 70 survivors total on the surface, all on Rock Drakes. They watched the northern horizon as it glowed bright orange, shimmering brightly. Then a white glow appeared over it. Rays of light blasted across the horizon. Into their eyes. The survivors then let out cheers of excitement, some launching flares into the air, small fireworks bursting in the air. The sun began to peek over the horizon, and as its disk rose above the horizon, the survivors in Aberration Kingdom couldn’t help but look up.

“It’s 11:53. Sunrise is happening. The Ark is entering its polar day. No sunset…” Sodden said.

“Until approximately September 2nd…” Serenity said, smiling, Dorack sighed softly.

“It’s poetic, isn’t it. A new age on the Ark, a new period of daylight. God… what is it like when polar night comes?” Dorack asked. Serenity chuckled.

“Everybody’s just fighting over getting drops over and over. They have to bring insanely powerful creatures up there to survive the waves of Reaper Kings, both wild and tamed. That’s why a lot of breeding happens during the polar day.” Serenity said.

“Well… what was it like when you came over here?” Sodden asked. Serenity chuckled.

“It was like late August when we got here. First sunset was coming. Everyone was hyped. Well… at least until the whole… thing.” Serenity said.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s over, though. Dread’s gone for good. Now we just gotta get out of here.” Sodden said.

“What about Rod?” Nal asked. Sodden sighed and stood up, taking Serenity’s hand. She slowly stood up, and looked up at Nal.

“Sylveevee will keep him in the dungeons. They have to ensure he never escapes.” Sodden said. Dorack chuckled.

“Well… in that case… you know what that means. Time to go back to the Island!” Dorack yelled. Everyone cheered in excitement as they walked out of the room. It was going to be near 10 AM on The Island due to the distance. But this wasn’t anything to Sodden. He would do whatever it took to eventually reach Dead Earth.

Day 15 of Aberration

12:04 AM…

Sodden and his friends were outside the walls. Sylveevee was morphed into a Rock Drake, and Drake, Cooper, and Skyocean were all near her. Sodden and Serenity faced Cooper.

“Well… guess this is it. It was nice seeing you.” Drake said. Sodden nodded.

“Yeah. It was good seeing y’all. Thanks for all your help.” Sodden said. The others nodded in affirmation.

“Well… when you get back to the Island… what are you gonna do?” Skyocean asked. Sodden sighed.

I’ll probably just start collecting resources to prepare to go to Ragnarok.” Sodden said. Syl nodded.

“Well, you wanna go now?” Syl asked. Sodden and his friends nodded, then climbed onto her back. Sodden sat up front, Serenity was right behind him, and Dorack and Nal sat behind her. Syl then turned upwards. The others waved their hands. Sodden sighed softly.

“Yeah. See y’all later.” Sodden said. Then Syl rooared and took off, gliding towards the north, to the terminal at the Ancient Device, aka the portals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some time, the group arrived at the portals. The big, overhead arcs going over the place, and a big metal ground extending across the place. Towards the end of a wall was a big tall, circular portal and in its center was some kind of transmitter. It was placed sideways, facing away from the wall, and it was quite large. The group traveled towards it, and there was a spot inside for transport between Arks. Syl then walked towards it, as it hung over some kind of metal floor, and Sodden got off the Drake to walk towards it. He used his implant to open its inventory, and there was a big holographic screen. Then he went to the “Transport” tab. The only option availble was The Island. For that, they needed the artifacts, all of which Sodden had. He took all three out of his bag, then placed them inside a container that had exited the transmitter. Then it retracted backwards, and the artifacts dissolved into the machine. Then the transmitter glowed brightly. Sodden then activated the transport mechanism. The transmitter flashed brightly, and made a deep beeping noise.

“Transport confirmed. Transporting to The Island in 120 seconds…” The transmitter said in a computerized voice.

“The main Rockwell Terminal is broken, so it’d be wise to use this.” Serenity said. Sodden nodded.

“Yeah, but what happened to it?” Dorack asked. Syl sighed.

“It’s likely Terad’s past shenanigans with the transport device to Extinction possibly drove its mechanism to become disabled entirely. The only way to restart it is to prove you’re worthy. Collecting the Alpha tributes from every Ark in the main path. From Ragnarok, Crystal Isles, Lost Island, and Fjordur. It’s 10,000 element, all these alpha tributes from bosses, 1,000 runes. You have a lot ahead of you guys.” Syl said. Sodden chuckled.

“We will do it. We can do it, guys. Right?” Sodden asked. Everyone nodded in agreement. Syl sighed.

“Okay. Then good luck out there. See y’all later!” Syl said.

“Bye!” Sodden and Dorack yelled as they waved their hands, and Syl leaped off the wall and glided downwards, then down south, towards her base. Serenity sighed softly.

“That’s it. Well, it’s time to plan for Ragnarok, guys.” Sodden said.

“Yeah. And of course, make sure Terad does not find out about all this.” Serenity said. Sodden chuckled.

“Yeah.” Dorack said. He was about to say something else, when his implant suddenly dinged. So did Sodden and Nal’s implants. They looked down at them. There was a message there. Dorack gasped softly and put his hands on his mouth. It was Codred.

“Guys? If you’re about to come home, come home right now. Terad’s about to raid our tribe. Something about… Aberration or whatever. I’ll explain later.” The message said. Sodden sighed.

“Wait… what happened?” Sodden asked, confused. He then groaned and looked over to the south.

“I think I know. Rod must have snuck to an obelisk, sent a message to the Island, and Terad found it. He knows. He knows of everything that happened down here. God dang… well. Better go, right?” Sodden asked as he turned back around. Everyone nodded in agreement. Serenity walked to him and took his hands.

“We just gotta go. Resources and everything. Our ascension data will allow us quick access to Ragnarok. The problem is getting what we need. Once we leave the Island… there’s no turning back.” Sodden said. Everyone grunted in agreement and looked at the transmitter. There was a bright blue sphere encircling everyone, and big beams of light striking down onto it. Then the sphere suddenly burst and the survivors were shot upwards, out of the Ark, and into a ascension path. From there, they could see the sun rising, its light flowing across the Arks. Fires ignited across the surface in what felt like slow motion.

“Oh, my god.” Sodden said, his jaw dropped.

“Well… we’ll be back. And when we return, we’ll be ready.” Dorack said. Serenity nodded in agreement. Nal had nearly recovered completely. Serenity and Sodden looked down at each other, and held hands. As they traveled through the path, away from Aberration, Sodden sighedd softly and looked at Serenity.

“I’m never gonna let anything happen to you. Terad has nothing on us.” Sodden said. Serenity chuckled lightly.

“You are very lucky to have us, Sodden. I never thought… when I walked outside at 4:40 AM that morning, that the green beam of light I saw was the beginning of… this. This crazy journey we’ve gone on.” Serenity said. Sodden nodded, sniffling softly.

“It’s JTAC forever, Serenity. It’s us that started it all.” Sodden said. Serenity nodded softly. They put their heads against each others, closed their eyes, and Sodden took a deep breath.

“I never thought this would happen again. But you… you came, and now we’re on this awesome journey… one that will change the Arks.” Serenity said.

“Yeah. I love you.” Sodden whispered softly. Serenity chuckled softly.

“I love you too, dude.” Serenity said softly. Their lips began to come closer to each other, making contact in a few seconds, embracing each other as they went through the path. Dorack and Nal were left speechless.

“I knew it from the start. Don’t bully me because of it.” Dorack said. Nal chuckled and lightly nudged his shoulder.

“Shut up, bro. I think we all deserve some peace right now.” Nal said. Dorack nodded softly. The four survivors then approached the Island, and the path suddenly shot downwards towards its force field, directly towards the volcano. A new era was arriving. One of joy, suspense, action, adventure….

And war…

The journey through all creatures had only just begun…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I honestly have no words to say. Almost an year, so much trouble with these chapters… congrats if you made it this far. Nearly 180k words of content is insane. Thank you to anyone who’s read the story, if you just started, you’re in the middle, or you finished reading this very chapter, just thank you for the support, feedback, all of that stuff.

You can expect more chapters per month, for real this time, and enjoy it because… well, Chapters 72-75 will be stupid insanely long.

Expect Chapters 72-74 to break 15k words, or maybe 20k.. And Chapter 75… you do NOT want to miss that.

They will absolutely take time to make. I hope you enjoyed this section. It was big, insanely action packed, and so much stuff happened. But the action in Section 3 will be nothing like you’ve seen so far in this story.

With all that said, thank you to SunnyFox, Nexus, and PrimalApex, who just started reading this awesome story. Thank you to Moon for nearly finishing Section 1! And of course, Ben… thank you for reading thus far and for all your feedback. I hope you all enjoyed this section AND this awesome chapter!

And I will see you all in Section 3 of Journey Through All Creatures!!

Bye-bye for now!

-RelatingHen8906

Reaper queen: Ross are red and violets are blue, and my bed has room for two!

Me: Nope

Reaper queen: u have no choice* Impregnate Me*

Me: I hate u

Reaper queen: I know

10 years later

Me: I’m back. Omg wtf Derrickgamin274 get out! How many have impregnated on Queen?

Reaper queen: the entire sever

Lol up or down if u like this!i will post more

Am I the only one who thinks there should be a possibilty in getting a reaper Queen? You also think so?

*Part two of baby reaper*

[After running away]

Stomach growling with nowhere to go and no one to stick by

Baby reaper:*hears something under ground* h-hello a-anyone there?

Top of head of something pokes out and growls

(Slowly the baby reaper backs up into a corner hoping that he is safe)

Baby reaper:stay away or I'll call for my mom

Unknown:you mean the dead one little one

Baby reaper: who are you?!

5 ups and part three will come sorry for the first one being so bad😆😅

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 50: The Xenomorph Showdown

Part 4/5: Death by Dawn - Part 2

9:30 PM…

The group continued to walk up the stairs, towards the door. They approached the top of the stairs, then walked towards the doors, leading to the main room. As they continued walking, they heard silent footsteps around the base. Sodden looked around, staying alert. Drake sighed and walked to the front, then Sodden followed him, and both of them took a sword out of their bags. They approached the doors, then Sodden put his hand on it.

“Okay. We are going to need hazard suits to get out of here.” Sodden said. He sat down, then put his weapon down and reached into his bag, then Drake did the same. They took out a set of hazard clothes - pants,chestpiece, helmet, etc. Sodden tossed one to Dorack, then Dorack sat down, gently setting Nal down onto the floor, then took a hazard suit out of his bag. Serenity already had one on, and as they were preparing to leave the base, at the other side of the base, near the spiral stairs to the second floor, which were rising from the ground near Dread’s main office, Dread growled as he stood at the top of the staircase. He sighed as he watched the group start to come out of the dungeon hall. They were all ready, and they were coming out towards the exit. Dread spat on the ground and lifted his left arm, and looked down his implant. He then turned on communicators.

“Go. Now” Dread growled deeply. Sodden was at the main entrance, He opened the door, peeked out, and looked around the place. Sodden sighed.

“Okay. Seems good.” Sodden said. He walked forwards, then everyone else followed him.Then as soon as the last person was out the door, a Megalosaur leaped from the roof, slammed down onto the ground next to Serenity. Serenity gasped and shot around, then the Megalosaur opened his mouth and clamped down onto her leg, then she fell over, screaming in pain. Everyone else shot towards her. Sodden immediately ran back to grab her arm. Sodden grabbed it, and tried to pull away. Everyone else helped him pull, but the creature’s grip on Serenity was too strong. Then Dread ran at the Megalosaur and started pulling his tail. He still had invulnerability and super strength activated, as he was sitting below 25 percent his HP. He yanked the creature inside, but Serenity wouldn’t budge.. She screamed as she tried to kick the head to get released, but it was no use. Sodden groaned as he tried to pull her away. He tried to walk backwards, but he was getting pulled inwards.

“NO! Dread, stop!” Sodden yelled in anger. Dread cackled.

“NEVER!!” Dread yelled. Serenity shouted as her armor started to rip slightly.

“No…” Serenity gasped as she stared at Sodden. He tried to pull away, but Sodden’s grip was weakening.

“Serenity… please… Dread, stop this!” Sodden yelled in anger and concern. Serenity screamed in pain as the Megalosaur crunched down onto her leg, and Serenity groaned, tears appearing in her eyes.

“Don’t let go… please…” Serenity whimpered. Sodden yelled as he tried to pull backwards, but to no avail. Dread then yanked backwards hard, pulling the Megalosaur right into the entrance, ripping off its skin and seriously injuring it. Serenity screamed as she got flung backwards, and fell onto the ground, right in frontn of Dread. Dread then got up and grabbed her by the neck, then stormed to the door and slammed it shut right as Sodden was about to get up and hold it open. Everyone groaned as they tried to get up. Sodden tried to bash against the door over and over. Then someone walked towards them from behind. Sodden gasped and turned to his right. Everyone saw Rod standing in front of them. He was grinning, he was making a gesture telling them to come with him. Sodden gasped as he, along with the others, followed Rod. Then they approached a big, tall wall, wiith stairs on its side. They walked up the stairs, through big metal poles and checkered stairs. They approached a big metal door at the top, and Rod pushed it open. He walked into the doorway and turned around.

“Get up to the top floor.” Rod sneered and slammed the door in their face, walking away. They continued upwards, until they reached a metal door, and when they went through, they were met with chairs. In rows across the place. It was the arena. In the center was the infamous sandy and rocky ground - and of course, the two Reapers hiding underground. Sodden gasped as he walked down to the fence. No one could speak. Complete silence. They could only watch. Then he heard a loud bang. They shot upwards to see that the gate on the other end of the arena had swung open. Then someone walked through the gate. Dread. He was walking towards the center, holding Serenity in his hands. Rod walked towards him, then whistled softly. The ground then suddenly rumbled, and a Reaper Queen roared as it dug up through the sand, lifting dust into the air and sweeping away rocks. Then it crawled upwards, and got onto the ground. It roared as it walked to Rod, looking down at it.

“Hello, Xenoslayer. How you doing? Well… we have a bit of a predicament. It’s handled, though. They’re finished. Aberration Kingdom… dealt with. Anyway…. Dread. Take it from here.” Rod said as he turned to Dread. Dread chuckled and walked towards the Reaper Queen. Serenity screamed and cried as she tried to kick Dread away, trying to get out. It was no use. Dread just couldn’t budge. His powers were insane. All that could weaken them was biotoxin.

“Xenoslayer. It has been a long time… since I had to use you. I didn’t think they’d return again. But they did. Serenity came back with some others… thinking this would be easy. Heh. It was a little hard. Losing Marison… having our base breached… we won, though. We won. Nothing can kill me under your power. Xenoslayer… you know what to do.” Dread sneered. He then threw Serenity down onto the ground. Gasping and exhausted, she tried to get up, then Xenoslayer sniffed her and roared deeply, then swung her tail and picked Serenity up with it before she could react. The only thing Sodden could hear was screaming. He continued bashing the force field with his sword, and Drake had morphed into a Theri to try and break through. Dread chuckled as he looked up at the force field. Itt blocked out noise from the outside, so they couldn’t hear Sodden panicking and trying to break the force field.

“Go ahead. Bash against the force field all you want. You ain’t going nowhere.” Dread sneered. He turned back to Serenity,, who had a big, thick spike deep in her chest. She kept trying to worm out of the tail, but to no avail. She whimpered as she looked away, gasping. Then the Reaper Queen growled deeply and then the organ in the front of the tail suddenly launched forward, inches from Serenity’s head.

“Ugh. You just won’t cooperate, huh? Fine. I’ll do it the hard way.” Dread sneered. He leaped up onto the tail, climbing up onto it, and he hung from the tail as he grabbed Sernity’s head and jerked it backwards. She started screaming in pain, trying to shake him off. It wasn’t working. Then the organ went all the way in and went straight into her mmouth, causing her scream to become even more high pitched. Blood spattered out of her mouth and her back was bleeding a lot. She gasped weakly as the emmbryo began to sneak its way into her esophagus. Sodden crouched down and looked down, horrified by the sight. He could hear everything, and he had tears in his eyes, praying it would stop. Sodden yelled in shock and terror, as he shut his eyes, covering his head with his hands. Dorack and the others looked away too, closing their eyes. They were too horrified to see the carnage. Blood came out of her mouth and back. As soon as the Reaper dropped Serenity, she was near unconscious and she had lost quite a bit of blood. Serenity was on the ground, sniffling and crying, with blood pouring out of her back. Then Dread grabbed her legs and dragged her into the base, and Rod followed him. They walked through the gates, and the gates slammed shut.

10:15 PM

Aberration Kingdom.

Absolute silence. That was what filled the throne room. Sylveevee was lying on a bed, coughing and gasping. Drake sat near her, and so did Moonhigh. Both were helping her out. Near the bed was Sodden, Skyocean, and Dorack. They sat on the steps to the throne. They were staring at the doors. Nal was in another room, a room designated to assist in recovering essence. Skyocean sighed.

“Well… that was… I honestly have no idea how we’re still alive.” Skyocean said. Sodden nodded.

“I agree. Dread is too strong to be killed manually. Did you see that? We could not do anything to him!” Sodden yelled. Dorack nodded.

“Yep. We’ll have to somehow get biotoxin into his body to damage his attributal essence so he can’t use it.” Dorack said. Meanwhile, Drake sat on a chair, next to a low bed, and Syl was lying on it, She was consicous but very weak. Sodden stood up and walked to Syl.

“Queen Syl… why? Why did you have to do that?” Sodden asked. Syl sighed.

“I… I don’t know. It was mainly impulsive. I… I just wanted to try and distract him. It kinda worked…” Syl gasped in exhaustion. Sodden scoffed.

“Yeah. Yeah. We got Nal back, but Serenity got impregnated again. We have to get that Reaper out as soon as we get her back. And we can’t let her heart stop. Otherwise… well.” Sodden said. Syl nodded.

“Yeah. When your heart stops, that’s enough to trigger a death message. But if you can restart it before essence decay kicks in, well,, that’s going to change the message from golden colored to a red color. But… it doesn’t matter if it involves Serenity’s name and a Reaper Queen. Terad will see it. No matter what color it is, he will know it happened. We cannot have that.” Syl said. Dorack then quickly walked over to Syl.

“Dude. Is Nal okay?” Dorack asked. Drake put his hand on Dorack’s shoulder, and stood up. He then smiled.

“Cooper, bring her in.” Drake said to his implant, sending a message to Cooper. Dorack gasped and shot his head to the door. Then the doors creaked open, and Coooper was walking in, holding someone in his left arm. She was on a wooden crutch, and she could barely walk. Cooper was helping her. It didn’t matter to Dorack, though. Nal was alive, and that was all he cared about. Dorack chuckled and sniffled in joy and relief. He then yelled in excitement and ran at Nal. Cooper chuckled and let go of Nal, then she groaned as she tried to stand up on the crutch, then Dorack grabbed her with his arms, embracing her. Nal gasped and turned to Dorack.

“Oh… I thought you were gone for good…” Dorack said, shedding some tears, his voice breaking. Nal chuckled.

“I saw the Creator quite a few times. I really thought that was it. Thanks, Dorack.” Nal said, smiling. Dorack chuckled.

“You are welcome. Oh, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you…” Dorack said, his voice breaking. Nal sighed and nodded softly. Dorack then let go of Nal, holding her arm, then walked to the bed holding Queen Syl.

“Well… it has been nearly two weeks since we talked. Uh, so Dread, that’s the guy who tried to kill us all, he made a device with organic biotoxin and injected it into some kind of needle, where he put it inside of your left wrist, right next to your implant. That’s how he got you. The rest… well, we’ll explain later. You need to recover.” Dorack explained. Nal nodded and sat down near Sodden, who was still sitting near Syl.

“Hey, Sodden. Did you get Reaper back?” Nal asked. Sodden chuckled.

“Yeah. Dread almost killed her twice. But she survived. Uh, the problem is, Serenity was captured and impregnated again. We have to get in there, kill Dread, and get her out.” Sodden explained. Nal nodded.

“Okay. Okay. And how do we do that?” Nal asked. Skyocean sighed and sat down.

“I don’t know. But we have to think of a plan. We do not have forever. Drake, can you update us on the people who are at Sodden’s base?” Skyocean asked. Drake nodded and stood up. He then walked forwards a bit, and turned to the others to talk.

“Okay. So, I think we just tell them to kill the raiders there. Dread will likely send some more troops to go to that base and raid it. That base is basically bait at this point. Then I think we will have to separate Dread from the others. We have to neutralize him and make sure he cannot fght back. Then we have to inject that biotoxin into his essence. If his essence stability drops below 50 percent, he can’t use his attributes. That’s going to leave him vulnerable to destruction. Sodden, you will use Reaper to distract him. I will help in doing so. Syl, Skyoceaan, Cooper, you guys will hold the outside of the base in case anyone comes back. This is our last chance, guys. Sodden… this is our last option. We lost quite a few soldiers and creatures today. I almost died twice down there. We almost lost our own queen again. Sodden, Dorack, Nal…” Drake said as he walked closer to the three. They looked up at Drake as he crouched down near them.

“This is all or nothing, guys. If this fails, that’s the end for you guys. You understand what we’re doing here, right?” Drake asked. Sodden nodded.

“Of course. But it doesn’t matter. We will fight until the end.” Sodden stated. Dorack and Nal nodded in agreement. Drake nodded and stood up.

“Okay. If that’s the case, then I guess we’ll be ready. I’ll get more energy brews for Syl. Cooper, you’re coming with me to pick up the device we’re gonna use on Dread. The rest of you… well, you’re going to have to make a plan of your own. This is your fight, after all.” Drake said. Cooper then stood up and walked besides Drake out of the room. Sodden sighed and turned to Dorack, who had his head down.

“Well… what now? What are we gonna do?” Sodden asked. Dorack shrugged.

“I… I don’t really know. I think the best option is leaving Nal here. She’ll be safe with Syl.” Dorack stated. Sodden sighed and nodded softly.

“Maybe. But… she has the best shotgun of any of us. She’s good with shotguns. And besides, what if someone sneaks in here?” Dorack asked nervously. Sodden sighed and put his hand on Dorack’s shoulder.

“She’ll be fine. Okay? We just need to do this one more time. Get Serenity back, get that Reaper out, and get the heck out of here.” Sodden said. Dorack sighed and nodded.

“Okay. Then how do we pin down Dread?” Dorack asked. Sodden looked around the place and then back at Dorack.

“We weaken him with Drake and Reaper, then I get that device into his implant, into his singularity. It’s the fastest way to weaken his essence. We justt need to find a way to distract him, leave him vulnerable. We have to make sure it works.” Sodden said. Then Nal turned around and sighed.

“Guys, what’s been going on? Like… I’ve been gone for almost two weeks. You sure are at a low point.” Nal said. Sodden sighed.

“Not exactly “low”. Just that things are really tense right now. We’ve had to do caves while avoiding Dread. Reaper almost died twice, and so did Sylveevee. Rod has been pushing us to the edge with so many horrible things… stuff they said, all that crap they went on and on about. I need someone to hold him down. And I’ll be the one to end Dread.” Sodden said. Dorack sighed and put his hand on Sodden’s shoulder.

“We’ll help you, don’t worry. Now… about getting in there…” Dorack said. Skyocean stood up and sighed.

“I’ll hold him off. I can’t morph into survivors who are dead for good, so I’ll have to do Dread again. It’s risky. But I am not letting you guys go down like this.” Skyocean stated. Sodden and Dorack looked at each other, then looked at Nal. She shrugged, then they looked back at Skyocean. Sodden then stood up, and looked at Skyocean.

“Do what you need. Whatever it takes to save our friend and get out of here alive.” Sodden said. Skyocean smiled and nodded.

“Got that.” Skyocean said. Then they heard the doors burst open. They all turned around quickly to see Cooper and Drakke walking into the room. Drake held a bag of energy brews, walking towards Syl. Cooper walked to Sodden and took something out of his bag. It was a thin needle, with a bright pristine glint on itts center and a diamond shape on the back. It had a black ring around the center ball, which glowed brightly with liquid organic biotoxin and organic polymer. Cooper then extended his arms to give it to Sodden.

“This is the only one we were able to make. These things are extremely valuable. Use it wisely.” Cooper said. Sodden nodded in affirmation as he picked up the device with his hands and set it down in his bag.

“The creatures are ready outside the gates. Drake will leave with Syl soon. When you’re ready, come out. Okay?” Cooper asked. Everyone nodded, and Skyocean walked with Cooper out of the room. Drake then lifted Syl up to carry her out of the room. They had to act fast. Dorack then walked to Sodden, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“Sodden, what are we gonna do when we get back to the Island?” Dorack asked. Sodden sighed softly.

“We just prepare to go to Ragnarok. And make sure we do not raise Terad’s suspicions.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded in agreement.

“Got that. And… what do we do if he finds out what’s happening?” Dorack asked. Sodden sighed.

“We just go straight to Ragnarok. Speedrun the Arks. We know what we can do. We just gotta not get caught.” Sodden explained. Nal walked to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“And what about Extinction?” Nal asked.

“We fight until the very end. No matter what. And that is what we’re gonna do.” Sodden said with confidence. He then walked forward, and the others followed him to the door. This was all or nothing for them.

10:40 PM

10 minutes to sunset…

By this point, the sky had turned deep blue. It became bright pink on the edges, with orange going across the horizon. Aberration remained within the upper atmosphere, so it could see the colors from the sun, but it was nowhere near enough to protect from radiation. This was a rare occurence when it entered Earth’s atmosphere due to its slightly eccentric orbit. Its orbit never stayed the same. When Sodden and his friends left the walls, they saw Syl and Drake both morphed into a Rock Drake, Skyocean and Coooper sitting on Drake’s back, and they were pointed to the north. Sodden sighed as he looked up at Cooper, sitting on Drake’s back.

“Okay, guys. We gotta go now. I already told the raiders about the decision. I saw some golden death messages just now, along with some red messages. So that means the people who tried to break into your base, along with their creatures, are dead. Dread should have some troops going to Sodden’s base. Guys, you ready?” Drake asked. Sodden, Dorack, and Nal nodded in agreement, and Sodden put his bag down on the ground to take a hazard suit out of it. Dorack had two hazard suits in his bag, so he crouched down, took one out of the bag and threw the other one to Nal. Nal caught it and put it on her body.. So did Dorack and Sodden. They stood up, then walked to Syl, climbed up onto her back, and looked up at the sky.

“Okay, guys. Y’all good?” Drake asked. Dorack gasped and tapped Sodden’s shoulder.

“Wait. What about… what about the creatures? You know… it’s not called Journey Through All Creatures for nothing.” Dorack explained. Sodden sighed.

“We will have to return here to kill Rockwell and open the path to Extinction. We need other things for that. That isn’t our concern right now.” Sodden said. Dorack smiled and nodded. Syl yelled as she took off, gliding towards the ceiling, and so did Drake. Everyone held on tightly as they began to turn upside down. They slammed into the ceiling and walked across it, scouting out the area. And after a few minutes, they saw 2 Reaper Queens, along with 10 Rock Drakes, marching towards Sodden’s base. Across the blue zone cliffside, from the Red Zone’s lit up red path. They heard deep rumbling as they sat against the ceiling. They heard quiet beeping, and there were slight crackling noises.

“Uh… what’s going on up there?” Sodden asked. Syl smiled and chuckled.

“It’’s the final sunset and sunrise for almost 5 months for Aberration. This is the last time people can go up to the surface for drops. The Creator will send in 150 supply drops for survivors to collect. But there are way more creatures ready to emerge and of course, there will be conflicts between tribes. It looks even more insane since Aberration went into Earth’s upper stratosphere a few hours ago.” Syl said. Dorack gasped and chuckled softly as he stared at the ceiling.

“At least we have something to look forward to when we leave here.” Dorack said. Sodden grunted.

“That won’t matter if Terad sees a death message, even if it’s red. We need to go.” Sodden said.

“Okay. The troops are going, so we have to get to Dread’s base, break in, kill Dread, and get Serenity. Then we have to get that Reaper out. You ready?” Drake asked. Everyone grunted and nodded in agreement. Then Syl and Drake then began sprinting across the ceiling, into the Red Zone. It was to Dread’s base - one last time.

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 50: The Xenomorph Showdown

Part 3/5 - Death by Dawn: Part 1

8:40 PM

Dread’s base

Skyocean, Drake, Sodden, and Dorack all stood before a giant machine, with a quick rotating metal sphere, transparent. The sphere had bright red and gold essence inside, with tints of purple in it. Dorack gagged softly.

“Oh, no…” Dorack whimpered. Sodden put his hand on his shoulder as he crouched down, his head down and his hand over his mouth.

“Hey. We’’re here now. We’ll save her, okay?” Sodden said, comforting Dorack. Dorack sniffled and nodded, then stood up.

“Okay, so what happened up there?” Skyocean said. Drake winced softly and groaned.

“Yeah… you don’t wanna know. Sylveevee was fighting Dread and Rod, then Sylveevee did something. Something that can drain every single bit of energy in you. Creature shapeshifters need a lot of energy to keep theiir creature form going. But certain attacks are so powerful and complex that they instantly drain all that energy.” Drake explained. Skyocean gasped in horror.

“You… you mean… like impregnation from a Reaper? Did Syl do that?” Skyocean asked. Drake nodded solemnly.

“I got some medical brews from that storage room and went to the front to see what was going on. I saw Rock Drakes below Syl, standing still. As if they were on in the plan. Syl likely fell into their arms, unconscious, and were forced to retreat. We’re on our own now.” Drake explained. Everyone gasped softly. Skyocean growled and walked to the control panel, on the left side. There was a big tablet on the panel, and there were tabs on the top, one saying “Containment” and the other, “Release” and one saying, “Stats”. Skyocean sighed and used his implant to open the panel access, as all the tabs were locked. He then clicked the stats panel.

“Oh, boy. Essence in critical condition, time until decomposition, 34 hours… oh god. Okay… uh…” Skyocean whispered. He then went to the release panel, and he saw a button on the bottom that said, “Release survivor”. That was it. The release process was tough, as it involved opening the metal sphere, then using survivor essence to stailize the essence inside and get it out safely. Nal’s essence wwas around 14 percent stable. The recommended stable point was 35%. Dorack walked over to the panel and sighed.

“Okay. I’ll do it. Nal’s my friend.” Dorack declared with confidence. Sodden sighed and walked to him.

“Go ahead.” Sodden said, encouraging Dorack. Skyocean chuckled and began the release process, using his implant to confirm the access point, then he clicked a button, and the machine rumbled. Then they heard loud whirring as the transparent metal sphere began retracting. Then all they saw was a big clump of essence, with a ball of wind swirling around it at a insane speed. Dorack walked to the panel just then.

“Okay. This is 21 percent your essence. That’s enough to significantly weaken your stats. Expect half your weight, health, 80% of most of your other stats, and 70% your stamina.” Skyocean explained. Dorack huffed.

“I don’t care. Nal will have all these stats weakened by almost 85 percent. She’s my friend. I’ll get her back.” Dorack said. Skyocean nodded.

“Okay. Put your implant on that big circle on the screen.” Skyocean stated as he pointed to a big, red metalloid circle in the middle of the screen. Dorack lay his left wrist on it, and as soon as he did, two bright transparent ropes shot out of the screen , one curled around the lower wrist, and another curled around his hand, pulling it down to the screen, then the implant inside his wrist began glowing bright green, making a horrible screeching noise. Dorack yelled in pain as he crouched down, shutting his eyes and putting his head down. Then some ooze started coming out of it. It then flowed into the device, then the base of the machine glowed bright blue, and the essence began slowly shifting. It began to change from bright purple to a soft blue, and the gold began to shift too. The transfer would take around 20 minutes. Enough time to do their thing, if Syl hadn’t done something extremely risky.

“Okay. I can only hold off these for 6 minutes. After that, Drake, you’re going to have to protect them. And do not let them find Serenity.. Dread iis too strong for you to take on alone. Sodden… do you have any tames?” Skyocean asked. Sodden chuckled.

“Well… there’s no tame better than Reaper. Dread took her, though. We’ll have to retrieve her.” Sodden said, grinning. Skyocean nodded.

“Okay. I’ll get her out, best I can.” Skyocean said.

“Well, I didn’t bring her hazard suit, so she has to stay in the base. I don’t want to go to Ragnarok with my raptor infected with radiation sickness.” Sodden explained.. Drake nodded.

“Okay. We’ll be cautious. We should watch out for anyone coming. I’ll keep watch outside the room.” Drake said. Sodden nodded and Drake then walked out, and laid flat against the wall,then morphed into a compy. At his small size, he could walk through the cell doors. He walked through them and hid behind a waste disposal right beside the door. Right across from the room that the others were in. Then they heard deep footsteps from across the hall. Someone was coming.

“This is stupid. I will not let this all go down the drain. Rod! Find Serenity. I’ll handle this.” Dread sneered. Rod nodded and turned to a cell right besides him. He used his implant to unlock the door, and he began looking across the room. He then took out a sword, and bashed it against the floor.

“She’s probably hiding under here…” Rod growled. Dread chuckled softly.

“Anyway… time to end this.” Dread sneered. He took a sword out of his bag and stormed down the hall, towards Dorack’s cell, across from the metal chamber. Drake gasped as he saw Dread walking closer and closer.

“Skyocean, now!” Drake whispered. Skyocean huffed and then leaped out of the doorway, walking towards Dread. Dread gasped.

“Wha- how is there another me? Ah, whatever. You’re dead.” Dread sneered and ran at him, swinging his sword, then Skyocean lunged at him, grabbing the edge of the sword and yanking it out of his hands, then shoving him back. Skyocean then grappled the handle of the sword and pointed it at Dread, and Dread took another sword out of his bag, pointing it at Skyocean, who looked nearly exactly like Dread.

“I bet you’re… what was his name again? Whatever. That won’t matter once you’re dead.” Drerad growled. Skyocean chuckled.

“So I guess you don’t care if you die, huh?” Skyocean said. Dread spat on the ground.

“That’s not accurate. I’ve taken Reapers out of survivors before. They can do the same to me. And besides… it’s not like I’m being controlled.” Dread growled. Skyocean sighed.

“Okay. Time to end this.” Skyocean said. He then put his hand on his implant, and activated one of Dread’s attributes, speed plus strength, and brief invulernability, and Dread did the same, and they launched at each other, crashing into each other, holding themselves by the arm, and a huge wind shot backwards and across the hall. Dread then started pushing Skyocean hard, and Skyocean tried to swing his sword at Dread, then Dread used his sword to hold the other back, and it was evenly matched. Skyocean scoffed and took out a grenade, then used his strength to throw Dread to the ground, then he shoved the grenade into his bag. Dread chuckled.

“Just watch and see if that does anything!” Dread sneered. Skyocean scoffed.

“It’s not just any normal grenade, Dread. You see us as dumb, weak, and worthless. Your torture methods… they say it all. Anyway, you can kiss your armor goodbye.” Skyocean said sternly. Dread growled deeply and was about to get up, when he heard a high-pitched bang in his bag, followed by deep sizzling and crackling. Dread gasped.

“That was full of biotoxin. Not enough to kill you, but enough to make you vulnerable. And it’s enough to do what we have to do.” Skyocean said. Dread groaned as he crouched down, gripping his bag. Then he felt deep pain go through his back. His armor was beginning to break down. Dread groaned as he lay on his back, taking his bag off. The biotoxin was quick to rect, though, and it had already made it into his body. His armor took major damage, and as he yelled in pain and swirmed around, his helmet, leggings,gauntlets, boots, and chestpiece all cracked apart, a loud and deep cracking noise radiated through the base. Dread growled and stood up, completely armorless. Skyocean leaped at him, then knocked him to the ground, and he put his hand inside his bag, then yanked a cryopod out. Skyocean sighed.

“Perfect. The raptor.” Skyocean said. He then leaped up and walked backwards. Dread got up, and spat on the ground.

“Skyocean. Don’t kill him yet. I’m not done getting revenge on that idiot.” Sodden growled. Skyocean sighed and turned to Sodden.

“Hey. Just calm down, okay. We’ll do this. Dread… why don’t you just go rot in your office now?” Skyocean growled. Dread gasped and growled in rage, and stormed away towards the main base center. It wasn’t over, though. He was definitely going to send Marison down. Skyocean groaned and clutched his implant with his hand, then limped into the metal chamber with Sodden. Skyocean then collapsed to the ground, and glowed brightly, a blue-white light enveloped him, and after it dissipated, he was back to his human form. Sodden crouched down near him.

“Hey. You’re going to have to do this now. Drake will help you the best he can. Once you get Nal… you have to get everyone out immediately.” Skyocean gasped, exhausted. Sodden then reached for his hand, and took the cryopod from Skyocean’s hands. He was laying with his head facing upwards to the ceiling. His vision was getting blurry. He had drained all his energy. Drake was the only one who could help them now. Sodden huffed softly and stood up, then Drake ran towards Sodden and morphed into his human form.

“Okay. What should we do?” Drake asked. Sodden sighed and looked around, then he heard footsteps coming. Fast footsteps.

“Okay. The hall iis big enough to become a Theri. I want your raptor to help.” Drake said. Sodden smiled and nodded in affirmation, then Drake stepped out into the hall, and yelled as he glowed brightly and grew to the size of a Theri. Claws, beak, tail, all of it. Marison was right across of him, and Rod was still breaking prison cells looking for Serenity. Then Sodden threw the cryopod down to the ground, and Reaper came out of it. Reaper growled and looked around. Sodden sighed and turned to her.

“Listen. We’re in danger right now. You need to hold off someone.” Sodden said as he put his hand onn Reaper’s head. Reaper growled softly and screeched in affirmation. Sodden got on and they walked out of the room. Marison growled as he took a sword out of his bag.

“I know you’re trying to get Nal back. That’s not gonna happen.” Marison growled.

“Fat chance, idiot!” Sodden yelled in anger. Then Reaper and Drake charged at Marison, and Marison threw a cryopod on the ground, revealing his Megalosaur. He got on it and then charged at the Theri. The Megalosaur opened its mouth and leaped ahead of the Theri, who had tried to swing its claws forward but missed. Then the Megalosaur clamped down onto the tail, and Reaper roared as she leaped forward at the Megalosaur. Reaper bit onto the creature’s neck, and the Megalosaur let go. Marison growled and took out a sword from his bag. He then leaped forward, and Sodden then swung his bag forwards, smacking Marison in the face and knocking him down. He slammed into the ground, then got up, and ran at Reaper. Then Sodden yanked a sword out of his bag, then leaped off and swung the sword at Marison, and Marison leaped out of the way, right off the back of his creature. Sodden then hit the ground next to the creature’s foot, and he got up, then stabbed the Megalosaur in its back. It screeched loudly and Sodden then quickly dragged it forward, right through its chest, and blood started pouring out of its body. Marison growled.

“Why can’t you just give up now?” Marison asked. Sodden scoffed.

“You are going to regret everything you’ve done to my friends!” Sodden shouted as he lifted the sword and pointed it at Marison. The Megalosaur collapsed onto the ground, and a pool of blood came oozing out of the Megalosaur.

“Whatever. I don’t need a creature, anyway. I just need my instincts.” Marison sneered, as he walked closer to Sodden, stepping over the head of the Megalosaur. He gripped his sword tight, and pointed it at Sodden.

“Go ahead. Come at me. But who’s going to handle Rod? And what about your little girlfriend? Why can’t you surrender and accept her fate?!” Marison screamed. Sodden groaned and turned away. He was trying to get in his head. Sodden refused to let him. Sodden yelled and leaped at him, then Marison swung the sword at his back, and Sodden blocked it as he hit the ground on his shoulder. He was held down by the sword, keeping it up. He groaned as he tried to keep the sword away from his chest.

“Why can’t you just stop!?” Marison screamed, continuing to shove the sword downwards. Sodden then kicked Marison’s leg and leaped up, then immediately hit Marison’s shoulder with the sword. Marison groaned as he clutched his shoulder. There was a crack in the armor. Then Reaper screeched from behind Sodden and leaped right at Marison, then opened her mouth and crunched down on his chestpiece, then she knocked Marison down. Marison shouted as he tried to push Reaper off, but the sword fell out of his hands. Reaper then scratched and bit the armor, ripping it up. The chestpiece then shattered and Reaper took the chance to crunch down on his left chest. Marison screamed in pain as blood started coming out of his chest. His implant flickered softly, a dark orange and red glow came from it.

“Reaper, don’t kill him yet. I need to speak to him one last time.” Sodden said. Reaper then growled and looked up at Sodden, then lifted her foot and immediately brought it down quickly, crunching his hip. Reaper walked to Sodden as Marison groaned, clutching his chest. Sodden scoffed and walked to Marison, then crouched down near him.

“You’re not getting out of this. You’re just not. Dread… he’ll find her. Serenity will be violated and you will lose everything!!” Marison screamed, and Sodden immediately picked up the sword and brought it down right at his neck, silting it deeply and immediately causing his voice to cut off. Marison gasped a few more times, then his implant went gold and immediately darkened entirely. The metal, everything. Then a big golden message appeared on Sodden’s implant. That was it. Marison was done for good. Sodden sighed and stood up, and as he looked up, he saw Rod inside of Dorack’s cell, next to Dorack’s bed. The bed was upside down, and it had been shoved away.

“Hmm. I’m sure you won’t mind if I… break this slightly scratched up floor here?” Rod asked as he pointed to the floor next to hm. He was crouched down near it, and had a sword. Sodden gasped and put his hand up, then reached out for Reaper, then Rod lifted his sword, about to bash down onto the floor.

“Go ahead. Send her at me. But it may cost you everything.” Rod sneered, grinning. Sodden sighed and put his hand down. Rod then put his hand down to the ground, then dropped the sword onto the ground. Rod then stood up slowly, then turned to Sodden. Sodden then heard a ding on his implant. He looked at it. Codred sent the message, “What the crap, dude! You almost gave us a heart attack! Ok, but congrats on your progress.” Sodden sighed and turned back to Rod.

“Wanna come at me? Go ahead. But I’m warning you. Dread recovers fast. He is definitely going to be coming down here now.” Rod growled. Sodden scoffed.

“Fat chance, buddy. I’m not letting you get anywhere near Serenity or Dorack. Or anyone.” Sodden said. Rod chuckled.

“You move one muscle… and I’m going to start breaking this floor. I hear nothing, and you’re fine. I hear screaming… and oh, boy, you’re screwed.” Rod sneered. Sodden gasped.

“Okay… okay. Go ahead. Do it.” Sodden growled. Rod chuckled and turned to the floor, crouched down near it, then picked up his sword. He lifted it and started bashing it against the floor. Serenity, who was hiding beneath with a hazard suit, gasped softly and held her mouth, trying not to scream and alert whoever was up there. It was likely Rod. Rod kept bashing the sword against the floor, cracking it even more and causing it to darken. Rod continued doing it 10 more times. Serenity was gasping heavily but keeping herself quiet. She did not want to alert anyone. Rod growled and dropped the sword, then stood up.

“You’re lucky, Sodden. Well… guess I’ll go now.” Rod said.

“No. I know this. You’re just gonna keep breaking that thing. You know she’s in there. You’re trying to trick me.” Sodden said.

“Yes. Hmm. What was that you said to me on your first week… Oh, yeah.. You can shut up about the… yeah. And then a Giga comes and kills us both. I wanted to get information from Terad, but I had to keep myself hidden away. And… you. Heh. Of course. You were the perfect chance. Heh. I manipulate anyone who crosses me. If it means getting to Aberration. Marison… heh. He’s done so much that you obliterated him in rage. What has he done? Oh, yeah. Trying to fix the plan that you are currently dismantling!” Rod screamed and shot his head to the floor, then picked up the sword, held it upside down by the handle, and started stabbing the floor with the sword, continuing to break it. Sodden gasped and backed up a little.

“Drake! Look out for Dread. I’ll handle Rod.” Sodden said. Drake, who was currently behind the doors of the chamber, nodded. Sodden then whistled and Reaper screeched and ran at Rod, then leaped at him, starting to scratch him. Rod growled as he tried to wrestle Reaper off, then he used the sword to hit her left leg, then Reaper screeched and held his arms down to make sure he couldn’t use the sword. Sodden then took out his sword and ran at Rod, and lifted his sword to stab Rod in the neck, and they heard deep shrill screaming from beneath. But it wasn’t the damaged floor it was coming from. It seemed to be traveling throughout the floor, across the exit and towards the hall. Sodden gasped. Rod chuckled.

“Go ahead. Kill me. Not like it’ll change anything.” Rod sneered. Sodden then silt his throat with the sword, then stabbed him in the chest, picked up Rod’s sword, then broke down the damaged floor. Sure enough, there was a tunnel going forwards, some blood on it. There was rocks sticking out of the sides, some blood splattered across a few of the rocks. Sodden growled and began crawling through the tunnel, holding the two swords in his bag. The blades were sticking out, though, so he had to be careful. He continued to crawl through the tunnel, and he approached a bend after 15 seconds and turned right, then he continued walking through, aand he heard struggling and shouting. Sodden gasped and continued to crawl through, putting one arm ahead of another, and groaning as he pushed through. He couldn’t see much, as it was dark, but his implant provided light to keep going through. He saw some blood on the rocks, and as he approached another bend, he saw a wooden shard on the ground. Sodden gasped and turned to it. He saw blood on it too. Sodden growled and continued going, and then he heard yelling and kicking. Then he heard a loud thump from just ahead. Then he heard someone shouting and quickly crawling through the tunnel. Then he kept going to the bend, and sure enough, he turned the bend to see Serenity trying to go forward, escaping Dread. Serenity gasped and looked up as he saw Sodden right in front of her.

“Oh, god.” Sodden said in shock. Syl wasn’t kidding. Serenity’s armor was badly damaged, and her bag had a hole in it. She had scratches on her chest, arms, and legs. Her implant had a dark ring around it. It was slightly damaged. Sodden gasped and walked towards Serenity, and Serenity reached out for Sodden, and Sodden put his hands on her hand, holding it softly.

“Hey. You’re gonna be fine. Okay, where’s Dread?” Sodden asked.

“I stalled him for a bit. Not for long, though.” Serenity said. Sodden turned the bend to look ahead of Serenity, and both survivors turned forward to continue going, They barely had space to sit up. They had to find the exit and get everyone out alive. They had no time to chat. This was all or nothing. The two continued down, and then they heard grunting as they approached another bend, going to the left. Then they heard growling right above. They were approaching the exit, right below the metal foundations of the base. Serenity and Sodden continued to approach the exit, and they turned the bend to see a hole in the ceiling, where above it was a big hall, towards the center of the base. They continued towards it, and Sodden was right ahead and put his hand on the exit floor, and lifted himself out of the hole. He then turned back to Serenity, still crouched down, and Serenity lifted herself out of the hole just then. Both stood up to turn forward. Dread stood right in front of the center table, chuckling, gripping a sword in both his hands.

“Well. You have really done it. All you’re doing is making the plan go faster. It’s fine, though. That won’t matter once you’re dead and Serenity is-” Dread said, and Sodden cut in, pointing one of his swords at Dread.

“Don’t. Don’t say it. We’re getting everyone out alive. You have changed nothing. I don’t care what you say. Your tribe is done.” Sodden said sternly. Dread cackled.

“You really think you can stop me? It’s not that easy. There’s nothing you can do. Even if you render me with no armor, my invulernability kicks in the second I get below 10 HP. Unkillable. Resistant to swords, and whatnot. I survived Terad because he didn’t know how powerful I truly was. Like you don’t know how powerful I truly am!” Dread yelled. Sodden scoffed.

“You think I don’t know? You tossed my raptor away like it was nothing! You nearly killed her and Queen Sylveevee! You have terrorized this Ark for far too long.” Sodden said. Dread chuckled.

“This? This Ark? Oh, boy. We’ve been to other Arks before. We’ve learned the power of survivors. We have built our power over many ages. And especially Dorack… heh. His little cataprime invention. It was perfect for us. I’d tell you when that was… but there’s no point.” Dread sneered. Sodden huffed in anger and started walking slowly, nudging himself closer to Dread. Serenity took a sword from her bag and walked towards Dread.

“It’s how I learned the true motto of my tribe. The true goal we have. Control the Assassin Heart. The powers they have make one unkillable. Spread across a entire tribe, it’s still insanely powerful. You think I didn’t expect Serenity to escape? Oh, no. I was waiting for the right time to strike. Waiting until you decided to come near Rod. Rod was merely a distraction. Ugh. I hate that you killed Marison, though. He was my best warrior. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right.” Dread sneered. He then yelled and ran right at Serenity, and she then lifted the sword, sideways, and held Dread’s sword back. The sword continued to fall towards her chest, and Sodden ran at Dread to strike, then Dread held the other sword and swung it at Sodden. Sodden held the sword back with his sword. He grunted as he tried to push the sword back, then Dread growled loudly and shoved Serenity back with the other sword. She stumbled into the wall, and gasped as she stood up, looking at Dread and gripping her sword tight. Then Dread used both swords to shove Sodden back into the wall, and he fell over to the ground, dropping the sword besides him. Dread then ran at Serenity with both swords. Serenity shouted and lifted her sword to hold back Dread’s two swords. Serenity was pushed against the wall, trying to stand up. She groaned as she kept gripping her sword tight and trying to keep the swords away. Sodden groaned and leaped up, then picked his sword back up and ran at Dread, and swung at his bag with all his strength, and it slashed the bag in half and cracked his armor open. Dread shouted and pulled backwards, then turned to Sodden and swung both swords at him. Sodden dodged the swords and took a shotgun out of his bag. Dread growled and ran at him, about to stab him with the swords, then Sodden leaped ahead as Dread approached and immediately shot him in the back. His then fell to the ground, on one knee, then groaned softly and turned his head. He slowly stood up and turned to Sodden, who was pointing the shotgun at him.

“You can’t kill me normally. You know that.” Dread sneered, grinning. Sodden smiled and chuckled.

“I know that. I just needed to distract you.” Sodden said. Dread scoffed.

“Heh. Just get this over with and let me have her. Then you will lead me to Dorack.” Dread said. He was about to say something else, and Sodden interrupted.

“Hold on. You’re forgetting something.” Sodden sneered as he reached for his bag. Dread chuckled.

“Go ahead. Send your creatures at me. They won’t last a second. Not like you needed them anyway.” Dread sneered. Sodden scoffed and put his hand down.

“Oh, it wasn’t the Megalosauruses I was going to send.” Sodden said. He then whistled softly and in a high pitch, and suddenly, after a few seconds, Reaper burst through the dungeon’s main doors and lunged at Dread. Reaper successfully knocked him down and pinned him to the floor, but Dread continued to punch her hard and throw her off. Sodden continued blasting the shotgun at Dread’s armor, its bullets clattering and riocheting off the armor as it struck the shoulders, causing slight scratches. Sodden sighed and turned to Serenity.

“Serenity, you’re going to go help Dorack, okay?” Sodden said. Serenity gasped and looked at the doors, then back at Sodden.

“But… what about you?” Serenity asked. Sodden put his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine. I’ll be okay. Send Drake to go help me. You need to help Dorack.” Sodden explained. Serenity sighed and nodded.

“Okay. I’ll go.” She said softly, then turned to the door and ran right through the doors, sprinting towards Dorack. Meanwhile, Dread had Reaper’s neck pinned down to the table. Reaper was continuously throwing her claws around, trying to push Dread, but Dread was stood up and continued to hold her down. Sodden then ran at Dread and swung the shotgun forwards at a insane speed, then struck Dread’s back hard, shattering parts of it and launching him forwards, losing his grip on Reaper. Dread shouted as he got launched forward, crashing into the floor on his chest. Dread groaned softly and got up. He then turned around. Dread yelled in anger and ran at Sodden, then Sodden leaped out of the way, and Dread then immediately turned left to Reaper, and grabbed her tail, and Reaper screeched in pain as Dread picked her up and started to spin the tail at the ceiling. Dread then used his left hand to pick up a metal shard and throw it right at Sodden. He tried to get up, then the shard struck his head and he fell down again. He groaned as he tried to get up, his vision was slightly blurry, and he then grabbed the door handle, only for Dread to then launch Reaper right at Sodden, crashing into him at a insane speed and launching the two right through the doors, tumbling down the stairs to the dungeons. They shouted as they continued to go, hitting each stair, becoming more bruised, and Dread then scoffed as he stormed towards the top of the stairs, watching both Sodden and his raptor tumble down the stairs. They crashed onto the dungeons’ second floor base, and Reaper had her back laid against Sodden’s chest, and they both tried to get up, but they were badly hurt. Meanwhile, in the metal chamber, Dorack was screaming in pain as he started to feel slightly weaker, more heavy, and a little more exhausted. The transfer was almost done. Drake stood guard at the door, and saw Sodden and Reaper at the base of the stairs, trying to get up. Soodden groaned as he got up, then took a cryopod out of his bag, and put Reaper in it so she wouldn’t be hurt even more. Drake ran to Sodden, who limped towards him, clutching his ankle. Drake then grabbed his arms.

“You good?” Drake asked. Sodden gasped in exhaustion.

“You’re gonna need to hold Dread off for us. We can’t let him get to Dorack or… like, anyone else.” Sodden said. Drake nodded. Sodden then tried to stand straight, and groaned as he limped to the room. Drake growled softly as he transformed into a Allosaur - a creature that could barely fit in the room. He growled softly as he stood guard - he couldn’t move as his back was pressed directly against the ceiling, and his body width almost touched both sides of the wall. Drake growled softly as Dread arrived to the bottom of the stairs, holding a sword in his left hand.

“You shall not pass!” Drake yelled in anger. Dread chuckled and ran right between the legs, then Drake lowered his head downwards to block Dread. Dread then raised his sword to slash apart the head, then Drake lifted his foot and pushed himself forwards, causing Dread to get knocked back, his sword fell out of his hands. Drake almost fell over, he toppled a bit - but he was able to retain his balance. Dread growled and stood up, then ran to the sword, then Drake picked it up with his mouth and lifted his head. Dread leaped upwards at Drake’s head, then Drake suddenly glowed bright blue, then morphed into a mantis, the sword fell out and the mantis leaped forward to grab the sword before Dread could. Dread slammed into the stairway. He got up, groaning, and ran at Drake, then as Drake was trying to bring the sword downwards to hit Dread. Dread then leaped out of the way, dodging it, then grabbed Drake’s tail, then he took a pistol out of his bag and shot 6 bullets into it - rupturing the creature’s spiracles and legs. Drake screeched in pain as he was forced to morph back into his human form again. Drake collapsed to the ground, exhausted and injured, Blood came out of his upper legs and his shoulder. Dread then walked to Drake, crouched down near his head, and chuckled.

“You were all doomed from the start.” Dread sneered, then spat on his head, and stood up to walk away, then as soon as he turned around, Sodden ran straight at Dread with a riot shield, striking his chestpiece hard and knocking him down, right in front of Drake. Dread groaned as he tried to stand up, then Reaper leaped out from behind Sodden and clamped down onto Dread’s chestpiece, ruptured it, and immediately jolted her claws into Dread’s chest, then lifted him up. Sodden chuckled as he then rammed Dread forwards, released from Reaper’s grip. Dread slammed into the door, his chest bleeding. Dread groaned and roared loudly as he stood up. He yelled in anger, his implant starting to glow super brightly, with a red glare. Dread then ran straight at Reaper, but he seemed to just teleport right to her, then Dread launched his fist forward, right intoo Reaper’s head and launched her back, and she rammed into the wall in a few seconds. She hit the ground on her back, then growled softly, bruised and bleeding from her tail, as she got up slowly, shaking. Dread then seemed to teleport right to Sodden, like he was moving so fast, no one could see him. In what seemed like a tenth of a second, Sodden and Reaper were both against the wall, groaning and badly hurt. Dread then turned to the metal room, and Drake then slowly got up, groaning and panting heavily. He only had enough energy to maintain a Therizinosaur’s state - he had to make it count. Drake then screeched and grew in size as he became a Theri. Then Dread turned to him and zipped right past Drake. Drake growled in confusion then turned around, and saw Dread in the air, then launched his foot forward and it bashed right into his head, causing Drake to roar in pain and get launched onto his back, fell down onto the ground. Dread slammed onto the ground on his feet. Drake groaned as he tried to get up, then they heard a loud blare come from the room. The four looked up to the metal chamber. A bright red light went off in it, and its glare spread to the halls. Inside, Dorack screamed in pain as he got launched backwards, a large jolt of energy spread through his implant. The control panel beeped loudly and quickly. Dorack slammed into the wall and got up, holding his left wrist, groaning. The big rotating sphere became extremely light, and a red glare appeared across the sphere. The transfer was complete. Dorack gasped in shock as he looked at the sphere, his jaw dropped. Dorack and Serenity ran to the sphere, then reached out to the sphere, and when Dorack put his hand inside, he felt powerful and hot surges of power flowing through his arm. He felt something soft and smooth inside of it, and Dorack then started clenching his fist, then when he did, his hand immediately jolted open, his fingers standing upright. Dorack screamed in pain as the energy began to shake the room. Drake stood in front of the door, trying to keep his Theri form. Sodden and Reaper kept trying to distract Dread, but his rage mode was too strong. Dorack knew he was almost out of time. He then leaped forward, yelling and shutting his eyes as he swerved his arms through the essence. Then as he continued clenching his fist, trying to grab onto something, he then grabbed something soft and bumpy. He gasped. He then put his second arm inside, and Serenity then backed up and put her hands on Dorack’s legs to help out. Dorack groaned as he tightened his grip on whatever he had grabbed, then he started to lean back, and Serenity then started pulling Dorack out, groaning as they tried to get them out. Dorack continued pulling and started to yell into the sphere.

“Come on! Come… on… gotta get out…” Dorack groaned as he leaned backwards, pulling the object out, but it was hard. They continued to pull, until the panel started making a loud blaring noise. It kept going off rapidly, and the machine started rumbling softly. Dorack gasped and let his left arm go, then swung it around rapidly, hoping something would grab it. Then he felt something grab his hand. He then heard quiet yelling. Quet, but it was there. It was high pitched, and there were loud, low pitched heartbeats coming out of it. Then the entire chamber rumbled softly, and the machine made a groaning noise as the rotating sphere started to brighten. Dorack growled as he kept pulling. The sphere brightened, turned deep purple, then expanded slightly. Then the panel suddenly shut off and the machine began to crack. Then a horrible grinding noise went off inside the machine’s core, and the sphere expanded even mmore, enveloping Dorack and Serenity in bright light, then it all shot apart, dissipating as it went. Light particles shot out of the room. The sphere disappeared, and Serenity had fell onto the ground. Dorack was on the ground too, exhausted and bruised. His implant was glowing yellow. He had done it. He felt lighter, weaker, but he had done it. Dorack openned his eyes slowly and he groaned as he stood up slowly. He turned around, his knee on the ground. He looked up to the wall, and gasped as he put his hands to his mouth. There, on the ground, to the right of Serenity. Transparent, glowing bright yellow, with purple and golden streams going throughout their body. It was solid, hard, and it felt smooth. A survivor with only 35 percent her essence. Dorack then crawled over to her and put his hand on her arm. She was still unconscious, but she was alive. That was all Dorack cared about. Dorack sniffled and sighed in relief. He was just relieved that Nal was okay. Serenity got up and gasped as he walked to Dorack.

“Hey. You good?” Serenity asked. Dorack sighed in shock.

“Yeah. I’m just glad she’s fine.” Dorack gasped softly. Serenity nodded and smiled.

“That’s all that matters. Come on, we gotta go.” Serenity said as she tapped Dorack’s shoulder. Dorack sighed then put her hands on Nal’s arms, then lifted her up into his arms. He looked at her stats. It was horrifying. 20 percent her original health, stamina, weight, and almost everything else. Her torpor was at a astronomical 10,000 - a side effect of a survivor coming that close to essence decay. Dorack sighed in relief and stood up, then turned to the door. He and Serenity walked out of the room. Skyocean then sat up, awakened from his nap.

“Oh… what did I miss? Oh… congrats on getting her back.” Skyocean said as he noticed Dorack holding Nal in his arms. Skyocean stood up and walked to them. Drake was wounded, Sodden was holding him with his arms, and they all started walking to the stairs. Dread had left since then. Dorack felt slightly lightheaded for some reason. He groaned softly as his vision became slightly blurry. Then he shut his eyes for a few seconds, then when he opened his eyes, he suddenly remembered something. No. Everything. He suddenly got memories back of everything that had happened in ARKtic Day 93. He saw the day he woke up. The day he returned to Nudon. Dorack tried to ignore it, but deep inside, he realized what it could mean. Serenity then walked to Dorack and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey. You good?” Serenity asked. Dorack nodded.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just… recovering from my essence transfer.” Dorack said softly. They continued up the stairs. Drake and Sodden were hurt, but they were recovering fine. It seemed like they would be just fine.

Or so they thought.

The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 89: Slaughter in the Spotlight

Original Post Date: Jul 19, 2024

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

“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.”

The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 89: Slaughter in the Spotlight

Original Post Date: Jul 18, 2024.

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Rex. Next chapter in Purlovia.

“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.”