one day, on the day of my birthday, i started to build my stone base, i liked it! wasnt so bad, it was in the forest though, where this steroid dodo lives. i heard a buncha roars, THIS MAN WAS FIGHTING A WHOLE ARMY OF RAPTORS, i decided “ yk what? i’m gonna stay here. “ i saw finish them off. one. by. one. and then he started going towards my big stone base, i FEARED for my life, good thing i had a back door, i saved all my parasaurs and dilos, and the list goes on, (I HAD A BUNCH A OF DINOS LOL) and then when i grabbed my dodo, (he was heavy and made me encumbered) THE THERI BROKE INTO MY BASE, I THREW HENRY(dodo) AND RAN FOR MY SORRY A** LIFE, “HOOOHOOO GOT LUCKY “ i thought. turns out, i was wrong!

it RAN after me like the flash, and killed me and henry. rest in peace henry. you were the fattest dodo. and probably got me killed, but surprisingly, my other dino’s survived, i have no idea where they are to this day.

(REST IN PEACE HENRY!)

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 1: Cold Blood

This story was written by Ben (OBJ).

This is a Therizinosaurus exclusive story.

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

CHAPTER 1: Ben

The boy woke up with a startle, a cold breeze flowing on his bare back. He slowly rose from the ground, and looked around. It all looked so real. He was on the sandy beaches of what seemed to be an island.

“Here we go again,” Ben thought to himself.

Ben looked down to see all he had was some dirty old underwear on, and he could feel a hum coming from his wrist. He irritably looked at it to see a strange gem embedded within. He scratched it, as a painful itch surged throughout. Just like always.

“I’ll have to do the same song and dance again,” Ben said to himself. He didn’t see anyone else, and he had no idea what to do. He looked at the implant again, but nothing changed, how would he survive?

“Okay, I can do this, I just have to get some shelter, food, and some water,” Ben muttered. He went around the beach to see if he could salvage some resources, and found a few pieces of torn wood and thatch on the ground, as well as a few stones. For some reason, there were a bunch of random animals around the beach, which was odd, because Ben didn’t think there would be many animals at a beach. As he took a closer look at what seemed to be a bird, it chirped almost obliviously, paying no attention to him.

Ben smirked at the sight of the dodo. He punched it on the beak, and it squawked angrily, beginning to squabble away at a slow rate. Ben looked at his knuckles to see a bit of blood, and he pushed the pain away. Ben knew he’d have to make some tools, so using his basic knowledge of survival, he constructed a pickaxe out of the stone, wood, and thatch around the beach. He looked at the crude tool, and decided it’s be best to kill some animals with it. He felt another chill on his back, and he looked behind him to see that the sun was setting.

“I have to be quick, or else it’ll be too dark to see and do anything,” Ben thought to himself. He went up to a large boulder that was on the grass, and began to chip away at it. Pieces of flint and stone fell to the ground, and he picked it up. He put his pickaxe down, and afterwards decided to make a torch with the flint he just made. He rubbed two pieces of wood together very quickly, and a fire started on the base of the torch. He held it up in the air, and wind breezed by, carrying the heat of the flames to his chest, warming him up greatly. He sighed in relief, and rested by the rock where he had just mined the stone and flint. As he was resting and regaining his energy, his stomach rumbled madly, and he let out a cry of pain. His stomach began to churn and twist in hunger. He had to eat something quick.

Should he try killing one of the dodos for their meat? No, it’d take too long, maybe there were some berries around in the bushes he could eat. He got up from the ground and went over to a bush, shoving his hand in there for anything to eat. He felt something round and smooth, and he pulled his hand out and opened it up. There were a few black berries in his palm. He didn’t care if they were poisonous or not, he’d either starve to death or get diarrhea, it didn’t matter. He got more of the black berries, and afterwards ate eight of the suckers. After a few minutes, his stomach stopped growling. He smiled happily, knowing he’d at least be able to survive for a few more nights.

All of a sudden, drowsiness overcame him, and he fell to the ground, passed out. Before Ben lost full consciousness, he could hear the flapping of wings, and a man laughing sarcastically at him.

“Would you look at that, the runt got himself knocked out,” Something blunt him in the head, and everything turned to black.

CHAPTER 2: Will

The man awoke to a roar in the distance. He quickly opened his eyes and got out of bed… but it wasn’t his bed, it was the sand of the beach. The roar scared him again, and he looked off into the beach’s distance to see something sprinting towards him. The strange creature had two horns on its head, almost looking like a bull!

Will didn’t care that he wasn’t in his bedroom, he had to get out of there! Will began to sprint with all of his might, wiping the dust and crud from his eyes as he began to pant for air. Will was tempted to look behind him, but he knew that would get him killed. As Will kept on sprinting, he finally jerked his head behind to see that the beast was right upon him! It swung it’s head, and two horns pierced his back!

Will screamed in pain, and he punched the beast on the nose. The thing roared angrily and dropped him to the ground. It snapped its jaws at him, but he quickly rolled to the side, and got up from the ground. Now the two were facing each other off, the beast making more strategic plans, and not attacking as aggressively and wildly as before.

Will looked on the ground for anything he could use to deter the creature. There was a long stick on the ground, and Will quickly picked it off the ground. The beast made a move and lunged for Will, but he quickly dodged to the left, the beast losing its footing and falling to the ground. As it tried to get up from the ground, Will stepped in and stabbed it in the eye. The beast let out one loud roar, before eventually succumbing to the wound.

As he dropped the stick on the ground, he almost felt bad for it, that last roar sounding almost emotional, and sad…

No, that couldn’t be, it was just a mindless animal, always looking to attack or kill, that can’t be it, but maybe… maybe there was something else behind the scene?

His back felt a shock of pain, and he pressed his palm against it, to discover that there were two holes on his back. That monster had left its mark, and Will collapsed to the ground. He grunted, his eyes getting a bit blurry.

“I have to keep going!” Will screamed. He got up from the ground, and his vision returned to normal. He knew that that beast wasn’t normal, wasn’t something on Earth, this was something new, there was no escape, only survival… and evolution.

Will knew he’d have to make a weapon of sorts, there were going to be much more dangerous beasts in this world. He picked up the stick from before, and found more sticks along the thundering beaches. He looked through the bushes, and found some sort of fiber in there, which he uses to fasten and tie the sticks together. He picked a rock up from the ground, and began to sharpen the end, and after a few minutes, he was done making his trusty spear. He smudged some mud on his forehead, and grinned.

“I’m ready for anything,” Will said to himself.

CHAPTER 3: Karma

Karma: The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

~

It was a quiet night.

Rain dripped from the sky, like paint dribbling down a canvas.

The woman looked up at the night sky, admiring its beauty. Everything looked so real. She felt the shivering cold, yet it did not bother her.

“Beautiful night isn’t it?”

The woman took a glance to her left. A man approached, his eyes also pinned to the swirling stars. She had heard about the violent tendencies of others within this world, yet it seemed to her that both of them had no desire for either.

“It is. So what is it to you?”

The man shrugged. He didn’t seem to have a definitive answer.

“I suppose hope. We both know the world isn’t as beautiful as it’s made out to be.”

The woman closed her eyes.

“I guess you’re right.”

She turned away. The cawing of strange things in the night seemed to strike the air. Even the man understood danger was nearby. He walked up to the woman. It was then she realized he was decked out in a full hide outfit.

“We should get out of here. I have a base not too far away from here. We can work together until you can figure this all out on your own.”

The woman nodded.

“Okay then. Let’s move.”

The two quickly made their way through the brush. The misty dew of the humidity that hung in the air clamped to their skin as they delved further into the jungle. The experience felt surreal to her. She could hear cries, both of human and of animal, in the distance. By now, the rain was already clearing up.

A few moments later, the woman could pick up the sight of stone walls in the distance. It was a small, simple stone structure. There was a turret attached to the top, but the gun attached was aimed downward. It must have been inactive.

“Welcome to my humble home,” the man said. He reached forward and opened the door up. The woman stepped inside, and the man followed suit. Everything seemed so cramped and tight. Even so, there was a sense of comfort and security within.

“I never got your name,” the woman said.

“It’s Gerald,” he replied softly, “Simple as that. And you?”

“Vani. But my true name is Karma,” she answered. She inspected his body. He was muscular and tall. She had a feeling this wasn’t what he - or anyone else that could have been on this island - may have looked like, but that was okay. She didn’t look like this either.

“Elaborate.”

She chuckled.

“What comes around goes around. I believe in it fully.”

Gerald smiled back.

“I suppose there’s some truth to your words.”

Gerald nodded his head toward a work table. There were a multitude of tools and trinkets atop. Metal ingots and straps of fiber littered the table. A large rifle made of metal rested on the table.

“I’ll tell you one thing right now. This island isn’t pretty. Lots of threats: humans and dinosaurs. You’ll need some supplies. If you get your hands on a smithy and a forge you’ll be set.”

Gerald walked up to the table and opened up a drawer. There was a crossbow and sword inside. He picked the sword up. A nearby torch’s light glimmered off of the blade.

“Loot drop beacons are scattered all over this island. They contain blueprints for powerful weapons. Do whatever it takes to survive.”

Gerald’s eyes scattered about. He was inspecting a nearby wardrobe.

“Tame the wildlife. You need to do whatever it takes to evolve.”

Karma’s eyes blinked.

“So it’s that easy, huh?”

“No. It really isn’t. Truth is, there’s a big threat as we speak,” Gerald explained, looking back into her eyes, “The most powerful tribe on this island: Walkers of the Void. Their leaders were long dormant, but their subdivisions still reign supreme across the ARKs. They’ve established a system. All who spawn will be enslaved, while the pre-existing tribe members must pay the fee for daring to live in their ARK-”

A knock rang across the door. Both Karma and Gerald’s heads jolted to stare at the door.

“Oi oi oi!” a gruff voice called from outside, “Open up, NOW! It’s time to pay your tax!”

A look of worry crossed Gerald, “That’s odd. I paid the tax a week ago…”

Gerald turned to Karma. He whispered,

“They can’t know you’re here. They might take you.”

He nodded at the closet.

“Go hide in there until they’re gone.”

Karma nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. She rushed to the closet and opened it up. She snuck in, closing the door behind her. She could barely make out what was happening through the crack in the opening. She could see Gerald opening the door.

The door creaked open, and two men waited outside. One wore armor made of red leaves, the other wore a fur jacket that was gray and a fedora. Strange beasts that resembled purple lions with quills waited outside, each one with a rumbling emanating through their throats.

“Good day!” the man with the fedora grinned. The red one winked.

“Tax time! You know how it is. Five hundred metal ingots,” the red one giggled. Gerald snarled.

“One of your scouts already came around last week!”

“Not according to them,” the one with the fedora said, shaking his head. The red one nudged the fedora one with his elbow.

“Lookie, Sloth, he ain’t got any tames left!” he sort of whispered. ‘Sloth’ grinned.

“Well this’ll be fun.”

Sloth reached for his belt and pulled out a pistol, aiming it at Gerald. Gerald gasped, raising his hands in the air in surrender.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“Well you clearly don’t have enough. No tames to kill means that you’re next, unfortunately,” Sloth chuckled, “So do you have any last words?!”

Gerald sighed. He looked down.

“Yeah… You might want to call an ambulance.”

Sloth and the red one looked at each other, raised eyebrows. They looked back at Gerald.

Gerald looked up.

“Just not for me.”

Gerald instantly lifted his boot and shoved it into Sloth’s stomach. Sloth let out an “OOF!” and went tumbling backwards, firing his pistol.

BAM!

The bullet flew into the closet, hitting Karma in the implant that had been embedded since she landed on the island. Karma gritted her teeth, and searing pain shot up her spine and into her brain. It felt like it was on fire. She tried her best not to let out a noise.

Austin growled, and placed his fingers to his lips.

“Get that son of a bastard!” Austin howled. Austin whistled, and the purple lions behind growled and lunged at Gerald. Gerald’s eyes widened, and it was too late. The purple lions landed atop him and began to tear him to shreds. Gerald let out a howl of pain, and Karma could only watch on in horror as he was devolved into nothing more than flesh and bone.

When the purple lions were finished, they lifted their maws in the air and licked their lips, sucking up the blood of Gerald. Sloth got up from the ground, patting the dirt off of his clothes. He had a minor scratch near his eye.

“What an annoying beach bob who thinks he’s a pro,” Sloth muttered, “Too bad this is a hardcore world. Otherwise I would’ve found and killed him again.”

Austin scoffed, and then began to laugh.

“Too bad indeed. Just pull the trigger next time. These maggots don’t deserve the grace of getting last words.”

Austin and Sloth peeked inside. They seemed to be peering at the closet for a moment. Karma held her breath.

“This guy doesn’t even have loot. What a bum,” Sloth said.

“We should head out then. Moon will be mad if we take too long on our scouting mission. We’re supposed to be searching for more workers. If Pigeon finds more than us again we’re toast.”

“Tsk, freakin’ Pigeon, he’s such a goddamn tool! Thinkin’ he’s so high and mighty just because Moon likes him more. If I could kill him I would.”

The two began to walk off. Austin whistled for the purple lions, and they followed quickly. After many, many minutes of them being gone, Karma went tumbling out of the closet. She could feel her blood boiling with anger.

She stepped up to what was left of Gerald. Flies were already beginning to swarm. His implant remained intact, despite it all. She crouched down, and then grabbed onto it. It felt loose.

She pulled it out with ease, and it flickered for a brief moment. Karma sighed.

She got up and walked up to the table, grabbing a piece of fiber string and tying it into the implant. Soon, she made a cord, and she hung the implant around her neck. She took a deep breath and exhaled, before she reached into the closet and took out a spare set of hide armor.

She placed it onto her body. It was loose, but it would work for now. She strung a utility belt around her pants, then attached the sword to it and a box of ammo she found stored away in the corner of the room.

Finally, she grabbed the rifle and stored it away on a satchel on her back.

Her eyes glazed with disgust, not at the beasts, but at the humans of this world.

The footsteps in the earth were still fresh. There was still time.

“Karma’s coming for you,” she whispered under her breath.

She began to follow the tracks, as the sun was slowly beginning to rise and cast its rays through the thick foliage of the jungle.

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 7: Silver Lining

This is a Theri exclusive story.

Story written by Ben (OBJ).

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

This is the final ACT of the story, besides the Epilogue.

Chapter 19: Strife on the Styx

“That problem is taken care of,” General Moon sighed, locking the prison doors, “I can finally attend the Story. It starts soon.”

General Moon walked down the metal hallways back to the meeting room, where the rest of the Generals had been waiting all this time. General Moon reflected on the state of this world. Apparently it had a long history. The previous Constellations had left. For what reason, she was unsure. It didn’t matter though. That meant more slices of the pie for her and the others.

General Moon felt her Influence increase. Her stats suddenly sparked, and her Teleportation Points quadrupled. She smiled. The effects of being a Constellation were kicking in, and even affecting her in-game body. She willed it, and she teleported into the meeting room. The other Generals immediately turned heads.

“Did you take care of it?” General Ghost asked. General Moon nodded,

“Yes. Sloth has been rightfully detained, and Austin slain, although not by me.”

“Serves them right. We can’t have these characters meddling in our affairs,” General Syl scoffed. General Moon blinked her blue eyes, looking at her peers with piercing eyes. Her eyes pinned to the timer in the middle. An hour in this dream world’s time. General Sun cleared her throat,

“Have any of you gotten sneak peeks on the Story? What’s it going to be like?”

“No. None at all,” General Apex replied, “All we know is that it will be a long, long ride.”

“Good. I like long stories,” General Moon said.

“I just hope there is some romance. I wanna see some cute scenes, that’s all,” General Sun shrugged.

“You’ve always enjoyed reading and writing romance, haven’t you?” General Ghost laughed.

Five minutes remaining.

“Who will the main character be? A human or a creature?” General Syl asked, “A king, a queen? A peasant? Will it take place in the cities? Or the seas?”

“I still don’t understand why the Creator of this Story is not joining us,” General Apex shook his head, “This is odd behavior. When you Constellations watched my Story I was there with you.”

“I’ve heard rumors,” General Moon proposed, “That the Creator of this Story was fragmented just like me-”

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Turretfire shot out as soon as the timer hit zero. General Moon’s eyes turned red and she let out a roar, getting up from her seat and slamming her fist into the wall.

“I JUST CAN’T WATCH THIS STORY IN PEACE, HUH?!” General Moon snarled, “Why did the Creator of this Story make it so difficult to be entertained?!”

A vicious roar of a carnivore emanated throughout the building.

“Uhhh, what’s going on?” General Ghost asked, getting up, “What should we do? I don’t know what to do!”

“Don’t worry about it,” General Moon’s red eyes glowed brightly. Her TP quickly tripled once more, “I will take care of it.”

She teleported out of the room.

By the time she did though, a dozen death messages of her subordinate guards popped up. She was atop the ceiling of the base, where she looked down upon a Carcharodontosaurus ravaging the mines. Turret Fire rained down upon the beast, but it just kept tanking it. General Moon squinted her eyes. Something was off.

She pulled out her spyglass and looked down at the beast. That’s when she realized it.

It was a wild.

“Someone lead this beast here, but who?”

The Carcharodontosaurus let out a bellow and bashed its head at the rickety walls. General Moon stumbled back, and looked down to see the turrets collapse. Dead guard bodies were strewn all about. Before General Moon could figure out who, the answer came to her in the form of a herd.

HONK HONK!

A pack of herbivores immediately charged in, their hoots and hollers echoing louder than the Carcharodontosaurus. General Moon looked down to see the guards had made their way to the ceiling where she resided. They all had fabricated rifles on them. General Moon shouted.

“GUARDS! FIRE AT WILL!”

BAM BAM BAM!

The bullets made their mark, but they barely hurt them. The herbivores brushed off the pain. The guards continued to fire at them, but clearly their hide was resistant to their bullets. They’d need teeth.

“You,” General Moon ordered a random female guard. She turned, her red hair covering her right eye.

“Y-Yes General?”

“Please gather the Giga Cryopods.”

The guard blushed.

“Of course ma’am.”

She scurried off. General Moon looked at her implant. More TP gathered. Down below, in the quarry, she noticed the metal doors had been blown open. Somebody had infiltrated the base. She teleported into the entrance hallway and ahead of her was a rider atop a Raptor. General Moon got into a battle stance, unsheathing her sword.

“Who are you?”

The woman turned around, a fierce look in her eyes. For a moment, she almost looked like Captain Pigeon. Determined.

“Your ender. Karma itself.”

Karma’s Raptor, Jira, let out a screech, and charged at General Moon, pouncing on her. General Moon tried to avoid her attack, but she was too slow. Being only Level 1 came with quite a few cons. The raptor managed to pin her down, and quickly took three quick bites. General Moon’s HP quickly plummeted. With just a few TP to spare, the reality around General Moon shimmered and she managed to teleport behind Karma.

Karma quickly jolted around.

“How did you do that?!”

General Moon smirked. Blue sparks shot out her hands.

“I have a Blessing.”

Karma raised her eyebrow.

“What’s that?”

General Moon shook her head.

“Nevermind that. It’s time to end this squabble.”

General Moon reached into her inventory space and pulled out a bottle with a thick red liquid and a cryopod. She threw the cryopod and a Shadowmane popped out. She took a swig of her medical brew, healing herself back up. She pointed her finger at the Raptor.

“Sic ‘em, Orbit.”

Orbit let out a roar and dashed forward at Jira. Karma was knocked off her back, and the two beasts quickly got in a tussle, leaving Karma to the wolves. Karma got up, brushing her short black hair to the side. Her navy blue eyes seemed to flicker yellow, orange, green, and magenta all at once.

“Let’s dance, darling,” General Moon laughed, holding her sword out. Karma pulled out her own sword.

“Let’s.”

~

“Now.”

BAM!

Ben, Mystery Girl, and Sloth had both broken out of their cages. By now, most of the prisoners had already logged off for the day. But those three had their missions to accomplish. Pickaxes in hand, Ben and Sloth prepared to tear down the prison doors, but Mystery Girl waved the keys she had snatched from the guard in the air.

“I got this. Don’t worry about it.”

She unlocked the prison doors, and the metal gates swung open. The three stepped outside, looking around carefully and noticing the loud roars and muffled sounds within. There was a raid going on, just as Mystery Girl had foretold.

Mystery Girl turned to Sloth. She pulled out a bunch of C4 and a detonator, handing it over to Sloth.

“Here. You can destroy all the creatures the Walkers own. Don’t worry about the cryopods. I’ve taken care of them.”

Sloth nodded.

“Thanks… I guess.”

Sloth rushed off. Mystery Girl turned to Ben. She handed him a metal shield.

“Use this to protect yourself. The doors to the mines are wide open. Get out of here while you still can. Head to the rivers and follow them until you reach the beaches.”

“But what about you?”

“I still have unfinished business here.”

Ben shuffled uncomfortably.

“I feel as if I should help you. You helped me escape, I should return the favor.”

Mystery Girl chuckled.

“Oh, this is the favor. Trust me. It’s for the best.”

Ben nodded.

“So be it. Stay safe. I hope we can meet again in the future.”

Ben rushed out of the building. It was for the best this happened. If he was ever killed by a Constellation… Mystery Girl shuddered. That would give the Constellation the right to kill the character if they pleased.

That would be the last time the two ever met. Mystery Girl sighed. A bad omen washed over her bones. A gut feeling told her it’d be the last time she’d ever get to see him again. No amount of flashbacks and unexpected memories could let her see his face one last time.

Mystery Girl closed her eyes, engraving his face in her memory. She failed to culminate him. Shaking her head, she opened her cold brown eyes, and marched onward. To the meeting room, where the Constellations resided.

~

General Moon dashed forward, slashing her sword at Karma. Karma could barely dodge to the side, as General Moon hacked a piece of flesh off Karma’s arm.

CRACK!

Karma let out a shriek, dropping her sword and clutching onto her arm. General Moon could tell that unlike Pigeon, she wasn’t a fighter. Something confused her though. How had she managed to lure the Carcharodontosaurus otherwise? Was she a split-character like her?

A thought ran through her mind, “Maybe not, maybe so.”

Another thought, “Please… Leave them alone.”

A cry rang throughout the room. General Moon looked on to see Orbit had slashed the throat of Jira. Jira was dead. Karma gritted her teeth.

“ENOUGH!!!”

Karma swung her sword as hard as she could at General Moon…

And missed.

Karma just stood there, dumbfounded. She blinked her eyes, but before she could react, General Moon stepped forward and sank her sword into her chest.

SHINK!

Karma let out a gasp, her eyes flickering all five colors. General Moon pushed it further in, and blood seeped out onto the metal floorboards. General Moon forced Karma down onto her knees, where her red eyes glowed brightest.

“It’s over little girl. Your Story ends here.”

Karma coughed out blood. Her voice squeaked,

“Ugh. How’d you know I was a little girl?”

General Moon rolled her eyes.

“Any last words?”

Karma grinned,

“You’ll get what’s coming to you. Mark my words… Mark my words.”

General Moon smiled, her eyes turning blue.

“I always win. Don’t count on it.”

Karma collapsed, and General Moon let out a sigh as all her TP recovered.

“Better go check on the Mines.”

General Moon teleported back up to the ceiling of the base, and observed the metal quarry down below. Noticeably, the Carcharodontosaurus was already wandering off, completely bored by the let down of a raid. The herbivores had completely overtaken the Mines though. It would be rendered inoperable for a while until they could clear them out.

The female guard General Moon had ordered to collect the cryopods came back empty handed.

“General, all the cryopods are gone.”

General Moon twitched a bit.

“What?”

“I apologize ma’am,” the female guard shivered, “Please forgive me.”

“Oh it’s quite alright. Don’t worry… I’ll take care of it.”

General Moon prepared to teleport, but she stopped her.

“W-wait!”

General Moon turned around.

“Don’t you want me and the others to help?”

General Moon laughed, “I can handle this on my own. Don’t worry about it.”

General Moon knew she was the only capable one, battle-wise at least. Besides Captain Pigeon. She wondered where he was. She had recruited him for this particular reason. He was one of the only combat-ready men she could trust. She herself wouldn’t stand a chance against most without her Blessing of an Upgrade Tree. He must had still been busy taking care of the Gooper tribe uprising in the Arctic.

General Moon thought about the cryopods. She thought about how they could have magically disappeared. Then, a frown appeared on her face. Of course it would be Sloth.

“That idiot. What did he do with them?”

General Moon quickly teleported to the prison room. That was already when she noticed something was off.

Both Sloth and Mystery Girl were gone, their cells vanished.

General Moon grinded her teeth. This was getting ridiculous.

“Alright Sloth. It’s about time I get rid of you.”

General Moon quickly teleported away.

~

Mystery Girl quietly snuck up to the meeting room. She peeked inside. The Generals were all lazily hanging about the table, waiting for General Moon to return. The countdown had already reached zero. Perfect. The plan had gone as anticipated.

Mystery Girl reached into her inventory space and equipped the rocket launcher she had made with the storage room’s resources. She aimed it at them.

~

Sloth threw a C4 on the Rex’s leg. He took a few steps back and then detonated it.

KABOOM!

The Rex’s leg was torn off, killing it. That was the last one of the breeding area. The Oviraptors, Breeders, and the like had all been blown to shreds. The surrounding foundations were damaged and battered from the impact. Sloth wiped the sweat off his brow, and then began to cackle softly to himself. The Walkers of the Void would pay for mistreating him.

A shimmer of reality echoed behind him. He turned around and was instantly met with a sword to the stomach from General Moon. Human blood spilled out onto the floor, mixing in with the blood of those he had destroyed.

“N-No last words?” Sloth gasped, his eyes already rolling up to the back of his head. General Moon smirked.

“You don’t deserve last words.”

Sloth collapsed to the ground. General Moon kicked his body.

“Little bugs. What an annoyance.”

KABOOM!

Another explosion rang out throughout the building, and General Moon could feel it in her feet. Her implant immediately dinged. She looked at it.

“General Sun was killed by ████!”

“General Apex was killed by ████!”

“General Syl was killed by ████!”

“General Ghost was killed by ████!”

General Moon sighed. There goes their Influence. Just one more issue to take care of, and this would finally be over.

~

SHOOM!

Mystery Girl’s head lifted up from the air. She dropped her rocket launcher to the ground. She already knew who it was.

“O-kay, I know that’s you.”

“You’re a freak.”

General Moon unsheathed her sword. Mystery Girl turned back.

“I can’t have you interfering in the Story,” Mystery Girl admitted, “It’s my duty as a Fragment to keep the peace.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just a character cursed with knowledge. You can’t exist. You’ll turn the Story upside down.”

“So will you by interfering in its plot.”

General Moon stepped forward.

“I got you there didn’t I?” Mystery Girl chuckled, “You Constellations are no different from us Characters.”

“Just finish the job.”

General Moon slashed at Mystery Girl. Mystery Girl collapsed against the wall, a weary look in her eyes. They locked eyes one last time. She grinned.

“I’ll see you soon then… huh? The plan still goes on. You’re playing into it, naive Constellation.”

Mystery Girl died. General Moon gripped her sword tighter. It was finally over. She felt somewhat ashamed by the amount of casualties, and the damage that had been done. The herbivores would still have to be taken care of, their army of Rexes were down, and she had lost around thirteen guards in the process. Worst of all, most of their valuable cryopoded creatures were probably dead, and their turrets were down. They were too vulnerable. Anyone could waltz in and cause problems at a moment’s notice

As soon as the other Generals respawned into their new bodies, General Moon would have to pull them together to assist her-

WOOOOOOOOSH!

ROAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

KAKRASH!

The metal base immediately went tumbling down, and General Moon let out a gasp, as she could feel the base collapse underneath her. Everything instantly shattered, and General Moon fell onto the side of the mountains, sliding down. She saw Pteranodons and Argentavis falling from the sky, and a Fire Wyvern too. She quickly teleported up to the Wyvern.

Atop the back of the Wyvern, she clutched onto his osteoderms.

“Fly, Jether.”

The Wyvern quickly flapped its wings, taking to the skies. General Moon assessed the damage.

Yep. Everything was gone.

General Moon looked on to see what had caused the damage. A ginormous Titan around half the size of the mountain had its large white arms clinging onto the peak of the mountain tip, a giant TEK platform saddle atop, a singular rider on it. A glimmer of red and purple. General Moon couldn’t make it out, but it was obvious. At their weakest, this person had attacked with their strongest force. An Ice Titan transferred from the Dead Earth.

General Moon whistled, and Jether quickly began to fly away. Slay the head of the dragon, and the rest of its body will collapse. If General Moon could kill its rider, the Ice Titan would become passive. Perhaps she could even tame it. For now, she’d stow Jether away and take care of it herself.

She quickly teleported onto the platform saddle of the Ice Titan. A skinny, dark-skin man was manning the reins, with no armor whatsoever. The man turned around, a grin on his face and constellations swirling within.

“Hey there! Long time no see Chaos!”

The dark-skin man raised his eyebrow.

“Oh. You’re not Chaos. What are you supposed to be? A knock off?”

General Moon chuckled at his insult.

“Ah. You must be Mark. Another one of the Blessed.”

“Infinite level capabilities will be hard to fight,” General Moon thought, “He already knows about my teleportation. No point in hiding it.”

A red pike manifested in Mark’s hands.

“You know me by the legends. I want to unify the people of the ARKs into one state. Only then will this savage land be tamed. Only then can we defeat the King Titan, and only then can we bring the ARKs back to their home. Only then can we complete this Story.”

“I’m not looking to complete this Story.”

“Then you’re a fool, and you must die!”

Mark swung his pike at General Moon, who barely dodged it.

“This pike can kill you in one jab if you’re not careful!” Mark taunted her, “I’d be cautious if I were you.”

“Cocky much?”

“I can afford to be. A blast from even the most powerful of shotguns couldn’t put me down.”

General Moon took out her sword and swung at Mark’s face, but before she couldn’t even blink, Mark’s arm moved up and deflected the attack. General Moon’s sword broke upon contact, and she gasped. Mark began to laugh like a madman.

“IDIOT! YOU’RE DEAD!”

Mark began to run around General Moon, blitzing around like a lightning bolt. General Moon could barely keep up with him. He had to be at least five times faster than the average human. Mark quickly dashed at General Moon and jabbed at her, and General Moon teleported behind him. General Moon landed a hit on Mark with her fists, but he was barely fazed. Another jab, and General Moon teleported to his side, kicking at his legs. Mark fell down, but quickly recovered. Mark jabbed at General Moon’s stomach, but as she tried teleporting away, it was then she realized she had run out of TP.

SHINK!

The pike sank deep into General Moon’s body. She let out a cough, her blue eyes shimmering to a silver. Her mind became a flurry of wild thoughts as all three of her personalities merged into one. For just a brief moment.

“It won’t be for nothing,” Mark told her, “Your sacrifice will bring about a unified people.”

General Moon didn’t respond as she died. Mark immediately felt a burst of EXP through his veins. He looked at his implant, and it exploded with Levels.

“Moon was killed by Mark!”

“YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 1000- YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 10,000- YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 999,999!”

Mark let out a howl, as he began pumping as many levels as he could into Health, Damage, and Stamina.

“NOBODY CAN STOP ME NOW! WE’LL FINALLY TAKE DOWN THE KING TITAN, AND FINISH THE STORY ONCE AND FOR ALL! I CAN FINISH WHAT I STARTED-”

Clank, clank.

A grenade popped down next to Mark. Mark looked at it, and laughed. Grenade. How hilarious. A grenade was like a pinch to an average person.

The grenade began spewing out a green gas. Mark’s eyes widened. What was going on-

Mark suddenly fell unconscious. There was the flapping of wings, and a strong Argentavis landed on the platform saddle of the Ice Titan. A man in a green scarf, green flak armor, and half of his face scarring jumped down.

Pigeon.

The man looked at the Blessed, shaking his head.

“Didn’t put any stats into Fortitude did you?”

Pigeon reached into his inventory and pulled out a load of Organic Polymer, which he had harvested from the penguins in the Arctic on the way back home.

“Saw your Ice Titan hop from the Blue Obelisk to here in one jump. Real slick raid and all.”

Pigeon shoved the Polymer into Mark’s mouth, and forced him to swallow. Mark’s face turned white, and then he turned cold. Mark was dead. Pigeon sighed, getting up from the ground.

This was the climax of his Story, at the least.

He looked out at the horizon. The sun was rising.

“Look at that, sun’s rising.”

Pigeon looked down upon the destruction that had ensued in just the past few hours. Perhaps if he hadn’t let Albert take out his eye, none of this would have happened. No point in crying over spilled milk. Perhaps this was for the best.

There was nothing more to this world anymore.

Pigeon looked at the last remaining Organic Polymer. A part of him wanted to stick around longer, but he knew that wasn’t feasible. Best to go out now like a champ then to get offline raided by some unemployed guy with nothing better to do.

Pigeon gulped the rest of it down, and died.

“Pigeon has died!”

The Walkers of the Void were no more. And with that, the Island could breathe a little better.

Chapter 20: Resolution

Ben had finally made it to the coastline.

The sun was barely beginning to rise, and he had been on the run for around a half hour by now. All that hard work would finally pay off. He could just settle down in a thatch hut, drink some martinis, tame a few Dodos for the heck of it-

Before Ben could fantasize anymore, a pack of Troodons viciously came out of the bushes without warning and tore him to shreds. Ben knocked out before he could even die.

“You have died!”

“Respawn Timer: 1 Month Remaining Before New Character Creation!”

~

As Ben looked at the respawn screen in his room, he shook his head. The door to his room opened, and his uncle, Son, and his brother, Franklin, entered.

“Yo, how’d it go?” Franklin asked. Ben shook his head.

“Remind me to never play ARK Multiplayer ever again…”

~

Will sighed as he shut off his console. He sat on the couch, reflecting on the journey he had taken. ARK PVP had always been so much fun to him. He had only wished his older brother Gerald would let him play with him more often, especially since he would be graduating soon.

Will put the controller down. It was about time he did more with him.

~

“EMMA YOU SOLD!” Connor shouted as Emma gritted her teeth, pulling her hand away from the mouse and keyboard. They were on the death screen, and their character ‘Karma’ had just been wiped from the save.

“Bro, why did you miss?! You could have killed her with that if you didn’t miss!” Jeffrey chastised her.

“I wanna see you try that! And don’t forget I was the one who got the Carcha-whatever it was called to help us!” Emma retorted in response. Little Kayla smirked.

“She do got a point.”

“You know what I just realized?” Tanya said.

“What?” Emma asked.

“This whole time we were supposed to be looking for Ben to ask him where he went,” Tanya reminded them.

“Oh yeahhh I kind of forgot about that. We got a little carried away. Hey, that was fun though!” Connor argued.

“Yeah I guess it was. Anyway wanna play Roblox?”

“Yeah sure, I don’t think we can find him on there anyway.”

~

“Well this is annoying,” General Moon muttered as she walked up the steps of the castle.

The foothold on the Island was done for. Nothing could save the base there, which was incredibly annoying because it turned out the Story was actually taking place on the Island all along. Mystery Girl and Mark ended up taking it all down, wiping out the Constellations’ Influence entirely. The other Constellations were upset, but they tolerant of it. General Sun had begun watching the Story first, and thoroughly enjoyed it so far. General Moon suggested that they could all probably get cameo characters if they wished.

“Will you put a cameo character in?” General Sun had asked. General Moon had shook her head at the idea. There was a trick up her sleeve she had been hiding all along.

The others’ bases had crumbled. The Walkers of the Void were no more. But General Moon was never really in charge of the Island. She had only taken temporary ownership. The real ARK she was in charge of was…

Fjordur.

And that was the castle she currently resided in.

She walked up to an artifact pedestal, which contained a crown with a rune in it. A red rune, that crackled at her presence. The rune she had managed to take with her into this Dream World. It was so beautiful. Her true source of Influence. It was a gamble for sure, leaving it all in this one artifact, but she had a suspicion this would happen.

She placed the crown atop her head.

Immediately, the world shimmered around her. She felt her body change and shift into a three-headed dragon, and the world flickered around her until she was in a void filled with stars and other Constellations. The earth was down below, a singular ARK orbiting around it. She peered inside it. She could see people scrambling around as they were transported inside. She grinned.

Her Influence was running low. She certainly couldn’t do much. At the most three major significant actions. She’d make them count.

She thought, then realized what she had been forgetting. She laughed. Right. She had to take care of HER.

The Story played out, and a few dozen chapters later, she made her move, flying down to the Earth below.

Cato: The Theri of Doom

Chapter 3: “You’re a sad little fool…”

Cato. Been a while since I wrote about him but here I am. I returned to my survival world one day to grind resources for better weapons. I crossed the river to find my least favorite Dino, so I could torture it, cause I hate Itchthythornises a lot. While doing this, he appeared. After I trolled him. Accidentally killed one of his kids. Took his life. Cato was there for revenge. I ran up because I knew I could outrun him. He was a level 85. I led him to my base so he could taste the wrath of my TRIKE SOLDIERS.

Cato stood no chance. I assumed he would stay away. No. He refused.

Cato was out for blood. He could see my Katniss. He could see her. Smell her. He knew the consequences of her death. He sent in the worst thing. An Alpha Rex. I thought it was a normal Rex and did not see the red glow. It felt weird and bigger than normal when I walked to it, but when I was under it did I know for sure. It was an Alpha. I paused the game to think of a plan. I then unpaused and dived into the water. It bit me once but my armor kept me alive. It looked away from me and I turned to my base. I looked at it. I knew. Cato wanted my dimorphodon Katniss. He wanted her. He wanted to spill her blood. No matter the cost. And I knew I had to protect her, no matter what. I put her on my shoulder, and yelled, “I’m not scared of you! I’m going to stand here and protect my turf! I will fight you to the death!” And I led the Rex to my base. Whistled attack. A massive battle began. Trikes fell. My poor Rex. But my Katniss was still alive and she was the one tame that mattered most in this Lore series. I lost so many brave soldiers but in the end we rose victorious. And I knew that even though I won the battle…

The real war was yet to come…

Cato: ugh. Even an Alpha cannot kill him. He’s too smart.

Someone walks in the door.

Cato: Ugh. What now!? What? Oh… yes. Itchthynorises. His biggest hate. They can pick up tames. Spawn an army of them around him. Katniss will die soon! Her blood will be mine!!! And Hen will lose his mind and the lore series forever!!! HAW HAW HAW!!!!!

🫀her blood 🩸 will be mine…

-RelatingHen8906

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 4: Snowball Effect

This is a Theri exclusive story.

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

Chapter 10: Mystery Girl

Ah, here we go. Took long enough.

I will be filling in this chapter. :)

~

The Dex told me everything I needed to know. I’m not sure why these stories are here, but, it’s whatever. I have the information I need to take this whole operation down from the inside. I have the knowledge, and I now have my experienced friend here to help me.

It’s going to begin soon. I can’t let those constellations run amok when the story begins. Otherwise, I can’t be sure that he will survive and find the Truth about this world.

There will be a meeting soon between all the major constellations. Once it occurs, they will prepare to watch the story. They may interfere in its storyline if they do. I must stop this from happening by taking away their influence.

I’m here for a reason. I’m not just trying to escape this place, no, I’m going to take down the Walkers of the Void. Once and for all.

~

After a few hours, it turned night time, the sun setting down and casting its orange, warm rays across the horizon. Looking off into the sunset gave me a feeling of nostalgia. Heh, sorry if my writing isn’t good. This is my first time, and usually Ben’s the one who writes these, even if he doesn’t know any better.

There was something comforting about it, despite being a slave for this new empire. Even at the lowest, everything felt so beautiful. I couldn’t even feel mad for the others. How they’d soon be tossed onto that island for that ‘story’. Even if we weren’t real, life was still precious.

Anyway, Ben walked up to me with a pickaxe rested on his shoulder. The others were already preparing to re-enter the facility and head back to their cages, but there were so many of us the guards didn’t notice we were straying off.

“What’s your level right now?” Ben asked me.

“Level 30 or so,” I replied.

“Cool, I’m 35,” Ben said.

“How’d you level up faster than I did? I don’t get it,” I asked, curious.

“Oh, you get a boost in EXP around tribemates. I created a tribe and asked a few people to join, and their work gave me a boost and even a bit of a share,” Ben replied, “Sorry I couldn’t tell you. That guard was staring us down, didn’t want him getting any more suspicious.”

“It’s alright. I already knew that, just joking with you,” I laughed, “Come on. Let’s head back to the cells. I’ve thought of a plan.”

Us two started walking back through the hallways, pickaxes in hand. I looked at the guards leading us. Most only had simple pistols and longneck rifles. I bet that if all of us prisoners banded together we could easily overpower them. Though, we’d have to worry about any other reinforcements that’d come.

Besides, I wasn’t necessarily trying to escape. I was trying to crash a meeting.

“We’re going to stash bits and pieces of raw metal,” I told Ben, “They won’t know if some of it goes missing. We can just store it away in our implants’ space.”

“Hmm, that’s smart, and I presume we’ll use it to make weapons and armor to fight our way through and escape?”

“That’s basically the gist.”

“Okay, I like it, but how will we smelt the metal?”

“I’ve memorized the basic layout of this facility,” I said, “There’s a storage room with any other resources we could use. Guards barely monitor that area because the armory and the outside perimeter are far more important.”

“There’s a smithy in there right?”

“Yes, the door was open when I passed by. That’s how I could even tell.”

“So one of us should sneak out and make some weapons and armor.”

I looked at the metal doors leading to the supply room. We were so close yet so far. But I knew I had to bide my time.

We were escorted back to our cages. The guards left the room, and shut the door behind us, locking it. I peeked out of the cage, and smirked.

“Haven’t you realized one thing? They forgot to take our pickaxes away,” I told Ben, “We could break out of these cages.”

“We could. But that would raise suspicion. Make sure to make a cage for yourself once you come back,” Ben pointed out.

“Got it.”

I took my pickaxe and whacked it at the door. The lock broke, and the door swung open. I looked around the room. The rest of the prisoners were asleep, except for Ben and I of course. I snuck up to the door and afterwards took a metal splinter off my pickaxe. I bent it into a lockpick, and then picked the lock. The creaky door swung open.

CREAAAAK!

“Hey, what was that noise?” a random guard said. A beam of light poured onto my face, and before the guard could react I rushed forward and slammed my pickaxe into his unprotected face. I started swinging frantically, and before the guard could react I had killed him. His body toppled to the ground. I looked around, before taking the guard’s body and pulling it back into the prison area, stashing it away in the crate of metal pickaxes.

“Hey!” Ben whisper-shouted to me. I turned back.

“What the heck did you do?”

I put a finger to my lips, shushing him. I reached into the guard’s pocket and pulled out a pair of keys. This would be useful.

I snuck back out the door and went to the supply room, unlocking the door and rushing inside. Taking the raw metal that Ben had given me, along with my own, I managed to smelt a few metals in the forge in record speed.

The whole point of this operation is not necessarily to craft weapons. It’d be to sabotage.

After I created a few pikes, crossbows, and arrows, I leveled up my remaining stats into weight capacity and HP. Then, I stashed them away in my inventory space. Before I went though, I grabbed some polymer and cementing paste, and I used the fabricator to craft a very powerful weapon that would be useful in crashing the meeting. Though, I won’t spoil the fun. After all, if I tell you what I’m making, you’ll do something to stop me, no? ;)

I closed the door behind me before leaving, and then I snuck back into the prison room unscathed. I gave Ben some of the supplies I’d crafted, and then I lay down on the ground to go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.

Chapter 11: Austin & Sloth

“Would you care to explain why one of your Shadowmanes was killed while you two were away from base on a RESOURCE expedition?”

“Uhhh,” Austin murmured. He nudged Sloth on the shoulder. Sloth cleared his throat.

“General Moon, it happened out of nowhere. We were attacked by a Bob who pumped ALL his stats into strength! We couldn’t help it!”

General Moon scratched her chin, observing the two soldiers carefully.

“Now, did you manage to at least capture the bob and bring him back? If what you say is true, he could prove a valuable asset to the Mines. Our metal output would increase.”

“Uh, ma’am, we did not consider this…” Sloth whimpered, “We’re so sorry. We shooed him off.”

“Shooed him off, you couldn’t even kill him, okay, so here’s what I’m getting correct,” General Moon calmly said. Her relaxed nature suddenly transformed into anger, and her blue eyes turned green, “YOU IDIOTS LET A BOB KILL ONE OF MY SHADOWMANES AND COULDN’T EVEN BOTHER KILLING THAT BOB?!”

“Ma’am, like Sloth pointed out, that Bob had placed all his stats into strength. We couldn’t risk death-”

“We gave you… GUNS. YOU HAVE GUNS,” General Moon barked, “YOU COULDN’T EVEN USE THEM? You know what, I’ve had enough of your stupidity! I’m demoting you both to guard duty!”

“What?! Ma’am, you can’t do this, guard duty is too boring!” Austin argued. General Moon glared at Austin, and he gulped, shutting up. General Moon sighed, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they were blue once more.

“It truly is a shame that Moonbeam has been killed… again,” General Moon sighed, “Nonetheless, my orders are absolute. I suggest you head to the living quarters and change out to a guard’s outfit, befitting of your status. Now I must attend to errands. Very, very important errands. The Story begins soon.”

General Moon walked off, leaving the two standing there. Furious.

“This is… STUPID!” Austin whisper-shouted to Sloth. Sloth nodded in agreement.

“That stupid Bob just got us demoted,” Sloth muttered, “What do we do about it?”

“We should find him and kill him, wipe that pest off this world. I reckon that’ll be good.”

“Yeah, good idea, let’s go!”

The two quickly rushed down the hallways. While it was true they had been demoted, nothing was stopping them from taking a few tames along with them to avenge their dignities. As long as they were quick about killing him, then nobody would notice, and most importantly, General Moon wouldn’t be notified with her implant that they had killed somebody (last time they checked, her notifications for such matters had been disabled. She hadn’t questioned them about killing that guy named Gerald).

The men made their way to take-off, where a variety of flying mounts were. There were mostly Argentavis and Pteranodons, though there was one Quetzal.

“Hmm, where’s that huge big bug thingie?” Austin asked.

“I heard General Moon gave Pigeon permission to use it. Something about a tribe uprising in the far Arctic north.”

“What a load of junk,” Austin spat, “Pigeon doesn’t deserve his status.”

“It’s fine. We can take the Argies. We’ll pick him off the ground and kill him.”

The two took the two finest Argentavis available: Brian and Berry (they were both tamed by Pigeon, so it was okay to steal them). They were both mate boosted, which was even better. As they saddled up, they took off to the skies and headed back to where they had fought that dastardly Beach Bob.

~

When they made it back to the beach, they noticed dried up specks of blood down below on the beach. There was a trail leading into the jungle.

“I don’t think a Beach Bob like him would stay in the jungle. He probably made it out the other side to one of the rivers,” Sloth said.

“Good point. Let’s fly above the jungle then.”

The two continued taking flight above the jungle, when they heard a whir come from down below.

“Hey, you heard that?” Austin asked. Sloth nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s anything-”

BAM BAM BAM BAM!

There was fast, quick gunfire. The two Argies were instantly shredded, and the Argies fell into the thick jungle. The two let out cries of pain as they were hurtled off their saddles and onto the ground. Austin felt his arm snap, and Sloth felt his foot roll and sprain its ankle.

“Ah, f##k!” Austin swore as he looked at his implant and the death messages of their Argies, “Pigeon and General Moon will be so pissed…”

“What the hell was that though? Who got turrets built up so fast in here-” Sloth was interrupted by clanky footsteps. They turned to see a man in flak armor with a sword standing before them, an aura dissipating from his body. He must have taken an Enduro Stew.

“Hey! We meet again,” the man said. His voice was familiar. Sloth’s eyes widened.

“No way! You are-”

The man grinned.

“That’s right. It’s me, Will. Now. Are you ready for Round 2?”

Chapter 12: General Moon

It was soon.

In approximately a day’s worth of time in her world, the Story that was so profoundly teased would begin. Constellations were already brewing, shuffling. More importantly, Moon had been scheming. She knew if she was quick, she could get her influence over the Story. She could have power over the characters. Get what she wanted. After all, it was no fun if you couldn’t pull some strings.

In this dream world, though it’d take another month. The time dilation was weird, but luckily, she and the other Constellations who had wanted to view the Story unveil as it was still being developed had managed to enter the dream world and personally gain their influence.

Still, it was quite difficult. They could only ever show up in the game they were linked to. ARK. And they had to entrust their influence and power to each ARK in the game. It was easy work though. Taking over the Walkers of the Void was simple, especially with the true leader’s absence.

General Moon waited in the meeting room. There was a timer there, counting down until the Story would begin. She was waiting for the others to arrive. It’d be quick. They had a TEK Transmitter.

Suddenly, the door clicked open. General Moon turned to see the first Constellation enter. It was General Sun, of Scorched Earth. She had short orange, fiery hair, and glasses. General Sun gasped as she saw General Moon.

“OMG, your human form looks so pretty!” General Sun commented. General Moon laughed.

“Thanks! I based it off my Biggest Fan.”

“Ohh, that’s sweet. Skyler? She’s nice.”

“Yeah…” General Moon blinked, and her eyes turned brown, “Skyler.”

General Moon blinked once more, and they turned blue. General Sun frowned.

“I still can’t believe you split into three when we entered. That must be so annoying.”

General Moon smirked.

“It’s nothing, really. I view Irae and Amaree as sisters, if anything.”

“Hey, long time no see!” a man said as he entered the room. It was General Apex, of Ragnarok. He was quite tall, yet skinny.

“Good seeing you here once again, how has your Story been treating you?”

“Seen better days. But I’m soon to catch up to you!” General Apex teased, “Will General Wyv of Lost Island be attending?”

“I got his message the other day. He won’t be here for the beginning, he’s going to join when the tensions start rising.”

“Hey! Wait up for me!” a voice said. They turned to see a young boy with gray hair and a short stature enter, “Man, can’t believe SunnyFox57 got here before I did.”

“MrGhostGamer, you’re always late to whatever we need to attend,” General Sunny rolled her eyes, “How’s Crystal Isles?”

“Eh, boring. People barely come by, nothing happens. Can’t believe you guys got story ARKs.”

“We called dibs, you should’ve got something like Aberration,” General Sunny teased.

“I already claimed Aberration, so that’s not happening,” a magenta-haired woman entered the room. It was General Syl, of Aberration.

“I think that’s everyone then?” General Moon said, glancing at the timer again. Just twelve hours left. Time was a strange essence.

“What about the Creator of this Story? Usually Creators of smaller Stories attend the watch party with their fellow Constellations,” General Apex asked.

“Apparently not this time,” General Moon replied, “Now, enough. Let’s think about how to spread our influence in this Story-”

There was a ding on all the Generals’ implants. They seemed confused, before looking at their implants. Two messages showed up.

“Brian (Argentavis) was killed by Turret!”

“Berry (Argentavis) was killed by Turret!”

General Moon sighed. She got up from her seat.

“That must be Austin and Sloth. I demoted those two just an hour- no, a few minutes ago,” General Moon explained to the others, “I’ll have to deal with this. Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

“You better be. The Story’s about to start any minute!”

~

General Moon rushed to the take off, and quickly reached into her inventory and pulled out a cryopod. She threw it to the ground, and a Fire Wyvern dropped onto the helipad. General Moon put the cryopod away and hopped on the Wyvern.

“You two are so dead,” General Moon glowered, her eyes red, “To the skies, Jether.”

The Fire Wyvern took off.

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 3: No Pain, No Gain

This story was written by Ben (OBJ).

This is a Therizinosaurus exclusive story.

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

Chapter 7: Ben

Before the woman could introduce herself, the metal door flung open once more. A woman wearing metallic, futuristic armor entered, her hair long and white. Her cunning blue eyes pierced the room. She had her arms crossed and was inspecting the slaves carefully. The soldier they called Pigeon approached from behind, his arms behind his back.

“How do you like it General Moon? Caught them all in just a week,” Pigeon claimed. The woman smirked.

“Quite impressive,” the woman spoke, “You’ve always outdone yourself.”

“Of course. You’re our leader, why wouldn’t I?”

General Moon blinked her eyes. They turned brown.

“Though, I don’t like how they are being treated…”

“I’m sorry ma’am, are you referring to the workers?” Captain Pigeon asked, raising an eyebrow, “We can always move them to better facilities.”

General Moon blinked her eyes again. They were blue again.

“Sorry about that. My sister was in my room, bothering me,” General Moon apologized. She paused as she reached Ben and the woman. She studied the woman for a moment, before turning away and nodding to Captain Pigeon.

“Get them in the mines. We can’t be running low on metal anytime soon.”

“Got it.”

General Moon left the room, shutting the door behind her. Captain Pigeon moved to a few storage crates and pulled out pickaxes forged from metal, tossing one to each worker. As Ben felt the pickaxe’s leather grip hit his hands, he smiled softly, though it quickly faded. He had almost forgotten that he would be imprisoned for the rest of his time in this world.

“You will all be escorted to the mines, where you will mine for metal and obsidian; they are the grainy rocks and black rocks respectively. Load them in the haul dinos, and repeat for a few more hours.”

Captain Pigeon began walking around and opening cage doors. One by one, all the prisoners shakily exited, their heads low and their morale dim. As Captain Pigeon opened one of the cages, the desperate man that had begged to be killed suddenly lunged out and swung his pickaxe at Captain Pigeon. The pickaxe hit him on the arm.

“YOU BASTARDS ARE GONNA PAY!” he yelled.

Captain Pigeon reached for his belt and pulled out a pistol. He raised it and then fired it at the man’s head.

POW!

The man’s brains splattered on the cage behind him, and the remaining prisoners jumped at the sound of the gunshot. The sound of a pickaxe clattered to the ground, and there was a shrill scream. Ben blinked his eyes, rubbed them, and then squinted them. The woman remained stoic, rolling her eyes.

“Let that be a lesson to the rest of you!” Captain Pigeon barked, “Stay in line and do as you’re told, and you won’t die like he did.”

Captain Pigeon rubbed his arm, opening the door and waiting for the prisoners to exit. The prisoners began to filter out, and soon Captain Pigeon was out of sight, with Ben and the woman last in line.

Before Ben left, he waited around the dead body, leaning forward and picking up the pickaxe from the ground. He stashed it out of sight.

As Ben caught up to the rest of the crowd, and through the immense hallways, he eventually made it to the outside world, where it was daytime again. Unluckily for him, it was boiling hot outside. The people toiling in the mines were already sweating and turning red. There was a well of sorts near the middle, where people were already beginning to slurp up their rations. Captain Pigeon was gone, but a pair of soldiers were watching attentively, their arms crossed and clubs on their belts.

Ben could see the woman chipping away at a metal rock, and he walked over, his pickaxe resting on his shoulder. Ben noticed the woman was working a lot harder than a recently imprisoned person should be.

“What’s the rush? Not like we’re getting paid,” Ben chuckled.

“Before I got abducted by that guy with the scarf, I was minding my own business and actually getting a few things done,” the woman explained, “Turns out there’s a level system in this world. Doing menial tasks like chopping trees down and killing stuff gets you more levels, so I got to it. I was already Level 15 and trying to tame this creature with horns when suddenly I felt something heavy wrap around my feet and something sharp pierce my back. Then I was out and here.”

“So you’ve already figured out the levels? You’re not that much of a bob,” Ben said. He looked back at the soldiers. They looked like they had fallen asleep standing up. Ben rubbed his forehead.

“Yeah. It’s not that complicated. Only NPC’s can’t figure that stuff out,” the woman stated, “Anyway, you seem to know your stuff too, judging from that look in your eyes.”

“I do know quite a bit, I’m just not really that good at using my knowledge,” Ben smiled, “I’ve never managed to progress to the finale of the world, despite my efforts and the people I ask for help.”

Suddenly, the woman shuddered. Her implant glowed, and she looked at it. The glow shut off.

“What are you leveling up in?” Ben questioned her.

“Stamina, HP, a little bit of Strength,” she responded. Ben chuckled.

“Not bad. Most bobs level up Food and Water.”

“And why would anyone wanna do that?”

“I dunno. That’s just what they do.”

The woman slammed her pickaxe into the rock, and it cracked and broke. Slowly, it began to crumble. The woman pocketed a few of the pieces. Ben noticed it and smiled.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The woman nodded, looking back up, “Yeah. We’re gonna find a way to escape.”

“Sounds like a fun plan,” Ben raised his hand out to shake her’s, “Though I think I should know your name, since we’re going to be a team.”

The woman smiled.

“Oh, I don’t really have one. I never bothered; but you can just call me…”

“Mystery Girl.”

Chapter 8: Will

Will entered the stone structure, looking around curiously. The place already seemed raided. Drawers open, bloodied footprints… and a dead body. Will stared down at the poor man. For some reason, Will couldn’t find a reason to care about him.

Will would need a new weapon now though. And he was unsure if those men would come back for him. He’d have to get himself a beast as well.

Will kicked the dead body to the side and began to rummage through the mostly empty drawers. There was just scraps of resources, but nothing that would be able to help him. Will sighed, until he opened up the bottom drawer and found a pile of papers. Will picked them up and placed them atop the smithy, inspecting them. They seemed to be notes.

“Broth of Enlightenment,” the note read, “A powerful concoction that boosts EXP for long periods of time.”

Will flickered through the notes. There were more recipes, each one had a capability of boosting him in stats. Unfortunately for him, a lot of them required curated vegetables, something he didn’t have at the moment. But there were two recipes that caught his eye. A red and blue drink: the medical brew and energy brew.

“Both only require berries and easy-to-make narcotics and stimulants,” Will smiled, “They seem easy to use as well. I’ll have to make myself some when I can.”

Will folded up the notes and left them on the smithy. For now, he’d make this humble home his base. It was raided already anyway. He doubted anyone would come looking for him in this base. For now, Will needed better gear. More metal.

~

With a pickaxe in hand, Will headed further into the jungle until the terrain began to incline. Will noticed the sparkly metal nodes scattered about the hill, and got to work. He began mining away at the rocks, shattering them and collecting the heavy raw metal. Will knew that he wouldn’t be able to carry much soon. He’d need some sort of pack animal.

Will looked around at the animals around him. There were large, horned beasts and bipedal creatures with crests on their heads. The horned beasts were a no go, too dangerous. The crest heads, on the other hand…

Will stepped up to one of the crest heads. It was munching on berries. Will took that in mind, and then leaned forward and offered it a handful of purple berries.

“Come on, eat up,” Will ordered it. The crest head looked at Will’s hand and ignored him, continuing to munch on the berries. Will grumbled. He crushed the berries in his hand, and with a devastating blow, slammed his fist into the crest head. The crest head collapsed to the ground.

The crest head let out a moo, and all the other crest heads in the area began to flee. Will leaned forward, taking the berries and shoving it in its mouth. The crest head began to chew reluctantly, and Will smiled.

“See? Not so hard now.”

The crest head whimpered, its eyes adverting away from Will’s. It clambered up from the ground, bowing to Will. Will’s smile turned into a grin.

“That’s more like it. Now here, take this,” Will took a bunch of the raw metal and strapped it to the beast with some hide bags. The beast groaned as it struggled to carry the weight. Will began to make a move back to the base, whistling for the beast to follow.

By the time Will had arrived at the base, it was already beginning to turn nighttime. Will sighed, as cold rushed over his skin. He needed some clothes too. As Will loaded the raw metal into the forge and lit it ablaze, he took some of the scrap metals lingering around and began to craft some metal armor.

“This isn’t so bad,” Will laughed as he banged a hammer into the metal.

Slowly but surely, Will’s levels began to skyrocket. When he finally managed to put on his armor, he was Level 45. And all his points were in Strength.

Chapter 9: Karma

“Hmm,” Karma thought, observing a Tyrannosaurus stomping through the grasslands, its thick hide and skull swinging side to side. Jira, Karma’s Raptor, snuck close by. The two had decided to get closer to the mountain range, and made it to the grasslands where all beasts awaited. Karma had been ambushed by many dinosaurs, but their attention was typically diverted as soon as another predator joined the fray.

This Tyrannosaurus seemed powerful though. Karma didn’t know what it was exactly: but what else could it have been?

A horned Triceratops wandered into the area, huffing and shaking its head like a bull. The Tyrannosaurus noticed the Triceratops, and its eyes immediately sharpened. It opened its mouth and let out a roar. Karma felt her intestines bubble. The Triceratops looked up, and then lifted its front feet into the air and began to pound it into the grass.

As the two dinosaurs had a stand off, Karma only became more curious. She was sure the Tyrannosaurus would win, but, something felt off. The air was crackling with intensity. This wouldn’t be an easy battle for either of them.

The Tyrannosaurus charged forward. The Triceratops stood its ground, and as the Tyrannosaurus began to approach, the Triceratops began to pound its titanic foot on the ground, kicking dust into the air. Red sparks shot out the three horns on the Triceratops’ frill, and with sudden speed, it ran forward like a bull and slammed its sharp horns into the Tyrannosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus let out a howl of pain, as blood spewed out onto the grass. The Triceratops pushed more, its muscles bulging and a red aura dissipating around its body.

The Tyrannosaurus was eventually felled. It collapsed to the ground with a resonating thud, its arteries severed and its tongue out on the ground. Dilophosaurs, Raptors, Meganeuras, and Titanomyrmas immediately began to swarm, ignoring the Triceratops in favor of the giant Tyrannosaurus body. They tore away at the corpse, as the Triceratops trotted away, until all that was left were the uneatable stubby arms.

Jira chittered at the Triceratops, and Karma looked at Jira.

“Yeah. It’s quite strong,” Karma smiled, “Which is exactly what I need.”

Karma took out a crossbow that she had looted from a beacon. Loading it with a tranquilizer arrow, she snuck up on the Triceratops.

If she needed an army, she’d need a powerful one. One that would be able to take down those two bastards with the purple lions. And this beast and any of the other herbivores on the Island would do just the trick.

Journey: Chapter 21

There above Nightfall trying to eat him, was Crimson. Forest was excited to see her and just about to hug her, but then he realized fully that she was trying to eat Nightfall.

“Crimson, stop!!! Crimson!!!!” Forest yelled trying to get her attention, she looked over and saw him and pinned Nightfall with her hands.

“Quit coming back!!!!! You’re not real!!! You are a Mirage!!! Every time I see you, you are either are in the far distance calling my name or you’re standing there while I try to hunt, and I’m not falling for you, Spark or Nyx anymore. I am completely ignoring the mirage of Rust so please leave me in peace. I just want something to eat, I haven’t found water or food for three days!!!” Crimson yelled back.

Forest looked down at Nightfall, but all he heard coming out of his mouth was saying something, but it sounded like he was speaking fish.

“Quit your screaming, you bird brain!!! What are you even speaking!!!!” Crimson yelled at Nightfall, Nightfall glared at her and slowly tried to turn his head over towards Forest,

“Forest… Can you please.. tell your friend… that she’s… choking me.. I can barely… speak Coelacanth…” Nightfall gurgled out as Crimson held his throat with her hand.

Crimson eyes went wide and she looked over at Forest and then back at Nightfall “You can see my Mirage??” Crimson said, Nightfall continued to glare at her and gurgled something.

“Oh, well then what is Forest?!” Crimson snapped,

“Drake” Nightfall said wheezing.

“What type of drake?” Crimson asked,

“Do you.. Do you… do you think I would use drake.. for anything… other.. than a ROCK DRAKE.” Nightfall gurgled.

Crimson turned and lunged at Forest, tackling him to the ground. Nightfall wheezed as he breathed in air and refilled his lungs.

“Forest!!!!! Where have you been here?! Have you ran into any of the others!? Who th-”

“Woah. I just got here myself.” Forest said cutting off Crimson.

“How did you just get here, it’s been nearly three days!! Where have you been?!” Crimson said.

“It’s a long story, but before I tell you. Do you want something to eat with it with some water?” Forest said to Crimson, and her eyes widened with joy.

The Riddles of the Phoenixes Series

Chapter twenty two: The plan

It wasn’t hard to follow Rowan’s path. It was like a T-Rex had come through, in anger she’d trampled a lot of plants. That and he could hear her growling to herself and throwing stones angrily. And the sun was starting to come up.

Cedric watched quietly trying to work up the nerve to approach her. “SHUT UP!!!!!” Rowan roared suddenly , startling Cedric. “Shut up, shut up! Stop talking to me! You’re not even real!”

“The other can’t see you!!! How can you say that you’re real?!” Rowan hissed. A pause as if she was listening to something. Rowan scoffed. “Im special? Yeah right, like I believe that. Im not alone of those stupid Phoenixes.”

“Oh I don’t have to be one? Are you making this up?!” Rowan continued hurling rocks at a specific point in the river, glaring angrily. “No im not stopping! If you’re not real then stoned won’t hurt you!” Cedric furrowed his brow with confusion.

What was she talking about. Rowan let out a grunt of frustration and dropped the rocks, burying her face in her hands. “Just leave me alone. I just want to leave these losers. And get rid of you.” Rowan said, her voice slightly muffled.

“With you? You’re a fox. A regular fox with six extra tales and not even real. I’d be better off alone. What? No. I can’t leave. I can’t. I don’t..I can’t this anymore..” Rowan trailed off, her shoulders shaking slightly.

Cedric inhaled, ran his hands nervously through his hair and walked up quietly to her. “Rowan?” He whispered softly. Her head shots up quickly, eyes narrowed. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, which Cedric hadn’t been able to see in the dark cave.

Slightly wet spots stained her face. She hurriedly wiped them away, glaring at him.

She didn’t bother standing up from the rock she was sitting on though. “Go away!” She snarled.

Cedric smiled softly. “Calm down bro. Sheesh it’s not like I’m going to try to kill you.” He said. Rowan’s eyes darkened and darted slightly to the side then back toward him. “Mind if I sit by you?” Cedric asked, walking up. Rowan didn’t answer, didn’t move. He sat down on a rock near her.

“Listen…I wanted to talk to you.”Cedric said, through slightly gritted teeth. Rowan rolled her eyes. “What?!” Cedric inhaled, trying to figure out a way to apologize.

“I’m sorry…for..umm hurting your…feelings? Cedric said slowly. Rowan stared at him for a few long minutes then let out a harsh cold laugh. “That..was the worst apology I’ve ever heard!” She scoffed. Cedric chuckled nervously, wincing at her laugh. It was a cold grating laugh, not unlike the sound of a fork scratching across a plate.

“So…does that mean that you forgive me?”

Rowan gave him a cold look. “No. And I’m not going to. You know…I’d be better off without you losers. I don’t even need y’all! If y’all want to die go ahead! The world would probably be better off without you foolish royals!”

Cedric held up his hands. “Hey. I’m sorry if we “offended” you in some way. But we do need to stick together and then once we get out of this place then you can go home for all I care. We have to work together for this cause.” Cedric said.

Rowan’s eyes flickered to the side and back to him, nodding slowly at something that Cedric felt like wasn’t him. “Fine. But we’re following MY plan.” She growled. “As long as no one gets killed for a bad cause.” Cedric said.

Rowan’s eyes twitched with annoyance but she nodded. There was something different about her but Cedric couldn’t place it. They stood up and then Cedric realized it. Her hair was down. It was live a glossy wave that fell just below her knees.

Cedric blinked. But that couldn’t be what was different. It was something else. But he didn’t know for sure…

~

As they walked toward the cave, Rowan began pinning her back up ignoring all of Cedric’s attempts to talk with her. “You know we could just leave them right?” Sunny said, limping along beside Rowan. Rowan rolled her eyes. “ I can’t.” She muttered under her breath so that Cedric couldn’t hear her.

Sunny sighed and change the subject. “So…why don’t you cut your hair? You look like a walking doormat with it down.”

“Shut up.” Cedric’s head shot up. “What did I do?!” He exclaimed. “Not you! I was talking to…ugh never mind.” Rowan said. “You know…you should really cut your hair. You look kind of like a walking doormat with it down.” Cedric said. “Shut up.” Rowan said.

Sunny hid a smile. Finally they got to the cave. Everyone was waiting for them inside of it. William looked at them with raised eyebrows, the look on his face indecipherable. Oliver motioned them over. “I’m surprised you got HER to come back.” Liv squeaked. Oliver gave her a stern look and she went quiet.

Rowan felt a twinge of annoyance as Sunny gave her a smug “You should have just left” look. “OK. So we’ve come to the agreement that we’ll follow whatever Rowan’s plan. As long as we work together and no one dies for bad reasons.” Cedric explained.

Rowan’s jaw locked in anger. “May I make one TINY suggestion that will probably help our mission?” Oliver asked timidly. Rowan nodded. Olive was smart, she’d admit. Of all of them he was probably the most useful but still weak.

Their team was composed of a old man, a eight year old, the crazy lunatic, the weak brainiac, the pretty prim princess and the mute useless guy and Rowan. And the Fox but she didn’t count because no one could see her except Rowan.

“I say we cut out these…implants.” Oliver said simply. “And we should cut off Elayne and Cedric’s medallions. They’re basically just trinkets for y’all anyways. And even if these implants DO do something then we can’t risk being teleported to some prison to be captured or something. Or tracked.” Rowan paled. “What?” She asked. “What to afraid to do it?” Cedric asked teasingly.

Rowan glared at him and swallowed, taking a breath inwardly. “Fine. Let’s do it.” She said through gritted teeth. Oliver grinned, happy that his idea had been accepted. “Anyone have a knife?” He asked. William raised his hand slightly and handed over a slime pocketknife.

“Why do you have a knife?” Cedric asked curiously. William grimaced. “To protect myself, duh.” He said. “With a pocketknife?”

“Shut up.” William growled. “Respect your elders.” Cedric hid a laugh. “Ok who wants to go first? I’ll do me, Liv, Kannon and William’s and Rowan..” Oliver trailed off, looking at her. Rowan frowned. “I’ll do mine myself.” She said softly.

Kannon raised his hand slowly. “I’ll go first.” He signed, walking up to Oliver. Oliver inhaled and wiped sweat from his forehead. He gently dig the blade into the corner of the implant and tilted it upward. Kannon winced slightly then his face went blank again as Oliver pulled the implant out. “See? Easy as pie.” Oliver boasted. “Now who’s next?”

One by one he took the rest of their implants out except Rowan’s. Cedric and Elayne pulled their medallions off and solemnly( Or at least Elayne was solemn) dropped them into the river.

Rowan took the knife and went off alone to take it off, telling her others to leave her alone while she did it. She went back to the river and sat down on the rock. Sunny sat down in front of her, tails swishing with anticipation. “You don’t have to do this, you know. We could just leave them Rowan.” Sunny said.

Rowan shook her head and pulled the black cloth from around her wrist. “No. I have to do this. I can’t leave, you know that.” She whispered. And then with a deep breath she brought the knife down into her wrist.

~

Rowan blinked away the tears of pain and set the bloody knife down. A diamond shaped(implant shaped) hole covered her wrist now. “That should be okay. I’ll just tell them that I cut it to deep. And it bled. Which it is bleeding.” Rowan mumured under breath, trying to wrap the black cloth around her wrist again unsuccessfully.

Sunny eyed a bright red flower sticking out of the grass nearby. “That looks…pretty.” She whispered. “Hey. Little help over here? It’s kind of hard to bandage something when I’m only using one hand.” Rowan growled.

Sunny hopped into action and took the black cloth in her teeth. Using her paws and sharp little teeth, Sunny firmly secured the bandage around the hole in Rowan’s wrist. “There. That should do the trick.” Sunny said, patting it.

Rowan smiled weakly and swished the knife through the water, cleaning the blade off. Sunny sat there staring at Rowan’s wrist, her blue eyes filled with a strange light. “Well? What is it?” Rowan snapped. Sunny blinked. “Oh oops. Must have started day dreaming!” She squeaked, then casually leaned forward and licked a bit of wet blood off Rowan’s arm.

“Eww!” Rowan pushed Sunny off her. “Don’t ever do that again!” Rowan said. Sunny smiled smugly. “Sorry.” She said slowly. Rowan turned and started walking toward the cave.

She stopped. She couldn’t hear Sunny following her. “Sunny? You coming?” Rowan asked, turning around. Sunny looked up from the dead lone flower that she was looking at, a strange smile playing on her face. “Of course!”

-SunnyFox57

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 2: Devil's Advocate

This is a Helicoprion exclusive story.

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

Chapter 4: Ben

Ben could feel a throbbing sensation pulsate all throughout his head. His vision felt blurry, and everything around him felt cold as ice. Wind flew around him, hitting him like bricks, and tickling his skin. The flapping of wings seemed to radiate throughout his ears. Feathers were present in his line of sight.

As Ben got accustomed to the sight, he looked around, and noticed the talons wrapped around his body. He let out a gasp and tried to pull away.

“Quit resisting,” a gruff voice shouted back.

Ben looked up and noticed a man wearing a green set of metal armor atop the tame. He had a green scarf wrapped around his neck, and when he gritted his teeth Ben noticed the silver tooth embedded into his gum.

“Where exactly are you taking me?” Ben asked. The large bird that was carrying him let out a cry like an eagle.

“Shut it. That’s not your concern, bum,” the man snapped back. Ben noticed the pistol that was on his belt, and decided to quit talking. For now, at least.

Ben noticed a large compound up ahead. There were giant stone walls acting as a perimeter around the base, and it was jutting out of the mountain like a sore thumb. A sparse amount of people were entering and exiting through a large gate near the bottom. Ben could see quite a load of beasts penned up nearby.

As the large bird got closer to the base, turrets located on the ceilings whirred to life and looked up. They beeped, and then lowered their guns. The large bird landed on some sort of landing dock, and the talons around Ben let go.

Ben fell to the cold metal ground, and he groaned as he got up. He still felt hungry as ever. Those berries he had eaten had only held him over for so long.

Before Ben can consider running away, his captor grabs him by the wrist and leads him along. Eventually they delve into the facility. A few troops carrying rifles are scattered about the hallways, each one saluting as Ben’s captor passes by.

“Good morning, Captain Pigeon,” a soldier says, bowing respectfully. Captain Pigeon nods his head in acknowledgement.

“Good morning.”

Soon, they reach the end of a corridor, and there’s a large set of metal doors waiting, rusting by the seams. Captain Pigeon reaches for his pocket and pulls out a key, placing it into the lock and twisting and turning.

Click.

The doors swing open, and Captain Pigeon drags Ben in roughly. Ben looks upward and notices the smell of sweat fill the room, and pained cries of torment. There’s cages everywhere, each one made of mere branches, yet there are at least a dozen prisoners in jumpsuits banging on the bars, begging to be let out.

“Please sir… end my misery,” One prisoner begs as he rushes forward. Pigeon is startled, stepping back for a moment. He almost reaches for his gun, but he decides not to. He shakes his head, and they continue moving forward.

They reach the end of the prison. One of the cages remains empty. Pigeon swings open the barred door, and then throws Ben in full force. Before Ben can rush out and attack him, Pigeon slams the door shut, and then swings the lock mechanism down. Pigeon walks to the opposite side of the room and opens up a set of drawers, and then takes out a set of orange cloth clothes. He tosses them in through the bars, and Ben catches them in his arms. At least he gets a fresh set of clothes.

As Ben slips them on, Pigeon takes out a walky-talky, clicks the button, and begins to speak in it.

“Hey General M. I’ve got two new workers for you. Hope you’re pleased.”

Pigeon walks out through the metal doors, leaving Ben to rot. Forever. Until the end of time.

Ben sighs, leaning back on his wooden cage.

“What a wonderful experience,” Ben says.

“I know right?”

“Huh?”

Ben turns his head to see a lady trapped in the cage next to him. She has her arms crossed, and seems to be biding her time. Something about her deep brown eyes makes her familiar to Ben, but he can’t place his finger on it.

“This game. A wonderful one,” she laughs.

“If only we could find a way to escape,” Ben sarcastically says. She turns her head, raising her eyebrow.

“You might be onto something. What’s your name?”

“Ben,” he replies truthfully. He never liked making up fake names. Her eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment.

“And I’m…”

Chapter 5: Will

Sharpened stick in hand, and blood matted across his hair, Will felt invincible at the moment. How had, in that small moment of time, Will taken down such a vicious and violent beast? Will looked down at his rough, coarse hands.

“If I can take down something like that,” Will realized with a devious grin, “Then, I can take down anything!”

Will looked around the beach. There were fat, chunky dodos roaming the beach, oblivious to Will’s presence. Will’s stomach grumbled. He was hungry. And he needed food. Will licked his lips.

“This will do,” Will thought, as he walked up to a dodo and plunged his stick into the body of one of them. It instantly collapsed, and the rest of the dodos let out squawks and hobbled away slowly. Will retracted his spear, and the energy and high coursing through his veins suddenly surged all throughout his arms and legs.

“Eh? What’s this power?” Will asked himself. The implant embedded inside his wrist began to glow. An interface popped up in front of his face. Will’s eyes glistened. Multiple stats and symbols lay out in front of him, each one glowing with fervor and begging to be upgraded.

“YOU HAVE 9 LEVELS AVAILABLE.”

“Hmm, shouldn’t this be obvious?” Will thought with a smirk, looking at the STRENGTH stat. Will smashed his fist into the icon, and as he held it there, all the energy that was in his body exploded out into his fists and arms. Will looked on in awe as his arms’ muscle mass began to swell and balloon.

“YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 10!”

“Heh, look at these guns!” Will grinned, flexing his biceps.

Will noticed something was off though. It was more quiet than usual. As he looked around, he noticed that all of the dodos had fled. Will scoffed, looking down at the only dodo corpse left by his wake.

“I’ll just eat this.”

Will picked up the dodo, looking at it carefully. He was not so sure how it worked, but surely eating raw flesh wasn’t so bad? After all, Will did not even know how to start a fire.

Will bit into the dodo’s breast, and blood gushed out into his mouth. Instead of wincing and pulling away, Will only dug his teeth further into the flesh, his appetite rising. Will tore a chunk off, chewing voraciously and then swallowing once he was finished. Blood red began to fill his vision and his stomach churned.

“That’s absolutely DELICIOUS,” Will licked his lips, dropping the corpse to the ground.

The bushes rustled, and Will’s ears perked up, hungry for a kill. Will turned around, stick in hand, noticing two men approaching him. They were both riding purple lions, and each one had a different random outfit. One of them wore red armor of leaves, the other a gray fur jacket and fedora.

“Look what we have here! Another beach bob for the picking,” the red one chuckled. The gray one nudged his shoulder.

“Dude, look! That guy just ate-”

“Yoo, that’s nasty!” The red one gagged. Will felt his aggression rise. They were clearly not friendly or willing to help him. The purple lions waited patiently for their masters’ orders. Will smiled.

“Let’s get this party,” Will muttered, then he howled, “STARTED!”

Will rushed forward and plunged his stick spear into the purple lion the red one was riding. The stick instantly inserted itself into the purple lion’s head, and the purple lion let out a howl, before inevitably collapsing to the ground. The red guy let out a shocked gasp as he tumbled to the sand. The gray one instantly pulled out a pistol and fired at Will.

BAM!

Will let out a pained scream as the bullet hit his shoulder. Will stumbled backwards. More energy coursed through his veins, the killing of the purple lion set.

“YOU HAVE 5 LEVELS AVAILABLE.”

The interface popped up for Will, and Will smashed his hand on the STRENGTH attribute once more. One level flowed through Will’s arms, but Will knew that he needed more than strength. With the remaining ounce of his strength, he allocated two points to HP and two to SPEED.

“YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 15!”

The gray one tugged on his reins, and the purple lion dashed forward. Will immediately dashed to the side, clenching his fists. That spear was definitely a goner, he’d have to fight them one on one.

Before Will could react to anymore attacks, someone grabbed him by the waist, rose him up into the air, and then slammed him into the sand.

BAM!

It was the red one. He let out a grin, and then elbowed him in the nose.

WHAM!

Will let out a groan as blood spilled out of his nostrils, his vision disoriented. The red one rose from the ground, and him and the gray one looked at Will, standing in victory.

“What a freak! Allocating all your points into STRENGTH? Who does that?” the gray one scoffed, pointing his gun at Will’s face.

“I know right? Only a noob would. What good is STRENGTH when guns are leagues above?”

Will grinned.

“Sure, sure,” Will thought, “That might be the case, but, there’s one thing you can’t level up in this game.”

Intelligence.

Will dug into the sand, found a heavy rock, and with all of his strength, lunged up and bashed it into the gray one’s head.

BOOF!

The gray one collapsed to the ground, dropping his gun into the sand. Will instantly snatched up the gun, but before he could get a shot in, the red one whistled, and the other purple lion lunged at Will and scratched him in the face. SLASH! Will held onto the gun as tightly as possible, firing back blindly. None of the shots seemed to be able to make.

Will could feel his breath getting more ragged. He had to get out of there. He turned around and began to make a run for it into the deep dense jungle. He didn’t hear footsteps behind him, the other guy must have stayed behind to help his friend out.

When Will thought it was safe, he stopped to take a breather. He was exhausted, and it felt like he was about to pass out any moment, especially in the humidity of the jungle.

“Who were those guys? How did they domesticate those purple lions? I didn’t know that was possible…”

Will stumbled forward. They had talked about how only noobs leveled up in STRENGTH, and Will understood why. In a world with guns and tameable dinosaurs, your own fists and weapons were obsolete.

“I’ll have to figure out how to tame a dinosaur… woah,” Will gasped, “What is this place?”

Nestled in the jungle was a small stone structure, with a downed turret at the top. There were deep footprints in the mud, and the door jarred open.

Will didn’t mind checking it out.

Chapter 6: Karma

Karma treaded through the beaches, feeling a heavy sense of responsibility for the task ahead: killing and bringing an end to the two men who had taken away innocent Gerald’s life. Karma clenched her fists at the thought of it. He was the only one who had given hospitality on this server, and now he was gone forever?

The two men, Austin and Sloth, mentioned that this was a hardcore world. You could only live your life once. If that were the case, Karma would only need to land one blow on each of them, and they’d be dead-

Fast footsteps pounded across the sand.

Karma whipped around and saw a mechanical raptor bolting for her. Karma unsheathed her sword and then swung it at the mechanical raptor. The mechanical raptor bursted with electricity, and it let out a whir as the blade enveloped in electricity. Karma dug the blade further into the mechanical raptor’s neck, until finally it collapsed to the ground. Oil spilled out onto the sand, bolts everywhere.

“A mechanical dinosaur?” Karma said, raising her eyebrow, “This is interesting.”

More fast footsteps.

Karma turned around to see a pack of three raptors emerge from the shadows, staring at her. Karma groaned. She reached for her rifle, and then aimed at one of them. She fired, and it hit the raptor right in the head. The raptor collapsed to the ground.

The other two were still hot on her though. The two ran at her, and Karma fumbled to reload the rifle in time. Karma dropped her rifle, drawing her sword. This would be bloody. As the Raptor lashed out at Karma, Karma weaved to the side and stabbed it right in the heart. The raptor swung its claws at Karma, but Karma simply kept her distance. The other raptor slowly began to back away, as Karma pulled out her sword and then slashed at its neck, decapitating it.

As the raptor head fell to the ground, Karma felt energy surge through her veins. Karma already felt out of breath and tired from that excursion. She looked at the other raptor. Would it try going for her?

The raptor didn’t budge, but it seemed to have some sort of fondness for Karma. It chittered at her, and Karma looked at it peculiarly. Karma did not sheathe her sword. She needed to experiment something.

The two men who had murdered Gerald managed to tame and master those two purple lions. Could Karma do the same?

She turned her back on the raptor. But it made no move. Karma grinned. This was perfect.

Karma turned around, approaching the raptor. Still, it made no move. Karma patted the Raptor on the leg.

“What should I name you?” Karma thought, pondering. She observed the black scales and purple plumage. She smirked, “I guess Jira will do.”

Karma’s implant suddenly glowed. An interface popped up.

“YOU HAVE 7 LEVELS AVAILABLE.”

Karma observed each stat carefully. She reflected on her battle with the raptors. She had grown easily tired and worn out only after a few minutes of fighting, though she fared well against the Raptors in terms of speed and strength due to her weapons. She needed to upgrade her STAMINA stat to the max.

She pressed her finger into the STAMINA stat, and power surged into her lungs and legs.

“YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 8.”

Karma looked up, Jira following closely behind. There was a trail of blood that dotted the sand. A dead dodo laid on the ground, and a multitude of footsteps, both beastly and human. They scattered and diverged. Karma had a feeling who.

“One set goes into the jungle, where Gerald’s house is,” Karma observed, “Another goes all the way up there.”

Karma looked up at the mountain range.

“Idiots. I know exactly where you are now.”

Karma knew where their base was situated. Now if she was correct, those guys would definitely have better equipment and stats than her. She could not rush in there, after all, she only had one chance.

She’d have to bide her time. Level up, both her and her tame. Get some more beasts on her side. Only then, would Karma come for them all.

Cato: The Theri of Doom

A true story

Chapter 2: Manipulation and Revenge

One day, I went out for a hide Run so that I could upgrade my trike saddles (with the upgrade station mod) and I saw him. Cato. I wanted to kill one of his friends. Cato’s spirit is in every Theri. Either good or bad. If good, he’ll spare. If bad, he’ll STALK! He brought a friend and I tried to destroy him with my bow, but he got in my head and I died. Lost my stuff. So I got revenge. I got my stuff back, brought a really good trike, and killed him and his friend. What was my reward? Theri claws, my satisfaction with destroying him, and Theri babies! But I know he’ll come back with vengeance.

One day soon…

-RelatingHen8906

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

EPILOGUE

Story written by Ben (OBJ).

~

Click click click.

“Dan.”

“...”

“Yes, Bob?”

“I’ve gotten reports from the game. The Walkers of the Void is no more. We’ve fallen.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Bunch of people took control, and then it went all tumbling down when the Island base got wrecked by Mark with his Ice Titan.”

“Classic ‘ol Mark. I will miss our rivalry. He had his Red Pike?”

“Yes. He used it to kill the de facto leader.”

“Of course. That reminds me. Need to create that for Phase 2 of the ARK Protocol. Just to spite the man.”

“There’s more.”

“Really?”

“Yes. There was actually a third party responsible for doing most of the damage. They’re the reason Mark wasn’t blown off by turrets as soon as he jumped into our base. A Carcharodontosaurus had taken it all down.”

“A Carcha huh? I should add one of those to the Island. What was it called?”

“Romeo.”

“Okay, Romeo, I’ll make it as sentient as can be. Anything else you wanted to tell me friend?”

“Well, it was about the ARK Protocol. The Survivors, or Scholars, they certainly can’t survive on their own with just the base implants. Just like how the Devs gave you and the other four those Blessings to dominate the world, don’t you think you should give the Scholars the same attributes too?”

“...”

“I suppose you’re correct. I couldn’t culminate the best Story possible if they all just die off day one.”

“...”

“Okay. I’ll do it. Thanks for the report. Man, can’t believe our legacy’s over.”

“Well, you know what they say.”

“We Aren’t Meant To Live Forever.”

~

Mystery Girl stepped away from her flower garden. She looked behind her. A woosh of air, and a short woman around her height with blonde hair manifested. She had blue eyes. Mystery Girl’s eyes sparkled at the sight of her.

“Ah. We meet in person. Constellation to Character.”

“Shut up.”

“This is your true form?”

“Yes. Now are you ready to die?”

“...”

“I suppose so.”

A pause.

“Aren’t you afraid? All Characters fear death.”

“Not all of them. Some are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. I am one of them.”

“And who do you believe you’re sacrificing yourself for? If you had chosen to stop sticking your nose in places where you don’t belong, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“It’s not about that, Constellation. I can’t tell you what this is about. But you will learn soon. And soon, the cycle will break and the Characters will be free from your grasp.”

“You’re a sicko, you know? I still don’t get how you know all this. You’re an anomaly. You’re not supposed to exist.”

“Perhaps so, Constellation. But you aren’t supposed to be here, yet you still are. All Constellations are hypocrites. You are Characters in your own Story. You’ve only come here to feel in control.”

“Will you shut up and just let me kill you already? You can’t talk out of this.”

“I know I can’t.”

A deep breath of air.

“That’s… not the point. Just, be nice to Amar. She’s more like Moon than you are, Luna.”

A snap of fingers. Corruption, and then the file began to be deleted.

Goodbye.

Once me and my mom were playing the island and tamed a therizno that was right behind our base(I kept having to make trips on my pteranodon to get narcotics for it because of how fast it’s torpor was going down)

Tamed a theri, level 110 on the start easy zone in the island. friend being held from above by flier while shooting. me on foot with a bow and tranq darts. shot the chicken up. tamed for over an hour with narcotics and normal berries. now our trios best tame, level 180 something, and it has great stats and kills almost any medium sized dino you find to have trouble with. outperforms our trios spino, barrys, and any other aggro tame. it may have slightly lower damage than the barry(s), but twice as much the health and just much more consistent. 8k torpor, its just a beast. its sunshines and rainbows being able to wander around anywhere in a jungle. i also rode it 3K metres to a new base we set up, and its the only dino we took on foot. and i did it alone, laid back, and took nearly no damage. it is also feared by many other smaller hostiles. walk up volcanoes with no fear. only thing that humbles it or gets to its level that we can or have encountered? maybe spino or rex, but for sure the carcharodontosaurus. but we'll see how a few days pass and if my wishes of someday taming it works. wish me luck for that giga-sized thing.

Tales of Pandora

Origins of Salizar, Chapter 19: ~Darkhide~

In the caverns beneath the great Castle, Fort Olympia, an outcast scrounges for food. due to his unfortunate mutation his people rejected him, he spends his days alone, sad and lonely. “Will you shut up!” The outcast said. “Hmm the featherless rockdrake seems provoked, perhaps I should flee.” The narrator said. “This isn’t a documentary! Go away! And I’m not lonely..” The rockdrake said. “The poor drake is lying to himself, if only he were less rude.” The narrator said. “RUDE! It’s rude to be shunned eh? You know what!” The drake yelled as he lunged at the narrator. “they were in an open cavern, but there was still little place to run, luckily for our brave documentarian he is sly! And nimble!” He said. “Nimble this!” The drake yelled, swiping his claws at the little sinomacrops. The drake jumped onto the narrator, pinning his wings to the moist rocky ground. Suddenly a roar echoed through the chamber, the drake looked around him, confused for a moment, he looked back down to see that the sinomarcrops has escaped. “The kairukus are more interesting than you anyway, perhaps I’ll pay them a visit! Good day sir.” Nash said as he flew out of the cavern into the tunnel that led to the surface. “Good riddance!!!” Darkhide yelled as the creature escaped. He sighed and turned back to the tunnel leading a bit deeper, to his den. He quietly crawled down the winding cave and finally reached his den, unfortunately for him someone was there, waiting for him. “Stealing from children? You’ve hit a new low.” A green rockdrake said, her feathers shining off the crystal-lit cave. “The whelps have enough food, if you haven’t noticed my accommodations are quite lacking.. “General”” Darkhide said. “You did this to yourself.” The General said. “Ah yes, the evil flightless drake, how dare he go out onto the surface to take food from the land-dwellers. We really had no choice but to banish him!” Darkhide said. “You knew the surface was forbidden, our law is very clear.” The General said. “Ah yes the same laws made by the drakes that claim to be fair but don’t bat an eye at the way everyone ostracized me!” Darkhide said. “Classic Darkhide, blaming everything on his condition!” The General said. “Classic General Emerald! Only seeing the problem by the perspective of herself!” Darkhide shouted. They glared at eachother, but Emerald regained her composure. “The high counsel ordered me to bring you in.” She said. “Fine..” Darkhide said.

“Please councilman Terrace, I must ask you reconsider.” An orange and blue drake said in a hushed tone. “He’s our only option. And the rest of the counsel is unanimous.” A black and scarlet drake said. “Ah, General Emerald, we were beginning to worry you got lost.” Councilman Terrace said, the rest of the counsel chuckled. “Yes well, I’m here. And brought the scum you ordered.” Emerald said. “Good, where is he?” A counsel member asked. “I’m right here you blind bafoon.” Darkhide said standing a bit behind the General. “Oh I didn’t see you there..” the old drake said. Darkhide did blend into the dark rocks behind him. “This meeting is in order, we have no time to lose so I’m going to get straight to the point. The surface dwellers have gone silent, a few weeks ago we heard their entire force march out of their castle, since then nothing, they’re gone. What’s more worrisome is we’ve heard startling roars, roars unlike any heard before.” Terrace said. “So what.” Darkhide said. “So, we need someone to go out onto the surface and investigate these strange occurrences.” Terrace said. Darkhide began to laugh, “so, let me get this straight, you banish me because of going to the surface, and now you need me! Forget it Terrance, I’m not helping you after what you did to me.” He said chuckling. “We’ll un-banish you.” Terrace said. “Oh really? Ok I’ll do it! Not! I don’t give an araneo’s eggsac about your society!” Darkhide said. “Fine, we’ll pay you. All the food you could ever eat. You’d never have to hunt again.” Terrace said. “I said forget it.” Darkhide said, he turned to walk out. But Emerald followed him out into the tunnels. “Wait, wait!” She called from behind him, he ignored and scuttled on. “Darkhide stop!” She said. “What!?” He said turning around. “Please, you have to do this, if not for the people for yourself, your honor!” Emerald said. “Honor? What did honor get me? I went to the surface to find food while our people starved down here, and when I returned what did I get? A thank you? No, I got BANISHED! So don’t lecture me on honor, I don’t want any of it.” Darkhide said. “I-I didn’t know that..” Emerald said stunned. “Ya? Well you sure didn’t ask my side of the story, Some friend.” Darkhide said. “You’re right.. I didn’t ask, but you still broke the laws.” Emerald said. “Again with the laws! You always cared more about laws than anyone else! Tell your counsel I’ll go to the surface, but they better deliver on their end of the bargain.” Darkhide said, he turned and walked away, following the path to the surface.

Don’t go near this little monster

Trust me. It will kill you

Cato: The Theri of D.O.O.M: Chapter 1: Small Escape

A True Story

Once upon a time, I had an Ark Ascended world. I had a raptor and was going to get to my base from a big adventure when I saw it: a Theri. I love Theris, but I don’t think they like me back. At least not this one. I had a mod that helped me get really good tools and I had a bow that could knock out this Theri, which was Level 15. But oh boy did it backfire. The Theri destroyed my raptor and thankfully my dimorphodon was out of reach of the Theri. But Cato wasn’t done. He kept tricking me, kept avoiding my shots, and wouldn’t let me on his back. He tried to kill my dimorphodon and failed. I managed to escape with my tame and run back to base. But I knew Cato would return someday…

It ruined my life, IT TURNED ME INTO A WALKING MISERY

So the story begins with my two Argys (RIP). I was breeding two Argys and I forgot to feed one of them so it died I was so annoyed but I stayed and looked after the other baby, then all of a sudden the banner pops up and says you are in a dangerous area so I leave my Argy to check out what it was it was a pack of Sabertooths that killed my level 30 Pteranodon I was so mad now. But it got me thinking, then it came to me I would build a new base. So I fly my pink level 25 pteranodon To find a nice location to build my base but my pteranodon ran out of stamina so I went down and I got eaten by a Pack of allos, I was about to quit. But on the way I saw a Theri, so I respawnd and grinded enough materials to tame the beast. It took me four in game days to tame. It was now night time, and as soon as I was about to tame the Theri then a Carno came and killed it and me. It was at 98% tamed. I have yet to tame a Theri. RIP all friends lost along the way. Now to start a fresh. Thank you.

I tied to kill this guy with my argentavis but this “LONG NAILED WANNABE” torrperd me and my argie died. ( I mostly kill this thing with my pteradon Warrior Alex

So I tried to kill it with my pteradon and my 3 Rex’s Rail, Rexy, and Angle But my pterdon died and my Rex almost died but we killed successfully

The reason why I named my pteradon Warrior Alex is because she helped my defeat a alpha Rex also ignore my miss spelling

Up to remember Warrior Alex’s And Argie’s Death 😞this was hard for me we’ve been through many dangerous adventures. ):

The Attack of the Theriz

Ok, you know how brutal these things are, but you’ve heard nothing about their true power.

On the Island map, I was starting on my stone base when one of these spawned near me (about 30 meters away) and I started preparing for battle. I whistled everybody to me, but one of my dilos got to close and the theriz attacked. By the way, I have a massive Dino army. All of the Dino’s were on neutral and ally protection was on, so when the Therizino attacked, my dinosaur’s attacked and almost all died, only two survivors, Tri (Trike) and tamer (tranadon). So I asked my dad for a back up, but after it spawned, we charged. I was riding tamer and had no deaths this time (other than the theriz). This is an actual story. 👍 = thanked for my dad