)…. So I was a noob, flying on my bird named Floof, minding my business and decided to make a vacation home. I had a few trikes raptors, they were all safe at home but floof was with me. One day I woke up to lots of hullabaloo and peered outside my little vacation hut. I saw two brontos attacking a Rex. Terrified I hopped on floof and watched from above. The brontos killed it and I thanked them by having a tea party. Later I spied a raptor prowling near. I hadn’t much stuff so I stayed far away. Later that day I saw an Allohippus! (For those who don’t know Equus are actually Allohippus, their scientific name being Equus Stenosis) I hadn’t any garden yet but was setting up pipes at my normal home. Was I suprised when I saw a white horn popping from its head!!! I placed it in a pen and when I came back with rockararrots I found a raptor devouring it. Couldn’t have done it anyway (mobile) So later maybe a month or two I had improved greatly. Rexes spinos, Allohippus, even a quetz! Still working on the griffins. I had none but saved 40 amber and got 20 times balm. I charged it found a Griffin named Pevora and loved him. I saved more, got SOOOO much amber boy that was a lot of ads. I found another named Darrennra to match the -Ra. I attempted to breed for kibble, as I hoped to find another unicorn and found they were both male. I was so angry but tried again. 40 amber found a FEMALE with -Ra and began the taming. I’m still so mad at myself for this. I accidentally killed it as I was attempting to tame it. It took me so long to find it and to think I killed it!!!! Agh, 40 amber later I found Narira, tamed her successfully and bred Narira and Darrennra. I got the kibble and noticed a twinkling sound one day as I harvested with my level 187 Theri. I grabbed my argy and dashed over, picked it up and tamed her. I now grab my tames daily with lassos as me and twinkles laugh our heads off as they look at me like “Why are you dragging me around?” Aaaah… Twinkle toes is a great friend as her rainbows still trail around my hidden lake base.

Sorry so long and so boring! -Squirrely

DO NOT USE A MINOR BALM ON IT IT WILL NOT INSTA TAME IF YOU DON'T HAVE EXTRA GRIFFIN KIBBLE! Just think you should know. No offense to the Dododex dev(s), but Unis take 2 Griffin kibble to tame with a minor balm now. Like come on ark, so the uni needs more kibble now. I wish you could AT LEAST start off the tame with griffin kibble, and do the rest with rockarrots, or just be able to tame with both! ^so the Ark devs see and so future uni tamers can see.

I started a new the Island save today. Spawned in west zone 3 and while I was scratching my implant I saw something white. Couldn't believe my eyes and ran to confirm my disbelief. I had spawned right next to the unicorn on the little island by the red obelisk! 😮 What are the odds?

The other day, I was taming Equus’ in the highlands of ragnorok and my boyfriend was flying our argentavis out to come pick them up and bring them to base. He knew I wanted a pretty one so on his way, he picked up an Equus. But once in the air, the thing turned its head!

A unicorn!

We tamed him and named him Striker. He lives happily at our base with our three other Equus’, Sunday, Rockxy, and Standby!

Chapter 69: Red Haze

Original Post Date: Jun 15, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Velonasaur, next chapter in Murder Turkey.

~

After a while, Samuel and Nova finally left each others’ embrace. Samuel’s tears had dried out, but a smile still remained. Nova smiled back.

“Yayyy! Friends united!” Andres cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Nova suddenly frowned, reached her hand back, and slapped Samuel so hard he went flying. Samuel let out a howl of pain and was knocked into the wall.

“That’s for taking weeks to figure out that I was Nova! Come on, it was so obvious, I made it as obvious as possible! That’s unacceptable!”

“Owww,” Samuel groaned, “Sorryyy.”

Tiffany raised an eyebrow.

“Wut.”

“I think it’s a city goer sort of thing,” Andres explained to Tiffany. Tiffany rolled her eyes.

“This type of stuff only happens in movies. But I’d never know, I’m from the countryside after all.”

“Whatever. Apology accepted, dork,” Nova began to move her arms around and stretch. She closed her eyes and sighed as she cracked her back.

“Man being a human is great!”

Samuel slowly got up from the ground, patting dust off his torn, dirty graduation robe.

“Say, how did you even get trapped in the body of a dodo anyway? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Nova’s eyes darted off to the side, she ruffled her black hair, and then she shrugged.

“No idea dude. When we woke up on the shores, I saw your body in the sand, passed out. I started getting hungry though. So I went out to kill those big fat birds that were roaming around, but as soon as I got my hands around one, and I killed it, I just… transformed into it. Weird stuff.”

“Wait, you said you transformed into it after you killed the dodo?” Tiffany said, a moment of realization crossing her.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Hmm. Try turning back into the dodo.”

“WHAT?!” Nova stammered, astonished, “You want me to turn into that stupid thing again? What if I can’t turn back.”

“Just trust me. I think I have it all figured it out.”

Nova sighed. She closed her eyes, and for the next few seconds, nothing happened. Nova opened her eyes again.

“Ugh, it’s not working! Turning into that fat bird was just some weird glitch or whatever.”

Just then, one of the two gems in Nova’s implant glowed a bright white, and Nova’s body transfigured and morphed right back into a dodo. Nova let out a squawk of irritation.

“Nova!” Samuel cried out. As soon as Samuel called out her name, a bright light filled the room, and Nova returned to her human form. Tiffany’s eyes widened at this revelation.

“I think I see it now,” Tiffany explained, “Nova, this is merely your implant attribute.”

“Hm?”

“Once you killed that dodo, you transformed into it. Any unique creature you kill you should be able to transform into that specified creature whenever you wish. The only drawback to this is that someone must call your name if you want to turn back…”

“Wow, is it that simple?” Nova said with wonder.

“It is. Figuring out people’s attributes is kind of my thing,” Tiffany boasted. Andres smirked. Samuel still had an objection to this.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Nova already had an attribute when she was in her dodo form. Sort of.”

“What do you mean?” Tiffany asked.

“Nova could blast these weird… waves. And everytime she did it allowed people to… focus. I didn’t need it, but it was useful for my allies. And everytime she did that, her chest glowed, as if there was an implant there.”

Tiffany swung her legs off the table and stood up from her chair. She walked over to Nova and gently grabbed her left wrist, inspecting the implant closely. She eyed the two gems in the bracket, and then took a look at her own implant, which only had one.

“I see, I see now. Samuel, your friend has two implant attributes.”

“For real?”

“For real.”

“But how could that be possible?” Samuel asked, bewildered.

“I dunno. We were all spawned in with one. I’m not too sure why she would be the exception. But we should be grateful for that. You have a lot of potential, Nova.”

Samuel rubbed his left wrist softly, which contained no implant.

“Could it be that Nova somehow got my implant?” Samuel thought to himself, “Maybe that enlightenment was supposed to be my attribute. But if something like that happens, why would it glitch? That just makes me more and more skeptical of this place. I have a feeling someone’s pulling strings here.”

Loud footsteps pattered on the dirt outside. The door to the cabin swung open violently, and all faces turned to see Neddy standing at the door. He wasn’t smiling, which kind of creeped Samuel out. He was usually always laughing or smiling.

“Hey Neddy! It’s nice to meet you, finally!” Nova said, waving at him, “I’m Nova, but you knew me as Star. Kinda freaky stuff, but I was actually a human all along. Awesome stuff right?”

“We need to talk, Samuel,” Neddy declared blankly. Samuel didn’t protest.

“Okay…”

Samuel walked up to Neddy, and Neddy slowly closed the door, peering at Nova for a bit before finally looking away. The door closed, and Neddy began to walk away.

“Let’s go for a walk, friend.”

Samuel closely followed behind Neddy, and Neddy glanced at the open window. Out of earshot, Neddy softly spoke under his breath.

“Me and Ruby were coming back from our trip to get food for all of us, and we spotted Aurora crying hysterically on the cliff’s edge, weeping and sobbing about you. Ruby’s taken her down to the lake to get her cleaned up.”

“Okay, and? What does this have to do with me?” Samuel asked snottily.

Neddy suddenly stopped walking. He clenched his fists, and he turned around with scrunched eyebrows and dilated pupils. He shoved a finger into Samuel’s chest, and he let out a shocked gasp as he slowly backed away.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Neddy growled with a glare, “I know it was you! You said something to her didn’t you? What did you tell her?”

“Why do you care so much? She ran away and tried abandoning you-”

“Because believe it or not, I see her as a friend. Same as I see Tiffany as a friend, and Andres, and even the people back at the Book Club,” Neddy said, fuming, “I see you as a friend.”

Samuel stood there solemnly, his hands dangling by his side. He opened his mouth to speak.

“I rejected her. Her romantic feelings toward me. I was afraid that she was in love with me. And I was right, so that’s what I did. I told her that… that I’d never like her. And that she should move on for her own good.”

Neddy’s head slowly dropped to the dirt. He stared at the grass for a second, before kicking away a large clump of dirt.

“I didn’t know you got scared, Samuel,” Neddy muttered. He looked up, “So be honest with me, please. Why did you have to be mean about it?”

“I thought that if I was nice about it she wouldn’t be able to move on. It’d get in the way of everything.”

“Samuel…” Neddy went on, “Doing that would only make things worse. Not everyone is as heartless as you.”

Samuel’s eyes widened, and his lips transformed into a frown.

“I am not heartless.”

“Yes you are Samuel, or you’d never do the things you’ve done since we’ve met. And I think it’s about time I call you out on it,” Neddy snapped. He snatched Samuel’s left wrist, and Samuel let out a yelp. Neddy peeled down his sleeves, revealing the blank wrist.

“Samuel. If we adopted your mindset, your belief that you have to do certain things for the greater good even if they’re ‘wrong’, then you wouldn’t even be with us. We’d have left you behind to die to the terror birds and the bees. You don’t even have an implant. Does that mean you’re worthless to your eyes? No. It doesn’t, you hypocritical arse.”

Samuel tugged his arm away from Neddy with a look of surprise.

“How did you know, only Aurora and Skyler-”

“You TOLD me the very first day, don’t you remember?”

Neddy groaned and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand.

“Just do better, okay? You’re a good person. I genuinely believe you chose to save me from that Dilophosaurus because it was the right thing to do, not because you saw me as useful. What’s a skinny human tracker gonna do anyway? So please, be better. Be the person your ‘best friend’ would want you to be.”

Neddy waved goodbye to Samuel, and began to head down the pathway toward the lake to meet up with Ruby and Aurora. Samuel sighed softly, looking on at him, before finally turning away and walking back into the cabin.

Neddy’s words plagued Samuel’s mind for the rest of the day, and they didn’t stop until they finally went to sleep.

~

It was a soft winter’s night. Snow blew on their front porch, piling up slowly. Samuel and his two parents were sitting at the dining table, preparing to eat their dinner. Samuel looked at his mother. She had just gotten back from work, and hadn’t even changed out of her police uniform yet. Her black hair was short and messy. Samuel’s father, on the other hand, was slicked back. One of the seats at the table remained empty.

“How was work today honey?” Father asked, his eyes glancing over at his spouse. Mother laughed.

“Pretty boring today. Just had to pull some people over who were violating traffic laws. Lucky me.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Samuel eyed the silver half-heart lockets that were slung around both his father and mother’s necks. Unlike most traditional marriages, both of them settled for these necklaces instead of rings. And instead of taking Warren’s surname, Justice, they decided that they’d both combine surnames and settle with that.

The result? Their new surnames would be Justone, and thus their children would also be Justones.

Father glanced over at the empty seat cautiously, and looked down the hallway where Samuel’s sister’s bedroom was located. It was unusually quiet. Eerily quiet.

“Samuel, could you go get Wren and tell her to come for dinner? We’ve been waiting half an hour already,” Mother requested.

“Perhaps she is still busy studying. We shouldn’t disturb her,” Father warned.

“That’s ridiculous, she needs her food! Samuel, go now. And please remind her to take her meds while you’re at it too.”

“Yes Mom.”

Samuel got up from his seat and walked down the hallway quietly. As he reached the door, the floorboards creaked underneath him. He gently knocked on the door.

Tap tap tap!

“W-Wren? Dinner’s ready.”

Samuel waited at the door. But nobody came. There wasn’t even the sound of soft footsteps to signify someone was coming to open the door. Samuel gently knocked on the door again.

Tap tap tap.

“Wren? This isn’t funny. Come out please.”

No response.

Samuel tried again.

Tap tap.

“Wren, come out already!”

Samuel couldn’t handle it anymore. He didn’t know why but his heart was beating against his chest. Something was wrong. He grabbed the door handle and quickly swung the door open.

A bottle of pills lay on the floor, its contents spilled out. Only a few remained. Samuel slowly looked up.

He felt his heart sink into a bottomless void, forever going on and on. He felt his jaw drop slightly. A red haze filled his vision, the same knocking of the door ringing in his ears.

“Wren?”

~

Samuel’s eyes jolted awake to the sound of scratching on the window. He could feel his heart hammer against his chest, as he took a moment to breathe.

“Wren,” Samuel muttered. Samuel clenched his fist as he lay in his bed. He shut his eyes tight, but the noises were still there. The knocking, his parents’ voices, his sobs. The scratching of the window.

SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH!

Samuel stuffed his face in the primitive pillow.

“Leave me alone whatever that is, please,” Samuel muttered.

“Samuel!” a distorted voice cried out, “Pleasee… Helpp meeee!”

Samuel’s eyes opened in shock, bloodshot.

“Nova?”

Samuel quickly jumped out of his bed, grabbed a nearby spear, and rushed out of the cabin and to the back where the noise was coming from. As he ran, the crickets chirped and the owls hooted. The moon, which seemed larger than usual, shined right above him like the lamp his sister always used to study.

“Nova! I’m here to-”

Samuel paused right in his tracks, his eyes widened. Dead creatures lay everywhere, both his and Tiffany’s tames. Dodo feathers were sprawled about, and the dead corpse of Samuel’s raptor lay on the ground. The distorted noise of a radio crackled in the air, and a burst of a red haze appeared from around the corner of the cabin. Two talons grasped the corner of the wall, and a large albino raptor slowly emerged from the shadows. A red haze dissipated from its body, and it let out a soft cackle, unhinging its jaws to show its razor sharp teeth. Its ghostly eyes pinned to Samuel.

“Please don’t run,” Wren’s voice echoed from its mouth, “Hold still.”

Samuel turned around and ran.

She hears twinkling, and I say “It’s probably from the tv or something” As we walk around she sees an equus! I say “Let’s tame it!!” We get rockararots and walk up to it, I suddenly notice it dropped rainbow poo and has a horn?! “ITS A UNICORN!!” I exclaim. We attempt to feed it carrots but hmmmm IT NEEDS GRIFFIN KIBBLE!!! This is so annoying!! >:( Then it gets eaten by a raptor.... -Squirrely

I built this lovely 4x4 stall in my tree house, color the walls all different colors, and the bottom level is door frames to make it easy to gather rainbow poop every now and again. One day i come in and is half way up the wall! So i pick it up with me argy and put it back on the floor, and put a giant hatch on top. But now i am checking more often. Lo and behold, the Unicorn somehow climbed out, and I arrive just in time to see it jump off my hatch, then off the treehouse platform, and gallop away....