The early morning sun seeped through a crack in the wooden wall, and found its way straight into my closed eyes. With a groan, I sit up from the makeshift bed feeling every ache in my sore body converge all at once. Memories of the day before flooded back into my mind again as I realized, I wasn't in my bed. I really am in some lost world of dinosaurs and God knows what else. As I climb out of the bed, a bright shimmer of blue catches my eye from the work bench. I approach to the sound of my knee caps popping.
I move the thin sheet of leather to discover a strange diamond shaped metallic item producing it. I look at it closely and pick it up and study its intricate design. It is warm to the touch and seems to have pulse with a strange energy that causes a slight tingling in my hand. It seemed to be a two piece mechanism with a ridged outside shell and what seemed to be a smaller button like center. I thumbed the center portion and a beam of blue light came from the upper tip of the item and cast itself onto the wooden top of the workbench. The light flickered a few times before it cleared up revealing a blueprint of some kind. My eyes roamed over the shimmering form and noticed the title of the print.
"Raptor saddle?" I asked myself. Was it possible to tame such a wild creature? My eyes drifted to the left and noticed there is a tab called " Notes". I brush it will my fingers and a new screen replaced the current one. It was categorized into six neat sections. The "Danger" tab seemed to be promising and contained a plethora of information on the different fauna and flora of the near by areas. Pretty common stuff like what berries to eat and which ones not to as well as a list of all the dinosaurs in this area. Most of the names I recognized and there were several that had a symbol by their name. From the legend I deciphered that the symbols meant if weather or not they worked in packs. The other tab was called helpful recipes and included over two dozen different files in it. It had everything from food recipes to something called "Narcotics". I would have to look more into this. Then there was the tab called constructions. It contained several tabs of its own including: building, crafting, tools, weapons, and saddles. This would come in a great deal of usefulness hopefully, if I lived that long, that is.
The fourth tab was labeled experiences. It contained a journal of sorts for the previous own, whom I guess was the person that was laying in the corner. Turns out her name was Lilly and she had been injured in an attempt to tame a terror bird pack. It didn't go well from what I read and I'm guessing she sat down in the corner after she wrote the final note and didn't ever get back up. I felt that I owed her a proper burial after all, it was the least I could do, because she did leave a fine set of items and data that may just help me survive. The fifth tab was labeled map and was just that. It had several different areas marked on it to symbolize good areas to gather things. There was one spot on the map marked "Religious Nuts" that sent up a red flag in my mind but I don't plan on checking it out just yet.
The final tab was named Taming. This file held a few dozen different entries from Lilly's attempts to tame the different creatures in the local area. After about fifteen minutes of reading I found that she was only successful ones in the taming of a raptor. But once it was tamed it seemed undying loyal to her and never left her side for very long. I guess it didn't survive her last trip and probably gave her the chance to escape. From the rest of the notes, it turns out that narcotics are a form of tranquilizers and it could be applied to arrows to put creatures to sleep. This was somehow I could tame creatures. This was all making as much since to me as this whole land did but I guess this is how it's going to go. Her notes stated to always bring extra narcotics to make sure the creature stayed asleep long enough for the taming process to complete.
I pressed the center node again and the light retreated back to its origin. This device would become quiet helpful to my survival. I placed it back into its spot and grabbed another slice of jerk. I walked out into the fresh morning air, while I chewed on my chunk of jerky as I survey the area. The scent of rain was still fresh in the air with a nice breeze coming in taking the humidity with it. I walked the perimeter of the platform to get a better view of what is around. On the back side of the platform I find a strange contraption. I walk closer and inspect it with curiosity, it was a simple lever that seemed to be attached to a pully system of some kind. I pulled the lever and heard the sound of ropes and pullies whirled around me and a small platform floated up in front of me with a lever on it. I walked onto it and take a deep breathe before pulling the lever, fully prepared to drop out of the sky. But to my pleasant surprise, it slowly lowered me back to the ground 100 feet below.
Once on the ground, I walked back to the base of the tree making sure I wasn't in danger of being pounced by something bity. I looked for a spot with soft ground so digging wouldn't be so hard. I found the good spot right between two of the large roots. I walked back to the elevator and ascended back to the top. I searched around and found a flat round blade that would do well for a shovel. After about ten minutes, I have something close enough to a shovel. I went back to the ground as it started to drizzle.
"Well at least I'll stay cool while I dig." I say with a smile as I break the fresh dirt. After about an hour or so, I finish my task of digging and I lay her to her final resting place. I placed a cross with her name carved into it in the most elegant way I could.
"You don't know me but you have saved my life for the most part. And for that I thank you, Lilly. May you rest in peace." I refill the grave and pat the dirt smooth before I go and pick some wild flowers. I walk back and place them upon her grave before I make my way back to the elevator. When I reached the top the rain kicked up again, good thing I guess seeing how I stunk to high heaven and needed one hell of a bath. I searched around for something that could be used as soap. My attention fell back upon the strange metal device. I activated it and went it the recipe tab and found that to me seemed to be soap called Castile. After about 15 minutes of searching, I found a jar labeled the same the same thing and opened it. It had a soft fruity fragrance to it. I walked out into the nice heavy down pour. After a few moments of cleaning myself, I returned inside to dry myself by the fire I had built in the stone forge she had made. She must have been one skilled woman to have completed all of this on her own, I thought to myself. Yawning, I nibbled on the last bits of jerky that was left.
" I will have to hunt for some meat tomorrow. I do not enjoy that idea one bit." I said to myself realize that I was still alone. " I really don't need to make a habit of talking to myself." I smiled to myself as I laid back down to sleep. I felt I had done a fair bit of work today and deserved a nice long sleep. I gently drifted of to slumber still clutching that lovely blade with the bone handle. Before I fell completely asleep, I caught the smell of something burning. A sweet meaty scent carried on the breeze. It filled me with both a feeling of hopefulness of other people but a sense of dread that I could not explain.
Somewhere to the East. A woman lay tied to a stake sobbing and pulling at the iron chains that bind her wrists. A man in a white shirt approaches her. She sees the black symbol of a Rex's skull on a background of red flames.
" I have done no wrongs! I swear my lord I have served you faithfully." She cries to him. " Please have mercy and do not allow me to burn." The man chuckles at her pleas. He takes her cheek softly in his hand and smiles.
"Child we know what you did. You have played spy for the wild men of this world for far too long. And you must atone for your sins against the Lord's faithful. Fear not though, for he is a kind and forgiving God. He shall receive you with open and open graces." He spoke with a voice as soft as silk. He walked from her and took the torch from the man plated in white plate mail. " Now you shall be an example to all who dare oppose the Herald's of Light." As he spoke, every man, woman, and child poured into the center of the village. It was common place for all to watch a heretic burn. He tossed the torch at her feet and it caught the kindling ablaze.
"You crazy bastards will never control them." She screamed as the flames danced around her feet. " They will never be conquered by the likes of you. And if you think you can control the gods of this place you are sadly mistaken. I'll gladly watch you burn for this, Marcus." The flames grew higher consuming her as she let out her final scream of desperation. "They will claim you. And you will burn at his fury!" With those final words, another life had be claimed by Marcus. He turned from the blaze and walked back towards his tent. As he opened it he admired his items of interest. Three strange Artifacts of this world.
Authors Note: Disclaimer: Ark: Survival Evolved is owned by Studio Wildcard. I do not own any rights or profits to the game. Please support the official release.
