fanfiction Florian's Journal Chapter 5 (The Other Survivors)

[FlorianWind9]

THE TIME HAS COME!!!

I would like to dedicate this chapter to all of the Veteran Players of Ark Survival Evolved, well all the chapters that I have and may write concerning my story really, who played the game during the time between its early access launch and its so-called "1.0 full release"; (aka when wildcard decided to go back on their promise for no good reason and split the servers into "Legacy" and "New"; slowly deleting the legacy ones and not allowing us to even transfer character progress over to the new servers.) That was the original ASE vs ASA divide which killed the game for many players; including eventually for myself. Although it wasn't on a scale anywhere near what this modern death march is. Anyways; moving on to a more positive note; those Original Veteran Players, especially the ones who played on the Original Official The Island Server Number 39, made the game so much fun for me to experience; and made my story so interesting to be a part of; far more than anything that I could have seen or done alone in single player. Whether through ups or downs, friends or foes, progress or setbacks, I would not have had nearly as much fun or found the game nearly as interesting without them. All of their actions no-matter how small made the game world that I experienced what it was; and drove the story that I played a small part in.

To Celebrate the Existence of This Game, and to Mourn the approach of its Death, I offer this chapter and all chapters of my story in dedication to all the Original Veteran Players of Ark!

FIRSTLY: I would like to state that this story is NONFICTION, meaning that every event is completely true and really did happen. wildcard did not provide a nonfiction prefix for me to choose, only a fanfiction one, so I guess that's what I have to go with...

SECONDLY:

IMPORTANT CONTEXT!!

               The events of this story are Very Heavily based upon the true life events experienced through the perspective of the player character Florian, Nine, Wind. The events are marginally smoothed to convert video game aspects into real life description, and ever so slightly dramatized for entertainment purposes; to make the story more enjoyable.

               These events occurred within the online video game “Ark Survival Evolved” which is owned by “Studio Wildcard”. So…while the original life events occurred through Florian and the other player characters mentioned within this story; the world scenery and visual assets, as well as the in-game story elements, were created by and are owned by “Studio Wildcard”.

               These events occurred majoritively upon the “Official The Island Server 39”, with only the very ending occurring upon the “Official The Island Server 2”; and the planned Epilogue on the “Official Ragnarok Server 65”; all of which no longer exist. Server 39 and 2 would be considered "Legacy Servers" if they still existed. Server 65 would be considered a "Modern Server Soon To Be Ended" if it also still existed.

              The player created events of this story occurred between the time period of the game’s early access launch, on the online video-game hosting service “Steam” owned by “Valve”, which debuted on June 2, 2015; and just slightly beyond the game’s "full 1.0 release" on August 29, 2017. More specifically; the story of Florian’s journey, which would be depicted within the completed version of this book(If I ever manage to fully complete it), transpired approximately between November 28, 2015 and November 4, 2017.

                 I am hoping that this story will be a way for people who love Ark; that have friends that don't like playing video games; or not open world sand box video games; but who may like to read; to show those friends what the game Ark Survival Evolved is really like; or at least what it CAN be. I am also hoping to convey to those who may read it what This Video Game Has Meant To Me Personally.

                 So...Without Further ADO...I Hope You Enjoy!        

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Chapter 5

The Other Survivors

                With all the dying, and reviving I’d done in different locations around the island…it seemed highly improbable, that I wouldn’t have noticed at least some evidence of human activity before now... Apparently however…it had just been the luck of the draw. I now knew that there were other humans of some kind living on this island. I had heard their voices…and one of them had killed me. I also had a clue as to how I might contact them; by using the diamond implant beneath my left wrist, somehow...

            My first instinct, after having learned of their existence, was to do just that but; ‘by the way they talked…it seemed as though they knew more about me, than I knew of them.’ Explicitly designating a section of the island as a; ‘Noob Zone?’ …A; ‘Newcomer Area?’ Labeling me a generic, and seemingly widely understood term of Humanoid-Class-Identification; ‘Beach Bob?’

              They clearly knew far more about what was going on with this island than I did…may have even been here for years before I arrived. Given this possibility, and their seemingly superior attitude towards; ‘Beach Bobs or Janes’, it was difficult to be sure of how they would treat someone new.

                All of this carefully considered…I made the decision that some reconnaissance was in order, before I formally contacted anyone.

            Not knowing how large the island was, and knowing well the potential dangers within it, I determined the fastest way to perform this reconnaissance…would be to intentionally die and revive…until I happened to be lucky enough to wake up on someone’s doorstep.

             ‘Bit of a painful way to move around perhaps…but certainly the swiftest’; I had become somewhat numb to the agony of death by this point anyway.

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             So…I began purposefully killing myself. Falling off high cliffs to break my neck; allowing carnivorous beasts to devour me; deliberately angering Trikes and Stegos so they would skewer me with their spikes; so that I could quickly pop up around the island in the chanced hope that I might stumble upon some indication of other humans being nearby; until finally…

            …I revived upon the beach in deep shadow. Thinking at first that it might be night, I looked up into the sky to find the sun shining brightly overhead; amidst a light blue backdrop with the occasional white, stringy cloud floating by. Seeing nothing dangerous nearby…I casually turned around, to face out away from the island, in the direction of the open ocean; curious to discover what was casting such a large silhouette.

            I had been expecting to see an exceptionally large boulder…or some other huge landform, sitting a short distance out into the water. Instead however…I found myself standing just fifty feet away from a massive walled city! My eyes widening, I stood there in awe; my mouth hanging open with astonishment! Never had I thought to find something like this! A small make-shift camp of some kind perhaps…a few little wooden huts sure…but nothing like this!

            The towering walls of the city looked to be about seventy feet high; and seemed to encircle an area approximately one-quarter of a mile long, by one-tenth of a mile wide. It appeared to be made of huge, cut blocks of grey stone; and looked to be built upon an enormous sandbar, which ran parallel to the shoreline; a fifty-or-so-foot stretch of ocean water rippling between it and the mainland where I stood; utterly transfixed...

            Roughly in the middle of the wall, on this side of the city, I could see a gigantic main gate; made of huge wooden planks held together by metal bracing; which was as tall as the wall itself, and about forty feet wide! A large stone bridge extended from the base of this gateway, out over the moat-like inlet of water, to rest upon the sandy beach beyond; connecting the city to the rest of the island.

              As I began to slowly walk towards the main gate I noticed a large flag, made of white cloth stretched upon a wooden frame, was stuck into the ground on either side of the walkway; each of the flags had words on them, written in splotchy black paint.

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           Approaching the bridge, I could see they were scribed in English; and silently read what they said. The flag to the right of the passage posed the odd query; ‘Got Dabs?’; while the flag to the left boldly stated; ‘Dab City!’.

             As I stood there wondering what a; ‘Dab’, was; I suddenly heard the loud, squealing creak of the main gate slowly opening its massive doors! Slightly startled, like a frightened animal, I quickly scurried away a short distance down the beach; lying flat on my stomach, to hide amongst a thick covering of bushes. I watched in curious anticipation, as the immense entry screeched fully open...

              Then, a moment later, I observed as four individuals rushed out from the city; swiftly moving across the bridge while shouting a unified battle cry! They all wore animal-hide leather clothing. Three of them carried long wooden spears, similar to the one I had made, with back-up spears tied securely behind them; while the fourth carried a wooden bow, with a quiver of arrows firmly strapped to his back.

             To my great wonder, I saw that two of the individuals rode upon saddled Raptors; their fierceness only intensified by the directing of their human masters!

             Another of them trotted deftly upon a large grey Wolf with a menacing gaze. Judging by the human who rode it…the Wolf appeared to stand about six feet tall, and eight feet long; from the tip of its wet, snarling nose to the end of its bushy tail. It moved quickly upon four, strong legs; each with a set of deadly sharp claws. Its two pointed ears swiveled alertly as its long, insulating fur rippled in the air; flowing past while it sprinted to the front of the pack!

           Perhaps the most surprising of all however…was that the fourth individual bringing up the rear; was riding upon a large, red, Carnotaurus!

           They charged fearlessly up the steep, grassy incline of the large hill in front of their city; and quickly disappeared into the forested knolls beyond. ‘Perhaps they were a hunting party headed out to procure some fresh meat for the city? Or a raiding group sent to deal with nearby rivals?’ Who could say?... As the behemoth sized gate began groaning closed behind them, I slowly stood…wondering whether it would be a good idea to introduce myself.

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              Instead…I turned around and scrambled up the sharply inclined mound, the sun hot on my back, to the top of an eighty-or-so-foot-high cliff; which overlooked the beach near the city. From this vantage point, I could just see over the seventy foot high walls into what lay beyond...

               I observed the roofs of many large, stone buildings; with a fenced in area between them, containing a small variety of dinosaur-like creatures. There appeared to be what looked like a small field of various crops growing in one corner of the compound as well; with the occasional human form moving from one place to the next, completing their different tasks. It truly was a fully realized, if somewhat primitive looking, city; operating efficiently on this strange island.

             With this impressive sight in view…it was then I decided, that I still needed to know more before making contact. ‘If there was one city this well developed on the island…then surely there could be more. Were there different separated groups? Warring factions?’ If there was a political hierarchy, then I needed to know more before diving too deeply in. ‘Get accidentally affiliated with the wrong group…and it could severely hinder my chances of discovering what was going on here...’

              Deciding to do more searching around, I let myself fall freely from the cliff…my arms outstretched like wings…and angled myself so that I’d land head first to break my neck; swiftly severing my contact to life.

~~~~~~~

              I revived upon a large, flat beach; with a soaring cliff towering a hundred or so feet above, all along its length for as far as I could see. Large boulders were strewn about the area from the base of the cliff, to a few yards out into the ocean’s water. The surf crashed gently against the rocks, as gulls cried loudly amidst the shining blue sky. Most notably however, was that I had revived right next to a large stone building; which rose about forty feet up from the sandy ground!

              It was a square building made of cut rocks, cemented together with mud and thatch; appearing to measure about sixty feet wide by sixty feet long, with a large gated door on the side facing the ocean. The gate was closed, and there were no windows to peer through, yet…somehow the structure gave me the impression, that it had been abandoned.

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              As I walked around its walls, and then further still down the beach, I found a few such large stone buildings; with some smaller wooden structures built between them…and still fewer tiny, thatch huts built between those.

              It almost seemed as though some well-developed group, or groups, of people had built the stone buildings and then abandoned them for some reason…then some smaller group or groups, had decided to erect wooden structures of their own amidst the large stone fortifications; possibly using them as extra protection against the island’s dangers, but had long since abandoned them as well…then a few lone individuals had come along with the same mindset, and built simple thatch huts amongst the larger wood and stone buildings; but had since moved on themselves…leaving a beach covered in empty ruins...

             ‘How long had people been living on this island…and how many…to have built such structures, just to leave them abandoned?’

              As I briefly considered picking up where they’d left off, by making these abandoned structures a temporary shelter for myself, I then noticed one potential reason for their abandonment; charging towards me from a short ways down the beach. A large Raptor was sprinting in my direction; its eyes fixed squarely on its next meal!

              Having no reason to stay any longer…and nowhere to escape to from this ravenous beast…I let the Raptor take me in its claws as it pinned me to the ground with a familiar thud. It clamped its dripping jaws around my head, and severed my spine with a jerking twist; time to revive again.

~~~~~~~

             I revived upon a beach which gradually turned into a sixty foot high cliff, sparsely covered in trees, to my left. To my right were two large, wooden billboards with English lettering on them. The billboard on my left, a short ways inland, stated clearly in bold white paint; ‘Be Advised! You are now entering The Republic of Mongo! Be Mindful of the Turrets!’

              Looking past the billboard, I could see that the beach transitioned into a large hill made of cliff-edged plateaus; with wide pathways winding up to its top.

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             At the hill’s summit sat a large stone fortress, with what appeared to be small turrets of some kind peeking out over the edge of its walls; their metal glinting sharply in the bright sunlight. All along the pathways leading up to the fortress, as well as a few yards distanced on either side of the plateaued mound, similar billboards could be seen with white paint; depicting what I assumed was the same proximity warning, to anyone who might be traveling by.

               The billboard on my right, sunk securely in the sand, declared proudly in white paint; ‘Republic of Mongo Newcomer Courtesy Shelter! Please Be Respectful!’ Just to the right of the billboard was a wooden bridge, traversing a twelve foot deep inlet of ocean water; about thirty feet or so over to a small peninsula, which ran parallel to the mouth of a narrow river as it emptied into the sea.

               A few yards past the far side of the walkway, was a decent sized wooden building; with sparse square windows, a tiny wooden deck at its front, and a steeply sloped wooden roof. It could have been compared to either a large one-story house, or a small hotel. Beside the structure; a small area encircled by a tall wooden fence, with a large wooden gate could be seen near the building’s entrance. Two saddled Parasaurs were making soft honking noises, while peacefully grazing within the penned up space…it appeared that the courtesy shelter had a visitor or two.

                 Encouraged by the welcoming billboard, I briskly walked across the wooden passage; and began making my way towards the shelter; eager to ask whoever was inside some questions…and hopeful that they’d be willing to answer them.

              Then I hesitated; and looked down. ‘What would they think of a random naked man, suddenly walking up to them…and rambling about how he had amnesia, while asking them why the laws of death no longer seemed to apply?’

               Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I walked even faster…past the shelter…down the length of the peninsula, in search of bushes so that I could at least make a half-ways decent covering for myself. Unfortunately, the bushes and trees were very sparse on this rocky peninsula; so it seemed I would have to search the main coastline for materials.

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               Reaching the inland end of this long point of land; I came upon a large stone bridge, that spanned across the river which ran alongside the peninsula; two large stone towers framing the walkway’s entrance on either side. Due to its proximity…it seemed very likely that this bridge had also been built by the Mongo Republic.

               Looking across the water…the river appeared to be about sixty feet wide; and disappeared behind a bend of sheer rocky cliffs as it snaked its way inland. On the other side was a large, thickly forested hill; with an equally thick undergrowth of bushes.

                Enthusiastic about the future for the first time in what seemed like many days, I confidently walked across the bridge; the hard stone warm beneath my bare feet. Making sure to keep my eyes alert for any potential dangers, I saw a few wild Parasaurs grazing in the bushes near the tree-line; a few Trikes making their way down the shore; and the occasional Dodo, which seemed to pop up almost everywhere on this island; but nothing too hazardous.

             Having made my way to the lush covering of bushes, I began tearing into them; collecting their fibrous, leafy tissue so as to make a simple covering…much as I had before. ‘Better than nothing’, I thought. Focusing a bit too much on my work…and forgetting to keep looking around…once I had gathered a large armful of fresh fibers, I suddenly heard an uproar of loud tribal yelling directly behind me!

              Turning around slowly…I found myself face-to-face, with three deeply tanned individuals. There were two muscular men of average height, with a near equally muscular woman between them. The men carried long wooden spears, while the woman wielded a wooden club. Each of them wore simple loincloths; and their hair was black as a raven’s feather.

                For a moment I stood silent…frozen…unsure whether they were friend or foe. Her expression stern, the woman then slowly…silently…lifted her club; and brought it back down hard upon her other palm in an aggressive gesture. My body now moving on instinct, in fear of what they might do to me, I quickly dropped the bundle of fibers; and bolted down the shoreline! Hearing the men grunt with effort, spears swiftly whizzed passed me as I ran; barely missing their marks!

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             With nowhere to run, in desperation, I abruptly turned to the right; and dove into the ocean water…swimming far out, and deep down, in attempt to hide myself in its cooling depths! More spears sank passed, as I went farther…deeper…barely sliding by my shoulders and then……I waited.

              All that time in the void had gotten me used to the sensation of not breathing...

             Given the right incentive; it seemed I could hold my breath for quite a long time…

             The spears having ceased; I stopped swimming down, and looked back to see if they were following me. Fortunately…they were not. It seemed whatever they may have wanted with me, it wasn’t worth a deep dive; ‘they probably figured I’d have to come up for air at some point anyway.’

             So I waited… One minute… Two minutes… Three minutes… Four minutes……

              After a while, my lungs began to scream in protest; and I was forced to make the decision either to surface…or drown! Still thinking I might have a chance of getting some answers from whoever was staying at the courtesy shelter, I began franticly moving my arms towards the surface; choosing this time to grasp at life!

              Amidst the rippling waves, I burst through the ocean’s veneer; gasping deeply for life-giving air! Treading about ten yards from the shore…I surveyed the coastline as far as I could see in either direction; and as far inland as the trees would allow…attempting to determine if my tribal attackers were still somewhere waiting for me... Seeing no sign of them, despite my thorough searching…it appeared they had found their prey to be a little too much trouble for it to be worth their time; and had left.

              Cold…mentally shaken…I gradually made my way back to the beach; my earlier sense of encouragement evaporating, as my recently acquired fears had proven true; ‘it seemed that carnivorous dinosaurs…and murderous beasts…weren’t the only dangers on this island.’

              Sloshing through the shallower water…I stepped back upon the warm sand with a deep sigh; my muscles quivering from the exertion of having run and swum so far; so fast. ‘At least it turned out…I was a pretty good swimmer.’

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               Making my way cautiously back to where I had dropped the fiber…I found that they had taken all I had collected. With another deep sigh, but being undeterred, I more watchfully began collecting bush fibers again; hopeful that whoever possessed those domesticated Parasaurs, would be more civilized than the humans who had just attacked me.

                Completing my task without further incident…it had become evening by the time I finished crafting my modest garment; and made it back to the Republic of Mongo’s newcomer courtesy shelter.

              Amidst an odd mixture of disappointment and relief, I found both of the Parasaurs gone; along with whoever had owned them.