OverRannus

Maybe make it’s larger weakness is that in the cold climates causes it to hibernate instead of just being less efficient. The reason for the Magmasaur has this and makes sense with this effect is because it’s a living furnace and can always maintain enough heat, just needing more work to maintain that heat. While this is more of a Lavasioth in interpretation, in that it covers itself in somewhat hardened or soft lava to maintain heat. So if it’s in cold environments, have it rapidly cool down the lava and slowly or otherwise gain torpor while in colder conditions. Maybe also instead of spewing a gold fire ball, have it more as a defensive play style instead compared to the Magmasaur. Taking reduced damage and at the same time dealing damage back passively. Maybe also make its melee deal fire damage per hit. Or adds a new mechanic that with each bite, stack pyrokenetic energy. And once fully charged. Allow it to start dealing fire damage with each bite over a short period of time. Or maybe it burps up Lava, keeping liquid lava in specially designed glands that allow it to burp short range attacks that deal fire damage and slow down opponents.

Paul Riddley stood there next to his newest tame that they acquired, a Ceratosaurus. She was young and honestly quite inexperienced and weak compared to what he had been riding for the past several months. ‘She may not be Brutus, but they sure great travel mounts.’ He thought as he mounted, The Scottish-American had ridden countless young and inexperienced horses where he was from but it was different riding an inexperienced dinosaur. He took a glance down at his wrist only to remember that he didn’t have a watch. He looked towards the blue sky, hating how it never changed. He hated having to worry about not knowing the time of day. Their Tek went dead on them a few hours after they arrived, three days ago. Erica said that Element would be easier to get here than on the Ark, but it would take time to get used to their new surroundings and strengthen their forces. They kept the armor, but Paul still missed being able to tell proper time everywhere he went and not guess at everything. “Quit worrying about Jonathan and Sylas, Paul. They're fine, probably squabbling but fine.” A voice said next to him, that would be his right-hand woman Erica Stevens. A woman who had a reserved past but who he’d been friends with since they met on that place’s beach 8 months ago. She was riding a trike that she named Taurus. “You make them sound like children. Do you mean squabble like arguing children or squabble like one having the other at knifepoint? And I’m also worried about Freya if you must know, this place seems more dangerous than the Ark we came from. We should have helped her on this hunt.” Paul said, Erica looked at him with a goofy concerned look. “You know that only happened twice with Jonathan in the beginning and Sylas was screaming like a chicken on both occasions.” Erica said, “And about Freya?” Paul asked, “Freya is an adult, Paul. She would’ve forced you to stay while she hunted by herself. To a point that she would knock you out.” Erica answered. “I suppose you're right on that, but you should have stayed back with Sylas and Jonathan to watch over them while I waited here.” “And listen to them bicker the entire time, why do you think I came along?” Erica said jokingly, Paul looked at her unamused. He sighed as he looked off into the distance of the vast wasteland. “What else is bothering you, Paul?” Erica said smiling, “Why didn’t you tell us? In the hallway to the arena… that one hologram, why didn’t you tell us that was our home now?” Paul said staring her down, Erica’s smile disappeared and she looked away. “It was irrelevant at the time.” “Irrelevant Erica?! The Earth hasn’t gotten dark since we got here?! The landscape of Earth is dead and so alien to what it normally was then?! The moon, the thing I looked at for its beauty for years is shattered into bloody pieces! How could you think it was irrelevant to anyone Erica?!” Paul confronted, “It was irrelevant because it was Paul!! We were being hunted by Priests of Mictlantecuhtli forces and their psycho leader so I didn’t really think about telling you!! Plus I had never seen or had to deal with those caves before so that was stressful in itself. Now yes, the Earth was dying from a war that happened before I was born, but only its ecosystem at my time. Earth had a rotation and the moon was fine, I didn’t know about any of the rest. But it doesn’t change the fact that Earth is dying unless we get that station down! And for that, we have to find the system.” Erica spat in anger, the two then sat there in silence as they waited for their friend for several minutes. Paul felt bad for chewing her out. He hated getting angry at people, but he felt misled by her telling them how to get down here but not being told what happened to Earth. However, he heard a noise in the distance but didn’t catch it and tried to listen to it again. “Look, Paul, I’m sorry that I-” “Pin yer lugs back.” Paul interrupted. “Paul, you know how I hate apologizing for anything, so can you please just let me-” She said before pausing, noticing that Paul’s hand was over his mouth in the quiet motion and pointed towards the wasteland. She listened for a moment before hearing a voice. “Paul, Erica!! I need help over here!” A voice’s shout echoed from the distance. It was Freya. The two looked at each other. “What do you think she wants?” Erica said, “I don’t know, but it would definitely be important.” Paul said. Then they rode their mounts as quickly as possible to get over to where they saw Freya go off to. Where they found the ground lowered into a Sulfur Field. They didn’t know where to go from there, but they didn’t have to know where. They heard shouting and yelling coming from the left side of the Sulfur Field. They began to rush towards the noise to see what was going on. As they got closer, they began to hear what the shouter was saying. “STOP SPEAKING LIKE THAT!! WHAT ARE YOU!?” The voice shouted in an unusual tone, almost panicked and unsettled they began to rush, and as they got to a ridge. They saw what was going on. There they saw Freya, hands in the air with her one Axe on the ground as she was trying to talk down a masked figure, with his face almost entirely covered. The man held a bow aiming at her head. Erica pulled from her saddle a long-neck rifle and aimed it at the assailant. Paul looked over at her and his eyes widened. “Erica, Don’t!!” He said a bit loud, a little too loudly as Freya and the masked person looked at them. Immediately the bow changed color to a red and his aim changed direction towards them. Erica lowered her rifle and scowled at Paul. “Way to go.” She growled, Paul glared at her but was interrupted by the masked person. “What are you things! Aliens? Ghosts? My Sanity? What Are You!!” The person yelled with the voice trembling, it sounded like a man from what Paul could tell. “What are you talking about? We’re like you? Humans, survivors. From the Arks.” Paul yelled back, “What?” The masked man said, “The Arks, a place you were before, one that was lusher than it is here?” Paul said, the man seemed to pull his bow harder back as he aimed. “Quit lying and tell me… What Are You?!” He said aimed it at Paul. Paul raised his hands in the air before he slowly put them on his saddle and dismounted. “What are you doing!?” Erica said aloud as Paul got off the Ceratosaurus and began walking with his hands in the air down a path that led him to the masked man. As he got closer, he could see the man was wearing armor similar to Tek, and his bow also seemed to be. However the dark lensed goggles and what looked like a futuristic bandanna didn’t seem to be Tek, though they were futuristic to some degree and they seemed to be attached to each other. His hair was dirty blonde and messy. While his aim and movement was that of stone on Paul. His breathing was shallow and rapid as Paul got closer. “D-D-Don’t get closer.” The man said, but Paul didn’t listen. He continued walking up to the man until he was only about 6 feet away. Paul lowered his hands and showed them to the man. He spun around slowly before facing the man once again. “We are just like you. It’s okay.” Paul said, the man looked at him, at first he seemed to not care. But he lowered his weapon and dropped it on the ground. Slowly, his breathing began to increase in volume and turned into hyperventilating. He ripped off his goggles and mask to get more air, revealing his face. He was young, early twenties or late teens. His deep green eyes were red and teary as he stared at Paul. “Please, please tell me your real? Please tell me I’m not imagining you all?” The man heaved, tearing as he did. Paul was confused by this question in its entirety, but the man was dead serious in asking the question. “Yes, yes we’re real.” He said, the man started crying as he balled up on the ground and began to cry. Paul was shocked by this reaction. He honestly wasn’t sure what to do. He looked over at Freya, she grabbed her axe off the ground and walked towards him. “He’s such a broken man. I could hear it through his voice.” She spoke, her mouth moving differently than what Paul heard. However, he had gotten used to it. “I’m s-sorry, I didn’t mean t- I’m so sorry.” The man began sobbing, repeating it over and over. “Hey, hey, It’s okay. You did no harm, so there isn’t anything wrong. Now yer looking a bit peely wally, sit here and rest.” Paul said kneeling next to him. The man looked confused still crying but he nodded in compliance. Paul got up to see Erica running down to them with her rifle in hand. He started walking toward her and Freya followed carrying her axe. They were outside of earshot of the man at this point. “So, what are we going to do with this guy?” Erica said, her tone serious and her face uneasy. “I Havnae a Scooby.” Paul said thoughtfully, he was replaying the scene that just happened in his head. “Well, I don’t think we should let him live.” Erica an “What? What harm has he done? I don’t think we should leave him alone. He’s in pain.” Freya argued, Erica scoffed at this. “He’s done a fair bit of harm. Especially since he’s in that armor and has that weapon. And you think it’s okay to let him into our tribe?” “Well, why not? He can be a useful ally.” “You’re too trusting in others, Freya.” Erica said irritated. “And you are too distrustful of others Erica. What could he do to us?” Freya said. “What if it’s a trap, what if he has allies and they are waiting to ambush our entire group? If they are all wearing what he is wearing, we’re all dead with no chance. That’s why we should kill him, we get the armor and gear and we would be a whole lot safer.” Erica said, Freya shook her head as she said this. “You’re being absurd Erica.” Freya said. “No, you are the only one who’s being absurd here Freya.” Erica said irritated, “Both of you, keep yer heids!” Paul shouted stepping into the argument. “Freya, you are being a bit too at ease here with this situation. It could be very well a trap.” Paul said, Erica huffed proudly, “Let me finish Erica. However, Freya, I agree with you.” Paul finished. “What?!” Erica said, “He’s having a breakdown Erica, and he isn’t faking it. And what it’s from that I’ve seen is believing that we weren’t and threatening to shoot us. He’s alone, and to be honest I don’t think it’s safe to leave him. Plus, he may have better experience in this world than any of us here.” Paul answered, “What experience?! I lived here!! We don’t need him.” Erica stated, “True, but you’ve even said it yourself that this place is different from when you were here. He may know this place better than you.” Paul stated, Erica scowled at him. “Are you doing this to get back at me?” She said irritated. “No, I’m doing this for our best chance at survival.” Paul fibbed, he knew that he did do it slightly because of that reason. He walked away from the other and went over to the man. He seemed a bit calmer. His breathing slowed and his sniffling more quieter. His nature seemed almost childlike. “Hey, you good?” Paul asked kindly, and the man nodded. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” Paul asked, the man shook his head. “I don’t mind, if you allow me to ask you some questions.” “Alright, let’s start with an easy question. Where were you f-” “Arat Prime Military Hospital, born 2353.” He said quietly, “Alright, what’s your name?” Paul asked, but the man stayed silent. Paul sighed to himself. “My name is Paul Riddley by the way. I don’t think we got on the right foot before.” Paul said, extending his hand out to the man. He looked at him for a moment before extending his hand out to shake. “Andrew.” “Andrew?” “Just Andrew, what’s the point in a last name when you don’t have anyone who would use it.” He said, he looked above him as though looking at someone else. Paul glanced over his shoulder to see Erica walking up, hoisting the rifle over her shoulder. She saluted them, showing her implant in her wrist and Paul nodded. He looked back to see the man confused at what had happened. He took this curiously as this was the first time a survivor took it as they didn’t know what it meant. “Alright, final what Ark did you first wake up from?” Paul asked. “What?” The man said, “Ark, you know. That place you were when you woke up?” Erica butted in. “The Camacho Forest?” “What? How- No, I mean the creature-infested, overgrown space stations? The Arks?” She continued, “I don’t follow. What Space Stations? What other places? The only places I’ve been before are a few small outcrops of ruined buildings and towns, Sanctuary, and Camacho International Forest. Nowhere else.” Andrew stated in frustration, Paul looked at Erica who seemed dumbfounded by this. And to Paul, he was just as confused by this. If he was a survivor, how did he get down here? “Could I ask my questions now?” Andrew asked, Paul broke free from his thoughts for a moment to answer. “Yeah, yeah. Go on.” “How can you understand her, are you both fluent in her language?” He asked, pointing to Freya who was beginning to harvest the carcasses. Paul shot a confused look at Andrew. “Don’t you?” “No, I couldn’t understand anything she said. It’s why I became so afraid of her. I didn’t know what she was saying or what she wanted.” “Isn’t your translator working?” “Translator?” “Aye, the one in your implant?” “Implant?” “Aye, the one in your left wrist.” He said, the man looked confused. “What implant?” “Here, let me see your wrist.” Paul said as he grabbed his wrist. “The one right here?” He continued before pausing in confusion. There was no implant. Nothing of the sort. “Erica, he doesn’t have one.” Paul said, “That’s impossible, everyone on the Arks has to have one.” “But I was never on these “Arks”. I was here on Earth ever since I woke up from Cryostasis.” Andrew said. “How then? How- Cryostasis? You were frozen?” She asked, he nodded. “For how long? And how long have you been awake since then?” She asked again. “I’ve been awake for just over 12 years. As for how long, I don’t know. The longest-running clock before dying that I’ve found has said just over a thousand years from when I went into Cryostasis.” He stated. “A thousand years?” Freya repeated. For Paul. A deep feeling in his gut dropped harder than anything he had ever felt. And he sure didn’t feel alone in this moment of grief and pain. As he knew both Freya and Erica had to have the same feelings.

I like it, however, I don’t know if they’ll allow it because of the name change. Obviously it’s based off the Axolotl, but it might be a bit too fantastical if you change the name from Axolotl to Magmaxolotl. And it may be a bit too close to the Magmasaur in some abilities. However other than that it’s really good!!

Andrew walked into the kitchen and grabbed any cooked meat that he had left in the fridge. He exited the kitchen went down the hallway to the front and grabbed a military backpack, his goggles, and a bandanna as he walked out the door and went behind the house. He stuffed all the meat that he grabbed inside the bag as he walked around the house to the back. Nothing mattered to him anymore except to avenge Reuben. And wouldn’t come back until the deed was done. He walked towards the shed, opened the door, and walked inside. He quickly went to the two containers of his parents and opened them up. In both were an array of weapons from his time. Everything Tek, from swords and knives to rifles and pistols to things he wasn’t sure what they were. He picked up one of two bracelets from his mom’s container and found it had a button on it. He put on the bracelet and pressed the button. Immediately a guard began forming around his wrist and lower hand, a blade shot out ahead of his hand. Andrew was amazed by this, it felt like it was pulsing through to his bones while activated. It felt energizing and powerful. But he deactivated it and put it back with the other. While it felt good, that he wouldn’t be able to wear his gauntlets while using them, it honestly felt like a bad design choice for a military weapon. He looked through his mother’s container again only to see more medical supplies and equipment, she really only had a shoulder cannon and the knife hands. He turned his attention to his dad’s container immediately seeing what he wanted, he pulled out a Tek bow and activated it. It immediately expanded out into the shape of a bow and a glowing string appeared from the bow and attached itself to the other side. It glowed an ominous cyan. Andrew adjusted his thumb and hit something by accident. A small holographic choice wheel appeared with four selections on it. Having regular arrows, combustible arrows, explosive arrows, and narcotic gas arrows. Andrew pressed the combustible arrow choice and the string color changed from cyan to orange. And the bow became a comfortable warm in his hand. He switched it back to the regular and it went back to normal. He deactivated it but kept it in his hand. This was something he was going to keep. He then looked at a knife in his dad’s container. At the moment, the blade was not there and it was only the handle sitting there. He grabbed and activated it and slowly an element blade began appearing out of the handle and forming into a military knife. He admired the translucent blade for a moment before deactivating it. He took a look one last time to see if he could possibly need anything else from inside either container. He then grabbed a Tek canteen and Tek Binoculars from his mom’s container before closing it up. He looked back at his dad’s container, and for a moment he stared at his dad’s helmet, where the call sign was. He had on the side of that helmet, Turok. For years he wondered what it meant, but never found anything in the books that he read. But to be honest, it wasn’t as important to him as it was years ago. Many of the mysteries behind his parents were never going to get answered. The only one that he wanted answered was why. Why do this to him and never wake him up? It’s haunted him for years and he’s never gotten a good answer that made sense. But that was an answer he would have to find some other time. He walked out of the shed with the stuff and began packing it inside the bag with the meat he had packed before. He checked the canteen to see how much water it would take to be filled up but to his surprise. It was already full. He took a sip and the water was perfectly fine and clean. Nothing wrong with it, he packed it in the pack with the weapons and headed off towards the teleporter. It was time for his pain to be vanquished. ~ Three days and nights passed as Andrew wandered through the wastelands surrounding Sanctuary. Every moment out there, he felt the weird feeling of being watched or even followed. But when he looked, he saw nothing. Just an empty Wasteland. It made him all the more uncomfortable to be there. He thought this wouldn’t take this long, so he followed the blood trail outside of the building. But the trail disappeared after a mile or so with no body or pools of blood nearby. He continued searching, but with each passing day, his anger for this beast grew and so did the pain of losing his friend. He felt guilt for everything that happened. It was his and the raptor’s fault. Killing the raptor in Reuben’s name would remove his guilt and suffering. But his anger kept building as he searched the raptor packs as he went along. Using his binoculars to spot them. But hadn’t yet found the raptors that killed Reuben. He wandered westward and stumbled into a sulfur field. The place was incredibly hot, hotter than anywhere he had been and the air didn’t smell all too good. He was about to desert the place quickly but he saw a pack of five raptors inside and decided to spot them. Andrew couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a Raptor with a recent injury and a stubbed tail. He dropped the binoculars and quickly took off the backpack and dropped it to the ground. He opened it up, grabbed the bow, and activated it. With it expanding out and a cyan-blue string appearing. He was about two hundred yards away from the pack, a difficult shot with what weapon he had. But it was doable. Andrew drew his bow and a bolt of pure energy appeared on the arrow rest. As he did, auto-target activated and locked onto the head of the animal. Andrew pressed a button on the grip and the auto lock turned off. He aimed the bow for the creature’s ankles, he wanted it to see his face before it died. He waited for the right moment making some noise to catch its attention, the raptor stopped and looked for where the sound was. And Andrew took his shot. The bolt flew at impressive speed and hit the animal in the ankle, completely snapping it. The animal started screeching and howling in pain as the other four ran off in different directions. Andrew waited for a moment, he watched the animal struggle as it tried to get back on its feet only for it to collapse over again. Andrew watched this happen several times before having a good sense that it was clear for him to finish it off. He walked down towards the creature as it screeched and clawed at the ground trying to get up. As he walked into its sight though. The creature hissed and snarled, its eyes filled with unnatural fury and anger as Andrew got close to it, knowing who he was and what he was there for. Andrew drew the bow and shot it in the hips, debilitating it from moving its legs. His anger built up as he activated his knife and got close to it, cutting off its arms. He continued with his anger and vengeance, thrusting the knife into the beast’s chest and gutting the creature, the creature hissed and screeched even more. Andrew dropped the knife, pulled out his bow, and aimed it at the raptor’s head. But he paused and stared at the creature. The creature’s snarls and screeches began heaves and low-tone growls, its eyes were different than before and telling a different story. A story of pain and suffering, one of confusion and despair. Its eyes looked at Andrew before closing, preparing for its death and almost being at ease with it. But Andrew couldn’t do it, his anger turned to himself. He became a monster through his anger and pain. He stumbled back after realizing what he had done through his anger, breathing heavily. “What have I done…” He said aloud. Suddenly the creature began to lunge at him. Its eyes glowed magenta and were full of fury, and the beast snarled and began snapping at him. Andrew didn’t think and fear and instincts took over. He drew the bow and released the string. The bolt of energy flew straight into the head of the raptor and it dropped dead. Its head was fried and smoke came from the head. Andrew dropped to the ground and sat there, his emotions being pulled in every direction at the same time. He didn’t know what to think with all that was happening, but mostly guilt and pain hit him the hardest out of these emotions. He began hearing the echoing calls of the other raptors, their calls getting closer with each minute. Andrew quickly realized what was going on and got up as he tried to escape. Only to find himself surrounded by four raptors, all of them beginning to circle calculating an attack. Andrew drew his bow and fired his first shot, dropping the first one. Two of the others came in charging and Andrew sifted three bolts at one of them, dropping it on the third. The third raptor came in fast and Andrew drew the bow fast and fired a shot straight at the creature’s head. Dropping it three feet away from him. Andrew quickly looked around in front of him for the fourth. As he did, a powerful hit came from behind him, launching him into the ground face-first. He flipped over onto his back only to see a raptor a few feet away from him. He tried to scuttle back, but the raptor lunged at him. Andrew thrusted his bow in front of him with both hands on it to block the raptor from getting to his face and both got into a stalemate. Andrew held the bow to its neck and its arms as the head of the beast was only a foot away from his head. Andrew let out a yell out of instinct, releasing his anger, pain, and fury all out. Andrew could feel the raptor’s foot push down on his chest and heard the claw try to pierce the armor but was too weak to pierce it. He tried to adjust one of his hands towards the string but the animal felt its tension ease and tried to push downward, Andrew tried and succeeded at regaining a grip on the bow with his other hand. Leaving the distance between their faces only a few inches apart. Andrew could feel the hot, disgusting breath and saliva of the creature fall on his face. His strength began to fail him and the creature kept moving in centimeter by centimeter. Andrew felt like a failure to his friend even more. All he wanted was to make something right for his friend but he failed at that. Tears began rolling down his face. ‘I don’t deserve to be alive, I should’ve been the one to die there, Reuben. All I’ve done since is cause pain. Forgive me for what I’ve done.’ He thought, he looked at the raptor above him. Its eye’s magenta, it almost looked like it had a smile across its face as it knew it was winning. Andrew screamed out just in anger at himself. And slowly letting the bow come down towards his face. With the creature snapping more vigorously with each centimeter passing. The creature jerked its head up as was about to try to force the arms down faster. Then Andrew heard a loud thud and the raptor above him jerked, squealed, and screeched in pain. It turned around away from Andrew and started hissing and snarling at something there. Andrew scuttled back and saw a Battle Axe sticking out of the back of the raptor. He watched as the beast charged at whatever it was, and then another thud, and the creature reared up and howled in pain. Then a sudden halt in the howl as Andrew watched the head and neck slide off the body and both fell to the ground with something standing over it with an axe in its hand. A human, a woman with blonde hair wearing fur armor and desert-built pants. She bent over grabbing the battle axe from the back of the creature and slipping it into a loop hanging from a belt. She looked over at Andrew and smiled with a kind face. “Jeg hørte noen rop fra andre siden av dalen og fulgte etter den. Det så virkelig ut som du trengte en hånd. Paul, Erica! Kom raskt, jeg har funnet noen! Navnet er Freya, hva er ditt?” The woman said to Andrew, but he couldn’t understand it. Andrew’s eyes widened with fear. He knew his mind was already on the verge of losing it, but he didn’t think it was this close ‘This can’t be real, it’s just impossible. I’ve looked everywhere across Sanctuary and the surrounding area for years and never found anyone. Am I dead? Is this some sort of torment or alien encounter?’ He thought to himself. The woman saw that he was in distress. “Hei, går det bra med deg? Paul, Erica! Jeg trenger hjelp her! Det er, greit at vi skal hjelpe deg uansett hva du trenger!” The woman said, he couldn’t understand her still. She started getting closer to Andrew. Andrew’s eyes widened even more and he stood up immediately and aimed his bow for her. She lowered her axe and raised her hands in the air. She tried to say something but Andrew cut her off. “Who are you, what are you!” He said scared, he was trembling from everything that happened and was going on. She said something but again he couldn’t understand. “I don’t understand, I don’t understand what you’re saying. WHAT ARE YOU?” He shouted with a trembling voice.

Andrew grabbed the shotgun off the ground and pulled the trigger. Blowing off the raptor's tail in view. The creature screamed out in pain and left his view. Andrew crawled out of the crevice with shotgun in hand and looked the way the raptor went only to see it go around the corner. “Where are you going!! Coward!!” Andrew screamed, but a snarl came from behind him. Andrew looked around and saw another raptor coming around the other side. It charged towards him, however, he didn’t run and instead began walking towards it shotgun aimed at it. He fired his weapon and the creature staggered, but Andrew continued pushing towards the creature and fired again and again. It dropped on the floor only a few feet from Andrew with its skull and neck disfigured. Red blood and Magenta liquid pools began to form around the body. Andrew thought it was unusual that the pools didn’t mix together but instead separated when leaving the body. He looked around and only saw the three bodies lying on the ground. He saw a blood trail that was from the fourth raptor and began following it, shotgun to his shoulder. However, following it led him to the hallway and outside where the blood trail disappeared. Andrew was furious that he didn’t get it, he was ready to yell at the top of his lungs. He walked back to where he was and picked up his rifle. He saw the two raptors that lay there, how much he wished it was three. He turned around to see Reuben’s lifeless body on the ground. No movement, no breathing, lifeless. A pool of blood built around him and had a gash on his side and on his throat. Andrew knelt down looked and grabbed him, his eyes wide and lifeless. Andrew's hands turned red from the blood, but he didn’t care. Andrew’s eyes watered underneath the goggles and he began having a hard time breathing with the bandanna over his face. He took both off and began crying the hardest he had in a very long time. Why couldn’t he have saved him, why did he freeze… Why did he not pull the gun out faster? He thought of these questions as he held his best friend’s body in his arms. He cried holding him for what seemed like nearly an hour. He looked down at Reuben, tears running down his face and his nose running. He seemed more peaceful in his death than what he expected from what happened. Andrew gently lowered Reuben’s body, tears still ran down his face. He didn’t deserve to rest here as his resting place. He went around quickly looking for something in one of the crates he’d seen before. A painting blanket, after looking in several crates, he finally found it. He went back to Reuben and wrapped him up in it. Andrew quickly looked around for a shovel and found one in the War and Military History Museum storage container. Andrew came back to the wrapped body and looked down at it while putting on his goggles and bandanna. “Forgive me for failing you.” Andrew said as he put the shovel in with the wrapped body. As he got ready to pick it up, he paused. He was missing something still, he went around looking through the crates and found an art piece of a cross, and in another crate found a hammer. He went back into the War Museum container and found a knife and began carving words into it. He came back and put the cross and hammer in with the wrapped body, picked it up, and began his way to find a resting place for his best friend… * * * * With a flash, Andrew was back home alone. This was the worst day for him he’d ever had. He took a step off the teleporter and dropped the hammer and shovel he had in his hands. He saw Tracy grazing close to his house and walked right past her. “Not right now Tracy.” Andrew said quietly. Everything for him was now becoming distant as if he was watching himself from the outside. He could hear his breath echoing as he walked towards and opened the door to his parent's house. He took off his goggles and bandanna and saw he had blood on both. He looked at his hands and saw the dried blood stains on his hands and forearms. He began switching off the Tek armor and took off all the pieces. Andrew walked into the living room collapsed onto the couch and cried. He was genuinely alone for the first time from everyone and everything he ever knew. All his family and friends were gone. His best friend died for the longest to his doing. All he could do was remember him. As he thought about Reuben, his mind began to wander to his parents, his friends, and Rue. But instead of vivid memories and warm moments, he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember how they looked or what they felt like. All he could remember was their voices and even those were hard to remember correctly. He quickly got up and began tearing the house apart for something, anything that had a photo, audio, or video clips on one of the computers of his family and friends. He searched almost every room in the house but found nothing. He walked into the hallway and looked at a closed door. A door he hadn’t entered since he awoken. He began to reach for the door and grabbed it, his heart pumping fast as he turned the doorknob and opened it. Dust began filling the air lightly as he did so. He looked inside and began having smaller, vivid memories of them. He hugged his mother, his dad teaching him how to shoot. Playing chess and other board games with them, them helping him with school. Their voices became stronger and more recognizable to him. But he still couldn’t remember what his parent’s faces looked like. He began searching the room for anything with pictures. Dust began flying and filling the air, but he didn’t care. He coughed his way through looking for anything with their faces on it. But again, nothing. He couldn’t find anything, he checked twice, even three times for a scrapbook. He knew his mom kept one, she liked doing things old-fashioned like that. But there was nothing. Andrew couldn’t breathe anymore with how much dust and began running out of the room and slammed the door behind him before he collapsed on the ground, heaving and coughing that slowly turned into wails and tears as he couldn’t remember anyone from his life before, all he could remember was their voices, painful voices with no face to them. He pounded his fists against the floor. His wailing got worse as realization hit him. He was alone and forgotten, and he would die alone. His crying began to quiet down and he got himself up off the ground and sat down against the wall. Fear and regret filled him, tears still running down his face. All of these thoughts began to break him down, he no longer was able to think of anything else but his mistakes and how it was all his fault for getting Reuben killed. Hate for himself began building, that he deserved this pain for his mistakes and deserved everything that happened. But did Reuben? Did Reuben deserve to die for Andrew’s mistakes, no. But maybe it was a mercy for him, maybe it was something that he- ‘No, it wasn’t something he deserved either way, it was no mercy for him to die to that raptor. I should’ve killed that thing as soon as I saw it. It should be dead instead of Reuben.’ Andrew’s thought, his hate for himself began to obsess over that raptor. That it deserved death, it deserves the death Reuben had, no a worse death. Agonizing suffering and pain with no peaceful end. Hate for himself became hate for that beast and he filled with rage. Revenge filled his heart. Revenge became his reason to stand. Revenge was his only motivation to continue on. Revenge for Reuben was all that mattered to him.

Andrew walked quietly through the rows and rows of stacked crates. In some cases, these stacks were taller than he was. Andrew didn’t like how quiet it was, his heart was beating in his head with the adrenaline and fear. A raptor came around the corner in front of Andrew and Andrew jumped, losing a slight grip on his rifle. The looked at him and snarled, it then charged at Andrew. Andrew aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger, only to hear a fear-filling click. He looked down at his gun and pressed it again to hear the same thing. Andrew looked back up and saw the raptor only a few feet away. “Oh, crap...” Andrew said to himself and threw his rifle at the creature and jumped out of the way as the raptor did a blind lunge at him, missing him entirely and falling on its side. Andrew panicked and quickly looked around for a hiding space, he found a crevice in between several crates that was large enough for Andrew to go into. Andrew quickly slid in there but tripped on his own foot in panic. He stumbled and hit his head against a crate and fell onto his hands and knees. Andrew crawled to the very back of the crevice which was not very deep as he found out. He turned his back to the crates to see where the raptor was. As he did this, he saw the raptor peer in the crevice, it stared at him with soul-piercing eyes. It soon began trying to make its way into the crevice with its head, neck, and arms fitting inside, but its body was too large for it to fit through. It snapped at Andrew, its face only a more determined snap away from Andrew’s feet and legs. Andrew could only hear the raptor snapping. Andrew tried to scoot further back, but he was already against the back of the crevice. He tried pulling the shotgun off of his back, but he was panicking and wasn’t able to get it off his back unless he scooted forward. But he didn’t want to dare a chance. The raptor backed out and prepared for another jump towards Andrew. He closed his eyes, afraid this was the end for him. But he heard a bark and a screech. He opened his eyes to see something surprising. Reuben gripped the raptor with his teeth by the raptor’s throat. The raptor’s calls were getting more shrill. Reuben's jaws snapped shut around the raptor's throat, with blood dripping around Reuben’s mouth. The raptor panicked even more knowing what was going to happen. It tried rolling to get Reuben off, bashing Reuben against crates, but Reuben didn’t budge. It didn’t take long after that for the raptor’s life to leave its eyes and drop down and have no more movement. Once he knew it was gone, Reuben let go of the throat and looked over to Andrew. His tail wagged so hard and his eyes were wide with joy. Andrew was surprised to see Reuben outside of the crate. He must’ve pushed the lid off of it to come help him. Andrew didn’t care though, he was so happy to see him. He smiled and tears of joy ran down his face. Andrew scooted forward took the shotgun off his shoulder and got up to his knees. He looked up at Reuben who was still looking at Andrew with his tail still wagging. “Come here, boy!!” Andrew whispered with a frail joy in his voice, Reuben took a step but then stopped for some reason. He quickly looked to his side before getting kicked by a powerful and deadly leg, Reuben’s yipe as it happened made it all the much worse. Andrew's tears went from joy to pain and fear as he watched in horror as a raptor emerged into his view. Its eyes glowed with an unnatural magenta. It walked out of view as quickly as it walked in view. It stopped though, only leaving part of its tail in Andrew’s view. Andrew was frozen, he wasn’t able to believe what happened. His mind wouldn’t let him move, his mind held him captive in pain and fear. He heard Reuben yipe a second time. Hearing Reuben yipe again freed him from his mind and Andrew lost it with rage.

Andrew and Reuben quickly hunkered down behind a couple of crates. Andrew peered around from the crates and saw four raptors exiting the shadows of the hall. They looked around and called to each other, their calls much more distorted than their normal counterparts. ‘Damn it, could this get any worse!!’ Andrew yelled in his thoughts. Andrew looked at Reuben, he seemed frightened. Andrew looked over in one of the corners where there was one of Andrew’s contingency plans that were set up for such a situation. Several empty crates, one being tipped to the side and lid off of it. He looked back at Reuben and quickly gave a command. “Reuben, army crawl to block.” Andrew said quietly, which didn’t bother Reuben as he did a dog’s army crawl to the crate and lay inside. Andrew sighed, now all he had to do was get there safely, close Reuben’s box and get in his without catching the attention of the raptors. Andrew army crawled slowly to the boxes checking his surroundings frequently. He got to Reuben’s box and peered inside Reuben turned his head and looked at him. “See you on the other side of this buddy!” Andrew said quietly as he grabbed the lid of the crate and gently and quietly set it over the hole, pressing against it to make sure it was sealed enough for the lid not to fall off yet loose enough for Reuben to still be able to breathe. Andrew let go of the lid, and it stayed in place. Andrew crawled over to his crate next, a crate as big as Andrew standing. It was standing straight up, which turned out inconvenient in times of emergencies. Andrew looked around for a moment, he couldn’t see the raptors. He heard chattering of them communicating as they began to search but no sight of them yet. Andrew slowly and quietly stood up next to the crate. He looked around and still didn’t see any of the raptors from this angle. Andrew quickly grabbed the top of the crate and quietly as possible set it down on its side next to Reuben’s. Andrew quietly walked around it to the top and took off the lid. He quickly realized that he still had guns on his back and took them off and putting individually in. He gently set the shotgun inside, but as he was about to put his rifle in, something happened. The earth began to shake and a thunderous sound blasted through the air with an unearthly pulsing hum coming along with it. This was the first time Andrew or Reuben had ever experienced something like this. Out of the hundreds of expeditions to this place. This was the first time. It terrified Andrew and horrified Reuben. As this was occurring, Reuben began barking and yipping loudly and the crate he was in began shaking as he panicked inside. Andrew tried to shush him up, but it was a waste of time and energy. Two heads popped up from behind crates and looked over in Andrew’s direction, almost immediately spotting him crouched by the crate. Andrew quickly thought for a moment and ran with his rifle away around the edge of the crates. Trying his best to get their attention and leave Reuben safe. This plan worked as calls for the hunt rang through that facility and the sound of fast pace movement of claws. However, it didn’t work as he planned as a raptor almost immediately blocked his way through. Andrew stopped and aimed his rifle. The creature began running towards him and Andrew started firing. Andrew fired six rounds into its chest and the creature dropped five feet away from him. Andrew looked down at the creature, gaping its last breath before exhaling and its eyes widened. The room and the outside world become immediately silent. The strange noise was over and nothing was louder than a mouse. Andrew knew he didn’t have the element of surprise anymore and probably had no chance of making it out. Andrew quickly turned and ran back to the crate and grabbed the shotgun. Killing them was the only way out for him and Reuben. He slung the shotgun over his left shoulder pushed the rifle to his right shoulder and began to search for these monsters.

Andrew and Reuben walked for miles, getting ever so closer to one of the domes. Yet he wasn’t going there. He continued following a path that led him between the dome and Sanctuary. He heard a screech coming from ahead and both Reuben and him ducked into some bushes. Coming up the path was a raptor, however it was running away from what Andrew was trying to hide from. Several other raptors were chasing it, these were different, however. A strange vine-like material covered them, it glowed an ominous purple color. They hunted and killed everything, no matter if it was their own kind. They were monsters, no longer animals with natural instincts. Their instinct was only to kill and destroy. Andrew watched as four of these raptors chased the one and continued chasing it out of his sight. Andrew and Reuben slowly walked out of the bushes, Reuben started shaking off branches and thorns that got stuck in his fur and hide. “Come on boy, let’s get to where we need to go.” Andrew said as he walked down the path. Andrew and Reuben only had to walk a little while further were. He could see what he was looking for just ahead of them. A back of a large building, halfway buried under the dust and element that surrounded this place. The exterior building was rusted out with several small openings on the outer layer of the roof and walls. Andrew walked around the building, passing what looked like a main entrance to the building, and went to two large doors below that with one that was slightly cracked open. Andrew pulled with all his might and opened the door. Darkness welcomed them, something quite rare for this place. And with hesitation, Andrew and Reuben walked inside. Andrew stumbled his way through the huge corridor, feeling the right wall of the hall until it fell away to the side. Andrew turned and started searching the wall for something until he felt a large, industrial switch. Andrew grabbed it and flipped it. Light started to fill the light-absent room, revealing an extremely large storage facility. With rows after rows of crates and even a few cargo containers. Further in the back was a large elevator for transporting crates and containers. This place was massive, and Andrew was barely scratching the surface for the past month. ‘Was it only a month? Has it been longer or even possibly shorter?’ Andrew thought, it was getting harder to keep track of days as he got older and the longer and longer he awoken from the pod. He looked for Reuben for a second and saw that he began wandering the rows of crates. Andrew grabbed an old crowbar off the floor. “Alright, time to get to work.” * * * * Less than an hour passed as Andrew opened crates finding very little to practically nothing useful. He was getting discouraged from the nonsense he found in just this one crate. It was all a bunch of magazines on properties, places like Pandora’s Paradise Resort of the Caesar Estate and The Moonflight Building. Why was this stuff even stored? Was this stuff really that important? Andrew didn’t think so, most of these places didn’t even exist anymore. Most of these crates had random stuff, and very little of it has been useful for survival. Some mapping equipment and useful books like survival guides and encyclopedias all except for an elusive dinosaur encyclopedia. But he needed other things to survive. Ammunition was getting tighter for him, and Element was too. He needed to find these things to keep his chances of surviving high. Without them, his chances drop significantly. So he continued searching and after several more crates of junk and ‘Library Archives’, he quit and went over to one of the locked cargo containers instead. The container had old, washed-away paint on it from where it was at, Andrew couldn’t read it all but he could see it was URE. Other letters were scattered across the side with Ms, an H, a W, and a couple of As with one next to the W. He broke the lock and opened the container, inside were several more crates and smaller containers, and stacks of cases. Andrew walked inside and opened one of the cases and saw an old-fashioned rifle made of metal and wood. Something Andrew had never seen before, with a weird switch by where you normally loaded the ammunition. Andrew closed it and took the case off and opened it at the next one. The gun in this case was also wood and metal, but instead of a switch where you loaded it, there was a looped lever by the trigger and an angled hole to the side of the gun. Andrew closed up the case and broke open a crate, inside was ammunition for all sorts of weapons. Then finally Andrew looked at the side of the crate and read what it said. “URE War and Military History Museum.” Andrew said out loud with a hysterical laugh as it finally made sense what this place was. It was a historical archive. Andrew quickly got out of the container and ran to the back of the storage facility where the elevator was and looked for levels. The sign for the levels was made of metal and was engraved with the levels of the building. There were about twenty, the first eight being human history and one being a news archive. Several others being for sciences and other things. Andrew turned around with a big smile on his face. Reuben was sitting behind him, tail wagging. Andrew knelt down and started rubbing him with excitement. “Reuben, they have a news archive!! Maybe we can find out what happened since we were asleep. It has been… many years-” Andrew said cutting himself off as he noticed a couple of sticky spots on Reuben. Andrew lifted his hand off of him and noticed there was a little bit of blood on his hands. He was cut in several places. Andrew could only assume that he was cut up from the thorns and branches. Which were on a used game trail by dinosaurs. Andrew realized he forgot to close the doo- A terrifying, echoing call came from outside the storage room and somewhere beyond the hall. —————————————————— Author Note: To those reading Ultimus, due to new Lore related new with the Armadoggo coming to Extinction. I will be rereleasing several revised chapters in the coming weeks. Reuben however will not change from him being a Rottweiler. Most changes will just be revising his explanation of why he’s not an Armadoggo and just some more minor revisions. Nothing majorly plot changing. I hope you are all enjoying this!!!

An alarm clock started going off and Andrew opened his eyes dully to the sound of it. He just had a memory dream, remembering when he first woke up all the way to finding his way to Sanctuary. All of it played out in what felt like a few minutes. It all felt to him that it was only a moment ago. Yet he knew that wasn’t true. Twelve years had passed since the day he awoke from the cold sleeping pod and the day he exited that tunnel. He felt so hopeful of finding others, that there was a chance that others were alive. How that hope was crushed when he saw Sanctuary and the state it was in. No one had been there, no human life for who knows how long. Andrew sat up and turned in his bed so that he was sitting on it. He looked to his left at the nightstand, his Element Corp. alarm clock was still going off. Andrew grabbed it and shut off the alarm. He ran his hands through this hair. He raised his head slightly and looked around the room. Books covered the floor of his room, everything from world encyclopedias to how-to books to even complete science fiction and comic books. He looked over at a corner of his room where a child’s mattress lay. Laying on top of that was Reuben, while being Twelve years old, he acted and looked half his age. Being extremely healthy and spry for the age he was, he was starting to have a patch of grey fur come in around his muzzle. Reuben raised his head and looked at Andrew with a happy expression. Andrew chuckled and smiled at this, the person he trusted the most for most of his life wasn’t even a person and he loved it. “Good Morning Reuben.” Andrew said, he began hearing the rhythmic thumping of Reuben’s tail against the child’s mattress. Andrew got up and looked down at his pajamas. They were an old pair of his father’s. On his dad, they would’ve fit perfectly, but on Andrew they were floods. Andrew was surprisingly taller than his father by now and couldn’t believe it himself that he was this tall. Andrew then looked at his closet, where he kept the tek suit that was once his father’s too. He stared into space beginning to think about his parents before shaking his head. He dare not think about them. He didn’t feel he needed to think about them or those he loved and lost so many years ago. To those he never said goodbye to. He shook his head again, trying to repress and forget memories that attempted to come back. He needed to get out, and he knew just the thing. He walked over to Reuben and kept down and began stroking him. “Time to get to work.” Andrew said. * * * * Andrew walked down the hallway towards the front door fully dressed with his suit on and ready for the day. He stopped at a wardrobe that was in the hallway and opened it. Inside was a rifle and shotgun, a bandanna, a pair of tinted motorcycle goggles, some other survival gear, and a flashlight. He put on the Bandanna and Goggles, put the two guns on each of his shoulders, and grabbed the flashlight. He looked back and saw Reuben walking down the hallway, stretching as he did so. Andrew turned around and opened the door and walked outside. What was once an overgrown abandoned roadway in the Forest was now a well-maintained driveway and yard. Andrew put several days and possibly nights into cleaning it up. He felt that it was the right thing to do if he was going to live here. In his front yard was a teleportation pad. He hulled it back with one of the ATVs when he first got back from Sanctuary so many years ago. He had found some element inside the house and was able to activate it. And since then, he has been using it almost every day. He began walking over to it when heard a noise to his right. He looked over to see that same dinosaur, though she now had young and her scales were duller. It still grazed and raised its young near his house. Andrew smiled at her, though not knowing what she was, he felt he had to give her a name. And so he named her Tracy. “Good morning Tracy!! How’s the family doing today?” Andrew said. The dinosaur grazed on the ferns and bushes and seemed to ignore him. However, Andrew nodded and chuckled. “Darn kids are being trouble to you huh? Well if you need to, send them over here to spend the night so you can get some rest. Me and Reuben can have them all straightened out by the next morning.” Andrew said, she continued grazing. “Alright, if you feel that isn’t a fit enough punishment for them. I just wanted to give you a break. Well hey, I gotta run. I hope you have a good day!” Andrew said as he walked towards the teleportation pad. He looked over to it and saw Reuben. “Sorry Reuben, she’s such a chatterbox. I was trying to get away but she continued talking.” He felt like he lost it a bit. Talking to a dinosaur or his dog and imagining what they would say back to him. He started doing this a month after he woke up, trying to make sure he wouldn’t go crazy from the isolation. Yet he felt silly and even more crazy doing this every day. He walked onto the pad and made sure it was set to the correct destination and then pressed it. In a flash, he and Reuben were in the dark. Immediately Andrew turned on the flashlight and looked around, he was in the subway station. It didn’t look like a subway station anymore but instead a large hotel room with furniture and carpets. He walked over to a corner that had an element lantern there and he turned it to its brightest setting. It lit up the entire room and part of the tunnel. Andrew jumped down into the tunnel and helped Reuben gently get down too. He began walking down the tunnel and to where the edge of the light was casting away the darkness. There stood a stool with another element lantern on top of it. Andrew grabbed the lantern, turned it on, and carried it as continued to walk down into the tunnel. He continued walking down the tunnel until he could see another stool and a bright light coming from the end of the tunnel. He walked over to the stool and set the lantern on it and turned it off. He looked to the exit of the tunnel and slowly slid through the crevice with Reuben close behind. Andrew and Reuben reached the other side where they found themselves in a dead end of sorts. This dead-end leads to a path on the cliffside of a mountain. “Remember Reuben, be careful. You don’t want to have bad footing and slip here.” Andrew said looking at his dog. They cautiously walked the path down the mountain, and as they reached the bottom of the mountain. They passed a strange row of what looked like radio towers. Andrew never understood what they were and why they were there. And he’d probably never know. “Just like Stonehenge for us I guess, don’t you think Reuben?” Andrew said softly. He didn’t want to say it louder for fear. He looked out for what was ahead and saw a barren wasteland, with the remnants of what once was here and the oddities they left behind. With strange domes he dare not go near and beings in the ruins of the city that lost their ways. Out here though he dared not speak or even breathe heavily in fear of what was here. As this place, was death itself. Where the dead live and breathe, and the living come to die. This place, that was once known as Sanctuary. But Andrew needed to come here. Not for the chance to find others, as that hope died the day he saw this place. But for the chance to find things to further his chances of survival. And so he and Reuben continued their trek down the mountain and through the ominous passes to where he needed to go.

The Dreadmare looks AWESOME!!!!! And it makes the Pyromane male in comparison!!!! I can’t wait to get this!!!

Andrew ran as fast as he could down the path with Reuben running by his side. He didn’t care about the dangers that lurked around or above him. All he wanted was to get to the entrance and hope that there was a vehicle there for him to use. He drove the ATVs before and knew how they worked. So that was the easy part down and all he had left was to get to the entrance and hope there was a vehicle. He continued running through the dark forest path, yet the trees kept getting thinner and further between. Andrew soon noticed that he could see outside of the forest and see a building on the edge of the forest. He had finally made it!!! But instead of excitement, he became filled with fear at the sight he beheld. Reuben ran to his side and gave a whine of fear too. A wasteland of death and destruction. The ground beyond the forest was pale and discolored. The landscape was unearthly compared to even what Andrew remembered. It had been so long since he last saw the outside world in this forest or the school at Arat. He forgot how bad it looked, but it didn’t look quite like this. And why hasn’t the Forest taken over more of the wasteland? “What Happened?” Andrew said out loud, he took a step forward and heard a metallic sound. He looked down and noticed a large metal barrier on the ground. He looked to his left and it continued around the forest in that direction, looked to his right and it did the same thing. He also noticed to his right was the visitor center for the park on the edge of the forest. Andrew ran over and noticed the vehicles that were parked next to the buildings. Four old ATVs, one of them looked like his parents. He went and looked over at the vehicle. Keys were still in the ignition. He looked in the glove compartment and found the owner registration, Hunter and Kim Lang. Andrew couldn’t believe it. Why did they leave their ATV? The closest airport was over a hundred miles away. Andrew then noticed a weird pedestal, it stood behind the building and was all by itself. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would Mom and Dad leave the ATV here?” Andrew said out loud again, Reuben looked at Andrew as he said this. Andrew and Reuben walked over to the old, strange pedestal. As he got closer to it, he could feel something pulsing through him. It was a strange feeling, yet felt powerful and energizing. He walked closer to the pedestal and noticed various names of cities on it from Arat Prime to Sanctuary with the dial last being set to Arat Prime. The button glowed red and sat there as if waiting for someone to press it. Andrew messed with the dial and noticed when he set the dial on specific points like Sanctuary, the button would go grey and seem to deactivate. He messed around with the dial some more and set it to a setting called “S.S 4, near Sanctuary”. Andrew hovered his hand over the button. He didn’t know what any of this did or meant. He took a step back and looked at the visitor center. ‘Maybe I should grab a couple more things before pressing this button.’ Andrew thought and noticed to himself. He walked away from the pedestal and walked towards the entrance. Andrew went to open the door, but he noticed the glass of the door was shattered and seemed to be safely accessible to just go through the frame. “Reuben, stay here.” Andrew said, Reuben sat down and watched as Andrew went inside the building. All the lights were off and very little light came through the windows and doors. Andrew looked around in the low-visibility building and saw a camping shop in the corner. Andrew walked into the shop and saw cooking supplies, flashlights, and other camping and survival equipment. Immediately Andrew went over and grabbed a first aid kit and a flashlight. Andrew looked over at the hunting knives and a backpack and grabbed one of each of those. Andrew tried to grab everything and anything he could think of that he needed before leaving the visitor center with Reuben following and placing all the items in his parent’s ATV. He then went through all the items he had grabbed and thought of what he might need currently. He immediately grabbed the backpack, first aid kit, and flashlight. As these items were important. He looked at the knife, was that needed? He packed it just in case. Andrew and Reuben ran back to the pedestal and Andrew checked if he had everything he needed again. After he was sure he had everything, he raised his hand over the button. He took a deep breath and looked at Reuben. “Here we go!!” Andrew said as he pressed the button. The pedestal made a sound and light flashed. The next thing Andrew knew, he was in the dark. ~ Andrew heard Reuben whine as they stood in the dark, not knowing where they were. He assumed that the pedestal was the small terminal to a large teleportation pad. He took off his backpack and reached in for his flashlight. He grabbed it and turned it on. He found himself in a damp, cavelike room. Inside the room, by the back wall were several items including a small teleportation pad. The room connected to a tunnel that seemed to be uneven with the room he was in. Andrew looked down to the bottom of the tunnel and saw rail tracks. He was in a subway station. He jumped down and looked to his left and then to his right. To both sides, the tunnel continued with an access ladder back to the room on the right. Andrew stood there for a moment unsure of what to do next. He didn’t know which way to go. He wasn’t sure what direction would take him to where he wanted to go. He took a chance and decided to go the left. “Reuben, Come.” Andrew said aiming the flashlight at him. Reuben immediately jumped down into Andrew’s arms. Andrew dropped the flashlight and quickly caught him, falling to the ground afterward. Reuben got up and walked off Andrew and started licking his face. Andrew giggled and started shielding himself from the tongue ticking him. After a moment of struggling with Reuben and his uncontrollable tongue. He got up, grabbed the flashlight, and started walking into the left tunnel with Reuben close behind. ~ Andrew walked for what felt like only an hour before noticing that the tunnel began to get brighter and brighter. And as he walked further down the tunnel. He saw bright white light cracking through the dark tunnel. Andrew could barely see with all the light blinding him. He knew he was nearing the end of the tunnel. He continued walking forward and walked straight into a wall. He fell back and his eyes began to adjust finally. The subway tunnel at some point collapsed at the entrance to the tunnel, leaving only a tight gap to walk through. Andrew hated tight spaces. But he felt this was the only way to the outside world, to Sanctuary, and to hopefully others. He looked back at Reuben and whistled him to follow as Andrew squeezed through the crevices and to the outside world.

Ultimus Chapter Nine: The Hunted Andrew ran through the forest, they had been going down the path for what seemed to be hours. The dark, lush conifer forest was beautiful, but you can get lost easily inside. Which is why he stayed on the path. Whether it was longer to continue on the path, it was the safest route to take. He continued down the path for a little bit longer. His thoughts began to wander though. His stomach growled and his legs began to shake. Andrew forgot to eat anything since he woke up yesterday. But even if he did, he wasn’t sure if anything back in the house was edible, even MREs would be completely inedible at this point. He would have to hunt something down. But he didn’t want to leave the path. Luckily for him, it seemed he wouldn’t have to. Off the path to Andrew’s left was a group of what looked like deer or elk with moose-like antlers. They were only about 25 or so feet off the path. The deer were looking at him straight on before lowering their heads to graze. Andrew saw them and was in awe. He thought that they must have never seen a human before so they had no son to fear him. They were majestic in the evening sunlight. But beauty had to take a step behind hunger. Andrew grabbed the sling of his rifle from his right shoulder and put the weapon’s stock on his shoulder. He began trying to aim the weapon at one of the deer with the antlers. He was sure which eye to use so he used the right one. He adjusted his aim for a moment until he felt it was a good place to hit. He aimed for the shoulders of the animal and pulled the trigger slowly. The gun fired and knocked Andrew down to the ground from the surprise of the kick. He looked and saw that one of the deer jumped and began running away, soon all the deer ran away with the one he hit. Andrew quickly got up, put the rifle on his shoulder, and began to follow them off the path. Andrew's following adventure soon stopped as he watched a creature jump out from one of the trees and tackle the deer he shot. It quickly immobilized it and killed it. Andrew was struck with fear by the animal. It was as large as a bear and looked like a tiger mixed with a bear. It got up and began tearing the deer open and eating it. Andrew took a step back and heard a loud snap. Andrew looked down and saw that he had stepped on a large, old branch that cracked under his weight. Andrew looked back and saw the creature lowered and prowling its way towards him. Andrew looked quickly over at Reuben and swung the rifle off his shoulder again. “Reuben, Go!!!” Andrew commanded, and Reuben quickly ran away behind him somewhere. Andrew put the rifle to his shoulder again, aimed, and fired it. He hit the creature and it staggered for a moment before charging at him. Andrew aimed again and fired a second and third shot at the creature. But it didn’t stop and continued to charge him at full speed. The beast reached Andrew and swiped him in the chest with its arm and claws. Andrew flew from the force of the hit and slammed into a tree. His rifle still in hand but dazed, Andrew looked down to see how much he was bleeding. Thinking he was going to die. However, there wasn’t any blood, not even a scratch in the suit. It withstood the swipe from the creature. Andrew looked up and saw the creature pacing back and forth around him, planning its next move. The creature then charged again and Andrew lifted the gun up and took aim. The creature charged and ran right on top of Andrew and his mouth opened as Andrew aimed. The muzzle of the rifle went right into the mouth of the creature and it struggled to get it out. Andrew panicked and began firing shots. Bang, Bang, Bang!! Andrew fired three shots before he noticed that only one shot did the job. The creature’s body lay on top of him lifeless. The muzzle of the gun was still in its mouth. A large hole was in the back of the head of the animal. Andrew slowly slipped out from underneath it and looked at it. He had bagged a large animal and had two carcasses to use now. Andrew looked back at the deer, it was already cut and ready for harvesting. He looked around and saw Reuben lying down about fifty to a hundred feet away over on the path. “Reuben, Come!” Andrew said and Reuben quickly got up and walked over to him. Andrew began shaking, he knelt down and hugged Reuben. He thought he was going to die and never see him again. He held Reuben tightly for a while. Andrew got up and looked at the beast he killed again. He saw the large sharp claws it had on its front paws and an idea came to Andrew. He looked at Reuben. “I think we’ll be fine for food for a while. Let’s get a fire started.” Andrew said. * * * * Andrew sat near a fire he started and watched as the second batch of deer meat cooked overhead of the fire. He was eating the first batch as he watched the second batch. The cooked meat tasted so good, it was slightly burnt but he didn’t care. He hadn’t eaten anything for almost two days. Whatever he felt he couldn’t eat or had any bones, he gave to Reuben. Andrew noticed the fire was beginning to fade. He got up and began to walk down the path to find good firewood. As he searched, he found out the path forked into two, and a post stood in between. He began collecting around this fork for logs and branches that were the freshest and best to use for firewood. He walked past the post and heard a metal clang. He looked down and saw a sign lying on the ground. It was extremely faded, but he could still read what it once said. There were directions to an Inn, a Military Memorial, and… the Park Entrance and Visitor Center!! They were only fifteen miles to the right from them!!! Andrew got excited and ran back to Reuben and the meat. He was going to finish cooking what was on the spit and hurry to the entrance.

Ultimus Chapter Eight: Invalid A Kaiju Roar blasts through the house. Andrew woke up in panic hearing this noise. Reuben’s head shot up and he started barking in panic and fear. The TV in his room was on and on full blast. He looked in his bed and found he slept on the remote. He grabbed it and looked at the TV. An enormous dragon was on the screen roaring into the air on a mountain. He shut off the television and got up. It was time to prepare for his journey to Sanctuary. A little while later, he walked into the shed and began searching for anything he could use on his journey. He opened up several boxes and didn’t find much that could help him. He looked at a corner of the room and saw the two large containers with his parent’s names. He walked over to them grabbed the door to the container with his dad’s name and opened it. Andrew’s eyes widened with awe as he saw first-generation Tek gear and weapons. He saw a tek rifle, a railgun, a tek bow, and a tek knife. But all of that didn’t interest him as much as the first-generation Tek armor sitting on a mannequin. “That would make my trip to Sanctuary a lot easier.” Andrew said to himself. He could just fly to Sanctuary!! He immediately took off the helmet and noticed that the chest piece had a switch on it. Andrew with more effort than he thought he needed, he flipped it and the chest piece collapsed into a vest. He noticed that each of the other pieces connected to the chest piece also had these switches. He began flipping them all and they all collapsed into smaller pieces like a belt, fingerless gloves, and even ankle bracelets. Once he did so, he began taking each off the mannequin and started putting them on. He stood them for a moment after putting them all on. He had never touched or used Tek gear in his life. He didn’t know how it would feel once he flipped all the switches. He looked at the shed doorway where Reuben was sitting. He flipped the switches on the boots and gloves and they began to morph into their proper shape and adjusted to Andrew’s size. Andrew gasped in awe and Reuben panicked seeing what was happening and by the sound Andrew made and started jumping up onto Andrew. “It’s okay Reuben. It’s okay, it just surprised me.” Andrew said while trying to calm down Reuben. After a little bit of trying to calm down Reuben, successfully doing so. Andrew flipped the switch to the leggings and chest piece. Both pieces did the same as others did the other pieces. However, once they reached the other pieces, all of the pieces fused together and locked into one piece. Andrew found a mirror and looked at the armor, no seems whatsoever. He put on the helmet and it seemed to begin to do the same as the other pieces. But it partially connected before stopping. “Retinal ID required.” An autonomous voice said, then a light flashed into Andrew’s eyes. Andrew wasn’t sure what it was but didn’t dare close his eyes. Then a buzzer sounded and the Helmet detached from the rest of the suit. “Invalid Retina ID. Limited access to the Tek Armor only.” The autonomous voice said, Andrew was confused by this. “What does limited access allow me?” Andrew asked, “Limited Access includes: armor wearability, armor protection, increased endurance, and temperature control.” The autonomous voice said. Andrew took off the helmet and groaned. ‘So much for easier. Well, it’s still useable, might as well wear it for now.’ Andrew thought. He put the helmet back on the mannequin and noticed his dad’s name and nickname on the side of it. Andrew walked outside and noticed that the sun was rising, he didn’t feel like he got up that early. Did he? He went inside the house and grabbed a rifle and a couple of extra loaded clips. He went outside the front door and looked around the front of the house for an ATV or vehicle, but nothing. He knew the park entrance always had a spare vehicle at the visitor center, but that was still a major distance away. Reuben walked up to Andrew and looked up at him. Andrew looked down and smiled. “I think we got a long walk ahead of us.” Andrew said, and he and Reuben started running down the overgrown path that was once his parent's driveway.

Ultimus Chapter Seven: Prime Andrew started cleaning each of the rooms in the house, but their was so much dust covering everything in a thick layer of it. He went into a closet and found cleaning supplies. Gloves, goggles, masks, brooms, and most importantly a vacuum. He decided to start from the entrance and work his way through the house. Time passed as he cleaned. Yet the time outside seemed to never change. Andrew assumed that he wasn’t taking as much time as he thought. Andrew got through most of the house and stared down the hallway and to the rooms he had to do next. He looked at the left side of the hall, where his parents bedroom was. He slowly walked over, opened the door and looked in the room. It seemed like it didn’t change at all. Tears began to pour down his cheeks and he felt hopelessly sick to know they were gone. He took a step in and stopped, and with no hesitation grabbed the door handle and locked the door and closed it as he walked away from the door. He wanted to leave it like that. Nothing touched, nothing disturbed inside. He took off his safety goggles for a moment and wiped all the tears away. He put them back on and continued to clean down the hall. When Andrew finally came to his room and completed the main room. He looked over to his closet and opened the door. He found his school equipment and VR helmet. An idea immediately came to him, his droid ran on element and was only able to be activated by his headset. He could look for others in Arat Prime!! All he had to do was activate his droid at the school!! He dusted off the headset and hand controllers. He put on the headset and flipped a switch and watched the screen as the screen flickered and saw a blurry picture. Andrew immediately started raising and lowering his hands and saw that the droid was under some sort of clear plastic. He started ripping off the plastic and found he was in a storage area in what looked like the school he attended. Andrew started pressing a few buttons on one of the controller and he began hearing the treads of his droid but couldn’t see the droid moving. He really couldn’t see anything. He quickly took off his headset and looked for a specific button. He found it, pressed it and put the headset back on. A light came on from the droid. He immediately noticed that the camera and droid was smushed up against a wall of the room. He maneuvered the droid around to see where the door was and noticed that he was right next to it. He opened the door and saw debris all over the floor and lockers knocked over all around the hall. Luckily the treads on the droid were built for stuff like this. He maneuvered the droid through the debris of the halls. Everything was still black. No lights, not even sunlight. All he had was the light of his droid. And that didn’t help much except to see ten or fifteen feet ahead of him. But he began to hear a hissing and clattering sounds coming from the hall ahead. Andrew stopped the droid and turned on his microphone. “Hello? Is anyone in here?” He said, the noise died down. Andrew decided to continue forward. As he did the noise started up again and began getting louder. And decided to keep moving forward and try in a few seconds again to make contact. Almost a minute later something shot out of the dark and hit the droid’s camera. Andrew lost all visual, but he heard the droid fall over so he knew he had audio and controls over the droid still. Andrew continued pressing buttons to see if he could catch traction on something. But all in vain. Andrew started raising his hands in the air to attempt to tip the droid up. But again in vain. He must’ve landed on his back and the droid didn’t have articulation for this problem. Andrew suddenly began hearing the weird sound he had heard before and what sounded like footsteps. He then heard static, he lost audio and wasn’t sure if he still had controls. He took of the headset and controllers. From what he saw, Arat Prime was abandoned. That was one of their busiest schools and it was in ruins. Andrew felt alone, completely alone and isolated. As he sat there, he felt completely drained from all that had happened today. He quickly got up and crawled into his now clean bed. There was still light outside, but he couldn’t stay awake any longer. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Absolutely love the Cryptoclidus design!!! Gives me Nessie vibes from the movie “The Water Horse”!!!!