Ark - A Love Story

New World

In the middle of nowhere somewhere in the universe, a naked man washes up on the shores of an unknown island. The man wakes up and raises his head to look around. All he can see if forests and creatures walking around him. As he scans the area in front of him, he takes a double-take and finds a creature he believes shouldn't be alive. He sees a dodo, walking along the beach completely ignoring his presence.

"Am I dead?" he says to himself.

Nothing happens. All he can hear is the sound of the passing dodo, the waves crashing against the sand, and bird calls somewhere off in the forest further inland. He gets up on his feet and realizes he is almost completely naked. The only thing preventing "certain" areas from being exposed is a rag that acted a lot like a pair of boxers. Thankful he wouldn't have to walk around completely exposed he thanks the force that placed them on him. Then he notices something else.

On his left forearm was a diamond-shaped stone. He clawed at it but it was permanently implanted into his arm. He left it alone and looked around again. He started to walk around, cautious and stopped suddenly. Further down the beach, living in the flesh, was a brontosaurus. It was casually walking towards the large forest, unaware that is was supposed to be dead and unaware of the human that stood there gawking at it. What was this place?

When he tried to remember where he was from his head started to hurt, like the memories were removed from his mind for some reason. What kind of force was able to do that? Does he have amnesia? Possibly. He probably hit his head on something and washed up on shore here. What he did know was he was alone, naked, lost, and without any resources. He walked up to a tree and studied it. Somehow he knew he could make tools out of this tree if he punched it. It was going to hurt but he had to. So he pulled his arm back and slammed his fist into the tree. The pain shot up his hand but it quickly left. That wasn't supposed to be normal but whatever.

He continued to punch the tree until it fell and he was surrounded with wood and thatch. He gathered up his thatch and wood and a few rocks and sat down on a large rock where he could see all around him. He set his supplies in his lap and went to work until he had built himself a pickaxe. With this pickaxe, he dug away at the rock until he had a collection of flint. With this flint and his other supplies, he made a hatchet. He hopped off the rock and noticed all the brush around him. He found berries and picked a large handful of them. They came in all different colors. Red, blue, yellow, purple, black, and white. From wherever he lived before, he learned that it wasn't safe to eat food from the wild. But he was so hungry and thirsty and these berries looked so good. He chose the least poisonous looking ones, the blue ones, and ate some. He was instantly refreshed and felt his energy beginning to rise. 

With this newfound energy, he started to collect fibers from the berry bushes. With these fibers, he was able to make himself a shirt and a pair of pants. He had a few fibers leftover and decided to make a hat to cover his head, which was shaved. He looked around and noticed that there were quite a lot of dodos around him. Realizing he had a lot of flint, wood, and fiber still unused, he made a spear. It looked terrible and it probably wouldn't last very long but it would work. He knew he couldn't live off of berries and he needed to hunt until he was able to find a stable source of food and learn where he was. He walked up to a dodo and lifted his spear. He waited for a moment before thrusting the spear into the head of the unsuspecting dodo. The sight of the bloody dodo made him want to barf but he held it down.

He spent what felt like forever separating the feathers from the meat but he was able to salvage a lot of meat and some hide. He killed a few more dodos, doing the same thing until he had a large supply of hide and meat. With this hide, he made himself some shoes and gloves that looked a lot more like bandages than gloves. He had a lot more hide leftover and made a belt that allowed him to carry his pickaxe, hatchet, and spear. He looked up to see that the sun was close to setting. He needed shelter and he was not interested in knowing what other prehistoric and supposed to be extinct creatures lurked on his island. He spent the rest of his remaining daylight hours hacking down trees and managed to build himself a small shelter made of thatch and wood. With some extra hide and fiber, he was able to make himself a sleeping bag. He pulled off his tools, set them down next to him, and covered himself with the covers of his sleeping bag, falling asleep quickly.

He woke the next morning to rustling outside. Through the cracks of sunlight pouring in from the holes of the makeshift shelter, he knew it was morning. He quietly pulled himself out of bed, grabbed his spear, and tiptoed to the door. He stopped for a moment but encouraged himself enough to swing the door open and face whatever was outside. When he looked out, he saw another human wearing metal armor and was accompanied by a large creature. The man walked outside of his building to find himself face to face with a T-rex. The rex snarled but the man in front of him snapped his fingers and the rex stopped.

"Who are you?" the metal covered man asked.

"My name is Rey. What is this place?" Rey asked.

"This is Ark. An island filled with dangerous creatures and dinosaurs. Judging by the thatch building, the cloth armor, and the wooden spear, you're new here. My name is Alan. I've been here for a while and I try to help new people so they don't end up meeting the inside of a raptor's stomach."

"How are you controlling that rex?" Rey asked.

"I tamed him. You can tame most of the creatures on this island. Most of them require you to knock them out and feed them while their unconscious. They learn to trust you, or fear you. One of the two I don't know which."

"How did you manage to knock a t-rex out? That thing is massive!"

"Tranq darts and a rifle. I don't have them with me otherwise I would show you. What I would recommend though the next time you see a human is avoiding them. Most people you meet on this island will kill you on sight. I don't know why but for some reason you're an enemy unless you're part of the same clan."

"Are you part of a clan?"

"Yes actually. We're called the Union. You can recognize our banners and such by a sword going through the opening of a crown with a blue background. We all have the same idea in mind and that is to help new people. You can always ask us for help."

Rey took a look at the rex and noticed a saddle was placed on it's back.

"Can you ride that thing?" he asked.

"Yeah. Let me show you." Alan climbed up the legs of the rex until he reached the saddle. He sat down and picked up the reins.

"That is the coolest thing I've ever seen," Rey said, awestruck.

"Oh, there are so many cool things you can tame and ride. Ever heard of a Pteranodon?"

"Sounds like another name for a Pterodactyl."

"They kind of are a Pterodactyl. Most people would recommend taming one at some point. It's a great first flyer tame. They're really easy to trap too. Just make a Bola and tangle them up in it. They can't fly away and you can easily knock them out. Feed them meet and you got yourself and flying mount."

"What can I use to knock it out?" Rey asked, now very interested in riding a Pteranodon.

"An effective weapon I always use is a slingshot. You can easily make it with wood, a little bit of fiber, and a little bit of hide. Pick up some rocks off the beach and you're ready to knock out some dinos. Is there anything you need before I head off?" Alan asked.

"What kind of creatures should I look out for besides rexes and raptors?" Rey asked.

"Around this area, you can find a lot of Dilophosaurs. Do you know that acid-spitting dino that looks like a midget raptor with the weird frill thing?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they're kind of abundant in these areas. They're easy to kill and knock out and they're a great starter tame. Not super valuable but could easily save you in case you run into a raptor, human, or other small creature. You could also tell them to attack something while you run away and you'll find yourself still left with your life. It's a tactic I've used a few times."

"I'll keep a lookout for them then."

"Alright, I'll be off then. I'll hope to you see around here more often. You seem like a smart guy. See ya."

"Bye!" Rey waved bye as Alan rode away on the back of his rex. He watched in awe until the rex disappeared into the trees with only the sound of its footsteps in the distance left. Rey looked up in the sky to see what he assumed was a Pteranodon flying above his small shelter. Wanting to try this flying thing out, he hurried inside and began trying to craft a bola and a slingshot.