Ascension

The Island: Chapter 4

The grey, stony, godforsaken region Helena had lured herself into wasn't exactly the best place for an overnight shelter. According to the map, she was situated on the eastern flank of a volcano, on a land strip called "The Shadow Road". The view was breathtaking... snowy mountains, intricate forests, meandering rivers, a floating obelisk... "A FLOATING OBELISK?!" Helena yelled. The echo from the rocky walls bounced back to her, as if the mountains themselves had gotten surprised by that view. It bore resemblance to a futuristic, edgy skyscraper, pierced by a concentrated, blue light beam. There was no foundation though. That immense pencil was just floating in mid air, seemingly careless of gravity. As Helena was carefully scanning it with her eyes, she noticed a weird, rhomboid surface. She glanced down at her wrist, then she looked at the obelisk again. Once she realized it, she almost lost her balance and fell down the steep cliff. The shape on the obelisk looked exactly the same as her wrist implant, almost as if there was some sort of connection between them. "I need to find out more information about it", she thought.

But a far, echoing, acute screech brought her back to reality. She instantly turned around, desperately looking for the sound's source. And there it was: a giant bird of prey was soaring across the sky, looking for its next victim. A condor would have looked like a pigeon next to it. It was among the biggest birds Helena had ever encountered, and it resembled an enormous eagle, although it did have some traits of a vulture too. Its long, brown and black feathers were fluttering in the cold wind as the bird was slowly approaching the ground. Helena's eyes slowly wandered across the cliffs, following the vulture's path. And that's where she noticed something moving between the rocks. Due to the distance, she couldn't distinguish the creature very well, but it seemed to be a big cat, like a tiger or a panther. She was so focused on that animal that she had completely forgotten about the bird, which, with an ear piercing screech, dived towards it, with its razor sharp claws extended forwards. With a dexterous movement, it forcefully grabbed the tiger and flapped its gargantuan, powerful wings to gain altitude again. Helena already knew the bird was big. But the size comparison between the desperately wriggling tiger and the careless vulture made her realize the actual dimension of the bird was even larger than she thought, with a wingspan of probably well over twenty feet. No bird of her knowledge had ever been that unwieldy... except for one. The argentavis, a giant vulture that ruled the skies over six million years ago. The only, ever found specimen was an upper wing bone, and yet she had just gained the unique opportunity of observing a living argentavis's hunting behaviour.

Helena slowly began to realize that being thrown on this island had been a blessing, rather than a curse, and that she had to take the most out of it. This had only been the beginning, and God knows how many other creatures she would've still encountered along her journey.

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Image source:

https://ark.gamepedia.com/The_Grand_Hills