The Trinity of Extinction

Oceans Apart: Part 1

                                                                                           Ribbon

Tartarus City

Ruins of Athens, Greece

On October 20th, 2025 it was the end of life as we knew it. The asteroid, Antares 2033 XF440 crashed into the earth. Blinding light ignited the sky and then the following dust cloud blanketed the world in darkness. People ran and ducked for cover. Children at school lined up in the hallways and covered their heads with their hands. People hid under cars on the streets or ran into stores with the thought they could find shelter. Some hid behind their desks in their offices, covering their eyes and praying that the impact would soar over their heads and avoid them.

Those who prepped for situations such as these retreated to their bunkers deep underground. But even these tactics proved ineffective. The asteroid struck the earth with catastrophic force. Hundreds of millions of people lost their lives in a mere matter of minutes, and billions more would perish in the resulting aftermath.

Months after the impact, three towering lamp-shaped structures appeared out of the deep reaches of space, landing in different parts of the world. They dubbed The Great Lamps, for they had the appearance of street lamps. The first one, the golden Lamp, Icarus, landed in the mid-west of the United States. The silver one, Telperion (named after a mythical tree from the world of J.R.R Tolkien), took its post in the Horn of Africa. And the third one, a Lamp of platinum called Eden — The Father Lamp — landed in the mountains outside of Athens, Greece.

The Great Lamps began to terraform the planet. Rainforests healed within hours. Reefs began to reform and were teeming with life within days. The crater where Antares struck closed up within hours and was transformed into a lush forest. The oceans grew so pure that one could travel for miles from the coasts and still drink from it. The air, poisoned from hundreds of years of industry became clean. The South Pole grew warm and turned into a garden world. Then trees bearing fruits unlike anything we've ever seen began to bloom and grow bountiful.

Some began to worship the Lamps, calling them a gift from God.

Who built these towering structures is a great mystery. But due to their limitless power, it's often been debated that they have no creators and have always existed.

But peace did not last long. Some began to rally behind the Lamps as though they were kings and fought in bloody wars to secure the bountiful resources they created. Even though the fruits of their mercy was free, greedy sons of whores began putting heavy prices on food, even the water. Those who could not afford to eat began to starve, leading to a revolt against the fools who would choose to profit from this miracle. It was a time for us to come together and prove ourselves as a species.

But it did not matter if we came together or not. The Lamps did not reform their world for our sake.

Not long after the fighting started, the Lamps began creating strange anomalies called Gates, which started opening up in places all over the world. These Gates opened up rifts between different places in a time when prehistoric monsters once roamed the earth. Thousands and thousands of strange beasts walked out of the Gates and ran rampant across the world, consuming all in their path.

And soon, the great war for our survival and claim as Earth's dominant species began —

Thump! Thump! Thump! Somebody rasped the door obnoxiously.

"Hey! Neilina! It's time for dinner!" shouted little Ambrose. "Get your butt out here now or mom's gonna pound you!"

Neilina 'Ribbon' Konstantinopolis growled like a bear disturbed from its slumber and threw her stuffed elephant at the door. It squeaked and fell on the ground, making Nelina feel horribly guilty. She got up from her bed and picked it up, comforting the toy as though it were a child who got hurt. She patted the elephant on the back and set it down next to her pillow. She sighed heavily and looked around.

This little room was all she knew her whole life. A tiny space in the makeshift apartment she lived in. She, her mother, and her little brother lived comfortably as they could on one of the highest floors of the building. It used to be just one building, but over time as more and more people became desperate for a place to live, they started adding their own floors with whatever they could find. 

After 500 years, the apartments that were safe behind the giant concrete wall ringing around most of Athens became a series of mega complexes much like Kowloon Walled City in the days of old before the Dawn of the Lamps. 

Her room was small and terribly messy. A clothesline hung above her. Shirts, colorful shorts, a pair of torn jeans, and some underwear hung from it. Taking up most of the space was a blanket, which she used as a curtain to hide behind when she changed. The other buildings were also pretty tall and close together, making privacy a hard to find luxury. 

Her tablet started ringing. More messages from her friends. Many of them were saying goodbye to her. 

Tonight would be her last night in this room. In fact, her last night seeing the great wall from inside. Tomorrow, she would go outside of it and face the dangers of the jungle, for she was now a soldier in the military's elite Myrmidon Ranger Corp. They were tasked with going outside the wall to secure trade routes, scavenge for supplies, and keep essential settlements safe from raiders and eliminate the troublesome prehistoric beasts roaming the jungles of Greece.

None of her friends, save for her friend Darla 'Kriss' Tslepis, would be joining her in the Myrmidons, let alone the military. Many of them choose to be waitresses, store clerks, or even showgirls at the night clubs on the lower levels. It was trivial, but it sure beats being a Myrmidon. Her friends joked that she and Kriss were the only ones crazy enough to volunteer to join the military. Especially with all the losses they've been suffering lately.

It was a risky business, one that could cost her life and limb, but Ribbon's boredom was extreme. She didn't want to work in the city like her friends. She already served time toiling in a mundane job as a waitress at her uncle's restaurant. And it didn't help that soldiers who traveled outside the wall frequented the place. Night after night, she listened to them swap epic stories over beers and chips. Tales of intense firefights, and chases with raptors, and even encounters with a T-Rex. It was too much.

Ribbon also wanted to be on the same pace as her pen pal. He went by the username TheNobleSword. He was a writer from America whom she adored talking to. She fell in love with one of his stories and over time, they became very close friends. Tonight would mark the four year anniversary of when they met. She learned that not only was he a good writer, but he was a Marine. She read about them in books in the library on the fourth floor of the apartment, a place that she frequented many times in her youth.

When not talking about his story, Ribbon coaxed him to tell her of his adventures as a Marine. He told her epic tales such as the time when he and his company were ambushed by a gang of raiders but were saved when a Tyranotitan burst through the trees and attacked them, giving his group time to escape.

She longed for a life like that. A life of excitement and thrills, just her grandmother had when she served in the Myrmidons. The tales about her were legendary. The White Rose of Tartarus, they called her.

Ribbon was nervous but excited. She always wanted to have her own adventures. What kind of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures roamed out there? She wanted to see them all.

Well, after a few squabbles with her mother and months of grueling training in the dreaded Camp Hades, Ribbon got her wish. She fell back on her bed, arms out, and let out a sigh. 

"I did it," she whispered.

She looked out the window at the bustling city outside. From where she was, there was no sign of the streets but she could make out the warm neon colors of the restaurants and clubs down below. She could also make out a portion of the wall which wasn't far from her home. There were towers on the top flashing with red lights and windows showing the living quarters of the soldiers from the Engineering Corps.

"Neilina! Ambrose!" her mother called. "It's time for dinner."

Ribbon told her friends she had to go and stuffed her tablet into its velvet case, emblazoned with the escutcheon of the Myrmidon Ranger Corps. She yanked down her jeans from the clothesline, slipped into them, and went to the kitchen to have supper.

As soon as she appeared, her mother turned around to avoid looking at her. She was giving her the cold shoulder as always. Ever since Ribbon defied her wishes and joined the army, they haven't been on talking terms. Ribbon couldn't believe things escalated the way they did. But, oh well. It's not like she was going to stay here for long. She was going to meet up with Kriss after supper, have a drink at the bar, and then head to her house for the night.

As her mother furiously smacked the food onto the plates, Ribbon decided to catch up on some reading. She whipped out her pocket-sized history book to read as much as she could before it was time for everyone to sit down...

There were many names for the conflict. The Saurian Invasion. Man's Last Stand and the ever-popular, World War D. One would think that with our tanks, jets, and missiles, and guns, that we would have an edge over them. They were wrong. Dead wrong. For each dinosaur the military brought down, another ten took its place. The Lamps summoned Gates mercilessly, dumping prehistoric monsters into our time. They appeared on the land. They conquered the air, and ancient leviathans returned to claim the seas. There was no stopping them.

Armies, which were already weakened from the impact of the asteroid, failed to contain them and crumbled within months. Slowly, the monsters of a hundred million years pasts reclaimed the world for themselves.

The Great Lamps were not healing the earth to give us a second chance. They were forming it for the return of their children. Their true creations. The true owners of this planet. The Lamps had been watching us since we first walked upright. This planet never belonged to us. It belonged to the great beasts that roamed the world in prehistoric —

"Books off of the table please," Ribbon's mother said as she sternly tapped the counter with her spatula.

Ribbon glared at her mother impatiently but set the book down without a word. She was in no mood for another fight today. Her mother, Alena, seemed stricter now. Harsher.

"Is this really what you want?" She remembered her mother asking her, giving up after months and months fighting with her daughter against joining them.

Ribbon would yell at her for hours to let her do as she pleased. Many in their family had joined the army, so why shouldn't she?

Well, after many squabbles, she got her wish. At the expense of her mother's love and care. Alena wanted her daughter to be a doctor for the longest time. Hell, she would have settled with Ribbon being a waitress or a clerk.

Anything! Anything but a Myrmidon.

She tried everything in her power to keep her daughter from becoming what the locals called Dino Fodder. It was their way of teasing the soldiers, and with all the deaths that happened in the last few years, it was a name that was justly deserved for the Myrmidons.

Yesterday, as Ribbon and Kriss were walking home, a battalion of scouts marched back into the city after another expedition in the jungle. A truck drove by with ten body bags piled up in the back. A woman who worked at the bakery ran to the leader of the group asking about her son. The leader sadly gave her something bundled in white cloth.

Ribbon remembered the sheer horror on the woman's face after she removed the cloth. Ribbon didn't know what it was; for she could not see it, but she was sure that it was what remained of the woman's son. There were whispers around town about what it was. Some say it was his foot. Others his hand. Some cold-hearted punks at the bar joked that it was something crude.

Whatever it was that was in the cloth, it drove the woman mad with sorrow. She screamed constantly and clawed at the captain's face with her nails. She had to be bound and taken away by the Military Police.

When Ribbon's mother heard that story, they had another big fight. She pleaded for Ribbon to change careers, but there was no turning back now. Ribbon had completed her training. She swore an oath to serve in the military until she grew old. If she broke her oath, she would be deemed a deserter and publicly hanged like poor Alec, who was so frightened of a roar in the distance that he tried to run from his duties. Unfortunately for him, Tartarus was not that large of a city, and he was caught within hours by a man who sold him out for a week's worth of bread for his family.

"I would prefer you had that sort of fate," Ribbon's mother said, tossing a stack of toast on a plate.

Her little brother Ambrose grabbed one and wolfed it down as he sniggered at her.

"Slow down will you?" Ribbon said. "You're going to choke."

Ambrose taunted her with strange snarls. A glob of toast was clutched between his teeth. "Maybe the dinosaur that eats you will choke, too!"

Alena almost dropped the frying pan when she heard that. Ribbon punched her brother in the shoulder, telling him to shut up with a whisper. Ambrose stuck his tongue out at her and she did the same.

Ambrose scarfed down another piece of toast and then ran for the TV to play with his friends online in their video game. He did not do his chores, such as picking up his plate and helping clean the table. Alena thought nothing of it. She was too emotionally exhausted to want to fight with anyone this evening. And Ambrose, though still very young, was reaching that age when children became rebellious with their parents. Alena thought it best to just let him be. She entertained the thought that she could sway him to deviate off the same path as his foolish sister if she let him do what he wanted.

"It keeps lagging!" Ambrose shouted, pounding his console with his palm. "Aw, mama, the signal is all screwed up. What do we pay those stupid Rangers for anyway!"

Ribbon was furious and turned to shout at him. "They're not stupid, you're stupid!"

"We pay them for thinking we can still live like the old ways," Alena replied with spite. She rubbed her spatula on her apron then gazed at her daughter with a poisonous glare. "Learn this well, Neilina. Things will never go back to the way they used to. God has punished us for the sins we committed in the old world. And he did so with great and terrible power when those...those —THINGS came back from the dead. They used to rule the world for millions of years as if keeping the earth safe from us. Now that they're back, they are keen on making it theirs again."

Ribbon picked up a waffle and bit into it. "The Three Lamps are what caused the dinosaurs to come back, Mother, not God."

The door to their apartment swung open. A woman dressed in a blue gown with her head wrapped in a teal scarf with crystal beads walked into the room.

"Morning, morning!" she sang out as though she were relevant. She swung her cane around in a pompous display of self-importance. She was Gigi, the super of the apartment complex.

"Good morning, Gigi," said Alena. "Join us for supper?"

"I would that I could my dear. But I promised Padman I would join her for the funeral. Have you heard of the demise of her poor son?"

Alena swallowed and nodded her head. "I have. Was that really all that was left of the boy?"

Gigi nodded sadly.

"How awful," Alena said, placing a hand on her cheek. She shook her head in grief. "I've known him since he was such a small boy. He always came for Neilina's birthday parties."

"Tragedy," the old woman dramatically said with a wave of her hand. "It should be criminal to recruit young ones into joining those brutes who venture outside the walls. Are we not suffering enough as it is?"

She strolled towards Ribbon and placed her stone-cold, leathery hands on both her cheeks. "Neilina! Dear, dear, Neilina! Tell me — O' please, tell me — have you reconsidered joining the Myrmidons?"

Ribbon tried to pull the woman's hands off her face. "I'm sorry, Miss Gigi. I completed my training last week. I'm in the military now and I'm due for my field exam in a few hours."

"No!" Gigi cried out, now squeezing Ribbon's cheeks. "It is not too late." She stroked the back of Ribbon's head, sliding her hands through the girl's chestnut-colored hair and messing up her ribbon. "It's never too late. I know folks who have connections with the High Chancellor. If you would let me talk to them, I can get them to remove you from that band of drunken, trigger-happy miscreants."

Ribbon shook her head. "No. I don't want to."

"You can remain in the military, still," Gigi insisted. "Perhaps we can move you into the Military Police to his personal guard. Won't that be much better?"

"NO!" Ribbon threw Gigi's hands off her face. She had a feeling she would be barging in here to talk her out of the Myrmidons. The work of her mother, no doubt. 

She stood up, looked at them both, and said: "I don't want to work as a glorified bodyguard, Miss Gigi. I want to go outside the wall like my grandmother! And my father. I'm tired of being cooped up in this polluted, overcrowded hell. I've made my decision and I am not changing it. I am going to leave tonight and that's final. I'm sorry."

"She's as stubborn as her father," Alena grumbled.

"I'll join too when I'm older!" Ambrose said, proudly stomping into the kitchen towards Gigi. He was holding a colorful old dart gun like it was his own personal rifle.

"No!" shouted Gigi, wagging her finger at the boy. "Alena cannot have another child join those rogues!"

Ambrose continued his arrogant march to the kitchen. "I'm not afraid of anything! I'm not afraid of the training. I'm not afraid of the jungle. I'm not afraid of the raiders. Why I'm not even afraid of the T-Rex!"

Gigi screamed and almost fell backward. Alena dropped the spatula and covered her mouth with both hands as though Ambrose said a foul word.

Gigi rose from her chair, puffing out her chest in fury. "DO NOT SPEAK THAT DEMON'S NAME IN MY PRESENCE!"

"Scaredy cat!" shouted Ambrose.

"Insolent child!" Ms. Gigi yelled back.

"Old Hag!"

"Why, I never!"

"That's my cue to go." Ribbon headed out the kitchen and picked up her gear, which was stacked by the door.

Ambrose and Ms. Gigi stopped fighting at once. Ambrose gulped. He was joking around about his sister being eaten by a dinosaur. But now, seeing her leave for her first day in the Myrmidons, he started to fear it could come true.

"You're not really leaving are you?" her brother asked. "Is there really nothing else you want to do, Neilina?"

Ribbon said nothing. She then walked toward the door and picked up the rifle that was delivered to her the night before. She clutched the handle of the door.

"Neilina," Alena said tapping her foot on the ground.

Ribbon stopped and sighed heavily. She turned to look at her mother. "Yes."

"If you walk out that door. Don't you dare come back."

Ambrose looked at his mother in shock. "Mama?"

"Mama," Ribbon said softly, brushing her long brown hair over her shoulder. "It doesn't have to be like this. I swear I'll make you proud."

Alena shook her head in disgust. She drummed her fingers against her biceps. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks. 

"I highly doubt that," she said. Her lips trembled. The muscles under her eyes twitched trying to hold back her sorrow. "Go," she whispered. Then she shouted: "Go! Go on! Get out of here! I never want to see you again!"

Ribbon turned away. She heard the spatula smash against the wall, just missing her head by inches.

"Go on!" Alena shouted, tossing her oven mitt. "Go on!"

Without looking back, Ribbon rushed out the door. As she closed it, she heard her mother wailing into her hands. Ribbon held back her tears, dashed down the hall, and out of her mother's life.

Ribbon went down to one of the public bathrooms in the complex to change into a black and red party dress for the club. She would have applied her makeup, but the tears of sadness kept flowing, making the task difficult. When she finished preening herself in the mirror of the bathroom, she left the apartment complex for good and waited for her friend Kriss to arrive.

 Being so close to the wall, she heard what sounded like horns blowing from the lake on the other side of the wall. She smiled, realizing the parasaurolophus herd that usually passed by these parts had returned for their evening drink. She also heard the soft, melodious bellows of brontosauruses. 

She loved the way they sounded. It was like listening to whales singing. The calls of the animals were so loud that it dominated every sound in the city, even the beats of the music booming from the night clubs and restaurants in the city. A few boys hanging out on the steps of their building whistled at her and made kissing sounds at her. They loved how much skin her dress was showing. She ignored them and walked on, hoping to find a better spot to wait for Kriss. She stopped underneath a lamppost and texted Kriss to meet her there.

A few minutes went by before the flaxen-haired Darla Tslepis, now known as Kriss, arrived, also dressed up for the club. She hugged her friend affectionately after she heard about what happened to her mother and kissed her cheek.

"Come on," she said. "A few drinks ought to cheer you up.

Ribbon wiped a few tears away and followed her into the city. Save for a few neon lights, string lights, a few burning barrels, and lanterns hanging here and there, the city was awfully dark. And this was a time when the nastiest of its denizens came out. Many of them were scouts looking for pretty girls to dance at the clubs in exchange for food and lodging. Ribbon kept close to Kriss, who was smart enough to bring along the SMG she was named after. Already Ribbon began to feel like all eyes were watching her from every dark corner.

All around her, sick, hungry, and ill-begotten folks sulked around wistfully. Young boys from the high school eyed them and cat-called them. But seeing the weapon hanging over Kriss's chest kept them at bay.

"I'm sorry about your mother," Kriss said, reaching into her leather hooded jacket. She pulled out a chocolate bar and took a bite. It was mushy from being stuck in there for so long. It painted her lips brown, making her laugh. She offered the rest to Ribbon, who refused with a shake of her head.

"Oh, hold still," Kriss said suddenly.

Ribbon came to a stop. "What?"

"It's coming undone, Neilina," Kriss said, fixing the golden silk ribbon her friend always wore. "There you go. Why do you always wear this blasted thing?"

"It's my lucky ribbon," Neilina answered. "Grandma gave it to me for good luck and it hasn't let me down since."

Kriss looked at her with a crooked smile and shook her head. "Yes, and it's because of your 'lucky' ribbon that everyone started calling you Ribbon. Sheesh, I would have preferred a cooler callsign for you than that. Maybe something like Rebel or Kick-Ass or...you know? Something cool. Ribbon sounds...well...cute."

Ribbon played with her ribbon and giggled. The brontosauruses were bellowing louder as the moon rose high above the sky, "I actually like it. I believe it suits me rather well."

Kriss laughed then leaned forward kissed her friend on the cheek. "Okay, precious. Come on. The girls are waiting for us at the club. You up for one more night of dancing before we being our careers as dinosaur hunters?"

"Yes, I'd love to dance and have a stiff drink right about now. The sooner we get away from this part of the city, the better. I still can't believe she'd just kick me out like that."

"Don't feel bad. You know you can always stay with us, right?"

"I don't care if I have to sleep in the jungle. So long as I don't have to go back there again, I'll be content. As of now, Neilina Konstantinopolis is gone. I'm Ribbon of the Myrmidon Ranger Corps."

"Atta girl," Kriss said, taking another bite of her chocolate bar. "Again, don't feel bad. Most kids get kicked out of their parent's homes when they become Myrmidons. With the mortality rating, you can't really blame them."

"I guess I can't," said Ribbon.

Kriss giggled and playfully patted Ribbon on the butt. "But that's not going to be us, right? We're going to be veterans! Cold-blooded dinosaur killers and treasure hunters. And we're going to live like queens when we retire."

"If we retire," Ribbon said unenthusiastically.

"You're no fun," Kriss laughed, finishing the last of her candy bar.

Ribbon gave a wan snort. "I wish I shared your eagerness, Kriss. Despite those long months in Camp Hades, I still feel a little nervous — aye!"

She jumped, missing a dirty puddle of who knows what.

"I mean we're not dealing with poorly equipped marauders or bandits," she said. "Those barbarians are the least of our concerns. These are creatures who are stronger, faster, and even smarter than us. And these guns aren't going to do much against them. My uncle said that there are some dinosaurs out there that just get mad if you shoot them."

"Well, it'll do us some good," said Kriss, patting her SMG. "I'm not going to bring down an allosaurus, let alone a T-Rex with this peashooter. Your odds are better. Your rifle at least has a night vision scope. Where did you get that piece of gear anyway? Only top-tier mercenary outfits and Diamond Guard soldiers have that kind of gear. Already getting favors, from Captain Constantinos, Princess?"

Ribbon grunted and shook her head. "It's not what you think," she protested at once.

Kriss laughed. "Look at you blushing. You're so cute when you get flustered."

"I forgot how to laugh," Ribbon grunted as she marched on to a club known as the Raptor's Den. There was a long line of youngsters, some of them Myrmidon recruits, outside waiting to get in. Though she was seventeen years old, Ribbon and the other youths were still allowed to drink. Now that humankind was on the brink of extinction, not that many people cared if a few kids got drunk every now and then.

The two girls heard a loud grunting coming from an intersection ahead and stopped. The crossing guard blew his whistle, holding up his hand to tell people to halt. Suddenly, a small group of chasmosaurus came walking down the street, carrying huge carts full of plaster and concrete for the engineering corps. The drivers of the carriages whipped the rumps of the animals with a palm branch, but ever so carefully. It would be a very bad idea to make an animal that large mad.

Chasmosaurus was a relatively gentle species of dinosaur and served as a wonderful beast of burden. But it was profoundly respected and shown tender loving care. It wasn't like an elephant or a horse that could easily take commands at a circus. Ceratopsians had a mean streak if they got angry, and could wreak a path of destruction in the city.

Whips made them angry. Shouting caused them to go berserk, and electric prods put them on a deadly rampage. Anyone foolish enough to abuse them was met with a slow and painful death. There was great anger in them, yes, but they were gentle if treated right. Ribbon knew this all too well. So long as they were pampered and treated fairly, the animals would do anything for their masters. It was a win-win for the animals and the workers.

But those were the only dinosaurs Ribbon had ever seen in her life. Well, them and the compsognathus —a local pest— who would ravage through the garbage and even devour the sick and homeless. She knew there were more and far interesting dinosaurs behind the wall. She read about many species in her books, a commodity she wished she had more of. One of which she was particularly very thankful for. Her grandmother's beastiary. cataloging all the different species of prehistoric fauna that roamed outside the wall. And based on the size, she encountered a lot.

It was a massive thing that she made herself back when she served in the Myrmidons. Not only was Neilina's grandmother a decorated soldier and legendary figure, she was also talented artist and craftswoman who created the book with leather made from dinosaur skin and golden clasps engraved with images of dinosaurs to seal it shut. It even had a handle on the spine so she could carry the massive book like a suitcase.

The tome, no doubt, was Neilina's greatest treasure. Needless to say, the thing she enjoyed most about it was the art. Her grandmother drew all the animals she encountered out there with brilliant, detailed, and colorful pictures and wrote all kinds of interesting facts about them. Before she passed away, she wrote on the front page:

To Neilina with Love. 

- Nana

Thanks to her grandmother's book, Ribbon learned there were animals out there taller than most of the buildings in Tartarus. And some with a ravenous hunger much like T-Rex.

T-Rex!

She shivered. For years, the thought of running into Tyrannosaurus Rex haunted her. Now that she was a well-trained Myrmidon, she had a horrible feeling she would run into it very soon.

Suddenly, something furry walked up to the chasmosaurus. It started barking ferociously at the giants. Ribbon smirked and gave a roll of her eyes seeing that it was Zephyr, a stray Yorkie that was often known to cause trouble. The chasmosaurus bellowed and stopped. Right in front of the road.

Damn! They were going to miss their chance to get a good spot in line. Kriss groaned and leaned against a brick wall. "This is going to take a while," she said. "Oh, that Zephyr! I'm surprised no one has adopted him yet."

Ding!

Ribbon's tablet vibrated in her backpack. She got a message. Could it be? she thought. It was — oh, perfect timing! She told Kriss to wait for her and then ran into an alley for some privacy.

"Going to talk to your boyfriend from across the ocean?" Kriss teased. "What would the captain think about that?"

Ribbon paused and looked at Kriss sternly ."He's not my — Oh, stop it. It won't take me too long."

"All right. I'll save you a spot when the show's over," said Kriss.

Once Ribbon was in the seclusion of a fish-scented alleyway, she excavated her tablet out of her backpack. Her smile widened when she saw her friend's profile picture on the top of the screen.

TheNobleSword: Hey, how are you?

Melody_Divine: Hey, Sword. I'm good. How are you?

TheNobleSword: I'm doing well. I wish I could say the same for my sanctuary. There's a bad fever going around. Fifteen people died last night.

Melody_Divine: Oh no. I'm sorry to hear that. Are you feeling sick?

TheNobleSword: No, thankfully I'm not. What are you doing right now? Are things better over there?

Melody_Divine: Haha. Yeah, I'm doing really well.

TheNobleSword: Well, you're in Tartarus after all. That's one of the largest and safest settlements in Greece. I heard about your Myrmidon Rangers.

Melody_Divine: Funny you should mention them. Because that's exactly what I am.

Ribbon took her jacket out of her backpack. She laid it on a wooden crate and snapped a quick picture to send to Sword. Or tried to. It was still loading. The connection was very poor today. Much poorer than usual.

Ribbon balled her fists. She was getting impatient and frustrated. For a sanctuary of such significance, Tartarus had some of the poorest reception in the country.

Finally, it went through.

Now it was time for Sword to respond. She hoped he would do so quickly. The two chasmosaurusus were now snorting and bellowing while the wagons creaked. A round of applause followed from the happy pedestrians who could finally go about their day. Luckily for Ribbon, Sword was one of those people who responded quickly. His message popped on the screen faster than she thought.

TheNobleSword: Get out of here! No way! Really? You're a Myrmidon?!!! Now you can finally follow in your grandmother's footsteps!!! That's great!!

Melody_Divine: Thank you!! Sorry if I've been distant lately. I was training really hard these past few months. I wanted to surprise you. What do you think?

TheNobleSword: What do I think? That's badass. Now we're both elite military operatives. But you Myrmidons are so much more legendary. I heard you guys are pretty hardcore. There are tales about your group told by our superiors and some traders who come to the harbor here in DC. I heard a story about a man by the name of Grigoris, who killed a dyanamoterror with a knife and his bare hands.

Melody_Divine: Haha. Yeah, but don't pay attention to those accounts. They're just campfire stories. And technically, I'm not one yet. I just finished basic training and now I'm going to undergo one final test before I can earn the badge and those famous glass dog tags. They're laser engraved with your name and everything. It's soo cool!

TheNobleSword: I'm so happy for you, Ribbon. This is great. 

Melody_Divine: Thank you so much! And come on. Marines are legendary warriors, too. You must be very proud to be one of them. You know, Marines have such a history with your country. Let's swap stories later, okay? I'm going to hang out with some friends and then I'm going to get some sleep. I've got to head out into the wilderness for my big test. I'm nervous, but I'm confident my team and I will make it. I'll be back and read your latest chapter. Good job on the last one. I hope King Forrest gets a horrible death. You're a very talented writer.

The chasmosaurs were calmed. They finally made their way down the street. Kriss whistled, for Ribbon. "Come on, let's go, Ribbon!"

"Coming!" Ribbon called. She sent her friend one last message.

Melody_Divine: I've got to go, Sword. See you!

TheNobleSword: Bye. Thanks for your feedback. Be careful out there.

Ribbon replied with a smiley face. She tucked the tablet into the back pocket of her knapsack, slid it back on, and hurried towards Kriss.

Ribbon and Kriss handed their belongings to one of the bouncers at the door. He took them to a safe where they would be locked up until it was time to leave. It was very dark in there and smelled of sweat and cigarettes. The walls were lined with red neon and there was a neon blue chandelier hanging above them. The DJ was in his booth, bobbing his head up and down to the tracks he was playing. The floor was already packed with dancers and couples making out passionately in the darkness. 

"Over here," said Kriss. She pointed to a booth beside an aquarium filled with Triassic amphibians and fish. Their friends were already there. A girl with pink hair waved to them to get their attention. It was a struggle trying to get through the throng of youngsters. They managed to squeeze through and sat down. 

The girls got out of their seats and hugged Ribbon to comfort her. 

"I'm so sorry about what happened with your mom," said their friend Ana. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"Don't worry," said Kriss. "Ribbon's going to stay with me." 

The short-haired girl shook her head. "Ah, I forgot you have your codenames now. I hope it's not going to be a problem for us civies."

"It's no trouble," Ribbon said sitting down and scooting close to the aquarium. 

"So you two are leaving, huh?" said Paula, the pink-haired girl. "Well, I always knew out of everyone in the class, it was you two who were going to be Rangers."

"Neilina especially," said Ana. "It's in her blood." 

"So when do you two ship out?" asked Nina, a girl with curly auburn hair. 

"Tomorrow at dawn," Kriss answered. She poured herself some wine. 

Paula ran her fingers through the charms on her bracelet and stared at them. "Dawn? Shouldn't you two be getting your rest though?"

"The night is still young," said Ana. She checked her watch. "It's like seven. I'm sure our two newest Myrmidons have some time for a drink and a dance."

Ribbon chuckled. "Well, we're not Myrmidons yet. Tomorrow is our final test to see if we pass and earn our tags."

"I don't envy you, that's for sure," said Nina. "Especially not with the rumors I've been hearing lately. Did you hear? Thanatos has returned."

Kriss was drinking when she heard this. The shock caused her eyes to widen and she spit out her wine.  

Ribbon bit her lip to keep herself from screaming. "The Black Death of Greece? I thought he went north to Russia long ago."

"Hold it, hold it," said Paula. "My brother is in the Myrmidons, too. I heard about Thanatos as well. He's been reported in the ruins of Rio. He's nowhere around here."

"Yet," Nina added. "We're right under the Lamp. These are his favorite hunting grounds after all. What's to stop him from coming back?" 

Kriss wiped her mouth with a napkin. "More importantly," she said, "what the hell did he go all the way up to Russia for? He's a T-Rex. That seems pretty far for one to travel."

"He's no ordinary T-Rex," said Ribbon. "Have you forgotten? He's a TYRANT. As in his body was given superpowers by the Lamps."

"You don't have to remind me, Ribbon, I know what the Lamps to do dinosaurs."

"Well, I don't mean to fill you girls with fear or anything," said Nina. "But I heard he went up there to find an army."

"An army," Ana scoffed. "Come on, Nina, he may have strange abilities, but he's still just a dumb animal. They just eat and mate and s**t. 

"But so far from their hunting grounds?" Ribbon said. "Tyrannosaurus Rex don't move very far from where they like to hunt. Once they claim their territory, it's theirs for life. They won't go anywhere else. And Thanatos is a TYRANT. Unless a bigger, more powerful contender came and kicked him out of his turf — which is highly unlikely — there's no reason for him to travel so far. I have a feeling that Nina's right. He's up to something."

Ana rolled her eyes, finding the topic to be ridiculous. "You're all just fearmongering. And let's suppose he did go looking for any army. What in the world would he do with it? There's no way he could attack Tartarus. The walls are high and very thick. And they're loaded with enough firepower to wipe out an army. As powerful as he is, there's no way he's going to attack us. It will be a suicide mission. Even they know it, too." 

"He's the least of your worries," said Nina. "Have any of you heard of the Red Ghost."

Ribbon never heard of such a thing. She looked at Kriss who nodded at Nina.

"I've heard of it. It's supposedly a new TYRANT dromaeosaur or something. My father said he could be a lieutenant for Thanatos."

"My brother says the same thing," said Paula. "He commands a pack of allosauruses and other predators, they say. He's been attacking settlements and ambushing patrols as if to weaken our forces outside the wall. The Myrmidons lost five squads within the week."

"That explains the baker woman's boy," said Ribbon. She looked at Kriss who nodded again. She was clearly at a loss for words. 

Ana gulped nervously. "Yes, a hand was all that was left of him." She looked at Ribbon and Kriss with tears in her eyes. "I'm scared. Please, don't do this, you guys. Please. Isn't there something else you can do?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Kriss said softly. "It's going to be all right. After all, we're going to be serving in Nefeli Squad. We won't be doing much except for scavenging."

"Nefeli Squad? Oh, the group that's comprised of all girls? Ha. Now I feel a little better."

"At least one of us likes this," Ribbon grumbled, drumming her fingers on the table. "Those damn pigs think we can't handle the jungle like the others, even after everything my grandmother did when she served." 

"Women like her come by every once in a while," said Paula. "As much as I believe in girl power, not all of us can be a White Rose of Tartarus. If we did, units like Nefeli Squad would be getting more respect."

"Ah, to hell with them," Ana said with a wave of her hand. "Our girls are tough. Neilina comes from a long line of heroes in the Myrmidons. And Kriss was the top of her class in Camp Hades. I can't think of a better duo to make us proud."    

"To Ribbon and Kriss," said Paula, holding up her glass. "Be safe out there, you two."