Me and Flame decided to use the Crystal Isle obelisk to quickly reach our destination. Once there we took refuge in a nearby cave.

In the cave, Flame said "We need to see whether or not the Crystal Queen's terminal is still working, but I'm pretty sure the nest will be swarming with Skulldoms. So what will our plan of attack be?"

I replied "I do have an idea, so you know how some Crystal Wyverns wear the skulls of Alpha rexes as trophies of killing the predators, you could take a skull from a dead Crystal wyvern and disguise yourself, if you don't find it to uncomfortable to wear a dead skull that is". Hollowjack stared at me and I began to worry whether my idea was a little too dark, after all, all Wyverns were related in a way".

Thankfully Flame chuckled and said "Dodrexes really are evil geniuses, what about you though?" I sighed in relief, not knowing whether or not I should take that as a compliment. I said "The terminal is in a cave at the front of the Wyvern Trench, however I know some caves that lead back there, I'm sure there'll be some Skulldom guards but I can handle them, like you said, we Dodrexes are evil geniuses."

Flame thought for a moment before saying "Okay than, it's getting dark so let's stay the night here and than tomorrow we can pull off this almost suicidal stunt". I smirked and said "Yeah good idea, let's take shifts, one of us can sleep first and the other can stay guard, how about I sleep first and you can wake me in 5 hours (it was 9 pm), and since Dodorexes are usually awake at midnight, I'll take second shift?" Flame said "Yeah okay good idea, I'll wake u if there's any trouble". I agreed and went deeper into the cave, it slowly opened up until there was enough room to fit a small army, the entirety of ARK was filled with massive caves like these. I laid down and before long, fell asleep.

It was 2 am when Flame came to wake me up, he said "Hollowjack, it's time, come on its your turn". I yawned and got up saying "Okay I'll stay at the entrance, and likewise wake you up if something happens." He agreed and layed down on the floor and before long fell asleep.

I walked towards the entrance, outside the moon was high in the sky, however unlike my previous visits when the skies were filled with Crystal wyverns flying around, the night sky was empty, and everything was quiet. It was almost sad to see such a majestic land under such silence and emptiness.

I thought about tomorrow, how we would have to venture into the heart of the Wyvern Trench and somehow survive. I only hope Skullcrusher was not here.

I stayed at the entrance for the entire night, hiding just out of view, until the sun started rising, perfect, now to wake Flame up. I turned around and was about to go into the cave when I heard it. 2 voices talking to each other. One said "Why do we have to be the ones to get morning duty, we got it yesterday as well!" the other voice, a more deeper one replied "It's because you couldn't stop bragging about how good of a patrol you were!"

With a shock I realised they were Skulldoms. I quickly rushed inside and woke Flame up, I could have taken them on easily but I decided that me and Flame could capture them and get some information from them.

I woke Flame up and told him of the situation. He instantly got up and said "You want to kill them?" I replied "I think it would be better to subdue them to get information about the trench". Flame nodded and I further said "I'll go out first, there are plenty of Dodrexes that live here, they'll think I'm a civilian, I'll subdue one of them and you can get the other". Flame agreed and said "Okay but try not to crush them with your strength". I replied "You too" and walked out.

As soon as I got out the Skulldoms instantly stopped, I could tell they were shocked to see me, I was a mini boss which made me double the size of a regular Dodorex. The 2 Skulldoms were as big as Dodorexes which meant they were half my size.

One of the Skulldoms was completely black in color from top to bottom with red eyes, where as the other one was orange from the front but his back was blue, a wierd colour combination.

I walked up to them and the black one said "Hey you! Didn't you hear the orders, no creatures are to stay in the Crystal Isles! Do you want to die?!" I was about to reply when the other one said "Easy now, stay calm, he's only a civilian".

I had decided enough was enough, I'd kill the one who was bossing me around, the other one could be detained for interrogations.

Without any warning I rushed forward and bit the spine of the black Skulkdom with my powerful beak, I instantly crushed it causing the Skulkdom to roar in both surprise and pain before falling to the ground, paralysed to due his spine bring crushed. The other Skulldom looked shocked, however before he could even attack Flame flew out of the cave entrance and with an effective swipe with his right leg, hit the Skulldom straight in the face with such force that he fell onto the ground unconscious, the fight was over.

It wasn't even a challenge, Skulldoms may be extremely powerful but when it comes down to a 1 versus 1 or 2 versus 2 than us mini bosses were more powerful in comparison, a Skulldom's main strenght came from them being in large numbers–Like Allosaurs.

I carefully grabbed the tail of the Skulldom with my beak and dragged him deep into the cave. Flame came upto me and said "How do we wake him up?" I replied "You go get the Alpha Rex skull, I'll handle the interrogations". Flame replied "And what will you do after the interrogations?" I replied "Depends on how lenient he is".

Flame nodded, apparently satisfied with my answer, and left me. And I began the wait for the Skulldom to awaken.

Eventually after 30 minutes I got bored of waiting and opened my beak and spewed a tiny amount of fire onto the Skulldom (Yes Dodorexes have the ability to breathe fire). I made sure not to give the Skulldom any burns and only to make him feel enough heat to wake up uncomfortably.

Sure enough it worked and after 2 minutes the Skulldom woke up, he looked around and than at me, his mind must have finally registered what had happened cause he said "Y-you killed my friend!" I replied "Good, you remember, now if you don't want to suffer the same faith I suggest you answer my questions."

The Skulldom started to look around for any exit but the only exit was covered by me. He looked at me with rage in his eyes and he said "You have no idea what you've done, when I get out of here I'll convince Skullcrusher to destroy every last Dodorex."

He slowly got up and without warning jumped towards me to try and kill me. But I expected it and with one bite of my beak, he was lying in the ground roaring in agony as his left leg bled immensely and the sounds of his broken bone could be heard creaking and clanking.

I thought for a moment, was I going too far? This was intense, even for me. But I couldn't turn back now, I asked him "If you don't want even more pain I suggest you answer my questions, first of all, what's your name?". I waited for a few moments for him to realize the question, since he was in pain I'd oubt he could think as clearly. After 3 mjnutes he grunted "Forsen". Huh, that's a weird name, even for us.

Nevertheless I asked "What was your rank in Skullcrusher's army?" his reply came quicker this time "Captain of the 3rd vanguard squadron of these blasted lands, tasked with checking every secret entrance to the Crystal Wyvern Trench". Nice, a stroke of luck. Now I needed him to answer my queries.

I asked him "Is the back entrance to the Crystal Wyvern Queen guarded? And how heavily?" Forsen replied "I will never betray my master, and not to the likes of you!" I asked him the same question again and still got no response. Before I could ask a third time though he said something that sent pure rage through my veins "I enjoyed destroying the Crystal Wyvern eggs, and killing the children in front of the parents." Now clearly he was going into shock which meant he was repeating his favorite moments from his life. But I didn't care, all I saw were innocent baby wyvern being slaughtered I front of their parents.

So I did something which I still regret, I grabbed his I jured left leg–much to his shock and pain, and tore it off from his body. He started roaring even more loudly and shouted "OKAY OKAY, I'LL TELL YOU, PLEASE STOP". I waited patiently for him to stop sobbing in pain and finally he said "There are 2 S-skulldoms at the entrance of the cave, and 4 at the part where the cave enters the Crystal Wyvern Q-queen's terminal. Now please let me go!"

I looked at him with rage and asked "Did you let the baby wyverns go? When their parents were most probably begging you to let them live, did you listen?" Forsen sobbed and said "please, have mercy".

I said "No, you don't deserve mercy". And before Forsen could do anything I quickly ended his life by severing his head from his body.

I than walked out only to find a Crystal wyvern at the entrance. I was about to prepare for another fight when I realized it was Flame, guess the disguise does work than. He came up to me and said "Did you get the information you'll need?" I replied "Yeah I dealt with him, are you ready?". Flame looked at me, clearly realizing I was shook by something that happened, thankfully he didn't ask and instead said "Well comrade, good luck, I'll be off, you better start your journey as well, it's a half day trek to the Wyvern trench. Good luck!" and with that he flew off towards the den.

I also went to a nearby stream, cleaned off the blood of Forsen and without any other delay, started to walk towards the den, being careful to hide from any enemy.

Hopefully everything would go to plan.

Hopefully.