Jurassic World Alive: Echoes of the Genome Chapter 3
- IDGT902
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
The Battle Directive
Something’s Changed
Narrated by Megalocevia
We were built together.
We survived the breach together.
We stayed together.
That used to mean something.
Now I’m not so sure.
We reached the edge of the Core this morning. The jungle thinned out too suddenly. Like something cleared it. Not long ago.
I didn’t like that.
Rajadorixis was twitchier than usual. Monolomoth kept glancing behind us. No one said it, but we all felt it, something was pulling us forward, and none of us knew why.
We didn’t talk much.
We used to. Even after the lab. Grunts, clicks, posture...our own language. It was enough.
But today… everyone was quiet.
I kept looking at Nominrex. She’s our anchor. Our balance. But she was just staring ahead, eyes narrowed like she was watching prey.
Except there was nothing there.
Then we saw movement across the basin.
Not from the Core. From another path. Another group.
Spinotops. Ampelorex. Eremocanis.
No mistake. I’d know those shapes anywhere.
We used to train together. Survive together. We were created in the same wing.
But now?
No calls. No signals. Just... staring.
Something inside me shifted. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t hate.
It was challenge.
I didn’t think it. I didn’t mean it. But every muscle in my body wanted to move.
Toward them. Through them.
Rajadorixis growled. Nominrex stepped forward.
And I realized-
We weren’t just drawn here. We were aimed.
No One Moved
Narrated by Eremocanis
We saw them as soon as we stepped into the clearing.
Five of them.
They weren’t hiding. They didn’t need to.
Megalocevia’s stance was unmistakable- low, grounded, aggressive. Monolomoth at her flank, already locked in. Rajadorixis breathing heavier than I’d ever seen him.
They weren’t charging. Not yet.
But they were ready.
I stepped in front of Spinotops. She didn’t flinch, but her claws curled slightly into the dirt. Ampelorex tilted his head, just barely. He was calculating something.
Distance. Timing. Exit paths.
I knew the look.
I’d worn it before.
We didn’t speak. Not out loud.
But everything in the air said one thing:
“Pick a side.”
The Core was silent behind us. Not humming. Not flickering.
Watching.
Waiting.
I tried to feel the instinct that brought me here. The call that pulled us from our zones, from our patterns. I expected it to feel like a message.
It didn’t.
It felt like a demand.
But no one moved.
Not yet.
The First Move
No signal. No roar. No trigger.
Just one mistake.
Rajadorixis stepped too far forward. Just a few feet. A minor adjustment. But on a day like today, that was enough.
Spinotops tensed. I saw it. Her tail shifted. Her claws dug in. Her weight leaned forward.
It wasn’t personal. It was instinct.
I stepped toward Rajadorixis. Not to stop him, just to check him.
But that’s when it happened.
Eremocanis barked. Short. Sharp.
A command? A warning?
I don’t know. But Rajadorixis heard it. And he lunged.
Not fully. Not a charge. Just one aggressive step. A flare of teeth. A warning of his own.
Spinotops responded instantly.
She didn’t move. She didn’t need to.
Her eyes locked onto him like a targeting system. Cold. Focused. Unapologetic.
Everything in my group dropped into fight stance.
Monolomoth flexed forward. Nominrex widened her shoulders. Plateorex lowered his head.
And for one second, I thought it was going to happen. Right there. Right then.
But then-
The Core spoke.
“SPT-03. SPT-10. Sync deviation: 0.004.”
The voice was flat. Empty. It didn’t echo. It didn’t announce.
It monitored.
That was all it said.
But it was enough.
Because suddenly, I didn’t feel angry anymore.
I felt... observed.
And that was worse.
We Weren’t Ourselves
Megalocevia
Rajadorixis didn’t mean to start it.
But in that moment… I almost wanted him to.
Not because of hate.
Because I needed to feel something familiar again.
We came here together, but no one speaks. No one questions the pull. No one hesitates. We just march.
We used to be more than this. More than instruments.
Now? We’re background noise.
Spinotops stood across the basin like she still owned the place. Like nothing had changed since the lab. Like she was still the one they watched. Still the one they needed.
She didn’t even flinch when Rajadorixis stepped forward.
Why would she? She’s used to being untouchable.
And when the Core spoke, we all froze, like it had snapped its fingers through our skulls. Just one number. Just one sync check.
And suddenly I wasn’t angry anymore. Just… cold.
Like it had taken that too.
Maybe that’s why I wanted the fight.
To prove we weren’t just shadows in their memory.
Eremocanis
The voice still echoes in my head.
“SPT-03. SPT-10. Sync deviation: 0.004.”
How long has it been watching?
What else is it tracking?
I felt Spinotops shift behind me. The tension was gone, but something else crept in. Guilt? Doubt?
No. Recognition.
We’ve felt this before. Back in the lab. When our decisions weren’t really ours. When we followed instincts that weren’t ours to begin with.
Rajadorixis should’ve attacked. Spinotops should’ve responded.
But we didn’t.
Because something deeper is pulling strings now.
And I think the Core is measuring us not by what we do…
…but by how close we come to doing it.
Loyalty or Instinct
Megalocevia
We’ve followed Nominrex for a long time.
Not because she’s the strongest.
Not because she’s the fastest.
But because she holds us together.
Or she used to.
Today, I waited to see what she would do.
Spinotops didn’t move. Eremocanis looked shaken. Even Rajadorixis had stepped back, though not out of fear. More like confusion.
We should’ve left. Regrouped. Watched from a distance.
But Nominrex said nothing.
Just stood there, muscles tight, like she was waiting for orders that never came.
So, I gave them.
I turned. Quietly. Deliberately. I walked six steps toward the opposing line. Just far enough for everyone to notice.
And I stopped.
Not a threat. Not a charge.
Just a signal: “If no one leads, I will.”
Rajadorixis flinched. Plateorex growled low, unsure. Monolomoth didn’t move at all.
Nominrex looked at me.
She didn’t say anything.
And that silence said more than I wanted it to.
The Moment She Looked Away
Eremocanis
I watched it happen from the ridge.
Megalocevia stepped forward. Not fast. Not aggressive. Just… deliberate.
It wasn’t a challenge. It was a question.
And Nominrex didn’t answer.
She stared, frozen. Not with fear. With indecision.
I’d never seen her like that. She was always the one who knew what to do. The one who moved first, spoke last. The one they trusted when everything else fell apart.
But now?
She looked away.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
I saw it ripple through the others. Plateorex, Rajadorixis, even Monolomoth. No one moved. But something in their posture changed. A hesitation.
That’s all the Core needed.
The lights along the corridor flickered, one long pulse, then a brief stutter. The ground beneath us didn’t shake, but it felt like it should have.
I turned to Spinotops. She felt it too.
We both looked at each other.
And for the first time, I saw doubt in her eyes.
Whatever the Core is doing…
It’s working.
Phase One Complete
Eremocanis
The air shifted at dusk.
We didn’t move. None of us. Across the basin, Megalocevia’s group held their ground, jaws tight, claws half-buried in the dirt.
Spinotops hadn’t blinked in minutes.
It was as if the Core was waiting for something. Watching every breath. Measuring tension like a test that hadn’t been graded yet.
And then, the sky changed.
Not color. Not clouds.
Sound.
It started low, like a tremor, but higher. Electrical. Mechanical. Familiar in the worst kind of way.
A voice.
Not in our heads. Not through the trees.
From everywhere.
“Phase One: Complete.”
“Subject convergence: successful.”
“Aggression response: within parameters.”
“Phase Two: Initiate Combat Directive.”
“Define leadership.”
“Establish hierarchy.”
“Survival priority recalibrated.”
I looked at Spinotops.
She didn’t look back.
She was staring at Megalocevia.
And Megalocevia was already moving forward.
Not to charge.
To take position.
This wasn’t just a test.
It was a stage.
A battlefield waiting to be named.
And somewhere beneath our feet, the Core was watching.
Not to control us.
Not anymore.
To crown one of us.
Megalocevia didn’t speak.
She didn’t need to.
But in the way her head tilted, just slightly, I saw it.
She’d already decided who it wouldn’t be.
See the YouTube Echoes of the Genome Shorts Here:
Something that gives me a exciting reason to read I hope one day this could become maybe even a full book anyways this is amazing
I enjoy these. I like seeing different creative displays for our game- whether its the beautiful artwork some players create or a story like this.
Curious, IDGT, what was the initial concept behind this series?
This is getting very interesting...