..."Ahhh, its another day here in New York."...

He woke up to brush his teeth and get a bath, he greeted his mom and ate breakfast, but before he set out to school his mother told him

"Be careful Lenny, I love you, blow kisses." as she always said and he replied

"C'mon mom, I'm nineteen for crying out loud, I don't need that anymore and plus you can just call me Len."

After lectures he then came back and the first thing he said was

"ahh, I'm really tired of this school I'm gonna make dad get me out of it, well I still gotta endure it till then."

Len went to go grab a snack, chill and watch tv and play video games.It was 9 pm and it was getting dark, then his phone got a notification, when he came to check it, he got a message from his mom, it read,

"Lenny come bring me the medicine on the counter to the family hospital your father is seriously in need of it, it's very urgent"

'Sure, whatever.'

On his way out he tripped on the road because of his shoe lace, he managed to get away from the motorcycle which almost ran over him.

Unfortunately, he was on his knee and got hit by a van, he died.

when he opened his eyes, he thought he had already crossed over to the after life.

Until he got picked up and carried by a very bright being which looked like an angel.

It carried him to the sun, then blacked out.

When he woke up, he saw himself on an island, with a group of people gathered together.

He was confused at a point and tried asking some people at the end of the crowd what happened, but they ignored him.

They all heard a voice and when they looked around they saw a giant figure rising from the ground.

It was like a statue in a red robe and a hoodie that covered its entire face. It explained to them that they were on the brink of death in their real bodies and in the real world but all 37 of them were saved by the bright beings and so their bodies are still alive but are passed out in the various places they where about to die, some have been rushed to the hospital. They all asked it why they were here and not in the after life, the figure continued to explain

"You all died at the time of the captive hunt, you have a second chance to live."

The people asked him what this so called captive hunt was. He explained it "The captive hunt is a period of 12 hours when beings called twinklers go round the earth and pick the 37 first people that die at that point."

He further explained that if we were able to live and survive for the next 500 days, they would be sent back to the normal world safe even if you were severely injured or sick.

But if they died in this world they would as well die in the real world.

He continued, this island has 5 towers which could serve as head quarters, one each at the north, south, east, west and middle of a particular part of the island.

The one in the middle was called the general tower because it was at the middle and was the biggest and tallest of the 5, you all need equipment and weapons which will enable you to kill the attacking forces to survive.

These forces will be active through the day but they won't be as dangerous as when they all appear on the rage.

They all asked what the rage was and about it nature.

In the rage the monsters will be very dangerous and will evolve and grow more. The rage comes at every seven weeks.

You all have wrist bands that allow you to communicate to others in long distances and analyses equipment, ores and crystals,educates you more on the island, provides you a map.

As your strength increases, and becomes stronger, your wristbands change color according to mist level, they change in every level 20 you hit.

The colors are white for newbies, yellow for little upgraded, blue for average, red for above average and black for fully upgraded.

You get stronger through weapons, hunting, finding treasures, crystals and new places.

When you need help just call for a Twinkler, they are tiny, spherical and shiny beings, they can talk to you and move.

"I wish you all good luck on surviving, have a nice day."

The figure then descended back into the ground. They were all left speechless and in confusion, they were grieved.

A brave man, with grey hair that looks like he was in his early twenties stood up and broke the silence. He is advicing them to stay calm and to keep each other safe and have their backs, but we have to check in the towers and get to know each other more to make it easier to trust each other, also let us gather in the general tower and assign who would be in the different towers.

"Ahh, I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Keel and it is a pleasure to meet you all."

They all went to the general tower and all got assigned 9 each to the 4 towers, the assigning was done by Keel, who suggested that he would stay in the general tower on his own because he would be the captain of them until they wouldn't want to take orders from him any longer and so they would vote for another captain and also the 4 tower captains would be elected after a week by the tower members.

They all agreed and so Len was assigned to tower C and they all gathered in their various towers and they all introduced themselves and were allowed to wander around the island but not to go too deep unless they were in groups for the first week.

That night, Len went out side of the tower because he couldn't sleep.

He saw saw many fire flies blinking light, like they had organized it. It was so beautiful and Len went to go catch one.

Soon after, Len heard some grizzling in the bushes, he ran to the entrance of the tower and kept watching.

He saw a red haired girl coming out. She had beautiful eyes, looked around his age and that attracted Len. She was familiar to him, he recognized her in the choosing of towers.He came to her and asked

"Aren't the fire flies so beautiful ?"

She took a fighting stance and asked

"Who are you and why are you talking to me?"

"Whoa, sorry your in tower C, right? just asking cuz that's my tower, and I came to check out the fire flies, its so beautiful, and since your in tower C, I thought it would be best if we just teamed up or maybe even become fr..." She cut him there and said in an arrogant tone

"I work alone, thank you, and now if you excuse me I'll be heading to bed."

"Please, just wait, don't you wanna watch the fire flies?"

"Obviously not, why would I want to watch bugs playing?"

"Cuz their beautiful."

"Not to me."

"Then can you watch it for my sake at least."

"No, I don't even know you. "

"Oh yeah, that's right, my name is Len Adams and I'm 19 years old."

"Seriously, I'm also 19, such a coincidence."

"Ok, so now can we talk?"

"Fine, but not for long."

"Ugh, so what's your name?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Over protective" (in his thoughts)

"I just don't wanna meet anyone, I'd rather stay in this island than go back to earth. But can I?"

"I don't know, but you can ask the twinkle."

"Twinkler, I summon you."

"Yes master"

"Is it possible to remain in the island?"

"Yes it is but you won't go back until two years after the next captives see their 500 days. The people that remain on the island are called island dwellers. What ever you choose on that day will be your fate"

"Thanks for that information."

The twinkler than disappeared. The girl got sleepy and she bent her head on Len's shoulder, he blushed a little and then took her in to bed.

The next day, when Len opened his door to go start his day he say a letter with a rose flower. The letter said.

"That's my name. From last night."

Len went to the room of the girl he saw last night and asked her if her name was Rose and she replied.

"What did the letter say."

Len then understood and said

"ooh."

Rose then said

"What are you waiting for let's go out"

They went to swim in a small right outside the tower. They went rock picking after and the kept on picking crystals and rocks till the fifth day.

They made weapons on the sixth day. Rose's weapon was a little dagger made of ores and Len's were claws.

Their level then reach six on the third day and they got mist nature (peculiar abilities that each person has at a new stage). Len's nature was sensing his environment and Rose's was increased agility.

After the week had passed by they were assigning the captains to the various tower. The captain elected in tower C was Rose. The duties of these tower captains was to organize and send the towers on missions, protect the tower, ensure the tower members were safe.

"Everyone gather around." said Rose.

When the whole tower C members gathered together outside the tower, Rose told them that they were going to level up going to different parts of the island but first they had to meet people that know more about the island.

Len asked who it was that knew more about the island, Rose replied :

"I took the whole of last night to study more about the island and its geological structure and I discovered that there were the same set of people like us that are trapped here, they joined together to make villages.

There are four villages in this giant island and we are going to one today, we will try our best to become friends with them, so we can work hand-to-hand with each other to get stronger and conquer all the rages. Let's head out !!!"

They traveled using directions from Rose's twinkler to get to the village. When they got there, they found out that the village they were in was the smallest of the whole four villages in the island.

They talked to the commoners and their few, not so strong soldiers about them being island captives.

Rumors spread fast and so it got to the chief of the village, the chief asked them to come to his palace. They arrived and introduced themselves, the chief welcomed them and also entertained them. He asked them for a favour, he said :

"The citizens of my village are weak and afraid, they can never stand to fight at the battle field, they would just die of fear because of a rage and so the inability for them to fight made some wild dogs from the forest to attack us and steal our food every night.

please help us to kill these beasts and we will reward you handsomely with money that will help you in other villages, crystals and food."

The tower members agreed to the deal. They stayed there for the night and they started planning on the 'hunt'.

Rose said that they will split up into 4 teams, two people in each team and three in the weakest.

Len came to Rose and asked her if they would be paired up together but she replied:

"I think it would be best to know more of our tower members and also have bonds with them too."

Len felt disappointed but accepted it. He was paired up with a boy with blond hair and looked a little bit younger than him.

On Rose's side, her partner was a man that also had blonde hair, he looked older than her.

"Wow, this place is so dark and cavy, don't you think ?"

They boy ignored him and kept on going.

"Hi, my name is Len Adams, I'm 19 years old ..."

The boy paused for a moment, but kept on going after. Len continued :

"I had a car accident, I was hit by a van, can you tell me some of your details ?"

The boy kept silent. In a slightly angry manner ;

"Ugh I'm talking to you, are you mute ?..."

"If your not gonna talk we won't be able to work together and so you'll just die off. Unlike me your weak.

"Alright, fine, I'm sorry, my name is Andrew Woods, I'm from New York..."

"Wait a minute, do you mean the Andrew Woods that got kidnapped four days ago !!?"

"Yeah, that Andrew Woods..."

"I was beaten up so harshly and mercilessly, my father was told to pay a huge amount of money for me to be released ..."

"My father was only given 3 days, but he needed a week and so they killed me.

My sister snuck in the hide out to rescue me, but ... She got ..."

"Ouch, that's hard to take in, I'm sorry I made you tell me."

"No I have finish..."

"They killed me afterwards, my sister is here in this island, she's Ashley."

He continued :

"All I have to do is survive, defeat the rages to see them again, my family"

"Its not that easy, you know ?"

"I do."

"So what's your best food, color sport, hobbies ?"

"I like eating french fries, cuz their crispy and crunchy, color, yellow, and I don't do sports and for hobbies, I like staying in the park and watching... "

From nowhere, a wild big and tall dog with razor sharp teeth came running to them !!!

It was about to jump and take off Andrew's head, but Len used his hand and weapon claws to clash the dogs face and teeth and so pushed the dog away and save Andrew.

"You owe me one, big time !!!"

"Sure"

The dog became aggressive and came for another attack.

"What's your mist level ?"

"It's 2, how about yours ?"

"Mine is 3, try to fight or at least help me or I may die !!!"

"I'll try but they look dangerous and scary."

The dog charged again, but this time at Len, it wanted to kill him so badly.

He used his claws to scratch it twice and then held it.

"Hurry, Andrew use your knife to stab this thing, fast !!!"

" I'm sorry, but I can't, it's just too dangerous and scary."

"Scary, dangerous, what am I doing !!"

The dog broke the hold and bite Len's shoulder, it was so painful.

Len threw the dog and forcefully grabbed the knife from Andrew and stabbed the dog's neck.

The monster died.

Len collected its fangs and claws and kept it in his little bag so he could use it to make blades.

He used Andrew's knife to take the dogs fur, though it was flat, it was useful.

Lastly he took the mist heart from the dog and absorbed the mist energy.

They kept going, but was slow, because he was injured. Andrew told him to rest, but he disagreed and kept going.

On Rose's side :

Her partner's name was Simon he was formerly a construction worker who died at an accident in the site.

Their hunting was going smoothly, Simon protected Rose as she had his back.

Simon uses a long wood carved as a bat as a weapon

"So, how old is your sister ?"

"She's 20 years."

"Is she cute?"

In a joking manner,

"Well cute enough for someone of her age."

In the next fight, Andrew was much more helpful.

Len used Andrew as bait, because fir some reason the dogs always wanted to attack him.

They killed more dogs and got their hearts (The hearts don't have blood they just glow and are spherical)

They absorbed the energy and saved some.

Andrew newly got to level 3, and Len was about to reach level 4.

They kept going... But...

"Argh, there are four dogs here!!!" Len shouted.

"Was this a trap or its just a pack ?"

Three dogs charged at Len and took him to the ground,

While the last dog was staring at Andrew and kept coming closer bit -by- bit.

Andrew tried to run by the dog pounced on him, it was about to rip off his head.

Suddenly, the dog got knocked out and the dog that was on Len got stabbed and so died.

They both looked up and saw Simon and Rose smiling at them.

"A thanks for saving my life would be nice." Rose said

"Thanks."

At day break, they all went back to the chief's palace to report the out come of their mission.

Just as the chief said, they were rewarded with crystal, food and coins.

"So, can you tell us about the rates of the island ?" Rose asked

"Sure... Its actually awful, the sky turns red and black...

The monsters are different, much stronger....

Its actually hard to explain, please forgive me."

"Its not your fault... So are there tricks or hacks ?"

"Well yeah, we know a lot of them ..."

Len interrupted,

"If you know tricks, why are you still like this !?"

Rose shouted,

"Shut up Len, try to have some manners !!!"

"Actually it true..." the chief said. He continued,

"Some tricks are, in finding crystals, rocks or ores,

Its best to go to caves,

fight monsters and go deep into the cave.

But you can still go to other places like mountains and forests,

but they aren't as efficient as caves."

"How do you maneuver and kill monsters?"

"You take them from their backs or belly, swiftly, quietly and fast... Well that's all we know."

"Thanks for that." Rose said

The next day they decided to stay in the village before they go.

Len and Rose decided to go swimming.

When they were about to jump into the water, a man fishing there stopped them

saying,

"Are you mad! Do you want to die?!"

"We swim all the time, we're used to it so we can't get injured."

"Not that, there is the demon of the sea surrounding this island.

If you dare to get past the fog there, you won't make it back."

"What's this demon?"

"It's a giant fish that eats you up once it sees you.

Don't you think your stronger than it cuz that's the mistake everyone made."

"Hmm, oki doki, no water, sure."

"You may think I'm just imagining, but I'm not!!! You hear me?!"

Len and Rose left so they won't anger the man more.

Night time. They were all sleeping but Len.

He went to got talk to the chief.

"Tell me, what do I have to do to get stronger."

"Well you can just go to a forest and fight all the monsters there for a month.

You can die, so I suggest you go to a village."

"Like this one?"

"No, all the other villages are better than this one."

"How?"

"First, Cassady village, the biggest, best village, with many districts, its almost a country.

Second, Selvow village, the strongest army, not much of love, but action.

Third Ulra village, best in animals, has all types known, unknown.

Lastly, Lao village, this village, weak, small, useless."

"Ahh, so if I wanted to level up, where would I go to?"

"Best is, Cassady."

"Ok... Thanks, I guess I'll need to sleep now."

"Good night."

"Same."

The next they all left to the tower. The tower members and the villagers agreed to be allies.

After the village visit, Len came to Rose's room so they could talk.

He knocked on the door, but no one answered. He yelled :

"Hello."

He came out of the tower to look for her.

"Ah, there she is."

Rose was sitting under a tree, on a big rock. She was looking at the rivers, waterfalls, birds, and the other natural stuff.

Len snuck up on her and he tickled her.

They both laughed. Rose asked:

"What's up?"

"Nothing much, what are you doing?"

"Just watching this beautiful thing called nature...

You know, it's even more beautiful than those fireflies."

They laugh.

"No way, nothing is as beautiful as the fireflies!"

"I wish I could paint it."

"You can paint?"

"Not much, but I can try...

Even if I could, it wouldn't matter cuz I don't have the supplies."

"That's what you think."

"What do you mean?"

"I can get some supplies."

"How? You can't even get the basics."

"Which are?"

"A paint brush, paper, and paint."

"Well, we can get paint in a lot of ways."

"Okay, I agree, but how about the others."

"There are probably crystals that perform those functions."

"How do we get them?"

"We go crystal picking."

"Really."

"It can be like a picnic, you know!"

"Maybe, but I don't know..."

"C'mon, please."

"Fine, but only cuz you begged."

"Awesome... I'll get the food."

"And I'll get the mat and flowers."

They leave.

In a little a little garden outside the premises of the tower...

"See Rose, it's so pretty."

"True, I guess it wasn't a waste coming here."

"I know right."

Rose started going around looking for any sparkly crystal.

"Hey Rose, not so fast, wait for me."

As Len chased after Rose he saw butterflies.

"I feel so tempted to catch these."

He laughs.

"Butter flies here I come!"

Len chased the butterflies, while Rose looks for crystals.

That's how it went till they bumped into each other.

They both hit each other and fell to the ground.

"Sorry about that."

"No it was my bad."

"So what about the picnic."

"Yeah that, I was carried away with butterflies."

Rose giggles.

"You seem to be really interested in this picnic Rose, even more than me."

Rose's face turns red.

"No it's not what you think."

"What do I think?"

"Dummy, let's go on."

"Okie dokie."

They both set the mat and flowers.

"Time for the food."

Len brings out the basket, but when he opened it...

"What's wrong, what happened to the food."

Rose goes closer to take a look.

There was nothing in the basket.

"Where's the food Len."

"Oh shoot, I forgot to put the food in."

"Seriously, you had just one duty, but you failed and it was so easy."

"I'm really sorry."

"So what do we do now."

"How about we make some food right now."

"How?"

"You really like asking that question...

We'll get some fish, berries and other food we can find."

"Okay, I'll get the berries."

"So you leave with the fish."

"Yup."

"Fine."

They leave.

One Len's side...

"C'mon little fishes, come to papa."

He is using the grabbing method of fishing.

But it's not going so well.

On Rose's side...

"I've gathered so much straw and blue berries...

How about I look for some foreign berries I may not know."

She keeps going through, she finds a white berry.

"Hmm. Is this edible!"

She scans it with her wrist band and reads the details listed out.

"It's called cotton berries, and it helps to boost levels by one percent by bite, very nutritious and goes better with other food and snacks."

"This is perfect."

She plucks a whole bunch of it and heads back to Len.

She sees Len trying to make a fire.

"How many fish did you catch?"

"Don't laugh, okay?"

"Sure."

"Six."

"Not bad."

"Whatever, what did you bring?"

"Some blue berries and strawberries and a foreign one called cotton berries...

It boosts levels by one percent person bite."

"Nice... can you help me start this fire?"

"Sure."

They made the fire, got food and ate.

"So Rose, can you tell me about yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are your hobbies."

"I just love nature, good friends, and paintings...

And you?"

"You should by now, joking around and meeting new people."

"You're funny."

"And you're cute."

"What did you say?!"

"Sorry sorry sorry, it just came out of my mouth."

"So I'm not cute."

"You are very, but I don't mean it in a love way or anything!"

"Just as I said, funny!"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Hey Rose, what's your best color?"

"Orange. And you ?"

"I like red."

"Wow, look at that it's getting dark, we better head to the tower."

"Yeah, you're right."

They packed their stuff and left to the tower.

"This picnic was fun Len, can we have picnics just like this every time."

"I hope so, this island is full of mysterious things, we don't know much about it now."

As they walked, they saw a large shadow approaching them. It looked like a cat's shadow

"What's that?"

"I don't know...

I think it's a cat, I'll go get it."

"Wait Rose, don't get too close, it might be something else!"

"What else could it be, if not a cat."

"It could be a wild animal!"

"You're just too afraid."

"Wait Rose!"

Rose screams:

"LEN, HELP ME!"

"Darn, I knew it wasn't good."

Len runs to Rose and sees the animal.

It was a wild panther, and it was on Rose, about to bite off her head.

"Hang on I'm coming."

Len wears his claws and charges to attack.

The panther years his foot steps and charges back at him.

Their both claws jam, and now they have locked each other.Len yells:

"Rose get out now."

"But, I can't just leave you!"

"Don't worry about me!"

"No way!"

Rose runs to them and she stabs the panther in its hand.

The panther roars, it lets go of Len and scratches Rose on her arm.

"I told you to run!"

"I can't just leave you behind!"

"Darn!"

Len punches the panther on its nose.

Blood spills out of it.

"Take that!"

He scratches it on its viral spot. The neck.

It dies.

"Rose, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a slight wound."

"Okay."

Len opens up the panther and absorbs its mist heart.

"Okay, let's head to the tower."

In the tower...

Andrew and the other members ask what happened.

Len explains everything to them.

They all help treat their wounds, and now Rose and Len are sitting out on the balcony. Len says:

"I have something I want to tell you."

"What's that?"

"I've decided that tomorrow I'll set out to a village!"

"But why?"

"I want to become stronger!"

"But you're strong enough."

"Not actually. I need more strength so I'll easily be able to protect you and everyone on the island!"

"But when will you come back?"

"When I reach level twelve in mist level."

"How long will it take?"

"Maybe month."

"What, why a month."

"Okay, two weeks."

Rose becomes sad.

"Fine, you can go."

"Okay I'll level up as fast as I can."

"Okie."

"Can you tell the whole tower?"

"No problem."

"Thanks."

Len hugs her.

"Huh."

He breaks the hug.

"I just felt like doing that."

"Next time tell me first."

"Okie."