“Welcome to The Land of No Return, Synan.” The dark guard says. “The Land of No Return?” Synan answers. The guard ignores his question. “Please remove any mirrors or throwable objects.” “What for?” “You’ll see. The monsters here HATE to look at themselves, and the throwable objects can be thrown at their large eyes.” “I don’t have anything.” “Good.” The guard opens the gates. Synan walks through. “Hey, kid. Never look back, or you shall join the monsters.” The guard warns. “Okay, but how?” The guard ignores Synan and closes the gate. Synan stands on a three-way intersection. The pathway on the dark purple island are light purple. To the left is a large river of lava between a small pillar of mountains on the edge of the island and a large volcanic mountain, to which the entrance is in front of Synan. And to the right, Synan sees a small circular structure and a large forest a little further. Synan decides to go to the right, toward the forest. A voice behind him says, “Synan! Is that you?” Synan turns around and sees someone from school. One of his worse enemies: Syrus. Synan thinks Syrus is a poser wannabe. Synan’s hair is dark and slightly messed up, mostly combed forward, but Syrus has blond hair, messed up like Synan’s. Syrus looks at Synan. “I see you have some of those ‘Warp Marbles’ as well. We both have ten open marbles now. Let’s have a contest. Let’s see who can capture more monsters. Our meeting place will be at the castle on the other side.” “I’ll take the right.” Synan says. “I don’t think so, Synan. You’re taking the left side, near Hell’s River.” “No fair!” “You want to make something of it?” Synan sighs, “Left it is.” “Good. I thought you’d see it my way.” Syrus begins walking down the path on the right, toward the forest. Synan thinks, ‘..or maybe I can cut right through the island!’ Synan walks up to the red doors of the volcanic mountain in front of him. They are locked. Synan cuts through the field toward the left path, so as to not look back toward the monster following him. Shortly after, Synan comes to the river of lava. Crossing the lava is a long narrow board that is nailed to another about halfway. When Synan steps on it, it sags toward the lava. Synan tries to take it slow going across. Half way out there, Synan hears a crack. He speeds up, hearing much more, louder cracking. He’s about five feet away from the other side when the entire bridge collapses. Hanging from the left side of the river, Synan is surely doomed, for there is nothing within reach that Synan can hang on to. A hand at the top grabs Synan’s wrist. Another hand grabs the other one. They feel like human hands. Synan is pulled up the side of the river canyon. Synan turns to look at his rescuer. It’s a girl Synan’s age. It was Zoe. “Zoe?” Synan says. “Yes?” “Uhh...Thank you.” “No problem.” “So how did you get here?” Synan asks. “Some ‘Ico’ monster said I was chosen to go to The Land of No Return. I’ve only been walking around here a day now. Haven’t gone too far, though.” A voice comes from the distance, “Who goes there?” Synan and Zoe stand and look in the direction the voice came from. “Show yourself!” Synan yells. A figure walks out of the shadows by the volcanic mountain. He looks like a half-monster half-human. He has a yellow helmet with a red diamond-shaped ruby. His head underneath is short, with long, demonic eyes stretched across it. The rest of his body seems normal. “So. I see you two made it across the Hell’s River, eh?” He says. “Who are you?” Zoe asks. “My name is James. And you must be Zoe, here with Synan.” “How do you know our names?” Zoe asks. “Everyone here does. We get our sources from Veronica. She knows everything.” “Veronica?” Synan asks. “That’s what I said. But you won’t ever meet her, because I’m here to stop you two!” Synan and Zoe prepare for battle. James screams a while and then a golden flame-like power field appears around him, like his whole body is just a flame. “You’re outnumbered, James!” Zoe yells. “But I have more power than fifty men. I am a mega-monster!” “A mega-mo--?” Synan is interrupted when James suddenly attacks him. Synan is launched into the side of the volcano. Zoe gets hit, too, and thrown into the volcano. “Ha. You kids are no challenge at all to me.” James says. James is about twelve, a year older than Synan and Zoe. James flies over the volcano, cutting through the middle of the island. “Come on, Synan.” Zoe says wearily, “I have a camp set up ahead.” They go to a campground with some other survivors, and sent to a small medical lab.