“Get up, Tom! Will you?” Katrina said irritated as she stood in front of a kneeling young man. Sweat trickled down his face. His chest raised and fell as he panted. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Katrina. Katrina rolled her eyes, sighed, and said, “We’ve only walked for ten miles and you're already tired?”

“You make it sound so easy,” he retorted as he got up from his knees. “How many more miles until we get there?”

She turned around and walked up the hill covered in thick forest. “Ten more miles.”

Tom, already falling behind, sighed, and ran to catch up with her. “We're lucky we’re doing this right after graduating high school.” He looked at her expecting an answer, but she only shrugged. He then asked, “Why couldn’t we have gone by car?”

“I already told you, this is a top-secret place,” she said still gazing in front. “No external technology allowed except clothes and our bodies.”

“Okay...um, can you explain this secret place one more time but in more detail? After all, you woke me up at four am in the morning and said that it is crucial that we go to this secret place at that exact moment. In fact, a secret place where I would improve my psychic skills.”

Katrina sighed. Then, she explained. “We are going to a place called Indigo. It is an abnormal society where only psychic people can join. They can join at eighteen. If someone joins, they cannot leave that place until they are thirty years old. Anyone from any part of the world can join as long as they have psychic powers, no children to worry about, and will devote twelve years of their life to that society."

After twelve years, they are allowed to leave. If anyone has a baby or impregnates someone before their twelve years, they are kicked out and an investigation is conducted if it was rape. Most of the inhabitants leave after their twelve years because of the desire to have children. In that society, the members, which we call students learn about the history of the society and how to improve their psychic skills. They also learn essential things required to be in the “outside” world so they can integrate back into it if they leave.”

“Okay, thanks for the clarification,” said Tom. Then, he asked, “Are you going to remain in that society after you turn thirty?”

“Of course,” Katrina answers.

“But wouldn’t you like a baby or something?”

“Hell no! Indigo is a paradise compared to the outside world. Staying there is worth not having a baby.”

“Why can’t people have babies there?”

“They want their students to devote their time to their studies and not worry about taking care of children. Also, making babies will increase the population of that society which means they will need more resources. They are monitoring the population by knowing how many people join and how many people leave. In terms of boyfriends and girlfriends, they don’t care."

"Interesting," Tom replied.

"Knowing this, are you sure you want to join this society?”

“Yeah.” With that said, they continued walking to their destination.

“Finally, we are here!” Tom said through breaths. In front of them stood a massive indigo colored wall designed with sophisticated drawings. There was a human-sized gold colored brain picture on the wall section right in front of them. Katrina approached the picture and knocked on it three times. They waited for a few seconds. Then, to Tom’s surprise, a young woman walked straight through the wall towards them. Katrina reacted as if this was a common occurrence.

“Welcome, Katrina,” the woman said putting both of her palms onto Katrina’s and rubbing noses with her.

“Is this our new student?” She asked as they separated from each other.

“Yes, this is Tom,” Katrina says glancing at the smiling Tom who was already shaking hands with the woman. “Tom, this is Sophia. She is my partner.” Tom’s eyes widened which made Katrina roll her eyes at him knowing what he was thinking.

Sophia said, “the first thing we will assign you is a partner. You can think of a partner as a roommate, but they are more than a roommate. You do everything with him like studying, training, etc. Get along with him well, if you don’t, oh well.”

Tom mumbled, “oh," disappointingly. He wasn't very keen on having a roommate since he preferred to room by himself and have his privacy.

“Shall we go in?” Katrina says trying her best to not look impatient.

“Not until his partner gets here.”

They waited for a few minutes. Tom shot glances at Sophia whenever she wasn’t looking while Katrina played with her fingernails. Sophia stared at Katrina, but she sometimes glanced at Tom whenever she felt like he was staring at her.

Finally, another young man emerged from the wall behind Sophia. Sophia turned to face him, stepping back to stand next to Katrina. He smiled at them all. He greeted by saying hello and by pressing palms and rubbing noses with Sophia first and then Katrina.

“Hi, my name is Lucas,” he said to Tom shaking his hands. “I am Clairsentient.”

“Hi, I am Tom, I have the ability of Clairtangency.”

“Just FYI, the palm press and the nose rub is a greeting just like we do the handshake back home,” Katrina mentioned to Tom as she took out a comb she forgot to take out from her left pocket and combed her hair. “So, forget the handshake and remember to do the palm and nose greeting even with the males.”

“Okay,” said Tom.

“By the way, I have all the Clairs and Katrina is Clairvoyant,” Sophia added.

“Um...Okay. Shall we go,” Katrina said as she grabbed Tom’s hand. Sophia and Lucas nodded smiling.

“What are you doing?” Tom asked surprised as Katrina walked towards the brain picture, pulling him along. “We are going in. Just keep walking, don’t stop.”

She merged into the wall with no problems and so did Tom. They appeared on the other side of the wall with the same gold colored brain picture behind them. Lucas and Sophia emerged right after them. In front of them was a neatly kept dirt path with huge bushes on either side that led to a castle made of bricks. Behind the castle was a forest. To the east or left of the castle was an orchard, a vegetable garden, and an herb garden. To the west or right of the castle were training grounds.

"Let's go," Katrina said. She let go of Tom's hand and walked up the path. The other three followed. Sophia speed walked to Katrina so she could be next to her while Tom (behind Sophia) was next to Lucas. They all walked to the indigo-colored metal door.

When they arrived at the door, Sophia pressed the purple brain designed doorbell. After a second, the door opened like an elevator. They entered a huge foyer filled with students going in one direction, the left hall. Not many people bothered to look at them as they fought to traverse the foyer to a door labelled “Main Office”.

When they arrived at the main office door, Lucas mentioned, "They are all going to the assembly. That’s why it is so busy. It's normally empty.” He opened the door and let the other three in. They thanked him as they entered. There was a reception desk in front of them. On either side of the reception desk, there was a hall that had doors on both sides leading to rooms.

They first signed in with the receptionist. After that, they walked to the left hall. They went to the back door labelled “Mr. Halls.” Sophia knocked on the door and a male voice said, “come in.” They entered the small room. It had a desk at the left with four chairs in front for visitors and a cabinet at the right. On the walls, there were random pictures related to him or the school.

“Welcome, please come in and take a seat,” he said as he looked up. He gestured for them to sit down on the four chairs across from him. When they were all comfortable in their seats, he asked. “My name is Mr. Halls. I am Tom’s and Luca’s counselor. So how are you all?”

Katrina said, “fine.”

Tom said, “fine.”

Sophia said, “okay and you?”

Lucas said, “good and you?”

“I am doing well, thank you,” he said. “Sophia and Katrina, you two may go to the assembly while Lucas and Tom stay here so we can get Tom started.”

“Thank you,” Sophia said as she stood up from her chair while Katrina did the same. They said goodbye and walked out the door.

One hour later, Sophia and Katrina united with Tom and Lucas in front of the reception desk at the Main Office. Tom told Sophia and Katrina what they discussed with Mr. Halls. Finally, he said, “...I joined so I am an official member of Indigo.”

It was a bad idea. That is what Eleanor’s superiors told her. But she didn’t heed their warning. At first, nothing amiss happened. All she had to focus on was building shelter and finding food and clean water. She was trained in survival, so it was easy. But, it was on her third day things went wrong. Her superiors told her the island was haunted. The island was a sentient being but not one of goodness. The island would appear at first “normal,” but that was just an illusion to encourage the inhabits to stay longer, so later on, they could not be able to escape its horrors. Her mission was to find the Black Gem at the center of the island and destroy it. Her idea was to go alone because an invading army would be too conspicuous considering the island is sentient.

Things went wrong. Eleanor expected she would fight off native monsters. However, she was captured on the third day she was on the island. Not by the creatures but by a group she did not expect to be there. They were from the Black League. They were the ones who captured all the other gems on the island except the Black Gem. They took her to their lair and threw her on her knees before their leader on a makeshift throne. She had tried killing him long ago but failed. She looked up at him and froze. He had the Black Gem on a ring.

When he spoke, she broke out of her stupor. “I have to say, you are a hard weasel to find.” She tried her best not to roll her eyes. It was easy to gain his trust since they were cousins. At first, she was hesitant in killing him considering they were close during their childhood. Due to his association with the Black League, she convinced herself to get rid of him. Since she had failed, she had to plot a way to kill him now before anyone tried to kill her, including her cousin. “What should I do with you?”

“Nothing,” she muttered under her breath.

“What did you say?” he asked curiously. He always had this weird calm disposition when he was angry.

“I said go to hell, Jacob!”

He laughed. “We are already in hell.” This time she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, look Eleanor. I like you and all, so I really don't want to kill you.” She sighed in annoyance. “Hear me out. So, because we were close when we were young, I think we should have that bond again.” She was about to shout how he betrayed her and went to the Black League when all his minions disappeared.

“What happened to them?” she asked as she stood up.

“Look, I had a long hard talk with myself…” She had to remember he had this tendency to converse with himself. “…and myself told me I should not betray blood and should eradicate all the Black League members just for you.”

“Why?”

“Myself pointed out you were the only one who was there for me when others were not.”

“You mean ‘accepted you’ despite your quirks.”

“Yeah. So, why don’t we live on this island together?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?” he asked getting irritated.

“I need those gems.”

“I destroyed them all but this one.” Jacob pointed his finger with the ring towards her face.

“No, you didn’t.”

“How so?”

“You combined them.”

“I always knew you were smart. How did you figure it out?”

“It would have left marks on your body including your face. At worst, it would have destroyed you along with it.”

“True.”

So, I need that ring.”

“Let's make a deal.”

“What deal?”

“Rule with me, and we can each have half the ring.”

“I need to destroy the ring.”

“That will not happen.”

“Why?”

“This ring gives me power.”

“Why do you want to share that power with me when you could keep it all to yourself?”

“Remember the tale your mom told us.” Eleanor’s eyes widened. How could she forget that tale?

“Yeah.”

“What happened to that man?”

“He combined the Gems as you did, became powerful, and conquered the world. However, the Gems consumed the man a year later.”

“It sucks the life out of you. But there is a way to get around that. It is said if the Gem is divided so two or more people who are related can wield its power, it will take longer to suck you dry.”

Eleanor gulped. No way was she going to do this. “I won’t do it.”

“Well, you see…” he drawled. “I do not need your permission to get what I desire.”

She knew she had to end her life. She was the only person related to him who was still alive. Before she went on her mission, they had given her a suicide pill to carry in her mouth in case any of the island’s monsters captured her. She didn’t hesitate to bite down on it. Jacob laughed in Eleanor’s face when nothing happened. “I neutralized it so it won’t kill you. You are useful to me, and I can't let you die.”

She turned on her heels and ran. She barely reached the exit door when something invisible tripped her and dragged her back to Jacob. She kicked and screamed but to no avail. An unseen force whirled her upright so she could face Jacob.

He stood up from his makeshift throne and walked over to her. The Black Gem elongated into a sharp blade. She tried struggling, but she couldn’t move. He thrust the abnormally sharp Black Gem into the middle of her forehead. She lost consciousness before she could register the pain. She collapsed onto the ground when he removed it from her brain about a minute later. He divided the Black Gem into two and placed the second Gem on a ring he created out of nothing. He lifted her middle finger and put the ring on it. He stood up and gazed at her still form. One of his minions appeared out of thin air.

Jacob ordered, “Take her as far away from this island and her superiors.”

“Almighty, what if she comes back for you?”

“I erased her memories. As long as we keep her away from anything to do with her past, it will be difficult for her to remember.”

“Should I keep tabs on her?”

“Yes. Make sure she is alive and healthy. This can only work if she is alive and her memory is wiped.”

The minion nodded. Then, he picked her up and walked to the exit. Jacob returned to his throne and sighed when he sat down. He watched them leave and smiled when the door closed behind them.

The authorities say that the reptilians are an unevolved race, but at the same time sophisticated. It is as if they got a pill of sophistication, but instead of using it to evolve, they used it to satisfy their primitive desires. They also say the reptilians are all evil, but like everything in this dualistic world, there can be a few that are not evil. Despite that, we were taught one thing: kill every one of them.

It wasn’t always like that. Long before World War 4, we were the ones being manipulated and eventually persecuted by them. There were many factions of those reptilians, all highly intelligent. Some wanted us as slaves. Some wanted us dead. They even fought amongst each other to gain the right to our fate: slavery or extinction. It only took one human to wake up from their manipulation and encourage others to fight back. It was a long and brutal war.

During the war, there were a few rogue reptilians that fought alongside us. Some were spies for us. We were skeptical at first, but they truly weren’t part of their species’ agenda. However, when we won the war, the authorities decreed that every reptilian on this Earth had to be annihilated. That decree also applied to the benevolent reptilians. Even if they went into hiding and popped up one hundred years later, we were ordered to report them to the authorities, and they would exterminate them.

Some of the humans helped hide the benevolent reptilians because they didn’t think that it was fair to kill those who disowned their own kind to defend us. This led the authorities to invade any human’s home whom they suspected harbored reptilians. If they discovered that they did harbor them, they would execute them all. We called the humans who harbored reptilians “reptilian lovers”. It didn’t take long before humans started accusing the humans they didn’t like as being reptilian lovers. The authorities took advantage of the reptilian hunt and waged war against many nations. They justified it by accusing other nations of harboring reptilians.

We had transitioned from an ordinary nation of many to one that controlled the entire world. It wasn’t because we were good fighters. It was because of the information the benevolent reptilians gave us. The same information that many benevolent reptilians died to get to us. The information was the blueprint to their advanced technology. This included their advanced weaponry. They only risked their lives to give this information to us because they thought after the war, we could change. They thought that after an external invasion, we would unite and respect each other. But, they were wrong. Humans were like them. An unevolved race that was given a pill of sophistication, but instead of using it to evolve, they used it to satisfy their primitive desires.

As my friend, Mickey, and I arrived at Sophia’s (another of my friends) vacation house, I was shocked at what I saw. This was my first time seeing her vacation house. Her vacation house was a huge, white, four story, building with a beautiful, enchanted garden in her front yard. Her garden has different types of flowers and bushes shaped in animal forms. There is a blue and green colored, square patterned, ceramic winding pathway leading to her porch.

Suddenly, it began to rain. I was disappointed because I knew that I would not be able to swim in her swimming pool, play tennis in her tennis court, or build a bonfire that Sophia was unintentionally bragging about. However, we should still have fun because of the activities we were going to do inside. I was excited and could not wait for the party to start.

I knocked on her door and she opened it. She welcomed us warmly, to my surprise, into an already started party. As I walked into her house, there was rap music booming. I was taken aback by the music because I could barely hear anything when I was outside. Only the first floor was used for the party and most of the partying was done in the immense living room. The doors leading to the second, third, and fourth floors were locked. There were waiters and waitresses passing drinks and appetizers around. In the living room, there were six TVs. Three for video games and three for watching movies and TV shows. There was a section for people to play board games such as chess, checkers, monopoly, card games, etc. A food section was setup where guests could feast on main dishes and junk food. Most of the guests spent their time dancing to the music and conversing among each other.

I was shocked to see that most of the guest were my enemies. The minute Mickey and I came into the living room, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at us. I felt like I was in the spotlight but not in a good way. During the party, people would call us Dora the Explorer and Mickey Mouse which was annoying. After all, we were not little kids anymore, we were now adults in our mid-twenties. Of course, Sophia did not catch on that some of her guests were bullying us but, luckily, we were strong enough to stand up for ourselves. We even taught some of them a lesson. Even if they were rich, they had no social class. Many of them were arrogant, narcissistic, rude, nasty, selfish, and/or spoiled. Fortunately, there was no gambling, drugs, drunk people, smoking or anything that you would expect in a crazy party. Sophia was a very nice person and I really liked her. I just cannot grasp why she would invite these worthless people.

When the party was halfway over, conflict began to boil. A waiter passed by Mickey and offered her a drink of wine. Mickey angrily picked up all the three glasses of wine and threw them on the floor. Everyone stared towards where the incident happened. They all stared at her and me, unfortunately, since I was next to her. I was surprised when Sophia asked her if she was jealous of her. At first, she made excuses but when no one seemed to believe her, she finally confessed."

"Fine! I am jealous of you. Dora and I have been friends since we were born. After meeting you for just a year, Dora’s been trying to be friends with you. Since you two are in the same economic class and I am poor, I am afraid that you are going to steal her from me, and I will not have her anymore!”

Mickey stormed out of the mansion crying. By the time we came out to see where she went, she was gone.

There was a young woman named Diana. Her mother had died when she was born, so her father raised her. Since they were poor, they had to live off the land, in a forest. Diana’s father taught her many survival tactics to live in the forest. How to hunt, track, use animal remains for clothes and shelter, find the right plants to eat and to use as medicines, how to defend herself from people and predators, and much more. They rarely encountered people in the forest. If they did, they would hide and watch them pass by. Diana always carried her bow and arrow that she built just in case she had to defend herself from predators.

One day on her daily patrol on their section of the forest, she saw a handsome young man, about her age, taking a walk in the woods. As usual, she kept herself hidden and watched him go by. Unlike the few other males she had seen and hidden from, this one intrigued her. She wanted to follow him and gaze at him, so she did. He didn’t notice anything following him until he heard a twig snap. He veered his head towards the noise and saw a section of bushes shake. He took a step forward, towards the bushes, but froze when a cougar emerged from the bushes and stalked towards him. The fierce beast was about to pounce when an arrow pierced its neck. The cougar collapsed, bleeding, and quickly died. From the young man’s left, Diana emerged from the bushes with another arrow readied on her bow. He looked at her and raised his hands above his head.

She was the most beautiful woman he had seen in a while. He wasn’t sure why such a beautiful woman would be out alone in the forest considering she did not look like a Native American woman.

“Leave!” she said. Her fascination with him did not deter her from being cautious. Her father told her that males will trick you, you end up pregnant, and you die during childbirth. However, he pointed out there are exceptions. She wished this attractive male was one of those exceptions.

He backed up slowly. “Were you the one who saved me from being eaten?”

His voice was music to her ears.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Thank you.” He turned around and walked away as quickly as possible. If she didn’t have that arrow pointing at him, he would have stayed to learn more about her.

Before he could disappear into the trees, she lowered her bow and asked, “Why are you in the forest?”

He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, “I am new to this area, and I wanted to experience nature since I didn’t have the opportunity when I was living in the city.”

“The city?” Her dad had told her stories about the city. He said the city is more dangerous than the forest. Where if she didn’t have money, she would end up in the streets where the rapists would get her.

“Yes, the city.”

“How is the city?”

“Um, I don’t know? The same as it has always been,” he responded confused.

“Okay, leave,” she commanded. She wanted to know more but she felt too exposed in an area where she encountered both a male and a cougar. He nodded and disappeared into the trees. However, she wasn’t done gazing at him, so she followed him discreetly. After a while of following him, he stopped and said, “I know you are following me.”

She frowned. She had never been caught before. Maybe it could be because she never bothered to follow anyone before.

“What do you want?” the young man asked curious. He was excited that this beautiful young woman was interested enough in him that she followed him.

She emerged from the bushes and stood about a dozen feet away from him. Her bow was in one of her hands as always but she did not have an arrow readied. However, she had really quick reflexes, speed, and accuracy to pull a bow from her quiver if she needed. “My father told me that if I did the deed with a male, I would get pregnant, and die during childbirth. Is that true?”

“Um, wait, what?” he did not know what to say. He was confused. “Why are you asking me this? You could literally search it up on the internet.”

“What’s the internet?”

He furrowed his brows in confusion. “Where are you from exactly?”

“From this forest.”

“So, you were born in this forest and your parents never took you out of this forest at all?”

“No.”

He sighed. “So, you made those pants and shirt yourself?”

“I did the shirt and the underwear while my dad did the pants.”

“That’s cool.”

“What is your name?” she asked.

“Sam.”

“Sam,” she repeated.

“What is your name?” he asked.

“Diana.”

“Beautiful name.”

“Your name doesn’t match with your look,” she said honestly.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“You mean it in a mean or honest way?”

“Honest.”

A beep sounded on his wristwatch. He glanced at it and said, “I have to head back.”

"What is that," she asked curiously.

"A wristwatch. It tells you time," he answered as he extending his arms to show her. "You can come closer to see if you want."

"No," she said even though she really wanted to touch it. "I can see it just fine from here."

"Okay, then," he chuckled.

“Do you have a family?” Diana asked.

“No, it's just me and my dog, Lily.”

There was a long pause as she thought on whether to meet him again or not. So far he hasn't attacked her so that is one good sign but again, she still had her bow and arrow with her so that could be the deterrent. Plus, she made it clear that she is not one to freeze in fear or to bluff when it comes to actually shooting since she managed to shoot a cougar with precision. She really wanted to know more about him and to learn more about life outside the forest.

To break the silence, Sam said, "well, goodbye, it was nice to meet you, Diana."

“Come meet me here tomorrow. I would like to get to know you better and learn about life outside the forest.”

“That would be my pleasure,” he smiled flirtatiously.

She blushed. “Good.”

“Bye,” he waved and continued walking the way he came from. She watched him leave before she turned back to get the dead cougar. Her father taught her that if you kill an animal, you should honor it by using its remains for things such as food and clothing rather than letting its death be in vain.