Mira had known Elliot and Silas for as long as she could remember. The three of them had been inseparable since childhood, their bond forged through years of shared secrets, mischief, and countless classroom pranks.

Both boys were not only brilliant students but also masters of chaos, a balance Mira had long since learned to live with.

Together, they had walked the same school corridors, faced the same high school exams, and now found themselves tackling the same major—Biochemistry—at the same university. Their friendship had stood the test of time, growing stronger with each passing year.

It was the last exam of their third semester in college, which meant that starting tomorrow, they were finally free for a whole month, which meant vacation time!

They had just finished their exams and were walking back home together when Silas suddenly noticed an advertisement outside a store. It read:

"Are you lucky enough to go to the most expensive city — The Hana City? Try your luck in this lucky draw! The top three winners will get an all-expense-paid trip to 'The Hana City!' Try now!"

"Hey! Should we try this?" Silas asked, pointing excitedly at the ad.

Mira's shoulders were hunched down, she practically looked like a walking zombie

"It might be fake. Let's just go home — I really need to sleep." She said

"You're no fun!" Silas groaned. "Elliot, what about you?"

"Yeah, why not? We’ve got nothing to do anyway..." Elliot replied.

"You too...? Do you even know where Hana City is?" Mira asked, baffled.

"If we don’t, we’ll find out when we win and go there," Silas grinned.

Eventually, she gave in — like she always did with those two.

The shop looked fancy and... a bit strange, to be honest. The shopkeeper greeted us warmly as they entered and asked how he could help.

“We’re here to try our luck with the lucky draw,” Silas said on behalf of all of us.

The shopkeeper smiled and replied, “Sure! But you need to shop for at least 500 dollars.”

“five hundred each?” Mira asked in a baffled voice.

“Yes,” he said, still smiling.

She pulled her friends aside and whispered, “Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“How is it expensive? Your monthly pocket money is 1500 dollars,” Silas shot back.

“For all three of us, that’s 1500 in total!” She argued.

“How much do you both have right now?” Elliot asked.

“I have 1000” said Silas.

“I’ve got 800,” Mira added.

“Great! I’ve got about 1000 too. Let’s do it. Anyway, I need to buy groceries,” Samay said.

“But—”

“No buts, Mira. Don’t spoil the fun!” Silas practically yelled at her.

'Sometimes, I really think if I'm the one who's stuck with these... dumb creatures'

She thought but of course, she gave in. She couldn't say no to them, especially when they were excited and jumping like monkeys.

They roamed around the store with a trolley, picking up items they needed. The store had some really great stuff at decent prices, which made the shopping a little justifying. But still, Mira wasn’t convinced that they needed to spend 1500 bucks for a gamble.

She bought some groceries for home — cheap and good quality — along with some snacks and pretty home decor items. Somehow, she managed to buy everything she wanted for just 550 dollars.

Once they were done shopping, they headed to the cashier. After billing everything, the cashier led them to the lucky draw.

There was a big glass bowl filled with marbles. They each had three chances. If you pulled a white marble — unlucky. Red meant first prize, yellow meant second prize, and blue was third.

Silas went first. His first two picks were white. Then — a red marble! He cheered.

Elliot was next. He picked a red marble on his very first try.

Then it was Mira's turn. Her hands were trembling as she picked up the marble, First draw — white. Second — white again. Third — also white. She sighed in disappointment.

The shopkeeper noticed and said kindly, “Don’t be sad... Go ahead and take one more chance.”

“Can I really?” Mira asked hopefully.

“Yes. I don’t like your sad face,” he said with a smile.

Her heart pounding, she reached into the bowl once more... and pulled out a red marble! She couldn’t believe it. She jumped excitedly and hugged both her friends.

'The trip package was for three weeks — this vacation was going to be unforgettable!' she thought

They walked home happily, bags full of goodies in hand. At home, she told her parents everything about the lucky draw — and that Silas and Elliot had won too. At first, they thought she was joking, but when she showed them the plane tickets, they finally believed her.

Her dad made some inquiries about the place. One of his friends said it was a fantastic and safe tourist destination. That gave her father the confidence to let her go.

Asking her mother was much easier. As long as she was going with Silas and Elliot, she had no reason to say no.

Both the boys got their permissions too. With all the bags packed and excitement in their hearts, they were ready to go!

They hailed a taxi to the airport, their luggage packed and excitement bubbling just beneath the surface. When they finally boarded the plane, an odd sense of quiet settled over them. The aircraft was nearly empty—eerily so. Aside from the three of them, there were only a handful of other passengers, scattered sparsely across the cabin like forgotten shadows.

It felt a bit odd, but they brushed it off.

After nearly six hours of flying, they finally arrived at their destination. Once the flight landed, they disembarked and collected our luggage. Stepping out of the airport felt like entering a whole new world.

There were advanced technologies everywhere — robots casually walking on the streets, automated systems handling basic tasks, and surprisingly, very few people around.

They soon noticed a taxi waiting for us outside. They got in, and it took us straight to Their hotel, which was situated near the beach. The view from the hotel was stunning. That first day, they decided to rest in our separate rooms.

The next day, they decided to explore the city.

One thing quickly became clear: this place was ridiculously expensive.

Like— really, really expensive. Just a single meal cost over 2000 dollars. They kinda panicked that they'd go broke if they spent a few more days here.

Later they ended up wandering around like lost migrants. Of course, they couldn’t afford a taxi anymore, so they walked everywhere. During their walk, they came across what looked like an amusement park.

“Should we go in?” Mira asked the boys.

“Is it free?” Elliot asked, cautiously.

“Yes, it’s written there,” Silas replied, pointing at a signboard.

So they went inside.

Most of the people there seemed to be tourists like them. There were many game booths, and to their surprise, the games offered money as rewards. If you won, you’d get a good amount of cash. Since they were on the brink of getting broke, they decided to try their luck again.

They split up to try different games.

Mira decided to try her luck at a game of archery. She was given ten arrows and a simple set of rules. The target had ten rings, numbered one to ten. Each ring corresponded to a cash reward—hitting the 1-point ring would earn her $1,500, while striking the 10-point bullseye would reward her with a staggering $150,000. The higher the score, the greater the prize. With steady hands and a focused gaze, she prepared to aim.

She took a deep breath, aimed at the bullseye, and shot her first arrow. Unbelievably, she scored 10 points. The board was moved further for the second round, but still she managed to hit 10 points again. With each round, the difficulty increased — the board kept moving farther away.

By the time she used all my arrows, she had scored 90 points, which meant $135,000

However, she didn't get the money immediately, They told her she'd receive her total earnings once she exited the amusement park, after finishing all the games she wanted to play.

She went on to try a few more games, similar to archery — knife-throwing, shooting, ring toss, and others. By the end, she had accumulated a total of 400 points.

Later, while walking around, she spotted another game — a treasure hunt. But this one had a terrifying condition… If you didn’t win, you would lose your life.

 That was the moment she realised that there were dangerous games too... Involving life risk..

She immediately dialed her friends. First, she called Silas — since he was the stupidest one among all three of them, at least she thought that, she feared he might’ve already joined something like this.

He picked up quickly.

“Where are you?” she asked without wasting a second.

“I’m near the beachside. I’ll be doing boat racing in a while,” he said, and then hung up.

Boat racing?? Oh boy, she didn’t even know there was a beachside here. She quickly asked a nearby person for directions and, after getting the info, rushed there. It took her about 20 minutes to reach the beach.

Once she got there, she searched for him frantically. After five minutes, she finally spotted him.

And just as she feared — he had already signed up for a life-risking boat race.

Mira couldn’t stop him… The race had already begun. She stood there frozen, terrified. She crossed my fingers and prayed like crazy that he would win.

And somehow — her prayers were heard. He won.

The prize was a whopping 1000 points.

But no amount of money was worth risking his life.

As soon as he got to the shore, the first thing she did was punch him on the arm — and then she pulled him into a hug.

“Are you mad?! How could you risk your life for money?!”

“I was confident I’d win... and hey, I did win!” he said, grinning.

“This isn’t confidence, it’s overconfidence!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever... How much did you make?”

“i have nearly 400 points”

“Not bad! I have 1800 points now. I wonder how much Elliot earned.”

That’s when it hit her — Elliot was the second dumbest among them.

She quickly called him. After a few rings, he picked up.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m on an island,” he said casually. “You’ll have to take a train to get here.”

An island?! A train?! She didn’t even know this place had an island — let alone a train!

She asked Silas to come with her to the island, but he said he still had one more game to play, and it wasn’t a dangerous one.

 She sighed and decided to go alone.

When she reached the train station, a blue train arrived at the platform. She was the only passenger.

She stepped inside, and the driver greeted me warmly. The train had only one compartment, which was fused with the engine — it honestly looked more like a futuristic bus than a train.

“Where would you like to go?” the driver asked.

“I want to go to the island,” she replied.

Without another word, the train started — and zoomed at the speed of light. The train was traveling over water, which was breathtaking to see.

In less than a minute, the train reached the island.

She thanked the driver, who genuinely seemed like a kind person, and continued walking. That’s when she found out about a game happening nearby: a water tank challenge.

Contestants had to stay submerged in a glass tank for 2 minutes. If they didn’t come out within 30 seconds after the time ended, they’d be thrown into corrosive acid.

And guess what?

Elliot had joined it. For 1000 points.

"Why do I only have stupid friends?!" She cussed out loud

She searched for him and, when she finally found him, she begged him to back out.

But he didn’t listen.

Worse — once your name was registered, you couldn’t withdraw.

All she could do was stay and cheer for him, even though her heart never agreed with it.

The game began.

Elliot was doing fine for the first minute and a half. But then he started losing consciousness… she screamed his name, trying to help him stay alert — but nothing worked.

Only 10 seconds were left now… He had to get out of the tank.

He was still drifting into unconsciousness.

She screamed louder than she ever had in my life.

And finally — he opened his eyes.

The 2 minutes ended. Now he had 30 seconds to get out.

Summoning all his strength, he managed to swim up and break out of the tank — just in time.

If he had been a second late, he would have been a goner.

She hugged him tightly, her heart beating loudly syncing with his heartbeat

He slowly regained his strength, patted her head, and said:

“Don’t worry... I’m still alive.”

“You almost died!!” she shouted.

“But I didn’t, right?”

“You’re insane! Is money really that important to you?!”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I? Don’t overreact… Anyway, I’m too tired to argue with you.”

Mira helped him stand up, and they walked to the station together. The train had just arrived — and to her surprise, Silas was on it.

“Let’s go now,” she said, pulling him into the train.

“Go? But I just got here! Let me explore—”

Before he could finish, she dragged him in and shouted:

“No! You’re not going anywhere!!”

“Eh? What’s wrong? Why are you so angry?” he asked.

“You both risked your lives for money?! Do you know how scared I was?! You two are seriously the dumbest people I know!”

“But we’re still alive,” Silas said with a shrug. Elliot nodded in agreement.

Mira completely lost it and launched into a full-on lecture. They both sat through it quietly — until they reached the station.

“I want both of you to stick with me from now on! And no arguments!”

They looked at each other and nodded silently.

After checking their scores, Mira found out they had over 2,000 points each.

Meanwhile, she had only 400 points. But it didn't matter to her as long as her friends were safe.

"Hey, we have to eat something—I’m starving!" Silas groaned dramatically, clutching his stomach.

"Me too!" Elliot added, equally dramatic. "I swear I could eat a brick right now."

"You both can stay hungry," Mira snapped, her voice sharper than she intended. "You deserve it for making me worry like that!"

"Hey! That’s not fair!" Silas protested, eyes wide with guilt.

"What’s not fair," Mira shot back, her voice cracking, "is that you both went off risking your lives without telling me—and left me wondering if I’d ever see you again!"

Her voice broke completely then, and the tears she had been holding back finally spilled down her cheeks.

"Hey—" Silas stepped forward, eyes softening.

Immediately, both of them wrapped their arms around Her, holding her tight.

"We’re sorry," Silas whispered, his voice muffled against her right shoulder. "We didn’t mean to scare you like that..."

"Yeah..." Elliot added from the other side, "We just... we wanted to make sure we had enough credits. Enough to get all three of us home safely. Without debt, without having to beg for scraps."

"You think I care about that more than I care about you?" Mira whispered, still crying, her fists clenched against their backs. "You think I wouldn’t rather be broke and safe with you both, than rich and burying your names in my memory?"

"I know..." Silas said quietly. "It was just... desperation. We saw how others ended up here. Tourists who couldn’t get out, struggling, losing themselves. I didn’t want that for us."

"Neither did I," Elliot added. "So we took a chance. A stupid one. But we didn’t know what else to do."

She cried for a while longer, caught between relief and anger, as they held her, saying nothing more.

Eventually, when her tears had dried and her breathing calmed, they walked together—arms still linked—and used what little they had to get a warm meal. It wasn’t much, but somehow, sitting there with three of them together, it felt like everything.

Then they spotted another game, and the prize was 20,000 points. It was a group game.

This time, the penalty wasn’t just losing—it was the worst possible deaths.

They could be eaten by beasts, burnt alive, shot by arrows or bullets, electrocuted to death, drowned, or even killed by other contestants, these were just possibilities, but there could be worse.

But her friends could only see the money, not the risks.

And somehow... She got lured in too. She couldn't stop them.

She still wonder what they were even thinking.

It wasn't like she was scared to die or anything…

She just didn't want to go back home alone.

It was almost night by then, so they were told the game would start the next day.

They gave them a room to stay in. It had two beds and an attached bathroom.

The closet even had some decent-looking clothes.

As soon as they got to the room, the first thing Mira did was take a shower.

After she finished, the other two took their turns.

And the only thing we really wanted to do after that—was sleep.

Of course, the two boys had to share a bed, and of course, they fought for space.

For a whole hour.

Mira finally had to yell at them just to shut them up.

After a long day, she finally managed to get some rest.

She didn’t even realize when she drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next day, exactly at 6 a.m., a loud siren blared through the room.

It woke Mira up instantly.

“Must be the morning alarm,” she thought.

Then came the announcement:

> “All participants must be present at the gaming site by 8 a.m. sharp. Late arrivals will receive penalties.”

As soon as she heard that, she got off the bed quickly.

And what did she see?

Both of her friends… asleep on the floor.

Apparently, they had pushed each other off the bed in their sleep.

'Of course, it's always me who has to wake these dumb creatures.' she thought and kicked Silas first, then Elliot.

“Ow! Why are you kicking me?!” Silas groaned.

“To wake you up,” she replied dryly.

“You could’ve done it more politely,” Elliot grumbled.

“There’s no time for your complaints. We need to get to the game site. Fast.”

“Game...? What game?” Silas blinked, confused.

She stared at him.

“Did you sell your brain while sleeping?” she snapped.

“Man… we registered for a game yesterday, remember?” Elliot said, sighing.

“Oh... yeah! I remember now!” Silas said in awe, as if just unlocking a hidden memory.

They started getting ready.

And damn, these boys take longer than an film actress to get ready. It was like they were getting ready for a date with some model.

Someone needed to remind them—they weren’t going to a date.

They were going to war.

A war where they were literally fighting for their lives.

After an hour and a half of getting dressed and doing their so-called "makeup," they finally left for the gaming site.

They walked for a while before they finally arrived.

First, they were given breakfast. Then came the explanation of the rules.

The rules were as follows:

The game consisted of five stages.

To win—and more importantly, to stay alive—they had to clear all five stages.

After clearing each stage, each member of the team would receive 1,000 points, and upon clearing all stages, they’d be awarded 20,000 points in total.

But there was a catch… Not everyone would make it out alive.

Only one team could survive and win.

The game could last 1 to 2 weeks, and until it ended, every team would be assigned a room to stay in.

Stage One was set to begin that day.

The objective? Kill the beast.

Each team would be dropped in a separate forest.

They would have one day to complete the mission.

Failure to kill the beast within the time limit would result in the death penalty.

They were blindfolded and taken somewhere.

After walking for a while, they were told to remove the blindfolds.

When they did, they found ourselves deep inside a dense forest.

With no other option, they began walking forward.

As they walked, they saw something engraved on a tree trunk.

It read:

> "You can kill the beast using the sacred weapon only... it can't be killed using any other weapons."

'The sacred weapon?

Where could that be...?' Elliot wondered.

They kept walking.

Soon, they found another clue carved into a tree:

> "If you hear the howling of the beast from nearby, it means it’s very far. But if you hear the howling from far away… it’s actually very close."

'What kind of twisted logic was that? This beast is a total weirdo.' Mira thought to herself

But the more urgent concern was the sacred weapon—they had to find it before evening if they wanted to stand a chance.

Then they spotted yet another message etched opposite to the last clue:

> "You can find the sacred weapon in the Sacred Chamber."

They had no idea where that was, so they picked a direction and continued walking.

Mira's legs were already hurting. She bent down to rest for a moment—and that’s when she felt something under my foot.

She stepped back and picked it up.

It was a map.

She unfolded it immediately.

It showed the entire forest... and the Sacred Chamber marked at its center.

Without wasting time, they followed the map toward the center of the forest.

Along the way, they found another clue:

> "If you hear the howling sound, go toward the direction it’s coming from—the beast will be in the opposite direction."

 "This is seriously getting confusing," Elliot muttered.

"Just imagine if we hadn’t seen that clue," Silas added, frowning.

"If we’d heard the howling from a distance, we’d have assumed it was far away and run in the opposite direction—right into the beast’s claws," Mira finished grimly.

"Maybe some teams already fell for that trick." Elliot said

Before any of them could react they hear it— the howling.

A distant howling.

Which meant the beast was... right nearby.

They didn’t waste a second.

They ran toward the sound, giving it everything they had.

Every ounce of strength.

But then Mira heard footsteps—behind them.

She turned back.

The beast was chasing them..

They were caught.

They ran and ran—only to end up at a dead end.

Silas and Elliot immediately stepped in front of her.

They were trying to protect her.

“Run!” they shouted.

But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t just leave them behind.

She'd rather die with them than live without them.

She didn’t run.

The beast slashed through them with its claws, tearing open their stomachs.

She collapsed, blood pouring from her wounds.

Her eyes stayed open just long enough to see the monster devouring her friends.

Tears streamed down her face.

She was so full of rage—she wanted to burn that beast alive.

But she had no strength left.

And then, just before her eyes closed, she saw something carved on a stone nearby:

> "You can throw mud into the beast’s eyes to escape. It will weaken the beast for over an hour."

With that final thought, she closed her eyes… ready to die.