Chapter 1

"Hey X, do you think this island is really cursed?" Seventeen turned to look at her partner. A ray of sunlight slipped through the tree leaves, casting a warm glow on X's expressionless face. A gust of wind blew past, gently ruffling the leaves above.

"Maybe." X turned back to the miniature tablet in her hand, carefully marking down the path and jotting down notes on their surroundings. Seventeen sighed as she watched X spin her pen; she had never believed in curses before, but according to the satellite maps, they should have already arrived at the center. Even stranger, since they had walked into the forest, she had yet to see any sign of life besides the towering trees above them, despite the countless others that had been sent before.

Just 7 months ago, an island had popped up onto a satellite's radar, instantly piquing the interests of several groups, be it for wealth, research, power, or who knew what else. However, those who entered the forest never came back out, and despite the modern technologies the groups were armed with, as soon as one stepped into the forest, their signal would blip out, all connection cut. But of course, there would always be those whose curiosity outweighed the dangers. No matter how the island became labeled as cursed, became something of an urban legend, there were people, like the client who hired X and her, who still existed and who still desired to discover the island's hidden treasures.

Seventeen looked over at X's notes. As expected of the top agent of the organization, the note was written in a code that even she couldn't figure out. Even when she had first entered that place as a teenager whose life had just been overturned for the third time, X was already one of the top three in their department despite being a year younger. Even so, she was completely different from the emotionally unstable self that Seventeen had been and always maintained a cool attitude: the perfect agent. By now, X would have become One if she had not been so adamant about keeping the name X, a strange anomaly from her usual indifference.

Keep talking. Get to know her better.

Seventeen tapped X lightly on the shoulder, "So what code did you use?"

"Code?" X tilted her head in confusion.

"This code?" Seventeen pointed at the scribbles on X's tablet.

X paused. "Sorry, my handwriting is a little messy."

Oh. Well, that backfired.

"Um. I'm s-"

"It's fine." X rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a few sandwiches, unwrapping them neatly. "We should take a break anyway to discuss what to do next." She took a bite. "I'm sure you've also noticed, but it seems that not only are we alone on this island, but we also should have reached the center a few hours ago."

Seventeen stopped considering how to get closer to X and nodded seriously. "So what should we do?"

X shoved in the last bite of the sandwich, wiping her fingers on the grass they were sitting on. A moment later she was crouching on the uppermost branches of a tree, snapping a picture of their surroundings. She tossed the tablet to Seventeen. "Strange."

Seventeen glanced at the picture: it was a sea of trees just like the ones they had been hiking through for the past six hours. Just the sight of them made her want to punch something. "Does the clearing even exist?"

X hopped down. "Let's first head to the cave we passed by earlier. It's better to find shelter and try again later." She gestured towards the setting sun.

"Alright."

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"This place doesn't seem right." X put her hand on the rounded walls of the cave. "Let's go back."

"X?"

"Yeah." X replied. It seemed man-made.

"We have a slight problem."

X turned around. The opening of the cave was no longer there, replaced by a solid black wall. A shining black path suddenly lit up below them leading into a tunnel at the end of the spacious cave.

"Shining rocks, a cave that closes by itself, a never-ending forest, missing people," Seventeen clapped her hands together and grinned. "It's cursed! I was right, the island is cursed." She frowned. "Wait, that's not good, or is it? After all, not many people get to see, much less visit a cursed island in their life." Seventeen shook her head. "Nope, still bad. It's not a good life experience."

X ignored Seventeen's dramatic conversation with herself and carefully examined the glowing rocks, picking one up. It was a perfectly round pebble that was smooth like marble. She tossed it around a little. It was rather light and gave off the warm feeling that she had lost long ago. It was like her.

She began running towards the tunnel, chasing that feeling desperately, ignoring her surroundings. Seventeen grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"What are you doing?!"

X stopped and snapped out of her trance

"Sorry." X shook her head to clear it. "I'm fine now, but I still want to see what's at the end of the tunnel."

Seventeen grabbed X's shoulders. "Are you crazy?" She shook X, "A glowing path of rocks that suddenly appeared and almost made you get lost in a trance, could there be a more obvious trap?"

X gently removed Seventeen's hands. "Either way, we're stuck in this cave."

Seventeen sighed. "Fine. guess it's better to walk towards possible death than wait for definite death."

Their footsteps echoed through the silent cave forming an eerie atmosphere. Seventeen gripped her gun, security.

Seventeen stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"We're at the end of the tunnel. Hit me."

"What?"

Seventeen turned around and hugged X, catching her off guard. "I think I'm dreaming." She released the stunned X and ran to the end of the tunnel. X chased after Seventeen running into a cavernous space like the place they had entered from. However, this time, it wasn't empty; instead, there were piles of glowing rocks of all different colors, gold, jewels - a show of unimaginable wealth - especially for someone in debt like Seventeen.

X walked past Seventeen who was treating the treasure like her long-lost true love. At the center of the treasure was a glowing black pillar, like the rocks on the path, with a sword propped up against it. The sword had a gold handle inlaid with a cleanly cut dull red stone. X's eyes grew dull as she began walking slowly towards the pillar. She put her hand on the pillar: it was cold, snapping her out of her reverie. X tried to pull away, but her hand was stuck to the pillar as though it had been super glued on. Just as X turned around to call out to her, her head throbbed painfully and forced her to lean on the pillar. An image of a girl barely holding herself up with a golden-handled sword surrounded by corpses and fires flashed through her head. She was covered in blood. This time, however, the red stone was glowing. She clutched her head, feeling the bloodlust, hatred, and tiredness the bloodied girl felt.

X stood up, holding her head, as she stumbled back from the pillar. She ran towards Seventeen and grabbed her by the collar. "We have to g-"

The sword suddenly appeared in front of them, floating. The red stone flashed brightly, the light encapsulating the entire island before X and Seventeen lost consciousness, and the island vanished.