Chandel_Neetu

The world ended in fire, tsunamis, and endless catastrophe. Just when humanity faced total annihilation, the last survivors were forcibly transported to isolated islands—each left alone, with nothing but a broken hut and a cryptic system demanding their survival.

Lena, cunning, ruthless, and unyielding, refuses to be controlled. She will carve her own path, build her own strength, and rise higher than anyone expects. But she soon realizes this world is far from empty.

Something stirs beneath the surface. Something watches from the shadows.

He is powerful. Intelligent. Dangerous. And unlike anything—or anyone—she has ever encountered.

He doesn’t belong to the shattered world she left behind. He doesn’t belong to humanity at all.

Their meeting is inevitable. Their fates tangled in ways neither of them understands.

But on an island where the system decides who survives and who perishes, some threats don’t come with claws and teeth. Some are far more seductive. And far deadlier.

Islands of the Forsaken

Lena stood frozen, watching as the monument's massive eye pulsed with unnatural light. The deep hum vibrating through the air wasn't just sound—it was pressure. A force pressing against her skin, wrapping around her bones, demanding something she didn't understand.

The system's warnings flooded her vision.

[System Alert: Environmental Collapse Detected]

Warning: External force overriding stability parameters. Adaptation required.

The once-glasslike surface rippled outward, waves forming where there had been only stillness before. And beneath the shifting water—something moved.

Lena's grip on her knife tightened.

The dark shapes beneath the ocean weren't just shadows. They were rising.

Alek let out a slow breath. "Well. That's horrifying."

Lena shot him a sharp look. "You knew this was coming, didn't you?"

Alek raised his hands. "I suspected. Which is different from knowing."

Lena exhaled sharply. (I'm going to kill him later. If we live.)

Then—the first shape broke the surface.

It wasn't a creature. Not in the way Lena expected.

It was tall, towering, like the twisted remains of something that had once been human. Long, elongated limbs, hollow eyes that glowed with the same eerie light as the monument. Water dripped from its skeletal frame, its movements impossibly slow and deliberate.

Lena's pulse pounded. (What the hell are those?)

A notification flashed in her vision.

[System Error: Unable to Classify Entities]

Warning: Unknown variables detected. System instability increasing.

Riven took a step forward, golden eyes unreadable. "They shouldn't be here."

Lena turned sharply. "What does that mean?"

Riven didn't answer immediately. His gaze stayed locked on the rising figures. Then—"They're echoes."

Lena's breath hitched. "Echoes of what?"

Riven's jaw tightened. "Of past survivors."

The words slammed into her like a physical blow.

She turned back toward the creatures—the echoes.

The way they moved. The remnants of their forms.

They weren't just random entities. They were people.

People who had once been on these islands.

Lena's stomach twisted. "So they're—"

Alek interrupted, voice unusually quiet. "They're what's left of everyone the system couldn't process."

They weren't just fighting monsters.

They were fighting the system's failures.

A new warning slammed into Lena's vision.

[System Override: Emergency Adaptation Engaged]

Survival Probability: Critically Low.

Solution: Forced Upgrade Initiated.

Her vision blurred, system code flashing too fast to process.

A surge of heat tore through her veins, like fire and ice all at once. Her muscles burned, her heartbeat slammed painfully in her chest.

The system wasn't asking for her consent.

It was forcing the next stage of evolution.

Chapter 20: When the Ocean Wakes