ADVENTURE!

That word conjures up so many different images, to some it's traipsing through a dark jungle, others its just a simple walk down the road to visit a friend. To Drake Wyatt, it was the excitement he felt when his parents read him stories at bedtime of how his childhood heroes conquered the brave new world they were sent to on daring missions, and now Drake would be setting out on his own adventure soon.

When the youth of the world of Epsloth reached their 18th cycle they were all required to take part in ascendance, where they are transported to a random planet and unceremoniously dumped there to survive using nothing except the instincts and training the were given from the first day they'd attended school. Some people survive, others go mad from being left alone, some perish and die, the survivors are welcomed back home with open arms to become a citizen of Epsloth.

As drake entered the large chamber where the ascendance starts from he saw his parents sat there watching him with pride, for today would be the start of his own exciting adventure, maybe even becoming part of future children's story books. He looked around and only one other person was to be sent off today, his childhood friend Amandalia Queton.

"Welcome Ascendance youth" a booming voice suddenly announces, "you are to set out on your adventure straight away. Approach the pillar of light."
Suddenly a pillar of light appears from the ceiling to the floor and Drake and Amandalia walk towards it, "Lady's first" said Drake backing away slightly, trying to cover his fear with chivalry. As Amandalia enters the light she disappears, starting her great adventure. Drake follows and is encompassed by the light, the next view he sees as his eyes adjust is sand…

SAND!

Reality hits drake like a brick, he's no longer on Epsloth, he's alone, he's stranded with nothing and no one to help him, he's on his own… he's… on… his.. own!

Panic sets in, drake just stands there looking around in shock, unable to move, thousands of questions going through his head at once, how was he going to survive? what should he do? why didn't he pay more attention in his survival class?

"THINK DRAKE", he screamed at the top of his voice to himself and tried to compose himself, what was the first thing he was taught to do in survival class? Check the area using the built in map tool that's attached to their arm. Everyone at the age of 15 cycles went through surgery and had a mapping implant attached to their arm, it was the only way they could guarantee to never get lost. He quickly looks down at his arm and taps a few buttons on it, lights flash and a display appears showing drake the immediate area around him.

Well that didn't help him much did it, looking at the map more closely he noticed that the brown area at the top looked almost like it was clay, tapping a few more buttons, and a name "Mesa Biome" appeared. Instinct for survival kicked in, where there is clay, there could be dirt and where there is dirt there could be trees, maybe drake would be able to survival after all.. Tapping a button turned off the map and he headed towards the mesa biome with hope in his heart.

Looking ahead of him he decided that climbing to the top of the hill, might help him have a better view of the surrounding area, so he quickly grabbed a couple mouthfuls of water from the pools he found, he started his climb up the to the top. As he climbed, suddenly in the sky he saw a ball of flame hurtling towards the ground just above him and the ground shook as whatever it was hit the ground above him, he climbed faster hoping that it might be something to help him out, but as he crested the top all he found was a meteor, and where it had impacted in the sand, the heat had turned a lot of the sand into glass.

A quick scout of the area around it revealed nothing of use for drake, so he quickly continued his journey over the next rise in the hope that something soon might help him out with his predicament of not being really ready for this survival task he was sent on.

Climbing the next rise revealed something that made his heart soar, maybe he will be able to survive after all TREES and GRASS. Rushing down the hill of clay and quickly across the body of water that separated the two areas, he threw himself down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Maybe he will be alright after all..