"I'm in love with the shape of you

push and pull like a magnet do...…"

One of my favorite song. Each and every one was enjoying the song. Our bus passed the thirty-sixth mile post. The road led to 'Rove City' through the dangerous 'Rove Forest'. Many stories and fantasies are told about the Rove Forest. Some say there are ghosts in it. Some say there are dangerous, huge and frightening creatures in it. No matter whatever others told, me and my friends were firm on our decision to visit the city. Rove city is also known as 'The City of Ruby Love'. My ancestors had written that:

"the city of ruby love is filled with rubies which demands any living being to love them. Amongst all these lovely rubies, there is a black diamond which gives any human the power to do anything but killing another human." With this in my I leaned onto the seat to get some rest. Bus as fast asleep and dreaming,

"how would it be, The Rove City."

"Mike", someone called me.

"Mike!!", second time it heard like a loud scream. I woke up and was shocked at the sight.

"Oh my God!", I yelled.

I could only see a half portion of the bus. It was like something cut the bus into two right in the middle, from front till back.

"Mike", again I heard the scream.

I jumped and saw my friends near the 'half bus'. There were eighteen people on each side of the bus. From our side only five were alive. I saw two men pierced by the branches of a tree.

"What happened", I asked them. With a frightening look in eyes Roy said

"Our bus was moving at a very high speed. Suddenly, there, right at the centre of the road, a small girl wearing red glowing dress. Our driver steered the bus to extreme left to save the girl. Breaking the small aluminum barriers, the bus entered into the giant Rove Forest. Then a thin and very sharp like a sword and very tall rock cut the bus into two. The other portion of the went to right side and we came here."

"Then why are we not dead like them." I asked.

"We wore seat belts and others didn't. They were thrown out and most, probably all were pierced by tree branches just like those two."

Finishing this Sasha pointed towards the two men pierced by the branches right through their throats.

"Everyone comes close. Let's check ourselves", I said.

"Roy, Jack, Rachel, Sasha and Maya. Maya? Maya! Where is Maya?"

Suddenly I remembered that she was on the other side of the bus. We are twins. We had been together almost all the time. It was the first time we sat in separate seats on a bus and that too turned out to be a disaster.

We started searching for useful tools and for us to survive and find Maya in the forest. We got no food and only two knives. So, we plucked some fruits and made weapons ourselves. The old technique of making spear with wooden rod and stone helped us a lot in making weapons. Five spears, one bow and some arrows. We packed all we could find into bags. Then I looked around. In the pitch-black background, one headlamp of the bus was still working. We took it and the bus's battery. I took out my phone. Broken, mine, Rachel's and Sasha's phones were broken. Roy's and Jack's phones were working but no signal and no use. We started moving, where we thought Maya would be. As we moved a forward I saw something shining little far ahead us. We slowly, with extreme concentration and silence moved forward to the 'shining thing'. We came close to it. I took a closer look on it.

It was some sort of red stone. When I took it, we were wondered that it was a ruby. I slowly rubbed the ruby, clearing dust on it. It was within fraction of a second that it started to glow brightly and only in one direction.

I checked the ruby once more. Something was written on it.

"Roverite", I read it.

We thought it showed the way to 'The Rove City'. I put it in my pocket and we kept moving forward. I was in the thought of Maya, suddenly

"Shhshh! Be silent! Everyone be silent and listen. I can hear footsteps", Roy said.

"Yes, but it's not of a single person. It's like a group of people walking around", Rachel said.

Sasha and Jack too agreed them both.

"Maya, is that you?", I asked.

The footsteps closed in very quickly. As the footsteps closed in, the ruby in my pocket began to glow very brightly. We all armed ourselves with spears as we were sure that it was not Maya. We all were scared. Suddenly, two giant footsteps from our left and very close to us. The third footstep was just in front of me. Much wind, taking dust and leaves with it like a storm. We could hardly stand. I looked at those giant legs.

It was an elephant's legs but only many times bigger than an original African elephant. Its nails were diamond it was shining bright. I looked up to see its head. A giant elephant standing inches away from my eyes. As I turned around to say "make no sound", Sasha started to scream. Suddenly Jack closed her mouth with his hands. Few seconds later the elephant went on its way. Then I heard Jack screaming.

"What Jack?", I asked.

"She bit me. Aaaahhh!!!" he replied.

The footsteps were still heard. Then loud scream was heard

"Maya! Maya! Maya...… Is that you?"

I saw Maya and five others running towards us.

"What Maya, what happened?", I asked.

"There...…" then she pointed towards the footsteps. I firmly hold the spear ready to strike. Suddenly I felt something wet in my pockets, it was the ruby. It was bleeding, dark red blood. I pressed the ruby with all my strength but despite bleeding it was still strong and hard. Suddenly we heard a loud sound.

"Oh my God! It is a huge family of lions", Jack cried.

"It's not a lion's roar. It's not lions. Maya, didn't you see anything?", I asked.

"Yes, I saw. Hounds, red blood hounds and it loves human blood", Maya replied.

"How do you know it loves our blood, Maya?" Roy asked.

"I saw them drinking and eating humans", Maya replied. The ruby's blood started to ooze out from my pocket.

"We are going to die!!!", one among the other five yelled.

"Maybe, probably, yes", I said.

Everyone looked at me.

"What. It's uhh fact", I said.

"Well in that case....", then suddenly Maya grabbed and kissed me.

"What the hell", I screamed. Everyone looked amazed and shocked.

"Sorry, I love you and one thing is that we are neither twins nor related. So....", Maya said.

"What the...…." I yelled in fear. They were here.

'Blood hounds.' Blood dropping down from their mouths. Many of them. More than twenty.

"Run, run, runnnn!!!!", I cried. Being at last among us, I was the first and nearest target of the hounds.

I turned around and struck the spear hardly into one of its throats. To my amazement they all stopped. Then they started to bleed by themselves. Within a minute they all were dead.

"That was easy", Roy exclaimed.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard, from our back. We turned around and I stepped forward in front of all. The ruby stopped bleeding and began glow again. Once more we heard the sound. This time we recognized that it was the roar of a T- Rex. I was waiting for the ferocious old age monster. As soon as I saw it, I started laughing. We all started laughing. It was indeed a T- Rex but only the size of a domestic cat, standing right in front of me. My laughter was broken by a thought;

"What was Maya doing. Why did she kiss me? What is happening. Why did she said that I'm not her brother or not even related"?

I called Maya near and asked,

"If you are not my sister then, who are you Maya?"

Then my friends came towards us and Sasha said,

"Actually, the real question is who are you. Who is Mike Miller?"

"What?" I asked in total confusion.

Suddenly a loud noise reached our ears.

"Let's move. It's not safe here. We will do the talking later", Rachel said.

I was completely out of my mind. I didn't know what to do or what to say. We moved forward. While we were walking, Maya came near me and began to explain

"You and I are from two different families. You are not my brother and I'm not your sister. But....", suddenly a music interrupted her explanation. The music came from our broken phones. As I took it out, I saw the phone repairing by its own. It slowly started to turn ruby red in color. They started to work again. The ruby started glow brightly. The stones at the top of the spears turned into rubies. I took the ruby out from my pocket. It shot a narrow light ray straight forward. It hit another ruby on a tree and was reflected to our left. Then again it hit another ruby and was reflected just behind us which after hitting on a ruby on a tree moved towards our right. Then the ray came back to front. I felt something strong with the ruby. It started to shiver. The light rays formed a diamond shape. It slowly began to turn red, all around us. We could not see anything or each other. We could only see bright red light. Most of us started to scream, above all the other five among us screamed. Slowly the light started to fade away. I opened my eyes.

We were standing on rubies, endless ruby path wide enough for a bus to go. Leaves of trees, grass, stones and even the animals were in ruby red color. Then I saw two posts and one big board on it. I read it,

"ROVE CITY".

I turned around. Behind us a huge wall with the same symbol formed by the light from the ruby. But the ruby at the center was missing.

"So, shall we move", I asked.

"To where?", Roy asked curiously.

"There is only one way, so let's move", and I started to walk forward. We all moved forward. After walking for some distance, we stopped for resting awhile. Everyone was hungry badly. We plucked some fruits. They were very tasty. I took one fruit and moved away, a little far from them to be alone. I was thinking,

"if I'm not Maya's brother then who am I ".

A hand on my right shoulder brought me out of the thought. It was Maya.

"if I'm not your brother then who am I", I asked her. After taking a deep breath she began,

"Mike, you are not my brother. I don't know where are you from or who your parents are. I don't think that Mike is your real name. My parents found you at a hospital. When they got you, you were only five and then I was to just five. Do you know why my parents call us twins....", Sasha suddenly interrupted,

"Because they found you on her birthday. Then you didn't know how to speak. Her parents found you sitting and crying at one corner of the hospital. They gave you name, educated you, gave you a family".

"We all knew this Mike", Roy said.

"Maya has been loving you from tenth grade", Rachel said. Jack came in front and said,

"But she was too afraid to tell this to you. We were going to tell you all this and that's when you come up with this 'Rove City'."

I don't know if they said anything more as I was keenly observing the other five among us. They were discussing something and collecting sharp ruby stones, then shaping them to small but very sharp tools, more likely weapons. I could see a map on their hands. Few seconds later I saw a wicked and cunning laugh on their faces. I was wondering what are they up to. I knew they were going to do something outside the box. Suddenly Maya shook me and said,

"Mike, say something!"

After being silent for few seconds I said

"Leave me alone. You go ahead I'll join you. Don' t say a word. Just leave a spear for me." My tone was filled with anger and they didn't say anything for they knew, when I'm angry I listen to no one. As I told they left me a spear and started to move ahead. The other five walked behind them with wicked look in their eyes. I slowly started following them, keeping a small distance between them and me. I had the spear in my right hand. I entered into the forest and levelled up with them. In the blink of an eye they disappeared. I came out to the path. For some reason I turned around. A big red lion jumping at me. Luckily, I was able to dodge my way from its claws. Its teeth were white diamonds. I knew I didn't stand a chance against him. So, I hid myself behind a bush nearby. The lion left thinking I escaped. Then I went where I saw my friends last. I saw footprints leading into the forest. I followed the footprints. I saw my friends captured and tied up to a tree by the five. I looked at Maya. Blood was dropping down from her forehead, unconscious. The five sitting as one group and was planning again. I walked towards them and asked

"who are you and why have you captured my friends."

"My name is Steven and we came for the black diamond. If you take and give it to us, we'll go back", one among them said.

"Free my friends and we will bring the black diamond to you", I replied.

"We will free them but no one should talk to each other", said Steven.

"Deal", I said in a confident voice holding the spear. Steven went near Sasha. I saw spears lying just few inches in front of me. As he untied the cloth which covered her mouth she cried,

"Mike, no. The black diamond is being guarded by dragons".

"Sasha, I know", I said. Then he tied her mouth again and said,

"Sorry, can't free them. She disobeyed."

"Free them and I alone will bring you the diamond", I said.

"Nope. You have two options. Option A and option B. Option A says that when you bring the diamond we free you all and forever", Steven said.

"What's option B?", I asked

"Fight away", he said with a crooked laugh. I stood motionless for a moment and said.

"Let's go with B", I replied. One among them, not Steven, came forward towards me. When he came near, with lightning speed, I just simply rotated the spear vertically and it hit his main point. When he bends down I rotated the spear in the opposite direction which hit his head and with my kick he fell down to the ground. While the fight was happening, Jack escaped somehow and started helping others. Steven saw him. He and his group ran towards my friends. By that time only Maya was left to be rescued. She was still unconscious and tied up. Then a loud roar reached our ears.

It was not a Lion's roar. I hold the spear tightly and my other hand reaching down to grab another spear. It jumped out from a red bush near to the tree in which Maya was tied to. It was a tiger, a red one. I told everyone to run and I will get Maya. My friends and Steven and his group ran towards the open path. I ran towards Maya. As it jumped for Maya's throat I came in between and the tiger scratched my right shoulder with its diamond nails. When it opened mouth, I saw bright white diamonds in place of its teeth. With the two spears I had, tried to hit it continuously to tire him as I knew I can't beat him with speed or strength. My continuous strikes weakened him. He roared again and I heard a scream. Maya is conscious again. When I turned back to the tiger, it was jumping at me for his final strike. But it became his final jump. Two spears I had pierced its way through his chest. I almost lost my life there. My clothes were soaked in blood. I untied Maya and sat under the tree. I took my handkerchief and tied it to her forehead. Luckily my leg was not injured. We walked towards the path.

When we reached the path, I was shocked at the sight. Steven and his group lying dead and my friends standing aside holding blood stained spears and knives. We applied the first aid kit and started moving forward as it was not safe to stay at one place for long. We walked for some distance reached in front of pitch-black darkness. We could not see anything in front of us, just darkness. Suddenly something was glowing in my pocket.

When I checked my pocket, it was 'Roverite' the ruby. Glowing as bright as it can. Again, it shot a narrow ray of light which pierced its way through the darkness. Then it hit on something which then enlightened the surrounding. Dragons, more than a hundred of them but all statues made with ruby which had the most precious bluish white diamond at the centre of their heads. I gave Maya 'Roverite'. We decided to take a closer look. We all had spears with us. When I we came close to it, I found that the something the light hit was 'the Black Diamond'. Maya not knowing about the guardians

and being a lover of black diamonds took it. Then she said,

"Doomer. What does that mean?"

"It means we are doomed!", I said. Suddenly all the dragon statues except two disappeared. The two opened its eyes. They were the guardians of the Black Diamond. We were chased down the path. We decide to scatter. I bought 'Doomer' from Maya's hand. It turned to ashes. Maya and Roy went left, Jack and Rachel went right and I and Sasha went straight. But both the dragons followed me Sasha. We reached a dead end. We turned to the dragons holding tightly to our spears. As I watched keenly I observed that the diamond on one's head shone brighter than the other one's diamond. I told Sasha,

"Sasha on my count go for the diamond on the one coming straight towards me."

"Okay", she said. The dragons almost reached us.

"One, two, three now Sasha", I yelled. We two jumped to the nearby tree which became a boost for our jump. She hit the brighter one and I, the dimmer one. Within a fraction of a second the dragons disappeared. There were only two diamonds on the ground. One black and one bluish white. Sasha went to call the rest of us. My friends came while I took the diamonds. In the bluish white one it was written

"RO",

and in the Black Diamond,

"VE".

Then I touched the bluish whit one with the black one. Suddenly white light emerged from my hands making us blind. After few seconds there light slowly faded.

When I opened my eyes, there was only one diamond in my hand, half bluish white and half black. On the diamond it was written

"ROVE".

When I read it, a loud cry of a small girl was heard. We forgot to take the spears. As we looked darkness was spreading everywhere. We ran the way we came there. The darkness was almost near. I was the one running last. Suddenly Rachel fell down. A lion came near her. I ran towards her picking a ruby. I threw it at lion and helped her up. She ran and the lion stopped me. Somehow, I managed push the lion away into a bush. The darkness swallowed the lion. The darkness was only inches away from me. They reached near the wall. We needed one diamond to complete the figure on the wall. They tried 'Roverite' but not matching. I threw Rove to them and they finished the figure. I could not see the wall but only light.

I jumped into the light with my eyes tightly closed and screaming "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"I'm in love with the shape of you

We push and pull like a magnet do..."

I opened my eyes. We all except Steven and group were on the bus. We looked at each other and the bus. It was the same bus, same travelers, same road and the same driver. The two I saw pierced by the tree branches were alive and was on the bus. I felt some irritation in my pocket. I put my hand inside and found a ruby covered in blood. I cleaned it, it became half bluish white and half black. It was Rove. I put it back in my pocket. I took a closer look at myself.

No injuries and no blood stain on my clothes. I looked at my friends they also had no injuries. We all were fine. I took my phone out. It was like new. I went and sat near Maya. We looked at each other. Then I smiled and said,

"Maya from now we will be together forever. Not as brother and sister or twins. I will be there with you forever, as far as you go." Then we looked at our friends. Then Maya asked,

"is this because of those stupid love rubies"

"no", I replied.

"What made you choose Rove City when we said we needed a trip." I looked at her and said,

"Everything happens at a time for a reason. So, don't worry about what happened and just be happy. Everything happens for good and everything that is going to happen is for good, just for good." Maya looked at me confused. I came back to my seat. I took Rove from my packet and I whispered to myself,

"Let the game begin."