The dark ages are long dead. The progress of technological advances as the 80s crumble and give way to the last decade of the millennium have brought civilization to new heights of ability. Technology has progressed so far as to shrink the globe. The far reaches of mystery have been illuminated. Air travel has become common-place. Communication can circle the globe in the blink of an eye. There is even a rumor that the military is developing a way to communicate without the use of wires, rendering satellite communication available to the general public, but so far, that’s just a rumor. Computers are becoming ever more functional, bringing about the beginnings of the Internet, or the World Wide Web, though the average household still has no computer.<br/><br/>Yet somehow, there are still a few places yet to be discovered. There is still mystery in the world. This island is one of them. The place belongs on a luxury travel brochure. It is an island completely removed from society, providing that ideal escape from adult life. Tragically, this is a brochure that may possibly never make it to print. There will be no boom to the tourism market.  Satellites have failed to spot the island, sonar and radar overlooked it and it is far enough removed from any plausible passage of marine travel to leave the island completely undiscovered thanks to the massive deposit of iron buried deep beneath the coral and sediment of the sea floor all around the island.<br/><br/>Scattered ruins on the island would be the only evidence of primitive human life long lost. If only scientists could study this preserved piece of history. My, the joy that would be had! These scientific expeditions and historical discoveries may never take place, but if they did, the following would be among the findings:<br/><br/>There were stone tools left abandoned, cave dwellings weathered and crumbling, untouched for centuries. Educated, scientific analysis would have far more to say about the island that one would learn on a luxury tour. Archaeological digs would easily reveal the story of the island. There was once a booming community at work here. There would be clear signs of peaceful years full of craftsmanship, community life, and sport, and also years of war and hardship. The island would have a story to tell full of intrigue and excitement. For an extensive span of time, the island’s tale would speak only of famine and war, as evidenced by the presence of a wide range of weapons of ever increasing technological design, the clear signs of extreme injury to the remains of those long dead speaking of torture and combat, and most of all, deforestation. War feeds on resources. Trees would have been cut down and burned, and every other natural resource would have been exhausted under such extreme wars. Every last tree, it seems, was sacrificed to fuel the war, every animal slaughtered. Birds stopped leaving their droppings to fertilize the soil, which left the vegetation with nothing on which to feed. Everything that once breathed life, faded into dust, leaving the island in total devastation.<br/><br/>The layers of soil reveal that for many centuries, nothing lived on this island beyond perhaps sparse grass and ferns. Then, suddenly a change in the soil. Perhaps it was a bird that dropped a seed, or the weather, carrying life from distant lands… whatever the cause, something sparked life into the island once more. The layers of soil would reveal fertility after a long span of lifeless existence. First plant life, then animal, but never human.<br/><br/>Scientists could study happily for decades and still not fully understand this archaeological treasure. Most disturbing, however, would be the in-depth analysis of the remains. The bones of the dead always have much to tell. The people who once lived here were starving for most, if not, all of their lives. Malnutrition was an almost guaranteed constant in the remains. Some of the bones were hideously disfigured beyond any feasible explanation. No natural force, even freak mutation, could cause mutations like this. So what could possibly have caused it?<br/><br/>The island itself, as it stands today has progressed separately from the rest of the globe. Life evolved according to a different set of rules. All plants that would be recognizable elsewhere, are different here. From beautiful, carnivorous flowers, to poisonous vines, and strangely intelligent animals never before seen, the island is a preservation of the strange and mysterious. A natural spring formed by the pressure of tectonic plates and ground water provides endless clean water that is impossible to contaminate due to the constant flow. The island is big enough it would feel massive to travel across it on foot, but small enough to have escaped the attention of the rest of the world.