Isitic is a desolate and barran land. Water is scarce, crops hard to grow, and freedom impossible to obtain. But there is one hope - The Golden Gates, and beyond the golden barrier, The Other Lands. Bountiful and plenty, it is every Isitican's dream to get to live in the government-funded paradise. The only problem? You have to survive a month in The Arena. The Arena is a mysterious death trap that the Isitican dictators over the years have put to their uses. Encased in a giant glass dome, The Arena is patroled day and night by vicious beasts, the environment changing every day. Every ten years, eight 18-year olds are selected from a major city to go to The Arena, and see if they can survive. If you survive - you and your family get to live with pleasure in The Other Lands. If you fail - well, you're dead. Join this decade's eight as they try to survive the trial that many before them have tried. But something's different this time, and it may turn out to be fatal......