It was the 19th March 1665. I recruited a new group of crew members to embark on a journey to the Island of Life; a mystical island that many have spoken of but no crew member who had sailed to the island had made it back alive to tell his tale.

My crew knew the danger of such a perilous journey but still they gave me only encouragements. On the 20th March 1665,  we set sail. Fear gripped our hearts but we knew that there was no turning back. We did not have a pleasant start, the sea was choppy, the weather unforgiving. After a long day, everyone was not feeling well. The tremulous waves had made even the most experience of sailors sick. Sailing was too difficult, a thick mist formed soon after the sun set which impaired our view of the vast sea before us. All we could do and all we did was to travel dead straight, cutting into the thick mist clueless of our direction. 

21 March 1665:  We were attacked by a sea creature today. It was like nothing we have ever seen but we knew through legends its name; It was a Greson. The Greson was a mystical creature of the sea, one of many we were told we were meet if we were to embark on a journey to the Island of L

ife. It seems that the legends were true after all. Its look was fearsome; The body of a squid stuck on the back of a grey whale with what seemed to look like a dinosaur head. I lost half by crew to this creature today. Brave men

 who gave their life up for their captain. The Greson escaped but I vow upon my life to hunt it down one day, as revenge for my men. The creature shall die.

This was a sign though, a sign that we were going to reach the island soon. 

24March 1665: The seas are getting rough. We have experienced 3 days of sea storm. The walls of our ship has slowly came apart, our ship is getting weaker. We have loss most of our food supplies. the remaining potatoes can only last us a few more days. Water is being rationed. The men are weak form hunger,

25 March 1665: The storm hit us again. This time luck was not with us. The ship could take

 this evil sea no longer and it finally came apart. My men and I were thrown off board into the dark sea, the icy cold water. I kept on swollowing water and soon I was unconcious.

When I woke up, my vision was a blurry grey but I felt sand beneath my fingers and that alone

gave me unimaginable relief. At last I was on land. I stood up and breathe deeply only to be hit by a revolting stench, the smell of death.  My crew members! Where were they? I wal

ked around the sandy shore hoping to get find out where I was but all I saw were wooden

 crosses, skulls, human maybe, hanging on old wooden poles. Rotting skeletons were all that my eyes could see. I looked down to my bare feet in fear, where was I?  The sand which I had so relished just moments before now appear to be ashes. I ran around in fear. Dear God! What hell have you brought us to? I ran frantically about, my crew members, I must find then. Slowly my eyes began to grow accustom to the dark and I saw before my a

 body; a body lying face down on the sand. I ran towards it and gasp in horror as I recognise the face of the corspe. It was my friend Agnes! But this was not the Agnes I knew. His eyes were hollow and cover with sea weeds, his body a dark blue black and white foam was sprouting out from his mouth.  

I kneeled down in anguish and cried like my heart could not cry harder. It was then I heard a voice, a sweet lady's voice, almost melodious "Don't cry dear man, what has gone can not come

 back." she whispered "Follow me and I will show you the present." I turned back in surprise, a living lady on an island of death was the last thing I expected. The lady smiling before me has long wavy red hair, a gown of earthly green hung over her graceful frame, slowly she reached her to me and I saw her creamy skin. One touch on the cheeks of my face and everything seemed to be forgotten, poor Agnes no longer exist. She held my hand and I followed her every step. I was bewitched. 

We walked into the jungle and I staggered mesmerized behind her. Skull torches

 guided our into the jungle, giving a soft glow to the dense green. The jungle was a sticky humid but the air was filled with the heavenly scent of every imaginable flower. She paused and looked at me, that lovely oval face. Before us was a white tent and in it on a long wooden table stood a feast of meat, rum and fruit. I ran towards the table like a mad man and stuffed my mouth with as much meat as I possibly can. She stayed behind me, smiling, that beguiling smile. I kept feasting, ripping the meat apart with my teeth. Finally, my stomach filled, I turned behind to thank her. She walked slowly towards me "Don't thank me" she said, "Thank you". It all happened in a second, she took out from behind her back a dagger and moving it across my neck, slit my throat in one swift moment. I grabbed my neck in shock and red liquid star

ted gushing out. I gazed up in pain and fell to the ground. Strangely I felt my warm blood cover my body, but there was no pain. Everything before me was clear. The lady in green dragged my body through the jungle, my hands and legs scrapping across protruding tree branches. I stared, puzzled, why did I feel no pain. I looked on in fear as she pierced my throat through the cross like and nailed my wrist to adjourning wood planks. "Don't fear my dear, it'll be over soon" she said the beguiling smile so lovely before, turned up to reveal the sly face of evil. "Let me die, God" I prayed silently, my mouth had lost its voice, I could not scream. I should be dead, i thought, but a strange sensation was taking over me. My limbs felt stronger every time a nail was pierced through my wrist and feet. I found myself having more control over them. What is happening, I thought, I should be dead. The lady in green finally walked away, as if already completing the required ritual. I saw her figure distance away from me. I closed my eyes. 

It was a full moon that night, I felt a new source of energy fill my every limb. With greater determination, I ripped my wrist out of the wood and lifted my head out of piercing wood. Reaching down towards my feet I removed the nails with my fingers. Strange, I thought, very strange. 

Slowly I staggered towards the shore, a trail of blood following behind me, dripping from my neck, my head, my wrist and my feet. My head was wobbly. I held it up and made sure that it didn't fall. Lying down on the ground and gazing up towards the bright full moon, I sighed, what a wonderful night this was. The moon was shinning at its brightest and the soft sea breeze blew across my open wounds, now leaking no more blood because I had none left. 

The turned back and saw a young man holding a sword across their throats. He boomed " Explain pheasants, what are you all doing here!"

Sarah exclaimed, " Hey watch what you are saying, we are not pheasants, we're just children! We are here embarking on our expedition."

"Return to your villages! This castle is not a place for children! " the man retorted when all of a sudden a loud "BANG" was heard in the foreground. Turning quickly towards the noise, the stranger's face turned a curious pale pink. "Hurry" he whispered to the bewildered children "follow me". Moving quickly, he led them into a cell, hastily throw a blanket over them and walked away. They could barely see what was happening and so strained their ears to catch whatever noise that may come their way. It was not long before the heard the young stranger spoke again. " Mistress the dungeon is clear.", he announced formally, "The disturbance must be made by some spirits. There isn't any warm blooded creatures in the dungeons"

Sarah fumed with anger upon hearing that they were called warm blooded objects. To be carelessly classified as a creature, along with beasts; she was about to stand up and confront the strangers but was restrained just in time by Jenson. 'Shhhh, don't move Sarah, they'll hear us!" Just at this moment, they saw a shadow fall over the blanket. They covered each other's mouth to prevent themselves from shouting out in fear.

The young man drifted in front of the shadow. "Madame, you should return to the palace. These dungeons are not suitable for a royal blood." Agreeing with his suggestion, the lady's shadow slowly faded away from the blanket. Sarah and Jenson heaved a sigh of relief, they were safe, for now. But their joy was too soon. They observed another shadow approach nearer and nearer to them and slowly the blanket was lifted away from their faces. Their eyes opened wide in fear . They looked up to look into, what the children thought, what were to be the last face they would ever see and heaved a sigh of relieve to realise it was just their young stranger.

"I have not introduce myself, my name is Edison Cooper, the Second Knight of Brickvale. The lady you heard is Abigale Knighting -Princess of Brickvale."

"A knight!" Sarah gasped "An actual knight!"

"You look awfully young to be a knight" Jenson exclaimed in awe.

"Believe me, young man" Edison answered gravely, "I have anything but age on my side. I will be a 190 years old this year."

They stood in front of the great castle door and pondered if their parents would find out what they were doing. But no threat of a huge scolding from their parents could hold them back as curiosity filled their innocent minds.

They pushed open the doors slightly and all of a sudden came a scurrying of feet. Rats, hundreds of them, scampered out. They pushed the door as hard as they could and stepped into the castle. The children tipped toes into hall of the

 castle to avoid stepping onto any rats, but the rats soon climbed onto them and started biting the thick leather boots that they wore. They shook th

e rats off as quickly as they could and bravely continued embarking on their journey deeper and deeper into the castle.

The hall was covered with an awful smell of rotten fish but the furniture were posh and elegant; Golden painted table edges, gold plated chairs and candle stands. As they brushed their hands cross the gold paint, golden grains appeared on their palms. They rubbed their hands together and the gold grains felt like little rock. Their minds were filled with unimaginable 

excitement; the things they could do with all these gold! But their minds too question; what kind of family inhabits a castle with furniture which has gold pounded into them. All of a sudden a loud "Clank" broke their train of thoughts, something had dropped but it wasn’t by the children. Sarah and Jerson ran quickly towards the sound but they were minutes too late, the only thing that was left behind were several broken pieces of glass. Upon a closer examination, however, they noticed something very strange. There were pieces of bones among the shattered glass, bones that still had some muscles attached to it. It belonged to a animal, possibly the remains of a dead rat. But event this gruesome discovery did not frighten our 2 brave children. Their imaginations feast on their new discovery: "Maybe those rats were hungry and ate their own kind?" thought Jerson, " perhaps the prisoners of this castle were hungry and started eating the rats?" Sarah offered. None of them were sure who could have such a disgusting appetite to venture so far as to consume rats. But one thing they did know; they know that the person or animal responsible for this was definitely hungry, so hungry as to consume rats, raw.

Sarah and her brother walked up the flight of stairs and entered the third level. A quick glance showed them that the floor was utterly empty aside from a few portraits; no furniture 

or pot of plants were there to beautify the place, the family portraits were left hanging in an awkward position. They walked along the walls to get a better view of the dust covered pictures. As they walk towards the end they notice a picture that was strangely familiar to the children. A closer observation produced a gasp in the children. The 2 adults in the picture bore such a striking resemblance to their parents. But no, it could not be! In their arms they cradled 2 babies, 2 little babies barely a year old . Sarah and Jerson were shocked and confuse, were their parents related to the family in the castle? Were these even their parent? There was a piece of copper label hanging underneath the portrait but the label was attacked by rust and they couldn’t make out the words that were carved onto it. With a hundred, no a thou

sand, questions racing through their little minds, the children raced down the steps towards a dungeon, and there they met with a chilling gust of wind which blew pass them and brought fear to their spine. This time they were truly afraid. The barely lit candles which previously lined the dungeon way burned even brighter as they walked past. It was as if someone, or something, was guiding them towards somewhere or something.

The dungeon was lined with many little cells, prison cells maybe. Sarah and Jerson leaned towards the little glass window above each cell’s door and that allowed them a view of what was inside the cells without entering. They strained their eyes as hard as they could, the dark cell made seeing what was before them very difficult but slowly their e

yes grew accustomed to the dark and they saw. What a ghastly sight! The floor was littered with bones and whole skeletons decked in war armor. Sarah and Jerson retreated in fear and hastened towards the end of the dungeon. They were barely at the end when they felt a cold touch on their shoulders.

**Passage Incomplete

There are places with thousand of houses & also places with millions of houses, maybe lesser. But in a place called Caris Town there were only one house and one castle. In the castle lived human but it was also home to many pest, birds and other beings that should not be named. In the house lived 2 couples and their 2 children. Standing at 2.1m, with black curly hair and
an almost ruined apron was the mother, Sarah. At 2.9m with a figure of a twig and with a sparse amount of hair, decked in a blue and almost torn jumper was the father Jimmy. Sarah, the eldest of the 2 children, was 15. She had an independent spirit with a self confidence reading that was off the meter. Her hair was parted in the centre and the ends were tied into 2 pony tail. She wasn’t a very smart girl but she was always finding creeks to explore, forest to search and bags to ransack. The phrase -curiosity killed the cat, never did scare her. The second born, Jerson, was 14. He stood at 3.0m, with neatly combed hair with slightly black highlights added to his bright blonde hair. He had an innate talent for drawing and for analyzing climate changes.

The castle was just a brisk walk away and it always interested the 2 little ones to venture there. Their parents always chide " NEVER EVER GO NEAR THAT CASTLE". That, however, didn’t make them scared but, on the contrary, made them even more interested. The thought of
what lay beyond the borders never failed to send tickles to their toes. The children cuddle together in bed and discuss about all the fun that awaits them at the mysterious castle. From the moment they could think properly and understand each other, they started planning their trip to the castle. They hid under their blankets and drew a draft of the route to the castle. They knew that they will be grounded for life if their parents found out but that too didn’t stop them. Every morning they would lurk into the woods and observe the castle from afar. The noted all the happenings in the castle and with all the information and notes they had gathered, a guild book of comparable size could have been published.

It was the break of dawn of June 14 and the children, after thorough analysis of the cycle of the animals that move in and out of the castle, decided that on this very day animal traffic will be at its least least. Their analysis also showed that the sun will set at 8pm instead of 6pm. For their mission, light will be their greatest need and so the 14th of June was not to be missed. Nothing will stop them.

On that fated day, they woke up at 4am and left a letter to their parents. They will off for a picnic, the letter read, and with a casual toss of the letter onto the table, the children gathered all resources they needed and headed to the castle.

**Passage Incomplete