The pale, mangled bricks covered every inch of the castle.

The castle itself

was a drab, dull pile of buildings towering over the lifeless landscape. Even
though it seemed like a fossil of no value I still wanted to explore it and
uncover its mysteries. I walked through the open door and across the dry
moat, across the dead gardens and the kingless throne room. I finally
stopped on my tracks at the sight of a darkened room. All the other rooms
were well lit and seemed somewhat welcoming to the men who lived here
before, however, this room was a cold and harsh one. I stepped inside to
explore when suddenly I heard a shriek. I turned to find banshee swiftly
moving to me and without even thinking I ran. The banshee’s howl echoed
through the corridors and I still ran, my limbs shaking uncontrollably. I
finally managed to evade it and hide in a room. At that moment the
motivation I had for entering had disappeared. I was still breathless of the
experience. After some time I decided to make my move and escape. I
passed all of the rooms in the castle, giving no care to them unlike I once
had. I ran for the door when suddenly I heard a howl behind me.

I slowly made my way to my school, my bare feet sliding across the harsh
spiky rocks, I slowly walked towards my school, it was in the blazing heat of
the sun. I walked up the ladder with the other kids and resided on the floor
waiting for the teacher to start the lesson. The chatter in the room came to
an abrupt stop when the headmaster walked in. We waited until the
headmaster began talking. All of his words flew through my brain like all
assemblies then he said something that caught my attention he said
“There will be a lottery in the nation, the winner of the lottery has them and
their family moved to the dreamland.” my eyes lit up with determination. I
could finally get out of this dump and go to the dreamland. I spent the
entire school day pondering as to how my chances may go up to win the
lottery. I got home and told the news to my parents. 2 weeks later we
received news that we had won the lottery and were moving away. When I
got to school I told all of my friends. When they asked where the ticket was I
said it was with me. Then they all began to chase after me stomping on
each other and running to get to me. Before I could blink I was running too.
Running like a herd of wild buffalos. One of my friends stumbled on me and
knocked me down a small hill. We tumbled and tumbled. When we reached
the bottom I got up and began trying to even fathom what was happening.
My friend looked at me and yelled “You don’t deserve that ticket! I’ll steal it
from ya and use it to get my family to the dreamland!” and in a last
attempt I shouted and punched him down. I gasped for air and finally ran
to the docks where my family was. My blood ran cold when I heard a loud,
ear-piercing, obnoxious, blaring.

It was all a blur, one day the captain was welcoming the passengers onto
the Yggdrasil XI the next the ship was in ruins, only a few wooden planks
for us to stand on. Everything else either sunk down into the never-ending
and unfaithful sea or was burned. How did it get this bad? When the
captain, a tall and slender man, welcomed us onto the sleek and modern
ship we had a fun time, entertaining ourselves with a drink, a gamble, and
a smoke. The captain was kind. His backstory was one of a giving man. He
helped us with everything and did his best. After a long night I heard a
boom, I shrugged it off as nothing, then another, and another, and
another, until all that you could hear was a booming noise. I began to
move up-deck when I saw all of the other passengers in a panic, everyone
running, screaming, beating each other, stomping on each other, except
the captain who I guess had previous experience because he quickly
moved towards the control room. When I took a closer look I saw a ship
sailing beside us. I barely had a chance to breathe before a large looming
monster smashed into the ship and blew the passengers into smithereens.
I was far back enough that the explosion didn’t obliterate me. I fell into the
cold harsh sea. I gasped for air but the air wouldn’t come. I flapped my
arms wildly expecting to free myself but to no avail. I finally saw a piece of
wood and grabbed onto it. After a long struggle with the water I took a
deep breath. I looked out and saw the burning ship. I regained my balance
and found that the captain was moving with the ship bearers towards the
pirate ship. I yelled in frustration but I knew it wasn’t going to help me.