The Tale of Islandia:The Golden Apple

Chapter 1

Elias sighed in despair, with Ira and Aidan right behind him. The three schoolkids put their hands in their pockets as they reluctantly trudged along the path in the farm. The stone path bended and curved along, leading to a large barn.

Their school had decided to go on a school trip, and so Ira, Aidan and Elias were dragged along to a farm. Unfortunately, the farm had not been at their expectations. They were uninterested and searched desperately to get away from the dull talk of the farm workers and teachers. As the farmer rambled on, Elias, Ira and Aidan soundlessly slipped away. They were never keen at school that much. Elias' dark brown hair, small eyes and quiet look would make him seem like a timid, quiet boy: but he was the exact opposite. He was a daring and devious boy, who always played tricks in school. Ira was a girl that had a blonde ponytail. She was quite talkative but she had brains-but she used them for tricks as well. Aidan had messy hair with parts of his dark black hair covering his eyes. He was also cunning and witty.

Their crouching and ducking had swiftly turned to jumping and darting through the farm- and the friends rapidly found themselves before a colossal forest. It's trees were unreachable as they stood high and arrogant. The lofty trees were not the focus for a running Elias as he collided into one.

He yelped out in pain as he fell to the floor- and to add more pain, a immense,dangling apple bounced off the leaf it dangled from and rapidly jumped off Elias' head. He groaned in pain, whilst Aidan and Ira rushed back to Elias. He quickly turned and found that a sizeable apple was right in front of him. To his surprise, it was glistening in front of the shining sun and it seemed to be a pure gold apple.

'What is this?' he thought as he stared in curiousness, and rapidly turned to tell a shocked Ira and Aidan.

They held in their hands the most delicate, resplendent and delightful apple they had seen. Strangely, it was shining like the sun, as they glared at the golden delight. Suddenly feeling ravenous, they took each took a colossal bite that would bring them to a mystical adventure.

Instantly, everything felt dark, but then wet, and moist. Aidan, Ira and Elias opened their eyes to find themselves in a mystical world. They each got up, and took a step- but before they could take their second, they gasped in surprise at the colossal castle that overlooked the island. Water raced against the shore as they stepped on the sand. They were on an island. The mountainous castle was made out of sandstone as it stood arrogantly above even the mightiest buildings. It glanced down towards all of the island.

''Clearly, we're not at home. Where are we? And how did we get here?'' Ira enquired, realising that they weren't at home. The sand was dry, and they looked to be in a desert. Elias was about to state something- but no words came out. He still was in complete shock.

''There must be something we can do. At the very least we can walk along the sand path, '' he pointed out, '' and try to find help.''

''Are you kidding? This is probably some dream- after I ate that apple, suddenly we're here? It's probably all a dream or something like that,'' Ira claimed. However she had no choice and the three walked along and they came to a halt when they saw a voluminous fountain that bursted water. They seemed to be in the middle of a desert that was a colossal island, and they knew they needed water- they were already feeling dehydrated. They instantly began to slurp and gulp the water, for they were longing for a drink and felt quenched of thirst.

Then, Elias stopped in his drinking- he had good eyesight and had swiftly spotted a strange creature walking towards them. It had the head of a woman but four legs and the body of a lion. It looked fierce, but it seemed kind and warming towards them. It looked back at Elias and gave him a sinister smile, and began to walk towards them.

She whipped her tail as she began to speak.

''Are you lost?'' she enquired, seeing that they were human, and knowing they would be important to her.

It seemed to be a Sphinx, a combination of a woman and a lion. The children were in fright as Aidan responded with a mutter.

''Yes..can you help us? We're trying to get back home.''

She seemed confused.

These are not the usual elves or giants and wizards I have seen before...she thought, but then realised they were from the realm of the humans.

The Sphinx enquired, ''Are you born in the realm of the humans? The world of man?''

''We're boys, and she's a girl,'' Elias and Aidan muttered with fright in their voices, feeling as if the Sphinx could eat them at any second.

''Boys? Girls? Did you transport here from the realm of the humans?'' the Sphinx roared back.

They shrugged in response, now feeling as if they were unsure if this was even real.

The Sphinx walked around and then she turned her head.

'' You are in the world of Islandia,'' she smiled disturbingly, and that was when Elias, Aidan and Ira realised that this was no dream.