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Description
Jacob Boone
English 111
Walter Goode
March 22, 2010

The Quest

As a kid, I have always been fascinated with games such as 'Dragon Warrior,' 'Legend of Zelda' and any other games related to slaying monsters.  My older brother was no different.  He fed my fascination with his drawings of heroic characters, tales of legendary relics.  I even started reading books about Greek mythology and always favored the tale of Hercules and the Medusa.  For fun, my brother would manufacture blunt swords by taping two thin piece of metal in the form of a cross and he would use duct tape to make a comfortable grip.  I would play outside with the replica swords and the neighbors would watch me, but they could never see the dragon with its body that dripping molten lava along with chunks of boulders that I was valiantly slaying.   All they saw was a kid running around, slashing the wind in half as it blew by.
One night, my brother showed me an old treasure map that led to a sword that my brother had abandon in the woods.  He asked if I wanted to reclaim it with him and naturally I said yes.  At the time I was thinking it was some kind of game.  He then warn me that Medusa may be residing near the sword and that when we got to the clearing, I should have my eyes close so that her gaze may not turn me to stone.  He stated that we would begin our quest, first thing tomorrow.  For the remainder of the night, I studied the book on Greek mythology and looked at the illustration of the enemy and tried to visualize how it would look in real-life and what it would be like to kill her.  It was a wonder I even slept that night but I did.
The next morning, I awoke to find the sun creeping in the sky.  I quickly got out of bed and got dressed.  Our mother was already up and watching 'Jeopardy' on the TV.  Of course, mom had no clue as of what we were going to do that day.  She probably assumed that we were just going to play in the backyard.  I said my farewell to her and met my brother in the hallway near the backdoor.  He asked if I was ready and I eagerly said yes.  The backdoor opened and we exited onto the plains.  I examined the field that lay before us.  It had to be at least ten meters before we reach the entrance to the forest.  We began our journey, equipped with our homemade blades.  My brother carried the map along with his trademark cross sword.  My choice of weapon was a katana.
We walked for minutes but in my imagination, we had traveled for miles and had to cross a viscous river of death and all it would take was one slip to sweep away in its current.  In reality, it was a small river and it was incredibly dry that day.  We then came across a small wooden bridge which was led over a valley both in my imagination and in real life it was just a ditch.  The bridge was two pillars of construction wood that our father had laid down some years back.
Finally, the entrance to the forest came into our line of sight.  It was covered with thorny bushes that seem to deny access towards our destiny.  We had come so far and we were not going to turn around and abandon the journey.  We had no choice but to lay waste to these treacherous bushes.  We monitored our arcs so as to prevent self-inflicted wounds.  Even without the sharpen edges, we could still lacerate one another or worse, break a bone.  With the deadly bushes now vanquished, we made our way into the forest.  My brother and I walked side by side, weapons ready to slash through anything that flinched way.  We halted a couple of times to read the map and after we made sure we were on the right path, we would continue.
In my mind, this was the most critical moment in our journey.  We were closing in on Medusa and at anytime she pop out of no where and turn us into stone.  Adrenaline was running through me as my eyes darted from left to right, prepared for an ambush from any angle.  I was so preoccupied with our surroundings that I did not notice that we had entered a clearing until my brother stopped me.  He informed me that we were in Medusa's lair and that she was asleep.  He proceeded to shield my eyes with one hand and we began to carefully walk across.  I never once thought what he is doing to prevent himself from looking at Medusa.  I did believe that Medusa was there and if she awoke, I believe my brother would slaughter it.  The walk felt long to me because I could not see.  However, we passed the clearing unscathed.  My brother took his hand away from my eyes and I never once looked back, but I knew that was the only path that would lead out and we would soon have to cross that path again.
We did not encounter anything that appeared hostile but we still kept our guard up.  We followed a small stream of water to another clearing and according to the map, this was the end of the trail and this is where my brother's sought-after treasure rest.  The problem we had encountered was that we couldn't find it.  The clearing was in the shape of a perfect circle and there were a few branches that covered the area.  I was honestly expecting a stone pedestal with the sword in it, similar to the sword in the stone stories or the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda games.  There was nothing there.  I saw something pale white resting in front of the center tree.  It was being covered by a couple of leafy tree branches.  With my brother's help, we removed them and there was my brother's weapon.  I sheathe my current weapon as my brother allowed me to do the honors and detach the sword from the earth.  With the sword now recovered, we no longer had no need to be in this dreadful forest and turned to depart.
My heart pounded as we made our way back to the clearing.  Medusa was still asleep, so says my brother.  Once assured that I couldn't see, we walked onwards when suddenly, a hissing noise arose from our left side.  My brother advised me to go on as he pushed me forward.  I started to run, but I had to look back and when I did, I saw that he was stabbing his cross sword into a hallowed out stump and I could still hear that hissing noise.  That was all the proof I needed to believe that my brother was actually fighting Medusa and as I run towards the entrance.  My pant leg was snagged by another thorn bush.  With quick reaction, I hack through with my new weapon.  It occurred to me that the sword was keeping the forest dormant and now with it removed, the forest came to life, threatening me and my brother's life.
I ran through the forest, slashing and ripping whatever abomination got in my way until I finally saw the opening.  I looked to my right and noticed a trailer that did not look like our home.  I came to speculate that I had run the wrong way or maybe I was supposed to take a turnoff.  Without looking behind me, I asked my brother what we do now.  After receiving no reply I looked behind and saw that my brother was running behind me.  He then pointed out that I was not looking to my left side.  I looked and notice that there was blood on his sword and some on his hands as proof that he laid waste to Medusa.  We once more traverse over the bridge, along the river and on the fields until we located our home.  Our quest was over and we were unharmed and had returned the word back to its rightful place which is our back porch.  Of course, mom got mad when I told her about our journey but was happy that we were okay.  I later found out that we had gone on a search and destroy assignment to kill a snake.

Description
Jacob Boone
English 111
Walter Goode
March 22, 2010

The Quest

As a kid, I have always been fascinated with games such as 'Dragon Warrior,' 'Legend of Zelda' and any other games related to slaying monsters.  My older brother was no different.  He fed my fascination with his drawings of heroic characters, tales of legendary relics.  I even started reading books about Greek mythology and always favored the tale of Hercules and the Medusa.  For fun, my brother would manufacture blunt swords by taping two thin piece of metal in the form of a cross and he would use duct tape to make a comfortable grip.  I would play outside with the replica swords and the neighbors would watch me, but they could never see the dragon with its body that dripping molten lava along with chunks of boulders that I was valiantly slaying.   All they saw was a kid running around, slashing the wind in half as it blew by.
One night, my brother showed me an old treasure map that led to a sword that my brother had abandon in the woods.  He asked if I wanted to reclaim it with him and naturally I said yes.  At the time I was thinking it was some kind of game.  He then warn me that Medusa may be residing near the sword and that when we got to the clearing, I should have my eyes close so that her gaze may not turn me to stone.  He stated that we would begin our quest, first thing tomorrow.  For the remainder of the night, I studied the book on Greek mythology and looked at the illustration of the enemy and tried to visualize how it would look in real-life and what it would be like to kill her.  It was a wonder I even slept that night but I did.
The next morning, I awoke to find the sun creeping in the sky.  I quickly got out of bed and got dressed.  Our mother was already up and watching 'Jeopardy' on the TV.  Of course, mom had no clue as of what we were going to do that day.  She probably assumed that we were just going to play in the backyard.  I said my farewell to her and met my brother in the hallway near the backdoor.  He asked if I was ready and I eagerly said yes.  The backdoor opened and we exited onto the plains.  I examined the field that lay before us.  It had to be at least ten meters before we reach the entrance to the forest.  We began our journey, equipped with our homemade blades.  My brother carried the map along with his trademark cross sword.  My choice of weapon was a katana.
We walked for minutes but in my imagination, we had traveled for miles and had to cross a viscous river of death and all it would take was one slip to sweep away in its current.  In reality, it was a small river and it was incredibly dry that day.  We then came across a small wooden bridge which was led over a valley both in my imagination and in real life it was just a ditch.  The bridge was two pillars of construction wood that our father had laid down some years back.
Finally, the entrance to the forest came into our line of sight.  It was covered with thorny bushes that seem to deny access towards our destiny.  We had come so far and we were not going to turn around and abandon the journey.  We had no choice but to lay waste to these treacherous bushes.  We monitored our arcs so as to prevent self-inflicted wounds.  Even without the sharpen edges, we could still lacerate one another or worse, break a bone.  With the deadly bushes now vanquished, we made our way into the forest.  My brother and I walked side by side, weapons ready to slash through anything that flinched way.  We halted a couple of times to read the map and after we made sure we were on the right path, we would continue.
In my mind, this was the most critical moment in our journey.  We were closing in on Medusa and at anytime she pop out of no where and turn us into stone.  Adrenaline was running through me as my eyes darted from left to right, prepared for an ambush from any angle.  I was so preoccupied with our surroundings that I did not notice that we had entered a clearing until my brother stopped me.  He informed me that we were in Medusa's lair and that she was asleep.  He proceeded to shield my eyes with one hand and we began to carefully walk across.  I never once thought what he is doing to prevent himself from looking at Medusa.  I did believe that Medusa was there and if she awoke, I believe my brother would slaughter it.  The walk felt long to me because I could not see.  However, we passed the clearing unscathed.  My brother took his hand away from my eyes and I never once looked back, but I knew that was the only path that would lead out and we would soon have to cross that path again.
We did not encounter anything that appeared hostile but we still kept our guard up.  We followed a small stream of water to another clearing and according to the map, this was the end of the trail and this is where my brother's sought-after treasure rest.  The problem we had encountered was that we couldn't find it.  The clearing was in the shape of a perfect circle and there were a few branches that covered the area.  I was honestly expecting a stone pedestal with the sword in it, similar to the sword in the stone stories or the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda games.  There was nothing there.  I saw something pale white resting in front of the center tree.  It was being covered by a couple of leafy tree branches.  With my brother's help, we removed them and there was my brother's weapon.  I sheathe my current weapon as my brother allowed me to do the honors and detach the sword from the earth.  With the sword now recovered, we no longer had no need to be in this dreadful forest and turned to depart.
My heart pounded as we made our way back to the clearing.  Medusa was still asleep, so says my brother.  Once assured that I couldn't see, we walked onwards when suddenly, a hissing noise arose from our left side.  My brother advised me to go on as he pushed me forward.  I started to run, but I had to look back and when I did, I saw that he was stabbing his cross sword into a hallowed out stump and I could still hear that hissing noise.  That was all the proof I needed to believe that my brother was actually fighting Medusa and as I run towards the entrance.  My pant leg was snagged by another thorn bush.  With quick reaction, I hack through with my new weapon.  It occurred to me that the sword was keeping the forest dormant and now with it removed, the forest came to life, threatening me and my brother's life.
I ran through the forest, slashing and ripping whatever abomination got in my way until I finally saw the opening.  I looked to my right and noticed a trailer that did not look like our home.  I came to speculate that I had run the wrong way or maybe I was supposed to take a turnoff.  Without looking behind me, I asked my brother what we do now.  After receiving no reply I looked behind and saw that my brother was running behind me.  He then pointed out that I was not looking to my left side.  I looked and notice that there was blood on his sword and some on his hands as proof that he laid waste to Medusa.  We once more traverse over the bridge, along the river and on the fields until we located our home.  Our quest was over and we were unharmed and had returned the word back to its rightful place which is our back porch.  Of course, mom got mad when I told her about our journey but was happy that we were okay.  I later found out that we had gone on a search and destroy assignment to kill a snake.