Presenting...
The final installment in "The Chronicles of Yrag and Anywde"!
Chapter 3 of the series “The chronicles of Yrag and Anywde”: Final Fantasy
Location: Somewhere in Singapore
A family huddles around a television set, having reluctantly forked out $94 to watch what they were watching. On the screen, twenty-two men chase a ball, much to the excited cheers of the crowd. Suddenly, the screen blanks out, and is replaced by a news reporter. Amidst colourful Hokkien expletives, she delivers the following report:
“We apologise for interrupting your scheduled World Cup match (but I’ll be a prophet here and tell you here that Spain got owned) to deliver some breaking news. A groundbreaking report just released by the Association of Astrophysicists, Astronomers and Astrologists (awesome alliteration) shows that the Sun has greatly increased in mass, despite being pretty heavy to begin with already. Its increased gravity has pulled the planet Mars towards it, and both of them are now on a collision course. It is unknown how the impact would affect the universe, but the Association speculates that it will throw the Earth off its usual orbit, ending the world as we know it.
“In related news, the increased mass of the sun has led to previously unseen solar radiation on Earth. Scientists speculate that the radiation could lead to genetic mutations, although humans have not been affected by it yet. So far, the only animals reported to have any unusual behaviour are the stallion, which seems to have developed an unprecedented love for cameras, and is behaving unusually happy and giddy; as well as the bull, which has been seen to carry around a camera to satisfy the stallion. The wolf and the owl have been reported to be showing unusual symptoms of weakness, but these may be unrelated to the solar radiation as they have only been reported in the area of the Bukit Timah forest.”
--
Location: Hwa Chong Instutition
To the casual onlooker, life seems to go on as normal, but the perceptive observer will notice the subtle hints that betray the fact that not everything is all right. Students who don the colours of blue and green are far more wary than usual, their eyes betraying the fatigue that comes from being on the alert all the time. At the same time, the force field of romance and intimacy that surrounds the strings room has gotten so strong that only the most hardcore and brave of nerds dare enter the library to study, and even then only through the metal staircase. Above all, an air of silence seems to have descended on the school, and students and staff alike seem only to wait in apprehension of what comes next.
--
Location: Hwa Chong Institution, sometime later
A murmur.
A chant.
The crescendo.
Dark clouds loom. A flash of lightning splits the sky, then the world is returned to darkness amidst the rumbling thunder.
And in the middle of the Central Plaza stand the figures of Yrag and Anywde, chanting long-forgotten scripts and employing forbidden magic.
Atop the bridge, Super Mario stands, his weight barely balanced by the entire weight of Block A. Struggling to be heard above the raging winds, he shouts, “What are you doing!”
“So! You have appeared! But is all for naught! It is too late to stop us now!” Yrag turns and yells back.
“It is the culmination of months of careful planning. No longer shall Ares and Apollo stand divided! Where there was once four, let there now be only one! Today marks the beginning of … Anywdeyrag!” [Note: I took the liberty to reverse the names; just to let the first letter be “A”. Also, ladies first, hey?]
Around the left and right wings, students stand, too astonished to speak. They had known this was coming, but…so soon?
“The Four Faculties of Hwa Chong are held together by very strong magicks, you young upstart! To undo them would bring untold damage onto the fabric that holds our school together!” Super Mario calls.
“Then let these magicks today be undone!” Anywde retorts, “We who were once two seek now to become one! And let the other two who stand in our way begone! After today, Hwa Chong will have less than three! (<3)”
“That’s just your opinion!” Super Mario declares.
“…Wait, what?”
“I mean, tamper not with forces beyond your understanding! Once unleashed, these forces may threaten this entire dimension! I implore you; stop before it is too late!”
“It is already too late! Behold! The portal opens!”
And open the portal does, which looks oddly like a wedding arch, complete with flowers and everything. Hand in hand, Yrag and Anwyde stride through the “portal”.
“Know you even the magic words that open the mortal portal?” Super Mario laughs haughtily. His laugh dies in his throat as Yrag and Anwyde look into each other’s eyes and simultaneously whisper “I do”. With a flash, Yrag and Anwyde disappear, the storm clears, and silence reigns in Hwa Chong once again.
--
Location: Mount Olympus, home of the Greek Gods.
Zeus, father of Apollo, Ares, Artemis and Athena, god of the skies and lightning and lord of the gods, sits majestically atop a mighty throne. Beneath him, Ares and Apollo stand, each flanked by Anwyde and Yrag respectively.
[Having ended up in the realm of the gods, the narrator is forced to narrate in a manner most befitting to the majesty that surrounds the mystical realm: Shakespearean style]
Ares:
Hear me, O father:
These mortals come hence to let us witness their love,
And ask permission to let their love be expressed in our realm as well.
Apollo:
Ares speaks true.
With thy permission, father, we will let our avatars in the mortal realm become one.
Zeus:
‘Tis forbidden, sons mine
And thy both know it well.
Pester me no more on this.
Apollo:
What was once forbidden can yet happen
If only thy wilt lend us thy power.
For art thou not king of the Gods,
Ruler of all that thy survey?
These mortals hath won us over;
I pray thee, father,
Listen to their words.
Thou might find it in thy heart to accept them as well.
Ares: (unsheathes sword)
Forgive me, father;
But I am willing to fight on this.
God of war I am, and will always be
Red is my colour;
And today passion mine burns
Not only for war, but for love both.
Apollo:
My brother doth speak for me as well.
The sun is mine to control;
And today I may use it
In defence of a love whose flame doth burn brighter than the sun itself.
Zeus:
I hath heard enow!
Nay my answer was, and nay my answer still is, and wilt be!
Let those who persist in earning my ire, sons mine though they be
Feel my power:
The Thunder God’s Wrath!
A period of awkward silence ensues
Zeus:
What manner of villain hath entered majestic Olympus?
My thunderbolt, my power, my very being
Hath been denied me!
Percy Jackson: (enters)
And returned to thee.
Though I hath been to Hades and back simply to do this.
Thy thunderbolt, Zeus,
Is thine once again.
Zeus:
I thank thee, Percy Jackson;
But there shall be time for proper celebration later.
Now though…
Zeus hurls a lightning bolt at Apollo and Ares. Suddenly, a force field appears, dissipating the lightning bolt.
Zeus:
What force be upon us now?
Aphrodite:
Only mine, father.
Yrag:
Aphrodite!
The fabled fifth faculty of Hwa Chong
Appearing only in legends,
And even then only as passing mentions,
Like an ethereal mist.
Anwyde:
And it appears the legends are true.
Zeus:
Aphrodite!
What is thy role in all this?
And, more importantly,
How did thine powers overcome mine?
My lightning bolt is the most powerful weapon ever known.
Aphrodite:
Know thee well, father:
That us gods are only as powerful as mortals believe in us.
And these two mortals Yrag and Anwyde have alone given me strength enow
To become the most powerful goddess in existence.
But my power is love
And mine aim be but to stop the violence that I see.
I propose that Yrag and Anwyde be given a realm of their own;
A world where they can live with each other
To enjoy an eternity of intimate bliss.
Their love need not interfere in the lives of others.
Zeus:
Thy idea doth hath merit.
Aphrodite:
I apologise, Yrag and Anwyde;
For the faculty system in Hwa Chong must hold yet.
But I trust that mine proposal doth appeal to thee both.
Anwyde:
We are satisfied.
Zeus:
Thus it hath been settled.
With the power that is mine to command;
Let Aphrodite’s words now become truth
Let fantasies take flight!
A flash, and Yrag and Anwyde disappear.
Aphrodite:
And thus the universe returns to normal.
Little did Yrag and Anwyde suspect
That their love was so great it threatened the entire cosmos.
Mars, the equivalent of Ares
Shall now return to its usual orbit
And the sun be its normal size.
Everything is now as it once was.
--
A new generation rises from the ashes of the previous.
A chapter ends, and a new one begins.
The baton has been passed.
Who will be tomorrow’s star?
Guess who!
