Lately, there has been one dream that has always been there- without fail- when I go to sleep. It's about a world without colors, without hope, without love. No dragons lording over the skies. No knights in shining armor saving princesses from towers. No damsels in distress calling for their heroes. Just exams, pressure, and an endless road of despair.

                                                                Forgotten

                                                    Each and every day I feel

                                               Upon my back a lingering chill,

                                        As I think that our days were never free

                                  For the present shall always become a memory.

                                     ’Tis the fate of this slowly revolving world-

                                                To be forgotten and buried

                                                     In the bowels of Time.

See what I did here? The shape represents the “wheel of Time”. Ooooh.

So the Creative Writing Club’s prompt was to write a prologue to the Grinch. And so this was what I wrote or, at least, the basic outline of it. Below is a bit of background.

Yggdrasil is the tree of life and upon its branches rest nine realms. Midgard is the realm where humanity resides. Asgard is where the home of the gods, Valhalla, is located. Jotunheim is the home of the frost giants. Vanaheim is the home of the Vanir, a sister race of the Asgardians. Nidavellir is the home of the dwarves. That’s basically all the realms covered here.

Ragnarok has many names such as the “cleansing” or the apocalypse or armageddon. It’s basically the end of the world as advocated by all the religious folk. Such optimistic people yeah? Anyway, in the Norse version, a wolf called Fenris breaks his chains and swallows the sun. This is basically the start of a war between the Vanir and Asgardians and a bunch of other races join the fray. Midgard gets totally screwed over in the crossfire. First it gets scorched, then the floods come in. And when the floods recede, two people are left alive and the world is supposed to be all fertile and great. Good thing there’s no birth control yet.

I took dryads from Greek/Roman mythology. They’re supposed to be these beings of nature. The reincarnation stuff came from me reading too much xianxia and wuxia cultivation web novels.

Here’s the story.

In a meadow in the mortal realm of Midgard, the summer dryad leaned against a tree. A woman sat in his lap and rested her head on his green, furred shoulder, her long hair- reflecting the starlight of the heavens- cascading down his side with a complexion which the Valkyries can only envy. A cool night breeze swept through the meadow causing the flowers to dance to an invisible tune. The dryad smiled and slowly lifted up a hand. With that simple movement, a small flower within the long grass reached for the skies. The two watched as it grew and grew- as it took its place with the stars. They smiled at the twinkling lights welcoming the new arrival. And under the Heaven’s watchful gaze, they swore to forever be together.

And so it was. Every night, they would sit together watching the night sky. And every summer, when the dryad would bring his season to another place, the human girl would follow. Years passed and when the girl finally departed from the world of Midgard, she did so with a smile. The summer dryad would patiently wait until her soul passed through the cycle of reincarnation. And then he would find her again. Without fail. Reincarnation after reincarnation. Lifetimes after lifetimes. Their love was sung by the traveling bard. And legends were told of the blessings of the summer. For no wars were fought in that season.

Finally, her soul was reincarnated in Asgard, the realm of the immortals, and she ascended to godhood. And yet, their love could not be broken. Even when separated by a whole plane of existence, her hand still reached through the rift to take his. And Heaven and Earth was linked through their bond.

Hundreds of thousands of years passed and their love never wavered. They spent their days in happiness and joy and the two realms prospered and told stories of their everlasting warmth.

And yet, all good things must come to an end. Yggdrasil shook with the flames of war. The wolf, Fenris, had swallowed the Sun. Midgard was ablaze with the fires of armageddon. And Valhalla was split down the middle in a battle between gods. The fire Jotuns crawled out of seclusion to join the fray and the summer dryad took refuge inside a cave. The Ragnarok had begun.

It lasted three years. Every day, the dryad would stand at the mouth of his cave. He would look at the devastation around him. At the charred earth and the red sky. And he would pray to god- any god- that this war would soon end.

One night, a sharp pain in his chest jolted him awake. Gasping for air, he rushed out of the cave to see the world flooding. He quickly stumbled upwards the mountain and at the top he finally fell to his knees and howled. Midgard was gone. But all he could do was grasp at his heart as it throbbed with a mysterious pain so intense and ferocious that he cried tears of morning dew. The dryad spent the rest of Ragnarok atop that mountain. It was only when it was over, that he realized what that pain meant.

The floods receded, and a new Sun shed its light on a desolate world. And then the dryad realized that he could not sense her soul any longer. Frantic, he scoured the world for any traces of her soul. Finding none, he did not give up. Blazing with a determination rare to dryads, he went through the other roots of Yggdrasil. He wandered through the world of Jotunheim. He scoured the defeated realm of the Vanir. He traversed the mountains of Nidavellir. Each time taking 5,000 years for he must wait for the convergence. Finally, he reached Valhalla where the surviving gods were rebuilding their home.

There, he learned that her soul was shattered by a Vanir’s blade and the fragmented pieces scattered outside of Yggdrasil. Broken and defeated, the summer dryad returned to Midgard- after 25,000 years of earnest searching- where the humans were slowly populating the earth with the absence of the gods. For the first hundred years back on earth, the dryad would weep everyday. He went back to that meadow and used his powers to rebuild it exactly as they left it. And he would lean against the tree and imagine her with him.

Yet as the seasons changed, the tears stopped flowing and he stopped visiting the meadow. Slowly, his heart changed to ice and he found solace in the cold of winter. And so he lived in a cave on a wintry mountain- isolated and detached from the world.

One day, he heard shuffling at the mouth of the cave and a little girl’s yelps as she stumbled down the icy slope. The summer dryad that could no longer feel the warmth of the sun stared as she stood up in front of him. Squinting, he looked at her and felt a sense of...familiarity. This soul aura...it can’t be. Dusting herself off, the girl smiled at him and asked a question.

“Hello mister, are you the Grinch?”

The End...or... a new beginning?

Sender: Eve

Subject: Stars

~Hi hi! The Adam of 18 years old! Wow, it’s only been a few months, yet you’ve already surpassed my age. Congratulations! It’s boring out here. The stars don’t twinkle like the ones you showed me that day. Still, I guess I can kind of understand your enthusiasm for space. Sooo, watcha doing? Hope you’re having a waaay funner life than me… Well, anyways, we’ve still got a ways to go to get to point Gemini. Due to restrictions to data and whatnot, I can’t send very often or very much. Stingy captain. I kinda want to see you.

~~~

I smiled sadly, wrapping my scarf tighter around my neck against the chilly winter air. I raised my head towards the sky, letting the falling snow alight on my face and send little pinpricks of cold into my skin before melting away to nothing. Somewhere out there, you are leading half of humanity towards a brighter future. I walked Ephenius’ snowy streets, my footprints gradually fading away- erased, the marks of my passage vanishing. Today is the fifth of January of the year 2022, which puts the time of when she sent the message between the June and August of the year before, accounting for the weird time fluctuations between earth and wherever she is. I sighed. The time between receiving her messages will only grow longer and longer as the distance between us increases.

“Damnit!” I suddenly cursed aloud, earning a few startled glances from the people walking around me. I stopped walking. I was trapped. Trapped by my hopelessness and my loneliness. I can’t do anything. I can only wait. When will it be the next time I receive a message from you? A few months from now? And then a year? How long will it stretch, how long will the time be until the next time I can lay eyes upon your words, imagining the outlines of your hands- your fingers- as they type your message? I clenched my fists, as a sudden onslaught of powerlessness crushes through my heart. The snow continued to fall, white specks against the night sky, a cold mocking imitation of the stars above.

Sender: Adam

Subject: Life

Explore in peace. I am doing just fine. I’m more worried about you. Are you having a safe voyage? No alien civilization suddenly appearing and the such? No matter how much fun I’m having, it will pale in comparison to you- taking a roadtrip amongst the stars which you’ve found a new enthusiasm for- or so I’ve heard. I don’t know what you guys do up there for entertainment, but if you have spare time, just sit back and look at the space around you. You might feel better. I love you.

~~~

I locked my phone, glancing out at the vast expanse. Are we looking at the same stars? Are we connected through them? Strange. To me, only a few days have passed since the space expedition started, yet he has already experienced months. Is he feeling lonely? He must be. How can he not be after that long period of time- alone and without me- when my chest is already hurting this much after a few, short days?

It was the winter rotation, when I first met him . The Slyphs were blooming, their leaves waving slowly in the cold. Iridescent, colorful, they sway to an artificial wind- fake, yet also beautiful. It was cold. I struggled to keep up with my mother, her steps brisk and formal, not sparing a glance behind her. We passed a park, and I happened to glance over at the dais, the little stone platform in the middle of the meadow. And that’s how I met him- well, not ‘met’ as he didn’t see me. It doesn’t matter. Partly obscured by the trees, a lonely silhouette stood, illuminated by a beautiful sky- however artificial. He was facing towards me. Pale skin and long, black hair which partly covered his face and cast a shadow over his eyes making them appear a dark blue. I realized later that his eyes are actually a dazzling bright sapphire. He did not move and simply stared straight upwards. There was something about him- something familiar yet different. I continued to stare at him. Even when we walked past the park and he disappeared from my view, I couldn’t forget that image.

Sender: Eve

Subject: Remember that time…?

Just sit back and look at the stars?! You think I have the patience for that?! I’m already boooored out of my miiinnnnd!!!! But a funny thing happened today. You know that time where I accidentally threw you off the school roof? but you flipped around and did some ninja stuff and landed swiftly onto a small window ledge a few stories down? but that’s the girl’s second floor bathroom window? so you were blasted off and fell the rest of the way? Well, y’kno that guy Travis? A similar thing happened with his mecha...he almost got blasted into a nearby sun! Your love is very welcome.

~~~

I felt my face twitching. After I got out of the hospital, I had embarked on a hunt searching for Eve. It was near the end of the school year though when I got out, so after evading me for three days, she was able to escape with her parents on a trip to Ephenius. A few weeks later, she came back and my anger had faded like a drop of water in front of the sun. I sent a silent prayer to Travis. He probably won’t survive. I trembled a bit, remembering our first date.

I had went to buy some soda from a vending machine and when I came back, Eve was surrounded by a group of three idiots. Classic romance scene. I simply continued watching, knowing that Eve could handle it herself. It was then that she turned around and spotted me. In a sweet voice that sent chills down my spine she cried out, “I’m being bullied!”. She ran over and hid behind me in a cute fashion while peeking her head out watching the three guys. In keeping with the script, the three guys put on their thug faces and sauntered over, glaring at me while saying stuff like, “Screw off, pretty boy”, “I’ll smash that face in”, “You look so weak”, etc. I stayed silent. Then they started attacking me. I simply stood there, letting them vent their patheticness away. After a while, they were panting and wheezing. “Goddamn Awakened.” “Getting all the pretty girls.” “Not goddamn fair.” “He’s got nice abs.” I was about to leave when one of them pulled out a gun. Despite my tough body, I knew that bullets can still hurt me. I was still calm though, trusting Eve to simply stop the bullets in their tracks. I shouldn’t have trusted her. Three gunshots and I was on the ground with some new bruises. Eve was laughing her face off. How the hell does she find my suffering funny? I laid on the ground as Eve simply picked the three guys up with her powers and threw them into the river. I didn’t talk to her for the rest of the date. And the next day when I went to find her to break up with her, she left on vacation. A few weeks later, she came back and my anger had faded like a drop of water in front of the sun.

I frowned. Now that I think about it...stuff like this really happened way too often. I thought back on our times together: when she tripped me while we were running away from a bear in the forest resort, when she kicked me off the ledge while we were mountain climbing, when she replaced my parachute with a pack of confetti during the skydiving trip, when she used my tough body as a shield during the combat classes at college, when she used my tough body as a shield during missions against dangerous criminals… My face gradually paled. Travis is definitely dead.

I turned back to my homework, a study by Nier Kaos on the application of black hole technology. A serious mood permeated the room. I grit my teeth. I will study. I will learn. And I will create with my own hands a starship that will take me to you. Why? Why did I not join the military sector? Why? I shook my head. It doesn’t matter now. And like a man possessed, I continued to devour the study in front of me for every one of them- each letter, each word, each paragraph- will take me one step closer to the sun. The sky darkened and the first snow started falling. Another winter without you had arrived.

End of Sample

Title: When You See This

Genre: Romance, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Age Range: Young Adult

Word Count: May vary. Maybe around 50k words.

Name: Andy Yu

Good fit: Well, I'm not too sure. It depends on what you believe to be a good fit. Does this suit your ideals? 

The Hook/Synopsis: The setting is in the future where a space habitat called Ephenius has been built. During WW3, new radioactive weapons caused a new generation of Homo sapiens to emerge. The Awakened- humans with powers. The educational system is reworked to include combat classes which basically taught the new generation how to control their powers. After graduating from secondary schooling, students can choose to join the military sector or the academic sector. Adam and Eve are the main characters. They have very...unique...personalities and are very much in love with each other. Eve, being Eve, joined the military. Adam joined the academic circle. They believed they would be together forever. That wouldn't be a very good story now, would it? 

New technology that allowed for space travel was created and the military was tasked to use this technology to travel and scout out point Gemini, a solar system with a planet in the golden zone. You see, the current population of humanity is overtaxing the available resources. If no solution is given in the near future, humanity may starve to death. Eve was sent on the mission. And so they were separated by the vastness of space. The only thing that connects them together are the limited text messages they send to each other. Due to the time dilation of space and distance, the time between the messages received by Adam become longer and longer as Eve travels further from Adam. Adam ages. Eve doesn't. Adam races against time to develop a new starship using black hole technology so that he can be reunited with Eve. 

I haven't decided yet whether to crush these hopes or let the ship sail. I just want to make the readers cry. 

Target Audience: People looking for a good tearjerker. Romance fanatics. Sci-Fi fans. Everyone.

My bio: Graduating class of 2018 of Amity Regional High School. I do stuff and I write stuff though my laziness prohibits me from finishing any of my stories. Teehee?

Platform: Google Drive. I sometimes use royalroadl.

Education: I'm going to be a senior in the 17-18 school year. I'm Asian so obviously I've already taken AP Stats and a bunch of other AP courses. bleh

Experience: Pretty much none.

Personality/Writing style: Both pretty crappy. I question the meaning of my existence hourly so it sucks to be around me. The few friends I have insult me and destroy what's left of my self-esteem. My writing style is very amateurish as you probably already noticed.

Likes/hobbies: I like doing nothing. But this is kind of looked down upon. So I do some things. I like sleeping, eating, and dark humor. I also like reading. My hobbies are looking at memes, swimming, writing infrequently, and being yelled at by my tiger mom. 

Hometown: I live in Orange, CT.

Age: 16, turning 17 on 7/8/2017