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Chapter 71: The Fading Realm
Last Updated:
2024-02-14 20:40:31
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The Boyfriend App Chapter 72: Welcome to Biringan
“Biringan was unlike anything I could’ve ever dreamed of. It wasn’t anything like those mythical kingdoms that we see in the movies. Like Rivendell or…” “Lothlorien,” Kate suggested because she was a geek when it came to the elves of high fantasy. She even wrote one fanfiction on Wattypad starring Kili and Tauriel. “Yeah, that. Biringan was actually very similar to any modern city of the world and yet, when you looked closely, also different. There were many skyscrapers but most of the buildings had a vintage feel to them because they consisted of dome-tops, steeples, and small towers. Most of them were embellished in gold so the kingdom, as a whole, sort of hummed with its own inner light. And where gold didn’t cover it, you’d notice the encantos’ penchant for the color black.” “Black?” Kate echoed. “Yes, black buildings, black clothes. That’s why Biringan was also known as the Black City or the City of Black Spires.” Kate gulped. “But how did you get there?” she whispered. “Oh
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“A woman from the first group decided to rouse herself from her languid state and sashay into my and Mathias’s path. I felt timid before her icy glare because She. Was. Stunning. She looked ethereal and would’ve easily put the most beautiful celebrities in Manila to shame. I, on the other hand, was just plain me. And like at all the other times Mathias and I were together, I was wearing only house clothes that doubled as pajamas. I think I was wearing a tank top and jogging pants on that particular occasion. “Mathias reluctantly introduced the woman as Marikit, a dayang or princess. I thought she was as lovely as her name suggested. The dayang part actually made me debate with myself whether I should bow or curtsy but, seeing that she was staring daggers at me, I decided the best course of action was to stand toe to toe. “She and Mathias started conversing in their local tongue, which I had overheard only twice or thrice before and to me sounded both sibilant and enchanting, like a m
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“‘You can understand our language, can you not?’ Marikit leaned over me as I sat quietly in the anteroom. ‘You can hear what they are talking about in there.’ “I kept my head bowed and my hand clasped on my lap. I didn’t want any friction, nor did I want to get Mathias in any more trouble than he already was. “‘You should set him free, you know?’ Marikit didn’t let up and kept baiting me. ‘You do not belong here. You two do not belong with each other.’ “Despite my efforts, she got on my nerves. I snapped: “‘And who does he belong with? With you?’ “Marikit let her breath out sharply, in a half-sigh, half-hiss of exasperation. “‘That goes without saying!’ she answered. ‘Both of you must be with your own kind. And you, like water, must seek your own level.’ “‘You mean I shouldn’t be too ambitious and set my sights on a prince, right? Because I’m trash and that’s all I’ll ever be.” “‘Your words, not mine.’ “I was seething and rose from my seat to look her in the eye. “‘Well, let
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“The first attack came from the left. A sigbin leapt and Mathias met it with his blade in one fluid swing, inflicting a mortal wound in the creature’s side. The sigbin fell and managed to scamper away – eerily backwards – disappearing with a squeal and a canine whine into the bushes. It was a good start that should’ve sent fear into the hearts of the other sigbins, but they were undeterred and continued their rabid hunt. “Mathias’s weakness is that his weapon, the kampilan, was short. The remaining sigbins resolved to exploit this by attacking simultaneously from all directions. Another lunged low from the right and he drove it back with a side kick that connected with the creature’s skull. Like the first, it backed away with a squeal. “‘Stay close to me, Fina,’ he shouted as our enemies surrounded us. “I spied a largish branch on the ground and picked it up. Then I shrieked because another sigbin leapt from directly in front of Mathias and he fell on his back as the rows of crooked
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“As ineffective as the exorcism was, it managed to do one thing: it brought Mathias back to me. Much later after the exorcism, I would learn from the others how I went into a trance. Considering the intensity of punishment Aling Tikya was dishing out on me, I wasn’t surprised. “Mathias appeared to me in a kind of vision. We were standing on the seashore and the tide was low, the beach windswept. It was just like how we used to meet but this time it was in broad daylight and I wasn’t asleep. Or at least I didn’t think I had passed out. “‘I am sorry,’ Mathias told me. ‘I did not expect things would come to this.’ “‘It’s all right,’ I said and I wasn’t lying. Inside my head, I didn’t feel pain anymore, only an overflowing sense of calm and happiness at seeing him again. ‘I’m just glad to see you’re okay.’ “‘I am,’ he told me, smiling a thrift but genuine smile. He once told me faeries were incapable of crying, but his eyes turning from blue to gray jumped out at me from his deadpan fa
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Kate fell quiet. The intensity of emotions from her ma’s story was such that she needed a minute to process everything. And the fact that Kate personally knew the main character doubled the impact. Even while Mrs. Lapuz was narrating, Kate couldn’t help but draw parallelisms between her ma’s love story and Kate’s own experience with Ecto. In fact, at times during the narration, she had imagined Mathias with Ecto’s face and, based on a rare and faded school photograph, she and Mrs. Lapuz indeed bore a striking resemblance when they were the same age. “Wow,” was all Kate could say afterwards. Her expression felt weak and inadequate. “You should keep in mind though,” her ma said. “All those things happened about 25 years ago. I might have embellished parts of the story to make up for what I’ve forgotten.” “Did you try visiting the banyan tree again?” Kate asked. “Yes, a couple of times. I even thought of crawling between the roots and entering the hollow core. But just as the tree f
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Mrs. Lapuz lifts the lid of Kate’s blue laptop and boots it. The clock on the pre-lock screen reads 4:16 and the image is a litter of puppies in a basket. Mrs. Lapuz presses the Enter key and she’s taken to the lock screen and painfully reminded by yet another image of her daughter – this time goofing on the screen with eyes crossed, cheeks pinched and lips pouted like a Kissing Gourami’s – above her name and… a password prompt. Mrs. Lapuz hazards a guess and types "baligirls" in small letters and no spaces. The computer responds with: | That password is incorrect. Make sure you’re using the password for your MS account. You can always reset it at… | Mrs. Lapuz clicks OK and makes another try. This time she inputs a short one: "ecto". The computer says: | That password is incorrect. Make sure you’re using the password for your MS account. You can always reset it at… | Mrs. Lapuz takes her time with her third try. Like most people, she’s thinking third time is the charm but
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First, a new window appears and covers the entire screen. It’s displaying the logo of the company that made the game. Then, the splash screen is replaced by a loading screen consisting of a European knight standing on a cliff and gazing down at a burning vista. The knight’s wearing a cape and most of his back is turned to the screen so Mrs. Lapuz can’t see his face. Exciting, martial music floats from the low-volume speakers of the laptop. {Yep. This is fantasy all right,} Mrs. Lapuz thinks. Her mobile gaming interests have been limited to Candy Crush, Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies, and she doesn’t really prefer fantasy movies like Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and all the superhero ones from Marvel Studios. Kate’s the one who’s into those. DUNGEON RAYDENS. The name of the game appears grandly next to the tableau of the knight, right above the burning townscape. Mrs. Lapuz actually feels a few butterflies in her stomach. The view switches to a vintage
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For Ecto, New Year’s is more or less the same as Christmas. The same warm, gooey feeling. The same close-knit spirit. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has banned the manufacture and sale of firecrackers, the shooting of which has been a well-loved tradition for centuries and can be traced all the way back to the Spanish colonial era. The exact inventors and originators were the Chinese, who believed that noise would drive away bad luck and bad spirits. According to Mr. and Mrs. Lapuz, the Filipinos seem sadder now, having been robbed of the most thrilling and spectacular means of making noise. But according to health and safety records, hospital personnel can rest easier because the ERs wouldn’t be packed with casualties this time around. Just the New Year’s before last, it was like a war zone on the streets what of households competing for the biggest bang to welcome the new year. Many men got drunk out of their minds and then tried to light a firecracker with the non-PC name
The Boyfriend App Chapter 175: Ecto's Stocking
After Mass, Kate and Nate buy rice cakes at the town square. One is the awesomely purple puto bumbong and another the yellow bibingka. They also buy roasted chestnuts and bring all the treats home to Mr. and Mrs. Lapuz. On one trip to a very crowded shopping mall, Ecto sees a Santa Claus impersonator. Curiously, the Santa is Caucasian and not brown-skinned like most of the Filipinos. Of course Ecto has already figured out by himself that Santa isn’t real. To his surprise, after they get back home, Kate insists on teaching him the hooman custom of hanging a stocking. On the desktop of her computer, Kate shows him a folder that she has named “Ecto’s Stocking”. She then goes through all the trouble of changing her wallpaper to a fireplace and dragging the folder onto the 2D mantelpiece. “What for?” he asks her through her smartphone’s loudspeaker. Her smartphone is open and showing the My Dream Boyfriend app, right into the inside of Ecto’s bedroom. Ecto’s wearing a knit sweater
The Boyfriend App Chapter 174: The Holidays
With a little help from Terra, Kate downloads the My Dream Boyfriend App again with some customizations. Because Ecto isn’t bound by any one platform anymore, he’s capable of some manner of fission, where he splits and replicates himself while also dividing his consciousness among all his manifestations. It’s like Doctor Strange’s clones when they were fighting Thanos, but in Ecto’s case, each and every duplicate is much more than an illusion and is a sentient and perfect version of himself. This allows him to be both in Nate’s microchip implant while back in his virtual bedroom inside the My Dream Boyfriend app on Kate’s smartphone. At any time, he can also perform fusion and re-absorb his manifestations. Terra removed the boyfriend creation window because of course Kate doesn’t need it anymore. Ecto wanted his virtual bedroom exactly as it was. He could easily “slide” into his other cribs anyway, like the old orange, pink and red Provençal one on Dungeon Raydens which he was able
The Boyfriend App Chapter 173: The Truth
It’s already 6 pm when Nate finishes his social host obligations and comes looking for Kate. He doesn’t need to look hard though because earlier, Kate sent him a text saying she’s waiting for him in the Council office. Nate has a spring in his step and is smiling ear to ear. The scratches on his face are still stinging but, before the closing ceremony, Nurse Judy cleaned and applied Band-Aid on them. Nate can’t hide his excitement in seeing his GF again after they’ve taken care of all their responsibilities. {That kiss on the track was supernova-hot. I hope we make out too.} When he finds the office door locked, oddly enough, he knocks and calls out uncertainly: “Kate?” He hears her move inside the room and then the door swings open. The sight of her face wipes his smile off. She’s been crying in the dim. She has the look of someone who has just had herself a good cry. Her eyes look cleansed and exposed, indeed like pure windows into her soul. Her lips are tightly set in a line, as
The Boyfriend App Chapter 172: The Anagram
Kate is alone in the Student Council office tidying up. Nate’s off wrapping things up with his manager and the film crew and saying goodbye to everybody, including his bandmates. The trophy that STEM 12 won is now in the 12-Everest homeroom, because the bulk of tournament champions is there. Kate’s classmates are all posing with it and gushing at how shiny it is. This year’s Intrams was perfect. Kate couldn’t ask for anything more. She has once again been reminded of the importance of having balance in life; of, as cheesy as it sounds, having both a sound mind and a sound body. It felt good to do something physical, to be away from the rigors of school work and the false urgency of the Internet. But the heart of the matter is, she’s blissfully content because she has a boyfriend and she didn’t make a mistake in choosing him. In fact, she made a brilliant choice. An undertow to her joy is a silent prayer that she has finally broken the curse that she felt had hung over her ever since
The Boyfriend App Chapter 171: The Cheater
“OMG!” Mr. Romero says the word in everyone’s mind as they watch the pitiful scene. “Policarpio’s crawling to the baton exchange. Quick! Somebody help him! Help him!” Reggie is the first to break the spell of paralysis. He leaps over the rail and onto the track. He and Jared manage to run towards him before the alert CAT volunteers practice crowd control and stop others from joining. Reggie reaches Nate’s side. “No!” Nate screams vehemently. “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I have to do this by myself.” “But hyung,” Jared says, having stopped next to Reggie, “you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to prove anything.” “Yes… I… do,” Nate grunts as he crawls forward foot by precious foot. “Let us help you,” Reggie pleads. “You don’t have to do this alone.” “Don’t come closer!” Nate barks, spittle flying between his gritted teeth. In what feels like eternity, he reaches the changeover zone and Kate’s crouched form. Her eyes are glassy and full of pity for him. He hates that loo
The Boyfriend App Chapter 170: The Race
By Friday morning, STEM 12 has won a total of 7 champion ribbons and several ones as runner-up. This makes them a leading candidate for overall champion. As Kate has anticipated, the non-sports events buoyed them. Apart from Francine and her escort winning Mr. and Mrs. Intrams, Grace and her benchwarmers won the bench cheer. It didn’t hurt either that the Bali Girls minus setter Lor were at the top of their game. And Nate, to everyone’s astonishment, is actually a Filipino Usain Bolt in the making. {Your BF’s Superman,} Nate’s words have been echoing inside Kate’s head since Wednesday, along with the news reporter’s: {Idol, social catalyst and Internet detective. Is there anything that Cyber can’t do?} But STEM 12 didn’t exactly win all their wins. Just like in last year’s Intrams, several games have been forfeited. An opposing team either failed to meet the minimum number of players required to start the game or failed to appear at the venue within the 15-minute grace period. On CIT
The Boyfriend App Chapter 169: Music Madness
The crowd of hysterical girls in front, held back only by a cordon of CAT cadets from junior high, are screaming the names of DMG members: “Cyber! Reggie! Jared! Sonic! Neo!” Seemingly from out of nowhere, they’ve whipped out banners and signs. Instead of the usual glow-in-the-dark Korean lettering for an evening K-pop concert, there’s a slew of English ones interspersed with the name of a particular artist or of the whole band. | IT’S MY BIRTHDAY CYBER, YOU ARE MY PRESENT DUMP KATE TAKE ME I WOULD SELL MY SIBLINGS FOR YOU I LOVE YOU MORE THAN FREE WIFI DON’T STOP INSPIRING ME! CAN I BE YOUR HAIRDRESSER? ALL I WANT FOR X-MAS IS A PIC WITH JARED DMG We have 5 fingers enough for 5 wedding rings SPIT ON ME CYBER | An English-speaking Filipino director is riding a crane and shooting high up in the aisle of the audience seats. His staff is scattered on the edges and near the stage, operating or holding up every manner of equipment. DMG plays their covers of the most popular s
The Boyfriend App Chapter 168: Within the Walls
On Tuesday, they have the same brain-hurting and nose-bleeding calculations in Physics and Chemistry. The only thing different is DMG’s closed-door rehearsal at the chapel-slash-auditorium 500 meters east. Nate has been exempted by Principal Aguilar personally from any school work or quiz. The whole campus is abuzz and on edge at every sighting of truck and van with tinted windows down Campus Drive and onwards to the auditorium. Kate has also prepared paper lots in an empty pencil case for the Secret Santa next month. She lets every Everester pick their recipient, including her own name. Kate has set the budget at “No Fixed Price” because she knows not all students are financially comfortable. When only two pieces of folded paper remain (one for Nate and one for her), she picks her recipient and is both excited and nervous to see that it’s Grace. She keeps the last piece of paper, of course unopened, for Nate. {Huh,} she thinks to herself afterwards. {What gift can I give somebod
