The Last Pagan (Yuri Bernales Short Story)

The Last Pagan is a fantasy short story written by Yuri Berns. The short story chronicles a certain conversation of an unnamed Professor, who is a "Pagan".

Since its release, the short story has gained small critical acclaim locally.

The short story has been published on Berns's blog: http://rhapsodyinwhatnot.blogspot.com/.

Summary

The Professor--who is a so-called pagan--lives normally at a Greek village somewhere in the earth.

One day he receives a message from Hermes, and when he reads it, he is dumbfounded. The Lord of Olympus--Zeus himself--summons the Professor to meet with him!

However, throughout his meeting with Zeus, strange and enigmatic events happen. And those events could result to something even more cataclysmic: the destruction of the earth.

Themes

Death plays a significant part in the overall theme of the story. Some themes like insanity, [...], and choice-making are also considered as themes of the short story.

Characters

The Professor: The Protagonist of the short story.

Zeus: The perplexing 'Lord of Olympus'.

Hermes: The messenger of Zeus, as well as Zeus's son by a human.

The Administrator: The overlord of the village.

A young girl: The Administrator's daughter, killed brutally during the story.

A village doctor: who is "much-disliked"

John: "a would-be fisherman"

A receptionist: an employee of the Administrator.

Reception and Awards

The short story won first place for fiction at the University of the Philippines Literary Society's Creative Writing Competition.

However, it received mixed reviews. YananBlog gave the short story only 2.5 Stars (out of 5) although stating, "You would [most probably] be impressed with the vocabulary used here...The story is [thank heavens] one-of-a-kind. The characters and surroundings are [well] described. And the antagonist of the story...is thoroughly developed and created."

It was also rated: 13-Years-Old-and-Above due to its containing heinous violence and multiple usage of profane language.

External links

Rhapsody in Whatnot

YananBlog Review