This is truly one of the most famous moments in the Ramayan. I did not think I'd write long enough to write this. But I did. Here is this legendary chapter. Hopefully I did it justice. 

Astonished silence filled the beach as the monkeys and the bears watched Ram hold the bow up. The normally peaceful Ram, whom anger never touched. The normally graceful Ram, who felt regretful at killing anyone or anything. The normally careful Ram, now ready to dry up the very ocean, kill millions of fish, plants, creatures, so that he could cross to Lanka. Was it possible that this was the same Ram that they all knew? No one thought so.

The silence was painfully loud, the pleasant sloshing of the waves innocent and misplaced, the heavy breaths that Ram exhaled the only sound that rang in everyone's ears. "Five," he thundered. "Four." Angad and Sugriv exchanged a look. "Three." Neel bit his nails nervously. "Two." Jambavan only watched, folding his hands together and angling his head towards the ground, seemingly already mourning for the aquatic life. "One." Lakshman looked forward, crossing his arms.

But right as Ram pulled the arrow back, a wall rose from the ocean. The crystal clear cascading water allowed a glorious sight to be seen-fish and turtles and crabs and crustaceans, all swimming about in the large, stationary wave, as if nothing was happening. The wall of water did not recede like a normal wave would; instead, it stayed there as Ram looked up, pulling to arrow back from the bow and exhaling.

"Please don't dry up the ocean-" Lord Varun's voice, as he stood positioned, fully made of water, on top of his mini fountain, was soothing and flowing, just like the seas he guided. It also had a silky undertone to it; an uncomfortable one, that made one feel as if his mood could change within moments, within minutes, just like the choppiness of the waves in the ocean. "Please don't. There are thousands, maybe millions, of creatures here that depend upon the water to live. It would be a massacre."

Ram swallowed and stepped back, setting his bow and arrow aside, his gaze piercing into the eyes of Varun. But instead of again threatening the God, Ram kneeled down and joined his hands together. "Hello, Lord of the Sea. My name is Ram, Yuvraj of Kosala. I am stuck in a predicament. Ravan, Raja of Lanka, has abducted my wife and has taken her to his kingdom of Lanka. I seek a way to bring her back, and crossing this ocean is the only way that I have found. I seek a way."

Varun hummed. "Yes, I can sense that." He took in a deep breath and exhaled, and Ram just watched him. "I cannot divide the oceans, sadly." Ram looked down, exhaling. "However-" The entire army seemed to perk up, some even stood up to better hear what the God had to say to them. "-You have a monkey in your army, Nal-" A collective head turning was angled towards Nal, whom Neel nudged teasingly. "-who can make rocks float on the water."

Varun paused once more, and while that happened, the fish and turtles and creatures of all sorts drifted away from the fountain underneath him. "Remember one thing, Rajkumar Ram, Yuvraj of Ayodhya. Dharma always wins, eventually." Angad exhaled. "And no matter what hardships you go through, remember that it will win at some point." Lakshman swallowed. "And one more thing! Your name is a wonder. Varun is terrible compared to Ram. Not fair."

And with that and nothing more, Varun, God of the Seas, Oceans, and maybe even a couple rivers here and there (hey, he didn't discriminate!), disappeared back into the ocean, dissolving into the dark black waters of the Indian Ocean and leaving Lakshman with a bad taste in his mouth. But Lakshman just shook his head and perked his ears up to listen to the speech his bhaiyya was not very predictably about to give. He was not mistaken.

"Nal-come forward." Ram began gently, and Nal paced forward with a great big grin, tired of having Neel get all the attention for all his stories. "You'll be at the end of the chain. The other vanars will hand you the rocks and you can place them on the water. This way, we can build a bridge to Lanka." ram stared into the distance. "I don't know what he meant by my name being great though. Gods always speak so cryptically, but their every word is important, isn't that so Lakshman?" Lakshman nodded along, thinking that Ram wasn't so apart from this description of a so-called God.

"We need to collect stones, logs, wood, anything we can. Nal will put them on the water. We'll build a bridge to Lanka. Once we are there, we can decide what to do further. Maybe we'll even give Ravan one more chance. We should try to shed as little blood as possible." Ram ordered, and with a unified salute, the vanar sena began to do what they did best and all they seemed to be doing these days: search.

----O----

Hanuman was busy lifting up a huge boulder and bringing it to the ocean when he spotted Lakshman absentmindedly kicking a tree. He was about to turn away again, when something in his head ordered him to turn back around and approach the man, and so he did, setting the boulder down and walking towards Lakshman, who looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. "I should probably hurry up." he muttered to himself, toppling the tree with one single kick.

-----O----

Angad handed the largest boulder to Nal, who, with trembling hands, placed it on the very surface of the water. The rock sat there for a few seconds, and Ram breathed a sigh of relief, before it began to sink. Nal quickly reached down and lifted it up again, handing it back to Angad, who took it with a 'oof', before setting it down. Then Angad turned around. "Shri Ram? The stones stay there for a few moments before they sink. Now what do we do!"

Jambavan nodded. "Even if the stones did stay up there instead of fully sinking, under the weight of the entire monkey population, they would certainly sink. We would lose everyone! How come the stones don't float, Nal?" When Nal shrugged and began to test the water confusedly, Jambavan scratched the back of his head and looked up at Hanuman, who was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"You know, Lord Varun said that your name, it was divine, Prabhu." Ram tilted his head. "And you only later mentioned that everything Gods say are held to be true, and are very important. What if it has something to do with your name-Shri Ram? What if-" Hanuman grabbed a boulder and some chalk (which no one had any idea where he found), and inscribed something on it, before handing it to nal, who placed it on the surface of the ocean. It floated, and when Angad jumped on it, it didn't sink.

-----O----

(cue encouraging inspirational physics-defying bridge building music)

Hanuman inscribed the words "Jai Shri Ram" onto every single rock, handing it to Jambavan, who handed it to Angad, who handed it to Neel, who handed it to Nal. The line of stones, boulders, logs, anything they could find really, started to get longer and longer and longer as more monkeys began to help, bringing materials, helping Hanuman write, passing them down the vanar chain to where Nal made them float like magic. Ram watched this all with a smile, he himself sitting on the beach and watching, occasionally bringing a boulder or two. "Isn't it a marvel what someone can do when they put their minds to it, Laksh?"

Lakshman hummed as he set down a log, before sitting down. "Yes, it truly is." Angad shot them a grin and a wave, before having another boulder pushed into him by the annoyed Jambavan, rolling his eyes and nodding, taking it and handing it to the next monkey. Hanuman was still cross legged on the beach, hands on his knees, calmly writing down the names. All was working like clockwork when Nal whistled loudly.

"HALFWAY! WE'RE HALFWAY TO DEMONLAND!" he yelled, and a loud cheer went up from the monkeys, all of whom danced about. Nal and Neel waltzed on the bridge playfully as Angad sang and squeezed Jambavan so tightly in his arms that the poor black furred bear started to turn purple, but sadly for him, that was barely visible, because he had black fur. Ram grinned, standing up, and Lakshman even had it in him to smile.

-----O----

Nal whirled around with a boulder handed to him, only to find the shores of Lanka. He stopped, halting, his breaths uneasy. The monkeys behind him chattered, looking past each other to find the cause of the hold-up as Lakshman grabbed his bow. Ram, however, gestured for him to put it down, and pointed into the distance, where Nal held a boulder, right where the ocean ended and the sands of a different land began.

Everything was as silent as the night. The only audible things were Nal's heavy breathing and the heartbeat he was sure had to be the loudest thing in the world. With a deep breath, he set the stone down, where it floated nonchalantly on the water, and then another, which held the entire bridge steadfast. With that, Nal stood up, and stumbled back a little bit, only to be caught by Neel, who substituted for his speechless friend by shouting "THE BRIDGE IS DONE!"

Everything was mayhem, chaos, chaos, as Monkeys jumped up and down on the stone bridge whose strength they believed in more than their lives. Angad grasped Neel's hands and they both danced about as Jambavan shook another bear's shoulders before hugging him. Hanuman stood up and grinned proudly among the yells and the shouts and for the first time in hours, set down his chalk, which clattered on the sand, broken into two uneven halves.

The monkeys all ran off of the bridge, back to the motherland, where they crowded around Ram, who laughed, his entire face shining as it had been somber and dry for days on end. He put his arms up amidst the calls for a speech, and nodded. "We did it!" he laughed. "We've built a bridge, we've crossed the odds, we've done what no one could do till now! Right across that stone line is the city of Lanka! We'll be there in just a few hours, that city which seemed ever so unreachable before!"

Hanuman jumped up and down, raising his hand eagerly, and Ram pointed towards him not much unlike how a teacher or a loving mentor would. "Prabhu Shri Ram, you and Lakshman bhaiyya should lead the way to Lanka!" Vibhishan nodded his assent as well, hands folding together as he had watched the entire spectacle form the background almost sorrowfully. "Can I carry you Prabhu Shri Ram-oh please please please!" begged Hanuman, and When Ram just nodded, Hanuman danced around.

Angad nudged Lakshman, who, in his paranoia, drew his dagger with such speed that Angad could only just get away. "Jeez!" he cried as Lakshman's eyes widened, and he quickly placed the dagger back. "Calm down! You could've killed me with that thing you paranoid person! I was just wondering if I could carry you as well. It sounds like a lot of fun, and besides, it'd be nice to get a bird's eye view of the city, right?" Lakshman paused for a second, and Angad flicked his arm. "I'll take that as a yes!"

And so, the entire army walked towards the shores of the mainland, not looking back. Lakshman just exhaled as he reached down, taking a big handful of the sand and letting it fall through the gaps between the fingers of his hands. "This might be the last time I walk on you, motherland." he whispered thoughtfully, before shaking his head and snorting. "Yeah right! I'm not going to die, not on the world!"

And with that, the army began to walk down the wide, steady bridge. It did not shake under the weight of the thousands of monkeys as they ambled down the pathway. Hanuman took deep breaths, as Ram looked upon Lanka as a towering figure, one hand on his bow and one hand on his knee. Perhaps this was a symbol of a choice. Lanka had two choices. Make war with his army and him, or stay peaceful.

As they reached the final ends of the bridge, Ram jumped off Hanuman's shoulders, and Lakshman gratefully off of Angad's. One second passed, then another, before Ram finally lifted his lotus feet off the cold stone bearing his name, and onto the hostile land of Lanka.

A/N-I was writing this chapter for Three. Whole. Days. Can you believe it? I cannot! But this was so hard! I had to write like 2 chapters a day to catch up with all the writing time that I missed! Still though, I'm glad that I managed to eventually catch up!. Phew!

Lakshmila4ardi's cover. Hope you liked it! Hope that it deserves your book. 

I have just been on a graphics spree these days. This one's for Apukar. IDK, you just seem like a yellow mellow person. 

Does anyone else always want to change their theme these days? I literally changed it yesterday, and I want to again. By the way, how's my current theme? I've been eying the image for ages, and I finally used it.