God School

by Scott Kinkade

  OK. Energy. Ball. Send it to my legs. He visualized the orange sphere stretching out and heading south to his groin. Once there, it split in half and headed to both his legs. Once both halves arrived at their destination, they spread out to evenly those limbs.

  Of course, he didn’t know if this was actually happening. For all he knew, it was all in his mind, and the energy hadn’t moved at all.

  “Is it done?” Atlas asked.

  “I’m…not sure.”

  He grinned. “Try taking a step.”

  “OK…” Ev took extended his leg…and went flying. He found himself hurtling across the gymnasium. He put his hands up to guard his face and he collided with the far wall.

  Gravity then took back control, and he fell to the floor. As the intense pain caught up with him, he uttered a string of expletives that would make even the vilest god blush.

  Atlas blinked over to him. “Damn! That was a hell of a crash, Bannen.”

  Holding up his shattered arms, Ev said, “I think they’re broken!”

  To his surprise, Atlas laughed. Dammit, it wasn’t funny. He might have to have surgery; he’d probably miss a lot of class; he’d be dependent on others just to eat; and the pain, oh, Bethos, the pain!

  But Atlas said, “No problem. Just send your energy into your arms to heal them.”

  “I…” Could it really be that simple? It was certainly worth a shot at least.

  So, despite the torment he was feeling, he closed his eyes and mentally reversed what he had just done, this time redirecting the energy back to his arms. He imagined the bones magically mending, as if he were watching a movie backwards.

  Suddenly, all the pain was gone. He moved his arms without any difficulty. If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn they had never been broken. “That’s…” He searched his brain for the right word, failed, and just said, “Amazing!”

  Atlas nodded approvingly. “You’re a quick learner, Bannen.”

  “So I’ve been told. Lucky for me, that’s for sure.”

  The god laughed again. “Yes, it is. You can now direct the energy to various parts of your body. Are you ready to try the dash again?”

  Ev would have been lying if he said he was looking forward to rocketing across the court again, but he knew how important it was for him to master his new powers. Besides—he could just heal himself again if anything bad happened. “I’m up for another try.”

  So, once again, he focused his energy back into his legs. Then, he made sure to map out the path which he would travel. A straight line down the court. Once that was done, he cautiously extended his leg.

  For the second time that day, he rocketed across the gymnasium. However, this time he was in more control. He didn’t travel headfirst into the far wall. He still ran into it, but he was able to slow down considerably beforehand. Thus he escaped with only a couple bruises this time.

  “Much better,” Atlas said. “You’re quickly catching up with the others in your class.”

  It felt good to know he was making great progress on this. “Thanks. I still don’t quite have the hang of stopping just yet.”

  “Keep going and you’ll soon get it. I’d bet anything on that.”

  And he did. For the next hour, he practiced the God Dash, stopping periodically to rest. By the end of the session he had, for the most part, mastered it. But Atlas told him that was only the first of the divine powers he had to learn. He would be learning the others pretty soon.

  He returned to the dorm exhausted.

  * * *

  “I’m still not convinced,” Bethos said. He and the other faculty members were gathered in the conference room later that day to discuss the upcoming field trip.

  “It’ll be good for him,” Brandon said.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Mardley argued.

  “We can’t keep him here against his will,” Freya said. “That would make us no better than Zero Grade.”

  The question was whether or not Ev Bannen would be allowed to go on the field trip to Stiftung.

  Bethos weighed his options. “He’s safe here. Once he leaves, he will be vulnerable to attack. We can’t spare every faculty member to guard him during the trip.”

  “Freya and I can handle it,” Brandon said.

  Bethos turned to her. “Do you agree with him?”

  She nodded. “I have every confidence we’ll be able to safeguard young Ev Bannen during the trip. As I said, we can’t keep him here as our prisoner.

  “But on the other hand, we can’t force him to go. At the very least, it should be his decision to make.”

  Mardley, however, wasn’t convinced. “If Zero Grade gets their hands on him, who knows what they’ll do.”

  Atlas weighed in. “The kid’ll be ready to defend himself. Mark my words.”

  Bethos mulled it over for a moment. Then, “We will let him decide for himself whether or not he feels he’s ready to go.”

  Freya appeared satisfied by this. “Thank you, sir.”

  * * *

  The next day, Ev returned to the gym for more training. In addition to Atlas, Freya was also there. “Ev, you have a decision to make,” she said.

  “About what?”

  Atlas said, “About whether you want to go on the field trip.”

  “Huh? I thought it was mandatory.”

  “It’s mandatory for almost everyone,” Freya explained. “But as Zero Grade has taken a special interest in you, some of the faculty here feel it’s too dangerous to let you leave. They would prefer you remain here—for your own good.”

  “I told them you’d be ready to handle whatever gets thrown at you,” Atlas said.

  Ev thought about it. “I have gotten a lot stronger since I arrived here. Do you really think it’ll be OK if I go?”

  “Brandon and I convinced the president we can safeguard you. Ultimately, though, it’s your decision.”

  Ev said, “Well…it’ll be all right. Probably. Sure—I’ll go.”

  Smiling, Freya said, “Good. I’ll go tell the president. In the meantime, please continue your training.”

  “Will do.”

  After she left, Atlas said, “You made the right call, Bannen. I’d be ashamed if any of us hid from Zero Grade like cowards.”

  Ev shrugged. “It’s not that I feel particularly brave. It’s more like I have confidence in Freya and Brandon’s ability to look out for me.”

  Atlas laughed. “At least you’re honest.

  “Now, then. You ready for today’s training?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. Today we’re going to focus on building up your god-energy. Follow me.”

  He led Ev to an adjoining room filled with exercise equipment. Ev said, “So I’m just going to work out like a normal person?”

  “No. Not like a normal person,” Atlas said. “See, each of these machines was designed for a god in training. For starters, see this treadmill? It runs at a hundred miles an hour.”

  Ev had never heard of such a ridiculous thing. “Damn! Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely,” the god replied. To demonstrate the truth of his claim, he turned on the machine. Ev was astonished as it went around and around at a blistering speed. He then motioned for Ev to get on it.

  “I’m scared.”

  But Atlas said, “Now is the moment where honesty stops being appealing. Get on the treadmill.”

  Reluctantly, Ev put one foot on the tread—and it instantly went rocketing behind him. Almost faster than his brain could register, he lurched forward onto the machine. His body hit the tread, and he was immediately launched into the nearby wall.

  As before when he hit the wall of the hezball court yesterday, he let loose with a string of curses before using his god-energy to heal himself.

  Atlas released his most boisterous laugh yet. “I guess I should start you off on the lower setting and have you work your way up.”

  Ev got to his feet and stared at him. “You’re a sick bastard, you know that?
”

  “And the honesty becomes appealing again!”

  Ev got back on the treadmill, this time with the speed lowered to a much more manageable setting. He ran on it for a while, with Atlas gradually increasing the speed to superhuman levels. Ev fell off several more times, but he eventually got the hang of it. The trick was in adjusting the energy that went to his legs and keeping it there. He had to keep the flow going at a constant rate. His feet became a blur as he slowly got the hang of running at godly levels. It was exciting to realize he was doing something most humans could only dream of.

  After a half hour break, Atlas took him to another piece of exercise equipment. This one was a weight lifting machine with the bar above your head that you pull down on to lift the weights situated behind you. Atlas explained that these bars were made of a super-dense metal, and each one weighed hundreds of pounds. “The key to lifting these is to send a certain amount of energy to your arms. I’ll start you on the lowest setting: two hundred pounds.”

  Ev sent the energy from his legs into his arms. He then pulled on the bar. It wouldn’t budge. I guess I’ll need to send more energy. He focused, trying to coax more of the orange glow into his arms. He then tried the bar again.

  This time, it came down a little, but it took great effort for Ev to even make that much progress. “Dammit,” he wheezed.

  Atlas threw out some words of encouragement. “You’ll get it. Your body’s just not used to maintaining this level of energy yet.”

  By the end of the day Ev was able to completely pull down the bar at two hundred pounds. His arms felt like they had been trampled by a gerudian elephant. Nevertheless, he had achieved something he never thought in his wildest dreams he would ever achieve.

  “You did good, Bannen. Keep it up, and you’ll be a powerhouse in no time,” Atlas said.

  When he got back to the dorm, Jaysin was there to greet him. “How’d it go, mate?”

  “I’ve never been so sore or exhausted in my life,” Ev said. “But I feel great.”

  His roommate laughed. “Great enough to take on a horde of refghasts?”

  “Don’t jinx me. Right now I don’t think I could even take a puppy. But let me rest for a while, and then we’ll see.”

  “Will do, mate. I’d say you earned it.”

  Ev collapsed into his bed and immediately fell asleep.

  Chapter VIII

  The next day, Ev was feeling much better. More than that, he was in the best shape of his life—better than most humans, in fact. The faculty even allowed him to attend physical training class with the other students. He was, he decided, definitely getting into the groove of things here at Divine Protector Academy.

  However, he was soon taken by surprise once again. Maya intercepted him as he walked down the hallway on his way to the cafeteria. “Hey, Ev.”

  “Hiya, Maya,” he said, parroting Jaysin’s line his friend had used the first time he had met her. He instantly felt stupid for doing so. “I mean…hi.”

  “Are you going to get lunch?”

  “Yeah.”

  She said, “Would you like to come with me to the school’s pizzeria?”

  Seriously? Was she asking him on a date? Probably not, he decided. But maybe she was attempting to get to know him in preparation for a date. “Sure. I don’t think I’ve been there yet.” In truth, he didn’t even know the school had a pizzeria.” Oh, well; he was still learning.

  She smiled at him. “Good. Follow me. I’ll show you where it is.”

  * * *

  The pizzeria—Holy Pizza—was decorated with famous paintings of religious figures doctored to depict them holding or otherwise eating pizza. Ev and Maya ordered a pepperoni deep dish for two and sat down at a booth. The aroma in the air was heavenly. Ev couldn’t wait to eat.

  “So how are you liking the Academy so far?” she asked, batting her long lashes out of her eyes.

  “It’s great. I mean, the people are nice. Except for maybe Atlas,” he laughed.

  “Yeah, he can be a real pain. But he got each and every one of us into godly shape. It sounds weird for a girl to say this, but I can bench-press over two hundred pounds now.”

  “That’s about where I’m at,” he admitted.

  Maya said, “The good thing about our physical training is that it’s not dependent on our physical strength. Men and women have about equal levels of god-energy, so each of us has the same potential. We’re true equals.”

  Ev nodded approvingly. “You know, you seem more easygoing now than when I first met you.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I don’t do well around new people, because of…well…the things that happened in my past.”

  Ev wasn’t about to pry, so he just sort of cryptically said, “Oh, yeah. Th-the thing. In Stiftung,” as if he already knew the details and she didn’t need to tell him.

  Nevertheless, she replied, “I think I owe you an explanation. You see, all the things I said about growing up in the Murnau Islands, about women not being seen as people. It’s even worse than that. Women aren’t even considered alive, so the men of the Murnau Islands don’t make even the slightest effort to take care of us if something happens. Like with me. My parents died in a car crash early on, so I was left on my own. I grew up on the streets of Stiftung, forced to steal food to survive. If Professor Freya hadn’t found me, I’d probably still be there.”

  Ev certainly hadn’t been expecting her to open up to him like that. He was stunned for a moment. “Bethos be damned,” he said, taking care that only she heard him. Yes, he had just taken the Lord’s name in vain, but he decided a powerful story deserved a powerful reaction.

  “For some reason, I feel like I can talk to you, that maybe you’ve been through something similar.”

  Was she calling him out on his own painful past? If so, he felt obligated to tell her. One horrible story deserved another. “My father used to beat me and my mother.”

  Her eyes went wide, but he sensed she wasn’t surprised. “Really? I-I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  He knew he should have left it at that, but he didn’t. He, too, felt the need to share. “He beat us every day. I was so sure he was going to kill us eventually.”

  “Didn’t you tell the police?”

  “He said if I did, he’d come up with the most painful death for us he could think of. So I kept my mouth shut.”

  She ventured to say, “Do…do you mind if I ask…whatever happened to him?”

  “He’s dead,” Ev said. He decided that was where he would end the sharing. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

  A tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Ev. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “No, it’s fine,” he said. “It’s good that we have someone to talk to about these things.”

  “Do you ever wonder,” she asked, “why these things are allowed to happen in this world?”

  He replied, “I used to wonder about it all the time. Only it wasn’t exactly wondering. It was more like impotent rage directed at a god that either didn’t exist or didn’t care. Now I find out that gods are very real, but not as all-knowing as I thought. Professor Freya says people just slip through the cracks.”

  Maya nodded. “Especially in the Murnau Islands. There aren’t nearly enough gods to help all the women that suffer there.”

  “But we can change that. I mean, we’ll be able to change it,” he said.

  Nevertheless, she pointed out, “We can’t save everyone. Even if we spent all day answering prayers, there aren’t nearly enough of us to help everyone.”

  “Maybe,” Ev said. “But we can make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s only one person at a time.”

  “Sounds like you have the right attitude for a god. Professor Freya says I have the right attitude to become a goddess of love, that I empathize with people because of what I’ve gone through.”

  He said, “Bad experiences do make you more likely to sympathize with those who have had the same or si
milar experiences.”

  “Not always,” she said. “Some people have bad experiences and want to others to experience the same suffering they went though. Misery loves company.”

  “That’s true. I don’t really know what causes one person to react one way to tragedy, and another person to react the opposite way.”

  She then put forward a strange question. “What if someone wants to react one way, but they’re forced to react the opposite way?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…what if someone wants to do the right thing, but they’re powerless to do so. For example, many people in the Murnau Islands want to help the women there, but it’s against the law. What should they do?”

  “It’s against the law to help women in the Murnau Islands?”

  “Yes. Specifically, it’s illegal to advocate for women’s rights.”

  That was definitely something to keep in mind for future reference. “Well…as gods…won’t we be above the law?”

  “Not exactly. We’re forbidden from causing excessive influence in mortal affairs.”

  Ev said, “Define ‘excessive influence’.”

  Maya cocked her head as she tried to come up with an answer. “It’s vague. We can’t directly interfere with government affairs, but we can move individual humans to positive change.”

  Ev smiled. “So I can’t tell one of those Stiftung bastards to kill himself?”

  She returned the smile. “‘fraid not.”

  The pizza arrived. They began eating. Ev said, “You can’t possibly be looking forward to going back there.”

  “No, I can’t. But it’ll be all right. I’m not officially listed as anyone’s property anymore, so no one can claim me. And if worse comes to worse, I can always fight my way out of any trouble I get into.”

  “Are you planning to get into trouble?”

  “Not really. But they’d better not even think of tempting me. Because I’m already tempted.”

  Despite the serious nature of the conversation, he laughed. “I gotta say, you’re surprisingly easygoing, Maya Brünhart.”