God School

by Scott Kinkade

  Ev couldn’t understand it. “Why does the Academy let him stay?

  Atlas chimed in. “Anders is a good kid. He just needs to get his anger in check.”

  Nevertheless, the idea of Daryn Anders becoming a god just didn’t sit well with Ev. What if he got mad at someone praying to him for help like he did just now? It was a scary thought.

  The rest of the sparring sessions went by uneventfully. Both Jaysin and Maya put in good showings, and Ev cheered for both of them (especially Maya). He felt a real connection with her, and hoped for another date in the future.

  * * *

  Next up was Health. It took place in a science classroom where the students sat at tables instead of desks and there were lab stations evenly distributed throughout.

  The professor was Dian Cecht, a god of healing from the previous universe and one of the Academy’s doctors. He had copper hair which was long and flowing. He appeared wise yet rugged. “All right, class. Today we’re going to continue our healing lesson. You’ll need to know this for when you have to heal someone who is unable to heal themselves. Each of you will have to repair my broken arm.” To Ev’s surprise, he took hold of his left arm and applied pressure. Almost instantly there was a crack and Ev cringed. He had just watched a man—or god—shatter his own arm without a second thought. And if Ev had understood what he said, he would be doing that repeatedly throughout the class.

  Dian Cecht continued. “Oh, that’s right; we have a new student today. Ev Bannen?”

  Ev raised his hand. “Here.”

  “Did you read up on healing procedure?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And do you understand it?”

  Ev hesitated a moment. “I’m still a little fuzzy on the details.”

  “All right,” the professor said. “It’s not too complicated. You have to externalize your god-energy and make it enter the patient’s body. While you’re doing that, concentrate on what exactly you want that energy to be doing. For minor injuries, you simply will the energy to accelerate the patient’s natural healing ability. For more serious injuries, however, you’ll need a thorough knowledge of human anatomy. We may be gods, but we still have all the same parts as mortals.

  “Now, then. Why don’t you go first, Bannen. Come on up here and heal my arm?”

  Reluctantly, Ev approached the front of the class where Dian Cecht stood. The professor’s broken arm hung limply at his side, and he looked expectantly at Ev, waiting for him to fix it.

  Ev put his hands mere inches from Dian Cecht’s arm. He visualized his energy gathering in said hands and then extending outward, leaving them yet still remaining connected to them. The energy enveloped his teacher’s arm, and Ev began concentrating on what he wanted it to do next. He pictured Cecht’s bones putting themselves back together.

  However, things abruptly went awry. Cecht’s bones shot out of his arm. They protruded from it, creating a ghastly sight. Blood dripped all over the place.

  Despite this, Cecht didn’t seem upset at all. He was the very picture of calmness. “Do you know what you did wrong, Ev?”

  He was afraid to answer. “I…uh…shot your arm to hell.”

  The serenity remained. “That you did. You see, you obviously pictured my bones reattaching. Your method was too specific. You didn’t know the extent of the damage. Therefore, you should have focused on stimulating my arm to heal itself the way it knows how. A more generalized approach to healing is required here. Try it again.”

  That sounded like a very bad idea. “But…what if I make it even worse?”

  Cecht displayed his shattered and punctured arm. “I don’t think you can.”

  So Ev gave it another try. This time, instead of trying to heal the professor manually, he just directed the arm figure it out itself. After a few moments, the bones rectracted back inside and the wounds closed up. Cecht moved it around, affirming that it had indeed been healed. “Very good, Ev. Now, next up is…”

  Ev returned to his seat and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he had a teacher with an incredible tolerance to pain and a willingness to give him a second chance.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Ev and Jaysin were sitting on the couch in the dorm watching TV. There was a knock at the door. Ev went to go answer it. It was Daryn.

  “Whoah!” Ev put up his arms in an amateur defensive stance.

  In response, Daryin put up his arms in a non-hostile gesture. “Easy.” It was the first word Ev could recall hearing from him. “I’m not here to fight.”

  Jaysin moved in behind Ev to back him up. “You’d better not be, mate. I won’t let you get sick on my friend like you did earlier.”

  Daryn said, “I came to apologize.”

  “So apologize,” Ev said.

  “I’m sorry. Look, that guy you saw today? That’s not me. That’s not who I want to be.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” Ev said skeptically.

  “I mean it. I hate the person I become, but I can’t control myself when I get like that.”

  Ev raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “What exactly is wrong with you?”

  “Do you know what Ashbury’s Syndrome is?”

  “It’s a developmental disorder, isn’t it?” Ev said.

  Daryn nodded. For the first time, Ev noticed a nervous tic with him. He kept slightly cocking his head to the right. “It was first discovered by a doctor named Ashbury. He studied children with the disorder. It’s a genetic condition. I got it from my father.”

  “But what exactly does it do to you?” Jaysin asked.

  “It makes me socially awkward. I don’t really know what to do in most social situations. I try to avoid them. Being here right now is very difficult for me.” He kept looking away, as if he didn’t want to make eye contact with them.

  “And it makes you angry,” Ev said, wanting to get the conversation back on track.

  Daryn nodded, his eyes darting around. “Yes. It’s because of a chemical imbalance or something in my brain. It sends me to places I don’t want to go. The reason I came to Divine Protector Academy was to rid myself of this curse. If I become a god, I should be able to cure my Ashbury’s Syndrome.

  “But I heard Ashees are smarter than most people. You’re the top student in our class, for crying out loud,” Jaysin reminded him.

  “So?” Daryn said. “I’d trade that for a normal life in a second.” He snapped his fingers on the last word.

  Jaysin looked at him like he was crazy. “You want to dumb yourself down?”

  “You don’t understand what it’s like living with my condition. Every day is an emotional roller coaster. It’s all I can do to stay in control, to not go ape on people.”

  Ev heard enough. “I’ve made up my mind about you, Daryn.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes. You’re all right. I forgive you for what you did today.”

  “Are you sure?” Daryn said. “After all, I could easily end up doing it again in the future.”

  “Uh-huh. Even if you do, I can use my god-energy to heal up like that.” Ev mimicked Daryn’s finger snap.

  Daryn stared at him for a moment, as if not quite sure what to say. “Well…thanks. It means a lot to me that you’re willing to put this behind us.”

  “You’re…um…welcome,” Ev said. Things got a bit awkward here.

  And with that, Daryn Anders left. Jaysin asked Ev, “You sure it’s a good idea letting him off the hook like that?”

  “He made the effort to make things right,” Ev said. “That’s good enough for me.”

  Jaysin wasn’t fully convinced. “I hope this doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.”

  The very thought put a smile on Ev’s face. “Like I said, if it does, I can heal my ass in no time.”

  Chapter X

  The next day, the two dozen members of their class lined up in the hangar. The endless expanse of the sea was visible beyond the gaping maw at the end of the hangar. They could all hear the crash of waves
on the rocks below.

  Freya took a head count and then said to Brandon, “Everyone’s here.”

  “Good. Everyone, stand back.”

  All the equipment and sleighs were pushed back against the walls, creating a massive space down the middle of the hangar. Brandon and Freya stood side-by-side and faced that space. They held out their hands which began to glow, and began grunting in exertion. Before the class’s eyes, a structure began to form out of thin air within the empty space. It wasn’t much at first, but as more and more of it began to materialize, they slowly realized what it was: An airplane. It wasn’t a simple passenger plane, either; it was a full commercial jet.

  After about ten minutes, the plane was fully formed. The two gods dropped to their knees, exhausted and panting. The students ran over to them. “That was amazing!” Ev said.

  “Th…thanks,” Brandon said, nearly out of breath.

  “Was that matter transmutation?” Jaysin asked.

  Freya said, “Yes. We hardened the air molecules and changed them into metal, plastic, jet fuel and other materials needed for a fully functional airplane.”

  “That’s a Level Three skill,” Maya said, impressed. Level One was energy distribution which Ev had just learned. Level Two was flight. These were basic skills an aspiring god mastered first before moving on to the more difficult ones.

  “It’s not too complicated, just physically taxing,” Freya said.

  “Is there a time limit on this? It’s not going to disappear over the ocean, is it”? Ev said. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous.

  Brandon laughed. “No, there’s no time limit, exactly. But we will have to change the plane back into air molecules after we’re finished with it to avoid polluting the environment with an abandoned plane.”

  “Why not just keep it?” Ev said.

  Freya explained, “It takes up too much space. The hangar needs room to keep the sleighs and equipment.”

  They soon boarded the plane, which bore the name of the Academy on the side. According to Brandon and Freya, the Academy was officially registered as an institution in Morovia. They had filed an official flight plan with the Die Republik Murnau Luftfahrtbehörde [The Republic of Murnau Aviation Authority]. The plane would make an authorized landing at Stiftung International Airport.

  On board, Ev sat next to Jaysin in a window seat. Maya sat behind them with her friend CiCi Decker. CiCi had dyed her hair pink and wore a blue shirt with beige khaki shorts. “This is going to be so much fun!” she said, her enthusiasm never wavering. Ev believed her personality to have been heavily inspired by Morovian animation with its bright colors and large-eyed characters.

  Brandon and Freya appeared at the end of the aisle near the exits. “Is everyone all here?” Brandon asked to no one in particular.

  Freya looked over her list. “I checked everyone’s names. They’re all here.”

  “All right!” he said, cranking up his own enthusiasm for this trip. “Let’s take off!”

  One of the students asked, “Shouldn’t you go over the safety procedures in case of an emergency?”

  Brandon shook his head in an exaggerated, comical display of impatience. “Come on, people! You’re on your way to becoming gods. You should be able to handle a simple thing like a catastrophic engine failure. Besides, you’ve got us,” he said, indicating himself and Freya. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Ev certainly hoped that was the case. If Zero Grade decided to attack them on the trip, he didn’t know what would happen. He had made the decision to come along. He crossed his fingers that it wasn’t a mistake.

  Once they were buckled in, the plane exploded out of the hangar. To Ev’s amazement, it took to the skies almost immediately. It was obviously not a normal airplane which required a full runway to take off.

  * * *

  Good, Belial said upon learning the plane had taken off. You remember the plan, right?

  He could feel his slave nodding psychically. I’m to lure the group into an ambush. You will arrive to take their blood once the slaughter is complete.

  That’s right. Just remember not to yur this up. You know damn well what will happen to you if this goes south.

  I won’t fail you, master. It always felt good whenever he was called by his proper title. That was the kind of respect he just couldn’t get with the other members of Zero Grade. Perhaps once the mission was a success, they would each get what they deserve. Belial would get respect and the slave would get…well, maybe not so much respect as the privilege of days without sound thrashings. That was always something to look forward to.

  * * *

  “Jaysin? You there, man?” Ev said.

  Jaysin opened his eyes. “Huh? What?”

  “You checked out for a minute there.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I was up most of the night working on our term paper.”

  “But it’s not due for a week.”

  Jaysin shrugged. “I just know I’m going to forget about it if I don’t do it right away. That’s the way it’s always been with me.”

  “There’s a little thing teachers give called a reminder.”

  “Sorry, mate. A reminder’s not enough for me. I need a real kick in the pants to get things done.”

  “You’re supposed to be the god of money. You could always pay someone to do it for you,” Ev suggested, half jokingly.

  “I ain’t the god of money yet,” Jaysin reminded him. “Besides which—I’m actually taking this seriously.”

  “Just don’t forget who your friends are after you become rich.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

  * * *

  “Wie gehts?” CiCi said. How’s it going?

  “Sehr gut, danke,” Maya replied. Very good, thank you.

  CiCi held her Murnau language book in front of her. “Did I pronounce that right?”

  Maya nodded. “Your accent could use a little work, but I don’t think you’d have a problem being understood. The problem, of course, is finding a man to listen to you in Murnau.”

  “Maybe I’ll just talk with the women.”

  “You’ll have to,” Maya said with disdain. “If you’re not a man’s property, he won’t talk to you.”

  “Did you really live like that?”

  Maya rested her chin in her hand. “Yeah. I did.”

  “I can’t imagine going through that.”

  “Pray you never have to.”

  “We’re going to be gods, Maya. We don’t pray. People pray to us.”

  “Yeah,” she said distantly.

  “Let me try out some more phrases on you. Wo ist die Toilette?” Where is the bathroom?

  “Um die Ecke.” Around the corner.

  “Können Sie mir helfen?” Can you help me?

  “Nein.”

  CiCi had to look that up in her language book. “Hey! That’s not very nice,” she laughed.

  Maya shrugged. “That’s the answer you’ll usually get if you ask for help in Murnau.”

  “Why are we even going to this place?”

  “Because they have a rich history of religion. We’re going to observe the phonies praying to their gods. Why any god would approve of anything they do is beyond me.”

  CiCi said, “You seem awfully easygoing for someone who’s been through what you’ve been through.”

  “Call it a defense mechanism. I had to learn to take it easy or I’d never be psychologically able to deal with it.”

  “Was it really that bad?”

  “More than you can imagine.”

  “Well, don’t you worry,” CiCi said. Once I become the goddess of relaxation, I’ll be able to help people deal with their anxiety and emotional issues.”

  “That sounds good, CiCi. Maybe you’ll be able to help me with my issues.”

  “Doesn’t sound like you really need help.”

  “Oh, I do.” Before CiCi could ask what that meant, she said, “But we can save that until later.”
/>   * * *

  Later that afternoon, they arrived in Murnau airspace. They could see the multitude of islands below them, some small, some incredibly large. There were occasional forests, but by and large the nation had been thoroughly industrialized. Modern cities were all over the place. Furthermore, each island was connected via the autoschnelle, a vast highway network with no speed limit. People could drive as fast as they wanted on it, yet accidents were kept to a minimum.

  Ev thought back to what he had been taught about this country. Their chief food exports were beer and sausage. There were many different kinds of alcoholic beverages on the islands, and each island made its own distinct sausage. Every year, each of the islands entered the Wurst [sausage] Festival, a competition to decide which of them made the best of that favored pork product. The island of Ernst in the east was usually favored to win. Also, sausage could be found in each of the country’s countless beer houses.

  The country’s parliament was controlled by two houses, the bundlinke and the bundrechts. The houses boasted a total of six hundred members, six from each island. Currently the socialist bundlinkes held a majority of seats, and so their socialist policies dominated the country. The right-leaning bundrechts continually fought for change, but many citizens viewed them as extremist conservatives who only care about the wealthy.

  Within parliament there was a fringe group, Die Befürworter, or the Advocates. Composed of members of both houses, Die Befürworter demanded equal rights for women. They argued that it was perfectly obvious women were equal to men, since they could both talk and think. Unfortunately, their pleas largely went ignored, and the government operated as if they did not exist, the same attitude both houses took toward women in general.

  Despite its problems, Murnau architecture was celebrated the world over. Their towering spires and steeples could be found in each city in abundance. The usual color scheme of Murnau buildings were white walls and red roofs.