Phenomenon: E-Lunar (Book 1) [DRAFT]

CONTENT WARNING: This is a Political Psychological Thriller that I wrote back in 2016.

One windy morning, streaks of white, blue, and orange had arisen from a waking sunrise.

There gave the sounds of forest animals which had preoccupied a towering, yet bland, school. Footsteps had begun to mix with the tarnished tone of scurrying paws. Leaves rustled against a backdrop of even more leaves.

“Oh hey, it’s Bel!” Came a stringent tone, its shadow plopping over a field of grass.

From an, almost, infinite meadow came the response of a young man who dawned a violet school uniform. “Good afternoon, Mathias.” The boy turned to the stringent voice with a confident smile.

“You, uh, excited for today’s civilization simulations?” The stringent boy, named Mathias, shook his friend’s hand.

The violet clothed boy, known as ‘Bel’, shrugged. “As long as Seineres doesn’t get cocky again.”

“Ha! You always beat him anyway.”

“Hm, what’sthatall about?” Professor Vitna, tracing a hand around her own white jacket, tightened her lips.

One of the mostmodelteachers of this establishment stood to pass as a woman named Charlene Vitna. Her golden and lengthy curls blew in the wind as the lady stood with a cocked hip. Her waist fell tucked back among her shirt, as her rear and hips stood out.

Mathias always noted that this teacher would be one of the many fantasies of his. Not that that information seemed important in just about any way, but the female professor had indeed been one of the more beauteous teachers to represent the institution! Her eyes, however, landed on the student who stood relaxed, had a nice posture, warm looking hands, a softer, deeper voice, lengthy and straight, black hair, and a contoured face- Bel.

Under the clouded and airy sky, Bel felt his shoulders tense. “Oh! N- Nothing, professor. Just talking about how excited we were for the Civ-Sim.”

Vitna poked at her white coat. “Hm. No, I wasn’t talking about that, I was talking about the pillaging of the Gretchenese- Over there.”

The older lady moved a finger to a couple of brash and buff boys beating up a malnourished, – almost too skinny for his own good – tan, and male student.

“They’re just beating him up. I’m not quite sure how that constitutes as pillaging.” Mathias put a finger to his chin as the three figures stood among the grey sky- They faced towards the establishment of their education, Eurodevice Academy. The structure sat as a sturdy building, and where it had lacked in ornate form, it made up for in modern function. Everything the building possessed, it possessed on the inside.

Save for the lush paradise that built the front and back yards of the center for education, that is. Nonetheless, the three figures stood, stoic and still, in a meadow that sat in front of the school’s entrance. Splendor had been the theme for approaching souls to the school. The meadow went on for quite a while, despite the school being but so wide itself.

The teacher prodded some more at her jacket. “Well, it’s a vicious cycle. Rich boys in school smack them around, but the polices′ occupation in their land will bring about lacerations and embolisms. Alas, my color of attire is a lot like the weather today.”

“Yeah. You have an odd habit of doing that, Ms. Vitna.” Mathias ran a hand through his hair. “Dressin’ for the weather and all. A- Anyway, I’m just lucky enough to not have been born as some nasty E, though.”

Despite the youth’s somewhat hateful comment, Mathias looked at the distant victim with a scrunched mouth and searching eyes. Everyone pitied this poor tan boy who found himself getting throttled by two buff Eurovanian students.

Bel yawned, and unlatched a shoulder bag which hung near his neck. “Well, I guess I’ll be having some breakfast, for once.”

Ms. Vitna’s gaze cut towards him. “Hm? Why eat a green apple now?”

“Because, this has happened before. Couple of kids beat up on an unsuspecting Gretchenese student and then the whole Council of Eurodevice says that ‘they must halt all acts of discrimination’. This results in pretty much a fire drill or bomb threat- All of us students are on standby until further notice that the bullies have been brought to justice.” Sitting down on the grass in the meadow that existed in front of the school, Bel sunk his teeth into a sour and emerald colored apple. “Not like it ever works, though.”

The self-poking Ms. Vitna continued to stare at the student. “Well, young man -- Bel Cosmonysus -- aren’t you worried you’ll miss class?”

“Hey, look! It’s Sun God!” a familiar and bossy tone spoke in the direction of Bel, Mathias, and Ms. Vitna.

Bel’s eyebrows went up. “Pardon? ‘Sun God’?”

“Bel is the God of the Sun- In Celtic tradition anyway. Thought you might know that.” Came the cocky voice of one Seineres Allister. “I’m, in all honesty, not looking forward to you beating me for yet another time, Cosmonysus. But, since you have the luck of the Sun on your side, I can’t ever hope for too much, can I? Just remember that I’m thebest2nd-placer there ever was.”

Ms. Vitna shrugged. “Oh, yeah. I seem to have forgotten that tradition. The Celtic one.”

Standing among Bel and Ms. Vitna, Mathias lunged his shoulder forward a tad bit, towards Seineres. “I take it you’re learning about the Celts in history now, huh? Well, that’s quite adorable! I just hope you, uh, k- keep up with the grades and all! Hehe!”

Bel didn’t turn around to see what Seineres would say. Unabated, he continued to chew on his lush apple. Quickly, he finished devouring the fruit and began reapplying his shoulder bag, when he turned on his heel over the grass, his brow furrowing towards the buff, bullying students. “Say, could you two do me a favor. Think of it as a request on behalf of us lovely Eurovanians- From one to another. Let’s give this ‘E’, as we call him, a moment to breathe, yeah?”

“Hm? You want us to go easy on these Es?” An exhale came from one of the buff students, his shoulders broad as he walked closer to Seineres.

Bel strode over to the young man and whispered in his veiny ear.

“Say, I’m not quite done with this other apple here, could you hold it for me?”

The student latched the fingers of his left hand around the apple, but as he did this, Bel still held on to the fruit.

“Ah, splendid. Now that our hands are connected to this fruit, you will not break away from what I’m about to tell you.”

”Y- Yes, G- God of the Trees.” The student whispered back, his eyes glazed over, and his rough demeanor now vanished. His shoulders had slouched in contrast from before, when they had hunched upward and offensive-like, as he had beaten up the Gretchenese boy a moment ago.

“From this day forth, you will not harm another Gretchenese. Do you understand the implications?”

”I d- do, God of the Trees.”

Bel smirked as no one around them heard their whispers, not even Seineres. “Hmph. And for the record, it’s God of the Apple Trees. No one around here seems to get that for some reason. Furthermore, they need to stop mixing me up with that... Sun God.”

In the next moment, the student threw the apple away and pushed Bel aside, his eyes focused once more, shoulders tense and upward again. “Let’s go, Sein.”

“With pleasure. I’ll see you in the simulations, Sun God!"

Mathias turned to his friend after Seineres left. “Bel, what just happened? What’d you tell that guy to piss him off so much? You were whispering so quietly I thought the flowers were talking.”

Bel shrugged, the vicious grin on his face gone. “I just asked him if I could let Seineres win today, but he got angry, thinking I was being arrogant and stiff.”

In the next few seconds, the three walked off to school. Would Seineres and his unimportant friend be caught for what they did, and have ultimately nothing happen, just like Bel said? It acted as the ‘Standard School Protocol’, after all. Yet, there had been no call from the Council of Eurodevice to stop any act of discrimination today, and it was unlikely to consider that that onslaught was the only one of its kind this morning.

Nevertheless, Bel’s right hand started to hurt.

“Hm.” He kept a wince of pain to himself as he walked behind his good friend and his seductive art teacher- He began to think a lot in his own head. This always happens whenever I use my power. My right hand stops working. I normally don’t use my Golden Bough Power until after school, but today, I guess I just couldn’t help myself. A vicious grin reappeared on Bel’s visage. I wonder how long I can keep up this charade, He continued to wander in his own head as he slithered his hands into his pockets. I’m not ‘Bel’, and I’m certainly no Sun-God. But how good can I keep up this lie?

Trying to hold in laughter, the black-haired student gripped at the innards of his jeans.

______

In a class titled, ‘Economics 101’, the students had all played a game known as ‘Civilization Simulation’. This acted as a virtual sport designed for people to learn how the management of a society works. At certain points, the difficulty could be raised in order for students, and teachers alike, to manage multiple societies... at once.

In this class which taught about economy, students acted as competitive players against one another for the prize at the end of the tunnel. No one had to do any homework if they just kept up their scores in the game! Of course, some students appeared as lost causes. They could never get good at the game in the environment which Eurodevice had provided. These students received more homework than they could ever handle.

“Alright! Take that, Cosmonysus!” Came the rough roar of a short haired, ginger male- Seineres.

Mathias – his pale face now burning a blush – felt disappointed in his friend’s sudden loss after the win-streak which he had garnered across the school. “Bel, what’s going on? Is your arm okay?”

Nobody sat in their chairs with ease today, as even the teacher tightened up as he watched Seineres defeat the GDP and societal values which Bel had crafted for so long.

“My arm.” Bel growled to himself. “Excuse me, professor.”

The bespectacled teacher whipped his head around.

The young Bel smirked. “Hi, I desperately need to utilize the lavatories.”

With that, he took off running. The nod from the economics professor had allowed him to enter the hall during times of ongoing classes and into one of the school’s many bathroom-areas. Bel trekked along the hard, splattered tile and into a room of new tile, the checkered tile of the restrooms.

He looked in the mirror and washed his hands, recognizing once again that his right hand wouldn’t budge. It felt a little frightening, to see one’s hand unable to perform. Nevertheless, Bel took a deep breath and kept good posture as he stood.

How long are you going to do that? He glared at his right palm.

In the next moment, there exploded a loud bellow into the entrance of the restroom. “Hey! Are you the guy who had that winnin’ streak against Seineres in Civ-Sim?”

“I... am he.”

“I was wondering. Apparently, there’s word going around that one of Seineres’s friends no longer wants to put Gretchenese students in their fuckin’ place. He says he doesn’t want to bring harm now- Peaceful pussy if you ask me. Only, he did that after you whispered something in his ear.”

His face purposely ignorant, Bel’s eyes widened an innocent. “Did I? Who said that?”

”Idid.”

Bel’s eyelids lowered. “I see.” He inhaled. “Well,” He then stared at this student’s shoulders. “as you can witness, I’m currently a loser. I’ve lost my win-streak in Civ-Sim to the very same guy you’re talking about. We tend to sit neck-to-neck, always- He in second place, however. So, you see, I don’t think a loser like me would be able to tell a big guy like Seineres, or his friends, what to do. Unless you want to humor yourself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Bel snapped his fingers together and pointed over to a gray bin full of paper towels, brown and white. “Here, here- If you think I’m capable of telling people what to do, then take that half-eaten apple from out of that trash can.”

Bel nodded over to a gray and plastic cylinder. In this cylinder, there sat trash of all sorts- Paper plates, plastic forks, paper towels, toilet paper, paper, books, and a few scraps of food. Of the food, there sat a green apple which already had begun to oxidize.

It looked rotten, but Bel could see that it still appeared somewhat fresh.

“If you pick it up as I say, then you can have two experiences in which I’m some guy who tells people what to do. You can use these two experiences to blackmail me as some sort of alien who controls peoples’ minds, or... something of the sort. Or, you can choose to not pick up the apple, and then walk away like none of this ever happened.”

Suddenly, this other student took off his purple uniform to reveal a torso full of scars. “Or I can shoot you.”

Bel’s visage became sweaty and loose. “Shoot? What? Aren’t the gun control-laws draconian these days?”

“Pfft. What about dragons? Eh, whatever. I got this baby from the black-market.” The student revealed the bottom of a revolver from his pocket.

Sweating further, Bel’s feet seemed glued to the floor.

“I never understood you, Bel. I never could, and I never will. You don’t pick on the Gretchenese like we do. You don’t take advantage of your lineage. It almost makes me think you’re one of them, or you’re working for them- Those damned Es!” The scarred student clenched his fists.

“But don’t you think that there are cameras in this restroom? You’ll get-”

One of the cameras in the corner of the bathroom exploded. Glass and plastic falling down, a slender bullet had punctured the lens.

The other student, his face red and his eyes teary, put the weapon to his side. “You were saying?”

“Who, me? I was saying nothing. I was sliding.”

“Sliding?”

As he jumped to the floor, Bel made way for the apple.

“Ugh! What the fuck is it with you and that apple?” Shots fired all across the lavatory from the confused and angry student. “Do you even know why we abuse the Es? The Gretchenese! It’s because they ruined the Economic Alliance many years ago! Their economy devastated the rest of the countries in the Eurovanian Alliance- They ruined my family’s legacy! How do you think I got these scars?”

“Hold, please.”

“Huh?”

”This- Hold this.”

Sliding the dirty apple into the student’s fingers, Bel’s expression now slid into a focused and straight one.

The student couldn’t pull away any longer, his eyes glazed over.

“You will listen to every command I offer.” Bel spoke in an insidious, reverbed tone, this time louder than before.

”Yes, G- God of the Trees.”

“Starting today, you will forget-” Suddenly, Bel looked away, but still held the apple between him and the gun-wielder, with his left hand. A horrible idea had nestled its way into his mind. He, at first, wanted to make the student simply forget everything that he saw today, but another plan made itself evident.

He could have made the shooter forget everything. Bel could have made this gun-wielding man become docile, like he did with Seineres’ friend. There existed so many brilliant and non-confrontational acts which the earthy-eyed student could have achieved!

And yet, he had grown tired of all of those.

“Starting today, you will take your own life with this weapon. Do you understand the implications?”

”Y- Yes, God of the Tr- Trees.”

His lips curling into a smirk, Bel clapped. “Now. Die.”

In front of him, brain matter went everywhere. Some blood got on his lilac uniform. The gun-wielding, angry student now folded over onto the ground.

The loud noise had caused people to come rushing into the restroom. All they saw was a man who had had a gun in his hand and currently sat dead, laying in front of Bel. Everyone fell into a stir... even Bel.

“He- He just k- killed himself in front of me! Said that he had bet too much on me winning today in the Civ-Sims! I- I don’t understand wh- why people would do something like that!”

One of the teachers looked down at the scene. “Hm. Suicide. I see.”

With arrogance, and a turned head, Bel had mouthed, “I can’t believe they’re falling for this act.” As he sat on the floor of the bathroom, his hands in his hair and his face in his knees, he forced his back to shake, appearing sob-like.

“Call 9-1-1. Immediately!” Said the same teacher, running his fingers through his giant mustache.

“How good can I lie? Very good, for I am not Bel the Sun God.” Bel continued to mouth to himself, though everyone else thought he began to mouth, into his sleeve, due to his sudden, and very recent, traumatization. The young man stayed stuck in his head for the moment, ignoring how he still couldn’t make use of his right hand. He envisioned a throne, prestige clothes, prestige food, and everyone cheering his name. Most of all, he saw the Gretchenese people thanking him.

I’m going to change this world. Bel’s lips furrowed. I can make men murder themselves, or each other. I can make the disgusting and corrupt men of this country get on their knees for me, if I so choose. This wrong and woeful society? I’m going to be the God that can change it all.

The mustached teacher looked down at the dead body, bending over to inspect it. “Hm. Damn. I’m gonna hate breaking the news to his parents. I guess he was suicidal, after all, looking at those scars.”

Because I’m not a God of the Sun. I’m- I’m really... Abellio, God of the Apple Trees. And from inside the young man’s head began to play a series of insane laughter- Even his face on the outside revealed a sharp grin, as he continued to hide it in his lap. And I will be the God of a new world.

______