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This is the story of the fight between the two boys that started it all.

Although, in defense of Bernie, we probably shouldn’t say this fight “started it all.”  Billy had been picking on Bernie long before the fight.  It’s more accurate to say this fight guaranteed that Billy’s hatred toward Bernie would continue forever.

And, for a god, forever is a very long time…

The Fight

The fight with Billy was the worst thing that ever happened to Bernie. His whole life changed that day. Bernie hadn’t gone looking for trouble. Billy was bigger and stronger and older. There was no chance he could beat him. But when Billy hit Suzie, well, something snapped. It surprised everyone actually.

The day had started out like any other. Bernie made a dumb mistake in creation lab. They were making primordial soup, but Bernie got it wrong. Instead of creating a wondrous life-enabling concoction of prebiotic molecules, Bernie’s soup was so caustic it actively sought out complex molecules and tore them to shreds. Nothing even remotely resembling a life form could survive even the briefest contact with it. Once again, he was the class dunce.

In truth, Bernie probably shouldn’t have been in that class, but The School had a policy of fast-tracking the children of Universe Award winners, which was why he was in a creation lab with older kids.

At first, it wasn’t a big deal. As soon as the other students realized Bernie was no superstar who was going to upset the curve or make them look bad, they generally ignored him, much like one would ignore a younger brother. Everyone except Billy, that is. Billy delighted in every mistake Bernie made. And the ridicule Billy threw in Bernie’s direction didn’t end in the classroom. He made sure everyone in school heard about Bernie’s every blunder.

Before Billy started picking on him, Bernie hadn’t much noticed Suzie. She was a girl, after all. She surprised him one day by sticking up for him. Bernie was grateful to discover someone didn’t see him the way Billy did. Over the weeks and months that followed, Bernie drew courage and strength from the pretty champion who often defended him from Billy’s jibes. At times, she even turned Billy’s words in a way that made him the butt of the joke. No one noticed Billy’s growing anger toward Suzie.

They no sooner exited class when Billy called out, “Hey, wait until you hear what Bernie did today.”

As the students in the hall gathered to listen, Bernie found himself trapped in the crowd, unable to escape the ridicule and laughter he knew was coming.

“He tried to make soup,” said Billy, “but it was so bad, the teacher had to blink it out before it escaped and contaminated the whole school. The teacher probably saved all of our lives!”

As the laughter subsided, he heard Suzie’s voice, “Well, you know, Billy, that doesn’t sound as bad as the problem you had with your chemistry set. I heard your whole family had to move out of your house for a week.”

This time, the laughter was different; it was the genuine laughter that comes when the tables were turned on a bully. Billy felt the difference, and that made the sting twice as great.

Billy flashed a hateful scowl at Suzie, and, without warning, pushed her hard, causing her to tumble backwards into another student, taking them both to the ground.

If Billy regretted his action, he never had the chance to show it. Bernie, from his position near the wall, swung his fist straight at Billy. It was a suicidal move. Bernie had no hope of winning. But months of pent-up fury exploded as the young god dropped his books and launched his whole body into the attack.

The students gasped in unison. Violence of this type was unheard of. Didn’t they know they could hurt themselves? Gods could live forever, but not if they were stupid. Fighting was the most dangerous –and the most stupid– thing you could do.

Bernie did not fight alone. His chaotic cloud was with him every second. Gods can do little to control the chaotic or lawful natures they’re born with, any more than they can control being right-handed or left-handed. People with chaotic clouds say it often rumbles around their sub-consciousness until it has a reason to come out. Most of the time, it doesn’t need a very good reason. The god may simply have become distracted and failed to hold it in check. When a chaotic cloud is unleashed, all manner of improbable and unexpected things can occur – sometimes even destructive acts. And Bernie’s cloud had been building anger and energy for a very, very long time.

The momentum of Bernie’s attack carried both boys into the wall. Bernie’s flying fists hit Billy again and again in the face and chest as a surprised Billy struggled to defend himself. As Billy overcame his shock, he fought back. He grabbed Bernie and wrestled him to the ground where his larger size and strength gave him the advantage. Rolling on top of Bernie, he straddled him, pinning the younger boy’s arms to the floor. At this point, the fight was over for Bernie. Billy, however, was just getting started.

He began hitting and slapping Bernie in the face and the head. Each strike punctuated by angry words, “You – little – runt! – Why – don’t – you – quit?”

Bernie struggled to avoid the blows to his head, but it was hopeless. Billy was too powerful. There was nothing Bernie could do to make him stop.

Bernie’s chaos cloud, however, was not similarly encumbered.

Most of the students stood in shocked awe as the fight continued. No one had ever seen anything like it. Several students called for teachers to stop it. This couldn’t continue. It was too dangerous. It had to be stopped. Suzie tried to grab Billy’s arm so he couldn’t hit Bernie again, but earned a black eye for her effort.

Maybe it was hearing Suzie cry out again, or maybe it was the desperation of being hit over and over that made it happen. In any case, that was the moment Bernie’s cloud decided to take up arms. Every object held or carried by a student standing near the fight was ripped away and launched directly at Billy.

Within seconds, Billy was hit by twenty or thirty objects. His only warning came from the startled cries of students as objects of every kind flew from their grasp. With enormous force, they struck Billy’s head and shoulders rendering him unconscious. As Billy slumped forward, Bernie struggled to free himself from the dead weight.

Suddenly, students screamed, pointing at Bernie’s chest. Bernie, still dazed from the pounding, looked down and was shocked to see his shirt covered in blood. Terror overwhelmed him as his hands began feeling his chest, frantically searching for the injury that had produced so much blood. Then he noticed Billy’s head. Blood was gushing from a long cut that began above his right eyebrow and extended all the way to the middle of his cheek.

Neither Bernie – nor anyone else in the school – had ever seen such a thing. Time slowed as Bernie fought to understand what was happening. Three students fainted, slumping to the ground. Cries of “Oh, no!” and “Help!” and “Call someone!” filled the halls.

Bernie watched as more blood from the open gash flowed onto the floor, a silent condemnation of his savage attack. More than anything, Bernie wanted to make it stop, which is why he took off his shirt and held it firmly against Billy’s open wound.

Tears ran down his cheeks, as he cradled Billy’s head, holding his shirt firmly against the wound. How many times had he been told? Ever since he could remember, everyone – parents and friends and teachers – all said the same thing: Be careful, Bernie. You have to be careful if you want to live forever.

“I’m sorry, Billy. I’m so sorry,” Bernie sobbed as he held Billy’s head and rocked slowly back and forth. Had he killed Billy? How could he tell? Bernie was afraid to take his shirt away. If the blood started coming out again, it would be just too much.

In the distance, he heard the deep voice of a teacher shouting, “Clear the way! Let me through.”

The vengeance of the gods was on its way.

The Healer

Both boys were rushed to see the School Healer. Bernie waited outside while the Healer tended to Billy. Although she was adept at healing inner hurts, upset stomachs, and repairing problems with godly shimmers, she had no experience with torn flesh. She did the best she could. Billy would live, but he would have a constant reminder of his brush with death – a hideous scar running down one side of his face.

Finally, the Healer turned her attention to Bernie, examining his shimmer and looking for wounds as she washed away Billy’s blood. Although Bernie tried to tell her how sorry he was, she shushed him and told him they would talk later. When she was done, she gave Bernie a shirt to wear since his was drenched with Billy’s blood. She walked him down the hall where she ushered him into a small conference room and told him to wait.

The School began their inquiry the same day.

The Inquiry

As Bernie sat wondering about his fate, he noticed his cloud occupied with one its favorite pastimes: unraveling the cloth in Bernie’s shirt. Bernie slapped at two new holes in his borrowed shirt and the adjacent snarled threads. This never worked. He had to calm his mind if he wanted to get his cloud back under control. A couple minutes later, the unraveling stopped. Bernie glanced nervously around the room, wondering if the cloud was under control or it had merely found some other form of mischief.

~

The School’s Headmaster was an elder god named Zachariah. The two others in his office were Seth, the first to arrive at the fight, and Eunice, Bernie’s creation lab instructor. They had both rushed to Zachariah’s office to tell him what happened.

Seth said, “It was over by the time I got there. There was blood everywhere. It was awful. Bernie was sitting on the floor and crying, holding Billy’s head in his arms. Billy was not moving. Bernie had taken off his shirt and was holding it against Billy’s face. Several students had fainted and were lying on the ground.”

“What did you do next?” Zachariah asked.

“I picked up Billy and carried him to the Healer. I asked Bernie if he could walk, and he said he could, so I told him to follow us. I didn’t know if he was hurt or not, but I wanted to get Billy to the Healer right away.”

“You did the right thing,” Zachariah said. “Did you see what Bernie did to hurt Billy so badly?”

“No, but one of the students, a girl named Suzie, said she saw everything. We could ask her.”

Zachariah made a note of Suzie’s name on his pad. He turned to Eunice and said, “They were in your class just before it happened, right? Can you tell me anything more?”

“Bernie’s one of the fast-trackers. He’s Simeon’s kid. He and Billy have never gotten along, although I’ve never seen anything Bernie did to provoke it. Sometimes the fast-trackers get picked on because the other kids resent the special treatment they get because of their parents.”

“Oh, yes, I remember him,” said Zachariah. “Wasn’t he the one with a strong chaotic bent?”

“Yes. Extremely strong, actually. He tries hard to control it, but I’ve seen it mess up his work many times.”

“Has anyone informed Billy and Bernie’s parents?” asked Zachariah. Neither god said anything. “Eunice, contact them. Tell them what happened. I want to see all of them here right away. We need to make some decisions.”

“And Seth, find Suzie and bring her to me. I want to hear what she has to say,” Zachariah said.

As the gods left, Zachariah thought about what happened. There hadn’t been a fight like this in all the centuries he had been Headmaster. Oh, there had been several cases of pushing and shoving, but there had never been any blood spilled. This was the worst case he’d ever heard of.

What should he do? Banishing was a severe punishment for an eight year old boy. But if this was the first of more episodes, then it was better to do it before young Bernie could hurt anyone else. Certainly, he could banish him from School, but if Bernie was such a danger, wouldn’t it be better to banish him from the Town? His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.

A petite young goddess stood in his doorway. Her shimmer radiated a range of colors that told him she was scared, angry, and nervous all at the same time. He made an effort to soften his own shimmer and his voice. The voice of an elder god was hard on young ones, he knew, and the children often claimed it hurt their ears. Even the simplest of suggestions become commands, almost impossible to for a child to disobey. Zachariah knew most teachers looked forward to aging so they could add the voice to their classroom arsenal.

As gently as he could, he said, “Come in, Suzie. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Y-Yes, Sir. It… It was all Billy’s fault. He’s been picking on Bernie for months. Bernie didn’t do anything to him.”

As Zachariah looked at Suzie, he detected anomalies in her shimmer. The area near her eye had an unhealthy red quality, as did her shoulder and her left hip. “Did you get hurt in the fight, Suzie?” he asked.

“Billy pushed me, and I fell backwards into Kathy, and we both fell down. That’s what started it. That’s when Bernie hit Billy. Bernie was just trying to defend me.”

“Is that when your eye was hurt?”

“No, that was from Billy. He was on top of Bernie, and he was pounding him, and he wouldn’t stop. I tried to grab his arm, but I got hit in the eye.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, it was Bernie’s cloud. I think it was trying to help Bernie. Right after Billy hit me in the eye, the cloud pulled everything from everywhere, and threw it at Billy. It even pulled the barrettes out of my hair. When I looked again, Billy was unconscious, and there was blood on Bernie’s shirt. I thought Bernie was hurt until I saw Billy’s face–that’s where the blood was coming from. Bernie took off his shirt and used it to stop the bleeding. Then one of the teachers came and took them to the Healer’s office.”

“It was Bernie’s cloud that did this?” asked a surprised Zachariah.

“Yes, Sir.”

That changes things, he thought. Bernie shouldn’t have hit Billy–no matter what. But if Billy had him down and was hitting him… I don’t know how anyone could keep their cloud under control under those circumstances.

“Thank you, Suzie,” said Zachariah gently. “I will call you if I need to speak with you again.”

The Judgment

In the hours that followed, many angry words were exchanged in Zachariah’s office.

Billy’s parents were furious over what happened to their son. They refused to hear anything suggesting any part of it was Billy’s fault. They threatened to go the Town Council and demand Zachariah’s removal since he was obviously incompetent to be running The School.

Bernie’s parents presented their own challenges. Hannah, Bernie’s mother, was horrified, but was protective of her son, insisting he acted to defend a fellow student and shouldn’t be blamed for something his cloud had done. The Great Simeon, the name people gave him after he won his second Universe Award, was angry with The School for not preventing this from happening, angry with his wife for not doing a better job raising their son, and angry with his son for creating an incident that reflected poorly on him and his career.

Finally, Zachariah, using the voice of an elder god, turned to Billy’s parents, “I’ve made a decision. This incident occurred because of months of provocations by Billy.” Zachariah raised his finger and stared Billy’s parents into silence. “Billy abused Bernie verbally and emotionally. Further, Billy was the first to cross the line by pushing Suzie and causing her to fall down. It wasn’t until then that Bernie hit him.

“At the same time, there is no justification for violence.” The Headmaster turned to Bernie’s parents, again raising his finger to quiet any protest. “Bernie should not have hit Billy. If he had not hit Billy, he would not have lost control of his cloud, and Billy would not have been hurt. Billy did not deserve the punishment he received.

“Therefore, it is my judgment that Billy has suffered enough for his part in this incident. He will have no further penance. Bernie, on the other hand, will submit himself to counseling to determine if this is an isolated incident or if it is something he is likely to do again. He will also receive training to control his chaos cloud. It’s my further judgment that Bernie will be banished from School until I am satisfied in both of these matters. If it is determined he not a danger to others, then he shall return to School and resume his current program of studies.”

No one was happy with this decision, but when an elder god makes a judgment, there is not a lot anyone can say about it.

What Happened at Home

The next month was hard on everyone.

Before the fight, life had been good for Bernie. Well, mostly good. Mom and Dad had been arguing more than ever. Mom said it was because of the pressure Dad felt since he won his second Universe Award. She said being a celebrity was hard on people.

But the worst night Bernie could remember was the argument his parents had the night they got back from The School. They sent Bernie to his room, but that didn’t stop him from hearing.

“Dammit, Hannah! You know I’m working on my next universe. I can’t have distractions like this. You’re going to have to handle it,” Dad said.

“I can’t do it all, Simeon. You’re never around anymore. The boy needs his father. You can’t be gone all the time and expect things to work out.”

“That’s your job, Hanna. Keep the brat in line. Keep his cloud in line. Leave me out of it. I have more important things to do.”

“Can’t you at least help him with his cloud?”

“No, Hannah, I can’t. You’re the one who wanted a kid. Now you have one. Deal with it. Leave me out of it,” Simeon shouted at his wife.

The next thing Bernie heard was the slamming of their front door.

Then the only sounds were the soft sobs his mother made as she headed to her room.

The Impact on Billy

Surprisingly, Billy got a lot of sympathy at school. He paraded around with his face in bandages for a week. Teachers and students offered unexpected expressions of shock and sadness over what happened.

Before the fight, Billy would have described himself as very popular in school. In truth, his popularity was a delusion. It was simply that everyone was afraid to end up on his bad side. His verbal attacks were painful and to be avoided at all costs. His classmates listened to him – they even did what he said. But they didn’t like him. They never had.

Billy’s parents sent him to a special healer, and, although she created healing conditions to speed his recovery, she knew nothing of the cosmetic side of healing. No one did.

Everyone knew Billy would have a scar, so that was no surprise. The surprise was how everyone reacted to it.

When the bandages came off, the first to see were Billy’s parents. His mother promptly fainted. His father cursed and found himself stiffly backing out of the room when he remembered his wife lying on the floor. Billy steeled himself and turned to the mirror. What he saw was horrifying even to him. The scar running from his eyebrow down his cheek was more than a disfiguring scar. It was much, much more.

Billy saw a horrid reminder of the mortality of the gods. His body shuddered involuntarily as he experienced again the ultimate of all godly fears: the fear of dying. One could not look at him without being reminded of how fragile their immortality really was.

The next day, as the other students saw him for the first time without bandages, they reacted the same as his parents. Some simply passed out. Others shuddered and turned away. Even teachers struggled to control their reactions, although their shimmers betrayed everything they felt. Billy knew he had become a monster. And it was the fault of one person.

Billy swore that somehow, some way, that person would pay.

Bernie Goes to Counseling

Sophia specialized in counseling young gods. She had a well-deserved reputation for being sympathetic yet demanding of her young charges. Like everyone else in town, she had heard of Bernie’s crime. At their first appointment, she was surprised to find a meek and quiet little boy. After probing time and time again for Bernie’s dark side, she was forced to conclude he simply didn’t have one.

She found a child horrified at what he had done, wishing more than anything that it could be undone. She also found a child who didn’t understand his cloud. Ordinarily, early discussions were the responsibility of the parents, but it appears they had neglected this important talk. Although she knew it was a sexist thought, she held Bernie’s father responsible for this neglect since most fathers considered it their duty to have this talk with their sons.

“I don’t understand why my cloud did this,” said Bernie. “Why would it do this to Billy?”

Sophia probed Bernie’s understanding of clouds and found ignorance instead of knowledge. And, being the youngest in his class, he had been uncomfortable asking his older classmates for explanations. Instead, he kept his ignorance to himself, hoping someday he would understand. He needed to know the truth.

“In our world, Bernie, the forces of chaos and order are constantly at war with each other. Order wants things organized into nice neat patterns, while chaos delights in the lack of order. When they come into contact with each other, they struggle for dominance, using anything they can influence. Even the gods are not immune to this effect. From the moment we are conceived, these forces fight over us.

“Usually, Bernie, one side wins by a small margin. But sometimes, one side wins by a huge margin, like in your case. Chaos won the battle, and it’s no evidence that order even showed up to fight.”

Bernie frowned and asked, “But what has that got to do with my cloud?”

“We all have clouds, Bernie, but the nature of our clouds is determined by which force is dominant in each of us – order or chaos. For example, my cloud is about 45% chaos and 55% order, which means most of the time, my cloud is too conflicted to do anything. But in your case, your chaotic side is well over 95%, which means the forces of order are not there to slow it down. So whenever you have an impulse, it manifests through your cloud without any opposition.”

“But where do these impulses come from?” asked Bernie. “I don’t want my cloud to do anything at all.”

“When you think of yourself and the way you behave, that is your conscious self. But we also have a subconscious side, Bernie. That’s the side of ourselves we don’t really know. It’s where we keep our anger and our desires and our fears. Our clouds are connected to this side of us. Do you understand?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, let’s think of an example. Can you tell me something your cloud did that you want me to explain?”

Bernie’s face reddened as he thought of something. Before he could think of something else, Sophia said, “Tell me about that one, Bernie.”

“Er… Ah… My cloud…”

“It’s okay, Bernie. You can tell me.”

“One time I was talking to Suzie. We were standing close together. My cloud tied our hair together,” mumbled Bernie.

Sophia smiled before asking, “Do you like Suzie?”

“Well…” said Bernie, suddenly uncertain if it was possible or proper to like a girl. “I guess so.”

“Then the explanation is simple, Bernie. Your subconscious side wants you to stay close to Suzie and this desire, when filtered through your chaotic cloud, was translated into tying you together so you would stay close.”

“But that’s dumb,” Bernie exclaimed.

“Yes, I agree. But remember, your cloud is not smart like you are. It just has things it needs or wants. It doesn’t always think of the best way to do something. And because it’s chaotic, it comes up with crazy ways to get what it wants.”

“But what if I don’t want it to do something?”

“An excellent question, Bernie. Have you discovered anything you can do to make your cloud stop doing something?”

“Sometimes if I think of something else, it stops.”

“Yes, that is correct, and that’s a good technique to use. There are more techniques, and I’m going to teach you every one.”

~

And so it went. Bernie learned everything Sophia had to teach him. The problem always came back to one thing: Bernie’s cloud was very, very powerful. But, as the counselor goddess pointed out, although it was not possible to completely control any cloud, you must never stop trying. ‘Whenever it slips its leash, you have to grab it and put it back in its box,’ she told him.

~

Although Bernie learned some ways to control his cloud, it didn’t solve all his problems.

This was the time his dad left. Simeon didn’t say anything to Bernie. He just packed his bags and moved out. He told Hannah he was selling the house, and she should move to someplace she could afford.

His mom cried for days.

Return to School

A harsh reality greeted Bernie when he returned to School: his friends didn’t want him there. It wasn’t just Billy. They were afraid of him. Even adults protested the Headmaster’s decision to let Bernie return, claiming he was putting other students at risk. Even people who didn’t know Bernie by name, knew him as the boy who spilled blood. To his credit, Zachariah held firmly to his position. And Bernie returned to school.

Bernie and his mom moved from the home where Bernie had grown up. She had to petition the Town Council for financial assistance. Although some said it was unnecessarily harsh, the only assistance they offered was the subsidized housing projects on the edge of town. It was the last resort in housing for those with no other options. Located on the edge of The Town, there was nothing there except woods that extended to the very edge of the plateau. Beyond the edge was the wild country, where no god would ever go. The Town Council wanted the boy with the uncontrollable cloud to be as far away as possible.

Bernie had a few friends before the incident. Afterwards, they disappeared. He asked some of them what was wrong, but it was clear they were keeping their distance. Even Freddy, a friend from the first day of school, said his parents told him to stay away. The only friend who didn’t desert him was Suzie. She seemed always to be there.

Bernie’s dad went on to win an unheard of third Universe Award. He developed a reputation as The Town’s most eligible bachelor, a label he relished. The Great Simeon’s success allowed him to buy a new home in the inner circle of The Town. With his third win, his fame grew even greater. Even more books were written about his life and his successes. Soon everyone seemed to have forgotten he once had a son who had fought with Billy.

Bernie’s mom got a job as a waitress in one of the sidewalk cafes in Central Plaza. She saved everything she could to support her son and to help with the extra expenses required for the Builder Program. Even the best students needed additional tutoring in more advanced subjects. And extra books were needed to supplement the textbooks offered by The School.

Maybe because he was the youngest in his builder classes or maybe it was from the constant criticisms from Billy and his crowd, Bernie’s performance in the builder program was poor. Several times, his teachers suggested he may do better in another program. Bernie refused.

All that changed when he got into Beatrice’s class. She had a dramatic effect on the boy, and his performance improved. Beatrice taught many advanced builder classes, and Bernie was always pleased to find himself in one of her classes. In truth, Bernice arranged for him to be placed in her class on at least three occasions.

Bernie had found an angel, and she had taken him under her wing.

~ The End ~

Note from the author:  When I wrote the second book, Bernie and the Wizards, my editor asked me why I brought Bernie’s dad back into the story. I told her my readers (and I) all thought his dad deserved his comeupance for the way he treated Bernie. I hope you agree that all the bad karma Simeon deserved came to visit him in the next book.