I was with my girl when it happened. Her name was Vicki. She’s a bender like me, and I think she still thinks we’re getting married. We’re not. I asked my grandfather about it like two years ago and he said that I would be getting married to a girl from one of the nearby fiefdoms. The daughter of their lord, in order to secure our alliance.

  I didn’t have a choice in the matter. If I’d pressed it, Grandfather would have only made Vicki suffer for it, so I didn’t. And I let her keep on thinking that we were soulmates, because…well, I’m sixteen and I get horny, okay?

  It’s not like she gets nothing out of the relationship. Everyone treats her way better than a normal bender girl because she’s my girlfriend. And she’s more into the power that the relationship gives her than she is into me. I know, because I also know that she’s cheated on me twice.

  So, yeah. So much for soulmates.

  Anyway, it happened so suddenly that it caught us completely off guard. One moment everything was great, and then black was white and white was black and all the colors in between were gray.

  I ran to the boy’s locker room and as soon as I was inside I began stripping. It was only a few moments between the flash of cosmic powers and hot water running over my body, and I beat even the examiners to the showers.

  But it was the first time I’d taken a flash aboveground, and I was scared as hell.

  Down in the basement, I knew, the kids would be stripping down and getting sprayed with hoses. I’d been down there myself, and I knew how scared they’d be.

  The flashes were worse for kids. They basically killed any fetuses still in the womb no matter what, and the under-fives would be sickly for weeks because of this. Some of them wouldn’t make it, maybe.

  I knew that, but at the moment I was still focused on myself.

  “You’ll be fine,” one of the guards said, clapping me on the shoulder. “I about shit myself the first time I took a flash aboveground too, but you’re big enough that it’s safe.”

  “You think so?”

  “Fuck if I know,” the man admitted. “But probably. They say it goes by muscle, and you’ve got plenty of that for a lad your age, so you’re probably fine.”

  “Yeah, they say that,” I said.

  The water flowed down the drain. It was pink. Most of us were bleeding from the ears.

  Ten minutes passed as we scrubbed ourselves and each other with rusted iron wool pads and once we were nice and raw, we finally stepped out of the showers to let the next priority of citizens take our place.

  I was sitting outside in a towel when my grandfather stepped up next to me in a similar attire and patted me on the shoulder. “You were on the first floor when it happened?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “You’ll be fine. There’s less shielding up here, but honestly the only reason I didn’t kick you out of the basement two years ago was because you’re blood,” he explained. “I know I haven’t really explained things to you as well as I should have, perhaps, but the customs are more than just rules handed down from on high. The old ways mix with the new ways that mix with the old ways. The scientists who survived the Return of the gods did measurements and studies on these things. You could probably survive a flash outside in the open at this point.”

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “It wouldn’t be pleasant,” he admitted. “But yes.”

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  “You willing to bet my life on that?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But I do think you’d survive if you got locked out with the starvelings when the gods are having discourse.”

  I nodded. “I’m going to go find my pants,” I said.

  And that was the end of that conversation.

  #

  Probably there wasn’t going to be another flash. We never knew for certain, but after the governments fell and the soldiers were all either dead or running away home, the only target that the gods had left to fight was each other. And they knew how messy their fights were for us mortals.

  So they bickered and they fought, but they kept their worshipers in mind during their battles and usually kept things from escalating to the point where too many of us would die in the byblows.

  Michael and Thor were probably moving off a hundred miles or so before they resumed their battle. Michael because we were his subjects, and Thor because, well, it was only polite.

  I found my pants in the pile of clothing in the dressing area of the locker room, but not my shirt, and I wasn’t too worried about it. So I went for a walk through the old halls of the school while I waited for the post-flash protocol to catch up to the point where I had duties again.

  I’m not exactly sure why, but I found myself standing outside the radio room. Grandfather had told me that they had cannibalized the equipment from the local air strip, from back when people still thought it was a good idea to fly, and that’s how Grandfather and his men kept in contact with the rest of the world, as well as being how his priests tracked the gods when they battled.

  I stood outside the door for three minutes before I opened it and stepped inside.

  The room was empty. I’d been inside a few times before, and sort of knew the layout.

  In the center of the room was the radar equipment. I didn’t really know how any of that worked, and I wasn’t supposed to. That was for the priests. But I did know how the radio worked, and so I went over and put on the headphones to listen in.

  “Traveling east by northeast at sixty two miles per hour. Thor is in pursuit. Warn Gables and West Nokos that they will soon be in range—“ someone was saying. “Last flash was forty-two minutes ago. Estimated time until the next flash is between sixteen and forty-three minutes if traditional patterns remain in effect. Osage, Linn, and Douglas county should prepare for impact immediately. Warn the citizens, this is not a drill. Prepare for imminent divine Flashes ranging from anywhere between tiers 1 and 6. Warning, this is not a drill. I repeat, Osage, Linn, and Douglas counties should be advised that a tier three flash has gone off at Ashford Bends. The damage to the Benders is unknown at this time. Thor and Michael are not fucking around this time. I repeat—“

  Nervously, I grabbed the microphone. I’d made a few reports before, and so I began “This is Ashford Bends. We survived the flash. I’m, um, not sure how bad the damage is, but my grandfather—“

  “Kid, drop down to channel eight to give your report—“ the speaker said, and then continued with his monologue as if I hadn’t spoken.

  I frowned and looked at the equipment. I’d only been shown how to change the channel once, but I figured it out again and managed to get onto the right frequency.

  “Hello? This is Ashford Bends, I have a report to—“

  “Who’s speaking please? What’s your handle?” It was a woman’s voice.

  “My name is Glen. Glen Ashford.”

  “You in line? For the Ashford lands I mean?”

  “Sort of? My grandfather is Norman Ashford, but I’m Paul’s third son. I’m probably not going to inherit anything. Does it matter?” I asked.

  “Just trying to figure out who I’m talking to. So. You survived the big flash. How bad is it over there?”

  “The school is fine. I’m not really sure what to think because this is first time I’ve been outside of the school’s basement when a flash hit. But the adults don’t seem too worried about it.”

  “That’s good, kid. Real good. Thanks for your report. Now get the fuck off the airwaves until the grownups return.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I agreed, and I hung the microphone back up and left.

  #