Cum luna solem amat (If the moon loves the sun) (english)

Chapter 1 - New Moon

Definition of new moon:

Phase of the moon during which the side of the moon facing the earth is not illuminated by the sun and is therefore invisible.

"Ma?!!...Pa?!!....where are you?"

"MAAAA.... NO!!!"

The deserted, winding road was still full of water.

It was night, a dark, moonless night.

Lightning lit up the sky in the distance from time to time and thunder rumbled again and again from the same direction.

The rain, which had just been a curtain of almost impenetrable water, had receded to a few isolated, almost innocent, ridiculous droplets that no longer gave any idea of the force with which a huge thunderstorm had erupted over this place just 10 minutes ago.

The little red car, with the cute flower sticker on the trunk lid, hung unnaturally deformed over the side of the road with its rear end in the crash barrier. Its front was crushed beyond recognition. A huge truck had buried half of it underneath itself.

From the back seat of the car came the horrified, pain-stricken screams of a little boy who was trapped there. His forehead was bleeding, his chest and neck were marked by a hematoma in the shape of his seatbelt and both legs were completely twisted and crushed into the remains of the front seats.

Smoke was billowing from the engine compartment of the truck. The driver lay unconscious on the steering wheel of his deformed cab.

Only a steadily ticking blinker, 4 red brake lights and a single, still intact, truck headlight illuminated the terrible accident that had just happened.

The cool night air smelled like a mixture of damp earth, wet rubber, gasoline, blood, smoke and melted plastic.

Moon would never forget the smell of that night, the night his parents died because a sudden thunderstorm caused a truck to cross into the opposite lane at too high a speed. It almost cost him his life too, but fate seemed to have something else in store for him.

After the driver of a passing car called the emergency services, Moon's parents could only be found dead. He himself had 2 broken ribs, a laceration on his head and severe bruising and contusions on his lower legs.

From then on, Moon Tawan Rangnaporn was an orphan.
He had no siblings or other relatives, apart from his uncle Isan on his father's side.
He and his wife Palita were immediately willing to take him in.

They were honest, good, hard-working people who did their best to be a good family to their nephew Moon. Their little daughter Chompoo, his cousin, was about the same age, only a few months older than him, and from then on was like a sister to him.

Uncle Isan owned a small electrical store, and his family lived in an equally small apartment above the store. You could actually buy anything electrical there, from televisions to toasters, and the three of them made a pretty good living from it. Of course, when another mouth had to be fed, the belt had to be tightened a little.

But soon Moon's unusual talent and associated intelligence became apparent.

While other children went outside to play, he looked at complicated electronic circuit diagrams and built little toys for Chompoo from Uncle Isan's spare parts store, some of which could move, light up and make noises.

He also had a knack for repairing things. At the age of 8, he had secretly repaired a returned PC and pimped it with spare parts. He could probably have built a nuclear bomb out of a toaster if only he had somehow got hold of weapons-grade plutonium.