Rainbow is an ongoing Young Adult Science Fantasy debut (original) novel by Akira Hayashi. Presented as the autobiography of the story's protagonist, Aaron Maitreya Axe, Rainbow opens in the distant future with Aaron meeting and falling in Love at First Sight with Cinderella Peterson, who is the first real friend Aaron has ever had.
The problem with this is that the world has fallen under the control of a One World Order who have labeled romantic love as "madness," along with democracy and religion. Aaron soon realizes that Cinderella has come to recruit him into a revolution against the world government's tyranny.
However, it also becomes more and more clear that Cinderella — as well as the dictators they fight against — are not what they seem, and that there might even be divine forces vying for control through them. Worse yet, it's possible that if Aaron and Cinderella do not succeed in their revolution, not only might the world be lost to evil — but that everything will be lost to the darkness, forever.
The story can be read for free on the author's website: morganrayhess.com
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This work contains examples of the following tropes:
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Aaron compares the ease of the Atheist State's victory in the International Revolution against all of human civilization to the act of "destroying a beehive with a blowtorch."
- Dark and Troubled Past: Both of the leads had very tragic and traumatic childhoods.
- Dystopia: The World Hegemony is described by Aaron as a cruel dictatorship.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Aaron, his brother Avion, and their mother are all described as having pitch-black hair and being as pale as corpses.
- The Empire: The World Hegemony, which is implied to have begun as a militaristic MegaCorp as a backlash to religious fanaticism.
- Gayngst: Aaron endures bullying after he comes out as bisexual. His biggest bully turned out to be an Armored Closet Gay.
- Great Offscreen War: The International Revolution, which was when the Atheistic State revealed themselves and conquered all of civilization. See also the entries for World War III and Curb-Stomp Battle.
- The Illuminati: the World Hegemony began as one of these in the form of the "Atheistic State," which easily defeated the rest of the world's military forces when they declared war against everyone else. However, unlike most examples of this trope, the Atheistic State made no effort to hide themselves when they were founded, and they were created partially because atheists had been demonized by doomsday prophets and painted as secretly conspiring to destroy religion, making the World Hegemony a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
- Le Parkour: Cinderella teaches Aaron how to freerun and climb buildings.
- One-Word Title: Presumably named for the bisexuality of its protagonist.
- Pop-Cultured Badass / Cultured Badass: Aaron and Cinderella share a love for the pop culture of the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First Centuries. They are also deeply knowledgeable about more "serious" literary figures such as Victor Hugo, Shakespeare, and Confucius.
- Science Fantasy: In equal parts.
- Straw Atheist: the World Hegemony enforces state atheism, as religion is deemed to be "suicidal madness."
- World War III: The International Revolution, the worldwide conflict that occurred over one thousand years before the events of the novel. It was initiated by a coalition called the "Atheistic State," who were reportedly Well-Intentioned Extremists who believed that they must impose enforced atheism on all civilization before religion could cause humanity to destroy itself. The Atheistic State easily won, established the World Hegemony, and has since maintained an uncontested rule over the entire Earth since then until the events of the novel.
