When Swords Turn Black

It was now almost four weeks in slayer school. Omari now knew a little about all the sigils and monsters, and a bit more of a muscular build. He could do three 400m sprints, 150 weighted pushups, 150 weighted squats, and lastly, a twenty-minute dragon flag. In the cityscape traversal class, Samson was closing the gap between his and Soren's movement of speed, but right behind Samson, Omari was doing the same. Ignoring the discrepancy in the physical strength and agility of the two, the only thing holding back Omari's growth was that he always ran in the centre of the crowd. Samson never understood why he did this until one day, he saw someone miss a jump but appeared Omari to catch them. At that moment, Samson could swear Omari moved just as fast as him. 

In combat training, Omari had learned every punch, kick, knee and elbow, even if he couldn't perform them perfectly. Grappling still perplexed him, though, and his swordplay didn't improve by much because Athena was only good at hand to hand, so that was something he had to teach her. The only problem was that Omari had made no progress on the research test. He just couldn't think of anything, and reading in the library didn't help. Maybe I was looking at the wrong books, he thought in his bed. But there was nothing he could do now. The research was due the next day, so to the best of his ability; he tried to sleep and eventually it worked. He opened his eyes and looking at him was his white-haired self and they said, "Death is cold. Everything was forged in Fire."

He woke up. Oh great, now I can't sleep. He looked to his right to see Samson was still not there. Where does he go every night? Not having an answer to this only made him frustrated, but it was in his frustration, he thought of something. Forged in fire, forged in fire! His dream had given him the hint he needed. The answer to the test question was… "Fire," the professor said. "Fire is the fusion of all elements. It is combustion itself, it diffuses, or let me say spreads, it causes phase change and crystallization and, like dissolving, it breaks down substances. It is the only thing, besides a crucifix, that can permanently wound a monster. It is energy and matter itself, and no miracles will ever allow for a human fire controller. But that hasn't stopped monsters, and that is why fiery monsters like the salamander exist. And with that statement, I end one class and begin another."

"For this month's test, you will have a written test on monster physiology." He said before beginning the class. Once the class was done, Omari said to Soren as they walked out of the lecture hall, "I knew it was fire."

Soren chuckled, "I managed to deduce so. What about you, Sam?"

"I told you don't call me Sam," Samson said. "I managed to find a book that spoke about it."

"What! I spent an entire weekend skimming through every book in that library and found nothing," Omari said.

"That's because you were looking through books about the families and sigils instead of looking at the monster guides."

"Oh." Omari smiled, trying to pull it off when from the intercom, a voice announced, "Samson, please come pick up a parcel delivered for you," So off he went.

Soon after, Athena caught up to Omari and Soren. "Hey guys."

"Hey Athena," Omari greeted back, "Did you also get fire?"

She just laughed and said, "Let's not talk about that." 

They sat down, about to eat their food, but Samson came in with his parcel and asked, "Who wants-" "Me!" all of them yelled he could say, "cake."

Soren asked, "You don't like cake, Sam?"

Samson undid the packaging, "I don't like cake or when you call me Sam." Soren knew this. Only Omari could get away with calling him Sam, but it's the fact it annoyed him that Soren started doing it. Samson took out the cake and laid it on the table.

The fact the cake was shaped like a 16 made it obvious it was "A birthday cake." Athena said, a little surprised. "Happy birthday, Samson." She said, only to receive a glare from him before he walked away. She looked at Omari and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

Omari tried not to seem a bit saddened. "It's just that Sam's parents were killed by a salamander on his birthday, so he doesn't like celebrating it. You know, one time I asked him why he wants to become a slayer and he told me he does want to be weak anymore. I think he feels weak because he couldn't save them and his scar and birthday are just reminders of that." With that said. Everyone came to a silent understanding.

Then Athena asked, "Can we still eat the-" "No."

The next two classes went by quickly and soon enough, it was supper. After supper, while people made their way to their dorms, Samson made his way to the city but found Soren there, waiting for him. "You know, Sam, every night Omari wonders where you go, but from the start, I knew where you were."

"Don't call me Sam, and what you do plan on telling him?"

"I could never. I just wondered if you knew that without the professor here, if you fall while practising with that grappling gun of yours, you'll die, or does power mean that much to you?" 

"Unlike you, I put in the effort to get what I want. Damn, with how little you try, you could convince me you don't care about getting stronger."

"I don't, but I need to be strong."

"For who? Your dad? Your families who you hate? The people who think you're special. Don't kid yourself, you're not special and one day I'll show you that."

Soren clenched his fist, but then noticed he was crushing the thing he was holding: the reason he came here. "I'm going to leave. I'm not going to fight you on your birthday." As he walked past Samson, he put a letter to his chest and said, "Read it or burn it." When he arrived in the dorms, went straight to the showers. No matter how much he tried to suppress it, after what Samson said, he could help but think back to that day…

Soren sat cross-legged on the floor, his tiny fingers playing with the edge of his father's cloak. He couldn't have been older than four, but the memory burned brightly, etched in the sparks that had yet to awaken within him. His father knelt before him with a smile.

"Dad," Soren asked, "what was Mom like?"

"Your mother was … amazing. She had a laugh that could brighten even the darkest day and a way of speaking that made people stop and listen. She loved music—she'd hum little tunes while cooking, always off-key, but it made everything feel... alive."

Soren's small face scrunched with curiosity. "Was she strong?"

"Oh, stronger than anyone I've ever known," his father said, his smile deepening. "Not just in strength, but in heart. She could face down storms with a calm that made everyone around her believe it would pass. And her kindness…" 

He chuckled softly. "She was kind—so kind it hurt sometimes. She'd see a bird with a broken wing and spend days nursing it back to health."

"Did she love me?"

"More than anything in this world, my little spark. From the moment she knew you were coming, you were her everything. She'd sing to you, even before you were born. She'd dream about the kind of person you'd become."

Soren giggled at that, his little legs swinging in the air. "What's the best thing she ever did?"

His father's gaze grew distant for a moment, his voice dropping to a tender whisper. "Of all the amazing things she did, the greatest by far was giving birth to you."…

Samson was zipping between building, swinging around corners, wall running and leaping from rooftop to rooftop before he came to a stop. He was catching his breath, but remembered the letter Soren gave him. He pulled it out of his pocket and was about to rip it when he stopped and opened it and it said: "Happy Birthday. Not as a reminder that you were too weak to hold on to your old family, but as a reminder that over the years, you got strong enough to let Omari be your new one." Meanwhile, Soren just entered his bed. He looked across Omari's empty bed at Samson's empty bed. I'm special, I got to be, he thought before he saw something enter Samson's bed. "You decided to end practice early today, Sam?"

Samson looked Soren in the eyes and said, "For today, I feel strong enough, Ren."

"Hey! Don't call me that." Soren said. Samson laughed and Soren joined in.

"Anyway, where's Omari?"

"I kinda told him you were secretly training in the night, so he started doing the same."

"That idiot." Samson smiled. "Did I teach that clown that mimicry limits potential?"

"I think he knows, but he doesn't need infinite power. He just needs enough power to save people."

"I wish I was like him." 

"You are. You were always strong enough."

"It wasn't about my strength that Omari entered my life. I was getting shit beaten out of me by bullies when Omari appeared and cut the tops of their hair off. And threatened to cut off their fingers if they continued. It was at that moment we became friends, but there was a moment that happened afterwards that we don't talk about as much. The bullies' older brothers came and beat Omari bloody and again, I couldn't do anything because I was too weak. It was that day I decided I'll never be weak again so no, I'm not strong enough, not yet."