When Swords Turn Black

Omari stood frozen. In front of him and approaching him was a monster, a salamander with no slayer to slay it. Too scared to run, knowing from last time that he wasn't fast enough, he tried pulling out his butterfly knife, but his shivering hands dropped it. All the while, the salamander just walked toward him, taking one sizzling step at a time. He went on his knees to pick up his butterfly knife but found prostrate before the monster. He could feel the heat coming off the salamander intensifying as it approached, then slowly starting to dissipate as it walked past him. Maybe it didn't notice Omari, maybe it had mercy on him, but nonetheless, it was going. But going where? Omari asked himself. Then it hit him. It's going for the others. Omari sprung up and slashed open the salamander's back. What am I doing? He preemptively ducked before the salamander whipped its tail at his head. 

He slashed at its ankle before jumping and avoiding its tail leg sweep. But midair when he was about to stab it in the head, he could not avoid it whipping its tail at his chest, flinging him back. He hit the ground, clutching his burned chest. It burns, it burns, it burns, he thought, getting up to watch the salamander heal. To make things worse, Omari's knife was being warped by the heat, so it would only survive one more direct hit. The hit had to be fatal; otherwise, he would be done for. Knowing this, he started swinging his knife wildly, sending slashes at the salamander, but none of them hit. The salamander ran towards Omari, but as it was about to reach him, the floor beneath it collapsed, as that was what Omari's cuts were aiming for. He didn't need to kill it, he just needed to stall til someone calls for help so that someone who could kill it would appear, until the slayer came. 

So getting someone to call and keep the salamander's attention, he screamed, "There is a monster!" while running, but like he thought, he was not fast enough. From below, a salamander used its tail to smash through the floor. It then grabbed Omari, pulled him down, and flung him at a door. The door exploded on impact. Omari coughed blood and rolled across the classroom, only coming to a stop when he hit the wall. It hurts, but he saw there were students in the classroom smoking. "Call for help." He stood up and things were falling out of his backpack. The salamander walked through the door and he swung his knife and used its slash to cut a hole into the wall to the next classroom so that the others could get away. Following suit, the salamander turned toward them. 

Omari sent a slash at it, but it grabbed a table with its tail and threw it at Omari for the table to be slashed instead, while the salamander chased the others. When Omari ran after the salamander into the next class and threw a slash but it wouldn't bat an eye. Its eyes were on the others who were running out this class' door. It ran for the door, but Omari was right behind it. Once he got close, though, it quickly stopped and turned around. He stabbed it in the neck, but the knife bent from the heat before it grabbed him by the face and bashed his head into the wall. It… baited me. He was bleeding from his skull and could feel himself becoming lightheaded, but when the salamander was walking away, he wanted to keep going. Clang. something from his backpack fell out, and it was heavy. He looked at it, grabbed it and slashed the salamander's back open again. 

It recoiled from the slash and turned back to look at Omari, who was holding the crucifix he was given and the slash it made wouldn't heal. The salamander clawed at him, but with his sword, he cut off its hand before it could even touch him. It jumped back a good distance and looked at its arm, which wouldn't heal, and flung its hot blood at him. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, but it used that cover to run in, grab him, and throw him out the window. For that moment, time slowed. Omari looked down and saw the four stories he was going to fall and knew in his heart he was going to die, but when he looked up, he knew it wasn't for nothing. The clouds had just formed a σ shape. Everyone else would be evacuated, but the fact he could see the sign meant once again he would be the exception. He was going to die, but at that moment, Omari knew could die happy. Then he woke up and all he could see was white.

The roof was white. He looked around to see he was in a hospital bed and near him was, "Hey, I'm sorry I was late." Omari smiled. 

"For someone with lightning control, you're pretty slow."

"It's hard to compete with you being at the scene before we even knew there was one. Thanks though, if it wasn't for you, people would have died that day, not to mention you made my job easy. For obvious reasons, we had to take back that crucifix you made, but we won't ask how you got it, nor will we send you to jail-" "Sending me to jail!" Omari coughed.

"Yep, owning a crucifix unless you're a slayer is very illegal, no matter how much you want to be a slayer. If you want your own crucifix, you got to go to slayer school. Will you?"

Omari was quiet for a while, then said, "All I want to do is keep saving people."

"Then I'll take that as a yes." The slayer stood up. "I hope you and my son will get along."

And left as Omari's dad entered the room.

Omari told his dad everything, even the illegal things, and his dad, like the clown he was, just laughed at it all. Maybe it ran in the blood. But once Omari started talking about the last detention, the laughing died. Omari spoke about how senselessly scared he was, but he was more scared of letting people dying around him. He spoke about how much it hurt, but he didn't want to see anyone else in pain and he spoke about how he thought he was going to die but couldn't help but feel happy knowing he saved people. So when his dad asked, "So you found what will make you happy before you die?" He just nodded and his dad said, "then let's sign you up for slayer school."