John turned away and gazed out the window beside him. Off in the distance he could see the spider web of highways and interstates that intertwined throughout the city. Hundreds of cars whizzed past the train as it slowly made its way deeper into the city. For a moment, John felt claustrophobic. The metal box was moving too slow. He needed that open road again, that limitless freedom. Unfortunately for him, though, his Charger was torn apart on some unnamed mountain road a few dozen miles behind him.
He sighed and turned away from the window and watched Aerin again, she was still glued to the window taking in the sights like a child. He smiled as the train screeched, pulling into their stop slowly. The old train shook back and forth until it finally came to a stop. The doors slid open and everyone inside, including John and Aerin, disembarked. If Aerin hadn’t been awestruck before, she definitely was now. She turned slowly in place, mouth slightly agape, as she took in the city around them. Her eyes were fixed on the man skyscrapers that dominated Station’s skyline around them. A train blew past them at high speeds and she turned quickly to see it. So on and so forth, she took in all the sights around her.
“It’s… so big!” She marveled. “I’ve seen it from up top, but I never came this far down!”
“You get used to it.” John said, still hiding the fact that he, too, stood in awe. “So, what are you hungry for?” He asked as he began to walk toward the stairs that led down to the ground level. He figured it was best to rope her amazement in quickly or else he wouldn’t manage to get anything done at all.
“Well…” Aerin followed close behind and he watched as she fell deep into thought. It struck him as slightly funny. Finally, Aerin seemed to have hit upon an answer. “How about a burger?” She proposed.
“You like burgers?” John asked.
“Mhm.” Aerin hummed with a nod. “I haven’t had one in a long time though.”
“Alright then.” John seemed happy with this conclusion. “There’s a pretty good place not too far from here.”
He motioned for Aerin to follow him and they continued on. The streets down on the ground level were rather dark. The sun was mostly blocked out from the tall skyscrapers and many levels of train lines that ran above. Most of the light came from the many street lights that lined the sidewalks as well as the ones that hung from the girders holding up the train tracks. It was a little too dark for John’s liking. He’d spent the last few weeks holed up in the darkness of his room and had been yearning for the sun. The last time he’d been down this road, it had been nearly pitch black, but this time seemed different. It was like there was a bit more light than usual. He shrugged off the thought and continued on; brushing past the sea of faces that was on the sidewalk with him as he led Aerin along.
Eventually they got off the main thoroughfare and headed down a smaller alleyway. There were far less travelers here and Aerin was able to break away and run ahead of John as she explored like a child. He still couldn’t quite grasp the fact that she was actually an Angel. Had he not seen her in action for himself, he’d just think of her as another wide eyed girl. As they approached the diner he cleared his head and motioned for Aerin to follow him inside.
The scene inside of the diner was vastly different than that of the outside world. It was small and quiet, and there was a pleasant smell of grease in the air. A petite waitress who wore a 50’s era dress, which was the theme of the diner, quickly ushered them over to a booth. Their seats were positioned next to the window, and Aerin watched as the cars outside zipped by. John listened to a faint tune playing in the background as Aerin’s gaze darted from one thing to another. He had almost pegged what the song was before the waitress returned once more and interrupted them. Aerin ordered the largest burger that they served, extra messy; John ordered the size just below that one, plain. The waitress chuckled at their mismatched orders and quickly rushed away only to return shortly with two large plates of food.
Aerin took the whole burger into both hands and lifted it to her mouth. It was full of grease and secreted juices that were questionable at best. Without wasting another second, she took a large bite. It was a much larger portion than John had imagined her capable, and he watched her expressions intently. Aerin tossed the food around her mouth for a moment before freezing solid. A strange expression covered her face, like the calm before a storm. Suddenly her eyes opened wide in amazement. They seemed to glint with an odd sparkle as she quickly swallowed the larger than normal helping before speaking.
“It’s so good!” She almost exclaimed. Her outburst drew a few smiles and soft laughter from nearby customers. The waitress smiled as she quickly ran around the counter to surely tell the cook about his fine work. “It’s much… better than… the last one.” She attempted to speak as she ate far faster than anyone should.
“How… How long has it been since you last had one?” John asked. The display of ravenous hunger before him wasn’t natural at all.
Before Aerin could answer, she had to quickly chew and swallow another large. She picked up her glass of soda and washed the food down. With a wipe of her mouth she looked up to John and smiled. “That’s a secret.” She said with a wink.
John shrugged at her answer and eventually finished his food in a timely manner, far after Aerin had finished her own helping. He stood from the table and paid the tab before motioning Aerin to follow him. On his way out he handed the nice waitress a decent tip for her services, to which she blushed and quickly ran back off toward the kitchen. Just as John had suspected, a cold wind had begun to blow outside and the temperature had dropped just a bit. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and checked both directions to make sure they wouldn’t get hit before he crossed the street.
“Where are we going now?” Aerin questioned. She was drastically less enthusiastic about the city than she was before now that she’d been fed.
“I’m going to go report my car stolen.” John answered.
“What? Why?” Aerin asked.
“Well.” He thought on his answer for a moment as he stopped at a crosswalk. The sound of a train roaring above him caused him to think harder than he should have. “Last night my car got blown up.” Just by uttering the words, he could see Aerin’s disposition drop. “The whole road got destroyed too.” He added. “I don’t want the cops thinking that was me.”
“Oh…” Aerin nodded in understanding as she followed him across the halted street. “Smart.” She praised half-heartedly, knowing the destruction was in fact because of her.
The police station was a bit more of a walk than the diner had been. It was located farther inside the city near the center, but still too close to warrant another train ride. The farther in they walked, the lighter the convoluted sky became. Most of the train lines curved off into different directions that formed a circle, more or less, around the heart of the city. John looked up at the sky and noted the position of the sun, slightly off dead center. Hopefully he had made it just in time to get inside after lunch break. His hopes were realized once he entered into the government building. In no time, he had sat down with an officer and filed the mountains of paperwork necessary to state such a claim.
“Well, John.” The elderly officer spoke from across his large desk. “It looks like everything checks out.” He said as he shuffled the papers into one neat stack.
“Thank God.” John breathed a sigh of relief.
He leaned back into the terribly uncomfortable wooden chair and gazed up at the ceiling. It was a bland shade of white, as were the rest of the walls around him in the officer’s cubicle. The chair had a loose screw and squeaked loudly with every movement. He brushed his hair away from his face as the officer before him placed the paperwork neatly into a manila envelope. Aerin had found a small pamphlet on the officer’s desk that she flipped through idly to pass the time. The place was dull.
“We actually found your car last night.” The officer spoke up after he had finished filing the papers. “So I guess your story matches up alright.”
> “Really?” John asked, keeping up the ruse as best he could. “Where was it?”
“State road 37.” The officer spun around and pointed to a map that was pinned to his wall. “It’s a little mountain road way up here.” He explained. “It’s crazy too; whole road was torn up real bad. Something serious must’ve gone down up there.”
“Damn...” John leaned forward in his chair. “That’s crazy.”
“Anyways.” The officer leaned back in his chair, which appeared to be far more comfortable than the lot John had to deal with. “All the paperwork’s been filed.” He slid the envelope across the desk to John. “You keep this copy. You should be able to call your insurance company now that you’ve got the report. Sorry about your loss.”
“Will do, and thank you.” John said back to the officer as he stood.
Aerin followed John closely until they were once again outside the building. The sky had become dense with clouds during the short time they had been inside filing the report. John looked down at the envelope briefly before folding it over and stuffing it into his back pocket. Seeing no reason to wait around, he turned and began to head toward the nearest train station.
“That sounded like it went well.” Aerin observed as she followed closely beside John.
“Yeah, I guess.” He agreed. His gaze drifted toward the train tracks that had reappeared overhead. “I’ll call the insurance company and see what I can get.” He stated.
“How much do you think you’ll get?” She asked.
“Not nearly enough.” John responded with a sigh. He hung his head low as he led Aerin up toward the nearest platform. “I’ll be lucky if I can get a fraction of what I dumped into it.”
“That’s not fair.” Aerin stated. John could tell that she was attempting to cheer him up somehow, even though she was failing miserably at it.
“You’re telling me.” John agreed with her. If she was doing her best with the situation, he felt that he should at least try as well. “Life’s not too fair, but I guess that’s just how it is.” The words weren’t exactly what he had wanted to say.
“Yeah.” Aerin agreed.
With that, their conversation effectively died. A cold wind blew through the station, funneled into a tunnel by the structure’s poor design. Aerin’s hair began to blow around in an annoying manner, so she quickly stuffed it into her hoodie and raised her hood to cover her head from the chill. John didn’t have such a luxury and instead popped his collar out in an attempt to divert the wind away from traveling down his shirt. He leaned back against the cold metal crossbeam behind him with his hands in his pockets. The platform was relatively deserted save for John and Aerin. An awkward silence had befallen them both.
“Hey, Aerin.” John spoke up, breaking the silence. “Do you mind if we practice a little when we get back?” He asked.
“I was actually going to ask you the same thing.” Aerin immediately stated with the smallest smile. Her spirits seemed to rise just a bit.
The train pulled into the station just as loud as the one they had ridden earlier had. The doors opened with a squeal and they boarded quickly; in an instant, they were off. The ride back was quiet, just as the platform had been. John slumped over against the wall of the train and drifted off into sleep, he was still feeling the effects of the previous night’s adventures. Aerin sat quietly across from John and watched the buildings gradually fade in size outside. The train diverted off on a different path that lead them around the back of the city’s outskirts. The detour added a few more minutes onto their trip before they pulled into the station they had started from.
John yawned and sat up in his chair as the train ground loudly to a halt. The doors opened once again with a terrible squeal and they made their way out of the platform. After a short walk, John led Aerin back inside the apartment building. The elevator in the lobby still had an “Out of Service” sign plastered across it and so John headed up the stairs. After a few flights he pushed hard on the metal crash bar on the top floor. The door opened with a rusty groan out onto the empty expanse of the building’s rooftop. The place was deserted, save for a few air conditioning units that were scattered here and there. The roof would serve as a perfect training ground as the only ones to ever come up were the delinquent children from the first floor, the occasional maintenance worker, and John.
“This should do.” Aerin observed.
“Yeah.” John agreed as he shut the door behind him. “It’s pretty roomy up here, so we won’t have to worry about breaking anything.”
“You’re right, but…” Aerin walked around the rooftop until she came relatively toward the center. “Just to make sure.”
She dropped to one knee and clapped her hands together before slamming them down onto the hard concrete. A large blue glyph appeared beneath her. Multiple smaller circles spun within it as it circled around her on the concrete. Something expanded outward from within the circle suddenly. It was a sphere that slowly engulfed Aerin. It continued to grow and eventually passed through John as well. He felt a strangely warm tingle throughout his body as he entered into the space. The world within the sphere was grey, and it seemed that time itself had ceased its motion.
“What… what is it?” John asked as he turned around, marveling at the sheer scale of the structure. It expanded outward in all directions for multiple blocks until finally stopped. John examined the structure with mouth slightly agape; it was his turn to be awestruck.
“This is a barrier.” Aerin stated as she stood. “It’ll keep us from harming anything or anyone in the real world.”
“Oh, I get it.” John understood. He narrowed his gaze toward Aerin. “It’s the same thing that demon escaped from just before you killed me, right?”
“H-How long are you going to keep bringing that up?” Aerin asked, clearly distressed, but slightly annoyed.
“Until I get tired of it. Or I come back to life, either one really?” John said as he shrugged.
“Whatever!” Aerin turned away from him and crossed her arms. “Just hurry up and call out your sword!” She pouted and mumbled something incoherent to herself.
“Sure thing.” John said with a smile.
He stretched his arm out beside of him to call out his sword, but quickly remembered that he had left it on his back. He reached behind himself and closed his eyes. He could feel it, it wasn’t physically there but he could definitely feel it. As he closed his fingers around the hilt he felt power well up inside of him once more. Flames burst up from around his feet as he pulled the sword from its home. John could feel a weight once more in his right hand; looking over, he confirmed that his sword had once again manifested correctly. Aerin slowly turned to face him as he examined the sharpness of his blade. He lowered the sword just in time to see an awkward expression on the girl’s face. She brought her hand up and placed it on her forehead as she shook her head slowly from side to side.
“I knew I forgot something....” She mumbled.
“What? What is it?” John asked in confusion. “What did you forget?”
“We were so pressed for time last night…” She crossed her arms again and leaned her weight over onto her right leg. “I forgot to make you conjure your protection.”
“Protection?” John repeated. He thought for a moment on the implications, and didn’t like what he saw. “You mean… like armor?” He seemed to hit the sweet spot, as Aerin simply nodded in silence. “So… wait a second.” John was dumbfounded. “You mean I went out there with just a sword? Naked?!” His statement was only answered by a silent nod once more.
“I’m sorry.” Aerin apologized for her blunder. “Hey, if it’s any consolation, you did okay without it.” She said with a shrug as she tried to cheer him up, which only elicited a heavy sigh from John. “Okay… just imagine your soul like you did before. The rest should just come natural.”
“Right, my soul...”
He closed his eyes and did as he was instructed. He visualized his soul once more, just as he
had the previous night. There it was in front of him, a pale blue sphere. He held the sphere in his hands, deep inside he could see that it had molded into a blade; but as he looked closer, he could tell something was off. It was as if half of his soul was still bland, devoid of any molding. John took hold of that part of his soul, and he began to mold it. He didn’t know what he was doing, his hands were once again moved by a force unseen within him, but somehow he knew it would work out. Finally, the product was finished. He grabbed hold of his soul, just as he had done with his blade. The flames once again welled up around his body, but they were different now. They burned hotter than before as they consumed his whole body within their inferno.
“Oh, wow.” Aerin marveled as the flames finally died down. “Great choice!” She praised as she walked around inspecting him. “I was worried you’d pick something bad, but this looks alright.”
John looked down at himself to see what was so great. His outfit was drastically different from the attire he had just been wearing. His long sleeve sweater had been replaced by a white button down shirt with a large collar that opened up at the end. Below, on his legs, he wore long black slacks that were stuffed into tall brown boots that covered his feet. He looked down at his hands; both of them were protected by thick brown leather gloves. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly; there was good traction between his gloves and the handle. On top of his clothing was his real protection, thick leather armor. John slapped his fist against the chest piece that he was wearing; it was thick, sturdy enough to possibly stop another blade. He ran his hand up his arm and discovered a large metal pad extending off of his shoulder. Though it was thick, it wasn’t heavy. It was cut in all the right places to provide maximum mobility. John could tell that he would be protected in this without sacrificing any speed. How he knew that, he wasn’t sure though. He took one last look down at himself before smiling a pride filled grin toward Aerin. All about him he had the look of some 18th century swordsman.
“This is pretty nice.” He stated. “It’s light enough to move around in too.”
Slayer: A Demon Hunter's Tale Page 4
