Luis stood at the
top of the One World Trade Center in New York. Getting up here wasn’t a breeze
but he needed to see the view. New York was considered the capitol of the world
and there were no dragons in sight. Luis grinned. Good. He didn’t want to have
to deal with his grandfather despising him for never killing a dragon. Not that
he had. All he had to do was make sure there weren’t any in the city.
Sitting down Indian
Style Luis took out his newest book. He had read every book in his
grandfather’s possession, a good eighty years from the old man and the rest of
his ancestors really took a toll off the sixteen year old but finally, he
managed it. Now, all he had to do was get caught up with the newer fictional
books. Well, fictional as he would say but his grandfather insister dragons
were real.
Never in his sixteen
years had Luis seen or felt a dragon but, his grandfather always talked about
his days as a dragon slayer and how Luis' his parents were both killed by dragons. Luis
didn’t hold it against the creatures, after all, he had hunter’s blood within
him, his whole family was a target. Still, Luis wished he had gotten to know
his father. All he remember were the chocolate brown eyes his father possessed
and the sweet voice his mother had. Other than that, he didn’t remember
anything.
Luis’grandfather
never let him live a day without hearing about his father’s heroic attempt to
save the city. He father sacrificed himself for the Unites States. Even though
his father wasn’t able to stop the Twin towers from falling that day he did stop the
last dragon raid on New York City. On September 11th 2001 there was
a terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York City. Luis didn’t remember
much since he had only been three at the time but his grandfather seemed to
remember everything. From the time the planes hit, to the last moment when he
realized that Luis’ mother was in the towers and had jumped. It was all such a
blur to Luis. Even though he wasn’t supposed to be glad about it he thought of
it as a peaceful reminder that his parents were a part of something special.
Setting the book to
the side, Luis looked down. His mother’s name was there and he knew exactly
where. Again, he felt no resentment towards Al-Qaida and its allies. All he
wanted was peace and sitting here looking over his mother and many other’s
memorial gave him that peace. He remember his grandfather and the anger that
washed over him. According to his grandfather it was his Slayer blood that had
made him want to fight. To him though, he thought of it as anger, every human
had anger.
Luis sighed, his
grandfather refused to let the matter go. Due to his grandfather Luis had to
keep a low profile speaking only when spoken to and when he had a chance, he’d stick his nose in a book but otherwise he talked to no one. There was one girl
though, she constantly tried to get his attention. He didn’t know why but he
didn’t want to bring her into his Dragon Slaying life so he pretended to not
notice her.
This was ultimately
unhealthy for him and for her. He even caught her calling him Senpai at one point and turned away in
reluctance. When she dressed down he’s smile, not to her face of course but he
wanted to know how pretty she really was without trying. The worst part was
that he had made a plan to keep her away and distracted. She was hopelessly
lost in him but, he was hopelessly lost in the game he was playing with her
too.
Taking out his cell
phone, Luis texted a number to send her an indirect text. The text would show
up under her phone as ‘Slayer’, a not so creative name that he redirected
through his phone. He told her that he didn’t have free minutes so she would
never call and he was glad but talking to her sometimes soothed his nerves.
As a slayer, he had
come home to training. The only time he wasn’t training was either to eat or to
read a book and up until he read the last book his grandfather had in his
collection, Luis was able to use the books as an excuse to ‘train through
knowledge’. Now that he was having to read more recent books, Luis had to train
and work for money in order to get the books he was wanting. His grandfather
had made a deal with him saying that if he did his six hours of training once
he got home every week and twelve hours on Saturday he’d give him money to buy
books. So, he made a deal with his grandfather. Every other week he would train
the full six hours and then the twelve while on the alternate weeks he would
test out of a skill every day or review.
At this point, Luis
knew every skill, weapon, move, practically everything he needed to know and he
found it pointless to train under his grandfather. However, as long as he
didn’t have to move to another state, or country for that matter, he was fine.
Texting wasn’t allowed at home. If his grandfather caught him he’d had to run
five laps in Central park, which he didn’t mind at first because he could text
anyways while running but then his grandfather started to run with him.
Getting up, Luis
groaned. The old man was as healthy as he was for an eighty year old geezer.
Sure, Luis was faster but the old man could out run him through distance.
Turning his back to the memorial Luis’ eyes took to the skies. Blood surging,
he felt what his grandfather would have called the blood of a Slayer grind
inside him. There, weaving through the clouds was his very first encounter and
he hoped it’d be his last.
Squeezing the book
Eragon in his hand, Luis could feel the distance between the two. Bind hitting
the top of the building, Luis drew his arrow that he never thought he’d have to
muster up. Part of his very soul centered in an arrow giving him the power it needed to take
down the dragon. Pulling back on the string, his phone vibrated. Letting go,
Luis didn’t bother to watch it fly. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he read
the message to himself.
-You are right, the world is so much more beautiful when
looking from the skies.
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