The Nova Ranker - The Sword Almighty

Chapter 4. My First Kiss.

I wanna say I managed to stay awake for most of the flight, taking in the sights, and even poked around the Cancún airport a little. But no. I didn't even get to watch the in-flight movie. I was out cold by the time the plane took off, and woke up more or less an hour before the plane got to Chicago. I didn't even think to look out the window or enjoy the 1st class amenities. I could've had a hotel-grade continental breakfast and instead ended up literally sleeping on the offer.

As the plane approached the Airport, I checked my letter, solely to make sure we wouldn't get lost. We'd be picked up at 10AM in O'Hare International Airport, meaning we had about an hour after landing to go to the bathroom and such. Missing out on that good breakfast wouldn't have been that bad, but then I realized I would have to eat from some fast food place at the airport. I've heard the horrible tales of fast food induced indigestion. What do people in the US feed their animals to make the food so vile?

We got off the plane and poked around a little. I thought El Dorado was an impressive airport. This place made me feel inappropriate. The airport had a dinosaur skeleton on display. I don't have to explain why that is the most awesome thing ever, right? People were animating rocks and bits of metal in theatrical representations of fights. Fountains drew arcs and loops in impossible angles. Fire eating acts. Gorgeous flowers from everywhere in the world. There had to be some sort of cultural festival or something. This place was teeming with life and magic like nothing I had never seen in Colombia. We walked around, taking in the sights, trying to decide what to have for breakfast. We settled on pizza.

We made the right choice. It had so much sauce and cheese, and whatever they did to the chicken made it worth every penny. Pizza for breakfast is best when cold, but this did the job just fine. I checked my phone a few times during the wait for 10AM, feeling quite thankful for the advent of free Wi-Fi. Still nothing from Franziska. I was starting to worry. Was she alright? Had her flight gone okay? Was she still flying? I imagined she was still flying. Chicago is much further away from Hamburg than it is from Bogotá.

Feeling satisfied with our breakfast, probably one of the most decadent meals we'd had until that day, my brother and I stepped out, following a map towards the meeting point indicated by our letters. You'd think I'd expect luxury given the 1st class flight I just totally wasted, but that didn't prepare me for the Bus that was waiting for us.

I think it was the gold trimming that made it click into my mind that the Rankers had more money than some small countries. I had to read the mind of the driver about 20 times before I was fully convinced that this was the bus that would take us to the Rankers' HQ. We stepped up to the bus, showed our letters and sat there. We weren't the only ones in the bus, and I detected internal monologues in several languages, and accents. I could understand what their minds were saying, because that's how mind reading works, but they were still in different languages. Most of them were in English, but I could hear Louisiana French, Kansai Japanese, Stockholm Swedish and even Low German, among many others.

Wait Low German? That's the dialect they speak in Hamburg! My brain went into hyperdrive. And I started to read the mind of whoever this person was. They were focused on a few thoughts. [... Did he receive my last email? Is he doing okay? This is too much luxury...] No doubts about it. Even if her internal monologue was a bit different than the actual voice she used to speak to me, that was absolutely Franziska's voice. She was here.

"Hey Andy, would you, like uh.... Hold my seat for me?" I scrambled out of my seat without waiting for my brother's answer and scurried over to where the mind was most intensely audible. And there she was. Almost my same height, blond hair cascading over narrow shoulders, as she looked out the window. Oh, and for added effect she was wearing that one Metallica T-Shirt she always wore whenever she sent pictures of herself. "Franny!"