“Pathetic, isn’t she, came into her powers late. She gives the Denai a bad name.” I didn’t have to look up to see that it was Syrani and her gaggle of friends laughing on the way out and purposely knocking against me. If only they knew I wasn’t even a Denai.

Another crack of thunder and Instructor Weston walked over to me.

“Thalia, I must apologize for singling you out like that. I assumed you had been trained. I have not been given any information regarding your circumstances. I’ve only been notified that you are different than the others. Can you tell me what training and education you have had?”

“I can read, write and do basic arithmetic, but as to anything else you spoke on today, absolutely nothing.”

Professor Westen blanched in surprise. ”So no one in your family was Denai? How odd. When did you acquire your gifts? Most Denai achieve them before puberty.”

“Well, I can tell you that I only, ah, uh, acquired them recently… as in two days ago?”

He blinked in disbelief.

I blurted out all of the fears and insecurities I felt in a rush of hurried sentences. “I’m in over my head. I’m at a complete disadvantage compared to the others. I don’t know what I can and can’t do, so how am I supposed to learn here?”

“Do you think you’re the only one with a disadvantage to overcome? Look at me, Thalia.”

I looked at Instructor Weston as he instructed but I found it uncomfortable to stare at his still grey eyes. I shifted my eyes back to the ground.

“Can you see?” his deep voice rumbled.

“See what?” I asked, looking back to his face in confusion.

“I can’t,” he answered.

“I don’t understand…” And then I did. I looked into Instructor Weston’s grey unseeing eyes and realized. He was blind.

Chapter 14

“It happened long ago, when I was a child. I fell from a tree and hit my head,” Instructor Weston explained. “When I woke up, everything was dark. My parents found me some time later but no matter how many healers they took me to, none could restore my sight. I was stricken with grief. I couldn’t go on living like an invalid. I felt like I was half a man.” Weston smiled crookedly. “Well, half a boy, I should say. I went into the woods and called on the largest thunderstorm possible in an attempt to kill myself. It was then, during the rumble of the thunder that I realized for a split second I could see.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I see through the thunder’s vibrations.”

“Like a bat?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Very much like a bat. The thunder causes vibrations and, for a second only, I can see the world in black and white. So during the deadliest storm, in the dead of night, when all hope at a normal life was gone, I still chose life.”

It explained why the other students never jumped from the thunder, they were used to it. It was why he was never seen in the commons or main hall, he couldn’t see beyond the vibrations of the thunder. So he chose a life of solitude within the arena.

Instructor Weston sat thinking for a moment and went to a nearby hollowed tree where he selected a few books from inside before handing them to me. “Here, read these and hopefully this will catch you up on what you need to know.”

Reluctantly I took the books and thanked him for his help. The rest of the day went very similar to my first class, with students avoiding me. I, of course, embarrassed myself with my obvious lack of knowledge.

I decided to skip lunch again and hide out in my room. Picking up the first book that Weston gave me, I looked at it. It appeared to be a child’s reading primer, including pictures. I rolled my eyes at the thought of what I possibly could learn from a picture book, but I sat legs crossed in the window seat and opened the small, red leather bound book.

I was most surprised by the beautiful artwork encompassing each page. The first page included a tall, beautiful being almost ethereal in nature surrounded by white light. The caption described the person as being one of the first Denai.

In short, the book told about the coming of Denai to the human plane; how the race of powerful beings was unjustly banished from their ancestral home. Seeking refuge among the humans, they offered their healing services for asylum. The people of Avellgard were wary at first, thinking the Denai gift was nothing more than tricks. Over time, they accepted them and their power as the land grew under the Denai’s touch, sickness disappeared and the people prospered. The Denai became the unspoken guardians of Avellgard.

But Avellgard was ruled by a weak-willed King and it wasn’t long before others noticed Avellgard’s growing wealth and prosperity and wanted it for themselves. The King asked the Denai to help fight the invading countries but the Denai refused to take part in the coming human war.

They watched in silence, as war came upon the humans that they had begun to love, followed by years of death, strife and famine. The country quit flourishing and the borders of the land were in an ever-changing state, whole kingdoms were built in a day and destroyed the next.

The Denai were a long-lived race and the wars made the Denai sick as they watched whole generations of friends die by the sword. Another picture depicted a Denai bathed in light crying over the death of a human.

Then a dark day became darker when King Ridgar was crowned and demanded the Denai power for his own use. When the Denai refused again, he began killing their children as punishment. It didn’t stop and genocide began until only the strongest Denai were left.

Then Sinnendor’s King, King Brancynal II, with his anti-Denai campaign, began an invasion with the sole purpose of removing the rest of the Denai taint from the world. The Denai realized their race was coming to an end, so in a last ditch effort, the remaining Denai joined forces and entered the human war knowing that by doing so, they would never be able to return to their ancestral home.

The Denai used their powers to defeat both countries’ armies in their tracks, killing Avellgard’s King and exiling Sinnedor’s King to the Shadow Mountains. This was known as the First Denai War.

The Denai took up an oath to protect their new homeland, with a promise that it would never again be ruled by a king, but by a Queen. They chose a human girl with a kind heart and made her Queen. Since then, the country has always been ruled by a Queen and her councilors of Denai. The Denai healed the land, gave hope to the people and rebuilt the country, renaming it Calandry.

I gazed at another picture of a fierce Denai holding a flaming sword, guarding the path to the city, pointing toward the distant mountains as the King of Sinnendor crawled away in defeat.

As the years passed the Denai diminished in power and beauty, and the once proud and noble race was on the verge of extinction. They took on human characteristics and traits, and they believed it was their punishment for killing the King and entering the human war.

So they accepted their fate and prayed for redemption as they stood guard over the humans of Calandry.

The final picture showed a Denai holding a human baby girl with curls, and though the baby was cute, it did not capture your attention like the beauty and light that emanated from the Denai.

Closing the book, I let the tears fall for the Denai. My heart ached for the race that was banished here as they tried to live peacefully among the humans, only to be forced into a war to save themselves and losing their chance to return home.