Chapter 79 - Meanwhile II (1/2)

Chapter 79: Meanwhile II

ELIJAH KNIGHT’S POV:

Holy c.r.a.p…

What the h.e.l.l was going on?  All I did was miss half a day of school; suddenly Denton gets hung up, b.u.t.t-naked, and now a building’s on fire?

We had all just rushed out of the Disciplinary Committee room after hearing the explosion.  I thought that it was a spell gone wrong or something of that nature.

This… this looked more like a purposeful act of terrorism.  Who would do this? Why would someone do this?  What is going on?

“F*ck! it’s them again,” I overheard Theodore say as if he predicted this.

The ‘them’ that Theodore was talking about, was he possibly referring to the same people that beat and humiliated Denton?

KATHYLN GLAYDER’S POV:

I remember one time being lectured as a child by my home instructor.  I have little memory of why I was chastised, but from what I was told, I had refused to partic.i.p.ate in cla.s.s with some of the other n.o.bles’ children; apparently, my mother had thought it was a good idea for me to make friends while I was learning.

That hadn’t work out as smoothly as she had hoped it would because I had ended up throwing a tantrum on the first day saying that I didn’t want to make friends with them because they weren’t princesses like me.

Ignoring the kindly knitted words of discipline from the home instructor, I had barged into my room and slammed the door shut, refusing to come out.

Later that afternoon, after the other n.o.ble children and home instructor had left, my mother knocked on the door even though there was no lock.

She sat down next to me on my bed and ran her fingers gently through my hair; even though I couldn’t remember how I responded, what she had said to me left such a lasting impression that, even as a six year old, I can still almost recall her exact words:

“My little Kathlyn, I know you think you did nothing wrong; everyone gets angry and fights for what they believe in. What I want you to know, my little baby, is that before you are a princess, you are a person.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a king, a servant, a powerful mage, an elf or a dwarf.  A person is a person.

Everyone is different and that is what makes everyone special in their own ways. Don’t hate someone for something that they can’t change.  What if people didn’t like you because you had round ears or because you had beautiful white skin? Or a perky little nose?”

She proceeded to tickle me in each of the parts she mentioned, leaving me in a fit of giggles.

My mother was sensible and smart but not in the least bit cold like her appearance sometimes implied.  She cared for everyone as people, not as humans, elves, or dwarves.  She disciplined my brother and me heavily when it came to any type of discrimination; whether it was social cla.s.ses or races.

All of us bolted up from our seats at the sound of the explosions and immediately headed outside. I couldn’t help but cringe, tightening my fists in both frustration and disappointment upon seeing the disastrous scene laid out before us.

There was a thick cloud of smoke rising from the area near the center of the campus.

Behind me, I could hear Claire click her tongue as she continued to mutter a string of curses under her breath.

Half of the recently-constructed building was up in flames, while the other half was crumbling down, collapsing beneath its own weight.  There were students evacuating out of the building while some nearby capable staff members and professors were already going into the building to look for those stranded or stuck.

“I should’ve known they would aim for this building at some point,” Theodore swore aloud as he stomped his foot into the ground.

We hurriedly made our way to the site.

This building was named Tri-Union Hall.  It served as both a museum and a monument for the alliance between the three races. My mother, who argued heavily to persuade the rest of the Council to erect this building was the happiest when it was first built.

She had explained to me that it had been built to be both a symbol as well as a place for the three races to learn about the differences in each other’s culture.

For it to have been a target, my a.s.sumption could also only lean towards the same radical group that had been creating a mess these days.

I strained my eyes, holding my tears back.

Claire ordered Kai to go alert the rest of the professors and staff.  When she ordered Feyrith and I to help the mages who were already there put out the fire before it brought down the whole building, I couldn’t help but notice his expression turning from angry to dejected.

I almost wanted to apologize, as if it was my fault.  Doradrea didn’t seem to take this whole event to heart but I could tell Feyrith wasn’t as emotionally strong. I wanted him to know that not all humans thought like this but somehow the words got caught in my throat.  I was never good at expressing my thoughts like my mother… or Arthur.

While supporting the professors that went inside the collapsing building, I spotted the Student Council, minus the President, making their way towards the scene as well.

Without even the time to exchange h.e.l.los, we all got to work, the water attribute mages helped put out the fire while earth and wind attribute mages kept the building from collapsing.  A couple of other student mages were already chanting spells in harmony by the time we got there.