Conquering Darkness

Chapter 2

Running his fingers over the spines of books in his library, Blinky growled, frustrated. He was tired of searching but dreaded asking for help, wanting to maintain some shred of his independence. "Blinky? It's Jim again. Can I help you look for anything?" Blinky didn't flinch this time, but he sighed, knowing that he would have to surrender a little pride. "Yes, thank you. There should be a section of books with raised letters, meant to be read by tracing with your fingers. I miss reading, and this would be close enough."

Jim quickly found him a stack of raised-letter books, and Blinky thanked him, searching for and settling down into an armchair. "You know, humans have something like this too, but it's called braille. It's raised dots that code for letters of the alphabet." Blinky nodded intrigued. Jim continued to describe it, and Blinky listened intently, glad to have something to do for a while besides fumble around in the dark.

Blinky waited with his heart in his throat, twitching impatiently, while Vendel slowly unwrapped the bandages from his eyes. He opened his eyes when the bandages fell away, blinking slowly to see... nothing. There was still nothing. Vendel's treatment hadn't worked. Blinky's disappointment was bitter and deep, but his face revealed nothing of the wrecked state his mind was in. Vendel put a reassuring arm around Blinky's shoulders, and the two sat in silence for a long, long time.

*1 week later*

Sitting in a secluded section of tunnel near his library, Blinky listened intently, ears flicking occasionally. He could hear the faint, far-off bustle of troll market: heavy footsteps, things being bought and sold, the rising and falling voices of the hagglers... Blinky had noticed that ever since his blindness, he was learning how to compensate with his other senses, and was more sensitive than the others to subtle noises or smells. Then suddenly, soft, light footsteps crunched closeby. Blinky turned his head toward the noise reflexively, and stood when he heard Jim's warm greeting, quickly followed by those of Toby and Claire..

The group started discussing further plans for training when Blinky heard it- a dull thundering, sounding as if it came from within the rock above them. Jim was still talking, but Blinky raised a hand to stop him. "Do you hear that? Above, to the right a little." The sound was getting louder and louder, and the humans could eventually hear it. Then Blinky could hear the rock cracking and crashing, and he screamed, "Watch out!" Before reaching out blindly to shove his friends out of the way of the collapsing ceiling.