THE ASHES OF LIGHT ✔

Chapter Eight: Maythus

Maythus left the classroom, rubbing at his forehead with a frown. That was one of the downsides to being a telepath—after practicing telepathy for hours on end, he got a wicked headache.

He felt thankful for the trees casting plenty of shade as he sat down on a bench, shutting his eyes. It was only getting hotter as the year neared summer time, and soon the heat would be unbearable.

Maythus's eyes flung open as someone called his name. He looked up to see Max, the head instructor of the Academy, jogging over.

"Do you have a minute?" Max asked, coming to a stop in front of the bench.

"Of course," Maythus replied, standing up.

"I was going to find your sister, but she's still in class," Max explained. "This is your free period, correct?"

Maythus nodded, "Correct."

"Great! If you don't mind, I'm going to move your schedule around a bit—instead of having hand-to-hand combat last, I'm going to put it for this period."

"Why?" Maythus questioned. He wasn't opposed to switching around his schedule, but he would like it to be for a good reason.

"Well, that's why I was going to find your sister," Max scratched at the back of his neck. "Valencia—the new girl? Yeah, she has hand-to-hand next and she's in a class full of people with experience. I was thinking it would be nice for her to have a familiar face with her."

Maythus felt the butterflies in his stomach come to life at the mention of Valencia.

"Just, you know, help her out and make her feel welcome," Max continued. "Sounds good?"

"Sounds good," Maythus confirmed. Max patted him on the shoulder and jogged away, likely to deal with his other duties as head instructor.

Hand-to-hand combat was Maythus's least favorite class. Actually, combat with weapons was his least favorite class. The thought that he might actually have to use those techniques one day on an expedition made him feel sick—he was the type of person who couldn't kill a spider when he saw one. Maythus would always pick it up and carry it outside. If he couldn't even kill an arachnid, how could Maythus be expected to kill—or at least severely injure—a person?

He began walking in the direction of the Arena, which was located past all of the other buildings in the Academy. Two of its walls were built into the mountainside, one was facing the rest of the Academy, and one was exposed to the open cliff—protected by a tall, glass barrier.

The Arena was a term used to describe the entire area, whereas the actual arena inside was just for training and the occasional fight. There were a number of storage rooms off to the side, containing a variety of padding, armor, and weapons.

When Maythus finally reached the Arena, Valencia was already there. There were a few other pairs of students practicing combat already and the instructor was walking around, handing out a few tips here and there and teaching new moves.

"Hey," Maythus called from a distance, causing Valencia to turn around. She smiled at the sight of him and he quickly returned the grin. "You ready?"

"I didn't know you were in this class!" Valencia exclaimed, her blue eyes twinkling in the sun.

Maythus debated telling her that he wasn't actually in this class, that his schedule had been switched around for her, but he decided against it.

"Yep, I didn't know you were in this class," Maythus joked.

"Well, I'm glad you at least know what you're doing, because I have no idea what's happening," Valencia looked around, her expression suggesting that she felt overwhelmed. "Everyone came in and just... started. I've just been watching everyone, trying to figure out what to do."