Chapter 1

There is a peaceful place in this world; a place my people call Pandora.

Pandora is basically a gigantic sanctuary (well, a gigantic sanctuary moon), full of wonderful yet terrifying creatures.

Like me, for example.

I am a Na'vi; well, sort of. My dad, Jake, was a human, and then became an Avatar, and eventually, a Na'vi.

Hold on, you're probably confused. Sorry for not introducing myself first.

My name is Atanwyr. I am the son of Neytiri and Jake, leaders of my clan. I was born royalty and I was supposed to be raised to lead the Omaticaya Clan.

Not a lot of Na'vi felt comfortable around me, but I have a few friends who accept me.

Like Tsu, who was named after my uncle Tsu'tey. Or Sädi'kei; she was the first one to accept me and she's my best friend, too.

If you're wondering why I'm babbling along in English instead of my peoples' language, I am completely bilingual, because my father, Jake, is fluent in English as well as the Na'vi language.

I'm not here to tell you about my friends or anything, though. I'm here to tell you about me. Sounds a little self centered, doesn't it? As if my only purpose here is to tell you my story, and my story only? Well, this isn't just my story. It's the story of what the Na'vi are today. Let's begin.

We'll start with the day my whole life was changed forever. This is the day I became blind, or rather, I saw more of what Eywa had created.

It was one of those days where everything is bright with the rays of the sun shining off the green leaves; the scent of flowering plants; a herd of Pa'li running in the distance, leaping gracefully through the plains.

I woke up that morning and opened my emerald eyes, stretching and yawning and showing off my pearly whites (well, they weren't exactly white or pearly—rather jagged, long, and slightly yellow, caked with the left overs of last night's dinner. Don't look at me that way, even the Na'vi have to eat!) before hopping to my feet and looking to see if Sädi'kei or Tsu were up yet.

To my luck, Sädi'kei was slumped over a large rock in a shaded place to keep cool. She looked over at me, playfulness in her deep golden-amber eyes. "You're up early," she said.

I beamed. I wasn't an early bird, and I had only ever woken up earlier than everyone else before a couple of times. "Really?" I said.

"Nope. You didn't hear the sarcasm in my voice, obviously," laughed Sädi'kei, flicking me with her stripy blue-topaz tail. I slumped and sat down beside her.

"Stupid bitch," I muttered, a smile creeping up onto my face. "Why do I even hang out with you?"

Of course, I was joking. Ikei (yes, that is her nickname) is my best friend in the universe besides Tsu; I would never be serious when calling her a bitch.

Ikei flipped her ebony braids behind her shoulders, grinning and showing off her perfect teeth with a playful glint in her eye.

"Sorry, I just like messing with you. Wanna go for a walk?"

I couldn't resist a walk; not on such a nice day like this. It was a perfect day to go out and relax. So, I nodded and we headed off.

To this day, I still don't know why I kept that annoying, loud mouthed girl for a friend in the first place; maybe it was because she accepted me for who I was, maybe because she treated me with such great respect it made me look like royalty (I am royalty, but whatever) when we weren't teasing each other and joking around, or maybe…I just held her too close to my heart to let her go.

As we walked through the forest, I became bored rather quickly. There wasn't much to do during the daytime except for dodging arrows from Na'vi that were hunting in the forests and working around Hometree. Walking in the forest wasn't that much fun either; just peaceful.

So, I decided to stir up a little nonsense. I picked up a twig that had fallen off of a tree and threw it, aiming for Ikei's shoulders. Instead, it hit the back of her head. Whoops.

She didn't seem to be hurt by it; she just stopped abruptly and turned to see who had done it. Being the idiot I was, I hid behind the nearest tree to see if she thought I'd abandoned her. After about five minutes, nothing happened. She must have gone on with out me.

But as I stepped out from my hiding place, I felt someone jump on my back. Of course, I thought. An ambush. Clever girl.

She wrestled me to the ground, knocking me over as we both landed with a big thump in the grass. She scrambled out from under me and held a long stick up to my face. "See," she said, "if that was a murderer, your neck would have been sliced up by now."

I gave her one of those "Please don't tell anyone about this" stares of mine and she chuckled and helped me up.

"Rematch?" I asked. She sighed and rolled her eyes, giving me a toothy grin. "Fine, but only to show you that I'll always be a better hunter and warrior than you."

"As if," I said. That caught her off guard, because she started babbling on about how her grandparents were the best hunters in the clan and her deceased father who had died in the great battle with the humans had been the greatest warrior besides Jake, of course.

I slammed by body into her, knocking her over, but gently, so I wouldn't injure her. We wrestled in the grass for some time until we bumped into a tree. "Alright, alright, you win! I give up!" said Ikei, holding up her hands as I pinned her down.

Triumphant, I got up and smirked. "Now who's the best warrior and hunter in the clan?" I laughed as I helped her up. "I still am. You just got lucky that time," she purred, smirking innocently. I rolled my eyes. Ikei was so ambitious; that's one thing we shared in common, though.

With that, we both decided that was enough goofing around for one day. It was already noon, so we should have been heading back to Hometree.

Alright, sorry to interrupt, but I better just skip to the important part, when I became blind.

Ikei stayed close to my side as we strolled through the peaceful, lush forest. We were both calm and happy and didn't have a care in the world; we should have been more careful, though.

A great cry was heard from above, and I looked up to see a dark figure covering the bright sky and casting a large, dark shadow over us. It was large and winged. It was way too big to be an Ikran.

"Dang it," I muttered as I squinted at the creature. Ikei looked up and gasped. "Dear Eywa," she managed to gasp out. "We have to get back to Hometree as soon as possible," she said, as we fled from the area with the Toruk on our tails.

The dark forest's leaves brushed by us, brushing our skin as the Toruk hunted above.

We came to a few trees that had been knocked down during the battle between my dad and his old allies, and Ikei and I thought we could drive off the Toruk by hiding in the wreckage.

Oh, how we were wrong.

I didn't realize I'd just made the biggest mistake of my life; or, rather, the best thing I'd ever done.

We hid between two large trees leaning on top of each other, surrounded by shrubbery, as the Toruk swooped through the dense undergrowth with its talons unsheathed and its fangs barred between its great jaws.

It started clawing at the tree, screeching out a cry that could probably be heard from Hometree. I turned to see an exit out of the trees; there was only one; a small hole near the bottom of the trunk.

Ikei was standing in front of me. I saw that the Toruk was clawing deeper into the tree now; Ikei was crying out, scared to death. I did the only thing that was logical, to save my friend's life; I pushed her away, just as the talons of the Toruk emerged and burst into the trees.

Ikei fell through the hole and into safety, and that was the last thing I saw; Ikei's golden-green tearful eyes watch helplessly as she fell to safety and I was trapped.

I couldn't get out of there and could only feel sharpness of the Toruk's claws tear out my vision.

The last thing I heard were the battle cries of my people.

And then, everything was dark.

Alright, liking the story so far? Probably not. The main character going blind probably isn't the greatest thing ever. You guys probably know what happens now. Let's skip to 2 weeks after the attack, shall we?

Well, turns out, I woke up with surprisingly minor injuries to my head and face and body. I was fine, wasn't even scarred, but the bad news was, the talons had scratched my eyes.

I became blind.

Well, sort of.

At first, I was still capable of seeing for the first few days, but everything was blurry, and then my eye sight started fading until all I saw were dark figures. I can still see the faces of people sometimes, but most of the time, my vision is dark and black.

And so, that leads to where I am now; unable to see.

I'm not all persnickety about it, though. I don't skulk around all day wishing for my life to end. In fact, being blind isn't as bad as it seems. I still wish I could see, though.

But there was an experience I had before blacking out:

I think I might have seen Eywa.

It was dark at first, but then I was bright and vivid. Lights shone from all angles. Colours flashed. I felt more alive than I ever did; I felt my spirit rise from my body; unbroken, untamed. I wasn't dead yet; Eywa had saved me.

I felt warmth seethe through my body and a soft, yet powerful voice in my ear.

Do not fear, for one day, you will see everyone, son of the Avatar...

I didn't know what the hell it meant.

I would see everyone? When would I see everyone? I was blind. Or would I wake up one day and just suddenly see again?

I knew deep down inside I would find the meaning eventually. One day.

These days, Ikei helps me around, along with Tsu and Neytiri. They're both helpful and all, but sometimes they think I'm completely helpless, which I hate. Just because I'm blind does not mean I can't do anything by myself.

And then, there's Jake. Sometimes I feel his sad green stare looking at me. I think he's disappointed, like he's failed in serving the Omaticaya clan. I know I have failed him and my clan, as well, in putting myself in danger and making the stupid idea of going into a tree to hide from a Toruk, of all creatures.

But it was better me than Ikei.

Better me than anybody, actually.

So, that's sort of my story about how I became blind. Sucks to be me. But then again, I just shrugged it off and lived on. I didn't know what would become of me in the future and how I'd cope with my new impairment.

I just knew that life went on.

Thanks for reading! Please R&R~

Also, sorry for updating so late. School has been a pain in the ass... _

And just so you guys know, Ikei's name is pronounced Seh-dee-kay.

Next chapter will be from Ikei's POV, and I will be introducing Tsu as well. (:

~Spiny