Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 20 – Byia’s Skill List

While Byia and Guyi were with Lodon, Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth was punching the table at his office. His assistant jolted, and the Mayor looked at him with angry eyes and said, “What do you mean, you can’t stop that stupid reporter from appearing on tonight’s National News? What about our supporters in the Capital?”

“Mayor Taldeb… Miss Triri Ventbend is a well-known reporter in the Capital, even in the entire World, because she appears on the National News every day at dinnertime! You… well… I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but you are just a City Mayor from a normal City, equal to many others in this World! Despite the fact you are aiming to become a Region Representative, you are still a City Mayor! Your supporters at the Capital can’t prevent the National News Channel from doing their work unless they want to be arrested for political interference with a News Channel!”

Mayor Taldeb frowned and squeezed both armchairs. He then looked at his assistant with a weird smile and said, “If I can’t stop the reporter, I will make sure to get rid of that annoying Calla family. I am tired of seeing my family compared to them, and now even my niece was hurt by their youngest member. I doubt the news tonight damaged my reputation, but I don’t want to take any risk. Call that guy. I want him to find out everything about that family. There must be something I can use to taint their reputation and to make the people realize that I am the only one capable of getting rid of them!”

The assistant turned pale and stuttered, “You… mean… him? Is that wise? He doesn’t know how to be inconspicuous, and if not under a short leash, he might even… kill them…”

“Yes, but if that happens, their deaths can never be traced back to me! Get to it and shut your mouth, or your life and your family will come to an end. Understood?”

The assistant nodded and quickly exited the office, going to his desk to make a call. The Mayor sat in his chair and crossed his paws over the desk. He stared at his claws and mumbled, “There is no way I will let this blunder make me lose my position as Mayor. I owe money to that group for helping me out with my campaign, and if I stop being a Mayor, they will stop gaining advantages and contracts, and they will seek revenge. Byia, Paullu, and Teera Calla must disappear once and for all, and with that, the Calla bloodline will be forgotten. My name will be remembered forever, not theirs."

At dinner time in Byia’s house, she told her mother what happened at school in the morning inside the Principal’s office. Teera frowned and waited for Paullu to turn the back wall into a screen and to press the buttons on the console near it so that they could watch the National News.

Teera kept on frowning while looking at the start image of the News program. Then, the serious face of Triri Ventbend appeared and announced, “Today, I came to you at home with a very interesting story. The story of an innocent First-Tide little female wrongly accused in her school of attacking her bully. The innocent was none other than Byia Calla, the direct descendant of Senpyia Calla, the Healer. I am sure every one of you knows the famous Calla bloodline, from which came many Water-Dragons that forever changed our World over the Tides. The Calla family is thought to be one of the first bloodlines that granted us many amazing females, and Byia Calla is their youngest member. Probably that was the reason that made her the target of a bully, which I found out was none other than the niece of Mayor Taldeb Fagoyuth from the City of Kobol, where Byia Calla lives with her family. I tried many times over these past Big Moons to interview her older brother, Paullu Calla, concerning the disappearance of their father, the famous Explorer and Cartographer, Sergge Calla. He always refused, but this morning I got a call from him, and I thought he was going to accept my invitation. This was what happened when he told me to record the call.”

Then, the events at the Principal’s office were shown without any cuts or editing, making every watcher realize it was all true and nothing was tampered with. Teera Calla watched all that in silence, and when Triri Ventbend appeared again to interview a few members of the same political party as Mayor Taldeb, Teera was lost in deep thought and failed to realize that every single one of them, including Mayors of other Cities, condemned Mayor Taldeb’s actions, and they even demanded that he step down from his office because he tainted that prestige position.

Byia was listening to the many interviews and comments, and she then felt a hug that smashed her head against Paullu’s chest. Byia heard her mother speaking with a trembling voice, “You did very well, Paullu. Your father would be so proud. And you, Byia, my sweet little daughter, I am so sorry… If your father were here, he would have gone to that school of yours, and he would have smashed it completely. Why didn’t you call for me instead of Paullu? I would help!”

Byia moved her head a little to speak. “I didn’t want to worry you, mother. Besides, Paullu said that if needed, I could call for him, and he would come as fast as he could. Well, when I called, he complained, saying that his class was about to start, but he came. He was amazing, mother! No one was expecting that trap; everyone thought he was going to call you, but instead, he called that reporter!”

“Yes, that was indeed well played. What about your class, Paullu? Did you get in trouble for leaving in the middle of it?”

Paullu shrugged and gently got rid of his mother’s hug. “Almost. My Teacher wanted to punish me, but all my classmates were against it. Especially the females! They even dared to threaten him with hurting him every day, or at least to make it impossible for him to teach at our School. The males were even more vicious. They asked if they had to tell their fathers that a Teacher punished a student for helping his younger sister, making him unable to find another job elsewhere. I didn’t know, but many of my classmates have younger sisters or brothers, and they understood why I left the School in such a hurry.”

“I bet your classmates and your Teacher will be even more on your side tomorrow if they see this news.”

Paullu shrugged while speaking, making her mother hug him again. “I told them what happened, so I suppose they watched tonight… Too much… strength…”

…

After dinner, in her room, Byia was looking at her family heirloom and checking the Skills of her ancestors. She frowned and took a notebook from one drawer and a pencil. “This is not working… I need a list and to set a path. There are way too many Skills in my family! Most are very weird, and the way to unlock some of them is surprising, to say the least! Meditation Level 3 to unlock Camouflage? That’s the stupidest thing! Wait, a minute… the explanation is here… ‘Meditation allows one to be in sync with the surrounding environment, so Camouflage is the logical evolution of it’. It is not very logical, but it also says that by practicing Meditation, the level increases over time. I suppose this is also true for other Skills. I must choose very carefully the Skills that I need as an Explorer and the ones that will help me achieve that rank the fastest. First, I need to make a list of the ones I have to check which ones I can evolve. So, without any more delays, ‘liosta sgilean’. Let’s see if I have time to write down everything.”

Byia’s left hand started to glow, and above it, runes appeared that she quickly wrote in the notebook. When the last rune disappeared, Byia read her notes and compared them with the book and the Skills of her ancestors. “So, I unlocked recently the ‘Embarrassment Control’, which evolves at Level 3 to ‘Calm Heart’ and then to ‘Infinite Courage’. Now, this is useful… Next one, I evolved ‘Acrobatics’, it turned into ‘Sharp Reflexes’, and now I have ‘Gymnastics’ on Level 2… There are no more evolutions after this. I also have ‘Disarm-Traps’ that is an evolution of ‘Detect-Traps’ and next is… ‘Set-Traps’. Self-explanatory, no need to memorize the effect. Oh, I see… ‘Unarmed Combat’ evolved into ‘Grappling’ and now I have ‘Brawling’, also on Level 2. This is taking too much time. I need to do a different list.”

Byia looked again at her notes with the Skills she had: “Okay, I have Embarrassment Control, Gymnastics, Disarm-Traps, Brawling, Healing, Interrogation, Language, Throw Voice, Meditation, Animal Training, Tame, Knowledge, Create Screen, Hypnotism, Intimidation, Spell Craft, High-Speed Swimming, and Tracking. Let me check the book again…”

Byia frowned at the book and looked at her list of Skills again. She mumbled, a little annoyed while making a list of her objectives: “This is so weird… ‘Embarrassment Control’ can become ‘Infinite Courage’. Next is… ‘Disarm-Traps’ evolves to ‘Set-Traps’… Even weirder this one. Then, the one I have, ‘Meditation’, evolves to ‘Camouflage’, which ‘allows to blend in with the environment’, which turns into ‘Concealment’, which is ‘The ability to disappear completely by changing appearance to mimic the environment’. This is very, very interesting! So, what’s next… Cool, I already have ‘Tame’ and ‘Animal Training’, which means I have all the Skills needed by a ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’. What else… I have ‘Language’, which is ‘the ability to read and write other languages’, and that evolves to ‘Ancient Language’? There are Ancient Languages in Nend Ardhon? Does this mean I must practice the Surface-Dragons language and the Nayga language to unlock this Skill? For what purpose? Why has Senpyia Calla, the Healer, unlocked this Skill? Why do all of my ancestors in this book have that Skill? Too many questions…”

She stared at her list again and widened her eyes. “No way… I have ‘Create Screen’ at Level 2, and it evolves to ‘Hologram’, which is ‘The ability to create images in 3D with no need for a screen’. It means I can use this in case I am in trouble to create a distraction — maybe one fake Byia or a fake Rodhocetus? If I evolve this Skill to ‘Clone’, ‘the ability to create beings able to mimic other beings, including the way of speak, move, and fight’, does this mean I can create more like me, a perfect image able to fight and help me? I wonder if I can use a clone to go to School in my place… Or to the Guild during the day to do some Quests!”

Byia closed the book and placed it in its hiding place, together with her lists, right behind her egg. She then sat on the bed and closed her eyes. “Now I can’t practice the Language Skill, but Meditation will be way more useful. Camouflage, to use plants and rocks to hide my presence. Evolve that to Concealment, that Igarka Calla, the Dreadful used to hide her presence when she invaded the Nayga home planet and killed the Royal Family to end the war. Maybe it turns me invisible…”

Byia took a few deep breaths and cleared her mind of all thoughts. She concentrated on her breathing, on the temperature of the water on her skin, and on the flow of the currents. Little by little, she immersed herself in the surrounding sensations instead of her heartbeat and breathing. She didn’t even move when she felt her mother entering to give her a goodnight kiss or the door being closed again upon Teera’s exit. Byia remained in deep meditation for two more hours, until a new, warm sensation formed in her paws.

She slowly opened her eyes, stared at the runes that were appearing, and made a slight smile. “Cool… I reached Level 3 in Meditation and unlocked Camouflage. It seems all the Meditation I have been doing at the end of each training session with my brother has made me level up so fast. What time is it? Oops, I am going to be late!”