Chapter Three
Ariya
When I got to work, Boss was waiting for me.
“Ariya! There you are! Get over here!”
“What’s going on Boss?”
“I was just wondering, how old are you, Ariya?”
“Um… 23, sir.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Sir?”
“Oh, I was just wondering. I knew you were young. Out of curiosity though, how did you know that the Navi incident happened 14 years ago, weren’t you like 9?”
“It was a part of our teachings. You know, getting to this type of job. We were taught it in our classes.” I told him, not needing any time to think about it.
“What did those classes say about abilities?” Boss asked.
“A lot of basic stuff. For instance, how everyone has an ability and most abilities are completely invisible. Meaning, that a person can hide what ability they have. An ability is typically passed down from generation to generation. If 2 people with different abilities have kids, one kid will have one ability, while another kid could have the other, or the kid might not ever activate their ability. But they wouldn’t have both abilities.” I explained.
“Now, what did those classes say about the Navi?”
“That their ability was unique. They had a lot of lines. There was the main family, which were known as Blood Borns, then there were the people that joined their line. The Navi were able to pass part of their ability to other people. However, if that person came from a different ability line then they would not be able to keep their ability if they took the Navi’s ability.”
“Yes, that is all true as far as I know. I’ve been thinking about this Drake situation ever since we heard his name from Tex. Now if I remember correctly, Drake’s immediate line had 5 people, technically 4 I believe. But only 2 of which should be alive. The line started with Drake, then it’s unknown if it was his son or his daughter but neither were there the night they were attacked so they are thought to be dead. After that it was 2 children. I believed both were boys but it is hard to always tell gender at a young age, especially if they look so alike. With the information we got from Tex, it sounds like it might’ve been a boy and a girl. That makes more sense now. They looked so alike though, like they had to be the same gender even.” Boss trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.
“What do you mean they looked so alike?” I was confused. Boss knew more than he was telling me.
“Doesn’t matter. There were 2 of them. 1 of them was killed that night, so there’s only 1 grand kid left and Drake if we assume the parents were already dead. Based on the information from Tex, that child must be a female. Now, Drake doesn’t age, it is a part of his ability. Drake’s granddaughter on the other hand is the one that is the big mystery. The age of her is pretty sporadic. Some say she was like 5 years old when the attack happened. Others say she was as old as 12 or as young as 6. Though most were saying she was a he, so we have a bit of a possible edge.”
“So basically we are looking for someone that, if they haven’t activated their ability then they can be as young as 20 or as old as 26? But if they have then they should be less than 26 years old? How does that help us? And how does a change of gender really help us? What if it is a male?”
“It does but it doesn’t. It narrows it down a bit. We know Drake is looking for someone anywhere in their 20’s. Primarily we should be looking at women instead. If she hasn’t activated her ability it will be a lot easier to capture her and kill her. If she has, she likely will pretend to be weaker than she really is. But it also tells us that we need to prepare.”
“What do you mean prepare? And why would she pretend to be weaker?” I asked.
“Ariya, don’t be so naive. She would pretend to keep the notice off of herself. We need to prepare our people to kill the last remaining Blood Born Navi.” Boss said without blinking.
This was just the information that I knew would come up. It was exactly why we couldn’t get caught earlier. If they were planning on killing the last remaining Blood Born Navi then I needed to know if they knew the right way to, or if they were just training blindly.
“So, how do you suppose we get prepared?” I asked Boss.
“I’ve got everything planned out. Everyone has been separated into teams. If we wait too long then we’ll lose our only trail of Drake. But if we keep on the trail then we’ll find him and be able to kill him. Ariya, I need you to gather these 3 teams of people and bring them to the briefing room in 1 hour.” Boss said, handing me a list of names.
“Yes sir.” I said and left.
I was looking at the names of the people. There were 11 names on the list. From the looks of it, Boss was splitting people up into 3 teams. The first team was made up of trackers and switches. They were the information team. There were 5 people on that team, Justin, a very experienced tracker, who was in charge of the group, 2 switches to pull information from anyone that we found and 2 other trackers to help get the trail of Drake. After that you had 2 field teams, each split up into a team of 3. On one team you had Jess, Leo, and Adam. Jess was super strong, Leo was a healer, and Adam was a good fighter. Adam hadn’t activated his ability yet, but he was one of the people Boss went to a lot, just like me. On the second team you had Link, Mya, and I. Link was able to move just about anything he wanted to with his mind. Mya was our healer and I was just like Adam. I hadn’t activated my ability…yet, but for the moment I wasn’t the worst fighter around.
It didn’t take long to find everyone on Boss’ list. When we all got to the briefing room and sat down, Boss stood up, cleared his throat, and began.
“Now, as you all should have heard by now, we brought in a guy who gave us information that Drake is still alive. For those of you that don’t know, Drake is a Blood Born Navi. We think he is looking for someone in his direct line, specifically, his granddaughter. Each of you has been placed into a specific team for a specific reason. The first team is the information team. The 5 of you are to work in the control room. If someone is brought in, a Switch will question them. Justin will report to me with any updates on finding Drake’s whereabouts and if anyone gets questioned. Ariya will lead the second team consisting of her, Link and Mya. Adam will lead the third team consisting of him, Jess and Leo. Both teams have a healer in case anyone gets injured. As to what we are doing, Adam’s team will be watching the house that Tex said Drake lived in. Ariya’s team will be scouting the area that the boy and Drake were seen at. Are there any questions?”
“What do you want us to do if we run into Drake? Or the granddaughter? Or the boy?” Adam asked.
“Kill them.” Boss said simply.
“Yeah, but even you know it isn’t just that simple. They are Blood Born Navi. There’s a reason they are still alive.” Jess said.
“You are right about that. Well I guess it is time to let you guys know how you are going to kill them. Each of you has been set up. The healers are supposed to keep the other 2 alive. I don’t care who decides to be the decoy and who decides to use the weapon. However you guys decide is your choice. The weapon that will be given to each team is a flame sword. The flame sword is easy for everyone to use since all of you have been trained with one. Though the easiest way to kill a Blood Born Navi is by fire, the most effective way is by using fire and hitting them in their left shoulder. The left shoulder is a weakness that they have. But, due to that weakness it won’t be easy to hit. That is why you all have a decoy. If one person is a decoy and the other person is the actual attacker it would be easier to hit that spot. If you can’t hit that spot you can slowly weaken them by burning them a lot with the sword and putting holes in them. Keep in mind, those holes won’t last for long. The Blood Born Navi are able to heal themselves but only for a certain amount of time. Understood?”
“Yes sir!” We all said in unison.
“Alright, then go home, gear up and get ready to move. We leave in 2 hours.” Boss said.
With that the briefing was over. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that Boss knew so much about the Navi. I definitely didn’t expect Boss to know how to kill them. Killing a Blood Born Navi wasn’t impossible but it wasn’t easy either. Boss had set up the teams evenly but also in a way that would be the most effective. I couldn’t help myself but ask Boss on the side how he knew so much.
“Hey Boss?”
“Yes Ariya?”
“They didn’t mention most of what you just said in the classes. How do you know so much about the Blood Born Navi?” I asked.
“Because Ariya.” Boss got a demonic look on his face, “It was me that set the attack on the Navi 14 years ago. It was me who set fire to their little town. It was me who captured and killed the first of them and I won’t rest until every last one of them is dead.”
As Boss walked away, I couldn’t stop thinking of that night. That night that caused so much pain. That night that fire was set to my home. That night, that so many of my friends and family were killed due to the ability we had. That night that I was separated from everything I knew and loved. I finally figured out who it was that attacked us and they were right in front of me this whole time.