Beyond The Soul: Kai

Chapter 26: Meeting...and Departing

It was now the afternoon and the group had gathered together, still minus Blaze and Jo. Tema sat near Lea who was still rather shaken from her horrible experience "I'm sorry you had to go through that Lea" said Tema "I had an idea it was bad...but nowhere near that bad"

"I'm...okay now Tema" said Lea quietly holding her hands together "but what about you?" Lea looked at Tema with worried eyes "are you alright?"

"well...nearly alright"

"what do you mean nearly alright?" asked Seje curiously.

Tema then began squirming in his place "I've got this weird need to itch my back" said Tema trying to reach his back "and it won't go away"

"Here I'll help you" said Noa scratching Tema's back "is that alright?" Tema made no reply but let off little pleasure sounds

"A little lower Noa, yeah, yeah right there. Ohh right there..." Tema quickly and  continuously stamped his foot "that feels soooo goooood" everyone just giggled and chuckled as Tema continued to revel in his relief.

After a few moments had passed "there we go all done" said Tema "thanks for that Noa. Much appreciated" Tema then turned to Yumi looking quite ashamed "and I'm sorry to you Yumi. I know that mustn't being pleasant to watch"

"Oh don't you worry" said Yumi looking to be thinking of something cunning "I'll get you back for scaring me later. And trust me...you'll like it" Tema looked quite nervous

"Why does that sound so evil?" said Kairi thinking on Yumi's words "So Tema, tell us...how you know what was going to happen?"

Tema looked to be a little depressed "As soon as I saw this city, something didn't feel right" Tema put his hand on his chest "at first I didn't know why. But after looking round...I began to understand why"

"Well can you tell us?" said Aurora "what did you find out?"

"Well my first clue was how Hazel and Wallace reacted. They were surprised to know when all but Yumi were travelling with me"

"I'm guessing..." said Yumi suggesting an answer "it's because they knew I wasn't a divine sentinel"

Rafiel, who was also present in the room, folded his arms "for a city deemed at the peak of perfection, they must consider us more or less as higher beings"

"That does explains their reactions" said Kairi "and why they seemed unconvinced Aurora, Viola...and Eve, I think, were bonded to you"

"Now moving onto my second clue" said Tema "did anyone notice anything odd about the populace?" everyone began looking between themselves

"No...I don't think so" said Aurora in thought

"I'll give you a hint" Tema then simply gestured to Noa.

Noa looked a bit bewildered "so...it's something to do with me then?"

"hmm...not quite you...personally" said Tema to which something clicked in Lea's head

"Sentinels" said Lea "there wasn't any sentinels in the city" Kairi then reacted and looked a bit depressed

"so...that's what was missing" said Kairi looking depressed "as me and Yumi looked...all we could find were adult and children"

"no wonder I couldn't pick up on any sentinel presence" said Yumi "and now that I remember...I couldn't remember seeing even a single teenager"

Tema looked like he didn't want to hear that answer "So...I wasn't imagining the second point. I didn't see a single person my own age either"