15 Chapter 15

//"Why don't we all return back to my home,"// Yume said with a wide smile, //"I'll treat us all to a warm meal and something that will take away the cold. After all it's not good to be out in the rain like this."//

That elicited a reaction from all those gathered there. The yemephu and yemeru showed blatant shock on their faces, while the yemerey, although shocked managed to mask most of their shock, save for Kapha, who looked like somebody had just told him his mother had died and left him with 74 siblings to take care of.

//"Elder Yume,"// Chanis called, //"You can't be serious."//

Yume looked at him with a confused look on his face. //"Why not?"// he asked.

Chanis turned his head slightly away from Yume and opened his mouth to speak. Yet, just as he was about to, Kapha seemed to have recovered from his shock and immediately cut off Chanis as he was about to speak. Chanis noticed it and growled softly, but he didn't interrupt, allowing Kapha to speak.

Kapha, who was still caught up in what he was about to say didn't notice the warning issued by Chanis and carried on. //"I can't believe this!"// he cried. //"How can you call yourself a retired elder?!"// he questioned, pointing a finger at Yume who also issued a soft growl. //"Aren't they supposed to be looking out for the interest of the people? The yemephu down there was a convicted criminal, and he was found dead in a place that was supposed to be very secured. If the thing that killed him is escapes, wouldn't that endanger the lives of all the yemes in the city? We should go down there and find out what killed it and apprehend it before it can escape, yet you're telling us that we should follow you to your home to eat warm meals and warming drinks. Isn't that extremely irresponsible on your part?"//

All the yemerey in the area looked at him in the eye with a strange determination. Tarisi and Chanis growled softly, but Yume roared loudly. He banged his fists against his chest, the impact created winds that blew the raindrops that surrounded him into smithereens, his fur slowly began to change colour, turning from its silvery white sheen that had a ghostly sort of glow in the rain into a deep black that made him sort of meld into the darkness, stripes of green began to appear on the black fur, shining strangely against the black fur. His eyes also turned into an eerily green colour as his body began to increase in size. Yume that already towered almost 5 metres above Kapha, grew to a height 27 metres tall, increasing the height difference between the two by another 10 metres.

Kapha finally realised that he had managed to insult two of the yemerey here and completely disrespect one of the two. He dropped to the floor and lowered his head to the wet ground, while trying to make himself as small as possible. //"Forgive me elders, I have mistakenly offended you. I beg that you will not be harsh in your punishment."//

Yume looked at him for a while before he slowly turned away from him. His fur regained its white colour and returned to its normal size. He turned and faced Chanis but spoke to Kapha, //"Some times people do things that do not go according to your plan and sometimes you might you might not be able to find out why and other times you might not need to know why, you just have to work your plans around it. It will do you good to remember that. Now get up and join us, we're leaving."//

Soon everyone began to move, and with Yume and Chanis at the front, the rest of them followed.

At the front Yume and Chanis conversed. They flew through the trees with expertise that had come with the years.

//"You seem to have taken an interest in Kapha,"// Chanis sent mentally.

Yume tapped his chest in agreement. //"I have high hopes for him."//

//"Why's that?"// Chanis asked.

//"Well I feel that he has what it takes to help the yeme survive what is to come. Although, I might be disappointed if he is consumed by what is in his heart."//

Chanis frowned slightly. He didn't doubt Yume's words but the latter half of his statement caught him off guard. //"By what is in his heart?"// he asked confused, //"What is in his heart?"//

//"I'm not sure,"// Yume replied, //"But I can only say that it will cause him much trouble in the near future."//

Chanis thought about what he had been told for a while, but finally decided against replying.

Meanwhile, in the back of the travelling group, Kapha lagged behind, accompanied by only Philo who rode on his cloud. He was in deep thought as he swung through the trees, and had personally decided to leave some space between him and the rest of the group, so that he wouldn't be disturbed while he was thinking.

Kapha had been plagued by a strange feeling, that had persisted for quite a while now. Normally it didn't bother him much, only making him a bit tired and a little bit uncomfortable, but that was it. He had quickly gotten used to it and hadn't thought more about it, at least until he met that yemephu in the forest while he was on a stroll.

He had just wanted to have a talk with the yemephu but the moment he got near to the yemephu; the feeling had gotten horribly worse. He felt like there was an itch in his body that he couldn't scratch and it felt like someone had lit a fire in his body. If that had been all, it would have been alright. But just at that moment he had heard something whisper into his ear, to look at the chest of the yemephu, and he had.

A stone sat on its chest, surrounded by crack on the yemephu's skin that seemed like the were filled with fresh blood that refused to flow out. It pulsed occasionally, and with each pulse the voice grew clearer and it whispered to him that the thing on the chest of the yemephu was a demon from the 7th hell.

He didn't believe it at first but, he didn't have to. In the space of time it took for him to see the rock and try to look away once, he already felt like he was losing control of his body. And he was. Before he realised it, his mouth had opened on its own accord and spoke words. He had no recollection of those words, which was strange, because all yemerey had impeccable memory, but he could remember feeling agitated. His finger was pointing at the young yemephu on the tree and without waiting for the yemephu to respond, he had screamed out the same thing again.

The yemephu had taken off, running away, trying its best to escape from what it assumed was a dangerous situation. Kapha could remember clearly that the moment the yemephu ran away he had shouted some more things that he couldn't remember and had chased after it, only to lose it in his frenzy.

He had tried to find the yemephu, and had called for the help of the yemeru in the area. During the time while they looked for him, the feeling had returned to the way it was, slightly uncomfortable and slightly tired and it seemed like nothing was wrong and that things were back to normal, but they weren't.

The next time he acted up was when the yemephu had woken up. The moment he sighted the yemephu, the feeling got worse and he soon realised that he was no longer in control of his actions. He had said somethings he couldn't remember and tried to attack the rock on the yemephu's chest, only to have his attack get reflected. The attack hit him but funny enough he didn't feel the pain, yet he still roared like he had been greatly injured.

He had sent messages to the other elders of the council, messages whose content he couldn't remember. The effect had been devastating, all the yemerey of the council had attacked the poor yemephu with their most powerful attack, him included. Luckily the yemephu survived, but it seemed like the thing that was controlling his body wasn't done. He exchanged a few words with Elder Tarisi, who had ordered that the yemephu be carried away and tied up in the prisons in his territory.

After that the feeling returned to normal. Losing control of his body had put him on edge and made him quite afraid, but every time he tried to tell someone else about it the feeling acted up again and he would say something else that he didn't exactly remember and the person would laugh and walk away.

Before he had been happy that at least the thing hadn't put him in a situation that was life threatening, but after what had just gone down, he had to take a moment out for reassessment.