Kai - Part 6

Maia stood there calmly. She was beautiful, graceful and her white hair was like a flowing river down her back. She smiled at Tori. She seemed so nice but Tori was more concerned for Kai than anything else.
<Tori!> came his voice. <Tori.>
<Kai.> she replied.
<Find Davey.> he told her, <Something's wrong and i think he might have the answears.> then his link was gone.
"We have to find Davey." she said turning to Maia again.
"No. He will find us. We must stay here." Maia said softly.
"I know you're not lying but how do you know?"
"Kai may be the new leader but i am the Power above him. He may not have known it but you put enough power in him to call me."
"He's... the Leader." Tori was shocked. What else was he keeping from her?
"Yes he is the Leader of the White Tiger's but he himself is not positive on it. He will soon be." Maia suddenly changed. She was The White Tiger itself now, "He asked for help." The elegant form of the tiger began to glow, blinding Tori in its radiance, "I bestowe on you, Tori, Kai's second half, the power of flight. This is something you must learn alone. He can teach you the art of the sword, the mind, the tongues and the rest of it but only a chosen few can master flight and you are one of them. Not Kai."
"But what about..." Tori stopped in mid sentence. Maia, the White Tiger was gone. Gone on the breeze.
"Check on the time. Check Time."

Kai sat on his chair stiffly. His parents still had not figured it out. Had they completely forgotten their one son. The woman before him was to young to have started to lose her memory so was the man. They were not his parents. Not the people he remembered.
"Would you like some tea." the woman smiled. That smile.
"No thanks. I just decided to see if you remembered..." he tailed off. Their expressions had changed. Suddenly he could see them differently. He gasped. The faces he could now see was a mask, a mass of spells and runes. The magic was not the soft usual kind that he and the White Tigers used but cold hard and black.
"Is wrong?" the woman asked.
Kai did not reply. With a desperate cry to Davey he dashed out of the room.

Tori opened the door. Davey stood there. With out a word she let him in. Davey no longer looked totally helpless. He limped determindly in and then sat down in the arm chair in the corner.
"I know why you're here." Tori said in a quiet voice.
"Good. Then i need not explain myself." Davey replied, "I know why he refused to tell the truth. He was chosen by the Tiger and it told him not to write or contact me. I know the Tiger said that as well. Because if i had been contacted by him i would have followed him instead of returning here. I was meant to help him now. Not before."
"Yes. I had him explain. Now tell me exactly how this all happened."

Kai ran from the house. Blinded by the flash of torches he fled from his home. He heard them pursuing. He could hear his own parents chasing him through the gloomy streets. Whatever was wrong with them he had to cure, he had to put them right. Just like he had Reef except this time he would exclude the brain washing.
If only he had not told the dragons to stay outside the border line. THen he would call them. Then he would be safe. Safe, that seemed such a foolish word now. He was never safe. He spent most of his time killing off monsters. Could he call that safe.
A sudden pain struck his back. Something like purple lightening had caught him. It slowed him but he did not stop. He saw faces in the windows. Now he came to think of it he only saw elderly people, that were not old. People he had known when he was a child.

Dizzy sensed Kai before he arrived but even Tori could hear him. He was running, panting heavily. He literally fell through the door. But refused to colapse he turned around and bolted the door. He looked her, he looked at Davey and sank to the floor.
"Their supposed to be older. The kids are still kids and the old..." he whispered, "Their eyes..."
"Kai?" She ran to him.
"Their eys and their faces..." Kai murmered.
"You saw them too." Davey stayed where he was.

Kai refused to let out the hurt inside him. He was not a child, to cry was to be a child. His mentor had taught him that. To show obvious pain was a weakness but he knew he was and he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He looked up at Tori. She looked like she knew so much more than he had taught her already. Then again unlike some she had had to learnthe hard way.

Davey stood where he was. He had barely begun to tell the girl what was happening. He could sense something running deeper between his friend and the girl. Something not unlike the bond he had shared with Ray in the past but at the same time so different it made his head swim.
He watched sadly as he saw Ray's young old face crumple and become elderly. It looked as if his friend was near to tears. He could barely remember the last time tat had happened. Except it could have been in the Abbey, where those bullies had beat them up or when they had first gone there.
"Ray." Davey said, dismissing the memory.
Kai stood up but when he looked at him it was Ray's eyes that met his.
"I'm so sorry." Ray whispered.
"It doesn't matter. I know why you had to be dead to me." Davey smiled.
"I can see your enchantment." Kai said miserably,"At least it's not like theirs."
"What do you mean?" the girl demanded,"Can you both explain?"

Kai felt Tori's mind uncomfatably close. He could understand why she was annoyed but in a way he knew she was confused.
"This town is an illusion." Davey said,"There was a storm in the White Tiger came to me and made he one of you but at the same time, a hundred followers of Rai came."
"Rai? But he's dead." Kai looked up alarmed.
"No." Davey turned,"He was resurected by the guy you were friends with, Reef."
"Reef isn't my friend, it was all a trick." He snapped.
"Kai. You know it wasn't." Tori said gently,"You're still sore that's all."
"He hated my guts." Kai snorted,"He had too much hate. I should have known."
"Listen, you were young then. That's the Past now."
Reluctantly he realised Tori was right,"I guess."
"Please continue." She said to Davey.
"Well on that night i was given this identity and i was told to play up to it. They still think i was struck by lightening and went mad. But the rest of the town was forced into the square and cursed. They are now being used by Rai, their Souls and bodies are kept young in return for seven of the Souls every year."
"Why?" Tori whispered.
"Ever since the beginning,"Rai has fought against the White Tigers as their mortal enermy." Kai said softly, sitting down.

"Yes." Davey said. Tori listened on.
"Time has stopped for all those who were cursed but they don't think that. They think that they are now Immortals. All watches go hat=ywire when they come near here. The people have banned any type of Clock and tomorrow they will have you join them."
"We shouldn't have come." Kai muttered.
"KAI!" Tori span round angrily,"How can you say that? You said our job was basically to protect innocent people. Just because Reef is gone doesn't mean you should give up!" She stood towering over him.

"Ray. She's right." Davey said eyeing his friend.
"Oh Tiger. You're both right. I don't think i'd be able to hurt these people though." Ray still looked elderly to Davey.
"Well look on the bright side. All the people that made your life Hell are all the lead Henchmen."
"Is Baz one of them?" Suddenly Kai's face was alight and young. Davey knew how badly Ray wanted to be even with him. He could not blame him. Baz had killed Ray's dog after all.
"Yes Baz is one of them."
"Right. When's the next ritual?"


The trees shook in the wind. Dark clouds rolled in over the village. Even Tori with so little experiance could sense the ever nearing Evil.
"This'll be an important one. Rai only needs a few of the souls and he can reform in his normal body." Davey whispered.
"How many rituals haave there been exactly?" Kai demanded softly.
"About twelve."
"Twelve..." Tori whispered,"That's 83 altogether, right?"
She heard Kai swear under his breath, she smiled. That was more like him. Like him... Did she actually know him well enough to think that or was it just instinct?


Davey disappeared into the dark. Kai felt sad even though Tori was still beside him.
"Kai." her voice was trembling,"I forgot to tell you..."
"Huh?" He span round.
"The Tiger came to me earliar. She gave me flight."
A strange sensation came into Kai. He was happy for her. When was the last time he had felt happy for somebody else. Finally he settled with a smile.

That smile. Tori loved it. When Kai smiled he seemed to be totally different. Al the seriousness left his face, and the hate lines smoothed out. She smiled back. Maybe when they finished this, escaped this haunted town she could explain to him that he could still learn more. His face suddenly fell.
"That's the signal. Let's go." He whispered.
Although she had heard nothing she trusted him this time,"Just tell me who not to kill." she muttered.
"Kill those who get in your way. These people are better off dead and the majority'll die when the curse leaves them."
She was shocked,"Will your parents..."
"Yes." He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the bushes.

The headquater's for the rituals was buried deep in the ground, under the hard stone slabs of rock in the floor of the disused Shrine. Sadly Kai looked around. The ancient figure of the White Tiger was missing it's tail and left leg. As he held the entrance open for Tori he felt a buzz in his head.
<I am with you.> It was the Tiger. He nodded at the statue.
<Thank you.>

Something was more wrong than Davey had ever known. He could see Kai moving in but he ahd not given the signal.
<RAY!> he tried to cry but a black shadow snatched the contact and threw it back at him. Two pairs of hands grabbed him and another snapped a metalic dark ring around his neck. His disguise fell away from him as his powers drained.
"Kai..." he whispered before a mind blast rendered him unconcious.