Chapter 41 "Little Chichi"

Next day came pretty quickly amongst the excitement, anxiousness, and uncertainty..

It was only five in the morning.. everyone was still sleeping… The silence of the night was broken by a phone.. "Ring… Ring…"

Grandfather Einar, who was a light sleeper and always on high alert even when sleeping, especially when there were two kids in the house, woke up and picked up the phone to answer it..

He broke the silence as he spoke "Damiano.. what-…" He wanted to ask what happened that he called so early in the morning, but before he could speak any further, he got interrupted..

"Father.. They know that I got the item out of the safe and they are following me right now.." Damiano said in a heavy voice as he looked at the cars following him through the rearview mirror..

He took his private jet as soon as he got the sacred divine artifact out of the safe… he knew that if he stayed a minute longer, his life would be in danger for sure..

His premonition turned into reality when his plane landed and was attacked as soon as he got out of the airport.. because he knew this was going to happen, he got some elite man under him to hold the enemies back till they completed their mission to hand over the item to the clan leader..

Grandfather Einar heard him and his eyebrows furrowed… he said in a cold voice with dark glint flashing in his eyes "I'll send Rick.. hand it over to him, so that you can finish the enemies without holding back… I'll send more man to clean the areas after you are done.. take it as you are warming up to exercise after a long time.. and come back as soon as you finish of the enemy.."

Damiano heard what his father said and chuckled and said "Father, how old am I? do I still need to warm up with these small flies? Rest assured, your son wouldn't disappoint you… I know what you mean.. and I'll do as you said.."

Damiano knew that his father was not doing this to test him, but to find out about the enemies… he wanted Damiano to capture a man who's of a higher rank amongst the attackers… and take him to their secret base to find out more about the people behind him..

This was their clan leader's way to tell them to do things… he never told them in a straightforward way, but let them guess and find out on their own about what he actually wanted them to do… this was the real test… figuring out the real meaning behind the clan leader' words.. he knew his father too well..

Grandfather Einar listened to his son and laughed out loud.. he was elated to know that his son hadn't lost the touch with him.. he was still the same.. always knew what he wanted and what his implied meaning was behind his spoken words..

"That's my son.. I'll be waiting for you with something to replenish your energy.." After saying that he hung up the phone.. his smile vanished and the dark glint returned in his eyes.. he quickly called Rick and instructed him about the task..

He put the phone aside and walked toward the window and his face turned serious while facing the last bit of darkness of the night.. bit by bit it was turning brighter, the birds started chirping.. a small bird the size of a sparrow flew towards him.. it looked tiny from afar and one could even miss it if they were not paying attention to it.. within a few seconds as it approached closer the fiery red colour of it's feathers could be seen clearly..

Grandfather Einar opened the window and reached out his hand… the bird landed on his wrist and rubbed it's head on his hand in a show of affection.. it looked into his eyes with it's round black dewy eyes filled with affection..

Grandfather Einar saw this and a smile blossomed on his mature face… he reached out his other hand to caress the head of the small bird and said in a soft voice "How old are you little chichi, you still like to act like a baby? I know you missed me, I missed you too.. it's been hard on you these few years… don't worry now that I called you back.. I'll not make you leave for so long again.."

The bird looked at him and spoke in it's own language as it understood what he had said "Chichi… chi… chichichi.." 'You know that now… how many years has it been since I last saw you.. I'm not leaving for such a long time again.. Ask you man to do your long distance tasks from now on.. hmph..' it said as it expressed how aggrieved it was..

Their minds were connected with each other as the bird was the contracted fiend of grandfather Einar that he had obtained when he was young and was on a mission in the sacred forest.. the fiery colour of the bird caught his eye and he recognised it with a single glance.. it was the legendary Red Feathered Phoenix… it was rare to see a legendary beast in real life but it appeared in front of him just like that..

It was like a tiny little bird that looked like it had just hatched out of an egg.. it looked at him with it's small round eyes and tilted it's head from left to right in curiosity.. from then on it started following him and they made a blood contract..

Blood contract made their mind connect with each other.. so, they could understand and talk to one another in their minds.. Grandfather Einar understood that little chichi was angry with him and quickly tried to reconcile with it "I'm sorry.. little chichi.. don't be like this.. look at me.. alright.. I will not ask you for something like this again.. okay? Now look at me.. it breaks my heart to see you like this.."

After it heard what it wanted to hear, only then did Little Chichi turned it's head towards him and jumped a few times in excitement "Chichi.. chi.." 'Yayy.. Where is everyone.. I want to see your grandchildren..'

Grandfather Einar heard what it said and smiled "They are asleep.. I'll let you meet them when they wake up.. come on.. let's sit and talk.. tell me all about that happened these years.. I missed your chirping.. you only talk like a sparrow.. I want to hear your real voice after so long.."

Little chichi liked to talk like a sparrow.. that's why grandfather Einar named it little chichi.. Little Chichi only talked in it's real voice when it was outside with him.. it had to maintain it's reputation of a legendary Red Feathered Phoenix after all..

As they continued talking the sun quickly rose in the sky… it was soon eight in the morning when Da-eun woke up and knocked on Grandfather Einar' door when she heard the voices of a bird and human coming from inside..