57. From transparent to daimon

"Who cares..." The daimon turned away from the team and sat down on the ground, but Etele saw that he reached for the orchids placed in his hair, but before he could touch them, he pulled his hand back and took out his weapon.

"Then I'll tell you his story." General Csito sighed, then began the story.

Many, many years ago, when even the most powerful daimon was nowhere to be found, when the king of the daimon, their leader, had not yet come to power, then the infamous General Orchidea was just one of the average harmless transparents. Although he wasn't quite like his peers.

He often stalked the woods alone. He watched people, animals, everything around him. He saw things what no one else saw. He saw people's last moments, saw their tears as he led them into the Shadow World. He saw savages who wanted to kill everyone, he saw fights to the death, but he just watched.

He didn't like people, but he didn't hate them either. He did nothing but look at them like a pair of silent staring eyes. He was only a shadow lurking under the leaves of the trees, at the corner of the houses, on the horizon. Always present, always silent, always cold. His days passed like this until he reached a certain village. The place that completely changed his existence.

"Hello! Do you want to play with me?" Those were the words that started everything. The words that came from the lips of a young girl, a small blonde whose eyes sparkled like the lilies of the Shadow World. With his small hands behind her back, with a wide smile on her face, she looked at the transparent, which just floated silently in front of her.

"Let's play hide and seek. Find me." The girl suggested and turned around and ran. The transparent just looked after her for a while, but didn't move. "Do you even know how to play hide and seek?" The girl asked the question, running back to the transparent and tilting her head to the side. However, she did not receive an answer. "You know what, then you hide and I'll find you." The girl smiled again.

That's how it all started. With a girl who, against all logic, wanted to play with a transparent. The girl knew nothing about ghosts and transparents, she only saw a friend in the floating creature. And the transparent didn't know why, but every day he returned to that forest and waited for the blonde girl in the same place. Sometimes she danced with him, sometimes she sang or told him stories, sometimes she played with him, but she showed up every day.

"What's your name?" The little girl always asked questions even though she knew that the transparent wouldn't answer her, he never answered, he always just stared with those eyes that see through everything. This didn't seem to bother the little girl at all, she just kept talking and talking. "If you don't have a name, I'll give you one." The girl was enthusiastic and, to his own surprise, he felt something for the first time in centuries, he was excited.

"Hmm..." The girl tapped her face with her index finger. "Got it." She clapped. "Octavian." She grinned. "Your name will be Octavian. You like it?" The girl asked and for the first time that day she got a reaction from the transparent, which seemed to have nodded towards her. Some say that General Orchidea was born at that moment, but the truth is different.

The next time the happy little girl appeared with a purple stain on her arm, but her smile was still as bright. The transparent didn't understand people, he didn't know that something was wrong. The girl followed him in the same way, even though the purple spot was getting bigger and bigger. The sparkling eyes, the innocent smile were the same as always. Time passed slowly, but the encounters between transparent and human continued in the same way.

However, every good fairy tale comes to an end, and this fairy tale ended sooner than its characters wanted. On that fateful day, the little girl appeared with a wreath of orchids, which she placed with great care on the head of the transparent sphere.

"Here you are, Oktavian, now you are as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside." The girl smiled at him. "You know, you're my only friend. But don't worry, I'm glad you're my friend." The transparent hovered closer to the girl, as if he wanted to hug her. "Thank you for always being here for me." The girl smiled. They had no idea that day that the storm was already on the horizon. They played and sang, but the day soon ended.

The next day started like any other. The transparent was waiting for the girl in the same way as every day, but the expected guest did not appear. The transparent ventured out to the edge of the forest, but there was no sign of the girl. Hours passed, but the girl did not appear. For several days, the transparent floated on the edge of the forest, the orchids on its head slowly began to wither.

"Why aren't you coming?" The transparent spoke for the first time in a long time. "Where can you be?" He inquired the wind, but he didn't get an answer, so he took it upon himself to approach the village. Looking for traces of her, he used all his powers which led him straight to a stone block. The transparent didn't need to see to know what happened. The girl who grew close to his soul, the girl he loved is dead.

"Don't... Don't... Don't..." The transparent chanted, but he himself knew that death cannot be reversed. His soul was filled with pain. "Don't go..." The transparent cried, when the spirit of the little girl appeared in front of him smiling.

"I knew you would come for me, Octavian." The little ghost said with a smile on her face, then touched her forehead to the head of the transparent sphere. "Please don't forget me and live on, be strong." Whispered the girl, then smiled widely with tears slowly fading on her face. "I knew you were really beautiful. Don't worry Octavian, I'll always be with you." The girl put her hand on the orchids, and then her figure disappeared forever. And the transparent screamed in pain.

Tears washed his face, his whole being trembled. This was the moment when General Orchidea was born. He just sat there by the grave for days. A newly born daimon, silent and sobbing with only his gaze. The orchids in his hair, the little flowers that represented the girl, bloomed on his head where the girl had placed them. Oktavian Hideki, General Orchidea himself, was born here.

"Was it so, or was it so General Orchidea?" General Csito chuckled, and the daemon nodded.

"But why Hideki?" Etele scratched his head.

"It was her name." Said General Orchidea, then raised his head and simply disappeared.

"Oh..." Etele sighed, but finally just shook his head. Later, he heard the same story from others, but in these cases the daemon killed the girl in different ways each time. Etele always thought, when he heard such things, that he was glad that he heared General Csito's version of the events first. The truth was much sadder, but it didn't help him not to fear the daimon who could kill anyone.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Rahul snapped in front of Etele's face. "You showed up and I want you to leave." The boy sighed.

"I... Sorry." Said Etele, then looked at the transparents again, nodded and disappeared from sight.