155. I'm proud of you

"Are you sure you're okay, Rahul?" Citar asked suspiciously.

"I am now. Don't worry!" Rahul nodded.

"But what happened?" The green-clad hegin wondered.

"Doesn't matter, what's in the Mist stays in the Mist." The chüvigh boy shrugged.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but is it a good idea to let us outsiders now where the headquarters of this organization is?" Citar scratched his head, now turning to Kamu as they got closer and closer to the large door they had come in from. However, the boss of the Immortal Mist just laughed at his question, then simply pushed the boy out the door.

"What's in the Mist stays in the Mist!" The ghost-man chuckled and clapped his hands on his hips.

"What? Where the Fene am I?" The Bolacsuk boy looked around in confusion.

"That us a useful little defense system, I give it that." Razvan smiled too. "We won't have any idea where we are when we leave, right?" He looked questioningly at Kamu, who just bowed to him.

"That's why I'm going with you. Anyone who belongs to the Immortal Mist knows where the entrance is. This way you can return to school without any problems." Mukei Vietryk, the Ishán of the Immortal Mist, explained.

"Then follow me, boys." Razvan laughed and walked out the door after Citar, and the other hegins followed his example.

"Come, I'll show you where Floating Air is." Kamu gestured as he stood at the head of the group.

"You have no idea how unpleasant it is that I remember everything that happened in the past few hours except how the fuck we got here." Teveli grumbled, narrowing his eyes.

"Ah, give it a few hours and it won't be weird at all." The ghost-man shrugged as he and the Athamanas took to the streets of the Floating Barracks to get back to school as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. "Biaskoncy, come back to the center today, I have something to discuss with you." Kamu said seriously when the team reached the school. "I'll see you soon, Athamanas." He smiled at the young people, only to immediately turn around and disappear into the shadows, as if he hadn't even been there.

The Athamanas returned to their quarters still a little confused and, contrary to their habit, they lay down to sleep in complete silence. Somehow, after the events of the day, no one felt like staying up and talking. Their minds were all overloaded with the amount of information they had to absorb and reconcile with their previous knowledge.

It was about two hours after sunset when a ghost took shape by Rahul's bed and, careful not to wake the sleeping hegins, raised Rahul's sword, holding it in his hand, and stepped out in front of the small cottage where the Athamanas slept. The blue-robed ghost took a deep breath and raised the sword in front of him.

"I would be happy if you appeared of your own accord and I wouldn't have to force you to." He said in a measured voice, whereupon the sword began to glow in his hand only to fade and another blue-robed figure appeared in its place.

"Did you want to talk to me, dad?" The question came from Laik's mouth, who looked up at his father suspiciously.

"Yes." Etele nodded before his serious features were replaced by a faint smile. "I wanted to apologize." The ghost began, but his son only raised his hand.

"You have nothing to apologize for, father. I knew why you were doing it." The sword spirit smiled at his father.

"That doesn't mean I wasn't ruder than I should have been." Etele shook his head. "Accept my apology, little warrior." The ghost ruffled Laik's hair.

"Father." The younger ghost giggled as he tried to fix his hairstyle.

"I'm proud of you." Svihák finally blurted out, in a sincere voice that meant much more to his son than he thought. "I know we didn't say it and especially I didn't say it enough, but the truth is we were always proud of you, both of us." He looked away. "Even though I always scolded you, I'm still proud that you're my son." He said honestly and when he looked at his son again, tears were already gathering in Laik's eyes.

"Thank you." The ghost considered the founder of the Koál tribe swallowed hard. "You have no idea what this means to me, dad." Laik forced a bittersweet smile onto his lips, but before Etele could answer anything, the door of the house opened behind him and his son returned to the sword, only for the weapon to hit the ground with a clang.

"Are you done? I'm trying to sleep." Rahul grumbled as he stepped past Svihák, picked up his sword from the ground, and then headed back into the house. "Tell me next time, if you want to talk to him, Grandpa, I won't keep you from your son." The youngest Koál shook his head.

"Will do." Etele nodded and when Rahul went back to the building to finally get some sleep, his ghost relative dissapeared to find the center of the Immortal Mist.

It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Although he never thought it of Kamu, the boy had hidden the headquarters of his little team very cleverly, but what to be surprised about, he was a summoner. Yet a circle always leaves a mark and it was not for nothing that Etele was the father of summoning circles. There was never a summoning circle that he couldn't find, so although it took longer than he wanted, he found the place where he could break the summoning circle to let himself into the center of the Immortal Mist.

"How did you get here?" This was the first thing Etele received from a very surprised Biaskoncy, who stood blinking next to Kamu.

"You protect the place with a summoning circle. I broke it, of course." The Koál ghost shrugged.

"How long did it take?" Kamu grinned, as if he wasn't bothered at all that someone had gotten in without his permission.

"Ah, it wasn't long, just like stringing a bow." The ghost shrugged.

"What the..." Kamu said in surprise, but that wide smile was still on his lips. "We're better than I thought." He clapped his hands together.

"What do you mean by that?" Biaskoncy blinked at him in confusion.

"I knew that Dad would be able to break it, the only question was how long it would take. Usually, he can unlock a summoning circle in a snap, and the bow's stringing is a particularly good time for us." Kamu explained, then turned to Etele. "So, now that you're here, what do you want, Dad?" He asked, to which Etele looked at him seriously.

"So you're that ghost king?" He finally asked, but he only got a nod in response. "Good. Then tell me what it means to be such a ghost king?" The next question came.

"I have no idea." Kamu shrugged, and he managed to make Etele grimace.

"But how do you know that you are one? Do you attract ghosts?" The Koál ghost continued to aks.

"They prefer to avoid me. " The ghost-man spread his arms, and Etele slowly nodded.

"I think I'll have to be content with this." He sighed, then turned around to disappear, but still looked back at the leader of the Immortal Mist. "Oh and Kamu." Here he smiled. "I'm proud of you, son." His figure faded away for good, leaving the two assassins alone and disappearing from the world of people.