Three children, who were already orphans by then, stood in the middle of the camp that had burned to the ground, their eyes trembling with fear as they watched the army that seemed huge approaching from a distance. At least, an army that seemed huge to children, which for an adult was at most a medium-sized outpost, with three, at most four hundred horsemen.
"There are a lot of them." Young Kele muttered, pulling his sister closer to him, and his brother just nodded at his words.
"Okay, that makes no sense." Kamu heard Teike's voice from behind him, and then suddenly the ghost put his hand in front of his eyes. "It's time for you to see what's really in front of you." As the ghost said this, he slowly lifted his hand from Kamu's eyes, which immediately widened as they took in the sight that was before him.
Where the young hegin had seen a cavalry army barely a minute ago, there was now only one horseman. Around him were a multitude of spheres floating in the air. There was no large army anywhere, only these transparents, because Kamu knew what these creatures were called, with a single rider at their head. The boy glanced to the side in surprise with questioning eyes, where Teike had already appeared in front of him with folded arms, although only Kamu saw him.
"That's Athira herself. I told you that he is the daimon king's favorite. It's not a big deal to put a few hundred of the daimon king's transparents at the service of his favorite. This results in a particularly effective, almost indestructible forces." Teike explained, constantly watching the approaching group. "Don't look at it like that, what made you think there were only a few hundred transparents? Come on, there are more than you think. The daimon king wouldn't mind being without so many of them. I bet you could still find some wandering transparents in the forest right now. After all, the daimon king is also a transparent and his brothers are in every corner of the earth."
Before Kamu had a chance to react, the rider reached them and looked around the camp with narrowed eyes, then at the three trembling children. Finally, he simply dismounted and walked slowly to the Teike children and knelt down to get to the same height as the little ones.
"My name is Athira." The man introduced himself.
"The great warlord." Kele's eyes widened, which made Athira smile.
"Yes, exactly." He chuckled softly, then became serious again. "What are your names?" He asked.
"I am Kele, this is my twin brother Kamu." He pointed with one hand at the aforementioned one, who nodded towards the warlord. "And this is our sister Keche." He looked at the girl he was holding on to with one hand.
"I am glad to meet you. Do you know what happened here?" He asked, but only looked around the ruins of the outpost for a moment.
"They attacked us. Our father saved us from the enemy and came back to fight, but he never returned to us. When I came back in the morning, the camp was like this, and he was dying. He told us to wait for you, that you would help us." Kamu spoke and told the story that everyone thought was true about that particular night after that day.
"I understand." The man nodded. "Don't worry, your father was right, I will take care of you." He said seriously as he stood up and extended his hand towards the children. "Come, I will take you to a safer place." He suggested, the two Teike boys looked at each other first, then nodded and Kamu took Kele's hand with one hand and the big Athira's with the other, who smiled at this and led the children towards his horse.
"Have you ever ridden a horse?" The great warlord asked with a smile, and the children shook their heads. "You will really enjoy it. Then soon you will be able to ride it yourself, but until then." Here he bent down to the children again and, holding Kamu under his arm, he put him on the horse, then put little Keche in front of him and finally Kele. "Now we can leave." He looked over his army and slowly, holding the bridle of his horse, set off in the direction he had come from.
Athira was indeed right, the three Teike children really enjoyed riding, although Kamu was more occupied with the multitude of transparent objects floating around them then the horse. He had never seen more than two transparent ones at once, and now he was surrounded by hundreds of strange spheres.
The group's journey was so long that the sun had already set below the horizon by the time they reached a camp. The Teike children were given a separate tent, where they could sleep and have a sumptuous dinner like they hadn't had in a long time. The tent itself was so ornate and elegant that the young people had never seen anything like it.
"You have been suspiciously quiet since Athira appeared." Kamu said softly, not opening his eyes when he felt Teike's presence in the tent in the middle of the night. His siblings had long since slept the sleep of the righteous, little Keche was even snoring, she so exhausted.
"You must be careful with him. He has greater power than I thought. If I didn't know that it was impossible, I would think that Athira was a descendant of the daimon king himself." The ghost's voice was very grumpy, so Kamu looked at him in surprise.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing, I just have a hard time being near transparents." He shrugged.
"If you say so." Littel Kamu rolled his eyes at him.
"Sleep, I'll watch over you." Teike whispered, and Kamu pulled his blanket over himself and was actually asleep in less than a minute.
The three Teike children then traveled alongside Athira for a while until they reached another camp, whose inhabitants, to Kamu and Teike's great joy, were now real people. The great warlord took the children to a decorated tent, where they were greeted by a figure who was a spitting image of Athira.
"This is my twin brother Csito." He introduced the man to the children. "And these are Kele, Kamu and Keche, the only survivors of the Teike outpost." He said in a sad voice. His brother nodded understandingly, then bent down to the children.
"Hello. From today you will live in my camp. I hope you will feel comfortable with us." The man smiled kindly. "Come, I will show you around the camp." He offered, and his brother started laughing.
"I see you have the matter in hand, then I will go too. Take care of the children." Athira patted General Csito on the shoulder, then stroked the heads of the Teike children. "Be good. May the gods be with you." He said goodbye and left the tent.
"Don't even bother with him, my brother is always like this. He has a lot to do. Don't worry, you don't have to rush anywhere here. So, what..." General Csito started to ask, when little Keche's stomach grumbled. The man first blinked, then laughed and, taking the little girl in his arms, tapped her nose with one hand. "I think someone here is very hungry. So, boys, what do you say to a lunch before the tour?" He looked kindly at the children, who looked at each other and nodded.
"That would be very good." Kele replied.
"Then follow me, let's fill the hungry bellies." Csito said as he left the tent. And Kamu hurried after him, smiling, feeling enthusiastic and happy for the first time in a long time. Finally, he was excited again to see what the future would bring him here in Csito's camp.