"So why did you come before me?" Came the harsh question from behind the flower curtain, which caused everyone except General Orchidea to look at the daimon king with surprise and disapproval.
"Can't you see that he passed out?!" Suk growled as he tried to hold his friend.
"It is common that this kind of reaction is provoked by my proximity from weaker creatures. There is nothing strange about that." They received a completely calm answer.
"Forgive me, noble daimon king, but this is not the case at the moment." Rahul frowned.
"Really?" The question was heard, but there was no follow-up, so Rahul looked expectantly at Suk, who took a deep breath and spoke.
"It happened ten days ago, in the land of the Vojks." He began to explain. "In the lava lake land of Madüjawr. We attended a celebration. Our friend was given a poison of unknown origin accompanied by a glass of wine. I also took the poison. Based on my observations, it is a sweet liquid with a slightly bitter aftertaste. A special herbal mixture of substances that are harmless to humans, but accelerates blood flow, heats it up and causes fever." Here he looked down at the boy in his arms. "Teveli's condition has been stable for some time, but the effects of the poison have not gone away. I am afraid that if the blood flow continues to accelerate, he will not survive." He finished the story.
The moment the last word left his lips, the snow-white flowers suddenly began to open around the two boys, and even covered their bodies with the flower shroud. The sight was both charming and frightening, as no one knew what these harmless-looking flowers could do.
"What the?!" Suk's worried cry was heard from the net of flowers and it seemed that the flowers moved along with his movements.
"Calm down, young man. Don't fidget. This is just a test, the more you stumble the longer it will take." The daimon king spoke again.
"Why do I need to be examined?" Suk asked, still at the bott of the flowers, but no longer squirming.
"You said you took the poison yourself too. If my guesses are correct, I'd better check on you." He received the serious answer, and then the room fell silent for long minutes.
"I don't want to be impolite, but compared to the fact that you are the daimon king himself, you are very helpful." Rahul suddenly spoke with his arms folded in front of him and suspicion in his eyes as he stared at the man sitting on the throne hidden behind the flower curtain.
"The ghost beside you, is Hideki's friend." The answer came, and you could clearly make out the good mood in the voice. "This is the first time I see a friend of his. I wouldn't be a good leader if I didn't help the friends of my subjects." He said in a slightly more serious tone before standing up. "As for the help itself." He continued, then snapped his fingers, before the petals of the flowers covering Suk and Teveli fell and turned into small points of light.
"Nice little trick." Etele remarked half-heartedly. And then the daimon king stepped forward from behind the flower curtain. He was dressed in a pale green dress, and his face was covered by a mask decorated with midnight black colored stones. His steps were even and measured, but they made no sound, it was as if the daimon king was floating instead of walking.
"As I guessed. The problem is bigger than I thought." He said in a measured voice as he stepped in front of Suk.
"What problem?" Rahul asked, still eyeing the daemon king suspiciously.
"I guess you heard that I returned to my palace not long ago. If I'm being honest, and I usually try to be, I have to admit that you were very lucky. If you get here a little later, I'm not here anymore." He continued, then extended his hand towards Suk.
"Why?" Rahul tried to search further, but he didn't dare to explain his question when the other daemon in the room moved.
"Calm down, Octavian. The guest doesn't mean any harm, he's just curious." The daimon king remarked and ran his hand over Teveli's face. "Recently, my daimons have started to riot. They tried to break through the border between our worlds in several places. I've also heard that there are a few who ally with humans. If there was no harmful intention behind it, I wouldn't care, but I can't let my people harm the living." He continued seriously. "They've already crossed a line." Maybe the daimon king didn't even move, but it was as if the forces emanating from him were getting more and more angry.
"What do you mean by that?" Rahul frowned and would have stepped closer to the daimon king if Etele hadn't grabbed his arm.
"Whoever poisoned their friend committed a crime worthy of death." The statement was so icy that Suk was shaken by the cold. "A few moments and I'm finished. You are lucky, you got to me just in time." The man said seriously.
"What does that mean?!" Rahul yanked his arm out of Etele's hand and stepped with clenched fists next to the daimon king, who only glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"A transparent is eating your friends from the inside. A dead transparent who wants to return to this world but can't. Someone made poison out of one of my transparents." You could almost hear the murderous intent behind the daimon's words before he snapped his fingers again, causing green smoke to rise from Teveli and Suk's chests and then turn into tiny white flowers. "It's done, your friend is about to wake up." He nodded and reached towards the fainted boy again, but before he could touch Rahul grabbed his wrist, causing everyone to look at him with wide eyes.
"I have no idea what kind of daemon you are, but my head wants to explode just like when those floating balls took the vampire's soul, so I won't let you touch him." He said seriously and directly looking the daimon king in the eyes.
"Interesting." Whispered the daimon king. "You can let me go, young man, I got what I wanted. I know which team I have to tell that one of them is lost." He nodded before Rahul slowly released his wrist, and the daimon king put his hands behind his back and started back towards his platform. "Oh, by the way, since you dear guests come. You could visit our fair, I'm sure you'll find useful things for you." He said, then sat back on the throne standing on the platform.
"Hideki, how about you accompany and show your friend and his team around here. You must make up for a lot of time." The honey-glazed voice was heard, however, the two aforementioned General Orchidea and Etele would have loved to sent the daimon king to the end of the god forsaken world. After all, when they talked about each other, it was always full of kind words just out of politeness, none of them thought that they would ever regret their words.
"Thank you." Etele said thoughtfully and approached Suk to help him hold Teveli, who was slowly waking up. They then politely said goodbye to the daimon king and, with General Orchidea by their side, started towards the door of the hall.
"Oh, and one more thing." The daimon king stopped them, and the team looked back at him curiously and worried. "Now I'm letting you go and am being kind to you, but it's only because of Hideki. The next time you set foot on my land, I may not be so forgiving. The living have no place in this world, you better be careful who you trust." He said as Rahul raised his eyebrows.
"Then we should trust you the least." He snapped, while the daimon king smiled.
"I'm not interested in what goes on outside my realm. As long as I am the Lord of the Shadow World, you need not fear my people. However, I have daimons who are not exactly like that. So be careful." He finished the sentence when the old wooden door slammed shut behind the team.
"I don't trust him." Etele and Rahul spoke at the same time.
"Me neither, but at the moment we have no other chance but to believe him." Suk shook his head as the team started towards Citar, who had stayed here.