After their mother's death, life took a rather negative turn for the Teike twins. Their playful training turned into hours filled with beatings, shouting, and over-speeding. The lake, which the two siblings had literally grown up next to, was no longer allowed for them to be near. Their father trained them with severity, which often resulted in children sniffling before going to bed.
The previously happy atmosphere of the outpost turned icy after the event known as the Great Massacre. Although no one voiced it, everyone was aware that the Teike father, the man who functioned as the heart of the outpost, had changed for the worst after the death of his wife. He was rude to everyone and never listened to anyone. Equality slowly turned into a reign of terror as the weeks passed.
And in this reign of terror, the Teike children stood helpless. Fortunately, since she was a girl and still very small, little Keche was safe from her father's madness. Not so the two boys, who had to complete increasingly crazy and insane tasks and challenges to meet their father's huge expectations.
"Come on Kamu! I'll teach a more exciting things than your crazy father." Teike, the ghost, who decided six months after the Great Massacre to teach Kamu, the only living person who had seen him, how to truly use his abilities, but Kamu just rolled his eyes.
"But I don't want to." Little Kamu growled, who had had enough of everything that day. He didn't like being poked by the ghost anyway, but that day he really didn't want the ghost near him.
"Come on, fuck off!" The ghost man put his hands on his hips, and little Kamu squeezed his eyes shut. Now, like every night, he ran out of their tent to be alone for a while and hid under the nearest trees in the forest.
"Go to the Fene! It's all your fault! Mom died because of you! If you let me go, maybe..." The little boy began, tears already streaming down his face.
"You couldn't have saved her even if I had let you go." The ghost sighed, then sat down on the ground in front of the child. "Do you know why I let you go anyway?"
"No." Little Kamu sniffed.
"Because I knew she had to see you before she died. You were there in her eyes." The man explained in a calm voice, which made the young hegin blink hugely.
"Do you see the ghost eyes on the living?" Little Kamu opened his small mouth wide, and the ghost smiled.
"Yes I can see them." Teike nodded in response.
"But that can't be, we only see our own." Kamu shook his head, but the ghost just snorted.
"Kid, I am Teike, the founder of your family, Teike, the ghost king that your father always raves about. The smallest part of my ability is that I can see the ghost eyes of the living." The ghost turned his head to the sife.
"But if you are the ghost king, why aren't you human?" Kamu scratched his little head as he narrowed his eyes.
"Because I don't feel like it." Teike started to giggle.
"Wait, if you can see ghost eyes, then you know that everyone dies?" The child's eyes widened.
"Oh, yeah I do." The ghost waved a hand as if it wasn't such a big deal.
"But if you knew that mother would see me for the last time, why didn't you let me go sooner? If I had been there sooner, maybe I could have saved her, maybe she would still be alive. Then father wouldn't be like this and wouldn't hurt us." Kamu grabbed his arm, which had a red scar on it.
"You can't just change the ghost eye, kid. I've had many years of life and death behind me, but I only know of one person whose ghost eye changed." The Teike ancestor said in a serious voice.
"Who was that?" Little Kamu asked curiously, and the ghost slowly smiled.
"Me." The ghost announced. "But that's not what's important now. I want to teach you how to use the energies of the Shadow World to recognize a demon." Teike leaned closer to the boy.
"Wait! Demons have ghost eyes?" The question slipped out of the child.
"No. Why would they? They're born as ghosts." The Teike ancestor grimaced.
"And what about the immortals, as Dad calls them?" Little Kamu's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"They have too." The ghost shrugged.
"And what is it like?" The little boy grinned, and the ghost wrinkled his nose.
"Why the Fene do you want to know? It's not like you can see them!" He spread his arms and stood up. "Come on. You won't learn the technique on your own." He looked down at the little boy, who nodded and quickly jumped to his feet.
Little Kamu's life then slowly became a series of habits again. Training, shouting, beatings, more training, shouting again, then studying with Teike and finally sleeping. This went on every day for more than a year. Until news arrived that the army led by Athira was getting closer and closer to the village led by the Teike family.
The shorter the distance between the main army and the outpost became, the more unpredictable the leader of the outpost became. He made more and more moonwalks and always ordered the able-bodied men to arms, sa if he had been constantly waiting for an attack. No one knew where to put this sudden change, but no one dared to speak out. By then, no one had dared to speak out against the crazy ghost executioner.
Then came the day. The day the outpost led by the Teike family was destroyed. The day itself began completely uneventfully. Only the restlessness of the forest animals hinted at the approaching storm. The outpost had no idea what was going on around them, that another group, a rebel group, was gathering around them and was just waiting for the night to strike.
It all started shortly after sunset. With the first burning arrow, which set fire to the central tent of the outpost. Panic broke out immediately. The men reached for their weapons, but it was too late. The enemy attacked from all sides. And Kamu, following their ancestor, had his siblings hide in one of the hollow trees.
"Stay here, I'll find dad and come back. Be quiet!" Kamu, who was ten years old at the time, put his finger to his mouth. "And Kele." He looked at the boy he called his brother. "Take care of Keche." With that, he turned away from the tree and started walking. "Teike, don't let anyone find my siblings." The boy whispered to himself.
"Leave it to me." He received the answer whispered in the wind before he ran on to look for his father in the crowd, who was not in the camp. Kamu found his father on the shore of the small lake, who was looking at himself in the lake mirror. In the reflection, Kamu saw that his father's eyes were not the usual brown, but something white in them. His father was in ghost form, although he was almost never in it, he only used it for stealth.
"Dad!" Little Kamu called his father, but his dad didn't move. "Dad, there's something wrong with the outpost..." He started, but was interrupted.
"I told you not to come near the lake! I know what's going on in the camp. I called them here. It's time to change. Everything that's gone wrong in our lives is Athira's fault. If it weren't for this land despute, we would have lived peacefully. I have to show him what it's like if he doesn't win." The man muttered under his breath.
"But this isn't right, dad. They didn't do anything." Kamu groaned. "And if Athira finds out..."
"They didn't do anything? They? Didn't? Do? Anything? They're standing by Athira!" The man shouted. "He took everything from me, but he won't take you, not my children. If you have to go, I'll kill you, and then I'll kill him too." The man grinned, but with his words he managed to make the despair desapeare from little Kamu's face and his emotionless features took over.
The man's eyes, looking at the water mirror on the lake shore, suddenly widened as the familiar image in his eyes was replaced by a face that looked at him coldly and without remorse. The man immediately regained his human form and turned his back on the water with wide eyes, but before he could do anything, he only realized that a dagger handle was protruding from his chest. He looked down at the weapon, then at the person in front of him.
"This, was your fault." Kamu said in a calm voice, reminding his father of his mother's message before pulling the dagger from the man's chest and leaving the dying man on the lake shore to return to his siblings.