Sharp swords surrounded Rahul on all sides, just half an hour after he finally writhed through the horrible pass he didn't even want to remember, he managed to fall that hard, as he climbed the mountainside, that his ass still hurt. He thought that he could continue his journey calmly when suddenly he was surrounded by a team of five people out of nowhere and without a word swords were raised at him. His attackers were all dressed in black from head to toe, with a snow-white mask covering their entire faces with only two holes through which he could see the fire glowing in their eyes.
"Who are you and what are you looking for in our territory?" Spoke one of the strangers from somewhere behind his back, but the boy thought better not to turn around to see who was addressing him.
"I'm a simple traveler and I'm just passing through, I didn't want to offend anyone's territory." He said, raising his hand, and the voice behind him spoke again.
"Your passport!" He didn't know what to do hearing that statement, so he just blinked for a few moments.
"I lost it." He declared and conjured one of his favorite silly smiles.
"Congratulations, it was a phenomenal defense. Couldn't you think of something better?" At the same time as the voice come, a figure in his early twenties appeared beside him out of nowhere, with his arms folded in front of him and he rolled his eyes.
This figure was one of the constant followers of young Rahul, the spirit of one of his ancestors, who, according to Rahul, always appears at the worst possible time and thanks to whom the boy was more than once considered insane. For the ancestor is obsessed with the fact that he can walk the earth invisible to anyone and lets only his successor see him, even if he would be able to appear before others too.
"Shut up!" Rahul whispered the words as softly between his teeth as he could looking at the man standing next to him. However, the result of his speech surprised even him. The swords that surrounded him slowly descended and another unknown voice sounded.
"Damn it! We've caught a lunatic again." One of the masked men to Rahul's right shook his head.
"It's always our luck, you know! Grab him, then we'll go home!" The first voice said, causing Rahul to swallow hard.
"You are fucked!" Said the ghost relative as he pushed the boy in the side with his elbow.
"I will strangle you!" Rahul looked at him angrily, then simply closed his eyes and whistled. "Griffin!" He shouted, causing the ghost relative to jump two steps away from him.
"Are you calling that bastard creature again?" He asked with a horrified look, but the boy just stared at the sky with a smile, and from above a majestic creature slowly descended, the body of which was the head of a lion and its wings resembled an eagle. As soon as the creature hit the ground, he rubbed his head against Rahul's hand, then raised it high and looked at the black-clad team.
"A creature summoner! Why didn't you start with that? What the hell were you afraid of him for guys, he's one of us!" Rahul heard a happy voice in front of him and as the first sentence was uttered the boy right in front of Rahul pushed the white mask from his face to the top of his head.
"Are you crazy? We don't even know him!" One of his companions growled at the boy before he waved, then reached out a hand to Rahul with a wide smile on his face.
"I am Citar and you?" Because the boy looked friendly, Rahul accepted his hand.
"Rahul." He nodded to him as well, and after shaking hands, the boy named Citar turned curiously to Rahul's griffin.
"He's yours, right?" Came the question and Rahul nodded in response. "Amazing. I have never seen such a strong soul creature." He said enthusiastically and held out his hand toward the creature's head. "Can I?" He stopped abruptly and looked up at Rahul.
"Griffin?" At the words of his master, the griffin lowered his head to be stroked by the boy in the black clothes.
"This is amazing! This is the first time I see a griffin." He said enthusiastically, and the next moment his other companions put their masks on their heads and surrounded the griffin.
"They got enchanted by the monster." The ghost relative shook his head, but before Rahul could scolde him the only man in a black dress who didn't come closer to the griffin spoke.
"All right, boys, enough of the game! Young gentleman, you better come with us. If not, we will have to use violence." He declared.
"As soon as you tell me where we're going, I'll go voluntarily. I want to see the world, not get in trouble." Rahul remarked.
"To Hegyfok." Rahul got the answer from one of the black clothed boys, but when the one who introduced himself saw that Rahul didn't understand what was happening he spoke with a grin.
"It's the headquarters of our tribe." He nodded, but Rahul still had questions.
"What kind of tribe?" It just fell out of his mouth, causing the men around him to blink at him.
"The Bolacsuk tribe, of course." The oldest man, who may have been the leader of the team and who first told Rahul where they wanted to take him, began to speak. "You look like you've never heard of such a thing! I think you might be some wandering hegin, so I'll explain."
"Oh no, he's starting again." Citar sighed desperately beside Rahul.
"Shut up!" The man growled at him, then continued as if nothing had happened. "The Bolacsuk tribe was founded shortly after the reign of the great King Athira. The first chief of our tribe was Bulcsu, thanks to whom the tribe acquired the area where we still live today. He was a man of great strength, they say he once skinned a bear with his bare hands and escaped unscathed."
"Only down side, his wife had a heart attack when he got home covered in blood from head to toe." Citar chuckled at the story as he whispered to Rahul, half-covering his mouth.
"But in addition to the strength of his body, his soul magic was special. It is said that a miracle deer was his soul creature, a beautiful snow-white deer that whoever looked at on the battlefield was blinded by the sight. It was Bulcsu who gathered around him all the hegins of our nation who were able to summon a soul creature and thus our tribe was founded. Since then, the best summoners of soul creatures have come out of our tribe."
"And the most boring storytellers!" Citar pressed his neck, interjecting again, making his partner look at him with eyes that sparked with fire.
"Hold yourself, Citar, or else I have to report to the chief that you can't behave, again." Thanks to the threat, Citar literally shut his mouth.
"He's just talking nonsens." Rahul's gosth relative rolled his eyes behind him.
"Grandpa!" Rahul glanced behind his shoulder at the ghost.
"You really have something wrong with your brain." Citar shook his head, then put his arm around Rahul's shoulder. "But, you know what? Don't be afraid as long as you see me, no one will dare say bad things about you." The boy winked at Rahul.
"Thank you." Rahul nodded, then turned to the team leader. "Can I have a question?" The leader just nodded. "What do you mean by hegin?" When they heard the question, those around him just blinked at him and even Citar let him go.
"Why are you asking what do we mean by that?" Citar said.
"Everywhere I went, everyone said different things. There were places where they were called wizards, there were places where they were said to be charlatans, there were places where they were considered fairy tales, there were places where they were called warriors. So, what are they here?" As the words left Rahul's lips, first the blood left the faces of the team members, then everyone put up a grumpy face and a few blushed from anger.
"Hegins are people who have been endowed by the gods with soul magic and whose lives are dedicated to protecting people and developing their soul magic. We are like that too." The team leader explained, but before he could say anything else, green vibrant lights appeared above the crown of the trees.
"What are those?" Rahul pointed to the flickering lights.
"Signal from home. It's time to go back." Citar explained. "So are we going, or will we stay here for an hour longer, Taks?" The boy put his hand on his hip.
"We're going. We have to take the boy to the tribal chief anyway." Here his lips twitched into an evil smile. "If you like him so much, you're going to take responsibility for him." At the statement, Citar just rolled his eyes and gestured to Rahul.
"Just follow closely and there won't be a problem." Rahul nodded in response, then whistled before moving away, and the griffin rose into the sky and disappeared from sight. "You're right, you better not walk into Hegyfok with that on your side." Giggled Citar.
"At least you've got to Madüjawr, now all you have to do is pray not to be a prisoner." The ghost relative spoke to Rahul's left. "Anyway, I like the boy." He grinned as he circled Rahul and Citar, then began to walk along the latter. Rahul had just rolled his eyes at the scene, he was already used to the fact that his ghost relative was always this weird. However, now the ghost was strangely right, for the time being Rahul could do nothing but follow the Bolacsuk tribes people dressed in black and pray to all beings in the shadows and heavens that he will not become a prisoner.