Kamu just grinned and looked at the fading Tele pair in front of him with his hands clasped on his hips. It had been almost a thousand years since he had last seen someone cross between the two worlds using this method. He hadn't really paid much attention to it back then, and after his brother's death, he simply didn't care.
He thought he would never get a chance to see the Teike ability in action again. Especially since his twin brother hadn't had the chance to teach his son the ability. So the Teike's special ability died with the twins. Or rather, it half-died, since Kamu returned from time to time, but since he never started a family, he was the only person in the world who used this ability, until now.
"You know, I thought it was more complicated for you to cross first." Kamu was snapped out of his thoughts by his best friend, who was looking at the two Teles in front of him with folded arms.
"Tev is now a ghost?" Asked Suk curiously, who was staring at the whole phenomenon with his mouth open.
"Exactly." Kamu nodded at the young Zovárd's question. "And as for the crossing. When you have to cross by yourself for the first time, it is more complicated. But to do that, you have to learn to come back first." He announced.
The two Tele in front of him reacted in quite opposite ways to the transition into ghost form. Although both of them were shocked, this emotion still appeared on them in the form of the two extremes. Tele Tete stood in one place, smiling, but with his lips slightly open, then began to turn his head, as if he were seeing a miracle, from behind his newly appeared ghodt eyes, in which a pair of blood-red eyes now looked out at the world.
In contrast, Teveli's face could be read as a mixture of satisfaction and despair. The boy stood in one place with his mouth open and just stared ahead and did not even blink. His eyes, however, were the same brown as before. That was the thing that struck Kamu when his attention was focused on him. So the head of the Immortal Mist bent directly in front of Teveli's face, then grinned.
"Oops, you won't be able to come back like this. You didn't switch to ghost eyes. Well, next time. Listen, I'll get you out now." He simply put his hand on the ghost's shoulder, thanks to which the boy's form began to solidify again. "Come on, Tete, you have your ghost eyes. Let's see if you can come back." The Ishán of the Immortal Mist stepped away from Tev.
And the young Tele sighed heavily when he returned to the living and closed his eyes with a hand pressed to his forehead to collect himself. Next to him, his uncle shook himself when their ancestor addressed him and now with a serious face he was trying to somehow get back to the living. Of course, nothing happened for a few minutes, when suddenly his form began to vibrate.
"That's it! Hold the thought!" Kamu gave the order with a wide grin, then silently watched as Tele Tete's form slowly became solid again. "Congratulations! Now you just have to do it quickly and you can learn to cross too." Kamu patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction.
"Faster? Do you know how complicated this was too?" Tele Tete got angry, which only made Ajtony laugh.
"I think he does." The poison-mixing ghost shrugged.
"It took me a long time to be able to come back in a blink of an eye. I think I practiced for two years." The head of the Immortal Mist touched his chin thoughtfully.
"Two years? Do I have to practice that much?" The older Tele gaped.
"Hey, you're already doing it with a grown-up head. I started when I was four. It took me two years to learn how to come back and a few more before I could confidently assume the ghost form. It should be easier for you, you are old enough to understand the process you have to go through. I learned by feeling." Kamu folded his arms in front of him.
"How often do we have to do this?" The question came from Teveli, who swallowed hard and even his hands were clenched into fists.
"It's better to practice every day, then you should get the hang of it pretty quickly." Kamu shrugged. "Next time you'll be good at it too. After all, this is the first time I've done this, there was a chance of making a mistake." He waved.
"I understand." Teveli nodded, but his features were still troubled, but before Kamu could start asking what was wrong, his uncle distracted him.
"What was my ghost eye like?" The older Tele asked curiously.
"A pair of red eyes." He received the answer from the head of the Immortal Mist, before to everyone's surprise the hegin placed one hand on his neck and rolled his eyes with a loud groan.
"I knew that dumb bitch would be the death of me." He finally groaned, which made Ajtony laugh again.
"What's wrong, the wife will kill you like Athira's did?" He asked, holding his stomach from laughing.
"I'm talking about a danovus, you bastard." Tele Tete looked at the poison-mixing ghost with piercing eyes, hearing his words the laughter stopped immediately, but Ajtony just blinked at him in confusion.
"Does that change anything?" He asked, thanks to which Suk laughed. "Hey, what happened?" The sword ghost turned to his successor in surprise.
"Nothing, I asked Citár the same thing the other night when he started worrying about whether it would be smart for him to get together with a danovus." The Zovárd boy explained.
"Okay, enough of the chatter. Get to work!" Kamu clapped his hands, drawing attention back to himself. "Let's try again." The ghost-man continued. "Don't forget you are alive!" He repeated the most important point before touching the foreheads of his two relatives again to allow them to cross into the Shadow World. While the two Teles were busy trying to get back among the living, Ajtony called Suk aside.
"So now that the Mist has covered you, dear relative, it's time for you to start normal training. While Kamu is busy with the Teikes, he can't really teach you any practical skills. However, since they are distracted like this, we can safely talk about other things. So it's time for you to learn our most important rules, passwords and signs." The sword ghost explained.
"All right." Suk grumbled under his breath and although he really didn't want to associate with the Immortal Mist, he still accepted his fate, since Kamu's face was still vivid in his mind when he told him that he would finish off the Athamanas if Suk dared to oppose him.
"Don't look at me as if I had shoved medicine down your throat instead of poison." Ajtony rolled his eyes.
"Why, what should I do? Jump with joy that you're forcing me to do something I don't want to do?" The boy asked with a grimace, which made his ancestor sigh.
"You know, it would be completely different if you didn't see the Mist as an enemy. Don't see it as an obligation, but as an opportunity. Use the part of it that you need. I didn't stay with Kamu because he was such a good boss, in fact, he was downright horrible in the beginning." He looked away with a smile towards the Teikes.
"I thought you were friends." Suk says surprised.
"We became that. In the beginning, we were just useful to each other. He needed someone who knew poisons, I needed someone who could test my works. That's what I use the Mist for. I make all my ideas come true. Sooner or later you'll find your reason too and then you'll be glad you didn't leave us here." The poison-mixing ghost shrugged.
"I'm not so sure about that, but if you say so." Suk sighed. "So, where do we start?" He asked.
"I've been waiting for you to ask!" Ajtony grinned, then began a short lecture on the most important rules of the Immortal Mist.