"They are opposing us for the third day. They probably have multiple táltoses. It would be rare, but not impossible." Grumbled the young táltos to the man next to him, sitting on the back of his horse and looking at the yurt village. When they noticed the village on the horizon, they thought that this place would be just like any other small yurt village. They come, take over and move on.
"There is only one táltos here. Is that really why I had to come here?" The man looked questioningly at the táltos.
"Well, that's what I said, that this one..." The táltos suddenly turned to the man sitting on his horse with wide eyes. "Wait. Did you say they only have one táltos?"
"What, have you become deaf too Inepta?" The man smiled.
"That's impossible! For three days there has been a shaman's circle up that I can't see into and they even summon ghosts. An average táltos cannot do this." He pointed to the yurt village in front of them.
"But someone does it." The man announced and started staring at a point.
"You see in?" Inepta asked quietly, to which he only received a nod in response.
"Alright, let's test our little táltos. Inepta, summon ghosts." The man gave the order.
"Yes, General!" The táltos pulled himself out, then jumped off his horse and summoned a group of ghosts, as he had done several times in the past few days. As soon as the ghosts started heading towards the yurt village, seven ghosts rushed out of the shaman's circle, which redced Inepta's ghosts to nothing in seconds. "And that's what always happens when I try. I have no idea what he's doing, I've never seen such strange ghosts before." The tall man shook his head grumpily, but when he looked up at the general sitting on the horse, his ever-smiling face now took on serious features.
"These were not ghosts." He stated when the seven ghosts evaporated. "They were demons." The general got off his horse.
"Demons?" Inepta's eyes widened. "But demons and daimons cannot be summoned." He barked, but his general just walked past him.
"You were right, you really need me here." He nodded and headed straight for the village.
Meanwhile, Etele sat in the same place on the other side of the shaman's circle for the third day. Sweat ran down his forehead in streams, but he didn't move for a moment. Whenever he saw an attack, he always drew one or more circle-based symbols on the ground in front of him and summoned his ghost soldiers.
He had been protecting his village day and night for the third day, but by now he was beginning to feel the signs of fatigue. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open, it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on the summoned ghosts. In the beginning, he even controlled their movements, but today, when the one-eyed man launched another attack against him, he just let the ghosts do what they wanted.
Then now this strange man who had just appeared simply walked towards their camp. Etele didn't even think when he summoned the ghosts and ordered them to attack, but they instantly became nothing when the man reached them. His eyes widened in fright and he swallowed hugely.
"It needs to be stronger." He muttered to himself and when another colorful circle appeared in his mind, he immediately drew it in the sand. The ghosts appeared and although they were now able to attack the man, they still dissipated into nothing very quickly. As the man approached, Etele chewed his lips.
"It needs to be stronger..." He repeated his words, but then the man reached his shaman's circle and broke it into pieces with a single touch. Frightened, Etele looked back at the village whose inhabitants he had to protect. He hardened his features and turned back to the stranger. He didn't even look at what he was drawing on the ground, he only saw that this time only one ghost appeared. Dressed in midnight black, with black hair, snow white skin and a few orchids tied in his hair. The ghost spun him around, and when he saw the man in front of him, he tilted his head to the side.
The enemy general looked at the apparition as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. However, none of them looked like they were about to attack. Etele stood up with great difficulty, his hands clenched into fists. He won't die without a fight. If that's what it takes, he'll die for the village, just like his ancestors did. He took a deep breath and called out.
"Attack!" It was only a word, but the ghost immediately moved forward, a thin-bladed sword appeared in its hand. The enemy general just stood there and a gentle smile appeared on his face, like the one that usually appears on the faces of parents when their children are bad. When the ghost struck with the sword, the man simply gripped the blade.
"It's enough." He said in a calm voice, and Etele suddenly couldn't decide whether the man was talking to him or to the ghost. The ghost suddenly staggered back, its sword turning into smoke as it grabbed its head.
"Att..." Etele begun to give the command desperately, but the words got stuck in his throat, he dropped to one knee and began to cough loudly, while the ghost pulsated at the same time, then completely disappeared. Etele was still coughing loudly when the stranger stepped in front of him and put his hand on his shoulder, then pressed a water bottle under his nose.
"Drink up, young man, you deserve it." He stated.
"I don't need your pity." Etele looked up at him with glowing eyes, but the man just smiled at him.
"Oh, don't worry, I don't have any pity." He patted his shoulder and when Etele didn't want to take the water bottle, he simply pushed it into his hand. "My name is General Csito, and from now on you are my number one man." He stated, which caused Etele to spit out the single sip of water he had just taken in his mouth.
"But General, that's me!" Inepta came closer, despair clearly shining in his one eye.
"Know your place, Inepta." The general scolded the táltos. "I need strong táltoses. You may be able to summon several ghosts, but as you saw, the young man here is able to summon several demons at the same time." When he said this, Etele looked up at him blinking slowly, that was the first time in his life that he had heard this word. All his life he believed that ghosts were ghosts and that was it.
"And the last thing he summoned was a daimon." The man paused here. Inepta's face turned white, and Etele was even more lost than before. "Just to make it clear, Inepta." The general pointed to Etele. "For three days, he maintained a particularly strong shaman's circle, constantly summoning demons to fight, and after that he was able to summon and control a daimon with barely any kí left in his body." He pressed the last words.
"Why is this a big deal?" Etele blinked in surprise at the pair.
"Because you're the strongest táltos I've ever met." The general smiled at him. "So, will you be my táltos?" Asked.
"No." Etele growled when the man grabbed his chin.
"You know what, I'll be nice. You protected them with such heart and soul, if you become my táltos, I will leave your little village intact and unscathed." He nodded in the direction of the yurts. "What do you think?"
"Alright." He closed his eyes.
"I'm glad we agreed. So what's your name my táltos?" The general asked with his hands on his hips. Etele looked at his small village.
"I don't know my mother's name, they never told me." He muttered under his breath, as he knew that he should say his mother's name when introducing himself. "My tribe is called Koál, so..." Here he turned back and looked directly at General Csito. "My name is Koál Etele."