Mysterious old man
The grouped finished their meal and left the restaurant, when they got to the car, strangely uncle Hue suggested that they walk to their next destination. Although it seemed odd, no one objected. Hera got one of her subordinates to watch over the car and be on standby incase they needed a ride.
It was the weekend and just like any other city on a weekend, the streets were filled with people. People's heads moved around like a street artist shuffling a ball in cups, some of them had umbrellas to protect them from the rain while others didn't care. The streets were so crowded that it would be nearly impossible to make out a single person.
Leading the group, Uncle Hue released a small pressure that made the people in a certain radius move away, it mostly made them uncomfortable and clear a path, the pressure created a small bubble that stopped the rain from touching them. This was a common occurrence in this new era. The people gave them weird looks and gossiped a little but soon got back to their lives.
"You know, I saw you hesitate when you were about to kill that female orc. Why is that?" Walking in front of the group, uncle Hue asked Henry.
"I'm... I didn't notice" Henry answered aftet he thought back to the earlier situation.
"Humor me, try and guess why that is"
Sigh! Why did I hesitate? Maybe I was horny after seeing that the dungeon boss was female? Was I scared? A plethora of questions went through Henry's head.
"Maybe I was shocked that she looked more like a pretty girl than some bloodthirsty monster" Henry answered after a while.
"Oh, does that mean you don't believe that she was bloodthirsty, maybe her trying to kill you was her way of trying to be friends"
"I don't mean bloodthirsty in that way" Henry shook his head in disagreement.
Is bloodthirsty the word I'd use to describe her? Surely it's not! She did try to kill me! And it didn't seem like it was for self defense! Henry got lost in his thoughts again.
After a while of walking the group reached the "suburban" area of the city, the streets weren't filled, kids were running around in the rain, laughter and cheers rung in the air, creating a somber atmosphere.
"Take control of your life, stop being blown by the wind"
Henry who was lost in his thoughts and aimlessly walking, came back to his senses and saw an old man who looked like a hobbo. The old man pointed at Henry and shouted.
"You young man, do you fancy yourself smart?"
Henry was about to ignore him and go back to his thoughts, when he saw his uncle look at him curiously, as if waiting for an answer.
"Maybe, I don't know."
"Prove it to me, if you impress me, I'll give you a one of a kind treasure, a treasure sought-after by even the strongest beings"
Henry turned to his uncle, as if asking, really? Are we doing this?. Uncle Hue just smiled and looked at the old man.
"OK how do you wanna do this" Henry asked the ck old man, he wasn't really interested in any of this.
"Do you dare play me in a game of chess!?" saying that, the old man brought out a folder able chessboard and started placing the pieces on their spots. Henry enjoyed playing chess, during those cold and lonely days where he was tired from the training, his uncle would whip out the chess board and they would play together.
Not wanting to waste much time, Henry took out his strongest piece and went for a checkmate, the result of this was him losing his queen and most of his other pieces, not long after Henry lost. This surprised him at first but he chocked it up to being cocky.
"Sigh! I thought you were good, if this is your best than let's just forget it or do you wanna go again" The old man said with a disappointed look.
"Yeah sure, let's go again" when Henry played chess he became someone else entirely, he got upset by the old man's words. Henry didn't even view the old man as an opponent.
From the get go, Henry advanced and defended his pieces, he defended his troops with layers of protection but by some twisted choice of fate, he forgot to defend the king and not long after he lost. The chess pieces returned to their original position again and again and again, each time he would loose, with each loss he'd grow more and more frustrated.
"Do you give up yet" the old man said as he yawned every now and than.
"One more match" Henry responded, he seemed like a completely different person, he was calm and patient.
The match started, this time Henry took his time, he placed traps and left a few baits. He was completely concentrated, the only thoughts that went through his mind, were thoughts of the game.
"Checkmate *sigh*" Henry said as he stared and the chessboard and then the old man, he had to admit the old man was good or rather he was better than him. He got lucky, he thought.
"You finally won huh? congrats"
Henry turned around and saw his group coming towards him, they were all eating food on a stick.
"How long have I been playing"
"let me see, we left about two hours ago so around two and a half hours"
Damn! Henry got up from the ground and prepared to leave when the old man stopped him.
"Young man, what about your reward?"
"The treasure that everyone wants, seems like it's more trouble than it's worth" Henry said after thinking about it.
"You don't want it? Don't you want pow-" the old man was surprised for a bit and opted to convince the youth but was interrupted.
"I never said I didn't want it, fine let me see it. " Henry didn't take the man seriously, the homeless man in the streets claimed to have a treasure that powerful people sought after. Surely he could just sell it and get paid, the only reason Henry even entertained him was because of his uncle.
The old man finally stood up and shocked Henry, the old man was tall and towered over all of them, another notable point was that underneath his ragged and torn clothes was a muscular body. At this point Henry decided look at the old man properly, the old man had white and unkept hair that covered the top part of his face only leaving his eyes peaking though. The lower part of his face was covered by a bushy beard.
The tall old man reached out his hand and grabbed the duel blades from Henry's waist, what shocked Henry was that he tried to move away from the hand but his body didn't listen to him.
The old man grabbed both blades and his hands shone with a plethora of lights, the blades also shone in the same lights before slowly dimming down. The old man reached into his cloak and his hand came out with another foldable chess board.
"How good is your memory kid?"
The old man's voice changed to something more strong and powerful, even his expression was different now.
"Doesn't matter anyway, just remember my words. Start with a king and after that set, start with another king. The stronger you are the more the pain will lessen okay?"
As the old man said this, his hand along with the chess board moved towards Henry. The chess board pushed against Henry's head and a second later, something strange happened, the chess board started entering his head as his skin rippled like water. The chess board which was way bigger than Henry's head went inside his head completely.
After the board entered his head, Henry felt a sharp pain on the sides of his skull, like he had worn a tight cap for too long. Henry felt a throbbing pain coming along.
"Shouldn't we do something" Hera felt a little worried when she saw Henry's pained expression, she wasn't the only one, the other four were also worried and shocked by this development.
"Hera even if the entire planet banned together to fight this man, we won't be able to even trim his beard and besides he's not here to cause any trouble" Kento said to the agitated Hera, his words shocked the group.
"Who is he" Hera looked at the old man as she subconsciously held her sword. What scared her the most was that her battle sense wasn't working on this old man. Her battle sense which warned her, when she faced a strong opponent was unresponsive.
Henry dropped to his knees as he held his head, his head felt a stinging pain coming from every inch of his head. He wanted to let out a howling pain but held himself back and his body would shiver uncontrollably.