A FELLOW ENTHUSIAST

Immediately a glint of recognition seemed to ignite in his eyes, as his expression immediately changed from that of unfamiliarity to a welcoming one.

"Young Kairos?...What are you doing standing outside, c'mon in boy." The man immediately replied, re-entering the building with Kairos following behind him.

Immediately Kairos entered the building the heavy smell of liquor enveloped his nose causing him to slightly sniff out for a while before causally staring around the house. Empty bottles of liquors and wines, broken clay cups and bowls, numerous pieces of folded papers and also some other types of unwanteds could be seen lying on various spots in the building creating a scene of untidiness and abandonment.

Kairos, not putting much thought on that, quickly stared at the man who seemed busy turning the contents of a bottle of liquor into two clay cups.

"How about we first drink to the morning…eh young Kairos, it's my first go today." The man said with a smile, handing one of the cups to Kairos who quickly rejected it with a smile.

"Oh…not today maybe, still got a lot to handle that'll need a sober mind."

"Oh…I see you still weary of a couple takes eh….oh well two go for me then." The man said with an indifferent smile as he quickly gulped down the contents in the two cups.

"So young Kairos…if i'm not mistaken in a few days from now you would have to partake in your island's ceremony of competence, the one where you choose what future path to follow?" The man asked, still turning the very last contents of the cup into his mouth.

"Yes." Kairos simply replied with a nod.

"And do you still wish to choose to follow the path you spoke on last time?" He asked again, this time staring at the crystal blue eyes of the teenage boy standing a few steps from him.

Kairos paused for a while, seemingly lost in his thoughts as his head dropped low and his gaze focused on the ground before he raised his head back up, a confident expression on his face as he replied with an equally confident tone:

Each day….my reason for choosing that path increases."

"Emm…I see." The strange man muttered and remained quiet for a while before causally throwing the two clay cups in his hand to the ground causing them to shatter and jolting Kairos from where he stood due to shock.

The latter stared at the man with wide eyes before saying in an upset tone:

"Why in heaven's name did you shatter the cups?"

The man, bearing a smile, casually kicked to the side some pieces of the cup close to his legs before walking past them.

"Oh!…just had too, the atmosphere was getting too serious." He replied with an equally casual tone causing Karios to stare at him the more.

"Well I am not a man that would usually judge one's choices, but I must give you the credit, because you clearly baffled me with that crazy idea of yours."

"But you are definitely a smart kid, young Kairos and that is already a known fact considering you wouldn't be able to bear being my fellow enthusiast if you weren't…so I am sure you know the troubles that await you if you choose to follow that crazy idea of yours." The man paused, staring at Kairos with a stern look before his expression immediately turned casual again.

"You know this crazy idea of yours and the whole scenery makes me think back to an adventure I had a couple of years back." The man said with a smile as he placed his hands on Kairo's shoulders causing him to relax a bit.

"C'mon have a seat young Kairos, you don't want to stand while I tell an adventure story do you?" The man asked slowly, walking off to a wooden structure that seemed to look like a chair…or was once a chair.

Immediately Kairos, not minding the condition of the chairs, followed suit, in a way he had been expecting an adventure storytime from his visit anyway.

After all this was one of Claudius's behaviors that made him a good companion and friend, although he had the look of a drunk tetchy fool when one got to know him they'd realize he was nothing like that…well except the drunk part but unfortunately not most gave him the chance of knowing him better.

He would usually tell stories, he claimed to be his past adventures and although most times these stories of his sounded too improbable, they were very pleasant to listen to and he never seemed to run out of them.

Kairos, well relaxed in the chair with the sword pinned to the ground in-between his legs, stared at the strange man, Claudius with curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

"So, where were we, ehe…how your story aligns with one of my various daring adventures.

So it's begins with my long lasted beef with one of the naval captains of the Aidre Faction which didn't really end well on my path as some of the scoundrel's loyal dogs had caught me in a random town where I planned on embarking on my usual daring adventures and had planned on taking me with them to their infidel captain.

Well one luck leads to another, their ship is attacked and sunk with no one escaping alive, well no one except me of course…someone had to make sure no one escapes alive after all.

With the help of one of their floatables I had been able to survive in the sea for two full days…being pushed by the sea's current to the unknown. Well after two days I finally had arrived at an island, and my condition after my not so good journey was not so good.

Had a couple of bruises, burns and knife cuts and worst of all…I was hungry, very damn hungry and desperate. Sluggishly moving around the island in search of anything edible I came across a temple in the middle of nowhere and the first thing I thought was since it was a temple, its people have definitely got to make sacrifices right.

So I walked into the temple, but didn't find any spare sacrifices except the dozens of old bones and skulls lying around carelessly. While I was disappointed, my eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of something interesting…it was a dragon's egg…or a random big bird's egg I didn't really care to know since I was severely hungry.

"Hold on…don't tell me you-." Kairos suddenly paused Claudius from his story and narrowed his eyes, staring at him intently.

"Well…while most would see a sign of apparent danger and death, all I saw was dragon junior willing to make a sacrifice so this world gets to see another day of a legendary figure.

The deed was done and in no less than a few minutes later mama dragon was back and she didn't seem too pleased with the great sacrifice dragon junior…and a couple more of his siblings had made to keep a figure with my level of enigma alive.

It was at this point of my close death that I discovered something I hadn't in all my years of adventuring…traveling on seas with an empty stomach does take a big toll on you when it's time to 'answer the call of nature'.

Claudius bearing a sudden hint of confusion in his eyes then stared at Kairos intently:

"Ehmm remind me young Kairos…what was the reason for the story again?" Claudius asked, his confusion now visible on his facial expression too.

Kairos staring at the man sitting few steps away from him in amazement, a smile etched his face as he replied in an amused tone:

"How one of your adventures was in alignment with the path I chose for my future."

"Oh…right, the path you plan to follow in the nearest future, well young Kairos with all said always remember 'soft strikes although quick and painless most times don't leave a mark to show they had happened but hard strikes although bloody and painful always leave a mark or two for long remembrance." The man replied before staring at his hands with a long face, his expression showing how lost in thoughts he was.

Briefly staring at his sundial again, Kairos quickly put his hand through an opening in his linen cloth bringing out a couple of folded blank papers.

"Hey Claudius, look what I've got for your book." Kairos said with a smile as he stretched the papers towards the man who still seemed lost in his thoughts.

Intrigued by his statement, the man, Claudius quickly focused on Kairos, but his expression of curiosity immediately transitioned to surprise and happiness as he quickly swiped the papers from his hands staring at them with disbelief.

"No worries young Kairos…your support to Claudius greatest penned work would be repayed in the nearest future when Claudius book must have reached the far end and near of this world." The man said with delight and a wide grin exposing his yellow colored teeth.

Kairos with a smile slightly shook his head as he replied:

"The nearest future eh."

"Staring at his sundial again, he slowly stepped back as he said in apologetic tone:

"Claudius I've got to do some other stuff, maybe we could spend more time later when am done." He said staring at the man still glued to the papers in his hands, but the latter without even sparing him a glance simply waved his hand at him.

Slightly shaking his head with a smile, he opened up the door and resumed his walking again.