19 Gilgamesh (1/2)

Valerian came over and stood near me. He was obviously still wary of this mysterious old man, as was I. After taking a seat, the old man began to eat the fish I gave him. Unlike me he ate it slowly, taking small nibbles almost as if he didn't have the energy for big bites. We sat in silence for a few minutes while he ate his fish.

I could only take a few bites of mine. Something about him just made me nervous, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It's as if I was on a small boat on top of the ocean and right underneath the water was a colossal beast but I couldn't see it. It made my hairs stand on end.

After finishing the fish he looked up at me, ”That was quite good youngster, would you like to hear that story now?”

For a second I debated just asking him to leave, but I didn't know how he would react and felt like hearing the story might be interesting.

”Yes sir, thank you for sharing.”

He looked me over and it felt like he had seen right through my soul.

”There is no need to be nervous kid, I'm just a humble traveler.” He glanced between me and Valerian.

”Hmm where to start? Which story to tell? You know old men like me have many. Hmm that one? No. What about.... no. There was that one time. Ehh no forget that one.”

He rambled on for a second.

”I got it! Young man how many races are there on Agartha?”

I looked closely at the old man. I know there are more races than the four stated in the briefing however, if I revealed that I wouldn't be able to explain how I knew.

”There are five including humans right?” I said while trying to stay as calm as possible.

”Ha, you shouldn't believe everything the government says. I can tell you right now there are more than you can imagine. Have you ever heard of Gilgamesh?”

For a second my heart pounded, I tried to stay calm and not let any of my emotions show. Of course I know who Gilgamesh is. As a matter of fact if it wasn't for my death at my brother's hand, the next thing I was supposed to do was go on an expedition to explore a ruin that was rumored to be connected to him. Unfortunately the client wouldn't give us the details of the location until the expedition started so I had no idea where it was.

Valerian at my side looked at the old man inquisitively, ”What's a Gilgamesh?”

The old man looked at me his eyebrows rising. There's no way I was able to hide my reaction from him.

He looked me in the eye and said, ”Interesting.”

Then he looked at Valerian, ”It's not a what but a who.”