As he thought about all his achievements and adventures, someone had walked up to him."h.e.l.lo, Charles"
Charles looked up to see the person who had greeted him, it was Acheron.
"Thinking about old times?" Acheron said with a smile,
Charles stood up and shook Acheron"s hand before pointing him to have a seat.
"What else is there to do? I"ve gotten old, I"m not the young man that used to trek through forests for days, even weeks, at least not anymore."
"What about a family?" Acheron asks,
"I have none, I have dedicated my whole life in search of new species to see and lectures to be told before I knew it, I became Dean and I got too old…" Charles said,
"Any regrets old friend?" Acheron asked,
"I regret being born human; these bodies have such limited lifespan and are so weak. There"s still whole areas of the world I hadn"t visited, races yet to be seen with my own eyes. I know they are out there, hidden, waiting to be discovered by me…." Charles said,
"… You"re dying…" Acheron stated,
Charles" eyes widened with surprise,
"How did you know, old friend? I haven"t told anyone"
Acheron chuckled,
"No one is more knowledgeable about life than me"
Acheron then lowered his eyes to Charles"s chest.
"You have about a month, old friend… Cancer?"
Charles stared at Acheron before sighing and pointing at his head,
"Tumor... Doctors said it"s inoperable, just trying to remove it would kill me instantly, its right next to my cerebellum and spinal cord… it"s the size of a walnut and it continues to grow… best I can hope for is death while I sleep…"
"I"m sorry Charles if I had known much earlier, I would be able to cure you but now… even if I do cure you and remove the tumor, your lack of vitality has already compromised most of your organs, and an extra month would make no difference" Acheron said apologetically,
"It"s alright, I have already made peace with what life has given me… in the end, I had a wonderful life" Charles said waving off Acheron"s apology,
"Would you like to hear my story? For old time"s sake?" Acheron asked,
"Sure, I have all day cleared up" Charles answered,
"It"s gonna be a very long story," Acheron said with a grin,
"How long could it be? You must be only 200, maybe 300 years old? At least from what I hear…" Charles said with a chuckle,
"300?" Acheron chuckled,
"Try at least 10,000 years old friend but even then I"m much older than that"
Charles eyes widened and stood up,
"10,000?!" Charles shouted drawing attention to himself from the other customers that were there to eat.
"Shhh!" Acheron said as he tried to keep his laugh under control.
Charles quickly apologized to the other patrons before sitting down, his voice now volumes lower than it was before.
"10,000?" Charles whispered,
Acheron nodded,
"Now do you want to hear the story of someone who truly has traveled the world?"
Charles nodded and Acheron began to tell his story.
He began with the city of Atlantis and its destruction. How he had fought the G.o.ds of Olympus as a slave. He told the story of how was wors.h.i.+pped as Apep, the Egyptian G.o.d of evil and destruction.
He told of his time in Sparta and how he had met his first wife, Helen. How he traveled all over the world in search of strength and how he found control of himself in the east.
On his return to the west, he started his family, his first daughter named h.e.l.len. He told him of his second family, his third, how he met Jesus and his secrets.
Charles cried, cheered, gasped in wonder and excitement as more adventures were revealed to him by Acheron. Those in the restaurant looked at them weird, and those that listened in on the conversation only thought he was telling the plot for a book or something. No one took Acheron"s words as the truth, I mean, he looked like a teenager speaking to his grandad.
Acheron told him his story of romance with each of his 5 wives. In all of history, Acheron had only married 5 women. He had plenty of lovers but only 5 were worth his undying love and commitment.
He told tales of when he was a pirate and sailed the seven seas, battling a mutant named Davy Jones.
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It was when Acheron talked of different races and monsters he had seen, that Charles"s excitement shot through the roof.
The wererats, or more commonly known as the Rat people underneath New York City.
Giant ants the size of dogs deep in the Amazon. The mermaids deep in the Mariana Trench and how they reared megalodons as pets. The psychic gorillas deep in the forests of Africa. How Arachne hid underneath the Rocky Mountains and preyed on men to mate.
Acheron told of how the Azure Dragon of the east was nothing but a giant snake that could spit blue flames. The White Tiger of the west was a giant white tiger. The Black Tortoise was the size of a tank. And the Vermillion Bird was the coolest of them all, as it was constantly on fire and gave the illusion that it was made from the fire itself.
Acheron spoke of the murderous Vodyanoy in Russia, a race in which a man had the head of a frog and liked to drown people.
He told him of the beautiful Lamia in Greece, who kidnap a single man to mate with the entire community and produce more Lamia. Most men die of exhaustion in the end.
He spoke of the lonely Yuki-onna in the coldest regions of j.a.pan, forever in their search for warmth.
Acheron pulled out images of his children on his phone, of the children he now has. Charles smiled at how excited he was speaking of children"s accomplishments like a proud dad, he told him of their powers if they had any and how they came to manifest.
Charles was horrified as Acheron laughed about how he was torn apart by accident when one of his son"s first manifested his powers.
Then the story of Acheron"s life took a dark turn as secrets were told to him that must never be spoken to another. Secrets of the Catholic Church. Secrets on the reality of this world"s history, who were mutants and who was not? Acheron spoke of the secret wars only privy to few.
Acheron and Charles spoke for hours well into closing time, Acheron had to reserve the whole restaurant for the night.
When Acheron finished, Charles leaned back on his chair, a content and peaceful smile on his face.
"Thank you, Acheron," Charles said softly.
"I guess now, I truly have no regrets"
Charles had experienced 10,000 years of adventures in a matter of hours, in the end, it wasn"t the same as experiencing it personally, but it was a close second.
Charles took a deep breath before grabbing his walking cane and getting up ready to leave. He felt a little sad this meeting was ending, but they couldn"t be here forever.
"It was great seeing you Acheron, thank you for everything," Charles said,
"It was great seeing you one last time too, Charles, take care out there, things go b.u.mping in the night," Acheron said before pulling Charles into a hug.
Charles laughed and welcomed the hug from his old friend.
"You take care too"
"I will… Goodbye old friend" Acheron said,
Charles slowly pulled away and turned to leave, the thumping of his walking cane echoing in the empty café.
Charles stopped before turning around,
"Say Acheron… why did you tell me all those things and secrets?"
Acheron chuckled, a sad look flashed through his eyes,
"This may sound rude or harsh but… Dead men tell no tales"
Charles laughed,
"You are right about that old friend"
Acheron watched as Charles turned to leave, walked out of the café and into his car.
"So how long are you going to be hiding in the corner, little girl?"
Acheron turned to the side and watched as a middle-aged woman walked out from the shadows.
"Acheron Belau… You are under arrest by the authority of MI0 and the Queen"