Chapter 3
"Uh..." I hesitated. I started walking away as if I hadn't realized he was talking to me, but he ran over and caught me.
"Rayken, how have you been?" He was about my size, not short, but not tall. I had instantly recognized him, off course, because he was Gram, a rival from my childhood. We had absolutely despised each other, and we competed in everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. We had contests to see who could eat the fastest, to see who could run the fastest, to see who was stronger, even to see who could stand for a longer amount of time. He won most of the contests, but I always won the standing contest. He just couldn't sit, or stand, for very long. He had loads of energy, all the time.
"Uh... hey Gram. I've been fine. You?" I started sweating. I had been avoiding him these past seven years since I had left Alanyia. I wanted nothing to do with his contests. Partly because I always lost, mostly because I was just sic and tired of them.
"Not bad at all. Hey, what's with the sweat? Afraid I might challenge you to a contest? Don't worry." He chuckled, "We're adults now, past all that rivalry stuff. To tell you the truth, I was getting tired of it too."
"I suppose so..." I muttered.
"So, you're... eighteen now, right?" He asked.
"Yeah. What about you?" I honestly didn't remember how long it had been since I left home.
"I'm nineteen." It wasn't until he started looking through it that I noticed he had a brown sack with him. He pulled something wrapped in red paper out of it, and handed it to me. "Take this. It might help you soon."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's... well, how 'bout you find out for yourself? Anyway, I gotta go." I stopped sweating, and he started to. I wondered what he was so nervous about. He ran out of the town, like he was in a hurry.