The sky was a little more dark than the usual twilight that heralded dusk, and dark clouds in the sky, hid lightning flashes, but couldn't do same for the rumbling thunder.
The wind carried a dense amount of moist, but that could be excused for the fact, that the sea breeze was especially welcoming, the smell of sea salt, very much present in that air.
However, those who were worth their salt, could tell the moist air, wasn't just evaporation or whatnot, but the approach of a storm.
"Can I still make it?" A young man murmured to himself as he looked to be-clouded the heavens.
He sighed, "better to get going now, before the tides come."
His steps resumed their way to a wrecked shark. Considering how close it was to shore, and was easily prey to any particularly large tide that came close to land, it was a miracle it was yet to be washed away.
Infact, it looked like the smallest gale, could blow the wooden structure into bits and wood shrapnel, but that could not have been further from the truth.
*Knock, knock!*
The sound of the wooden door against his knuckles, cracked through the 'whooshing winds' like a whip, immediately he got to the house.
He waited for a few seconds, but there came no reply.
Calmly, he knocked again, but... still no response.
*Knock, knock, knock!!!*
His knuckles smacked the door with three resounding cracks this time, much more louder than before.
A loud breathy, rasp voice immediately screeched from Inside.
"Which bastard is trying to bring down my house? If you don't scram before I get there, consider yourself eaten by the kraken, unless you have something good enough to compensate for."
Orpheus rolled his eyes at the words, still standing calm, the fringed edges of his worn-out cloak, flying together with the winds.
The door came open with a forceful swing that compared to Orpheus' knocking was like comparing the rushing of a stream (Orpheus knock), to the raging force of the ocean (the opening door).
And standing just at the front of the door, was a man so old he was even hunched over, the freckles on his face, and folding of wrinkled skin, almost entirely hiding his eyes, with a head of sparse grey hair, that seemed to have been visited repeatedly by rats.
The old man craned his head upwards taking in the sight before him.
Long black hair, deep black eyes, skin so pale it looked like the lad lacked any blood in him, an overall ordinary face in the grand scheme of things, with a slightly sunken in cheekbones, and good... no scratch that, a scrawny physique.
"What do you want midget?" The old man bellowed... Well, what was equivalent to a bellow for someone like him, especially with how grating his breathy, rasp voice was.
The side of Orpheus' eyes twitched.
Did the old man take a good look at himself before calling him a midget? What would be said about his old bones then?
Orpheus however, obviously did not let out his thoughts, gracefully choosing to keep them to himself.
"Hmph!" The old, bone sack snorted, as though daring him to voice out what he was thinking.
"I need a raft to the other side," Orpheus voiced out finally.
The old man was quiet for a few seconds, before opening his mouth to ask.
"Are you an idiot?"
Orpheus' expression darkened slightly at his words, but did not retort.
The old man seeing he had nothing to say, went on pointing to the sky.
"Or are you blind enough that you can't see this?" He asked. "Your eyes are open, and nobody else is here with you, which means you can see, and are not blind. In that case, you must truly be an idiot."
"Don't you know what those clouds mean?" The man asked, looking at Orpheus like he was some specimen to study.
Orpheus on the other hand, was completely speechless. With every passing word the man made, his expression darkened further and further, till his complexion went from white to black.
He managed to control himself after a few seconds with great difficulty. It was no news to him about the old man's grumpy attitude, but it seemed to be on another level this evening.
"I know what it means." He replied.
"Oh? What does it mean then?"
Orpheus scowled, this old man was really sitting on his nerves. However even if he had a hundred times more balls than he did, he wouldn't dare to breathe a little too loud than accepted before the old man, or he wouldn't even know how he died.
As old as the man looked, he was even older than that, and his power was not something to be trifled with. As for what such a figure would be doing by the sea, nobody knew, though there were a few speculations that it has something to do with the kraken he always mentioned.
"A storm is coming." Orpheus replied.
"So you do know what it means!" The old man expressed dramatically. "And you still dare come here to ask for my babies?! You must be an even bigger idiot! Does the gel in your head have any use?!"
Orpheus winced at his voice.
"I need to rent one for a mission," he said, before pulling out a crest from the inner folds of his cloak.
"What business is that to me?" The man asked confused, before frowning as Orpheus pulled out the crest.
Snatching the crest unceremoniously out of the boy's palm, the old man examined it, before his expression twisted into a disgruntled one.
"Are you trying to annoy me?" He asked lightly.
Orpheus immediately went cold from head to toe, and for a few seconds his life flashed before his eyes.
"Hah!" The old man sighed, "you really are so stupid. What were you thinking? That your backing in that lowly school would have pressured me?"
"That wasn't my intention." Orpheus hurriedly said.
"The what was?"
Suddenly, Orpheus throat went dry. What could he say he brought out the crest for?
Perhaps the old man was right? Was he truly stupid?