The Cypriot Man

At first it seemed like the cypriot man was just some womanizer who was just having a conversation with the main character. Then it seemed like the cypriot man could be the main character and maybe the main character had a multiple personality. But then at the end when the main character experiences "a slight numbness at the tips of the toes which gradually began to advance upwards until it was as though terrible claws were tearing at my stomach, chest, back and head: the fires of hell had all at once broken out," I think that he is having a stroke or something. But instead of him dying his father dies and that is what the Cypriot man tells him in the end, that next time he will die. I think the Cypriot man is like the devil, or that he represents death. He says that "the term of life is designated, but we take into consideration the skill shown in playing the game. Beware for you are now ascending towards the mountain peak." The cypriot man talks about "playing the game," I think that just means the game of life and how well one can meander there way through life. The story also has this moral of dont take life for granted because it can be taken away from you in a flash, people dont always get a second chance at life.