A roar resounded through the forest Filled with pain and unwillingness.
"Bang" the dead carcass of a bear fell on the leafy ground, it's body still warm, blood spurting out like a fountain from the stab wounds on its left ribs.
Diomedes took in ragged breaths as he stood resting by the side of pine tree. He inhalled and exhaled deeply as he tried to shake off his tiredness, he took in the sight of the dead bear, his eyes momentarily flicking upward as he surveyed his sorroundings. Broken earth and uprooted trees etched with claw marks , a testament of the brief but savage fight between a man and a bear.
He looked towards the sky, observing the midday sun shining brightly or rather oppressively as if trying to scorch the earth with it's wrath.
A clear sky, birds flying and the forest thriving with life and vitality, a familiar and unfamiliar sight. This is not the earth!.
Observing the floating clouds drifting in irregular patterns, his eyes clouded briefly as recalled his past.
Like every other time Traveller, he was from earth or to precise a foreigner living in china, a nine to five programmer swamped with unending work and stress. For an unknown reason he transmigrated by possessing the body of a young hunter called Diomedes. The first few hours àfter possessing his new body, he was nervous, filled with great anxiety as he sift through the previous owner's memory. It took him an hour before he could establish a basic profile from his inherited memories, he was not in china or any other country he was familiar with, neither was he in a modern society. As he combed further , he found out he was in ancient Greece. In his memory, he found that gods like Zeus,Hades,Poseidon,Hermes, e.t.c existed or rather they were worshiped by the natives. Diomedes lived on the outskirt of the City, so it was rather easyfor him to blending in, with no one suspecting that a foreign soul from another world inhabit his body since he had no friends or family to look after or relate with.Diomedes was an orphan who never knew his father and his mother died about 2 years ago. He was born out of wedlock and because of this, his mother was mistreated and discriminated against. This force his mother leave her family, her home and the city to live outside the city, at the edge of the forest
The customs and law of ancient Greece frowns against having a child out of wedlock.
Women who fall in this category were ostracized and isolated, coupled with a non existent father you can only imagine Diomedes and mother's hardship.
Diomedes Shaked his head as he returned to the present, he looked at the sun once more. Observing the sun's position he noticed that an hour had gone by as he delved into the labyrinth of the past.
He sighed and said " I should probably head home before the sun goes down, dont want to be caught moving through the forest at night with the body of a dead bear, the scent of blood will soon attract the attention of wild beasts, I should get out of here".
He lifted the bear's body securing it on his shoulder, a whole five hundred kilogram of blood and raw flesh, he marched steadily as he navigated throughr the forest, he transversed skillfully through unseen trails, visible only to the eyes of a veteran hunter.
He marched on, his eyes and ear pilled towards the forest ready to pick any sound or motion. His senses trained through month of continuous hunting could detect even the slightest of disturbance, his hands resting on his old but trusty sword could react at all times to neutralize any form of threat.
Thankfully , no unwarranted incident occurred as he exited the most dangerous part of the jungle. Now on familiar trail, he sighed in relief, he relaxed his muscles as he shifted from his intensive concentration mode to a more relaxed but combative mood. He offered a brief prayer to Artemis, Greek goddess of the moon and the hunt, although he did not believe in any of this gods, he had to offer a prayer as it was customary and expected of any hunter to honour the goddess of the hunt after bagging a bountiful game.
Stopping by the edge of a stream, he dropped the carcass on his shoulder as he squatted. Bent on his knees he scooped with his hand a mouthful of water, tasting the refreshing water, he licked his lips and said
"Nothing can beat the taste of non polluted water, This stream in terms of quality could rival that carefully purified and packaged mineral water". He couldn't help but ponder " while industrialization has led to the explosive progress of science and technology, it also led to the destruction of the environment"
"Ancient Greece quite far from the era of industrialization is a paradise to nature loving enthusiast of his previous life".
The day now approaching sunset alerted Diomedes, he watched the sun depart languidly towards the west taking with it the warmth and light of the day. The sun worshiped as the representative of a divine persona is driven by Apollo god of the sun, light, patron of musics and musician, twin brother to Artemis, both are major Olympian gods. Religion is a fundamental factor that shapes the life of Grecian citizens, with temples springing here and there in every cities. Ancient Greece is polytheistic in nature.
Taking a left turn, he passed by the landmark ( a statue of goddess demeter) that marks the boundary between the forest and civilization.Diomedes spotted his home, a modest cabin, simple and quaint perfect for two people, this is where the previous host and his mother lived.
Arriving at home, he dropped the bear meat hanging on his shoulder, he stretched his limbs trying to get blood flowing through his body to get rid of fatigue.
He sat on log, opened his hunter bag and took out a piece of half eaten unleaven bread, not bothered by the taste and it's rough texture in the mouth, he gobbled it down quickly.
About five minutes later, he decided (ignoring his slightly tired body) to skin the bear, separating the valuable pelt from the meat.
" This pelt is in good condition and should be able to sell well" he remarked as he sharpened his knife.
But, before that he closed his eyes and muttered with concentration "system".
Ding!, Ding!, Ding!