What most people truly desire in life? Some tells you money, most of all, love, freedom, satisfaction, all that stuff that they only can look in other people have but they haven't because most people didn't look what they have but what they don't have. Well, not me, I'm always trying to made most of what i have enjoyable as possibly as i can. The problem is that i start to lose motivation to reach higher, conservative they said.

What make it worse I have no problem at all at how a live, either it boring monday as office worker or tense time before mision as conscript for world war 3. All of them as same to me, excitement at first then routine later. Even after the war ended, going back to my old life not that hard for me to do that routine again except age that define me retired.

That make me thinking as this time i have all the time in the world for what will i do next and I'll make sure to make it as enjoyable as it is. I have enough wealth for my grandchildren's share in my will to use what i have to my heart content, with my personality is I'm sure I'll not waste is blindly.

It's just another afternoon after lunch i sat at my terrace, on my favorite seat of the day, as i see horizon landscape before me that me realized I'm living in this planet without even thinking of enjoying how magnificent this pice of rock is. From that moment i call each sons and daughters of mine to tell them what I'll do in my retirement. Surprisingly they agreed and told me at least return once a year to tell them how my journey is.

Even retired i have a veteran soldier body that at least let me move around easily. Maybe that's what convince them to allowed me traveling around the world to see wonder of life our planet have, or they just tired at me nagging them how do things.

At first i thought it will be the same like things i did before but how wrong i was when i realized in my third year that I'm still excited with what I'm doing. Each year i chose a country then I'm always travel by land to truly experience those around me.

It's different from going to business trip and march to our designated position, all of them i went there is because the purpose is to go to the destination not to enjoy the journey. What is it to enjoy when all you can think is schedule for the next meeting or the enemy bullet that might hit your head.

Meet new people, try new food, watch new scene, experience new culture. Such diversity make longing for more. Even though the work and the war have them, with your time and life in threat there's no time to mind such things.

While traveling instead with no schedule to follow and no life threatening events in sight, i truly enjoy my life. But well, it seems my end of the line is in sight.

"It's seems my time to rest finally coming Ellie"

I said as i sat down in front of my wife's grave, every year in this twenty years of journey i visit her grave wondering maybe that's when I'll finally lay beside her. But i know her enough to urges me keep going if I'm still capable, as she always said 'you need to see the more in the world Edward' at that time i didn't understand because I was sometimes going around, even after her death at the start of the war i still didn't get it.

"Maybe i didn't really enjoyed them at that time Ellie, well recent years were fun for my age, even alone, i wonder how much enjoyable it is if you were there. Well knowing you maybe you'll just stay put in the hotel enjoying the scenery."

Life after that not so exciting anymore, well at least i live my life to the fullest didn't regret anything with it. Last moment of my life depicted as perfect ending of novel if someone see from the corner. Children and grandchildren even the great one around me.

Life flashing before my eyes but I've seen them enough at war the difference is there's more scenic landscape this time. Maybe my regret is not enjoying all my traveling before retirement alas my end has come, I'll just rest for now.

—

Bird chirping, sounds of water, lingering wind in the leaves and faraway primate calls wake me up my slumber. With grassy damp ground at my back and butt i know i am naked and immediately woke up jumping up and crouch down to see around me. I see trees around me and water between them north of me according to the sun.

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From the sound of it, its current not so rapid. Butt naked and stranded, i collect myself to assess what my situation is right now. Trees as tall as five storey high building, with branches full of leaves but not enough to darken the forest floor. At least for now there's no living being beside me around, for now.

I better go to the water, add mud on me to leseen my smells, i know nothing about this forest. A tree that high are rare not extinct but i haven't heard a forest full of them. There's even fruit on them, from where i am they look like apple but according to the distance it must be much bigger than normal apple.

While crouching, i find my way to the river, slowly but steady, i reach my destination. There's look like sign of people here, they, no just one, come from upstream to downstream on my left, not so far from me i clothes on a big rock. While looking around i smear my with mud after sipping a little of the river's water.

Fresh with no acidic content in it and some mineral maybe, a little salty but drinkable. I still don't see any person that own that clothes. So i get close to it, to see what happens to the person as i see their footprint going in to the river. When i get closer, i understood why no one take them back.

There blood not that far from the riverside where i am, when i step back close enough to the rock, from the middle of the river i saw a crocodile big enough to swallow a man. I know because the owner of the clothes just chewed by it when it jump out of the water.

"Oh shit!"

Nope! Retreat! Back up! Back up!

The stupor from it make me go back to my war time. There's no time to think, i grab the clothes and the backpack with it. Slowly going south west, far enough from the river but still have sight of it.

After one hour keeping on that direction, i finally stop to wear the clothes. But with mud on me, i stop myself and go to the river to clean myself up as i didn't see any other creature after seeing that crocodile. I'm sure with that thing around here not many animals will staying around.

When i near the river i make sure there's no shadow or anything floating on it as i get closer to clean myself. As the mud still wet it easy to clean them up, after drinking a bit i go to the edge or the forest to wear the clothes and check the backpack.

The clothes are composed with linen shirt and pants long enough to my ankle with leather boots, gloves and jacket with long sleeves and brown robe. They surprisingly fit me, as i checked my reflection on the water, it shocked me.

I look like when i'm twenties, brown hair with blue eyes and alive. I'm dead that I'm sure of, cause of old age but here i am. As the revelation shock me more than seeing my young self. I return where the backpack is and lean myself on the nearest tree until o slowly go down to sit.

I try everything to check if my situation is a dream, coma or just illusion. Nothing wrong with me, this is all real, my reality now. It's meaningless to think about it now, whatever this place is, it's strange, when i get nervous before feel prickling all over my body and when I'm calm enough they're gone.

For now, survive, I'll find my answers when I'm still alive. To lessen my mind from worrying, i check the backpack to focus for what to do next. It's a leather backpack with sides pocket on it, a string of leather are used to close it that attached to piece of leather.

What i see inside are what look like a waterskin, a dagger, a big pouch, few pair of underwear, and a book. The waterskin looks full as i take a sip from it, taste like the river water. The dagger's length from the end of the sheath to the end of the hilt are same as my forearm. The pouch are big enough to fit half the backpack because the food are in there composing two lumps of dry meat and four rye bread.

Beggar can't be choosers for the underwear, at least they fit me, there's some with stains on them, with remaining three pairs that looks like new, i throw all the other. The book are the interesting one, with leather cover make it look like a journal, hunting journal. With rough paper inside and a bar of coal wrap in linen except the point on the newest page he written on.

Looks like he's a hunter from the clothes but the book confirmed it by the way he's traveling around hunting monster.... From land of Man, to the forest of Elves, deep underground of Dwarf, plains of Beastman, flying island of Wingrace, archipelago of Drowned, even hills of the Halfling. From his newest writing he's on the way to the Faelands when he found a migrating Tidalark, a sea crocodile going downstream after laying her eggs upstream.

Look like salmon, i think that's what ate him, i better chance my course if that thing heading downstream, no, wait. No sane man can write this even though his actions are insane. It's too detailed. He even wrote it in sequence from his first hunt at ten years old, with timeline too, morning, afternoon and evening. It's too ordered and detailed for an insane man to write.

"Fuck..."

Mike, my brother in arms, your shitty stories might be happening to me right now, i hated it when that's all you talk about then but right now it gives me hints of what my situation is. Sword and Magic, Dungeon and Dragons, at least i got answer for one of my questions. I'm not on earth anymore.

Maybe magic are the reason there's no weapon from that man, it's easier to use you can thought as a weapon than tools that hindrance you in underwater battle. That man is one man submarine fight a crocodile in the water like a sport, no wonder he died. Maybe that monster can use magic too. Damn, what a world I'm stranded too. At least stranded have a way to go home.

I'm in different world! with that teleportation bullshit you like to talk about Mike! Maybe with that i can go back to... But I'm dead over there, I'm finally rested and here i am alive again rejuvenated. That's it let's stop thinking for now. So i just sit down there looking to the sky, seeing birds migrating... With long tail and neck, definitely not bird.

For the entire midday i just sit there eating and drinking while recollect myself with previous discovery to compose what i should do. When I'm trying to stand up to relief my self, i remember a sentence from Mike stories.

"So in my opinion, easiest way to teleport is to bend space from your position to your destination folded with Mana, there's no need to think anything how law of physics work in there, that's what Mana do, they do all those complex calculation of how theories we have to realize those events to make teleportation, then voila you move."

That's not a sentence Mike, that's a whole paragraph. I hear too much of your blabbering to make me remember it easily. Well there's nothing to lose, the river are not that far from here, i might give it a try. As i try to do what Mike said to me, i

feel my pants wet and find myself at the riverside then relief myself.

"What?"