The hunt

With ardent resentment towards the game, Kodesh assiduously tracked it down again. A grim and and enfolded look was evident on his face as he narrowed down the spatial distance. It was the very same expression he had after paying his respect to Moses.

He had perceived that the gazelle couldn't have ran too far. It doesn't have a copious amount of endurance so once it feels somewhat safe, it would stop and eventually dismiss from mind that it almost died a few moments ago.

With that he tracked it towards the west. Before long he caught sight of it from a short distance. It was oblivious to the danger just as Kodesh had thought and that was its undoing. Kodesh summoned the long, white bow and selected a thicker earh from the quiver. Loading the lethal bow of the bright constellations of stars, he pulled with all his might.

On this occurrence though, he didn't day dream about roasting it's juicy venison, instead he imagined a swift and terrifying flight of the earh. Immediately, the thick arrow manifested his thoughts into reality.

Piercing through the still and calm air at harrowing speed, the earh created some kind of shock wave and in the next second it struck the upper neck of the unsuspecting gazelle, delivering a killing blow. The long neck was just too hard to miss.

The gazelle wobbled for a few yards and came crashing to the ground. Summoning the white glass Kodesh casually walked towards his fresh kill. His face was indifferent. You couldn't glean any emotion in his face.

Squatting down, he punctured a hole in the gazelle's extended neck. In the next moment he collected some word and prepared a fire. As soon as the firewood was engulfed in flames, he flayed the animal. He then sliced thin pieces of venison and roasted them over them red coals and butchered the rest of the gazelle it into smaller pieces.

By the time he was done, the thin slices of venison had already roasted. In the next moment, a mountain of juicy meat was in front of him. It was exactly as he had imagined when he said "yummy." Even better.

His eyes lit up with pure joy and delight. It was a beautiful mountain. It was by far one of the best views he had ever seen. Besides the mountain of venison was a loaf of bread and a skin of water.

Immediately after giving thanks, he gobbled down the venison like a ravenous animal.

He had intended to use his left hand to eat so his weighty one could rest on the ground but somehow he forgot how heavy that thing was.

With both hands, he wolfed down the meat and bread, licking them with intense passion. Grinding noises of teeth tearing apart flesh and voracious chewing like a pack of foxes at a carcass reverberated the quiet wilderness.

A short while later, what was left of the mountain was a pile of bones. Sipping some cold water, he rested his head on a bark of an oak tree.

The sun was already on its descent. By the looks of it, it was about four in the afternoon so he had three hours of daylight left. He could use that time to traverse further south and reach his daily target but his stomach wouldn't let him.

It seemingly weighed more than his arm. And the two of them together were more like a gravitational pull, dragging him to the ground. That's when he realized he wasn't going to reach Oakland in four days.

He rested up for about an hour or so until his stomach felt a little more comfortable. It was still full to the brim but at least he had an hour of digestion. Putting the sliced venison on a makeshift hide rucksack, he traversed the tedious wilderness. He had deboned the venison and scraped off excess fats, so the rucksack was a little lighter but still heavy nonetheless.

On top of the weight of the rucksack, he had an oversatiated tummy and a weighty hand. His small body was carrying the entire weight of the world.

Occasionally, he took some well needed respite. If it was someone else, they could've reduced the meat and leave it for some scavengers but he wasnt willing to do that. He is not a greedy person by nature but he just couldn't let go of his hard earned meat.

Kodesh covered a considerable amount of distance with that load until darkness crept in. Relieving himself from the heavy load, he gave a long, weary sigh and crashed onto the ground. He was drained, exhausted and his back was filled with searing pain. He could really use a warm bath.

Immediately he felt miserable and disconsolate.

'I miss home.' He thought bitterly.

Life was good before the war. His family was not a noble family but they lived a pretty decent and comfortable life.

And now the world as he knew it had changed. He no longer had a place to call home. The people he knew were most likely dead. All the friends he had, were either dead or captured.

Shutting off those bitter thoughts of his past life, he lazily made a small shelter and before long, the sun hid in the horizon and darkness enveloped the wilderness. The next time he was going to see the sun again, it would be a new day, and with a new day comes new hope.

He can't change the past so he shouldn't dwell there. What he had to do was to make use of the present, so he may have a better future. It is not called 'present' for no reason.

It is indeed a present, a gift that we should not take lightly because what we do in the present determines our future.

With those thoughts, he rested on his shelter. He was still full so he didn't have to cook. In the next moment the gentle breeze created a soothing atmosphere that induced calmness and his eyes lazily shut and he immediately fell asleep. It was a very peaceful and pleasant sleep… Well until something unexpected and unfortunate happened.