"This heat is exhausting me and I'm almost out of water" I say to myself. Along the road is beautiful patches of flowers and tall bushes, trees and wild animals all over. I've been walking for about 4 hours and I haven't seen anyone as of yet. looking around I see a deer crossing right in front me. I slow down my walking to let him pass without startling him. As I get closer he stops and stares at me. We make eye contact for a few seconds and continues on his way. I continue on the path where a see a hill in front of me. "I don't want to climb this shit" I sigh as I make my way over to the hill. "Help! Help!" I hear in the distance. I stop in my tracks and I try to find the source of the voice. I turn to the right and see a arm flailing around. Confused I walk over cautiously as the cries for help get louder. I inch closer to find a man stuck in a hole. "Help me! Anybody!" I look over into the hole and see the man covered in dirt and mud. "Hey, hey you! Can you give me a hand!?" I look at him and ask "what happened?" He tells me he was lured outside and chased someone who was throwing insults towards him and his family. "I ran after this guy who was insulting me. I chased him and I didn't notice this hole. The bastards covered this hole up with grass and leaves and I fell in!" he tell me. "Now will you help me?!" I reach out my hand and he reaches his to grab mine. Once he has a grip I pull him up. "Thank you so much" he pleasingly says to me. "No problem" I say. "That's whole thing was something out of a cartoon." He looks at me puzzled. "I don't know what a cartoon is "cartoon" is but it's a dirty trick." He thanks me again and tells me to follow him. "It's a good thing you came over this way, I was stuck for what feels like forever." I look at him as he smirks at me. "What brings you over this way anyways?" he ask me. "I was task with going to Nemea and I'm on my way to Peloponnese" I explain to him.  "Peloponnese? Well I can tell you, you are on the right track but do be very careful in these parts." He goes on to explain to me that this area specifically has been overrun by bandits and thieves lately. "This land had been guarded by the great goddess Artemis but one day she just vanished. Wildlife still resides but not like they used to." He proceeds to tell me once men started putting temples of Zeus up in these lands Artemis simply left. "Is there a different way to get to Nemea?" I ask him in hopes to avoid the bandits. He explains there isn't another way and taking another route migh take me further off track from my destination. We make it to his home and he extends an offer to go inside. As we enter we notice the place has been destroyed. "NO, WHAT HAPPENED!" The man cries out. "IRIS, IRIS! WHERE ARE YOU!" he cries out calling to what I assume is his wife. "What could've happened here?" i ask him. "Those damn bandits did this!" He tells me angrily. Seconds after we hear someone yelling for him to come out. "TOBIAS, COME OUT HERE NOW!" I look at the man "Who's Tobias?" He looks at me "Me." I realize in the moment of me helping him I forgot to ask his name. Tobias walks outside and I follow and we are met with 7 men dressed raggedy. They look dirty as if they haven't bathe in weeks. "I assume you know why we are here" the bandit say. The bandit stands in front, no taller than me. He has a scruffy bear and long slick back black hair. His clothes are torn all over and he wear no sandals, his feet are dirty and he himself is covered in mud. "We have your wife so why don't you run inside and grab us what we came for." I look at Tobias and his face goes pale. "This is the best harvest we had for quite some time, we can barely afford to feed ourselves sometimes." The bandit looks at him and laughs "I didn't ask if you can eat, I only want to feed myself and my men." Tobias looks around "Where is my wife?" The bandit leader looks at him. He nods his head to one of his men and them come with a woman by the hair and throw her to the floor. "Now be a good boy and fetch us what we're after." Before he can go inside I stop him. "Why don't you go grow your own food?" I look at the scruffy bandit leader and he doesn't acknowledge me. "I said get your own shit!" The leader looks at me and laughs "Or what?" I look at him and as I start to move forward Tobias yells out "the harvest is in the back in a hole under my carriage, help yourself." I look at him as the bandits head to the back and find the carriage. They move it and one by one they leave the back with handfuls of food. The leader looks and smirks "Good boy" as he kicks Tobias wife and tells her to go. They leave and I turn to Tobias "why did you just give up like that?" Tobias looks at me with a smile "I would rather lose a little bit of food than my wife." he looks at me "I found my wife when I was in a tough spot and ever since then I refuse to lose her. I would rather starve myself then see her go through hardship." He rushes over to his wife and grab her. I looked at them and I start to have random thoughts of someone I loved the same way. "What were those thoughts just now?" Tobias looks at me and tells me to follow him inside. After we enter he shows me a secret room behind a wall he built. "I want to give you something for your journey." We walk behind the wall and there is a sword hanging from the wall. "This. I want to give you this sword." he grabs it off the wall and puts it out in front of him. "My father gave me this sword when I was younger." I look at the sword and you can tell it was old. The blade was rusty and the handle is cracked and rusty as well. "There is a history with this sword. The legend goes this sword was the same sword Ares used in the war against the Trojan. It is said that he enchanted the sword with the powers of the gods." I look at this plain sword and I thank him for the generosity and take it. "I hope this helps you find your way on this journey." I start to make my way out of the home. I look back at him and he smiles. It's weird, though we had such a short interaction, a lot happened and I feel like I've known him forever. I again thank him for everything as I make my way back to the road to Nemea. I feel like I will meet this man again.