The Odyssey, a classic novel. A story of mistakes and betrayal.
"The Odyssey tells the story of a heroic but far from perfect protagonist named Odysseus, whose only goal is to return home to his son and wife, whom he hadn't seen in ten years, ever since he went to war. He began his journey with 600 men, and ended it all alone. Sacrificing his companions and his humanity, just to make it back home."
William would recall the synopsis he memorized in preparation for this moment.
"As for the causes of Odysseus's struggle to return home, the sun god, Helios, the sea god, Poseidon, and Odysseus's fellow sailors themselves were responsible."
"The recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all, the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the sun and the sun god blotted out the day of their return, they blinded the sea god's son and the sea god washed away their chances of survival."
William would recite a line from the Odyssey inside his head, with some modifications..
[Story has finished loading.]
[You will be entering the body of: Perimedes]
"Perimedes? One of Odysseus's loyal crewmembers, if I remember correctly, I suppose my goal should be to stop their naive demises then-"
Suddenly, William felt himself flying through the empty void at extremely fast speeds, so much so that he became extremely dizzy and shut his eyes. By the time he opened them up again, he was in a completely different place, or should he say, world.
William would hear the chattering of middle-aged seafarers atop the boat he was standing on. As well as the captain of the boat, standing at the front of the ship, Odysseus. Seemingly discussing something with his right-hand man, Eurylochus.
"This feels quite strange...Anyways, I should ascertain which part of the story I've been transported to."
William would mutter to himself while walking towards the nearest crew member to him, aiming to glean some information from him.
"Hey, the-"
"Huh? Oh, hey Perimedes, life has been rough recently, don't you think? The captain sacrificing six of his own men, just to pass through that multiple-headed monster? That isn't the man I swore my loyalty to! I can't believe him..."
William would be cut off before he could even get a single word out, nevertheless, he got the information he needed. The point in time he was transported into was right before Odysseus's crew mutinied against him and then slaughtered the sun god's cattle. It was after Odysseus sacrificed six of his men as offerings to pass a dangerous monster named Scylla. Thankfully, at this point in the story, there was still hope for them to survive.
All of a sudden, William would hear some shouting:
"How could you? Tell me you didn't just purposely sacrifice six of your own men after all that we've been through, just to reach home. Aren't you supposed to be the smartest man in all of Greece? And yet you couldn't think of a way out."
"I....I can't."
"Then there is nothing left for us to discuss."
The captain and his first mate seemed to be having an argument, which soon turned into a duel. With the entirety of the crew watching. William would push past the crowd to get a good view of the fight.
When he finally got to the front, the duel was nearly over, with Eurylochus, the first mate, on the ground, with a deep gash in his shoulder, and Odysseus, the captain, standing above him, the clear victor.
William was just observing when all of a sudden an unfamiliar voice resounded inside his mind.
"Stop the captain."
Willia-no, Perimede's body started moving on its own.
[Attribute: Monster is being activated!]
"Time for a mutiny."
William would take the opportunity while the captain was distracted and stab him in the chest, watching him crumple to the ground, bleeding, but not dead, with a cold expression on his face, using the most underhanded of tactics to take him down.
"Loyalty is one of the rarest things in the world. You have cultivated our loyalty for over ten years, and now, you have gone and thrown it all away in one fell swoop. This is the price of your mistakes."
William would quickly make up a reason for stabbing the captain after regaining control over his body, making sure he wasn't going to be the target of his or the rest of the crew's aggression later on.
He would then wonder why his body stabbed Odysseus all of a sudden, and who that voice in his head was. Which brought up a good question: What happened to the original people in the story after someone inhabited their bodies? William wasn't too sure of the answer, but one thing was for sure: he hadn't heard about this phenomenon from any other person who had attempted the story. Even his mentor, who was wise and meticulous, never mentioned it. How odd...
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Afterwards, the crew tied Odysseus's unconscious body to a flagpost. Keeping track of him all day. Eventually, they came across an island, it was bright, with green meadows and herds of cattle. The crewmembers were ecstatic, and decided to bring Odysseus with them to show him that they could survive even without his help. Like children trying to prove independence against their parents.
"What a bunch of naive fools."
William would critize them internally, for this was the sun god's island, and those were the sun god's cattle. If he didn't stop Eurylochus or any of the men from harming the cattle, the sun god would personally come down to burn them all into oblivion.
Once they docked onto the island, William wasted no time in hopping off of the ship, along with the rest of the crew. He watched the crew's hunger filled expressions with silent disdain.
After the last of the crew successfully landed, they shook the captain awake, giving him a clear view of the island. It was filled with lush greenery, and holy cattle. In the center of the island was a gigantic statue, portraying an image of the sun god.
William would sigh while watching Eurylochus walk towards one of the cattle admidst Odysseus's worried yelling.
"Not yet...not yet."
He was waiting patiently, for the opportune moment. And just as Eurylochus got to the nearest cattle and was about to raise his sword.
Will would dash towards Eurylochus and tackle him to the ground. Knocking him out cold. Before getting up and yelling at the sun god's statue:
"Great Almighty Sun God. My comrades have attempted to slaughter one of your favored cattle. I apologize deeply for their misgivings. "
A blazing chariot would appear far in the sky after William proclaimed this, bringing the Sun high up into the sky. Turning the time to noon. A blazing voice would soon bellow down from the heavens above.
"Oh, is that so? Mere mortals dare to trample on my beloved cattle?"