FFM 2023 19: The Road to Freedom – Take VI

No prompts used. This is a continuation to FFM 2023 17: The Road to Freedom – Take V.

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To say that walking was excruciating was… well, not an understatement, but it felt a bit too mild for Bereth. A part of him wished he had avoided the village in the first place, but then again, if an archmage had not been able to escape the cult, perhaps it was for the best that he had not played it safe. He would just have to grit his teeth together and force his body obey his mind.

The others were truly trying to help, but between having to conserve energy and flat out being unqualified, there was not much they could do. The walking stick Odlanya had taken the liberty of pilfering from the house while looking for something to clothe themselves with helped, but with a long distance on a hostile environment to cross, it would not fix everything.

Nevertheless, they were running out of food and making another trip to the village was bound to be even more dangerous. They would have to leave as soon as possible.

Bereth ran his thumb over the ring during one of his breaks and wished for his mentor’s tenacity.

Nedyom looked at him yet again with that strange affectionate look and for the life of him Bereth could not understand why aside from feeling pity for his broken state.

That did not matter right now. What mattered was survival. So today. They would have to leave today, even if it meant leaving him behind on the desert, should his body fail him.

Nedyom’s eyes grew sad at that announcement and Bereth felt even more deeply that he was forgetting something.