Close to an hour had passed since Kronos managed to escape. He had been running the entire time without taking a break, fearing the paladins had back-up chasing him. The sun had begun settling behind nearby mountains, it rapidly removed the final rays of sun from the world.


    The child spotted a small cave on the cliff beside him—a perfect place to sleep and hide. Inside of there he’d be safe from the weather, predators and possible persecutors. As he walked up to the cliff an unplaceable feeling of unease pressured him into analyzing the surroundings. Just to make sure no one could see him entering the cave his eyes darted between the frozen forest. What caught his attention was the lack of sound present at this cliff and its surroundings.


    The area was filled with trees, small rocks, and holes in the cliffside, but there was no breeze or sign of animals. When Kronos looked up in confusion, to see if he recognized the mountain he was standing in front of, memories began to flow into his mind.


    He recognized the mountain—its jagged peak was visible from the orphanage, towering above the region. Closing his eyes, Kronos reached for the distant memories that felt more like dreams.


    “Are you sure they’ll allow us brother?”, she asked with a curious voice.


    When he began to hear a familiar voice he opened his eyes again, now in a false reality of the past. Kronos found himself looking through his younger self’s eyes, in front of him was the orphanage and a very young version of his sister.


    His consciousness was a mere spectator, not able to intervene with what sprouted in front of him. No matter how much the boy wanted to speak, it was all futile. His sister pointed towards the mountains, the one Kronos’ physical body was in front of at that moment specifically. “Why can’t we go back to #@!*? Mom and dad will wait for us there right?” The body he resided in felt guilt, knowing that no living soul would wait for the two of them there.


    Kronos clutched his head as pain surged through him, dormant nerves reawakening to drag distant memories to the surface. The vision faded back making him feel sick and confused. The thread between reality and illusions felt awfully close to one another, was what he saw real or just a false reality? Stomach acid entered his mouth but he quickly gulped it back in, shivering at the overstimulation of his brains.


    What? How did I forget all of that? Fuck, what is all of this? I’m tired, that’s it, all of this is just because of my fatigue. The boy bit his teeth gathered the remaining energy he had and began to sprint up the cliff.


    Every muscle in his body was begging for rest as he clambered towards the shelter. Climbing wasn’t something new to the child, he had done it hundreds of times to kill his loneliness and boredom at the orphanage. Kronos knew how dangerous it was this time a year, there was a layer of ice on most rocks and the soil was wet, making it slippery and unstable. Something he had learned the hard way.


    Clouds of damp air escaped his lungs when he reached the opening in the cliff. There wasn’t a lot of room, barely enough to crawl into. Like a slithering snake he entered deeper inside the space progressively getting larger as he had hoped.


    When there wasn’t a single speck of light visible Kronos was able to stand up, the ceiling not even touchable with his arms stretched out above him. As he took in the musty air the sound of falling droplets led him to a little pool of cold water. He bowed down like and drunk from it like an animal, his hands being used to support his own weight.


    When the fragile boy finished drinking he utilized the water to cleanse his entire body. The stained cloth clung to his skin, stiff with dried blood and sweat. Kronos stripped off the filthy garments and stepped into the small pool, letting the water cleanse him of the day’s memories. Kronos removed every piece of his attire and bathed in the small pool.


    The water was probably freezing cold, not something that bothered him at all. Ever since he could remember, the child had been immune to the cold. It wasn’t a matter of not feeling it, he was unaffected by it. To him seeing beggars freeze to death in the winter was incomprehensible, a foreign concept. A useful talent which not even the well-educated nuns could name, yet another reason to be seen as different and misunderstood.


    The child’s long nails left scratches behind on his white skin followed by a sigh of frustration. “Why is it so hard to remove?!”, he complained at the dried blood on his hands and face. His voice echoed throughout the cave close to seven times. Minutes ticked by, yet Kronos still felt the sticky substance eat away his once pure skin. He gave up on removing the substance and got out of the pool, leaving time to dry him out.


    During the process the by-now-wanted-criminal almost fell asleep. Too tired to continue postponing his night rest he wrapped himself up in the dead mage’s coat and drifted off to the land of dreams.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    At first, his dreams were soft, filled with laughter and sunlight. He was a carefree child again, playing with Oliver in golden fields. But the warmth soured as shadows crept into the vision. An arrow sliced through the air, striking his raven mid-flight. Flames rose in the distance as figures with torches charged into the farmland, their shouts drowning out his screams.


    The child was crying on his knees while those people charged at him and burned down the entire field. As the flames licked at the crops, spitting out nothing but smoke and ashes. When the little human was about to be burned, the flames froze up.


    Those people who haunted him grabbed kitchen knives, the same ones he had used on his first two victims. The attackers were only satisfied when the boy was ripped and scarred into hundreds of pieces, making the vision blur and awakening him.


    Where am I? Kronos rubbed his eyes purposelessly, sweat dripping off of his forehead. The dream had left a bad taste on his emotions, bringing him closer to reality than he had wanted. There was only one reference point for orientation which was the soft sound of droplets crashing every few seconds onto the soft layer below.


    Kronos walked over to it, hesitant to drink the water he had polluted himself. At least it’s better than melting snow. The boy knelt down and slowly took in the liquid, not wanting to know just how much of it was actual water.


    Flickers of entities visited him in the corners of his eyes. Surprised, the boy twisted his neck to see what it was. Nothing.


    He turned his head back to the pool to see Oliver’s corpse inside of the water. His neck ripped off and a symbol carved on the body. “Restoration”. Scared to death he crawled backwards and blinked several times. Nothing remained.


    Kronos cautiously approached the pool, heart pounding. The suffocating darkness in the cave seemed to twist his senses, conjuring nightmares from shadows. He waved a hand over the water, confirming it was empty. No corpse, no symbol—just his imagination tormenting him.


    Gently he patted the water to feel if the corpse was really there. Relief washed over him as he confirmed its absence before he continued drinking.


    Once he had quenched his thirst, Kronos fumbled for his backpack and the cave’s entrance. Navigating in complete darkness was an infuriating challenge.


    Kronos spotted light from outside and crawled his way back. There wasn’t a single cloud in the air, allowing the sun the shine brightly from its highest point. “It’s noon already?” The child adjusted how the heavy backpack was resting in his shoulders before descending the cliff.


    While climbing down his mind wandered of to the dream he saw, like a dog without a leash running of without its owner, then it wandered towards the hallucination. Unfocused, he misplaced his foot and almost fell down from a dangerous height. Kronos snapped out of his thoughts and quickly regained his composure.


    As his feet touched the frozen grass he leaned against the cliff. Pull yourself together you wretched thing! What now? I escaped as I wanted, so pull your shit together before all your effort goes to waste. The rations I have will last me a few days, a week at most. Living on my own is not an option, especially not in these mountains. I’ll have to go down in the directions we were originally going and find a village or something alike there.


    Kronos’ eyes wandered at the sky to orientate himself. Proceeding his action by walking towards a high point and interpreting the landscape behind the mountains. A beautiful view capturing what looked like an entire world to Kronos.


    In the far distance, behind a small sea laid Karvos, yet that sea couldn’t even be seen from where he stood. A bit to the northeast was a village with thin brick walls protecting it. The child looked around a bit more, his eye falling upon a thick forest which still had all of its leaves. All of the roads and pathways went around it, none entering the clearly shorter route.


    What a weird place, I wonder if the climate is different there maybe. It looks like a good place to hide for a while. It would take a day or three to reach it, a doable distance. It’s decided then. Kronos began running down the steeps hills. Fresh air blew his white hair up, the refreshing feeling making him giggle. All of those burdens and the layers of feelings he couldn’t decipher faded into the distance. A remedy which lasted for a few minutes.


    The fulfillment of moving his sore body freely ended rather quickly. As the boy arrived down the foot of the mountain he had stood on his thoughts began to blame himself. How can I feel such joy after what I have done? The child continued to maintain a proper running pace while crossing the next mountain.


    Just what is wrong with me? I killed three people yesterday, three! I was also the cause for two others’ death , it should bother me! The memories of the orphanage and Oliver’s death already feel so far away but it happened yesterday!


    Deep down Kronos knew all too well his hatred and instinct overshadowed the feeling of trauma and guilt. Mother Gena was completely justified for him and those two paladins picked a fight first.


    The child just despised how he couldn’t fit in the image of a “human”. It wasn’t the lack of guilt but the loneliness that killed him. Somewhere in the corners of his mind there were still shards of wanting to fit in, of being just a normal child.


    The teen reached a new viewpoint, allowing him to guide himself towards the forest which end couldn’t be seen. Close to ten roads, both big and small went around it and now Kronos could also see not a single chopped down tree.


    Deep footprints were engraved into the snow as he ran forward again. There was no concept of stopping in mind, only the short orientation breaks at high points. Mountain after mountain the boy sprinted through the mountains.


    The sun began to climb down the horizon, yet Kronos kept on running with great resistance. The soil below him had evolved from thick, white snow to a layer of hard, lifeless dirt. His legs burned, they screamed for redemption, just like his soul. The feeling brought the child a sense of comfort, as if he was punishing himself for his bad deeds.


    I should seek shelter nearby, tomorrow will be another day of running. It’s good that I’m progressing faster than expected. I think I can reach the forest by tomorrow evening if I take the same pace as today.


    The child slowed down and searched for a safe spot to rest.