Flow of Existence

Kes woke up once again, his third night in the cave had been as awful as ever. The hard rock was something he felt like he would never get used to.

He had only been passed out for a little while before he woke up again, the sky was still dark. 

But at least he had passed out quickly last night. He was terribly exhausted after the bear chase, but it had also helped clear his mind. 

Another reason why the burning village had completely escaped his mind was the nagging terrible feeling of thirst that ravaged his mind.

His dry throat begged, ached for some sweet droplets of water. He would take anything right now, he even felt like drinking his own piss.

He could hardly even move anymore, his entire body ached. The thirst seemed to permeate all throughout his body shutting off every limb, muscle and tendon. It hurt so much when he moved he would rather sit within the cave all day.

The awful stinky smell didn't even seem to be registering in his mind anymore, he felt like he was slowly going crazy. 

His thoughts were slower than they had ever been, he had usually been quite quick witted but right now he couldn't think of anything but the terrible thirst. The slowly dissipating thrill of the bear chase was the only thing that had still kept him sane and awake.

Kes tried his hardest to keep his mind focused on that thrill, and that thrill alone. He tried his hardest to forget the thirst, trying to lead his mind down a path of his own choosing.

But the thirst was too strong, his dry throat kept reminding him. His mind couldn't help but lead him down the path of thirst time and time again.

Kes felt himself slowly going crazy, he felt himself dying, he felt his mind collapsing and slowly leaving his grasp. He couldn't let it happen, he had to do something about it.

Kes slowly pushed himself off the ground as his whole body ached and screamed, he got into a position fit for meditation.

He closed his eyes again focusing on nothing but his Flow.

He felt it continuously expanding, retracting, moving all over the place. Kes knew, his Flow reflected his emotions, his mind, everything about him.

He continued meditating, trying to clear his mind. Moving everything out of his mind, the nagging thirst, the grief of having his village destroyed and people he was close to killed, the thrill of the bear chase. Everything needed to leave his mind.

And eventually, after a long while of meditating, he succeeded. His mind was now a blank slate, his body calm.

This was the only way in which he could survive. Kes knew the thirst and dehydration would soon claim his life. If he passed out now it would all be over.

Finally having gained control over his own mind again Kes let his thoughts wander, he remembered his good days within the village.

The thought of it being destroyed didn't exist at all anymore within his mind as he recalled a memory of sparring with Ade and Nash. He vividly remembered the fighting, never being able to beat either of them.

He recalled sitting at the dinner table with his parents forking crummy awful tasting potatoes within his mouth, remembering the absolutely awful taste they had. But right now they seemed oh so alluring, he would do anything for another crummy potato.

He recalled sitting together with his father, him carefully teaching Kes how to better control his Flow. The careful instructions he had given him while calmly walking him through the process, never getting overly mad when Kes didn't immediately grasp his instructions.

He recalled his mother strictly teaching him languages and all types of other knowledge. Telling him how going to the big cities was a waste of time, it was all much better within the rural villages. According to her, Kes should just give up on his dream and settle down here.

He recalled the academy lessons taught by the old village chief, a mysterious enigma of a man he had been. He was scary, but he was strong. And most of all he was a very good teacher, Kes learned a lot from the old man.

He recalled all the kids within his class. Although it had been a small class and Kes had mostly spent his time with Nash there were still people who he had considered his friends. He enjoyed spending time with them, doing class activities together, and sparring together.

Then he remembered discussing his dreams with his best friend, how he told him how serious he had been about leaving the village to visit the big cities. He had asked Nash to come with him on multiple occasions, but each time the answer had been the same.

Nash loved the village, he couldn't let go of it not even for his best friend. The thought of rarely seeing his friend had saddened him at the time, and he had never expected it to come so soon.

'Where are you now, Nash?'

Kes' mind lost focus again, his meditative state was slowly dissipating as his thoughts were overtaken by the awful sight of the destroyed village once more.

The sight of the burning village flooded his mind, the dissipating meditative state was like a dam that had been broken.

And the dam being broken had another effect, the feeling of thirst welled up from deep within his body once again. 

He felt his thoughts muddling, he felt his mind collapsing as thirst and grief swirled within, the feelings were too strong.

He couldn't do anything about it, he was completely going crazy, he was losing his mind. 

Kes' eyes suddenly opened as his body went completely limp, he fell down on the ground.

He could feel himself losing focus. But he couldn't let himself pass out, if he did he would die.

He had completely lost his mind, he had gone completely crazy. The meditative state earlier was the only thing that had kept him sane, but now it was gone. He now moved completely on instinct like he was a wild beast of sorts, the clever teenage kid seemed like a person of the past.

He dragged his aching body over the floor, his entire body screamed and protested against the movements he was making. Hand by hand he pulled himself closer to the cave entrance, he needed water, he needed to go out there.

His body and robes scraped against the rock of the cave as he slowly but surely inched his way closer towards the entrance of the cave.

Quite a bit of time had passed while in his meditative state. He could see it clearly now, a single ray of sunlight. It shone through the clouds, the leaves and the branches, a single ray piercing through them all to reach within the cave.

Kes crawled slowly but surely towards that light, that light seemed like his only way out. His thoughts were muddled, in reality the light would do nothing to him, but right now it seemed like a beacon of hope that shone solely for him.

The pain was the only thing keeping him awake as he crawled forward solely on instinct, his mind was too far gone to keep consciously strengthening his body with his Flow.

He was so close now, the beam of light, it was within arms reach.

Kes stretched out both of his arms as he firmly grasped towards the ray of sunshine, as soon as his hand clamped around it the light suddenly vanished.

"Drip, drip, drip."

The gray clouds that had covered the beautiful ray of sunshine seemed to be a divine miracle as water rained down from the sky.

Kes greedily opened his mouth as a small stream of rainwater slowly dribbled its way into the cave.

The miniscule stream of cold but awful tasting water made its way into Kes' mouth. But although it should have tasted awful, to Kes it tasted like the dew of life itself.

His mind was invigorated as he greedily slurped on the small dribbling stream of rainwater that had reached the cave entrance.

The life dew was absorbed into his body as he slowly gained control over his crazy mind again, he was no longer a beast bound completely to instinct.

He saw the rain falling, the majestic water dripping onto the green leaves of the forest trees currently looked like the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his entire life.

He pulled himself, ignoring all the pain that accumulated within his body, and finally managed to fully make it out of the cave.

He raised his head to the sky, the ashen gray color of the life saving clouds reminded him of nothing but the village, his parents, his classmates and his best friend.

It felt like the Ashen village had saved him one more time before he completely left it behind, he couldn't die here.

He opened his mouth and felt the stream of liquid run down his throat.

He greedily drank the bountiful drops of water, letting it slowly but surely reinvigorate his body.