The Road

The road seems both short and long looking back now. Short because so little time had passed since I started this journey, but so much had changed now.  What could I do?

Looking down at the village that I had grown up in, I realized I couldn't go back. Too much had changed inside of me. The place, I realized, was filled with too many of the innocence and happiness of my childhood and the pains of loosing my adopted family. Their deaths were what started me on the road.

Still staring down at the cluster of small buildings, I traced the black lines marked under my left eye. It is a visual on how much I had changed. The simple and beautiful design that showed the world that I was not the same as I was, that I had been down that road.

A hand drop to my shoulder and I glanced back towards the man that had become my friend and mentor.

"You understand now," he said softly. He had warned me all the way here that my wish to return to this place was a symptom of nostalgic and nothing more.

I nodded slowly and only once. Rising to my feet I turned away from the small farming village. I could never go back. I never truly felt like I belonged there even before the journey and now I truly felt like an outcast even upon the hill overlooking those I once knew.

My friend had mounted his mare and handed me the reins to my stallion. "Look at it this way," he said, his voice light even playful. "This is just the closing of Chapter One in your epic journey of life and adventure."

Chuckling softly, I managed a small smile. "True enough," I conceded. "Race you!" I kicked my stallion's flanks and raced down the hill.

"Hey," he shouted, wheeling his mount about and racing after me. "No fair!"

I just laughed as we raced away from the tiny farming village and into new adventures. I had been down one road from beginning to end and I was looking forward to the next one and the one after that and after that until the end of time.