𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠

♛ 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 ♛

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐 

𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐣𝐚𝐢𝐥 

♛ 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧 ♛

    The night is far softer than one would have imagined. So open and free. He takes a deep breath. Allowing the subtle cool air to enter his lungs and then he exhales. Breathing fresh air feels heaven to him and he wonders just how ridiculous it is that he cannot do this more often. The forest around him is so dark and scary but it frightens him not. He sits down on a fallen log that has been there for a long time given how the moss and other vegetation has grown over and around it.

    Corbin eyes the darkness all around him. It is only during the midnight hours that he can get away. At least sometimes and during those times, he is terrified of being found that it ruins most of the experience. The exhaustion from the day threatens to take over his eyes and his body but he refuses. Not will he allow it to take him, not now anyway. There is a time and place for sleep and this forest is not one of them.

    Nature has fascinated the young man for a very long time. Since he can remember himself and this forest was the only view that he had over the world. He could not see the lower town and neither the citadel which meant the forest was his only view out the smallest window that he had. Corbin had been very young when he understood that he was forbidden from seeing the world and still he was never told why.

    Everything has been taken away from him. Sure, Corbin is the King and controls but at the same time, he is just a prisoner in a far larger prison and his chains are so tight that he can barely breathe without them.

    Time passes. For him, it feels like the minutes are like seconds for it goes far too quickly by him. He wishes he could be there for longer. However, the longer that he is there, the more danger he will be in. Someone will notice his absence and send the whole cavalry to find him. It is not a joke when their King is missing and they would rather burn the entire world than lose him. Over the span of a single year, he has been able to trick them far more often than he thought. Always does he have to look behind him and be wary of his surroundings?

    Corbin has not done anything during the time that he has been inside this darkened forest. He has sat there on that log, thought wet and moldy probably, he stared ahead at the world around him. The darkness hid so much from him but this is the only view that he can see of the world. It has always been like this and will forever be like this. The way that the rules are made limits his life choices and yet he is expected to be the King and be above them all.

    After a long time, he stands up. His bottom was wet from sitting there. That is the least of his concerns. Corbin's dark clothing gives him the ability to hide in the corner of darkness. The shadow that travels through the night. With a heavy sigh, he does walk towards the edge of the forest where he will meet the smallest path. One which he found far too late. At once he used to travel through the high grass which wet his boot and created an uncomfortable feeling being within the forest.