Wiping the sweat from his brow, Avain sauntered gingerly out onto the open road. In the distance behind him billows of smoke rose high into the sky. He’d been careful of course, no one was nearby when he’d lit the fire and anyone with half a brain had plenty of warning to get out of the way. Even from an economic perspective the property he’d chosen was worth more in insurance than actual sale. All things considered, Avain was content was the necessity of his choices so far. He’d managed to slip out unnoticed, and chances where he’d had decent enough headstart that even if anyone came after him the search radius would be imposingly wide.
Nevertheless Avain wasn’t about to risk failure as a result of complacency, taking the briefest of moments to collect himself, the boy pressed onwards with a stride in his step. It was a peculiar moment, he’d never travelled by foot before, and no more than a few months ago he would have deemed it beneath his station. And yet in this moment there was something exciting about it, something liberating that invigorated his breath.
Grasping that instinct, and offering one last middle finger salute to the city that raised him, Avain pressed on into the nearby forest, disappearing swiftly into the cover of night.