Benji ran fifty whole miles without stopping for a drink, meal or break after witnessing the power of the Rogue Killer.
His shoulders hurt as though they'd been dipped into the flames of a blacksmith's forge and seared off their sockets.
At the same time, his body wouldn't stop quivering. The fear wouldn't let up… and with it seared deep into his being, he kept running without ever looking back.
'So that's the thing that made the rogue king feel fear, the same one that chased the rogues all to the Origin,' he'd said a hundred or so times in his head, the thought stuck on a loop.
It had been a very long time since he'd felt sincere fear. Only now that his life had been truly in danger did he remember what it felt to come close to the doors of death.
He'd grown used to the uneven terrain of the packed forest and it got easier to run the further upstream he travelled. The trees evened out and the ground got flatter.
