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For his part, he wouldn't mind joining the Freeman Fellowship. They seemed a little crazy, sure, but this was Abolish. Everyone was crazy in one way or another. And they were at least not quite so violently crazy.

The Void knew that he'd seen more than enough violence in his life. Growing up in the middle of the Vaelish Civil War had granted him far too much experience with that.

It was a bit strange to think about now, frankly. How different his life would be if he had been born in a different time or place.

He wouldn't have met those other children in the forest and banded together. He wouldn't have seen so much death and misery before achieving any kind of stability in his young life again, however fragile. He wouldn't have resorted to banditry.

And he probably wouldn't have met Dozer and the Monster of the East.

He wouldn't have joined Abolish on that same fateful day, either. He wouldn't have made a name for himself so quickly and become mildly infamous.

They wouldn't be calling him Loren Lighteyes.

On some days, he was able to take pride in that. On others, he wanted to rethink every decision he ever made.

It was a mixed bag. Most lives were probably like that, he figured. Maybe one day, if he continued to excel, he would be able to feel like more than just a disposable cog in the great machine that was Abolish.

The way that the Old Man had talked to them on that first day, he'd made it sound like they would be able to achieve greatness through following him. Like they all had conqueror's spirits within them, just waiting to burst out.

But it was five years later, and here he still was among the rabble, watching what passed for a "stage show" in Abolish encampments.