[AW] illusion never changed

[Averin]

[ tw; mentions of kidnapping/brainwashing ]

averin ILLUSION NEVER CHANGED INTO SOMETHING REAL He doesn't like to venture too far from the river, because he regarded it as a lifeline, a link to what life was before he ended up here. Most might not understand why Averin would cling to a life lacking freedom when he could so easily have just that in this new place -- simply by going -- but that life was all he really knew, and there was no purpose to being out here on his own. Alone. It was much too quiet, because Averin had lived among the youths of the caravan, taking care of them, looking after them. He did know enough to understand it hadn't been good work -- not the quality, of course, as he did not shirk on it -- but the fact that the caravan took the youths from their homes to brainwash and reprogram. There just hadn't been anything Averin could do about it, because he had been one of them, and the enforcers had the power to wipe memories and used it regularly.  Getting past that had probably been more of a curse than a blessing where Averin was concerned. Because he knew what was happening, knew what had happened to him, and he did not have it within him to do anything about it. He wasn't built for a fight, and shied away from most any confrontations as it was. He'd probably have made a terrible caretaker of the youths if they hadn't been brainwashed into compliancy, as much as he wished that wasn't the case or extent of his care taking skills. Yet if any of them had stood up to Averin, he probably would have been a doormat, because he wasn't all that strong willed. He liked to be helpful and he was all too friendly, but Averin wasn't exactly what anyone would call a 'strong' personality. That just wasn't what he had turned out to be, though there was always the possibility that the enforcers of the caravan had molded and directed him to be so. Averin continued to wander along, trying to shake the thoughts of the past that still felt like some looming rain cloud over him. He didn't want to think about all the ways in which he had failed back then, because there was the chance he could be better here, in this new place. The place he honestly had no idea how he had ended up in. There had been no sudden stop, no sudden drop; he had merely blinked in the darkness of the place before this, and it was just as shadowy here when he had arrived. He would have thought nothing of it, if the stallion he had been walking with wasn't suddenly just as gone from his side. Averin had been a nervous wreck since that day -- days ago? Weeks? -- and even now he was jittery in the unnerving quiet of the field. He should go back to the river soon, though he had probably walked the ground worn along each side of it; up and down and across. This change of scenery might be good for him. I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN

view full image and credits here

@Maude