Family

A madman was running next to the highway as if he was trying to race the cars driving on it. The craziest thing was that he wasn't losing by too much. Every five minutes or so, the man would start to slow down until he fully stopped. That man was none other than David himself. "With all these stops, I'm not sure if I'm actually heading north faster than I would if I were to rely on my stamina instead of QI." "Yes, but you NEED to cultivate." "Yeah, I know." "It's a shame that once I've depleted all of my QI, I need to recharge not only the wind element but also the other five so that I can convert them again." "And who's fault is it that you rejected the teachings of the Tome?" "Mine, but it was worth it." "How is dying worth it?" "I won't die; I'll make sure I cultivate enough, even if I'll end up not sleeping a whole month." "Wont that just kill you in a different way?" "Well, I have no choice, so I must keep doing it or die trying." "HMPH." "If there is one advantage to using self-made art, it is that no one else has ever seen it before, so there will be an information gap between us, and they'll have few ways of learning about my powers other than fighting me. The other advantage is that since I created the art, I fully understand it and can improve it myself." "Those are shit reasons." "We'll see about that. How close are we?" "Only 2 kilometres left." "Ah, that's not too bad." 

By the time the sun had reached its highest point in the sky, David stood in front of a familiar house. David knocked on the door twice. "I hope I don't stink too bad right now... Even though I changed clothes, I don't think I completely got rid of the smell." When the door opened, David was met by a woman in her 50s. The moment she saw him, her eyes started to tear up, and she immediately jumped forward to give him a hug. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! MAX TOLD US CRIMINALS WERE CHASING YOU! WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER YOUR PHONE!!!" "It ran out of battery." "Why didn't you charge it then?" "I came all the way here by foot, mum and I had no where to charge it!" David's mother began to sob as she hugged him tightly.

After the reunion between mother and son, the two moved into the house. David took a shower, as despite however much his mother wanted to see him, the smell was just too horrible. David took the most relaxing shower he had ever taken in his life. When David finally came out of the shower, he put on some spare clothes his parents still kept for him. David went to the dining room, where his mother bombarded him with questions. such as why didn't David call the police for help or who were the criminals who were after him. David did not want to involve his parents in these dangerous affairs, so he tried to deflect us by using half-truths whenever possible. After that, the conversation changed to subjects such as how David's father was doing and what was in David's picknick basket. "Mum, I have some books with me. Could I keep them here for safekeeping?" Of Corse. David placed the four books he got from the TsavTsav sect on the bookshelf in the living room. 

After charging his phone, he called his father to tell him that he was aright. Once David's father returned from work, he too hugged David in a bearhug so tight that David struggled to breathe. After being bombarded with many of the same questions a second time, "How do you plan to settle this if you won't call the police?" "I'll have to be on the run for a while, maybe ill lay low abroad for a while and return when the dust settles." "If they know how you look like you cant use the international airport, they'll definitely have someone waiting for you there." "Isn't there another international airport in the far south?" "It's risky but a lot safer, I wouldn't recommend it, though. What about the ports?" "You want to stow away on a cargo ship!?" "No, what if I take a cruise?" "Maybe, but I don't like that idea; they could have people in the ports too. Should I hire someone to sail me there in a private boat?" "And where would there be?" "I don't know. Well, instead of thinking where you can go abroad from, we should think of where abroad you even go." "Good point." "Well, let's start with languages. What foreign languages can you speak?" "I know Angol, and recently I've been learning a little Frankish." "That's new. Where did you suddenly learn Frankish from?" "The girl with whom I've been sleeping is Frankish." YOU'VE GOT A GIRLFREIND!" "Yes, but we aren't technically boyfriend and girlfriend yet... It's complicated." "And she taught you Frankish?" "Yes, but now that I think about it, it's far from enough to live in a Frankish-speaking country yet." "So Angol is the only option." "Sadly so. Well, this limits us a lot. Isn't that just the Kingdom of the Federalised States, Mapellia, and the Tin isles?" "No, there are many other countries and regions that speak Angol. I used to travel a lot back in the day. So what are the options you're thinking of?" "Syphis is far closer to us than Tin isles and the majority of the people there can speak Angol. Miltia is also a good option, as it's also closer to us than the Tin Isles, and they also speak Angol there as an official language. The only problem is there are no direct flights from here to Miltia so you'll have to fly to Irtalio and go to Miltia from there."

The two continued to plan David's escape until the morning of the very next day. After that, David took a long and comfortable nap that would be his last for quite a while.