Time has a funny way of starting out long and unbearable, always feeling like you're waiting. Waiting for the next rite of passage, waiting for your next meal, or waiting for the next shoe to drop. As that time stretches out though, it gets shorter and shorter with whole days being condensed down to a few precious seconds of memories at a time. Things that once consumed you and the torture you thought would never end, gradually becomes a distant point of light that flickers at the edge of ones mind. Hours and days that can now be recalled at will in the speed of a flash of light and nothing more. Shadows and dust.

Shadows and dust, that's all any of us eventually become with enough passage of that insufferable bitch known as time. Negan had been pondering that thought as he trudged forward through the wilderness, alone and exiled once again. He took cold comfort in knowing that the curs who drove him out would eventually be forgotten and returned to the earth as worm food if they hadn't already. That was because the land he left was destined to be doomed and lost and the whole reason he chose to embrace his instinct of self preservation and flee versus embracing his pride and vengeance to fight for what was rightfully his.

Ungrateful whores....

At that thought, Negan finally looked up, realizing the landscape had changed. He was still in forest but it was.... different. The air carried a fresh taste and the vegetation seemed to be composed of different species. He grabbed a leaf from a nearby plant and chewed slowly, mulling over the flavors and catching hints of tastes he didn't yet have the words to describe. This was definitely new. The gold and black striped stallion swallowed and looked up, his gaze flicking around thoughtfully while a soft contemplative snort blew past his nostrils. An eye narrowed as he considered what the changes meant. A land this new and different had to mean different herds and horses, perhaps a whole new realm filled with equines that had never heard of him. He could get a fresh start.

A glimmer of delight prickled in his chest while a slow, sly smile pricked up at one corner of his mouth. Negan licked his lips and allowed a satisfied look to grace his features. New could be good. New could be just what he needed. New could allow him to fly under the radar while he weaved his webs and quietly climbed the rungs of power. He would need to pass lightly though for now and not raise suspicion while he got the lay of things and learned what exactly he was up against.

Today was a good day. Maybe time wasn't always a bitch.