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August 2022 Fiction Contest: Forget About Freedom
They say that freedom is attainable.
Yet I have never experienced this so-called freedom. Not when I felt the salty Mediterranean breeze, not when I charged into battle, not when I won the war, not when I drew my last breath.
As I walk along the rocks of Hades, a river appears. They tell me to drink. I consume the silky liquid and close my eyes. I see a moody gray, passionate yet devoid of emotion. I open my eyes. Nothing is comprehensible, relevant, remembered. Only one path is noticeable: a sun-bathed field ahead; only one word comes to mind: freedom.
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This flash fiction depicts a hero's journey to the River Lethe, one of five rivers in the Ancient Greek underworld. Drinking from the river results in the loss of memory (Lethe means forgetfulness in Ancient Greek). In some depictions of the river in literature, the dead are required to drink from it before continuing their way through the underworld.
The "sun-bathed field" refers to Elysium, the realm in which heroes spend their afterlife.
Throughout their life, this hero has never felt true freedom and is only able to attain it once they have drunk from the River Lethe and forgotten their past life.