The Wheel of Time series © Tor Books and Robert Jordan. One-shot.
He wasn't really sure who he was, not any more. He didn't know where he was. All he knew was that he was going home.
Saidin had twisted his mind, merging and changing it in ways that not even he fully understood. He remembered the way that they had stared at him. A man driven mad by the One Power was a dead man walking.
He couldn't share exactly what he felt with his friends, this feeling of rightness, of saidin untainted- his drug, his addiction, his desire. It had cost him his sanity, but he didn't really mind. He was too far gone for that. His life force, his mana, his soul.
Fire. It liked anything big, anything with the power to destroy to cleanse to be reborn. Earth. That was a tricky one. How to define a mind such as that? Endlessly, eternally, fruitlessly patient. He didn't know what it waited for.
Water. Calm, so calm, soothing his broken mind. Air. Flighty, wary, distant. Spirit…spirit was a little reminder that he was still alive, that he could still feel.
He stumbled down the muddy slope. He had a vague awareness of hours and days and weeks, of his own nudity and his disgrace. Only a vague awareness. The rest of him simply enjoyed the storm and the wind and the rain and the mud and the darkness.
A child saw him and screamed. Saw a primaeval creature rising from the earth and out of the shadows. He paid no heed. He retained enough awareness to avoid the roads, the towns, the cities, but sometimes he was seen. He didn't like being seen. Reminded him of old pains and old hurt.
He was home. Knew it in his heart in his blood in his bones. There was a house. There was a man. There was Rand.
A/N I'm considering writing a piece exploring this story from Tam's POV, if anyone's interested.