"So you really didn't know?" a third voice spoke in my mind.
"No, a lot has been kept from me for a number of reasons," I replied. I didn't ask the beast for permission as I got to set it free from its bounds.
"So does this mean you trust me enough to release me from my constraints," the deep voice came again.
"I am following my gut here. Ever since I found out about magic, I have also found that trusting my instincts is something I cannot take lightly," I said.
"What if your instincts tell you to kill your loved one?" the deep voice came again.
"Then, I'll take it into advisement," I said, "a decision like that can be thought over and investigated, but right now I have no time to waste. If I leave you here, you'll die of starvation as I had already found you. I can't leave you like that," I answered.
"You really take after him, Jekyll, that is," the lion said before nuzzling its head and throwing me to the ground.
"Hey, stop, cut it out," I said amidst laughter while the lion's many heads licked me over, "let me finish removing the chains. I hadn't noticed at first, but as the lion continued to lick my face all my injuries were healing. Soon enough even the headache and the spot at the back of my head that hurt from being knocked out also stopped throbbing.
The lion eventually got off me and I got back to releasing it. Just as I had suspected, the lion hadn't actually been locked in chains but rather wrapped in an unmanageable knot. This way even someone with some sort of key would have trouble releasing it. But eventually, I was done untangling it from its bounds. I looked back at the kid just in time to see him wake up from his slumber. He backed away from the lion the moment he saw it free. "What am I doing here?" he began panicking.
"You tell me," I said.
"They said the King could only go through his trials if he was faced with decisions that actually threatened the life of someone. I didn't think they meant they were going to put on the Royal path," he said.
"So I heard that I am the only one who can go through this path and make it through alive," I said, "so what are you doing here? Do you have some sort of exit plan?"
"None of us does," the lion answered for him, "Your test on this path indeed already began, but we have no way out of here."
I turned to the lion, "That doesn't make sense."
"There is only one way out of here. All that mist you saw shrouding the meadow doesn't allow any other path to be taken out of here. It's one route only, straight through," the lion explained.
"But doesn't that mean that you guys are stuck here?" I asked them.
"No, I can't be stuck here. I have to see my sister again. No, I have a family. Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" the boy began rambling as terror gripped him.
I walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders before giving him a good shake, "Listen to me, we are all going out of here. I won't leave any of you behind."
"How do you hope to accomplish that?" the lion asked.
"That is for me to worry about. You guys are all going to follow me. I'll make sure that you all get home safely," I said to them. I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish this myself, but one thing I knew deep in my gut was that there was no way I was going to be leaving any of them behind.
"I'm sorry, but who are you talking to and why did you release the lion? I'm only acting cool because I saw it licking you. Why did you release it?" the boy once again went on rambling getting increasingly worried.
"Relax, I was talking to the lion," I said.
"That doesn't make sense. Only royals can speak to the Megalion," he said, "unless,….."
"Yes, apparently I am a royal here. I'm not even sure why that's such a big deal. Couldn't a royal be chosen from some of the noble families or something when Jekyll went missing?" I asked.
The two of them began laughing at me, or rather the four of them started laughing at me. I waited for them to finally stop laughing before they finally spoke up. "You sound like you grew up in a magically dormant world, they are the only ones who would know nothing about any of this," the boy said before continuing his laughter although it died down quite quickly when he realised I wasn't laughing with him.
"Wait, did you seriously grow up in a magically dormant world," he asked.
"Yes, I did," I said.
"You must have been bored," he began, "no wonder you know almost nothing."
"What do you think a magically dormant world is like? It's not boring, first of all, it doesn't have all this royal business, so one is free to live their lives the way they see fit," I said feeling quite proud of myself for defending the earth.
"Oh, you misunderstand, your place also has royals, but they can only be revealed if the planet becomes magically active, and there can be no going back once that happens," he said.
"We better start this journey. I don't have all day you know," I said, "but before we go. Can I know your name?" I asked.
"It's Anthony, sir," he replied. 'Do our worlds have to be so similar in naming people too?' I began the walk only to hear someone sobbing lightly in my head.
"Young King, it does hurt that you did not ask for my name. What were you hoping to call me when the need arose, 'lion', huh?" the lion's voice began sounding in my head, full of disappointment.
"Sorry, it hadn't crossed my mind just yet," I apologised.
"Well, look at that, a king is apologising to a lowlife like me," the lion cooed.
"What do you take me for, a tyrant?" I asked raising my voice in mock horror.
"No one would hold it against you. besides, royals always make perfect decisions," the lion said.
"That kind of thinking feels wrong in so many ways. No one is perfect," I said.
"My names are Megalion one, Megalion two and Megalion three," the lion said each head saying its name in order starting with the middle one then the left and finally the right.
"That is messed up and too simple," I said.
"Well, I was asked by Jekyll to keep it that way to reduce the number of names the royals had to learn. It was against my wishes, but as I said, the Royals always make perfect decisions.
'I just think Jekyll wanted to have a good laugh,' I thought to myself.
"I can hear your thoughts, your highness."
"Get out of my head," I screamed at the beast.
"Your conversations with that beast are just amusing. You look like you are talking to yourself," Anthony said right before we began the walk into the forest. I looked back at the Armensian and Earth internal clocks and saw that though they still ticked slowly, I had lost a few minutes and they only continued to tick as time went on. I needed to get out of this place as soon as I could.
We walked on for a few minutes before Anthony asked, "Sir, wouldn't it be faster if we ran?"
"Are you in the right condition to run?" I asked him.
"I can run just fine sir," he said.
"Okay then," my opinion of what he was saying was jogging, but it wasn't at all what these two companions did the moment I allowed them to run. They literally started bolting at breakneck speed. I was surprised the boy could keep up with the lion, but what surprised me, even more, was the fact that I could keep up with them and I was not showing any signs of running out of breath.
The trees passed by us in flashes as we weaved and jumped over overgrown roots and made our way through the forest. I advised the lion to hunt the moment it got hungry much as I was also in the mood for something to eat. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to do that as we came straight upon our very next obstacle. 'Why does it always have to be a beast of some kind?' I thought to myself as I stared at the creature in front of me that had also been plucked out of a fairytale. This one I was more familiar with though because it was a dragon. The three of us stayed silent to assess the creature in front of us. It wasn't sleeping as I would have liked it. It was more focused on a meal that it had caught. The three of us watched in horror transfixed to our positions as the dragon continued to rip the carcass to shreds in an attempt to satiate its hunger. For all we knew, we could be next on the menu.