"Wake up," an unfamiliar masculine voice screamed.
Allen opened his eyes and quickly tried to get a glimpse of his surroundings. However he could only see black, no matter how up or down he looked. He leaned forward on the uncomfortable chair he sat in. He felt the rocking of the ground beneath him and the approach of a person of uncertain gender with heavy footsteps. He also felt the texture of wood against his bare feet. He tried to move his legs apart from each other, but his ankles were bounded by a material that Allen could not recognize. He attempted to do the same with his hands, but they too were bounded. "Where am I," he asked as he failed to squirm out of his bounds.
"Hello Allen, please settle down. Everything you say or do will be used against you when you go to court with the queen."
"Court? What is that," he asked as a shivering sensation overcame his body.
"Think of it as a meeting of sorts; you will be answering for the crimes you committed against the Merlin Kingdom."
Allen tilted his head, "What crimes? Did I do something wrong?"
"Yes. Before I go into that, I must ask if your energy is aligned with the truth today."
"What do you mean by that," as Allen asked he heard the heavy footsteps return as they paced around him.
"All will be revealed to those who manifest their reality. Do you wish to lose your blindness and see a world unlike your previous one," the footsteps stopped in front of Allen as he felt a small gust of cold wind sprayed against his chiseled abdomen.
Silence rose between them, yet during that time a question bloomed in Allen's mind. Within seconds of the silence Allen remembered the events on the Truman Farm. "How long ago did the last dragon arrive? Where is it now?"
Allen felt a force pull the blindfold on his face off. A wave of light pushed Allen aback causing his eyes to widen and take in as much as he could. He only saw white, but he regained his sight completely soon enough for the man talking to him to walk back a few steps and turn around. Allen saw the brown wood beneath his feet, then saw the red velvet cushion walls, he then noticed a small window that showered gray and droplets.
He then took notice of the man in front of him. He posed with his right hand on his hip, his left hand on his chin, and his left leg raised slightly. He was dressed in all black robes, with a black witch cap upon his head. He turned his head slightly to take a glance at Allen. As Allen blinked, he had moved from a few steps away to a few inches away from Allen's face. He stared deep into Allen's eyes as Allen, "Ahh," screamed a deep screech.
"There is no such thing as a coincidence," the man began, "The very fact that we are face to face like this means that we are energetically aligned with one another. Prompting our two selves to meet on this particular day on the reemergence of the first dragon in 50 years."
Allen did not respond as the man's brightly lit orange eyes sang a requiem to him. "You have quite the beautiful set of eyes Allen."
"Thank you, you have unique eyes as well," he interjected.
"Why thank you. I was conversing with Princess Lily about you. She told me that you are quite the special boy. That people made fun of your beautiful eyes all your life. We are alike in that aspect, our eyes ridiculed by society."
"The other slaves at the farm used to call me a freak for it," Allen took a minute to process what he said, "Did Lily free us?"
"She did Allen," the man took a step back from Allen's face, he leaned back against the air as his eyes glowed a soft white. "In fact, now that you are free, you have become a citizen of the Merlin Kingdom. You, just like everyone else must follow the laws. Which means this is a good transition to your crimes."
"What crimes did I commit?"
"Two homicides. The murder of the dragonborn and the murder of your previous master, Sir Harry Truman."
Allen's ears perked up, "How did you know about the dragonborn? Did Lily tell you guys? Who are you, the coven? Lily said that you guys were watching us the whole time. I-"
The man interrupted Allen by yelling over him, "What is your name?"
"What? Don't you already know it? Allen Z. Truman."
"Yes I know, but your last name is Truman."
"Yes... That is my last name."
"So why didn't you react to the murder of your master? Most people would react to the latest thing told to them. You even chose to adapt his last name, why is that?"
"I was born with that name. It's the only name I know for myself."
"You don't want to change it? You're free you need some kind of symbol to show that you are."
"Symbols, reacting to death, what does it all matter?"
"It is what makes everyone human. Without symbols or rituals we are nothing but individuals with thoughts and meaningless endeavors, we are but animals filled with greed."
"So does that make a unicorn a human?"
With a blank expression forming a small grin, the man laughed. "You are too intriguing, what separates man from animal? Quickly think about this, I wish to know what thought comes to your mind."
"Will to live."
"Really? That's what you think? Will to live? How does that work? Is that what really separates us from animals? Don't unicorns or any other earthly creature want to live just as much as humans?"
"I don't know. I'm only a human. How can I understand what a unicorn wants? I want to live, but I don't mind dying."
"So if I tried to kill you right now, would you struggle. Would you fight back? Would your energy fluctuate, stutter as it succumbs to death?"
Allen eyes became that of a snake, "I told you, I want to live. Not, I want to die."
"Allen, you truly are special. Here I thought I was going to engage with an intellectually inferior person. Yet you've intrigued me with your way of thinking, which makes me wonder... When was the last time you grieved?"
"I don't know. Everyone dies. Why should I cry for a common part of life," Allen's eyes returned to normal.
"If everyone dies, then you should understand, at least, that dying means being gone forever."
"Of course."
"It might be common and they might be physically gone, but that does not mean that the energy of the deceased suddenly leave. The memories they leave behind, their beliefs, their goals, their creations, the living are bound to carry their energy everywhere they go. The same thing goes for your Harry Truman. You will be bound to him for the rest of your life. Doesn't that kind of stress make you want to cry? It's the basic human thing to do."
"Can I tell you a story?"
"Go on."
"When I was young, I once witnessed my best friend killing another slave. They were older than us at the time, and they didn't exactly like me. I don't remember exactly why, but I think it was because of my lack of reaction. They also didn't like the thought of being bounded, taking beatings. When Sylver killed them, she told me that she was freeing them. Yet even after doing it, Sylver cried about it. Everyone cried about it, they didn't even know Sylver did it. All they knew was that he was dying, and that he was never coming back. I watched him die, the whole process. From breathing and laughing, to losing blood, to losing oxygen, all the way until Harry forced me to bury him. Yet, the whole time, I didn't cry a single tear. I questioned why I couldn't. Maybe deep down I thought I could not die. I was different from others, everyone dies." Allen took a deep breath, "Huh. Harry really is dead."
Allen leaned back against his chair, lifting his head up and resting the back of his head on the top of the chair. He took another deep breath and exhaled sharply. He stared up at the ceiling of the large mobile box that he was in. As it rocked, there was silence between the two. "There is no such thing as a coincidence," the man said breaking the silence, "the very fact that you are in this state, goes to show that the universe is allowing your energy to find yourself in the void of life. These next few days will be tough, but I believe that you can find your way through this. this was a lovely chat, but I must prepare your cage for large distance teleportation. It requires my time and energy, I will leave you to yourself."
The man watched Allen for a few seconds before speaking again, "Congratulations on becoming a free man. Your life of freedom begins now."
*BLIP*
The man disappeared as Allen rocked himself back in forth. He sat in silence, absorbing the noise of birds singing, insects humming, hooves drumming against the ground, the wind and rain steadily beating itself against everything in and out of sight. However all those noises washed away as Allen whispered to himself, "I could have died in that fight too."