"Am I a bad person," Allen said laying down on Cindy's camel dog, unable to move as her camel dog ran along the dirt path that the other two thirds of the party went.
"What the fuck are you on about," Cindy asked catching her mana infused ball again as it returned from hitting a tree ahead of them.
"Sorry, I was thinking out loud," Allen hung his head low as he smelt the awful stench of the behind of a camel dog. Silence rose as Allen slightly passed out at the smell. He woke up half a second after passing out as he belched out some flames and groaned in confusion.
Cindy jerked her head back, "Are you okay? I know you used to be a slave and all, but did that whole lifestyle like fuck with your mind or something."
"Fuck with my mind? What do you mean by that?"
"That noise you made, how'd the fuck you make that."
"I think it was pretty normal."
"You are far from normal, do you have mana sickness?"
"I am a normal human being! What is mana sickness?"
"You really don't know much do you?"
"I know enough."
"You don't even know how to properly introduced yourself to me."
"There's a proper way? Isn't my name enough, I'm Allen Z. Truman."
"You know, tell someone your name, who you are, summarize who you are. I'm not sure what else to say. Have you never introduced yourself to someone? What happened to you as a slave?"
"Oh, I'm Allen Z. Truman. I don't hail from the Truman Farm anymore," Allen lifted himself to sit upright on the camel dog, "I'm a hunter. My master never really taught me anything. Besides the fact that everyone dies and that I have to work hard to be special."
"There you go again with that special shit. Do you even know what it means to be special?" Cindy, under her breath, said, "Special in the head maybe."
"It's to be the best, the top of the food chain. In my favorite book, or maybe it was in a book that I read; there was a message at the end, saying Humans are special. My master once told me that we will always be a slave to something," Allen paused, "Do people lie a lot?"
"Yes, a lot of people lie. The world is just terrible and if everyone was honest the world would have ended. You shouldn't trust everything people say."
Silence rose among them again, the only sound that could be heard for another minute or three were the sounds of Cindy's camel dog pushing against the ground to launch themselves forward, the occasional ball bouncing off a tree and being caught, and the moans of a thinking Allen. His thoughts raced throughout his mind, as he wondered who exactly he should trust.
'This is too hard, I don't want to think so much. Wick and this woman, what's her name?'
"Who are you?"
"Me?" She laughed, slapping her own knee, Allen stared at her with a stone cold look, "I'm Cindy W.L. I hail from Xyoinia, I'm a professional mage ball player and part time hunter. Well more like my parents are from Xyoinia."
"You're two things?"
"Yes, isn't that Lily girl you're partying with also a Princess. You shouldn't be surprised by this."
"Princess is just a title."
"That title comes with responsibilities. Don't you have any responsibilities? Someone to care for?"
"I'm not sure."
"How aren't you sure? As a newly freed person, don't think you can just do anything and everything you want to do. There are laws you have to follow. Obligations and responsibilities you have to hold and upkeep."
"What kind of responsibilities do you have?"
Cindy paused, "I'm part of a team, I'm the best player on the team and I have the obligation of making sure I win ever game."
"A game? Is it that serious?"
"Yes, of course it's fucking serious. You don't think a game can be serious? Having fun is a serious thing, I have fun playing Mage Ball, King has fun hunting. Did you not have fun when you were a slave?"
"I don't think I ever did. Everyday was a struggle, I had to work harder than everyone else to make sure everything was working at maximum proficiency."
"Sounds like you were raised like a Golem."
"A golem?"
"Magical puppet. You infuse your mana into one and it reacts accordingly. It's kind of like a mage ball, how you have to infuse your mana into the ball to really play the game seriously."
"Do you want to be the best player on your team, or do you feel like a slave to your team."
"What the fuck are you going on about? I'm the best player because I worked the hardest. I'm free to do what I want and I want to play. Though it could get stressful at times. What is your responsibilities anyway, did you get some kind of idea of what they are?"
"I have to kill the last dragon."
"Why?"
"I'm the dragonborn," Allen paused and thought, 'Does that make me still human?'
"You're a dragonborn?"
"Yes," Allen said darting his eyes everywhere but toward Cindy's direction.
"Your kind is pretty fucking rare, I met one on my way back from Xyoinia," Allen confide in himself as he weakly mumbled, "rare?"
"Yeah, I couldn't get a good look at them, but-" Allen screamed, making Cindy jump.
"Don't tell me any more! I don't want to trust your words right now."
"Sorry," Cindy said as they continued riding in silence until they caught up with the rest of the group's camel dogs. She jumped off her camel dog, and went into Brick's camel dog's bag to retrieve her rope to tie her camel dog to the same tree every other camel dog was tied to. While she did that Allen hopped off of her camel dog and took a look around. "Everyone is already gone."
"Perfect, we can play Mage Ball while we wait for them," Cindy squealed as she ran over to Allen and grabbed Allen's hand. She began taking him into the forest while looking for a clearing.
"What is Mage Ball, exactly?"
"It used to be a teaching tool for witches and magic academies, but recently it's been blowing up. I say recently, but really like the past 2 hundred years. It's become more of a sport, a sport being a game."
"I've never played a game before as a slave. Do you think I would be good at the game."
"You'll be bad at it, but it'll be fun."
"Why's that?"
"It's a sport that uses someone's skill to apply mana, preserve mana, and their own physical abilities. Some people just play it to get better at using magic. Others like me, love it for the sport of it."
"You can love a game? Is this game the one for you?"
Cindy stopped in her tracks, she took in the area around her. It was a wide open circular space surrounded by trees, the floor of the open space was hard rock. She nodded her head thinking, 'This will work', afterwards she turned toward Allen, "You don't know what fun or love is? Whatever you'll learn it eventually. Has your mana recovered?"
"Not really."
"That's fine, we can take our time and spend the first round playing without mana."
"Rounds?"
"You'll understand. I'll tell you the rules."