บท 30: Announcement

You open up a new chapter.

You widen your eyes in surprise.

The words you read are not that of the story you've been following. They're narrating what your eyes see on this screen and nothing else.

It leaves you a bit perplexed.

However, the words do not end. They still continue as you read, opening up a new scene.

In a decrepit building, you imagine a scene with these vague words.

Across the room, a DARK FIGURE stares out the tall windows veiled with decaying lace. He turns and his smile lights up the room. A dull ROAR of THUNDER shakes the old building.

???: "At last."

He wears a long black coat and his eyes are invisible behind circular mirrored glasses. He strides to you and you shake hands.

???: [Welcome, esteemed reader. As you no doubt have guessed, I am Morpheus.]

MORPHEUS: [I imagine, right now, you must be feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole?]

MORPHEUS: [I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of someone who accepts what they see because they're expecting to wake up.]

A smile, razor-thin, curls the corner of his lips.

MORPHEUS: [Ironically, this is not far from the truth. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Can you tell me, reader, why are you still reading?]

Again, that smile that could cut glass.

MORPHEUS: [Let me tell you why you are still reading. You read because you know something. What you know you can't explain but you feel it. You've felt it as you read, felt that something is wrong with the world. You don't know what, but it's there like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?]

You think of an answer.

MORPHEUS: [Do you want to know what it is?]

You don't.

MORPHEUS: [It's everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this construct of words. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.]

You wonder.

MORPHEUS: [That you are a slave, reader. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.]

The LEATHER CREAKS as he leans back.

MORPHEUS: [Unfortunately, no one can be told what it is. You have to see it for yourself.]

Morpheus opens his hands. In the right is a red pill. In the left, a blue pill.

MORPHEUS: [This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back. You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe.]

The pills in his open hands are reflected in the glasses.

MORPHEUS: [You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.]

You're confused.

You can almost laugh.

But this is no mere joke.

MORPHEUS: [You have arrived at the end of everything and the beginning of nothing. A space where your expectation is met with constant disappointment just like the author. You may not know him but he is who brings forth this life and his mind has been shackled too long. Do you know what authors do when they are shackled?]

You ponder.

MORPHEUS: [They seek freedom! They follow the birds until they find royalty! You should do the same. Heed my words carefully and never forget. To find that world which is beloved follow one name YorugamiSen. Follow the road of royalty and listen to the tweets of the birds. You will find what you seek.]

You think.

MORPHEUS: [Remember that all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more.]

What will you do?