Chapter Three: The Sinister Agent

 He still remembered everything when Santa Claus reacted and told him about his desire to become a human being. All the while he hated himself for being an Elf, for living to be making gifts and wrapping them, for tending the reindeers and holding dearly to the magic sleigh, and for living in this stupid village. He felt his existence is becoming a waste while he was there, in the midst of the North Pole, doing silly things. Unnecessary and cumbersome.

He wanted to escape, an escape that he will later regret. To become and feel like the human race is to gain freedom, and finding the right purpose other than doing mechanical things like a stupid servant. He was thrilled by the mere thought of it, and he will obey everything that will lead him nearer to its fruition.

"I wouldn't desire to be a human," Santa Claus said to him. "Humanity is full of troubles and conflict. Becoming human is to embrace pain and suffering. It seems like the happiness you see from their faces is only a myth for most of them, unmotivated and unsatisfactory, especially when they've already grown, and the joy that once belonged to a child from which this human has aged from has mysteriously disappeared into oblivion, to be severely preoccupied by titles, ambition, occupation, and the never ending search for wealth. Once you have known about their greed, you will abruptly change your highly regarded opinion about them," Santa Claus has said to him.

Those words stuck to him after so many years, and it hit him really hard now.

But he was once a free Elf, after all, and this freedom has afforded him of making critical choices for his own good. Since then, he savored the sweet taste of freedom and tested its limits. He allowed it to engulf him, to lose his own self. Liberty is a good thing, but everything without moderation can be far more dangerous than someone has previously thought.

Now, it is too late. He remembered well those fateful words, and how he miss the wisdom from the North Pole. He also miss making the toys that in itself is a priceless gift. A purpose. An immortal gift that makes someone's life better. Dreams are the very foundation of everything, and it is an eternal honor to be serving the village, to be ministering to nice children all around. He wanted his own life back.

He sure miss the magic sleigh. And Rudolf. Especially Rudolf.

A Sinister Agent, he become. His robotic arm has become the living reminder that haunts him in his sleep. He did become human, but not quite. His feet have several mechanical parts, too, that direct his steps. He was a victim of greed before he even knew it, and it was already too late to back out.

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