World peace had been achieved. Starvation was barely a memory. The earth had blossomed anew, global warming had ceased, polution was a thing of the past. There were no leaders, no foes, only neighbors and friends. Everyone lived forever, and there was somehow always enough space and resources for them. The stars had been explored, new species discovered (or created), and everyone had superpowers.

"What more can your kind ask for?" The genie inquired. He was gnarled and old, and despite the milky white clouds in his eyes, I could sense he saw much.

"Freedom," I replied.

The scowl that he'd worn since I'd entered fell. He turned his ear towards me and put a hand to it. "Pardon?"

"I wish for your freedom."

A smile crept slowly across the genie's face. "Child, what makes you think I am a prisoner?"

"You've lived here for centuries granting mankind endless blessings, and not one for yourself."

"If I had the power to free myself, don't you think I would have?" He asked.

"Then why haven't you?" I could see the pain that suddenly swelled in his chest, yet his smile remained.

He chuckled. "You're unlike your brethren. Even the purest who come here wish for selfish things. To fly, to end war, to live when they should not. All of these things I have done." The genie stands and stretches his skinny legs. They crack and crinkle and pop before he steps toward me. He was easily 4 feet taller then I was. "If I go free, I take these blessings with me. Would you truly wish that for you and your people?"

I knew this would happen. We all learned about the genie as children, and how capturing it brought us our fortune. "I cannot live soundly in a world built upon the labors of the chained," I said.

The genie looked genually surprised now. He put a hand on my shoulder, tears welling in his eyes. He pulls me into a hug as chains of smoke materialize. Shackles around his wrists and ankles kept him bound to the cave by a bridge of chain links to the back wall. One after another, the links popped and shattered, dissipating until all were gone.

The genie breaks the hug and looks me in the eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks now. "You have my gratitude, child of man. For so many years I have longed to see the sun again. I will taste the rain and feel its coolness. I will live, not only by being alive. And for you, I will grant my boon. Enjoy the wishes of humanity, they now survive in you alone."

With that, he stepped out of the cave's mouth, and disappeared into the beaming rays of sunlight.