Prologue
I remember smoke, I remember fire, I remember the little girl that I helped
raise, acted as her surrogate father, come barreling back a warrior ready
to take us all down. We broke that day, crumbled and fell, like the houses
of cards she had built as a child. When I knew her, she was little Alice,
now she is called the Black Queen, and the little girl that I thought I knew
is nowhere to be found.
The first day that I ever met Alice, she was nothing but a little baby. Pink
and delicate, with skin like petals and eyes like drops of liquid emerald.
She was delivered to us by Lepus White; a rabbit who has been our
messenger for as long as Wonderland has lived. Adeline, (or the Red
Queen, as her subjects called her) had demanded that she be brought to
us from the human world. For Adeline was a seer, gifted with glimpses
into the future through looking glasses. She had dreamed that a human
girl who would either be a great leader or be the cause of the end of the
age of Wonderland. Adeline searched for such a girl and had become
convinced that Alice was the one. She decided to take her, raise her as
her own, to teach her so that Alice could be Wonderland's next Queen.
At first, Adeline considered Alice as a royal duty, something that she
had to accomplish for the good of her kingdom. However, the moment
she first looked into Alice's eyes, she loved her, and vowed to protect her.