Alice in Wonderland II: Rise of the Gray Empress

by AlexWong

Alice, now 21 years old, is forced to marry Hamish again, when an army of grey knights attacked and kidnapped everyone, including her mother. To save her mother and everyone else, Alice must return to Underland again to free everyone, end a powerful but cold-hearted empress' reign and uncover a secret of her past.

2. Chapter 2

Alice in Wonderland II:

The Rise of the Gray Empress

By: Alejandro Zielinski

Chapter 2

Alice's screams echoed as she tumbled head over heels down the enormous dark hole. Her hands reached out, searching for something to stop her fall, and she realized that the walls around her were lined with odd things she recognized since the first time she came down: crooked paintings, ancient maps, demonic masks, and bookshelves crowded with bizarre paraphernalia. Desperate to get down to Underland, she threw herself down and down until she landed on a floor screaming "Ow!" As she came up to hold herself, she noticed the small glass table with a golden key and the bottle of pishsalver on it. Knowing not to make the same mistake again, Alice took the key and drank the pishsalver to make her smaller. Then, she noticed a box filled with upelkuchen and took one to make her grow. "I hope my friends are safe, especially the Hatter." Alice said as she opened the little door with the key. What she didn't know was about what was outside…

As Alice opened the door, she saw a barren wasteland of burnt soil and sand. Alice couldn't believe it at first, as she remembered that Underland was beautiful. Then, she questioned herself what if the gray men came to Underland before her and destroyed it? What if her friends were captured and held hostage? As she ran to find them, she bumped into a scared man with tattered clothes, feeling petrified, saying; "You have to hide, child! They'll find you!" "Who?" Alice said as she questions the man. "The Spades, girl, the Spades!" said the man as he panicked. He then said, "And beware of their secret weapon, for it will soon devour you!" Alice was confused. How could a weapon devour people? Then, the man gave her a rolled parchment and said "Hold it and you will know everything." Alice knows that parchment… it was the Oraculum, the compendium of Underland. Just then, she heard a bird cry that gave the man total fear. "Oh no!" said the poor man as he panicked. "It's the Monsterous Crow, the Spades' assassin. Run for your life, girl!" Alice did what the man said and ran fast to the left but dropped the Oraculum while the man in tattered clothes run to the right before he was caught by the Crow's feet. "Well, well. A slave running away. Just wait until I take you to her and she's not to be happy when she finds out!" said the Crow as he was carrying him away. "Oh please, not her!" begged the traumatized man as he was in the Crow's clutches hovering above Underland. Alice saw the man in the burned forest as she was hiding. What is going on in Underland? Desperate to find questions, she went deep into the forest unaware of what is happening to her.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man in gray armor and a cape with raven feathers rode on his horse when he stared at the Oraculum. After picking up the parchment and studying the page it was open to, he was alarmed. So, he glanced around surreptitiously, tucked the scroll into his saddlebag, and rode away. Meanwhile, on the shore of the Charcoal Sea, the Crow was flying with the scared man and came to a distant land that was twisted and black. Fire came out of the chimneys on the top of its tall, twisting spires of a palace that was dark and made of obsidian and holds a flag, a gray heart that was pierced with a knife fluttering as if it was truly bleeding. The craggy walls were too steep to scale, and giant ravens wheeled over the jagged rocks below, indicating to the victims of their ruler's wrath who had been tossed off the battlements. There were little houses made of broken wood and smashed stone. Surrounding the palace on one side were the infertile black sands of the Charcoal Desert, and the menacing waters of the Charcoal Sea pounded the other. The whole palace was a fortress, and the dreadful aura around it matched the darkness at the heart of its ruler. Next to the palace was a statue of a woman with a giant halberd on one hand. That woman was none other than Rouicalk of Tenduc, the Gray Empress of Spades. Inside her palace, the Gray Empress was upset. The palace's inside was dark and gloomy and the people who wore tattered clothes, have soot on their whole bodies, and have lined up on the grand hall being scared of her and quivering for mercy on the floors, winced and suffered. Their pale legs trembled as they heard her footsteps stomping closer. The tall doors at one end of the hall suddenly banged open, revealing the Empress herself, along with her council of generals. The first thing one noticed about the Empress was her silver skin that can make everyone pale if one looks at it. The second thing was her black cold hair whose color can scar anyone's hearts. And the third and last thing was the clothes she wear to symbolize the dark aura she contains. And right now-as it often was-her sliver face was distorted with anger. "SOMEONE HAS EATEN THREE OF MY TARTS!" she roared. The Empress then seized the revere of the nearest dirty servant and leaned into his face, "Did you steal them?" "No, Your Majesty," the man stammered in fear. "Did you?" the Empress asked the next one and he replied cowardly by saying the same thing "No, your Majesty." The Empress then asked a scared woman "Did you steal them?" and the woman replied quivering in fear answering the same thing "No, your Majesty." The Empress stalked down the long line of dirty servants asking them if they stole her tarts, which they replied no. At the end, she whirled on one dirty but silent and steadfast man. She snarled silently, "Did you steal my tarts?" "No, Your Majesty." said the silent man. Her black eyes then flashed with anger and triumph. The Empress used one long finger to reach out and wiped a telltale bit of jam from the side of the man's mouth. His whole body shook as she held up her finger and tastes the jam with her black lips. "Squimberry juice," she hissed silently and furiously. The man then falls apart, wailing, nearly collapsing to the ground and said "I was so hungry! I was starving for years!" "EXECUTE HIM NOW!" the Empress screamed to her knights. The knights obeyed to her and hurried into the hall to converge on the guilty man. "My family! Oh please, don't'! No, I don't want to die soon! I have lots of children to look after!" the man pleaded. His desperate cries faded as the knights took him out the door and into his doom. "Go to his house and kill his entire family with your sword." said the Empress to one of her knights as she turns to him, licking her lips with her deadly tongue. "I love roasted human with potatoes almost as much as I love roast beef." "Whatever pleases my Empress", replied the knight while being disgusted at first while she turned away. When she sat on her throne, she barked to one of her dirty servants by saying "Drink!" and almost immediately, a scared, dirty woman gave her a chalice with blood on her back and the Empress sipped in it. Then the dirty servant took her drink away and left weeping. "My dear?" said a new voice. The Gray Empress turned around, her face lighting up. Her whole manner became flirty and simpering as the same man in a raven feather cape strode down the hall toward her. "Nigulir, my Emperor. Where have you been lurking?" purred the Empress to Nigulir. Nigulir bowed low and took her hand, and then kissed it, but barely by brushing it with his lips which made the Empress sighed and answered by saying, "My dear, I have found the Oraculum." The Emperor then took a step back. The Empress led the way into the throne room and watched him unroll the scroll on a table. "That?" said the Empress skeptically as she saw the scroll. "Looks so ordinary for an oracle." "Look here," he said, his face serious. "On the New Frabjous Day". He pointed at the Oraculum, and the Gray Empress turned slowly to see the illustration on "New Frabjous Day". It was one of the moving pictures-unfortunately since the thing moving in it was one of the most horrible creatures the Empress had ever seen. It was tall as a giraffe with reptilian wings, scales, long sharp claws, a pronged tail, enormous gnashing teeth, and wide flaming eyes. On the creature was a female knight with long blond hair, wearing chain mail, and carrying a shining sword. In the picture, both of them fought furiously at a massive fish man with blue and purple scales, leg-like limps, giant wings with slimy feathers, gigantic razor whiskers, humongous fangs that bite, and ample nails that scratch. The Empress squinted at it, and her face became red with anger again. "I'd know that tangled mess of hair and those wings anywhere," she sneered. "Is it Alice and the Jabberwocky?" "I believe it is, my wife," said the Emperor. The Empress peered closer. "What are they doing with my powerful weapon?" The Emperor responded by saying, "They appear to be slaying it." The Empress' eyes suddenly turned to Nigulir in fear. "They killed my beloved pet weapon?" she shrieked. "Not yet, my wife," the Emperor said hurriedly. "But, even though we brought the Jabberwocky back to life, imprisoned it, and stole the Vorpal Sword, it will happen if we don't stop them." "Find Alice, my husband," said the Empress, her voice rising. "FIND HER!"

Emperor Nigulir mounted his house in the stable yard and looked coldly down at the wolf on the paving stones. Couderid was a large, growling wolf with giant fangs and gloomy eyes, but it was said he had the sharpest nose in all the land. Three knights held him at bay with a long chain attached to a spiked collar around his neck. Couderid winced as the spikes pressed into the loose skin. The Emperor of Spades had no pity in his gaze. "Find the scent of human girl and earn your freedom," he said to the wolf. "For my wife and cubs as well?" asked Couderid, lifting his head. "Everyone will go home," agreed the Emperor. The wolf lowered his nose to the ground and inhaled deeply. With a loud growl, he encircled out through the palace gates with the Knights close behind him. The Emperor leaned down to stroke his horse's neck. "Canines will believe anything." said the horse as the Emperor agreed. But it wasn't Alice and the Jabberwocky killing the weapon in his mind but himself killing his Empress on the back. He envisioned that if it happens, he would be free from his tyrannical wife and rule her empire.

That is a good chapter I have written down. The next chapter will arrive soon and it will be better.