CHAPTER NINE

The Heart of the Labyrinth

The crimson haze altered into a cloud of shadow. The lingering flame above the chasm was dying; the labyrinth was falling into darkness. Soon the area will be engulfed in black, and all hopes for finding the heart will fall, and the longing for freedom from this hellish place would never come to pass...

. . .

'I cannot see,' complained the Dormouse. 'It's gotten dark real quickly.'

'No worries, Mallymkun,' said the Rabbit. 'I feel we are close; very close. We should arrive at the centre before this place falls into darkness.'

'What exactly is at the 'eart?' asked the Dormouse, and she peered up at the Hatter.

'I have no clue,' said the Hatter. 'Well, there have been countless lost tales about what the phantom's lair is but I have not the slightest idea what the heart itself looks like. For all we know it could be just an empty courtyard.'

'Wait, ain't we already in the Phantom's lair?' asked the Dormouse.

'Well, not technically,' said the Rabbit making a halt. He turned to face the curious rodent. 'An old tale I heard a long time ago said that the maze is just the obstacle to reach the actual lair. Think of a long corridor: two entrances on each end. We arrived at one end, being the chasm's entrance, and the other end is the destination.'

'But there's like 'undreds of corridors so there wouldn't be just one, right?'

'Well, yes, but, no... What I'm trying to say is that the corridor is the connector between two certain areas. And yet there are obstacles within the hallway, like let's say a window was smashed and there were shards of glass all over the floor. It acts as an obstacle; for you to try not to cut your feet. This labyrinth is the connector between two certain areas: the outside world and the Phantom's lair. Understand?'

The Dormouse paused for a moment. She thought, but her brain seemed quite confused with this metaphorical explanation. 'Um, yeah, I guess so.'

'So do you suppose that the heart isn't just a courtyard, Nivens?' asked the Hatter.

'The tale says it isn't, but below is an even deeper chasm; the prison for the Phantom.'

'Oh, I 'ope not,' whined the Dormouse. 'I'm tired and I no longer wanna go underground anymore.'

. . .

Alice and the Cheshire continued along the cold passageways. She rubbed her arms to heat herself, but her thoughts and feelings were not as warm. She dragged her feet along, and everytime she turned a corner she ordered herself not to go on, that there was no more hope. The labyrinth was neverending; yet maybe just another illusion. She sighed sadly. The Cheshire took note of her melancholy mood. 'Why are you upset?' he asked softly, floating alongside of her.

'I'm just thinking,' she said quietly, her voice sorrowful.

'Thinking about what exactly?' asked the Cheshire.

'That maybe we'll never find the heart. That maybe this maze just keeps going on and on. That maybe there is no end and we're walking a boundless path that will never see an end.'

'Quite pessimistic and morbid thinking, Alice,' said the Cheshire. 'You're thinking what the phantom wants you to think. Try and think of more uplifting and merry thoughts and memories; it will bring back optimism and hope into soul and the foreboding suppositions will fade.'

'No they won't,' said Alice. She refused to try and attempt to let all of the moments that made her smile into her mind. But the despair was such a barrier it was almost impossible to breach its wall. For a moment she just wished to curl up on the cold floor and wish for all this to just fade away; for her to wake up from this grim nightmare. But she knew it would not happen; even though her strength was failing she wasn't going to give up. If she was to, she would let everyone down, and Underland would fall into hysteria and despair forever. She then faced the feline. 'Can't you just float into the air and find our way to the centre?'

'Do you think that I've not tried, Alice?' said the Cheshire with a serious expression. 'Although the Phantom cannot breach into my mind it has created a barricade at the top of these walls that stops me from flying past it.'

'Oh.' Alice felt much more hopeless now. 'Then there is no hope.'

'Do not say that!' said the Cheshire firmly. 'If you keep thinking of all these relinquishing thoughts and assumptions you'll make yourself believe that there really is no hope when there most certainly is. I told you to think of happy things so think happy!'

'I can't, Chessur!' complained Alice who suddenly stomped her foot. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She frowned. 'Do you not think that I've not tried? Everytime I remember a memory that usually warms my heart it is suddenly shattered by a horrid force that twists them into some malicious theatre of torture for its own pleasure! I feel the weight of tribulation upon my shoulders, as though I'm encumbered by a heavy force that seizes to let go. I don't remember what happiness is like anymore. I do not remember what it is like to smile; what it's like to laugh.' Tears began to fall from her eyes. 'When I remember my life as a child, when I remember when I hardly felt sorrow, it's all just a blur now. It uses your worst fears and pain against you, and it keeps replaying it over and over on a neverending loop. Right now just saying these things I feel the ghost tear me apart slowly with every tear that falls, with every hint of sadness that escapes my lips. Every heartbeat is the drum of a new wave of anguish. Every breath is the voice of my memories that fade. I hoped I would never have to feel this much sorrow again in my life but now its found its way back...' She brushed away a tear. 'I can keep telling myself to go on but with each step I feel the burden of pessimism pressing its claws into me. There's not much hope left in me to go on...'

'Alice,' whispered the Cheshire, his great eyes full of sadness. 'I may not understand how much pain you are feeling right now, and what its powers are like, but you speak as though there is no more strength left within your soul. You're such a stalwart person with a mighty heart. You've conquered this anguish before, who's to say you cannot defeat it again?' She didn't speak. The Cheshire continued. 'For all that you hold dear to you, for all that once made you smile, do you not wish to feel that bliss once again? To find happiness you must go through the pain. Conquer it and you will reach out to joy - to hope and peace. You cannot let the good times fade and the mirth die. You cannot fail your friends. It seems like such a heavy task and you say you cannot achieve this but you can, Alice, you just have to believe you can and believe that what seems impossible can become possible.'

She peered up at him; a hint of colour back into her cheeks. At that moment, she felt a new strength growing, a new power rising. She nodded. 'You're right,' she said.

'Are you going to continue?' asked the Cheshire, smiling.

'Yes,' she said with great determination. 'Yes I am.'

'That let us continue!'

. . .

As they walked down the now shadowy passages they turned a corner into a wider passgeway, and at the end, throughout the darkness, was a great doorway with two torches lit on each side of it. At that moment, it felt as though hope and rapture had just shot sky high, and huge smiles appeared on their faces.

'Is it?' asked the Dormouse.

'It is!' smiled the Rabbit.

'Well why are we just standing around here for?' said the Hatter with a great smile upon his pale face. 'Let us go!' And all three of them ran with great speed towards the doorway. The torches lit up what seemed to be a great metallic gate with many ancient runes engraved upon it. In the centre was a crest. It was shaped as a rose with a crown around its stem, and around it were four symbols: a heart above, a spade to the left, a diamond below and a club to the right. And circling around the gate was a language, which appeared to be a form of Outlandish.

The Hatter approached it. The writing was lit by the torchlight. The Dormouse looked up at it. 'What does it say, 'atter?'

'The Phantom of Despair lingers in its lair where the bold dare not enter. It's a poem and its engraved all along the gate. I heard of this when I was a child, when it just used to be a simple poem and not history.'

'Enough with the reading, Tarrant,' said the Rabbit. 'We must get inside this instant!'

'Of course.' The Hatter guessed that this wasn't an ordinary door; there must be some certain way of opening it. He went with his first instinct and touched the rose in the centre. It did nothing.

'Try touching the card symbols,' suggested the Dormouse.

'Right.' So he touched the diamond on the bottom, and it lit up red. But then it suddenly faded. 'I'm sensing a certain puzzle,' said the Rabbit. 'Touch the heart first.' So the Hatter did so, and the heart lit up a bright crimson, and it stayed that way.

'Work your way around, like north, east, south and west,' said the Dormouse. And Hatter did just so, and all four symbols lit up either red or white. Nothing else happened. The Hatter thought for a moment. 'Ah!' he said, and it touched the rose with his finger. And then suddenly there was a rumble, and the gate opened outwards into the unknown area. And before their eyes, they saw it. The area they seeked, the destination they wished to reach. They saw it: the Heart of the Labyrinth.

'There's nothing here,' said the Dormouse. And indeed there wasn't. It was but a large area with two pits on each side of them. There was a walkway which led to the centre which was shaped as a large heart, and on the other end was another walkway with but another door.

The Rabbit seemed befuddled. 'There's two entrances?'

'I guess there is,' said the Hatter.

It was until then the door at the other end also made a loud sound. It opened! Yet did it open by itself? Of course not. There was somebody that had managed to open the great metal doors, and that person gradually made their way into the area with great surprise and wonder upon their face. It was until then they caught sight of three familiar faces. They smiled. 'Hatter!'

'Alice!' With great relief and wondrous joy they ran towards eachother at great speed. They met at the centre and she threw her arms around him and they shared a long embrace of great happiness. 'I thought I would never see you again,' said the Hatter.

'As did I,' said Alice.

'See,' said the Cheshire making his way from behind Alice towards the company. 'Hope was there.'

Alice smiled. 'And to think I had almost lost it all!' She released the Hatter from her embrace and looked around in wonder, and yet, confusion. 'Where's the Phantom?'

'I have no idea,' replied the Hatter.

It was until then though, something rumbled beneath their feet. It felt like thunder trapped underneath a stone body. The ground shook with great force and it managed to have everyone stumble. The Rabbit, Dormouse and Cheshire moved away from the centre, although Alice and the Hatter held onto eachother to keep their balance. At that moment, a great sound like a deep roar arose from the pits and echoed across the entire chasm. They felt the wrath within its icy breath.

'What's happening?' cried Alice.

'I don't know!' cried the Hatter.

And then, the ground suddenly gave in, and the centre of the heart collapsed, causing Alice and the Hatter to plunge into complete and utter darkness. Their screams bounced along the walls. 'Alice! Hatter!' cried the others.

They watched as they fell into a great abyss, and watched as they faded away into darkness...