The fallen king

Hello. The story itself is finished : I'm currently writing the sequel in french before translating it in english, so way, english isn't my first language. The story happens 200 years after "Through the Looking Glass" movie and it came from an idea that strucked me during a night of insomnia (my brain can't stop thinking sometimes). So, there is it. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Chapter 1 :

If Luna Richter, history and geography teacher, had known that was waiting her for her arrival in the highschool this morning, she would have never gotten off her bed. Medium sized and thin, she was just coming back from a long sick-leave because of a really bad case of flu epidemic, making a lot of students and teachers falling sick in the school. Her long chestnut hair was falling way down her back, tied in a loose braid. Her particolored eyes were looking suspiciously at the main building in front of her : something wasn't right. The place was too quiet to be normal. Replacing her scarf, she took a long breath and opened the front door.

…

Nothing ?

Weird...

A few students were walking in the corridors, nothing unusual. The supervisors were chatting in their office and some unused classrooms were more or less full of students doing homework or other things. A normal day in the highschool...

Why couldn't she shake off the bad feeling ?

She decided to decided to walk toward the teachers'room.

Again : everything was quiet.

Definitly abnormal...

She pushed the door...

BOOMM !

And she got thrown two meters back, landing on a pile of cardboxes and polystyrene.

The hand-crafted canon... She should have seen it coming...

And by hearing the laughters, she knew who did this explosive welcome :

"Julie ? Erwann ?" She managed with a croacking voice. "I know it's you !"

The laughters went louder and two familiar heads showed up by the doorframe.

"Well, Luna" Snickered the tall and slim man with his dark-brown hair tied in a low ponytail and rectangular glasses on his nose."Are you working on a remake of Fort Boyard ? You have the same voice as The Professor !

-Screw you, Erwann.

-I love you too, you know that ?"

Erwann McCain was a philosophy teacher and well-known for his love of pranks and gossips. Luna and him were rarely seen without each other.

Julie Menjart was the physics and chemistry teacher, and she loved to create weird things and to make some innovative (and dangerous) experiments for her students. The hand-crafted canon was hers, and many fellow teachers had been the unlucky targets of this dangerous artisanal device.

Contrary to Luna with her small frame, Julie was 1,80 m tall with broad shoulders. Her impressive looks for a woman added to an explosive personnality and her unconditionnal love for risky things made her someone better to keep as a friend than a foe. No one wanted to be her ennemy. She had medium dark blond hair and rectangular glasses on her blue eyes.

"Hi, Luna" She saluted with grin. "How is the flu ? Better ?

-The doctor wanted to take another week of sick-leave but I told him I was fine enough to go back to teaching classes.

-With that voice ?! Holy shit ! Even Darth Vader has a prettier voice !

-I made my lessons on computer. It should be fine.

-Yeah..."

No one was convinced...

Two hours later, Luna spotted them in the corridors : Erwann was chasing Julie who was cackling loudly. By hearing the philosophy teacher, he just had been pranked by the chemist and it had been rather explosive.

Well, that explained the messy hair...

She decided to follow them, just in case. She feared the chase would degenerate into a verbal fight or worse, not that happened often here.

By doing this, they all arrived to the chemistry and physics secondary laboratory, full of miscellaneous items, from the most sophisticated to some really old stuff. A big grandfather clock was sitting in the back of this room, sieging against the wall and towering the teachers passing near.

Speking of the devils...

"Julie, why the hell are you trying to hide inside this clock ?"

That was Luna's question as Erwann nearly fell on the floor because he was laughing a bit too hard.

"I'm hiding from Erwann so he can't find me." Answered Julie as if it was obvious. "That's weird... Huh... Guys ? Am I dreaming or there is some light at the back ? And how can I fit entirely inside this clock ?"

Erwann stopped laughing and watched her :

"Wait : you're joking, right ?

-I'm not ! Come ! Let's check this !"

She managed to enter inside the grandfather clock and disapeared, leaving the other two behind very perplexed.

"Maybe we should have a look." Muttered Erwann, walking closer and stepping inside. "What the... ? Is that a tunnel ? Luna, come check this : it's a tunnel !

-You're joking...

-Not at all ! Come !"

He entered and disapeared inside the clock.

"That's crazy..." Grumbled the history teacher. "Well, I might as best check this out. I fear the worse if I let those two alone without supervision..."

She took a big breath and entered the clock.

"Here goes nothing..."

She didn't see the man walking in the laboratory just as she was vanishing inside this weird and tall clock.

Mathieu Desjoyaux was a biology teacher. Tall and slim; he had long brown hair tied in a low ponytail cascading his back. With his sharp cheeksbones and warm chocolate eyes, he was quiet and known for his rather gentle nature. Knowing his three coworkers and the love of two of them for making trouble, he had followed them to check on them and make sure they weren't plotting for some crazy scheme involving the whole floor exploding or something like that.

Seeing the history teacher stepping inside the clock and not coming back, he raised an eyebrow and walked closer : what was this sorcery ?

No one was inside the clock when he peaked his head in and he could spot a faint light in the back but it seemed far away. What that was ? A tunnel ? How was it possible ? He decided to step in and followed the dark path : he needed to find the three others. Luna alone wasn't enough to stop the infernal duo. She would need assistance to rein them into behaving correctly.

After pushing a rather heavy door; he found himself in a dark corridor built with black stones and black metal. This place was enormous ! Where was he ? He stepped forward and turned around : he just exited another grandfather clock, like the one in the it a portal ?

Weird... but why not ? Now, if he could find them...

"Luna ?" He called. "Luna, where are you ? I hope you didn't loose Erwann and Julie because it will be hell to find them back in this place ! And it's rather cold here for you ! You will get sick again if you stay in the cold for too long !"

Loud steps answered, startling him : this wasn't his coworkers ! He saw a garnison of strange individuals looking like armoured anthropomorphic cards, all in red and black and armed with sharp spears.

"What the..."

The newcomers charged at him without warning.

"AAAHHHH ! HELLPP !"

The teacher's screams echoed in the corridors as he was being dragged away by the card-people.