The cat looked down upon the forest perched on top of the tallest branch of a tree, the sun had long reached its zenith but little light could seep through the thick layers of leaves to reach the undergrowth, the cat itself took advantage of the darkness for only his eyes could be seen while the rest of his body was left in the shadows.
Silence reigned supreme in the forest, his big menacing eyes focused on the slender figure of a man far away from him, Simon.
He didn't really know all that much about him, apart from the things he had read from his diary, in fact, there was still some scepticism lingering within him about whether or not he could be the right man to solve his problems, but unfortunately it was all too late for him to turn back now.
He told Simon to follow him and surprisingly the man had proven himself to be quite the athlete, being able to follow and sometimes even match the cat in both speed and agility, whenever it was matter of climbing a steep cliff to reach a ledge or crossing a river by using domino pieces, Simon always managed to be behind his tail.
But Wonderland was never meant for an outsider and the cat knew that very well, things that were simple for him could be downright impossible for Simon, and for this reason, he always had to think twice before choosing a path.
Simon, on the other hand, wasn't really despising this journey as much as he expected, sure he had lost his diary and was almost killed by a giant snake made of black goo but at the same time, he had to admit that wonderland wasn't half bad once he moved past its flaws.
Nothing of what he was seeing here could be could be compared to any of his past dreams, from the trees to the rivers everything was truly wondrous to behold.
Simon was so immersed in the scenery around him that he did not notice the gaping chasm in front of him.
"Get yourself back Simon," Said the Cheshire cat from above.
Distracted by a colorful butterfly that was lazily flying beside him, Simon quickly turned his attention to the path ahead and stopped dead in his track right before the edge of the cliff.
"Good grief, that was close," Simon thought as he looked over the cliff.
He noticed that on his left there was another of those statues he saw before in the forest, but unlike the others, this one was carved in the stone of an entire mountainside and was next to intact.
The statue depicted a woman, about his same age, with both hands on her face in a pose that conveyed sorrow and desperation.
Water was flowing down from her partially closed eyelids, creating an artificial waterfall that filled a crystal clear river below.
"Who is she?" Asked Simon more to himself than to anyone else.
"She is the reason you I brought you here Simon" The menacing voice of the cat answered his question.
"Come to think of it you still haven't told who are you or what is this place, to begin with"
"Oh really?" The cat vanished into to thin air and then reappeared right in front of Simon.
"I beg you pardon Simon, even someone such as myself forgets about manners from time to time" The cat sat proudly whilst keeping his iconic grin.
"But everything at its time, I'll give you some explanations as we move along"
Both the Cat and Simon moved side by side along a path that led towards the grey statue of the unknown woman, as they walk the Cat introduced himself and started to explain to Simon this strange place he called Wonderland and the strange creatures that lived within it.
The Cat talked for what felt like hours as they walked the lonely road and Simon remained silent as he listened to the unbelievable tale until the dark shadow of the statue was upon both of them.
"Wait, so you are telling me that this is not my mind and that somehow I managed to breach through another person's consciousness?" Asked Simon whilst rubbing the bridge of his nose in confusion.
"I couldn't have said it better myself" Replied the cat in calmest manner possible.
"This…..just makes no sense whatsoever."
"It's funny that you say that considering the things you have seen and done in the past that are all written in the book which I possess, so if you don't mind not wasting time talking nonsense I think we shall proceed"
"So I am just a means to an end to you?"
"Exactly" Simon didn't dare to respond.
When they reached their destination the cat revealed a pathway behind some thick bushes that led to a hollowed portion of the statue hidden behind the waterfall, the caver's stone walls were smooth and round and narrowed down at the opposite end, giving it a funnel-shaped appearance.
At the other end of the cavern stood a comically small door, akin to the one of a dollhouse, painted in shades of pink and red.
Promptly the door opened on its own as soon as the Cheshire Cat reached its vicinity and the slick feline stepped through it.
"Mind your head, Simon, the ceiling is quite lo.." But before he could finish his sentence the cat heard a loud thud and the sound of some profanities spoken in an unknown language coming from behind him.
The doorway led to a long staircase that runs downward and through the mountain.
Simon found this passage to be rather claustrophobic despite having done a fair bit of crawling in the past, the ceiling was extremely low to the point where he had to keep his back hunched forward just so that he could move and the walls were so close to each other that his elbows brushed off the side if he held his arms too far apart.
The light was provided by a series of glowing gems embedded in the stone, albeit very small they provided enough light to see the path ahead just enough to travel safely.
The cat walked down the stone staircase for what felt like hours with Simon right behind him, with none of them saying a word Simon focused on the sound of his overly classy shoes tapping against the floor to distract himself, yet there where still a lot of things that didn't feel right about this situation, not that it even made sense before.
"So…..this Alice, you said that she is stuck in one of her memories or something like that right?" Asked Simon hesitantly to break the silence.
"Correct, the trauma caused by a recent misfortune caused her to lose what little control he had over Wonderland and now is forced to live that same memory every time she loses consciousness"
"And I my job here is to free her from this imprisonment, correct? But how am supposed to do that?" A muffled chuckle escaped the cat's lips.
"I am glad you asked Simon because I know that you will not like the answer."
"I have not liked most of the answers you gave me," Simon thought, but instead of protesting he just rolled his eyes and focused on the path ahead, which he noticed was getting far less tight as they moved forward.
"You see Simon, Wonderland has originally Alice's safe place, a place where he could go whenever she wanted to escape from all the hardships and pain of the real world."
"Which means that?" Simon interrupted.
"Which means that if we, you, can cause her enough stress within the encasement of her memory she will be forced to retreat to Wonderland"
The narrow staircase finally led to a more open room that looked like a hall with a mosaic floor made out of irregular pieces of glass shards, shining down from above a single beam of sunlight crept through a hole in the ceiling and illuminated the hall by reflecting against the glass floor.
"Be mindful of where you put your feet, Simon, this floor is about as ancient as Wonderland itself," Said the cat before moving towards a small cabin at the other end of the room.
Simon tried to follow the cat's steps but found himself strangely attracted by the mosaic below him.
He went all over the room to look at the fine craft before him, inspecting every inch of it until he had composed the full picture.
It depicted a woman, very likely the same woman of the statues he had seen before, only this time the mosaic added more details to his persona and, most importantly, colors.
The woman wore a navy blue maid outfit with puffy shoulders and a white apron, her skin was pale and her hairs were raven black.
She was depicted sleeping with both of her hands on her chest and clutching at some kind of necklace.
Simon knelt down to take a better look at the ornament on her neck but found it very difficult to distinguish it from the rest of her attire, what he did notice however was a small crack in the glass slowly expanding around him.
Before Simon could stand up the glass right below him shattered causing him to fall beneath the floor and into a dark cavity.
Simon fell for a couple of meters beneath the surface before landing on his back followed by a shower of broken glass which he promptly tried to keep it away from his face.
Alerted by the noise, the cat spun around and peeked through the hole in the mosaic.
"Simon, is everything alright?" Asked the cat.
All of Simon's breath was expelled as soon as he made contact with the hard floor but was still conscious.
"I think…I am fine, but now I am kind of stuck down here."
"You stay there Simon; I'll see if I can get you out of there," Said the cat before disappearing from sight.
Simon rose from the ground, carefully trying not to stab himself with all the shards that covered him, he had a few scratches all over his body with some more serious than others but nothing too severe to have caused any major damage.
When he was done dusting off all the glass from his clothes Simon inspected the hollow in which he had fallen, it was a small cavity right below the mosaic floor with smooth walls and checker-patterned pavement.
Partially hidden by the shadows Simon also saw a doorway connect to a corridor leading to a dark unknown, he stared at the passage for a few seconds trying to see if something was staring back at him but found nothing.
He then looked at the hole in the mosaic, he considered staying there and waiting for the help of the Cheshire cat.
Yet he couldn't resist wondering what lied beyond that barrier of shadow, concealed for his sight.
"Maybe I'll find another way out if I go that way," He said to himself, his curiosity having the best on him.
Simon peered through the entrance and was greeted by a cold wind of stale air washing his face of any last bit of warmth of sunlight, he had a strange feeling about it.
After taking a match from his bag he lit it against the wall to make some light and walked through the doorway, much to his surprise the corridor was very short and led to a more opened area with a high ceiling and the same checker-patterned pavement as before.
Simon lit another match and moved along the wall, carefully looking at his feet to see if there were any other cracks that could cause any more damage.
While he circled around the room Simon noticed some chalks doodles scribbled across the walls, akin to the drawings of a small child.
The first doodle he saw was a crude depiction of a house, a simple square with a triangular roof and two windows, then four stick figure close to each other, two of them being taller than the other.
He then saw the doodle of a rabbit, then a cat, then cards, the doodles were all relatively innocent but as time went on the drawings became more and more disturbing.
The same doodle of a house that he saw before was now engulfed in fire, he saw knives, teeth, strange clockwork devices, they all kept appearing on the walls as he moved along the dark room.
"I don't like where this is going."
Many matches later he circled the entire hall and returned at the point where he had started.
Not noticing a small boulder on the ground he tripped over it and spilled his box of matches on the floor leaving him in the complete darkness.
After muttering a curse Simon moved closer to the center of the room with his hands and knees on the ground trying to find some matches to make light.
He sensed the pavement with his touch in reach for his box, but along the way, he also felt some other hard objects which he assumed were other rocks and then the cold stiffness of metal? He couldn't be sure, but for all know there could be anything hiding in the shadows.
Simon sigh in relief when he felt the rectangular-shaped box in his hand and lit a match without hesitation.
Through the light he saw the rocks on the floor along with some metal scraps of unknown use, he looked at the rocks with particular interest since they were oddly smooth, white and placed in a pattern along with some rusted metal parts.
It took a while to click on him but after looking at the rocks for some time he came to a shocking realization.
"These are not rocks but bones"
The skeleton of a huge best laid before him, it looked like a reptile yet he could see wings and it also had some form of metal augmentations that replaced missing parts of his skeleton.
"Well, I am glad that this thing is dead" Simon thought as he observed its terrifying teeth and talons.
Suddenly Simon's attention was caught by a noise coming from across the room, like a wet thud akin to drenched rag hitting a hard surface.
Simon spun around and pre-emptively aimed his gun at where he assumed the noise's source was coming from, he could not really tell what happened since the light from his match only illuminated a few inches away from him.
After the initial noise there was only silence but Simon kept listening, waiting for something to jump at him, his impatient getting stronger and stronger as time went on but he didn't dare to move first, he kept his arm steady and his gun pointed in front of him, his heath was about to explode in his chest.
Then he heard other noises coming from the darkness, it started as a wet and squishy sound, like of oil or slime pouring on the pavement, then it turned bubbly.
Simon started to hear low grunts and moans coming from an unknown source, it was quite hard to tell for him since that room made it echo quite a bit, but nonetheless, he was sure that something was there with him.
Then from the darkness, a face came into view, it was round and pale with very little distinct features, Simon could not see very well thanks to the lack of light so he had a moment of hesitation, but when he did recognize the thing it was already too late.
Swiftly a black mass of goo leaped from the floor and landed on Simon's chest, he pulled the trigger of his gun but the bullet went straight through the amorphous mass without any effect.
Before the match in his hand expired Simon was able to take a better look at his foe, it looked like black blob of slime with one of those eyeless doll heads sticking out of his mass, he remembered the Cheshire Cat said something about a train and creatures made out of "ruin" but could not recall his exact words.
The black mass pinned Simon to the ground and started to crawl all over his body.
"It's trying to consume me," Simon thought.
He fired a few more rounds but with the same results as before, he tried bashing the doll head with his gun but only got his right hand stuck in the slime.
"FUCK," Simon's body was almost completely inside the black mass leaving only his head and left arm free, immobilized and completely blind Simon searched the floor for something useful with his only good arm.
He found something woody and metallic under his hand, he felt something akin to a grip and a trigger, a gun perhaps? He wasn't sure since he could not see.
The weapon was rather heavy and it took all the strength in his body to lift it, Simon raised his newfound gun in the air and aimed it at the blob who was working its way up his neck.
Wishfully praying for a miracle he pulled the trigger and watched as a bright flash came from the barrel of the gun and illuminated the hall briefly, followed by a loud bang and a dreadful screeching sound of the dying monster.