Chapter 18 - The Dark Fountain of the Religion
Alice awoke with an intense feeling of dizziness as if she had consumed sever gallons of banderscotch in succession with no interval. She felt as if she couldn't move her hands or feet, she was so dizzy; when she realised she couldn't move because she had been restrained. She raised her head as high as she could to see what was happening to her. She was still in the cathedral in it's blackened state; with its stained glass windows reflecting the picture of the cleric defeating a group of peasants in an inferno of green flame watched by Konchuu. Another showed Konchuu lying before a great gargoyle covering him in water. Water! Alice surmised that if Konchuu had the water of life flowing through him, this was the means of how he replenished his energies in the same way humans bathe and it must have soaked into him while he was submersed. If she poured her antidote on him he would be finished.
Her train of thought was stopped suddenly by the echoing sound of footfalls on stone floor as Konchuu entered from the chamber behind the alter in his black assassins clothing, wrist stinger gleaming with sharpness as he stood over her waving his wrist around her throat in a circling action. He was thinking about slitting it at his slightest whim. She'd better be careful about what she said.
"Don't worry about your wounds Alice," he began; his deep voice rumbling around the halls of the cathedral "I've taken care of them. We don't want you to die. At not yet!" He smiled.
Alice smiled back as sarcastically as she could.
"What have you don't with Christopher?" she demanded.
He began to pace around the alter, his face smiling with some form of malicious pride and twisted evil evermore brandishing the stinger which poked through his wrist, nestling it between his fingers
"Christopher has been dead for some time Alice, Several years in fact!"
"That's impossible!" remarked Alice. "He lived in the White chess realm for years after his release from the Mad Hatter"
The smile on Konchuu's face became reinforced, he was enjoying himself.
"What did he tell you while you were on the way to the cathedral city."
"He was a prisoner of the hatter for months until someone released him."
"Did he say who?" His points were all leading somewhere
"Some priest in a church, I think. It's hard to remember when you're being restrained!"
Konchuu's wrist sharply pointed towards her head and his stinger flowed into the alter narrowly missing her ear. She instinctually screamed.
"Almost right!" he replied and pulled the stinger free of the table "He said he was visited by a dark person in the church and his mind went black after that, correct?"
"I think so?" said Alice. She began to feel nervous.
"Well, I was the one who visited him and the reason why he couldn't remember anything was that he never left that place! I killed him in that altar and absorbed his life essence. Christopher died that day!"
Alice began to cry. She didn't want to believe it.
"That's not true, I knew a kind and loving boy who I cared for and I demand to know where he is!"
Konchuu slammed his fist on his chest.
"He is in here!" he yelled. Suddenly his form blurred and reassert itself in Christopher's form with his stinger still in place. "Look now Alice, I remember our escape from the tavern. You should have listened to the Griffon and that retched Cat of yours! They felt my presence! You were blinded by your pathetic emotion!"
Alice couldn't believe it. He had been following her ever since the Chess realm, through the city and in the griffons' eyrie. But the town when Christopher had been carried away by the possessed mob?
"What about his capture?!" Alice said as the tears rolled down he cheeks pooling on the marble alter.
"I had to orchestrate my return here to report to the Cleric." He replied "I took an opportunity to exterminate you once more but you only crashed into the Skool in the Fortress."
This proved to Alice, he was not as flawless as he seemed and found comfort, but only slightly.
"Nobody's perfect!" laughed Alice.
"I wouldn't say that" Konchuu replied as he began to return to his normal form, letting the stinger writhe around him like a venomous snake looking for it's prey. "I have followed you all the way here and even as we speak your puny forces are being eradicated once more on the other side of the looking glass. Our communion water gains their obedience and they don't even know what they're doing!"
He gestured over to a hideous gargoyle that poured a clear liquid from its gaping mouth. If Alice could destroy this source? If the cleric was not the one to destroy the religion, this might be the way to do it!
"Your time has ended Alice and your Wonderland is no longer under your control!" His menacing speech was instrumental as he unsheathed Alice's vorpal blade from his leg and pointed it at her throat.
"No-one can help you in this domain Alice! Your friends have abandoned you! You are alone and helpless now. Good bye Alice!"
She screamed loudly as he thrust the knife towards her jugular veins preparing to slice them open and release the precious liquid of her life bringing her existence in both world to an end. When he stopped!
The blade was resting slightly away from her neck as she looked to see what was happening. Konchuu was quivering and was trying with all his might to kill his intended victim but something was holding him back. She suddenly noticed his knife arm phase out of shape and into Christopher's arm! He was in there somewhere and he was trying to help. Konchuu's arm began to move away from her throat and towards the chains which bound her to the alter. She willed Christopher on with every thought she could muster until after a loud noise, the knife had sliced through all the chains!
Alice sprang up as Konchuu momentarily regained control and swung the knife towards her leaving a deep gash in her leg as blood spilled from her would. She fell screaming off the alter clutching her leg in pain trying to stop the bleeding to no avail. She glanced back at Konchuu who was fighting with himself, struggling to regain control of his body. He fired his stinger in her direction but his aim was way off as his body was writhing where it stood. He threw her an evil look with his soulless eyes and began to snarl like a wild animal when his eyes suddenly became blue and his face, less pale.
He spoke with Christopher's voice!
"ALICE!" he screamed with all his might, "THE FOUNTAIN!!"
Alice began to crawl her way towards the watering gargoyle dragging her badly bleeding leg behind her as she frantically pawed her way to the fountain. Konchuu became aware of her once again and started to walk towards her but struggling as if walking through concrete, Christopher's essence was still fighting but it wouldn't last forever.
Alice pulled out the ice staff and banged the handle on the floor sending plumes of sheet ice out of the crystal orifice. She took one final look at Konchuu who was winning the internal battle as he was gaining speed and control with every step. His blue eyes began to fade and what was left of her friend spoke for the last time. He was screaming every word out with every ounce of strength
"Alice I cannot fight anymore! Please destroy the water!"
The blue eyes turned soulless black as the last of his essence died away leaving the evil Konchuu in a weakened state but still moving towards her, his stinger flailing about wildly.
She thrusted the staff down the gargoyle throat and fired!
Konchuu yelled. "NO!"
The blast began to freeze all the water stored in the gargoyle and the mighty cathedral began to shake as if the very foundations of it were crumbling beneath it. The Glass in the windows exploded violently as the ground heaved with a mighty roar bringing rafters collapsing down from the ceiling above them smashing rows of seats in a hailstorm of destruction.
Alice didn't stop however. She held the staff in the freezing fountain determined to end its reign of terror.
Through the other side of the looking glass, the earth was rumbling and roaring with the might force of death as the battle between the villagers and the white chessmen raged on as both sides totally ignored the immense force beneath them. The Griffon however knew better. He arched his wigs and flew into the sky to watch what happening from above. The eyes of the villagers began to fade from the shining light back to their normal colour and they all started to drop lifelessly to the ground one by one.
"All forces Retreat!" he screeched at the top of his voice and all the remaining pawns, knights and rooks began to run for their lives away from the village which was beginning to crumble around them.
After several minutes of violent destruction and chaos the rumbling slowed and the ground began to stop heaving. Alice removed the ice staff from the gargoyle as all the water gushing from it had frozen to ice. Her leg was still bleeding profusely and was also quite painful so she ripped a segment from a nearby alter-cloth and bandaged her would as best as she could and looked towards her enemy.
Alice awoke with an intense feeling of dizziness as if she had consumed sever gallons of banderscotch in succession with no interval. She felt as if she couldn't move her hands or feet, she was so dizzy; when she realised she couldn't move because she had been restrained. She raised her head as high as she could to see what was happening to her. She was still in the cathedral in it's blackened state; with its stained glass windows reflecting the picture of the cleric defeating a group of peasants in an inferno of green flame watched by Konchuu. Another showed Konchuu lying before a great gargoyle covering him in water. Water! Alice surmised that if Konchuu had the water of life flowing through him, this was the means of how he replenished his energies in the same way humans bathe and it must have soaked into him while he was submersed. If she poured her antidote on him he would be finished.
Her train of thought was stopped suddenly by the echoing sound of footfalls on stone floor as Konchuu entered from the chamber behind the alter in his black assassins clothing, wrist stinger gleaming with sharpness as he stood over her waving his wrist around her throat in a circling action. He was thinking about slitting it at his slightest whim. She'd better be careful about what she said.
"Don't worry about your wounds Alice," he began; his deep voice rumbling around the halls of the cathedral "I've taken care of them. We don't want you to die. At not yet!" He smiled.
Alice smiled back as sarcastically as she could.
"What have you don't with Christopher?" she demanded.
He began to pace around the alter, his face smiling with some form of malicious pride and twisted evil evermore brandishing the stinger which poked through his wrist, nestling it between his fingers
"Christopher has been dead for some time Alice, Several years in fact!"
"That's impossible!" remarked Alice. "He lived in the White chess realm for years after his release from the Mad Hatter"
The smile on Konchuu's face became reinforced, he was enjoying himself.
"What did he tell you while you were on the way to the cathedral city."
"He was a prisoner of the hatter for months until someone released him."
"Did he say who?" His points were all leading somewhere
"Some priest in a church, I think. It's hard to remember when you're being restrained!"
Konchuu's wrist sharply pointed towards her head and his stinger flowed into the alter narrowly missing her ear. She instinctually screamed.
"Almost right!" he replied and pulled the stinger free of the table "He said he was visited by a dark person in the church and his mind went black after that, correct?"
"I think so?" said Alice. She began to feel nervous.
"Well, I was the one who visited him and the reason why he couldn't remember anything was that he never left that place! I killed him in that altar and absorbed his life essence. Christopher died that day!"
Alice began to cry. She didn't want to believe it.
"That's not true, I knew a kind and loving boy who I cared for and I demand to know where he is!"
Konchuu slammed his fist on his chest.
"He is in here!" he yelled. Suddenly his form blurred and reassert itself in Christopher's form with his stinger still in place. "Look now Alice, I remember our escape from the tavern. You should have listened to the Griffon and that retched Cat of yours! They felt my presence! You were blinded by your pathetic emotion!"
Alice couldn't believe it. He had been following her ever since the Chess realm, through the city and in the griffons' eyrie. But the town when Christopher had been carried away by the possessed mob?
"What about his capture?!" Alice said as the tears rolled down he cheeks pooling on the marble alter.
"I had to orchestrate my return here to report to the Cleric." He replied "I took an opportunity to exterminate you once more but you only crashed into the Skool in the Fortress."
This proved to Alice, he was not as flawless as he seemed and found comfort, but only slightly.
"Nobody's perfect!" laughed Alice.
"I wouldn't say that" Konchuu replied as he began to return to his normal form, letting the stinger writhe around him like a venomous snake looking for it's prey. "I have followed you all the way here and even as we speak your puny forces are being eradicated once more on the other side of the looking glass. Our communion water gains their obedience and they don't even know what they're doing!"
He gestured over to a hideous gargoyle that poured a clear liquid from its gaping mouth. If Alice could destroy this source? If the cleric was not the one to destroy the religion, this might be the way to do it!
"Your time has ended Alice and your Wonderland is no longer under your control!" His menacing speech was instrumental as he unsheathed Alice's vorpal blade from his leg and pointed it at her throat.
"No-one can help you in this domain Alice! Your friends have abandoned you! You are alone and helpless now. Good bye Alice!"
She screamed loudly as he thrust the knife towards her jugular veins preparing to slice them open and release the precious liquid of her life bringing her existence in both world to an end. When he stopped!
The blade was resting slightly away from her neck as she looked to see what was happening. Konchuu was quivering and was trying with all his might to kill his intended victim but something was holding him back. She suddenly noticed his knife arm phase out of shape and into Christopher's arm! He was in there somewhere and he was trying to help. Konchuu's arm began to move away from her throat and towards the chains which bound her to the alter. She willed Christopher on with every thought she could muster until after a loud noise, the knife had sliced through all the chains!
Alice sprang up as Konchuu momentarily regained control and swung the knife towards her leaving a deep gash in her leg as blood spilled from her would. She fell screaming off the alter clutching her leg in pain trying to stop the bleeding to no avail. She glanced back at Konchuu who was fighting with himself, struggling to regain control of his body. He fired his stinger in her direction but his aim was way off as his body was writhing where it stood. He threw her an evil look with his soulless eyes and began to snarl like a wild animal when his eyes suddenly became blue and his face, less pale.
He spoke with Christopher's voice!
"ALICE!" he screamed with all his might, "THE FOUNTAIN!!"
Alice began to crawl her way towards the watering gargoyle dragging her badly bleeding leg behind her as she frantically pawed her way to the fountain. Konchuu became aware of her once again and started to walk towards her but struggling as if walking through concrete, Christopher's essence was still fighting but it wouldn't last forever.
Alice pulled out the ice staff and banged the handle on the floor sending plumes of sheet ice out of the crystal orifice. She took one final look at Konchuu who was winning the internal battle as he was gaining speed and control with every step. His blue eyes began to fade and what was left of her friend spoke for the last time. He was screaming every word out with every ounce of strength
"Alice I cannot fight anymore! Please destroy the water!"
The blue eyes turned soulless black as the last of his essence died away leaving the evil Konchuu in a weakened state but still moving towards her, his stinger flailing about wildly.
She thrusted the staff down the gargoyle throat and fired!
Konchuu yelled. "NO!"
The blast began to freeze all the water stored in the gargoyle and the mighty cathedral began to shake as if the very foundations of it were crumbling beneath it. The Glass in the windows exploded violently as the ground heaved with a mighty roar bringing rafters collapsing down from the ceiling above them smashing rows of seats in a hailstorm of destruction.
Alice didn't stop however. She held the staff in the freezing fountain determined to end its reign of terror.
Through the other side of the looking glass, the earth was rumbling and roaring with the might force of death as the battle between the villagers and the white chessmen raged on as both sides totally ignored the immense force beneath them. The Griffon however knew better. He arched his wigs and flew into the sky to watch what happening from above. The eyes of the villagers began to fade from the shining light back to their normal colour and they all started to drop lifelessly to the ground one by one.
"All forces Retreat!" he screeched at the top of his voice and all the remaining pawns, knights and rooks began to run for their lives away from the village which was beginning to crumble around them.
After several minutes of violent destruction and chaos the rumbling slowed and the ground began to stop heaving. Alice removed the ice staff from the gargoyle as all the water gushing from it had frozen to ice. Her leg was still bleeding profusely and was also quite painful so she ripped a segment from a nearby alter-cloth and bandaged her would as best as she could and looked towards her enemy.