The lightning that suddenly rained down where Alice did battle with the odious Bread and Butterfly from Hell was as shocking to the Cheshire Cat as it was to Alice. The explosion of dirt, air, and flowers all around sent Alice to the ground even as the bread and butterfly exploded into large fiery chunks of sour curdled milk.
"What's going on?" Alice shouted as ran as fast as she could from where she landed. The lightning was continuing to hurtle with every bolt coming closer to Alice's footsteps. All of Wonderland was covered in the terrifying hail of murderous thunder. If Alice had completed her classical education rather than having spent her years a catatonic, she might have likened it to Zeus.
"I'm actually not quite sure. My guess is that the Red King's physical body is experiencing some 'difficulty' involving Benjamin Franklin's discovery. However it's also possible that he's just dreaming about large amounts of energy trying to kill you. That's the problem with dreams you never can tell where the metaphor begins....." The Cheshire Cat then started
to electrocute himself and all of his fur stood up on end.
"Don't do that!" Alice shouted even as she stopped in her tracks, trying to avoid being hit by a bolt coming down in front of her. The heroine of Wonderland was only partially successful as she was thrown to one side by the explosion and
hit with scalding dirt.
"Well look at the bright side Alice. Lightning never strikes a place twice." The Cheshire Cat stared with gleeful eyes and relished her pain as a sadist.
Lightning then struck the exact area that it had before her and doused her again with scalding dirt.
"Well it turns out an old cat can learn new tricks." The Cheshire Cat then held out his paw to feel for coming lightning and seeing that the hail of electrocuting bolts had stopped for a brief time.
"We've got to find our way into that Castle." Alice took a deep breath and brushed the dirt which clung to her. It was painful to wipe it away since the soil had been burned in. Not for the first time Alice wondered what exactly went on with her body when these dreams occurred. The young woman was sure most men and women did not suffer like this when they dreamed.
"Don't be so sure Alice. While not all may suffer from Wonderland, dreams do have the tendency to backfire in reality quite badly. As for getting into the Castle, I could appear there moment and do it quite often actually." The Cheshire Cat then leaped up on Alice's head where he curled up into a ball. The Cheshire Kitty sinking his claws deep into her scalp.
"Cheshire...don't do that." Alice chided as she winced in pain.
"Or what?" The Cheshire Cat asked.
Alice pulled off her mentor by his tail and spun around into a nearby set of thorn bushes. It was a liberating experience to attack he who was arguably her only friend left in Wonderland. The old adage true though 'With friends like this, who needs enemies.'.
"Or that." Alice said simply. She began to wonder if her life wouldn't have been simpler if her parents had gotten her a puppy when she was younger.
"Fair enough." The Cat disappeared with his floating rotting yellowed teeth remaining.
Alice started again towards the castle again keeping her vorpal sword drawn and her eyes to the sky for another hail of lightning. As luck would have it, a wail of pain and terror rang out from a nearby garden of oversized flowers. Alice considered just walking on past it but decided to exercise her rarely used better nature and investigate. This mission wasn't meant to be an assassination of the Red King, at least by her. It was meant to be a rescue of the Insane Children and if Alice had to free them one by one, then she would.
***
The Red King's dream self sat slumbering in the Grand House of Card's darkest pit. As helpless as he was in the mortal world Merri was bound heavy cold iron chains and suspended above a pool of bubbling cauldron. It was filled with the bones of the Frog Footman who had been cooked alive on the orders of the Queen of Hearts. Alongside the walls of the Grand House of Cards dungeon were masks of the children's faces made from flesh, spears which had the heads of children who had their souls caught in Wonderland's twisted embrace, and various implements of torture that only the sickest of minds would dream of...which is they were there.
The Red King said nothing as he dreamed of all of Wonderland however and merely snored gently. Inside his mind was his dreams and inside his dreams was an even deeper slumber. It was there his attention was focused solely on Alice. Merri's every thought hung on the mysterious girl who had succeeded in escaping his world of nightmare and was the last best hope for the rest of his madness' prisoners. The Cheshire Cat who was his finest creation had not come to rescue the children alone but end his suffering with most odious murder. The Baron McTaggert would welcome such an opportunity for oblivion and hoped Alice would be the one to deliver the coup de gras.
"Don't think we don't know she's coming Your MAJESTY...." The Jester of the Court spoke as he looked up to the bounce figure. The Wild Card was shaped like the Doctor who was the Dreamer of Wonderland's tormentor. His skin was pale and corpse-like with his fat features exaggerated obscenely. The jester's cap was composed of the very lightning that was his friend and his fingers hypodermics and scalpels. Consciously the Red King knew he wasn't actually the Doctor but a dream-creature, distinctly different from dream shades who were men visiting his world in their minds. It was a pity because the one man who deserved to live in a nightmare like Wonderland was forbidden it.
The Red King was silent save for his breaths as the mad toad-like creature went on.
"In your heart we know you thirst to have your friends suffer the same grizzly fate that I inflict upon your nightly. She will join you in suffering, mark my words. It's the only way she'll ever join you too. What do you expect her to do after all? Walk up the man who murdered her family and give him a kiss? Haahahaha." The Wild Card's laugh rang out as he lowered the Red King into the scalding pot and only his twitching signaled his pain.
"There is no redemption in Hell." The words were muttered from the mad dreamer's lips. The creator of Wonderland sleeping through even being boiled alive.
TO BE CONTINUED
-Charlemagne
"What's going on?" Alice shouted as ran as fast as she could from where she landed. The lightning was continuing to hurtle with every bolt coming closer to Alice's footsteps. All of Wonderland was covered in the terrifying hail of murderous thunder. If Alice had completed her classical education rather than having spent her years a catatonic, she might have likened it to Zeus.
"I'm actually not quite sure. My guess is that the Red King's physical body is experiencing some 'difficulty' involving Benjamin Franklin's discovery. However it's also possible that he's just dreaming about large amounts of energy trying to kill you. That's the problem with dreams you never can tell where the metaphor begins....." The Cheshire Cat then started
to electrocute himself and all of his fur stood up on end.
"Don't do that!" Alice shouted even as she stopped in her tracks, trying to avoid being hit by a bolt coming down in front of her. The heroine of Wonderland was only partially successful as she was thrown to one side by the explosion and
hit with scalding dirt.
"Well look at the bright side Alice. Lightning never strikes a place twice." The Cheshire Cat stared with gleeful eyes and relished her pain as a sadist.
Lightning then struck the exact area that it had before her and doused her again with scalding dirt.
"Well it turns out an old cat can learn new tricks." The Cheshire Cat then held out his paw to feel for coming lightning and seeing that the hail of electrocuting bolts had stopped for a brief time.
"We've got to find our way into that Castle." Alice took a deep breath and brushed the dirt which clung to her. It was painful to wipe it away since the soil had been burned in. Not for the first time Alice wondered what exactly went on with her body when these dreams occurred. The young woman was sure most men and women did not suffer like this when they dreamed.
"Don't be so sure Alice. While not all may suffer from Wonderland, dreams do have the tendency to backfire in reality quite badly. As for getting into the Castle, I could appear there moment and do it quite often actually." The Cheshire Cat then leaped up on Alice's head where he curled up into a ball. The Cheshire Kitty sinking his claws deep into her scalp.
"Cheshire...don't do that." Alice chided as she winced in pain.
"Or what?" The Cheshire Cat asked.
Alice pulled off her mentor by his tail and spun around into a nearby set of thorn bushes. It was a liberating experience to attack he who was arguably her only friend left in Wonderland. The old adage true though 'With friends like this, who needs enemies.'.
"Or that." Alice said simply. She began to wonder if her life wouldn't have been simpler if her parents had gotten her a puppy when she was younger.
"Fair enough." The Cat disappeared with his floating rotting yellowed teeth remaining.
Alice started again towards the castle again keeping her vorpal sword drawn and her eyes to the sky for another hail of lightning. As luck would have it, a wail of pain and terror rang out from a nearby garden of oversized flowers. Alice considered just walking on past it but decided to exercise her rarely used better nature and investigate. This mission wasn't meant to be an assassination of the Red King, at least by her. It was meant to be a rescue of the Insane Children and if Alice had to free them one by one, then she would.
***
The Red King's dream self sat slumbering in the Grand House of Card's darkest pit. As helpless as he was in the mortal world Merri was bound heavy cold iron chains and suspended above a pool of bubbling cauldron. It was filled with the bones of the Frog Footman who had been cooked alive on the orders of the Queen of Hearts. Alongside the walls of the Grand House of Cards dungeon were masks of the children's faces made from flesh, spears which had the heads of children who had their souls caught in Wonderland's twisted embrace, and various implements of torture that only the sickest of minds would dream of...which is they were there.
The Red King said nothing as he dreamed of all of Wonderland however and merely snored gently. Inside his mind was his dreams and inside his dreams was an even deeper slumber. It was there his attention was focused solely on Alice. Merri's every thought hung on the mysterious girl who had succeeded in escaping his world of nightmare and was the last best hope for the rest of his madness' prisoners. The Cheshire Cat who was his finest creation had not come to rescue the children alone but end his suffering with most odious murder. The Baron McTaggert would welcome such an opportunity for oblivion and hoped Alice would be the one to deliver the coup de gras.
"Don't think we don't know she's coming Your MAJESTY...." The Jester of the Court spoke as he looked up to the bounce figure. The Wild Card was shaped like the Doctor who was the Dreamer of Wonderland's tormentor. His skin was pale and corpse-like with his fat features exaggerated obscenely. The jester's cap was composed of the very lightning that was his friend and his fingers hypodermics and scalpels. Consciously the Red King knew he wasn't actually the Doctor but a dream-creature, distinctly different from dream shades who were men visiting his world in their minds. It was a pity because the one man who deserved to live in a nightmare like Wonderland was forbidden it.
The Red King was silent save for his breaths as the mad toad-like creature went on.
"In your heart we know you thirst to have your friends suffer the same grizzly fate that I inflict upon your nightly. She will join you in suffering, mark my words. It's the only way she'll ever join you too. What do you expect her to do after all? Walk up the man who murdered her family and give him a kiss? Haahahaha." The Wild Card's laugh rang out as he lowered the Red King into the scalding pot and only his twitching signaled his pain.
"There is no redemption in Hell." The words were muttered from the mad dreamer's lips. The creator of Wonderland sleeping through even being boiled alive.
TO BE CONTINUED
-Charlemagne