Chapter 8

The next test.

The Jabberwock found staring at his reflection everywhere he looked; the walls, the floor, the ceiling were all mirrors, each reflecting every detail of his body. The makeshift wings, the furnace, the gears, the metal tail.

Or…

In one mirror, one that made up a wall, his reflection showed him what he wanted. He saw himself, only all the mechanical appendages had gone. Where there should have been a roaring furnace and exposed gears, he saw scales and flesh, and the wings, the tail, a rich green colour, without stitches or metal attachments.

"You!"

The reflection grabs him by the hand.

"Follow me!"

The reflection rapidly beat its wings and sent the Jabberwock soaring through hallway after hallway, each constructed exclusively of shimmering mirrors. As they passed one hallway, the reflection rose into the air, let go and sent the Jabberwock falling to the floor.

"I went through this test to save Wonderland. Now it is your turn to navigate. Find the sceptre. Discover your power of imagination."

Sceptre?

Why did he hear Alyss but not see her? Was she here?

"Die, foul monster!"

The Jabberwock swiftly turned around and right in a nearby mirror was that child, that blasted child, wielding that damnable Vorpal blade and waiting to strike.

Behind him stood Alice, holding her blade tightly.

The Jabberwock screamed. "LEAVE ME ALONE YOU…"

She just smiled. She held in her other hand a severed head, his severed head.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid you'll just have to die. And I have this boy to do the deed for me."

The boy stepped right out of the mirror, clenching his sword tightly.

"YOU'VE TORTURED ME FOR TOO LONG…"

He swiped at the boy with his tail and he fell right over on his back. The Jabberwock grabbed the Vorpal blade as the boy feebly tried to get up, and threw it over his shoulder.

"You really thought you had defeated me for good, hadn't you?"

The Jabberwock lifted up the boy from the ground and tossed him right at his usurper.

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you? You two sent me through hell and expected me to leave you alone!"

The boy faded away, but Alice still stares.

"It's all your fault! You left your parents to perish in that blazing inferno! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE MADE ME INTO!"

She just smiled.

She faded away.

"Where are you? Come out this instant!"

He instantly became distracted by the sound of the swiping of blades.

Hatter Madigan emerged from another mirror, with the remains of an enemy behind him. He looked up at the Jabberwock with a stern, solemn gaze. The Jabberwock felt a chill down his spine.

"You…beast…you left me to die in the hands of that maniac…"

The Jabberwock kept silent.

Hatter grabbed his hat off his head and hurled it at the Jabberwock. It unfolded into what looked like a flat spider, with curved S-shaped blades, which glided swiftly through the air. It got stuck right in the beast's neck – but no blood bled. He felt no pain.

Yet he still feared Hatter.

"Give. Me. Back. My hat."

"Oh, hello."

Hatter's doppelganger also emerged from the mirror, his hat alone towering over the bladesman. Before Hatter can attack, his counterpart from another world grabbed him by the neck.

"You're still not perfect."

The Hatter clicked his fingers and Hatter's blades, weaponry and Millinery equipment instantly vanish. He then threw Hatter onto the ground as he was made unconscious with some strange gas emerging from the Hatter's chessboard hat.

The Jabberwock did nothing but stare.

"Ah, Jabberwock, you are made from the same machinations as I, yet you are still from perfect. Whatever shall I do?"

"SHUT UP!"

The Hatter just fired a bullet from his finger, which clouded the Jabberwock's vision. When the smoke clears from my eyes I see that miserable creature running away into the halls carrying Hatter, giggling to himself with glee.

"Bet you can't catch me! Bet you can't catch me!"

That stupid…that wretched…he thinks this is all a game.

No better than Alice.

The Jabberwock ran down the hallway, chasing the mechanical being, even as he dove into other mirrors, hoping to elude his pursuer.

Ha.

Swiftly glide through mirrors, claws outstretched, the Jabberwock followed the Hatter's every move, growing closer and closer towards him.

He had him right in his sights. The Hatter desperately searched for mirrors to climb through, but they all don't work…

"Think you can still catch me?" That smug little fool. "I've still got a few more tricks up my sleeve."

He clicked his fingers again.

"How wude! Some-wone inter-wupted my unbirthday party!"

What stood before the Jabberwock looked just like the Hatter in previous days, only with a nose like a sausage, green attire, black bushy eyebrows and haphazard white hair.

"What's wrong? Something seems to be troubling you!"

This annoying little creature was merely a distraction, as the Hatter darted away, still holding Hatter Madigan captive.

"Coward!"

"This is widiculous! Why would you bother chasing awound such an ugly thing like that?"

The Jabberwock roared, right in that little...thing's face.

"Well, I never…"

Grabbing the miniature nuisance by the neck, he tossed it in a mirror, causing shards of glass to pierce its pathetic body.

I'm coming back. You can't escape me.

As if almost on cue, the Hatter returned, just to sneer at his opponent.

"You can't catch me, you can't catch me."

The Jabberwock reached out for him as he ran down another corridor, escaping into a nearby mirror. Taking to the air, he furiously breathed flames and fired at the Hatter with his optic beams.

He fell over.

Yes.

After dropping to the ground, the Jabberwock approached the Hatter slowly, savouring every second…

"You really think you can defeat me, Jabberwock? It's like I said before, I'm perfect.

"And here, I'm even more perfect."

He clicked his fingers again.

"Oh goody, a friend to play with!"

Yet another Hatter appeared; it almost looked like the previous one, except for the white spots on its hat, its tomato nose, its bald head, its yellow coat.

"Hey, you know what?"

It grabbed the Jabberwock on the nose and made honking noises

"That's what!" Then it let out the most irritating laugh the Jabberwock had ever heard.

The Hatter picked himself up off the floor, sneering. "In this maze, I have more power than I could have ever imagined, and I want to use all my new power on you.

"Not to kill you, no, to annoy you."

That's what this all was, wasn't it?

Alice materialised in another mirror, no, she materialised in all the mirrors, and smiled. She just smiled.

"Alice!"

"Yes, Jabberwock. It's so much fun to annoy you. Why else would I let my parents roast?"

Each and every mirror suddenly flooded with fire, exposing fearsome flaming demons wanting nothing more to destroy every living being in its path. The figures of Alice's parents banged on the glass, screaming, begging for help.

I'll save you.

The Jabberwock banged on the glass, clawed it, hoped for an opening. He could save Alice's parents, yes, then everything will be good, everything will be nice.

No, no, there must be an opening, it can't be. Flesh melted, bulging watery eyeballs stared, bones, screams, cries for help that will never be heeded. The two Hatters did nothing to help.

"Forget it, you can't help her parents, they were supposed to die. I could save them – if I wanted to. However, I find it entertaining."

The smaller Hatter exchanged his spotted hat for a small brown one. "Front page story! Confused Jabberwock Tortured by Visions of Burning Parents!"

"Quiet! Quiet! Leave me alone!"

Almost out of instinct, purple beams shot out of the Jabberwock's eyes again, right onto the shorter Hatter.

He exploded.

Blood and organs flew everywhere, staining the flaming mirrors.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you, my friend?"

The Jabberwock growled.

"Oh, don't think of doing it to me, I can't be killed here. However, if you enjoy murder, look right back at the mirror."

Alice's parents had died. In their place was Alyss. In their place was Hatter Madigan. In their place were General Doppelganger, Bibwit Harte and the soldiers I'LL SAVE YOU I'LL SAVE YOU no, they're trapped, they can't get out, someone please help them HELP THEM!

The Hatter smirked. "Forget it, you can't save them. You can't help them."

He disappeared.

The deathly images on the mirrors also faded away, replaced by another visage of Alice. She still smiled, and beneath her were those lunatic children from the Hatter's lair dancing around her like she was a totem pole.

"No-one's here to help you. Not even your girlfriend."

SHUT UP ALICE.

A clenched fist came down on the mirror, smashing it to pieces.

There stood a door, underneath a lighted sign reading 'EXIT'.

Alice. "Go on. Go through. It's only going to get worse."

The Hatter. "I knew you couldn't do it."

Sighing, the Jabberwock turned away from the exit and made his way deeper into the maze.

Then it disappeared.

He found himself falling into a deep black vortex (a rabbit hole?), unable to move his wings, or any other part of his body for that matter. As he fell down the vortex, he saw the insane children of his world rising, each making spastic movements, or trying to catch an imaginary fly or hitting themselves on the head or something else that made him want to scream MAKE IT STOP.

He fell right into a forest. A bright, sunny forest with flowers and blooming trees and green grass.

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee waited.

"Come here, Jabberwocky."

"Yes, please do."

They pointed at a red chess piece sleeping under a tree.

"What do you think he's dreaming about, Jabberwocky?"

"Can you guess?"

"He's dreaming about you!"

"You're only a thing in his dreams."

"You ain't real, nohow."

"Contrariwise; if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

Annoyed and disorientated, the Jabberwock tried to beat his wings and fly away, but they still wouldn't work. He tried to run, but as hard as he tried, he froze in place.

Here, it takes all the running you can do to stay in one place. If you want to get somewhere else, you have to run at least twice as fast as that.

Her.

Her wriggling, bulbous red body rose out of the ground, joyfully waving her tentacles.

You're still mine, Jabberwock.

She grabs him with one of her tentacles.

I am your Queen. Without me, you wouldn't even be here.

She instantly vanished and Alyss, precious little Alyss, stood in her place.

Destroy her.

She looked so…innocent though.

DESTROY HER.

No.

The Queen roared. I will not stand such defiance! DESTROY HER OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!

"No!" Narrowing his eyes and sneering, the Jabberwock swiped at his Queen. Her skin unpeeled like a banana as another Queen emerged from her, with the same blazing eyes, the same jiggling tentacles, the same bulbous body. It whacked him to the ground with a single swipe of its tentacle.

Laughter echoed everywhere.

The two other Hatters – the white-haired one, the one with the tomato nose – stood there and laughed. Then they too multiplied, making their roaring, mocking laughter even more powerful. The white-haired Hatters threw cake, singing nonsense songs about unbirthdays.

"A very merry unbirthday! A very merry unbirthday! A very merry unbirthday to you!"

The tomato-nosed Hatters danced around, singing their own celebratory song; "You like hats? I'm mad about hats! You like hats? I'm mad about hats! You like hats? I'm mad about hats!"

Although irritated, a sadistic smile crossed the Jabberwock's face. He thought of murdering them all simultaneously, just to see their blood and entrails drip off his claws.

However, he chose to ignore their laughter, as they were merely there to distract him from the dual Queens – and what they held in their tentacles.

They held a huge, beating heart.

'Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.'

You want this, don't you?

You want to have all your mechanical workings destroyed, replaced with more natural materials.

He fired at them with his optic beams.

You can't kill us.

But we can kill you.

And we can help you.

We can make you an organic being of flesh and blood, without a furnace or gears.

We can make you breathe. We can make you feel. We can make you taste.

And if there's anything else you want, we can give it to you. We can even make you human…

Both of the monsters crouched down and stare at their victim.

They spoke in unison.

All you have to do is bow before us. Then we'll give you what you want and never ask anything else of you. You'll never see us or have to worry about us again.

The Jabberwock bit his lip and stood deathly still.

Kneel.

The skies burned a fierce red, the ground grew more barren, it becomes more like – home sweet home.

KNEEL!

The dual queens burst into flames in a way that almost made them look like volcanoes and wiggled their tentacles faster.

They'll give you what you want, you know.

She said that before.

SHE SAID THAT BEFORE.

AND SHE LIED

So he didn't kneel.

Are you going to attack us? You know we can't die. You know you can't kill us.

"WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?"

They vanished.

A diamond-encrusted scepter with a gleaming white heart on the top floated in their place.

Hope washed over the Jabberwock. If he obtained this staff, it means he would have succeeded the test. He would gain Alyss' powers, he would become this Wonderland's saviour.

No longer a slave. No longer a follower. No longer a part of the Red Queen.

Just as the man said.

As his fingers clench the sceptre, he felt…

He felt.

Could it be? Yes, yes, it was. The machinery and the makeshift mechanical parts had vanished, and had been replaced with flesh and green scales that almost gleam. His wings were rough and leathery, stretched out proudly for all to see. His tail – majestic and overpowering, came to a tip that looked like an arrowhead.

He felt the cool breeze blowing in his face, he felt the ground beneath my feet, he felt traces of saliva in my mouth, he felt…

Yes.

'Ba-thump. Ba-thump.'

A heart. It beat under his new ribcage, pumping blood around his veins. He cut myself slightly with a claw, and a small amount of black blood trickled down his arm.

A belly laugh escaped his mouth, a chuckle of celebration. He was an organic, living, breathing creature again, not to mention the fact that he had gained imaginative ability. The laughter grew more raucous and jovial, until it dwindled down into a series of consecutive sobs. Slouching down upon a rock, he buried his head in his arms, feeling fresh tears dribble down his cheeks, wiping them away with his claws.

"My queen, my queen!"

The Queen arose from her throne as General Doppelganger ecstatically ran into the room.

"That monster…that vicious monster…he destroyed the whole army."

"No matter."

Doppelganger's eyes bulged upon hearing that statement. "What?"

The Queen smiled. "We wait."