And finally...the moment we've all been waiting for...
Inner Demons
Sìnead sank to the ground, defeated, despairing. She couldn't escape this - she would die here - just like the cat wanted.
Just like everyone always wanted.
To get rid of the beast.
Uffish and Dun had been killed by a monster.
She was the monster, always had been…
"Always will be," Sìnead said aloud, matter of fact.
And slowly, the truth dawned on her: her whole life she'd allowed herself to be ruled by fear - she'd let it consume her and force her into submission, when really, the whole time, she should have been the one controlling the fear.
No. Not controlling it. Ruling it. She shouldn't fear herself, everyone else should fear her.
Sìnead recalled all the times she had inadvertently used her magic and reached inside someone and seen all of their innermost fears - how each time she killed someone they died not because of her, but rather because of their own crippling insecurities.
The girl stood, glancing around the cavern. As her eyes adjusted to the light, everything the cat had said began to make sense. There was a Heart of Darkness in Wonderland...but not in the physical sense. The Heart existed deep inside each and every person. Some ignored it. Some tried to fight it. Some used it for petty gains. But Sìnead...Sìnead decided to embrace it. She searched deep inside herself for the Darkness, where it lay sleeping inside her heart...and let it flow free.
Almost instantly, a transformation began to take place; she convulsed, hands clutched over her heart. As the Darkness settled in, all remaining light was pushed out. Sìnead stumbled back, clawing at her heart, for a hilt had begun to protrude therefrom. She yanked at the hilt and from her blackening heart she withdrew the only thing that could hold her back: her goodness. A goodness that had manifested itself into the shape of a curved blade, forged of a sleek, indestructible metal: vorpal.
Her only weakness.
She flung the blade aside, "well that's certainly a weight off my chest." her voice had become harsh and cold, " Are you still there, cat?"
The eyes reappeared at the mouth of the cavern; the cat had been watching in horror as the girl manifested herself into a truly monstrous form: an outside to match her inside. Rather than being destroyed by the darkness, it had emboldened her.
And she wasn't finished.
"It feels so nice, cat," she sighed, stretching upward as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Her features warped grotesquely, metamorphosizing into something vaguely reptilian. The change rippled over her entire body, flesh turned to scale, membraneous wings burst from her shoulder blades, and a whip-like tail curled about her taloned feet.
"Uh, hey, um, Sìnead," the cat flailed, "it wasn't personal…"
"Jabber jabber jabber, listen to all your silly words," she crooned, chimera voice all at once grating and shrieking. "I'm not Sìnead. That pathetic, trembling girl doesn't exist anymore. I do."
She was rather enjoying probing the cat's mind for it's terribly apparent fears.
Spreading her wings, she rocketed towards the mouth of the chasm, landing with a violent thud before the cat.
"Shh, shh, kitty, I'm not going to kill you. I need you to deliver a message...to the Duchess."
"And..what might that be?"
"Tell her...I'm coming...but not right away. You see, the nice thing about fear is that...time only seems to sow it deeper. Run along, cat, and enjoy your mistress while you still can."
The cat turned, dropping all pretense of vanishing, and began to run through the Caterpillar's forest.
"I shall see you soon," she cackled.
She allowed herself to shrink back down to human form and noted the physical changes that had taken place in a clear pool. Scaly markings decorated her eyes which had turned brilliant and reptilian. Her hair had become tangled and platinum, intermixed with a couple sections of rich brown locks. Her teeth were sharpened, from pointed incisors to protruding fangs, she had quite the wicked grin. With nails curled like claws, she raked a fist across the surface of the pool, distorting the image. WIth a smile she stood and began walking in no particular direction. She could have Wonderland on its knees if she chose.
Ahead, the cat scrambled back to its mistress.
"Send my regards to the Duchess," she called after it, sardonically.
What do you think about her "glorious" transformation?