A Terrible Dream

(Alice's Point of View)

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"Alice, you need to learn this once you're out in the wild," the court magician urged. He lifted my stave and amplified my magic, hoping that I could do what he did earlier. "Something or someone could hurt you if you're not careful."

"I know. But do I really have to do it?" My eyes stared at the adorable mammal hopping around the forest. I took my stave from him and gripped it with my hands.

The court magician wanted me to hunt down a rabbit and cook the dead animal afterwards. It was as if that gruesome thought was not enough to make me puke. The man showed offensive magic to me. It was a spell meant to kill anyone. An ability that our lineage passed down to generations.

I was the next one in line, the princess of Wonderland.

"I don't want to harm anyone with my spells!" I shrieked. "And there is no point learning something dangerous, right? We aren't going to war, am I right?"

"You will never know when you could use it, princess. Now, Alice. Do what I taught you to do, and everything will be alright," the man continued, and disregarded my plea. "You just have to do it to survive."

"Survive what? Nobody's going to leave me now… right?"

With a disheartened face, I lifted my hands and fired a strong projectile at the innocent bunny. A blueish ray of light escaped from my expanded palm. The sudden increase in temperature flowed on my skin, but I did not mind it one bit. The beam went through the hare, killing it within a second. As I turned to face the magician, his image receded.

"Hello? Master? Where are you?" As I looked for the hare, the animal disappeared too.

Only the icy wind kept me company in the empty forest. The trees tried sucking me in. It was an abyss that devoured my body.

"Everyone? Hello? I hate pranks, and I definitely hate to hide and seek!" It was not funny at all.

My voice quivered at every shout I made. All I saw was the creeping darkness surrounding me. There was no glimmer of light that shined upon my vicinity. Only the feeling of dread toyed with my brain.

Just as I closed my eyes, the scene changed around me. The burning citadel of Wonderland greeted my eyes, with the court magician's body flailing from the window. His eyes were glaring in my direction, telling me how he regretted living his life to protect me.

"Run! Evacuate the royalties! All guards available, proceed to the exit and defend the king and queen!" shouted the general.

A soldier carried my body and dragged me to a carriage. Inside the cart, my parents were there to greet me. Mum and dad reached out their arms for me and gave me a chilling embrace.

"What's going on, father, mother?" I addressed my parents. Nothing seemed to be okay right now.

"We have little time left, Alice. You need to save yourself and live. Your mother and I will draw the attention of the Detroit soldiers, okay?" My father instructed, and shed a tear from his eyes.

"Detroit? I thought they did not want to wage war against us?"

Detroit was the place that my father had talked about me during my slumber. He would tell me tales about the modern kingdom that built telephones and such beyond our imaginations. However, those people succumbed to their greed. The officials wanted our vast lands with nothing in return.

All they could offer were scraps of materials that served no use to our kingdom. Detroit did not include the gadgets in our trade. It was all just a scam. And now, Detroit sought war against us.

Before I could even retort, an abrupt force pushed me out of the cart. I let out a screech as my body landed flat on the cold ground. As I lifted my face, my eyes glared at the crossing carriage turning into ashes.

The next thing I knew, dozens of soldiers that came not from Wonderland approached me. Each of them had peculiar weapons gripped in their hands. The soldiers made their arsenals with metals and other materials that Wonderland did not own. It was not something I had seen before.

"Please spare my life," I asked, but the feral soldiers did not heed my word.

I got up from my soil and sprinted to the opposite side, hoping that these guards wouldn't chase me behind. However, I had thought wrong. The soldier's blaring cry started every cell in my body as they too dashed straight where I had trod.

Those Detroiters aimed their weapons at me, but I did not know what it discharged. After flicking the trigger, a speedy rock launched from my side.

I had no time to react. That thing that emerged from Detroit's weapons blasted the bark. The tree fell from its root, creating a hurried quaking of the ground. All the soldiers who desperately tried tailing behind got ravaged by the plant, slowing down their pace.

Those soldiers never made it out alive. I was sure of it. But I brushed that thought away and carried on with my journey.

That event made it possible for me to create the distance between the soldiers and me as I tried to run away. It was not long before I stumbled upon the dead bodies that I recognised. Those corpses rose from the ground and glared at me.

"Mum…. Dad…. Court Magician?" I cried.

Those three people were the only ones who struck a memory inside my head. I can still remember the memories of my past inside of me. But I did not get why I felt brimming with emotions. The next thing I knew, that trio pushed me to the ground.

"You killed us, Alice! Look at your father! He sacrifices his life for you!" The image of my mother became clearer in my sight. A cascade of tears followed as she locked my arms.

"My daughter, Alice! Look at your mother! Are you happy now that we're dead!" My father growled at me with intense anger. He gritted his teeth and leered at my figure, pinned on the ground.

"I told you to listen, Alice! If you learned those spells earlier, you could've defended your parents! You could've, but you did not! You coward! That's why everyone that you love will leave you for good!" The court magician aimed his staff in my direction. A blazing red orb charged at the tip of his stave. He wanted to kill me using the same magic the court magician taught me a while back.

Those were the forsaken words I heard from them. My parents blamed me for their death, while the court magician made me regret learning about magic.

"It was all my fault…" I whispered, whilst looking at the ground.

The three of them smiled while approaching my way. My body froze, unsure of what to do or how to react to the situation. I lost hope. It was the first time that my insecurities got the better of me.

The crimson ball ejected from the court magician's wand and flew at me. It had a pace like a jaguar hovering at my fore. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate, knowing that I would die once that spell hit me. But I did not perish from the attack. I never felt a thing.

"Wake up, Alice! I'm here for you, Alice! Alice!" a warm voice echoed in the distance. It almost felt that the sound did not belong in this realm. That sound saved me from despair.

"Why do I feel giddy after hearing that voice? Who was calling for me?" I asked, but my body grew weaker every second.

I knew the end would come. My body felt the same way as I exhausted my mana from before. As I looked around, the jet-black surrounding slowly turned purple. It was my favourite colour that symbolises nobility.

"Wake up, Alice! Wake up!" That voice continued to jolt me awake.

After a complete minute, the world around me changed. The sinister and frightening atmosphere turned into something colourful, vibrant, and warm. The warm sensation that I felt two years ago living in Wonderland.

"Thank god you woke up! You scared the strings out of me! I think you have a fever. I can't feel your skin using my hands, but your face is burning up! You look like a rose! I'm no doctor, but I can tell if you're sick or not."

The man whom I met from before shuffled from the bed and headed towards the kitchen. He picked up a steaming bowl and placed it in front of me. There was a table already prepared on my chest. All I had to do was take a spoon and digest its contents.

"Eat up! I don't need to eat, so all of this is for you!" The boy said, and flashed me a smile. I couldn't return his gesture, but I tried curving my lips. I was not sure if the puppet saw my face.

"Thank you, Mask, for saving me."