Chapter-20

The tunnel opens into a vast, distorted clearing. Familiar yet utterly alien, it resembles a warped version of a garden. Giant mushrooms, their caps glowing with an eerie bioluminescence, tower over strangely twisted trees whose branches writhe like skeletal arms. The air is thick with the scent of decay and something else… something metallic, like old blood.

As I step forward, my gaze sweeps across the unnatural landscape, cataloging every inconsistency, every shift in the air, every whisper of something unseen in the undergrowth. The Crimson Mire may be behind me, but Wonderland's corruption runs deep. The game is still unfolding.

Then, a sound—small, broken. A whimper.

I turn my head slightly, tracking it to a figure huddled beneath the largest mushroom in the clearing.

A rabbit.

Or at least, something that was once a rabbit.

Its fur, once pristine and soft, is now matted and stained. Its wide, glassy eyes shimmer with a terror so raw, so deeply ingrained, that even as it cowers, it does not flee. Its paws twitch as if attempting to burrow into the ground, seeking an escape that does not exist.

It looks up at me, trembling violently, its pink nose faded to a sickly greyish-purple. When it speaks, its voice is thin, reedy, like the last breath of something dying.

"Please… help."

The words barely carry above the unnatural stillness of the garden.

"The Shadow… it's taken everything."

The silence that follows is thick, broken only by the creature's ragged breaths and the unsettling creak of the giant mushrooms swaying in the nonexistent wind. The very air vibrates with an unspoken fear, a tension that coils around this place like a living thing.

The rabbit's eyes dart around frantically, as if expecting unseen horrors to emerge from the darkness at any moment. It swallows hard, then whispers—

"They… they all fear it. The Mad Hatter… the Queen… even the Cheshire Cat… they're all… changed."

It hesitates, gathering the courage to look directly at me.

"Only… only you… you seem… different."

Its words linger, carrying far more weight than this trembling creature likely understands. I am different. I feel it. But why?

And more importantly—what exactly is this Shadow?

I crouch down slightly, just enough to meet its gaze.

"The Shadow," I echo, my voice quiet but firm. "Tell me everything."