Chapter-28

The air hums with the aftermath of my power, the Shadow's mass still writhing, still processing what just happened. It thought itself inevitable. A force beyond opposition. And yet—here it stands, less than it was before. Diminished.

My words, my promise, seem to settle into the very fabric of the warped landscape. The Shadow does not respond immediately, its presence coiling inward, no longer an overwhelming flood, but a slow, creeping tide. It is learning. Adjusting.

Good. Let it try.

The Hatter, still shaking, stares at me like one would stare at something impossible. His lips tremble around unfinished words, unable to fully grasp what he has just witnessed. The rabbit, still enclosed within my protective barrier, twitches its nose in tentative awe, no longer cowering but still unwilling to hope.

The Shadow isn't gone. It's adapting. It is no longer lashing out blindly—it is waiting. Observing.

I exhale slowly, rolling my shoulders back.

"You see, Hatter?" My voice is measured, carrying a note of amusement. "That's the difference between myself and everything else you've known." I gesture towards the flickering remnants of the Shadow's lost mass. "It breaks others. I break it."

The Hatter lets out a shaky laugh—half disbelief, half hysteria. "Then you really might be madder than me."

I glance toward the lingering mass of darkness, its tendrils no longer reaching, but lingering. Calculating. It has shifted tactics. It is no longer brute force—it is something quieter, something insidious.

"I don't have time for this," I murmur. The Shadow is not my final obstacle. The Queen of Hearts still holds pieces of this puzzle, crucial knowledge buried beneath her newfound cruelty. Reaching her, however, will not be simple. The very landscape of Wonderland has shifted, reshaped by the Shadow's corruption.

I weigh my options. The Shadow is still a threat, but it is no longer an immediate one. It will bide its time, attempt new ways to twist, to deceive. Let it. I know what it wants now. I know how it plays. And I am already ten moves ahead.

The path to the Queen will be treacherous. But I do not fear treacherous paths. I create them.

I cast one last glance at the wounded mass of Shadow, my smirk returning.

"Stay there," I say softly, mockingly. "Be patient. I'll be back for you."

And with that, I turn my back on it. Because I can. Because it knows it cannot stop me.

Not yet.

But soon.