Chapter-40

Chapter: An Alliance Forged

The dragon's words settle into the cavern's heavy air, each syllable laced with the weight of something old, something unchangeable.

"I will follow you, mortal. But my power is bound to this place."

A flicker of something—satisfaction?—crosses my mind, though my expression remains neutral. The dragon is ancient, powerful, rooted to this chamber. But power, even when bound, is still power.

The Mad Hatter exhales, a sound somewhere between relief and nervous laughter. "Well then! A dragon! A real dragon! That's… quite the development, isn't it?" His voice is high, his nerves still raw.

The rabbit, on the other hand, makes a small, chirping noise—almost proud.

I step forward, closer to the Heart, feeling its pulse respond to me. It is no longer a passive object waiting to be claimed. It is aware.

"Then tell me, Guardian," I say, keeping my voice steady, "if you cannot leave this place, how will you aid me?"

The dragon exhales another slow breath, smoke curling into the air.

"Through knowledge," it rumbles. "Through power that does not require movement. This chamber is the foundation upon which Wonderland's magic rests. The Heart is more than an artifact—it is memory, it is creation, it is potential."

Its obsidian eyes lock onto mine.

"You seek to change Wonderland, to shape it in your vision. But to do so, you must understand what came before. You must wield the Heart correctly—or risk unmaking this world entirely."

A challenge. A warning.

And an invitation.

I smile slightly. "Then show me."

The cavern trembles.

The Heart pulses—bright, alive—and the world changes.

---

Visions of the Past

I am no longer standing in the cavern.

Instead, I am falling.

Not in body, but in awareness, sinking into something vast, something infinite. The air around me is thick with memories, echoes of Wonderland before it fell to corruption.

I see it as it was. Pure. Strange. Perfectly balanced.

And then—

A crack.

The first disturbance, small, unnoticed. Then another. And another. The Shadow was not an invasion. It was a wound, a sickness growing within Wonderland itself, feeding on its excess, its chaos, its imbalance.

The Queen, the Hatter, the Cheshire Cat—they were all shaped by it. Twisted by its influence.

And then… the choice.

Wonderland did not fight the Shadow. It bargained with it.

It made a deal.

And the Heart of Wonderland?

It was the cost.

I snap back to the present, my breath steady but aware of what I now know.

"Wonderland did this to itself," I murmur.

The dragon watches me, unblinking.

"Now you understand," it says.

---

The Path Forward

The Mad Hatter shifts nervously. "You're doing that thing where you go silent and look dangerously thoughtful."

I smirk. "Good."

The Heart of Wonderland was never meant to be wielded like a weapon. It was meant to shape Wonderland itself. To mend. To build.

To remake.

"So, traveler," the dragon intones. "What will you do now?"

The answer is simple.

"I will rewrite the deal."

The cavern hums with expectation.

Wonderland's fate is no longer bound by the choices of the past.

Now, it belongs to me.