Page 64 of Knot My Wonderland

"Into the portal, now!" Varik commanded, shoving the first of his packed trunks through the swirling vortex. It disappeared with a sound like wind chimes in a hurricane.

Heart's resistance fighters scattered as planned, half following Martha toward the eastern boundary while the rest formed a protective circle around our group. The sound of clashing metal rang out as they engaged the advance scouts of the Red Queen's forces. I gave them one last glance before stepping into the portal, light surrounding me.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alice

Crossing through the portal felt like falling through shattered glass that never cut—each fragment a different moment in time that brushed against my consciousness before dissolving into the next. I stumbled forward, gasping as solid ground materialized beneath my feet. The air tasted ancient, like dust and starlight and forgotten dreams.

"Welcome to the Forgotten Lands," Varik said quietly beside me, his wild green eyes scanning our surroundings with wary familiarity.

I blinked, trying to make sense of the landscape. We stood in what might have been a forest, but unlike any I'd seen before. The trees grew in impossible configurations—some upside down with roots reaching toward a sky that shifted between twilight and dawn in rhythmic pulses. Others spiraled in helical patterns, their branches weaving through different planes of existence.The ground beneath our feet seemed solid enough, covered in moss that glowed with faint luminescents.

"It's beautiful," I whispered, watching as flowers bloomed and withered in accelerated cycles before returning to bud again. "And terrifying."

Chi materialized beside me, his form more translucent than usual, as if the Forgotten Lands were calling to his liminal nature. "Time moves differently here," he warned, his voice carrying strange echoes. "Minutes might pass as hours in the outside world, or decades might compress into heartbeats."

Heart emerged from the portal behind us, his ruby eyes wide with wonder and apprehension. Through our connection, I felt his disorientation—the Heart Stone's magic struggling to maintain coherence in a place where causality flowed like water.

"The resistance fighters?" I asked, worry flashing through me.

"Made it through," Heart replied, though his voice carried strain. "Though they're as disoriented as we are." He gestured behind us where the portal was slowly sealing itself. Through the diminishing opening, I caught glimpses of his people stumbling into this timeless realm—some looking younger than they had moments before, others bearing silver threads in hair that had been solid brown or black.

"The Forgotten Lands age differently," Varik explained, noticing my stare. "Some visitors grow younger, others older. The realm responds to inner time rather than chronological age." He shouldered one of his impossible packs. "We need to find shelter for the night. We don’t have enough time to make it to the castle before it gets dark.”

"Castle?" I asked, following Varik as he began picking his way through the twisted landscape. The moss beneath our feet pulsed with each step,creating ripples of bioluminescent light spreading outward like dropped stones in still water.

"The Sanctuary of Hours," Varik replied, his voice carrying a note of old pain. "It exists at the center of the Forgotten Lands, where all timelines converge. If we can reach it, we'll have protection from temporal displacement—and from anyone foolish enough to follow us here."

Chi's form flickered as we walked, sometimes solid, sometimes transparent, as if the realm couldn't decide which version of him belonged. "The Red Queen won't pursue us here," he said, though uncertainty colored his words. "Even she isn't mad enough to risk the temporal storms."

Through the Heart Stone, I felt a pulse of disagreement from Heart.

"Don't underestimate my mother's madness," Heart said aloud, falling into step beside me. "She's risked worse for less."

I glanced around at our strange surroundings, watching as a nearby flower aged from bud to bloom to decay in the space of seconds, only to reverse the process moments later. "How far is this Sanctuary?"

"A day's journey," Varik replied, adjusting his hat as we navigated between trees that seemed to shift positions when I wasn't looking directly at them. "Though 'day' has little meaning here. We'll need to follow the moss-light rather than the sun."

As if responding to his words, the bioluminescent path beneath our feet brightened, creating a winding trail through the impossible forest. Heart's fighters gathered behind us, their expressions ranging from wonder to terror as they witnessed the realm's temporal anomalies firsthand.

"The moss remembers the way," Chi murmured, his form solidifying slightly as he floated alongside me. "It's one of the few constants in this realm—a living map that exists across all timelines simultaneously."

I felt the silver patterns beneath my skin responding to our surroundings, pulsing in rhythm with the moss-light's gentleglow. The ward's consciousness, now merged with my own, seemed curious about this strange place where time flowed in all directions at once.

"We should move quickly," Heart advised, his ruby eyes scanning the shifting forest with military precision. "The longer we remain exposed, the greater the risk of temporal displacement."

As if to emphasize his point, one of his fighters—a young man with a jagged scar across his jaw—suddenly staggered, clutching his chest. Before our eyes, his appearance flickered between youth and age, his hair cycling from black to gray to white and back again. His face aged decades in seconds before snapping back to its original form, leaving him gasping and disoriented.

"Temporal flux," Varik said grimly, moving to steady the man. "It happens when someone fights against the realm's flow instead of accepting it." He looked meaningfully at the rest of Heart's fighters. "Don't resist the changes you feel. Let the Forgotten Lands decide what version of yourselves belongs here."

The scarred fighter—Martha, I remembered—helped her companion steady himself. "How do we avoid fighting it?" she asked, her weathered face tight with concern.

"Think of yourselves as water," Chi advised, his form rippling like liquid mercury. "Water doesn't fight the shape of its container—it simply flows to fill the space available."

I watched Heart's fighters exchange uncertain glances, clearly struggling with the concept of surrendering control to an alien realm. Through the Heart Stone, I felt Heart's own unease—his tactical mind rebelling against the idea of accepting unpredictable changes.

"It's easier than it sounds," I said, surprising myself with the words. The silver patterns beneath my skin seemed to pulse with understanding, as if they recognized something familiar in thistimeless place. "I can feel it—the realm isn't hostile. It's just... curious."

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