Page 111 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
But I could feel the truth beneath her words—the original magic was still there, buried under layers of blood magic likeclean water beneath oil. Through the bond network, I drew on every connection: Heart's healing warmth to mend what was broken, Chi's precision to separate corruption from purity, the Tweedles' calculations to map the complex restoration needed, and Seth's void darkness to contain the Queen's desperate counterattacks.
Show her what balance truly means,a familiar voice whispered in my mind. Wonderland itself, speaking through the restored connection to this sacred place.Show her the difference between creation and corruption.
I let Wonderland's voice flow through me, my magic expanding beyond anything I'd thought possible. The pattern beneath my skin became incandescent, silver-gold-an opal and black energy streaming outward in waves that washed over the corrupted ruins like cleansing fire.
Where my power touched, the Queen's poison dissolved. Crimson veins in the stone faded to healthy gray, withered plants burst into vibrant bloom, and the very air cleared of its metallic tang. The transformation spread outward in ripples, each wave pushing back centuries of accumulated decay.
The Queen-construct screamed as the purified ground began affecting her directly, her blood magic writhing in agony where it contacted the restored earth. "This isn't possible! I am the rightful ruler of Wonderland!"
"You were," I replied, my voice carrying harmonics I'd never heard before—not just my own, but echoes of every pure soul who had ever loved Wonderland. "But you abandoned that responsibility when you chose corruption over creation."
The Queen-construct thrashed against Seth's shadows, her form beginning to destabilize as more of the ruins returned to their original state. Cracks appeared across her blood-armor, crimson light spilling from the fissures like wounded stars.
"You think this is victory?" she snarled, her voice distorting as her multiple mouths began to merge and separate erratically. "Even if you defeat me here, the corrupted nexus points remain. The pattern is already poisoned beyond repair!"
Heart stepped forward, his golden patterns blazing with painful resolve as he faced his mother's monstrous form. "Then we'll purify them one by one," he declared, centuries of grief hardening into determination. "Starting with the Heart of Hearts beneath your palace."
The Queen's laughter turned into a shriek of rage. "The Heart of Hearts? You think you can reach the sacred nexus while I still live?" Her form pulsed with renewed malevolence, drawing power from distant corruption sources. "I will drain every corrupted point simultaneously before I allow that!"
I felt the pull immediately—a massive draw of life force from across Wonderland as she prepared to channel everything into one final, devastating attack.
“You cannot undo what I've started!" she shrieked, crimson tears streaming from her eyes. "The nexus points are mine! Wonderland is mine!!”
"And yet here I am, undoing it before your eyes," I replied, my voice steady despite the strain of maintaining the purification wave. The bond network hummed with unprecedented power, all five connections feeding into a singular purpose that made the pattern beneath my skin blaze like captured starlight.
The Queen-construct convulsed as she drew more deeply from the corrupted nexus points, her form growing increasingly unstable. Blood magic oozed from the cracks in her armor, sizzling where it touched the purified ground.
"If I fall, I take Wonderland with me!" she howled, her voice distorting as her features shifted between human and monstrous. She raised both massive clawed hands toward thesky, crimson energy swirling between her fingers like living flame. Through our bonds, I felt Seth's urgent warning—the void connection vibrating with alarm as his shadows sensed what was coming.
"She's attempting to trigger a cascade collapse," Seth warned, his shadows straining to maintain their hold on the Queen's thrashing form. "If she channels all seven corrupted nexus points simultaneously?—"
"Wonderland itself will begin to unravel." Dee finished, his temporal devices humming frantically as he calculated outcomes.
I could feel it happening—distant pain radiating through the pattern beneath my skin as the Queen pulled violently at the corrupted nexus points. Each one responded to her call, blood magic surging through invisible channels toward our location. The sky above the ruins darkened to crimson, reality itself beginning to warp as the Queen's desperate gambit gained momentum.
"Alice," Heart called urgently, his golden patterns dimming as the corruption's pull affected even his magic. "If she succeeds?—"
"I know," I replied, my voice stead as I felt an energy star to seep out of the ground.
Take what you need. She is no longer one of mine. Wonderland’s voice was dark anew furious as magic was pushed into me. Feral…ancient.
Raw, primal power surged through me as Wonderland itself opened its deepest reserves. This wasn't the gentle guidance I'd felt before—this was the realm's fury made manifest, ancient and terrible in its protective wrath. The pattern beneath my skin transformed, silver and gold light darkening to something deeper, more fundamental. Through our bonds, my matesstaggered as the overwhelming energy cascaded through the network.
"Alice," Chi gasped, his silver patterns flickering as they struggled to process the influx of power. "What?—"
"Wonderland is done playing games," I said, my voice carrying harmonics that made the air itself vibrate. The Queen-construct's eyes widened with genuine terror as she recognized what was flowing through me—not borrowed magic or learned techniques, but the pure, undiluted essence of the realm itself.
Her desperate pull on the corrupted nexus points faltered as she felt the weight of Wonderland's direct intervention. The crimson energy swirling between her claws sputtered like candles in a hurricane as the realm's ancient power pressed against her stolen authority.
"No," she whispered, all her mouths speaking in unison for the first time. "You cannot turn against your rightful queen. I am Wonderland's chosen?—"
“You were never my chosen," Wonderland's voice spoke through me, each word resonating with the weight of mountains and the depth of oceans. "You thought you had the right but you never did.”
"You were a caretaker, not an owner," the voice continued through me, power surging like a tidal wave. "You were meant to nurture, not corrupt."
The Queen-construct recoiled as if physically struck. Her massive form shuddered, cracks widening across her blood armor as Wonderland's essence flowed through me in relentless waves. I felt myself becoming a conduit for something far beyond my understanding—ancient, primal, the very foundation upon which all of this reality rested.
"I am your Queen!" she shrieked, desperation replacing confidence as her connection to the corrupted nexus points grew increasingly unstable. "I have ruled for centuries!"
