Page 108 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
The crowd's energy shifted palpably, skepticism giving way to something more dangerous for the Queen—hope. I could feel it rippling through the marketplace, see it in their eyes as they looked at me with newfound wonder.
"The Queen doesn't want you to know this is possible," I said, my voice carrying clearly across the now-silent market. "She wants you to believe that corruption is inevitable, that her blood magic is the only path forward for Wonderland."
I returned to the platform, drawing strength from the bond network as the pattern beneath my skin pulsed with renewed vigor. Heart's hand found mine, his golden warmth flowing through our connection. Chi moved closer to my other side, his tail curling protectively around my wrist as I addressed the crowd once more.
"Today, I stand before you to declare that there is another way. The corruption can be reversed. Wonderland can be healed." My voice grew stronger with each word, the pattern beneath my skin pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. "But first, the source of corruption must be stopped."
A tense silence fell over the marketplace. No one needed me to name that source explicitly—they had already made the connection.
"What would you have us do?" called a gruff voice from the back of the crowd. A burly blacksmith pushed forward, his arms bearing the telltale grayish marks of early corruption. "The Queen's knights are everywhere. Her spies watch our every move."
"I don't ask you to fight," I answered, meeting his gaze steadily. "I ask only that you remember what you've seen here today. Remember that healing is possible, that Wonderland doesn't have to accept slow death as its fate."
The crowd stirred restlessly, hope and fear warring on their faces. Through the bond network, I felt Seth's shadows tense at the marketplace's edges—his spies had spotted movement. The Queen's forces were mobilizing.
"She comes," Heart murmured beside me, his golden patterns flickering with recognition of his mother's magical signature approaching rapidly from the direction of the palace.
I nodded, having sensed the disturbance myself—a wave of corrupted energy rolling toward us like a crimson tide. The pattern beneath my skin pulsed in response, silver-gold light blazing brighter as it instinctively prepared for confrontation.
“Citizens of Wonderland," I called out, my voice carrying urgent authority, "what you've witnessed today is only the beginning. The Queen approaches now, and I ask you to clear the market. This confrontation is not yours to bear."
The crowd began to stir anxiously, some already backing away while others pressed closer, reluctant to miss the historic moment unfolding before them. Through our bond, I felt Seth's shadows multiply throughout the marketplace, his network guiding civilians toward safety with subtle urgency.
"Go," Heart urged the crowd, his golden patterns flaring with protective intensity. "Return to your homes and spread what you've seen. Tell everyone that healing is possible."
A sudden wind swept through the marketplace, unnaturally cold and carrying the metallic tang of blood magic. Market stalls shuddered, their awnings snapping violently as crimson energy crackled through the air. The remaining civilians scattered quickly now, their survival instincts finally overriding their curiosity.
The sky above us darkened unnaturally as clouds swirled into existence, tinged with the sickly red of corrupted magic. The temperature dropped sharply, frost forming on the market stones despite the morning sun. Through our bonds, I felt my mates' magic responding - Heart's golden warmth flaring to counter the cold, Chi's silver energy crackling with protective readiness, Seth's shadows deepening as they prepared for battle.
"She's not coming alone," Vee observed, his silver eyes tracking magical signatures invisible to normal sight. "Multiple blood knights, and something else. Something larger."
Dee's temporal devices hummed frantically as he calculated probabilities. "The corruption signature is unlike anything in our previous models. She's drawing power directly from the nexus points she's already claimed."
A sound like breaking glass echoed across the market square as reality itself seemed to fracture. The air split open in a jagged crimson tear, and through this unnatural portal stepped the Red Queen.
She was both exactly as I remembered and somehow horrifyingly different. Her elegant features remained, but corruption had advanced visibly since our last encounter. Veins of blood magic pulsed beneath her pale skin, creating intricate patterns that mimicked my own but twisted, wrong. Her eyes glowed with an unnatural crimson light, and her elaborate gownappeared to be woven from living shadow and blood, rippling around her like a sentient creature.
"My dear Alice," she called, her voice carrying harmonics that made my teeth ache. "How generous of you to save me the trouble of hunting you down."
Behind her emerged six blood knights, their armor fused to their corrupted flesh, faces hidden behind helmets shaped like snarling beasts. But it was the creature that followed them that made the remaining civilians flee in true terror—a massive, writhing construct of blood magic and shadow, vaguely dragon-like but with too many limbs and eyes that leaked crimson tears.
"Mother," Heart said, stepping forward beside me. His voice carried centuries of grief. "What have you done to yourself?"
The Queen's laughter echoed unnaturally across the now-emptying marketplace. "Improved, my son. Just as all of Wonderland will be improved once the pattern is completely rewritten."
Her gaze fixed on me with predatory intensity, taking in the silver-blue dress, the visible mating marks on my neck, the pattern that blazed beneath my skin with pure silver-gold light.
"Such a waste," she sighed, her eyes narrowing as she assessed the bond network connecting me to my mates. "You could have been perfection incarnate, my daughter. Instead, you've bound yourself to these... limitations."
Her crimson gaze swept dismissively over Heart, Chi, the Tweedles, and lingered with particular hatred on the shadows where Seth waited. "The failed prince who betrays his own mother. A mongrel cat-thing born of desperation. Twin abominations of time and logic. And the shadow king who thinks darkness can stand against true power."
The blood construct behind her writhed, multiple mouths opening to release sounds like screaming wind. The Queen raised one elegant hand, and I watched in horror as thecorruption beneath her skin pulsed brighter, drawing power from sources that felt like open wounds in reality itself.
"I offer you one final chance, Alice," she continued, her voice almost gentle despite the madness blazing in her crimson eyes. "Come back with me willingly. Let me complete what we started. Together, we can reshape Wonderland into something glorious—a realm where corruption is perfection, where blood magic reigns supreme."
I felt the weight of the market's remaining observers, those few brave or foolish souls who hadn't fled, watching this exchange with bated breath. Through the bond network, my mates' emotions flowed like protective currents—Heart's golden determination, Chi's silver vigilance, the Tweedles' synchronized calculation, and Seth's void-darkness coiling with deadly patience.
"You're not offering creation," I said, my voice steady as the pattern beneath my skin pulsed with silver-gold-void energy. "You're offering destruction. I've seen what your 'perfection' does to Wonderland. I've healed some of the corruption you spread, and I won't let you poison anything else."
