Page 110 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
I pushed my magic into a shield trying to expand the circle of protection, my silver-gold light forming a dome around us. Through our bonds, I felt my mates lending their strength—Heart's golden warmth reinforcing my shield, Chi's silver precision targeting weak spots in the Queen's defense, the Tweedles' synchronized calculations creating patterns ofcountermagic, and Seth's void darkness defining the boundaries between corruption and purity.
"It's not futile," I called back, my voice stronger than I felt. "You've forgotten what Wonderland truly is—what it's meant to be. Not corruption and domination, but balance and creation."
The Queen-construct roared with fury, slamming a massive clawed hand against my protective dome. Cracks appeared where corruption met pattern magic, but the shield held—barely. I felt the strain immediately, my body trembling with the effort of maintaining protection against such concentrated malevolence.
"You are not a true born from Wonerland. You don’t get to talk about it as if you belong.” The Queen snarled, blood magic pulsing around her in anger.
"I might not have been born here," I shot back, my voice steadier than I expected, "but Wonderland itself chose me. It spoke to me, showed me what you're destroying!"
The Queen-construct recoiled slightly, genuine surprise flickering across her monstrous features. "Impossible. The realm hasn't been sentient since?—"
"Since the First Queen sacrificed herself to establish the pattern," Heart finished, stepping forward beside me. His golden patterns blazed with renewed purpose. "But it awakened for Alice. Mother, don't you understand what that means?"
The Queen's multiple eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Lies. Desperate fabrications to justify your treason."
"Feel the truth for yourself," I challenged, pushing my power outward in a wave that rippled across the ruins. Where it touched, small patches of healthy growth emerged from corrupted ground, tiny flowers blooming between cracked stones despite the corruption that had poisoned the earth moments before.
The Queen-construct staggered backward, her multiple mouths opening in expressions of shock and rage as she witnessed the undeniable evidence of pure pattern magic working against her corruption.
"No," she hissed through gritted teeth. "I am the rightful heir to Wonderland's power. I am the future!"
She raised both massive clawed hands, drawing power from the corrupted nexus points across the realm. I felt the drain like a physical wound—somewhere in the distance, another piece of Wonderland was dying to fuel her fury. The blood magic that swirled around her intensified, pressing against my protective dome with renewed force.
Cracks spread faster across the barrier now, spider-webbing outward as corruption fought against creation. Through our bonds, I felt magic pouring into me from Heart and Chai as they channeled into me. I was using ever ounce of training I had gotten in the pocket detention into this battle. I couldn’t loose. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Vee and Dee move to the left and Seth to the right, going to block off Blood soldiers from joining their Queen.
I gritted my teeth, as I tried to do some creation magic and summon vines from the ground to wrap around the Queen-construct's legs. The silver-gold magic responded to my will, healthy plant life erupting from the corrupted earth despite the poison seeping through the soil. Thick, emerald vines wound around her massive limbs, their touch burning against her blood-infused flesh.
The Queen-construct shrieked in rage, clawing at the vines as they tightened their grip. Where her corrupted magic touched my creations, steam rose from the contact—two opposing forces locked in elemental conflict.
"Clever," she snarled, her voice distorting through multiple mouths. "But plants are fragile things, child."
Crimson fire erupted from her skin, incinerating my vines in seconds. The backlash hit me like a physical blow, forcing me to my knees as the connection severed violently. Through our bonds, I felt my mates' alarm spike, their magic surging through the network to steady me.
"Alice!" Heart called out, his golden patterns flaring as he rushed to my side. The protective dome around us flickered dangerously, corruption pressing closer as my concentration wavered.
The Queen-construct laughed, the sound echoing from all her mouths simultaneously. "Did you truly think garden magic could stand against perfection?" She raised one massive clawed hand, crimson energy crackling between her fingers. "Let me show you the futility of resistance."
A bolt of blood magic lanced toward us, striking the weakened dome with explosive force. The barrier shattered like glass, sending shards of silver-gold light scattering across the ruins. I felt the backlash tear through my magical reserves, leaving me gasping on the cracked stone.
"Now you see," the Queen-construct purred, advancing with bloodlust in her eyes as she looked at me.
“I’m not done!” I hissed, pushing more magic through the bond network. The void connection with Seth pulsed like a heartbeat, darkness flowing into my depleted reserves as shadows coiled around my trembling form. Heart's golden warmth followed, then Chi's silver precision, the Tweedles' synchronized calculations creating complex patterns of reinforcement.
I rose unsteadily to my feet, the pattern beneath my skin blazing brighter than ever before as all five bonds merged their power through me. The Queen-construct's advance faltered as she witnessed the display—silver, gold, and void energies weaving together in harmonies she couldn't comprehend.
"Impossible," she breathed, her multiple eyes widening with something that might have been fear. "The network shouldn't be able to channel such?—"
Her words cut off as I raised my hands, drawing on every lesson learned in the dimensional pocket, every moment of training with my bonded ones. But instead of attacking directly, I reached out with my magic toward the corrupted earth beneath her feet, seeking the original pattern that had existed before her poison took hold.
The Queen-construct realized what I was attempting a heartbeat too late. "No!" she shrieked, all her mouths opening in unison as she felt me touching the foundational magic of this place.
But I was already there, my consciousness diving deep into the ruins' history through threads of silver-gold-void energy. I felt the echo of what this place had been—a garden sanctuary where the First Queen had once walked, where pure pattern magic had flowed like crystal streams.
"I can see it," I whispered, my voice carrying across the ruins despite its softness. "This place remembers what it was before your corruption."
The Queen-construct lunged toward me with desperate fury, but Seth's shadows erupted from the ground around her, tendrils of void magic wrapping around her massive limbs like living chains. The darkness didn't burn her as my vines had—instead, it simply held, void magic proving immune to her corrupted fire.
"You cannot stop the inevitable!" the Queen-construct raged, struggling against Seth's shadows as I continued reaching deeper into the ruins' foundational pattern. "I have claimed seven nexus points! The corruption is irreversible!"
