Chapter 125: Magnificent

Alistair Hatter had a legacy to uphold.

One that had more or less become a family tradition at this point.

Across several generations of Hatters, each one had happened to leave their mark on Wonderland.

His father’s father had been the man to venture beyond the safer reaches of Wonderland, mapping out several of its more obscure territories and discovering routes that would later become invaluable for transport across its world.

His father had helped Alice save wonderland from certain destruction at the hands of the former, late Red Queen.

He on the other hand, hadn’t quite managed to do anything remotely close to making a mark of his own.

It was also why he had decided to pick up Chaos magic, the most volatile of all magic across all of Wonderland.

Whereas other forms of magic--Authority for the Monarchs, Illusion for the Cheshire Cat, and Temporal magic for Time--allowed one to impose their wills onto it, Chaos magic on the other hand worked in reverse.

As opposed to other sources of magic which happened to gradually exist in Wonderland over time, its source was more primordial as it happened to come from somewhere beyond just Wonderland.

As a result, instead of any will of sorts being imposed upon it, it practically remained unpredictable.

One moment it could be fully functional if it deemed the way it was being used interesting, then immediately flicker out the moment it got bored or practically blow up in one’s face if it was annoyed.

Safe to say, it had a mind of its own.

Which presumably meant that it succumbed only to the will of those it had acknowledged.

Which, so far, so good, no one had quite managed to earn it as--you might’ve guessed--no one knew how to earn that very acknowledgement.

Yet, it also happened to be the most powerful source of magic in all of Wonderland, as well as the most dangerous... especially after the events that led to the cataclysm in the Outlands years ago.

That said, Alistair had taken it upon himself to make that his own legacy.

To be the first Hatter, and presumably the first individual in Wonderland to master Chaos magic.

It was why he was always on one adventure or the other... putting himself in extreme yet dangerous scenarios that would push his creativity in ways that might trigger and improve his understanding of the volatile magic.

Little did he know, someone else was far, far along in its mastery.

Someone that really shouldn’t have been alive after all these years given he’d been banished alongside the former, late Red Queen.

But that was an information he’d be stumbling upon much later.

Yet, the sequence of events that would lead him to that realization, was already in motion.

And it started, with the arrival of Alice’s daughter in Wonderland.

As Mary-Beth walked onto the scene, her mind having long eased into her character’s, she couldn’t help but study Niall whom was equally seated by a tea table a couple steps away.

For as much as the lady loathed acting, there was some part of her that just couldn’t hold back her act. The way her mind worked, it was always hundred-percent or nothing at all.

Had that gotten her a lot of hate from several of her colleagues over the years?

Yes.

Did she care about it?

Yes. She actually did.

Yet, even when she tried tuning it down to blend in with everyone else, it was still the same dance and song.

Not when they saw the craft as a job, and she saw it as a coping mechanism.

In any case, as Mark was about to give them the order to begin, she really hoped to high heavens that Niall Parker, for as talented and good-natured as he seemed to be, wouldn’t fall into the same category.

Afterall, it wasn’t a stretch for her to believe that lead actors couldn’t live with the fact that supporting actors could absolutely trump them considering she’d had to deal with several of their kind before.

In any case, after the opening scenes that introduced Alistair, Wonderland and the two Queens, the next scene that followed after, happened to be Alice’s introduction... one that was yet to be filmed.

It was to take place in Charlestown Harbour in Cornwall, England, but in reality, it was amongst the last scenes they would film for the movie.

It was also the scene that would’ve shown that Alice Jr. and her mother, the daughter of the original Alice, had gotten into a serious fight about her not wanting to attend a boarding school overseas.

In a bid to be rebellious, she had stomped out of the house and had somehow found herself following an iridescent butterfly into an obscurely hidden grotto that led her straight to Wonderland.

-

{A Maddened Wonderland | 9th, March 2019 | Act 1 | Scene 4 | Take 1}

The ancient oak tree stood at the edge of Wonderland, its enormous trunk twisting into the clouds, and its roots buried deep beneath the grass.

Somewhere within it, was the doorway that had once brought Alice Kingsleigh into Wonderland.

Yet, nothing had come through it in years.

Which was precisely why Alistair was sitting beneath it now, sipping tea from a porcelain cup whilst muttering to himself;

"Day five thousand, four hundred and seventy-two,"

"Something interesting has to happen eventually--"

He hadn’t quite managed to finish that sentence before his cup trembled.

Alistair paused for a bit, looking down at the table as well as the ground which trembled harder.

Then, as the tree before him groaned, its trunk shuddering as new iridescent leaves erupted from its branches, Alistair slowly lowered his cup as his eyes sparked with delight;

"Oh, that is interesting."

A crack of blinding white light suddenly surged and tore across the tree... followed by someone being spat right out the now gaping hole in the trunk!

As she tumbled forwards, she landed face-first in the grass, an audible groan escaping her;

"...Ow."

Soon, the lady pushed herself upright slowly, brushing leaves from her clothes as she did.

She looked sixteen, perhaps a little younger, with a bewildered expression that slowly turned into outright alarm as she took in her surroundings, her gaze landing on Alistair’s.

Without getting up from his chair, he stared right back, his expression a mix of curious delight as she warily inquired a moment after;

"W-W-Where am I?"

Alistair smiled and replied;

"Wonderland."

"What?" the girl whispered in disbelief, levelling him a dubious stare.

"Wonderland," Alistair answered yet again.

She held his gaze for a minute or so, clearly still bewildered. Then she pinched herself. Hard!

"Ow!" she rubbed at her cheeks as the young hatter took a sip out of his tea.

Immediately after, a purple mushroom the size of a house sneezed somewhere behind her and she whipped around reactively, only for an old oak tree several yards away to wave at her...

Well... right past her as her gaze followed Alistair who simply tipped his hat and took yet another sip of his tea as he continued a moment after;

"Technically, you’re in the eastern meadow. Wonderland is considerably larger than most people assume."

Still clearly unable to process everything fully, she soon managed to reply with something else entirely as she took in a forced gulp;

"I want to head back home."

"Ah, home. Yes, home. Home sweet home." Alistair nodded in understanding and took yet another sip out of his tea then said;

"You’re going to have to wait a couple days. Five or six, give or take. The Great Oak hasn’t had any action in years. I presume he’s taking a nap right about..."

A heavy snore rippled from behind and Alice yelped as she staggered back, the lady falling and stumbling to her feet afterwards as she moved closer to the weirdly dressed man in a crooked top hat.

"...now." Alistair snapped his fingers with a little chuckle, regarding the lady with his eyes.

However, when he noticed her visibly going pale in real-time, he switched things up.

"I’m Alistair, by the way. You are...?"

The lady hesitated, then replied a moment after;

"A-Alice."

The smile vanished from Alistair’s face and the cup stopped halfway to his lips.

"Alice?" he repeated, lowering the teacup slowly as he rose from the chair with a hint of realization in his eyes.

"Yes." she nodded slowly.

Walking over to her, he then began pacing around her as he declared;

"Oh, this is magnificent!"

"W-What is?" Alice asked, her expression wary as she followed his movements.

"Alice Kingsleigh’s probably dead by now. Which means..." Alistair’s voice trailed off and the girl’s expression visibly changed as she spoke;

"You knew my nana?"

Alistair abruptly stopped and said;

"Knew her?"

"Do you have any idea who your... nana... is?" Alistair threw both hands into the air.

"She’s rather difficult to forget!" he remarked and then continued circling around her;

"Blonde hair, blue dress, sword, Vorpal Blade, defeated the Jabberwocky, overthrew the Red Queen, survived the tea party and once convinced an entire court that she was taller than she actually was?"

Despite everything he had said, Alice’s expression only got progressively more confused.

To that, Alistair grinned and asked;

"You haven’t heard the stories, have you?"

Alice shook her head in the negative and Alistair’s grin widened!

With a little flourish, he picked up his coat, twirled it and stylishly slipped it onto his frame as he gestured broadly at Wonderland in declaration;

"Brace yourself, Alice. I’m about to take you on a tour you’ll never forget!"

"Cut!"

-

No sooner were they done with the scene, Mark already reviewing shot, Mary-Beth watched as Niall walked up to her.

Naturally, she was already expecting the same thing to repeat itself as it had, far too many times in the past.

Instead;

"Why are you holding back?"

In response, her expression morphed from wariness to genuine surprise as she raised her gaze to meet Niall who had a genuinely honest yet curious look on his features, his head tilted slightly.

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/Caer07