Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Prologue 9: Encounter a Person!

As we left, Grim was still complaining about the work to be done.  But he felt a little better about it when I decided he could rest in my arms while we head over there.  It wasn't too much of a walk to get there from Ramshackle, but it still was a huge sight to see in daylight.

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When we got here, Grim was amazed when he opened his eyes after putting him on the ground.

"Uwaah~  Amazing.  So this is main street.", as he was in awe, I picked up the broom and bucket I carried here and started cleaning.

"I didn't get a good look yesterday but what's with these statues?  All seven of them look pretty scary.", Grim walked up to one of them, and I looked at them to see.

"I don't know about scary... but they're certainly interesting.", it was only interesting because each of them to me looked like people from different worlds.  Maybe it was because how there dressed or maybe because some of them weren't human.  But that aside, I just continued to see what's more to clean.

"This granny looks especially snobby.", I looked to see which statue he was referring to and it was a big lady in a dress with a tiny crown on her head.

"You don't know about the Queen of Hearts?", I heard a voice coming from behind me and I turned to see a boy with red eyes and dark orange hair.

"Queen of Hearts? Is she important?", Grim says as he jumped on my shoulder with founded interest. Although he startled me a little when he did that out of nowhere.

"In the past she was the queen who lived in the Rose Maze.", the boy just began telling the story about her. I just felt compelled to listen as he went on since it was actually better than cleaning.

"She was someone who valued rules and discipline above all, strict in all things from the march of the card soldiers to the color of rose bushes.  It was a land of madness where all submit to her rule.", Grim and I had intrigued looks on our faces as we heard more.

"Why you ask? Because or else it was off with your head!", a chill went down both our spines.

"That's terrifying!", Grim hid a little behind my shoulder.

"It's cool!  I like it.  Nobody would listen to a Queen who's just nice all the time, right?", to my thinking, I guess he has a point.

"I suppose.  A strong leader is better.  By the way, who're you?", Grim picks now to ask.

"I'm Ace.  A fresh-faced first year.  Nice to meetcha.", he leads out his hand for a hand shake towards me.  But Grim spoke before I could by leaning over my shoulder.

"I am Grim.  A genius who'll become the greatest magician.  The dimwit over here is Kalin.  They're my henchmen.", suddenly my mood towards him changed as a irritation mark appeared on my head.

"You've got an odd sounding name.", Ace says but that comment didn't bother me as much as Grim's.

"Nice to meet you!", I reached out to his hand and shook it with a smile.  But I also pinched and pulled on Grim's cheek while doing so with my other hand.

"Eeeheeehh!!", Grim yelped in pain and jumped from my shoulder to the ground.  After groaning in pain for a bit, he moved on to Ace.

"Hey, Ace. The lion over there with the scar, are they famous?", Grim asks while he has a bruised lump on his cheek.

"Of course.", Ace then went on to tell the tales of the great seven.

"This is the King of Beasts who rules the Savanna.", a lion was upstanding on a huge rock.

"However, he was not born to be king, but he took the throne through effort and elaborate planning.  After becoming king, he even allowed the loathed hyenas to live in his kingdom without discrimination.", Ace explained.

"Ooooh. I guess he was not a rock not held captive by his status! Who's the lady with octopus legs?" - Grim.

"The Sea Witch who lives in a cavern in the deep. Her purpose was to help all unfortunate merfolk. As long as you could pay the price she could transform you, help you find love, anything.  If it was within her power there wasn't anything she wouldn't do. They say her prices pretty high though. That's what it cost for "anything".", the more I hear, the more interesting they become.

"Nyaaa..haa!" So what your saying is I can get rich if I become a great magician!?", of course Grim wouldn't take in all he heard, all he heard was magic plus money. I shook my head but not surprised to hear it.

"Then what about this man in the big hat?", I looked to see a man with a cobra staff.

"The Sorcerer of the sand. He was a cunning vizier to a foolish sultan and saw through the fake prince that was actually a street rat trying to decieve the princess. Then he got a magic lamp and became the most powerful sorcerer of all! With that power they say he became sultan.", - Ace.

"Ho hoh! So it is important for magicians to be the center of attention!," Grim does it again, but I continued to listen.

"Ooooh! This lady sure is beautiful!", - Grim.  I see a lady that was beautiful.

"She is the Beautiful Queen.  Everyday she checked the "Beauty ranking" in her magic mirror.  And when it looked like she might fall from the number one spit, she never hesitated to do anything to get it back.  I guess she had the strong will to remain the most beautiful in the world?  So freaking amazing.  They say she was even adept at making poisons.", - Ace.

"She's pretty but... no thanks...", - Grim.

"You think?  But it's cool that she has something she'll never give up.", - Ace.

"S-sure, that single-minded drive is pretty cool.  Over there, what's with the guy on fire?  Just looking gives me the goosebumps.", I looked at Grim thinking he has fire in his ears, how is this statue scary?

"Lord of the Underworld.  He rules a land crawling with evil spirits on his own.  No doubt he is extremely skilled.  Even though he's got a scary face, he did that detestable job without ever taking a vacation, and his sincerity won over cerberus, the hydra, even the titans, to fight for him." - Ace.

"Hhmm, hmmm.  So having talent doesn't mean you get to be haughty.  And the last one, with the horns?", Grim asked about the last statue.  When I took a look, her horns kind of reminded me of something but I couldn't think of what.

"That is the Witch of Thorns from the Magic Mountians.  Noble and Elegant, even within the seven she is top class on magic and curses!  She can summon lightning and storms, cover an entire kingdom in thorns, her magic is on a whole other level.  There was even a time she transformed into a huge dragon!", - Ace.

"Oooh!  A Dragon!  All monsters look up to them!", Grim was excited for sure about this one.

*(!) A dragon, huh? (!)*

"They're all so cool~  ...Unlike a certain raccoon.", something changed in Ace's tone and I didn't get a good vibe from it.