Embers || Ikemen Revolution || Sirius

Chapter 2 ~ Cradle

I tugged myself out of Jonah's grasp right as a bright shield flashed around me. The cuff dropped to the ground, ineffective. I blinked in shock for a moment, before remembering that I had the power to repel magic. Something I can do since my dad is from the Land of Reason, and since I grew up there.

"I'm sorry," I said, bowing slightly to the shocked guards before running off, searching for the Blanc once more.

"Hey, stupid," I heard a voice call out to me. Another strange male voice. This one belonged to someone in an emerald green suit with a silk hat. "What are you doing here? You're gonna get yourself hurt. Follow me."

I blinked for a moment, but shook my head out of my initial shock, following the strange man.

"Who are you? Where are you taking me?"

The man led me to a carriage where the white haired man sat. "Ah, Alice," the bunny-like man smiled when he saw me. "I'm terribly sorry for dragging you into this."

"No worries," I said as I took a seat beside the guy. The carriage eventually started moving, and we were on a roll! "Here, you dropped this in London." I handed the man his pocket watch and he smiled at me.

"Oh, thank you! This is such an important watch for me, I don't know what I would do if I lost it!"

"Happy I could help!" I beamed at the man before glancing out of the carriage out at the dark, empty roads.

"My name is Blanc," the man said as he tucked the watch into his pocket. "But my friends call me the White Rabbit."

"You do resemble a rabbit," I said, a wry smile on my face.

The bunny-man! Kind of reminds me of that one guy who dressed as an easter bunny to lure kids out and kill them. But this guy seems nice.

"By the way, where are we?" I looked around, curiously. I think we're in Cradle, but I want to be sure.

"Cradle," Blanc smiled. "The world that you guys know as Wonderland." He reached into his bag and pulled out a map of the whole place. "It's actually a military runned country with the Red Army on the west and the Black Army on the east." Blanc pointed to the respectful areas on the map as he explained a bit more about Cradle. Stuff that I was too young to understand when I visited as a child.

"We're right now in the Central Quarter, a neutral zone for political and economical affairs. Fighting is strictly prohibited in that area." Blanc pointed to an area some ways down the map. "And that's the Garden, the place you arrived at. Only the highest military have access there, the Thirteen leaders."

"Thirteen leaders?" I frowned at that thought. Isn't thirteen an unlucky number or something? Maybe here, it's a lucky number?

"Yes, Thirteen leaders." Blanc carefully explained the military ranks to give me more information about Cradle and it's armies. "The King is the highest ranking, then the Queen, then the Jack, the Ten, and all the way down to Ace."

I bit my lip with a slight frown. "Like a card game?"

"Exactly like a card game!"

I tugged lightly on my hair as I stared at the map, some landmarks familiar, others not. "Isn't Ace the strongest in a deck of cards? Stronger than the King?"

Blanc shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just the official Cradle record keeper, I'm not quite sure how the rankings work either, Alice."

"My name's actually Emberlynn," I said. "Why do you guys keep on calling me Alice?"

"Alice was the name of the first being from the Land of Reason to fall down here. So from then on, anyone who falls down is referred to as an Alice."