Alice into Darkness

Fallen Leaves

Alice felt like there was no liquid around her anymore, nothing would ever be able to restrain her and she was free, a freedom so fascinating, complete and irrevocable that she had never imagined anything even comparable to this-

She was nothing but a stream of magical sparks, and yet Alice was able to see the violet liquid all around her and a dazzling sun beyond the surface as she dashed across the lake. The speed was unbelievable, the travel was effortless and clean and all of a sudden there she was, lying on grass and fallen leaves just outside of the sweet and deadly fluid...

Alice remained drowning at first after having just retaken her physical form, but just two seconds later she wiped most of the fluid off her face and she took a desperate breath after another as she looked up at the trees... The sky was beautiful and clear, and once again she stared in utter disbelief at those impossible colors that she had never seen before.

The leaves were orange and red everywhere, a red just as pure and intense as that of her hair...

Alice started to laugh as soon as she enjoyed enough of the best and most delicious air ever, almost going mad with joy and excitement despite the fact that she had just escaped from a terrible death... the violet fluid had reduced her to a thick and sticky mess, it felt like she was glued to the ground and probably even standing up and walk again would be a great challenge to her.

"W-wha... What was... What was that!?" Alice said to herself, taking a look at her hands just to make sure that she was solid once again- "Sparks, just sparks... I was transformed into pure magic... What am I? My stars, my stars, oh my stars... What is this? What colors are these? What... What happened to my eyes?"

Alice could not keep herself from crying as she stared at orange, red and various shades of brown, the blue in the sky was brighter and more beautiful than any blue that she had seen before and even the color of her own hands was unbelievable...

The violet of her cloak and also the liquid that she was covered with just reduced her to sobs and tears over and over again, since it was the most fascinating thing that she had ever seen.

The experience was just like suddenly finding herself at Heaven or something like that, it was perfect happiness and unbelievable beauty anywhere she looked...

"That magical creature did something to my eyes" Alice said, sitting up with great effort as she continued to gasp and cry like a little girl- "That dazzling thing that I saw for a moment, it was some magical color as well! What was that? Orange, or green? Red... My hair is red, right? I know that for sure, and my cloak is violet..."

Alice discovered that the violet liquid which had almost killed her smelled really good, like a combination of grapefruit and strawberries. She had no idea whether it would be poisonous or not, but anyway she decided to lick her hand a little and it turned out that this fluid (whatever that it was!) featured a taste that reminded her of blueberries very much.

She remained completely soaked in the fluid, it was even stickier than honey and Miss Layttel spent a good seven minutes removing as much of the liquid as possible before even attempting to stand up...

"That was the scariest thing ever" Alice whispered, taking a last look at the violet lake before venturing into the forest nearby- "What now? I am a magical creature, or at least, I think so... How did that sparks thing happen? I really need to find a way to do that again... Come on, stop staring at the colors, Alice!"

Alice had to make a huge effort just to concentrate on detecting possible dangers instead of just admiring the incredible colors that surrounded her like magic everywhere, for she knew that there could be more dangerous animals around and she could be attacked again any moment.

The Layttel sword would probably not work very well now that it was all covered by fluid, and Alice knew that she had to find a safe haven of some kind as soon as possible...

This part of the forest looked somehow safe and friendlier than the woods at the other side of that lake, she could hear nothing but birds singing between the soft whispers of the wind and after some time Alice, more relaxed at this point, allowed herself to enjoy and cry once again as she admired the impossible colors of the world.

"Is this how Loraine and everyone else always see the world?" Alice whispered, still gasping and sobbing every now and then- "Do they even know how beautiful it is? Do they just take all of this for granted? Taking this for granted... How is that even possible? I do not even have names for them all... Wait a moment! What is that?"

Alice smiled at the view of a little house between the trees just ahead, it was made of red bricks and wood and there was definitely something familiar in its windows and door. The two-story structure featured two chimneys that resembled the ears of a hare, and it took her only a few seconds to realize that she had been there before.

A rather slow and sticky Alice dashed towards the house as fast as she could, happy to have found a safe haven at last and desperate to see her old friend once again...