Twisted Wonderland Book 2: The Usurper from the Wilds

Chapter 22: Start of an Uprising

One night, Briar and the others are fast asleep in their dorm. Like many times, Briar begins to dream once more and the mirror also reflects it in her sleep.

Briar soon opens her eyes and finds herself in what it seems like a cave.

Briar looks around and wonders, "Where am I now?"

Suddenly, something says, "The smell of... earth?"

Briar turns her head and quickly hides to see Scar lying on a flat rock, almost like a bird, and sees the bird from before trapped in a cage made of a ribcage of a dead animal.

She hears Scar say, "Oh, Zaay, do lighten up and sing something for me with a little bounce in it."

Zaazu mutters to himself, "Oh... I would never have to do this for Mufasa."

"Mufasa?" Briar questions in thought, "If I remember, Scar mentions Mfasa before, and his son, but who are they? Is Mufasa his relative or perhaps someone else..."

Suddenly, Scar has gotten angry, "What? What did you say? I... am... the KING!"

Just then, three hyenas, Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed walk into the cave.

Banzi begins to complain, "Hey, Boss! We got a bone to pick with you."

Then Shenzi says, "Scar, there's no food, no water... We're hungry!"

Scar questions, "What are you complaining to me for? Eat Zaazu."

Banzi mutters, "I thought things were bad under Mufasa..."

But Scar hears him and gets angry, "What did you say?! Get out!"

The three hyenas begin to leave, but Ed then says, "But we're still hungry!"

Briar watches as the rest of the event transpire. Soon, the scenery disappears as well.

Seeing this, Briar is starting to have some understanding of what's going on. She then begins to collect the dreams she has remembered and start to put the pieces together.

Briar says in her thoughts, "From what I'm starting to understand, what's been going on.. Could that be the lion from the first time. If Mufasa was the king, then the little lion must have been his son, Simba, who is actually the next heir to become king. And Scar wanted to be king, but now he couldn't because Mufasa was currently king, and Simba was the next heir. And when he got it, he was still compared to Mufasa.

The Briar wonders, If he can't stand being compared to him, maybe he should try harder. And, what happened to all that motivation he had before he was king?"

Early the next day, Briar, Sereia, and Trinket are still asleep in her bed.

Unknown to Briar, Jack arrives at the bed and gently shakes her, "Hey, wake up."

Slowly Briar begins to wake up and mutters to herself, "Wow, that dream was a real downer."

And let out a yawn of exhaustion as she rubs her eyes.

She turns to see Jack in her room, and says, "Morning."

"Yeah, morning," Jack replies.

Sereia and Trinket wake up as Grim, Tanzanite and Jasper enter the room.

A little sleepy, Grim replies, "Huh? What are you doin' in our dorm?"

"I'm on my morning run. Today's the day of the Spelldrive tournament, and I wanted to make sure you didn't mess everything up by oversleeping," Jack says.

"Oh yeah. Today is the Spelldrive tournament," Briar says.

"Oh! Yeah, you're right!" Grim remembers, "We gotta catch the bad guys so they'll squeeze Ramshackle House into the tournament as a reward!"

"And put a stop to Leona's plans," Jasper adds.

"Uh sure, let's give it our best shot," Briar says.

But in her thoughts, Briar says, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Jack sighs and says, "I'll see ya at the tournament grounds. Don't you dare go back to sleep!"

"Um okay," Briar sheepishly says, and Jack leaves the room.

"Well, we better get dressed and head to the tournament so we can follow up Riddle's plan," Briar says.

"Are you okay, Briar? You look kind of glum?" Sereia asks.

"I'm okay, just a little on edge," Briar says.

She sighs and says, "I can't shake this feeling that something's going to happen."

"Why's that?" Jasper asks.

"I could have sworn my head was hurting last night, and was hurting really bad. I can feel a lot of anger and resentment, and feel somewhat sadness," Briar says.

"Do you think you were feeling someone having strong negative emotions, like what happened with Riddle?" Sereia asks.

"I think so," Briar replies.

This makes Grim worried, "Myaah! Do you think someone else might go crazy and turn into an Ink monster?"

"Maybe, and I think it might be one of the Savanaclaw students, but which one," Briar replies.

"Did you have those dreams again?" Tanzanite asks.

"Yeah. And something tells me we'll find out at the tournament," Briar says.

"If that's the case, then let's head over to the tournament. That was we can find the culprits and to this one with the whacked out energy," Grim says.

Everyone nods their heads in reply, and got ready to go to the tournament.

Meanwhile, at the side street next, a festival is taking place. Asul is in charge and looks at the preparations, including the stalls. Jade and Floyd are with him as well.

"Hm, excellent attendance again this year. I'll have to check how the kiosks are doing.

"After all, now that I'm the head of the planning committee, we can't have merchants underreporting their sales, now can we?" Azul says.

Then Jade says, "Housewarden, everything's ready at the coliseum. The players will begin arriving in ten minutes."

"Jade, Floyd, excellent work," Azul says.

Then Floyd asks, "Hey, Azul, what's the deal? Why do you have the players' procession starting at the east building this year? The paths are so clogged with attendees that it'll be real hard for the players to get through 'em!"

"That was a special request from a certain client. I'm not privy to ALL the particulars," Azul answers.

Then Jade says, "Ah, I understand. So this is related to that magic-boosting potion you were making yesterday."

"Wait, you understand WHAT?" Floyd asks, "What does rerouting the players have to do with magic potions?

Jade shushes Floyd, "Shhh. Someone might hear us. Lower your voices."

"Ooh! Is something shady about to go down?" Floyd whispers with a grin.

"That potion is only going to last for about thirty seconds. What could he possibly be plotting, I wonder?" Azul replies.

"Azul, you needn't feign ignorance. You know exactly what he's planning, don't you?" Jade replies.

"Do I? I wonder! Heh heh heh," Azul says and lets out a snicker.

"Aw, come on! Tell me, too!" Floyd says eagerly.

Azul snickers a bit, "Hee hee. And I was just thinking I wanted to refurbish the lounge, so this offer came at a most opportune time. But that's enough chit-chat. Time is money! Let's go see how concession sales are going."