After Bryan's attempt to close off the doorway to the Twisted Universe fails, he falls unconscious and is unable to wake up. But when he ends up in a new world, Bryan must find a way out to ever go back to his theme park and to his friends again. Al...
"Hey...A..ce..Br...w...ke up..." Bryan hears someone calling out to him, but he's unable to make out exactly what they are saying as his ears are ringing very intensely. He begins to regain consciousness as a heavy pain is placed onto his neck as if it had been sliced with a blade.
His eyes open to see the Queen kneeling beside him, along with Helpy, Cook, Duchess, and Dum. He quickly sits up and immediately holds his neck in pain.
"Hey, please Bryan, don't force yourself," Cook says to him with concern.
"Guys...what happened? And why does my neck hurt?" Bryan asks, rubbing his neck.
"You tell us, we found you in this ditch with a damaged throat. We were even contemplating whether you were alive or not," Dum states.
"Uh...where's Cheshire?" Bryan asks, noticing his absence.
"No idea. He vanished on us without anybody realizing it," The Queen explains.
"Do you think he went straight to the palace without us?" Bryan wonders.
"That's actually the conclusion we were going towards. But other than that, we're clueless," Dum states.
"We should focus on you at the moment, Alice. Do you remember what had happened before you passed out?" Helpy asks.
"I'm not sure I...wait...I...I think it's coming back to me..." Bryan says, struggling to remember what had happened to him prior. "I remember...a shadow...a girl..."
"A shadow girl?" Duchess speaks, putting her hand to her chin in thought.
"Oh god! I remember. I encountered Ersa!" Bryan cries.
"Who's Ersa?" Dum questions.
"The Alice before me!" Bryan says.
"W-What?! You encountered that...that witch?!" The Queen gasps.
"Are you sure it's...it's her, Bryan?" Cook questions in shock.
"I'm positive. I'm pretty sure she's the reason why we all separated in the first place," Bryan claims. "She told me that she wanted my body so she could go back to her world. And the only way for her to enter my body is for me to die."
"How did you even know about her?" Dum asks.
"Cheshire warned me about her. He told me she...attached herself to me so she can take my body. I had no idea who she was...I guess until now," Bryan replies. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner, but I just didn't want to concern you all with everything that's happening at the moment."
"So, what? She tried to kill you so she can enter your body? But, how can that be? The souls of the dead are unable to make physical contact with anyone," The Queen states.
"Think about it, your highness. This is Lin we're talking about here. That girl was always like the devil's spawn. Maybe it's her cruel ambitions that make her superior to the other deceased Alices," Cook says. "Think about what she attempted to do before coming here."
"What did she attempt to do?" Bryan questions.
"Trust me, you don't want to know," Dum responds. "Just be careful with her if she appears again, Bryan. If she's capable of doing this to you, who knows what kind of hell she can cause."
"Yeah...sure," Bryan responds.
"Anyway, we should try to focus on getting to the palace. Clearly, Cheshire thinks we're too slow and got a head start there," Helpy says in an annoyed tone.
"Hm...this just doesn't seem like Cheshire, though," Bryan states with his hand to his chin.
"I'm just hoping he's actually there. I can't imagine where else he could be, but there's also a 50% chance he's not there, to begin with," Duchess says.
"He better be there. He's putting the whole plan on the line just by being absent, for goodness sake," Helpy whines.
"Huh...I wonder if he's ok. May God protect him, wherever he is," Cook says to herself in concern.
"Of course he's ok. He can just teleport away from danger if he wanted to. The only way he can die is by decapitation and that'll take some effort when it comes to Cheshire's strength. Dat boi is a fighter," Helpy reassures.
"Hm..." Bryan thinks to himself some more before rejoining the group on the journey to the castle.
As the gang continues on their way to the palace, Bryan feels it's appropriate to ask some more questions about the disappearance of Cheshire. He had developed a bad feeling ever since he realized Cheshire's absence.
"Hey, guys. Do you mind telling me more about what happened before Cheshire vanished?" Bryan asks.
"Oh, ok. Well, our visions kinda bugged out for a second, we just saw nothing but glitches. Then, when we could see clearly again, we had realized you were gone. We were worried you were taken by the Hatter or something when we weren't looking. So, Cheshire told us to go look for you in case you wandered off by accident or something," Dum explains.
"Oh...I see," Bryan says.
"Yeah, but as we were roaming the woods for you, the Queen asked us where Cheshire was and we all looked back and he was gone," Cook states.
"Exactly. Nobody saw him walk away or say anything. He just disappeared faster than a cheetah with rocket boots," Helpy says.
"Goodness...that certainly isn't like him. Are you sure we shouldn't have a look around for him or something?" Bryan wonders.
"Yeah. Knowing Cheshire, he most likely got a head start to the palace," Dum states.
"Come on, guys. Let's not get distracted. We should stay focused on the plan and hopefully, Cheshire will explain why he ditched us," The Queen says.
"Oh, yes. Forgive us, your majesty," Duchess apologizes.
They all continue to follow the Queen to the palace to find Cheshire and carry out their plan to defeat the Hatter once and for all. Although, Bryan still has that strange gut feeling that's almost impossible to ignore and he continues to wonder what it means.
A metal door opens and someone steps inside of the dimly lit room underground. It strolls over to a metal table to glance at it's freshly captured victim. The captor grabs an ax from one of the corners of the gloomy room and takes it over to the struggling cat.
It raises the ax and speaks some final words to the anxious soul:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(Sorry for the image quality. Hopefully, none of the art turns out like this again)
