Glen sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Well, it's a break."
She, Alice, and the Mad Hatter stood at the edge of the Tulgey Wood, having followed the trail of destruction in Ashi's wake. In truth, many more stood there as well, perched on the branches of trees and peering from behind the underbrush. The creatures that lived in the Tulgey Wood were curious … cautious, but definitely curious, and there was certainly something to be curious about.
At the edge of the Tulgey Wood, right where the green of the wood began to merge with the white of the snowy lands beyond, just about eye-level was a massive set of cracks. It looked exactly like someone had smashed a mirror and somehow transferred the cracks to the very air itself. Bits of some shimmering substance flaked away from the crack, gently floating to the ground below only to vanish moments later.
"I've never seen anything like this in Wonderland," Alice said, shaking her head.
"Nor me," The Hatter said, wringing his hands nervously. "Can't say I like the look of it."
Glen circled around the break. "Don't worry; you aren't missing anything. You get breaks between areas of the Dream Realm that are normally kept apart."
Seeing their confused looks, Glen thought a moment and said, "Sleepers like Miss Alice exert a lot of influence on the Dream Realm, creating their own realms within the Dream Realm. Think of them like bubbles, separated from the Realm proper, yet still a part of it. Breaks happen when something forces its way in or out of isolated realms like this.
Glen squinted through the very center of the cracks, and caught a glimpse of waving grain. Her grin widened. "I think I know where it leads. C'mon."
Seeing her friends' hesitation, Glen said, "Don't worry; it's perfectly safe. Alice's spent so much time in the Dream Realm, I sincerely doubt she'll have to worry about turning into a doll at this point."
Alice and the Hatter hesitantly followed Glen. Once they were standing near her, Glen grabbed the edges of the opening and threw it open. Instantly, the opening fell over them, taking away the trees of the Tulgey Wood and leaving them standing in a field of yellow grain.
Both the Hatter and Alice let out gasps, causing Glen to turn. Seeing alarm in her friend's faces, she started to ask what was wrong when it occurred to her; the moment she entered the Dream Realm proper, her body glowed as though it were made of the same light as the glowing orb of the Solarius, the Dream Realm's sun, on the distant horizon.
"Sorry," she said, willing her form to return to its normal appearance. "It's been a while."
"My goodness, madam," The Hatter said, still eyeing her warily. "And here I thought you Miss Sunshine in name only."
Glen chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, it's a long story. Right now, we need to find which way Ashi went."
Almost as though on queue, a burst of darkness shot into the distant sky, accompanied by one of the creepiest laughs Glen had ever heard.
"And off we go!" Glen said before leaping into the air. Light burst from her back, propelling her through the air and over the field of grain.
As she continued flying toward the pillar of darkness, she noticed the lanky form of the Hatter below her. Alice rode on his shoulder as he dashed through the wheat behind Glen, his long legs propelling him forward almost fast enough to catch up with Glen.
Flying through the Twilight felt wonderful; her home and wife may still have been far away, but something about the Dream Realm Proper left her feeling revitalized. This was her home in a way, no matter what time she occupied, and to her it felt as though the Realm itself agreed.
The sight of buildings and trees poking through the fields of grain made Glen slow down. She passed over smaller fields bearing vegetable patches and a fairly large grove of fruit-bearing trees before reaching the outskirts of a town. By then, she wasn't the only one in the air, harpies with wings as black as ink were taking wing as the black pillar tore through the city like a tornado.
Glen dodged her way through the cloud of crows before slamming into the side of the black pillar. Tendrils of light shot from her body, wrapping around the dark pillar as Glen sought the body of her friend. The pillar faded at the merest touch of light, soon vanishing into the air like smoke and leaving the form of Ashi kneeling on the ground. Glen touched down in front of her as Ashi breathed heavily, tears in her eyes.
"Ashi!" This came not from Glen, but Alice. The Hatter knelt down so she could again walk on solid ground. Alice approached Ashi, only for Ashi herself to shout, "Stay away!"
"It's okay," Glen coaxed, "Whatever's wrong, we can help."
"You can't help," Ashi said, shaking her head. "Don't you get it? He's part of me! When you brought me back, you gave him a way to return!"
"Him?" Glen asked, confused, "Him who? Ashi, what the hell are you-"
Ashi let out a scream as black energy surged around her, knocking Alice, Glen, and the Hatter back. The dark pillar rose as laughter again filled the air, sending winds rushing about the village as the remaining residents tried to take shelter.
Then, without warning, the pillar bent in half, as though stopping over. Glen looked up to see one of the more frightnening faces she'd seen in her considerable lifetime. Flames rose over large eyes with small, dark pupils over a face of ghastly green, made all the worse by a mouth filled with long curved teeth. Another growth of flames sprouted from the creature's jaw, resembling a beard of sorts.
"Well, well, well," Boomed the monstrosity's voice. "What have we here? Who dares to stand against the reborn might of the great Aku, shape-shifting master of darkness?"
"Cyber-cripes," Glen murmured staring up at the creature. "You're Aku?"
"Indeed! You are impressed no doubt at the sheer power of-"
"You look a lot goofier than I imagined."
"Glenda!" Alice hissed, alerting Glen to the fact she'd spoken her last thought aloud. Indeed, the once-grinning face of Aku was slowly turning into an angry glare.
"Sorry," Glen said, "It's just … the flaming eyebrows and beard are a bit much."
"SILENCE!" Red beams shot from Aku's eyes. Glen managed to dodge the blast, and was promptly showered with the popped grain ignited by the blast. "I will not be mocked by you, little woman! My power was enough to conquer this entire wor-"
A glowing ball collided with the side of Aku's head. It did no visible damage, but the sheer affront of someone attacking him during his monologue seemed to stall the dark being. Alice hefted another croquet ball into the air and sent it flying at Aku's head with a swing of her preserved flamingo mallet. The speed of the glowing projectile was impressive, and likely would have caused some damage on a normal opponent. Aku, on the other hand, dodged the shot before reaching a massive black hand toward Alice. This gave Glenda enough time to summon Headache and fire both energy grapples at Aku. The energy beams wrapped around his torso, tying his arms to his sides … for about three seconds. Aku's form shifted, slipping out of the grapples and grabbing them. Before Glen could react, Aku held her in the air so close to his face that she could feel the heat of his fiery eyebrows.
"Do you mind?" He said, eyes narrow. "I am TALKING!"
"Yeah? Well, I'm not." Glen swung from the grapples toward Aku. The activation of her fusion cutters instantly deactivated the grapple beams, freeing her to cut a wide swatch through the center of Aku.
He let out a screech before spiraling away from the reach of the fusion cutters. Glen felt a touch of triumph until she noticed the tears she'd inflicted sealing within moments as Aku laughed once again.
"Do you see, small thing?" Aku said, grinning down at her. "Your weapons cannot hurt me. They cannot restrain me. Only the sword of the samurai could strike me down, and he has been dust and bones for centuries. I am now unstoppable."
"So you think," Glen countered. "They thought you were dead too, yet here you are, large as life and way more ugly."
Aku laughed, though Glen wasn't sure whether it was at the suggestion or the insult. "It is true, the Samurai struck me down … but is it not true that something of the parent survives in their child?"
"Their child?" Alice asked, "You can't mean Ashi."
"Ah, but I do. She is my daughter," Aku said. "When she helped the Samurai strike me down in her past, she consigned herself to oblivion. When she was brought back into this world, she brought part of me back with her."
"Brought back? What are you-" Glen stopped, the memory of the Null coming back. "Ashi killed you in her past, preventing her own birth."
Aku's evil laugh was her answer. The thought gave her a shudder; it wasn't a problem for Dreamers; separated in their own timeline, their existence was assured no matter the fate of their previous selves and families. Ashi, on the other hand, had been erased from existence. Glen had often wondered what happened to those removed from the current of time due to time-travelling shenanigans, but even the worst pit in the Burning Hells seemed preferable to the Null.
Still, she knew now just what Aku really was, and more importantly, how to deal with him.
"There's a problem with your plan," Glen said, clenching Headache's metal fist.
"And what would that be, little woman?" Aku said, moving his face toward her without a hint of fear.
"This isn't the mainstream." Glen gasped as the light of the Solarius filled her, consuming her body, her clothes, her gear, and leaving her nothing but a shining form of light. Aku recoiled with a cry of surprise as she rose in the air, wisps of light already moving toward him.
"What are you?" He cried, trying to keep distance between them.
"The Light of Dreams," Glen said, light surging around her. "Now begone, shadow-thing."
Light burst from Glen and consumed the form of Aku. Whatever his strengths in the mainstream, he couldn't resist as the light of the Dream Realm tore through him, disintegrating the inky-blackness of his body. He changed shape into a bird-like thing in an attempt to escape the glowing surge of energy, but the Hatter was ready for him; the translucent mass of Glen's Defiance, the Godcrusher, had appeared in his hands moments earlier, confusing him for only a moment. His long legs propelled him into the air, where he slammed Godcrusher into what was left of Aku. The mallet struck Aku as though he were made of glass, shattering him into nothingness.
There were cries of triumph and applause from the crows watching the battle as the light faded from Glen moments later. She slowly floated back to the ground and let out a deep breath, feeling exhausted from the invocation. Alice and the Hatter quickly caught her as she stumbled.
"Miss Sunshine indeed," he said, chuckling as he handed her back Godcrusher. "Quite the impressive feat."
"Yeah," Glen said, "Mind you, if I tried that in the mainstream, I'd have to go without my powers for at least a month."
"And of course the word-play posturing was of the utmost necessity to your victory," The Hatter said with a grin.
"Hey, he started it. Now come on; if I'm right, Ashi should be … aha!"
Ashi stumbled through a cluster of wheat, looking about as exhausted as Glen felt. She staggered forward a few steps before falling to the ground. The Hatter and Alice hurried to her side, inadvertently leaving Glen behind in the process. Sighing, Glen forced her limbs to carry her forward, using the glowing form of Godcrusher as a sort of walking stick until she too was near Ashi. The black catsuit still covered most of her body, as inky black as Aku's skin.
"She's fainted," Alice said, looking sympathetically at her fallen friend. "Poor dear …"
"That braggart must've been feeding off her energy," The Hatter observed.
Glen nodded. "That's exactly what he was doing."
The Hatter and Alice looked to Glen, both concerned. Glen shook her head, "Don't worry; he won't come back as long as we get Ashi back to the mainstream … and after I have a little word with her."
"But what exactly was that creature?" Alice asked, "Have you seen him before?"
"Not him per se, but creatures like him. Schrades; they're like echoes of life, without a form of their own unless they latch on to someone like a parasite." In truth, Glen knew Aku wasn't a schrade, but she was too tired to explain the nuances of the Dream Realm at that particular moment in time. Besides, the truth was close enough.
"Nasty things, schrades," called out a friendly voice. Glen turned to see a gangley man in faded overalls and an oft-patched straw hat over a mess of blonde hair. His pale skin bore several scarlet markings reminiscent of tribal tattoos, though Glen recognized them as the markings of one of the largest nocturi tribes of the Dream Realm. He walked at the head of a line of wagons filled with ripe vegetables. The wagons continued on as he stopped and offered his hand to Glen.
A smile came to Glen's face as she shook his hand. "Wander! By the Creator, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"
The man smiled and tipped his hat at Glen. "It's definitely been a while. I see you brought friends this time."
"Ah, right. Wander, this is Alice Liddell and … er, the Mad Hatter. Alice, Hatter, this is Wander, the Scarecrow King."
Sighing, Wander said, "No one calls me that anymore. It's just Wander, and good riddance."
Chuckling, Glen said, "Wander was the first who learned to channel the light of the Solarius. Saved the Dream Realm from a bigger nuisance than Aku."
"Not alone," Wander said.
Glen nodded. "Speaking of, where is Samara?"
"She took the kids to visit her parents over in Evenquinox," Wander gestured to the fields, adding, "I wanted to tag along, but had to stay and oversee the harvest. Woulda helped out with that thing, but I was all the way in the southern field. 'course, now I got some rebuilding to do."
"Ah, yeah," Glen said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry about that. I'll make sure no one else has to suffer through Aku's dramatic monologues from now on. There's something else, though; Miss Alice here is the figurehead of the Realm of Wonderland. The break's near your fields, so I was hoping-"
"Ah, I gotcha. Say no more." Wander turned to Alice, pulling off his hat and holding it to his chest as he said, "Well, Miss, we can seal up the break if you want, but we can also open it up permanently, attaching your Wonderland to the borders of the Wanderlands."
"The Wanderlands?" Alice said, a smile spreading across her face.
"Seems like a made-match, yeah?" Glen said with a grin.
"Well … Wonderland is still recovering from … an incident …"
"All the more reason to link up to the rest of the realm," Wander said. "We can help the recovery. If nothin' else, it's always easier to fix things up when you've got more friends. If you got some time, we can talk about it."
"Over tea?" The Hatter asked hopefully.
Alice giggled as Wander considered this a moment before saying, "Er, yeah. Sure. Glen?"
"Nah, I gotta get Ashi back before she wakes up." Glen said, hoisting up the unconscious warrioress. "You kids have fun, though."
Glen opened her eyes to find herself once again back in Alice's study, staring at the sleeping form of Alice. Stifling a yawn, she rose from her chair and walked over to the still-slumbering Ashi. The warrioress was in a dreamless sleep now, and would be for a few hours. Nodding, Alice rose only to hear the slightly off-tune jangle of the doorbell. Glen left her friends slumbering in the study and made her way to the front door. The slightly worried looks on the orphans she passed did not escape her.
She opened the door two see three men in suits, two big and burly and the third short and wearing a derby cap that was clearly too small for his head.
"Sorry 'bout this, miss," The little guy said, "But the boss said no to your loan extension. We're gonna need the dosh now."
Something about the man's face and attitude seemed eerily familiar. Glen's eyes narrowed as she remembered other small men surrounded by brutes throughout history. "Hang on, you're a Sudwit, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I'm Arthur Sudwit. You know my family then?" the little man asked, seemingly pleasantly surprised by the question.
"You've made an impression, yes." Glen said, "So how much we talking about here?"
"Well, with interest … four hundred pounds."
"Uh-huh. And the fact that this building provides a civic surface, homes for the orphans and all that … doesn't matter, right?"
"Er, right," Arthur said. Something in his tiny henchman brain was likely registering that the smile on Glen's face wasn't as friendly as it first appeared. The beauty of dealing with so many Sudwits during her life, Glen thought to herself as the man began to sweat, is that their thought processes were as plain as day.
"And I suppose you're here to blow up the place," she said casually.
"Are you jokin'?" Arthur said, "We'd need a ton of explosive to take a place like this down. Wouldn't be cost effective. Nah, we're just gonna burn it down."
"Unless we've got the money, I suppose," Glen said tapping her lip thoughtfully. She could tell this was going to require some 'diplomacy'. "Tell you what; why don't you fellas come in, and I'll see if we can't sort this out nice and easy, yeah?"
It was fun seeing Sudwit's face contort as he fought between his genetic disposition to be a good henchman, his natural greed, and the tiny voice of survival that was trying to ensure his survival so that the Sudwit name would be passed on. The henchman won out, as Glen knew it would. She stepped aside and allowed them inside before closing the door behind them and quietly locking it.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
