“Your form has changed.” The White Rabbit spoke in the same dignified manner from their last encounter. “Welcome to my home. Please let the children rest. Their minds are too weathered to conceive my raw presence.”
Light sparkled in her eyes as she gracefully descended. At the same time, her tone was oddly filled with childish glee. One would be none the wiser to believe she was just a child. Her eyes became scornful whenever they fell onto Jury and only Jury. The reason was as clear as the color of the sky.
Jury uncannily resembled Elysia. Her eyes moved onto them one by one as the Cheshire Cat moved the children somewhere safe.
“Three Demi-Human wolves. You carry the scent of the light in your blood and your eyes. Two returned from Corruption; one that has not fully realized themselves.” She looked at Ber, then at Res. “And the other that has. The remaining wolf has yet to undergo the Corruption phenomenon. May that never cross your path.”
Her eyes then moved onto the Alter Frosts.
“Unrecognizable. And that is the one from the Dutchess and the Child? Interesting.” The Innocent and the Sleepy Frost did not gain notable attention.
But the Hired Arm, however, caused her eyes to broaden ever so slightly.
“… But you. I recognize you. We have only ever met once, but I can never forget those eyes. Behind that gold is a fragment of him.” A childish smile formed on her face as she approached the group, her steps causing large patches of grass to fold aside, like her steps were far larger than they seemed.
Then, her eyes fell onto Frost, her smile brimming now.
“And you… I still don’t know if you are him or not. The light is unquestionably the same. Your form is different.” She waited for a response, pausing just a few meters away from her.
Frost wore a smile of her own and nodded slowly.
“I was once Sinder. That part of me is no longer here. My memories of that time are gone. All that matters to me now is that I am Frost.” Frost needed to make herself clear that she was fundamentally a different person now. Her name was Frost. Sinder was long dead, with only embers of his legacy remaining in fleeting memories by those that once that once held him dear.
However, despite this, the White Rabbit giggled.
“That’s right. Sinder died that day. The light is still the same. And those flames inspire painful ‘what ifs’ to a time lost to time itself.” The fact that Frost was able to wear the Sinder’s Corruption was more than enough proof that she was not only a different person, but also someone that had overcome Sinder’s flaws.
Frost wondered if it was actually the White Rabbit’s intention to see this all along. The way she worked was like a divine being. No semblance of sense could be made, so all she could do was silently speculate.
The ticking of the White Rabbit clashed with Jury’s. They competed as their golden eyes met. The childish glee disappeared all at once as Jury contemplated whether or not the White Rabbit was going to condemn her. Her flap-like ears sunk slightly at the thought of being blamed for a sin she never committed, and her tail slowly wrapped around Frost’s waist as if for comfort.
Suddenly, their ticking merged.
It danced in a beautiful harmony. The flora of this world rustled as a wind was generated from the mesmerizing sound. The White Rabbit approached Jury, her long tail reaching out to touch her head long before she stood directly beneath her.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Then, she reached up towards Jury’s face. She was too short, so Jury leaned over, and the White Rabbit clasped onto her cheeks. The ominous anger she possessed washed away entirely and was replaced with a smile of relief.
“Not a blemish on your tail or face. You’re the ‘me’ that got away. The ‘me’ that’s free from the cycle. I can see it in your eyes. You don’t know anything about ‘me’, or ‘Her’. Seeing you must mean that there is an ‘us’. So that’s why people called me an Aberration of… Her. It makes sense now.”
The realization caused a wave of sadness to overcome her. But then, a hand appeared atop her head. Jury carefully stroked her hair, confusing the White Rabbit, as if it was the first time someone had ever held her.
Jury didn’t know what to say to her. It was only through her actions that she was able to convey something that words could not. As a result, the White Rabbit’s smile returned before she broke away, shaking her head as her messy hair flailed wildly.
She avoided direct contact with Frost. Her yearning was clear, but she adamantly refused to go through with her desire.
“You are no Aberration.” She said to Jury. “A part of me is envious. But I’ve lived long enough to know where my heart resides. I at first believed you to be her. I could not be happier to know that at least someone is free from her selfishness. Surprising. I was unaware there were others. That makes more sense now. Because it was never my ticking that brought people to Corruption to begin with.”
The White Rabbit understood that it was Elysia who invoked the Corruption, but also admitted that she was also unneeded in the process. She knew what Frost wanted to hear. The secrets she held of the past and present.
It was her reward for subjugating the Dutchess and the Child – the Lull-A-Goodbye.
Suddenly, a piece of her tail fell off like the broken branch of a tree. It warped the reality around it just like how a Genesis Stone would. She plucked it with her tail and offered it to the Cheshire Cat, who then snapped it in half.
One was placed into the arms of a sleeping Alice.
And the other in the arms of Stella.
Then, she answered the unasked questions that lingered in all their minds.
“Firstly, my philosophy. I despise the Corruption phenomenon. It used to only afflict people themselves. But in this world drifting thoughts and emotions can be made manifest. I am not aware of the cause of the latter. The former is more understood.”
She used a finger to illustrate this as she drew images against the black backdrop.
“But strangely this world has the opposite problem. There is a lack of people that Corrupt. The majority of the Corrupted exist as external emotions and lingering thoughts. The Nexus seems to prevent Corruption from occurring by turning those that would be into what are called the Blessed.”
They already knew this, but this introduction allowed her to explain that what she sought from children was to live as protagonists in their own tales.
“This Escape. It’s a place where children indulge in senseless stories of their own. Can there be no better dream? No. Because the cycle of dreams breaks when we are roused. Dreams go on until the book closes in here. What I seek is for people to change themselves rather than to keep changing the world around them.”
How did this relate to the Corruption? The White Rabbit shifted topics as if to avoid it, but then, she drew a person with her fingers. Something bubbled from within, contained by the limits of their body.
“The ‘Well’ is a Law of the Source. It is where all of what makes us ‘us’ exists. It is where the identity resides. The well can fill, dry up or overfill. Those are the states of emotions that drive people.”
She illustrated this, drawing several ‘Wells’ that were depicted as people with either overflowing emotions or the lack of it.
“But they can never spill. No matter how overfilled it is it will not gush. No matter how much it lacks, it will never collapse into itself. The Apple that was eaten changed this. The checks that once prevented this no longer exist. It is the sin we all indiscriminately bear because of one person.”
She blamed Elysia, despising her further with every grueling word. She was irredeemable in her eyes for what she had done. The triplets barely understood a word as Frost was left infatuated with her explanation.
And to think this was only a small fragment of everything.
Then, she drew something in the sky. It was a star enveloped by a person. Brilliance radiated from it as she drew them holding their hands innards, as if reaching for that star within.
The White Rabbit then finally revealed the truth of the Corruption.