Mike's POV
"Hey, guess what's the safest place in Wonderland?"
I scoffed and replied, "what? Here?"
"Ohhh, that's a good one." Art commented. "I never thought of this place. I thought of Dream's house."
Dream?
If I remember correctly, it was the one that created Wonderland for its survival. That effectively means he is the owner of this World.
"I thought it would be the most dangerous place in Wonderland."
Art tutted. "No… I mean, excluding Dream, of course. The citizens of Wonderland can't enter his domain unless they allow it. Dream doesn't have a gender, so all of us settle to call "them" or "they". Don't get confused, okay?"
"Sure. But how did Dream come into existence? They can't just suddenly pop into thin air and just exist."
Now that Art was getting talkative, it was good for me to gather information from him. It was difficult for us to get out of the maze that even Dice couldn't make heads or tails of this place. Sitting down and conversing was better than nothing.
"You're right. But Dream's existence is tied closely with the creation of this World and the 4 original Alices."
Art winked, pointing at himself. He wasn't letting me forget that he was a part of the fourth Alice.
"Of course, the story wasn't widely spread outside of this World. After all, Dream was more focused on selecting specific Alices to dream of this World and them. But they would never reveal themselves. They live in their domain, and the only way to get there is to collect the stories of the 4 original Alices."
"What's the story then?"
Art smiled mysteriously as he leaned backward on the stairs. Somehow, the smile made the young boy look older and conniving.
"Are you trying to get to the end without undergoing some trials and tribulations? That's no good, Micheal."
I felt chills behind my back when Art said my name. It gave me the feeling of danger. Just when the mood turned sour and awkward, a "meow" echoed from my side. Immediately, the boy's face turned bright as he cried out Cheshire's name. The cat with purple fur and black stripes strode to him while begging for scratches. Its eyes were ever so wide with an unearthly grin. Then it slinked away to my right leg and rubbed against it.
"Cheshire likes you. That's a bonus."
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Gaining favours in this World will get you very far, you know? You never know when you might need their help." Art said cryptically. "Anyway, let's follow Cheshire. It's time to get out."
He stood up and stretched his back. Meanwhile, the grinning cat started walking down the stairs confidently. Following a set of twists and turns, we finally arrived in front of an unassuming door. The curious thing was that the phantoms were slowly lining up in front of the door, waiting for someone to open it. Cheshire sat beside the door and looked up at us, patiently waiting.
"I saw the phantoms passing through those doors."
"Well, as you can clearly see, not this door. Why don't you try opening it?"
There was a knowing look in Art's eyes as he gestured towards the door. I stared at him for a while before I sighed in defeat. Grasping the doorknob, I turned it and walked through the door.
My shoes touched freshly cut grass that was still wet. There were rose hedges lining the sides of the door, so high that they reached the sky.
"Oh, another maze."
I could hear the disappointment in Art's voice. Meanwhile, I felt a vein-popping from the side of my forehead.
"I thought we should be finally out?" I seethed at him. "What's this?"
"Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm just a kid." Art feigned innocence, looking a bit aggrieved after my scolding. He chuckled at my reactions. "You are entertaining to tease. Alright. Jokes aside, we are indeed outside. Maybe we have to get out of this maze to see where we are?"
At my signal, Dice flew up.
It hit an invisible wall just when it was about to fly above the hedges. Art was right, so we had no choice but to walk forward. I noticed how the roses on each side were either red or white as we walked. My green cloak accidentally caught a white rose peeking out of the hedge. As I carefully pried it from the rose, there was a white stain.
Frowning, I rubbed the petals of the rose and found similar results on the tip of my fingers.
"The roses are… painted?" I muttered.
"Halt!"
Suddenly, soldiers appeared at both corners of the hedges. One side was clad in red armour while the other was in white. Seeing Art, Dice, and me, they raised the alarm and surrounded us.
"You must be the offending painters who painted these roses!" The general from the red side accused us. "You must have come from the white kingdom!"
"Nonsense! They must have come from yours!" The white counterpart argued. "Look at all these red roses!"
Refusing to believe each other's claims, they began to argue back and forth. Meanwhile, the three of us caught were left as background decorations.
"Silence!"
Immediately, the men shut their mouths. Soldiers on both sides parted to reveal their Queens. The red and the white queens glared at each other before they inspected their side of the roses.
The white queen spoke. "Are you guys the ones who painted these roses?"
I glanced at Art, who shrugged. I sighed in resignation before I answered truthfully.
"No. We only just arrived. And if we are the ones who painted these roses, where are the paint buckets and brushes?"
"Tch!"
It was the red queen's turn to speak.
"You people could have hidden them anywhere before we came here! You lowly thieves have no sense of morals when you take my money. Look at the state of these roses! I want them in red, but now they are in a mixture of red and white!"
"You also took my money." The white monarch added. "Thieves who took money from different masters are not to be trusted."
At such a verdict, both sides of the soldiers raised their weapons at us. It was pretty clear they wanted to execute us.
"Hold on!" I shouted, trying to buy us more time. "I have a way to remedy this."
Both leaders stopped their troops. I gritted my teeth as I recalled the story of "Alice in Wonderland".
The two monarchs were siblings. This was obviously a case of sibling rivalry or dispute at work.
As for the painters who did such a poor job, we had been mistaken as them. It was useless to find them within such a short time. The job was to paint the roses the colour each monarch wanted, but the roses were painted in colours alternating between red and white.
"Do you… have eye glasses?"
"Young man, are you playing with us? What do eye glasses have to do with roses?" The white queen raised her eyebrow in skepticism.
"Well, that's okay if your majesties don't want to bring them out."
I pulled out some materials from my Guardian ring. It has been a while since I last took something out of it. Then, I made two rough-looking spectacles made out of paper. One was with a red filter, while the other had a white filter. I offered them to the respective royalties.
"This is my solution. Please wear them and look at the roses again."
They didn't take it directly because their soldiers had to inspect the objects for their safety. When the spectacles were fine, the monarchs hesitantly wore them. There were visible expressions of amazement before they took the spectacles off and on.
"Is this magic? Commoner, explain yourself!" The red queen impatiently demanded.
"Your majesty, this can be easily done by any artisan. Those are specially made pieces of paper that allows you to see the specific colour that you want to see. If you want to see everything red, then it is red. If you want to see everything white, then it is white. It is just a trick to trick your eyes."
"Curious. I never knew these things could solve the problem. It would have saved so much money!" The white queen exclaimed. "Painter, you have redeemed yourself. I will let you keep your head."
"Humph! You lowly beings are off the hook for now, but you are fired!" The red one demanded. "The exit is behind you, so show yourselves out!"
Exit?
I turned around, and an opening was slowly revealed in the rose hedge. Art smiled at me and even clapped his hands in appreciation.
"Seems like we didn't have to walk through the maze after all."