The group landed in a dog pile, groaning as they got to their feet. Rhia saw them standing in what looked to be a grand throne room covered in gold interior and red paint. The decor was all heart themed.
"Yay! New playmates!" said a cheerful voice. Rhia turned to the source of the voice.
Sitting on an overbearing gold throne with red cushions was a young girl. The girl looked like a typical thirteen-year-old and nothing like the monster Rhia was expecting. She wore an extravagant red and black gown with a tiara on her head.
"From the decor and your getup, I'd say you're the Queen of Hearts?" asked Rhia.
"What a smart girl you are! I like you!" The queen beamed a large smile full of sharp white teeth.
"Such a shame I have to get rid of you," she added ominously before hopping out of her chair and appearing before the younger girl where she kicked Rhia right in her torso.
'She might have the looks of a child but the strength of a monster. She doesn't know how to hold back.' Rhia laid on the ground in pain, coughing up saliva, trying to regain air in her lungs.
"We could've been such good friends, but you just had to go and side with the traitor." The young queen pressed her foot on Rhia's head and turned her crimson orbs onto the trembling white bunny.
"Silly rabbit, your friends are in prison! I'm the new ruler now! Why can't you just be obedient and learn your place?!" The Queen seized the animal by the collar of its jacket and yelled in its face with narrowed angry eyes.
"I'm not kind to those who go against me. A queen has no use for disobedient dogs," she uttered, dangerously close to his scared face. These words struck a chord as Rhia remembered someone spouting similar words to her old self.
"But don't worry, I won't hurt you. Instead, I'm going to harm these children who you have roped into your little rescue plan."
Rhia cried out as the Queen of Hearts began stomping her foot on the back of her head.
"Don't touch her!" Mr. Bun-Bun and Alex shouted simultaneously as anger illuminated their eyes.
"Hahaha! No one orders around a queen!" the young queen cackled.
"Black Knight, escort the traitor to the prison cell. I haven't had fun in a long time."
With a snap of her finger, a swirl of black smoke appeared, and emerging from it was an intimidating black stallion with a knight decked out in black armor riding it. Doing as she ordered, the Black Knight seized Mr. Bun-Bun.
"Do not fret, young Alice! You are this world's savior, and I believe you will restore peace! But you must first believe in yourself!" Mr. Bun-Bun yelled before disappearing behind the huge golden heart-shaped doors with the Black Knight.
Rhia would be lying if she said she didn't feel touched by Mr. Bun-Bun's speech.
'Too bad it was wasted on a cannon fodder, not the actual protagonist.'
Rhia was brought from her depressing thoughts by the burning pain of a whip smacking across her face.
Over and over again, the queen continued to abuse the children; their cries of anguish only brought her joy.
"Yes! Cry more, my lovely playmates! You're both nothing but toys for my enjoyment~!" sang the queen.
Tears blurred Rhia's eyes, no longer able to put on a brave front. She desperately wanted the pain to stop as red viscous marks covered her body. Shooting a look over at her new friend Alex, she could see he thought along the same lines.
'This is so unfair!' Rhia screamed in her mind, letting out a painful cry as she was hit with the whip again. 'I didn't ask to be in this situation!'
"This is so much fun! I love putting others in their place! Did you think you had a chance of escaping this place? Give it up! Your fate now rests in my hands, you silly little toys!" The queen cackled. Rhia was reminded of another person who once spoke similar words to her past self.
Behind a school building, a teenage Rhia laid on the ground covered with bruises as another stared down at her with a look of superiority.
"Did you really think you could go against me? I run this school! I am a Queen, and you're nothing but a lowly peasant!"
The girl stepped forward and pressed the foot of her expensive high heels against Rhia's head, burying her head deeper in the ground. Grass touched her lips.
"This is your destiny! To be nothing but a bug underneath my foot!"
She and her friends continued to kick Rhia, throwing insults and laughing at her weak and pathetic self, who could only silently cry at the hands of their abuse.
"You know." The Queen of Hearts ceased her lashing and walked over to a trembling Alex. The poor boy's cheeks were stained with tears.
"I really do like the color of your hair! The way it shines like a fresh crimson river of blood, and let's not forget those glistening orbs that sparkle like rubies."
The queen softly caressed Alex's face. Alex flinched from her cold touch, but the queen did not care as a smile of joy lit up her charming face.
"I've made up my mind! I shall cut off your head to make a scarf from your hair and pluck out your eyes to make a new beautiful tiara~!"
A crazed smile of madness stretched across the queen's face, showing off her pearly white shark teeth. Rhia watched in horror as the queen's manicured nails transformed into long blades that could easily sliced a watermelon in half.
'No! This can't be happening! He's innocent!'
Rhia was paralyzed with fear, wishing that she could do something.
'I gotta move! I gotta do something! I can't let that innocent boy die!'
Rhia screamed in her head, but no matter how much she screamed in her heart, her body would not move.
'Move! Move! Move you stupid body!'
Rhia dug her nails into her palms, drawing blood.
"Sweet dreams~!"
Just as the queen's nails drew close to severing Alex's head, a blur pushed him out of the way and took his place.
"No! Rhia!"
The blade of the queen's nails was a centimeter away from reaching her neck when bits of her past life, all her failures, replayed in her head—recounting the times she spent alone, crying at how unfair the world was and envying those who were better off and did not have to suffer like she did.
"Is this really how my life ends...?" A weak laugh escaped her lips as her eyes closed, ready to accept her fate.
'It is time for you to awaken the powers of my blessing, my dear child.'
Rhia was startled by a pleasant voice of a woman speaking inside her head and opened her eyes. Once her eyes were open, she was surprised to see that time stood still.
'Who are you?' she mentally asked the voice, trying not to have a breakdown from an out-of-body voice speaking from nowhere.
'Later. You must focus on the danger ahead of you,' the voice said to her, and in the next second, a jeweled amethyst queen chess piece, shining radiantly, appeared before her. When Rhia reached out to touch it, it transformed into a purple ball of light and zoomed toward Rhia's chest.
In a blink of an eye, Rhia found herself standing in the midst of blooming iris flowers. A beautiful crescent moon illuminated the starry night sky. When the scene switched to a giant chess piece floor, Rhia saw a tall female humanoid in fancy garb wearing a crown on her head.
The woman stretched her hand out to Rhia and knew it was her best bet to accept. When her hand touched the woman's palm, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face, and she transformed into a swarm of translucent black bats that fluttered their wings and kissed various parts of Rhia's body.
Shedding the layers of her original wardrobe, their touch replaced them with something new. Towards the end, Rhia felt a bat softly kiss her lips, and the mark of a black crescent moon glowed proudly upon her forehead.
With the transformation done, the illusion broke. The Red Queen rebounded from the burst of light that issued from the girl.
'What just happened to me?'
Rhia could feel power surging from within and saw that her outfit was different. Rhia wore a black short dress with long black boots with white cross designs at the top. A set of bat-skull earrings dangled from her ears while a nun veil with a headpiece bearing horns and a skull sat proudly on her head. The entire getup reminded Rhia of a mix between a witch and a gothic nun.
"What is this treachery!?" yelled the furious queen.
Rhia looked down at her hands and saw black gloves.
'I don't know what's going on, but… I can do this! I can take down the queen and rescue us from this dungeon!'
The queen was taken aback by the gleam of determination in Rhia's eyes.