Miles collapsed to the ground, the system's words making no sense as the notifications still rang in his ears, muffled and unintelligible. His head throbbed, an unbearable pressure building behind his eyes. It felt as if his mind were being split open by an axe, his thoughts no longer his own.
A voice, smooth, theatrical, and dripping with malice pierced through the chaos in his head.
"Well, well, well," it purred. "What a curious little mouse we have here."
Miles froze, his breaths coming in shallow gasps.
"Who… who are you?" He stammered. Though he thought he already knew the answer.
"Oh, you poor thing," the voice replied, mock pity lacing every word. "Surely you've pieced it together by now? After all, you're holding my hat."
The pulse of the hat in his inventory grew stronger, each beat syncing perfectly with the rhythm of the voice. Miles clutched his head as images flooded his vision, blurring the boundary between reality and the invasive thoughts.
Mad Hatter's invasive thoughts.
Miles found himself standing in a hall of mirrors, their surfaces warped and cracked. A man dressed in an eccentric suit, adorned with mismatched patterns and clashing colors, stepped into view. His face was obscured by a shadowy haze, but his grin was unmistakable. Wide, manic, and utterly devoid of any traces of sanity.
"Welcome to my wonderland," the man, the Mad Hatter, announced with a sweeping bow. "Do make yourself comfortable, though I doubt you'll find it cozy for long."
Miles' eyes widened at the sudden change of scenery, the coldness of the hall around him sending shivers that felt capable of making his very soul crawl.
"Cheshire?" Miles called in his mind, but suddenly, noticed that his lips were moving, and his voice was echoing around him. "What?"
The mirrors flickered, revealing scenes of carnage. Wonderland, vibrant and lush, was now a twisted wasteland. Miles' stomach churned as he watched the Mad Hatter wield the scythe with terrifying grace, cutting down anyone who dared oppose him. The laughter that echoed through the scenes was both gleeful and heart-wrenching.
Although something in it felt like it was calling to Miles – resonating with him. And he did not let it slide.
"I wanted to fix it," the Hatter said, his tone shifting from whimsical to sorrowful. "To bring it all back. The tea parties, the laughter, the sweet madness that was… home. But they didn't understand."
Miles was yanked from one memory to another, each more harrowing than the last.
And each memory was like a piece of the puzzle falling into place after he had read Alice's diary.
"Says who?" Miles grinned, realization dawning on him.
Memory after memory, he hung on to the fleeting feeling that coursed through his mind as he watched the bloodshed, relieved that the madness of that demented version of the Wonderland he once knew and liked so much, had numbed his senses to the strange mind hex.
"What?" The Hatter's glowing red eyes twitched under the shadow.
"You said they wouldn't understand." Miles went on as he took a step forward, his grin growing larger. "Says who? The shadow of a dead man? The wraith of someone weak enough to be possessed by a weapon?"
Behind the shadow of the Mad Hatter, Miles saw Alice confronting the executioner, her voice shaking with desperation as she stole his hat. He saw the scythe betray its wielder, consuming him in a burst of dark energy, making him whither and crumble to a pile of bones that, soon after, became dust.
"A weakling who depended on a hat to suppress the powers of his own weapon?" Miles staggered forward, gathering all his strength in his next step, to not show his crumbling composure. "I think that's why Alice became the ruler of Wonderland, not you."
The Mad Hatter let out a shriek full of agony, his arms going up and the mouth in his shadowy face gaping open with a red glow within it.
"I NEVER WANTED TO BE THE RULER!" He stomped the dark floor, and Miles had to give it his all so as not to fall to his knees. "I only wanted to vanquish Alice's enemies, to make Wonderland… Pure, once more…"
A laughter escaped Miles' throat, and he recalled the time when he fought the wraith in the cave, in order to set the Rabbit free. For a moment, his heart ached as the memory of the Rabbit's disappearance sank deep into his heart.
Miles wanted to at least apologize for when he had been rude to his furry companion. But he had no time to dwell on it, and so, he stepped forward one more time, and before he could think anything of it, he was face to face with the shadow of the Mad Hatter, his burning red eyes piercing through his every fiber.
"But you were weak, and I won't be." Miles stared back into the Hatter's eyes. "I'll use this power, and fight back every time it tries to use me."
Suddenly, the [Harbinger's Scythe] materialized in his hand, enveloped in black fog. After that, [Mad Hatter's Reflection] appeared from a whirlwind of dark sparks. It turned into a humanoid shadow by Miles' side, and as both Miles and the wraith that once was the Mad Hatter watched, the shadow walked towards Miles, merging to the floor, and settling beneath his feet, as if it had always been there, making Miles now look like he had two shadows.
"Now, the final touch." Miles grinned, determined.
A black top hat appeared on his head, from another whirlwind of black sparks. Miles grimaced as the hat sat on his head perfectly – too perfectly.
Immediately after that, he was enveloped by more black sparks that covered his torso, legs, face, and soon after the sparks dissolved, he was dressed in an eccentric suit, adorned with mismatched patterns. But the clashing colors were replaced now by dark tones of red and black, almost as if the suit's fabric was the color of a bleeding nightfall. And his face now was covered in an elegant sleek mask, adorned only with glowing red eyes, and a slit for a mouth, carved to look like it was stitched and ripped open, its contours glowing with the same red light that burned in the mask's eyes.
The wraith's glowing eyes widened, and it let out a chuckle that soon became maniacal laughter.
"You want to become me, now?" The wraith laughed louder. "That's quite a dangerous gamble…"
"Get out of my head," Miles snarled, striking the wraith down with the [Harbinger's Scythe].
"Oh, so you do catch on quickly, but where's the fun in that?" the Hatter replied, vanishing as though Miles' weapon had done nothing to it, his tone sickly sweet. "You need me, and you'll soon come to realize it, and one day, you will come crawling to me, begging for my help…"
Before Miles could respond, a familiar voice broke through the haze. He opened his eyes, heart pounding in his chest, his head splitting open with a migraine.
"My, my, what a touching reunion."
Miles looked around. Standing at the edge of the greenhouse, where the shadows seemed to deepen unnaturally, the White Rabbit looked at him with a strange expression on his face, its whiskers eerily static.
"Rabbit!" Miles smiled behind the mask, but as soon as he noticed it, he removed the items and sent them back to his inventory. "where have you-"
He stopped speaking as soon as he felt a shiver run down his spine. Something felt off. Miles tilted his head in silence, trying to put his finger on what it was.
Then, his eyes widened.
"Oh, you poor, simple child, you finally get it, don't you?" The White Rabbit tilted his head, his smile razor-sharp. Miles' blood ran cold.
"You've been leading me this entire time…" He frowned.
"Bravo! Took you long enough. You see, I've been searching for something for quite a while now. Something very dear to me." The Rabbit clapped mockingly.
The air grew heavy with malice as the Rabbit extended his hand, as though reaching for Miles.
"Alice's gift. Hand them over, boy. They're not meant for the likes of you."
"What if I say no?" Miles hissed.
"Oh, boy… Here we go…" Cheshire purred. "If you're going to fight the Rabbit, my boy, I wouldn't recommend using me, this time."
"Why?" Miles frowned inwardly, but Cheshire fell silent.
"Then I'm afraid our little partnership has come to an end." The Rabbit's smile widened, and his crimson eyes burned brighter.
The greenhouse seemed to tremble as the Rabbit's form shifted, his silhouette elongating and distorting. The pocket watch in his hand began to spin wildly, its ticking transforming into a deafening roar.
"Tick-tock, Miles," the Rabbit said, his voice reverberating like a thunderclap. "Time's up."
The glass in the greenhouse shattered with a loud noise, and the system echoed in Miles' head:
[Hidden quest: The Rabbit's Gambit]
[Quest Description: Survive]