by Greg Dragon
Alysia in Wonderland
Knights and Demons - Book 6
Greg Dragon
http://gregdragon.com
Copyright © 2016
Thirsty Bird Productions
This is a book of fiction. Names, characters, and situations are of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to people, places, or crimes is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted without the express written consent of the author.
Chapter One
There were birds chirping in the thick black leaves above where Alysia Knight lay. She didn’t know how long she had been out, or where she was for that matter, but the thing that stuck out the most was that her shoes were missing. She probed her mind for some sort of reminder. Where had she been, what was she doing, and where was she now?
The smell of the woods was a thick, moldy, rank smell, and it was dark, so dark in fact that she barely saw the striped black and red snake that slithered across her legs. She held her breath and watched it go, but when it was almost past her she had to stifle a gasp. Were those spikes on the end of its tail? What sort of snake was that?
Her heart was racing now, and she looked down at her hands to see if the armor would start forming. Typically when she was anxious or afraid, silvery armor would appear at her fingertips and worm its way up her fingers, then hands, until her entire body was covered. But there was no armor, not even the faintest feeling that there would be any, and this more than anything else made her worry.
The canopy of black leaves blocked out the entire sky, but through the black peeked areas of yellow in different shapes and sizes. It was the cloudless sky, pushing light through that dense thickness to form tiny spotlights on the forest floor. Alysia noticed this and wondered how it was that she was in Yalem, the demon world. The yellow sky was its signature as well as the strange creatures that she was now able to see.
She sat up and dusted her legs off, noticing that she was in khaki shorts and a green t-shirt. What happened to my hakama? she wondered, and where the hell is my sword? Her mind went back to her fight with Hope, but there was a blank area beyond her victory that would not clear up no matter how hard she tried.
A noise brought her around and she sprang into action. Laying back, she pulled her knees over her head and then threw them up and out, performing a kip-up that landed her on her feet. The spiked snake skittered away rapidly, and the sounds of the forest shrank to a deep silence that made her skin start to crawl. Then there were branches breaking and twigs snapping as something large and heavy bore down on her position.
Alysia thought about running, or scrambling up a tree, but since she knew that the armor would protect her, she stayed still and prepared herself for a fight.
By the time the creature was onto her she had thought better of staying, but she was too late in plotting an escape by the time it got to her. Eight misshapen legs, oddly human in shape, supported a large, round abdomen bristling with thick black hair. On top of this chaotic blend of monstrous wrongness was a muscular set of shoulders that extended into arms and hands that gripped a wicked spear. There was no head but in its place was a gaping maw of teeth that ran in rows.
It bore down on its prey with the speed of a seasoned cage fighter, but Alysia was ready for it and was not disturbed by its appearance. She jumped to the side, out of the way of the spear as it struck the ground where she once stood. It pulled the spear back and thrust it down again in rapid succession, jabbing and poking, intent on running her through. On the fourth thrust, Alysia grabbed the haft, just above the area where it connected to the blade. She thrust her foot out at the center, snapping it in two, and spun around to face the creature with the bladed half in her hands.
It isn’t a sword but it will do, she thought as she watched it reel back and thrust at her before realizing that its weapon was no longer usable. The creature screamed in fury when she did this, and skittered around rapidly, trying to get behind her. Alysia stepped back into a deep crouch and then began stepping from one foot to the next in a form of capoeira ginga.
She circled with the creature, keeping it in front of her, then slid in with her right foot forward, spun acrobatically while parallel to the ground, and thrust forward with blinding speed, shoving the spear deep into its abdomen. When she struck her mark she planted a foot against it and somersaulted backwards to land and continue her ginga.
The monstrous arachnid pawed at its abdomen, trying to pull out the spear. Green blood poured from the wound as it retched, and Alysia cartwheeled forward and launched herself into the air, striking the creature in the abdomen with one foot and shoving the spear deeper with the other. The resulting screech was so loud it was deafening, and after landing from her attack, Alysia decided that it was a good time to make her escape.
She took off sprinting through the black woods and though she had no sense of where she was going, she intended to run until she could no longer hear those screams. That was when she realized that something large was running next to her through the trees. She saw an area ahead where the forest opened up and the light from the sky shone down like a spotlight.
The noise from before stopped and she could no longer hear the screaming. Alysia found this odd and steeled herself for something terrible—which was the standard follow-up to an unnatural silence like this. A masked man flew through the air towards her and Alysia saw that he had a sword above his head. Instinctively, she performed a back handspring to get out of his way, then landed with her fists balled up, ready to take him on. Still, there was no armor, and she began to wonder if all of her gifts from the year before had been taken away.
She had been the chosen defender of earth when giants and demons came to destroy humanity. The call had been made and she had answered, killing over five major demons and countless lesser variations that crossed her path. With every major demon killed she had been given a reward. A razor-sharp katana, a full suit of armor, and the ability to fly. Now the armor was missing along with the sword, and she knew that if she tried to fly she would stay grounded. She was little more than human again, and she wondered if her appearance had gone back to normal.
The demon landed from his jumping swipe, catching air where Alysia would have been before her handspring. He raised the sword again and then ran towards her to finish the job. His skin looked like the blackened surface of magma inside of a volcano. It had the same cracks that exposed a fiery red, and his eyes were glowing coals of absolute hate.
Alysia didn’t think it would be safe to touch him in any kind of way, even if that touch was a balled-up fist against his jaw. A touch would probably lead to third degree burns, or she would be poisoned by whatever that steam was that floated off of his body. She cartwheeled to the side, grabbing a stripped branch as she went through the motion. She got to her feet just in time to deflect the demon’s sword, then lifted the branch and waited for his next move.
As the demon raised the blade again to cut her down, the light from above seemed to intensify. Suddenly something large and silver fell on top of him and he stood up, withdrawing a long, bloodied broadsword from his crushed body. It was the good demon, Lancert, who had visited her so many years ago. The same Lancert who had told her that he was her true father, and had given her the sword, Euphoria.
“Lancert! Good timing,” she gasped and fell to her knees, breathing for the first time since the attack. “Woo, boy. What a day,” she said. “Do you know why it is that I am in Yalem? I can’t remember much of anything, let alone traveling here.”
“Alysia. Daughter. I am so sorry that you are here, but this is a result of Chaos twisting the rules.”
“Rules? What rules?” Alysia asked
as she stood up and dusted herself off to face him.
“The rules of the conflict between Erts and Turevila. My wish was that after destroying Hope you would be able to remain in the world with your gifts and help to rebuild it somehow. Unfortunately we waited too long, and though your actions halted Chaos’s plans, they came with an unfortunate side effect.”
Alysia furrowed her brows and stared up into his chiseled, dark brown face and asked, “What side effect?”
“The world as you know it has ceased to exist, and a parallel version has taken its place instead.”
“What? Is my father still alive at least? Is he okay?”
“Yes, he is happily at home with his wife and daughter.”
Alysia thought about what he said for a time and then decided that it wasn’t enough. If there was anything she had learned from her time with Chaos it was that demons spoke in half-truths. Being that Lancert was a demon like the rest, she didn’t trust him to tell her everything.
She crossed her arms, stood up straight, and cocked her head like a bird on high alert. “Wife and daughter, huh? So, there is another version of me at home being cared for by my mom and dad, right now? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Yes, but James’s wife is now Tracy McLeay-Knight, and their daughter’s name is Destiny. Your mother, Kendra, is married to a man named Thomas Ross. They don’t have any children, currently.”
Alysia felt a painful lump in her throat and she cleared it unconsciously. The thought of James Knight—the father who had loved her, raised her, and trained her in the martial arts—being removed from her life was a painful thing to consider even with the bonus of hearing that her mother was alive.
“So where am I in this reality?” she asked quietly, her voice barely higher than a whisper.
“You were never there, Alysia—”
“CeeCee. Call me CeeCee. The Alysia thing is weird, and I’m not used to people calling me that.”
“You were never there, CeeCee,” he said matter-of-factly, as if he were merely telling her that it was a little warm outside.
“So, I saved the world by giving up my life and identity. Would have been nice to have a choice there, but Mom’s alive, so...” She glanced up at Lancert with a look of desperation. “What happened to Isobel and Jasmine? Does this mean that Jaime is alive, and Debdan and Koko?”
“Your friends are alive and doing well in their respective lives. As to the demon girls—the ones who you rescued from Chaos—they are here in Yalem, living free, and they owe you a debt of gratitude for that opportunity.”
“So why are you here now, Lancert, since all is well? I seem to be the only one who got screwed in this deal, so what bad news have you come to give me?”
“Alysia, listen. Since your original deal was made with Chaos, he was the one who got to decide your fate. It was a terrible oversight. We thought that it would be us. We would have given you options, one being the choice of reversing time and wiping your memory of all this.” He gestured with disgust at their surroundings. “You would simply wake up from a nap thinking that it was all a dream.” He sighed loudly before continuing, “But Chaos needs you, Alysia. So instead of accepting defeat, he flipped the worlds and took your soul.”
“You make it sound as if I have a way out,” Alysia said, not wanting to consider a future where this off-colored world would be her reality.
“There just might be, but the chances are slim at best. The Erts have a mission for you, and success will break the link between our worlds and set right the things that Chaos caused.”
Alysia said, “Right itself? What does that even mean?”
“It means that Chaos will no longer be able to access the gate, and it might reverse itself to a point and time before his attack.”
“Or a point in time when you used the gate to sleep with my mother,” she said absent-mindedly. “And, I won’t exist, just like the reality that is going on right now. What exactly would I get out of doing that?”
“It’s a gamble, Alysia, but what else can you do?”
She thought about his question for a long time and realized he was right. She could accept her fate as a soon-to-be general of Chaos’s army, or help the Erts to destroy his plans. There was no third option.
“I have a question,” she said suddenly, and Lancert gave her a reassuring smile. “Can you guys die? Or is this like Greek mythology where you are all immortal and playing war with one another?”
Lancert seemed to think on this for a very long time. So long, in fact, that Alysia wondered if he’d heard her or if he was mentally communicating with another Ert.
“Yes,” he said finally and she looked at him, confused.
“Yes, you are immortal, or yes you aren’t immortal? Which is it?”
“There is no death for us. That is, If we were to compare it to the passing of a human being. When we ‘die’, you see, the body goes into a long state of sleep and recovery while the soul must travel through the fiery underground towards the lake of healing. This journey can take up to one thousand of your earth years and is the biggest inconvenience we can suffer. A lot of things can change during that time period. Power structure changes hands, your chosen mate chooses another, and your land can be stolen and your physical body relocated.”
“Okay, Lancert, TMI on the demon afterlife. I just needed to confirm that you could actually die but from what you’re saying, that isn’t the case. So basically you, Chaos, and the greater demons here are gods.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Lancert said, and unclipped a bundle from his belt. When he unwrapped it, Alysia recognized her sword. “When Chaos stole you here and stripped your powers, he left this. It is an Ert weapon, and he’s not able to corrupt it. You will need it more than ever now that you are on this side, but I have no doubt that you will be okay.”
Alysia was so excited that she actually grinned. “Thank you! I missed Euphoria. She has kept me alive for a very long time. Now what will you and your Erts have me do? I’m ready to do just about anything to return to my world.”
Lancert nodded solemnly and looked off through the dark trees. “There’s a small village about five miles in this direction. Look for an old woman named Lenorela. She will be able to give you all the details.”
“Is this Lenorela an Ert, like you?” she asked.
“No, Lenorela is a witch, but once she sees that sword, she will know what to do.”
Chapter Two
At first glance the demons of the village looked like regular human beings to Alysia. There were no horns protruding from their heads, and they were all dressed in the way that she assumed people in a village would dress. When Lancert told her that the village would be small, she assumed he meant several blocks scattered around a square, but what she saw was no more than 30 buildings arranged neatly around a tall black monolith.
After her meeting with the Ert she had made her way out of the dark forest and took to the trail that he said would take her to the village. The path was a dirt road bordered by tall, emerald green grass, and there was a soft, sandy texture to the dirt that felt like heaven on her soles. She walked at a brisk pace, admiring the tall mountains that were all around her and the odd rock formations that surrounded the village.
One of the villagers saw her and gave her a wave, and her suspicions softened when she recognized that he was a child. She slowed her pace, wanting a bit more time to think, and thought about everything that had happened prior. She felt sorry for herself. There was nothing in any of the happenings of the last year that was her wish or desire. She had simply been born, trained in martial arts—which she would readily admit to loving—and then thrust into a demon war as soon as she was old enough to be considered an adult.
Were it up to her, she would be in her second or third year of school by now. Learning more about life, journalism, and … she’d have a love life, a prospect that now seemed so far out of the picture that it made her sad. Like most
girls who grew up in a household with both parents present, she wanted that ideal for her own future. At no time in her plans for life leading up to her 20th year had there been anything about wielding old swords, dodging demons, and saving the earth.
Where was the CeeCee in all of these events that were so darned important and beyond her reasoning? Was it selfish to want at least something for herself? It hurt, and even more so when she considered that even if she could go back home now, no one would know who she was. Her father and mother had separate families, and Jaime wouldn’t know her from any other random girl.
Then there was Tracy. The thought of the redheaded warrior of a cop who had saved her life countless times brought her to the brink of tears. She had been so upset with her for falling in love with her father that she hadn’t taken the time to thank her. She owed her more than she liked to admit and had lashed out at her continuously when she probably should have been nice to her. Now the chance was gone forever, and Tracy McCleay continued her life as the apple of James Knight’s eye, this time without the angry daughter in tow.
She wondered what their baby Destiny looked like. She hoped that she looked a little like her. Life was filled with ironies like that, and she wouldn’t be surprised if Destiny was her exact replica. But unlike her, little Destiny would be able to have a full, mundane life. She wouldn’t have to witness her university be demolished by giant demons, taking out all of its students and faculty. She almost laughed at the thought; it still felt absurd.
Alysia’s thoughts had caused her to lose focus as she walked, and when she drew near the large rocks that held the gate leading into the village she was quite surprised to see a crowd of people waiting for her.
“See!” the boy from before shouted to the people. “I told you that she wasn’t a Mee’ir!”
There was some grumbling from the crowd in response to this but she couldn’t make out what was being said.
