Destati

The room was bright, so it caused Maddie some irritation when her large black eyes snapped open. When they finally adjusted, she found herself in a large, acoustic…what seemed like an anteroom or ballroom of some kind. Around her were pitch-black, invisible walls...or were they just very far away? Above her, a skylight that seemed a mile high. Still, the light that poured in around her was as intense as any ordinary, closeby lamp. And what she saw when she looked down was the most peculiar...and the most nostalgically brutal.
A giant, stained-glass platform held her above whatever Limbo-esque dimension this was. The pictures the scattered colors formed vaguely told a story of her homeworld: Wonderland. Many of the town’s most renowned faces stared back or laughed or snarled at her: The old Queen of Hearts, the good Caterpillar, the Queen's rabbit herald and--
She frantically stepped back. Even though, as a picture, he couldn't feel her large boots on his face, she couldn't take any chances. It was her great grandfather Hatter-- just as he appeared in the timeless photographs her family kept in the backroom, before it was too dark to see.
Where was she? Who brought her here?
"Maddison."
She shrieked, startled at this sudden voice that...oddly...didn't make any sounds.
"Do not be afraid. We have not brought you here to harm you."
Was she just imagining these voices? Were they playing tricks on her again? The ones in her head sure knew how to give her a hard time. But this one…seemed friendlier than the others.
She dared to speak with it: "H-have I died?" she stammered.
"No, Maddison, you haven't died. We have brought you to a sanctuary. You are one of the last in our universe to live alongside the Darkness. We need your help."
Well, that escalated quickly. "Why m-me?"
"Your heart is strong."
Her heart was strong? Maddie's head tilted on one ear in confusion, and said: "Is-s that necessary f-for what you need me to help you with-th? Do y-you need it for someth-thing?"
"No, but you do. Your heart is full of a light the Darkness refuse to associate with. You've seen them-- we know you have-- and they avoid you."
"I-indeed they h-have." She stared back at the face of her blood-relative at her feet.
"They took him," said the voice, as if it had eyes to notice her noticing. "They took him and his friends. They took your parents, too."
Oh, the ache that went through her. She was going to be sick—those creatures were so dirty, so horrid. To even consider her fragile parents in one of the bigger one’s disfigured jaws… She looked up in horror: "W-why is this-s happening?"
"They need to feed on those who have any amount of darkness within them. And they'll never be full."
This news struck poor Maddison like a ton of bricks. Her parents hadn't died on their own. And Papa Hatter...
She closed her eyes, and two very large tears rolled off her soft, porcelain face.
"You must avenge them."
"Trust me, I w-want to."
"But you can."
Her eyes opened. "How?"
At that moment, a large, window-like shape materialized in the atmosphere in front of her. Through it, she could see what looked like the old Queen's garden. On a large anvil lay the decapitated corpse of the Seven of Clubs; his back was supporting a gigantic iron axe, nimbly balancing on an angle.
"Find this axe," the voice said, its tone firm; "You will need it to defend yourself."
Maddie swallowed the bit of bile that formed in her throat at the sight of the beheaded card-man. "A-and do what?"
"Fight."
And just like that, the world disappeared into nothingness, and Maddie was stationary in her dusty little bedroom once more.