Ch.2: Welcome to Wonderland

Opening her eyes again, Rhia saw herself seated at a decorated tea table with nine other children. The setup was placed in the middle of a garden where various flowers bloomed. Looking up, she saw that the sky was blue and beautiful with clouds.

A puff of purple clouds at the end of the table drew the kids' attention. When the clouds cleared, they saw a man dressed in a fancy dark purple striped suit with his lips and eyeshadow the same color.

"Welcome, adorable children, to the fun land of Wonderland! Our Queen has been desperate to have new playmates!" Despite the heavy makeup, the man was kind of handsome looking as he joyfully announced with a clap of his hands and a snake-like smile.

In contrast to what she thought, Rhia did not get a good vibe from him, feeling as if something was off about him, and she made sure to have her guard up just in case things went south.

"To celebrate this joyful event, here are some delicious cakes and fruit juice! Please dig in!" The man gestured to the various crafty desserts that overfilled the table. Each one looked more tempting than the last. Even Rhia, a die-hard sweet fanatic, had a hard time resisting.

The kids were hesitant at first, but there was always one idiot who never thought things through and rushed into danger. One of the boys happily stuffed his face with petite cakes before reaching for the cup of juice.

"Wow! This is delicious!" the boy praised with a big dopey smile, and with these words, others surrendered and began following in his footsteps.

'Something is not right!' Rhia's instinct screamed at her not to eat or drink anything on the table.

"Very good children! The Queen will be pleased to have more servants!" A wide devious smile stretched across the man's face, followed by a series of agonizing screams that belonged to the children who had eaten from the table.

Rhia screamed when she saw the boy who ate first clutching at his chest. His face turned deathly pale when fur grew all over his skin. Rhia watched from her front-row seat as the boy and many others transformed into giant growling teddy bears.

The human-turned-teddy bears had jeweled eyes and aristocratic suits and dresses. Each was armed with spears that they used to attack the other children who had not eaten. It had only been five minutes, yet the tea table had become chaotic.

"Yes, darling little children. Forfeit your lives to our queen!"

The man in the suit cackled like an unhinged maniac before disappearing in the same fashion he appeared. Instead of bleeding out or dying as Rhia had expected, those who got stabbed were turned into giant teddy bears.

Rhia was frozen with fear when a set of those gleaming jewel eyes spotted her. Once its eyes were locked on her, it dashed in her direction.

"Run!" a voice called out, grabbing her hand and running off with her.

While running for their lives, the two stumble onto a black and white checkered print road. But as they ran, giant suit cards jumped out of the bushes of the maze. They, too, were wielding spears, and one got close to stabbing Rhia.

"They're gaining on us!" cried Rhia, unaware of the spear flying towards the back of her head.

"Look out!"

The boy whose hand she was holding pushed her down and rolled them over just in the nick of time before the spear could stab her head. Rhia's eyes met those of her savior, and were stunned by the other's sparkling set of ruby eyes. The boy's hair was crimson red and was worn in a small low ponytail that rested over his left shoulder.

Rhia wasn't the only one doing an analysis. The same went for the ruby-eyed boy as his eyes ran over her before his tan cheeks flushed dark with color.

"S-Sorry!" The boy scrambled to get off of her.

"Don't worry about it!" she reassured him before grabbing his hand and continuing to run.

"Quickly! Over here!" The children saw a bunny in a suit standing ahead near a large tree with a hole at the bottom.

'Really? A rabbit?' Rhia stared at the rabbit in disbelief but quickly made up her mind.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" the boy timidly asked Rhia upon seeing the direction she was leading them.

"Either the talking bunny or the spear-wielding card suits and creepy bears! Take your pick!" The boy's silence answered Rhia's question, choosing the talking bunny.

The card suits picked up their speed as the children got close to the hole. Lifting their spears, they launched them through the air, but it was too late. The children quickly dived inside the tree hole, with the bunny following them.

Rhia screamed as they descended the long checkered print tunnel. Feeling as if she was on a slide, it twisted and curved. She somehow remained unharmed from all of the clocks floating in the air.

''We're almost there, dear Alice!" the bunny said to her once there was an opening up ahead. The tunnel spit them out, and Rhia was happy to be standing on soil again.

"Huh? Mr. Bun-Bun, what happened to my clothes? And did you call me Alice? My name is Rhia!"

Mr. Bun-Bun paid her zero attention. Rhia was now wearing an outfit that starkly resembled the famous Alice of the original story, except her dress was purple with more goth elements.

Shooting a glance at her companion, he too was sporting different clothes—black trousers with a formal red shirt and black vest. While looking at him, Rhia realized he was a classmate of hers. A boy who kept to himself and was rarely seen around any friends.

'He reminds me a little of my past self.' Rhia felt empathy for the boy and made a decision. The boy saw Rhia turn towards him and was confused when he saw her stretch out her hand toward him.

"My name is Rhia! What about yours?" she introduced herself, taking in his shocked expression.

'Has anyone ever shown him kindness?' Rhia pondered.

"I-It's Alex!" the boy shyly stuttered, bangs covering most of his eyes, unable to meet her gaze.

"Cute!" Rhia blurted without shame, causing the boy to finally meet her gaze with flushed cheeks.

"Alright, Alex, since we're stuck together, let's be friends!" Rhia smiled, watching the poor boy turn into a ripe tomato.

"Friends with me? You don't find me gloomy or weird?" The puzzled boy pointed at himself.

"You're just an introvert, and there's nothing wrong with that! So what do you say? Would you like to be friends with me, Alex?"

The boy became so excited that his eyes sparkled, eagerly nodding his head. Rhia laughed and shook the boy's hand.

"We must make haste!" Too bad a talking rabbit ruined the commencement of their new friendship.

"I must sneak you into the palace so you can finally confront the Queens of Hearts and restore peace to Wonderland!" the bunny urgently said to her

"Me?!" Rhia disbelievingly pointed at herself. "I'm sorry, Mr.Bun-Bun, but that sounds like a 'you' problem!"

"Only with your powers can the world be restored to peace!" Mr. Bun-Bun didn't hear a word she said; if he did, he wasn't backing down, eyes shining with determination.

"Mr. Bun-Bun, I believe you got the wrong protagonist. I'm just a cannon fodder who wants to live," droned Rhia.

"With your strength and bravery, you will rescue the folks who the murderous Queen of Hearts has imprisoned and restore peace to Wonderland!"

"That's how I know you're BSing me because I'm brave, but I'm not that brave. And how did this suddenly turn into a rescue mission?!"

Rhia was quickly becoming frustrated but calmed herself down and analyzed her situation.

'There's only one way we can escape, and it is by beating the boss.' While Rhia was in deep thought, with impressive strength, the bunny began dragging them toward an oddly shaped red and black castle that stood in the distance.

'This isn't the first time a dungeon gate has randomly appeared. There have been numerous similar incidents with innocent people, like the protagonist's mother, falling victim to them.'

Defeating a dungeon boss does not close a gate. There are people outside of the prophecy who have conquered a dungeon boss, such as hunters and knights, people who take on the dangerous task of traveling inside dungeons, finding out new information, and defeating the boss before things get worse.

The gate is suspended when the boss is defeated. This is only a temporary situation since seals do not last forever. Most seals break once a dungeon has re-entered animation. This is why the people of this world are desperate for the champions to appear, as they are the only ones who can stop gates from ever reawakening.

'Except there's a problem! I'm no protagonist with OP powers nor a trained hunter or knight. The only good thing about this messed up situation is that most newly opened dungeon gates are Level D. Home to weak-level monsters that even beginner hunters or grade 5 knights should have no problem defeating. But… I never fought a day in my life. So I'm screwed either way.'

Rhia sighed at her depressing situation only to notice that while she was in her thoughts, she somehow ended up inside an air duct vent.

'When did I get here?!' Rhia asked herself, glaring at the bunny fuzzy tail.

"The prison should be right up ahead!" the bunny whispered to them, but before they could take another step, a blade sliced through the air duct, and they fell.