73 Down The Rabbit Hole

Sora didn't know what to make of anything. He found himself in the endless tulip fields of Amsterdam. It was a beautiful sight, with a single windmill in the distance. A river flowed in between these colorful flower fields. There was a watermill further down the river which had multiple people walking around.

The auras had led him to this place. As he walked across the fields, he finally stopped at an inconspicuous corner. It was near a fence that led to the hills. There was a small hole which was hidden by a brush of flowers. A human could definitely fit. Both auras disappeared in this hole.

".........…" Sora took a deep breath.

He didn't know if he would like what he found inside. It felt like he would fall into a different realm entirely. After putting his hands in his pockets, finally took the leap of faith.

Sora fell through the darkness and the surroundings grew less narrow over time. The walls began to change colors, lighting up the hole with its glow. Black and white squares appeared on the walls…They almost resembled a chessboard.

'It's like I'm falling through a tube. These walls must be the realm's fabric. Oh? They're opening up.' He thought.

Before he knew it, the sleepy man was free falling through a new sky. Sora flipped his body over to get a look. The sun was shining but the stars were still visible. How peculiar.

"Chessboard walls as I enter a new realm. Where have I seen this before?" He muttered.

He flipped his body again to get a look at the surface below. What he saw made him frown. Grey. Everything was grey. The grass, the trees, the dirt, all of it. The young Lockhart eventually pressed the brakes. His momentum slowed until he gently landed on the ground.

Even with his soft landing, the grass beneath him withered into dust. Sora crouched down to grab a stalk of grass. A futile action. It shattered at his touch. Everything was dead.

'What a depressing realm.' He thought.

He could feel something calling for him. Turning in that direction, he began his trek. Not even ten minutes had passed before he found a sign. His eyes widened upon seeing its contents.

'Welcome to Wonderland.' It read.

The young Lockhart immediately felt his heart rate speed up. This was Wonderland! Sora had landed in one of the seven magic lands, known as the Wozenderlands. The land of Oz also existed here. These lands played a huge part in Shazam's canon events. Unfortunately, this wasn't a good discovery.

"Alice in Wonderland." Sora mumbled to nobody in particular.

This place would obviously revolve around her. Depending on the specific universe, it could be good or bad. It was most likely the latter, if her current state was anything to go by. His worries were valid. Directly under the sign was another. He couldn't help but clench his fists.

There was an image of a young little girl. She had a bright smile, with silk black hair. Her beautiful asian features allowed her amethyst eyes to shine like sacred crystals. Her eyes were full of life. Filled with joy. There was a mole below her lips. It was Alice.

A red line was drawn over the image, ruining this picture. Most likely done with a paint brush. Below this was large, sloppy writing.

'PLAGUE' It read.

"At such a young age…"

If this was her home, it was easy to guess how she became the way she was. Everything was grey no matter how far across the horizon one looked. There were no animals, no wildlife, and no people.'

Sora finally continued his trek, eventually finding himself in a forest. What was interesting was that it wasn't trees but mushrooms. A mushroom forest. Unfortunately, it was devoid of life. A single touch and a mushroom tree would cease to exist.

Everyone of the young Lockhart's steps turned the ground to dust. It felt as if he was an entity too strong for this fragile world. The sheer wind of his slow steps caused a mushroom tree to shatter. This caused a chain reaction, and the forest began to unravel.

ROARRRR

A beastly cry resounded further in the forest. Heavy footsteps followed as something sprinted toward him. It was fast. Immediately, a huge creature was closing its maws around Sora's head. The beast was met with a backhand.

SMACK

The large animal flew back into the crumbling forest. It knocked down even more trees during its flight. After this, Sora kept walking. Barely five minutes passed before the beast appeared again. This time, it stopped before him.

The sleepy man finally got a good look. It seemed like a massive bear mixed with a yeti and armadillo. It had six legs, hence the armadillo and could run very fast. Its fur was white, dirtied by the endless dust.

"A Bandersnatch! Or Jabberwock? Hmm…one of those. You're very ugly." Sora commented.

"Arf! Arf!"

It barked a few times before laying down. While panting with excitement, the beast rolled onto its back. The sleepy man could see its tail wagging back and forth.

"Uh…Good boy?"

"Arf!"

The jabberwock wiggled closer on its back, trying to get him to rub it. A slight smile rose on his lips when seeing this creature's actions. It was nice to see some form of life here. Still, that didn't mean he would pet it.

Sora walked past the animal and continued his trek. It followed him the entire way, panting, sniffing, and barking like a dog. The sleepy man decided to ditch it and flashed away.

DING

Past the forest was a wasteland full of broken spears and card soldiers. All of them were red and resembled unique machines. It was a bit whimsical, since they were in the form of cards. 7 of diamonds and whatnot. A massive barricade stopped anything from entering a passage that led to a far off castle.

Before Sora could even float over it, he heard the quick and heavy footsteps again. It only took a few seconds for the jabberwock to arrive in front of him. This hyper energetic animal barked at the young Lockhart before sniffing around the area.

"You're pretty fast. That's a lot of ground you just covered."

"Arf!"

Without looking at him, the jabberwock barked while nudging dead armored cards. They immediately shattered into dust. When it turned to look back at Sora, it froze. The human had disappeared again! It wagged its tail and raced toward the only scent in this realm.

The sleepy man stopped in front of the castle. It had a theme of red and black, with hearts covering the entire structure. Even the main gate was heart shaped.

'Castle of Hearts?' He guessed mentally.

He only needed to blow air for the gate to collapse. Upon making his way in, he noticed the heart shaped bushes, and incredible architecture. There was even a statue of a woman with an incredibly large head. Her head was so big in fact, that it made her body look small. She wore a crown on her head so she was probably the queen.

It was obvious that everything here used to be full of life. The greenery wasn't green anymore. Sora did his best not to ruin them and skirted around it. He soon found his way into a sort of ballroom.

There were at least thirty armored cards in this room. As soon as he walked in, their eyes flashed orange. They immediately locked onto Sora.

"Intruder."

"Um…bring it on then." Sora responded while scratching his head.

As soon as they took a step, they shattered into dust. Their weapons fell from their hands and hit the floor. Just for it to also turn into dust. A dust cloud was the result. The sleepy man had to cover his nose so he didn't sneeze. That would be catastrophic to this castle.

After floating up a spiral staircase, he stopped in front of two massive heart-shaped doors. He couldn't help but frown after going through them. It was a torture room. All types of instruments could be seen on the wall.

Sora grit his teeth. Inside of the cell were tally marks in dried blood. There was no toilet, no bed, and no sunlight. Only cold hard ground. Directly on the tile was more blood writing.

'Why am I a plague? What did I do wrong? Why? Please forgive me. I don't wanna be a plague. Help…Someone save me. It hurts…Someone…Anyone…'

Seeing these words…Sora's face went blank. He could only imagine what it was like here. The tally marks that covered the wall implied that she'd been here for more than…two decades. Judging by the sign at Wonderland's border, it started when she was young.

"It's not fair. I can't even kill the ones responsible. They're already dead." He growled.

Instead of rage, he felt more of a sorrowful anger. Sora held in his energy that was threatening to leak. He couldn't blow this place away yet.

In front of the dried blood lay two glowing gemstones. One was red and the other was orange. The red stone pulsed with red electricity, while the orange stone released a calm light. Sora couldn't help but reach for the stones.

As soon as he touched them…everything went white.

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