Wonderland

The world of Wonderland was unlike the world of Earth. Though they were neighbors and were both around the same size, the two realms were nothing but different. While Earth held rules and had presidents and policemen and jails, Wonderland had wide-open forests and large creatures free to roam about without fear. Small towns were scattered about, but large cities were sparse. Not that they didn’t exist. They were simply hard to find. Those who created large and populous cities wanted to keep them intact, so they usually cast a spell to keep the city hidden from outsiders. A clever tactic for survival and advancement. The small towns and settlements had no such charm to them. They were messy and the people who lived in them were often sour and hated everyone and everything.

Wonderland had no rules. It was a place where one could quite literally kill hundreds and skip happily along the road without fear of prosecution or a death sentence. And you’re probably thinking something along the lines of, “Well, if there are no rules, then how does anything get done? If people are randomly killing each other, then how is it a safe place to be?” Well, Wonderland did not have rules or laws, but there was someone who self-proclaimed themselves as the watcher of a small town called Edgerest. Edgerest had a population of 500 magical and non-magical citizens. This “watcher” was known very well among the public of Edgerest. They were swift and quick and feared among those who caused violence for no good reason.

They were also very...well...crazy.

The “watcher’s” name was Jester Angelica Hull, and if you knew Jester, you’d want to stay far away from her. She was kind and loved animals and bugs, which are all great qualities. But Jester was also clinically insane. That may be a result of her being an eighteen year old demon, but who knew? She talked to herself, got excited over the smallest things, and deeply enjoyed eating peanut butter straight from the jar with nothing but a spoon. She had been this way since birth, and it didn’t bother her. Nothing bothered her. You could insult her straight to her face and she would laugh and give you ideas for insulting her more. That was just how she was. She adored her friends and loved spending time with them. Jester was, in all honesty, a friendly person. She just tended to get too ahead of herself. She’d tell you as much.

Jester had lived in Wonderland all her life. From a tiny kid with ratty red hair to a slim teenager with her red hair neatly kept. She liked to think that every morning when she woke up, Wonderland was waking up, too. Just for her. Of course it wasn’t. That’s just what her brain told her.

Edgerest was a humble town with very little to brag about. It had one bar, one store that rarely held anything other than bread and water, one rundown park, one apartment complex that looked more like a strife and bombed war zone and a road that ran straight through everything. Wonderland didn’t have cars, but instead had carriages with regal horses of varying sizes. The roads themselves needed work. They were cracked and jagged and had so many bumps that most carriages broke and some horses would even break their legs. To fix it, people had simply put cardboard over the potholes.

It was never daytime in Wonderland. It was always night time. A strange thing, really. Never a sun, only a moon. However, the moon itself was bright enough to act like the sun. It cast its pale blue-grey glow over the lamp-lit sidewalks and broken roads. The slightly eerie glow lit up the dark corners, preventing anyone from hiding themselves in the blackness. However, though the glow was nicely bright, it did not brighten every dark space there was in Edgerest.

Jester herself, in her demonic glory, sat crouched at the edge of a dark alley, her red eyes alight with silent glee. Her pointed, elf-like ears picked up on every miniscule sound that Edgerest brought. They twitched when sounds drew closer, and stayed still the farther they got. A wide smile resided on her face, and showed no signs of going away. Her fingers drummed against each other, as if she were waiting for something. Jester had a never-ending string of patience, so she was never in a hurry for anything. She liked to wait for things to come to her rather than drop everything to come to it.

A light sigh sounded beside her, and her smile grew wider. “You didn’t have to come, Lenix. You said you had things to do.”

“I lied.” Lenix said flatly, then moved to crouch down beside her, his long, slim demon tail swishing along the paper-littered ground. Lenix was a demon like Jester, though he was much more evolved. With pitch black skin and blinding white hair, piercing red eyes, and an overall intimidating look to him made Lenix a rather scary individual. But he and Jester had been friends since Jester was a mere child. Lenix was immortal, and Jester would soon become immortal once she turned 20. All demons in Wonderland worked that way. While there weren’t very many demons still alive, the immortal factor never vanished. Jester had made a game of asking Lenix how old he was every time they met, and he always gave her the same stiff response of minding her own business. She had also questioned quite frequently on how he had a tail and she did not, and Lenix couldn’t count the number of times he had answered that question. Male demons had tails and female demons did not. It was a simple concept that Jester, bless her heart, just couldn’t seem to grasp.

Lenix eyed the street before them, watching carriages trot past slowly. “What is it exactly that you are waiting for?”

“I’m waiting for crime.” Jester said, licking her lips like a salivating dog.

Lenix chuckled. “Crime? Do you really think someone is going to commit a crime in the most populated area of Edgerest?”

“You don’t know how bad guys think!” Jester stuck her finger into Lenix’s cheek. “They could attack at any moment. I must be alert!”

“You do realize you’re not an official protector.” Lenix said, raising an eyebrow at her determination to a title that didn’t really exist.

“Don’t be mean, Lenix.” Jester stood, brushing off her knees. “This is serious. I need to keep an eye on these people. They’re too weak to protect themselves, you know that.”

“They’re just random humans who migrated here,” Lenix stood as well, stuffing his hands into his sweater pockets. “Why do you insist on watching every move they make?”

“Because, Lenix, it’s important! I’m a hardened fighter on the brink of insanity with nowhere to go and nowhere to run, so I must use my skills to protect people.” Jester placed her hands on her hips, smiling proudly at the sky.

Lenix shook his head. “You really need to stop watching cop movies.”

“Look, Lenix!” Jester interrupted, grabbing a firm hold on his chin. She jerked his attention to a shop across the street. It was an old shop that didn’t get much in the way of attention, and only sold antiques. Antiques that were worth almost nothing in Wonderland and billions on Earth. It was natural for Wonderlandians to take such valuables through the special portals set up in specific locations, allowing them to travel from Wonderland to Earth in the blink of an eye. The portals had been in function for years, and maintenance on them was fairly poor. They often glitched and sent the users to completely different planets, or shooting them into the abyss of space. Some worked perfectly fine, and sneaky Wonderlandians used them to sell their Wonderland goods for a very large profit.

There, at the front of the shop dressed in all black, was a figure who appeared to be picking the lock. All the shops closed at a specific time and opened at a specific time. A law set by the ruler of Wonderland, who no one knew. Lenix squinted over the distance between them and the shop, then sighed, rolling his eyes. “They could be the owners of the shop. Just a peaceful citizen entering their own establishment.”

“Or,” Jester began, eyes wide with mischief. “They could be breaking in to kill the actual owner and steal all the goods.”

“I truly believe you are reading this situation wrong.” Lenix pried her fingers off of his face and took a step back. “Let’s just watch and see what he does before we fly at him with kicks and punches.”

The two demons watched closely as the unknown figure worked with the doorknob, his body jerking as if he were trying to rip the door from its hinges. Jester tapped her foot, her eyes narrowed in excited anticipation. Her eagerness to pick a fight was one of her strengths and weaknesses. She loved a good dust-up, and in the end she would always come out the winner, what with her unchecked demon strength combined with her raw power. But she often caused a lot of damage to surrounding areas, like a bull in a china shop. Jester always complained about never having anything fun to do, so picking fights was her way of dealing with boredom.

The figure finally achieved what they were after, as the door was pushed open quite roughly. Jester perked up and broke into a wide smile. “Ha! See, Lenix! I told you it was a criminal!”

Lenix blinked, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Go crazy. Break however much glass you want, but I’m staying out of this.”

“You’ll miss all the fun!” Jester pouted. Then she patted him on the head. “But you do you. I’ll bring you back a souvenir.”

“You’re just going across the street!” Lenix replied, but she had already taken off, her short red and black steam punk dress bouncing with each step she took. He sighed and slouched forward, his tail now limp against the ground. “She never listens to me.”

Jester skipped across the street, dodging carriages swiftly before tip-toeing into the shop after the mysterious figure. The shop was dark, with no light to aid Jester in her search. Shelves stacked to the ceiling with mugs and glass bowls and Russian nesting dolls were placed all around her. Dust decorated most of the surfaces like a blanket, and Jester ran her finger along it, then licked it. “Hm. Yep, he’s definitely in here.”

The sound of a sneaker scuffing against the ground made Jester jerk her head to the left, her red eyes glowing in excitement. If she had a tail like Lenix, it would be wagging. In the dust-ridden shop of no return, Jester made her way around shelves and slipped past old statues with large chunks missing.

“Jester falls on dark times as a peacekeeper,” Jester spoke, keeping her voice quiet and level. “All alone, just her and the villain. What will happen next? Who knows? She walks along, knowing she’s heading into danger but doesn’t care. Her mind is set. Her decision has been made. Only time will tell how this turns out. Will Jester reign triumphant? Or will she fall in defeat at the hands of this new menace?”

The sound of shattering glass made Jester squeak, flailing her arms as she hid behind a statue shaped like a tiger. When no other sounds surfaced, Jester slowly leaned forward, peaking her head around the side of the tiger’s muscular leg. In a small pool of moonlight from a window up above, fragments of a porcelain dish lay scattered like a Pollock painting. Jester cocked her head to the side, then emerged herself from the statue. Stepping over, she bent down and picked up a piece, turning it over in her hands. The small piece held an ornate gold band drawn at the bottom, and what looked like red flowers painted along the sides. Jester smiled as she ran a finger along the severed edge, then flinched slightly when the sharp glass broke through the thin layer of her skin. Bright red blood slowly pooled up before Jester fell into a full-blown panic.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” She jumped to her feet, discarding the shard of glass as if it were nothing. She frantically ran around the shop, holding her injured finger away from her body as if it were infected. Her eyes were wide in horrendous shock, and her brain fumbled for an action that would stop the bleeding.

Looking around, Jester beamed when she spotted a black cloth a few feet from her. She darted towards it and rubbed it along her fingertip, making sure not to miss a single drop of blood on her hand. When she was confident the wound had been successfully cleaned, and stepped back and looked at her finger. There was no blood in sight, as well as a cut. In her panicked haste, Jester had forgotten that demons heal rather quickly. She stared at her hand in wonder, then burst into laughter.

“Wow, what a silly little me! I can’t believe I actually forgot that! Isn’t that funny?” She gave her finger a quick lick before spinning on her heel to reach out and grab the black cloth. She figured she might as well clean up the glass before continuing her hero duties. After all, it was a hazard to have glass shards just lying about. She grabbed the cloth firmly and gave a light yank. Of course, since Jester’s absent-minded strength was equal to that of an elephant, she ended up hurling a rather large and very loud individual across the room, sending him smashing into a shelf full of glass dolls, each with their own uniquely wild hairdo.

Jester gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening like saucers. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!” She hurried over and grabbed the scrawny leg of the man, pulling him from the heap of wood and glass and fabric. “You know, I’m just too strong for my own good. I was born that way, did you know?” She dragged the unconscious sneak to the front door, easing it open with her foot. “Wow, you have really skinny legs. I highly recommend eating more, honestly. I know this place not far from here, it’s called The 10/6. You’ll love it! They have great food and the people are just downright batsy. What’s your name? You seem like a...Kevin. Yeah, I’m just gonna call you Kevin.”

Flipping the man onto the sidewalk, Jester wiped off her hands and placed them on her hips. “You are charged with breaking and entering. I suggest you find another place of work.” With that, she held out her hand to the man, palm facing downward. A red and pink spiral swirled underneath the limp body dressed in black, forming a circle. The glow stretched along the walls, illuminating the once dark and foreboding china shop behind her. In a flourish, a portal the size of a car on Earth magically appeared. The red and pink luminosity of the sphere intensified, until it surrounded both the man and Jester. Passerby who held no magic stopped to stare in awe and bewilderment, while those who did possess magic, though on a weaker scale, simply ignored the show.

The man fell through the portal, his black-clad figure vanishing from sight. The red and pink swirling glow swallowed him whole, then disappeared just as quickly as the man had. Jester lowered her hand, then smiled at the people staring at her. “Don’t mind me, just doing my duty.”

Mutters and whispers rang out as everyone continued on with their own businesses. The portal that had once lit the town like fireworks was gone just as soon as it had arrived, leaving some to ponder if they had imagined the whole thing.

Lenix arrived at Jester’s side, his hands stuffed in his sweater pockets and an unimpressed look on his face. “Where did you send that poor man?”

“To The 10/6. He looked hungry.” Jester said with a shrug. “Poor thing.”

“He probably doesn’t have any money to buy food, Jester.” Lenix pointed out, his tail flicking behind him

Jester tapped her chin. “Oh. That is a biggie, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you are such a wreck.” Lenix shook his head.

“Oh well, it can’t be helped.” Jester said, her tone one of uplifting happiness. “Now, like every good hero, I must vanish into the night!” And with that, she took off as fast as she could down the sidewalk, jumping over carriages and civilians without a care in the world.

Lenix was conflicted. Not only was Jester most likely on her way to cause more trouble, but there was also now a homeless man at The 10/6 with no money and possibly no idea of where he was. He wanted to keep an eye on Jester, but he also didn’t want to leave that man with no help, since Jester certainly wasn’t going to offer any. Sure, he was a demon, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a heart. With a heavy sigh, he turned and headed in the direction Jester leapt off in. It was safer to be by her side than let her wander off. Lord knows what she could get herself into when mature adults weren’t around.

***

Lumi Valgus Roheline was the bartender at the always occupied bar known as the Top Hat. She was a beautiful young woman of curvaceous figure, with emerald green eyes that sparkled like a thousand fireflies. Her equally green hair was as long as the sun was hot, so it was usually held tightly in an elegant braid fastened with a white hair-tie. A thick strand curved over her left eye, and held a slight transparency to it. Her uniform for her bartending duty called for a white blouse with black leather pants. Lumi didn’t particularly enjoy parading around in skin-tight clothes in front of drunk men, but if she wanted to keep a steady job, then it was a small price to pay. Sure, Lumi understood she was a very attractive woman. Women paid thousands upon thousands of dollars on Earth to look like Lumi did. But she wasn’t one of those girls who believed that their looks were everything. She preferred logic over beauty.

At this time, the bar was the most crowded. Men of all sizes stepped up to the bar, ordering this and that. Lumi smiled at each of them, primarily because she was supposed to, and fulfilled their requests. She had been a bartender at the Top Hat for well over two years, and had become familiar with most of the patrons who came in. Some were kind even when they were drunk, and others were brash and easily irritable. Lumi had learned how to tell the kind ones from the rude ones by how they sat. The kind ones were quiet, usually sitting upright and tapping their fingers nervously on the table tops, as if they were unsure if they should drink more or call it a night. The rude ones were loud and assertive, demanding more drinks for themselves and their comrades.

Lumi stood behind the bar counter, running a red cloth in and out of a glass mug. Tonight was no different than any other night. It was packed as usual, filled with men cheering over one conversation and laughing over another. She liked to listen in, laugh when needed, and learn what interests other people had. It was her way of learning more about people. Learning what their favorite food was or how their date had gone the night before. While some would see it as eavesdropping, Lumi simply saw it as getting to know her customers better.

One such customer stumbled up to the bar, an empty mug clenched tightly in his hand. His words were slurred and he staggered this way and that, which could only indicate a thoroughly drunk Wonderlandian.

He plopped down at an empty bar stool, slamming the mug onto the counter. “Woman, I demand a refill!” He declared with a rough British accent.

Lumi didn’t look up from her task. “No, sir. I am sorry, but you are far too drunk for me to give you anything more. I suggest you head home for the night. Come back tomorrow, if you so wish.”

The man tilted his head to the side, and it seemed like he had not understood a word of what Lumi said. Then he reached over and grabbed Lumi by the wrist, yanking her forward. “I want another drink, dammit.”

Lumi was calm, her gaze portraying nothing but the utmost control. “Sir, as I have already stated-”

“I got this, Lumi Bumi!”

Lumi and the man turned in confusion as Jester herself appeared, a red curtain tied around her neck as a makeshift cape. She grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and pulled him away from the counter. The man grew angry and tried to grab at Jester, but in his drunken state, he was slower and weaker. Jester dragged the man from the counter and out to the sidewalk, tossing his carelessly onto the ground.

“Lumi Bumi is a dear friend of mine, so no touchy, Mister Whatever-Your-Name-Is.” Jester declared with a wide smile. Then she flipped around and went back inside the bar, her head held high. The man stared at her with confused eyes, unsure of what had just taken place. He had never gotten thrown out of a bar before, let alone by a girl half his size.

Lumi crossed her arms, glaring daggers at the teenager that claimed the man’s seat. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“Why? Friends give friends nicknames, that’s the rule.” Jester said, placing her hands neatly between her legs. “You’re Lumi Bumi.”

“No, I’m not.” Lumi said flatly, then returned her attention to cleaning the cups that lay scattered along the counter. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pester with my business.”

“He was gonna beat you up, I could tell.” Jester nodded firmly.

“No, he wasn’t. He was just drunk. And I can take care of myself just fine.” Lumi replied, placing the clean cup on the shelf among the hundreds of other ones identical to it. “I have powers just like you.”

“Not just like me, silly Lumi Bumi. I have lots more power than you do.” Jester laughed, launching a handful of peanuts into her mouth.

Lumi gritted her teeth and bit back a sharp retort. It was true enough, she supposed. Jester was, as far as she knew, the strongest and most powerful resident in Wonderland. Lumi herself possessed powers, but they shied in the bright glow Jester brought wherever she went. Lumi’s abilities consisted of elemental types, such as fire or water or ice. She could generate flames or ice shards from any part of her body, and her innate ability to control nature itself was something she was still getting the hang of. Her control of water was her strongest suit, as she had used that aspect of her powers often as a child. She could also heal people’s wounds, but that took a large amount of her energy, so she refrained from using it. Before she had met Jester, she had believed she was fairly powerful. But then she ran into the certifiably insane teenager on a busy street corner one fateful night, and Jester had been glued to Lumi’s side ever since. Lumi didn’t really mind her presence, though she was quickly angered by Jester’s insistent questioning on every topic available, and Jester’s joy in calling her by her annoying nickname. It was a name Jester had picked out for Lumi a week after they had met, and it had stuck. Lumi was just thankful no one else caught on and called her that.

Jester chewed her peanuts with a thoughtful expression on her face, then snapped her fingers. “Hey, I got a great idea! How about we go to the new club that opened up? I forgot what it’s called, though.” She tapped her chin, deep in though.

Lumi sighed. “Cheshire’s Smile.”

Jester clapped her hands together. “Yes! That’s it! Let’s go there! What do ya say, Lumi Bumi?”

“I say no, I am very busy.” Lumi said with a shake of her head. “Why don’t you take Lenix? I’m sure he’d love to attend an outing with you.”

“Oh, what a great idea! You’re really smart, Lumi!” Jester jumped from her seat and started toward the door. Only to be yanked back to her seat sharply.

“Is this the curtain from my bar’s window?” Lumi questioned, clutching the fabric tightly in her fist.

Jester smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry. I needed to make a dramatic entrance.”

“You took my curtain!” Lumi scolded, then ripped it from Jester’s neck. “My lord, Jester, you could have ripped this. Then I would have to buy a brand new one. I don’t have money for that.”

“The curtain was blocking the window, anyway.” Jester said with a shrug. “No one could see inside.”

“That was the point.” Lumi said through gritted teeth.

Jester laughed. “Oh, you’re super funny, Lumi Bumi. Anyway, I gotta go find Lenix. I’ll see you later!” Then, in dramatic fashion, she skipped from the bar, the doors swinging shut behind her.

Lumi shook her head and began folding up the towel. “I may never understand her.”