Madness In The Land Behind The Mirror (part 1)

My first Verse-like story. Inspiration initially from Alice Madness Returns AND The Original Alice Books(I'm a teeny bit obsessed with Alice at the moment). Reference from some of my own creations such as *Mirrors and Diamond Dust*,*Hidden and *Lost Control*. For example: The bottles and the mirrors.

THE FIRST SHARD

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Madness but not madness,

Insanity but still sane,

Ignorant but always wary,

I truly wonder who's to blame.

This is not just nonsense,

This is not just play,

For what was not to be, seems to be,

My mind alone had gone astray.

Behind my mirror of light,

Where one steps through the glass,

Sliding pass the numerous cracks,

I had begun to relive the past.

A dream within a dream,

Regardless awake or asleep,

Visions so clear, so very real,

From behind the rusted back frame, did i peep.

The land was barren,

Colors of blacks, browns and greys,

The Monstirmae had growled in the distance,

Its echo, lasting for 23 whole days.

The path was paved with teeth it seemed,

For who would be so generous but to give?

Where it lead, i had no idea,

The more i walked, the more dead it seemed,

Nothing appeared to live.

There came a sign made of floating blood,

Suspended in letters so big and bright,

To the north was the Black Queen, herself,

To the east, the Mad Bloodshedder took to life.

"Neither seems pleasant", I told myself,

What could this tom foolery be?

A monarchy of chess pieces always at war,

Wiping out life as far as the eye could see?

"Everyone's mad here", I said out loud,

To which i expected no answer,

The March Executioner seemed to have heard,

Of which he sprang to his feet at the sound of my words.

He worked for the Black Queen,

He hissed to me,

That speaking such things would cost me my head,

Not that it mattered to him,

For he preferred everybody gone and dead.

Bound to her orders,

Not a hair on my mad little head could he harm,

But ushered me to the borders of Queensland,

And assured me of the Black Queen's menacing charm.

I wandered a bit off the path,

Splitting into 8,

So many ways to travel,

But which one would bring me to the gates?

I like my head on my shoulders,

Where they rightfully belong,

But maybe SHE knows what happened here,

Of what went terribly wrong.

I came across a skeleton so big,

Strange as it would seem,

Cogs and wheels were embedded in his bones,

Oh, what a strange strange dream!

"Whose work is this?"

I said as I played with a wheel,

A corpse-like cat, so black and thin,

Offered to answer me if i made a deal.

To Destroy the King of Spades,

That lay in Kingsdome to the west,

When it came to cruelty and mutilation,

The Black Queen was far from being the best.

"And why should i help you?, I said,

Why listen to a cat?"

"Because you've said it yourself, we're all mad here,

Assist your kin, and that it that."

"The Land Behind The Mirror,

Twas you that made the change,

For those whom fell victim to your pain,

Its only natural, that its you we blame.

Those bottles of sorrow and fury,

You kept within that broken heart,

Where do you actually think it all went?

Look around you for a start!

The mutation began,

It started lethal and slow,

Our survival became most important,

Your self-abuse took its toll,

The contents of those bottles,

Filled our hearts so black,

A new evil reigns here,

Yet you've so conveniently come back."

"So all this is my fault,

Is that what you're trying to say?"

"But of course, its not often for,

Mere reflections to betray.

They show more truth,

Then the objects in which they echo,

Same goes for that mirror of yours,

As if you didn't already know..."