Twisted Wonderland Prologue: Welcome to the Villains' World

Chapter 16: Egos Clashing

Grim sighs in relief, "This should be far enough, I think?"

Deuce turns to Briar still in Ace's arms, "How are you feeling?"

"A little better now," Briar says, and can tell she's not feeling the headache anymore.

Then turns to Ace, "You can put me down if you wanna rest."

"Sure," Ace says.

Ace then places Briar back on her feet, and she sits on one of the small chairs close by. Trinket flies over and sits on her shoulder in concern.

Ace groans in pain, "Owwwww..." and sits on the other chair.

He then asks, "What was that thing? No one said there'd be anything like that in the mines!"

"You mean, you didn't know?" Sereia asks.

"No. I'm not sure if anyone else knows it either. The mine has been closed out for years, maybe longer," Ace says

"That was no normal ghost, that's for sure," Deuce says.

"It was really scary," Sereia says.

"Whatever that thing is, it made Briar feel very uneasy," Grim says.

Deuce then kneels to Briar and asks, "Briar, what happened back there?"

"Yeah. You were in serious pain, and you even can tell that thing was in the cave," Sereia replies.

"I... I don't know... I sensed some strange energy and it was frightening, so dark, so negative... and so... sad. My head was hurting like I felt it, and I feel like my body is going to get paralyzed," Briar says.

Ace sighs, "Let's just give up and go home. I'll happily take expulsion if it means never having to fight that thing again."

But Deuce disagrees, "What?! Nuh-uh, not happenin'! I'd rather die and get expelled from Night Raven! How can you give up when the stone is right there?"

"Pfft. Big talk from someone who's not even half the mage I am. You want that stone so bad, go get it yourself. I'm out," Ace says.

Deuce then slams his fist in his other hand in anger. "Oh YEAH?! Fine, go back to your coop, you big chicken!"

"Whaaaaa?! Who're you callin' chicken, huh?!" Ace remarks.

Grim, Briar, and Sereia are rather surprised. Deuce seems to act differently. He sounds more aggressive.

Grim is the first to speak up, "Whoa, Deuce... is it just me, or did you, like, turn into a totally different person just now?"

"Huh?!" Deuce reacts.

He clears his throat and says, "Sorry... lost my cool for a second there."

Briar asks, "So what do we do now? The magestone is in the mine, and the only way to get it is to get past that monster."

"And that monster looks really strong," Sereia says.

Then Briar says, "And I think we weren't the only ones in the mine."

Everyone turns to Briar with confused looks.

Ace asks, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if it's my imagination, but I thought I heard someone calling for help. Like, someone's trapped in the mine, and couldn't get out with that monster around," Briar says.

"Then it's all the more reason to go back in there. If someone is in trouble like you said," Deuce says.

"But how?" Sereia asks.