Alice in a Land Without Wonder

Ren woke up abruptly, in a cold sweat.

He could not remember the last time he was able to sleep well. Every night, it was one nightmare after another. He looked at the rusty clock on the wall, to see that it was 3am, 2 hours before his shift was supposed to start.

Knowing he could not go back to sleep, he walked out to the balcony, and lit up a cigarette. The only benefit of always being woken up at this time of night was that it was relatively quiet. He could still hear the constant hum of the machinery in the facility facing his window, but at least there were no people in the streets.

If he looked up hard enough and squinted his eyes, he could barely see the moon, through the smog that was still constantly being belched from the factory directly next to his apartment. He took a deep breath of the cigarette, but instead got a lungful of smog instead. Flinging away the cigarette in disgust, he turned away and looked around at the city.

After his recent experiences in Erma, it hit him how out of place he was in this world. In the city, nobody even seemed to care about anything. Nobody even seemed to know about a Demon King. And outside, the old survivors from yesterday were the only ones to have ever recognized him.

There was no point in him being here. Mina’s sacrifice had been for nothing. There was no world left worth saving. Nobody here cared, and most people outside would likely soon be dead.

Fiddling under his jacket, he reached and found what he was looking for. A white flower, still miraculously untouched throughout all these years. Rather than being attached to his clothes, it merely seemed to float above his skin, and was seemingly unable to be crushed or damaged, unless the user themselves removed it.

He placed his fingers gently on the petals, and gave it a tug. Just a little bit more, and soon he would be free. He doubted he had enough magical ability left in him to turn into a demon, so the Necrosis would likely just kill him painfully within a few minutes. Or, he could just jump.

This was not the first time that thoughts like this had crossed his mind. But always, the memory of that sweet autumn day always surfaced in his mind. The good, and the bad.

I have to fulfill the promise I made to her. No matter what.

The Holy Church had likely been destroyed, or at least he could find nothing left when he journeyed there, and he hadn’t seen any members around. But as for the Sacred Garden the flower came from, even he didn’t know where that was located.

Once he could find it, he could lay the flower to rest. 

And then, he would be free.

Free, to die in peace.

__

Yawning, Ren almost fell asleep, almost planting face first into the fryer. He had been barred from taking customer service, which was a relief to him, until he almost cut off a finger in the fry slicing machine, and burnt his hand on the stove.

Each time, the camera on the ceiling noticed his transgression, and his manager soon rushed over. This time was no different.

“Warning. Human meat is only acceptable in the nugget mix on rare occasions. According to regulations, the recipe calls for at least 60% chicken. Failure to comply will result in wage docking.”

Ren sighed, as his manager continued-

“Worker #75493, please also note: Two new employees will soon be coming in. As the only other biological employee in the establishment, you have been assigned to train them. As such, your hours have been increased by 2 daily for the next week.”

“What?!”

“Impolite tone detected. Increasing today’s hours by 1.”

“... Alright. When do they come in?”

“They should arrive 5 minutes from now. In order to motivate you, any infractions on their part will also be shared by you. Please train them well.”

On cue, the bell rang, and two figures walked in.

One, a scrawny young man with black hair, and a youthful, naive appearance, with a very punchable face wearing a sheepish grin. He was dressed in familiar rags, with the uniform on top.

The other he had not seen before, a gold-haired young woman, smiling at him with her hands clasped behind her back. She was wearing their uniform, but, strange as it was to say, it did not fit her. She wore it much too formally, as prim and proper as you could manage to wear a cap and an apron, above a clean and spotless blouse.

If he could muster up the energy to care about his appearance, he would have been ashamed. In contrast to her respectability, he gave off the image of a person who did not shower and had no spare change for extra clothes. Those were both true, so it was a very accurate image.

The young man waved at him- “Ren! It’s me, Merrit! I-”

He ushered them outside, where the cameras couldn’t see.

“Yes, yes, I know it’s you. I wish it wasn’t…”

The other one gave him a kindly smile, and curtsied, surprising both of them.

“You’re Ren? Merrit told me so much about you! I’m Alice, pleased to meet you!”

Ren was stunned. People like this shouldn’t exist. Not now, anyway.

He nodded at her, then turned back to Merrit.

“Why are you here?”

“Once you left, members of the Church showed up! They gave aid to the survivors, and gave us some money to go where we wanted to. I wanted to see you, and once I told the members of the Church what happened, this person really wanted to come and see you!”

“I’m flattered... Also, I didn’t think the Church was still around.”

“Me neither, but…”

He gestured at Alice.

She spoke up, brightly.

“I didn’t actually know there was an outside world left, either! I’ve been stuck inside the Church my entire life, and I wasn’t allowed to leave. But I finally managed to escape, and I learned the Hero is still alive! Ren, I’ve read so much about you!”

Her eyes sparkled, with a ferocity that made Ren step back.

“Is it true that you fought the Demon King himself? It’s written that you all died in a heroic sacrifice, but saved the world! How did you survive?”

Clearly this girl had gotten some wrong information. In a world like this, surely the Demon King had to have won.

“Who actually are you? And what do you want from me?”

“I’m the new High Priest!”

She put her hands on her hips proudly, and proclaimed.

“We’re going to resurrect the Goddess, and - I - need your help!”