Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

🐍 Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 13 🐍

A/N: I know, I know. I said these two chapters were going to be released yesterday but I was exhausted yesterday after leaving the boat and basically passed out, and today, I'm equally exhausted because I finally came home and just tired of traveling for now so now I have to rest and not feeling well before I wake up for work tonight. Anyway, there will be no new chapters this Wednesday since I need time to reorient myself and write new chapters since I haven't done it in 2 weeks, so be patient! Also, I saw that my notifications for my works was BLOWING UP all week but since I had my phone on airplane mode all week it all came at once so thanks so much for reading! Anyways, I'm going to pass out now and try to catch up on sleep and other stuff and I'll post the new chapters Saturday! (9/24/23)

PS: Will edit the chapters when I'm feeling better and not jet lagged!

That night, while Angel was asleep, ripples started to form, a scene appearing in her dreams.

Angel opens her eyes to see that she was inside of a huge room, a beautifully decorated room to be exact, with carpets and fabric laying the walls, an intricate design of a tiger on them and in the end of the room seemed to be a chair facing her, thinking that it might be some kind of throne despite its simple design. (What a fancy palace this is...) She thinks as she looks around, seeing that there were other items in the room: gold statues, fancy furniture, exotic plants, and even what looks to be a tiger in the room with them. Her eyes land on a scene with two people, the man named Jafar she's seen before, holding a staff that resembles a snake, and a man with a bushy white beard who was quite short and chubby, with white clothes and what looks to be turban with a singular feather standing up on his head sitting on the chair. He looked at Jafar with a pensive face. "But I thought the law says that only a prince can marry a princess. I'm quite sure..." he says as he thinks.

Jafar only look at the king impatiently. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, my lord," Jafar sternly states. He walks towards the king, the eyes in his staff glowing red. "The princess will marry me," he says calmly.

The king only looks at the eyes of the staff in a daze. "The princess will marry..." He says only to hear the sound of music, snapping his attention away from the staff. "What? What is that? That music!" He exclaims in surprise as he gets off his chair and walk out of the palace and see that there was a bunch of people gathered in the streets, looking at the gates.

"Step aside for Prince Ali!" A voice says as a parade of people walk the streets, holding banners and instruments as they announce the arrival of Prince Ali. "Here he comes, for all to see!" Soon enough, an elephant walks down, with a man dressed in white smiling at the people gathered around, and the people on cheer at the sight of him. "The shining jewel of this marvelous procession...Ali Ababwa himself, the living legend!" The voice announces as the person only takes a bow, making everyone cheer louder at the sight before them. Angel looks at the scene in confusion before the darkness consumed her, a thought coming to her. (A parade through a desert?)

Angel slowly opened her eyes, seeing an unfamiliar scene before her and she woke up with a jolt, trying to remember how she ended up here. She looked around and saw the unfamiliar, bare room, memories coming back as she recalled the events of yesterday. She went to give firewood to the fire fairies in the cafeteria, where they met Jamil. They headed over Scarabia dorm and had a meal, where they met Kalim, who took them for a tour and a carpet ride. Then they stayed for dinner and...

"Mrah..." Grim mumbles in his sleep, bringing Angel out of her thoughts. "I don't want any more of your moldy crackers...Myah..."

Suddenly, a sound of clinking comes, and Angel looked at the door, only for the door to open with a bang, making her flinch and Grim to wake up. A Scarabia student walks in, looking at them in anger. "How long are you two going to sleep? On your feet, now!" The student commanded, shocking the two.

"Mrow?! What now?!" Grim wakes up with a jolt, looking at the student. He looks at the phone, seeing the time. "Wait, it's only 6 a.m." He says.

"We're marching ten kilometers to the eastern oasis!" The student announces, shocking the two even more.

"You expect us to trudge that far through sand that's hard to walk on as it is? Why should we?" Grim asks in shock.

The student only walks towards Grim and grabs the back of his neck, making Grim thrash around. "Because the housewarden said so. Now stop whining and come on!"

"Myaaah! I don't wanna!" Grim whines and Angel get up from bed. "Get your paws off'a me!"

After getting ready, or in Grim's case being forced, the two was taken outside the courtyard, the desert heat overcoming them as they escaped the cool confines of the courtyard, seeing that the students, Jamil, and Kalim were waiting for them, items in hand. Angel saw that Kalim was standing on top of an elephant, with her wondering where it even came from, but quickly dismissed the thought as she saw his stare on her and Grim, trying not to think any further. The student only let go of Grim, dropping him on the ground with a thud to join the rest of the students, with Grim getting himself up, trying to dust the sand off of him, only to fail since they were in a desert after all. They spotted Jamil and walked up to him, hoping to talk to him about last night, only to be cut off. "Now march to the eastern oasis!" Kalim announces, and the students only respond with "Yes, sir!". "This will help strengthen your legs," Kalim says as he looks at the students. "If I see anyone break formation, they'll be punished later!" The students only flinch at the statement and nod meekly, understanding his words.

The duo could only sigh at the scene, no choice but to join the march since they were forced to. "How'd I get dragged into this?" Grim groans as he looks at Kalim.

"Less talking, more marching! Move out!" Kalim announces as the elephant starts moving, taking him with it and everyone else following along, holding what looks to be decorative umbrellas as they walk. If they thought the air in Scarabia Dorm was bad, then the air in the desert was unbearable. The intense heat along with the sand piling up around them made it hard to focus on the march, seeing that the Scarabia students were able to do it with ease with, more or less, less problems than the two. The two struggled to walk in the sand, sometimes the sand only sucking up their feet and ending up in Angel's shoes, making the march feel very uncomfortable and slow. The two could only groan at the elements, having no choice but to keep a straight face when Kalim spotted them, hoping not to incur any punishment from him for their negligence, but fails as Grim only stops, trying to catch his breath. "You there!" He points to Grim. "You're breaking formation," he sternly says.

Grim pants, trying to catch his breath. "Let me catch my breath, at least," he says as he pants.

Kalim looks at him with a glare. "Enough whining! March!" He yells, making the students flinch. "If you're tired, that's proof you need to train more! It's your own fault!" He states as he continues marching, with the students following. The words made Angel flinch, not even knowing that Kalim could be so harsh with his words, making her look at him in concern. What happened to him...? She thinks as she looks at him, trying to see if there was anything off about him, but she couldn't feel or see anything off, the heat and marching getting to her as her thinking fades away. She sighs, having no choice but follow with Grim only barely able to catch his breath.

Jamil looks at Kalim with a concern expression on his face. "..." The group only continues their march for about 2 hours, the heat setting in as people start to slack off, trying to keep up, but the heat prevents them for doing so, slowing down, hopefully in a plea that Kalim would call off the march, but fails as Kalim notices and glares at them instead.

"You're slowing down! Pick up the pace!" Kalim commands, while the students pant and groan.

"W-we can't go any faster!" A student squeezes out to respond, only to fall on deft ears as he pants, trying to catch his breath.

The reply only angers Kalim. "It's because of you fools that we placed last in the tournament and exams!" He angrily shouts, making the students feel guilty about the results.

Angel only groans at the heat overcoming her, and tries to wipe sweat of her face, failing as sand start to stick on her face instead. "I'm burning up here," Grim says as he slowly crawls. "Water...I need water! I'm gonna shrivel up!" He groans as whines.

Jamil only look at the two in pity, sweat coming down his face, the effects of the march even getting to him. "We're almost to the oasis. Hang in there," he says to reassure the two, and the two groans at the news, hoping that that Jamil was right.