The ground squelched beneath Sarissa's boots.
She had long stopped pretending it was soil. Whatever had once made Wonderland a place of whimsy and reflection was now gone.
What remained was a wet, stinking rot. A garden of festering things, crawling with soft-bellied nightmares. As far as the eye could see, the earth twisted with thick, segmented worms, each as long as her forearm and bloated with a dark translucency that let her see the pulsing of their black inner organs.
[Corroding Nightmare - Larva]
The System tag above each one flickered, letters jittered, corrupted. Occasionally, a tag would flash symbols instead of words, marks she didn't recognize and wasn't sure anyone could – or should.
Cheshire padded beside her, silent for once. His feline body shimmered faintly, gray stripes pulsing with restrained tension, his ears were flat, his tail high and puffed.
"What are these things?" Sarissa said quietly. "I suppose they weren't here before…?"
