2. Cheshire Cat

Alice woke to a sandpapery tongue licking her face. Shooing the unseen licker away, she pulled her stiff body upright and opened her remaining eye. A large black and blue striped cat sat in front of her, calmly licking its fur as if it had been doing nothing else for all eternity. Pausing for a moment, the cat looked at Alice and grinned far too widely.

“It’s good to see you’re still alive.”

“Gee, thanks. And I suppose you’re my other eye?”

“Naturally. I am your second page, the one and only Cheshire Cat, at your service.”

“For some reason, I’m not so sure about that ‘service’ part... Oh well, what happened while I was out?”

“Why don’t you ask the lumen?”

“I don’t know, because you’re right here?”

The Cheshire Cat went back to licking its fur.

> Chapter Primus: Alice in Dungeonland
>> Anchor: Alice (right arm missing, right eye missing)
>> Pages: 2
>>> Alice’s Cottage (+1% lumen/day)
>>> Cheshire Cat
>> Lumen: 5%

“Wait, I’ve been out for five days!? All I did was remove some body parts! It’s not that serious!”

“I think you’ll find most would disagree with you. But you have only been out for a single day. Even I would worry if you’d been out longer.”

“I’m not sure I believe that, but if I’ve only been out for a day, where’d the other 4% lumen come from? It doesn’t look like you make any yourself.”

“Indeed I do not, but I can bring in lumen in other ways. Hunting, for example. More than a few forest mice poked their noses into this humble abode of yours, noses I was happy to separate from the rest of their bodies.”

“Oh, that’s pretty useful. I never hunted anything when I was a lumenflower, so it never really occurred to me to try.”

“Worry not, I have no doubt you’d be terrible at it.”

As Alice pouted and turned away from the rude kitty, A pot of soup boiling on the stove caught her eye.

“Cheshire, where’d this soup come from?”

“I made it, of course. Mice taste best when seasoned properly, after all.”

“You... made it? Soup? You’re a cat??”

The Cheshire Cat’s grin stretched even wider, before the rest of its body disappeared. The grin floated up into the air until it was a bit below Alice’s own mouth in height before a human face materialized around the grin, followed by a human body. The Cheshire Cat, now Cheshire Human, was wearing a smart leather jacket over a small green vest, a pair of sturdy breeches, and well-worn leather shoes. A patched newsboy cap rested slightly askew on his head, letting one of his cat ears poke out into the air.

“What do you think? I’d say I’m quite handsome.”

“If you can turn into a human, why did I wake up on the floor and not my bed?”

As if the previous human guise had been not but a dream, the Cheshire Cat once again returned to licking his fur.

“I’ll remember this. Why don’t you make yourself useful and hunt some more mice or something.”

“I shall do so.”

With a relaxed stretch, the Cat got up and left the cottage. Alice sat down in her armchair and sighed.

“Can you believe the nerve of that guy? I wouldn’t expect anything else from a cat, but still! Heehee, but did you notice? I think that cat cares more than he lets on. After all, I bet there’s way better prey out in this forest than a few measly mice. He must have stayed nearby while I was unconscious~ What a cutie~ I’ll have to give him some proper letting when he gets back.”

“What should I do until then, though? I still feel a bit woozy, so I should probably stay inside for now. Hmm, do you want me to read you one of these books? We made them, so I’m sure they’re interesting.”

With great difficulty, Alice managed to free herself from the comfort of the armchair, and took one of the books from the shelf. Though rather thin, this book was covered in  beautiful red leather, and it had a pleasant weight in Alice’s hands.

“Hmm, doesn’t this look like a lovely book? I wonder what’s inside... There’s nothing written on the cover, after all.”

Opening the book to its first page, Alice found nothing at all. The second page was much the same, as was the third and every other page in the book.

“Whaaat? It’s blank? Why’s such a nice book blank? Let’s try a different one.”

But the second book Alice found was also blank, as were all the rest of them.

“Seriously, what’s the use of a blank book... Oh well, if they’re blank, I guess it’s up to us to fill them up! Hm hm~ It’s a bit exciting, isn’t it? Where should we start, where should we start~”

As Alice pondered her new career as an author,