Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 107: Ch105. Pain as a teacher (29) - Offer

Chapter 107: Ch105. Pain as a teacher (29) - Offer

The Hatter was in the middle of serving an invisible – inexistent – guest some more tea when he heard Miles’ words, and as soon as he spoke them, the Hatter’s hands froze, the black liquid that was supposed to be the main drink of that grotesque tea party overflowing from the tiny, pristine white porcelain cup.

The Hatter’s face turned immediately toward Miles, but it was not a quick motion. It felt to Miles as though the Hatter’s face moved frame by frame, countless of Miles’ face motioning from the first stage of movement to the last. So slow, so nauseating, that Miles had to force his stomach to stay strong against the violent sense of vertigo that assaulted him.

"You see," the Hatter-Miles looked at him, the once expressionless mask cracking in a – soft? – smile as he kept speaking, "I’ve been experiencing your thoughts and feelings for quite some time now, and I know exactly how to break you, but I’ve just been savoring your doubts and desperation... HOWEVER... It’s the first time I ever heard you ask one of the real questions."

The Hatter-Miles began clapping his hands, while the teapot fluttered in the air as if still being held by his hand.

Slowly at first, one, two, three.

Then, it quickened, turning into a solitary round of applause.

"Congratulations, my dear Miles Thorn! CONGRATULATIONS!" The Hatter-Miles looked almost effusive for some reason. Even Miles did not think his question held so much value, although he knew it was an important one.

Suddenly, though, countless spiked chains erupted out of nowhere – from the ground, the sky, even the air itself – piercing Miles’ hands, shoulders, feet, joints, until he was completely and absolutely trapped.

The pain was immediate.

White-hot agony seared through Miles’ body as the chains buried themselves into his flesh, piercing deep into muscle and bone. His breath left him in a strangled gasp, his vision flashing red.

Every link burned like molten iron, twisting deeper with each twitch, each heartbeat. The chains were not just holding him, though.

They were digging into him, writhing as if alive, tightening with every moment he resisted.

Miles’ back arched against the force pinning him, his limbs trembling as he struggled, but it was useless. The harder he pulled, the deeper the chains buried themselves, sinking in like hooks tearing through his very being. His head pounded, his heartbeat a frantic drum in his ears.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." The Hatter-Miles shook his finger at Miles, as if he was a misbehaving child. "The thing is..." The Hatter-Miles got up, walking slowly in Miles’ direction. "I don’t trust you. And I probably never will... However..."

It hurt.

More than any wound he Miles had ever suffered, more than any fight, more than the near-death encounters in The Horizon. This pain was something else.

It was raw.

It was cruel.

And the Hatter was enjoying it.

Miles barely managed to lift his head, sweat and blood trickling down his face. The Hatter-Miles sat at the head of the table, his grotesque stitched grin widening as he rested his chin on his hand, observing.

His silverware clattered against the porcelain as if nothing had happened, as if Miles’ agony was nothing but a minor interruption to his evening tea.

"Oh, my dear, sweet boy," the Hatter cooed, tilting his head, amusement laced in every word. "Does it hurt? Does it burn?"

Miles’ breathing was ragged. His fingers twitched, his entire body shaking from the sheer force of the chains digging deeper, sending fresh waves of agony through his limbs. He wanted to scream, to curse, to do something. To do anything, but every breath felt like a blade against his ribs.

Still, through the pain, through the haze of anguish clouding his thoughts, a fire burned inside him. Spite, despair, anger.

He was not going to let this thing win.

’I can’t!’

"Like I was saying, I saw many minds break throughout my existence." He chimed while watching Miles writhe in pain.

Miles clenched his jaw, forcing the pain down, shoving it aside with sheer willpower. The chains constricted tighter, sensing his defiance, and a guttural growl tore from his throat as he pulled against them. Every inch of movement sent sharp, burning agony tearing through him, but he kept pulling, and the Hatter’s grin faltered, ever so slightly.

"Oh?" His voice carried a hint of curiosity now. "Still fighting? How deliciously stubborn."

The chains pulled tighter, trying to strangle the resistance out of him, but Miles gritted his teeth, his breath ragged and strained. His arms shook, blood trickling from the punctures in his skin, but he refused to stop.

He would not let himself be bound.

With a final, defiant roar, Miles pulled.

"Stop!" The Hatter-Miles shouted, and immediately after that, Miles’ body went still, and so did the chains. "You’re amazingly stubborn, like I said before. But even I know the difference between bravery and stupidity, boy... And you’re being foolishly stupid right now..."

He paused, and a sound like breathing echoed from underneath the mask before he spoke again, and Miles could only watch and listen.

"I saw many minds break throughout my existence." He cooed. "I even broke most of them myself... But no one, and I’ll say that again... No one has ever attained my first aspect."

Miles’ heart pounded in his ears as he put his all into trying to move even an inch against the carnivorous will of the chains, but as soon as the Hatter-Miles spoke those words, it was like a mirror shattered in front of him, revealing a landscape that he had never seen before.

It was something in the Hatter-Miles’ tone.

Something hidden deep beneath the surface, like a storm of emotions under a revolt sea.

But before Miles could try to understand any better, the Hatter-Miles began speaking again.

"I’ll give you this, my dear..." He paused, grimacing ever so slightly as if the words he was about to say were somehow bitter. "I know you made a deal with Cheshire, and even though begrudgingly, you fulfilled your end of the bargain, so... How about we make a deal ourselves?"