Dead Faerie Tales: Dead Faerie Tales Serial, #1

By Serena Walken

Saving worlds from the apocalypse is a high price to pay, but two have been chosen to do this. Apocalypse Moon, which isn't the most sympathetic of ears, and a boy who knows nothing of himself or where he belongs. While on her own mission, Moon bumps into Sun and finds herself having to help out her nemesis in order to have a chance to escape the Nightmare King's deadly clutches.

However, these two teens are on opposing sides. When one succeeds, the other fails. Too many failures could end in demise. These are not people who should ever be friends, yet they are the only ones who can understand each other. Their friendship can pull them through tough battles, but it can also put them in danger. Being too caring of one another, when opposites, could place them in more danger than they realize.

While they help other dimensions avoid the apocalypse, will they be able to save themselves from the influence of each other?

(This serial contains multiple couples, many with happy endings, and some, might have some hard travels to get theirs.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serena Walken
• Release date: May 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227684738

Serena Walken

Serena Walken likes to write fantasy, sometimes whimsical or sometimes dark. She lives in Kansas with her wonderful daughter. She enjoys writing stories for a more broad-based audience and it's usually romantic but not always. https://www.patreon.com/serenawalken is where you can find more exclusive books and writing of hers. You can also find her on several other sites like Tumblr, Wattpad, Webnovel, and more writing for free and for paid.

Book preview

Introduction

Published in 2013, this serial has been updated with better language in the prophecy, and the way the prophecies come about to be better for more sensitive viewers. Some stories are similar to the originals, while others might be very different.

A serial is different than a series, it’s more of a gigantic book with concepts that continue going from book to book. Not all stories are wrapped up in a single book. Some will be, but not all of them. (Some of these separate stories can actually be purchased as small separate books.)

This book uses both third person POV and first person POV. First person POV denotes who is speaking with the name at the top (as well as with italics with one of the first person speakers.) 

1 Cheshire Spies

DIMENSION: WONDERLAND

Place: Behind a HUMANA Meeting

Licking his paw, Cheshire stayed out of distance. Alice disobeyed him. Oh, it was only a matter of time for that little girl to grow up. Human lives were so short, that was what he thought. Helping that little girl, giving her some basic power to live longer, he thought it would be best.

No, no. Alice grew up, went into secrecy, started her own organization, and now this? He felt his claws become longer. This was not the Wonderland style he had been so fond of. This was a war he did not want to join.

The humans inside continued to talk while Cheshire continued to groom. Grooming was so important, you know. Cheshire's don't naturally look that nice. Then again, he had no competition. There was no one left of his species, simply him. All the games his kind used to play, they were simply dreams now.

Do you have any pangs of guilt for what we're doing? a woman asked as she looked around the room. Nervous human, not a surprise considering what they had been doing. Cheshire simply spread out his front paws and curled up tighter. We are ruining the lives of two good people, Joe, the human woman spoke again.

Missed opportunity if we don't, Chantal, her partner reminder her. One human, and we'll make sure it was one of the non-free ones. One trapped by a contract willingly. As for the other, that guy isn't any more wonderful than all the other aliens on this god forsaken planet.

Cheshire opened his eye in the man's direction. How crude.

She is still a human, Chantal said as she looked through folders.

Nothing's human here. They become something else, something primal, Joe said as he picked up another folder. If it wasn't for the fact we were all gutted before being taken to this place, I'd rather kill the thing.

Honestly. Cheshire's fur stood up slightly. He almost hissed, but he didn't need them to know he was there. Sinking Alice would be fun if they suspected double crossing...yet it would be redundant. She would need to see for herself how awful this plan had been. This would not work, Cheshire knew it. He turned over, licking his back paw. There was no need for concern yet, he should stay out of the way. For now. He closed his eyes, waiting for them to finish.

What if this doesn't work? What if there's something were not thinking of? What if there's a law to make sure this doesn't happen?

If there was, they wouldn't gut us all. No, they know if they messed up, there's hell to pay. We are going to give them hell to pay, Chantal. One baby, that's it. Just one from a human that's reproductive.

I still don't know if this will work. The natives never had rights.

Universal laws, Chantal. I don't care how good they are, humans are a recognized leader of the planet Earth. It doesn't matter who is responsible for us. We aren't a meat market to pick and choose. We are humans, with human rights. This has to work. If it doesn't, the human race is over. Wonderland will eventually win.

Trademarks. Patents. Licensing. Oh, all the legal talk was such a bore. For now, many dimensions the queen wanted were out of her reach. But Wonderland had limited rights it could explore. As long as the 'picking' didn't cause wars. As long as it didn't disrupt the environment or the ecosystem of another dimension. The chosen were often alone in open areas. In the country, in fields, and simple areas with limited people hanging around to be witness.

If only Cheshire's kind had been that lucky. Ooh, what was that in the corner? He crept around the humans, seeing a yummy morsel flitting to a hole.

How is it looking over there?

I don't know. So far all of them are good. I wanted to find a . . .oh. This one is actually contracting with that betrayer, Preston Carrington. No, wait, his boss? She hasn't even told him yet that she is trying to be a contractee. Chantal's partner raised his head. Do you see what I mean? No decency anymore. No marriage, just obedience.

Well. Cheshire tried to stifle a laugh. The morsel could get away, this conversation had become interesting. These humans, under Alice's HUMANA organization, they were a fun bunch. They thought they understood all the under belly of Wonderland...when they hardly had a clue.

Age?

Twenty-One.

That's young. Can't we go older?

Not a lot of humans want to willingly give their lives into slavery, her partner answered, and there aren't many to pick from. You can't shove a baby to a good human because she's forty. Nuh uh. Her.

Age as well. Species, age, these humans. Cheshire felt almost ashamed he ever helped Alice with her little problem. Sending her back home and leaving her there, that's what he should have done. She would have grown old, died, and not continued to be a thorn in his side. Silly, silly Cheshire he had been.

She hasn't even told Carrington yet, the ignorant man said again. Fine, yes, if she's rejected, we'll find another one if we can. The native though, it's easy. The leader.

She is just so young, and the leader of that pack? Why him?

Pack, did she say Pack? Well, no wonder she was there. Her ethics were as misled as the man's own. Cheshire spotted his morsel in the corner but decided not to pursue. The humans had made him lose his appetite. His food had more compassion than those humans.

He was getting tired of humans. Perhaps it was time that he switched his appetite toward them? They preferred not to be there anyway; it would be a service.

It'll be perfect. I wish I could see the fireworks, the human laughed, his mouth large. That traitor Preston has always skirted relations with the mafia, this would fix him for good.

This is supposed to be for the human race, not your own grudges.

Best candidates. Prime position. Protest if you want but come on. The time is now. This is for the sake of Earth. For the sake of every humans' rights. For humanity's future, Chantal.

For humanity's future. Shay Austin and the original.

For the love of a little kibble. Cheshire wished he could do it, sink his teeth into their meat. Oh, but old habits and memories died hard. Hearing the name of innocence in trouble, that conscience of his bit back.

He closed his eyes. He had glimpsed the future, and it was not what they wanted. Destiny would not be rushed. Besides, humans were often too gamey anyway.

DIMENSION: APOCALYPSE SUN'S

Place: Dominic Closin's Home in Liberal, Kansas.

Cheryl heard the light scratching of the pencil to paper behind her. She was cooking on the stove, but she could hear that sound over anything. It was the sound of trouble with her brother. Dominic, a twelve-year-old with a bright future ahead of him, had a significant problem.

He saw things that weren't actually there.

When Dominic was younger, the images came to him only occasionally. As he matured with age the visions appeared more often. He had many pictures and drawings of the people Cheryl couldn't see.

Scritch scritch scratch. That sound. That pencil. Dominic, you should go play outside for a little while.

I can't right now, he answered as he looked toward her. She's out there. He went back to his drawing.

Scritch scritch scratch.

A part of Cheryl wanted to believe that he could see the unseen, but it couldn't be true. She had a thought about it once and looked into it. There were such a thing as mediums, but they saw dead people. People that had lived and passed on. Ghosts and spirits.

Dominic didn't believe that he saw ghosts or spirits. He believed that he saw into different dimensions.

Not just any dimensions. Fairytales. Places that could never exist except in children's stories or imagination.

I've told you once, Cheryl said to her brother as she turned off the stove. After fixing Dominic's food, she would often fix her own share. There would be quiet in the house while Dominic played outside. There wasn't a big table in their house, she would have to sit somewhere else if he didn't finish up and go outside. Dominic.

She's out there.

Cheryl turned her attention back to him. He was staring out the screen of the front door. She glanced toward it herself, but was not surprised when she saw no one behind it. She fixated back toward Dominic who stopped his drawing to eat some of his bread.

Today, she would have to eat on the couch. It would be nice to have a big enough table where they could eat at the same time without feeling claustrophobic. Cheryl served up the food from her pan onto a plate. Her house was not the most respectable, many would be surprised it even had someone living in it.

It was what Cheryl could afford. She had no high school degree, and no work experience. When she was eighteen, her parents were both lost in a car wreck. Her parents had been caring, but the family tree had not been. They were treated like complete strangers.

Her aunt and uncle helped her out with some money. She thanked them each month, trying to show how grateful she had been that they didn't abandon her and her brother. She couldn't afford college, or to ever leave Kansas, but she could still raise herself and Dominic.

Ever since the day he had been born, Dominic had acted different. He never got into trouble, and always did as he had been told. A dream child any parent would love to have, but as he became old enough to communicate, Cheryl knew he would have problems the older he matured. Her aunt and uncle paid his medical bill to a special doctor that lived near them, and he worked with Dominic.

A bright kid, sweet, but he didn't always respond to the world. He believed he was seeing different worlds separate from his own. Still, even though he wasn't always the best communicator, he was someone she loved dearly. The last of her family.

Dominic had to be home schooled too. Cheryl received extra money not to send him to public school. Cheryl herself didn't want him to go either, fearing how others may treat him.

She's out there, Cheryl, Dominic repeated from the table as he ate his last piece of food. Don't make me go out there. She is too sad. She doesn't want to marry anyone. I want to tell her it's okay, but she can't hear me. He brushed his light hair out of the way as he picked up his plate. Cheshire wants to help her.

What? Cheryl approached her brother with her plate.

Cheshire. Dominic repeated casually as he set his dish in the sink. He wants to help.

Cheryl almost lost it as she landed in Dominic's previous spot on the kitchen seat. Who is Cheshire? She probably knew the answer.

The. . . Dominic fidgeted with his fingers. The special creature from Wonderland.

Cheryl closed her eyes. She would have expected by his age that the doctor would have given him some kind of medication to help. He was the only doctor her aunt and uncle would allow to see Dominic. The trusted family doctor.

They had always known best, so she had to go with his opinion. She wanted to speak to Dominic about what he saw, tell him it wasn't real, or that he was confusing fairytales with something else. Maybe he was a medium? She expected it, the way he seemed so sure of things. She wasn't supposed to though. Although it would make her feel better, the doctor said it would not help. He alone spoke to Dominic about the matters.

I know you don't believe me, Dominic said to her. I have trouble trusting myself sometimes, but it's all coming together. The end.

The end? Cheryl sighed as she tipped her head back. What do you mean?

When worlds collide, it will be the end of days. Dominic walked off toward the screen door. Some have been trapped while others have come back and forth. The apocalypse isn't a simple boom with the Earth being destroyed. It's the end of everything. He pressed his hand against the glass of the door. It's coming.

Cheryl took a bite of her food and shook her head. Dominic was far from a normal twelve year old. He had gifted intelligence. If only he didn't think he saw fairytales. Who knew how far he could have gone in the world?

He'd get past Kansas.

2 Her Days of Wonderland

DIMENSION: WONDERLAND

Place: Shay Austin's Home

Shay looked up to the ceiling from her bed. The aliens implanted bad dreams when she was first abducted fifteen years ago. She hated thinking about it. She was so young back then. A stupid party, and a cornfield. Regular kids who got punished for sneaking out would get grounded for a month. If she only knew that her punishment would be getting abducted.

She sat up in her bed, reaching over to her end table for light. The dreams weren't just hers, they were traditional with everyone. Every night at three o' clock, anyone that had been abducted would wake up with a shriek. Waking up in sweat and with tears, no one remembered what they dreamt of.

Shay was the same way. It wasn't hard to guess that it was probably the fear of abduction all over again. Created so that humans remained subservient. Subpar.

Shay grabbed her necklace off the end table. After she opened it, the picture of her old self smiled back. Just a kid, an idiot back then. What she wouldn't give to have a picture of her parents. Instead, all that remained was the reminder of how she took things for granted. Family. Friends. Good food. The ability to choose.

Hope was useless, she learned that some time ago. No one made it out of Wonderland. Well, it was possible that there had been one. But instead of a magical world of white rabbits, talking cards and the Queen of Hearts? This world was simply mad, delusional and cruel. There was nothing wonderful about Wonderland.

Fifteen years. That's half of her life in Wonderland, and she'll probably die there. Like the old Alice, she had dreamed of finding a way out years ago. Now, she would settle for getting into a position that wouldn't put her life in jeopardy every day. Enslavement to one person and not a planet, that was her ever after, and she would be glad to accept it.

Shay only had one friend, Torah. Her brother had enough skill that he was considered useful by Wonderland. Instead of the planet owning him, his boss had paid a high fee and kept him for himself. He had higher creds, and almost a normal life. He was appreciated, respected, and hopefully kind.

Her friend wasn't talking to her right now. During the fright hour, she knew she had to be up. All the lights across Wonderland had turned on that had involved anyone taken from their home planet. So many, streamed across the sky. This was when she always talked to her friend, Torah.

She pulled her arm to her face, turning on her monitor watch. On her monitor, Torah's face had shone. Tired, with her hair a mess. Torah, can we finish talking?

What's to finish talking about? Torah chided her. You want to make yourself a contract girl to my brother. You want to become his slave. How am I supposed to deal with this Shay?

Torah didn't understand. She had simple parts to perform in Wonderland. There was one thing that the fairytale did keep completely true. Wonderland was filled with entertainment because it was the number one entertainment planet in the universe. It found creatures across the stars that were unique, and it used them across their films, shows, videos, tapes, FB's, CG's, DVD's, DNS', and every other wild format their customers had.

Torah was an actress. She played next to someone in a drama role. Shay? She had not been good at acting at all. She was a bumble, so Wonderland stuck her into the role of stunt model. There were no pulleys and hardly any safety nets. If she died, so what? They'd get another one.

There was no exchanging her job and she had to perform. Without it she would not receive creds. Creds bought everything, and without creds she would be starving and alone on the streets. Newbies always began that way on Wonderland. Refusing to listen, they would huddle on the streets, trying to get food. Eventually they would either die or come to realize the truth.

Alice never escaped. Once someone came to Wonderland, there was no way out. Alice was a warning not to stray away from the path. To not go out alone and explore, or you could end up in Wonderland. Alice's story was different on Wonderland. In their version, she didn't make it out at all.

She had befriended the Mad Hatter, and he betrayed her. He danced in her blood before disappearing. It was a more sobering version than the fairytale of Earth.

Some who didn't want to believe that said Alice actually still existed on Wonderland somewhere. She had become a writer and had been creating fairytales for the world. She had been useful and had been given forced immortality. Shay greatly doubted that. Especially since there was no magic in Wonderland.

Shay, are you listening?

Yeah, I'm here, Shay said paying attention to her monitor again. Torah was simply warning her about the same thing over and over.

He could ask for anything. He isn't an easy way out.

I know.

You don't know him! He may be my relation, but you don't know him. He could hold you as a sex slave. You've never even been intimate with someone!

I know.

He could beat you. He could do anything.

Same warning. Shay was not stupid, there was no guarantee she would be treated well. Even the basic respect she had of most humans would be gone. For as much as humans hated Wonderland, they hated 'contractees' the most. Humans that made themselves willing slaves to other humans. It sounded sick and wrong to them.

But the world wasn't fair. There was no leaving Wonderland. Shay used to have more than one friend. She had met them in her jobs. Victoria, Allison, Bernand, and Iggy. Good people, all of them. Every one of them had died performing their 'role'. Shay would not leave the world that way, she would not!

Survival. That was what Wonderland was about. If she had to make herself a contract girl to survive, then that's what she had to do. I am seeing him tomorrow. I made the contract with his boss, and if he accepts, the stunt work is over.

Shay. I just don't think you understand...

No, it was Torah that would never understand. Get some rest. I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow. Shay turned off the button on her monitor and lied back down. Tomorrow she would learn her fate.

CHESHIRE PEERED FROM the other corner of her bed. My, my. It was a storm that he could not prevent.

Things used to be simple. He never even messed around in time, simply from place to place. His species had always been fun, time and space had been their playground. Naughty by nature, but in the end, they were just about playing. Even now, he was the last of his species, and he could not stop enjoying his life.

He only wished he could have had a better ending. A little more power like he used to. No more traps. To get away and explore more, the way nature intended the cheshires to do. He had another good two hundred years left if he didn't mess around. He had kept some of his powers away from Alice though. Time glimpsing, that would never be for her. Imagine the chaos she would have accomplished with that? Visiting the past. Pulling simple things out of dimensions, she would abuse that power. She was human, they instinctively wished to go overboard. They tended to become worse as they became older.

If he reached his paw out right now, and whirled her into a different dimension, would it work? He almost wanted to, but he could not control where she ended up. That would be a problem later. Perhaps, he could . . .oh, this was hurting his head. He took his paw and rubbed his head. Wonderland every day had more magic drained from it. Cheshire was one of the last few beings with magic left, and it would be gone soon. If he did something, it would be only once. He had already wasted several trips. Time glimpsing was not a perfect art.

But traveling through dimensions with his body? That wasn't possible for him, or he could stop it all.

If he didn't share his power, he could have gone back further. But, then Alice could die. And after all . . .without Alice, there never would have been a fairytale where his species whimsical nature's could live on. Every dimension had known the tale she created. He was infamous, and most often wished he actually had the ability to speak with the same kind of quotable words others would remember.

But, he was a cheshire. Not a poet. This girl was not Alice, she was a woman called Shay. And this wouldn't be a lovely fairytale with a made up ending. She would be enslaving herself.

3 Losing Homes and Meeting Scarecrows

DIMENSION: APOCALYPSE SUN'S

Place: Dominic Closin's home in Liberal, Kansas.

His sister Cheryl never believed him. Dominic usually watched his mouth around her, knowing she couldn't be coerced. If other people knew what he saw, they'd call him a freak. No one saw what he did. Colors, it would be great to see in more colors than blue. Maybe he could pretend he was normal that way. In his eyes though, he couldn't tell between the real world and the world he could see. He could guess that Cheryl could see the car out front, but probably not the woman pacing beside it. She could be real, but chances were she hadn't been. He'd seen her several times before. She was paired with another guy in his thoughts.

He had been quiet once about seeing things, and it worked out for a little while. His doctor and Cheryl both became worried that he was in denial. He knew denying the truth wouldn't work for long, especially as time went by. He began to see more than the characters, he saw his own future. He knew that Cheryl wouldn't be with him much longer.

It was late and his sister had been in bed. He had got up, having a sick feeling in his stomach. He knew what was outside the kitchen window, although he didn't want to believe it. He yanked the curtain back.

It was here.

Cheryl woke up in a start as she heard Dominic yell for her. Outside there was a large boom. She grabbed her robe, slipped on her slippers and grabbed the door handle. Dominic!

Dominic was in the kitchen looking out the window.

Dominic? Cheryl came closer to him until she looked out the window. Her hand quickly covered her mouth. They were on the outskirts of their small town, but they always had a view of it