Wonderland

Rabbit Hole

Wonderland. The newest RPG on the net, created with the most advanced technology of the time. Released as an arcade game, it showed promise at first. People flocked to play it, taking on the roles of playable characters. Although the majority of known characters were NPCs (non-player characters) which served to move the RPG along, it didn’t stop people creating their new characters. Cards that moved up the ranks with their battles, Chess Pieces aiming to become Queens or Kings through logic and battle.

Rumours began to spread between those who played Wonderland about a secret level which held rare items. Naturally, the power hungry ones attempted to get to this secret level to gain these rare items. The staff of Wonderland denied repeatedly any such level. Finally they announced that there was a level as described in the rumours which was currently still in testing. Wonderland was then moved out of arcades and shifted to ordinary PCs that could connect to the internet for its Beta release.

Wonderland’s popularity increased with the disc release. Many people went to the once secret level but found they weren’t a high enough level or strong enough to last longer than a few seconds in the tough area.

The character known as the ‘Mad Hatter’, who had been around in the game from the beginning was so far the only person able to survive the level. While the ‘Mad Hatter’ was in there, they stumbled onto a bug. Trying to contact the game masters, ‘Mad Hatter’ discovered there was a communication block from the bug. Seeking to leave, the Mad Hatter was suddenly thrown down ‘the rabbit hole’ which was what came to be known as the bug.

News came out about the rabbit hole, mentioning something happening to the ‘Mad Hatter’ in the secret level. The message forum mentioned the signs of ‘the rabbit hole’ and if anybody saw any such signs, immediately contact a Game Master and Log out. Reports came by the dozen and eventually wonderland lost the majority of its players. Wonderland became once again, merely the title known more commonly as a children’s story.



Alise threw her textbooks aside and fell onto her bed exhausted. No sooner has she gotten comfortable than the phone beside her rang. She picked it up, looking at the number, feeling a slight sense of dread. “Hey.”

“Hey Alise. Doing anything tonight?”

“You mean… OTHER than sleeping?”

“Oh come on…” The voice on the other end sounded disappointed. “We just graduated from our second year at University! Celebrations are in order.”

“As much as I’d probably enjoy it… I’m seriously exhausted. I’m already on my bed and in all honesty, don’t feel like getting up again. Some other time maybe.”

“Yeah I’ll keep that on an IOU tab somewhere. Don’t forget you now officially owe us sometime in place of a celebration.”

The voice disappeared and was replaced by a beeping before it went silent telling her the other person had hung up. Alise put it down once again and yawned. Maybe she’d have a quick look on the internet. But she was so tired. Alise closed her eyes, turning onto her side and hugging her pillow before drifting into sleep.


Her mobile vibrated on her bed beside her head, waking her. Turning to look at her phone, she saw she had received a text message. It was 4am. Who on earth was sending her messages this late? She opened it, reading the message. ‘Don’t fall down the rabbit hole…’

“What the hell?” Frowning she checked the number, then called it wondering who on earth it was.

“This number does not exist. Please check your number, and try again.”

She sat up and looked at her computer in the corner, then got out of bed and approached it, turning it on. If it didn’t exist now, surely she would be able to check it on the net. With a yawn, she placed her visor on and entered the Internet.

“Search.” A man dressed in what appeared to be 1900 clothing appeared before her. “7222 484 653.” The man processed her search request then held a sheet up for her. The first result caught her eye. ‘The code 722248 4653 has been seen…’ “Enter.”

The man was replaced by a woman dressed in what looked like a school uniform. Obviously this was something like an educational or informative site she’d entered. “The code 722248 4653 has been seen around the net, at first people suspected it was a piece of code that had been forgotten somewhere. Recent reports however have shown that it translates into two words.” A screen appeared beside the woman, the code broken into two uneven parts. “722248, when compared to numbers on a phone, spells the word RABBIT.” The respective letters appeared beneath the numbers. “4653 in turn spells HOLE.”

“Rabbit Hole... That’s what the message said.”

“What message dear?”

Alise looked up, the woman was leaning toward her curiously. “Oh! You’re an interactive site with AI. I didn’t realise that.”

“That I am. Admittedly we’re few and far between but here nonetheless. Now what message was this you mentioned?”

“I got a message on my phone a few minutes ago from that number. 7222 484 653. It read ‘Don’t fall down the rabbit hole...’”

“How perplexing. And I assume the number wasn’t one that existed?” Alise nodded. “My... Well you may want to check up on this rabbit hole. I can pull up a few sites for you to search if you wish.”

Alise frowned slightly. “Isn’t the rabbit hole what Alice fell down in the children’s book ‘Alice in Wonderland’?”

“That is one thing. Although there were rumours of a bug known as ‘the Rabbit Hole’ that came from an online game known as ‘Wonderland’. There aren’t many players anymore though...”

“Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look that up too... Even though I don’t play online games.”

The woman produced a sheet for her and Alise took it. “Those are the results for the story of Wonderland and the rabbit hole.” She held another sheet for her. “These are the results for the ‘rabbit hole’ bug from the RPG ‘Wonderland’. Where to search is up to you.”

“Thank you.” Alise scanned the first few on each results page, finding nothing that caught her eye. A message forum was on the list. Curiously, Alise entered the message forum. As she entered, she noticed the graphics brighten and the sudden title “WONDERLAND” popped up startling her. “They could give someone a heart attack...” She put her hand over her own heart feeling it pounding hard against her chest.

The search option floated around and she went over to it, to begin her search through the forum. “Rabbit Hole.”

Alise found herself in a room, on the walls were “Rabbit Hole” and its results. Secret Levels and bugs. She raised an eyebrow, wondering how Rabbit Hole brought up a result like that, then remembered that the rabbit hole had been the name of a bug in the game. Walking over to it, she found herself in another room suddenly, voices swirling around her before a book dropped before her. Seating herself, she picked the book up, opening it and begun to read.

A figure appeared before her as the book opened; it looked like a card but held a weapon. “I just wanted to point out to the GMs that these bugs are appearing way too much. Isn’t it your job to make sure the bugs are ironed out before you release it to the public? So why aren’t you doing your job?”

A figure appeared in the corner, sitting on a chair, a large hat covering their face. “While you make a valid point, don’t forget that a lot of times, bugs on here can be caused by hackers. They break into the codes and try to alter them to suit their own needs, wants and the likes. Pieces of code are then forgotten and these are what make the bugs.”

The card warrior frowned darkly at the seated figure. “What would you know about hackers or codes or anything else like this?”

Alise made out a smile beneath the large brimmed hat. “I believe that’s something you should know yourself Card. Don’t forget that I’ve been on this server from the day it opened. If these bugs and secret levels are real, then they’ll be dealt with.”

“The Hatter’s right.” A third figure appeared. They seemed to be out of place in the overall Wonderland Theme that she guessed was probably one of these “GMs” the Card had spoken of. “And in this post I’d like to confirm that this so called ‘Secret Area’ will be released for the Beta Version.”

The figures disappeared and she turned the page. The GM appeared again a slightly down turned face. “I regret to inform you that a bug has been found in Wonderland. We are referring to it as ‘The Rabbit Hole.’ Please see further information in THIS post.”

Alise nodded and was sent into another room. Once again the book fell before her and she picked it up. The GM reappearing once again. “This is weird...”

“As many of you have noticed, the new area is rather difficult. New monsters, challenges and of course, items have been implemented. However, I regret to inform you that this has caused more bugs than expected. Though we worked as many as we knew existed out, we believe that there may have been some sort of hacking on the server which in turn has resulted in a new bug. While in the new area, a player attempted to contact us to warn us of this bug they faced. However, it cause communication errors and eventually lead to worse. We have since found the signs of this bug appearing around the area. They are as listed.”

A board appeared beside him with ‘SIGNS’ written on the top. “Man, they sure do some wacky stuff here...”

“Lag is the first sign. As you know, Wonderland prides itself on its ability to run a completely lag free game. The sudden slowness from normal shouldn’t be considered just another thing to go unnoticed, maybe too many people are on the server and so forth. Keep this in mind. The second sign of the bug is the area begins to look pixelated. While our graphics may not have perfect edges and still has that CG appearance to it, the polygons are unnoticeable - unless of course you sit there with your face against the screen looking for them. The bug will cause polygons to become very visible, in some cases; they will be wiped out entirely. The third sign is a -”

Something white caught her eye and she turned to see what it was but found nothing was there. Musing to herself as to what it could have been, she returned her attention to the GM standing before her still explaining the signs of the bug.

“If you see any of these signs, take note of the area you are in and log out immediately. Contact a GM on the forum as there will always be one on duty also logged into the game so that we may be able to lock down the area of the infection. Thank you again for your patience.”

“Oh crap what was the third sign?” Alise waved it away and closed the book. “Not as if it matters anyway.” She yawned again and stood. “I should probably go back to getting some sleep.” She went to exit the room when she caught sight of what looked like a white rabbit. Turning to where she thought she saw it, she saw the room. Nothing else there but herself. Rolling her eyes she turned back and suddenly came face to face with a large white rabbit with blood stains on its face. She jumped backward and found the floor around her feet gone and began to fall.