Dimensional Reality: Oz (Ch. 1)R
Okay, finally this is the revised story of Dimensional Reality: Oz. I hope you all like it. Let me know if you’d also like me to post my DR: Harry Potter story or would you rather wait until I finish this one. Basically because in the timeline, the Harry Potter story takes place after the Oz story. But give me your thoughts, thanks all. Good eve.
-Damien
Chapter 1
It was warm, unseasonably warm for fall in
Maub, Kansas . Today people were glad for even the small comfort of the slight breeze blowing as they stood in the doorways of businesses fanning themselves.
Frank
L
High School had just let out and people watched and greeted students walking into town to get a soda at
Marietta ’s General Store or to catch the bus home. The citizens of Maub were a conservative bunch, not much concerned with the going-on of the rest of the world, or even the rest of the state for that matter. They kept to themselves and didn’t much approve of the ways of their larger neighbors like
Wichita or Brown. The inhabitants of Maub were a stereotypical small town bunch…well, most of them were. The exception was strolling up the wide sidewalks toward the bus stop. It was a mixed bunch, but even still had familiar enough “titles”; these were Goths, Skaters, Alternative, and Heavy Metal. These were people that, in bigger high schools, would have had their own separate groups. But in Elk, their small number and differences from most of the other students bonded them together. This group was known simply as the Other Crowd.
Dorothy walked down the wide sidewalk of Main Street. She was not only a freshman at Frank L, but a newcomer to town. She used to live with her parents in
Dallas, Texas but her parents had died the beginning of last summer in a transit accident. So she had been sent to the old family home to live with her aunt and uncle. She missed the big city, her friends, and most of all, she missed her parents. She tried not to think about it because it felt like she kept losing everyone she cared about. The first person close to her that died was her great-grandmother and namesake, Dorothy. She had loved her great-grandmother deeply, even those most of the family didn’t like her. Actually, to most of the family she was known as “Crazy old Dorothy.” There was something strange about her great-grandmother, but Dorothy liked that she was different. There was something almost magical to the old woman. Dorothy guessed that she should have expected her great-grandmother to die sometime, after all the woman had been well over 100 years old. Dorothy missed her every day though. Her parents had been the only family to really keep contact with the old woman. Her mother would laugh at the fairy tales old Dorothy used to tell, the Land of Oz being her favorite. Mom would just shake her head and say it was only because the main character’s name was Dorothy just like her. Despite that, it was always old Dorothy that mom called first when it came to natural medicine and folk remedies. That was when Dorothy seemed at her most magical, when she was cooking up some brew or another. Little Dorothy would sit in her great-grandmother’s kitchen then and listen to her tell stories about the Land of Oz. When she’d take a nap later with her grandmother, she would dream about Oz and it was almost like she was really there…
Dorothy broke out of her remembrance when one of her new friends nudged her, pointing out a boring dressed, but still nice looking guy. Dorothy pretended to yawn and they both giggled. When Dorothy had first come to school here she had tried to fit in with the regular kids, but a lot of the girls were stuck up and seemed to take some kind of personal offense that Dorothy had lived in a city, instead of a small town like this. So, she had somehow just fallen into the Other Crowd and was accepted right away. It surprised, but delighted her at the same time. Dorothy didn’t identify just with one group or another within the Other Crowd, but rather took elements of each group to make her own. Her aunt had been near scandalized when Dorothy started dressing in short plaid skirts, chunky silver boots, and necklaces with arcane symbols, but her uncle, an easy going man, had smoothed out things between the two, Dorothy went her way and her aunt went hers.&nb
sp;
Dorothy and her friends were heading to the Three Fates shop today, something else that most of Maub disagreed with. The Three Fates was a magic shop, a real one, not one that sold trick card decks and fake bottom top hats. When her friends had first introduced her to that place she thought it was probably run by some old, crazy woman. Instead she had found out it was run by a young woman, beautiful, but also mysterious, named Celestine. Dorothy took an instant liking to Celestine, she reminded Dorothy of her great-grandmother. So with a happy skip in her step Dorothy opened the door to the Three Fates and stepped inside.
The light inside the shop was muted, as usual. Soft music played from overhead. Even though Dorothy came into the shop often she had never heard the same song twice. Dorothy took in the entire place, finding amazement no matter how many times she saw it. The store was organized into sections devoted to different religions. There was a space for Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Wicca, and many others. There were books, statues, candles, religious objects, beads to make Rosaries, or Buddhist prayer beads. There were stones, blocks of wood, crafting materials to make your own wand or staff. There was even an area with a few small wooden pews, another area with a miniature Zen garden, another area with prayer rugs, and of course chairs. It was a place you could come to meditate, or pray, or learn without worrying about asking stupid questions or being blasted for your beliefs. It was a place that Dorothy had come to love, it almost felt like home.
“Dora, how good to see you.” Celestine said, her long skirt flowing around her as she walked.
“Hi Ceci. It’s good to see you too. I’m so glad the week is over.” Dorothy replied, embracing Celestine.
Dorothy had become such a regular that they greeted each other by pet names instead.
“So, what are we looking for today?”
“I need a bag of fresh, white rose petals, parchment paper, and two more
Isis candles.”
“I can help you with that, but you’re not going ahead with that idea of yours, are you? Combining spells from different paths is not to be taken lightly. I wouldn’t do it if I could help it and I’ve been doing this for far longer.”
“But you seem to be able to bring together all these different religions without any problems.”
“That’s different and I didn’t even do this myself. I had much assistance getting this together from someone far more powerful than I.”
As they talked they walked around the shop, Celestine helping Dorothy to get the items she requested.
“There, everything you requested. But Dora, please be careful. Take some more time to study, to research what you wish to do.”
“I’m always careful Ceci. Don’t worry, I’ll do my research.”
Dorothy left with her friends a short time later. She knew that Celestine meant well, but Dorothy knew what she was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes”> The spell probably wouldn’t even work. What’s the worst that can happen?