Dimensional Reality: Oz (Ch. 5)R

  Good day to all. I had my first day of classes but I’ll write about it after I have all my classes, which will be tomorrow.  I realized that I said that I was going to post the next chapter to Oz.  I hope you all are enjoying the story. Here’s the next one. Good eve to all.

 -Damien

Chapter 5

 

 

            Dorothy awoke feeling warm and comfortable, more so because she had the worst nightmare ever.  She turned on her side to get more comfortable and when she felt a dull ache in her ankles she went from sleepy to fully awake in seconds, yet it was a few moments before she opened her eyes, almost afraid to see what she had gotten herself into this time.  She was lying on a blanket and covered in the young man’s cloak in a forest clearing.  Off to her left was a rope tied between two trees where her clothes, washed and damp hung, slowly drying by a smokeless fire of green flame beneath them.  A little ways past her feet was another smokeless fire of blue flame, with a pot hanging over it.  She could just barely see some kind of stew in there, bubbling away.  It smelled kind of like Dad’s chicken stew, with seasoned chicken and herbs, carrots, onion, celery all in just the right gravy, not too thick and not too thin, and her stomach rumbled hungrily.  She pulled the cloak close around her as she sat up and looked around the campsite.  The man was no where in sight.  But there was something there.  Nearby, perched on a low branch was a bird about the size of a medium dog.  It had vibrant red and gold feathers that shimmered like campfire embers, even in the shadowed clearing, but it was like no bird Dorothy had ever seen.  It didn’t look like it was just there though.  As ridiculous as it sounded, it looked to Dorothy like it was standing guard.  Dorothy heard a low whistling melody, first one note then two higher notes, come from the woods and the bird answered back, first with the highest note and then three other notes, almost like it was completing the end phrase of a song.  A moment later, the man emerged into the clearing.  He smiled at her as he propped a quiver of arrows and a bow against a tree, walked over and kneeled down to check on the stew.

            “How are you feeling?” he said as calmly as if they were just on a camping trip, yet with an innocently mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

            Dorothy just stared at him for a few seconds.  He was tall, but no basketball player.  He looked fit, like a Navy SEAL just out of basic.  He had vibrant hazel green eyes that seemed to change subtle color from brown to green to an almost gold tint.  His hair was rich dark brown and slightly wavy, it fell just past his shoulders, loose and natural, without any hint of hairspray or gel.  His hands caught her attention.  The skin looked soft, the fingers long and tapered, like a musician’s hands.  When he smiled at her, his smile was bright white and perfectly straight without looking artificial.  He was dressed in clothing that seemed to be a mixture of old world and present.  She tried to guess his age and found she couldn’t.

            Dorothy shook herself out of her daze.

            “Who are you?  Where am I?  What happened back there? What’s going on?”

            The man just grinned at her, “That’s a tall order of questions there.  But I promise to answer each one as best I can and to my full knowledge.  But first, how are you feeling?”

            His smile became less a grin and more a reassuring smile.  His eyes lost the mischievous glint and took a more warm sparkle.  ‘I bet girls just melt at the look.’ She thought to herself.  Finally she herself relented.  Well, that and the fact that he saved her, that he had food and she was hungry, and that, in all honesty, he seemed to be her only link to finding her way home.

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t size=”3″>            “I’m feeling a lot better.  I feel weak though.”

            He nodded, “Well, you’ve had rest.  Some food will help too.  I was able to cleanse your wounds and bandage most of them.  I wanted the cleansing agent I put on your wrists and ankles to dry before I used a healing cream and bandaged them.  They should be dry by now.”

            She nodded and he turned to a small pack near the campfire.  He rummaged around in it before pulling out a small vial and a roll of gauze.  He turned back to her and gently began putting the salve on her wrists.  As he worked he began speaking to her.

            “My name is Joseph.  I’m a dimensional traveler and commander of an order called the Guardians.  Originally I came from a dimension very similar to your own.  Then one night I somehow traveled from my dimension to another through the passageway of dreams.  In that dimension were a people simply called the Historians.  They are a people whose whole way of life centers on knowledge.  The pursuit, research, and collecting of knowledge.  They are a peaceful people, beyond the ways of violence and aggression.  Yet they knew that from their travels to other dimensions that there are many people that need help, protection, justice, peace, and light.  For all their knowledge, the Historians were unable to provide such things.  However, they found me.  I desired the power they could provide me, but not to rule over others or to dominate.  But I wanted simply to live a good life and to help others to live a good life as well.  To this end, the Guardian order was created, with me as the founder and commander.  I gathered together others like me and we worked in conjunction with the Historians, not only in the pursuit of knowledge, but in the pursuit of helping others.”

            He had finished bandaging her wrists and ankles during his story and had already served them a bowl of stew, a biscuit, and a cup of a sweet tasting fruit drink.  Dorothy suspected the pack might be magic, as there didn’t seem to be any way it could hold as much as Joseph had already pulled out of there.

            “So, not that I’m complaining or anything you know, since you saved me but why are you here?” Dorothy said, an almost challenge glinting in her eyes.

            Joseph just smiled, “I’m here because of you.  You performed a spell to travel from one dimension to another.  We can monitor the space time field to see any changes or shifts in its surface.  It’s almost like the surface of a still pond.  Anytime something opens or closes a dimensional gateway between one place and another, it’s like creating ripples in the pond.  When you shifted between dimensions we caught the shift and followed your progress here.  This dimension is listed as a Category Negative.  That basically means that no dimensional traveler comes here of their own will.  If someone does its because they got lost, they were forced here, or they’re here for a dark purpose.  In any case, we check these instances out.  I tracked your dimensional portal exit and then tracked the munchkin scavengers that found and took you to the ruined city.  When I caught up is when I intervened.  You know the rest.”

            “So those things really are munchkins?  Where is here anyway?”

            “Yes, those are, or used to be, munchkins.  You’re in the Baum dimension.  We are currently in a forest about twenty miles from what used to be the

Munchkin
City

.”

      &nb

sp;     “Wait, wait…the

Munchkin
City

?  Isn’t that from the Wizard of Oz?”

            “Yes, the Land of Oz resides within the Baum dimension.”

            “You mean like the Wizard, and clicking your heels together, and evil flying monkeys?”

            Joseph smirked, “You’re another one of those people that watch the movies so you don’t have to read the book aren’t you.”

            Dorothy just blushed and stuck her tongue out at him.

            Joseph smirked as he gathered their empty dishes and poured himself more juice from a pitcher that kept refilling itself.

            “When people write, sometimes its not a matter of imagination.  They’ve actually, unknowingly, tapped into a vision of other dimensions.  So sometimes what you read is very close to the actual truth.  This dimension is very like the one described in the books.”

            Dorothy finally spoke up, “So what happened?  I thought that Oz was supposed to happy little singing people and all colorful and bright.”

            Joseph smiled again, but this time Dorothy thought the smile seemed a little forced, a little sad.

            “It was beautiful once.  If you’re comfortable and willing, I will tell you about the fall of Oz.”

 

 

  And I couldn’t leave you all without an interesting pic.  Here’s one that shows the wonder of special effects.

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