Dimensional Reality: Oz (Chapter 12 cont.)

Joseph was silent for a few moments, collecting his thoughts.

  “During her first visit to Oz, Dorothy was hailed as a great hero.  She killed the Wicked Witch of the East by dropping a house on her.  Then, she found the mortal weakness of the Great Wicked Witch of the West.  She killed her with water.  For long after that, the remaining wicked witches were rounded up and deprived of their powers.  The land was a place of peace and happiness.  Yet, not all of Oz could be watched, even by Glinda who owned the Great Book of Records. 

This was the small kingdom of Jinxland.  Seperated from Oz by a great mountain range, it was little traveled and less important.  There resided the last of the wicked witches of Oz.  Yet, these too were hunted down and persecuted.  The last of them, tired of running gathered their, now weak, powers for one great spell.  After months of hiding and preparations, they completed their spell.  They brought the Great Witch back to life.  She was more cunning than ever.  She knew that haste had been her downfall before.  She did not make the same mistake a second time.  She bided her time, drawing all evil to her.  She gathered the wicked witches that had been deprived of their powers and restored them.  She brought dark creatures to her and made them more powerful.  She grew more and more powerful, in body, mind, and in magic.  Finally she moved out of hiding with her army and attacked Jinxland.  The kingdom was ruled by good, but young people.  It fell within the day.  Yet, the Great Witch did not rush ahead.  Having an entire kingdom, out of the way and unobserved, she gathered a great army to her.  Greater than any ever seen before. 

Finally, creating magical bridges, she marched her army over the great moutain passes and into the kingdom of Ev. The Great Witch was no fool, she laid siege to Ev, cutting it off from all communication and hope of outside help.  She cut at the kingdom, piece by piece, until she destroyed the kingdom of Ev and slaughtered the royal house of Ev.  She waited until her army had regained its strength and finally marched on the land of Oz.  Only then did the Land of Oz know its danger.  Only then was the Great Witch unable to keep her presence from writing itself on Glinda’s Book of Records. 

She attacked the Munchkin land first.  Unable to defend themselves they called on the Gillikins.  The Sorceress Melinda, younger sister of the Great Sorceress Glinda, led her small army against the Great Witch.  A great battle between the Witch and the Sorceress raged over this land.  Great spells of combat laid waste to the land and warped its inhabitants into twisted creatures.  At the last, Melinda could not match the Great Witch’s powers and was destroyed.  The Great Witch spread over the land of Oz, destroying the lands and opposition in her wake.  The Gillikins, Munchkins, and Winkies fell before her.  She made the land of the Mountaineers into a valley and took the Adepts prisoner to work as magical slaves.  The Great Witch came to the land of the Quadlins and home of the Great Sorceress Glinda.  War raged on and on, lightning and thunder became a constant.  The remaining free lands of Oz heard a great rumble one day, there was a blinding white flash seen all over Oz, and then silence.  Glinda, Great Sorceress of Oz had fallen.  With victory in her grasp, the Great Witch set her sights on what she had coveted most.  The Emerald City. 

Once again, she laid siege.  The Great Witch had nothing but time.  Finally, the Ozits, outnumbered, desperate, and starving, charged out the gates into the army of the Great Witch.  There, like a single star in the night sky, was Ozma.  The fiercness of the Ozits attack suprised the dark army, but to no avail.  The Ozits were too badly outnumbered.  In a last attempt at victory Ozma engaged the Great Witch in single combat.  The beautiful symbol of Oz fought with power beyond anything any had seen.  The Great Witch found that this rose had thorns.  Hours passed as they fought, but the Great Witch had grown too powerful.  Ozma was destroyed in a burst of dark fire.  Since that day, the Great Witch has been shaping this dimension in her own twisted image.  Her reign is not complete though.  Rebels, last of the good beings of Oz, throw their wrenches into her works.  They spend every chance possible destroying the camps and forts of the dark army.  And now, at the height of Oz’s destruction, you’ve been sent here.”