After the final triumph many cycles ago over not just the Wicked Witch of the West, but also of Langwidere, and the Nome King, Oz was perfection. It will always be remembered though that the freedom did not come with out sacrifice. The Courageous Lion, The Scarecrow, Bluefire his wife Violetfire, Gervirah (leader of the Birds), Natalee,Commodore Cherrystone, and Sister Numeric, and Sister Administrata all fell to the evil Wicked Witch of the West, or the Nome King and his Nomes. Langwidere responsible for killing Locasta, Glinda the Good' sister was defeated by Lady Glinda and Captain Jinjuria. At the time of that however, she was not Captain, just another brave member of Ozma's Guards.
Government was finally the glittering monarchy it always was intended to be, the people were happy faithful to Lurline, and successful. Economy grew as there were no more wars, the Military, Ozma's Home Guard, could look to other jobs. Out of the hype and now glorification of the heroism in Anthony and Julia, now considered veterns for Oz's freedom, a great fountain was built in the middle of an enormous and beautiful enchanted garden, outside the Emerald City in Munchkinland's Pine Barrens. The Pine barrens are a misnomer, the fields at the foot of the EC &munchkinland border were filled with lush crops.
In an attempt to begin hiding Oz's old danger zones, (I.e. The Vinkus, destroyed remains of Kiamo Ko, etc) this garden was accompanied in the North, by a curious yet decorative and surely powerful mirror among the Trees in the Gillikin Forest. This great Mirror of Mirrors, it seemed was problematic. Created by Glinda, everyone was confident, that the problem must lie within themselves, rather than the quality of the enchanted Mirror. You see, this mirror does not show a reflection of you, but of your hearts deepest, strongest desire. And, furthermore, if agreement can be made with the stubborn Mirror, it will grant your hearts desire to come true.
The Fountain also at first was beautiful, and added to the beauty and splendor of Oz. Particularly it symbolized to the people the return of their savior, Ozma Tippetarius. However, when a gathering of schoolchildren visited the Fountain from Shiz, something terrible happened.
It was mid afternoon, and Glinda the Good was watching nearby, enjoying seeing the children ooh and awe at the size and entertaining water works it displayed. One child, leaned too close to the low edge, and fell in. Mother Maria, head of the Cloister of the Good, was the chaperone to the event, and immediately rushed to the child and grabbed him.
"Students, out of the way please! Move quickly dears!" She cried frantically, as the child screamed, he was too short, and didn't know how to swim, Oceans also being a myth not believed in Oz here. Glinda dropped her rose topped staff and ran over to the fountain. Everyone backed away as she quietly sang a charm to herself that rhymed in another language, and the child jumped out of the fountain. Mother Maria held him in her arms, and searched for a pulse, when she couldn't find one, she looked up at Glinda, who told her to performed cpr. After a while the child came too, but still, something was not normal.
"Calan, can you speak are you alright now?" Mother Maria asked. There was no answer. Instead, the child rapidly aged, to teen, adult, elder, and finally, deceased. Glinda tried every rejuvination spell she could but nothing worked. Glinda was powerful, but had no power of time. Although she has used spells to bring some people back, this time the cause was beyond her skill.
Ozma ordered the few guards she had to post painfully long hours of watch, all along the fountain's perimeter, and prevent anyone from drinking the water. Now christened, "The Forbidden Fountain" by the people, it seemed like a bad omen, but everyone hoped it was just an accident.
A few months went by, and there was another incident. The touring fortune telling Gypseys from the local annual Carnivel, in honor of Ozma's Emerald Jubilee (10 Oz cycles, so less than 5 earth years on the throne), had suddenly gone missing. Their destination on the tour was coincidentally, right where the Mirror of Mirrors was to be. This is still only as trustable as a rumor, but the story goes that two Gypseys, one male one female, were kidnapped, by who? Some say Elphaba's gohst, others say Elphaba herself yet again re-incarnated somehow. But most frighteningly, others say there is a new Witch on the scene, one that has yet to reveal an identity, but has already possibly taken two lives.
Glinda the Good and Ozma had a County Court Meeting, and in this particular meeting, brought these two events to the stand, and heard the people's reactions about a solution, answer for a cause, etc. They wanted to hear what they had to say.
"Gentlemen, Ladies, please. I only ask that you speak one at a time, and wait for Ozma to call upon you to speak, there are numerous concerns, all of which important, and needing to be heard by us. But we cant do that, if everyone speaks simultaneously." Glinda calmed the emptionally charged crowd, and they settled. Ozma thanked, and called for proceeding.
"My Lady, I am concerned for my children. Is the fountain bewitched somehow? Will it pull innocent people towards it? How do we know if your Guards are safe even?" One woman from Quadling asked. Glinda answered that,"The Fountain is set to be dismantled soon, but before that happens, the water needs to be emptied. Where to do that safely is under analysis." She sat down, and Glinda answered more and more questions until finally they began discussing the Mirror, and the mysterious disappearance of two people. This time Ozma stood, and everyone silenced.
"My people, the Mirror was created by Glinda the Good, there should be absolutely no harm in this whatsoever. The fact that two people are missing could be any number of things it could be that they have family close by there, or-" Ozma was interrupted by a terrifying interjection.
"Or it could be the ghost of the Wicked Witch of the West!" Glinda got goose bumps, and she now stood.
"I realize fellow Ozians, that I have said this before, but I say to you now, she is honestly, really and truly dead. There is no possible way she could return. As far as her gohst goes, it is also highly unlikely. Whoever or whatever is doing this, it is clearly not the Wicked Witch." Glinda replied. Ozma was beginning to sweat, she had an idea, but it was crazy, didn't the Nome King take care of her? That's what he told her a long while ago…
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Anthony had carried on with life. Possibilities for a girlfriend came and went with no results of course, and since the time he had for the third time returned from Oz with Julia, he had since his latest arrival to Earth, sadly moved from California back to New England for college. He kept close contact with his old friends, but as the weeks went by, he began making equally as good new friends.
While at sea as part of the education for his nautical major, he met a very good person who surprisingly swiftly, went from classmate to best friend in under two months. This mans name was Ben. Ben is a tall guy, dirty blond hair and not tan at all, born and raised in the north, it was hard to do. He always seemed to be the life of any party. Hang out for longer than a few minutes and see if your not rolling on the ground laughing hysterically.
Everything seemed totally fine, until one night, disaster struck. Anthony was in the dorm, and about to see if Ben wanted to go off campus for lunch, when he was no where to be found. It was night, and only some of the lights inside were burning. His roommate answered the door.
"Are you looking for Ben? I have not seen him for six hours." he answered. I asked him to give Ben a call, but there was no answer. Still re-assuring myself, there couldn't possibly be anything actually wrong here, I return to my own room. A few minutes later, and there's a knock. It's my own roommate. Kal, a very southern-like, horse riding outdoor person, tells me that Ben had gone home, seeing him leave as he returned just now after his last class.
To Anthony's horror, it turns out Ben was alot more sad and feeling lonely than he let on. He tried calling but there was no answer. The time was close to midnight right at the beginning of a new to Anthony, his newly made friend was in grave danger. But, danger brought by himself, on purpose. As more time went by still with no sign of Ben Anthony's heart rate went through the roof. Horrified for a close friend's life a brother, Anthony ran out of the building talking to no one, and tried to reach him. Finally he got a hold of him on the phone as he was running to find him, and there they had a long talk. I never take this sort thing lightly, and it was even harder to think that someone as awesome and nice as Ben was thinking about it. I had to do something, I would never be able to live with my self if I didn't. By the end of it, the first thing that popped into Anthony's mind for a solution, was to somehow bring him to Oz the next time, if there was a next time.