(AN: A quick, or not so quick, re-capitulation of things that have happened in the past six adventures [though I suggest you go back and re-read those, starting with LittleGreenFae's Another World Another War]. This one is going to be another original story, going where no man has ever gone before and beyond that!)

(So prepare yourselves, for The Land has begun! [all Lord of the Rings references belong to Tolkien, not me])

The Story So Far

Four figures moved through the Great Dark Beyond, the Ether, the Void between the worlds. Though they knew it not, time and space moved about them faster than the blink of an eye. To these four, however, it all seemed as though the space of a dream.

The man, Fiyero Tiggular, saw himself waking up anew once again. He was made of hay and straw, with a burlap sack for a face, gloves for hands and an old green shirt upon his body. Had the spell worked? He had felt some kind of magic, yet he knew not if that was the natural way of death or if something had saved him?

Half in his mind came the echo of a spell being chanted in the distance.

Yes, he thought. It was her! She saved me!

But why am I thinking?

His mind went blank, and he just stood there, pretending not to notice what was going on around him until the little girl appeared. She helped him down from the pole - where the Gale Force had put him when he was still human - and in return, he offered to follow with her to the Emerald City to see the Wizard. He made up some story about him not having any brains as a reason to go with her. She even suggested that he go and ask the Wizard for brains.

As if. He had been behind the Giant Head and knew the truth about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

On their way he met a woodsman made out of tin - whom he recognized as none other than Boq, that Munchkin-lad who was always chasing after Glinda. Then there was the Lion, another creature he recognized. As a wee cub, he had been rescued by her.

Her. Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, the woman he loved. He had only seen her once since they parted that moment in Center Munch after he rescued her: she was on top of the cabin outside of which they had found the Tin Woodsman. She looked as though she had lost everything, and it had finally pushed her over the edge...

Into madness.

She lashed out at him with her magic. What had become of her, he wondered? Did she not know that he was alive? That he was there, living and breathing? The Elphaba Thropp he knew was many things, but wicked was hardly one of them. Something must have happened, and he needed to tell her that he was still alive.

But he never got the chance. Not yet, at least. Not while they were on the Yellow Brick Road, or when they finally reached the Emerald City. It wasn't until after they had exited the city and stopped at a nearby village that he had any chance of being by himself.

Then he remembered something, something that he was mentally slapping himself for forgetting. He had come there by accident as a child, playing around in the tunnels, but he never gave much thought to it until now. A great shimmering door-way, and the rock he threw into it didn't come back. It seemed like a long-shot, but he just had to do it. It might just work...

So, while Boq was riling up the villagers into a murderous frenzy, he nabbed some parchment, a quill and an ink-horn and scrawled this note:

Dearest Elphaba,

Miraculously, I've managed to escape, thanks to the spell you've cast on me. I've had to pay a great price, but my love is still strong for you. I only hope that you will still want me when next we meet.

I have a plan for us and I will come to you and explain it.

Tell No One I still am ALIVE! My only hope - OUR ONLY HOPE IS FOR ALL OZ TO THINK I'M DEAD.

A plan? Hardly. Not a thoroughly thought-out plan, at least. He wasn't that kind of person, one to take stock of what he had, plan for ages and ages before making a move. The phrase 'shoot first ask questions later' rang truer for him than any of the old sayings of wisdom and patience.

But it was worth a try. If they were found out, they would both be killed. So he stuffed the letter into the straw in his body. They had nothing to lose by attempting this.

In the end, it was a little trickier than he had expected. Near the forest at the foot of the Vinkus River they were attacked by Flying Monkeys. He didn't know who they belonged to, though he thought he saw some of them in the woods when he and Elphaba...

The Monkeys tore him apart, one of them found the letter and took it away. He didn't know if they were allies or her enemies, or if the letter would even get to her now. He was even more fearful once, after being put back together and attacking Kiamo Ko, she threatened him again with fire.

In the end, it was all a ploy. The water had been carefully placed there, she just needed to 'convince' one of them to throw it, and though it was a close-call, she 'melted' quite convincingly and they returned to the Emerald City as heroes.

The little girl left and then Fiyero returned to Kiamo Ko in search of the green woman. She was still alive, and he told her about the tunnel and the shimmering door-way. She didn't really believe him, but it was worth a try, she said so herself. Together, hand in hand, they walked through the Clock of the Time Dragon...

The woman, the green woman, Elphaba Thropp, had been everyone's enemy. Those annoying little hobbits were startled by her verdigris, and though the Elves cared not, the Men of Rohan and Gondor were not as accepting. They almost feared her, as if she were some mysterious Elf as well. Yet she followed in the foot-steps of the Fellowship and soon found herself thrust into a new war.

Fiyero was her love, and with him at her side, they had endured the first battle and made love at the victory celebration afterwards. Then the greatest battle came, and she found herself under the sway of the Enemy. She had first heard the voice of the Ring in Imladris, but now it spoke again, urging her to save it. It knew where the Bearer was taking it, and it called out to her to find it and take it up as her own, then all that she had desired would be hers, all the power to make good as she saw fit.

After the Battle of Pelennor Fields, she had become weakened and fatigued and the voice was now stronger. She gave in, sent the horse on its way and walked off into the Darkness. When her own will overcame that voice, she was then captured by the Enemy and spared from his downfall by a stroke of luck.

The other woman, Glinda the Good, was the loved one, the pretty one, the popular one. Yet with each bright light there is a shadow, and she had walked in hers for a good long time of her youth. Then she met the green woman and she began to break free from the control of the shadow. While the green woman was being led into the Darkness, she and Fiyero braved all to save her from that evil place. The light within her grew strong, and when she learned that Fiyero and Elphaba were to have a child, her joy was compounded.

Yet her sorrow grew, for she was once again bereft of her own desire. Then the shadow took form again within her, and when they left that world and entered the world of Man, the darkness at last came forth. They were led away by a one-eyed old man, while she used the Book that they had left behind to split herself into four. Where they went after that only haunted her visions while she delved into the shadow as the servant of Queen Grimhild.

The last woman, the horse, Nessarose Thropp, was once a human. She had died as a victim of a house falling upon her, but returned to life as a horse in the land of Arda. Elphaba, her sister, saved the horse and though she could not speak to her sister, she joined herself to her as her trusty steed. Only when she went into the Darkness was she forced to leave her. Yet beyond hope they were reunited.

She had followed with un-speaking eyes through all their travels, from Arda to Midgard and to the Oz of the past. It was there that she saw the Ancient Nameless Foe come to power and use that power to kill Glinda and bring her back to her true form.

Yet Glinda was not dead, for when they - Fiyero, Elphaba and Nessarose - returned to Midgard, the land of Men, they found her alive, though not entirely well. The shadow was now claiming her and she had not the desire to fight it. But they passed through the Crucible, one by one, and they all came through stronger and ready for the world.

One secret more was unlocked, they were now a bit closer to the meaning...

Then at last their eyes opened upon a strange new world.

(AN: What world have they landed upon?)

(Be prepared, for great adventures [hopefully] await. Faces old and new shall appear and the future of the Ozian Adventures saga shall be decided!)