Chapter 9
Ozario:
Ku Klip lived on the northern edge of the Trilobite village in Munchkin Land, and due to his transgressions against the demi-gods nearly twelve hundred years earlier, they forbade him from entering the main, Trilobite village. He called himself and his people, the ones from his seed Munchkins, and now for over a thousand years, it was known that the Munchkins lived to the north of the Trilobites.
Orion placed a curse on him that took away his ability to age, and even though he still had the features of a young Trilobite, it pained him to watch his wives and children grow old, disabled, and die. He watched all of his first five wives die and buried them on the hill about five hundred yards from his front door. When the last of his original brides died, he begged Ptah to take his life too, but he remained the same: young and vibrant as always.
When he made his humble home in the north with his five, beautiful wives, they each had seven kids, and due to his curse, each one of his children lived to be nearly five hundred years old. He continued to grow corn on his property but hadn't eaten the flesh of an animal in nearly twelve hundred years because Ozario didn't have any livestock, including unicorns. The only food on the She Ah Vog was some corn, grains, and the Booshi seeds.
When the first group of kids was born, Ku referred to them as his little Munchkins, and then by the time his first set of wives died, the name had been established throughout the land that the children of Ku Klip were Munchkins. Most of them, at least the ones in the main village, only lived to be eighty years of age on average, and from birth, they usually stayed clear of the Munchkins.
After the passing of Pro'Naga, Ku's two hundredth wife on Ozario, it was time for him to find a new woman from the main Trilobite village. Usually, he found a young woman wandering through the thick forest without an escort, and in the ancient ways of Ptah, he chased her down and wrestled her into submission in the way of the gods. But on the last day of the Festival of Plenty, a young girl named Po'Aga, a descendant of Po'Darro wandered onto his property, and due to her height and grace, he knew she was part of the royal family. But Po, Ptah's first son with Ro'Dan, was an older man now, hardened by the insidious ways of the Trilobites who didn't have busy hands like the ones who served Ptah on the Celestial Kingdom. Often, they practiced witchcraft behind closed doors and had sex parties in forbidden places. The activity angered Po'Darro, but he was powerless to stop it because most of it was orchestrated by his sister.
When he walked out of his abode and saw the girl wandering onto his property, he said, "You know you're on the land of the Munchkins, right?"
She had a bright smile full of energy and zeal, and it immediately caused Ku to change his attitude about her. "Indeed," she said with a smile. "I'm just out here picking some Booshi fruit for pies and jellies for tonight's feast. I hope it's okay with you?"
"Pick all the Booshis that you need," he said. He noticed she had an innocent beauty about her, the kind of innocence that didn't know the taste of a man. She had the sparkle of hope in her eyes that all strong, independent Trilobite males look for in a mate. "The Festival of Plenty is a time when all the Trilobites come together and boast about all the wealth Ptah bestowed on their families." He paused for a moment, and then asked, "What's your name, Missy?"
"Po'Aga," she said with a smile and a bow, "I'm a direct descendant of Po'Darro, but without the powers."
She smelled of fresh peaches, a scent that connected her with the gods. It was a scent that often followed Ptah, and it was pleasing to his Trilobite senses. "Oh. I'm sure you have some magic flowing through your veins," he said with a smile. "Have you tried to use your powers?"
"All the time," she said, "But nothing comes of it. I'm a dud." She smiled. "I do know who you are."
"Yeah?" He said.
"You're the Klip, the curse one," she said, "The Outcast."
He grimaced because he wanted the curse part attached to his name to fade away because he loathed it. "I will live until the end of time," said Ku, "Long after Po'Darro dies I will still be alive."
She looked down at the ground for a moment with a grimace on her face. "This is a curse indeed," she said, "To see all those you love die is a pain nobody wants to endure."
Suddenly, a fireball of energy did a nose dive for the planet, and hit in Ku's cornfield causing a massive crater. When the ball of fire hit, Ku and Po'Aga dove to the ground, and then he embraced her, she screamed, "I'm afraid, Ku Klip." Hugging him tightly, he kissed her on the neck, and he felt her tense up in his arms.
"I got you, girlie," he said with a smile. "Everything will be okay." But when he looked up at the fire coming from his cornfield, he didn't think everything would be okay. The Speed Force had snagged another criminal, but he didn't know what it was. The smoke from the burning corn permeated throughout the entire area and made it extremely hard to see. He left Po'Aga behind when he entered into the field of corn, and as he drew closer to the burning ball, he heard the clink of armor and the sound of robotic-like voice.
"What is this world?" The metal monstrosity said as he brushed off the burning corn from his body. At first, Ku thought more than one creature fell out of the hazy sky, but upon investigation, he quickly realized it was just one, oversized metal monstrosity.
"You are on Ozario," Ku said as he approached the iron machine that toward above him. His skin looked like silver and gold, and the hair atop his head was black but crawled down his back like the snakes on Ptah's head.
"A Trilobite?" The metal man said, "Haven't seen one of you in years."
When Ku looked over the metal man for a moment, he noticed that he was missing his right hand. "My name is Ku Klip. Did you lose your hand in the crash?" He asked.
"No," he said, "My name is Cast Ferritic and I was a Lantern with Oa." He paused for a moment as he took a deep breath. "The Oans and I made an attempt to travel back through time to stop the collapse of the old verse, but..."
"I see," said Ku, "And the Speed Force nabbed you?"
"Not immediately," he said, "As I was putting in the exact year, Ptah and his wife Oriona entered into the room, and as I tried to fight them with my power ring, he used his Ring of Darkness to suppress its energy. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't form anything, and then out of nowhere that bitch chopped off my ring hand with her battle ax. She moved so fast that I barely had time to act."
"Is it only you?" He asked.
"No," he said, "There're billions of planets in the Speed Force. When Ptah banished me into this realm, I saw thousands of my people caught in the wake. Other Iron-oids may be on other worlds or even on the opposite side of this one."
Ku looked down at the ground and noticed the damage on the behemoth's right leg. Wires stuck out of his leg, and at times, they sparked. He sat down on the ground and appeared to be in pain. "You're hurt!"
"It was foolish to go against the Celestial Kingdom," he said as he lamented. "But I thought with the power of will, I could bring my people back from extinction. Over two million years ago, before the collapse of the old verse, a small group of Iron-oids came with Dorax and Doraxia to this verse. The inhabitants of Iron Ore descendent from them. Even though my people range in the millions now, we almost met complete annihilation at the hands of Ptah." Suddenly, the iron giant began to laugh. "Your name is one of dishonor in the ancient languages."
Ku looked down at the ground for a moment and then said, "I too have angered Orion, and she placed a curse on me. I shall not age. I shall not die."
Cast Ferritic sat on the ground for what seemed like a long time, but he was hungry for some nourishment. Ku knew he didn't have any crude for the iron man, but he did have an oil-based substance that he extracted from the Booshi Fruit. He used it to light his lanterns and keep his hovel warm in the winter. He poured Cast a jug of the oil, and then let him drink until he was full.
"And you extracted this from the Booshi?" He asked. "It tasted just as good as the crude on Iron Ore."
After a few weeks, Ku fixed the iron monstrosity's leg, and after working on an iron hand, he fastened it onto Cast Ferritic's right wrist. Po'Aga sat with him as he worked diligently on the iron man's injuries. The new, right hand was much smaller than his left hand, but he had full function out of it, at least for the first two weeks after Ku fastened it onto him. Po'Aga often visited Ku while he continued to polish and fix Cast's issues, and after a while, he had the alien metal-like creature shining like a brand new machine off the factory floor. Unfortunately, the homemade oil from the Booshi fruit began to rot the iron man's insides, and in the middle of the night, he screamed in agony. His face contorted like somebody drilled a hole into his midsection, and then he began to bleed from his nostrils. He let out a loud roar, and it brought Po'Aga running from down the way. Ku watched the metal beast roll around in his living room screaming and hollering, and it shamed him because he didn't have a method of drilling for the black crude Cast so badly needed. Po'Aga stood in the threshold of the door when Cast began to speak.
"If this is my death, then let it come at this very minute, Ku," he screamed as blood dribbled from his nose. He sat in the small, cursed man's house and with his back against the far wall. "I wish Ptah had crushed my head with his Hammer of Knowledge, but to suffer the affliction of starvation is worse than death."
"You take the Lord Ptah's name in vain?" Po'Aga asked. "If not for the Great Ptah, none of this would exist."
"It's okay, Po''Aga," Ku said with a serious look.
Cast scoffed for a moment until Ku gave him a serious look. "I'm sorry, Po'Aga," he said, "I didn't mean to disrespect your Lord, but the pain I'm experiencing is causing me to lose my faculties."
"You are forgiven," she said with a nod. "Ku, can you come with me?"
"What do you need?" He asked.
"Just walk with me?" She asked, "Down by the river?"
Ku and Po'Aga walked toward the old river, but at the same time, he felt some dismay leaving his metal friend in pain on the floor. "What are we doing here?" He asked calmly.
She looked at him with a serious visage, and then said, "I've been trying to give myself to you for weeks now, but your hands are always busy touching everything except me."
He paused for a moment, and then said, "Oh! So, you were never interested in my Booshi Fruit?" He asked.
"Of course I was," she said, "But there're Booshi Trees all over Ozarrio, but only the trees on your property guaranteed we'd meet up."
Grabbing her by the hair, he whispered in her right ear, and said, "I've had tons of women and they've all felt abandoned by the Trilobites once they took a room in my house. See, not only am I an outcast, but those who affiliate with me are too."
"So be it," she said as she struggled to maintain her balance. The way he pulled her hair caused her to lose balance several times, and then she suddenly broke free of his grip. "I'm an outcast in the House of Po'Darro because magic doesn't flow through my veins like the others in my family."
"Is that why you've come to me? He asked. "What makes you think I want a broken Trilobite from Po'Darro's leanage who can't do magic?"
Quickly, she turned to Ku with anger in her eyes, and then shoved him with all her might. A purple glow encompassed her body and her eyes turned the color of amber. Ku flew to the other side of the river and crashed into some bushes. He immediately realized that she did have powers, but it was the power of strength. "I hate you, Ku!"
When he tried to run back to her, he slipped on a puddle of a black liquid that oozed from the ground near the body of water. It had been nearly a year since he had visited the old river that lied on the far west edge of Trilobite territory. The black liquid was all over his clothes, hands and face, and he knew immediately what it was. "Oh my, Ptah!" He screamed.
"You'll need Ptah if you try anything," she said, "I'm so angry with you right now."
"No! It's oil," he said, "Pure oil. The kind of oil that Cast needs."
"Oh, that?" She said, "That's why I brought you here, idiot."
He immediately knew he made a mistake underestimating her powers, and then abruptly apologized.
Current time:
James traversed over the land at great speeds until he came to a small farm on the edge of the Munchkin Country where Tavi Socrates lived. The unicorns frolicked about on the edge of his property and he loved their majestic beauty. From what he counted, the old man owned about thirteen, white unicorns that he kept in a pen. He wanted to ask JJ what happened to the one-horned animals and did they ever exist on Earth. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to take in the scenery because some activity was happening on Tavi's property.
He needed the old Scarecrow's help because he knew exactly who had the powerful, Enchanted Ax needed to kill the King of Winkie Country and Emerald City. He paused for a moment, thought about killing the Tin Man, and then remembered what Kara said, "We don't kill." But at the same time, he was dealing with an entity that was willing to slaughter an entire village. In the back of his mind, he asked himself, "What would the Vulcan do?" He laughed a little and then continued to walk towards the house.
Mary told him quite a bit about Tavi, but also said he wasn't to be trusted due to what he did to Nick, the Tin Man. From James' point of view, Mary didn't care for Tavi at all, but when it came to what he had to do, he didn't care about the man's past. He knew he had information on how to traverse the land to Winkie Country, the place where the Enchanted Ax resided. According to her, Oz had more than one monster he'd have to circumvent, including the dragon, Ishtar, who protected the entrance to the Emerald City. The Tin Man put it in place when three witches tried to attack him by land, so he put a moat around the city with the dragon patrolling it.
He spent another night with Tre'Yan in her small cottage before heading to Tavi's farm. He finished up with Mary and the evening meal around seven o'clock, and then Tre'Yan took him back to her cottage and washed his feet. She had some important questions of him because he was able to handle a punch by the Tin Man like no man of flesh or steel could.
"So, according to Vega Star's historical documents on the universe, Ptah and his wife made a formula that saved the Kryptonians," she said as she washed his feet in some warm, soapy water. "When she saved them, they became a blight on the verse until Ptah turned their yellow sun red." She paused for a moment, and then looked up at him. "Is that the source of your strength? This formula?"
"I don't know if it's the same formula," he said calmly, "But it must be similar since I have all the Kryptonian attributes, but when I'm exposed to kryptonite, I only lose my powers, but it doesn't hurt me or kill me in any way."
She smiled. "According to the ancient text written by the Trilobite, Po Ladious, who crashed landed on Vega Star over a million years ago, Ptah created the formula to save the Kryptonian race. When they're exposed to Kryptonite, it removes the protective barrier around their cells and allows the ancient virus to run amok in their systems. On Crest Star, a world full of dragons and demons, Ptah sent in a young female he called the Herald to the Destroyer. On some worlds, they refer to her as the Harbinger. She's more intelligent than all others and duplicates Ptah's original formula from memory. We actually have a team of scientists searching the galaxy for this woman, but Po Ladious formula for finding the Harold is so complex that our best scientists haven't figured it out. She prepares a body for the Destroyer."
"So, the woman who gave me the formula is of the gods too?" He asked with a grimace on his face.
"Indeed," she said, "She's the first daughter of Ptah and Orion and she returns every two thousand years to bring forth her brother, The Destroyer, and his wife, Sayd. If I had this formula, I could return to Moxia, build an army, and stop the war before it spills over to Vega Star and Brion Noir."
"But what of Path?" He asked.
"According to the ruling class of Moxia, they used a weapon on Ptah that caused him to kill himself," she said, "He's nothing more than something we worship now."
Honestly, he didn't know what to make of her hospitality because earlier in the day, she practically kicked him out of her house when he told her he killed Randolph. For the next hour or so she insisted on discussing Orion, but he only knew superficial stuff about her. She placed her right hand on his knee when she asked, "Have you ever seen her in action?"
"Not exactly," he said with a strange look on his face. He didn't know where she was going with the question. "She's always with JJ."
"JJ? Is he a god?" She asked with a smile. Slowly, she slid her right hand up and down his muscular legs and laughed a bit. "We have literature on Orion that goes back a million years. In some places, she's worshipped above Ptah and revered in every corner of the galaxy. The legend states that when the ruling class unleashed their weapon against him, she wiped nearly half of them out until the Great Mother stopped her."
James felt somewhat aroused by her hand as she slid it up and down his legs and tried to regain focus. He then said, "I don't know that much about her history, but she's with JJ right now. I'm only familiar with the kid whose powers go beyond anything I've ever seen." He paused for a moment, and then said, "He stated that one day he'd go through his apotheosis and then leave Earth for the good of the universe."
The entire time he sat on her couch she repeatedly asked him about the flying disc, but he only knew so much. She eventually said, "If this JJ hasn't reached his full potential, he probably can't open a portal to Vega Star like Ptah could. Only the gods can move seamlessly through space and time."
James looked over at her for a moment, and then said, "He can phase shift, but I don't know if he can leap to other worlds."
"It's okay," she said, "Orion can. In fact, I'm almost sure history states she has a digital map of the Speed Force."
He didn't refute what she said about Orion because he always thought she was more powerful than she claimed to be, and when JJ returned from Africa, they seemed a lot closer and almost intimate with each other. It was a bizarre relationship they had since Peppermint was his fiance. And what made everything more bizarre was that she didn't seem to mind his relationship with Orion.
After discussing Orion for about thirty minutes, Tre'Yan made some herbal tea out of yellow and black tea leaves from Winkie Country. She crutched them on a cutting board, placed them in some boiling water, and then let it cool down for about five minutes. "You'll enjoy this tea, James. It has a unique flavor and it relaxes you."
"I do enjoy a good cup of tea," he said. He leaned back on the couch and relaxed for a moment.
"If you defeat the Tin Man, it'll free the stronghold he has on the skies," she said as she brought him a cup of herbal tea. "It would allow for the faster flow of goods between the kingdoms. When I arrived on this world, the locusts attacked my ship as I crashed landed on this rock. I thought for sure they'd kill me."
The next morning...
When he woke up the next morning and heard his host fiddling around in the kitchen, he sat up and looked over at her, but he felt awfully groggy. She fixed some unicorn meat sandwiches that he placed in his backpack, and even though she wanted to come with him, he said, "No. It's going to be a dangerous mission." He rubbed his temples and eyes because he felt somewhat tired like he had been drinking the previous day.
"Then how will I know you won't leave me to rot here?" She asked with a grimace, "You could just leave me behind if your friends come."
"Saving people is what we do," he said confidently, "If my comrades find me, we'll get you home." James didn't quite understand the Speed Force because he offered to help a person escape it without understanding the consequences of his actions. He was under the impression that she fell through a tear in space and time, but the Speed Force didn't make mistakes. If he helped her escape the prison, the Speed Force would track him down and he'll have to take her place.
When he left out of Tre'Yan's cottage, he urinated on the edge of her property, and do to the awkward feeling in his penis, he knew they'd engaged in coitus again. It had been two days since he had seen Lena, and as far as he knew, he hadn't had sex with anybody except her in the last, several months. Frustrated, he took off through the woods at a high rate of speed and arrived at Tavi's farm within two minutes of leaving Tre'Yan's house.
When he reached the farm, he noticed several tin-like men, much smaller than the Tin Man, hauling off some of Tavi's possessions in an old, beat-up truck that hovered about two feet off the ground. "Where are you going with all that stuff?" James asked as the truck traveled past him.
"He owes W. J.," the tin man said, "Either pay your debts or we'll come for your stuff." The passenger then laughed as the vehicle rolled past James with Tavi's possessions in the back of it. It was the first time he saw a vehicle that truly hovered.
With his x-ray vision, he looked in the old, broken-down house and saw him cooking over a pot-belly stove. From what James could tell, the old man didn't care that the tin men repossessed his stuff. He saw six unicorns grazing on the property and for nearly a mile was nothing but corn. It was the early morning and the two suns hardly peeked over the eastern horizon. The smell of sausages cooking imbued the morning air; it made it all the better. According to Mary, Tavi was actually called Tavi Socrates, but in the old days, they called him the Scarecrow. In his early days, he was an entity made up of straw and tattered clothes, and due to his state, he didn't think he had much of a brain.
When Dorothy left Oz the first time, it saddened the Scarecrow a great deal because he grew fond of the young woman. He returned to Munchkin Country after she left and tried his best to grow corn on the small farm the Princess of Oz, Ozma, gave him for his service to the kingdom. He wanted to forget that he loved Dorothy, but it was hard to do. During their journey-when the Scarecrow was feeling down-she allowed him to hold her in his thin arms when some strong, straight-line winds interrupted their trek. They sat against a large rock about a yard off the yellow brick road and talked about life as the winds picked up speed. It was no secret-according to Mary-that Tavi and Dorothy were passionately in love, and as they sat against the rock, he gently kissed her on the right cheek.
"You shouldn't do that, Scarecrow," she said sheepishly as she placed her right hand over the portion of her face where his lips touched. "I feel your passion, but in my world, our love wouldn't be allowed."
"But we're not on your world," he said calmly. "I know I'm just a man made of straw, but I have passion, Dorothy Gale. We can live among the Munchkins and make love under the three moons of Oz. I have feelings and they're all for you."
Due to the fact he loved Dorothy with all his heart, her absence caused him a great deal of pain and suffering. But he knew if he had the power, he wouldn't be able to survive in Dorothy's world because he was nothing more than hay and raggedy clothing. The humans would shun him without question, and burn him at the stake like they do the people they considered undesirables. But one day, a day when the Munchkins threw a festive celebration, a gaggle of witches arrived at the party; they carried with them all their belongings because of the war between the Tins and the Irons in the northern part of Oz. He rummaged through one of the witch's effects and found an old, tattered book of spells. He discovered an incantation to turn himself into a mortal being like the woman he loved, but it came at a hefty price. According to the disclaimer on the conjuration, the price to turn himself flesh was the soul of his closest friend.
At first, Tavi didn't believe the disclaimer on the spell. He enjoyed his human form immensely and all of his thoughts were on bringing Dorothy back to Oz. But when he heard that Nick entered into the war between the Irons and the Tins and he slaughtered the entire Tin army without remorse and took over their kingdom, he knew the warning on the incantation had merit. Once Nick defeated the Tins, he coated his iron limbs in the smelted tin of his enemies so he'd never had to experience the pain of rusting again. He descended on Oz a few weeks later and murdered Ozma, the Princess of Oz, in an old basement room on the bottom floor. He placed her head on a spike at the entrance to Emerald City according to the legend so all who saw it would know he meant business. When Dorothy returned to Oz, she re-entered the verse through Munchkin Country and arrived at Tavi's house, and when she saw him in his new form, she fell in love with him immediately. For two years, they made passionate love under the three moons of Oz, but never produced an offspring.
After the Tin Man's terror brought the war between the Tins and the Irons to an end, the witches returned to their ancestral home in the north. Tavi knew he didn't have the essence it took to make a baby inside of him, but he thought with the right magic, he could make his man parts fertilize Dorothy's eggs. He never consulted with her once on why she didn't get pregnant because he felt uncomfortable with the topic. For some reason, he assumed the reason why she didn't get pregnant had to do with him and the spell so he did everything in his power to correct the problem on his end. He came to the witches and asked them to cast a spell so he could make a baby with Dorothy, but they pleaded with him to reconsider what he was asking, for they didn't detect a problem with his manhood. Unfortunately, he demanded the witches cast a spell, any spell so they did, and when they did, the price was Dorothy's trusting nature. After the witches cast the spell, Dorothy suspected Tavi had another woman in the Munchkin village, and because of that suspicion, she ran to the Tin Man for solace. But before she left, she told Tavi that she was barren and could never have his child.
Dorothy's Story…
"I might've escaped to Oz the first time, Tavi," she said calmly. She fidgeted with her hands for a moment and then said, "I was only thirteen in eighteen-ninety-seven." She paused for a moment, smiled, and then said, "Aunt Em made me the prettiest spring dresses with flowers and other little doodles on them. All the boys took a liking to me because I was fair." She smiled uncomfortably.
"What does this have to do with us?" He asked.
"Just give me a minute, Tavi?" She asked with her hands on her hips. "I was only thirteen, playing with my dolls, and helping Aunt Em make dinner for all the boys. I was a girl that did girl things," she said, "And sometimes I did boy things like climb trees and fish in the old pond down a ways from the farmhouse." She walked over to the old, red brick fireplace for a moment. She had a glass of chicory tea on the shelf next to it that she babied for over an hour. "It's funny how all the compliments from the boys made me feel special." For a moment, she spoke softly and said, "It was Saturday, September the fourth when I went to the outhouse to tinkle." She crookedly smiled for a moment, and then said, "Zeke drank some of the Olsen's apple moonshine outside of the old barn where he slept."
"You want some of this shine?" He asked with his hideous smile. "He had pretty much a mouth full of rotten teeth from chewing tobacco and eating hard candy from the Olsen's Corner Store in Liberal. "Shoot! Nigger Julian dropped off some Apple Moonshine and cinnamon candy for me. Want some?" He asked. Holding out a fist full of hard candy, she took a few, stuck them in her mouth, and smiled. "Now have a splash of this shine?!"
Quickly, she took a swig of the alcohol, and said, "It burns so good." She wiped the excess moisture off her thin lips, and then asked, "How much do you owe them rich niggers?"
"Five dollars," he said with a grimace. "I got a couple of shovels, shine, gloves, and a raincoat. Want another hit of this shine?" He asked, "The Olsens make this stuff by the boatload."
She grabbed the bottle, rocked her head backward, and then took a gulp of the alcoholic beverage, enough of it that it caused her to feel tipsy. "I feel it, Zeke." She looked over at Tavi, and then said, "It's funny how I wondered if he wanted to kiss me. His mouth looked like a pile of horse dung, but I wanted him to kiss me nonetheless," she said. "Earlier in that week of September, I tried to get Julian Olsen to kiss me, but he ran away like that nigger stole something. 'No no, Miss Dorothy!' He said as he ran down the dirt road. I laughed at him. But at the same time, I felt a little dizzy from the strong drink. I laid up against the barn with my legs spread apart, and my white, flowery spring dress hugged my crotch. Zeke looked back at me for a moment and smiled. It was a hideous smile too."
"You ought not to sit like that," he said as he took another swig of his Apple Moonshine. "People might think you're not a nice girl."
"I began to laugh," she said as she wiped her mouth. "The Cooper girl married at twelve and her husband was forty-two. I was thirteen and Zeke was thirty-three," she said in a serious tone. "I looked Zeke directly in the face, and said, 'Maybe I don't want to be nice anymore. Ever think about that?' He didn't say anything after that. His back was facing me, and I thought the night was coming to a close when all of a sudden his large hands were rubbing over my crotch. The moment overwhelmed me, and then Aunt Em screamed my name so loudly that it scared the shit out of me. I ran from around the barn, and said, 'Yes, ma'am? I wasn't doing nothing.'"
"She looked at me with her beady eyes, and said, 'I never said you were doing anything, little girl. It's time for bed.'"
"For what seemed like an hour but was only a few minutes, I stood in the middle of my bedroom thinking about how Zeke touched me. There was a bit of a thrill with having an older man seeing me as a woman. It was almost inexplicable because I didn't know what I wanted at the time. I remembered the bedpost came right up to my crotch and I leaned against it. It pressed right against my womanhood. It didn't take much before my legs started trembling. I had a cathartic moment and nothing after that mattered. I had some good sleep over the next two days, went to school on Monday, came home, and helped Aunt Em with dinner. "
"It sounds like normal behavior," he said.
"Perhaps," she said, "But I still wanted more. I still wanted Zeke and I didn't care how he looked. He lived in the barn and I wandered into his space the next night after everybody went to sleep. I didn't even wear any undergarments when I ran into that barn. He lay on his back, smelling of shine and funk. It probably was the strongest, mustiest odor I had ever smelled up to that point. When he saw me, he said, 'Girl, what do you want?' I squatted over him, undid his pants, and straddled him. It didn't take long at all. I visited him as much as possible for three months until one morning I threw up my breakfast. Just the thought of eating made me sick to my stomach. It was December the twenty-first, a Tuesday when Doctor Blanchard gave me a coat-hanger abortion. Not only did he abort my baby, but he also ruined my chances of having another one. So, if you want a child, you'll have to go to your Munchkin whore for that."
End of Dorothy's Story
Unfortunately, Dorothy took the mono-train to Emerald City, and that was a horrible mistake. The Tin Man raped Dorothy with his steel penis, killing her and throwing her dead body to Randolph, the three-headed monster.
When Mary told James Tavi's story, it caused him a great deal of pain and he immediately knew Oz was just as cruel as Earth in every way imaginable. He thought back to his childhood when he lived in a remote location in Central Africa with his father and his father's girlfriend. He worked for a branch of Cadmus called Argus from the time he was a small boy living on the edge of Metropolis. For years, his father was in and out of James' life until his mother grew ill; she died of ovarian cancer. It ravished her body. At first, the state of Kansas put him into foster care until his father picked him up and took him to Gotham for six years. He lived a hard life in Gotham because the other kids constantly picked on him for his awkwardness. At the time, he was only about six-years-old when his father started training him in combative arts. Every day when he returned home from school, he went over the martial arts techniques that he learned previously and then his father would teach him something new.
When he turned twelve, his father received orders for Central Africa, and due to the inexpensive cost of living, they had a huge house. It was a hard time for James because he missed his friends in Gotham, and when it came to his new home, he didn't have many friends. Often, he overheard confidential subjects in the home, but his father made him keep everything a secret. His father often practiced martial arts with him on the veranda of their lucrative home. During his first year in Central Africa, he met a kid named Veo Eli, a young local boy who was extremely generous. Often, he shared his cookies with James as they ran around the city. One night when he was about a fourteen-years-old-a group of soldiers rushed into his home, raped his father's girlfriend, and shot his father in the head, and then tried to kill him, but Veo saved his life. He distracted the men while he got away. James smiled for a moment as he thought about his friend Veo, but never saw the kid again in his life. He often wondered what happened to the child and thought it was funny that JJ's son from his other life was named Veo too.
Tavi walked out the front door of his farmhouse with an ax, and as James walked up to him, he turned toward him quickly with the wood-chopping instrument and raised it far above his head. The old man with graying hair winced, screamed in fear, and then said, "Great Ptah! You scared the crap out of me. I thought you were part of the repo crew." He set the weapon on the ground, took a deep breath, and then asked, "What can I do for you, son?"
James thought the old man didn't look anything like the crude drawings of the Scarecrow from his childhood. He didn't have skinny, cartoon-like extremities or made of hay; he was just an ordinary man, a man that resembled a medium built black man with woolly hair. He had a slight accent but he wasn't sure where it originated. It sounded British, but he knew the man never stepped foot off Oz. "I need your help, Tavi," James said, "Can you help me take down the Tin Man?"
The old man looked befuddled with his scraggly whiskers and weather-warn face. He looked like the farm had beaten him, but when he gave it a little thought, he knew it wasn't the farm at all; it was life in general, life on Oz that brought him to the brink of madness. "You want to go against the Tin Man?" He asked in disbelief. "You're on your own!"
"If we don't take him down, he'll attack the Munchkins," he said, "A lot of good people will die."
"Listen, the Tin Man has grown in power over the last one hundred years," he said, "Far stronger now than when…"
"When you stole his soul?" James asked with a serious visage.
"I see Mary has given you some history," he said with a scowl on his face. "I was young, hungry, and downright lonely. I sacrificed it all for a girl." He shook his head in disagreement, and then said, "Nick is an unstoppable force imbued by the darkest of magic now. The witches gave him the power of ten thousand men." He paused for a moment and then looked James directly in the eyes, and said, "And then I stole his soul for flesh and that turned him into an unfeeling, killing machine. I was selfish, but I take solace in the two years I spent with my one true love, Dorothy Gale."
"Mary told me that you had a great deal of love for her," he said calmly, "But now we must stop the same machine that killed her before he kills a lot of innocent people."
"It would take more than a little strength to wield the Tin Man's sacred ax," he said with a grimace, "It's much bigger and heavier than an ordinary ax now."
He listened to the old man carry on about the Tin Man's ax, and then said, "I had enough strength to kill Randolph without breaking a sweat."
Tavi looked at him for a moment and then said, "That monster was a juggernaut and a ruthless killer of the Munchkins, and I never made a profit from my corn because of him. Unfortunately, Ishtar, the dragon who patrols the moat around Emerald City, is far more ferocious." He turned toward the direction of the old tarn and said, "Dorothy's essence is in that old pond. If I'm killed on this foolhardy mission, promise me you'll cremate my body and spread my ashes in it so I can be with my Dorothy?"
"I will," James said, "But why does the Tin Man hate the Munchkins so?"
"The Munchkins abandoned him when the ax first removed his limbs," he said calmly, "They were going to let him die. When he received his iron limbs, he returned to his wife, Mary, and she rejected him. He left the village and rusted on the fringes of Munchkin Country. Mary had taken his enchanted ax and placed it under her bed for safekeeping. But after the phony Wizard stepped down in Oz, Mary called the Tin Man back to her cottage and they supposedly renewed their relationship. Unfortunately, it wasn't Mary at all, but the Wicked Witch in the form of Mary. When the Tin Man lay on the bed quietly sleeping, the witch reached under the bunk, grabbed the ax, and then removed the Tin Man's phallus. He ran to Ku-Klip who gave him a steel penis and then to a coven of powerful witches. It was that coven where the most powerful witches on Oz emanated from and they imbued him with great powers and protection, making it so only the ax that made him could hurt him."
James listened carefully to every word out of Tavi's mouth, and then asked, "But what happened to the Wicked Witch who severed his member?"
He walked to the fence and looked over at the unicorns as they grazed in the grass. "I didn't find out until after I accidentally stole Nick's soul the entire story." He wiped his mouth and then spoke about the Wicked Witch of the West and her plight. "Nick was a strong Munchkin when he was whole according to Mary. He was in the business of supplying the Munchkin community with firewood when the witch noticed him. She knew a Munchkin of Nick's caliber wouldn't go for a shriveled up old witch. So, she stole his limbs to make herself a new man with Nick's parts. But it wasn't until I wanted more out of my life that everything went south."
"What do you mean?" James asked calmly.
"I loved Dorothy so, but she would never go for a man full of hay," he said with a sad look on his face. "I spent almost a year studying the craft before I found the information I needed to turn myself into flesh." He paused for a second as tears raced down his face. "Once I finished with the spell, the lion died almost immediately. He stood in front of his people giving a speech for the new kingdom he planned on building for them. While he was speaking, he collapsed and died. I don't know why that happened. It wasn't planned."
"But what about Nick? Did you plan on taking his soul?" He asked.
"I didn't think it through," he said with a grimace, "I was selfish. Everything in the ancient text said a soul must be sacrificed, and all I could think about was Nick." He folded his slightly muscular arms and cried a bit, and then said, "The witch took his right arm, his left arm, his right leg, his left leg, and then his penis. All I took was his soul! I didn't think it mattered!" He screamed, "But it changed him in ways that I didn't calculate. After that, he entered the war between the Irons and the Tins and devastated the Tins. He smelted them down and coated his armor with their silver colored blood. He then went into Oz and massacred the Royal Guards and raped to death the Princess of Oz. It was all so sad, but I had a fleshy body and Dorothy to alleviate my discomfort with what I had done."
"I thought the Wicked Witch of the West died," James said, "Didn't Dorothy throw water on her or something?"
Tavi laughed. "When Dorothy returned to Oz, I read the book and I think she had it written that way because it was a better story," he said, "Water doesn't kill witches, son. When Nick took over Oz, he filled the sky with acid-filled locusts that attacked any creature flying fifty feet or higher. All the witches attempted to attack Nick from the air when he assumed power, but the locusts spewed acid spit all over them, killing them instantly. Now, nobody takes to the air for any reason."