But perhaps "race" wasn't the best term to use to describe what Elphaba and Glinda were doing. It was far slower and quieter. Although the vitality and urgency of a race was still there, there was definitely nothing that grandiose or swift. Instead, it was little more than years and years of research and clue-hunting. Elphaba and Glinda would take turns supporting the Ozian resistance against the "Wonderful" Wizard and then, on their off days, they would scour every corner of Oz with every resource they had in order to find more clues regarding the Deathly Hallows. They were able to find some books in the Wizard's private library (taken during a spy-mission that had them both go undercover into the Wizard's palace itself) and there were various stories scattered across all the countries of Oz, but none of them were clues so much as they were folktales.
In Quadling Country, there were tales of a magical stone of glass, able to bring back beautiful phantasms from the grave in a shimmering rainbow of light. In Gillikin Country, there were tales of a powerful wand able to cast any type of magic with ease, rumored to have belonged to some of the greatest kings and soldiers in all of Oz. Legends said that the reason the northern lands of Oz were so prosperous was because of that wand, passed down from generation to generation, each wielder using the wand's mighty power to bring honor and glory to the shining Gillikin hills. In the Vinkus, aside from the story of the hidden journal, there were stories of a mystic and mighty cloth, woven and spun from materials the likes of which no one in Oz had ever seen before. The rumors said that this magical cloth was like a cape and a shield all at once, perfect for camouflage while hunting and warring on the barren plains of the west. And Munchkinland shared the legend of the wand, claiming of a tool so mighty and powerful that harvests were always bountiful when it was around, and that the reaping was always plentiful when it came time to bring in the year's work of corn, wheat and other agricultural products.
In short, as Elphaba and Glinda continued to explore all of Oz, every place they stopped seemed to have yet another myth or history to tell about one of the Deathly Hallows and how it had helped shape their lives and lands for the better. It took quite a few years but, at long, long last, the two witches managed to find the second Hallow. This one was the Elder Wand, and they discovered it in the heart of the Emerald City.
"It's been quite a while since we've been here, huh?" Elphaba remarked dryly as she and Glinda slipped through the green streets of the city.
"If only we could've come on happier business," Glinda agreed as she stared longingly up at a nearby dress store.
But both of them knew full well that to reveal themselves to the public would be suicide. Because of that, they continued to creep along the alleyways, moving as swiftly, silently and stealthily as they could. They were on another mission for the Ozian Resistance, and this one involved setting up various little camps around and in the city before everyone came together in a giant riot. Elphaba and Glinda had been placed in one of the rendezvous points closer to the heart of the city. They knew that their commander would be in the next site over. Other resistance members would be scattered all around the streets o the city, each of them waiting for the signal in which they would attack.
After about 45 minutes of waiting, the riot began. The first camp, towards the eastern side of the city, started to lash out, all of the members suddenly upsetting various street vendors and vandalizing and smashing nearby stores. In a chain reaction, the other resistance bases did likewise, each of them suddenly coming to life in their own turn and causing madness and mayhem wherever they were. Elphaba, Glinda and their associates wasted no time in hurling stones and rotten food at western side of the Emerald City Palace.
"Here! Have at ya!" one of the resistance members bellowed as he threw an entire fruit stand at the palace walls. "How do you like them apples?!"
"Have a taste of your own medicine! Your Ozness!" someone else screamed as they began throwing Emerald City souvenirs at the palace.
"Serves him right!" Elphaba agreed, attacking the walls with magic in attempt to tear them down or blow them up. Glinda was helping her with this. All around them, battles were erupting everywhere. People were getting into fist fights and because of all the chaos, quite a few individuals were attempting to pillage and plunder from all the broken stores.
At last, the Wizard's guard retaliated and the riot quickly became an official battle. The resistance members moved in from all sides, surrounding the Gale Force against their own palace. Then it really got bloody. Magic, guns, and other random projectiles shot across the air back and forth between the two sides of the conflict. Elphaba and Glinda were on the frontlines. It was some time during this conflict that the sacred Clock of the Time Dragon suddenly came rolling in out of nowhere. It really did not serve much of a purpose in the battle other than to spook and incite the riot even more. Everyone in Oz, resistance member and loyal Ozian alike, feared and revered the Clock, seeing it as some sort of god or ethereal, otherworldly being. To see it suddenly shooting across the battlefield was a huge fright to everyone in attendance.
"Keep on!" someone shouted when the battle faltered at the sight of the Clock wheeling its away across the carnage. The battle did continue, but it had become even more stressful now that Oz's most sacred symbol was in the fray as well. It only sat there, totally still and silent, but its mere presence alone filled the combatants with a new and indescribable energy. No one would ever know which side had found the Clock first and rolled it out to use as a scare tactic, but they would know that it definitely worked, and it worked both ways.
About halfway through the battle, however, Elphaba found herself facedown in front of the Clock, having been blasted over there by a stray bomb. She heard Glinda scream her name, but her ears were ringing so loudly that all she could do was stare blankly up at the godly and miraculous clockwork machine towering over her. It was totally unscathed despite the chaos surrounding it. But as she continued to stare hollowly up at the creature, the dragon's eyes suddenly flickered. With an imperceptible move of the head, it met her eyes and its curtains slowly opened...
This time, the show was all only done in shadow puppets, in order to keep anyone that wasn't Elphaba from seeing it clearly. She watched, hypnotized, as the Time Dragon played its story for her, the history of the Deathly Hallows unfolding in front of her as black specters on a white canvas. So! Glinda had been right after all! Elphaba did not doubt her, but to see the sacred Clock itself confirming the legend was something else.
Elphaba could only stare as she watched the shadows dance across the stage, the Hallows taking shape before being scattered across the land. Just as Glinda had guessed, the Wizard was hunting them and had, somehow, gotten his greedy hands onto the Invisibility Cloak. He stole it from the western lands during an earlier invasion thereof, taking it from one of the Animals that was in charge of part of the Vinkus plains. To hide the fact that he had it, he had woven it into his own regular cloak and stashed it safely away into his attic. At least until Elphaba and Glinda accidently got trapped up there and unwittingly stole it while trying to look for a way to escape or hide.
After watching her own escape unfold, Elphaba continued to stare, transfixed, as the Time Dragon continued to illustrate the story of the Deathly Hallows. She had seen the path of the Invisibility Cloak, and now it was showing her the path of the Elder Wand, taking her all the way back to the days of the first Ozma. It had, indeed, started off in the northern lands but, following a duel, it found itself in the west. Just like the man in the journal had detailed. But then it was taken back all the way to the east in that humiliating but non-fatal duel that the journal had described. But even the eastern lands had lost the wand and the shadows became blurry, flickering again between the north and the Emerald City itself. Then the shadows all coalesced into one giant blob. For a moment, it remained that way until the shadow took the vague outline of... The Clock itself.
"What?" Elphaba breathed as the curtains closed again. She looked back up at the giant, metal dragon sneering down at her from the roof of the Clock. Its grin seemed to grow even wider as it slowly, carefully, imperceptibly lowered its head down to her. Then its jaws opened just the slightest. Something slid halfway out of its mouth. The tongue. Elphaba instinctively reached up to grab it and was surprised to feel something hard, thin, small and cylindrical inside the Time Dragon's soft tongue. Without hesitation, she gasped and pulled the tongue clean out of the Dragon's mouth. As soon as she had her prize, it snapped its jaws shut again and returned its head to its original resting place. Then, its eyes flickered dark one last time. The Clock would never open again.
But Elphaba was too distracted by the Dragon's tongue to realize that, in effect, it had just given her its very life and soul to her. She realized that the tongue was actually just a sheath and there, inside of it, was a wand. This was the Soul of the Clock of Time Dragon. All of its other magics and gears were irrelevant. This wand was its true heart, its true source of power and life. This wand, which must've been in the Clock for eons given that the Clock itself was not exactly a new invention, was what had kept it alive and kicking ever since its genesis way back in the line of the earliest Ozmas. This was what had given the Clock its mystic, prophetic, graphic and horrific powers. It was the Clock's very essence and life blood. It was the Clock's true heart, pumping its magic like blood and oil through the cogs and gears of the machine.
Now, though, that heart had stopped pumping. The blood was dried up from its wiry veins. With the wand gone, now in Elphaba's possession, the Clock was no more, its very soul exiting the cold metal shell of the dragon. Now, it truly was only a machine. The Clock would never tick again. Elphaba had its power source now, and because it had been willingly given, the wand recognized Elphaba as a stronger and superior begin to the Clock. It claimed Elphaba immediately, glowing softly and warming her hands as she continued to marvel at it. While the Clock took its last shuddering breath, shutting down entirely, the wand was reinfused with a new life force, Elphaba's. She now held, in her hands and under her control, the very soul of the Clock of Time Dragon.
"Sweet Oz!"
AN: Hope you all liked the twist about what made the Clock tick. I know it makes the timeline a bit weird, but it's my idea that the Clock originally was only JUST a clock, but after the Wand somehow wound up inside of its machinery, it became the weird little thing we see in the book and musical. Before you go onto the next chapter, tell me what you think about Elphaba potentially being the Master of Death.