As the Wizard continued to evade the Winkie Guards and the Winged Monkeys, an angry green skinned witch was busy huffing and puffing to herself. Mired in her own thoughts, she couldn't believe her bad luck as she clumsily made her way through the Haunted Forest. Not only did the Wizard escape her clutches, but he had eluded her underlings as well.
"That blasted Wizard…", she muttered to herself in frustration. Theodora was impatient and anxious when it came to tracking down the Wizard and bringing him back to her castle. "Why can't he just sit still for one minute and just do what I tell him to do…" She continued to growl in a low and barely audible whisper. The witch hated doing her own dirty work, but since her men had failed her, she felt that she now had to do things herself and join in the search. Her mouth curled into an angry frown as bitterness and rage consumed her.
It was the middle of the night as the full moon had reached its zenith in the sky and started its slow descent. Her Winkie Guards had walked down the left trail as the Winged Monkeys took to the air and once again continued to fly high above the forest. However, the forest itself was huge and covered many areas of the Winkie Country and even extended into the Gilikin Country.
The witch had her work cut out and she knew that time was working against her. Theodora suspected that the Wizard was trying to get to the Gilikin Country and then make his way to the Emerald City. If he was able to successfully cross into another quadrant of Oz, her guards would be unable to help her because the Winkie Country was not at war with the Gilikins. And she wouldn't be able to track him successfully through her crystal ball because she wouldn't know where to look. Still, the Winged Monkeys had no jurisdictional boundaries and could continue the search for as long as it took.
The witch knew that the longer this dragged on, the higher the likelihood that the Wizard would disappear and avoid capture until he was safely back in the confines of the Emerald City.
The Wizard is so stupid, Theodora thought to herself. Here I am wanting to protect him, and he runs back to Glinda and the others who only want to execute him! If that didn't show the witch that the Wizard was still completely devoted to Glinda, nothing would.
As the group started to walk down this trail, the path quickly began to diverge into numerous trails that went in different directions. This made the guards split into smaller groups. The witch took one of the dirt paths alone and as the minutes passed, the voices of her men became distant. Soon, there was only the sound of the wind.
While the time passed and Theodora continued to walk down her chosen trail, she was hardly tired or fatigued. Instead, she was in a melancholic mood, a sort of ennui that could not be eradicated from her mind.
She continued to walk, but a spurt of magical energy appeared a short distance in front of her. From this energy emerged a dark and masculine figure with a deep and commanding voice.
"Halt! Go no farther! I wish to speak with you, my youngest daughter."
The green skinned witch stopped in her tracks. She narrowed her eyes to try and see who the speaker was but could not make out his features. She did, however, recognize his voice.
"Father?"
The dark silhouette of the king responded. "Yes, it is I…Pastoria. Have you forgotten everything that I did for you? Brought you up to be? Have you…forgotten me?"
Theodora furrowed her brow as she replied in a matter-of-fact voice, but her tone hinted of bitterness. "What do you mean? I haven't forgotten about you…"
But her father shook his head at her with righteous fury. "I tried to do everything I could to raise you properly. I tried to hide you away from the world and from the people you would hurt. I tried to protect you not only from yourself, but from the people of Oz. I hoped to shield you from your own demons. I tried to save you from your destiny, but it was all for nought. Look at what you have done! All that effort wasted. You carve a path of wickedness wherever you go. First your mother and then Glinda and then Evanora and then the Wizard himself and even Agatha, too! How you disgust me so!"
Theodora gasped at his accusations. "Quiet, you fool! You never believed in me, and you influenced everyone else to feel as you did! I am good! I am a force for good. It was all those pathetic fools who abandoned me that couldn't see otherwise! Even Glinda and the Wizard as well!"
The king snapped. "Lies! And you will be made to see as such!"
Her father lifted his hands and hurled a ball of magical energy at the witch. She grunted as it forcefully hit her body, but otherwise caused her no physical injury.
"You were never a force for goodness", he continued with resolve in his voice. "Instead, you did everything possible to indulge in the wickedness within. In the end, even you killed me!"
"I did not kill you. Evanora—"
"Silence!", her father screeched. "Your sister only became wicked because of you. Her downfall was because of you! The best thing that you could have done for this family was to rid the land of your presence long ago, for you bring disorder and chaos wherever you go. Instead of doing what needed to be done, you paraded around with her after my death and hailed her as hero and a good witch of Oz. You disrespected and spat on my name. You have failed me and everything that I thought you would become has been proven true. And that is why you killed me."
The witch stared at him silently. He couldn't be right, but something inside of her was screaming that he was. When she transformed into her green skinned appearance, her negative self-talk would typically dissipate. But somehow, it was now coming back and flooding her mind with heinous thoughts. It was shrieking at her that she was a useless witch, that she was nothing but incarnate wickedness and that it would be better if she wasn't alive.
Her father started to plead with his daughter, urging her to give in to her thoughts. "I hid you away from the world because I knew you would bring nothing but wickedness and destruction in your wake. And it has come true, my daughter! So much pain and suffering left by you! Why? Why?"
"But I do good too!", she cried out. "I am…I am…I am trying to…"
Her father was more furious at her denials. "Then you know nothing of yourself! You have learned nothing! You have simply become a slave to your wickedness. You will terrorize all that you love and even strangers you hardly know, and you will die a monster!"
A puff of smoke appeared to the side of her father. As it quickly cleared, the Wizard stood in its place.
"Theodora", he calmly said with a hint of guilt and sorrow in his voice. "Why did you attack me in the Quadling town square? I was only doing a job that your sister sent me on. Why didn't you ask me about what your sister told you? Instead, you destroyed everything that we might have had together by attacking me right then and there." Blood then started to gush out of his nose precipitously, but he paid no attention to it. "It seems like you didn't learn anything from your time at your mother's castle, either." He then curled his lips in anger as his jaw became locked and he held out his hands in a pleading manner. "Why? Why do you have to act like this. Why? Why?"
"No! This is not true", the witch sputtered in frustration as she gestured with her hand. "Maybe if you told me where you were going then things would have turned out differently! You and your disappearing act!" She then lowered her head as guilt started to consume her. "And those Winkies…those Winkies…it's not my fault!"
But the Wizard didn't respond. Instead, her mother appeared beside him. She always had a youthful appearance, even right before she died. With blonde hair, she looked incredibly like Glinda.
"Daughter…", Lurline said in a quiet voice. Theodora opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.
"I would still be alive if it wasn't for you", she said with much regret in her voice. "I stood up to my king for you, my husband. He wanted your death. It was his will, but I could have curtailed his power and prevented it. Evanora convinced me to stop him because she wanted to protect you. And I did what your sister asked, despite knowing that all of Oz would be less safe if you ever left the confines of the palace. My defiance mattered not. Pastoria killed me in the end…"
As her mother spoke, Theodora was shocked by these revelations. She knew nothing of this. All she knew was that her mother had mysteriously vanished and that the king died shortly thereafter.
"I will not allow the prophecy to come true", the king barked at the green skinned witch in a belligerent tone. "I will not allow it! I will see you dead first!" Pastoria then waved his hands together as he hurled another beam of magical energy at the witch. But this time, she blocked it by releasing a fireball of her own.
Still, his words had affected the witch. He continued to spat at her as she trembled mildly. Somehow, the forest made her past traumas resurface.
"How many more must come to grief before you see I am correct? How many more must suffer?! What about the children of Oz? How many did you affect by your callous actions?"
A small child then appeared on the path between the witch and her father. Its voice was soft and pleading.
"How could you Theodora? How could you betray us? How could you betray the Land of Oz that you loved so much? How could you!? We were innocent to your rage. How could you?"
The witch was shaking from these accusations as she tried to speak. "B-b-b-but I never betrayed Oz! I only did what's best for the land!"
But the child was persistent. "You said the Yellow Brick Road would run red with the blood of every Tinker, farmer and Munchkin…"
He was then joined by other children who appeared. They were all singing in unison.
"You said this Theodora! You said this!"
The witch dropped her broomstick and held her hands to her face. "No! I did not mean to! No! I was upset because of the Wizard! I was…I was…"
But the children's voices only became louder and louder. "YOU SAID THIS THEODORA…YOU SAID THIS!"
Another girl chimed in. "You said this over some man you were with for less than 24 hours. You betrayed us all over some man you barely even knew…"
"I was…I was…I was lonely and angry and I…I loved him! I still do!", the witch cried.
The cries from the children disappeared. The witch removed her hands from her face.
Her father snarled angrily at her, and his tone was impenitent. "I will not have you bring death and destruction to the land. I will not have it. You will not be the witch who allows the prophecy to become true. Bow before me, my daughter…and renounce your life."
This made Theodora coo, but unlike her timid self, the green skinned witch was tough and recovered quickly. She gazed angrily at the dark figures before her, and her yellow eyes stared intently into her father's silhouette. She then entered a battle of mental wills with the forest. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. Her negative self-talk was screaming within for her to end her life, but she pushed back against it. She focused with all her power and might.
"No…this is not true", she curled her hands into fists as her voice became strained. If she was her ordinary self, Theodora probably would have quickly crumbled and gave in to the mighty magic of the Haunted Forest. But her transformation into the green skinned witch made her more critical and hardened.
"This is a lie. I can feel it."
"Ohhhhh, you cunning witchling", her father tensely exclaimed. As the battle of wills continued unabated, the king realized that he was on the wrong side of the losing battle. "Your powers are…too…strong." His voice then devolved into a low-pitched demonic tone. "But it shall be a pleasure to FEAST ON YOUR BONES!"
The king and everyone beside him quickly shapeshifted into what they truly were: hideous and ghastly ghouls. They had beaty red eyes. Their flesh was emaciated, their bodies frail and their ribcages were exposed. They shrieked and roared at the witch as they curled their hands and produced little magical energy balls. Death to the witch, one shouted. We shall eat your flesh, another bellowed.
A fight then ensued, but the witch easily and quickly got the upper hand. Her ring turned red as she blasted the demons with fireballs and their bodies turned to dust.
After she made quick work of these undead ghouls, the witch then turned around as she heard another snarl from behind her. She then saw a Kalidah inches from her and on its hind legs. It stared at her as if it was about to attack.
However, the green skinned witch was more feral than the beast was. She released a primal roar, which quickly caused the brute to whimper and scurry away in fright.
The witch puckered her lips as she made a sour expression on her face and emitted a low murmured growl. She then turned, picked up her broom and continued down the trail.