(Aurora Proves Dangerous)
*January 15th, 1906*
*Land of Mangaboos*
Dorothy and the others were surprised at Aurora's request as Oscar began to speak up in regards to the suggestion.
"And what sacred trials shall we participate in if we want to leave here alive or in one piece" Oscar had asked in a curious tone of voice while waiting for his answer as Aurora began to explain everything.
"You and your allies must survive the black pit and once you make it past that, you must endure the valley of voices, the invisible bears, wooden gargoyles, and finally, the dragonettes but be warned that nobody has ever made it out alive…as if I care about that" Aurora had explained to Oscar and the others while laughing to herself which annoyed Dorothy.
"I see, well, we shall accept the challenge and when shall the ordeal begin?" Oscar had asked Aurora once more in an understanding tone of voice as he was met with Aurora's beautiful gaze as her eyes met with his and she began to speak once more.
"The trials shall begin shortly so please rest up shortly in the resting chambers of this palace" Aurora had responded back while pointing at the room that was behind her which made Oscar nod his head in understandment.
"Very well, we shall rest up for the upcoming trials and I'll ensure that the others shall follow suite and once again, thank you very much for giving us this chance" Oscar had responded back once more while tipping his hat and bowing on respect while he looked over and motioned for Dorothy and the others to follow him and they've did just that.
"I dearly hope we can survive these trials. Aurora is proving herself to be quite dangerous…" Jim had thought to himself as the big horse began to follow his human companions towards the resting chamber while Eureka yawned from inside the carriage in boredom.
"I just wanna go back home and rest on Dorothy's bed, meow, and pretend to whine so I can get more food" Eureka had lamented to herself from inside the carriage as she peaked out of the carriage and saw everyone entering the resting chambers.
"Wow, this room is quite beautiful but I don't see any beds or couches?" Betsy had spoken out in confusion while Zeb nodded his head in agreement.
"You're right, it seems we'll have to sleep on the floor which is no problem for me since I occasionally do it back at the farm" Zeb had spoken back in a rather calm tone of voice as he sat on the wall alongside Dorothy.
"The floor?! It's so uncomfortable and very hard but I guess most people are simply built quite differently I suppose" Betsy had spoken back to Zeb once more in a rather perplexed tone of voice as she eventually sat down as well and looked over to see the doors shutting behind them.
"Dorothy, are you doing okay? I know you weren't in the best of moods earlier but I just wanted to check up on you since you are my friend and all" Betsy had asked Dorothy in a curious tone of voice as she looked at her friend who gave her a smile and thumbs up much to her relief.
"I'm doing okay and I haven't gotten much rest yesterday so please excuse my behavior earlier and it seems we have to rest up before the upcoming trials" Dorothy had spoken back in a tone of reassurance which made Betsy smile as Oscar began to speak.
"Oh no, you had every right to have been angry and especially towards me since I've done some awful things but it wasn't my fault entirely but perhaps I'll tell the story later on since we do have to rest" Oscar had chimed into the conversation as he looked at the three children with a rather solemn yet determination look on his face as he vowed to protect the children from harm's way.
"I don't mind. I'm an insomniac so I might just stay up anyways and I truly feel like you need to tell me everything but you don't have to if you don't want to.." Dorothy had spoken back to Oscar with a smile on her face while also retaining her serious tone of voice as this made Oscar cough.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story so I'll simply summarize the events, I was basically forced by Mombi and the Wicked Witches of the East and West to give up an Infant Princess Ozma to Mombi or else they'll kill me. I had no power that could rival theirs so I had no choice but please know that I didn't do it out of ill intentions but rather out of my own protection and also, they've threatened to kill Ozma as well if I didn't obey them.." Oscar had explained to Dorothy in a rather sympathetic tone of voice as he seemed genuinely as Dorothy stared at him with disbelief as she wanted to know more.
"But why did the Wicked Witches want Ozma for? Did they want power or something like that? Please tell me" Dorothy had spoken back to Oscar in a very curious tone of voice as she saw Oscar giving her a perplexed look.
"Y-Yes, Mombi discovered that Ozma was the daughter of Pastoria and Lurine by sneaking into the Emerald City and gathering information from there and thus she came up with a plan to enslave her but that's all I know in regards to that so please don't ask any further…" Oscar had responded back while this surprised Dorothy greatly while Zeb and Betsy were intrigued by this as well.
"I-I see, I've heard Ozma mention Lurine and Pastoria before but I've never known that those Wicked Witches were aware as well.." Dorothy had spoken back to Oscar as she saw the old humbug looking back in awestruck.
"W-Wait?! Ozma had returned to her former self?! That's splendid, which means Mombi has finally been defeated!" Oscar had spoken out in surprise while Zeb looked at the pair with a rather confused look on his face.
"Queen Lurline? Who is she? Is she some sort of goddess?" Zeb had asked in confusion while Dorothy began to speak.
"I don't know much about her but I did recall Ozma mentioning that she was her mother and that she could always feel her presence at times but that's all I know about her" Dorothy had answered back while Oscar nodded his head.
"She's right, nobody has heard nor seen her but she's truly a goddess that's worshiped amongst the land of Oz for centuries upon centuries" Oscar had chimed into the conversation while Zeb, Betsy, and Jim were amazed by what they were hearing while Eureka didn't believe it since she believed it to be nonsense despite it being true.
"Lurine? Never heard of her but she sounds like a phony in my book! How can people worship something that doesn't exist '' Eureka had spoken out while yawing to herself as Dorothy looked over at her cat and began to rebuttal.
"Well, it's gives people hope and something to shoot for and maybe Lurine doesn't exist in your book but I believe she's real and that she gives the people of Oz hope; however, we are all free to have our personal opinions as long as it doesn't harm people" Dorothy had spoken out to her cat while Eureka sighed to herself in defeat.
"I guess you have a point but if there's one thing than maybe I should thank her for granting me and Jim the ability to talk in this strange land since we could only produce animal noises" Eureka had spoken out while proceeding to shut her eyes while Dorothy smiled back as she sat back to herself fully eager to get back to San Francisco.
For two to three hours, Dorothy and the others rested in the chambers and despite Dorothy being the only one awake, she found peace and solace in that moment of silence but soon, that would be interrupted by Aurora opening the door thus waking up Oscar and the others.
"Peasants, we have decided that we shall kill you and the others and my reasoning is that I've changed my mind and with that, I shall cast you into the black pit" Aurora had spoken out in a vain tone of voice as this shocked Dorothy and the others greatly.
"B-But why?! What crimes have we committed for you to change your mind like that?! It's wrong!" Dorothy had asked Aurora in annoyance and anger while she could hear the princess laughing maniacally to herself before speaking once more.
"Because I make the decisions here, trespassers! You don't so stop crying and accept your deaths!" Aurora had spat out in a cruel tone of voice as she snapped her fingers which caused the Mangaboos to slowly enter the room and surrounded them in ranks.
"W-Wait!? I can do more tricks for you if I must. I may be an old humbug but that won't stop me from.." Oscar had spoken out as he wasn't able to finish what he was trying to say as Aurora quickly snapped.
"Silence! I decide the rules here not you! It's best to accept death and with that, we shall cast everyone into the black pit…" Aurora had spat out in vain; however, Dorothy wasn't gonna give up so easily as she quickly took the lighter from Oscar's pocket which made Aurora raise an eyebrow.
"No! We won't allow you to kill us so leave us alone, you witch!" Dorothy had spat out in anger as she lit up the lighter and threw it at Aurora as this caused the vegetable woman to burst into flames as her screaming could be heard.
"N-NO! What are you doing! You BRAT!" Aurora spat out in anger as she could feel herself burning as she looked over to see Dorothy and the gang quickly hopping on the carriage as Jim quickly began to ram through the Mangaboos thus escaping the palace.
"As if I'll let you BRATS get away…" Aurora spat out in dark anger as she could feel her face slowly being cooked; however, unlike the other Mangaboos she could withstand the heat but with scary results as she motioned her hands for the Mangaboos to chase after the gang.
Jim was riding across the street as many Mangaboos tried to stop the escape but it was to no avail as the horse was too strong for the vegetable people.
"We gotta escape! They're proving to be dangerous for us! I don't wanna die!" Zeb had cried out in fear while Betsy quickly came to his assistance.
"We won't die, We'll get out of here and besides, my friend and your cousin Dorothy has gone through two adventures like this so I know she'll guide us into safety and we even got Oscar here as well" Betsy had spoken to Zeb in a calm voice as this managed to calm the boy down as he smiled back at his new friend; however, this was interrupted as they could see Aurora jumping in front of the carriage which caused everyone to scream.
"You WILL pay for this! My beautiful face! I shall kill you fools myself!" Aurora had spat out in rage as she shattered the carriage window; however, Eureka wasn't having any of it.
"You won't harm Dorothy and the others, you witch! Leave them alone" Eureka had cried out in anger as she managed to heavily scratch Aurora's face with quick succession and of course, Aurora would have easily dodged it but she was far too enraged to even think and by then, she screamed in pain as her face was covered in scratches.
"Don't think I can give up THAT.." Aurora had spat out as she attempted to grab Dorothy; however, a huge light appeared from her forehead which surprised her as this sent Aurora flying back towards the nearest glass building as she crashed into it thus scoring a win for our heroes.
"W-Whoa! What was that?! I never knew you could do that" Zeb had spoken out in wonder as he saw Dorothy touching her forehead as she began to speak.
"It's the kiss from Locasta, the Good Witch of the North. This kiss protects me whenever I'm in Oz and I'll truly be thankful for that" Dorothy had explained to Zeb as this made the boy smile; however, there was no time for any of the sort as Jim found himself to be pushed into a mountain.
"G-Guys! It seems that the Mangaboos were pushing us into the black pit! We fell into their trap the whole time!" Jim had cried out to our heroes in fear as he looked back to see the Mangaboos slowly approaching them which shocked Dorothy and the others.
"W-What are we going to do?! We can't jump into that black pit and we don't know what's down there" Betsy had spoken out in shock while Dorothy gave a serious look on her face.
"We have no choice and I have gone through so many deadly foes such as Kalidah and so forth so we gotta take that risk.." Dorothy had spoken out while Zeb was gonna protest; however, he remained silent as he knew there was no choice since the Mangaboos were gonna kill them anyways.
"We're jumping or not?!" Jim had spoken out to his human companions in a tone of panic as he saw Oscar peeking his head out of the carriage while giving him a thumbs up which was the signal for yes.
"Alright, we're going in so hold on tight!" Jim had advised his human companions as the horse began to leap towards the black pit thus putting our heroes in yet another situation where their fate rested in uncertain hands.
