THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Epilogue

Oz, December 1, 2014 – One year after the forgotten counties' discovery

THE QUEEN OF THE NORTH

Hope. It had been all I had but that human-made – invented – construct left me now too. I did not have time to save Glinda. She died because of me. Because of my stupidity and arrogance that I had brought back from the Sinful Realm.
And I do not even want to talk about the council meeting. But things happened as they happened, and nobody could have done anything about it.
When Ruby left, I even gave up trying. I was alone with myself and my thoughts from this point forward. Well, except for Pearl and Esmeralda of course but them, I did not want to see. I did not want to see anyone, but them even less.
In a moment of solitude, Ruby had asked me, 'Who is gonna rule this land now?' before she left. I had just shrugged my shoulders, turned myself away and looked at my new staff. 'I do not know. Figure something out,' I replied to her and pulled up my hood but when I wanted to face her again, she was already gone.
On top of Glinda's... Fate..., I had not been able to take anything from the Emerald City with me to the Last Amethyst. The Queen forbids it. I was not supposed to go there ever again but thankfully, I liked it here. It was quiet and peaceful and not a soul to disturb me. Everyone was at Orange Peak and those were only monks. They had returned to Oz, hearing of the demise of the last witch of light. It was all a win-win situation, I would say.
Back when hope was still my friend, I had tried to get to know Esmeralda and Pearl a little better. But now that hope had left me as well – like everything in this world – I had given that up too. I did not need to care to know them. They were my servants and that was all I had to know about them. They both played their part in it.
Now, I was sitting here. Wearing what the staff had given me: A black catsuit with feathers sprouting along the line where the hood connected to it. In their middle and the middle of my chest was my purple amulet. Two extensions of fabric extended from the braided piece of silk that was my belt and hung from my hip, covering the back of my legs. My gloves and boots were ¾ and I looked like I would go off and kill people without wanting to mess up my skin. An outfit fit for my current mood.
Now, I was sitting here on the edge of my bed, getting myself ready to go to sleep. Something I was dreading every night anew for the past year. If it would not have been for magic, I would have died from insomnia for sure.
And speaking of magic: Yet another aspect of my life that had given me up was my green lightning. The longer I stayed here, the longer I felt connected to the crystals that grew like trees. And the longer I stayed here, the more my green faded away into purple.
Now, I was sitting here, putting away my staff containing Sapphira whom I always observed every night, evaluating whether she would jump out of the crystal to haunt me. The outfit dissolved into my nightgowns, and I flipped open my heavy blanket and wrapped it over my body, feeling the warmth of my bed in contrast to this cold and desolate place.
With a twist of my hand, a crystal shard condensed into my palm, and I placed it onto my forehead as I flipped over to lie on my back. This spell helped with falling asleep, but it did not hold back the nightmares that flashed before my eyes every time I closed them...

The moment was passing by in slow motion: A glistening purple shard of brilliant crystal flew past my left ear. I could hear how it broke through the wind and how it spun in the air, reflecting the sunset.
I turned around and saw my sister dye her blindingly white dress scarlet red with the blood that was slowly flooding out of the wound in her torso. The world around me fell apart, leaving only myself, my sister, and a laughing figure in the blackness of the void that was my mind.
Glinda was dying right in my arms and the other person was not attempting to do anything about it but laugh. Not until Glinda fell through my arms and into the surrounding void, soon gone for good.
"At least you'll know where she is! Reunited with dear daddy and dear Noa."
The person laughed one last, loud, and malicious laugh before I could not stand it anymore. I lunged at Sapphira, screaming, and burying my nails into her face...