The Green Spark: Lost in a New World

Chapter 1- Faded Roads and Painted Faces

    When Elphaba opened her eyes, all she could see was grey. All around her, there was a forest of what appeared to be giant blades of dry grass.

    "Where am I?" she thought. "I'm definitely not in Oz anymore."

    As she rose to stand, Elphaba realized that she was not in tall grass at all, but in the middle of a small corn field! It was startling to see this gray world; a landscape all around her, completely devoid of color. Looking around, Elphaba found no sign of anyone who might have seen her. At first, she was relieved of that...before realizing that Fiyero was nowhere in sight.

    "Fiyero?"

    She hoped he was at least somewhere in this strange new land. She hoped that she hadn't left him behind. She hoped that he was still alive.

    But there was no reply when she called out to him. Cupping her hands over her mouth, Elphaba tried again.

    "Fiyero!"

    Once again, there was no response. She tried again.

    "FIYERO!!!"

    When she could call no longer, Elphaba slowly brought her hands down.

    "He's gone," she thought in despair. "Fiyero's gone and it's all my fault!"

    "Why had I let go?" Elphaba thought. She threw her hands down and kicked at the dirt. "If I had known what I was doing with that spell, we never would have gotten separated. He never would have died. What was I THINKING?"

    Her anguish caused a nearby cornstalk to suddenly burst into flames, and the fire started to spread. Elphaba didn't have time to try and put it out, so she started to run. It felt like she had been running for hours before she finally reached a clearing.  There was no path, and she had fine cuts on her hands and arms from having to push and fight her way through the sharp, dry stalks. Elphaba collapsed on the hard ground, trying to regain her breath as she looked to see the entire cornfield engulfed in flames.

    Flames that she had created!

    Elphaba was shocked by what she had done. Her first few seconds in a new world and she was already responsible for a disaster. Not wanting to waste anymore time waiting to make sure no one was looking, she fled down the rocky path, not knowing where it might take her or what she was going to do once she got there.

*~💚~*

    It felt like she had been running for hours.

    After finally stopping to catch her breath, Elphaba sadly realized that she hadn't thought about a plan for what she was going to do next. She didn't know where she was or even what this strange new world was like, except for the fact that it had much less color than Oz. This struggle was even harder with the fact that Fiyero was gone. They were going to rely on each other as they tried to survive in and adjust to the ways of the world beyond Oz together. But now that she was alone, Elphaba didn't know where she would start. She knew for sure that there had to be some life in this world. If this world was uninhabited, than maybe leaving Oz was all for nothing.

    "It couldn't possibly be uninhabited if the Wizard had originated from here," Elphaba thought. "Could it? Of course it isn't uninhabited. What am I saying? That little farm girl and her mutt were from here too!"

    Elphaba couldn't help but snicker to herself with disdain over what Dorothy Gale had made her go through.

    "She thought it was all about fancy shoes, what does she know about family and loss? They were the only things left of my dear sister and she just took them! She may have been a child, but the brat should have known better!"