THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Part Five, Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Four Cardinal Virtues

GLINDA

"I volunteer," I said almost immediately and full of determination.
"For what?" Evanora asked with questioning eyes, trying not to avert them away from the Overlord and hence only daring a short glimpse towards me.
"To go to Ruby. Clearly, you have other occupations at the moment now that you have the Emerald City back you really should focus on restoring... whatever happened to it. The Lords have to be dealt with too, especially the Overlord."
My sister was thinking; I could see that by the way her eyes slightly moved from left to right and the way she was nibbling at her lower lip with her teeth. One could really see and hear the gears shifting inside her head.
"Take someone with you and go as soon as you can," She finally replied without offering me a further glance. I enjoyed it most when I succeeded in wrapping her around my finger. She rarely could not say no to me, nor to anyone else from our family.
The only question I asked myself was whom to take with me. Mother would be busy getting information out of the Overlord's brain and I would not want to occupy her any further because of her... situation, Evanora with fixing the palace, Aliyah helping her, so I decided to go for my youngest sibling. She needed some attention as well.
"Theo, do you want to come with me by any chance?"
She looked up from her feet, me catching her slightly off guard but she nodded immediately, "Yeah, of course," The young woman shrugged and stepped forward from behind the others.
"Ready to go?"
"Yup."
Together, we bid the others farewell and exited the palace through the gates directly. I have never been to Ruby's place – the Gates of Hell – a bar located between the celestial realm of Paradiso and demonic realm of Inferno; a place called Purgatorio.
Thankfully, she had left behind a portal here, located in an abandoned hut towards the North of the Green Dawns. Else, we would have had to move to Earth, the Dragons Triangle and from there to Purgatory and then the Gates of Hell.
Out of convenience for her and us, Ruby simply decided to place one somewhere hidden and safe in Oz. It was a short distance along the Yellow Brick Road and we decided to walk. It was a brisk day and the walk proved to be cooler than expected but on the contrary also more refreshing than anticipated.
"Do you think that Ruby will know what is going on with the Lords and the missing pages?" Theodora asked me shortly before our arrival at the hut. We could already see it at the bottom of the incline. It was the same hut that Aliyah had been living in with Marcy in our dream or rather the parallel reality, as Morgana had explained so long ago.
"Probably. I hope. Ruby has proven herself to know a lot more than meets the eye. I believe she is a skilled fighter and has a brilliant mind. I mean, she's a demon and as far as I remember, the demon of experience. If she doesn't know by any chance, she'll probably figure something out."
Theodora nodded, sunken in thought. None of us have ever been too talkative. But it lies in our family. Mother is introvert and father were too. Only him being prepared to be king one day had forced him to become more outgoing.
Mother always told us the story of how they had met as teenagers and that he'd been too shy to ask her out and she was too shy to ask whether the feelings were being returned. Both loved each other but had been too shy to talk about it. In the end though, they got together and I'm happy about it. Six decades later Evanora was born.
We reached the hut and opened the only slightly closed door. Inside, it looked like the place had been abandoned in a hurry. Tables, chairs and furniture were thrown over and some even broken. Rotten food and moldy plates, cups and cutlery littered the floor. Only the red glow from the portal through the door to the right offered at least some illumination. All the windows were sealed shut with moist wooden planks.
We carefully stepped between the minefield of stinking objects and into the next room. The portal was a red circle on the floor, like a hula hoop ring in 2D with Enochian words and letters carved along it. The ring looked like it was filled with red water - that rather resembled blood - into which you could jump and dive into endlessly.
Out of this liquid-y substance came a small mist of red that shot up into the air, where it enclosed a round sign at eye-height which was the actual bar sign of the Gates of Hell; a monkey holding guns with "Gates of Hell" written in English above it and in Enochian below it.
These Gates of Hell were actually a bar and not to be confused with the actual gates to Inferno. This bar offers sanctuary to many low-lives that were hunted by either hell or heaven but was totally empty, basically 24/7.
There, Ruby also captured demons caught in hell into handcrafted weapons which she assembled for the Umbra Witches together with her assistant Rodin, the demon of entertainment. But there has not been an Umbra witch since Aliyah.
Ruby and Rodin were bearing the title of Forgemasters. A skill available only to an elite few and which had not been practiced for centuries by anyone else. Forgemasters could also call upon lesser demons from hell and incarnate them into dead human bodies but this had been forbidden by the powers of Paradiso.
We moved towards the portal, being able to hear more and more of its humming energy, the closer we got. The only thing one had to do was step into it and the enchanted gateway would do the rest on its own.
Once we did so, it felt like falling from a plane. We were being sucked through the essence of space and time until the world turned, and we were slowly lifted upwards, just like an elevator. First, our heads emerged, and our bodies followed.
We were now in the fabled Gates of Hell, for the first time in my life and I had to be honest... The atmosphere of this place and being here was simply terrifying. Its architecture reminded of catholic churches and biblical depictions of heaven and hell. The place had no windows within its blue-grey metal walls; only a glass door that led into the Remembrance of Time; a place existing beyond the fabrics of nature's laws.
There were a number of metal tables with four red-cushioned chairs each, littered around the compact area. Most of the space on the wall, opposite the portal, took a counter with five bar stools in front of it. Behind this counter stood Ruby, awaiting her guests. Whenever someone visits, she is alerted about it.
She had not changed a bit since our last meeting. Her black waves were messy and shaved bald on the side where a great scar cut through her eye. She wore a white dress that had only one sleeve and a golden shoulder plate on the other arm. Her lips were blood-red and her bright hazel eyes glowed in contrast with her exotic skin tone.
"Hello there, darlings. What brings the two of you down here and where have you left the green goblin?" I assumed that Ruby meant Evanora when referring to the green goblin.
"She's busy with restoring the Emerald City from the Lords of Fear and in returning order to the country."
Ruby tilted her head slightly, moving her thin hand to her slightly masculine chin. "Lords of Fear? Never heard of them."
She stepped up from leaning against the counter, turned around to face the racks of drinks and touched a lamp to its right, making the entire hind wall sink into the ground and reveal weapons, potions, artifacts and books. She waved her hand in front of the latter, probably waiting for a volume mentioning the Lords to jump into her hand but none did.
"Nothing. Are you sure you got the name, right? If they exist, they're either too young for me to know or they have been excellent at keeping themselves secret. I'm sorry that I was of no help..."
"We believe the latter might be more accurate. Some of them have lived for millennia but that's not what we came here for."
Ruby raised her eyebrows and pulled a bottle of Witch Shot and three glasses from under the counter. "I'm sorry. Business is quiet and I thought... Oh, never mind."
I laughed out of politeness and took two of the glasses, passing one to Theodora before the three of us took a sip. This stuff was burning but tasted magnificent. It was a mixture of roses, chocolate and mint flavor. "We need your help with something else though."
This caught Ruby's attention again and she was leaning against the counter with her head resting in her palms in no time. "I'm listening..."
I pulled out the diary and handed it to her but not before flipping to the pages where some were missing. "We found this within father's old items and believe that there are missing pages you see removed by infernal magic here..."
I traced my wand over the paper and one could see the astral projection of another couple of pieces but without writing. Without magic, one never would have even realized that those were missing. That was how efficiently they had been removed. The craft of a very skilled Magick, we presumed.
"Which must have something to do with what the Lords are looking for. We strongly believe that father had known this, but the pages had been stolen from him. Since you are a demon and master of infernal magic, we thought you could trace the print back to the thief and tell us what the Lords are looking for."
I looked into Ruby's face when I had finished telling her our hypothesis and unexpectedly, the look of excitement and curiosity had vanished from her face. Instead it was replaced with concern and guilt. Something that was more than rare to see riddling her aspect.
"There's no need to do all that," She replied at first but continued upon seeing our puzzled looks. "I took the pages upon your father's request. He told me that should you ever come and ask for this, he'd be gone and made me swear to tell you when the time comes. I figure, this is it now..."
Ruby caught my interest promptly and I wanted to hear her story. What could the Lords of Fear ever want that would force father to hide it and pretend it never happened. I decided not to say anything and to listen to Ruby's story. With a quick glance towards my sister, I indicated to her to do the same.
"It started in August 1960-"
"The only time father wasn't able to accompany us to our Albion holiday!" Ruby and I looked at Theodora with narrow eyes. "Sorry. It was the only time he ever promised to do something with me, and I was devastated when he stayed home. Please... Continue."
Ruby cleared her throat while I took Theodora's hand. I remembered these holidays as well. Theodora could not even force herself out of bed; mother had to pull her out of it every morning. That was when the wickedness began. The past is in the past though and I really wanted to know Ruby's story.
"As I was saying, he was alone in Oz, and I had some personal business to attend to anyways when he had to accept the truth that he had hidden from the world for centuries. Seven disasters to be exact. This was the day; the Seven Deadly Sins escaped their prisons inside the Heart of Oz."
"I thought the Sins were just folklore. Like the Four Cardinals."
I thought Ruby would be mad at Theodora for interrupting her again but judging by Ruby's expression, she was enjoying the attention. She laughed heartily, "Nononono. Neither the Sins, nor the Virtues are folklore. In fact, knowing that the Sins are being excavated by the Lords of Fear, I thought about asking the celestials for a little favor."
Theodora jumped out of her seat. "WAIT! So, you're telling me that the Lords want to get the Sins? But how did they end up buried in the first place?"
Ruby definitely knows how to tell a story. Instead of directly following a chronological line of action, she says something that prompts a question, answers it with the end of the story before having to explain the path after another question. That way, her audience remains interested until the end.
"That's where your father comes in. He asked me to help him kill the Sins but not even I can match their combined power, at least not back then. I told him that the Sins cannot be stopped and that he should start saving his people. But he was persistent – very much like Evanora, to be honest – and together we found out that they may not be killable but that we can contain them once again."
"And you did?" Theodora really was hanging on Ruby's lips now and I had to admit that I was too. I didn't even notice Rodin who was now leaning on the doorframe to the back room.
"We did. Their prison was reinstated and fortified by my magic and judging by the Lords' behavior and as it was described in your father's diary, they have no idea that the heart is located directly under the Emerald City. As long as they don't know that, we have time."
"Time for what?" Now, even though I got too intrigued and following Theo's example, I couldn't help but interrupt. Ruby just chuckled slightly.
"I told you already. We can go to the Virtues, get their help and intervene before the apocalypse begins. Once the Seven are reunited again, it means certain doom for your entire realm." She pushed herself off the counter and nodded towards Rodin.
"Are ya sure, ye wanna do this?" he asked in a deep and scary voice. Rodin himself looked much more intimidating than Ruby although he was only her servant. His very dark skin made the head tattoos on his bald scalp barely visible.
His demonic red eyes were hidden by a pair of black sunglasses and many golden rings, bracelets and chains crowned his hands and neck. He wore a leather trench coat with a suit vest underneath and a pair of khaki jeans that suited his ochre-colored Doc Martens.
"Yes, Rodin. The big uglies up there have been resting on their holy butts for far too long. Heaven is part of the deal as well, yet hell is doing everything. I say we put an end to this." He shook his head, but Ruby ignored it. I doubted that Rodin had free will with her at all. "Prepare the portal. It's time for us to finally return home."
Rodin complied and retreated to the back room from which he returned just moments later, holding a golden disc in his hand which he tossed onto the ground, making it spread open and create a vortex of golden light before rising to the ceiling. A portal to hell was on the ground, a portal to heaven on the ceiling. It made sense.
"Just step in; it's the same concept as our own one."
Theodora and I looked each other in the eyes and walked under the golden light together. We have never been to any dimension beyond human grasp, and I was glad that our first trip was heaven and not hell.
"Believe me... Down there, we could protect you but up top, we have no jurisdiction..." I wanted to bail, immediately after Ruby had said those words. I had forgotten that she could do that. Did I even know in the first place? It didn't matter though because it was too late. Theodora and I could already see the whiteness that took us to Paradiso.