The Wizard of Oz (Part 1)

The Wizard of Oz (Part 1)

During this period, Rhine would occasionally hear wishes coming from afar.

Every day, he would pick out several of the strongest wishes, listen to them carefully, and make them come true.

Rhine did not need to personally travel to where the wish-makers were. Instead, he summoned weak nature spirits and birds, or directly ordered local officials to provide assistance indirectly.

Then, he heard another prayer from far away.

"What a terrifying power of wish!"

Rhine's entire body jolted.

This petitioner was a "child of destiny," or rather, a "protagonist of fate"! Rhine had long suspected that these so-called children of destiny were probably those memorable figures who had appeared in fairy tales. He had simply never had a chance to verify it.

The youth hurriedly closed his eyes and listened to Oz's prayer.

"A magician and balloon pilot named Oz? Working in a circus. Worried about being implicated in a gold plate forgery case..."

After reading the contents of the wish, Rhine could not help laughing.

"What the heck? So he's afraid of this..."

"But since you prayed to me in your dream, I'll grant your wish." The youth smiled quietly.

"The wish is: escape the kingdom and go somewhere safe."

As his thoughts raced, Rhine made many associations regarding Oz's identity.

His name was Oz.

And he was a child of destiny...

A rather timid personality...

Skilled in magic and balloon piloting...

"Could he be that Oz?"

"The fraud of a king, Oz, from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or rather, The Wizard of Oz!"

In this fairy tale, the protagonist Dorothy was blown by a tornado into a dreamlike land far removed from the mundane world—the Land of Oz. There, she embarked on a fantastical journey and met friends such as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion.

Each of the east, west, south, and north of the Land of Oz was ruled by a powerful witch, while Oz, who lived in Emerald City at the center of the Land of Oz, was an even more formidable great wizard.

Of course, as the story developed, readers following Dorothy's perspective would discover that the so-called great wizard Oz was actually a huge fraud, and all his "magic" was merely sleight of hand.

"So it really was that Oz."

"Oz, before he went to the Land of Oz!"

"Huh, it definitely wasn't called the Land of Oz there yet. After all, Oz hadn't even gone there."

"Emerald City probably won't be built for several more years!"

"And many years after that, the protagonist Dorothy will finally set foot in the Land of Oz!"

"I actually came to such an early era and met the future 'great wizard' Oz in advance."

This discovery caught Rhine somewhat by surprise.

After all, according to the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Oz's hometown was Omaha, America.

Of course, as far as Rhine knew, there was no country called the "United States of America" in this mixed fairy-tale world. It was only natural for Oz's birthplace and parts of his background to have changed.

Thus, Rhine began considering how to fulfill Oz's wish.

"According to the original story, Oz goes to the Land of Oz because his balloon gets out of control. Then I'll help make that prophecy come true!"

Today, the circus where Oz worked was holding a performance.

Before the show began, he sat in a rising hot-air balloon to attract spectators, gather a crowd, and encourage everyone to buy more tickets.

At that moment, Oz heard someone in the crowd shout, "Hey, those are His Majesty the King's soldiers! Did they come to watch the circus too?"

Oz poked his head out and saw a small squad of soldiers indeed heading this way.

"This is bad, this is bad!"

"My nightmare has come true. His Majesty must have sent soldiers to arrest me!"

The genius magician's face turned pale as death, and he trembled inside the balloon basket.

Snap! Just as Oz was at a loss, the rope snapped by itself.

"Ah! What's going on? How did the rope break?!"

The uncontrolled balloon drifted with the wind, rising into the sky.

The balloon floated away like that, farther and farther away.

The spectators below cried out in alarm.

"Magician Oz is still in the balloon! Who's going to save him?!"

Oz's story was only a brief interlude. Tomorrow, they would return to little princess Aurora's storyline.

(End of chapter)