oz is no more.

His father told him that if he headed down the narrow, golden path for three miles, he would find the Emerald Gates, which nurtured the thriving realism that burst from the busy, busy inhabitants of the Emerald City, who only mingled with their own, unless prompted by the Good Witch. As the boy reached the shimmering barrier, two tin guards stepped in from their posts in unison. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were disheveled. The joints that held together their metal limbs were rusted with flakes of red and brown. Their faces were not expression full, but rather iron masks with human-like features etched within them. 

“Halt. What business have you in the Witch’s Brew?” One of the two leaned forward to peer down at the boy, whose clothes were tattered and ripped from weeks of listless travel. He raised a bushy brow at the guard and pointed beyond it. “Witch’s Brew?” He asked. 

“This is the Emerald City. Perhaps the cogs in your head have got you confused?” He blinked his cornflower blue irises, hoping the curiosity he knew that lingered within them would soften the automaton. Its metal mask never wavered. 

“He cannot see past the facade.”

The other murmured. “Foolish boy.” 

“Facade?” The boy unfurled the map that was clutched tightly in his hand and showed the two guards the pictures he had poured over since he was only a babe. The two guards leaned in close, so close that their heads bumped together. Unfazed, their eyes pinged back and forth, analyzing the yellowed parchment. 

One of them straightened and stalked over to a tiny booth that they resided in when off-duty. A lever was pulled, and the Emerald City faded away and was replaced with a rusted bronze gate with bars that were pointed at both ends. Just beyond them, the boy watched as sullen, dirt-laden Munchkins slogged into crowds full of fairies with ragged, faded wings and lions with patched manes. 

“Oz is no more.” The guard who still stood before the boy said, a hint of forced melancholy in his tone. “Not since Dorothy gave into her evil desires.”