色戒完整版

Chapter 4: Emerald Castle 2

"Good job acting there." The monkey said as he climbed through the window.

George was still sitting on the floor, "I need to get out of here... Hey monkey, bring me back to New York!"

The monkey shook his head, "I can\'t help you; the only person who knows how to get there is Oz himself. And don\'t call me a monkey! I have a name, and it\'s Michael."

"That\'s great. That\'s just great. Now I will have to depend on some guy who takes his job so recklessly; that he will leave a whole city at risk of getting destroyed... Or maybe I can make a hot air balloon... Gosh dang it, if only I knew how to make that!! Hey monkey, can you give me something to drink?"

"I said my name is Michael!" he shouted, scratching his head. "But, honestly, how did you make the pigeons come out of nowhere and appear behind Lumindra out of nowhere? I have always wondered how Oztanfil did that without learning magic himself…"

"I just saw some of the equipment in his room; it looks like the magic trick items that I used long time ago. There is this tool which allows me to let go of the pigeons that are engaged in a cage hidden inside of my suit." He said while opening the gown and showing the machinery that was involved with the trick.

"So a trick… And the disappearing?"

"Well, I distracted Lumindra, and I went underneath this door hidden here." He said while pointing at the front of the throne. "This trick is also pretty popular back where I am from."

The monkey walked towards it and tried opening the entrance to the floor.

"Oz must have been a very skillful illusionist to make this." George commented as he stepped on top of the entrance before stepping on both ends of it, dropping him under the floor and automatically covering the top.

Michael quickly tried replicating what George had just done and fell underneath, "Ow..." he said while massaging his head which had bumped to the ground. "Whoah, so this was what he was working on..."

George then climbed out of the other side, "And that was how I \'teleported\'."

"Whoo..." Michael breathed out as he thought about the situation that they were in.

He was Oz\'s friend and ally and was always there to help him, but now that he had disappeared, Emerald City needed a gap to be filled, and if anyone other than him knew that Oz went missing for some reason, the evil witches and wizards would definitely target Emerald City.

And not even the great Magic Academy that Oz had built could help them as they only had new and young students that only knew the basic to advanced types of magic, which ranged from the 1st circle up to the 5th circle. And the teachers whose ranks were higher were few in number.

George, who had just arrived here, could only act as Oz, and since he was new, he didn\'t know how to act as well as Oztanfil while performing the tricks that Oz did to trick the other real wizards and witches.

George had been staring at the throne that he had sat down on just now; his heart felt drawn to it as if there was a spell on him making him attracted to it, \'I have lived my life so long, and I couldn\'t use my lawyer skills, my acting skills, or my magic tricks... This is it... THIS IS IT, MY CHANCE TO FINALLY BE SOMEONE!!!\'

"Hey, uh, man, Fake Oz, I think we have brought you into problems that you don\'t deserve; you should run and find somewhere to hide," Michael said as he tapped on his back.

George turned to look at Michael, "But you need someone to help you, right? You need someone to pretend to be Oz to make sure that this City stays safe, right?"

"Uhm, well, yeah... But you have to go; I will find Oz to make sure that doesn\'t happen."

George couldn\'t let the opportunity of a lifetime slip by him; it was now or never, "No! I will stay; I mean, what would happen to the poor little munchkins then?"

Michael looked surprised as he looked at George\'s expression; he could see that George really cared and he wanted to help, which was true, technically. "Wait, how do you know about the munchkins? I thought you weren\'t from this world?"

"Well, we got books about your world."

"Hmm, did they have me in it?" Michael looked excited since he was pretty known other than being the monkey who was with Oz.

"Uhm, I don\'t remember there being a Michael the Monkey of Oz," George replied with a chuckle before throwing a glance at the throne again.

"So, you would like to help us, right? Even though it might mean dying?"

George nodded lightly, he had died once, but if he was going to die once more, it would be better to die as a powerful and legendary wizard than some random man on the street who died because he couldn\'t pay what he owed. "Yeah, I always believed that doing the right thing is always, uhh, right?"

"I\'m glad someone like you appeared. I\'m sure that the pipsqueak idiot Oztanfil would just think about being some grand wizard, sitting on his throne..." Michael said as he looked slightly annoyed by just thinking about Oz and his behavior.

Little did he know George was one and the same in terms of behavior.

"So what now?" George asked.

"Well, you will have to meet the King of Veridiana; I remembered that Oz threatened to destroy the country if they didn\'t add Oz\'s name to their flag; it really angered them..." The monkey replied.

"Dang, Oz is much more... uhh, unfavourable than the Oz I read in the books... And I don\'t think I have heard about Veridiana... only Gilikin, Winkie, Quadling and Emerald..."

"I will ask you one last time, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Michael asked.

George didn\'t hesitate; this was his one and only chance to use everything he had learned, to be someone more than what he already was, and his only chance to prove himself. "Absolutely."

Michael sighed and nodded, "Fine." He said as he walked towards the exit.

As George followed, Michael turned, looking slightly annoyed, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" George asked, confused.

"You are supposed to act like Oz, right? Then use the ring to look like him." Michael reminded.

George nodded as he looked at the red ruby glowing before closing his eyes, "I am... The Great Wizard Of Oz."