Starstruck (Teaser)
Believe it or not, you wake up.
You have trouble believing this, because the last thing you remember is hurtling helplessly through deep space, about to run out of oxygen. You especially have trouble believing this, because you are currently staring straight up into a beautiful blue sky with cottony white clouds-
But it's been years since you were last on Earth.
You sit up, trying to get your bearings.
You are still in your spacesuit.
And you realize almost dying out there was most certainly not a dream.
But, where exactly are you now?
The world around you is vibrant, colorful. The grass is long and emerald green, swaying gently in an unfelt breeze. Every tree bears several kinds of fruit, all ripe and ready for the picking. Admittedly, the sight makes you salivate. You're sure the rolling farmlands visible in the far distance will have an equally appetizing assortment of crops! Butterflies in a rainbow of colors flit away among the flowers lining the road you find yourself on.
And it is a curious road, composed entirely of shades of yellow brick that gradate perfectly into one another, creating stripes that appear to shimmer in the warm sun above.
"Whoever did this had a lot of time on their hands," you say aloud. "Kinda weird, actually."
You still find it pleasant to look at nonetheless. You start down the road- and double over in pain. You weren't supposed to do that. But you straighten out with a grunt and march onward. You're not going to let nearly dying phase you for long, are you? Of course not. You had to figure out where you were!
You decide to examine the fruit trees more closely. There was a little bit of everything you could possibly want, and they all looked mouth-wateringly good: apples, pears, pineapple, dragon fruit, bananas-
"I'm allergic to bananas," you say.
The bananas vanish before your eyes.
You jump away from the tree in surprise.
"No way this place is real," you say. "It's too weird!"
You're a little rude, aren't you?
"How's that rude?! Who wouldn't be weirded out in this situation?" you ask.
You think you should be a little less rude to the one trying to tell your story.
"Wait, what...?" you mutter. "I don't think that- what the hell's happening? HEY! Is someone there?!"
You look around for whoever it is that is narrating your story! Ah!
You really weren't supposed to realize I was here-
"You better show yourself!" you cry out.
You swing your arms around, and- hey! You can't do that- You-
you're going to knock it out of place and
need you to just calm down now-
g o n r u the story
come can play along, won't you?!
hey this isn't funny aaaaa
aaa h
a listen e
c a n h
l
s y l
o
. u s
h e o
a
r ? l
m p
e
c
i
n
Cinnamon Maeweather rearranged the letters falling from above to their liking and nodded. Nobody was going to tell them what they were thinking and feeling about this utterly bizarre and unnatural place they'd found themselves in. What kind of tree grows every imaginable fruit, anyway?
They started down the road on shaky feet. This place was unreal, but the pain they were in wasn't. They had to stop, leaning forward and putting their hands on their knees. Their vision distorted briefly- when it was over, the crack in the visor of their helmet was very much in focus.
There was a flash of something that came back to them, then- the reason that crack ended up there in the first place. Someone had struck-
And the flash was lost as an angry twittering started above them. They looked up to see a brightly colored sparrow with shining pink and purple feathers swooping down. They ducked with a gasp as it divebombed their head.
"Whoa! Shoo, shoo!" they cried out.
The little purple bird squawked noisily as it came to rest atop their helmet. Cinnamon tried to brush it away, but it kept coming back. They listened harder; they could now hear that lilting voice, the one that was narrating them not moments ago, among the bird's irritated tweeting.
"-and I was TRYING to tell a, WONDERFUL story, and you had to go ahead and-"
Cinnamon sighed. Gently, they pinched the bird's beak closed. The voice stopped and remained quiet even once they pulled their fingers away. As the time it spent not speaking increased, Cinnamon got the impression that the silence was as a result of the speaker now feeling quite stunned.
"I'm gonna ask you some questions. Firstly, where even am I?" Cinnamon asked.
The bird fluttered away. It landed on a fence post nearby. A wing jutted out and draped across its breast in a gesture that was unmistakably a bow.
"You're in the Land of Oz!" it said.
"What- like- that old movie?" they asked.
The bird's feathers bristled.
"What, old movie?! This is simply the Land of Oz!" it exclaimed.
"I don't remember there being a weird talking bird in it, though," Cinnamon said.
"I am not a, weird bird!" the bird said, hopping madly. "I am Zo!"
"So, Oz backwards?" they said with a grin.
The bird falls silent again. There is an unamused air about it.
"I've never been good at coming up with names," it admitted. "What are you?"
"...Human?"
"No, your name!"
"Cinnamon. Next question," they said. "How'd I get here?"
"You fell from the sky!" Zo said.
"Am I dreaming?"
"Not at all!"
"Dead?"
"Certainly not!"
"Then how am I here?!"
"It's as I said! You fell from the sky!"
Cinnamon groaned. This conversation was going nowhere. With an indignant peep, Zo perched on their shoulder.
"What does it matter how you got here? You're here!" Zo said. "If you keep moving forward, you may be able to find the answer to your questions!"
"Why? What's forward?"
"Why, the wizard of Oz!"
Cinnamon rolled their eyes. They should have known where this was going.
"And I s'pose I'm meant to follow the yellow brick road to get to this 'wizard', right?" they asked.
Zo fluttered excitedly.
"Now you're getting it, Sunshine! The wizard knows everything about the Land- I would say the journey to see them is well worth it!" the bird said.
Cinnamon gagged at the nickname. They looked skyward. Nothing but an endless, perfectly blue sky. They looked back to their starting point, where they'd supposedly fallen; but there wasn't so much as a scuff on the road, scattered foliage or pieces of their spacesuit. There was nothing to indicate an impact, as if Cinnamon had simply spawned into existence in the Land. Somehow that unnerved them more.
"All right, all right," Cinnamon said. "Off to see this wizard, or whatever."
You travel along the yellow brick-
"Don't you start that again!" Cinnamon said, poking Zo's head. "I don't need a narrator!"
Zo peeped sadly.
"It's been so long since anyone's come to the Land - can't I do it a, little bit?! Maybe I can tell you about things that you can't see on your own!" Zo said. Inexplicably, the bird winked. "You could say I have a bird's eye view of the Land, after all!"
Cinnamon thought on it. Corny pun aside, that could be useful.
"Fine. But I'll tell YOU what I do, and how I feel," they said.
"Deal!" Zo said.
"I travel along the yellow brick road," you said.
So you do! What do you see?
"I thought you saw everything!" you called up.
Oh, yes! Ahem. You see wide swaths of picturesque land stretching on before you. The road continues onward, but you can also see that there's a divergent path to your left that leads to a quaint looking town with houses in a rainbow of colors.
Will you continue onward?
"I'll visit the town. There's bound to be someone I can ask for help," you say.
I already told you that the wizard can help you. If you just continue down the road-
And you're already running for town. I can work with that! After all, it's not the destination that's most important.
I'll spin you a tale so good, so masterful...
You'll never want to leave!