The mysterious dog had finally decided to let up on his sprint, letting Dorothy catch up to it within the quiet forest, though, admittedly, she had no problem matching the small dog’s pace with her regular cardio training. Despite the cover of night covering the land, the trees exuded such bright colours that it let Dorothy see despite the lack of light, even though she was still confused by this, she was thankful she wasn’t going to be bumping into any of the thin trees.

“By the way, my name is Toto, did I tell you that already?” asked Toto with a cock of his head.

“No, no you didn’t, you just ran off,” Dorothy replied flatly.

“Oh, sorry about that, like I said, before though, I had to get you out of there,” he said with a voice too happy to match the situation they were in.

“Where are we going? You still haven’t told me,” Dorothy asked snidely.

“We're going to visit OZ, He was the one who saved you,” Toto replied

“Saved me?” she asked, as if insulted by the notion.

“Yeah, you don’t remember?” once again with a cock to his head.

“No,” She said curtly,

“Well, you should thank him once we are there,” Toto told her.

“Why should I? I don’t know any of you…people…I don’t even know where the hell I am!” she said with a moody tone. Despite her tone, Toto answered her question like a well-behaved pet.

“You're in the Realm of Luster,” Dorothy let the silence after that reply play out, with only the rustle of the grass beneath their feet and paws being heard.

“No. I don’t even know what that means, but no. I know it’s not true, it's all just one bad dream I’m having right now,” she said dismissively.

“No one here is dreaming, it's all real,” said the dog casually

“No it isn’t! What the fuck do you even mean by realm!?” she asked, increasingly becoming more agitated with Toto’s casual tone. Regardless, Toto still spoke to her with a warm tone despite her cursing.

“Well, hmm, how do I say this? It's like another world but not a different planet…does that make sense?” Dorothy didn’t even respond, instead just choosing to ignore the small dog as he sounded like a complete psycho to her. she had to keep reminding herself that the dog was actually talking, so why should she even listen to it? But then again, she was able to hear and converse with it perfectly fine, perhaps that made her just as crazy.

There wasn’t a soul within the woods they traveled through, whether that be from the time of night, or maybe there was no one left in this world, it certainly gave Dorothy the creeps, though she did keep a keen eye out for any more of those cricket creatures.

The night sky was still visible through the thin, almost leafless trees that they passed through, with the sky above being mostly black, but looking to have faint colours spread across it like a moving painting, faint to the eye, but still noticeable. Regardless of all this, she found herself curious about a few more things, and this dog was unfortunately the only person to ask at the moment. So begrudgingly, she spoke.

“Hey dog! Why is it so bright everywhere?” She asked

“Bright everywhere?” he said curiously, once again doing that head cock that was beginning to annoy Dorothy.

“As in, why is everything so…colourful, it’s black as night but I can still see where I’m going,”

“Oh, you must be talking about the Luster?” He said in a way that assumed Dorothy would just get it.

“Am I? What’s Luster?” She asked again with a snark in her voice.

“Luster is in everything, it accentuates the natural colour that is in everything and gives it properties,” Explained Toto

“How?”

“Well I’m not too sure, this world is all I've known, it's supposed to be a mirror of your own but I don't know what things look like without Luster, so it’s hard to compare. OZ is much more knowledgeable, he said that animals look completely different from how they do in your world due to the Luster,”

Despite Dorothy thinking the entire conversation was completely ridiculous and that she must be insane, the words rang true regarding Luster changing animals, it would explain the ginormous size of the cricket she fought.

“And is that how you can talk?” asked Dorothy.

“I think so, all dogs can talk, but I've heard in your world they can’t speak to humans…is that really true?”

“Yeah, good thing too, the world would be twice as annoying if mutts like you could talk,” Toto ignored the insult, instead, focusing on the fact that dogs in her world did not have Luster to be influenced by.

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“Do you really not have Luster in your world?” He followed up curiously.

“I still don’t know what you mean by my world but no, we don’t have Luster on Earth,”

“What does everything look like?” Toto asked fascinated

“Like…not as bright, and our crickets are much smaller,”

“Really!? Wow, how small?” Toto asked with far too much interest, interest that wasn’t matched by Dorothy.

“You don’t know how small a…Y’know what, forget it, I've got something else I need to know, what happened to my arm?” she demanded.

“I think you got in a fight with something when you first got here, at least, that's what OZ told me, do you remember what happened?”

“No, the earliest I can remember is waking up in that clinic-looking room,” Dororhty said, grimacing at the memory.

“Oh, yeah that’s where OZ left you, after he saved you from your fight, he helped stop your arm from bleeding,”

“Mmm, would have been nice if he saved me before it got taken off,” She said snidely.

“You should really be more thankful, y'know? you could have died from how he described the situation,”

“I don’t need to be grateful to anyone, not when I don’t even know any of you,” snapped Dorothy.

“Are you always this moody?” asked Toto innocently.

“When I have a mutt yapping in my ear, yeah, I am,” with that hammer placed down, there was a painful silence for the next five minutes until the pair arrived at their destination. The forest opened up slightly to reveal an old dilapidated church. In its time it would have been considered beautiful and most likely a center of culture for its people. Now however, it was nothing more than a spot for moss to spread and crows to nest, Dorothy put that thought aside as quickly as she thought it when she imagined what crows might look like due to Luster.

“Well, uh, here we are!” Toto announced, trying to keep things upbeat. Dorothy instinctively went to fold her arms but was only met with slight embarrassment from the attempt, opting to place her left hand on her hip.

“Fancy,” She said sarcastically. “So is this where my prince is?”

“Your prince?”

“Forget it…let's just go,” sighing with a frustrated tone. Toto took the lead with Dorothy following behind loosely. From the outside, faint music could be heard playing from inside the building, magnified most likely by a large building. The colossal arc-shaped pair of doors were open a little, which allowed enough space for the two of them to slide in through.

Dorothy was met immediately with the large hall that was standard across all chapels and kirks, though it had been hastily and poorly renovated to look like some mad scientist's study, rather than a place of worship. Books were strewn everywhere, bits of parchment lay on the ground and it somehow managed to take up all the room available where they stood.

Somewhere in the back, the quiet music could be heard more clearly now. Quiet as it was, she took note it was playing from a gramophone and sounded almost French and old-fashioned almost, resembling something her Grandmother used to listen to. The music was instrumental and had an air of unknown, mysterious energy, yet it also began to transition to more lighthearted, heavenly notes.

Toto rushed through the room, with bits of parchment getting launched up by his energetic paws, his tail wagging quickly behind him as he called out loudly.

“OZ, OZ, she’s here!” Dorothy didn’t quite spot him at first but soon emerged a mysterious figure.

He was tall and wore a wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of his face from the distance they stood from one another. He wore a fancy suit that had seen better days, coupled with a cloak that had no right being paired with his choice of suit, almost as if he found the cloak on the street at random and decided to wear it.

“So…are you OZ?! My half-assed savior?!” Dorothy shouted across the chapel, her voice echoing in the open ceiling and reverberating to the old man. She noticed how the elderly man was just like her, completely devoid of colour and only made up of blacks and whites

“That is correct my dear, I am OZ, and yes, your half-assed savior,” He said with a small smirk, one that Dorothy thankfully didn't see due to their distance. He spoke with age in his voice, but still sounded rather regal and eloquent with his words.

“Please, follow me, I imagine you must be tired and have some questions,” Dorothy put her frustration with him to the side for one moment as she was genuinely curious, even if still in grief over her missing arm.

The two sat across from one another in a small, dusty side room kept in the back of the chapel. Toto climbed atop a bookshelf and lay down on top of it, spectating the conversation between the two.

“Might I ask, what is your name?” asked OZ.

“Dorothy,” she said flatly.

“Dorothy, hmm, my you certainly have a face that matches how you should feel, I’m sorry this has all happened to you,” Dorothy, now able to see his face more, could see his face was slightly damaged with scars running across it, ruining whatever handsome features he may have had before.

“If you're talking about how my face looks sad or pissed, that’s how it always is, old man, I don't need you reminding me of the obvious,” she said, turning her head away slightly.

“Fair enough,” he replied with a small chuckle. “Now, I do hope you can forgive me, I was the one that saved you from the Wo’ed,” he said with his shaky old voice.

“The what?”

“It’s like a wolf from your world, except it has been under the influence of Luster. Thus it grows much more ravenous and feasts on blood,”

“Got it, well for thanks for letting my arm get eaten off,”

“Better that than your head eh?” Dorothy shot him an even nastier look, one that made him realise that type of joke may have been too soon.

“My apologies, once again, forgive me for not doing more,”

“Whatever,” she said, crossing her legs as a substitute for not being able to do it with her arms, physically clocking herself out of the discussion, or listening to what OZ had to say. To gain Dorothy’s interest back in the conversation however, OZ wasn’t unprepared.

“I suppose you are curious as to why you and I lack colour hmm,” he said in a slow trailing fashion as he stood up and paced slowly around the room. “How you got here…and how you can get back home,” with the last sentence, he looked towards the young woman with his back turned to her, only his eye was visible with a small smile creeping onto his face. This did, however, catch Dorothy’s attention, drawing her head back to face OZ.

“You know a way?” she asked cautiously.

“I believe so, but I think some explanations are in order before we go and attempt anything,”