Dark Rainbow (Part 8)

Dry orange desert with hot spiral shaped mountains. Dorothy and her less-than-friendly companions walked for days, feeding on cactus and lizards. Totem disliked the basking sunny alien desert and he was often resting, subdued by the sun.
"Totem, keep going," Dorothy encouraged her wolf friend. "You'll be fine when it's sundown."
Nights were better for him. The group agreed to sleep during the daytime and press on at night when it was cooler and easier to breath. Night was more beautiful in the desert and it looked enchanting. Three moons threw down colours upon the red and orange sands, cactus flowers and red weeds. Luminous insects and reptiles came out to sip on dew.
The red path soon arrived to a woodier place. There were white baobab trees looking like fat dragons and elephants. More tufts of green, red and yellow grasses. Pools of fresh drinking water.
"Olympia!" shouted the men.
"How can it be Olympia?" Dorothy quizzed at the structures, asking them.
"This is another Olympia," Star Corn replied. "There are hundreds of Olympia cities."
"The last one turned out to be dead," Stannum chipped in but grinning. He was glad to be near any city of Olympia. "And I forgive the sad king."
They walked on and came to a place with marble statues of monkeys. There were stone monkeys at the bases of trees. Stone monkeys perched along steps and on paving. It was clear this was a marble city full of monkey statues. There were fig trees and grape vines, fountains, herbs gardens, more stone monkeys.
The group walked along the red path until it came to the bottom of a marble staircase leading up to a white door on a red castle. The castle was buttressed by green fruit trees and monkey statues.The men walked up the steps. Dorothy didn't want to stick around alone outside with Totem so she followed the others. Totem also followed Dorothy and he'd just eaten a green lizard whole.
"Totem I wonder if we can go home soon," Dorothy said as she climbed the steps.
She hoped so. The yellow path led to a ghost town so by that logic could the red path lead to home?
Icarus was first to reach the door. He put his hand to the door handle, when all of a sudden, a massive gong sounded. It sent a sound wave across the desert, making the floor vibrate. A stone monkey near the door of the castle came into power. It's eyes lit up and it bellowed an electric voice.
"STOP RIGHT THERE"
Everyone stopped anyway but the massive voice and the reaction of the stone monkey frightened Dorothy and Totem. Icarus bowed to the stone monkey and asked for entry.
"PASSWORD" It said. As loud as a jet with sonic boom.
Icarus didn't understand the stone monkey. He looked at the others. Star Corn shook his head. Stannum was puzzled. Dorothy felt scared, but wondered what it meant.
"What password?" Icarus asked.
"I don't know!" Stannum said in panic.
"If we don't have a password, we're all going to die!" Star Corn cried.
"This has to be another illusion," Dorothy realised. "Like at the other city. It was full of poppies giving out hallucinations. This city is full of stone monkeys."
"So you think we're imagining this?" Icarus asked, the others agreed with him.
"Not really but..." Dorothy learned not to trust this world. "...what if the stone monkey is a machine."
Icarus tested Dorothy's theory and tried to open the door. It wouldn't open. He looked at the stone monkey, feeling humbled. "Stone monkey, I don't have a password."
Dorothy ran up the steps and tried to push the door, and then pull it, and even slide it. To her, the stone monkey was a prop. It had to be nothing. She looked at the king and the others. Again all three men had the same hypnotised look on their faces as they had in the last city. They were easily influenced by other forces of this strange world. Easily powered. Easily controlled.
She looked at the door to find that it was just painted there. It wasn't even a real door! They've been had. She told them and they saw it, and groaned.
"There has to be another way in, guys!" she said. The three men all sat down and dozed off.
"Thanks. I'll go and look on my own then!"
The wolf and Dorothy ran down the stone steps.
(End of Part 8. To be continued in Part 9).

This story was written by me and it's loosely based on the "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" adventures by L. Frank Baum.