The Book without Title: LEGEND OF ELEMER

Hundreds of years ago when the times of Folk Wars began young elves started to be taught acting all together so that they might resist the enemy all together. How should children be taught? Of course, in a game.  

Elemer was invented. The game was called Elemer because players of all the Elements took part in it; and it were Elements and other teams they had to fight against.  

But the game was created not to awake warlike spirit in children. No, it taught them unity of the three elements - magic, physical power and mind. They should perceive it with mutual aid.  

The game outlasted hundreds of years; it survived many changes and became a kind of sport; but it was been playing till nowadays. Elves liked it. And not only children. That's why they liked chess so much as they resembled Elemer in a way.  

Every year there were magnificent Elemer championships between the schools. And every year new teams were selected. Not to select a team meant to disclaim Elemer. Children who were good at study, military art, strategics and logic were selected to a team. It was difficult to be accepted in it but it was worth the trouble. An Elemer player was a future great warrior, mage or scientist. 

* * *  

Elemer field was replaced by a big green maze. The bushes were very thick: one couldn't see neither the ways of the maze nor what was hidden there. Wide and glossy leaves concealed its secrets reliably. But only now the bushes which seeds had been brought from Inur by terrene mages served the walls; when serious competitions began the image of the maze was changed as well as its passages and barriers were. There were tribunes parted into two sections around it.  

Everybody who wanted to see players' selection was said to go to the tribunes. When they went to the stadium the selection round had already began. Aeron and Justin chose a place and in several seconds…  

“Oh, there you are!” they heard a ringing voice.  

The boys turned round and saw the familiar couple behind their backs.  

“This is my brother, Bryan, Torch”, chattered Nymph gaily. “You have met already. And they are Justin and Aeron”.  

“Sorry for the brawl in the corridor. I burned up as you seemed to offend her. I'm called Torch for I loose my temper very quickly. Shall we forget it?” Bryan stretched his hand to Aeron.  

“Forget”, agreed Aeron shaking his hand.  

By the way, for several days there Aeron got known that handshake as a greeting gesture was a human one (though many elves knew it). Offering to shake hands a proud elf apologized for the troubles he caused. But when an elf greeted he slightly nodded or bowed. They greeted friends or beloveds with a slight bow pressing hand to the heart; meeting a mentor a well-bred elf bowed deeply.  

“We decided to watch the selection, too”, said Alexandrine.  

“I heard you are an Adventurer”, said Justin greeting Bryan back and shaking hands.  

Two lightnings one by one struck somewhere far. Everybody who was at the stadium looked at the sky but they didn't see anything and calmed down. It seemed it was somewhere in the sea.  

“Yes”, said Bryan plainly without boasting.  

“Can you help us to catch the head or tail of it?” offered Justin.  

“Of course”, agreed the player. “Now they will select the Adventurer and the Keepers at the same time. The Adventurer's heats have four laps. The first one is a chess part. There are forty candidates this year. They will play chess and only ten of them will be left. After that they will come into the maze - two at a time. After the maze they will have tests in magic and war art. According to the results they will choose the best one”.

Boards for four were chosen for the heats. And the audience could see colored figures here and there.  

“And what does an Adventurer do?”  

“An Adventurer? He leads the team trough the maze full of traps, riddles and tasks. He should overcome all the barriers by means of his mind and physical abilities. Though he's allowed to use the simplest spells. The Spell of Light, Peace Spell, and some of the kind. There's also a lap where he can use magic. And we are spelled for we may not be killed. The time the team should cross the maze is unlimited, though they should do it quicker than their rivals. There are seven keys hidden in the maze. They should find them to open the door for the last lap. You contend for the keys with the rivals' Adventurer. When all the keys are found you should fight on a duel with him. The winner gets all the keys”. 

“Why do they prefer an Adventurer to be elemental?” asked Aeron.  

“What are the elemental?” Justin remembered the question he hadn't asked before.  

“The elemental are those who have powers of several Elements. And it doesn't depend on the level of the power. They are two-elemental, three-elemental, four-elemental and five-elemental”. 

“Aren't they?” Justin got surprised.  

“Yes, they are but very few. There are about three or four hundred pupils here, in Areph. If you do not count it'll be a little less. And there're no five-elemental and four-elemental ones, but there are two three-elemental and four two-elemental elves. The fact is that nobody is higher than the fourth power level of several Elements. And why do they prefer the elemental? Nobody knows. It's a custom. But to be serious, if you have power of an Element you understand it; if you understand several Elements you have better chances. Look here, an Evertine has six sense organs. Isn't it so? One has only sight, but another has sight and hearing, the third one has sight, hearing and sense of smell; the fourth has all the previous and taste, the fifth has also touch, but the sixth one has all the six. Who is it easy to orient in the world for? Of course he's the latter. So they say that it's better to be elemental. But amulets, artifacts and many spells don't work in the maze. You are forbidden to use gestures. But you feelings stay at their places. And what's more an Adventurer must lead all the members of the team trough the maze without loosing of somebody. Otherwise they will be in the trouble on the last lap. But it isn't as easy as it sounds - there are a lot of traps and nobody knows how many”.  

The chess battle took about an hour. There was a girl among the candidates.  

“And now future Adventurers will go into the maze”, said Bryan.  

“Will we see it?” asked Justin.  

“No, we won't”, answered Bryan. “Usually the audience sees it at the competitions but not today. Every time the maze has new barriers. But it's problematic to change them several times a day. So the teachers are watching the candidates not to tell each other about them. But now we'll watch the selection of the Keepers. There are two of them in the team - the Mage-Keeper and the Warrior. Their task is to defend the Adventurer but not from the dangers of the maze but from attacks of the adversaries. And the one does it by means of magic though it's not the magic he knows but he's given the set of the spells; the other does it be means of weapon he chooses on his taste”.  

While he was speaking they heard ring of steel from below. The seniors put the candidates to the test. One of them fought rather well. His adversary nodded him with approval. The candidate pleased with the success lost his concentration, missed a spell and stood still being turned into a piece of ice.  

“He will thaw out in ten minutes”, comforted Bryan the friends. “Next players are Hunters. There also two of them - a Mage and a Warrior. Their task is to prevent the adversaries' Adventurer from carrying out his mission. They sabotage and can make traps if they want - it isn't forbidden by the rules though it's used rather rarely”.  

At that time Keepers finished, the enchanted candidates were brought out from the field. The future Hunters appeared. They were going to show their ability of fighting and then the skills of strategics and watching.  

“By the way, the spells of the adversaries can be tackled and then used. I think that's all you should know”.  

“Can the staff of the team be changed?” asked Aeron.  

“Yes, it can but only after a season. Usually belied players are changes. They are given a season to show what they can. But there are exceptions, for instant, a very bad temper”.  

“Who do the teams play against? Against ones of other levels?” asked Justin.  

“No. Only with the others schools' teams of their levels. They can meet the teams of their school only at training”.  

“Are there many schools?” Justin continued the examination.  

“No, there are only four of them”, answered the expert. “One is in America, the other is in Africa, the still other is in Asia and European one is on the island not far from Britain”.  

“The latter is ours!” the young elves guessed.  

“Yes, it's ours. People had explored everything on the Continent; there weren't any quiet places and our school had to move here”.  

“Aren't there so few mages and elves?” asked his sister who was listening to the conversation very attentively.  

“There are more of them than you think. There are magic forms all over the world; there are a lot of them in Eastern Europe and in Asia. There are a lot people who study for shamans in Africa and in America too. There is a competition between the schools every year. And every year they select the best to the elven combined team to play with the Folks' combined team”.  

“Do girls play Elemer?” wondered Aeron.  

“Only very warlike ones do”, smiled Bryan. “But they haven't their own team. Elemer is a rather hard game. There was no girl in any elven team for the last several thousand years. There are ones sometimes in the Folks' teams but they are only lavit-girls”.  

“Then what do we do?” Alexandrine got outraged.  

“Cheer team”, answered Justin.  

“And that's all!” exclaimed she bitterly.  

“No”, her brother calmed her down. “There is horse-riding, dances, music, singing, handiwork… There are always some competitions. You have them more than we do”.  

“And what's for sports?”  

“Only horse-riding. It's a custom. You'll be explained everything on Etiquette”.  

“That's all? Have you made it up already?” they heard from behind.  

“Yes”.  

“Nymph, Violet is looking for you”, informed her Alser.  

“I'm off”, she recollected. “Bye!”  

“I'll accompany you”, Bryan rose. “So long then”, and they whirled away.  

“You can make good friends”, noticed Alser following them with his eyes. “Well then. Think you are lucky - such an elf told you about Elemer. Are you going to your room or not?”  

“Haven't the selection finished yet?” asked Justin.  

“No, not all the candidates to the place of the Adventurer have passed the maze. It'll take them long. The lists will be known tomorrow. Where shall I take you to?”  

“Do you have some plans?” asked Aeron suspiciously.  

“Oh, Saint, you guess about everything. The boys and I are going to play… you may play with us. You have some spare time as your self-task was cut a little. By the way you can get some experience for Elemer”, offered Alser generously.  

“And where are Mirages?” Justin looked round.  

“They must be at the studying-room and do the task. The oddball is also there. So what do you say?”  

“We would play”.  

The boys were playing with the seniors. The game was some unbelievable mixture of chess, basketball and volleyball - it was the result of the presence of elves from nonats' families. The rules weren't invented and nobody made them clear but it was a great fun. Nobody noticed how the time was flying. The game was hot-tempered. Justin and Aeron who were rather good at basketball and volleyball outplayed the seniors who were bigger and more massive easily. Though it's difficult to imagine a massive elf!  

The youths thought it to be a business of their honour to put back the boys flown into a temper and worked with a greater will… The boys must have got a lot of bruises but they didn't mind. The fact was they enjoyed themselves and didn't pay attention to anything except the game.  

That was why nobody noticed an elf in black who was standing not far from them and watched them playing.  

* * *

Violent is a sadist! She made me put on the things which are called the uniform. AUFUL!!! But tomorrow I'll find the way to put on better clothes. Because now I have for whom. Sandra got to know with two boys on the bet. One of them has a nickname. Saint. Sandra has a nickname too. Nymph. It sounds nice. But I want too!  

Saint is a knock-out. And a real man. I haven't met somebody of the kind before. He's proud, brave, smart with great sense of humour. He's neither a downer nor a know-all but knows everything. The voice… the face… the figure… Ah!!! Isaac Smith retired. DiCaprio envies. Alan died because of his ugliness. I won't be me if Saint isn't mine. A-e-ro-oo-on.  

But his friend - I don't remember his name - isn't handsome but boring-smart.  

And they introduced us to the twins. They are nice but stupid. No, they aren't for me.  

And the Rodrigo. He's a clown and monster.  

The teachers are sadists. Both of them. One teases with writing, the other one torments with questions. I was buried under them. Oh, no, I'll be asked tomorrow.  

We have went to Elemer selection today, it's a game. Rather funny. Everybody considers Elemer players to be cool. Oh, if Aeron start playing it - everybody will envy. Usually they don't like when a girl dates a boy who is younger than she is; but it doesn't refer to Elemer players. And Elemer itself is a nice walk through the maze”.  

* * *

Suddenly he understood that he was looking at the world with special, magic sight. Magic sight helped elves to see what was hidden from the others. Only elves had it.  

Noticed usual picture though it was marred with cloudy sight Bryan understood that something unusual was happening. He tried to come back to the ordinary sight but couldn't.  

Bryan felt becoming sick again and closed his eyes. After a while when he felt better he opened the right eye. The world became just what it must be. Bryan opened the other eye and everything mixed again. The lad closed eyes hastily.  

Now he decided to repeat the same action but to begin with another eye. He opened it and…  

The mishmash was over but what he saw was not he must.  

As an every flamy elf Bryan saw the world made up from thermal and energy streams and auras, of course. Every mage even the weakest one saw auras.  

When Bruan opened the right eye he saw a usual picture - the walls and the floor of the castle vanished and he saw other elves' figures. That tall and hot one with the mulberry aura which was crossed with running lightnings of the strongest energy was lord Irhye. A second one near him which wasn't less powerful but silvery and cool was professor Aeric. He made out the other teachers behind them. Light, very energy weak but the hottest ones were faenits; they hadn't auras. There was a burning torch on the wall and several sources of energy; they were artifacts which announced about their presence with specific spangles and shapes.  

Then he opened the left eye. He still saw auras but all the rest had changed. One more glory appeared round every elf and the majority of them were golden; and there were sparkling stars instead of their hearts. Some of them were so bright that the eyes ached to look at them; some were slightly noticed. It was impossible to describe how the sparkles looked like. Some things also had some kind of aura.  

When Bryan wad used to the new world he opened the both eyes - the pictures mixed. After some training he understood he would manage with the phenomenon. He had to. He hadn't another choice.  

* * *

That evening lord Vedwikus gathered all the teachers at his office, laid the Field of Deafness and began an urgent assembly. The Headmaster looked tired; there were black areas round his eyes.  

“As you know a Lightning of Prophesy appeared yesterday…”  

“And two more today”, said healer Salique calmly.  

“Two more?” exclaimed the surprised Headmaster. He was busy with search of the prophecy which would come true soon all night long. So he had been sleeping for a half of the day. “When?”  

“After the fourth lesson”, the answer was.  

“Either three prophecies will come true or they are parts of a global one”, said lord Lupro, teacher of Future-telling, thoughtfully.  

“Lady Gaiarah and I started looking for a prophecy yesterday, but haven't found anything substantial. The situation became more serious today. We'll seek all together”.