Chapter 1. In the World of Kerdiven

The very start of summer. Not yet hot, and a breeze blows fresh, gently rustling the leaves. The forest has gone still, waiting for rain, and only birdsong carries far, far away.

Suddenly everything fell silent. The bear-cub brothers, with their laughter and stomping, had scattered and frightened everyone off. It was Veseya the bear, out for a walk with her sons, Blagomir and Vidomir.

Of course, a child's joy is never quiet. The brothers run, jump, don't know what to do with themselves. Their mother's heart blossoms, watching her children.

"In our world of Narspi we have three little suns and it's summer all year round, but here in the world of Kerdiven there are only two little suns," Veseya thought. "In the world of Kerdiven, one sun is yellow, the size of a peach. The other is bigger, blue in color, the size of an apple. And it does get cold — autumn comes to the world of Kerdiven. I hope that before autumn we'll have left the world of Kerdiven and be home, in the world of Narspi."

Veseya the bear had been used to the warm climate of the world of Narspi since childhood.

Keeping an eye on her sons, Veseya took a verben crystal out of the pocket of her dark green mantle. The crystal was clearly cut, round in shape, transparent, in a gold setting on a gold chain.

Veseya laid the verben crystal on her palm, spoke the name of her husband Yuman, and then said an incantation. From the verben crystal, light poured upward in the shape of an inverted pyramid. The light from the crystal rose to the level of Veseya's face and formed a bright circle before her, about half an ell across. In the circle, Yuman's face appeared.

"Hello, Veseya! How are things with you there, what are you up to?" said Yuman from the glowing circle.

"Hello, Yuman! Oh, we've gone out for a walk with the children. The weather's nice today. And how are you?" Veseya said.

"Everything's calm at the border of the magic shield, though the elder wizards are worried," Yuman said. "They've sensed something's wrong."

"Most likely the elder wizards are just seeing trifles again," Veseya said.

"Probably, like—" Yuman didn't manage to finish.

The connection through the verben crystal cut off abruptly.

And the moment the connection broke, a grim entity appeared nearby, from beneath an old stump — an evil Chernyak. The Chernyak looked sinister: in a dark hooded mantle, its face unseen. The Chernyak's whole body was hidden by the mantle. Sunlight is deadly to Chernyaks.

The Chernyak turned the bear cubs into human children and laughed maliciously. Veseya froze, her heart pounding in her chest. She wanted to use magic against the Chernyak, but the evil Chernyak was faster.

In the Chernyak's palm appeared a black magical energy ball, about the size of a medium apple. He hurled the ball at Veseya, and when it struck her, it spread across her whole body like a black mantle. Veseya turned into a shapeless stone; the outline of her body could no longer be seen. After that the Chernyak vanished without a trace, dissolving into the air.

Veseya's children, gripped by fear, rushed to their petrified mother. Overcome with grief, Blagomir and Vidomir sobbed beside their mother's stone body.

Into this dire situation stepped the good fairy Ain. She flew in as a small butterfly, then transformed into a fairy of human size.

The fairy Ain was dressed in a beautiful blue gown, blue slippers on her feet, and a wreath of flowers on her head. The fairy looked almost exactly like a human, except for the semi-transparent wings on her back.

The fairy Ain, an old acquaintance of Veseya's, began to comfort Blagomir and Vidomir, and started to speak:

"The spell is powerful — I cannot lift it, and no one in our world can lift it. You must reach the distant world of Grozdan, to the good wizard Vestislav. It is dangerous to stay here. It's possible the Chernyaks have found a loophole into our world of Kerdiven. The verben crystal has stopped working. I cannot reach anyone. The evil Chernyak must have cast some spell so that our world would have no connection through verben crystals. My flying-pollen is almost gone. I don't know how I'll reach the elder wizards. As a butterfly, it will take me a long time to fly there. Somehow they need to be told about the Chernyak. I will try, somehow, to warn the council of elder wizards, and I will give you the magical gift of hearing the spirits of nature and speaking with them. And I will also teach you how to use the gates between worlds."

The fairy Ain spoke an incantation, then touched the heads of Blagomir and Vidomir. The gift of hearing and speaking with the spirits of nature appeared in Blagomir and Vidomir. After that, Ain said:

"You must find a mountain called Mount Elban. There, at the mountain's peak, are the gates between worlds. You must open the gates into the world of Grozdan and travel there."

The fairy Ain showed Blagomir and Vidomir which direction to go, and taught them how to open the gates between worlds with an incantation.

After the fairy Ain's gift, Blagomir and Vidomir could now hear their mother Veseya in her stone form. They spoke with their mother about setting out for help to the world of Grozdan, to the wizard Vestislav.

"There's nothing to be done, you must set out on your journey. The world of Grozdan is safer than here. It has become dangerous to remain in the world of Kerdiven. I can feel my magical strength leaving me," said Veseya-the-stone.

"By turning wizards into stones, the Chernyaks are taking magical energy back to their world of Antiano," Vidomir said.

"That's right, which is why the Chernyak didn't turn you into stones," said Veseya-the-stone. "But after the fairy Ain's gift, you too may be of interest to the Chernyaks. So be careful."

Veseya-the-stone released her sons Blagomir and Vidomir with her blessing. Blagomir and Vidomir said farewell to their mother Veseya-the-stone, thanked the good fairy Ain, and went off to find Mount Elban.

Whether the journey was long or short, the brothers eventually reached a stream. The place was grim. The grass was withered in patches. Several trees lay fallen and scorched. And silence — no birds could be heard, only a quiet breeze stirring the leaves and grass.

"Could the Chernyaks really have reached even here?" Blagomir said thoughtfully.

"Perhaps," Vidomir answered.

Coming closer to the stream, Blagomir and Vidomir heard weeping. They looked around, but there wasn't a living soul nearby. The weeping continued.

Vidomir sighed and said:

"I don't understand — who's crying?"

"It's me, the little stream," came the answer. "And how can you hear me? Are you wizards?"

"No, not wizards yet," Vidomir answered. "Our parents are wizards. And we can hear you because the fairy Ain gave us the gift of hearing the spirits of nature."

"Why are you crying?" Blagomir asked.

The spirit of the stream answered them:

"A Chernyak from the world of Antiano flew through here, searching for something. He blocked my path when he was hurling magical black balls at the ground. From the blast, a stone flew onto me and blocked the water's flow. And it hurts me to beat against the stone, and it hurts the stone too. My water is wearing it down."

"Yes, yes," the spirit of the stone confirmed. "But the stream probably hurts more, doesn't it?"

"My brother and I will help you," Vidomir answered.

The stone was small and roundish, about one ell across, the same on every side. Blagomir and Vidomir took hold of the stone and moved it aside.

"Thank you, kind people!" said the spirit of the stream. "My name is Ele."

"And I thank you too, my name is Gvaul," said the spirit of the stone.

And Blagomir answered them:

"My name is Blagomir, my brother's name is Vidomir. And we aren't people, but bears. An evil Chernyak enchanted us, turned us into people, and turned our mother Veseya into stone. We're heading to Mount Elban, to pass through the gates between worlds into the world of Grozdan. The good wizard Vestislav lives there — he's the only one who can help us."

"Yes, it's a long way," the spirit of the stream Ele answered them. "On Mount Elban lives my elder sister, the mountain river Nikhassa. I'll warn her about you."

"And my elder brother is Mount Elban itself," said the spirit of the stone Gvaul. "I'll warn him too, so that he and the river Nikhassa can help you."

"But how do you talk with your relatives?" Blagomir asked, curious.

The spirit of the stone Gvaul began to speak:

"We, the spirits of nature, live in several dimensions at once. And in one of these dimensions, in a subtle spiritual body, in the form of people, we can travel. This dimension is called the Sreydim dimension. In the Sreydim dimension, distance is no obstacle: think of a place, wish to be there — and there you are. It's in this dimension that we speak with our relatives."

"And what is a dimension? Is it something like another world?" Vidomir asked, curious.

"Yes, another world, but within this same world, only on a different subtle plane," said the spirit of the little stream Ele.

Ele and Gvaul showed Blagomir and Vidomir which direction to go. Blagomir and Vidomir said farewell to Ele and Gvaul, thanked them, and continued on.

Whether the journey was long or short, Blagomir and Vidomir eventually reached a dense forest.

The forest looked gloomy, dark, and sinister. The trees were bare of leaves, the ground bare, without grass. No birds or insects could be seen or heard. Our heroes grew a little frightened.

"It's like some kind of dead forest," Vidomir said.

And right then, the spirit of the forest groaned:

"Still alive, for now."

Startled, our heroes flinched with fright. Blagomir and Vidomir looked all around, but saw no one. Vidomir said:

"Who's speaking to us? Show yourself."

"Can you hear me, kind people? I am the spirit of the forest, my name is Bran," the spirit of the forest said in astonishment.

"I'm Blagomir, my brother's name is Vidomir, and we aren't people, but bears," Blagomir answered.

Blagomir and Vidomir told the spirit of the forest, Bran, what had happened to them.

The spirit of the forest Bran sympathized with Blagomir and Vidomir, and then began to tell his own sad story:

"An evil Chernyak from the world of Antiano cast some kind of spell over my magical source, in the Magayny dimension. All the energy is draining out of my source into the alien world of Antiano."

"Maybe we can help you!" Blagomir exclaimed.

"Except we don't know how to get into the Magayny dimension," Vidomir said.

"I know," answered the spirit of the forest Bran. "You must touch my source and speak an incantation. In the middle of the forest stands a stone tree — it is the source and conductor of energies."

The spirit of the forest spoke the incantation, and Blagomir and Vidomir memorized it. Then Bran said:

"A strong feeling of faith has suddenly come over me, that you can save me and the forest. I am deeply grateful to you."

Blagomir and Vidomir decided to act.

"We'll go to the source," Blagomir told the spirit of the forest.

"Good," answered the spirit of the forest.

Blagomir and Vidomir reached the forest's source — the stone tree. It surpassed the other trees in thickness, but was the same height as ordinary trees. It was the only tree that still had leaves, but they had lost their usual green color and turned purple.

"This must be some kind of ancient tree," Blagomir said.

"Probably, yes," Vidomir agreed. "And an unusual one. The trunk must be more than three arshins across."

Blagomir and Vidomir made up their minds. Approaching the source — the stone tree — they sat down in a lotus position, and, pressing their palms to its rough bark, Vidomir began to speak the incantation, with Blagomir repeating after him:

"Londaltash uslakh pochyltash magayn visymash."

As soon as the incantation was spoken, the spirits of Blagomir and Vidomir, in their etheric bodies, found themselves in the Magayny dimension, while their physical bodies remained in the material world at the source — the stone tree.