Chapter 4. The Aluysk Dimension

The morning of the next day.

Vestislav, Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir were drinking tea. Vestislav, finishing his tea, began to speak:

"A hundred years ago, my native world of Felvidek lay very close to the borders of the world of Antiano. The Chernyaks somehow broke through into our world, catching my people off guard. Our ancestors managed to save a few children, sending them off to different worlds, including me, here to the world of Grozdan. All the elder kin in the world of Felvidek perished fighting the Chernyaks. Upon the children remaining in the world of Felvidek, the Chernyaks cast a magical spell of forgetting, so they would remember nothing of magic. And they drain magical energy from the people into their own world of Antiano."

"In our world of Felvidek, just like in the world of Narspi, there were three suns. Felvidek had warm summer all year round. The Chernyaks turned two of the suns into stones and are draining energy out of them into their own world of Antiano. The climate turned cold, and everything our ancestors used to eat perished. And the remaining trees that bore useful fruit, they turned to stone. The Chernyaks conjured harmful vegetation. Before, people got all the benefit for sustaining their life-force from those fruits. Now there's little benefit from the vegetation the Chernyaks conjured. The Chernyaks gave the people a worldview about food and way of life foreign to our people. All of this kept magical power from manifesting in people. There were some hermit folk who led an ascetic way of life. In them, magical power did manifest. If they showed their magical power — for example, healing the gravely ill, or performing various wonders — they were usually declared sorcerers and witches. Such people were usually thrown into dungeons, and no one ever saw them again."

"Now, in the world of Felvidek, the people of my folk cannot hear the spirits of nature, cannot speak with the Keepers or the fairies. And they don't know that magic lies hidden within them. I founded a secret society of followers in Felvidek. They search for and gather our people's lost knowledge. Among them is a man devoted to asceticism, his name is Veleslav. His magical power is greater than mine. When he enters meditation, his spirit travels through all the worlds and dimensions. I think we should go to him first, to understand what to do next."

"Will Veleslav be able to lift the spell from our mother Veseya?" Blagomir asked.

"He himself, most likely not, but he may know who can lift the spell from your mother Veseya," Vestislav answered. Then he added: "Let's all go out to the yard, we'll travel to the world of Felvidek."

Everyone went out of the house and gathered in the yard.

The wizard Vestislav pointed the key to the worlds opposite the house, toward the garden, and spoke the incantation:

"Achylu uyralsa tar felvidek bushlyk irtse suremelli vyran."

A transit portal opened. On the other side of the portal, a single tree could be seen, and low grass. All our heroes stepped through the transit portal.

Vestislav, Aria, Blagomir, and Vidomir found themselves at the foot of mountains. Behind them stood tall mountains with steep cliffs. Clouds hid the mountain peaks. Ahead grew knee-high grass, and in places stood mighty, healthy trees.

"We need to go down into the valley," Vestislav said. "We arrived here so that the mountains would mask the magical burst of energy from the transit portal. The Chernyaks would have found us immediately if we'd appeared in open terrain."

Everyone slowly made their way toward the valley. Along the way stood solitary, mighty, healthy trees. Clouds drifted in a clear sky, and one yellow sun shone, the size of a cherry.

Our heroes approached a small house. Veleslav came out of it. The old man looked a hundred years old, though his movements and gait resembled those of a teenager. Veleslav was just as gray-haired and bearded as Vestislav. Veleslav was dressed in an ordinary white shirt and dark purple trousers.

Our heroes greeted Veleslav. He greeted them in return.

"How old are you, Veleslav?" Vidomir asked.

"You won't believe it, I passed a thousand years last year," Veleslav answered.

"But how! Vestislav said the Chernyaks attacked your world of Felvidek about a hundred years ago. Veleslav, could you be just a bit over a hundred?" Blagomir asked, astonished.

"No, I'm over a thousand years old. The Chernyaks used to place a magical field over our world of Felvidek, inside which time passed faster. That way the Chernyaks drained more energy from our world into their world of Antiano. Over a hundred years, more than seven thousand years passed in our world of Felvidek. Many generations came and went. Our people don't know and don't suspect that, in truth, only a hundred years have passed in the universe. Now our world of Felvidek is moving away from the world of Antiano, and this field has stopped working. I hide my true age, because people don't live that many years in this world," Veleslav answered.

Blagomir and Vidomir were astonished by what Veleslav had said, and then told him everything that had happened to them.

Veleslav listened to them, thought for a moment, and began to speak:

"The Chernyaks appeared in our universe by accident. The elder Supreme Keeper Aruna accidentally strayed into the world of Antiano, foreign to us. In this world of Antiano lay complete gloom, and there was no light. One hair fell from her head into a dark lake. In that lake rested some ancient evil. Keeper Aruna's hair gave it energy to awaken. That is how the Chernyaks came to be."

"Why don't the Keepers save your world?" Blagomir asked.

Veleslav began his story:

"Our world lies at the edge of the universe. Our ancestors used to say an age called the “Night of Sulam” was underway. Now the “Morning of Sulam” is coming, and soon there will be liberation for our world. The Supreme Keeper Aslati is the Keeper of the Bahorny dimension, that is, our material universe. Aslati, with his army of Keepers, should soon liberate our world. During the time of the “Night of Sulam,” Aslati and his army could not reach here. Only the Supreme Keeper Vels could reach here. Vels searches for the Chernyaks' weak points. You must set out for the world at the very center of the universe. There you will find the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna. The Supreme Keeper Vels passes her knowledge of the Chernyaks' weak points. She invents magical elixirs against the Chernyaks' magic. I can contact Aruna and find out when it would be convenient for her to meet you."

Veleslav sat down in a lotus position, closed his eyes, entered a trance, and his spirit traveled far, to the center of the universe.

"I hope tomorrow we'll set off to see the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna," Vestislav said.

"Will Aruna be able to help our mother Veseya?" Blagomir asked Vestislav.

"Most likely yes, Aruna will be able to help," Vestislav answered.

"Veleslav called our material world the Bahorny dimension?" Vidomir asked Vestislav.

"Yes, that's what the Supreme Keepers call our material universe. Veleslav speaks with them often, so he's grown used to calling some things the way the Supreme Keepers do," Vestislav answered.

After Vestislav's words, Veleslav came out of his trance and began to speak:

"Aruna is waiting for you in the Aluysk dimension. This dimension lies at the very center of our universe. Ordinary people cannot reach it in a physical body. Aruna said you should travel to the center of the universe, and she herself will carry you into the Aluysk dimension. Set out tomorrow morning, at dawn."

"So, tomorrow morning at dawn we'll set off to see the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna," Vestislav said.

Someone began growling on the porch.

"Oh!" Aria exclaimed in fright, quickly jumping back from the window. "Veleslav, is there some kind of beast out there?"

"Oh, that's just Misha come by, brought some berries," Veleslav answered.

Aria peeked out the window — on the porch sat a bear, holding a basket of berries in his front paws.

"That's such a huge Misha that's come, but why is he growling?" Aria asked Veleslav.

"He's a non-speaking bear — a wild bear. Here in the world of Felvidek, there are no speaking bears," Veleslav answered.

"Oh! Interesting — did the bear bring you berries, Veleslav?" Blagomir asked, surprised.

"Yes, for me, and I'll give him honey in return, I keep my own apiary, so we trade sometimes," Veleslav answered.

Veleslav took a small keg of honey off the shelf and went to the bear. He took the berries from him, and gave him the honey. The bear began to enjoy the honey, and Veleslav went back into the house and said, in a pleased voice:

"Oh! We'll eat ripe berries tonight. It's already getting toward evening, time for supper. Let's go to the dining room."

Everyone went to the dining room. At the entrance, Veleslav flipped a switch on the wall, and light came on in the dining room. Veleslav went to the table and spoke an incantation. Dishes appeared on the table, and the berries the bear had brought, in little bowls. Veleslav invited everyone to the table. Our heroes sat down.

Veleslav's kitchen was modest: a simple rectangular wooden table and matching chairs. The walls, cabinets, and shelves were also made of wood. On the ceiling hung a simple chandelier in the shape of a white glass circle.

"How did you light the room, Veleslav?" Vidomir asked. "It doesn't look like magic."

Veleslav thought for a moment and answered:

"That's electricity. That's what this energy is called in my world of Felvidek. Though the Chernyaks blocked people's memory, sometimes clever thoughts still wake up from beneath their consciousness, and they invent various technical devices. For some reason, the Chernyaks don't especially hinder people's inventions — apparently they don't see danger in them for themselves. People don't even suspect that they're getting the energy for electricity from the Bahorny dimension. Using a magnetic field in our Bahorny dimension, people, with the help of generators, disturb particles in the Magayny dimension, which in turn, in the Bahorny dimension, draw energy from the nearest magical sources. In our Bahorny dimension, no magical sources remain. All the sources were destroyed, but they still exist in other dimensions. In the Magayny dimension, the sources are also destroyed. In the Bahorny dimension, sources exist, but there is little magical energy in them. In the Sreydim dimension and above, the magical sources work properly. Praise the Creator that the Chernyaks cannot break through above the Bahorny dimension and make use of the sources."

Vidomir sympathized with Veleslav, then asked:

"Well, how about that! So, Veleslav, there are no corundum crystals in your chandelier? What's burning in there, then?"

"There are little bulbs burning in there, shaped like pears. And I don't use corundum crystals, so as not to attract the Chernyaks' attention. The Chernyaks, in our world of Felvidek, watch people in invisible form, mostly rulers, controlling their minds. The Chernyaks secretly suppress any manifestation of magic in our world of Felvidek," Veleslav answered.

"Time to settle down to sleep, it's an early rise tomorrow," Vestislav said.

Everyone went to sleep.

The morning of the next day.

Our heroes said farewell to Veleslav and set off for the same mountains, so as not to draw the Chernyaks' attention when passing through the portal. They reached the foot of the mountains, where Vestislav opened a portal to the center of the universe. Everyone stepped through the transit portal.

Our heroes found themselves at once in the Aluysk dimension. Aruna used magic, and the bodies of our heroes transformed into subtle spiritual bodies.

They stepped out of the transit portal into a clearing. Here reigned a magical beauty. The sky seemed so clear and azure. On the trees bloomed flowers of unimaginable beauty, giving off a delicate fragrance. It seemed that eternal spring reigned here.

Aruna, dressed in a long white gown, walked toward them, surrounded by animals and birds. On her head sat a circlet with a pattern, and her golden hair reached to her knees. On one shoulder sat a squirrel, and on the other, a white dove.

Aruna approached the heroes, greeting them with her enchanting voice:

"Hello. I've been told your story. I know everything, and I can help. And I will ask you to carry out an important mission to save our universe."

"My respects, elder Supreme Keeper Aruna," Vestislav said. "It is a great honor to carry out your bidding."

"Hello, elder Supreme Keeper Aruna. We will gladly carry out your task," Aria added.

"Greetings to you, elder Supreme Keeper Aruna. We will give the Chernyaks a fitting rebuff," Blagomir declared with battle-ready spirit.

"I greet you, elder Supreme Keeper Aruna. The sooner we remove the threat to our universe, the better," Vidomir added impatiently.

"Set aside formalities, just call me Aruna," Aruna said, warmth in her voice. "And now I invite you into my abode."

She waved her hand, and everyone found themselves in her laboratory. The little animals and birds remained in the clearing.

Aruna's laboratory looked like a sorceress's laboratory. On the table stood bowls, vials, small vessels. On the shelves — little jars with various powders.

Aruna went to the table where two elegant vessels with elixirs stood. Taking them in her hands, she held them out to Blagomir and Vidomir.

"Drink," she said.

Blagomir and Vidomir each took a vessel from Aruna and drank the elixirs. And right before their eyes, as if in a magical dream, the young men took on the form of charming bear cubs.

"Oh, what a bitter elixir," Blagomir said.

"There are many bitter herbs in this elixir," Aruna said.

Blagomir and Vidomir thanked Aruna.

Then Aruna took a vial from the table and held it out to Vidomir.

"This elixir is for your mother Veseya," she said.

Vidomir took the vial with the elixir and thanked Aruna.

"And now I need one of your bear hairs," Aruna said to Vidomir.

Without much thought, Vidomir plucked a hair from near his shoulder and held it out to Aruna.

She took a vial from the table, dropped Vidomir's hair into it, and said:

"There, I've created an elixir to solve the problem with the evil Chernyaks. You must travel to the center of the world of Antiano and pour this elixir onto the Chernyaks' source. You must slip into the world of Antiano unnoticed. I'll give you an elixir of invisibility, so the evil Chernyaks won't see you."

Aruna held out the elixirs to Vidomir, and he took them.

"Aruna, could I, with my key to the worlds, open a transit portal to the world of Felvidek from here in the Aluysk dimension?" Vestislav asked.

"No, you couldn't!" Aruna said. "I'll open the passage myself! But first, do have some tea."

She waved her hand, and everyone found themselves in her dining room.

"I recently prepared fermented tea from kipra leaves," Aruna said warmly. "It's just ready. Do sit down at the table."

Aruna's dining room looked wonderful. On the walls were painted various beautiful flowers, plants, and trees. On the left wall — two large windows, on the right — little shelves with kitchenware. The ceiling was shaped like a sky with clouds and three slightly yellowish little suns. The painted suns on the ceiling served the function of lighting. The table was round, small, with four chairs.

Aruna waved her hand — the little table turned into a large table. It grew three times larger, and the number of chairs increased. On the table appeared tea, with delicacies unknown to people. Aruna invited everyone to sit down.

"Does Aruna really gather the kipra herself and make tea from it?" Vidomir asked, astonished.

"Yes, Vidomir, myself — that way the tea tastes better," Aruna answered.

The taste of the kipra tea was wonderful, and everyone praised its marvelous flavor. Aruna thanked everyone for the kind words, and then began to speak:

"In truth, there are many worlds like Antiano beyond the bounds of our universe. These foreign worlds are asleep, and it is dangerous to wake them. But with the awakened world of Antiano, the problem must be solved. When I pass through the whole universe, in the lower dimensions — the Bahorny, the Magayny, and your Bahorny — the evil Chernyaks fear me and flee. The Chernyaks sense me from a distance and flee into their own world of Antiano. And as I move on through these dimensions, they return. When the elder Supreme Keepers leave the universe, the main source, Ulatar, in the Aluysk dimension, stops giving off much energy, and the worlds' borders weaken. The Chernyaks easily break through the worlds' protective borders and seize them."

Vestislav, looking at Aruna with sympathy, said:

"We understand this is an enormous responsibility. But we are ready to help you. So, we'll be able to slip unnoticed into the world of Antiano?"

"I hope so. If the Chernyaks aren't stopped, sooner or later they'll seize every world, and our universe will perish," Aruna said. "It's time for me to go on my patrol of the universe. I'll see you off now."

Aruna waved her hand, and everyone found themselves back in the clearing our heroes had first arrived in, then she asked:

"Where shall I open the passage to?"

"To Veleslav, in the world of Felvidek, where we came from," Vestislav answered.

"As you wish," Aruna said. Then she waved her hand and a transit portal opened.

Our heroes thanked the elder Supreme Keeper Aruna, said farewell, and set off for the world of Felvidek, to Veleslav.