Changing World- The Beginning

by Sergei Katz

  I thought to myself: “What if ... I simply use four blades of grass as a base and cover them with a sheet of mana?”

  I wasn’t successful at first, and I even sat down in the lotus pose to make it easier for me to concentrate. While I was trying to stretch the mana and put it where I needed it, the sounds of the battle subsided. My research had completely occupied my mind. Centimeter by centimeter, I stretched mana out behind me, covering a patch of grass. Soon, I realized that four blades of grass were insufficient to create a base, so I doubled this, creating two squares offset from each other.

  It was hard to cover both areas with mana at the same time! I became frustrated with the grass, mana and myself, so I ripped my creation in half, and made two separate square shapes covered in mana. They weren’t ideally shaped, but they turned out okay! Now I needed to activate them somehow: so I poured more mana over the structure that I had created. Nothing happened.

  “Have all my efforts really been a waste of time?” — I felt frustrated.

  My intuition kept to itself, but I had been hoping that it would point me in the right direction. There was no point pouring out more mana – this I was sure of. The area of grass that I had been testing literally sparkled from the mana I had poured over it already.

  “What is it that I’m missing? If I had a magic wand then I could simply wave it, but I don’t have one, so what am I supposed to do?” — I clucked my tongue out of habit.

  This was something that I had always done when I was very focused but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I hadn’t done it so far in this world, but I was beginning to feel like I was fitting in here. To my surprise, this odd habit of mine was exactly what the spell was missing. The clucking served to activate the spell, and the patch of grass became viscous and shone with a strange glow.

  You have invented a “Shining Grass” spell. The cost of the spell varies depending on the amount of grass under the spell. It will cost 15 mana per square meter. Your enemy is disoriented by the glow from the grass. There is a 10% chance that its strikes will miss you, and a 20% chance that a magician will not be able to finish his spell and he will have to start again. The spell will be active for 1 minute.

  — Wow! So you also can create spells without anybody else’s help?

  Naturally, Alex was very impressed.

  — Yes, I can, — I sighed. Creating the spell had drained all of my energy to the last drop. — Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out quite as planned. I only wanted the spell to slow my enemies down, but instead I created a spell that disorientates everybody around it.

  — But you made it work! — Alex couldn’t understand why I wasn’t upbeat.

  Even my Totem was celebrating my success. My bird flew over the glade, and then flew into the zone of disorientation, before flying out of it again. When my Totem flew into the area covered by the spell, his vision became confused and the movements of his wings went from smooth to jerky. Having said that, he appeared to find the experience enjoyable.

  After the spell lost its power, my irrepressible Totem flew off in search of new challenges.

  — How close are we to the Elf? — I looked at the boy.

  — Maybe another half an hour's travel.

  I checked my internal body clock. It was 11:17.

  “Bingo!” — I checked the last lines of the log, making sure that everything was in order. My internal body clock indicated that I still had time: +1 point (15). Since now on I was able to see the hour, as well as the exact minute of time.

  — We only have forty-three minutes before noon, — I told Alex, — So let’s get a move on, and from here on out drop the competitive behavior between you and my Copper Wing. From now on I will fight alongside you. Just out of interest, how can you work out how much time we have left when you don’t have a watch? How do you do that?

  — I don’t really have an explanation, — the boy was embarrassed. — One of the hunters had a magic watch, and he taught us how to work out what time it is. He always told us how much time had passed from one moment to another. Ever since then, I am usually able to be accurate within plus or minus fifteen minutes.

  — You’re joking, aren’t you?! Plus or minus fifteen minutes and we could arrive too late! You are talking so calmly, but we can’t afford to be late!

  The boy turned pale.

  — Faster! — I shouted and jerked in the direction that my Totem had already disappeared towards.

  The forest suddenly ended, and we flew out of it breathlessly. A tree stump stood at the edge of the forest. It didn’t look like anything special. It was about a meter high and probably three or four times wider than me. There were a lot of different laboratory glasses on the stump and some strange looking equipment. It looked like the laboratory of some crazy chemist. All of this was under the control of a disheveled little chap, with a coal-black beard that reached to the ground. He constantly moved around the stump, and now and then he mixed and poured something from one laboratory glass to another. His beard didn’t seem to get in the way.

  — Oh, hello Alex! — The man smiled when he saw the boy. You have even brought me a new guest! This is a cause for a celebratory drink.

  I didn’t even have time to respond before Alex and I were handed a laboratory glass, each containing some sort of orange colored drink. The man with the long beard was already holding one in his hand.

  — Pleased to meet you, — the man announced, and he threw down the contents in one gulp.

  Alex also drank his own drink, even if a little cautiously, indicating that refusal was not an option.

  “What must be is what must be.” — I drank mine down as well. — “What can I say? Top quality moonshine. I wonder how does he make it?”

  — I’m pleased to meet you Dee. I’m the Odd-Looking Elf.

  — Are you really him? — I was surprised. This guy looked nothing like an Elf. Everybody knew that Elves didn’t have beards!

  The Odd-Looking Elf was enjoying himself immensely at the effect he was having: it looked like he really enjoyed meeting new people.

  — Are you surprised? By the way, I'm called the Odd One by most people, or just the Elf. I’m comfortable with being called that. How do you like my new beverage?

  — Ah ... Yes, it’s a great drink, — I was honest. — Only the color somehow does not match the flavor.

  — Do you really think so? I agree with you, so that's why I'm working on it now. This is my pride, and joy, so this batch is not for sale. I don’t know when I will produce a new boil, because there are so many rare ingredients involved. Give it five minutes, and the final version will be ready, and I guarantee that the color will be cleaner.

  — I'm sorry, Elf, — Alex sighed, — but we're here on behalf of the Fortune Teller. She told us ...

  — Oh, you BLEEP; she’s nothing but a BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP! What a weasel she is! I still had hopes that she would be better than the previous wretch. She demands the things that are the most precious to me. I should have paid her off in either cash or other herbs! … — The Elf was almost in tears when he went back to what he was working with on his work stump.

  I felt like someone was watching me. I looked around and realized that we weren’t the only visitors of the Odd-Looking Elf. There were two girls in the clearing. They were really something else ... They were two exceptional examples of the opposite sex. The first was an incredibly beautiful Elven. There was no mistake about it: she was tall, with a perfect figure, large emerald eyes and slightly elongated ears. The minute that the second girl noticed my attention, she emanated a powerful energy even though she hadn’t moved. To describe her as a girl wouldn’t be really accurate: on the one hand, she was around one meter sixty tall with the shape of a perfect model. She had a fiery red head of hair and amber eyes, but also squirrel looking ears and a tail. I could see the handles of two swords behind her shoulders. I got the impression that she was incapable of keeping still for more than a second.

  — Greetings to you New
comer! Aren’t you a good looking one, — the tail of the squirrel girl started wagging like one of a playful dog. — Do you already have a girlfriend? Do you like my tail? Do you want to stroke it?

  — Rhia, stop it. We haven’t even been introduced yet and you are already trying it on with him, — the Elven girl stopped her friend.

  — Oh, but he’s just so cute! — To my relief, the restless creature switched her attention to Alex. — Can we be friends? You can stroke my ears if you like. Yes, just like that.

  The Elven girl and I looked at the blushing boy and the squirrel girl that seemed to be on fire.

  — She's a Belven, and they're all like that, they can’t keep still for a second, especially when they meet someone new.

  — What if it happens to be an enemy? — I asked.

  — They can sense enemies from a mile away. They have an animal instinct, and they deal with them without a seconds thought. Even a fight with a blood enemy is no more than a game to them. They never take anything seriously.

  — My name is Dee, — I introduced myself. — This is my friend Alex, and over there by the Elf is my Copper Wing.

  — My name is Lythiel. You have a very good Totem.

  — A Totem? Where? Oh, aren’t you a cute one! — It looked like Alex had got off lightly: Belven's attention shifted to my Totem.

  — How did you know that he wasn’t a pet? — I asked the girl.

  — It's one of my abilities, — she replied.

  It seemed that it wasn’t worth continuing this topic: the girl answered only out of politeness and at the same time she did so in a restrained manner.

  — Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, I only asked out of interest.

  — No, Dee, I understand that you are a Newcomer, and as such you don’t know how this world functions yet. I consider myself fortunate to meet someone like you at the very beginning of my journey. There are only few of you in this world right now, and so far, your potential impact is unclear. At this point in time, we have no idea what you will bring to us - good or evil. No one has yet decided whether we should be friends with you or just use you for our own benefits. Not everyone here is as friendly as me and Rhia, and to be completely honest, my friendliness is based only on the fact that Rhia really likes you ... — The girl blushed as she spoke, implying that it wasn’t only the squirrel girl that had found me attractive.

  Hey, I wasn’t against virtual relationships, especially since I didn’t expect anything else in the near future.

  — I hope we can find other reasons to be friends, — I smiled at the girl.

  — Here are your elixirs, — the Odd-Looking Elf unceremoniously pushed himself between us and gave one of the girls a bag with quite a few flasks of liquid.

  — Here, take these as we agreed, —the Elven girl took some berries that I had never come across before, out of her bag.

  — Fantastic! — The Odd-Looking Elf was extremely pleased with the exchange.

  — It's time for us to leave, — Lythiel nodded to me and called to her friend: — Rhia, we need to go.

  The Belven stopped cuddling the happy bird and let him go.

  — Let your path be easy, Dee. I hope we will meet again soon and we can travel together.

  — I really hope so too, Lythiel.

  It was a pity, of course, that the girls were leaving. I was hoping to persuade them to join us on Alex’s quest, but we both had other plans. They obviously had their own quest to complete, and a limited time to get it done.

  — You will have to wait for a while, because I still have to fill some flasks with my beverage. The old woman guessed right! She knew that I would have something worth having and when it would be ready. I was hoping to drink this elixir in the evening and come up with a good name for it. Sometimes clients come to me and describe what elixir they are looking for and which color they want it to be. Many can’t remember what exactly it is that they want and which color they want it to be and it can take me several days to figure out what they are after. I can’t get everything right the first time, even for myself. I can mix the same ingredients ten times, and I still rarely produce what I want. Until I come up with a name for it, the product will never be consistent.

  — Well, you can call this one orange spirit, — I blurted out without thinking.

  — That’s a brilliant suggestion! Spirit kind of means ghost, I can’t remember where I came across such a word before, but that doesn’t matter for now ... — Mumbling something under his breath, the Elf started bottling an almost transparent drink.

  — I'm just wondering, where did you hear this word from? — The game was created by the Japanese, but it seemed that the Russians also had some influence, so it’s no surprise at all that Old Woman Yaga was giving me quests at this point.

  — Dee, did you see how beautiful she was? — Alex asked me.

  — Who are you talking about? The Elven girl? — I grinned. — Or do you prefer the Belven?

  — Belven, of course, — the young man blushed. — What Elven are you talking about? Did I really get carried away this much?

  I didn’t think it was possible, but Alex started getting even more embarrassed.

  — No, you didn’t miss anyone, I'm talking about Lythiel.

  His embarrassment instantly disappeared, and the boy looked in the direction that the girls had disappeared:

  — Never call her that again! She's not an Elf.

  — Well, yes, — I grinned, — she bears no resemblance at all to our odd-looking friend.

  — No. — the young boy didn’t even smile. — This is no joke. She is an Elda, and they are nothing like the Elves at all. If you don’t want to find yourself facing a blood enemy for life, then this is something that you need to remember! The Eldas despise the Elves. They are wanderers and have the strongest magic of all. Compared to them, Elves are nothing but conjurers.

  — Wow! — I felt like I had made a fool of myself. — Thanks for the tip, Alex. So, are you telling me that all Elves are bearded and unwashed?

  — Absolutely not! — The Odd-Looking Elf once again unceremoniously interrupted us. — I'm the only one that looks like this. It’s a curse from the previous Fortune Teller for not giving her what she wanted. At first I became depressed, and I almost stopped my experimenting. However, one day some hair from my beard fell into one of the lab flasks, and this resulted in something unexpected. Then I realized that this was a gift, not a curse. These days I'm not even looking to get rid of this curse. I actually have come to like my beard.

  — But you have become an exile among your own folk, — Alex added to the Elf's tale.

  — Yes, I've always been an exile though, but now it’s no longer a secret. I never liked balls, dances or music. I never wrote poetry and didn’t paint pictures with morning dew. I wasn’t ever interested in any of that. Oh, and I would like to thank you Newcomer! Your suggestion pushed me to solve the problem of how to call my elixirs. I will name every new elixir after one of the spirits, but this will mean that I will need to do a lot of travelling. So, next time you come here, I will be gone, but when we meet again, I will reward you with something special as a thank you. I don’t know what kind of elixir it will be, but I swear by my beard, it will be a worthy one! In the meantime, take this ... — I was solemnly presented with a dozen liter flasks of the orange spirit. — Pass on a message to the old wretch that I am no longer in her debt, and next time I will not be so naive. It would be better for both of us if it never happened again ... — Continuing to mumble to himself, the Odd-Looking Elf went back to the tree stump.

  My Copper Winged friend was flapping his wings impatiently before my eyes, and Alex seemed to be anxious to get back on the move too.

  — All right, we're going back to the Fortune Teller. We’re done here, — I commanded.

  CHAPTER 18:

  TWISTS OF FATE

  The Fortune Teller met us sitting on a stool in front of her house. In front of her stood a roundish shaped table on crooke
d legs. On it there was a drinking glass and a bowl filled with some unappetizing looking soup – probably her lunch.

  — Okay, give me what you brought, my dears. I have been waiting for you for ages! You brought the payment that I was due from that freak just in time. Nobody else can make moonshine like he does, no matter how long they try. I consider myself lucky to have met you, Newcomer, because you could have just passed on by, and nothing is guaranteed in this crazy world, not now and not ever, but that’s nothing that I care to talk about.

  I placed all dozen flasks of moonshine in front of the old woman one at a time. Yaga’s eyes glistened wetly, and her hands shook excitedly as she uncorked the first flask. The Fortune Teller poured herself exactly one third of a glass. She smelled the aroma for a minute, and then with a huff of approval, she drank the contents down in a single gulp.

  — Excellent! That was just what I needed, — she said as she ate a morsel of food right after the drink. — Now let’s get to the point.

  The table and all its contents melted into thin air.

  You have completed the quest given to you by Yaga the Fortune Teller. Reward: the Fortune Teller will tell Alex where the wandering stone is now. Bonus for your timely delivery: the Fortune Teller will tell you your fortune as a thank you.

  — The last thing I’m going to do for you Dee is a free gift from me. I will tell you your fortune in return for what you have done for me. I've already prepared everything. After you leave, my appearance will change and you will no longer recognize me. Alex, let's go into the house, and you two - wait here. Divination is a personal matter, so do not dare to eavesdrop. This is especially aimed at you, Copper Wing. If you try, I'll set my cat on you!