But the idyll ended when Alastia arrived.
"Zen, keep an eye on the junior group of mages," she asked with that very smile that boded no good.
"Uh, Alastia, are you serious? I don't know how to teach little fry! They're disobedient, they demand attention, they need to be praised... And I MYSELF WANT to be praised! Why should I give my attention to them?"
Alastia just laughed: "Just bring them up to speed. Tell them what magic is."
I entered the hall and froze. It was chaos.
"Give it back! I won't!"
"Mine! No, mine! Liar!"
"And yesterday I saw a flower this big... and my favorite color is pink!"
The mont I took a step, so toddler ran up and busily wiped a booger on my leg. Are they like six years old?! I was hoping for at least ten-year-olds.
I crouched in the corner and slapped my palm on the floor with all my might. A deafening, high-pitched SQUEEEAAAK rang out. The children imdiately covered their ears and stared at .
"O-o-oh! His hair is red!" one yelled.
"Look, it's really red!"
"Teacher Red? Are you our new teacher?"
Wow, they've already co up with a nickna.
"Yes, for now I am your teacher," I sighed. "Now sit down. I'll begin the story."
Only one sat down. The rest continued to run around. I whistled so loud my own ears rang.
"I SAID—SIT DOWN!" my voice rolled through the room like thunder.
This ti it worked. The little fry plopped onto the floor, staring at
wide-eyed.
"What are your nas? Actually, don't tell , I won't rember anyway. What do you know about magic, runts?"
"Uncle Red!" the bravest one shouted out.
"WHAT DO YOU AN 'UNCLE'?!" I practically jumped. "What uncle?! I look like I'm sixteen!"
Ringing childish laughter rolled across the hall. They pointed their fingers at
and yelled in chorus: "Uncle, uncle!". Fine, whatever.
I crouched down and clapped my hands. A thin stream of water stretched between my palms; I began to twirl my hands, creating water rings.
"Booooring!" one kid yelled. "We see that every day, the seniors can do that too!"
"WHAA-A-AT?!" I was outraged to the depths of my soul. "Who said that?"
He raised his hand, and, without overthinking it, I splashed that water right at him. The boy cried out and imdiately burst into tears:
"Waaah! I'm telling my mom!"
"Hey, hey, stop, kid! No need for mom!" I got seriously scared. I quickly blew a warm breeze on him, and he instantly dried off.
Imdiately, all the other children jumped up from their spots:
"I want that too!
too! Dry !"
"ALRIIIGHT!" I gave up. "Look, a tactical diversion."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I touched the floor, and the stone beneath us turned into clean golden sand. I squeezed it in my handfuls, and then blew, scattering it across the room. The grains of sand began to take shapes right in the air: little deer, rabbits, wolves, boars... They started circling around the hall, and the children rushed to catch them with squeals.
One toddler jumped and grabbed a sand bunny with both hands. It wriggled out and started running quickly up his arm, toward his armpit, and began tickling him there.
"AHA-HA-HA! Oh, mommy!" the child tumbled to the floor, bursting with laughter. Five more fell nearby, trying to catch their "little animals."
"Uncle Red, I can't catch it! Help!" soone squeaked.
I scooped him up by the armpits and... simply tossed him into another corner of the room. He started to scream in fright, but I imdiately caught him with levitation. The boy hovered in the air and began to smoothly fly under the ceiling. Total delight ensued.
"Uncle Red, I want to do that too! Lift
up!"
For the next hour, there was a continuous din in the room. A hundred tiny mages were flying under the ceiling, trying to catch sand rabbits in the air.
Finally, I smoothly landed them all on the floor. The children, flushed and happy, sat down in a circle themselves and stared at
wide-eyed. No one was yelling anymore.
"Show us sothing else..." whispered that sa kid who wanted to complain to his mom. "Please, Uncle Red."
I clapped my hands and sat down myself on the side of the room, watching them. A thin stream of sand began to flow from my palms, imdiately taking shape right in the air, drawing landscapes.
"Once upon a ti, there lived three plush bears on an island..." I began, and my three-dinsional map rendered in full detail.
"And what is an 'island'?" one of the toddlers squeaked.
I sighed, but showed the map from a bird's-eye view. The sand sea parted.
"An island is a small piece of land surrounded by water on all sides. Got it? The fairy tale continues. So, there lived three bears on this island. One bear was Golden, like the sun. The second—Blue, like the sea. And the third—Black, like the night. And every day they played with each other..."
On my sand screen, three bears began to frolic cheerfully, throwing coconuts at each other.
"But one day, the three bears got bored on the island. They decided to sail away."
The bears on the screen busily set about building a raft. The children fell silent. They watched the sand figures silently and with imnse interest. I tried to imitate the sound of ocean waves with a quiet whistle, adding to the atmosphere.
So the bears built a raft and sailed out into the open sea. They sail, they've been sailing for a day now, another... and soon completely lost sight of their island. The Golden bear got scared and started crying—he wanted to go ho.
"Crybaby!" soone among the children shouted.
The Black bear walked over to the Golden one and began to comfort him. Suddenly, one girl asked:
"Uncle Red, what did they eat? They're out at sea!"
What did they eat indeed... flashed through my head. Right, food.
"The bears... ate fishies!" I found an answer.
On the screen, the bears began taking turns diving into the sand water, deftly catching fish. Then they climbed back onto the raft, comically shaking their fur to throw off the wet water. I clapped my hands, and real little drops of water flew from the screen onto the children. The little fry squealed with delight.
Then soone among the toddlers chid in again:
"And why do they need a raft if they know how to swim for fish?"
I ntally counted to three so as not to strangle this little critic. Has he never heard fairy tales before?
"Because they were just lazy bears!" I cut him off. "They liked to lie around and warm up in the sun. So they sail on... and the sea becos restless."
Huge waves rose on the screen. So children covered their eyes with their little hands in fright, but imdiately peeked through the cracks to keep watching.
"A storm is starting! A terrible downpour, rain, a huge blizzard is rising! One, two, three... And all three bears are crying. 'We want to go ho! Please, we want to go ho!'"
When suddenly a huge Turtle cos out of the water and... eats the raft along with the bears!
So children gasped loudly. Aurora, standing in the doorway, crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head disapprovingly, but I paid no attention.
"But the bears didn't die! Inside the Turtle, the Black bear walked over to the Golden one and hugged him tightly. The Golden bear began to shine like a real sun."
A bright flash illuminated the sand screen, showing the path for the three bears. Inside the Turtle's belly, they saw so strange door. They opened it... and found themselves in a beautiful world. There were toys everywhere, mountains of food, and a sea of sweets. And right in the middle of it all, a real chocolate fountain was spouting!
All three bears happily ran to the fountain and jumped in. But the Blue bear suddenly rembered that he didn't know how to swim, and started drowning in the chocolate!
The children started laughing loudly. Seriously? Are they okay over there? The bear is drowning, and they find it funny! Fortunately, the Golden and Black bears quickly helped the Blue one climb out.
They walked further, played with toys, ate sweets. It seed to them that this was paradise. But over ti, they began to notice that their wonderful world was shrinking. One day, the chocolate fountain beca a simple puddle, and the entire mountain of toys turned into two old dolls. The world around them was collapsing...
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