In the turmoil, the Atokal warriors captured the Praying Hedgehog and his entourage of warriors. They were brave men with dark skin, dressed in buffalo-skin cloaks, white shirts and two cloth trousers attached to their belts, with spears in their hands. They dropped their weapons and mumbled something, to which they received another mumble in response.

The leader of the Atokal made a circular gesture with his hand, and then pointed at the prisoners, and his warriors aimed their bows and pulled the string. At the same moment, a gap appeared in the dark blue rain clouds and a man descended from the sky, that shone like the sun, and released several lightning bolts from his hands. Atokal warriors got scared and ran away, and Atsokmuchlan got up and began to wait for their savior.

It was a man with a long steel sword in one hand and a staff in the other. Black armor covered the entire body, a helmet with a visor on the head, completely covering the face. A short cloak made of gray rags wriggled in the wind. They fell on their faces at the sight of such a miracle, but he motioned them to get up and then mumbled something in their native language and a bright flame lit up from under the visor, like two glaring suns.

The Praying Hedgehog waved his hands, spread them in different directions. His personal guards ran off somewhere, and then returned with three children: two boys, no older than six years old and a girl of about four. They fell to their knees, and the man in armor ordered them to get up. He turned to the headman and showed first three fingers, and then three times ten. Headman sighed, nodded, and bowed his knee.

The man took the children with him and after an hour, he was no longer to be seen. The children were silent, followed him, clearly worried. By the evening of the journey, the man gave his name – Deslux. With a wave of his staff, he created a bonfire out of nothing. Then he took some food out of his small bag and ordered the children to prepare it and eat it, and in the morning, he would come back for them. The children nodded obediently. Deslux took off and a minute later disappeared behind the floating line of the crimson horizon.

Leader of the Atokal was hiding in the dense coniferous forest. They celebrated the victory and examined the loot. No one in their joy - though with some excitement in their hearts - noticed how a warrior in black armor appeared from behind the trees. They did not dare to attack him and shouted. The leader met Deslux, they talked about something in the local language, and after that, all the warriors of Atokal bowed their knee, begging the angry God to spare them.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Then the warrior looked at the people and saw several boys under the age of fourteen in the crowd. He took them with him and a few hours later returned to the fire with the first rays of the sun. The children immediately disliked each other; it was in their eyes, but not in their actions.

Ten full days passed, during which a small group overcame mountain serpentines, skirted ridges and massifs. They came out to the lifeless volcanic soils, to the devil's lands, as the locals called them and avoided them as far as possible. Not a single blade of grass grew around, only ash, cinders and black hot sand. On the lifeless plains in front of a huge volcano, there were burnt hollow trees and frozen lava rivers. On the horizon, ever-thickening cumulus clouds spewed lightning.

"Are we dead?" one of the children asked.

"No," Deslux said.

Two days later, they found themselves near the cave. Deslux took off his armor and greeted his fellows. He handed over the children to them. In the cave itself, the children met more than fifty people with glowing eyes, in simple everyday rags. Only a few were wearing armor.

The next morning, a girl woke the children up. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a gentle smile and endless invisible happiness resonated in the hearts of the immature kids. She was no taller than the tallest boy, her hands were soft, velvety. She approached them with her bare feet, and they saw the numbers four and two on her shoulder. She introduced herself, said that her name was Sineva. She beckoned them to follow her, and they followed her. She took out about ten different VV crystals of different colors and broke them one by one, telling jokes in parallel that no one else understood and spinning in a dance when someone found his element. The rite of rebirth was over, and after that, she began to teach them the local language, traditions and control of their own element.

One day, during classes, the girl asked Sineva:

"Will I be as beautiful as you?"

"Of course you will, my dear."

"And what will happen when we finish our training?"

"Then you will go to the Altar of Blake from Tartoria, pass the test and swear to join our ranks in order to fight evil and rid the world of filth."