After all the students got the keys and capes needed to participate in the contest, Nakutsck continued: “As you know, the first test will be the last one for three of the competitors, one from each team. And the three who’ll leave the competition will each win a parchment of fire. Will he be the best competitor of the event ... or the weakest participant in the competition? We don't know exactly. But what we know for sure is that after winning the magic he/she will leave this competition.”A brief pause, when Nakutsck saw a smaller group of four young spectator students not listening to what he said, so a magic of his pulled their sideburns one at a time or ripped their ears. There was silence again on the stadium. “No one will be hurt in this challenge. But I don’t guarantee for the second challenge. We don’t know in which of the other eight possible locations it will take place,” smiled the white wizard slightly.

In Alexander's so extravagant bedroom, he, Elizabeth and Johnny got ready to take part in the second round. The only thing known about this second quest of the contest was that it would take place in the Burning Desert.Alexander wondered how he could win this event, while Elizabeth hoped and prayed to stay alive during and after the event.“Maybe we’ll have to fight with dragons ... I just hope we won't fight with the Northern Spotted Dragon from Iceland or the Danish Striped Spike ... I heard it can spit lava, not fire.”The only thing Elizabeth managed to say with that mess in her mind showed how scared the poor girl was with every word of Soimesti:“How to ... fight dragons? We’re just children…”That beautifully set up bedroom at Elmbridge magic school was adorned and furnished to the boy's taste. Of course, everything happened following numerous insistences from the Magic Consulate, in which Soimesti

Alexander looked at him with a gaze that would say “I feel like punching you right now” reproving him:“I really don't want to hear your bad jokes.”“But it's not a joke. Someone left something in front of my door and I saw it’s a strong potion. And I also have three brooms borrowed from Smart's workshop.”As he realized that none of them got what he meant, Johnny continued:“Drink from this potion, each of you and you will ...” “ARE YOU INSANE?!” Alexander snapped at him to the extent permitted by the situation, paying attention to not be heard by anyone. “Do you think is the water from the fountain of the wise? Maybe it's something bad ... left by someone who wants to hurt us. Haven't you heard a stranger was on the corridors of Elmbridge?”“That stranger couldn’t enter our rooms to hurt us ... he had no way, with no key.”“Ye

Elizabeth understood what this meant, as for Johnny, his face looked as if he needed explanation.So Johnny was helped by a hard sleeve pull to take another route and follow the other two.Noises that only in the depths of the Earth could be heard, scared the three kids. And that awful feeling that anyone would have thinking that mountains could collapse over them at any moment, gave them even more thrills. As for the air ... every breath of them was a real struggle.At one point the three children turned right onto a narrower corridor, which was derived from the main aisle. After a few dozen steps, they saw this aisle was much safer than the main one, because it was supported by strong roots."Dry poplar ..." Johnny told them, looking at those roots that were as thick as marble columns from an ancient temple, but these columns were wooden... made of woody roots."We've come down quite a bit, but I don't think we'll find a sprout here," Alexander s

The first train ride was a more than incredible experience for Elizabeth. Along with Professor Knudlac, Johnny and Alexander with whom she spent the journey in that train compartment, she learned many things and stories.Out of the window, they could see the sand caves of touareg wizards. Those magic caves crossed by the train, which they left behind, were dwellings of those touaregs that changed size and shape according to their inhabitants’ will.The sand moulded with those nomads’ wands formed mansions, castles or magnificent palaces, as never seen before.And their interior ... could take any shape. Pyramidal, spherical or even in the form of an icosahedron - a geometric body that has no more or less than twenty corners.At that window, when they came to the surface, they could see the magic river and the imposing magic waterfall, both of them bearing the same name, Bighaar, which was different from any other waterfall because the water fl