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'Magister Kelley - Awakening of Sirahel'

(Fire Dance of Xena)

    How did Xena happen to appear in 1609? It's all Magister Edward Kelley's fault. After faking his own death in 1597 Magister Kelley began to experiment with a Time Machine design. His efforts turned into success in 1599 when he was able to control 'grade 1 time-space loop'. [Note 1: 'Grade 1 time-space loop' enables observations in different time dimensions without any possibility of entering and influencing them.] At that time Kelley wanted to confirm the date of Jesus Christ's birth and the period of his life. For this reason he kept setting the control panel to years close to possible dates, and was researching various places between Prague and Jerusalem. On one occasion, when year 8 A.D. was set, Magister Kelley was transported onto a battlefield where he noticed one particularly determined female warrior. She cut through the field like a knife through butter. Her name was Xena - the Warrior Princess. Kelley found Xena rather interesting so he abandoned his current research and started to record her adventures. Motivated by his desires to get into Xena's time-period, and possibly to bring her into the 17th century, Kelley began to work on 'grade 2 time-space loop' manipulation. [Note 2: 'Grade 2 time-space loop' enables time travel in both directions. It is possible to influence events in any given time, but any changes will be consequently reflected in the coming future. For this reason, time travel via this loop is allowed only with a feedback, when a compensation leap is applied. Only if changing the future is intentional it is possible to disable the feedback. In such a case, simulation of the influence must be performed. Senior Board of Involved would have to give consent to this.]

    There was a partial success in Kelley's work when he visited year 8 A.D. once again and, for a short period of time, he brought Xena to 1609. Then he gave her two high quality Damascus steel swords made by Toledo armourers and asked her to help in a conflict with the local castle landlord. When this episode was over Xena, as she wished, was transported to an unidentified place and unidentified time. Part of Xena's visit in 1609 is recorded and presented in the show. [Note 3: Our own research leads us to believe that Kelley breached the rule of 'Grade 2 time-space loop' by not applying the compensation leap. We must say though that until that time he hadn't had any contact with the Senior Board of Involved. After this incident Kelley was told about the rules and his further travelling in time ended. That explains why now, in our times (20th to 21st century), so many adventure stories from the past emerge - for example: TV programs about Hercules, Xena, Ivanhoe or about Magician Merlin.]

From the video 'Kelley's Revenge - Xena Comes'

…And now a bit of reality…

    Below you can find sections of a recording of the 'Magister Kelley' play (part 'Magister Kelley - Awakening of Sirahel'). In the previous act Kelley tries to demonstrate his excellent knowledge. As proof of that he would recount the legend of the founding of The Castle. Magister Kelley would also produce an Elixir of Youth, perform gold making and show Time Travel Machines and some other inventions. The truth is that Kelley tries to hide the fact that he is actually a fraud and his only goal is to get all the Landlord's money.

    Unfortunately his alchemy presentations don't seem to be very successful which makes the Landlord angry. Kelley has promised to manufacture enough gold to pave the whole castle's courtyard. So far there are just stones and soil. The Elixir of Youth doesn't work either. So an executioner is on his way to end the charlatan's life. As a last attempt to save himself Kelley offers to create a beautiful woman, even if he is not sure how to fulfil such a task. (After all everything has always been just an illusion). So Magister decides to use his assistant to act as his double for the evening performance. And, apparently, Kelley would arrange the rest…

    The evening has come. Sirahel is expected to be woven from a Moonlight beam. Once again nothing is happening and Kelley is about to be executed. He is trying his best to escape his death…

    The story concludes with a bit of mystification when various mechanical and fairytale characters gradually appear on the stage. The play culminates with a great fire dance finale.

26.7.2003

A few words about the videos…

    You can download video samples of the show in order to get an idea about the fire dances with torches etc. Of course the recordings cannot substitute the real visual experience (which is difficult to catch on video, especially with just a simple camera). Hopefully you might get at least a bit of a taste of the atmosphere at the show.

    Videos are in 'AVI' format (e.g. 'filename.avi') - using codec MPEG4 (already included in

Windows 98 and later) and Pentium 400MHz or higher processor. With the same quality the 'AVI' files are about half the size of files in MPEG1 format so the download is quicker. The best way is to download clips onto your hard drive. Right click on the link and then left click on 'Save Target As…' in the pop-up menu. Then choose the directory (e.g. 'My Documents') where you want the file to be saved. After download the videos can be played using e.g. Windows Media Player. It is possible to play the video directly from the website but this is recommended only where you have a fast connection. It takes about 5 to 20 minutes to download one file over a phone line and modem.

    (Codec MPEG4 is available HERE.)

Sirahel 1

 Sirahel 2

    [Note 4: There is also a 'Grade 3 time-space loop'. It enables time dimensions to merg. Understanding such a phenomenon is beyond any human logic. For example: it is possible, because of parallel worlds, to influence future events which are due to happen in the past. At present only a few individuals can control this Grade 3 loop. Tests are conducted in selected places of remote galaxies. Results of such tests often make scientists unhappy so it'll be a long time before we can start thinking about the possibility of any practical use]  

    Many interesting facts have emerged later in our further research into the subject of Xena. In the years which followed Xena's transportation by Kelley she appeared on many occasions with a Swedish regiment called Altblau This regiment was founded in 1624. Under the command of General Torstensson it was the only regiment to survive until the end of the 30-year war and was, in fact, the longest serving armed force among all parties in this long conflict. (The name changed a few times during the war). We believe that Xena taught soldiers many combat techniques, so the regiment became invincible. During the siege of Brno they even got inside the fortified city. It was one of Xena's methods which made this possible. She trained one of the assault units in somersault jumps. Unfortunately the only mention of this legendary attack has been preserved as part of a doctor's report written for a soldier who was later hospitalised in a mental institution. Nobody believed that anybody, especially Swedes, would be able to get over a city wall by a triple somersault jump.

    When the war was over Xena probably retired from her warrior career and is now devoted to never-ending victory celebrations with the Altblau regiment. There is a chance that there could be some reference in the chronicle of Altblau Regiment where a tradition of the Swedish 'Blue' regiment has been observed until present time. We believe that later Xena learned that firearms would destroy an enemy much faster than old fashioned swords.