Erica skidded with her timitio through the great halls and staircases of the dungeon. It was a huge place that seemed to have no end. There were no narrow corridors or small rooms, everything in there was big and meant to store many people at the same time. The walls were made of moldy bricks and the floor had old blood stains everywhere. She also noticed other occupied cells besides her own and those of her friends, but she didn't stop to help the poor bastards who were locked up there. She didn't feel like it at the moment.

Soon she came to an office room, where several chained ones were working at the moment, too busy to notice her at once. Erica swept her gaze around the place. Quickly, on an empty desk, she noticed a holographic map very similar to the one they had on their ship. Without asking anyone's permission, she advanced to the stand and took the map to unfold it in front of her.

The map showed her the vertical cut of a cylindrical structure surrounded by thick matter. Inside the cylinder were various signs for ladders, fire extinguishers, evacuation zones and other technical symbols that she did not understand. At the top, between the cylinder and the sky, was the only symbol indicating that there was an exit. On the other side, down at the base of the cylinder, a solitary dot blinked; that was her position. It was at the bottom of an inverted tower. There was no choice but to go up.

—Hey!— shouted a voice.

Erica turned. The chained ones had already noticed the unfolded map and the intruder.

—It's the key!— exclaimed an old man.

—Catch her!— demanded a woman.

—Set off the alarm!— asked a yellow, hairy-faced creature.

Immediately a handful of nonis in black suits rushed at her. Erica beat them all back without much effort. Then she closed the map and took it with her, just in case she got lost.

She walked out of the control room back to the central area, where a bunch of chained ones were waiting for her with all sorts of weapons. Erica, with the frustration of her last fight still stinging, was somewhat relieved to be the strongest one in sight again.

—Erica!— a noni called to her, using a megaphone— You're surrounded, there's no way you can get out of this prison. Go back to your cell and we won't hurt you.

The girl burst out laughing in response. She shot towards the chained ones standing between her and the escape route, and sent them flying with a brutal lunge.

She continued running at full speed, leaving the chained ones behind. Suddenly she ran into an elevator. She figured they would leave it disabled on those kinds of occasions, so she yanked open the doors, stepped into the vertical tunnel, stuck to the wall with her timitio and slid like a load of fireworks upward, at full speed to the top floor. She knew her friends would take the same route, especially when they saw her trail.

She ascended dozens of meters in less than a minute, with nothing but the echo of the tiny cuts the timitio made as it stuck to a surface. When the tunnel ended, she kicked in the last door and stepped out smoothly. She found herself alone before a rather large room, followed by long, wide stairs leading up to the exit.

Excited, she pulled out the map she had taken from the offices to look at it once more and make sure it was right. It showed her that she was indeed on the top floor of the tower and that after the stairs she would reach the outside. It had been easier than she expected.

She started walking up the stairs, two by two, three by three. The stairs were covered with a nice red carpet, had landings every few steps, and were lit by pleasant violet lamps attached to the walls.

However, shortly after she began to climb, a huge figure emerged from the side, dangerously close to her. One arm raised, an attack position. Erica immediately jumped back to evade it. The huge figure dropped a heavy axe and smashed three rows of steps.

Stupefied, the girl paused to stare at her attacker. He was huge, his body easily reaching about three meters tall. The axe in his hands was as big as a motorcycle, yet he wielded it as if it were a golf club. His horns were short and his face was covered by a mask.

—I'm sorry, miss, but I can't let you pass.

Although he wore a mask like all the others chained ones, Erica recognized his voice and the shape of his face. They were well etched in her memory, for it was from him that she had taken her first slice of timitio.

—Chromo!— she exclaimed, dumbfounded.

The noni smiled, pleased.

—What the fuck are you doing with the chained ones?— the girl continued— Didn't you say you had a new job as a guard of...?

She suddenly remembered the details of their conversation a few days ago. Chromo had a new job as a prison guard, he was going to make sure that an important prisoner didn't escape. She was that prisoner.

—You're fucking with me!— she bellowed as she realized— But why?!

Chromo rested his axe on his shoulder. Erica noticed that it was a normal weapon, but that its edge had a timitio extension.

—I never knew the Chainer, never cared for him— he admitted— but my lady serves him with fervor. I owe much to Alba. She protected me when I couldn't fend for myself, she took care of me and allowed me to grow up. Now I'm an adult, I'm big and strong, and I can return the favor. She asked me to keep you here in this prison, so that's what I'll do.

—Alba?! The woman you owe respect to is Alba?!— yelled Erica— Gouge out my eyes and eat them with cheese! Alba?!

Chromo frowned.

—Why are you so surprised? She's a great person.

Erica gritted her teeth angrily.

—I hate Alba! She's conceited!

Then Chromo jumped on her and attacked her again. Erica had to somersault backwards to avoid being torn in two.

—Please keep in mind that I hold her in high esteem— Chromo snapped at her.

Erica frowned, her reunion with Chromo was less joyful than she had thought.

—Well, I won't say anything about her. It's the Chainer I care about. You don't mind me ranting at him, do you?

Chromo made a gesture like he didn't care.

—Good, 'cause I was gonna do it anyway! That fucker's looking to kill me and my dad! I can't stay here and play with you. You can only stop me when you kill me, I won't accept anything less.

Chromo nodded his head ceremoniously.

—Then we'll just have to work our asses off. I don't care if your whole world falls apart, I won't let you pass, Erica.

—Too bad— thought the brika— the first friend I kill for a just cause.

Determined, she shot herself towards his face. Chromo used his axe to intercept her. Erica blocked the edge, but the force of the blow sent her flying to the base of the stairs.

Without pausing, she climbed back up from one side. Chromo prepared to intercept her again, but then the girl jumped against the wall, stuck to it with her timitio and slid up at full speed. Chromo jumped to catch her with his axe, but then the brika leaped into the sky, avoiding him, and continued on her way.

—Hahaha! Suck it!— she shouted.

However, the piece of ceiling she was hanging on to broke away from the rest and made her fall. Before she could react, Chromo caught her with one hand and sent her back to the base of the stairs.

Erica hit the floor, rolled and stopped in pain. She needed a few seconds to recover and get back on her feet. To her surprise, next to Chromo she found two more people in black suits and masks; one was a sirivi, tall and thin like all of his kind, with gray skin and fluffy, red hair. In his suit he carried at least a dozen knives ready to draw from their sheaths. The other was a man with wings instead of arms, blue feathers and a stern look; he was a pico. Erica had seen a few, but had never talked or fought one.

—Meet my companions, Teilto and Porovos— Chromo pointed to the lanky sirivi and the stern, blue-feathered pico— the three of us are the commanding guards of this prison.

Erica finished standing up and took a few seconds to examine them all.

—I was fighting alone with Chromo! Who do you think you are to intervene?!

—The commanding guards of the prison— repeated the pico.

Chromo held back a laugh, while Teilto, the sirivi, rolled his eyes. This made her even angrier.

—Three against one, I don't care!— she barked at them.

Immediately she launched herself at them, but suddenly one of the steps rose a few centimeters and made her stumble and roll up the stairs. Next another column of rock rose up right where her face was passing and hit her so hard that it made her jump backwards, bounce off the steps and finally fall back to the base of the stairs.

That last one hurt. Rough—bodied, she struggled to her feet. She looked at the guards and noticed that, at a wave of the pico's claw, the deformations on the stairs returned to normal.

—A mage— she recognized him.

She quickly shook off the pain and ran back down the stairs, ready to take whatever they had for her. The mage raised pillars and obstacles from every surface, but she saw them coming and deftly evaded them. She headed for the mage to take him out first, but Chromo approached her as he noticed her intentions, ready to unload his axe on her at any moment. Erica leapt straight up into the ceiling to stick to it and continue from there, but in the middle of the jump, a long, dark figure appeared in front of her, out of nowhere. It was Teilto the sirivi. Erica thought to defend herself, but before she could even raise her arms, three shallow cuts appeared on her chest. She hadn't even seen him attack her. So surprised was she that she could do nothing when he kicked her in the jaw and sent her flying through the air towards Chromo. He grabbed her by the head, slammed her to the ground, picked her up and swung her with his axe back to the base of the stairs.

Erica hit the stone floor like a meteorite, with such force that small debris flew everywhere.

There was a deep silence after the stones finished rolling. The girl remained on the ground as she had fallen, in pain. She was bleeding from various parts of her body and felt like she was going to vomit from the pain. She hadn't even had a chance to get through, she could fight Chromo one on one, but with the three of them it was too much. She understood that no matter what she did, those guys were always going to defeat her. She thought about staying there, lying on the floor, waiting for them to take her to her cell. She knew that was her most likely fate. She seriously contemplated the possibility of surrendering, of accepting that physically she could not fight against such a large organization, neither with those three guys, much less with the god that was the Chainer.

—Dad...— she thought.

She reminded herself why she was doing that. She forced herself to move her sore arms, her bruised legs, to get up little by little. Even if she couldn't beat those guys, she was going to try to the end anyway.

When she least expected it, two pairs of feet approached her and planted themselves each to one side. Erica looked up and saw her friends, who kept their eyes fixed on the guards at the exit.

—Guys...!— she said, surprised.

They smiled at her and held out their hands. Erica got up with their help. Despite her wounds and pains, she stood between them and looked at the guards.

—Are you all right?— Liliana asked, worried.

—I'll be fine— she played it down, although she had to wipe the blood that was dripping down one side of her face to see better —What are you doing here? Don't tell me you came just to tell me to go back.

She said it in a joking tone, but deep down she harbored the possibility that this was the case. Liliana and Arturo looked at each other, as if wondering who was going to tell her what they had decided.

—First we have to get out of here— said Arturo.

—That's right. Let's concentrate on those guys— suggested Liliana.

—They must be very strong to keep you like this— observed Arturo.

Erica wiped the blood around her mouth.

—They are. That bird is a mage, the sirivi with the red afro is very fast with knives and the big guy in the middle is Chromo, the same one they met in the castle.

They both nodded. Erica expected a little more surprise, but then remembered that neither of them had spoken much with the commander. To them he was just another stranger. Liliana pulled Brontes off her mark, while Arturo tried to figure out the most effective way to get past them without being followed to the exit.

—Which one is the strongest?— asked the boy.

—All three seem to me to be equally strong— admitted the brika— Do you want to choose?

—Choose?— wondered Liliana.

—With whom to fight— explained Erica— There are three of us, there are three of them... Isn't it obvious? I want Chromo.

Arturo thought about it for a moment.

—Then I want the mage.

—Oh, no way!— Liliana looked at Teilto, the lanky sirivi. His sinister look gave her chills— He looks like a killer from a horror movie.

—All right, let's go!

Erica shot herself up the stairs, followed by Arturo, who advanced on a rock platform to keep up, and finally Liliana, who had no way to move fast like her friends, so she put her flabby legs to work.

"You need more training" Brontes reprimanded her.

—But it's exhausting!— she pleaded.

Arturo advanced straight towards the pico, but Chromo planted himself in front of him with his huge axe and attacked him by surprise. The boy was so frightened that he recoiled on impulse. At the same time, Teilto appeared on one side of Erica and with a flurry of slashes knocked her down several steps. Then Liliana caught up with them and planted herself in front of them to protect them while they recovered.

—Even with your friends you can't beat us, Erica!— sneered Chromo— Porovos, crush them!

The pico crossed his arms in one swift movement. At the same time, the walls on both sides of the humans came together like clapping hands to crush them, but Arturo stopped them with his magic at less than one meter each and held them there. Porovos charged all his mental strength. The distance between the walls narrowed a bit, but Arturo stood his ground and did not allow them to close.

—Listen to me— he called to the girls— Erica, Lili! We can't defeat them individually! We have to work as a team! Do you understand?

They both nodded.

—Good idea— agreed Erica.

—You know I'll do whatever you say— Liliana reminded him.

—Let's start by getting out of here!— suggested the mage.

Liliana ran, while Erica grabbed Arturo by the torso to pull him out of the section of the walls controlled by Porovos. Then the mages stopped forcing them and everyone prepared to fight.

Erica launched herself at Chromo. Porovos fired a block of rock at her, but Arturo deflected it. Teilto leaped to intercept her, but his knives met Brontes' blade. Liliana blocked, dodged his lunges, then counterattacked at the same pace.

Meanwhile, Porovos flew at Erica to block her with pillars and distract her while Chromo went for Arturo. The girl then leaped towards the spike, hugged him to close his wings and brought him down with her, impacting on his back. Porovos let out a groan of pain. Finally the brika sent a quick blow to his head that knocked him out instantly.

Arturo saw that Chromo was heading to attack him, so he erected a pile of obstacles to keep him occupied. He quickly ran to the other side of the room, where Teilto and Liliana were fighting at full speed. He had a couple of seconds before Chromo caught up with him, so he took control of two large rocks on either side of the red-haired man and while the latter was distracted by Liliana, Arturo hit him in the face on one side and in the ribs on the other. The force made him spin in the air before falling, unconscious.

At that moment Chromo appeared at his side, ready to blow his head off with an axe. However, Erica caught him from behind and punched him with a timitio covered fist, throwing him against the wall.

Chromo quickly got to his feet. That hit had been hard, but the humans would need way more to knock him out. He quickly looked in all directions to identify the prisoners; Erica and Arturo were where he had left them, but he couldn't see the other one.

Nervously, he looked down. For an instant he noticed Liliana preparing to attack him. He tried to protect himself, but Brontes was faster and got through him before he could do anything. Chromo fell unconscious on the ground.

The kids took a moment to breath and look around. They had defeated the guards.

—We did it! We're awesome!

Liliana and Arturo, agitated and nervous, had to look several times in every possible direction to make sure there were no guards left who wanted to confront them. Liliana left Brontes outside just in case. The three teens gathered to check their wounds, but none were badly hurt. Erica was in the worst condition of the three, but she could move without much trouble. Still Arturo held out a small glass bottle with a red liquid in it. Erica recognized it.

—A potion? Where did you find it?— she asked.

—They had some in the infirmary. All the people were unconscious, so I took it just in case— he explained.

Erica took a sip and felt much better.

—Thank you.

But even if they had won, they didn't want to hang around and wait for other guards to show up. They quickly climbed the stairs to the top floor. There they opened the large doors to the main entrance.

The cold wind paralyzed them for a moment. Before them lay a kilometers—long slope of snow, lost in the night. Their breath condensed as soon as it left their mouths, their feet sinking into the snow with a slight pink hue. Erica, Liliana and Arturo came out of the inverted tower to find themselves on a snowy mountain, in the middle of nowhere.

At that moment they looked up at the sky, where the three moons of Nudo and a bunch of stars were furrowing the night as if they were a river, and Erica crackled. It wasn't a laugh, just a few chained spasms. Then she turned to her friends, curious.

—I'm going to do whatever it takes to go back to my dad— she assured, in a soft tone— even if the whole universe is against me, even if he himself tells me not to, I'll go back to him... but I'm not going to demand it from you two. When I was told that you were going to join me at the hotel, when the three of us got together, none of us thought that my quest would be so dangerous. You can go back to your families, that's fine. Maybe it's for the best.

Liliana and Arturo looked at each other and smiled.

—What are you talking about?— Liliana argued— We're a team, aren't we? Did you see how we kicked those bullies' asses?

Arturo crossed his arms.

—I already told you that you would end up leading me to the city of magic, don't tell me you want to abandon me now— he protested.

Erica's face lit up.

—So...

—Of course, Erica. We're with you— Liliana assured— Sorry for trying to dissuade you earlier. I admit we were a little scared about what happened with the Chainer.

—He's certainly the most powerful being I've ever seen— added Arturo— that "god" status is not to be looked down upon, but on the other hand, you're definitely the most stubborn. I'm sure you'll find a way to beat that guy up and get back to your dad, and we want to be there when you do.

Erica, moved, could do nothing but contort her face into a big pout to hold back her tears. She immediately ran to them and grabbed them in a tight embrace.

—You are the best friends I could wish for!— she shrieked.

Liliana and Arturo returned the embrace.

After a warm moment in that frozen place, Erica turned around and looked at the road ahead. With the support of her friends and a goal bigger than her life, she felt she could do anything.