Once, when she was a child, Erica found herself alone in a dark room. Her hands were shaking, her dress was soaked in blood, her fear slowly coming to an end. There was no more noise, only the quiet silence. No one was screaming anymore.

Suddenly, from a corridor, slow footsteps approached her. For an instant she feared that there might be someone left in that place who could hurt her, but soon she recognized the depth and rhythm of the footsteps. She was glad when, turning around, she found her dad. Lucifer Sanz was also stained with blood, only not from head to toe like her, but just a couple of splashes here and there on his clothes. He was wearing red gloves, which at that moment he took off and let slip to touch his daughter with his own hands.

—Dad!— she cried, before throwing herself into his arms.

Mr. Sanz caught her in the middle of her jump and stood still to let her cry. Erica needed to get it off her chest. They didn't have much time, but he would always give it to his daughter.

—I'm sorry, Dad! I'm so sorry!— she sobbed.

—Why are you sorry?— asked her father, amused by the question.

—Because... Because...— Erica needed to calm down before continuing— Because of all the people I just killed!

Mr. Sanz stroked her head affectionately, then looked around at the corpses his daughter had left behind. He was surprised that at her young age she didn't need anyone to recognize her actions as evil.

—How quickly she grows up — he thought.

He imagined he could use that moment to explain to her that she should avoid killing people, reinforce her learning what was wrong with society, might even guide her toward an altruistic path where she would use her strength for the greater good. However, something about that idea bothered him deep down.

—Handing her the duty of caring for this worthless society?— he thought— No, my daughter need not worry about trivialities. Whether she grows up wanting to save or destroy the world is entirely up to her.

He looked at the faces of the dead against the walls. No doubt someone in that group had provoked her to rage in such a way. Then he stroked his daughter's head again and looked into her eyes. No, he would not ask her to stop killing people. No one mattered as much to him as his daughter's happiness.

—Listen, Erica— he said in a soft tone, a balm after the scare she had experienced— a lot of people will try to tell you what to do. You're a child, you're impressionable, so they'll try to force you to do what they want you to do. If you decide to listen to them, it's up to you. The important thing is that you can do whatever you want, because you are Erica Sanz, my little princess. You just have to give it your all, and if it's impossible, you have to give it even more —he gave her a smile from ear to ear — Now tell me: Who is the prettiest and strongest girl in the world?

Erica began to perk up. Somewhat shyly, she folded her arms and shook her shoulders back and forth, unsure of the answer.

—Me?

Then her father took her in his arms and lifted her over his head. Erica squealed, more cheerful.

—That's right, my little princess!

Lucifer kissed her neck, which made her laugh.

—Then I can kill anyone?— she asked to be sure.

—Anyone who makes you angry.

Erica nodded. If her dad said so, it had to be true. She could do whatever she wanted, because she was the prettiest and strongest in the world.

 

Several years later, after saving her friends and falling off the bridge into the timitio fountain, Erica's eyes snapped open.

She was in a room, the ruins of something elegant. However, she could hear water leaking from somewhere. Apparently they were sinking.

—Damn ship, it can't even take a hit— she thought, until she realized she wasn't on any ship.

Stupefied, she jumped up, only to observe that what was leaking was not water, but timitio, and she was not on a ship, but in her own interior. The room was tilted to one side, but the timitio did not drain like water straight down, but swirled all over the floor, down the walls, climbed up the pillars, and dripped down from the ceiling. On one side of the room stood Abyss, grunting and groaning, barely in control. Erica felt sorry to see him like that, wounded and struggling in vain, but there was nothing she could do for him in that moment. They would both fall into despair.

—I fell off the bridge— she remembered— now I must be in a timitio lagoon, sinking.

She wondered if she should wake up, try to find a solution in the real world, but she didn't feel capable. Everything was going to go wrong, she was good for nothing, she was always getting herself and the people around her into trouble. Soon an irrational fear stuck in her mind and began to grow. Erica recognized the timitio, the more it seeped into her body, the more she would feel it. The idea that something was chasing her was embedded in her head, something that would eventually catch up with her no matter what she did to avoid it. That thing would kill her, soon, and make her suffer a great measure.

She knew it was nothing more than the illusion of timitio, but still she could not shake it off, neither the idea nor the fear it generated. Soon she began to be suspicious of every corner around her.

The timitio enveloped the entire room, the walls, the ceiling and the pillars, everything was seen under the thick black cloak of fear. Erica was plunged into complete darkness. Space altered and ceased to have a definite size; at times she found herself in a sea, but a second later she could see herself enclosed in a dark box that compressed her to the limits of her body.

Suddenly Abyss reappeared from the timitio, in front of her. With a virtually unlimited supply of its own, it grew by leaps and bounds, to the size of a large building. The beast then leaned over the girl, menacingly, and stretched out a claw to smash her to the ground. Erica looked at it, paralyzed. There was no way to defeat it or run away. She understood that, as soon as Abyss crushed her, she would lose her sanity and end her transformation into territi. At that moment she closed her eyes and thought of sweeter times with her dad.

—I'm sorry— she muttered.

She took a deep breath. The last time she would do it on her own.

But suddenly, a rumbling sound startled her. Looking again, she noticed Abyss being hit by a white projectile from the side. Then she looked at the source of the projectile: there was a hole in the wall of the room, a white hole. From there, a man with a hammer was pounding the edges of the hole to enlarge it and make room to pass through. However, when he managed to open up an area large enough to fit an arm and head together, he was left outside. Something was preventing him from getting in any further.

It took Erica some time to notice the details because of the contrast with the light. Gradually, however, she made out his wheat hair, strong arms, thick beard and blue eyes.

—Dad?

—Erica, I can't go in there!— said Mr. Sanz— You have to come here! Come on, come with me!

Puzzled, the girl took a step towards her father.

—Could it be an illusion of the timitio?— she thought.

But the image of her dad gave her hope, so she walked towards him. Only at that moment a long, bony claw emerged from the timitio and wrapped itself around her leg to block her path. Instantly another one appeared to immobilize her other leg. They had her trapped.

—Get the fuck out of the way!— she yelled.

However, as she looked down, she noticed that the owners of the claws were rising above the surface of the timitio and exposing their faces. They were not territi, but people, young like her, only both had been dead for quite some time.

—Ocko?!— she recognized them— Raquel?!

In an instant Erica remembered her passing friendship with both of them during her last year of high school. They were two people she had loved, whom she had tried to get close to, but who ended up dying by her own hands. Then, from behind them emerged the rest of her middle school classmates. On the sides appeared her murdered friends from the third grade, and behind them emerged from the ground the rest of the people Erica had killed during her life. Soon there were more than a hundred.

The girl tried to break free again, more desperate, but she did not succeed. Ocko and Raquel looked at her with restrained anger, as if that was all they had felt since the moment of their deaths. They made no attempt to speak, they didn't need to, they only wanted revenge.

—Let me go!

Then Ocko grabbed her head with two hands and turned it in such a way that he broke her neck. Erica collapsed looking straight back. She couldn't breathe, her senses blurred for moments.

But she immediately came to. Her neck had returned to normal, but nothing about her situation had improved. Noticing that the dead children were still around her, she tried to jump to leave them behind, however her leap barely lifted her a few centimeters off the timitio floor. Then one of her former companions punched her in the chest, so hard that she thought her organs were going to burst out of her back. Erica vomited a copious amount of blood. Then another one hit her on the shoulder and broke her whole arm and collarbone. Finally one kicked her hip, shattering her bones.

—It's just an illusion!— her dad shouted in the distance, farther and farther away— Don't be intimidated, you must come with me!

Her dad's voice was decreasing in intensity. The pain in her body was unbearable. Erica was surrounded by people who wanted to hurt her, who could hurt her and would enjoy every second of her suffering. Somehow they had become as strong as she was, every one of them, while she herself had become frail and weak. She was a normal girl surrounded by brikas ready to torture her to the end.

In that moment Raquel bent over her, grabbed her head with both hands and squeezed slowly. Erica held one wrist with the arm she could still move. Raquel increased the pressure little by little, Erica felt her skull slowly giving way.

—Stop, please!— she begged, beginning to cry— I can't take it anymore, Raquel!

But Raquel would not stop, and Erica knew it well, for she had enjoyed her death in the same way. She felt cracks opening in her skull, veins bursting, her eyes popping out of their sockets and her brain dripping out of her ears and nose.

 

She woke up again.

She looked around; she was crouched behind a dumpster, in a school similar to all the ones she had visited. The ceiling was black, the buildings and the ground were a dark gray.

She didn't remember how she had gotten there, she didn't remember anything about her life, only that she had hurt many people and at that moment they were chasing her for revenge. She was hiding from them, but she knew they would end up finding her. That hiding place was not very safe, she needed to find a better one. With visceral fear gnawing at her stomach, Erica slipped through a deserted hallway into one of the rooms. She peeked in to confirm that no one was there. She found it empty.

—Alright...— she thought.

She entered slowly, making as little noise as possible.

Then a large, bony hand grabbed her neck from behind, so tightly that she could not turn around. It wasn't necessary though, she knew she had been caught by someone who would hurt her. The claw lifted her into the air and slammed her face first to the floor, breaking her nose. Erica tried to get up, but at that moment an iron pole was inserted in the middle of her back, so deep against the ground and so heavy that it did not allow her to escape in any way. Erica writhed in pain, but the more she moved, the more it hurt. All around her, her classmates burst out laughing.

Three classmates from her senior year took out cans of gas, doused her in fuel and set her on fire. Erica burned for several minutes and felt all the layers of her skin being consumed, one after the other.

 

She woke up again.

She did not remember what had happened before that moment, she only knew that she was desperate and could not take any more torture.

She found herself hanging by her hands, tied to a very tall pole. Her feet were not even close to the ground.

All around her were many people gathered in long squares. The headmaster of the school was giving a speech on a podium. Among the assembled students was a squad of policemen who looked at her with disdain. Erica wanted to break free, but she was too weak to break the chains.

—Wait, please!— she begged— Get me out of here! I didn't do anything!

But no one paid any attention to her, they didn't even turn to look at her. The director continued his speech as if nothing happened, and when he finished, he pointed at her. Then the policemen approached her in formation, one separated from the rest, pointed his gun at her and shot her. Erica felt the bullet go through her armpit. She screamed in pain. Then another policeman shot her and the bullet hit her in the stomach. Erica felt the pain again, felt her belly pierced, but she did not die. Just like that, all the policemen shot her, one at a time. No matter how many bullets she received, Erica did not die, she just felt the pain building up.

However, as she cried, she felt an echo in the distance. She ignored it, thinking it was just her imagination, but then she heard it again a little louder. Then she realized it was a man, trying to tell her something. Still, she was too upset to answer.

—Erica...— the voice repeated, between the gunshots.

The girl realized that she knew that voice. She didn't remember whose it was, but it was someone she loved very much.

—How could I love anyone in this world?!— she said to herself— They all want to kill me! They want to see me suffer!

Then she heard something else; a machine below her. Startled, she looked up and found a shredder the size of a pickup truck just below her. At the same time, the chains on her hands began to unravel. Erica tried to hold on, but her fingers slipped as if they were soaked in oil. She ended up falling.

She was knocked on her back. She tried to get up immediately, but her companions pushed her down. The shredder grabbed her back and tore her apart piece by piece.