They walked for kilometers. The fog followed them everywhere, their coats protected their torsos from the cold, but not their noses and ears, which froze. Their shoes and sneakers were not made for walking in thick snow either and they soon ended up with soaked feet. Arturo was beginning to think of a way forward without freezing his toes off, when, to their surprise, the fog cleared. It was so sudden that it seemed to them as if they were coming out of a bubble.

Suddenly, before them stretched a huge valley between the snow-capped mountains, bounded by great walls of millennia-old rock. Inside the walls were houses and buildings, streets, bare squares, temples; all destroyed to some extent. Hundreds of years before, perhaps thousands, this had been a compact and prosperous city, but at present it was nothing but ruins. In the center, a sturdy fortress towered over the other structures; it was a castle from which the rest of the city could be seen.

—The ruins of Ramnusia— mused Erica.

—We're here!— celebrated Liliana.

Arturo sighed, relieved.

The ruins extended over an enormous area, they could only look at them from one side to the other because they were hundreds of meters above the valley, on top of one of the surrounding mountains. There was nothing left to do but descend. The fog was gone and they could see where they were going. Arturo had an idea: he took a slab of earth and a slab of snow, put them on top of each other and compressed them enough to hold three men sitting on them.

—What is that?— asked Erica.

—A sled— Liliana recognized it.

Arturo put the sled aside.

—Excellent!— celebrated the brika— Can I go in front?!

—I think it's only fair that Liliana goes in front— the boy remarked.

Erica was about to ask why, but then she turned to Liliana and realized that Arturo was talking about her height. It made sense for the smaller one to go in front, so they could all see the scenery.

They quickly climbed up and held on tightly to what little there was.

—Ready?— asked Arturo.

Erica couldn't stand the wait and used her timitio as a paddle to give the first push. Given her strength, the sled hurried down the hill. Soon they gained speed, and more speed, and even more. The wind hit their faces hard, the sled shivered and made them feel like they were going to fall off at any moment.

Suddenly, a strange screeching sound made them look up in front of them. In the sky they saw a flying object that ascended leaving a trail of smoke, stopped for a moment in the sky and then headed towards them. It was a missile.

—Arturo!— Liliana shouted, terrified.

—I saw it!— said the boy and pushed the sled aside to avoid the explosion.

The roar of snow and earth shook them and made them lose some balance, but they recovered immediately. However, the attack was not over.

Seven more missiles emerged from the ruins and fell on them. The children dodged with sharp turns and sudden jumps amidst the explosions. One of the missiles came at them in mid-air, leaving them no room to maneuver, but Liliana saw it coming and cut it in half with Brontes. Both pieces fell to the snow without exploding.

—Well done!— pointed Erica.

But the rain of missiles did not give them a moment's rest. They screamed at the top of their lungs, between frightened and excited as they dodged and cut them down. On top of that, as they descended far enough they noticed something strange: the hill below them ended at a steep angle, with a pile of solid, pointed rocks threatening to impale them if they did nothing to stop.

—Arturo!— cried Liliana, again.

—I've got it!— bellowed the mage.

He took control of the snow at the bottom of the hill, just before the rocks. The snow curved like a great ramp.

—Erica, give us speed!— Arturo commanded.

—YES!— shouted the brika.

—NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!— shrieked Liliana.

Erica took her feet out of the sled to put them in the snow. In that position she used her timitio at full power. The parasite buried itself and used hundreds of tiny claws to propel them over the edge. They accelerated in such a way that Arturo almost fell off the back.

The sled went over the hill like lightning, over the ramp, slid up and flew. It crossed over the rocks like a gliding bird. For an instant they saw themselves floating through the air, with nothing to disturb them.

They flew a good distance, more than a sled would have allowed. Liliana turned and noticed that Arturo remained serious, focused on their course, keeping the sled in the air as long as posible.

They crossed the sharp rocks, the mountainside and even the wall of the ancient ruined city. At the end they landed on a snowy street, inside Ramnusia.

They hit their butts on landing, the sled spun and overturned, and the children rolled to a halt on the snow. They felt like laughing to get rid of their nerves, but suddenly, a bunch of rifles were pointed at them. They had been surrounded, dozens of soldiers were nearby. Soon more would be coming.

—Don't move!— barked some of the nonis.

Arturo erected a circular wall of rock and snow, which shielded them from the laser beams. That would only give them a few seconds of protection, valuable seconds to make a plan. With a jump, the three stood up and got close to discuss.

—They've already caught us, we just have to go all out for Tur!— proposed Erica.

—But where is he?— inquired Liliana.

—Surely in the castle— supposed Arturo.

—I think so too. Let's go with everything to the castle.

Liliana nodded.

—Yes, it's true. Tur is a bit dramatic, he's probably in the center.

—Well, let's give it to him!— suggested the brika.

—Erica— her friends called out to her.

—Ah?

—Remember that it's the three of us all the way— Liliana told her.

It took the girl a second to understand what she meant, and when she did, she smiled tenderly. Her friends did not want her to sacrifice herself again or anything like that. Contemt, she gave them each a kiss, to Liliana on one eye, to Arturo on the cheek.

—The three of us until the end— she answered.

—All right, it gets ugly from here— Arturo warned them— Are you ready?

—Ready!— answered both girls.

The mage dropped the wall that protected them from the gunfire. Immediately the three of them rushed in different directions to deal with the soldiers. Erica rammed them with so much force that she sent them flying like rockets against the others. Liliana slipped into their ranks, hid from them using their own large bodies and attacked them where they could not see her. She slipped between their legs and behind their big backs, put them to sleep with the edge of her munima and did not allow them to shoot her even once. Arturo, for his part, swept everyone in his path with waves of snow and rock. He dragged the ground where the soldiers were standing to force them to fall and dismantled their weapons before they could fire.

In a short time they were more or less free. They knocked out several soldiers, but many others took cover. Soon they heard footsteps and shouts for reinforcements, nearby. They would have no chance of advancing if they faced them all, so Arturo put up a last rampart to slow them down and the three set off in haste towards the castle. On the way several more enemies emerged, stopping to shoot at them. Some even brought tanks to block the entire street and shoot them with missiles, but they finished them all off.

At a certain point they came to a wide space; an old square with no trees or ornaments. They tried to cross it at full speed, as they had been doing, but suddenly the very ground in front of them rose up like a wave; an area bigger than a soccer field turned around to crush them.

—To me!— shouted the mage.

The girls embraced him. He aimed at the huge mass of earth falling on them, took control of a small circle of one meter radius and ripped it out to leave a hole. The huge mass of earth, snow and rock collapsed onto the other half of the square, shattered and scattered with a roar. It did not touch the children, however, as they passed right through the hole made by Arturo.

After the noise came a tense silence. The youngsters looked around and noticed that they had not been crushed.

—Argh!— exclaimed Liliana— Why do these things happen to us?

—Perhaps because you kids are trying to harm the most important noni in the whole universe— answered the voice of a mature man.

They turned to the front, at the top. There, on the mound of disturbed earth, they found a skinny noni, dressed in a coat and tunic. He descended slowly with a staff in hand and a proud smile on his face. Kan'fera, the Third noni and head of the magic corps of the army's special forces, stood before them.

—Kan'fera!— recognized Arturo.

—Greetings, youngsters. We have been expecting you.

The children separated, ready to jump at any sign of threat. Kan'fera stared at them from his place, haughtily.

—You kids are coming to confront my boss, the First, aren't you?— continued the noni— Well, if you want to fight him, you will have to go over my head. I have orders to capture you, but I am not as compassionate as he is. Fights are unpredictable. Who knows what accidents could happen?

After saying that, with just a wave of his hand he lifted the hundreds of blocks of rock from the square and swirled them around him, like a whirlpool.

—We'll see who wins in the end!— Erica yelled at him, before lunching herself at full speed towards the man.

She kicked the first block that came at her, jumped over the second, dodged the third on one side, but another one she hadn't seen came up behind it and hit her in the face. She tried to resist standing up, but in less than a second three more blocks hit her and knocked her away from the whirlpool area, outwards.

—Erica!— her friends shouted.

The girl stood up. She was upset, but acted as if she didn't care.

—Haha! Very brave of you, little forteme, but useless if you are not strong enough!

—I'll give you strong enough!— she yelled, but her friends interposed their arms to prevent her from charging again.

—We can't attack him directly— Arturo told her.

Erica looked back at Kan'fera, covered in a huge swirl of rocks bigger than his head.

—Yes, I saw. Can't you counter it?

—It's too much for me— he admitted.

—There must be a way— Liliana snorted.

Arturo examined the blocks revolving around Kan'fera. Together, they formed a circle of more than thirty meters in radius and a cylinder more than fifty meters high. No one could enter directly, dodge or block them. The most logical area to attack would be from above, the eye of the tornado, but Kan'fera could see them coming and counterattack easily.

Suddenly the ground around them shook violently. Three huge hands of rock and earth, each the size of a van, emerged from the surface and headed towards them. The children dodged them as best they could, but the hands did not give up and continued their pursuit. Suddenly the ground in front of them unfolded again. Arturo opened a hole again to avoid being crushed, but at that moment they were attacked by a flurry of rocks, the same ones that had been spinning around Kan'fera.

Arturo tackled the first handful, but they were being pelted by a furious rain of huge chunks of rock and he could not catch them all. Erica saw this and planted herself in front of her friends to punch the boulders and smash them with her fists, as many as were headed their way. But soon she took a hit, which gave enough time to prevent her from blocking the next ones. The continuous impacts dragged her down and ended up knocking her to the ground. Then Arturo erected a two meter wide wall to protect them from the blocks. Between him and Liliana they grabbed Erica and dragged her against the wall. Then, the blocks that had not been crushed by the impacts surrounded the wall and headed towards them. But before they were crushed to death, Arturo wrapped the three of them in a sphere of rock and plunged them into the earth, out of sight.

Kan'fera stared at the hole they had left. He tried to take possession of the earth around the escape tunnel to drag them up, but he was too late; he did not know which direction the boy had taken and therefore could not counter his magic.

—A surprise attack?— he wondered.

Just in case, he rose a few meters in the air and waited, but nothing happened. No, it wasn't a surprise attack.

—They are hiding— the mage understood— they're forming a plan...— He looked around, searching for chinks of disturbed earth in addition to what he himself had done— Where could they have gone?