Nearby, inside one of the half-destroyed houses, the kids emerged from the ground. Arturo immediately put Erica to bed and began to heal her wounds.

—How are we going to defeat someone like that?— Liliana asked.

Erica and Arturo remained silent, thoughtful.

—Arturo, can you stop his rocks for a moment?— asked the brika— I only need three seconds to get close and punch him in the face.

—It won't work, he's more powerful than me— said the boy.

—How do you know? We have to try!— claimed Erica.

—I know because I wouldn't have been able to do what he just did. Didn't you see all the mass he controlled at the same time? And moreover in different ways... we need another plan.

Liliana ducked her head. She wanted to be of more help, but there was little she could do alone with Brontes. Arturo noticed her disappointed face. He had an idea.

 

Kan'fera looked around, wondering where those young humans might be. After a while he began to feel tingles on the back of his head.

—They are coming— he thought.

Suddenly, Erica emerged from a street, carrying her two friends as she sled at full speed. The girl reached the square, but instead of heading straight for her enemy, she left Arturo on the ground and hurried off to the side, carrying Liliana.

—What are they doing?— asked the noni in his head.

Erica slid around in a circle, surrounding Kan'fera in the widest area the square would allow. After covering an angle of approximately 120 degrees, she left Liliana on the ground. Finally she alone moved another 120 degrees until she planted herself at the third end. Kan'fera contemplated the three of them, surrounding him at the widest possible angles.

—Do they want to attack me at the same time? —he wondered— Mmm... I was expecting something more elaborate, but I guess they're still young.

Without putting much effort, he took control of the rocks again. This time he grabbed also from the surrounding houses to form a denser whirlpool than before.

—Come!— he urged them— Come to me, humas! I will not allow you another break! This is where your journey ends!

He looked at the three of them one last time; Erica was his biggest threat, being a brika forteme. Arturo could be annoying if he used his magic well, but he still had a long way to go to compare to a veteran like him. Finally, Liliana couldn't even get close to him. He definitely had to focus on Erica. If he could knock her out, he would have won.

As expected, all three kids launched at him at the same time. Erica entered the rock whirlpool, but instead of running and waiting for nothing to hit her, she immediately set off, blocking and destroying the pieces of rock that were headed her way, slowly moving forward. A safe way to advance, had it been a mindless tornado of rocks, but Kan could think and quickly came up with a few ideas to crush her. Then he turned his attention to Arturo, who was trying to control the chunks of rock headed his way. He was deflecting or blocking them, with some effort.

—He's taking advantage of the fact that I'm not concentrating on him to overcome my control over the blocks— observed the noni, amused— very good, boy, but you are too arrogant and novice. You underestimate my power.

Without much effort, he plunged the boy into the earth and actively held him there, making it impossible for Arturo to control the very rock that enclosed him. Kan’fera then turned to Erica, without removing his grip on Arturo. He simply commanded one of the blocks that passed over her to turn around and strike her in the back. The girl was paralyzed for a moment by the impact, which allowed Kan'fera to attack her with more blocks until she was knocked to the ground. In that position, the noni mage absorbed her into the ground as he did Arturo.

Finally he turned to Liliana, wondering if the poor thing had even dared to enter the whirlpool of rocks, but when he turned around he couldn't find her anywhere. Puzzled, he looked around, but he could not distinguish any scythe nor a black-haired girl.

—Where did she...

Suddenly his eyes fell on something that shouldn't be there: a hole, outside the radius of the whirlpool, big enough for a person to go through it.

—Wha...

In that instant, a rumbling sound caught his attention from below. Turning around, he noticed a hole in the ground, right in the center of his whirlpool. From there a pillar of rock was rising up and rushing towards him. On top of the pillar stood none other than Liliana, with Brontes in her hands.

Kan'fera tried to react; he wanted to move backwards while suppressing the rising pillar of rock on which the girl stood, but it was moving so fast that he barely had time to cover himself with his arms. Then Liliana appeared at his height, leaped towards him and with one movement she slashed him from head to toe.

The mage fell asleep in an instant. The whirlpool ceased, the children were free. Liliana and Kan'fera fell straight to the ground, where Arturo caught them by decreasing the density of the rock several times.

Finally the children reunited in the middle, where Kan'fera rested, unconscious. Erica and Arturo hugged Liliana and then glanced at the mage.

—You did spectacular, Lili!— Arturo said to her.

—Hihi. I just did what you told me to do. It was a great plan.

Erica rested her hands on her hips.

—Yes, it wasn't bad at all.

—But how did you know Kan wouldn't notice me until it was too late?— asked Liliana.

Arturo put a hand to his head, not knowing if he should answer or not.

—Because for him, in this situation you were the weakest one— he finally admitted.

—What?!— Liliana pleaded, half offended— I'm the weakest?!

She looked at Erica for comfort, but she looked away.

—Erica, tell me the truth!

—Well... not really...

Arturo opened his hands, trying to appease her.

—I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just that for an experienced mage like him, you don't represent much of a threat.

Liliana folded her arms and lifted her chin, but she didn't hold that pose for long. Soon she relaxed and smiled as usual.

—It's okay, I know I still have a lot to learn. That's why I want to find the ghosts, you know? Then I can be of more help.

Erica took her by the shoulders.

—But Lili, you're already a lot of help!— she assured her— without you, we wouldn't have gotten this far.

Arturo took a thoughtful stance.

—Erica and I may have more destructive power, but you have other abilities that we completely lack.

Liliana smiled broadly. She was curious as to what those "abilities" were that Arturo was referring to, but she had already slowed them down enough with her whining, or at least that's how she considered it. She felt encouraged enough to continue.

—Thank you, you're both gonna make me blush! Now come on, we still have a long way to go to give Tur his due!

—That's right!— yelled Erica— All right, let's go!

—Let's go!— her friends repeated.

Before continuing, Arturo gulped down some of the food he had in his pocket and tended to their wounds. Then they continued on towards the castle. On the way they encountered a few soldiers and robots, but nothing as tough as what they had already left behind.

The castle was built on a small hill in the middle of the valley, with smooth six-meter walls that made it impossible for a normal person to climb, but for Erica that was no problem; in two seconds they were on the other side. Then they entered and advanced silently to surprise whoever was lurking around.

However, no one was there.

The castle was in ruins, just like the rest of the buildings, but it was in much better condition than the houses in the city. Several rooms had even been fitted out by the soldiers to work or sleep in. That only made their doubt grow larger.

The children searched and searched, until they found the throne room; a long, tall room with a leather chair at the end, no doubt something Tur had brought to sit in as befitted the First.

—TUUUUUUUUUR!— cried Erica, impatiently —Where are you, you damned wretch?!

—How strange— Arturo growled— no cameras, no soldiers, not even a message. I'd think it was a trap, but we've already wiped out a good part of their forces. It's a little late for traps.

—That bastard tricked us!— bellowed Erica, furious.

Liliana tilted her head to one side, thoughtful.

—But what does he get out of this? And why now?

—He wouldn't have sent so many of his men and defenses here for nothing— the mage surmised.

—Even Mr Fera was here— Liliana added— There must be something here, are we not seeing it.

Liliana thought about the possibility that Víkala was near them, watching them from the shadows. She looked around, suspicious, but soon realized that there were too many corners in that castle to be examining them one by one. She did not find her.

Erica was about to turn to ask one of the soldiers outside, when Papel sprang from her clothes and jumped to the ground.

—Papel?!— exclaimed the three of them.

—How long have you been there?— asked Erica.

She didn't understand how sometimes he could just appear. All day she hadn't seen him or felt him on her clothes. She was sure she hadn't been carrying him with her all that time.

But Papel was not interested in the doubt that his presence generated. He ran towards the throne without turning aside or sniffing the air. Curious, the children followed him. The animal then stood next to the seat and began to scratch the wall behind it.

—What are you looking for? Is there a secret passage behind?— asked Erica.

She quickly removed Tur's chair to see whatever was there, but it was not at all what she had expected. Before the four of them, on the wall, was a spiral that swallowed everything that touched it.

—A bridge?— Liliana wondered.

—Well done, Papel!— congratulated Erica.

But the animal just slipped into the spiral, disappearing wherever it led.

—Papel! What are you doing?!

But he was already gone, and there was no point in complaining. Erica and her friends looked at each other's faces, somewhat confused.

—What’d you guys think?— asked the brika.

—Tur must be on the other side— Liliana supposed.

—Let's proceed with caution— said Arturo.

Erica nodded, stepped forward to go first and stuck her fingers inside the bridge. It sucked her in, and even though it was no bigger than a football, it swallowed her whole in less than a second.

 

For a moment it was all darkness and senseless twists and turns. Suddenly she felt a big push and particles with the consistency of earth pushing away from her back. Erica was thrown a few meters through the air, described an arc and landed next to the bridge in the grond.

She immediately looked around and stood up, unable to believe her eyes; the earth was no longer purple, but brown and gray. The sky was pale orange. The sun was so bright that she could not look directly at it, even though it was setting. The plants were green, the tree trunks brown. Before her stood a ruined city, with familiar structures and no flying craft circling.

—This is... Mother.