"I am Rey, this is Heavens and I must get to hell before the elders awaken" Covered in mud from head to toe, the small figure whispered to the wind the reason why he kept awake.

Among the edges of some remote region not many living know of, under the cold, shadowy blanket of an eternal night, was a little boy who had kept running without stopping. Not that there were many children running aimlessly on the borders of Paradise, in fact, he was one of three and the only one who kept in constant motion when he should sleep.

The place was referred to by the adults as "the Ever-Changing Forest," a place where there was no moon to peek out and no small animal such as frogs or singing insects. Constant change abounded there. The screams of trees that broke each other. Ferocious beasts that roamed in search of food. Bottomless precipices at every corner. Roots and branches as sharp as knives. Dancing lights that rose and fell. Mud and rotting leaves. Icy gusts of wind that blew like lightning. Ghastly figures of corpses on dismembered bones. And death himself in a wandering hood.

Rey wandered so deep into the forest that he even believed that not even all the adults together could find him or keep track of him and his companion. His master's directions never quite managed to move him, and though they still rang in his head, he laughed at them, for they seemed absurd to him. However, the mire of the thick forest of giant trees was getting deeper and the lights that helped him to avoid dangerous situations were dimming. Little by little the place began to resemble a red mud swamp that made it difficult for the little boy to advance.

Between dangers and frightening shapes in which he could die if he was not careful enough, Rey came to the point where he had no choice but to stop. Parting his chapped lips, he stuck out his tongue and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

He needed to catch his breath if he intended to keep running. The sharp eyes that lit up with the whiteness radiating from an infinite Pythagorean star, which bordered the pupils and matched their dilated size, ceased to see into the gloom. With the fading of the floating lights and the impending darkness, there was enough reason for the little boy to be terrified. He knew where he was going, but not where he was. He could not go back the way he had come, if he set his mind to it. The floating boulders would hit him, whether he walked into them or they would fall on his head without warning. One false step would be to fall into an endless pit. Getting any closer to a tree than he should have would provide him with another injury. Some beast that if he could see might be stalking him warily preparing the best moment to strike. But even with all this, he felt no fear, not even in the slightest. He would say:

"I am not in the forest, but the forest is with me. I don't feel lost if I have a target. I don't need to see if I have a friend who can be my eyes. Why worry about noises if they can't harm me? And for my tiredness, it was enough to stop and catch my breath" As one who believed he could do everything.

Eventually, Rey was forced to slow down and rest more often. The fruitless search made him feel so frustrated that he was unaware that he was running with much more weight than he really had.

"I, the one who can do it all, am I being led around in circles?" he wondered somewhat worriedly.

Focusing his attention on his companion, Rey was ignoring the huge cart he was pulling with his neck and the giant boulder on his back.

The cart he was pulling bore the presence of trees, mud, rocks, darkness and the weariness of his body, while the imposing solidity was almost on the verge of crushing him. But he could not notice, see or touch either of these two objects, because they were as real as his thoughts. For him, thoughts, worries, problems, stress and negative ideas were not willing to hinder him in the slightest. However, they were responsible for the mantra "I must get to hell... before the elders wake up...", which Rey repeated as a driving force, began to lose form and meaning, until it became empty, hollow and purposeless. Over time, the words spoken by the elders proceeded to occupy the space in the little boy's mind, until he could no longer manage to stop thinking of the accusing voice repeating the word "Of-Bastador!" in his head, or of the edge of an immense sword that would cut his throat and bring about death.

It could be said that the set of such words combined with memories of a not too distant past were the main reason why Rey was running aimlessly in the endless forest that made up the boundaries of Paradise within Hell.

"He named me Rey. But they called me 'monster with an indecipherable heart.' Flawed, rage-filled shell, without rationality, tactics or strategy. Creature in which only the pleasure of satiation will keep him alive. He will become a danger, a Of-Bastador capable of eliminating everything around him, they said. I saw uneasiness in their looks; in Dad's eyes I saw that he was disappointed. I must get to hell, but... How much longer must I keep running?”

Trembling knees could no longer resist the weight of the big rock on his back and he fell into the mud; his throat could not free itself from the noose that was choking him and he could hardly breathe.

"Heroclades was not wrong... This mud gets deeper and I can hardly go on. If my strength is not enough..."  Catching his breath, he stood up again and looked in the direction of where he thought his companion was. "When reasoning is all that's left in this body, maybe I'll go further. Surrender is not an option for a warrior." The little one spoke aloud, "If we are not to find a way out, perhaps... finding shelter is a good idea.”

Using a forced sound through his closed mouth, the little feline affirmed in response to the comment Rey had made. Tired and dying, who could see in the dark, he had stayed ahead by jumping over the floating rocks in an attempt to avoid having to swim in the mud. And he used his tail to pull the hand of the little one who could not see.

That friend that Rey had been depending on to help him move forward in the dark was a guardian cub from Paradise. He had found him with his master, on his way to the training point on the first day.

In the light of the magical realm, the Paradise guardians stood splendorously on four legs, which concealed reckless nails that protruded at will, white fur with black stripes down the back to the tail, protruding teeth, yellow eyes, long whiskers and pointed ears. On all four legs, an adult was as big as a person. But the puppy was no higher than Rey's waist, he was dirty, his eyes looked tired and his ears drooped. He was not as skinny as the little white-eyed one, for the latter had given him all the food he had.

He moved on and on. The moment that so troubled the little boy became apparent. Tiredness and muscle pain turned to stiffness that forced him to stop once more. Bringing his hands to his knees as he bent his body forward, Rey let go of the tail he was holding and in a bitter click of his tongue understood that he had lost the fight against his body's sensations. Losing and giving up meant the same thing to him, but how could he go on if, even though his mind was intent, his muscles and strength refused to respond? Rey trembled like a leaf about to fall, but his gaze remained straight with the intention of continuing to move forward, even if he had to do it with his hands.

No matter how hard he tried, even for all that he had stretched his life to the edges of death, he could make no further progress.

Rey was forced to admit defeat and stop trying, something that would bring him no results. He didn't plan to blame the little animal, as he couldn't do any better himself.

"If I can even see, could I have found the way out on my own? No. Now I am the one who also lacks the strength to compensate for my lack of knowledge."

Sinking into the mud, he had no choice but to kneel down and lean on a nearby rock.

"Heroclades was right. I must go back and continue training. I am still too weak to find an escape. But..." Rey raised his head. "If I must stay among the great ones, I must at least arm myself with whatever it takes to fend for myself and survive among them.”

In an arrogant way he was reluctant to take the situation as a defeat, so he interpreted him as an opportunity to learn, to become better:

"But how?"

The Paradise guardian cub, seeing the behavior of the little one, looked sideways. With its mouth open and tongue out, although it was well fed, it had so far taken a lot of extra effort to move the parts of its body that allowed it to move forward. The feline approached the rock on which the little one was leaning and, after licking his hand, squealed in his language.

Rey didn't understand the squeak, but at least he had an idea of what it meant. Ignoring once again all that he was carrying, the extreme exhaustion and lack of energy that overcame him, he stood up and let himself be guided.

After hopping a few times, the feline pulled his companion close to the hollow trunk of a tree.

Rey, with his hand, reached out to touch what made up the entrance to a safe place and said to himself:

"To survive... it's better if I stay in a safe place. At least until I recover..."

The little guy, almost in his bones, made a crucial decision; to change the order of his priorities and with this temporarily abandon his search and stay in the cave that his companion had found so he could take refuge from the slimy mud and replenish his straggling body.

Rey breathed as one who was beginning to understand that "deducing", reasoning and thinking would be more useful than putting his physical abilities to play. A good ability to use logic, as the situation demanded, would be of vital importance for his survival, as in that moment when he realized that readjusting his priorities would make him better.