For a moment, all was confusion and pain. Arturo heard a couple of screams as they shook, then the thud against the ground.

After the impact, came the groans and exclamations of pain. The sharper minded ones quickly studied the situation, while the more reactive ones squealed with fright.

The fat guy next to Arturo put a hand on his shoulder.

—Are you all right?— he asked.

The boy took a few seconds to answer.

—Yes, yes.

Some men had gotten out of their seats and impacted on others. The slaves began to get up to leave, little by little despite the tension and confusion. They all wanted to know what was happening, because not knowing could mean another blow, a more lethal one.

After a while that felt like an eternity, Arturo got out of the wagon and looked around: they were at the bottom of a violet cliff, with no trace of vegetation in any direction. Behind him was the wall, the edge of the cliff. To the other side the canyon stretched for hundreds of square kilometers, to where huge rocky towers rose and crisscrossed.

People from other cars came out as well. Above them, on the edge of the cliff, a huge hairy monster with no neck and a huge mouth full of fangs was trying to get down somehow. The frightened passengers understood that this monster had been responsible for their fall. They understood that if that thing managed to descend, it was going to eat them all.

At that moment, a silver cannon emerged from one of the train cars, aimed at the monster above and fired motorcycle-sized energy missiles at it. The energy missiles hit the monster and seemed to hurt it badly, for it immediately jumped back and ran away.

—We're safe!— thought Arturo.

—That thing will come back— muttered a noni near him, talking to another one who was older— Those kind of monsters are persistent, they don't like to leave a prey free. It will go to regain strength and come back to eat us.

Arturo swallowed saliva, he hoped that the noni was only joking, but that was neither the situation nor he seemed to have the intention of doing so.

When the tension subsided and the atmosphere calmed down, Arturo went to look for Jonah, only to find him sitting on a rock, staring at the ground as if it were a bottomless abyss.

—Jonah— he called to him.

The boy was startled, but then he realized that the one calling him was his slave. However, he did not seem to notice that he had referred to him by name.

—Arturo. You are well.

—Yes, it could have been worse. How are you?

Jonah stood up, straightened his clothes and gave a forced smile, although Arturo couldn't tell it from a real one.

—I'm fine. Why do you ask?

Arturo nodded.

—What was that all about?— he asked.

Jonah turned to the edge of the cliff, as if he could still see the creatures that had stood there after their failed attack.

—There are many monsters of all shapes and sizes in Nudo— he explained— but I didn't know of any that could derail a train, at least not in this area.

—That was partly because of this canyon we're in— said the conductor, an elderly noni with a long beard and a big belly.

The young men turned around. They were surprised for a moment that he was paying attention to them.

—What do you mean?— asked Arturo.

—This huge hole was part of the view on the trip, but it had never been this close to the rails, as far as I remember.

—So someone moved the rails?— asked Jonah, dismayed.

—Maybe— the driver shrugged his shoulders.

Arturo pondered for a moment.

—It's possible it could have been that monster— he said.

Jonah didn't take his comment with much appreciation. Besides talking when he wasn't asked to, he was talking nonsense.

—Slave, be quiet.

But the driver shook his head.

—In all the years I've driven trains, I've never known of a monster that could move rails— he replied to Arturo, ignoring Jonah— He would need to understand about flexibility of materials, making complicated calculations, it's too much for his head.

—I didn't mean he could move the rails— said Arturo.

The driver's eyes widened as Jonah frowned.

—Are you saying that the monster enlarged the cannon?— asked the noni.

—It looked like an animal that moves underground— the boy recalled— Short legs, big claws and long whiskers. With that and a bit of intelligence it could make traps like this one....

Just as the boy finished saying this, they realized what it meant. Terrified, they turned to the walls near where the train had fallen.

—I have to alert the people— said the conductor— You two go with one of the guards, they will protect you.

The noni started to run towards the train. However, at that moment a powerful claw emerged from the rock wall. The passengers looked on dumbfounded as the larger monster and his companions jumped onto the derailed train.

—Shit!— exclaimed Jonah.

Without a second thought, the student turned and ran away in a hurry. Arturo took a moment to appreciate the monsters. They rushed at the people closest to them, crushing them mercilessly. The people around them screamed and fled in terror. Arturo also ran away.

-----------------------------------------

He and Jonah fled at full speed across the wide space of the canyon, toward the rocks and imposing stone towers farther inland. They dared not look back until they were far away. Without breaking their run, they scrambled between the rock columns in a hurry.

The monsters did not pursue them, but were heading in their general direction after a larger group of people. The young men made their way through the rocky narrows, without stopping. At that they noticed the entrance to a cave at the base of one of the thick columns, and they went inside.

Only then did they dare to catch their breath, but not to stop. They went deeper into the dark, cold cave.

Jonah took out a device from his pocket that resembled a remote control, from which a small ball of light appeared, rose into the air above his head and stayed there, moving with him to illuminate him. Thus they made their way through the long tunnel. The floor was uneven and uncomfortable, but the overall diameter was large enough for both of them to walk without bending down.

As he walked, Arturo thought that these creatures could surely appear from anywhere in that cave, for they seemed to have no trouble burrowing through the roughest terrain. That thought did not relieve him in the least. He had to come up with a solution, a way to deal with them.

He looked to Jonah. He knew Nudo much better than he did.

—Hey— he called to him.

—Don't "hey" me, you dumb slave— Jonah protested.

—Do you have a way to face the monsters?— asked Arturo.

The student was puzzled at first by this question, but shook his head.

—If I could, I would have done it by now. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm nowhere near being a mage yet.

—And you don't know of any weaknesses they have? Anything we can use to defend ourselves?

—No, slave. I know as much about those beasts as you do— Jonah replied, irritated. He too had been trying to find a way out of his problem, but not even his vast knowledge could help him. The only thing to do was to flee and hope that someone could rescue them.

The cave grew colder and colder as they advanced, but no more illuminated. A little late it occurred to them that it might not be a tunnel and that at some point they would reach the end of the path, but before they could worry about that, a sudden tremor startled them.

—What's going on?!— asked Jonah.

Arturo didn't bother to answer, too focused on his surroundings. He had experienced a few tremors in his life, but never one inside a cave. All he could do was look for the most conical places in the sky to perch under and wait for it to pass. But before he could do so, a pair of claws shattered the wall next to him and let one of the monsters through. It was not as large as the one that had derailed the train, but its size exceeded both boys anyway.

When they saw it, they ran in the same direction they had been going, running even faster into the depths of the cave as the furry beast chased them, clawing at the air.

—Slave, defend me!— commanded Jonah.

—Don't be an idiot!— exclaimed Arturo.

They both looked at each other's faces. They understood that either could grab hold of the other to propel him backwards and leave him at the monster's mercy. If Arturo did so, he would be free of his master, and if Jonah did so, he would have a better chance of escape. Both prepared to react to the other's grip, but neither dared to take the first step, not to take someone's life.

Terrified of being the first to die, they tried to keep an eye on each other while keeping their eyes on the road, which caused them to stumble and fall face first to the ground at the same time. The monster jumped at them both, menacingly. The boys understood that this would be the end, cursing their fate in their minds.

Suddenly the floor beneath them spun like a trap door and sent them and the monster tumbling into an empty space. They slid down a dark tunnel screaming in fear. At the end of their path, the tunnel dropped them. Both boys stretched out hands and feet to break their fall, but before that, they stopped in mid-air.

The up and the down became indistinguishable. For a moment they thought they had died, but suddenly they became aware of the presence of a light radiating from the place. They were in a large, circular room with beautiful designs on the walls. It was a secret room.

The same force that had once detained them allowed them to descend slowly, until they were deposited with the greatest of care on the stone floor. Arturo noticed the monster behind them, worried at its proximity, but upon seeing it he noticed that the beast had suddenly calmed down. It hadn't simply lost the urge to devour them, but seemed to have entered a state of deep relaxation. The young man realized that he too, felt much more relieved than he had in weeks. The calm was thick, it almost seemed as if the air around the three of them was a thick liquid.

Jonah, in the meantime, gazed at the source of light with devotion, as if he had encountered a sacred text or a living saint. Arturo also turned his gaze toward the light, and although it radiated throughout the secret room with great intensity, the source itself did not blind him for a moment.

In the center of the room stood a child, or so it seemed at first to Arturo. It was a big-headed, round-eared, hairless boy. He hovered in the air in a meditative pose, eyes closed and legs crossed. His body was the source of light, like a soothing lamp.

—What is that?— asked Arturo.

Jonah gave him a look of indignation, then he pointed to the beaming child

—That's a lumini, a creature with an intelligence far greater than we can comprehend!

Strangely, he knew the answer even before Jonah answered it, as if something had injected the information into his brain as soon as he put it into words. But he ignored this feeling for the moment, for what Jonah was saying reminded him of his explanation about the luminis.

—Aren't those luminis the ones who grant the gift of magic?— he asked.

Yes, those same ones.

Again, he felt that the answer came out of nowhere before Jonah opened his mouth.

Both young men remained silent and looked at the luminous boy. He seemed not to have noticed their presence, or perhaps he was just ignoring them.

—I see. So he saved us from the monster— Arturo observed— Hey, couldn't you ask him to help us with the rest? Surely he can save the people on the surface.

For the third time the answer came automatically. No, he couldn't do it, but he could help.