—Is that the same octopus that attacked us?!— recognized Erica.

Then the monster looked at them with its big eye and started swimming towards them. Liliana and Arturo didn't know if it was better to defend themselves or swim faster, but Erica grabbed them and pushed them as far as she could, making them to understand that she would take care of the matter. Still, their oxygen was running out, and although the brika had some diving experience, it would not be enough for her to take on the monster alone.

Desperate, Liliana and Arturo swam in haste as the tentacled lizard headed toward Erica to bite her to pieces. Erica grabbed it by the jaw, protecting her hand and foot with timitio to keep its teeth from piercing her. The monster advanced, trying to push her inside, but Erica showed her enormous strength and resisted for a long time, until the monster slammed her against the wall next to the door. It then closed its mouth tightly, but the girl was quicker. Instead of giving herself time to recover from the blow, she stuck to the wall using her timitio and slid quickly towards the door. She grabbed her friends on the fly, who were already close behind, and together they pushed through the exit.

Much of the water remained in the previous room, so they were able to rest somewhat in the corridor where they emerged. The monster looked at them with its beach ball-sized eye. Then it was gone.

Erica leaned against the wall and examined her wound; it had opened up again. Blood was oozing out everywhere.

—Agh, shit!— she cursed, covering herself again with timitio.

The three of them caught their breath. It was frustrating not to be able to defend themselves against such creature, but their options were very limited within the water.

—Damn octopus fish!— grunted Erica, once she felt better— Next time I see it, I'll pull out all its tentacles.

—I'd love to never see it again— commented Liliana.

—We will— indicated Arturo.

—Do you think so?

—We are still close to the beach, this area is a bit narrow for something of its size. Also, it has already attacked us twice. I think someone is controlling it.

—Saponcio?— Erica guessed.

Arturo nodded.

—What's more, I'm pretty sure he hasn't been able to open the big door behind the middle waterfall either— he ventured— and we didn't see him on the way to the lab either, so that only leaves us one alternative.

Arturo pointed to the other end of the hallway, the end of the path. The girls followed the line of his finger and understood what he meant.

—Do you think he's up ahead?— asked Erica.

—According to the map, at the end of this corridor is the last room, just above the waterfall room.

—And why not in the room with the big door?— asked Liliana.

—Well, Saponcio is looking for something, isn't he?— the boy reminded them— someone as old as him doesn't have the energy to go around kidnapping people and putting them in strange laboratories out of fetishes. Maybe he wants to get the staff he told us about, maybe it's something else. Whatever it is, he's behind the big door and he's done a lot of bad things to get it.

Together, they walked down the corridor to the last room. After opening the door, they found themselves in a huge dome. From the sky, a fountain hung like a chandelier, dropping water into the huge pool that filled the entire space, wall to wall. A few platforms about two meters in diameter floated above the water, scattered throughout the area. If one gained momentum, they could jump from one to another to go around the chamber. The children scanned the huge room with their eyes, until they noticed a large fin moving across the surface. Then it disappeared for a moment. Suddenly the water monster arced in front of one of the platforms on the other side of the room to dive back down. There, standing on the platform, was a person. He had a pointed hat, a loose-fitting tunic with wide sleeves and a gray cane a little over a meter long.

—Saponcio— the children recognized him.

He smiled at them.

—Oh, look, I found the cane— he said excitedly, but none of the youngsters believed his charade. Seeing their faces of repudiation, the old man left the façade.

Erica wanted to rush into the fray, but Arturo stopped her with a wave of his hand and stepped forward. He needed to understand.

—Saponcio, why did you do all this?— he asked him— What's behind the door that can't be opened?

The old man seemed surprised at this.

—So you noticed that door, huh? Never mind— he stretched out his arms— This whole temple is built around that little room, boy, and do you know why? Because there's a judge in there.

—A judge?— repeated the boy.

—Exactly, don't you know them? They are... special beings. They are not animals or machines, but they are intelligent, more than us, even more than the luminis. The Judges are by far the most intelligent beings in the whole universe, no one can compare to them and no one can understand them. With one thought they can destroy a world, and with another they can rebuild it. They are gods, boy.

—And why do you want to release the Judge from that room? Do you think he'll grant you a favor or something?

—Release?!— repeated Saponcio, as if mocking him— What are you talking about, stupid boy? Didn't you hear what I told you? Judges are free to roam all over the universe. No, I'm not looking to "free" anyone, I just want some of their power— then he touched his head with the cane— mental connections, boy. We mages can manage the world around us by moving these invisible arms that come out of our heads. We can strengthen them a little, we can make them a tiny bit longer, but we can't create more than we already have... so far.

Arturo stepped back, puzzled by the idea that Saponcio was explaining to him.

—You want to take magic away from other mages!— he accused, disgusted— You're sick!

—What?!— the girls exclaimed.

Saponcio seemed happy that Arturo understood.

—That's what my theory is all about, boy. Increasing one person's magical potential by using the connections of others. And you'll be part of my experiment too!

—You're not getting your hands on Arturo!— roared Liliana, with Brontes ready in her hands.

Then Erica sprinted at the old man, jumping from platform to platform at full speed. However, the space between them was huge, enough to give the old mage time to react. He used his magic to control the water around her and lift her up in a torrent.

—Ah, Miss Erica Sanz, the famous brika wanted by the government!— he said, and then turned to the others— and you are Liliana and Arturo. Did you think I wouldn't recognize you? Did you think I would give my precious book to criminals? Ha! You are naive. I will deliver the two girls and I will keep your head, boy, thanks to you I will be the most powerful mage of all time!

But while Saponcio was speaking, Arturo ran towards Erica to control the walls against which she was held by the torrent of water. He created a shield to protect her from the flow. The girl fell into the water, but then the old man trapped them both in liquid spheres, like round pools from which they could not escape. They tried to swim out, but the water swirled around them and prevented them from advancing to the surface. Nor could they breathe inside.

While the old man was entertaining them, Liliana set off in the opposite direction to approach him from behind. Her friends looked at her anxiously, but before she got very far, the monster appeared above her, from a hatch in the sky above the room, and lunged at her with its gaping maw. Liliana screamed and jumped in time, avoiding the octopus—fish's teeth. However, this alerted Saponcio. In an instant he enclosed her in a sphere of water and held her up in the air so that she would not try anything with her pointed munima.

At that moment, Arturo extracted a pillar from the nearest stone platform, which he pulled into his bubble and propelled it out. He immediately did the same with Erica.

—I'll get you out of the water— he assured her— You focus on Saponcio!

—Right!

The brika immediately stuck to the wall to slide through it. She had to remove the timitio from her shoulder to do so, but by that time, a slight scab had formed. She had to be careful not to open it. The girl quickly circled the room, dodging Saponcio's torrents of water.

At the same time, Arturo returned to the stone platform and extracted a solid disk to use as a transport. He quickly crossed the chamber to take Liliana out of her prison.

—Liliana!— he shouted, worried.

—I know!— she assured him, after falling down beside him— Let's go!

Erica approached Saponcio at full speed, dodging his water attacks with grace. Finally she jumped straight towards him to knock him out with a powerful punch in the face, however before she could touch him, a tentacle grabbed her ankle without her noticing and slammed her against the nearest platform. Erica's body shattered part of the rock surface and bounced off the blow. The monster had her.

Liliana and Arturo quickly approached.

—Help her, I'll take care of Saponcio!— Liliana asked.

—Alright!

The flying platform passed by the old man. Liliana jumped to face him. Arturo, in the meantime, approached the monster that was trying to devour Erica and formed person—sized stone stakes to throw at it, but the octopus-fish dodged them as if it could read his mind. Seeing a new threat nearby, he pushed the girl aside to attack him; it quickly leapt towards the young mage in midair. The latter tried to dodge it, but failed. The aquatic creature's teeth pushed him and pulled him into the water, dragging him to the bottom. The boy tried to escape, but the strength of the octopus-fish was too much for him. One of its huge fangs buried itself in his leg. The boy wanted to scream from the pain, but he couldn't even do that. He had no choice but to cling to the monster, helpless.

The pain was tremendous, the pressure of the water increasing. He could not think straight. He could see no solution.

—I'm going to die— he thought.

Erica and Liliana were not in a position to help him, he only had himself.

Despite the pain and shortness of breath, he looked at the monster and his surroundings for ideas. But there was nothing but water. His arms were losing strength, his eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. He was weakening fast, soon he would let go and the monster would eat him whole.

—I have only a few seconds left... — he thought, strangely, less alarmed than before— but I'm sleepy. Maybe I should... sleep.

He closed his eyes, ready to cease to exist.

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

When he opened them again, he realized he was not dead.

He was in a dark place, so dark he didn't know if it was outside or inside. Nor did it seem that distance was something consistent, even existent.

Then he looked to the sides. He noticed a luminous figure in the distance. He took a couple of steps and found it in front of him, as if it had skipped the space between them. It was an owl, taller and thinner than he was. It seemed to be watching... the universe. The whole existence at once, as if it were a picture.

—Amh... Hello?— greeted Arturo.

The owl didn't answer, but for some reason the boy felt it was paying attention to him.

—Who... Who are you?— he dared to ask.

"Judge."

That word was neither uttered nor heard, it simply appeared in the boy's mind. It was similar to what the lumini did; it wasn't as if someone told him, but as if they stuck an arm into his brain and pulled out the answer from inside.

—A judge?! One of those Saponcio was talking about?

"Yes."

The boy was silent for a while. He remembered his visions of when he approached the city and wondered if it was that Judge who had been calling him.

"At this moment you are near death" the Judge explained to him.

—Oh, right. I had forgotten....

He remained silent for another while, somewhat depressed.

—But... Why did you bring me here? Do you have something to tell me before I go to the other side?— the boy guessed.

"I didn't bring you" the judge explained "You called me. You seek knowledge".

—Knowledge?— he wondered— Oh, right. I wanted to know how to control the water, although... well, it doesn't matter much anymore. I'm going to die anyway, aren't I?

"Not if you don't want to".

—Ah?

"You don't need to seek knowledge, you already possess it. You already know how to control water, you just don't know how to bring it into your consciousness".

—Ah... —the boy nodded, not quite understanding— Did you say I can choose to survive?

"Nothing really dies, you would only return to the whole. If you die, your body will reintegrate with the universe, your mind will return to knowledge. You will remember everything that is, what is, what was and what will be, you will only lose your ego".

—Ah, so that's what happens when we die... remain ignorant or die. It's a hard choice... but for now I'd like to live.

The Judge said nothing, he remained staring into the void.

—Is there anything I should do?

"Knowledge" the judge reminded him.

—But how do I get...?

At that moment, however, two humanoid creatures appeared from the sides; one was large and sturdy, made of earth and metal, while the other was thin, made of water.

"The whole does not hold the truth of its secrets, it is the individuals who fail to comprehend it" explained the Judge "surrender yourself to the knowledge, to the whole. Stop making noise and listen, the universe speaks to you".

Arturo looked at the humanoid figures, disgruntled. Then, the big one made of earth took him by the hands and began to dance with him. It was a half-forced dance, she was leading him, but he had no problem letting himself go. He quickly got used to the rhythm and managed to adapt to the earth creature's brute movements. As he danced he understood that this dance meant his magic. He could dance with the solids perfectly, even if the result was not very pretty.

Then the solid figure left him and withdrew. It was the liquid figure's turn. The boy looked at it, waiting for it to approach him to take him as the solid figure had done, but it did not. The liquid figure stayed in place, shy. The boy held out a hand, which she grasped, but did no more.

—I'm missing something— Arturo said to himself— come on, aren't you going to dance?

"Aren't 'you' going to dance?" she answered.

There he understood why he had failed to control the water; it was his personality. Solids worked with absolutes, for each particle was glued very well to the others. That meant a mage could hold a large size with his magic, even if the mage was a scrawny boy. The liquids slipped, ran wherever they wanted downward. One hand was not enough, he needed a container just to make them stay in one place; simple commands, as with solids, would not be useful for a flow. He had to guide it.

So the boy pulled the liquid figure's hand, which followed him smoothly. He spun it around, moved it all over the dance floor, made it copy his movements and made it smile, mirroring him.

—I get it, it was so simple— he said to himself— I had to dance differently, that was all.