Beard-Beard and his crew packed up and left before more territi appeared. Meanwhile, Erica went to the edge of the timitio lagoon to psych herself up. She was going to try to take in as much of it as possible, only she had never been in contact with so much at the same time. She had heard some rumors about forteme in similar situations. It was said that if the person was the one who controlled the amount of exposure to the flow, they would know how much was enough and could stop at the right time. Only she had never done it, she was nervous. Liliana and Arturo looked at her from behind, somewhat anxious.

—Hey, Arturo— Liliana called to him.

—Yes?

—Why didn't you want me to intervene before?— she asked.

—Oh, that. Well, it's just that we need Beard-Beard's anti-riti weapon— said the boy— and at the same time it would be wrong of us to let those guys take as much timitio as they want. They don't look fully prepared. If they take timitio in machines, one of these breaks on the trip and a leak occurs... well, I doubt any of them could handle it.

Liliana was surprised by this, she hadn't thought of that possibility. More than anything she was shocked that Erica had foreseen it.

—Did she watch out for the safety of the bandits?— she wondered.

Though on second thought, that wasn't very typical of Erica. No, surely she had forbidden them to take out timitio to make them angry. Yes, that had to be it.

At that moment she noticed that Erica was staring at them. For a moment she thought the forteme had guessed her thoughts and wanted to apologize, but she soon realized that Erica had no idea what was going on in her head, but was focused on her own problems.

—What's wrong?— she asked at last.

She already knew the answer, she was just saying it to let her friend vent.

—I'll probably become a territi one day— admitted the brika.

—Then don't do it— said Liliana.

—But I want to! I have to!

Liliana folded her arms and smiled at her. Erica appreciated the gesture, but didn't take her eyes off them.

—I'm afraid of going too far and hurt you two— she told them— normal people who transform into territi are already very strong, the newly converted are even stronger... I can't imagine what a brika territi would be like.

—You would surely destroy the whole world— joked Arturo— so there's no point in running away.

Liliana wanted to add another joke, but she was nervous too, she couldn't think of anything. Erica thought for a moment.

—Arturo, prepare a very sharp stake, just in case— she asked him— keep it close to my head, aim it straight at my brain.

—Do you want me to kill you if you turn into a territi?— the boy wondered.

—It would be better.

Arturo kept looking at her for several seconds, thinking at full speed. Finally he nodded.

—All right, but you'd better not get out of line. I've never killed anyone, and I don't want you to be the first.

Erica nodded, more relieved.

Liliana wanted to tell them not to do it, the anguish was stressing her out too much, but she kept quiet. When everything was ready, the brika approached the lagoon slowly, the long, compressed rock stake pointed at her temple at all times, less than thirty centimeters away. Next she knelt by the edge, stretched out a hand to the black liquid. An instant sooner than she had anticipated, the timitio leapt toward her. The last thing she heard was a horrible scream piercing through her fingers.

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

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a different, more familiar place. It was the dark room, her inner space, although there were some changes. Instead of the poorly kept, dimly lit room, she was in a bigger place, about the size of a classroom. The floor was black and so well washed that it looked like a mirror. The reflection showed in fine detail beneath her feet, perhaps a little too well. There were some pillars dividing the space.

All around her she could hear water running, people shouting. What could it be? Looking up, Erica noticed that a black liquid was seeping from two slits in the walls in a great flow. The liquid flowed and gathered in the center of the room, where an animal was. This animal was furry and black, and when the timitio touched it, it also screamed. Erica recognized it, it was the same little animal that she had cared for before, that she had held in her arms and comforted. It took her a second to remember why it was screaming so much.

—The ghosts!— she said to herself.

She hurried towards the animal, but as she began her run she noticed that the timitio was perched on the animal and making it grow, as if it were a sponge.

—It's ok! It's ok!— she said as she approached it— I'm here, don't be afraid!

The animal grew and grew, it was already her size. She wanted to touch it to see the ghosts too, but then something unexpected happened: the animal slapped her so hard that it sent her flying across the room towards the opposite wall. She crashed in pain. She fell. On the floor, she rubbed her back. It hurt, but she saw no blood and felt no broken bones.

—Right, this body is a mental representation— she said to herself— the pain is real, but the damage is not.

Then she looked at the beast, it was still growing. The timitio kept coming in.

—Enough!— she yelled, hoping that the black liquid would stop, but nothing happened— Cut it off! I can't take any more!

But the timitio did not answer. It was in its wild state; he could not understand her. Erica had to appeal to his instincts, or so she thought. She just had no idea how to do it in a mental representation. The beast let out a scream more deafening than the previous ones. It wasn't just afraid, something was starting to hurt. Erica grieved to see it suffer like that, but with that she realized: it was the beast, the animal was the key to stopping the timitio, for he was timitio and with him she could reason.

However in that state she could not simply hug him and talk to him. She didn't know what to do, but she had to try something. She stood up and approached him at full speed. The timitio was not stopping and the monster was still growing. She had no time to waste.

She quickly covered the distance to grab him by the claws. He tried to swat her away again. But this time she dodged it, and again when he sent another swipe at her. She noticed that the animal was not only afraid, it was also beginning to feel rage.

Then he kicked her, which she blocked with some trouble. The beast was becoming strong, perhaps stronger than she was. When suddenly, they made contact and everything became clear to her: she was fighting for her authority. The animal was trying to assert itself before her, to establish himself as the biggest and the strongest, the one who gave the orders. If it managed to do that in her mind, it would let all the timitio in, and if all the timitio came in, Erica would lose herself and become a territi.

—That's it! It's nothing but a power struggle— she said to herself.

Faced with her animal's rabid face, she accepted his challenge. She was going to beat it to earn the right to hug it and make it feel safe again.

The little monster was already passing her by a whole head, its arms and legs had become large sacks of timitio muscle and the diameter of its torso had grown from the size of a dog to that of a bear. His blows were powerful and would send her flying if she wasn't careful, but he was slow and still lacked technique, he was nothing more than a beast. Erica performed tricks to confuse him and took every advantage she could; she jumped over to kick him in the back of the head, dodged his blows to counterattack, hit the legs to make him fall and in the face so he couldn't see her. His body was recovering and still growing, but in his mind he was remembering who was in charge in that space. His attacks became fiercer, his screams more deafening. When he felt he could no longer stand Erica, he lashed out with his two arms like maces. The girl saw them coming, but stayed in place and grabbed them. The animal tried to break free, but Erica wouldn't let it. In that close position, she took a step forward, forcing it to retreat.

—Look at me!— she ordered.

The animal, nervous, noticed her imposing eyes.

—If you don't, I'll never be able to save you from your demons again!

This surprised him. Stunned, he stared at the slits that let timitio through into the room. The animal gave one last cry, with which all the remaining timitio retreated back the way it had come.

The hall was silent for a while. The cracks closed and the corners vanished, leaving nothing but the bare walls. Erica took several seconds to look around the room to make sure she had done it right.

—We did it!

She turned to the animal to look at it; it had grown a lot since the last time. Happy, she hugged it. Her timitio no longer looked like a little monster of the dark; unlike before. Now he stood upright, his eyes were in proportion to the size of his very human head, his paws had a claw separated from the rest, like a thumb, and he was no longer afraid of her.

—You look... more mature— Erica told him.

—Mat... matrrrr...— he repeated, awkwardly.

—You can talk?!

But her sudden excitement frightened him. The animal scurried off to a corner of the room, where it crouched down to take up as little space as possible.

—Hey, don't...— Erica approached it, but seeing its fear, she decided to keep her distance— Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you— she crouched down, to appear less threatening, holding out her hand face up. The monster looked at her, curious. When he recognized this gesture, he smiled at her.

—Ah!— he exclaimed, excited.

Erica smiled too.

—Now do you remember? I'm your friend...— then she had an idea— Can you say my name? I'm Erica. E-RI-CA.

She repeated each syllable slowly so that the monster would understand, while she pointed her hand at herself. Finally the animal began to understand, until it pointed at her.

—E-I-CA— it repeated as slowly as she did.

—E-RI-CA.

—E-I-I... HE-I-I...— the monster shook its head— E-R-I-CA!

—You did it!— she celebrated.

This time, instead of being frightened, the monster was happy. The girl stood up and prepared to say goodbye, when she realized that she didn't have a name for him. She hadn't thought it necessary before, but seeing that his intelligence was advancing, she figured it would be good to do so soon. She pointed at him, taking him by surprise.

—Emh... —though she hadn't thought of any names.

With Papel it had been hell, she just hoped this animal would be less picky. It had to be a simple name.

—Abyss— she said.

The animal smiled. Erica smiled too, relieved. He seemed to like it.

—Ab... Absss.

—A-B-Y-S-S— she corrected him.

—AB-Y-SS— he repeated.

—Good! That's your name— and to mark it in his mind, the girl pointed to herself and to him, repeating their names respectively until Abyss could do it on his own.

—A-byss— he said, and then pointed at her—E-ri-ca.

—Excellent, Abyss. I'm proud of you.

Abyss seemed pleased and amused with his new mind game. She, for her part, was exhausted. She leaned against one of the pillars nearby and fell asleep.

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

When she woke up again, she was back in the cave.

—Erica!— her friends exclaimed.

The girl rubbed her face with her hands and then sat up. She felt somewhat different, she felt that danger was near, that it stalked her at every moment, that she would soon die. She quickly understood that these were all indications of the enormous amount of timitio she kept in her body. She was at her limit; any more and she would succumb to fear.

—How long had it been?

—Five minutes— said Arturo.

—What?! So little?!— she wondered.

Although she was relieved, she hadn't had them alone for long against the territi around.

Slowly she stood up and tugged off her blouse. She had to see. She stretched out her arm and ordered her timitio, Abyss, to surface and measure himself. This one obeyed and covered her skin, from her fingertips, over her shoulder and almost to her neck. It covered up to the middle of her collarbone, a few ribs and a good part of her shoulder blade. Then she stretched out her other hand, which was also filled with timitio to elbow level. Her friends looked at her, not knowing if it was a good or bad thing.

—Is it what you wanted?— Liliana asked at last.

—Yes, it's more than I expected— she admitted— someday I'll be able to make a suit of armor out of my timitio. For that I must train and get stronger.

Liliana and Arturo nodded, happy to see her satisfied. She looked at them, grateful.

—Shall we go? I've had enough of this gloomy place.

—Yes, me too— commented Liliana.

They prepared to leave, but after a few steps, they noticed that the corridor where they had appeared was no longer there. The path led to a black rock wall that they recognized instantly.

—Timitio?!— the girl wondered— But how did it...?

"Forteme".

Erica turned around, puzzled. There was no one behind her, nor had she ever heard that voice in her life. She just knew she didn't like it. Whoever had called her, it felt like someone very unpleasant. Abyss inside her tensed, daunted. It was a similar feeling to the one she got from the territi, only that entity had barely had to call to her from afar to provoke her. It couldn't be anything good.

"You will come to me, Forteme. I will consume you...".

The alluded frowned. She didn't like it when powerful entities came after her.

—Erica?— Liliana called out to her, worried.

—We're trapped— the brika indicated.

—Territi!— pointed Arturo.

The girls turned around and found a horde of skeletal monsters, slowly approaching them. Erica understood what was happening; that voice calling her, that terrifying entity had set a trap for them. It had been waiting for them, specifically the three of them, and had caught them with no problems. All that time they had been in extreme danger and she hadn't realized it.

—Run...— she muttered, almost breathless.

Her friends looked at her, not knowing what to do.

—Run!— she yelled.

That made them react. Not wasting any more time, the three of them set off at full speed along the only stone path that rose above the timitio lagoon, going deeper and deeper into the cave.