The snake woman crossed the distance between the two again, in the blink of an eye, as Liliana tried to understand what Brontes was referring to.

And suddenly she remembered: the timitio fountain, the bridge leading to the exit, Erica jumping to sacrifice herself for her and Arturo, then them jumping to defend her. But she didn't remember fighting the territi, at least not like she always did. On that occasion what came out of her was a black tornado that hit her enemies with a speed that was hard to follow with the eye. In that moment of desperation, Liliana had been able to handle Brontes as Vikala did with her dagger. For a moment, Liliana and Brontes had been one.

—That's it!

Vikala began to increase the speed of her slashes. But instead of concentrating on blocking them and using Brontes as a shield, Liliana made him melt with her arms. Then Vikala buried the tip of her dagger in her other shoulder. Liliana felt it, but Brontes pushed the pain away from her brain so she could concentrate. In one motion she removed the knife and counterattacked Vikala. The naga evaded Brontes and continued attacking, but Liliana deflected her slash and lashed out again. The naga drew her other dagger to block the blade.

They stayed like that for a second, until Vikala realized she had used her second weapon.

—Hehehe, looks like your two friends are saved— she commented.

She looked at Liliana, as if waiting for an answer, but the girl said nothing. Her face had lost all expression, her eyes glowed slightly in the darkness of the room. Liliana had stopped being distracted by fear or small movements and had all her concentration on the critical points of her opponent.

Both made distance and then attacked again. Their arms moved fast as the wind, their weapons clashed with such frequency that the impacts seemed more like machine guns firing than sharp blades.

Liliana didn't understand what was going on, her eyes couldn't see Víkala's daggers, but she could more or less feel them as they approached her. Her arms moved with precition to counter her. Brontes had transformed her arms into spirits and merged with them to give her that speed. Liliana didn't even feel the brush of air.

Both attacked each other and blocked the other with their sharp weapons at several slashes per second. They were more or less evenly matched, though Vikala looked blissful.

—That's it, Lili!— she celebrated— You're getting the hang of it, but you're still no match for me!

The naga drew her stinger forward and thrust it into the shower of sharp blades with which she was attacking the girl. The girl was overpowered, but then, out of nowhere, Erica jumped at the naga at full speed and rammed her with a headbutt. She lost her balance for a moment, but before she could regain it, a pillar of rock shot up from the ground diagonally and hit her in the stomach with great force.

In that moment of distraction, when Vikala's body was reacting to the blow, Liliana noticed the tip of her tail in front of her eyes. She unintentionally snapped out of her speed trance, but did not lose sight of her target. With her muninma held firmly in her hands, she braced herself and traced a clean cut to slash the tail completely.

In a few seconds Víkala recovered and raised her tail to defend herself even before she knew what was happening, but as she did so she realized that the tip, which held her stinger, did not respond. Puzzled, she turned to look at it. She felt a strong tingling in the area. She noticed it was impossible to keep it rigid.

—Ah, it's asleep— she noticed.

She realized that Liliana had put the tip of her tail to sleep, and with it, her munima. Before Vikala could pull herself together, a pile of rock emerged from the ground and formed a solid tower around, trapping her. The structure covered almost her entire body, except for her tail, which protruded from a hole underneath, and her head, which she could not fit through the hole in her neck.

Víkala tried to break free, tried to break through the rock structure and turn into a shadow to slip underneath, but she couldn't even do that. After a few seconds of struggle, she realized that those children had beaten her.

Puzzled, she looked at each of them. She was sure she had paralyzed Erica and Arturo, yet both had surprised her in the end. But when she looked at Erica she found her lying on the floor, just as paralyzed as before. Then she looked at Arturo, just the same.

—How did you two attack me like that?— she pleaded, dumbfounded.

—Hehe. Surprised?— said Erica— You didn't take into account that I can still move with my timitio.

And to prove it, she did a couple of sliding laps. She couldn't move a muscle, but her timitio could carry her and even make her jump, with some momentum. Then Víkala turned to Arturo.

—The same, the magic is in the mind, not in the body— explained the boy— the movements with the hands helps, but they are not necessary.

Finally Vikala looked at Liliana, who seemed to be having a conversation with Brontes at that moment. The girl noticed that she was being watched, so she focused on her enemy. But Vikala smiled at her.

—Haha, you'll make an excellent ghost, Lili. That was a great duel.

—Amh... thank you.

—Stopping my tail was a very clever strategy, for someone who doesn't know much about how munimas work. You were trying to do that from the beginning?

—What?! No, not at all! —she assured— it just came to me at the time... although I'm sure Arturo had it planned, didn't he?

—I thought it wasn't wrong to try— admitted the boy.

—What do you mean... you three had all that planned?!— guessed Vikala.

The children stared at her in amazement. Erica and Arturo tried to shrug their shoulders, but they were paralyzed and couldn't move them, so Liliana did it for them.

—We just know each other— she revealed.

—Awwww! You guys are so cute you'll make me puke. I couldn't kill you even if my boss asked me to— she admitted— Okay, I'll show you the way to Tur.

Liliana jumped in surprise.

—That's right, I forgot that the world leaders are in danger!

Vikala and Erica laughed at that, though Liliana meant it.

—But how am I going to get the two of them to fight with Tur like that?— Liliana argued.

—Vikala, can you unparalyze us?— asked Erica.

—Of course! Just get me out of here and I'll do it right away.

—No way!— yelled Liliana.

Vikala laughed again.

—Very well, Lili! You're right, if you got me out of here, I'd knock all three of you out... and I don't have the ability to unparalyze anyone, although a mage might.

The girls turned to Arturo, but he didn't look very hopeful.

—If I could do that, I would have tried long ago.

—Oh, no! What can we do?

—What if we use our potions?— the mage asked.

Liliana hit her head.

—Of course, I forgot all about it!

Quickly, the girl went through her friends' clothes to take out the potions and give it to them. In a few seconds Erica and Arturo were up, their small wounds and scratches dissappeared. Then the boy healed Liliana's wounds.

—Did it hurt?— asked the boy.

—Yes, but it's not that bad. Erica usually takes much worse.

Finally they were ready. They approached Vikala one last time.

—So, where is Tur?— Erica asked.

—Just go to the ladies room in this building, at the back there is a bridge that will take you straight to him.

—Okay. That better be true, or we'll be back— Erica threatened her.

Vikala laughed with her mouth shut, but said nothing. Then she watched them walk away, until they disappeared behind the threshold of the bathroom. The children went to the back, where a bridge turned in the wall.

—This smells like a trap— mumbled Arturo.

—We have no other choice, it's our only clue— Erica reminded him.

—We have to save the leaders of the world— stated Liliana.

Erica took a step forward and turned to her friends.

—Behind that bridge is probably Tur. Kan'fera and Vikala are no match for him in power. Are you ready to go and face him?

—Ready!— they both exclaimed.

The brika smiled.

—Alright!

Without further ado, Erica rushed headlong towards the bridge, followed by Liliana and Arturo.

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

When she came out on the other side, she saw a night sky stretching out on all sides, then an ocean curving across the horizon and finally the lights on the land, far, far, far, far away. Then they realized they were hundreds of meters up in the sky. There weren't many clouds, but they saw some below them, then above them. They were falling with nothing to slow them down.

Puzzled, Erica turned to look up at the sky, where she found a double spiral fixed in the air. The bridge was not attached to any surface, it was simply floating in the sky.

—DAMN YOU TUUUUUUUUUUUR!— she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The ground was still far away, but she didn't have much time to curse her luck. She started to think.

—We're falling, we don't have a parachute. There are three of us. I have my timitio My timitio!

Erica spread her arms and legs, and used her timitio to form membranes between her limbs to catch the air like a flying squirrel. The sudden change in speed caused a jolt, perhaps the most comforting she would ever experience in her life. She slowed down enough to get close enough to Liliana and Arturo, who grabbed her tightly. She held them both as well.

—Arturo!— she shouted in his ear— Any ideas?

The boy was about to shake his head. Nothing came to his mind, but then he saw Erica's timitio. He quickly pointed at her and made a parachute shape with his hands.

Erica understood and pulled her friends even closer so that they could hug her tightly by the neck. She then formed a parachute with her timitio, squeezing it to get the maximum area out of it. They immediately felt a tug upward that slowed their fall a little more, but they were still falling too fast.

—We're still going to die!— Erica cried.

—I have an idea!— asserted Arturo— I'll take care of the landing!

So they descended with a timitio parachute, no bigger than a car window. As they fell, the children identified some of the buildings and geography of the area. They were no longer in their home country, but in Brandia, a country on another continent with one of the headquarters of the United Nations.

Soon they descended to two hundred meters. From there they could see the streets and the tanks of the nonis. Suddenly, Arturo pointed to a large building, an ancient palace with modern repairs.

—Tur must be there!— he said, for he had recognized the room where the First had recorded himself with the leaders of the world.

Erica changed course toward that building. They were going at several kilometers per hour and if they slamed into the roof like that, they would be crushed to death. However Arturo took control of the solid surface and greatly increased the volume of a specific area to turn it into a rock bubble.

—Do you want me to land there?— asked the brika.

—Yes, there!

So Erica pointed at the bubble. The children fell down with a crash, so fast that they smashed the bubble and continued downward. They hit several planks and beams, but gradually slowed their fall. They finally broke through the ceiling and fell the last thirty meters on their own, but from that height they had no problem at all; Erica held her friends, extended her timitio from her feet and inserted the parasyte like fine nails into the ground. Then she slowly descended until her feet touchd the floor.

They found themselves in a huge room, with marble stairs leading up to an elevated area. At the top, a large-horned orange noni awaited them on a beautiful throne carved in stone.

There was no turning back now.