From Igor's house to the Valley Campus it was not very close and the traffic at that time was a real chaos. To make matters worse, he was a bundle of nerves and the noise of the horns did not help much. They closed the windows and turned on the air conditioning, which eased the noise pollution and the heat, despite April being high.

"I'll try to escape to Ipiranga Avenue," said Valdo, keeping calm, "maybe it's better there."

"Ok." Igor leaned back in his seat and tried to relax, absorbing the rays of the sun that hit him head on. He was so tense that he looked like a guitar string about to burst. "As long as we get there as soon as possible, go wherever you want."

"You could use your powers to get us out of this," said Valdo.

"I could," confessed his friend, "but I'm still very weak and I don't know what awaits me there. Better not to risk it."

They had a little more luck and, after passing the PUC, the avenue was almost empty. Valdo took advantage and sped up a lot more, but stayed within the limit because there were some radars. Less than fifteen minutes later, they parked at the university. Igor used to park his car behind the building of the Physics Institute because it was easier to park, besides having a little shade from the still small trees. The ground was beaten earth, covered with small gravel, all in the color of clay.

"Don't forget to stay in control," advised Valdo, getting out of the car with his friend and looking around. "Remember that he can use your emotions against you."

As soon as he closed the door, he saw Samuel appear with a mocking air and Igor advance in his direction, furious. Valdo approached his friend quickly.

"Look at the little fagot driving her husband's car," he began, provocatively. "What will Eduarda think knowing that you slept together?"

"Where is she," asked Igor, clenching his teeth. "What did you do to my fiancee?"

Valdo saw Igor losing control and tried to poke him several times to see if he calmed down, but to no avail. He had no choice but to become a mere spectator, aware that it would end very badly.

"Ex... ex-fiancee, Igor," continued Samuel, laughing. "She's very upset with all this betrayal, my dear."

The freshman's answer was predictable, but Valdo noticed that Igor, in his anger, did not act with due coherence.

"Listen well, you scum," he said, advancing towards him, very threatening. "With or without that black monster helping you, if you don't tell me what you did to my bride, I swear I'll kill you in such a terrible agony that you'll wish you hadn't been born."

If the goal was to provoke fear in the enemy, he was not successful, because Samuel just laughed at the threat, answering:

"She doesn't want you anymore, dude," he said teasingly. "But, if you don't believe me, you'll hear it from her mouth, okay?"

Those words calmed him down a little, knowing that Eduarda was fine and nearby. Once again Valdo approached and appealed to his friend's common sense, still without result.

"As soon as she shows up, Valdinho," muttered Igor, "you take Eduarda and get away from us that I'll give him a taste of his own medicine."

Then, he raised his voice and continued:

"Where is she, Samuel," he demanded, very angry. "It's your last chance before I turn you into a carbonized fossil."

Laughing, Samuel gestured to a gap between two annexed buildings. From where the pair was, it was not possible to see anything because of the angle, but the colleague reinforced with a request:

"Come, my love, tell him that now you are my girlfriend and not that lover of faggots."

Igor looked at that corner, but kept a close eye on Samuel, in case he did something. Eduarda emerged from there, unscathed, and came towards them. Relieved, Igor smiled and waited for his fiancee, but she approached Samuel and hugged his waist. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to her groom, smiling.

"You deceived me, Igor," she said with a voice that sounded normal, although showing irritation. "All this time you cheated on me with Valdinho. I should have suspected your friendship with faggots, saying you weren't prejudiced."

Igor took a long time to digest the few words that reached his ears. When he realized, he was left without any reaction, feeling his head throbbing and his heart racing. As if he were a fish out of water, with his eyes wide open and his mouth opening and closing without saying anything, he felt the same thing that someone would feel if a rug were pulled out from under his feet. Seconds later, he recovered, but Valdo, once again, grabbed his arm and muttered:

"Calm down, dude, that's not the Duda and you know. She would never think like that—"

Igor ignored him, shocked. He looked into her eyes and said:

"What did you say?" His voice was almost gone and his breathing was panting. "Honey, did someone hit you on the head? Are you okay? It's not possible!"

"I don't want to look at your face anymore, Igor." That was her answer, dry, short and blunt. "It's all over. Now I'm his girlfriend, got it? Forget I exist. There's no more engagement and much less marriage."

"Eduarda, this can't be serious. For God's sake, are you influenced by—"

"Enough, go away," she shouted. The girl turned her back and walked away, not before kissing Samuel's lips, laughing. "I'm going to class, my love, see you later."

Even Valdo couldn't contain himself anymore, so surprised, but he noticed perfectly that Igor was on the verge of losing control and was not surprised at all when he muttered:

"Get away from me, fast, try to talk to her and try to find out what happened to her that I'll finish off this miserable."

― ☼ ―

When he saw that plus the mocking smile of his colleague, Igor felt his blood boiling and his hands tingling. After asking his friend to step away, he didn't wait for anything and almost shouted:

"What did you do to her, you demon?"

He only heard a macabre laugh, that one so well known to him and that starred most of his worst nightmares until he met Eduarda and knew that peace had come to an end. He still saw his friend hurrying towards one of the physics buildings, where Eduarda went, but nothing else made sense to him. His sight focused only on the opponent in front of him and concentrated all his hatred on him.

Desperate and hurt, he let out a huge scream and attacked.

― ☼ ―

Valdo tried to obey as quickly as possible because it was clear that he could do nothing more to calm his friend. He followed the same path as Eduarda, but she had disappeared. Worried, he thought it better to protect himself there and wait for the outcome of things in order to help Igor if he needed it. He stayed close enough to be able to follow the outcome of the confrontation, but without taking risks.

They were both facing each other about twenty steps away and, despite the seriousness of the situation, Valdo couldn't help noticing the funny thing about it because only the suspense music was missing before the duel, as if it were a western movie. He looked back at the two, noticing that they were right in the middle of the alley that formed between the various parked cars, with Samuel laughing, very confident of himself and it was at that moment that he heard a scream that expressed everything, from pain to fury, passing by pure sadness.

Igor reacted explosively, giving a scream that sounded more like a thunder at the same time that he began to glow in the traditional green color. The sky flashed and Valdo shrank, frightened as his friend, without blinking, raised his hands and threw two plasma spheres with all his strength, hitting the freshman who was caught off guard.

It was an unthinking act that could have caused a violent and devastating explosion, with enough power to create a huge crater and the destruction of one or two nearby buildings, but Igor was not lucid enough to see or think about the consequences. In compensation, the strange colleague was hit squarely because he did not expect such a reaction and received a charge whose power could not be calculated. The thermal energy of millions of degrees hit him and ran through his body, wounding him, but without the fulminating effect that should have occurred: the immediate carbonization of the body shot. As soon as he fired the spheres, Igor raised both hands and intense discharges of red and violet rays came out towards the target. Despite the sunny day, anyone who looked directly would be quite dazzled. All Igor noticed was that Samuel began to become deformed, looking like a shadow with a humanoid shape.

Knowing that he would not withstand the impact of a third plasma ball, the creature tore the planar structure and fled without thinking because it was a little weak to react in time.

With wide eyes, Valdo watched it all without understanding things very well. First he saw Eduarda do something shocking and unbelievable, then his fiance lost his composure and attacked with magical arts a college colleague. He noticed that the violence of the attack was extreme and also that Igor did not seem to be in his normal judgment, but what impressed him the most was the transformation of the freshman into something that seemed inhuman and that fled the same way he saw at Igor's house. The last thing he witnessed was his friend running to the gap where a different landscape appeared and shouting to him with a desperate voice, throwing him a bunch of keys:

"Take care of her, dude, please."

After that, Igor plunged into the opening and disappeared, chasing whatever Samuel was. Valdo still stood still for a while looking at the place where seconds before the passage to another world was open. Without having anything to do, he shrugged, picked up the keys from the floor and went to the classroom to look for Eduarda, without finding her.

― ☼ ―

Igor ran to hunt the enemy who turned back into the black and shapeless entity that always pursued him relentlessly, even in his darkest nightmares, but now the roles were reversed, giving him renewed confidence.

Where they were at that moment, it was dark and very cold, besides silent. Used to seeing different worlds through the thirteen planes, Igor did not care about the details of the place where he passed, a planet similar to Earth and in full dusk, but at a latitude that seemed to be quite high and perhaps in winter, since the temperature was very low, about ten degrees which was not serious for someone used to harsh winters, even if he was wearing a T-shirt as was the case.

The dusk came so quickly that it became more and more complicated to chase a shadow in the middle of the darkness, but he still did not give up, running like crazy and following the sound of the shrill laughter that Samuel let out from time to time and that helped to locate the correct direction.

In a short time, they ran through a large clearing, with nothing to protect either of them. In an instant reaction, Igor threw up a very bright ball of light that hovered in the air about fifty meters high and illuminated the whole place, revealing the position of the enemy.

Still without wasting time, he threw two balls of plasma energy of an intense yellow that exploded in front of the black demon, making him stop at the edge of the lava crater that formed, almost falling inside. Illuminated by the magma created by the opponent, Samuel looked even more frightening. He turned to the antagonist and said:

"Do you think you can defeat someone like me, Igor?" he let out another laugh. "All your actions are predictable, you fool. Do you think you can defeat all the power of the Guardians united?"

"The Guardians united yes, I can defeat," exploded the wizard, furious. "I can defeat all the wizards of the Universe and you too will have your end, bad thing; it's all a matter of time."

"Poor idiot," mocked the shadow, "your head is an open book to me. Everything you do, I know before it happens. The fact that you caught me off guard on Earth is not a sign that you will do it again. You are here in front of me because I wanted it to be so and I guided you with my noise—"

Igor did not wait for him to finish talking. His body was coated with the green barrier, as always, and began to throw plasma balls in the direction of the shadow, while screaming furiously:

"What did you do to Eduarda, you black demon?"

"Eduarda is over for you, Wizard," he said, mockingly. "I intended to kill you and everyone, but your world is very pleasant and fun, so now I will dominate everything at my own pleasure. Besides, I have the biggest prize; I have Eduarda, my trophy, and you will live to see me triumph with her by my side, or maybe not. I will dominate that planetoid, especially with the help of the powers that I sucked from your little English friend. She was very strong, don't you think?"

Igor screamed in despair and fury.

"You devil." From his hands, rays came out so strong that they made the previous lighting something weak and the night became day. They hit the dark creature that laughed brazenly, but nothing happened to him.

Samuel extended his hand and a black and cold ball formed, throwing it at the desperate young man. Igor dodged, but was grazed and once again his barrier did not resist the impact, crumbling. Beams of a type of black light hit him squarely, starting to suck his energies. Weakened, the wizard threw himself to the side, falling to the ground and rolling to dodge the luminous attacks that would make him incapable in a short time.

As soon as he got up again, a monstrous giant appeared out of nowhere in front of him giving him a strong blow to the chest and catching him by surprise. Igor flew away, such was the kick given and got up very dizzy, trying to get a new position to defend himself.

He looked at that nightmare being, so big and ugly that it made the monster he created at the university look simple and innocent, since it looked like an Ogre crossed with some beast of the apocalypse. The second blow, he managed to dodge, but the kick that followed hit his abdomen and was so intense that it left him breathless. Igor went to almost four meters away from the monster and, besides weak and desperate, he began to get hurt. He no longer had enough speed to fight and neither to dodge, but he would never give up as long as he breathed.

He raised his hand, which shone, and a flaming sword coated with some form of golden energy appeared. Igor attacked the monster with it, but, with a new laugh, the shadow materialized a shield in its element, which defended itself without difficulty. He tried in various ways to hit the creature, but it was not easy to hit someone who had more than twice his size. Although his sword was capable of cutting steel, it was powerless against the barrier that coated the monster's shield and, to make everything worse, another identical being appeared next to the first and kicked him in the waist region at the same time as the first hit him with the shield in the face.

Dizzy and feeling the taste of blood in his mouth, he fell again. He tried to get up, but had too much difficulty, being kicked in the abdomen for the second time and thrown away.

"Have fun, Wizard, that I'm going back to our Eduarda, or would it be my Eduarda?" he laughed again. "I'm going to have fun in a much better way than that."

The last thing he heard was that annoying and unpleasant laugh. Then, he had to fight for his own life as he never needed before because he was too weak to face the two grotesque giants coming from the imagination of a sick mind. The monsters attacked him without stopping and he felt more and more exhausted and wounded, but he managed to notice that they reduced the intensity of the attacks and he did not know if that was to have fun a little more at his expense or to spare themselves for having lost the energetic support of their creator.

Regardless of that, he made a last effort and threw a plasma sphere, weak, but enough to destroy one of them, while rolling on the ground to escape the punch of the second. To his luck and relief the real reason was indeed because they could not stay long without the energy to feed their vital flow and the destruction of the first was very easy.

He got up staggering and too weak, with some difficulty. When he raised his eyes to face the creature it was already by his side and hit him again in his abdomen with a strong kick, being catapulted away. Igor knew he was mortally wounded and without strength to heal himself, feeling clearly the internal bleeding that extended the claws of death and from which he had few chances to escape. Beyond that, he needed to destroy the monster and run to seek urgent help. Beside him there was a stone that, by a few miserable centimeters, was not his end when he fell. Using his gifts with the little strength he still had, he made the stone fly over the attacker and managed to hit him squarely, pushing him away. Gathering the last reserves he had, he threw a weak plasma ball and saw the creature being destroyed at the same time as his sight became blurred and he lost consciousness.

― ☼ ―

He woke up with a fine rain and did not know for sure how long it had passed, but he felt much worse. He put his hand on his belly and realized that he needed immediate help because the bleeding had intensified.

With extreme difficulty, he got up and walked faltering, bent over himself. Desperate, he realized that he needed help not only to heal himself and he knew that, since he was not able to defeat the shadow and that was something that escaped his understanding because he was the most powerful wizard of the Citadel, stronger than all the others together. His last conscious act was to open a portal to escape from there, walking aimlessly and without knowing how or where, leaving that to the subconscious.

― ☼ ―

Eduarda was strange, sitting in the classroom. She was not able to think straight and felt that something was missing in her life, something she did not know what it was. Without thinking, she got up and left as if hypnotized, returning home and missing work.

She entered her room, feeling that the place was strange to her, and looked at the dresser where dozens of rosebuds were scattered in various jars.

With wide eyes, she saw all the flowers wilted, dry, and somehow knew that this was involved with the vacuum in her memory.

Desperate, she lay down on the bed, hugged the pillow and cried non-stop for a long time until she fell into a blissful sleep.

― ☼ ―

The UFRGS has several campi: the central campus in downtown; the medical campus; the sports campus (ESEF – Superior School of Physical Education); the agronomy campus and the valley campus, where most of it is concentrated. A. N.

PUC – Pontifícia Universidade Católica – Catholic University. T. A.