What was once a majestic palace is now just ruins. 

      The raging waters of the Tropos Sea beat against the cliff of the abandoned building. Odilon was silent; he wondered if handing over the sorceress was the right thing to do. He did not have much time to think, for the deadline was running out. 

   "Soon we will be together," thought Odilon. "Papa will rescue you." For him Sotrel was the only thing he had left, the only person worth making such efforts for. 

   "Are you ready?" Polypedes said. "Once we trigger that portal there will be no turning back." 

   Odilon sighed and said: 

   "Do we have any other choice?" 

   "No."

   "Then let's proceed."

   Polypedes was chained, the chain held by Odilon, who had her chained like a dog on a leash. 

   The sorceress, activated the ancient signaling system of the ice giants. A noise was heard. Odilon was startled by the trumpeting sound that echoed through the room. 

   A circular portal formed by several shades of blue was formed in the middle of the room. Some furniture fell to the floor with the tremor that followed after a large man exited the portal. "Where is the girl?" thought the prince. The place became colder than usual, causing an allergic reaction in Polypedes, who began to cough. 

   "Why, since when do you have an allergy to cold, Yavel?" The man appeared to be thirty years old, yet he was over eight hundred. His blue markings shone brightly in the dark hall. "I see that you have really lost your essence." 

   "I don't know who you are talking about. Where is the girl?" Polypedes coughed constantly. His breathing started to become labored. 

   "She is in a safe place." 

   "Hand her over." Odilon said. 

   "Shut up!" He shouted. "Shut up," He repeated again softly. "You are in no condition to demand anything." 

   "Give him his daughter. Now!"

   "It's not the time yet. Not yet." Bantar slid his fingers over his old throne. It was dusty. He rubbed his fingers together, trying to clean them. He looked doubtfully at Polypedes. "Where is your necklace?"

   "I..."  The sorceress didn't know how to answer. She coughed and made up an excuse. "I lost it." 

   "You know Odilon, I ordered you a very simple task, but you still failed miserably. Now tell me where is Polypedes?" 

   "I'm right here." 

   "Do you think I'm an idiot? You are not Yavel. She would know her own name and would never lose her necklace, nor would she have respiratory attacks due to the cold. Now tell me; where is the sorceress?"

   No one answered. 

   "Very well!" Bantar continued. "If it's not for good..." 

   The king threw an ice sphere. Polypedes dodged it, causing the ball to hit one of the columns of the entrance door. The structure collapsed, causing a bang. 

   Polipedes turned out in fact to be Fiorella, who, returning to her true form, tried to distort the king's mind. Odilon, transforming into Mikae, turned into a colony of bats and flew towards Bantar, who began to uncontrollably let loose a blizzard all over the hall, while covering his face with the other hand. 

   Walls and columns were covered with snow. Fiorella felt her chest heavy, but she couldn't let her sister fight alone. With a telekinetic impulse she threw all the silverware on the dining table at Bantar; all in vain. Around him was a force field, and everything was repelled. 

Mikaela, went from bat to viper. The purple animal crawled behind the force field, but when it came time to strike it was repelled by lightning.

   "Bloody viper!" Bantar said. 

   Mikaela was knocked unconscious and lost her animal form. Frella, seeing her sister in disarray, disappeared and again appeared behind Bantar, who turned his back and saw several replicas of the witch strike him with a beam of black light. The king was unsettled, but he was not intimidated.

   Fiorella was still trying to regain her strength when the ice giant He cast a paralyzing spell on her; the young woman held out her hands and returned the spell back to Bantar, who immediately dodged it. The spell fell apart in mid-air. 

   Frella made a gesture and shadows attacked the king of the ice giants.

   "Witch, join me and when this world is mine again I will give you everything you want." The shadows squeezed his arms and legs. "Ahhhh!" He whispered. "Don't be silly, little girl." 

   "Where is Odilon's daughter?" 

   "She is in a safe place." The squeezing continued. The blood from her legs was stuck. "Aahh! Don't be foolish! I can finish you off." 

   "You can? Then why don't you? Where's the little girl?" she shouted.

   Bantar came out of the darkness behind Fiorella's back. With crossed hands he struck her with a blow. The young girl bounced on the ground and hit her head. 

  "Aaaaaiiiiii..." She tried to get up. "Aaaaahhhh!"

   "You thought you were the only one who knew how to do tricks? Now I'm asking the questions. Where is Yavel?" 

   "I'll never tell." I said. His teeth were stained with the blood dripping from his mouth, "you weakling." 

   "Where is she?" Bantar stepped on the little witch's skull. 

   "Uhhhh!" she moaned softly. 

   "Where?" He shouted. "Okay!" He spoke calmly, looking disgusted at his dirty hands. "Will you die for a fight that is not yours?" 

   Fiorella didn't answer. 

   Bantar punched his hands together, causing them to tremble wildly, and disappeared into the middle of the blue portal. Frella put her head back on the ground, she was having great difficulty breathing. 

   The place began to crumble. 

...

   The palace hallway was huge. On one side, large windows showed a garden, on the other, countless wooden doors led to different rooms. 

   "What a beautiful place!" Odilon said. 

   "Aat'ar." Answered Polipedes. 

   Odilon did not understand what the sorceress said. 

   "It means, sunrise in the language of the sovereigns." He continued. "Here the ice giants lived, before they were banished to Mist. Sotrel must be here somewhere." 

   "Sotrel" Odilon was going from door to door  

   "Papa." Said a soft voice. 

   The little girl was on the other side of a portal. Odilon smiled, for everything was about to end. 

    "It's a dimensional window."

    "What does that mean?" 

    "That we can see it, but we can't go through it." 

   Silence filled the room.

    "Daddy, take me home." 

    "How do we get her out?" 

     "There's no way." 

     "Then take us to her."

     "We can't." 

    "Ahhhhhh is that all you can say? We can't?" Odilon punched the wall. 

   "I know it's hard, Odilon. If we go there they get what they want." 

    "What about what I want? Will I never...what's going on?"

    "The palace is going to collapse. We have to get out of here." 

    "But Sotrel." 

    "It's just a portal, she's not really here. Let's go. Hurry, Odilon! Stop deluding yourself, otherwise we won't be able to rescue her for real." 

...

"What's going on here?" Polipedes asked. 

  "We came to take satisfaction from Andrhel, but it seems he is not at home." Answered the knight of the Azhard crest. "We've been here for two hours now and no sign of him." 

   Two other guards looked around the house. 

   "He was supposed to have gone to give his monthly report before the king."

   "And he didn't go?" 

   "If he had gone we wouldn't be here ma'am." 

   "Listen here, you dwarf..." The sorceress interrupted. 

   "What my friend means, sir, is that it was a mistake to ask a question as silly as this one that you have regrettably just heard." Mikaela gave the sorceress a threatening look. 

   "And why don't you enter the house?" Polipedes turned her eyes to Mikaela in a look that said: if you interrupt me like that again you will regret it. 

   "We can't. Doors and windows don't open and there is no underground entrance."

   "There's something strange." Frella approached. She looked around fearfully. "There's a strange energy in the place, coming mostly from inside the house." 

   "How do you know?" The guard crossed one arm and stared at Fiorella. "By chance..." He was interrupted. 

   "Yes, I am a witch." 

   "We all are." Polipedes complemented. "Can you tell what's in there, Frella?" 

   "Not for sure. I would need to go inside." The young woman came closer to the door. She watched carefully. She slid her hand over the door, passing to the wall made of logs. She felt something. "It seems to be sealed with a spell." 

   'Ice giants,' thought Odilon. 

   "Can you undo it?" Mikae moved closer to Frella. "If you can't don't worry, you've tried very hard in battle and still can't get better from your asthma attacks." 

   "I need to do that." He coughed, feeling the phlegm in his chest. "I need to reward you for my failure in the palace." 

   "It wasn't your fault, Frella."

   "Let me help." He sighed. "I can do it!"

   "Okay, but if I feel there is even the slightest chance that you will get tired again, we will return home immediately."

   "You will or you won't open the door, dolls." - The little guy was bored. "Get on with it."

   Polipedes looked with irritation at the cheeky guard, who seeing the reaction shrugged. 

   Mikaela suspended her hands in a subtle gesture. The wind began to blow stronger, her eyes blackened. A black plasma began to come out of her hands and surround the whole house. The rnas of the spell began to appear around the lawn of the house; one by one. They lit up, with a golden light. 

   The guard watched the scene intently; as much as he had orders to arrest any being user of magic the little man was fascinated by such a practice.

   "It's a blocking spell." Polypedes said. 

   "Gee, that must be why we've been here two hours without getting anything." Ironized the guard. 

   "Silence!" Frella said. "I need to concentrate more. These rnas are very tough." The plasma was steadily intensifying, as was the gale that rocked the forest. "It's no use, I'll have to use a stronger power." 

   "Don't do that sister. You know that kind of magic is forbidden by the council."

   "There is no other way." 

   Darkness came over the place. Odilon was frightened by the thunder that followed. The plasma ceased and gave way to a flash of black light, Frella cast more and more power to undo the spell, supposedly done by the ice giants. She began to levitate above the house.

   "Ahu!" Shouted Frella. 

   Lightning began to destroy the rnas one by one. One of the rays almost hit the short guard, who in fear ran closer to Odilon, who was further away from the place. 

   The last runic was gone, and with it the invisible shield that surrounded the house. Fiorella landed and clung to the arms of her sister, who gently hugged. 

   "See, I told you I could do it." Frella let out a smile. "Ouch, I need some rest." 

   "You always make it sister. Now get some rest." 

   The wind and the sounds of rain ceased, but the sun remained hidden. 

   "What happened here?" Spoke the knight. "It's a mess." 

   "Looks like Andrhel had company." Polipedes said. "Polipedes, you need to see this. Quickly."

   The sorceress was amazed by the scene. Andrhel had been pierced through with a sword in the chest.

   "The stench indicates that he died a few days ago." Said Mikaela, as she analyzed the deceased. She removed the sword from his chest, took him off the dresser and laid him on the floor. 

   "What have they done to you, my friend?" asked Polipedes.

   "It's no use." Odilon said, comforting the sorceress. "There's no more way." 

   "A truly unfortunate situation," the short man spoke. "But I must warn the king about the events of that day." 

   "You will only inform him of Andrhel's death, do you hear me?"

   "I cannot withhold information from the sovereign of Azhard." 

   "You will report only the death of Andrhel." Mikaela whispered a few words and snapped her fingers. 

   "I will report only the giant's death." 

   "What?" He asked as he realized that everyone was looking at her. "He was going to tell about everything he saw here. I can't let that reach Milos' ears." No one spoke out against it. "Now go." 

   - But what about the other two guards? - asked Odilon.

   "The charm fits all three of them. Do you think I'm an amateur?"

   "I think..." The prince interrupted. 

   "This is no time for nonsense." Polipedes was more serious than usual. 

   "It's like Odilon said, it's hopeless." Mikae said. 

   "I can fix it." Said Fiorella from the back of the room. The young woman uncrossed her hands, got up from her chair and went to the others. "I know a way." 

   "No." Mikaela said. "Not again. I won't let you strain yourself one more time." 

   "What would that way look like?" Polipedes didn't seem to care about the young woman's state of health, nor the exertion she would be subjected to. 

   "I can bring Andrhel's soul into his body for a few minutes, but it will require a lot of magic and..." The witch interrupted. 

   "Do it." Polypedes took out his cord and gave it to Frella. "Use this. It will enhance your powers."

   "That's necromancy. Do you really want to subject yourself to magics that low?" Odilon asked. "First it was black magic and now bringing the dead to life." 

   "I don't remember you caring about such things when we went to rescue your daughter." Polipedes said. 

   "But Odilon is right, Polipedes. Messing with those magics is forbidden by the council." 

   "Screw the council, Mikae. I exist before the council, before humans were created. I don't care about your rules." 

   "Then do it," Mikae retorted. "But don't count on me."

   "Least of all me." Odilon said. 

   They both went outside. Polipedes shrugged and asked Frella to start the process. 

   "So? What happened?" Mikaela asked, realizing that her sister had left. 

   "I thought you were against the use of necromancy." Said Polypedes, coming next. 

   "I am. However I want to know what caused his death." 

   "Himself." 

   "What do you mean?" 

   "He killed himself. He felt remorse for not having helped us at Torac. Then he received a visit from Adanhael, who said he had killed us in the battle, and to top it all off, our dear prince poured a torrent of nonsense in his ear, before we left. Speaking of Odilon, where is he?" 

   "He went to get wood and prepare a pyre for us to have the Andrhel ceremony. It may not seem like it, but he is also upset about his death." 

...

 "Was he more than a friend?" Odilon asked. "Andrhel was your... companion?" 

   Polipedes and Odilon were sitting on a log, admiring the last flames of Andrhel's pyre. It was cold and windy. The trees were swaying, an act Mikaela and her sister used to call the wind dance. 

   "Yes, he was. Andrhel showed me a different view than I was used to." The sorceress hugged herself. "He taught me many things and...you wouldn't want to know." 

   "Tell me."

   "He was much more careful and gentlemanly with me than Adanhael. And when I was about to do the most wrong thing of my life he helped me." 

   "What could you possibly do that was so wrong?"

   "I was going to... that's it!" The sorceress smiled. "I already know what we have to do."