The first thing I saw when I woke up was a wooden ceiling where a spider was running, but I soon forgot about it because something more urgent caught my attention: the pain I felt in my jaw: it hurt as if someone had punched me hard.

An icy shiver ran down my spine and I suddenly remembered everything that had happened in the Purple Forest. The King's Barrier shattering into a thousand pieces, a mouth emerging from the earth with a chilling grin, a tentacle clutching Fufu's wretched body and the rough face of Godofredo, Sabela's father, just as his fist met my jaw with such forcefulness that I lost consciousness.

I looked around for my equipment, sitting on a nearby armchair the breastplate of my lily white armour and resting my beloved mace on the floor. I sighed in relief, without my weapon and armour I was left with only the powers that my Faith gave me and those only served to heal and protect. Behind me, seated at the dining table, Godofredo and Abdon were talking:

“Do you think we should go back there? Maybe we can close the Barrier now,” asked Godofredo, not too confident in his words.

“No, nothing can be done now,” replied Abdon, the adventurer with the scarred face.

I covered my mouth with my hands, I had failed. My duty was to use my faith to heal the magical barrier, but before I had finished my task a Fallen had managed to shatter the relatively small fissure into a large hole through which the monsters could enter.

When I remembered, scorching tears of shame filled my eyes. I forced myself to control them, for I was a Daughter of the Sun and should face misfortune with fortitude. I got up from the sofa and said to the two men:

“We have to try! We are the Children of the Sun, if we don't do something... the whole kingdom will be in danger.”

“I am no longer anyone's children,” said Godofredo.

Abdon didn't look at me when he said:

“This area is lost. We screwed it up, we should have closed it, but we failed. I had your friend send a message to Nebula's headquarters and the only thing we can do now is leave this area.”

“Leave the area?!” I shouted, not believing my ears.

“Yes, we would lose Huertomuro, but the safety of the kingdom is more important,” said Abdon, and I think that was just the moment when I started to dislike him.

“But it's my town! I... it was supposed to be my duty to protect it?” I muttered, my parents were buried in the cemetery of Huertomuro and the idea of monsters walking on their graves was unbearable to me.

“It is not the end of the world. We've lost more important areas in the past... like the barony of Bruma...” said Abdon.

“Bah! Who cares about something that happened over a hundred years ago?” said Godofredo.

“Exactly 79 years ago,” I corrected.

In those moments, I was shredded I had failed in my duty to safeguard my little world, Huertomuro would become a lifeless wasteland and the Fallen would be its only residents. Thinking of such a dire future, a spark of rage rose in my heart.

Even with all that bad news, there was one thing I could do: save Fufu. Yes, even though the last I had seen of him was not exactly hopeful, I could not just shrug my shoulders and do nothing.

I put on the breastplate of my armour and picked up my mace, feeling its weight I felt a little better. I strode angrily to the door, saying nothing to the two cowards.

“Where are you going?” Godofredo asked me, for a few moments I felt the desire to leave without answering, but the rage that flashed in my heart forced me to look at him and say, almost in a shout:

“Where do you think I'm going?! I'm going to save Fufu or get his body back, at least. I don't know how you had the nerve to leave him like that, so close to being eaten. And you stopped me from doing something before, but now I'll do it. And whatever you say, you won't stop me. That’s all!”

“Wait a moment! You will immediately understand my reasons for doing what I did!” roared Godofredo, and ran out of the dining-room.

As I didn't want to wait standing, I sat down at the dining table. Abdón couldn't take his eyes off me and I, not to be outdone, returned his gaze, staring into his two peculiar brown eyes. Peculiar for the following reason: they were like those of an old man, but more than old, very old. Although he might be 40 or 50 years old, those two eyes seemed to have seen whole centuries and in the end I had to look away from them, I found them a bit creepy.

Godofredo came back with a VHS tape in his hands and he put it in the respective player, which was right under the television. To better enjoy the film, I sat down on the sofa where, minutes before, I had been unconscious.

When the image came up, the same room where I was right now appeared, but in the past. There were numbers on the border that I thought were the date it was recorded: 12/02/1984.

And suddenly a baby Sabela appeared! Despite the situation, I couldn't help but feel a warm feeling inside when I saw my friend so tiny and so cute. She was wearing a beautiful sunset orange bow on her little red head, a piggy dress and her chubby legs were sticking out of a nappy that was super big.

“Ramona, the weird egg is cracking open!” shouted a voice from the kitchen, it was the Godofredo of the past. In the video he was wearing an apron decorated with hearts, a chef's hat and a spatula in his hand. He stood in front of a frying pan with boiling oil and on the worktop that huge egg that looked like it had come out of an ostrich.

“Were you just about to fry the egg, you piece of shit?” screamed a woman's voice, the one behind the camera and probably Sabela's mother, Ramona.

“It's an egg! What do you want me to do with it, put a frame on it and hang it on the wall?” defended Godofredo.

Ramona let out an angry snort and left the video camera on the table, so she could give Sabela's father a hard slap. Actually, Ramona bore a strong resemblance to Sabela, although my dear friend had a less tough appearance.

Perhaps this was because, as far as I knew, Ramona's life had been a constant struggle and, since she was a child, she had had to carry weapons to ensure her survival.

Sabelita, however, had been lucky enough to have a life that was as peaceful as it was boring. After giving her a third slap, Ramona pointed her finger at Godofredo and shouted the following:

“How many times have I told you that the egg is important! It's not for eating, or hanging, or anything like that! Besides... Do you really want to eat an egg I found in Nightmare Nation?!”

Godofredo ripped off his apron with a quick movement and threw it on the floor:

“Well, I think the best thing to do is to cook it and that's all!”

It was quite likely that the discussion was going to go on and on, but the Black Egg broke the familiar drama by shaking as if there was something alive inside, whose only desire was to come out.

Then the top of the egg popped out and a purple, slimy-looking creature appeared through the hole. It had no constant shape, more like a lump of slime with life in it. Godfrey took the frying pan and with a roar more like a wild boar than a person, tried to crush the newborn creature.

Ramona stopped him with a punch in the stomach and I didn't understand why. If I had been in that situation, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second to wipe that nasty slug out of existence.

The purple thing shot out of the egg and out of view of the camera recording the strange event. Then Ramona screamed and chased the creature, hit the table and the video camera fell to the floor. With incredible luck, as the image of the thing was framed on top of little Sabela.

I jumped up with concern, as if what I was seeing was happening in the present. Although it turned out that the creature in the egg was not attacking her, not at all, it even looked like Sabela was having a good time because she laughed and laughed, while that thing began to change shape, to become smaller, pinker, to grow little legs, a snout, droopy ears.... And in the end it turned into a little pig!

“Oh, blessed Helios, Fufu hatched from an egg!?” I looked at Godfrey, unable to believe my eyes.

“He's a monster! He came from outside, so he's a monster! My wife thinks he might be the solution to the Nightmare Nation's problem, and so did I.... Until recently, when I met Professor Maximo Varela in Nebula... He believes that the black eggs are like the horse in the old stories... The Horse of Po...

“Troy, the Trojan Horse," I corrected.

“Yes, what I was saying. Well, he told me that what comes out of the black eggs are enemies, they're like beacons that amplify the effects of the Curse, so that it eats the Kingdom even faster.”

I had to sit down again, all that information was piling up in my brain and it was difficult to process it. Now there was no longer one new cockerel in the henhouse, but a dozen, and that, as usual, caused chaos of a thousand kinds.

“Professor Maximo...?” I thought to myself, I didn't know him at all.

What the video had shown me looked like a monster, so it would be logical to think it was a monster.

“I know it's hard! Don't think I don't have feelings and stuff like that, I didn't really want to get rid of the pig, that.... well.... But what if... What if it's true, what if the Kingdom really is going to fall because of him? How could I... how could I live with myself if... if I let it... everything to go to waste?

“Waste...” I repeated, my lower lip trembling.

I liked little Fufu, but... what was he compared to our Kingdom? What was he compared to our Kingdom? What if he really was an enemy agent?

“So I let him die. That mouth sure ate him up; it sure was quick and painless... Well, I suppose being chewed up must hurt a bit, but now that little problem is solved.”

“But... if he is really a monster... Why would another monster kill him? I don't know, but it doesn't make sense...” I said.

Godofredo was silent for a few moments.

“Wow... you're right...”

I jumped to my feet, decision burning in my chest.

“I'll go and find Fufu... and if he really is a monster, I'll kill him,” I said, though I hoped I wouldn't have to go to such extremes.