left us many years ago. Why have you come here?"
"We 're looking for the Nativ monastery."
"Why?"
"We're on a peace mission that involves all people."
"Many have come here with the pretext of peace, but then they only ended up causing wars."
"But as you can see, we are not Anics. I am Xam of Tetramir. You must have heard of us...
"Xam from the Sixth Planet?"
Xam nodded.
"Go and call the wiseman." ordered the pot-bellied warrior.
Xam did not expect to see an old companion of his come out of the hut. He called him by his name:
"Xeri! There you are! I thought they had eliminated you."
"Xam? What are you doing here, my friend? The fighter inside me has died: I have seen too many friends die.
"I am happy to see you." exclaimed Xam, hugging his old friend.
"Me too. What brought you here? Where is Oalif?"
"If he had known that you were here we wouldn't have been able to keep him inside the ship. We're looking for the Nativ Monastery."
"Then you won't have to go too far. Just look up. It's on the floating island."
The Tetramirs looked up and noticed that right above their heads a gigantic rock sword was hanging over them. The tip of the sword was covered in trees that would dissimulate the interior of the island.
"How do we get there?"
"It's not as close as it seems. Do not be misled. No one has ever reached it. Many have tried." Xeri kept on talking. "The distance between you and the island won't change despite all the miles you're going to walk. It's as if it were located in another dimension. Look around. It does not project any shadows to the ground.
They did not even have the time to look back down: that hiss caught their attention. They saw Xeri fall to the ground. Xam ran towards him to help him out but understood that it was too late.
"Everybody take cover." he yelled.
"To the weapons." yelled the commander warrior.
The people were again scattered all around like pool balls, but this time they were seeking shelter in holes they had dug in the jungle undergrowth.
The battle was raging. Mastigo soldiers had reached them sooner than expected. Some kids stayed in the middle of the village, frozen by the fear.
"We gotta do something." said Xam but did not even have the time to finish his sentence that Oria warrior had already plummeted to protect them with her shield.
Xam covered her by setting the surroundings on fire, whilst Ulica, who had quickly climbed on a tree thanks to her silky wings, plummeted silently on Mastigo's soldiers, who had been hiding in the bushes. And she hit them to death, like a falcon hits its prey.
Soon after that, the women ran to catch their children that had been sheltered by Zàira's hug, who was lying on the ground wounded. Xam and Ulica rushed towards her.
The square was empty, and a strong wind began blowing like a whirl proceeding to the centre of the village, yet without destroying its path. Zàira, Xam and Ulica felt their bodies become stiff. As per magic, something was holding them back preventing them to run away. They spun around for several seconds before being dropped off on the edge of the floating island.
For a second Ulica felt as if she was floating in the air. Her head was still spinning like when she was a kid and she would play ring around the rosie with her friends. She quickly came to her senses and went looking for her companions.
Xam had already found Zàira, who had fainted and was kneeled down next to her: his dark eyes were full of sadness and were showing his weakness for that Orian girl that had always accompanied him in his adventures.
Ulica walked toward them and being rational as always, she began checking on Zàira. She checked her pulse and said:
"Her pulse is low, but nothing too serious. Her body is trying to reduce the effort, so that she can recover.
She carefully turned over to identify where she had been wounded. She gently took off the backless dress down to her waist that she had tied behind her neck and allowed her to move freely.
"She's got a wound on her left hip on her back. Luckily it is just a graze. The armour protected her."
She had not lost a lot of blood as the laser had cauterized the superficial wound.
"It doesn't look like vital organs were damaged, otherwise she would already be dead." Ulica continued.
Xam was astonishingly staring at her. That untamed man that during a battle would not feel any fear or compassion for his enemies, that man that was used to the horrors and the blood of the battlefield, could not utter a word.
He nodded as sign of approval.
"We have to find a place where to cure the wound." suggested Ulica.
Xam had already picked Zàira up and was proceeding towards what looked like a temple on the top of a green, luxuriant hill.
Its proximity and its smell reminded him of that time during childhood when Zàira took him out of the Crystal Canyon on Oria. It had happened in one of the few moments where he had left the academy, which was his only known family.
During school holidays, most of his friends would go back home to their families. However, not all kids were lucky enough: some of them were orphans like Xam, some others would stay to the academy because their parents were too busy climbing up the career ladder; some others would really come to families that were actually loaded with work. Usually a summer camp was organized and very often the destination was Oria.
On that planet, the air was rarefied because of its small dimensions that caused a low gravitational force. All those who did not come from Oria had to carry along a small air compensator in order to guarantee an optimal oxygenation. Without it, they would have felt out of breath as if on top of a mountain.
The summer camp stay in Oria was articulated in a series of tasks, but at the end of the daily activities, Xam would find himself causing trouble around the campus. Nearby there was a farm: it belonged to Zàira's father and that is how he met her.
That summer their friendship got even stronger. Like all teens, they loved getting into more and less serious trouble. That night Zàira, in fact, told Xam about an enchanted place to her. However, she kept a part of the story secret so that she did not ruin the surprise, but most of all, she omitted that grown-ups would forbid going there because of its dangers.
That is how she dragged her friend in their desert adventure. She asked Xam to wear his thickest boots and forbade him to bring along any friends: it was going to be their thing.
They walked for a long time and Xam could not understand Zàira had made him wear those damn boots in that scorching hot day.
Zàira
