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bed.
    “Let me dish out a couple!” volunteered Joxiel.
    “Why? Why are you doing this to me?” Komir managed to sputter as he spit out a mouthful of blood. “I’ve never done anything to you!”
    “Your mere stinking presence is an insult to the whole village, you filthy foreigner,” scowled Inieg.
    “I’m not a foreigner. I’m a Bikia, a Norriel just like you,” defended Komir.
    “How dare you compare yourself to us, you foreign pig!” screamed Akog, full of an anger that was quickly turning into an uncontrolled rage. “We are Norriel by blood; you are a disgusting bastard foreigner!”
    “Let me clean up that son of a hyena!” shouted Belgo.
    Akog hit him again, a sharp and powerful blow that detonated painfully in his head. His nose started to bleed. Joxiel began punching him in the ribs and the chest. The pain took him over and with it came an uncontrollable fear, as if his mind could withstand no more and yearned to abandon his body. Akog knelt down, grabbed Komir’s head with both hands and shoved it back, submerging his bloody face in the river.  Komir felt himself drowning; he needed air. Panic washed over him.
    He was going to die!
    Akog let go of his head for an instant and Komir hurried to breathe in the precious air he had been denied. He had taken in two lungfuls just before Akog forced his head under water again. But this time he prolonged the torture, turning those long moments into pure agony.
    He had no air left!
    When Akog finally let up on him, Komir immediately tried to breathe but instead gulped water, flooding his lungs and causing him to start coughing violently. Not waiting for him to recover, Akog savagely pushed him under again. He held him down for a long time. Komir sensed his end approaching as he endured the insufferable agony caused by the lack of air, feeling like his lungs were going to explode.
    “Akog, stop. You’re going to kill him. Let him breathe,” pleaded Belgo.
    It was no secret Akog had a propensity for flying off the handle and even for violence, which didn’t surprise anyone who knew his father.  It was well known in the village that his dad was an abusive drunk. Unfortunately for the young Norriel, the beatings he received were constant. No one knew what had happened to his mother, but one night when Akog was five years old she disappeared, never to return again. Akog never talked about it, but a look of suffering remained forever etched in his eyes. 
    “He’s right, Akog, stop it!” Etxol chimed in.
    But Akog was not listening to anything or anyone. His eyes reflected a gleam—almost an elated madness—as if he were possessed by a fury that was corroding his insides and denying him of all reason.
    And that’s when it happened.
    The moment in which Komir’s life would take an incomprehensible turn and would never be the same again.
    With his head under water, unable to breathe and suffering an unbearable torture, Komir made one last, desperate attempt to break away from his attackers and get the precious air he needed.
    I am going to die. This is the end of me. I am drowning.
    His efforts were futile; his desperation became absolute.
    Get off me! Let me breathe!
    And in that moment of infinite anguish, an incredible blue light awoke inside him, emanating from the deepest part of his being. The light started to flicker as if taking on a life of its own. The luminous, dazzling radiance was concentrated in the center of his chest, forming a brilliant circular area like a small lake feeding off his body’s energy. The strange light began to gain in intensity, radiating more and more powerfully. Komir felt it building inside him, and even with his eyes closed he could make it out clearly. A mysterious, powerful energy, formed by thousands of particles coming from his whole body, flowed toward the center of his chest. He did not understand what it was but clearly felt it radiate from inside him. The light continued gaining strength as if striving to