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leave his body, and he felt as though his chest was going to burst.
    The panic over the certainty of a horrible death completely consumed him.
    And in that moment of total agony and desperation, that mysterious light that had been building up and growing inside him did the unimaginable.
    It exploded toward the outside of his body.
    Like a volcano.
    With a supernatural force.
    Komir immediately sensed that the pressure that had been seizing his body had disappeared completely. He raised his head out of the water and inhaled the long-awaited air. He coughed amid convulsions as he spit out the water he had swallowed that was flooding his lungs. He leaned back on one arm, trying to recover as he took deep, gasping breaths. Finally he was able to get control of the spasms and stopped coughing.
    He was alive! Alive!
    He looked up. His five attackers were lying on the ground, scattered a few feet away, sprawled out in grotesque positions like rag dolls. They looked... dead... as if something had violently struck them and launched them furiously through the air. He looked at them, frightened.  They must have hit the ground with an immeasurable force.
    Komir slowly sat up. He felt extremely tired, not only from the terrible beating he had taken but from something else. He was empty... completely sapped of energy, as if all the vital force in his body had evaporated. He could barely stand up. 
    He slowly began walking, staggering over to where Akog was lying. He was bleeding from his nose and ears and had lost consciousness but he was breathing. He was still alive. His face and arms were covered in ugly bruises, as if he had been dealt a dreadful beating. Komir checked the condition of the others and they showed similar symptoms. All were alive, though just barely from what he could tell. He stood there, frozen, looking at the five assailants, not able to comprehend what he was seeing.
    But this can’t be! What in the world happened? What was that light inside me? What have I done?
    Not understanding what had happened, he rushed off to get help.
    Komir remembered it well, as if he had just experienced it.
    He also remembered the terrible reaction that followed the fateful event.
    A few days after the incident, Komir found out that his five attackers’ injuries were more serious than he’d initially thought. Legs, arms, and ribs had been broken. Akog and Belgo, who were in the worst shape, had suffered injuries that would keep them in bed for months. The rest would need long periods of recuperation as well.
    When they were questioned about what had happened, the group accused Komir of heresy, of being a Sorcerer of the dark arts and having used forbidden magic against them. The accusation unleashed all kinds of controversy, rumors, and bad blood among the families and even within the Bikia tribe itself. The parents of the injured boys showed up at Komir’s home, armed and out for blood. Ulis, Mirta, and Komir drew their weapons and prepared to defend themselves against the aggressions of a dozen parents and relatives of the five wounded boys. Furious and full of rage, they sought revenge—especially Akog’s despicable father who was the instigator, provoking the rest of them.
    Thankfully, Auburu, the matriarch and leader of the tribe, had arrived in time to intervene. With her special charisma she’d managed to diffuse the situation and keep Norriel blood from being spilled. But the situation was far from resolved, including after a meeting of the Tribal Council in which all those involved in the incident testified before The Twelve. Komir was absolved by the Council, but the parents and families of the wounded were greatly displeased and, even though they had to comply with the law of The Twelve, set out to turn the majority of the town against Komir, making use of all kinds of poisonous lies. 
    That drove Komir into complete isolation within the tribe.
    The only good that came from the unfortunate incident was that, from that