Kaleb was escorted by both amphibians out of the room and into huge halls lined with gigantic golden columns. The floor was a type of conch marble, so shiny that you could see reflections on its surface. Noticing this something caught his attention and made him turn to the ceiling, only to find that there was none. In some magical way the columns and floors of the great palace delimited the sea.

Kaleb could see hundreds of fish swimming above him and that momentarily distracted him from the face that he had been caught. The sight of them was so beautiful that he was dazzled, wondering how all that water could stay perfectly afloat and not fall on his head.

A blow from those spears brought him back to reality, just in time to see two huge doors that opened before him, revealing the throne room. It was gorgeous and decorated with corals in all kinds of beautiful colors. He could see, on the sides, stands full of those amphibious creatures, too many of them to count. Not only were they there, there were also several on some balconies on the second floor, standing, and watching the boy. Many of them upon seeing him for the first time gasped, as if they were seeing a monster.

At the back of the great hall, and just in front of him was a huge throne, made of coral and sea stones, on which sat one of those amphibians, but this one was bigger than the rest. While most of them were of slim build, he was corpulent and muscular. He had a different armor than the rest. Instead of a hair-like membrane he had dreadlock-like tentacles that moved gently. At the end of his right forearm, where one of his huge hands should be, he had a huge hook. From his neck hung a small sea shell, while on his head he had a huge crab, whose legs moved or jumped from time to time. This made the boy suppose that he must be the ruler of this kingdom.

There were six amphibians that looked noticeably older than the others, sitting in small ornate seats next to the king. Their age was noticeable not only by their slightly more stooped postures, but by a slight discoloration on their skin, as well as some wear on it. These amphibians were also larger than the rest. Not as big as the ruler, but bigger than the soldiers who escorted them or those watching from the stands.

Looking at each of these old amphibians, Kaleb noticed an empty seat. It was decorated differently from the others and curiously it was the one closest to the King, positioned just to his left side.

One of the amphibious guards pushed Kaleb again, forcing him down a huge set of stairs that led to the center of the room, which was flooded.

The boy kept going down and saw the water rise. For a moment he thought it would cover him completely, but it only came up to his thighs.

The hall fell silent and the gigantic amphibian ruler spoke:

-Ech' Ca dor insi'vo. Qua'gh ech'a pur pi cob haq' u huachi reiki -his voice was deep and had a natural echo that only increased as it bounced off the massive walls of the royal hall.

Kaleb winced a little at the thunderous sound of his voice. Then his face flashed with confusion, as he didn't understand a word he was saying.

-I - don't... -he said doubtfully, when he was interrupted by a voice that spoke Spanish.

-Hyooman -the voice turned out to come from an octopus prostrated on the amphibian's head and when it revealed itself, it turned out that the tentacles that adorned it as hair were really it's own.

-The gurr-rand King Huachi deemands to know what yoor purr-pose is in the Huachi Kingdom -continued the cephalopod, whose eyes watched the boy in the same way that King Huachi did. It even seemed that he was copying his expressions.

My name is Kaleb -he said hesitantly-. And I'm lost, I... -the boy stopped for a moment when he noticed a strange silhouette watching him on one of the balconies. Despite the fact that he couldn't distinguish their features well, he could tell that it was one of them, these amphibians. They looked a little smaller than the rest of the huachis watching him from the balcony and they were wearing what seemed to be some kind of seaweed tunic. The mysterious figure quickly ducked behind a pillar as Kaleb saw them.

King Huachi growled and a guard hit Kaleb with their spear.

-Augh! -the boy complained when feeling the pain of the impact of the rigid lance-. I don't know where I am -the boy finished.

King Huachi listened to his translator whisper attentively to him, then he spoke again, and again his voice echoed everywhere. As soon as the King finished speaking, the cephalopod translated again.

-King Huachi does not beel-eeve yoor lies. Yoor race is not uhllowed in the Huachi Kingdom. The fact that yoo are speaking here now is only a coor-tee-sea of kindness from the King foor yoo to confess the plan yoo woor sent with -said the cephalopd with it's strange accent that showed that Spanish was not it's native language.

-No, no one sent me! I... -said the nervous boy, but again he was interrupted by King Huachi, who roared angrily.

Even without the translation, Kaleb understood that he didn't believe him.

-Who sent yoo?! -said the cephalopod, who tried to do his best imitation of the King's anger, with little success.

Kaleb took a breath and thought to himself.

-If you're still here, my reader, it means I'm still in the book. This means that they must also be trapped here, but they don't seem to know it... do you think it is okay to tell them the truth? -he asked doubtfully.