Chapter 134 - 132 The Spiral that Opened the Horizon

Chapter 134: Chapter 132 The Spiral that Opened the Horizon

Night finished taking over the city when they left the restaurant. The shopping center lights had erased the last remnants of the day and, behind the windows, the streets stretched beneath the glow of vehicles and advertisements.

The club’s first outing concluded without any further ceremony. Óscar said goodbye with a raised hand before heading toward public transportation; Zaira took the route that would lead her home, and Sebastián, Virka, and Valentina returned to the mansion in the truck, with Narka reduced inside the girl’s backpack.

Distance spread them throughout the city once again, but no longer in the same way. Zaira left knowing that the next day she would not have to observe the group from the outside.

The remaining hours of Friday passed without demanding another scene. Valentina fell asleep before the night reached its deepest point. Sebastián and Virka rested in their own way, while Narka kept his silent attention near the girl. On the other side of the city, Óscar and Zaira let the exhaustion from the virtual races finish dissipating.

Saturday dawned with a pale brightness over the coast.

The truck left the mansion early in the morning and traveled along the still-clear avenues. Valentina rode between Sebastián and Virka in the Institute uniform, with the backpack resting on her legs. Inside it, Narka remained motionless in his reduced form. The girl had closed the zipper almost completely, leaving only a discreet opening through which air entered and, from time to time, the golden gleam of an eye appeared.

When they arrived at the Institute, the supplementary school day was already beginning to gather students at the entrances. There was not the same flow as on ordinary days. The corridors breathed with greater openness and many classrooms remained closed, but the routes toward the reinforcement modules were illuminated and some groups moved forward following their schedules.

Saturday did not stop the institution; it simply reduced its pulse until only those who had decided to return remained within it.

Óscar was waiting for them near the main entrance, with his hands in his pockets and his bun tied with less care than during the week. When he saw them, he pulled one hand from his pants and pointed toward one side.

Zaira had just crossed the access checkpoint. She walked with her back straight and her uniform arranged with the same precision as always, without searching for the group impatiently. Even so, she corrected her direction as soon as she found them.

Valentina was the first to approach.

—Zaira! You really came.

—I said I would come —she replied.

The girl smiled as if the answer confirmed something far more important than a kept appointment. Zaira held her gaze for a moment and then looked at the others.

—I suppose we must first report my decision.

—That will save us from pretending we came early out of administrative enthusiasm —Óscar said, tilting his head slightly toward the entrance—. Let’s go.

Sebastián started forward without adding anything. Virka walked beside him and Valentina returned to the center between them before the five of them entered the building.

The teachers’ lounge was open. Only some of the desks were occupied: two teachers were reviewing the module schedules, another was organizing material in front of a screen, and a woman was drinking coffee by the windows. The conversations were quiet, restrained by that morning that had not yet fully awakened.

Luciana was sitting at the desk in the back.

She had several folders open in front of her and was reviewing a succession of forms projected onto the surface. Her black hair fell neatly around her face and the reflection from the screen rested on her round glasses.

When she heard the footsteps, she raised her gaze. Surprise barely tensed her fingers over one of the sheets, but it disappeared when she recognized the group.

Óscar stopped in front of the desk.

—Good morning, teacher. Do you have a moment?

Luciana briefly looked at the documents she still had open and moved them to one side.

—Yes. Tell me.

—We brought the change that was missing.

He did not need to point at Zaira. Luciana directed her gaze toward her, and the red-haired young woman took a step forward without waiting for anyone to speak on her behalf.

—I have decided to join the club —she said—. I will also participate in the expedition if it receives final authorization.

Luciana remained silent long enough to organize her response. She did not show excessive enthusiasm, but the initial tension left her shoulders somewhat.

—Then I can add you to the documents. I need your student ID and confirmation of your information.

Zaira took out the card and handed it to her. Luciana brought it close to the reader integrated into the desk. A profile appeared on the screen with her full name, grade, and academic record.

The teacher checked each section before opening the club form. She reviewed the information, added Zaira as the fifth member, and confirmed the modification using her faculty identification.

Valentina had moved closer to the edge of the desk. The backpack shifted slightly on her back when Narka changed position inside.

—Did you already put her with us? —she asked.

Luciana turned her eyes toward the girl. A small smile softened her expression.

—Yes. Zaira already appears as a member.

Valentina immediately looked at the redhead.

—Now you really are.

—I was already here —Zaira replied—. But now it is written down too.

Óscar rested two fingers on the edge of the desk.

—That is usually what turns a decision into a serious administrative threat.

Luciana blinked behind her glasses, not knowing for a second whether she should respond to the joke. Finally, she lowered her gaze toward the form and adjusted one of the folders.

—There is still another pending change —she reminded them—. The club is still registered under the provisional name.

Sebastián looked at the heading visible on the screen: «Continental Cultural Exploration and Folklore Record Club». The title still described part of what they intended to do, but after the virtual training and Zaira’s incorporation, it felt narrower than before.

—We will decide it today —he said.

—When you have it, send it to me and I will prepare the official modification —Luciana replied—. After that, I will be able to request the plaque for the room.

Virka tilted her head slightly.

—We will inform you.

Luciana returned the ID card to Zaira and closed the profile.

—The incorporation is registered. You may use the room before your activities.

Zaira took the card.

—Thank you.

They said goodbye without prolonging the meeting. As they left, the murmur of the few teachers remained enclosed behind the door and the corridors recovered their broad silence.

They still had time before Rakzar’s session, so they headed to the room facing the sea.

Zaira had already crossed that door before. She had contemplated the horizon from the window, listened to their plans, and remained there while deciding how much space she could grant them within her life. However, that morning she entered without needing to wonder whether she belonged there.

Her name now rested beside theirs in the Institute’s registry.

Saturday’s light filled the room in a different way. It was not the tired gold of the previous afternoons, but a cold brightness that revealed the marble, the wood, and the clean expanse of the tables. Beyond the enormous glass, the sea advanced beneath a pale sky. The horizon seemed like a single line, although behind it there were regions none of them could yet see.

Óscar left his backpack on a chair and approached the main table.

—Good. Before we allow the provisional name to occupy a plaque and condemn us to pronouncing it for years, we should replace it.

—It has to represent more than the expedition —Zaira said—. If we choose something limited to the north or to folklore, we will have to change it as soon as we do a different activity.

—It also has to work for Rakzar —Sebastián added—. And for anything else we decide to study.

Virka remained beside him, her gaze fixed on the sea.

—Then it should not name a single activity.

Valentina carefully placed her backpack on a chair. She approached the window and pressed her hands against the glass, observing the line where the sky seemed to touch the water.

—We can call it Horizons.

The others turned their gaze toward her.

The girl pointed outside.

—That is one, but when we travel we are going to see others. And there are also horizons on maps, even if I have not drawn them yet.

Óscar leaned against the table and contemplated the sea as though subjecting the word to a more serious test than his posture suggested.

—Horizons is not bad. But it sounds like we are only going to collect them.

Valentina frowned.

—What if they are open?

—Open Horizons —Óscar repeated.

The girl’s expression brightened upon hearing the two words together.

Zaira crossed her arms, neither rejecting the name nor accepting it because of Valentina’s excitement. She examined it with the same firmness with which she evaluated a strategy.

—It does not limit us to cultures, travel, or Rakzar. It can encompass any field we decide to explore.

—And we will not have to explain it with a list —Óscar added—. That already represents a considerable improvement.

Virka observed the horizon for a few more seconds.

—It works even if our course changes.

Sebastián looked over the others. He did not need to turn the choice into a solemn vote; none of them had raised an objection, and the name contained what they were looking for without confining them within a single promise.

—Then it will be Open Horizons.

Valentina removed her hands from the glass and turned toward them with a broad smile.

—We are Open Horizons!

Zaira raised one eyebrow slightly.

—We are members of the Open Horizons Club.

—That is longer.

—It is also more correct.

Óscar let out a brief laugh and opened the club’s shared registry from his device. He replaced the provisional heading with «Open Horizons Club» and sent the change to Luciana so she could begin the official process. The name appeared on the expedition documents, still without a plaque or final seal, but already joined to what they intended to build.

They did not remain there longer than necessary. They put away the devices, adjusted the chairs, and gathered their belongings. Valentina put the backpack on again, first checking that Narka’s opening remained clear. Sebastián opened the door. Virka left behind him, while Óscar turned off the table and Zaira gave one last look at the name visible on the documents.

Then they walked toward the outdoor area.

With each corridor, the movement of the classrooms grew farther away and the smell of the sea became more intense. The enclosed walls gave way to the reinforced access points leading to the ARMEX field.

Behind them remained a room that finally had a name. Ahead, beyond the gates, the line they still had not managed to cross awaited them.

The five of them advanced toward it.

The gates opened onto the outdoor field and the sea wind entered through them before the group did. The blue line continued stretching across the grass, exactly where it had remained during the previous sessions.

In front of it, however, the same man dressed in the Institute’s dark clothing was no longer waiting for them.

The instructor was wearing his ARMEX.

It was completely black. A matte base covered his body and disappeared beneath smooth plates placed over his chest, shoulders, forearms, thighs, and legs. There were no secondary colors, ornaments, or illuminated lines competing for attention. Even the joints seemed hidden within the dark surface.

His face remained uncovered, but the absence of a helmet did not weaken the ensemble. On the contrary, it left visible the calm severity with which he received them.

His presence was enough to alter the field. He remained motionless, with his arms relaxed at his sides and his back straight, while the black of the suit outlined his figure against the morning brightness.

Sebastián, Virka, Zaira, and Óscar slowed their pace almost at the same time. None of them mistook the simplicity of the ARMEX for a limitation. On that body there was not a single piece placed there to impress; everything seemed to exist solely because it served a function.

The instructor swept his gaze over the four of them and pointed toward the changing rooms.

—Go change. We will begin when you return.

He added no warnings. Nor did he need to remind them what was being decided that morning.

Sebastián and Óscar took the male entrance; Virka and Zaira headed toward the opposite one. Valentina remained on the field with the backpack on her back and followed her parents with her gaze until both doors closed.

For a few seconds, only she, the instructor, and the murmur of the ocean striking beneath the exterior structures remained.

Narka shifted slightly inside the backpack. The fabric moved against one of the girl’s shoulders and, through the small opening in the zipper, the golden gleam of his eye appeared for an instant.

Valentina looked at the black ARMEX again.

—Are you going to race against them with that suit?

—Yes.

—This time they are going to get past you —she assured him—. They practiced a lot and they all came back better.

The instructor looked at her. Valentina’s confidence contained no provocation, nor was it meant to diminish him; for her, it was a certainty built from everything she had seen from the safe zone, on the grass of the mansion, and inside that impossible universe where the Arrow had ended up learning to fly.

A faint smile appeared on the man’s face and disappeared almost in the same instant.

—I hope so.

He pointed to the protected platform from where she had watched the other trials.

—Go to your place. You will be able to see it from there.

—Yes, teacher.

Valentina obeyed. She climbed up to the safe zone, sat on the first bench, and settled the backpack on her lap without closing it completely.

The instructor returned his attention to the entrances. By the time the doors opened again, any trace of the smile had left his expression.

Zaira and Virka came out first. Zaira’s glossy black ARMEX fitted the silver and orange plates over her abdomen, thighs, and spine; the energy contained beneath them responded to every step without getting ahead of her will. Beside her, Virka’s matte black suit seemed adhered to her body, crossed by violet streaks that breathed with a faint light along her back and sides.

Sebastián appeared from the opposite entrance with the dim red lines lit across the chest and thighs of his dark ARMEX. Óscar walked beside him, covered by the navy blue and golden details of his own suit. The energy lines bordering his arms and legs maintained a fine and precise pulse, very different from the concentrated force that accompanied Sebastián.

The four advanced onto the field.

They did not ask where they should position themselves.

Sebastián took the point; Virka remained on his left and Zaira on his right; Óscar closed the rear. The Arrow appeared before they received an order, formed with distances none of them had to correct.

The instructor walked until he stood in front of the line.

—Today I will not use the rod —he said—. I will stop you directly, as an opponent would inside the Ring. You may respond. If you lose formation before all four of you have crossed, you will fail.

Energy ran through his ARMEX without producing any glow. The black plates adjusted with a succession of low clicks, and the grass yielded slightly beneath his boots.

The change did not alter his posture, but the stillness no longer seemed like rest.

It was force prepared to manifest itself in the exact movement.

The cores of the other four responded at the same time.

In Zaira and Óscar, the difference was immediate. The ARMEX gathered the tension of their muscles, multiplied the response of their footing, and shortened the interval between intention and movement.

For Sebastián and Virka, that assistance meant less. Their bodies possessed, on their own, strength and speed far superior to what the practice equipment could provide them. The challenge was not to obtain more, but to release a greater portion without abandoning the pace the other two could maintain.

Óscar watched the instructor from the rear.

—Advance.

Sebastián took the first step. This time he did not reduce his strength to the limit used during the practices without ARMEX. He let it descend through his legs in a controlled proportion, and the grass sank beneath his boot, but the stride ended where it should.

Virka accompanied the impulse without difficulty. Zaira received the acceleration of her suit and held it within the flank. Óscar’s golden lines increased their frequency as he closed the distance from behind.

The Arrow gained speed as a single structure.

The instructor waited until Sebastián was only a few meters away.

Then he advanced.

The black ARMEX produced no explosion and left no luminous trail. One moment he was in front of the line; the next, he had covered the distance with three compact steps. He entered against the point with his shoulder prepared to displace it.

Sebastián could have responded with enough force to stop him dead, but the collision would have turned the formation into a contest between two bodies. He twisted his torso, received the contact against a plate, and let part of the pressure travel toward the side.

—Close —Óscar said before the impact.

Virka and Zaira were already moving in. Both held the angle behind Sebastián, and Óscar shortened the tail. The instructor pushed, but he did not find an isolated point: the resistance was distributed among the four supports.

The Arrow tilted, yielded half a step, and continued advancing around his shoulder.

The instructor released the pressure and shifted to the right. His hand reached for Zaira’s arm to tear her away from the flank.

She recognized the feint before his fingers reached the plate. In the first sessions, she would have accelerated outward to escape, opening the very space he needed. This time she reduced the axis, pivoted on her inner foot, and released a brief impulse toward the center.

Virka extended her support from the opposite side. She did not abandon Sebastián or rush toward Zaira; she adjusted her position only enough for the tension to pass through the formation.

The black hand brushed the outer edge of Zaira’s ARMEX without managing to separate her.

The instructor had already moved again.

He passed beside Sebastián, pretended to pursue the left flank, and appeared behind them. Óscar had seen the change in the orientation of his hips before he completed the turn. He did not wait to confirm the attack. He abandoned the last position in the tail, advanced diagonally, and closed the space from within.

The instructor’s forearm struck the place where it would have found his ribs half a second earlier.

—Left.

The order did not correct the attack. It came before it.

Sebastián angled the point; Zaira widened the outer side without shooting forward, and Virka held the new axis. The Arrow rotated around Óscar and recovered its direction with the instructor once again in front of them.

For the first time, the man had to use a greater impulse to return to the line. The black plates absorbed the change in speed without jolting him.

He planted himself in front of Sebastián and chained two attacks together without pause: one hand against his chest to stop the point and a low sweep aimed at Zaira’s support.

Sebastián allowed the first blow to reduce his stride without letting it become a stop. Zaira withdrew her leg, let the sweep pass, and returned to the flank through a short acceleration that died exactly when she recovered her distance.

Virka crossed the inner space before the instructor could take advantage of the opening. Her body moved with a speed the ARMEX barely needed to accompany. She interposed her shoulder, deflected the man’s advance without confronting him head-on, and returned to her side in the same movement.

For a fraction of a second, she had released far more of her physical capacity than in the previous practices; even so, she did not advance a single step farther than the others.

Sebastián did the same when the instructor returned to the center. His next step crushed the blades of grass and a greater portion of his strength entered the advance.

He did not discharge it against the man.

He turned it into direction.

Virka and Zaira received the increase from the flanks; Óscar sustained it from behind through the continuous assistance of his suit. The four accelerated together and the line drew closer.

The instructor then stopped attacking their current positions.

He moved toward the places they would occupy next.

He closed Sebastián’s path before the point arrived, forced Zaira to contain an acceleration, and shifted toward Óscar while he was still completing his previous step. His black body appeared again and again along the formation’s future route.

He did not strike with unnecessary brutality. Pressure at the right moment was enough to turn every meter into a contest.

Óscar stopped following him with his eyes. He watched the grass, the order of his steps, and the direction that remained open each time the instructor chose where to stop them.

—Change.

Sebastián curved to the left. Virka took the transition behind him; Zaira gathered the movement from the opposite side and Óscar prevented the tail from stretching.

The Arrow undulated without losing speed.

The last step of its previous form became the first of the Serpent.

The instructor attacked the first curve and found Sebastián abandoning it. He entered the second, but Virka was already transmitting the change toward Zaira. He tried to cut off the third from within; Zaira contained the ARMEX’s impulse, shortened her trajectory, and passed the tension to Óscar.

None of them completely repeated the movement of the one before. The undulation traveled among them and each body bore only the portion that corresponded to it.

The boots marked the field with four curved trajectories. Sebastián and Virka released more force in the braking and relaunches; Zaira used the ARMEX to match that violence without losing precision; Óscar turned every reading into a change executed before a correction became necessary.

The Serpent advanced among the instructor’s physical attacks, folding when he closed one side and expanding when it needed to force him to choose.

A few meters from the line, its curves began to compress.

The instructor recognized the transition.

He had already seen it emerge on that same field and knew where it would end. He abandoned Zaira, crossed the center, and positioned himself in front of the point where Sebastián would return to the axis. The energy of his ARMEX descended into his legs. The black plates closed and his body prepared to receive the new Arrow before it could be born.

Sebastián began the final curve.

But he did not return to the center.

Óscar spoke from the rear, with a single word they had not pronounced in front of the instructor until then.

—Spiral.

Sebastián extended the turn outward and drew with him the attention the instructor had concentrated on the point. Virka crossed inside, becoming the link between both sides. Zaira released the energy accumulated in her legs through a lateral impulse, not to move ahead, but to occupy the space Sebastián had just abandoned.

Óscar closed before the figure could open.

The curves their boots traced across the field reproduced those overlapping marks that had remained beneath the moon on the grass of the mansion. For hours they had opened, closed, and abandoned them without managing to make them retain a shape. Back then, they had only seemed like distorted attempts at the Arrow.

Now, the four trajectories began to rotate around an empty center that advanced with them.

The point no longer belonged to a single person.

Zaira occupied the front during the first turn. Sebastián descended toward the right flank, Virka held the left, and Óscar advanced from the tail before he could fall behind. One step later, the positions began to circulate again.

The Spiral offered the instructor no stable body to stop. Each time he chose one, the formation displaced that person to one side and handed the direction to the next.

The instructor understood the technique and did not retreat.

His ARMEX released all the acceleration he had kept contained. He entered the empty center before they completed another rotation and extended both arms: one toward Zaira, who still occupied the front, and the other toward Óscar, whose entry closed the figure.

If he managed to displace either of them, the Spiral would open from within.

Óscar did not wait for contact. He saw the foot with which the instructor had fixed the turn and recognized where his body would have to continue.

—Reverse.

Zaira cut the acceleration without fighting against it. Virka shifted the link toward Sebastián and he planted the next step, transferring the weight of the formation to the opposite side. Óscar crossed through the space he had just closed.

The rotation died for a fraction so brief that it never became a pause and was reborn in the opposite direction.

The instructor had entered to intercept a Spiral that no longer existed in that form. His own momentum carried him toward the side the four had just abandoned. He turned with precision and tried to recover them, but Zaira had already handed the front to Virka; Sebastián held the new exterior and Óscar was inside the formation before needing a correction.

The line passed beneath the first boot, then beneath two more, and finally beneath the fourth within the same turn.

The instructor managed to extend one hand toward the rear, but found no one separated. Óscar had closed before giving the final order.

On the other side, the rotation compressed. Sebastián recovered the point, Virka and Zaira occupied the flanks, and Óscar returned to the rear.

The Spiral became the Arrow again.

For the first time, all four remained together on the other side of the line.

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END OF Chapter 132 The path continues...