On the Path of Eternal Strength.

Chapter 112 - 110 The World That Had Always Been There

The protection finished closing around Valentina without a sound.Inside the Veil, the room was left suspended in a different calm. The golden and silver light that had previously overflowed around the girl gathered little by little, not until it disappeared, but until it breathed with her again. The blanket remained over her small body, the pink bunny pajamas barely visible beneath the edge of the sheet, and her sleeping face showed no pain, fear, or startle. She simply looked like a tired girl after a day that had been too long.

Narka remained beside the bed, reduced, with one last thread of Qi fading between his front paws. The brown energy with light orange flashes sank into the shadow of the Veil like earth closing again over a protected root. Virka stayed at Valentina’s side, with one hand near her head, no longer touching her with pressure, only remaining there in case something changed. Sebastián watched from the other side, keeping his gaze controlled so as not to open more than necessary that new perception that still weighed behind his eyes.

—She is stable —Narka finally said, with a low, ancient, protective voice—. She can sleep without danger.

Virka did not take her eyes off Valentina.

—Are you sure?

—Yes, Virka. You can breathe. The protection has been placed. If something tries to touch her from that opening, it will first find my safeguard.

Virka’s jaw tightened a little less. It was not complete relief, because she did not seem made to trust calm without watching over it. But she withdrew her hand carefully and let Valentina continue sleeping. Sebastián held his gaze on the girl for a few more seconds. The light surrounding her no longer overflowed. Even so, now he could feel that something had changed in her in an irreversible way.

Narka turned his head toward him.

—And you must also keep practicing. What awakened will not become safe just because you understand it in words.

Sebastián nodded.

—I know.

—Then this night does not end here.

The door was left ajar behind them when they left. Valentina remained asleep, protected by the night, by Narka’s seal, and by that soft breathing that made everything that had just happened inside her soul seem impossible. Outside, however, the mansion continued alive inside the Veil.

Virka returned to the training room.

Narka accompanied her.

The place was already broken from the previous session, but that did not stop them from continuing. The blows returned like heavy echoes underground: aura against Qi, movement against mountain, will against measure. Virka attacked less from rage and more from intention, forcing herself not to waste each impulse. Narka corrected her with actions rather than speeches, closing paths, deflecting her strength, forcing her to feel where her body opened too much and where her aura bit before obeying.

Sebastián remained in another area of the basement.

He did not continue absorbing energy from the Mother Core of Qi. That part had already ended for that night. He sat in silence, with the new realm settling inside him, and practiced something more difficult than advancing: containing. He closed his eyes, barely opened that perception, felt how the deep reddish spiritual energy tried to gather behind his gaze, and reduced it before it became painful. Again and again. He was not trying to see more. He was trying to decide how much to see.

That was how the night passed.

Not as rest, but as discipline.

At some point, Virka’s blows stopped sounding violent and began to sound rhythmic. At another, Sebastián managed to look at a lesser presence of the Veil without the pressure behind his eyes piercing through his head. Narka moved between both trainings with the patience of a creature that understood that growing was not always breaking a limit all at once, but learning not to destroy oneself when crossing it.

When morning came, the Veil was no longer over them.

The mansion returned to its normal form beneath the early light. The hallways recovered their real colors, the shadows became ordinary, and the silence stopped having that alien depth that belonged to the other plane. Through the tall windows came a soft brightness, still fresh, touching the walls, the furniture, and the closed doors as if the previous night had left no visible marks anywhere.

Valentina woke calmly.

She opened her eyes slowly, still wrapped up, with her hair messy over the pillow. For a few seconds she did not move. She looked at the ceiling, then at the light entering through the room, then at the nearby chair where the backpack rested in silence. She felt no pain. She felt no fear. Nor did she remember the place of golden mist as one remembers an ordinary conversation, but rather as a good dream that leaves warmth in the chest even if the words slip away.

She sat up in bed and hugged the blanket.

—Uncle Narka... —she murmured.

The backpack moved barely.

—Good morning, Valentina.

She smiled.

After getting ready with discreet help and putting on a small towel, Valentina went toward the indoor pool. The mansion was silent at that hour, but not empty. The morning air carried the smell of damp stone, warm water, and clean metal. When she entered, she found the place wrapped in low steam.

Valentina entered carefully.

—Good morning —she said.

Virka turned her head toward her.

—Good morning.

Sebastián looked at her from the other side of the pool.

—Did you sleep well?

Valentina nodded.

—Yes.

Narka remained near the edge, reduced, watching with that ancient stillness that turned even an ordinary morning into something guarded. Valentina approached the water and, with Virka’s help, entered slowly. The warmth rose up her legs, then through her body, and she let out a small laugh when she felt it. For a moment, everything was simple: warm water, steam, dark stone, morning light, and the people she already called family.

Then she saw something move beneath the surface.

Valentina went still.

Among the reflections of the water swam small forms that did not belong there. They were not real fish, nor toys, nor shadows produced by the light. They were tiny, wandering spirits, with the appearance of incomplete marine creatures. Some looked like transparent fish with fins that were too long. Others had round bodies, like small pale octopuses, with thin tentacles that opened and closed slowly. There were also stranger forms, almost clumsy, like pieces of water with tiny eyes, not pretty in a clean sense, but small, curious, harmless in their way of floating.

Valentina opened her eyes wide.

—There are little things swimming.

Virka looked at the water immediately, but with her normal eyes she saw nothing. Sebastián, instead, remained motionless. The phrase was enough for him to activate his Spiritual Consciousness carefully, without forcing it. The reddish spiritual energy, with deep black flashes, gathered behind his eyes, controlled, barely open.

Then he saw them.

The small spirits moved between the steam and the water, occupying a strange place between common reality and something finer. They were not inside the Veil. They were there, in the normal world, like presences that had always been able to brush against both sides without fully belonging to either. Sebastián understood in silence that Valentina was not imagining anything.

Valentina leaned toward one of them.

—Come.

The spirit, similar to a little fish made of opaque glass, came a little closer and then suddenly retreated. Another, shaped like a tiny octopus, spun around itself and hid behind a ripple of steam. The girl stretched out her hands to try to catch them without force, playing, but the creatures moved away before she could touch them.

They did not seem afraid only of her.

They felt too much around them.

Narka’s presence beside the edge was an invisible mountain for beings so small. Sebastián, newly advanced, emitted a contained pressure that did not belong to someone ordinary. Virka, even at rest, carried a dark and bestial nature beneath her skin, a warning that lesser spirits understood without words. And Valentina, although she smiled inside the warm water, shone for them with a golden and silver energy protected by something older.

The small spirits slowly moved away, not fleeing in terror, but keeping their distance. They swam toward the edges of the pool, toward the steam, toward corners where the light made them almost invisible.

Valentina made a small pout.

—They left.

Narka watched her gently.

—They do not want to bother you, Valentina.

—I wanted to play.

—I know. But they feel that you are not alone.

Valentina looked at Sebastián, then at Virka, then at Narka. Her displeasure slowly faded, replaced by a simple understanding.

—Because you are all here?

—Yes —Narka replied—. Because we are here.

Sebastián kept his Spiritual Consciousness open for a few more seconds. He saw the last traces of those small forms dissolving between the steam and the reflections of the warm water. Then he closed it before it became painful. Virka, although she did not see the same thing, understood enough by looking at both their faces.

Valentina moved again in the water, calmer. She tried to swim a little, clumsy and happy, while the tiny spirits remained at a distance, watching from the invisible edges of the world. The morning continued entering over the dark stone and polished steel. Everything was happening in common reality, without Veil, without combat, without broken night.

And yet, the world was no longer the same.

For Valentina, the border between the visible and the hidden had begun to open softly. But this time she was not alone before what she could see. She was in warm water, under the morning light, surrounded by those who would make even strange things learn to stay far away.

The morning finished settling over the mansion with a normality that almost seemed offensive after the previous night.

There were no visible cracks in the hallways. There were no traces of the Veil left on the walls, no marks of aura in the air, no pressure of Qi bending reality around the doors. The house breathed like a common house: early light over the large windows, clean silence on the stairs, the smell of freshly prepared clothes and distant breakfast. Only those who had spent the night awake knew that that calm was not innocent. It was a surface.

Valentina left her room with the institute uniform on and the backpack on her back. Her hair fell somewhat messy, with the lower white peeking out beneath the dark brown, and her different eyes looked at the hallway with a new attention. She did not seem frightened. Nor completely the same as before. She walked like a girl who remembered having had a strange and beautiful dream, although she could not arrange all its parts.

Inside the backpack, Narka remained reduced and still.

Sebastián and Virka were already ready. They also wore their institute uniforms, although on them the school clothes seemed like a layer too simple over bodies made for another kind of world. Virka watched Valentina from above, measuring her breathing, her steps, and the way she tightened the straps of the backpack. Sebastián looked at her with less obviousness, but not with less attention. The night had ended, yes, but what had awakened in Valentina did not fall asleep just because morning arrived.

—Are you okay? —Sebastián asked.

The voice came out dry, contained, but the familiar way he addressed her had an awkward closeness that he did not try to disguise completely.

Valentina nodded.

—Yes. I slept well.

—If you see something strange, tell us.

—Yes, Dad.

Sebastián did not respond to the word. He only held her gaze for one more second and then turned his face toward the main entrance. Virka took Valentina’s hand to go down the last steps, and the girl did not resist. Outside, an SUV waited for them with dark windows and the engine running. The day was clear, with a pale sky over the city and a soft breeze moving the plants along the path.

They got in without delay.

Valentina ended up beside the window, with the backpack arranged on her legs so Narka could remain close. Virka sat at her side. Sebastián took the opposite seat, from where he could see both the girl and the road. The SUV moved through the mansion exit and took the road toward the institute.

At first, Valentina only looked at the city.

Houses, trees, walls, poles, cars, people walking with bags or uniforms. Everything seemed normal. Then, between the reflection of the glass and the morning light, she saw something else.

A small form crossed the sky.

It was not a real bird. It had uneven wings, two tiny heads, and a single bright eye in the middle of one of them. Its body seemed made of gray smoke and incomplete feathers. It flew clumsily over the street cables, circling before disappearing behind a building. Valentina pressed her forehead a little more against the window.

Then she saw another.

A creature similar to a bird without a beak, with a tail that was too long, floated near a tree. Lower down, on the sidewalk, small spiritual animals moved between people’s feet without anyone noticing them. One looked like a dog made of mist with twisted ears. Another was barely a little ball of light with thin legs. Some glowed like dim fireflies, entering and leaving the shadows of the poles.

Valentina said nothing at first.

She only opened her eyes wider.

the truck continued moving forward, and the common world began to fill with things that had always been there, hidden from everyone except those who could look from another place. On a corner, a humanoid form floated without legs, its body ending in a low cloud. It had no face. Only a smooth surface where eyes and mouth should have been. Farther ahead, three small lights ran around a traffic sign, chasing one another like children without bodies. None seemed dangerous. They were strange, incomplete, a little clumsy, like memories that had forgotten how to adopt a precise form.

—There are more —Valentina whispered.

Virka lowered her gaze toward her.

—More what?

Valentina pointed at the window with one finger.

—Things. Like strange little birds. And lights. And people without faces.

Sebastián did not ask if she was sure. He activated his Spiritual Consciousness carefully, letting the deep reddish energy gather behind his eyes only enough to look without pain. The city changed in layers. They did not enter the Veil. They were still in the normal world, inside the SUV, among traffic, noise, and morning. But the spirits were there, brushing against reality like faint stains on a fabric too thin.

He saw them.

He saw the deformed birds over the rooftops, the lesser lights stuck to the corners, the humanoid forms floating far from living people. They were not physical bodies. Nor illusions. They were wandering presences, trapped between one shore and another, capable of existing near the common world as long as they did not break the normal course of the living.

Sebastián closed his Spiritual Consciousness a little before the pressure increased.

—Do not touch them —he said.

Valentina looked at him.

—I was not going to touch them.

—Good. Only look a little.

She then remembered the golden mist, the rabbit, and the butterfly. Not as a complete memory, but as a soft warning kept in her chest. If something was ugly, if something felt bad, she should not look at it too much.

The SUV turned onto a narrower avenue.

There she saw it.

At the entrance of a dark alley, a larger creature clung to a side wall. It had a low and wide body, similar to that of a spider made of wet shadow, with long legs bent at incorrect angles. Where there should have been a head, there was a double face, a twisted mixture of man and woman joined into a single living mask. It was not still. It moved over several small spirits, trapping them with dark threads and bringing them toward its open mouth in silence.

Valentina froze.

The evil spirit stopped moving.

It felt the gaze.

One of its faces turned toward the street. Then the other. For a fraction, it seemed to search through cars, glass, and morning until finding the exact point where Valentina was. Its legs tensed against the alley wall.

Valentina looked away at once.

She lowered her eyes toward the backpack and tightened the straps with both hands. She did not scream. She did not call anyone. She only obeyed that small and kind voice that had told her not to look too much at ugly things.

Inside the backpack, Narka opened his eyes.

He did not come out. He did not speak. He did not need to.

An ancient pressure, minimal for him and enormous for that thing, passed through the fabric of the backpack like the shadow of a mountain. It did not spread through the whole SUV. It did not alarm the driver or touch the living around them. It was barely a warning directed at the alley, a brown and golden presence, heavy, impossible to mistake.

The evil spirit retreated.

Its legs folded against the wall. The double face lost its predatory intent and sank toward the darkness, crawling toward the back of the alley until disappearing among shadows that smelled of old dampness and hunger. The small spirits it had tried to trap scattered in all directions like dim sparks.

Valentina breathed slowly.

Virka had not seen the creature, but she did see the way the girl had tensed. Her hand rested on Valentina’s shoulder.

—What was it?

Valentina took a moment to answer.

—An ugly thing.

Sebastián looked out the window toward the alley as the SUV was already leaving it behind. He activated his Spiritual Consciousness again for barely an instant, enough to see the dark trace withdrawing far from them. Then he closed it.

—It is gone now —he said.

Narka spoke from the backpack, with a low and familiar voice.

—You did well, Valentina. You did not look at it more than necessary.

The girl lowered her head toward the backpack.

—Did it get scared because of Uncle Narka?

—Yes. And because of what protects you.

Valentina did not smile immediately, but her breathing calmed. She looked out the window again, this time more carefully. The city continued passing outside. Lesser spirits floated over rooftops, corners, and trees. Some hid when they felt the SUV. Others simply followed their course, indifferent, as if the world of the living were a street they could walk through without being seen.

Valentina looked without chasing them too much.

She learned fast.

The mansion had been left behind. The institute appeared ahead after several minutes, with its clear buildings, its large windows, and the movement of students entering through the main routes. For anyone, it was another school morning. For Valentina, the road there had opened a second city on top of the first: incomplete birds over the cables, small lights beneath the benches, faceless shadows in the corners, and ugly things that learned to retreat when they felt she was not alone.

The SUV stopped in front of the institute.

Valentina held the backpack against her chest for one more moment before getting out. Sebastián and Virka got out with her, one on each side. Narka remained hidden, reduced, but his presence was still there, firm beneath the fabric.

The morning continued.

So did the world.

Only now Valentina could see the soft cracks through which the invisible breathed.

__________________________________________

END OF Chapter 110

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