After weeks of experimenting with combinations and rhythms, the apprentices no longer saw the Triad's symbols as indecipherable enigmas. They were now their training companions.
Yet, one problem persisted: how to record what they were learning?
The Dilemma of Memory
Daisuke was the first to notice.
"It's no use just repeating. We forget details. Yesterday, Aya made a perfect pause that changed everything, but today no one could reproduce it."
Aya blushed.
"I don't even remember the exact pause myself."
Jin snorted.
"Then we need to write it down. Like we've always done."
Kenshiro agreed, but with reservations.
"Writing on paper isn't enough. Paper doesn't pulse. It doesn't hold the rhythm, nor the body."
Everyone looked at Shoumei, waiting for an answer.
The master sighed and said calmly:
"Perhaps you are thinking about writing in the wrong way."
The Bold Idea
That night, Shoumei led the group to one of the deepest chambers of the Breathing Dojo. There, the walls not only pulsed but also sweated a translucent liquid, which trickled down in thin streams and solidified into thin plates, almost like organic glass.
"The Triad already writes," explained Shoumei, touching one of the plates. "It just doesn't write for us."
Aya's eyes widened.
"What if we try to write along with it?"
That "along" was the spark that ignited the project of the First Living Text.
The Beginning of Symbiotic Writing
They tried everything. First, they marked symbols on the translucent plates using charcoal. But the marks disappeared within minutes, as if the wall itself rejected the interference.
Then, Aya had the idea of using concentrated BAF. Each apprentice touched the surface and left a vibrational impression on it. To everyone's surprise, the plate reacted: it absorbed the signals and began returning the symbols, pulsing like an echo of their energy.
It was the first time the Triad "accepted" external writing.
Jin, amazed, commented:
"It's like a parchment that responds."
Daisuke completed:
"It's not a parchment. It's a co-author."
The Problem of Instability
In the first days, the writing was chaotic. The plates recorded, but also edited on their own. Simple sequences appeared distorted. A phrase Aya left, "Flow + Silence," reappeared the next morning as "Flow + Silence + Resistance."
Kenshiro was irritated:
"So we can't even trust what is recorded."
Shoumei just smiled.
"It's like talking to a stubborn person. The Triad doesn't accept everything any which way. It responds."
Over time, they realized the instability wasn't a flaw, but part of the process. Each record required negotiation. It was as if the apprentices were saying: "This is what we want to keep," and the Triad was replying: "Yes, but this is also what you need to remember."
The First Living Page
After many attempts, they finally achieved a stable page.
Aya conducted the initial phrase, Jin strengthened it, Daisuke adjusted the pauses, and Kenshiro maintained the body's rhythm.
The plate glowed intensely, absorbed the energy, and returned a pulsating text. Living symbols floated on the surface, organizing themselves into clear patterns, legible to all.
And then the unexpected happened: the symbols began to move on their own, forming new combinations. As if the text had decided to continue the sentence they had started.
"It's... writing back," murmured Aya, fascinated.
Shoumei simply closed his eyes, respectfully.
"The First Living Text."
The Birth of a Voice
In the following days, they returned to the same hall and found the page expanded. The text had grown, incorporating symbols that no one remembered placing. When they tried to read it, they felt something strange: it wasn't common reading. It was like hearing a melody inside one's own body.
The text didn't transmit linear information, but sensations organized in sequence. It was like hearing a story told from within.
Daisuke described:
"It's not a book. It's a voice."
Aya completed:
"A voice that breathes with us."
The Pact of Continuity
The question then became: what to do with this text? Keep it? Expand it? Or destroy it, for fear of losing control?
Jin, always impulsive, wanted to test it in combat. Kenshiro, on the contrary, suggested ending the experiment before it became dangerous.
It was Aya who found the balance:
"We don't need to use it as a weapon. We can use it as a diary. Let it write the story of our encounter."
Everyone agreed. Each day, they returned to the hall and left new BAF impressions. Each day, the Living Text responded, adding its own layers. It was as if they were writing together a collective diary of the fusion between the Triad and Veridianum.
The Most Disquieting Discovery
One day, while reviewing the text, they noticed it had recorded a phrase that no one remembered writing:
"The next meeting will be outside this dojo."
The silence was immediate. Kenshiro clenched his fists.
"Is it predicting the future?"
Daisuke, always cautious, replied:
"Perhaps it's just projecting possibilities."
Shoumei, however, spoke with serenity:
"The Living Text is not a prophet. But it is a mirror. It shows not only what we do, but also what we desire, even if in silence."
This revelation left everyone unsettled. If the text could reveal hidden desires, who was really writing whom?
The Text as a Collective Mirror
Over time, they realized the Living Text functioned as a kind of collective consciousness. It reflected both conscious and unconscious intentions. Sometimes it showed phrases that no one wanted to admit, but which were hidden truths.
Once, the sentence appeared:
"Jin fears being left behind."
The young man was furious, but later, alone, admitted it was true.
Another time it emerged:
"Aya desires to protect everyone, even at her own expense."
She cried upon seeing that revealed.
Gradually, they understood that the text not only taught grammar, but also forced them to face their own contradictions.
The First Communion
On the tenth day of joint writing, the text reached a critical point. Symbols pulsed so intensely that they filled the entire chamber, enveloping each apprentice in luminous threads.
For a few minutes, they felt connected not only to each other, but also to the Triad and to Veridianum simultaneously. It was as if the two realities were breathing together through them.
Aya described the experience in her diary:
"It was as if we had become a phrase within a larger sentence. We didn't just write. We were written."