Eldad’s apartment – 7:30 AM - IDT
“It’s great to have you back, Mila!” Svend said, clasping her shoulder as the person who had inducted her into Cherut the first time.
“As we are about to face this powerful enemy together once again, would you like to go into battle with your memory back?” Kei addressed her, standing next to Sven. Her fractured memory and the resentment toward her father would only hold her back. He took a deep breath. “Mila, I’m speaking as the man who saw your first steps, heard your first words in Japanese, because that’s the language you and I use. It was I who also taught you to be physically fit, to protect and fight when necessary, to pursue justice, but with kindness and wisdom…that last part was your mother’s teachings. Flora, David and I shared similar views.”
Mila closed the space between them, wanting to receive and feel those words in her soul. It wasn’t just information; it was her life and she wanted it back.
“I’m telling you all this because I also taught you to master your mind through meditation as your body through conditioning.”
Mila perked up her ears. She has been training all her life apparently. Now she wondered if she could ever reach a personal valley, a place where she could rest beside peaceful waters for a long while and share it with Alexander. Soon she would be with him in Singapore, and together they would find some solace once the mess they were in was over. Mila gazed around the room, each of them had suffered and sacrificed something precious. Each had gone through their own trial by fire, and if one hadn’t yet, he or she would at some point in their life.
“Your great-grandmother Tzofia’s secret is intertwined with the secret that Gadiel, Hadi, Amidor, and Leo were appointed to protect.” Kei continued talking, glancing at Gadiel and back at Mila. “You understand what would happen if Masae got a hold of an ancient life-and-death-giving knowledge, don’t you?” Kei moved closer to her. “So, when you were trapped in Masae’s laboratory, you saw the gravity of the situation, and that Masae wouldn’t stop until she extracted the information from you…”
“I self-induced this amnesia? Is that what you are getting to?” Mila mulled over this scenario, pacing through the apartment, linking every piece of information. “It makes sense. Somehow I might have reset my mind because this amnesia isn’t the neogenesis side effect. Alexander didn’t perform the transformation as Masae wished and thinks he did.”
“What do you mean?” asked Eli, jumping off his chair. Mila, the old Mila, was there, somewhere inside her mind.
“Dr. Alexander Lyashenko didn’t expose me to enhancement treatment as Masae ordered. Alexander defied her…” Mila laughed at the brittleness of power, even Masae’s. “But he couldn’t spare me from an experimental drug being developed for psychological wars. I ingested Pharma-NorTech’s enhanced brewing of the Psychotria viridis shrub leaves along with the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine.”
“When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that presents hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria in which your subconscious is supposed to be revealed. We know it as the Soul’s Vine.” Gadiel locked eyes with Mila, studying her. “It’s a powerful and dangerous brew. It goes straight to the psyche, shaking everything, and without a proper dose and guidance, it could be permanently damaging.”
“It’s a potent stuff, I know. While I was under the effect of the drug, I saw things: the forest, an older lady with dark and long hair, calling me to a garden. She also called it the Soul’s Vine.” Mila noticed the swiftly evolving worry in each of them. “Don’t worry. Masae doesn’t know any bit of this. She has only watched a recording of me vomiting and fighting against invisible attackers…which was the next thing that had happened after the nice older lady…who I assume was my great-grandmother, right?” Mila said and shared how her mind had become loose and fragments of her subconscious had surfaced with time. She asked them if the fastest way to recover her memory was to ingest the brew again.
Gadiel and Kei shook their heads.
“You don’t need the drug to put the pieces together,” Kei sighed. It was time to help her retrieve her memory.
“I need to see a sample of Masae’s formula. We are talking about an already naturally dangerous brew catapulted to a new high of unspeakable psychological horrors.” Gadiel cringed, tightening his fists. Mikael, the oldest Healer who entrusted him with this mission, was right. The Sacred Garden had to remain closed. He shook his head at the ancient truth that no matter when in time, people were more inclined to produce destruction and death. “It could really be hell on earth.”
“Tell me about it!” murmured Ifat, gripping Mila’s hand.
“I taught you a mind-protection technique when you were little and I think it’s what you used to erase your memory,” Kei told her, moving chairs away to clear the living room.
“All right. Let’s do it then!” Mila answered, helping everyone to move the furniture away to open a space.
The agents left to provide privacy.
“Now, Mila, position yourself as comfortably as you wish; lay down or sit.” Kei spoke softly.
Mila laid on the rug in the middle of the room. She closed her eyes and focused on Kei’s voice; she recognized it from the visions.
“Let go of everything except one object on which to direct your mind,” Kei continued. He was also sitting on the floor next to her.
The sunshine was penetrating the room through the ample windows. Even with her eyes closed, she could sense the light overpowering the darkness when she fixed her mind on the Healer’s ring and its filigree message of life.
“Take several deep, full breaths. Exhale deliberately. As you breathe, aim for the object you are holding on to…”
Mila tried with all her might, but her mind became distracted with images of fights and the things she had done for Masae even if she didn’t go through most of them as requested by the tycoon. “I can’t do it, Kei.” She sat and opened her eyes as if chased by a creature from another dimension.
“I have an idea.” Kei called on Eldad. “Eldad has a calming special gift that could relax you so you can focus on the task. Would you give it a try?”
“It’s worth a shot,” Mila agreed and laid down again.
Eldad sensed her anxiety and activated his calming gift.
Mila let go of everything except for the inscription in her Healer’s ring. She clung to the message: Choose life, echoing in her mind. There was music in the forest, birds were chirping. The air was humid; she kept breathing and walking forward, breathing deeply following the beautiful lady, Tzofia, the Healer. David held her in his arms: your name is Mila Tzofia Ferro. You will be a servant warrior, wisdom, and iron. You will be tested again and again, be brave for you are never alone. You are iron wrapped in the silk of wisdom. Fighting for your birth, Flora taught us about courage and the power that comes from loving even in the direst times.
Mila was breathing softly and exhaling, relaxed, passing through the canal of memories: a new rebirth in its own right. Mila was acutely aware she was tapping into the depths of her soul. She saw Flora waving farewell on a lonely boat fading on the horizon. Mila’s tears were streaming down now. There was Kei and their sparring games, their conversations. She saw Eli’s arrival at her house, their first kiss, Cherut and the Cloud Warriors. Her father’s death. And the instant on Masae’s lab bed: Save a life, save a world. Mila opened her eyes. “I remember everything!” she whispered and broke into a waterfall of sobbing. She couldn’t move or talk. Her life was back with all its sensations.
Eldad helped her to stand up, offering a soft, cotton towel to wipe her eyes.
The Cherut agents were welcomed back into the living room.
Eli looked at her with concern, wondering if it had been the right move to overwhelm her with so much truth at once.
“Kei!” Mila clung to Kei.
“Welcome back, Mila, my daughter!” Kei whispered, embracing her as tightly as he could.
Mila gazed at Eli. His bright turquoise eyes glistened.
“Eli! Please, forgive me,” Mila sobbed again. Her heart was divided. Could she reciprocate her first love’s affection? She also loved the person who has been silently defying Masae’s orders for the last two years.
“Your well-being and happiness is more important to me than anything else,” Eli murmured to her ear, embracing her with love and understanding. He kissed her head, knowing that his love for her was a constant action for the last two years, but Mila’s love for him had been interrupted. It was part of the sacrifice she’d made; he would never force her to love him back.
“Thank you, Svend, Bastian, Adriel, Eiji, Yana…” Mila gazed at the Spanish beauty, trying to interpret her transitioning facial expressions. Mila saw pain, a sneer, contempt, a sly grin of mischief, was she correct? “Gadiel, Leo, Hadi, and Amidor…” Mila wanted to take them all in one big hug, if only she could. “I thank you all for never giving up the search! But now we must move. I have a flight to Singapore and then to Peru. The jet is waiting.”
“You shouldn’t go alone,” Eli said, seizing his backpack. “I’ll go with you.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be alone. I’ll meet you in the jungle!” Mila answered, wiping her eyes and getting ready to leave.
Kei placed a small cell phone off the grid with his secure line in her hands when giving her a last hug. She closed her fist about to ask the reason for the object, he squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear in Japanese: Don’t say anything. I’m not going to lose you again.
“See you in Peru!” Eli said, hiding his grief behind a generous smile.
Mila nodded, deviating her gaze to Ifat, who was standing by her side. “Eldad, could you do me a favor? Please, watch over my sister while I’m gone?” she asked, squeezing Ifat’s hand.
“Yala, I will!” the Israeli agent answered.
“Remember what we’ve agreed.” Mila winked at Ifat. She knew it wasn’t easy to break the chains of addiction, but it wasn’t impossible either. “I leave you in good hands,” Mila assured her and left.
Ifat stood on the balcony watching her partner in pain setting off on her bike.
“Vale, it’s also our time to make our way to the jungle, what is the plan?” Yana asked, gathering every detail before leaving.