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  AWAKENING

  Warriors of the Sacred Garden Series

  E. I. LANDA

  AWAKENING

  Copyright © E. I. Landa – 2022

  Published by E. I. Landa

  All rights reserved

  Cover designed by

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, timelines, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and creativity. Any historical event, if real, has been fictionalized, and shouldn’t be used as a reference. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission of the author.

  Please contact the author for permissions at: www.eilanda.com or via Instagram: @Eilanda_novelista.

  Eternally grateful for your support.

  To Sebastian and Jack, my guardian angels.

  A Word From The Author

  Dearest reader,

  Before you join this adventure, there are a few things I’d like to share with you about the context of the novel because of the sad coincidences you’ll find.

  I started working on Warriors of the Sacred Garden - Awakening in 2013 and finished the first draft with 450 pages in 2016. I left it on file to focus on the first novel’s publication. Please, as you read this story, keep in mind that this novel is a work of fiction and shouldn’t be taken as reference of any kind.

  At the time my ideas for a sequel began formulating, we were hearing about Ebola, then the zika virus and I began to wonder what would happen if a virus got out of hand. I never imagined that we would be experiencing a pandemic nightmare only a few years later.

  Second coincidence is the background of an important character who has a Russian father and Ukrainian mother. Again, I hadn’t imagined that the conflict between these two countries would be making headlines in real life, in real time.

  The reason I developed this character as Russian-Ukrainian was an attempt to break the stereotypes and propaganda. I have many questions still to be answered, so my search for the truth continues. But what I know as a person privileged enough to have lived in many countries, is that at the core, we are more similar than different. We all have the opportunity of being an agent of connection or division.

  As you read this story, know that my heart breaks for the devastation, the chaos, the loss many of us, around the world have endured, be it through illness or war. My prayers are for hope for a bright future and the power to rebuild our lives and our countries.

  I thank you with all my heart for coming along on this journey.

  E. I. Landa

  You pushed me hard to make me fall, but the LORD helped me.

  Psalm 118:13

  No man ever steps in the same river twice,

  for it’s not the same river and he's not the same man.

  Heraclitus

  Contents

  A Word From The Author

  PROLOGUE: With the Name Comes the Life – David Ben-Gurion International Airport – Israel 2005

  PART ONE: REBIRTH

  CHAPTER 1: Norfolk Castle – England, 2005

  CHAPTER 2: Norfolk Castle – England, 2005

  CHAPTER 3: Norfolk Castle – England, 2005

  CHAPTER 4: Super Bowl – Atlanta, 2007

  CHAPTER 5: Atlanta – February, 2007

  CHAPTER 6: Norfolk Castle – England, 2005

  CHAPTER 7: Atlanta – February, 2007

  CHAPTER 8: Norfolk Castle – England, 2006

  CHAPTER 9: Atlanta – February, 2007

  CHAPTER 10: Norfolk Castle – England, 2006

  CHAPTER 11: Atlanta – February, 2007

  CHAPTER 12: Norfolk Castle – England, 2006

  CHAPTER 13: The Test – England, 2006

  CHAPTER 14: Guantanamo Bay – February, 2007

  CHAPTER 15: Norfolk Castle – West Sussex, England

  CHAPTER 16: Guantanamo Bay – Caribbean Sea, 2007

  CHAPTER 17: Caribbean Sea – February, 2007

  PART TWO – DELIVERIES AND DIGGINGS

  CHAPTER 18: Dubai – June, 2007

  CHAPTER 19: Hong Kong – June, 2007

  CHAPTER 20: Jerusalem – June, 2007

  CHAPTER 21: Jerusalem – June, 2007

  CHAPTER 22: Old City – June, 2007

  PART THREE – COMING CLEAN

  CHAPTER 23: Airborne over Republic of Guinea, 2007

  CHAPTER 24: Conakry, August 5th 1:00 P.M. GMT

  CHAPTER 25: Amazonas – Peru, 2007

  CHAPTER 26: Tel Aviv – Israel, 2007

  CHAPTER 27: From Rome to Cape Town – South Africa, August 25th, 2007

  CHAPTER 28: The Smoke that Thunders – Victoria Falls Zimbabwe, Zambia, August 27th, 2007

  CHAPTER 29: Amazonas – Peru, August 30th 2007

  CHAPTER 30: Franschhoek – South Africa, August 30th 2007

  CHAPTER 31: Franschhoek – South Africa, August 30th 2007

  CHAPTER 32: Franschhoek – South Africa, August 30th 2007

  CHAPTER 33: Franschhoek – South Africa, August 31st 2007

  CHAPTER 34: Washington DC. – United States, September 10th, 2007

  CHAPTER 35: Washington DC. – United States, September 10th, 2007

  CHAPTER 36: Pharma-NorTech Laboratory – Clandestine Facility, Singapore

  CHAPTER 37: From Rehavia to Tel Aviv – Israel

  CHAPTER 38: Jaffa – Israel September 13th, 2007

  CHAPTER 39: Holon – Israel September 13th, 2007

  CHAPTER 40: Old Port Jaffa – Israel September 13th, 2007

  CHAPTER 41: Hebron – Israel September 13th, 2007

  CHAPTER 42: Hebron – Israel, September 14th, 2007

  CHAPTER 43: Old Port Jaffa – Israel, September 14th, 2007

  CHAPTER 44: Old Port Jaffa – Israel, September 14th, 2007

  CHAPTER 45: Pharma-NorTech Laboratory – Singapore, September 14th, 2007

  CHAPTER 46: Connecting Flight From Amsterdam to New York – 2 Hours Before Landing

  CHAPTER 47: Miraflores – Peru, September 15th, 2007

  CHAPTER 48: Back to the Heart – Peru, September 15th, 2007

  CHAPTER 49: Taking Care of Business – Peru, September 16th, 2007

  CHAPTER 50: Moonless Night – Peru, September 16th, 2007

  CHAPTER 51: Moonless Night – Amazonas, Peru, September 16th, 2007

  CHAPTER 52: About Love, Time, and Spheres

  CHAPTER 53: Cloud Forest – Amazonas, September 17th, 2007

  CHAPTER 54: Antidote – Portugal, September 18th, 2007

  CHAPTER 55: New Beginning – Portugal, September 20th, 2007

  CHAPTER 56: Miraflores —Peru, December 20th, 2007

  CHAPTER 57: Two Become One — Peru, December 20th, 2007

  EPILOGUE: Cloud Forest — Amazonas, Peru, 2010

  Author’s notes

  For further learning

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  With the Name Comes the Life – David Ben-Gurion International Airport – Israel 2005

  “You must be basketball players, are you?” asked a man proud of his assertion. The toilets were still occupied, he had plenty of time to make conversation. He furrowed his plump face and narrowed his eyes to the four tallest men aboard the plane. “What team do you play for?”

  Gadiel turned in his narrow seat. “Team?”

  “Oh, boy! Here we go again.” Whispered Leo under his breath, adjusting his sitting position, his long and strong legs were going numb in his restrictive seat.

  Amidor gave his Sachapuyo brothers a knowing look before turning to the man. “Sorry to disappoint you, we don’t play basketball.” Ami
dor said with his most charming smile on his crescent-moon face, “We actually prefer soccer as a sport to play and watch. But not modern soccer, of course,”

  The other Cloud Warriors shook their heads, understanding what he was about to say.

  “But we truly love the ancient game of soccer, where the strongest army scored goals with the losers’ heads.” Amidor concluded with a regretful expression and a sigh. “It’s a pity the rules have changed.”

  “And that will do!” Hadi said, amused, glancing at the passengers around them.

  The people who heard the interaction gawked at the four with wide eyes.

  “What a swift adaptation to these times, Brothers!” Gadiel observed disapprovingly in his ancient Healer language.

  “Of course they aren’t basketball players!” said a young woman, snatching a picture of the four ancient ones. “You played vampires in a movie or were you mutants? I’ve seem you somewhere.” She tried to recall, scrolling down celebrity pictures on her smartphone.

  “Oy!” sighed Gadiel, checking his watch just as the pilot’s voice chirped above them. Preparing for landing. Local time 10:00 AM. Weather: sunny without a chance of rain.

  They were Sachapuyo warriors: Gadiel, Leo, Hadi, and Amidor. Though they appeared young, they were closer to a millennium of life on earth and maybe more in other realms. Most recently, they’d spent the last seven hundred years in their personal time capsules, a complex of sarcophagi in the heart of the Peruvian Cloud Forest, until being woken by Mila Ferro and other members of Cherut, a UN ghost organization.

  Their adaptation to modern life seemed easy and supernatural on the outside. But the inner work each of them performed was as arduous as taming a dragon. One side of their nature thirsted for violence and the other desired peace and life. There were two competing wills struggling within one entity. Day by day, each of them had to surrender their innate inclinations to the will of the Highest. They embraced who gave them a new life and purpose for peace and healing on the planet.

  The four descended to the tarmac. Each of them was frozen at an age that would take, not months, but centuries to change. Age wasn’t a relevant attribute for the purpose of their existence, but for the sake of the curious mind, they seemed somewhere in their late twenties. Their features appealing to the sight, each an exquisite representation of earthly races and divine creations, for such was their origin: earth and heaven interwoven. They were dressed in elegant attire for their apparent ages, fresh and hip for modern times. Far in the past were the alpaca and cotton tunics and thin leather trousers they’d worn in the Cloud Forest.

  On the tarmac, the four warriors breathed the welcoming scents of Israel. It was a stimulating blend of travelers’ expensive perfumes, spices, and aircraft gasoline. They would have to wait until getting to their apartment in Jerusalem, to recognize the sweet and tart scent of pomegranate and citrus plants mingling deliciously with grape vines, each in bloom.

  The four quickly moved into the shuttle bus and sat facing each other, clutching their carry-on suitcases to prevent them from rolling away. The morning sun filtered through the windows revealing dust particles dancing before them and giving Gadiel’s naturally glossy gray hair a glorious shine. It framed his handsome square face and lit up his deep amethyst-colored eyes.

  “Although we come from different places, it feels as if I am returning home,” Gadiel said thoughtfully in his old Healer language, the oldest form of Hebrew. Each word left a sweet taste on his tongue as he spoke. Each phrase became stronger as they left his lips. He glanced at his fellow sojourners, his brothers for life.

  “I know what you mean. Perhaps we feel this way because we are close to the place where everything began,” Leo answered, his golden skin contrasting with his white cotton shirt, all in harmony with his radiant sunshine hair and deep blue eyes. He regarded his brothers thoughtfully as he spoke. “The place where our kind was created before everything, even before the great voyage in search of peace.” He opened and closed his fingers as if gripping his ancient sword. It pained him to have been separated from the one token of his ancient identity. But Eldad Shalit, the Israeli special agent and member of Cherut, had carried it into the land in his private flight a couple of weeks prior to their arrival. His sword was waiting for him at the house—their new home.

  In cooperation with Cherut, the United Nations ghost organization to which the Cloud Warriors now belonged, each received full names, modernized professions, and other details that would advance their mission of protecting the Sacred Garden and the knowledge developed there.

  Gadiel Shein, Leo Ackerman, Hadi Kalef, and Amidor Guillou stood stoically in the nationals’ immigration check lines. They waited with their passports and national identification cards ready for clearing and meeting Eldad outside the airport.

  “The last immigration and customs interrogation to endure.” Hadi said, joining a line for national returning home, as did the others.

  “Our presence in this time and land will be established.” Leo added, opening his passport to the first page and prepared to show it to the custom agent. The piece of paper reduced thousands years of life into a few over twenty.

  “Please, remember not to lose your temper. Stay calm and relaxed despite the length of this interrogation. Eldad told us to keep in mind the persistent attacks this country has suffered. The constant questioning of friend or foe is natural,”

  “Understandable. It’s their Kuelap and Sacred Garden to protect,” Amidor said, stepping to the check counter.

  Each Warrior showed their worn-out but newly issued documents. They didn’t mean to show off their meanderings around the world; it had been necessary to create a presence. But to those stuck in one place behind a desk, that’s what it looked like. The navy-blue books in the immigration agent’s hands seemed to be witness to an adventure around the world à la Jules Verne. It was decorated like a collector’s catalogue of visas and stamps for multiple entrances and exits from many different. Every detail depicted in their passports had been recorded on secure government clouds prior to their arrival, yet the Warriors expressed their preference for paper books as a souvenir of their fantastic voyage that had lasted a whole year.

  “Your travels around the world are impressive! You’ve really seen the globe!” commented the agent, surveying the intriguing man in front of him, and glancing at the other three standing with the other well-trained customs agents.

  Each officer at his respective counter excused themselves and stepped away of the counter to a corner to compare the ID cards the Cloud Warriors provided. They called on a superior and proceeded to check again on a different computer. Then the officers without finding any red flags, returned to the expectant warriors for one last round of questions.

  “Are you Jewish? How often do you go to Shul? When do we celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? What do you do on those days? Do you keep the day of rest?”

  The four answered calmly in modern Hebrew as rehearsed with Eldad.

  “Well, Dr. Shein, here is your passport and ID back.” Said the agent, studying Gadiel and the other three.

  The immigration agents had to loosen their grip. A side form their image nothing was out of the ordinary. This was a group of friends returning home from a world trip.

  “What an amazing journey you had.” concluded the agent to Gadiel.

  The Cloud Warrior accepted his documents and put them in his blazer’s pocket. “It feels like hundreds of years in the making.” replied the Gadiel, the ancient Healer with a subtle smile and a twinkle in his big almond-shaped eyes. “I imagine you’ve done the same after the military service. You must know that after a while, three months or so, we begin to feel homesick.”

  “Indeed, Dr. Shein.” The agent wrapped up, nodding. “Well, then, welcome back to the State of Israel, the Land.”

  Connections in High Places

  Lisbon, Portugal, 2005

  Kei Sato glanced through the window when the pilot announced the plane was
landing. Lisbon spread its arms. The city appeared candid and transparent, sunny, and graceful. The city of the seven hills stretched across ancient remains, domed cathedrals, and red roofs, providing a view like a work of art designed and structured over centuries. The Portas do Sol, the sun gates, came into view. They overlooked ancient fortifications built and occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors. As the plane began to descend, the stunning terraces of the picturesque miradouros set around the towering hilltops, became visible. It wasn’t a wonder why Eva Bosco had made Portugal her hideout.

  Kei left his arrival gate and made his way through the airport’s labyrinth into the city. He didn’t have to wait for a taxi as his visit had been scheduled. As soon as he stepped on the sunny street, he spotted his contact: a young dark-haired man with bronze skin, sunglasses shielding his dark eyes from the blinding sun. He got out of the car and waved.

  “Welcome back, Kei.” Ruben Dov, Eva Bosco’s representative, greeted Kei with an honest and strong handshake. He gestured with a hand wave for Kei to take his place inside the bulletproof car with slightly polarized windows.

  Ruben drove through the narrow and ancient streets of cobblestone to a quiet side of the city. This area was reserved for solitude, lulled by the Atlantic sea waves. After a forty-minute journey, in the Serra de Sintra, Eva Bosco’s mansion rose on the summit of a green mountain around which the ocean could be seen and heard roaring like a thousand lions.

  The woman standing on her balcony overlooking the sea, saw the car crossing the gates and a hopeful smile appeared on her youthful face. It was a special occasion as guests to the mansion were extremely scarce. Eva Bosco hurried down the limestone stairs brightened by the sun filtering through the ample windows.

  She waited anxiously, standing in the polished entrance hall, which resembled an avant-garde dome’s atrium. It had a glass ceiling which let the light flood in. There were all sorts of plants elegantly placed, spreading their branches wide and high, creating an indoor temple to nature. The mansion smelled of blooming flowers and sea breeze entering through the opened door.