The liquid in the small glass vial looked like cloudy tea, but Kael knew better. He sat on a woven mat in the heart of the Amazon, the humid air thick with the scent of damp earth and woodsmoke. Beside him, a Matsés healer named Tavo prepared the medicine known as .
Kael forced his muscles to relax. As he exhaled, the physical sting transformed. Behind his closed lids, the darkness shattered into vibrant, geometric patterns. He saw the faces of people he had wronged and those who had wronged him, all swirling in a vortex of intense emotion. He felt a deep, heavy knot in his chest—the "inner anger" the tribes spoke of—begin to unravel. Sananga
Kael lay back, his heart racing. He had come here seeking clarity, his modern life a blur of screens and stress that had left his vision literally and metaphorically dimmed. Tavo hovered over him. One drop fell into the corner of Kael's left eye, then the right. The world exploded into white fire. The liquid in the small glass vial looked
Slowly, the fire receded, leaving behind a cool, minty sensation. When Kael finally opened his eyes, the jungle didn't just look different; it looked alive . The greens were impossibly deep, the sunlight filtering through the canopy seemed to vibrate, and the "fog" that had clouded his mind for years had vanished. Kael forced his muscles to relax