A desperate man brought a 90-year-old healer from a remote village to his fading wife, and as soon as she touched her belly, she RECOILED in shock and uttered words that made everyone freeze….

Laura looked at John, and in her eyes he saw the reflection of the woman he fell in love with five years ago, strong, bright, full of life.

She was still weak, but the spark had returned, flaring into a flame that no illness could extinguish. «We’ll manage,» — John said, kissing her palm. «All together».

«I know,» — Laura smiled. «I always knew». Spring came to the Crawford mansion like long-awaited healing, with gentle touches of sun rays, aroma of blooming apple trees in the garden, birdsong returning from distant lands.

The house, plunged for months into the gloom of struggle and despair, transformed beyond recognition. Hospital equipment disappeared from rooms, giving way to bouquets of wildflowers. Heavy curtains that didn’t let light to the sick bed were replaced by light drapes dancing in streams of spring air.

Laura sat in a wicker chair by the open window of the solarium, exposing her face to gentle rays. Her hand mechanically stroked the rounded abdomen stretching the fabric of the loose dress. In her hair, grown to shoulders and regaining former chestnut shine, played sun highlights.

She was still thinner than before the illness, movements showed the uncertainty of a recovering person, but her eyes burned with the fire that even proximity to death couldn’t extinguish. «Here, take!» Veleslava handed her a cup with steaming decoction. «Last course.

Further the body will cope itself». Laura nodded gratefully, accepting the cup. Her fingers touched the ancient bracelet on her wrist, now it became part of her, as if always with her.

«I thought I wouldn’t see the leaves bloom,» she said quietly. «Every day now seems a gift». In the home office John bent over blueprints of a new project.

After leaving Helios he recovered for some time, enjoying peace and Laura’s return to life. But his active nature took over. He started work on a new laboratory concept combining advanced scientific methods with principles he learned from Veleslava.

«This will be a revolution in medicine,» he told Laura in the evenings, sharing plans. Not denial of science, but its expansion. Understanding that the invisible to instruments is sometimes more important than the obvious.

This morning he received preliminary funding approval from Zimmerman, who left Helios after John and sought application for his capital and experience. Veleslava, observing this family idyll, smiled quietly. Her work here was nearing the end, and in her eyes increasingly appeared longing for native forests, for the silence of her cabin, for stars invisible through New York smog.

It all began over a hundred years ago. Veleslava sat in the mansion’s living room, gazing at the fire in the fireplace. Your great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, John, got into trouble, his wife was dying in childbirth.

Doctors gave up, the priest was already preparing to perform the last rites. And then he remembered an ancient legend that in the forests near Greenvale lives a healer possessing secrets of life and death. John and Laura listened, holding their breath.

Veleslava had never before told the full story of their lineage. He found her, my. Great-grandmother, she smiled, as if this pause hid something more.

And she helped, but warned that the gift of life requires a reciprocal gift. Your lineage is now connected to this place, to this power. Someday the debt will have to be returned.

The flame in the fireplace cast whimsical shadows on the walls, creating a sense of invisible listeners’ presence. Years passed. The son born that night grew up, created a family.

And again trouble, his wife, your great-grandmother, fell seriously ill during pregnancy. And again the path led to Greenvale. So it was with your grandmother Anastasia, and with your mother Ariana.

With mom? John leaned forward. But she never. Said? Veleslava shook her head.

Pride. She didn’t want to believe that science couldn’t save her, but ancient knowledge could. This often happens with people, they prefer to forget about the miracle if it doesn’t fit their worldview.

She took a small bundle from her dress pocket, carefully wrapped in linen cloth. What you call a miracle, she continued, unfolding the cloth and revealing an ancient book in leather binding. Is actually not magic as imagined in fairy tales.

It’s awakening hidden capabilities of the body through ancestral memory. Memory stored not only in the brain but in every cell of the body, in the blood itself. She ran her hand over the book cover, and the symbols on it, similar to those adorning Laura’s bracelet, as if flared in the fireplace light.

The gift of Veles – ability to see connections between all living, to awaken forces dormant in a person. Each of you possesses this gift, but not everyone knows how to use it. She handed the book to Laura.

This is for your son, when the time comes. In him the gift will manifest stronger than in anyone from the Crawford lineage in the last generation. He must understand his power and his responsibility.

Laura accepted the book, feeling a strange vibration from the ancient pages. Why now has the circle closed? She asked quietly. Why our child? Because for the first time in many generations the child’s parents managed to connect two worlds – science and ancient knowledge, not opposing them but finding common truth in them.

Veleslava smiled. Your son will become a bridge between worlds. This is a great gift and great responsibility.

May brought not only lilac blooming but news that stirred New York’s business circles. Victor Kane, temporarily heading «Helios» after John’s departure, was arrested on charges of industrial espionage and attempted theft of intellectual property. Can’t believe it.

Laura read the news article on the tablet, comfortably settled in bed. He tried to sell Helios technologies to competitors? And not just technologies, John sat nearby, but my personal developments that I didn’t even transfer to the company. Key patents remained with me, and Victor apparently didn’t bother to check the documentation.

Zimmerman’s call brought additional details. The investigation uncovered a scheme where Victor planned not only to sell technologies but to organize a smear campaign against John, using the folk healing story to discredit his scientific reputation. But it backfired, John smirked, ending the conversation.

My scientific reputation only strengthened. You know, Peterson sent the latest tests to an international medical journal? As an inexplicable case of full remission. Laura placed her hand on her abdomen, where their son reminded of his presence with confident kicks.

Explicable, she objected quietly. Just not their explanations. At the end of May, John officially registered a new company.

Helios Veles. Combining biotechnological innovations with studies in integrative medicine. The board of directors included only trusted people sharing his vision of future medicine, where high technologies combine with deep understanding of natural processes.

Our goal is not just to treat diseases but to restore the body’s natural forces, he said at the first shareholders’ meeting. «We’ll use the latest scientific methods to understand and enhance what our ancestors knew intuitively». Veleslava, present at this conversation, nodded silently.

In her eyes read approval and something else, understanding that her mission here is almost complete. The maternity ward of the «Mother and Child» clinic filled with bustle when the message came about the approaching car from the Crawfords. Laura’s story, her miraculous recovery and pregnancy contrary to all forecasts, became a legend among medical staff.

Professor Peterson personally met them at the entrance, not hiding excitement. «I still don’t understand how this is possible,» he admitted, helping Laura out of the car. «Your tests are impeccable.

No trace of autoimmune process. As if it never was. Miracles happen, Professor,» – Laura smiled, leaning one hand on John, the other supporting her abdomen.

«Sometimes even with your patients». Labor began closer to midnight and proceeded surprisingly easily. As if nature itself, having tested this woman with all possible trials, now decided to gift her easy delivery.

«He’s perfect,» – John whispered, holding his son, a sturdy boy with a shock of dark hair and remarkably meaningful gaze. «Just perfect,» – Laura said, reaching for the child. «His name will be Velimir.

In honor of Veleslava». John carefully handed the son to his wife. «And in memory of the gift that saved us both».

Laura pressed the baby to her chest, feeling their hearts beat in unison. «Velimir John Crawford». Keeper of the gift…