Episode 8: Words of the Soul

**"Soul Words -soul-"** *Transcription:* "Kongen -soul-" (Japanese: 魂言 -soul-) is the eighth episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on May 24, 2004 in Japan.

## Synopsis

In a green valley in Gazth-Sonika, a girl with almost white-blond hair is looking for her master. Soon she finds the somewhat older lady, calling her “Lord Kuanjitta.” As for the girl’s name, it’s Naharu. Lord Kuanjitta says there are voices being carried on the wind, and one of them is crying.

A checkpoint of the King's Army lets a vehicle go past even though it’s full of foreigners. When a soldier asks why the vehicle was allowed to go, the one in charge explains it’s because they had a pass signed by the new military leader himself. The new leader, incidentally, is Carossur Don. Commander Don and Second Lieutenant Jorg are riding in a helicopter looking at the jungles of Gazth-Sonika. Like the vehicle passing through the checkpoints below, they are also looking for Madlax and Eric. Limelda Jorg questions why Don is going to so much trouble over this, and why he hired her as his exclusive bodyguard and sniper. At first he says it’s worth it to pursue such a beautiful woman. Then he says it’s because he knows how much Jorg wants to see Madlax again and fight her.

After a long time of driving and being chased by shooters, Madlax and Eric shake off the pursuers and camp out in the jungle. Starting the next day, they have to continue on foot, since the road ends there. Back in Nafrece, Margaret says she believes in Eric even though he hasn’t contacted her at all about the picture book. She even tries to go see him, but of course he’s not in his office. He continues trekking through the woods of Gazth-Sonika with Madlax. Soon they reach the valley that was seen in the introduction. Eric asks some of the valley villagers if they can read Elies characters, but they have no idea what he’s talking about. Just then, Lord Kuanjitta appears, saying that in this village (Doaiho), the Elies characters are known as the True Words of Salon. She suggests they speak further at her house.

While Eric talks with Lord Kuanjitta, Madlax waits outside and keeps an eye on the main trail: the only route into Doaiho. She’s expecting Enfant agents to come after her, using that road, and she swears to herself she will finish the enemies before any innocent villagers get involved. When shown the copies of the pages of Margaret’s picture book, Lord Kuanjitta says she has never seen it before. She furthermore does not know the meaning of the Elias characters, but only how to pronounce them. The only thing written on the pages Eric has is the repeating phrase, “Sarkus Sark,” meaning unknown.

Kuanjitta says there is a mural close by with more Elies characters, and Eric asks if he could go see it. Kuanjitta agrees to show him, and they leave without Madlax. As for our favorite female mercenary, she is out in the jungle taking on a whole squad of armed men sent by Enfant: the ones who passed through the checkpoints without any problem. Madlax kills all but one of them, an exceptionally strong and skilled man who almost manages to stab her. She barely blocks the knife with her gun. After she finally manages to shoot and kill this last enemy, Madlox looks exhausted.

Meanwhile, Eric looks at the mural deep inside a cave. It’s the same mural that was seen at the beginning of episode 7, where all the men from the university were killed. The words on the wall say “Elda Taluta.” Kuanjitta states this before leaving, while Eric lingers behind. He isn’t frightened when he sees a human skull, probably belonging to one of the university explorers. He says the words out loud, “Elda Taluta, Sarkus Sark.” Then two glowing, ghostly children appear out of nowhere: the girl with red hair and green eyes that we’ve seen in so many episodes, and the boy with blond hair and blue eyes who is often with her. The girl says it’s been a long time since they met a human. She calls herself Leticia. Her companion is Poupee.

According to Lucile, something terrible happened to Eric that he can’t remember. She believes he blocked his memories by making his brain release cannabinoids (which basically means he smoked a sh\*t ton of cannabis, which can indeed impair memory). But now, Eric’s buried memories are resurfacing in a series of flashbacks. It’s hard to say for sure what happened, but based on the flashback scenes, Eric’s sister was kidnapped by several men and Eric was beaten. He managed to get the better of the men who were beating him, but it’s unclear if he killed them or not. Then he went to find his sister. And saw her lying unconscious or dead inside a shed, probably having been raped by the three men also present. Eric pulls a pistol and kills the men that violated his sister. For that, he ended up serving prison time. It must have been after his years in prison that he tried to erase his memories using cannabinoids.

That night, Madlax returns from the jungle and finds Eric standing on the edge of a cliff all alone. She starts telling him about how she took care of the Enfant agents, but Eric isn’t interested. He says, “It’s all over,” and that he has one final favor to ask of Madlax. He wants her to deliver a letter to Margaret Burton. Though Eric makes an effort to explain what’s going on, he does a terrible job, and Madlax is confused. Without helping her understand, Eric throws himself off the cliff. In the interim, Limelda Jorg arrives at the scene of carnage that Madlax left in her wake: the whole squad of armed Enfant agents, dead. “Madlax,” says Jorg, angry and grim, wishing that she could kill her dangerous rival.

Presumably a few days later, we see Madlax mailing the letter. She mutters the name Margaret Burton and seems to think she has heard it somewhere before. Meanwhile, Don reports everything to Friday Monday over the phone. Their agents were wiped out, but the mission was a success regardless because the target, Eric Gillan, was found dead. Friday Monday asks about the whereabouts of The Secondary, which what he is calling the person who possesses the picture book full of Elies characters. Don says they don’t know where Secondary is, and they can’t figure out who Eric’s client was because he deleted all the data from his computer before leaving Nafrece.  However, a client did come to try to see Eric, and according to Don, this client was a grown man. That was a deliberate lie. The client Don actually saw was a little girl: Margaret Burton. It’s unclear why Don lied to Friday Monday.

 Three-Speed remarks on how unusual it is that Madlax actually failed a mission. She was supposed to be Eric’s bodyguard, but she let him die. Madlax doesn’t answer, and she looks totally out of it. She keeps thinking of something Eric said: “I can’t exist in this world—it’s too normal.” Thinking out loud, Madlax says with strong emotion in her voice that this world isn’t normal at all.

## Preview

Episode 9

*"You don't belong to this world. When we first met, I experienced the pain of touching the touch. A scent so familiar, it makes me want to remember."* – Margaret Burton