The dark Bible

1-4

Belial Bompiani was born at that time.

Paola Bompiani, his mother, died soon after.

In the same instant, John Paul I died inexplicably: The Smiling Pope.

7.

Florence, year 1476

Leonardo Da Vinci, painter, architect, scientist, and writer, was one of the most illustrious minds of mankind, the natural son of the notary Ser Piero and a young peasant woman, was born in 1452 in Vinci, a small rural village. He spent a fairly peaceful childhood, divided between his mother in the early years and then with his father until he was twenty. Given his undoubted qualities and skills in drawing, he was welcomed as an apprentice in Andrea del Verrocchio's art workshop. Leonardo drew, painted and studied with an interest in all fields of human knowledge. Having not studied Latin, at the time, he could be classified as an illiterate, but his genius came to his aid: as a self-taught man, he set himself the goal and tried to learn it, while he also explored anatomy, engineering, architecture, and any other science. After drawing, writing was his great passion. He wrote continuously, took notes and made sketches after sketches, but he was so obsessed with the idea that someone could plagiarize him that, to keep his notes secret, Leonardo used the stratagem to write from right to left. Not only that, but he also provided to anagram every word of which he wanted to keep the utmost confidentiality. Another obsession of Leonardo was the practice of sodomy. Homosexuality, at the time, was considered a very serious crime, punishable by death. For this, it was practiced in secret. But in 1476 an anonymous complaint was filed against several people, including Leonardo da Vinci, for sodomy committed against a seventeen-year-old, a certain Jacopo Saltarelli.

In the criminal trial that followed, there was a young Englishman who testified in favor of Leonardo, clearing him of the charges. English on his father's side, the young man was transplanted to Florence because of his Italian mother: his name was Moloch Arawn. Each charge against him was dismissed and, for the brilliant Leonardo, the case was archived. The two formed a strong friendship and shared days of carefree joy among young people. Moloch, intrigued by the method adopted by Leonardo in writing, proposed him a text.

«You won't be able to decipher it», he said jokingly, but also defiantly, «it's written in an unknown language, very difficult to translate. If you can decipher it, you will be invaded by the highest knowledge. There will be no other man within your reach. You will be considered the absolute genius for eternity. »

Leonardo was also very curious and self-confident and never satiated with learning. He decided to accept the challenge.

«I'm in, Moloch», he replied, «in a few days, I'm sure you'll have to change your mind and you'll regret challenging me. If I manage to translate it, however, you will be my slave. You will fulfill my every wish, even if it were the most absurd. »

«So it will be, my good friend». Moloch answered.

The young man took his bag and presented a book to his friend: the volume was finely bound in leather with the effigy of a pentacle in relief. Leonardo had seen many books in his young existence. He studied it in every detail, it seemed ancient and yet so well preserved. He was fascinated by it and in opening it he had a reverential fear that it could be ruined. He didn't resist for long. He opened it reading the first lines and smiled. He smiled because the words, phrases, drawings, maps, and formulas contained therein seemed more and more understandable after reading them just twice. They were certainly difficult to interpret but Leonardo realized that, as he went on with the reading, that text opened to his mind or, better still, his mind opened to that text. He read without stopping, absorbed as if that reading were the only thing that kept him alive. His genius made the difference, a short time later Leonardo had already finished reading the entire manuscript, assimilating all that knowledge. He was ready to tackle any field of science, engineering, design and more. His mind now had no boundaries. He felt within him that he could try his hand at any test, know anything existing on earth and in the Universe: his mind now almost reached the divine, thanks to that book. He looked up and didn’t see Moloch. He jumped up and went to look for him in the other rooms, without success. He went back to his room and was amazed: with Moloch, the book was gone too. Leonardo, thinking back to the knowledge assimilated by reading the book, did not care about that strange boy or even the reasons that had led him to him. He concentrated on the contents of the text and was surprised to have them well impressed in his memory.

The Dark Bible! He thought without even realizing why that statement had occurred to him. He had the sensation of feeling older, more mature, as if years had passed instead of hours. A terrible doubt arose, he went out into the street and realized that, even if only slightly, the environment was not what he remembered. Until a few hours earlier, the town had some connotation different from what he remembered. He asked passers-by a few questions, wanted confirmation, asked the same question again and again and to several people. Everyone agreed, there was certainly no mistake, by now he had proof of it: it was the year 1485. He had spent seven years reading that whole book: the Dark Bible.

And that day Leonardo da Vinci celebrated his thirty-third year of life.

San Fiorentino in Amboise, year 1519

Leonardo da Vinci caused a sensation in the known world. He was an absolute genius who gave rise to works and ideas of enormous proportions, still very topical today. He described himself as a man of science, engineer, and creator of war machines, but he was also one of the most appreciated painters who gave life to authentic masterpieces of inestimable value. His creativity as a magnificent artist saw him protagonist, alongside none other than Michelangelo Buonarroti, with whom he painted the great Council Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria, in Florence. In 1519, he felt the end of his enlightened life approaching. At his bedside many presented themselves, everyone wanted to honor his art and knowledge. One of these visitors, Leonardo Da Vinci recognized him immediately, was Moloch Arawn.

«I am pleased with you, my good friend», Moloch told him, «You have led a life conforming to the teachings of the Dark Bible. You have created wonderful things, too enlightened for these poor mortals who have accused you of witchcraft. You deserve life beyond life. »

In that instant, death came before the artist: the scientist, the inventor and the painter Leonardo Da Vinci died in May. His body was buried in San Fiorentino in Amboise from where he mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace. The causes hypothesized by most were the desecration of tombs during the religious wars of the sixteenth century.

Instead, Moloch had kept him a place reserved for the few and honorable chosen ones: at his side, thus guaranteeing him life beyond life.

8.

Padua, September 28, 1978

Callegaro's team made every attempt to save Paola. They continued relentlessly to risk resuscitation. It was half an hour now that the instrumentation marked the end of all activity, both cardiac and cerebral. The professor checked the machinery and the test data several times, in fact, the recorded bleeding made no sense: there was no medical explanation for Paola's death.

«That's enough, gentlemen», he ordered without harboring any other hopes, «she's dead now. Let's focus on the child»

The little Belial Bompiani, on the other hand, was showing signs of splendid health: fit and hungry. A nurse was already guaranteeing him his nice ration of milk which he drank in one gulp, almost without breathing. Soon after, a group of people entered the recovery room who, without saying a word, took both the child and the body of the young and unfortunate Paola.

Professor Callegaro wanted to clarify: «It is not yet time, the child must stay here. He needs to be under observation for at least forty-eight hours. »

The leader of the group was not of the same opinion. «Your work is done, Professor. So it was decided. »

And those men disappeared taking with them the anxiety of that day.

Vatican City, September 28, 1978

The news of the death of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul I, shook the whole world. After just thirty-three days, Pope Luciani had set a sad record: the shortest pontificate in the history of the Church. The causes of death were shrouded in mystery. No one ever dared to pronounce that word, but the few connoisseurs of the prophecy were now convinced: somewhere in the world, at the same moment in which the Pope had died so incomprehensibly, the Antichrist had seen the light. This eventuality was kept hidden from the world that would have considered that sudden and premature death a true mystery. This fact, indubitable for the Universal Committee of the Holy Roman Church, which has always been delegated to study the advent of the Antichrist on earth, justified the interpretations based, in part, on Nostradamus who, in his prophecies, had indicated precise periods and characters that would identify Antichrist himself. The interpretation of the texts of the famous and controversial French writer had also predicted that a new Antichrist would ascend at the end of the second millennium, but only at the beginning of the third. According to the specifications of Nostradamus{2}, he would destroy the Holy See causing the abomination of the desolation and devastation of the earth with catastrophic events. Nostradamus also predicted that the birth of that new Antichrist would lead to the death of the Pope of the moment: precisely, Pope John Paul I. Cardinal Jean Marie Villot was again invested with the office of Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church to organize the Conclave and, at the same time, to govern the fate of the Church until the new Pope was officially invested with full powers. Some distinguished members of the Universal Committee wanted to inform him about the prophecy so that the Church could defend itself from such an evil presence. Villot, however, did not want to believe in such an approach, on the contrary, he interpreted it as a fanatic conviction of a small group of ecclesiastics, albeit animated by Christian principles. In any case, he intended to talk about it with the new successor of Peter, immediately after his election. Unfortunately, he would never have had time to investigate and be able to understand his error. Cardinal Jean Marie Villot would also die the day following the election of the new Pope: John Paul II, aka Karol Jòzef Wojtyla. Also, for that reason, no one spoke of Nostradamus' ominous prophecy for over thirty years.

9.

Alexandria of Egypt, year 1799

Born in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was a leader, statesman, emperor of the French and King of Italy. Belonging to the small provincial nobility of Corsica, he was directed by his father to a military career: at sixteen he obtained the rank of second lieutenant in artillery. France, at that time, was facing the insurrections of the French Revolution and Bonaparte's merits were such that in 1791 he was appointed battalion commander, then Brigadier General only two years later. Deeply linked by fraternal friendship to Robespierre. He was also arrested after an attempted coup that failed miserably and then disbarred from the army. Gifted with an emotional and restless temperament, Bonaparte was a man desirous of power, endowed with a marked sense of self-centeredness. Nevertheless, thanks to the prestige gained on the field, in the following years he managed to emerge again, placing himself at the attention of glory and staining himself with heinous crimes aimed at eliminating some members of government assemblies thus carrying out an actual coup{3}. Later, in the year 1798 at the age of only twenty-nine, he was entrusted with the expedition to Egypt, intended to cut off England's connections with India and its other overseas possessions. It was a victorious campaign: he conquered the island of Malta, Alexandria of Egypt, and began to advance towards Syria, but these victories were thwarted by the English admiral Nelson in the bay of Abukir. Not only that, but there was also another episode that made his dreams of glory and victory collapse: the French army was struck and exterminated by the plague in 1799. Uriel De Fontaine was a young French soldier who distinguished himself in the numerous and victorious African battles following Bonaparte on every occasion. Napoleon took him with him, as his inseparable assistant in war. In that black period for the great leader, De Fontaine was a comfort to him, and this facilitated a relationship of confidence. During a frugal dinner, the two were intent on enjoying a good cognac.