The Alchemist’s Code (43 page)

James shook his head, distraught.

“Caesar, the symbol that you wear on your finger is allied with evil. It is a harbinger of death and pain. It is not a new alliance, it is an ancient pact with the Devil! The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith no longer punishes, it puts the lost back upon the path of the righteous.”

“Precisely! And you are one of those who must be put back on that path! I will dominate the world from Peter's throne, ushering in an era of moral rigour, persecuting the infidels and founding a new church,” hissed Vorjas, his body trembling with fury.

“The black pope—” muttered James, “just as Malachy prophesied.”

The hooded man gave a muffled laugh and moved his hand even closer to James's face.

“Kiss my rings, Holiness – kiss them now. Or the bomb will instantly kill ten thousand people waiting in the auditorium.”

The Pope lowered his head. “Stop this horror, Caesar, I will do as you wish.”

He sighed, kissed the ring with the arms of the Borgias and the one with the swastika, then slowly pulled back, as though it had cost him great effort.

Vorjas began to laugh loudly, enjoying his moment of triumph.

“You can never implement your plan, Caesar. I will stop you. You have concealed your face to the world behind a mask, but I know who you are.”

Vorjas looked at him with evil eyes from under his hood, and James knew.

“I understand. Humiliating me is not enough for you. You want to kill me… here, live, before the whole world, in front of the tomb of Peter. This is the punishment that as inquisitor you inflict?”

Vorjas nodded.

“You will fall, and with you your crazed ideas of reform and reconciliation. I, however, Cardinal Vorjas, will rise as a defender of the true principles of the Church. At the next conclave after your death, no one will object to my election. And the Thule will be by my side. It will be my shadow army.”

The Pope held Vorjas's gaze, and, a serious, determined expression on his face, said, “So be it. Kill me, but save the people in the Sala Nervi, I beg you.”

Vorjas cocked his head, as though considering. In reality he was listening to something in the earpiece that he, too, was wearing.

“What? Are you sure? All right, let's proceed with the Final Solution.”

He returned his gaze to the Pope and clenched his fists.

“A person to whom I was very close has been murdered.”

His voice was full of hatred and pain, and an evil man driven by those two feelings is capable of anything.

“This leaves me no choice. Today, as well as you we will also sacrifice the heads of state of some of the most important countries in the world and all the people in the Sala Nervi. Ten thousand useless lives seems a fair price to pay for what you have done.”

The pope shook his head slowly. “No, Caesar, no! In the name of God, don't do it!”

“In this moment, Your Holiness,
I
am
God.”

Vorjas touched his right ear and was immediately connected to all the snipers around the square. “Listen to me very carefully. Whatever happens, make sure you do not shoot. If anything happens to me or my men, the Nervi Auditorium will be blown to smithereens, taking with it the people inside and the left aisle of St. Peter's.”

Then he spread his arms, and the man who was standing behind the Pope put the barrel of his gun at the nape of the pontiff's neck.

James closed his eyes and gave his soul to his creator.

Events reconstructed by Lorenzo Aragona

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Rome, January, 2013 – 20:00

The largest square in the city had already begun to empty an hour earlier, but many people were still strolling under the arches which surrounded the gardens.

We reached Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II in two minutes. It appeared before our eyes in the orange light of the street lamps, a cold wind blowing across it. Ferraris parked on the corner of Via Mamiani and we immediately headed towards the park that occupied the centre of the square – the place where centuries before there had been gardens and villas, including that of the Marquis of Palombara.

“The best-known owner of the villa was the Marquis Massimiliano Palombara, an alchemist and esoteric scholar,” I told them as we walked towards one of the park's entrances. “He was a friend of Queen Christina of Sweden. After she abdicated, she lived in exile here in Rome, and she was a regular guest of the esoteric circle which met in that mysterious house.”

Oscar, who knew the place, however, had listened carefully to my words. “And you think the Door of
Ruach Elohim
is the Magic Door?”

“Yes, I'm in no doubt. The Door of the
Ruach Elohim
must be the Magic Door. It is also known as Alchemical Door, and it's all that remains of Villa Palombara after the devastating demolitions which took place on the Esquiline hill in the late nineteenth century.”

We reached the gate just as a caretaker was about to close up.

“Hang on a minute, where are you lot going? The park's closed,” the startled man said in irritation.

Ferraris showed his badge.

“Police – it's an emergency, let us in.”

The man stepped back and watched with curiosity as we walked swiftly towards the corner of the park occupied by the ruins of the so-called Trophies of Marius. The ruins are located opposite the entrance of Villa Palombara, and are reduced to nothing more than a small secondary door embellished with alchemical symbols.

We reached the fence that closes off the door and Roman remains, and helped each other over it. The door, which had been removed from its original position during the architectural renovation work of the nineteenth century, and reconstructed in the gardens of Piazza Vittorio in 1888, was resting against a piece of the old outside wall of St. Eusebius' church, which stands not far from there. On either side of the door were two monstrous statues of the Egyptian god Bes from the Quirinale Gardens, put there apparently for purely decorative purposes.

“Here we are,” I said, focusing my attention first of all upon the two statues. “Now that I come to think about it, if this doorway really is the gateway through which the Guardian of the Threshold can be trapped, whoever put those two statues here knew what he was about.”

Oscar nodded. “Bes, the guardian and protector of the house.”

I looked back at him and nodded. “The
good
version of the Guardian of the Threshold.”

“It looks as though you were right, Lorenzo,” said Anna showing me her grandfather's
Codex Baffometi
, “look at the symbols in my grandfather's notes and compare them with those on the door.”

I examined Vladimir Glyz's notes and drawings and nodded.

“Your grandfather wanted to guide us here. See those two words in Hebrew on the lintel? I remembered that detail and realised that this was the gate the code referred to.”

“
Ruach Elohim
.”

“The Spirit of God.”

“Then let's get started.”

We placed the Baphomet near the door, with the keys still inserted in their holes, and opened the Codex again to see how to proceed with the ritual.

Anna's finger raced along her grandfather's notes.

“Look at the designs aligned along the edge of the paper.”

I pointed to the idol. “It's the alchemical symbols present on the door and on the Baphomet, but it looks like they've been set down in the wrong order.”

“Indeed. The first sentence says, “Follow my words and you cannot go wrong.
The diameter of the sphere, the tau of the circle, the cross of the globe do not help the blind'.
And then there are the symbol of the circled cross and another symbol next to it.”

“That must mean that we have to align one of the keys and the corresponding letter of the Chaldean alphabet with a symbol of the gate. Let's read the inscriptions.”

The door, four simple marble blocks arranged to create a frame, with a circle bearing the symbol of the Star of David on top like a seal, was decorated with engravings reproducing alchemical symbols – the same symbols as those shown on the Baphomet and in Vladimir Glyz's notes. Each symbol was accompanied by an inscription that explained its function.

“Symbols and inscriptions represent a perfect synthesis of the Great Work,” I said studying the door carefully. “And if you speak the language, the various steps of the Work are simplicity itself. As we alchemists say, 'our art is child's play'. Here, here's the inscription mentioned in your grandfather's notes: DIAMETER SPHERAE THAU CIRCULI CRUX ORBIS NON ORBIS PROSUNT. The symbol is very stylised, but it's obviously that of Jupiter.”

Anna knelt in front of the Baphomet and after a moment found the symbol.

“There it is – it's exactly the same.”

I knelt down too and turned the disc with the keys to align it to the symbol of Jupiter, a stylized image of the thunderbolt of the father of the gods. Immediately, it lit up, as did its counterpart on the door.

Oscar and Ferraris and stepped back in astonishment.

“My God—” murmured poor Ferraris, who had been dragged into all this against his will, “and to think that I come past here every day on my way to the office—”

“My dear Ferraris, when you're dealing with Lorenzo, even the bar where you have your morning coffee will never seem the same again,” replied Oscar.

“Ok, it looks like we're on the right track – go on, Anna,” I said, nodding.

“'If you have made the earth over your head fly with its feathers you will turn to stone the waters of the rivers…'. Then there is the symbol of the Nine and this one, look.”

I looked at the symbols she was indicating and found them on the Baphomet, then quickly scanned the words along the Alchemic Door.

“Here it is: SI FECERIS VOLARE TERRAM SUPER CAPUT TUUM EIUS PENNIS AQUAS TORRENTUM CONVERTES IN PETRAM. The symbol to line up is that of Venus.”

I rotated the disc again to align the key and symbols, and the sign of Venus – in the form of a stylized mirror – lit up, both on the Baphomet and on the door.

While we were exulting over this next step, Oscar's phone rang.

“Yes? Ah, Volta, it's you. Yes, it looks like we're on the right track. What? Oh my God… Ok. Let's hope it works. Speak to you later.”

Anna and I turned to look at him.

“That bird is causing mischief in Porta Maggiore, not far from here,” said an ashen faced Oscar, “and there's more. It seems that the Pope has accepted Woland's conditions. He knelt in St. Peter's Square in front of a hooded man, and the scene was transmitted live around the world.”

I turned to Anna and, my voice trembling and my throat dry, said, “Let's complete the ritual. Come on, quickly.”

Anna held my gaze for a moment, her intense blue eyes brimming with anguish, then resumed reading aloud the Codex.

“'He who can burn with water and wash with fire makes the earth heaven, and heaven precious earth.' This is the symbol.”

She showed me her grandfather's drawing and I spotted the sign on the Baphomet and the inscription on the door. “QUI SCIT COMBURERE AQUA ET LAVARE IGNE FACIT DE TERRA CAELUM ET DE CAELO TERRAM PRETIOSAM. The symbol is Mars.”

Again I lined up the symbols, and the sign of Mars – the spear and shield – lit up.

Without hesitating, we rapidly carried on with the other three symbols shown and their inscriptions.

AZOT ET IGNIS DEALBANDO LATONAM VENIET SINE VESTE DIANA.

“The symbol is Mercury—”

QUANDO IN TUA DOMO NIGRI CORVI PARTURIENT ALBAS COLUMBAS TUNC VOCABERIS SAPIENS.

“Saturn—”

FILIUS NOSTER MORTUUS VIVIT REX AB IGNE REDIT ET CONIUGIO GAUDET OCCULTO.

“The alchemical Sun.”

We had lined up the six symbols and all were illuminated, both on the Baphomet and the door, but nothing else seemed to be happening.

“What now?” asked Oscar.

“Keep reading, Anna.”

“There is only one last sentence and a final symbol. Strange, I would have expected nine. 'You are now ready to open the earth and welcome the Guardian…'. It's different to the others. Look, here's its symbol.”

I quickly found the Chaldean symbol on the Baphomet, but couldn't find the phrase on the door. I looked everywhere, then pulled back the weeds that hid the doorstep and there, represented by the symbol of the Monad, was the following phrase:

EST OPUS OCCULTUM VERI SOPHI APERIRE TERRAM UT GERMINET SALUTEM PRO POPULO.

“'It is the secret work of the truly wise to open the earth so as to germinate salvation for the people'. Here it is, right here. It's slightly different, but this is it – the symbol of the Monad.”

I aligned it.

The Baphomet suddenly gave off a bright light, as did, simultaneously, the seven symbols I had activated on the Alchemical Door.

Anna and I stood up and walked slowly backwards until we were with Oscar and Ferraris, who stood mesmerized by the incredible phenomenon.

“The reason there aren't nine symbols is that this is the language of alchemy, where seven is the synthesis of the Great Work,” I explained.

“What do we do now?” asked Oscar.

“We wait,” I said, looking skyward.

A few moments later, a black shadow crossed the square, circled for a while above our heads, and then perched upon the Alchemic Door, its flaming eyes glaring at us.

“Don't look at it!” I murmured.

We averted our gaze, and after a moment the raven began to warp, as though folding in upon itself, and slowly, like a pitcher of tar spilled on the lintel, began to run down the pieces of marble which composed the door until it reached the ground, from whence it began gradually to rise, assuming a vaguely human form clad in an eerie black shroud as it did so.

I held its gaze, and when the transformation came to an end, the slab of rock circumscribed by the Alchemic Door became darker than the night, disappearing and revealing a path which led who knew where.