Chapter 79 : From death to life

Rèquiem aetèrnam,
dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpètua lùceat eis.
Requiéscant in pace.

Amen.

Was it a dream? No, it was more like a nightmare. A young man in his twenties named Alessandro Serpi got up on the bed in his room, one of the many that were inside the Coven Abbey in Rome. He had dreamed of a female face, a face of a girl with white hair and red eyes and even a battle, an epic battle with other people. It was something absurd, something so absurd as to seem the fruit of his imagination and nothing else, yet it also seemed so real.
Alessandro got out of bed with a headache. He took off his pajamas, put on a bathrobe and headed for the bathrooms. After a quick shower he returned to his room, put on his black trousers and the black suit of the Coven which depicted the symbol of the lion holding a snake in its jaws. He mirrored himself and straightened his brown hair and then left the room after taking a quick look at the calendar.

January 19, 2021

He walked down the long corridor completely ignoring his brothers who talked to him behind and giggled like five-year-olds. He opened a door to his left, climbed a staircase and reached the cafeteria where there were already other confreres of the Coven who were having breakfast. There was a nun who served food and Alessandro took a simple salad with tomatoes, sat down, opened a bottle of water and ate. He was at least thirty centimeters from another brother who was talking to his friends, he said something about a certain Elisa Mancini whom he didn't know. A red-haired girl approached him and asked him:
« Ex-excuse me, can I sit next to you?" »
Alessandro had already finished eating. He got up and left without speaking to her, she was upset but he didn't care. Alessandro returned the plate and took the bottle of water with him. He went to the library where he read several magic books for hours: when people came he went away and looked for a more secluded place and eventually, when the library filled up, he went to his room to read and even made sure to lock the door. After reading he took the books back to the library and went to lunch. When he had finished eating, he went to a room used for training the Magi of the Coven.
There were some confreres who trained to do simple magic, they were amateurs compared to Alessandro. He didn't train to use Dis or Defendere, he used much more powerful spells. He stood in front of a straw mannequin, snapped his fingers and said:
« Obscuro. »
The Magic Circuits lit up on the hand and on part of Alessandro's face every time he used Magecraft. The mannequin became invisible but only for a few seconds and then reappeared. A man, Marco Lombardo, had seen Alessandro and said:
« The Magecraft of the Coven is very powerful in the hands of an expert magus
like you. »
« But I'm not good enough to keep a mannequin invisible. »
« I bet you can improve, after all you've got it in your blood. You're a born magus. The Grand Master Marco Paolino III was considered an excellent magus, one of the strongest, and it was he who taught this type of unique Magecraft. »
« I thought it was Marco Paolino I. »
« No. He accepted the use of Magecraft in the Coven, but it was Marco Paolino III who designed the use of simple but effective magic. The enchantment formulas must be studied carefully but in our case we must meditate on words, understand their power, make them connect with our inner life and only then we can control them. A very common magus of the Coven can at most know Dis, Defendere and Gladio. I know I know six others but you, like Grand Master Giovanni Monteverdi X, have a talent for this magic. »
« I see. »
Alessandro was not in the least interested in the discussion and resumed training but Marco interrupted him again and said:
« The Grand Master wants to talk to you, Alessandro. »
« Why? »
« Follow me, we'll talk along the way. »
The two walked along the corridor of the Coven Abbey, heading towards the main chapel where they would meet the Grand Master.
« Do you know the Holy Grail War? »
« Are you talking about all those in Japan? Yes, I know them. »
« A French scholar, an expert on Norse magic and mythology, a certain Dorian Benard, has recently discovered the existence of a Holy Grail that he believes to be connected to the tree of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds the nine worlds born from the sacrifice of
Ymir. »
« But the Holy Grail is Christian. » Commented Alessandro, perplexed.
« True, but the concept of the Holy Grail is pre-Christian, perhaps it derives from the Age of the Gods. The idea is that of an object that makes desires come true and there are several, perhaps more than a hundred, and among these is the Holy Grail of Yggdrasil. Do you know the Hávamál? »
« No, I never heard of it. What's that? »
« It's a collection of ancient Nordic poems composed during the era of the Vikings. There is a very interesting piece from the poem where Odin's self-sacrifice is present and according to Dorian it's done at the feet of Yggdrasil. Read here. »
Marco Lombardo passed to Alessandro a sheet where it was written:

"I know, I was hung on the trunk whipped by the wind for nine whole nights, wounded by spear and given to Odin, myself to myself, on that tree that no one knows where from the roots rise up.
With bread they did not satisfy me nor with horns I quenched my thirst. I looked down, got the runes up, called them, and fell over there. "

When Alessandro finished reading that fragment, he asked:
« So? »
« So, according to Dorian, what is written here is a true story that testifies to the existence of a Holy Grail that collected the blood of Odin, or of a god, and who thus obtained his miraculous power. The Holy Grail of Yggdrasil, in fact. »
« Why does the Grand Master want to see me? »
« Because he chose you, Alessandro. He chose you to take part in the Holy Grail War of
Yggdrasil. »
As soon as Alessandro heard those words he became worried. He didn't want to take part in a war, he just wanted to stay quiet and live a normal life, but the Grand Master had something different in mind for him.

Alessandro Serpi and Marco Lombardo by Bikowolf