Chapter 7 – To Catch a Spirit

This story takes place again in the beautiful country of Romania. Of course, many of you know Romania being famous for Dracula, for the Transfagarasan Road, for the beautiful beaches at the Black Sea, the Danube Delta or the natural otherworldly wonders we encounter in the Carpathian Mountains. This story is about a lesser known place, one that is filled with history, magic, and it has seen many things in its over 2000 years of existence.

What I will tell you about today has happened on our last meeting of the past year. I was involved a really big project at the Academy so I didn’t have time to think of anything else except this project. It was about the Dacian Wars that took place in the years 101-102 and 105-106 between the Roman Empire led by Emperor Traian and Dacia led by Decebalus. Both wars have been lost by the Dacians.

So as I was reading, writing, taking notes, printing case studies and some other things we do in academia when we research certain topics, The Professor came into my office. It was around noon or so and I was already hungry, and so he said:

“Hey, son, how are you? I can see steam coming off from your head, you’re really into it, eh?”

“Yes, Professor, I find it fascinating, hopefully I can manage to pull it through so we can get that grant the Academy needs.”

“I am sure you will do just fine. Listen, do you want to take a break and have lunch? There’s a friend of mine that arrived last night with business here in the city so he wants to eat some traditional food and maybe see some of the main attractions. He’s a Brother as well, in an Italian lodge and he’s been working in finding if other realms exist for the last 55 years.”

“I would love to, Professor, but I really need to work. But did your friend found anything until now?”

“Well, we have seen a lot of crazy things happening during these last years and it would not come as a surprise for me if he did, but he keeps his work very secret, so I do not know anything. I will not take no for an answer, son. It can wait and you need to eat, so come on. Let’s go. Grab your jacket, it’s freezing outside.”

“OK, Professor. I’m really hungry, so let’s eat something.”

We went to my car and started driving to the hotel where his friend was staying. We arrived there, it was the Grand Marriot, and as we were waiting in the lobby for him to come, I noticed the elevator doors open and a man in a really nice suit came out. He had a very long white beard, almost like the wizards in the movies.”

“Ciao, Professore! Come stai, tutto bene?”

“Vincenzo, you know I don’t speak Italian, even though it’s an absolutely amazing language. Please meet my student, apprentice and protege and Brother Mason, as well.”

“Oh, that’s formidable. Nice to meet you, young man. Vincenzo Biancchi is my name. Already a Brother, that’s very good, the Professore must really like you a lot.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Vincenzo. Yes, he’s my mentor and I have been a Mason since 2014…”

“And are you liking it so far, do you have any nice experiences to share?”

“Well, yes, when I went to Prague, we….”

“Hush, young man. We all know what’s happening and need to keep the secrets well hidden.”

Then we got back in the car and I drove to this traditional food place that we always like to go to, when we are in Romania. We do have some offices there from the Academy, so when we go there we usually stay for a couple of weeks, do some research and then go back home.

We arrived at the place, it is a really rustic place, really good food, amazing wines and a proper place for good talks.

“Vincenzo, what do you do back in Italy, what does your research field is?” I asked, almost forgetting what my teacher told me

“Well, young man, I study the Dark Arts, black magick, I have been trying for so long to find occurrences in history when or if they could bring people back from the dead, or if they could go to the Other Side… So, mostly the art of necromancy. Of course, I can’t tell you anything about it right now. I am on the verge of a major discovery that will change the way we see the world, young man.”

“Interesting and scary, Vincenzo. But isn’t that playing God? Why should we, humans, mess with the natural order of things? Why should be take back what belongs to the earth?” I asked, intrigued and mildly upset with these types of research…

“God? What does God have to do with this? Nothing. I do it for the progress of humanity. Imagine if we can trap the spirit or mind of a genius, if we had Nikola Tesla, Einstein, the classics of music, Beethoven, Tartini, Rachmaninov, Dvorak, Mozart? Or Marie Curie, Picasso, Van Gogh, or every single great mind of the world. Imagine if we could use their mind’s potential forever and ever. The possibilities are endless.” he said, raising his voice just a bit.

I remembered that the Professor told me something exactly like this when he invited me to join the Freemasons… hmm… that’s strange.

Then the Professor’s phone rang, he started speaking:

“Yes, hello. Good to hear from you. Well, of course we can. Yes, we leave next Sunday, so we can be there on Friday and leave straight from there. Isn’t it a bit cold for that? No, my apologies, I didn’t mean to upset you. Yes, I understand.”

“What’s going on, Professor?” I asked, seeing him a little startled.

“We have a meeting next week at the Sarmizegetusa Regia, in the Orastie Mountains… In the winter, can you believe this? The invitation came from the Dacian Draco Lodge and these Brothers are very attached to the old ways, so we will be wearing wolf heads and old Dacian-like furs on us.”

“I mean… That sounds very nice, Professor, doesn’t it? But, it’s not like we will have the meeting outside in the night, are we? Surely they must have a really nice Temple up there.” I said, with Vincenzo just listening and watching us.

“Well, it’s exactly what they want. At 10 PM, we will have a short meeting outside at the Sacred Area, where they will light up bonfires. It will be interesting, an incursion in history and the old ways of these people.”

“Then I have to come too., Vincezo exclaimed, “I want to see this as well too. Professor, I trust you can arrange this, yes.”

“Don’t worry, Vincenzo. You will be the guest of honor.”

Then we went on having some amazing food and wines, these guys in Romania have really great wines by the way, you should definitely check them out if you ever go there. We finished and then we went to Marriot where we had some coffee.

“Vincenzo, see you soon. Come over to my office if you have same free time, we’ll chat more. Ciao!”

We shook hands and then we went on to our homes and the days gone by… and then Friday morning came. We had the driver picking us up, we picked Vincenzo up and then we went on a six-hour trip to Sarmizegetusa.

We arrived there at around 5 PM, our Brothers from the Draco Lodge were already having fun, they had the barbecues going, they had smoked cheeses, meats, the traditional tuica and palinca. Everything was absolutely amazing.

“Professor, this is really nice. I really like it here.”

“Yes, son. This is a good place to be. Vincenzo, are you having fun?”

“Si, certo. These Romanian Brothers are so nice with us and very hospitable. Really nice people. Noroc!” said Vincenzo.

By the way, “noroc” means “cheers” in this context, or “good luck”.

The night came, we stopped the party and went on to having the proper ceremonial meeting at the Sacred Zone. Each of us were given a large wolf’s head, which looked very real, and some furs to keep us warm. The bonfires were burning away in the night and the stars were looking down on us.

We were sitting on these very old wooden chairs, traditionally decorated by our Brothers and the Master of the Draco Lodge stated:

“Welcome, Brothers. Thank you for your presence here, it is very good to have you with us tonight. We invited you to come here because we wanted to show you how one of our rare meetings looks like and what the nature and the Carpathian forest sound like at night. We have a very special guest with us tonight, coming from Italy, welcome Brother!”

And so they all started chanting in the Romanian language, I understood some of it, but not all. Then a mild wind started blowing, the leaves were rustling and we started hearing all the animals in the woods howling, chirping, making their normal animal sounds. Soon, we were surrounded by wolves, deer, bears, wild cats, boars, birds and they were all looking at us, studying us…

“Brothers, here in this part of the country we are one with the nature. We never disturb them and we bonded with them so it’s like a symbiosis between man and nature. A very beautiful thing!” said the Master of the Draco Lodge.

The animals returned to the woods after they finish their research on us and we returned to our ceremony.

“Professor, this was amazing.”

“Yes, I…”

But before finishing, my mentor collapsed violently on the ground, gasping for air…

“Professor, professor! Are you alright? Talk to me!” I yelled with tears in my eyes as Vincenzo’s eyes turned white and he started chanting old Latin words…

The Professor was gone, dead to the world in the darkness of the Carpathian night…

Then a black smoke started raising from his body into the air and as Vincenzo was chanting more rapidly and more loudly the smoke seemed to stay in one place, like he was obeying Vincenzo’s calling.

“What is this, what are you doing?” I screamed, not understanding what is going on.

“This is the spirit of the Professor, he knew he would die tonight, so he asked me to keep his spirit here for a a few more years, because he is not ready to leave this realm yet.”

Then from the night, a voice thundered: “Brothers, I am still with you in Spirit, even tough my body is laying on the ground. Brother Vincenzo, I have seen the Other Side, it is a cold place, filled with tormented souls and infinite screams. The knowledge you search is there, but it is extremely difficult to get it.”

Vincenzo then yelled at me: “I can’t keep him any longer, go over there in the shed and get me the large glass ball. Hurry up!”

Said and done, I ran and retrieved it and placed it under the Spirit. He then chanted one more time and the Spirit was trapped inside the ball, a black smoke with small thunders inside.

So he was, indeed, a Necromancer. He did know after all how to talk to dead or control their spirits.

“If we ever let him out, young man, he’ll go to the Other Side and he will suffer for eternity. We must keep him in a very safe place, I will take him with me to Italy and put him in the Vatican Hidden Temple with the rest of the artifacts…”

“Will we ever hear him again, Vincenzo?”

“Yes, of course, I will try to make him talk from the inside. If he ever needs you, you must come to Italy.”

“Without hesitation, I will come as fast as I can.”

The next morning, we arranged for the body to be sent back home where I arrived soon after… I made all the necessary arrangements for his normal funeral to be held properly and after that we gathered at the Temple to mourn our Beloved brother in a Masonic Funeral Ritual.

Gone, but not forgotten. Thank you for everything, Professor.