Living Inside A Novel: Monte Verità

 

After five hours of climbing, I reached the peak of Monte Verità. The sun warmed my frozen face, and I felt a sensation of wellness so intense that I closed my eyes.

When I opened them in the middle of a vast plateau, I saw the abbey. There was something unusual about it; there were only cracks and no access points. I turned around to find the drawbridge, but it was gone. Between me and the castle lay an abyss, with a sea of ​​fog moving inside it.

I looked around to find any form of life, but I was completely alone in a lunar landscape. I decided to turn back, but the path was now shrouded in fog. The sun disappeared behind black clouds. My breath was cut short by the cold, and I started coughing. Feeling my saliva freezing, I thought my last day had arrived.

I heard a sublime song and voices above my head; they were certainly Gregorian chants. I woke up in a serenity I had never experienced before. I was relaxed and happy, not thinking of problems of any kind; my mind was in tune with my body, completely free of worry. I opened my eyes and found myself lying on my back on a cold marble bed. Above me, I saw a crowd of young friars floating and singing in every direction, but their faces were threatening and hateful.

In the middle of a fresco on the left wall, I noticed a tiny crack from which a white light emanated—it was probably moonlight. Looking carefully, I saw a female face with the features of a young boy; she whispered to me that she was Anna.

Anna who? I thought. The wife of Victor from the novel Monte Verità? She smiled at me. There was still a taste of strawberry on my lips—it was from the hot drink the priestesses had given me before I fell into hibernation for an indefinite time, as my watch had stopped at 4 a.m., the exact time I had started the climb up Monte Verità.

I realized I was inside a prison covered in frescoes depicting the martyrdom of Jesus Christ. I noticed that the devil stood above them like a conductor. The white dove had crashed to the ground, Jesus Christ was dissolving on the cross, and then everything went black.

I touched the dove; it was still warm, and I smelled its blood, which had the metallic scent of copper coins. I noticed that my hand was wet, covered in blood, and then I saw letters forming. I read my own name.

Anna’s face observed me as she flew across the room, leaving behind a white trail like that of a comet. The force of gravity pulled me away, and I landed on a barren surface not far from the abbey, where the last dim light went out forever—"and I watched the full moon rising from the dark valley."