Chapter 7: Carnage

They left that dark, possessed island as if their souls were now burdened with the weight of the past. When they returned from that cursed cave, they still had in their hearts what they had experienced. They spent days and nights searching through antique shops, museums, archives, looking for even a shadow of proof of Veneti's existence asking themselves: why were they forgotten by history?

After several days of searching, they managed to find only a few pieces of information about the ancestors of the Venetians. It turned out that the Veneti were an ancient people living in the Venetian lagoon area many centuries ago. A people with advanced culture and technology, but at the same time their lives were filled with mysterious rituals and beliefs. They also learned about their origins and connection to various Mediterranean cultures. A community with a mixed identity that drew inspiration from a variety of sources, creating something completely unique. Understanding the history of the Veneti people unveiled another level of Lysander mystery. Thanks to texts from various books, they deciphered from a scroll some words in a forgotten Latin-Celtic dialect that indicated a connection between the people and where Venetia now was.

- "Sanguinem Veneti, terra Lysandry. Vinculum antequam veniatur adultimum." - whispered Elena who from now on was trying to become an expert on ancient languages and dialects. She translated the words into modern language:

 - "The blood of Veneti, the land of Lysandra. Bond before you are led to the brink."

Elena and her companions, however, could not figure out what exactly the words meant. Was it about some ancient mystery related to the Veneti people and the island of Lysandra? Was there some kind of bond between the Veneti people and this place?

On the seventh day, when it seemed that Venice had nothing more to offer them, something happened that neither of them had predicted. Alex, searching through an old antique shop, was engrossed in old texts and an ending glass of bourbon, when he suddenly felt someone leaning over him.

- "Sithis trius solis almiros, amarathen veni et videri, maris et tenebris, duwari et veli. Carus damos, donamis veneti."

The voice was low, full of some ancient force and melodies that sounded like the song of a forgotten land.

Alex raised his head and looked at the woman standing before him - she was like a phantom emerging from a shadowy story that had just spoken. Although he was poised by nature and after a hefty dose of anesthesia in the form of several glasses of bourbon, he couldn't wipe the surprise off his face, which clung to it like the most permanent makeup.

Her blue eyes resembled the water of a lagoon wrapped in mist, and her chocolate hair waved on her shoulders, creating an aura of mystery around her. She was tall and slender, with a perfectly balanced figure, and her movements had something unreal, as if she belonged more to the spiritual world than the material one. She wore a long cloak with a ciremite that shimmered like specks of light on calm waters. Her dress was woven from a material that resembled a misty night. Alex's gaze froze on her necklace - a ring-shaped talisman from which an unknown energy emanated, as if it hid the history of the ages.

She crossed the threshold of the antique shop with incredible lightness, and the old floor under her feet did not make the slightest sound. Her presence was almost unreal, and the gloomy atmosphere of the antique shop seemed to absorb her mysterious energy. That's why Alex didn't notice her despite his training. He couldn't focus on anything else but this unearthly figure. Her gaze met his, and there was something in her eyes that attracted him like a magnet.

She approached the table on which his notes lay and leaned over the open page. She gently moved her long, even unnaturally slender fingers over the words. Then, as if extracting sounds from ancient layers of memory, she began to speak again. Her voice was unnaturally almost velvety.

- "Sithis trius solis almiros, amarathen veni et videri, maris et tenebris,duwari et veli. Carus damos, donamis veneti."

The words were like the melody of a forgotten era, like the sound of runes carved on stones. Alex listened with fascination, not understanding them, but feeling that they had an extraordinary meaning.

- "The word of the three hot suns, love and devotion, sea and darkness, spirits and souls. Our allegiance, our land of Veneti." - repeated the female voice.

With each sentence she spoke, the woman's eyes seemed to gain an intensity that Alex could not describe. When she finished, she stared at him, and her gaze had a power in it, as if she were probing every depth of his soul. He leaned against the table, trying to calm down somehow.

- Fuck," he whispered, trying to maintain his composure, although the expression on his face betrayed something quite different.

Alex was surprised as hell. He had the impression that he was in some strange dream, and that what he saw and heard could only be a product of his imagination, the result of too many hours spent tracking down Venetian mysteries and hectoliters of bourbon.

- Fuck," he repeated a little louder. Enough for everyone in the antique shop to hear the curse.

The woman only raised her eyebrow slightly, her intense gaze softened slightly, and a half-smile appeared on her face.

- It's nice to see you too, Alex," she said, with a quiet, hypnotic voice.

-- Alessandra What are you doing here? - he asked, trying to hide a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

Alessandra looked at him, and her face took on an expression that alternately betrayed fascination and playful detachment.

- Maybe I should be the one to ask, what are you doing here? - she replied mysteriously.

- I wonder myself. This damn city always attracts me like a fucking magnet.

He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders as if he was joking, although inside he knew very well that what was happening here had its own reasons and hidden meanings. The past he was trying to escape from had just caught up with him. A past that had another mysterious story to tell them all. Everything about this situation seemed unnatural, surreal. She was here again.

Alessandra looked at Alex, and in her eyes shone something that could be a memory of centuries past.

- How long has it been, Alex? Ten years? Fifty? Or maybe ... three hundred? - Her voice was quiet, and the tone, as if tinged with irony, trembled in the air.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, though inwardly he felt that it was all much more complicated than it might have seemed. The rest of the group watched Alessandra with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. They all sensed that the appearance of this unusual woman could not have been a coincidence - her presence was like a hazy prologue to a story that should have been forgotten. Now they stood before her, with questions burning their tongues, but they weren't sure they wanted to know the answers.

Luca, wanting to break the tense silence, smiled and threw in a joke.

- It's like a scene from some romantic movie, only in the Stephen King version. Normally Mythical Marriage," he said, but despite his smile, his voice had a worried tone.

Alessandra looked at Luce, and a barely perceptible, mysterious smile appeared on her face, as if his words were barely a whisper of a comedian to her.

- You can say whatever you want," she replied calmly, then looked at Alex. - I am part of the same story with him. Heirs to the past. We are like an old married couple who have had not only love and quarrels, but also wars, goodbyes and long separations.

Her words were full of melancholy, but at the same time they hid an unshakeable conviction, as if she was revealing an inescapable truth. She knew there were still many questions ahead of her, the answers to which could shed light on the past or change everything they thought about her.

- But now," Alessandra continued, "we must focus on your mission. It's time to reveal the truth about the Veneti to the world and find a way to restore to them what was brutally taken from them.

Her voice, quiet and strong at the same time, was imbued with the mystery of days long gone. Alessandra, as if in a trance, began to tell about the era when the Veneti inhabited the area - their culture, beliefs and rituals, as if she herself was a living link of this history. She disregarded the presence of her companions, her words flowed smoothly, as if she were speaking from memory, not for them, but for the story itself.

She told of the day the Romans invaded the Veneti lands, turning their land into ruins.

- The slaughter of the Veneti," Alessandra continued, her voice becoming deeper, more poignant, "was one of the most cruel acts committed by history. The Romans came with fire and sword, mercilessly destroying everything the Veneti had built over the centuries. Their cities burned, their culture - was torn apart, and their heritage - swept away by aggression and greed.

Every word was like an echo of an ancient song of tragedy and redemption. Her story penetrated the listeners, as if the veil of time had been lifted for a moment, and they could see the world of hundreds of years ago.

- In 181 B.C., when consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus headed an army, his legionaries were not interested in justice, but in glory. Under the banners of the empire, they launched a brutal attack on the lands of the Veneti - a proud, unyielding and free people. The Veneti knew no bondage or submission; their resistance was like a sea that could not be tamed. But the Romans, in full armor, looked down on them, filled with confidence in their own power.

Alessandra said this almost passionately, and her voice left no doubt that she was living these memories, as if the image of the battle was still smoldering in her mind.

- Roman generals gave the order to attack. The shots of catapults and bows of the legionaries pierced the air, and their boats full of legionaries sailed toward the shore. The battle heated up in a hellish manner, the screams of the dying and the roar of orders mixed with the roar of metal and broken bones.

Alessandra went on to recount, with unquenchable fire in her eyes, that the Veneti responded with crushing force.

- Chariots, pulled by magnificent horses and loaded with armed warriors, moved towards the enemy. They hit the Roman boats, capsizing them with the crackle of broken wood and crushing the bodies of the legionaries. In direct combat on land, the Veneti did not stand apart from the legionaries in strength - their spears and swords slashed the armor of the Romans, their own blood mixed with the blood of their enemies and the rain, turning the ground into a slippery swamp. It was a dance of death - without triumph, full of only casualties. Every corner of this beautiful lagoon became a bloody battlefield. The villagers, who just yesterday were fishing, were now fighting, knowing that they were fighting for their home and for the future of their children. The Romans, not withstanding the resistance," Alessandra continued, and a shadow of anger could be heard in her voice, "responded with a brutality that knows no bounds. Women were raped and murdered in front of their families, and men were tortured - their bodies mutilated, limbs torn off, turning their agony into entertainment.

Elena and the others trembled at the thought of this cruel scene, almost hearing in their imagination the scream of the victims and the roar of the burning houses.

- The Romans," Alessandra continued, her eyes taking on an expression as if she had witnessed this hell herself, "spared nothing. Their triumph was pure slaughter. They plundered settlements, burned temples and ancient places of worship where the Veneti made offerings to the gods. Sacred stones, symbols of their identity that were supposed to last forever, were destroyed, turning to dust and ashes. It was an orgy of violence and suffering hard to imagine.

For a moment there was silence. Elena and the others shuddered at the thought of the carnage. Her words hung in the air like dark smoke memories. Only Alex remained unmoved, sipping bourbon and looking at his terrified comrades with understanding, almost like an older brother.

Alessandra, however, continued speaking, this time more calmly, as if the past was drifting away.

- The Romans wanted to erase their identity, but failed to do so completely. The Veneti people had no choice. Faced with the overwhelming superiority of the enemy and the need to save their families and heritage, they had to capitulate. Many innocents died, and the land that witnessed the massacre claimed thousands of souls. Their culture survived, encoded in the Knowledge Stones, ancient symbols that today hold the key to their secrets. She finished her story - she looked at Alex, her eyes, icy blue, glittered like hidden treasures.

- Let's start with this sentence... "Sanguinem Veneti, terra Lysandry. Vinculumantequam veniatur ad ultimum." This is our first clue," she began slowly, pointing to the scroll that rested on the table.

Her voice was like a mysterious melody that, though calm, carried the weight of centuries. Alessandra turned toward Alex, sending him a slightly coquettish look.

- But that's tomorrow," she added more gently, smiling under her breath. - Alex, dear where are we sleeping?

There was something in her gaze that made Alex feel as if he was back in some surreal dream.

- At my place. - He replied briefly, shrugging his shoulders, aware that the night would bring them more than just rest.

Under his breath, he added in a resigned tone.

- Fuck...