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The opening material dedicates the book and acknowledges editors, agents, researchers, guides, institutions, and others who helped with the project, including people connected to Vatican access, CERN, libraries, and scientific research.

A factual note introduces CERN as the world’s largest scientific research facility and explains that it has produced antimatter. The note emphasizes antimatter’s extraordinary energy potential, its lack of pollution or radiation, and its extreme instability, warning that even a tiny amount could become a devastating weapon.

The author’s note states that the novel’s references to Roman art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture are factual and still visible, and that the Illuminati brotherhood is also factual. This frames the story as a thriller built around real locations and historical elements.

In the prologue, physicist Leonardo Vetra awakens or remains conscious under torture, smelling his own burning flesh as a dark figure demands a key or password. Vetra insists there is no password, and the attacker realizes the information cannot be extracted that way.

As Vetra begins to lose consciousness, he takes comfort in believing the intruder will not obtain what he came for. That hope is shattered when the attacker produces a blade and moves it toward Vetra’s face with surgical care, leaving Vetra screaming too late to stop what is happening.