Apocalypsis

After the shocking abdication and disappearance of Pope John Paul III, close confidants of the Pope are being murdered. Peter Adam, a German journalist, and his American colleague, Loretta, begin to investigate the case. Their only lead is a book about mystical symbols predicting an unsettling event which is to take place in ten days time.

While the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Menendez, already campaigns for the coming conclave, Peter Adam is still searching...

While the man called Nikolas continues his violent murder spree, Maria comes to Peter's rescue in Sicily. New clues found by Don Luigi require Peter...

Peter is interrogated by the Italian Police and tortured by secret service agents. Without any recollection of what happened during the previous few hours...

Aided by Don Luigi and the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Peter and Maria arrive at Clairvaux where they search for the full text of the prophecy...

A 12th century letter confirms Peter and Mary's suspicion that the Templars were in possession of a terrible secret that is now threatening the Church...

One year ago: While working on a magazine article about excavations in the Karakorum desert, Peter and his girlfriend Ellen meet Edward Kelly...

Urs Bühler makes a horrible discovery on the forbidden plague island in the lagoon of Venice. On the so-called "Island of the Light"...

While in Rome preparations are being made for the conclave, Peter Adam, still imprisoned on this "Island of the Light", learns more about the murder spree...

Cardinal Menendez wants to be Pope, at any prize. A man by the name of Aleister Crowley makes him a tempting offer. Peter has an eye-opening...

Peter and Maria decipher the formula found on Seth's microchip. Peter begins to understand how Seth is planning to bring about the end of the world...

On the eve of the conclave, Peter learns some shocking truths from former Pope Franz Laurenz about an ancient evil working towards the destruction...

While the College of Cardinals, isolated from the outside works, casts it first ballot, Maria frees Peter from a terrible imprisonment. Franz Laurenz...

Peter Adam wakes up on an oil rig to discover he has survived a mortal injury, and learns that the Vatican's chief exorcist, Don Luigi, has been elected pope. The news is worrying, not least because it appears Pope Peter II is doing everything possible to fulfil the prophecy of Malachi. Following a migraine attack, Peter wakes up to find himself in Cologne Cathedral after a gap in his life of five days of which he has no memory. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose around him.

Back in Rome, Peter discovers his entire body covered in an enigmatic tattoo, including images of a man with the head of a lion. He still has no memory of the five missing days. When he discovers that his brother Nicholas has apparently been murdered in Cologne, he fears he himself might have killed him.

Peter and Maria, trying to decipher the meaning of his tattoo, find themselves in the Pantheon in Rome where they stumble on the body of a Roman legionary with one of amulets and a document in ancient Mayan in his hand. They then come across a library of occult books where they find Franz Laurenz, the former pope.

Peter, paralysed by a nerve poison given him by Franz Laurenz hears that the occult library under the Pantheon contains an ancient encrypted book of Evil. Incredulously he also discovers that in fact he isn't Peter but Nicholas! Laurenz and his disciples are moving him from the library to a safe place when they are set upon by the Bearers of the Light.

In the Himalayas a young Buddhist monk makes a horrific discovery. Peter, trapped in the body of his brother, realises his tattoo is the key to deciphering the Book of Dzyan, a catalogue of evil. Simultaneously, a young Jesuit hacker in the Vatican discovers a conspiracy and Yoko Tanaka manages to decipher parts of Peter's tattoo.

Two weeks earlier: Nicholas, in Cologne Cathedral waiting for instructions from Seth, falls in love with Marina, a mysterious gypsy. When he senses that Peter is in deadly danger in Rome he finds himself transported into his brother's body. Peter, in the body of Nicholas is on his way back to Cologne with Urs Bühler when he discovers another amulet on a statue of a Black Madonna. The symbol leads him to Burma where Hell is waiting for him.

Peter Adam and Urs Bühler discover the crucified Felipe Galán in the monastery of Santa Maria de la Real. Meanwhile Nicholas abducts Maria and hands her over to the Bearers of the Light. Back in Santiago de Compostela Peter and Bühler discover clues which lead them to an abandoned chapel in which they discover Christianity's best-kept secret.