Pompeii was once a peaceful, quiet and wealthy town. It was built at the southeast of Naples, by the Sarnus river beside Mount Vesuvius. There were small houses, churches, bakeries, mills, and an amphitheatre. There were huge farming fields and battle grounds. Sadly its peace was broken by the cultured Greeks who had settled along the bay, by the 8th century BCE. Greek influence was challenged by the Etruscans who invaded Campania in the 7th century. Pompeii was almost destroyed due to the innumerable wars. Towards the end of the 5th century the town was finally conquered by an Italic tribe and all the constructions were rebuilt.
During those wars a boy named Lorenzo was born; who was gifted as a prophecy. His parents tried their best to take themselves and their son far from the war stage. However, fate was not on their side…or so it seemed that way for many prophecies that begin badly yet end well. His parents had died during the war due to which Lorenzo was uninformed about his speciality. When he was in his youth he worked in a perfume shop. He was taught how to memorise certain smells.
One day he went to the valley to collect flowers. While collecting flowers he saw an attractive flower which was stamped on by someone. As soon as he touched the flower he envisaged a man walking miles. He threw the flower away and the memory faded. Panting, Lorenzo had a trepidation. An arm reached out to him and when he looked up he saw an old man who was in his declining years. Face lined with intricate wrinkles, he had piercing blue blue eyes. He wore a tattered black cape and looked tired. He was the same person who he saw when he touched the flower.
The old man saw the fear on the boy's face and told him that he was a wise soothsayer who could predict the weather. The man looked at the boy for a good sum of time and gave him his cape and said “You can predict the future like me . We are of the same kind, you’ll need this”, he said and walked away. Years later Lorenzo grew up to be a fine man working at the church who would inform people of their future actions.
Lorenzo has stolen the hearts of all who approached him. People would pay him and he would use it for charity. Time was passing by and Lorenzo had reached his old age, all his predictions were turning out untrue. He had become despondent about his predictions and villagers requested the king to resign him from the church. Lorenzo would roam around Pompeii telling small kids stories about his predictions and how they evolved. He would do a puppet show and entertain the kids of the town.
One night when Lorenzo was in deep sleep he had a nightmarish dream which kept him up all night. He was horrified and was baffled. The next morning he went around Pompeii warning all the people that their town was soon going to be destroyed and they had to migrate somewhere outlying. People did not believe his words thinking that he had gone crazy and was fooling them. His words had soon reached the king’s ears and he was presented before the king. Due to his false predictions the king ordered him to leave Pompeii forever. Lorenzo wore the cape the old man had given him once and left the town forgetting what his predictions told him.
Lorenzo shifted to a town called Sorrento and madetheir people believe in superstitions with his fictional stories.Soon after he left the town he heard from the people that acatastrophic volcanic eruption had occurred in Pompeii and the whole town was buried by lava and pumice. The eruption was soinstant that the people didn't have a chance to flee away. Allhouses and citizens were burned and buried underground withinthe city. Around 2000 people died and no one could go check forthe people as there were many harmful gases that erupted too .The bodies of the people were covered with ash, frozen in time.Lorenzo then knew that his predictions had finally come true. Thekings from the neighbouring towns had decided to keep the newsabout the town hidden and not to be heard from anyone, butLorenzo, the last survivor and the only who knew about the town,decided to write everything in a book. He wrote about the people and how the Greeks took over them. He wrote about his story andhis journey and kept the book hidden from the people. When thekings learnt about this they ordered their people to kill him butalas they couldn't find the book. According to Lorenzo the story ofthe town was a flouting history.
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