Il senno perduto

What is lost is recreated on the Moon. From time gone by to health spent, from vanished empires to forgotten discoveries, everything that time or fortune takes from man on Earth reappears here in another form. The memories of the paladin Astolfo, however, are lost just like the things forgotten by men. It is without memories that he emerges from a well in the lunar valley, in search of the light of reason from someone of note. A sense of danger—indeed, genuine terror—grips his very core… as if he had already been there. It is St John who guides him through the darkness of the Moon and of his own mind: he must recover the lost sanity of the champion Orlando of France, so that Charlemagne may win the war against the Moors. A goal worthy of a knight and, for that very reason, fraught with obstacles. Nine valiant warriors await him at nine gateways, each representing one of the great virtues lost on Earth. Nine virtues that Astolfo must obtain to restore Orlando’s sanity. Confident of his success—willed by God and Charlemagne—Astolfo ventures into the valley where lost things are recreated. But the descent is a journey that defies boundaries far more elusive than mere military might, where a tyrannical king seems to shape the laws of this world to the point of defying not only its inhabitants, but the Creator himself. Prey to hazy recollections and memories that are apparently not his own, Astolfo will soon learn this the hard way. After all, upon reaching the first trial, he recovers the memory of all his previous deaths… and the fact that he has never managed to pass beyond the first portal.