Arak, Fils de la foudre #4

In "Les dés magiques," Arak and the Iron Maiden, Valda, arrive in Rome seeking answers about White Cathay, hoping a letter from the Frankish king will grant them audience with Pope Hadrian. When a mob threatens an old Jew—revealed to be the Wandering Jew of legend—Arak intervenes, setting off a chain of events that leads the Pope to task them with guarding him during a city procession. But as the procession unfolds, an earthquake tears open the earth, and the pontiff is seized by a monstrous arm, pulling him into a hidden underworld where Arak must follow—into the eerie domain of the Black Pope.

In "La cité ensevelie," Arak and Valda join Captain Montagu’s ship, drawn by his claim to be building a temple from mysterious rocks hauled from Pompeii’s ruins. When the crew is betrayed and Arak imprisoned among the stones, he discovers the rocks are not just ancient debris—but the preserved remains of a buried city’s people, awakened by a long-dead priest’s will.