Canto X

(I must say it was very difficult to decide whether or not I should explain myself. I have tried to keep my actions a secret, but maybe I have for far too long.)

Father Laguardia?

L: Yes, Riccardo?

These tombs... who do they hold inside them?

L: Those held in these tombs are the Heretics. These include those who believed the soul died with the body, those who outright shunned or loathed the creator, as well as many others.

D-do they include...

Farinata: Abandonato, I never expected to see you here so soon.

(There was a clear, hostile sneer in the man's voice. His tone was also familiar- far too familiar for my liking. My dreaded suspicion was confirmed as I gazed upon the bony, chained figure of Father Farinata, one of those who trained me at the Vatican and possibly one of the banes of my existence.)

Farinata: What brings you here, boy?

L: He's going through a series of trials.

Farinata: Trials? Some test to make it up to the big man? Hah. You're spineless, and after what you've done, the violence and the treachery you've done, you miserable excuse for a priest, you think you can just walk away without penalty!?

L: Quiet, foolish sinner.

Farinata: Who are you to talk, shadow man?

L: His mentor.

Farinata: Liar! I was his mentor!

(At this point Laguardia had coldly shrouded his shadowy form around the form of my evil superior. Farinata's entire form began to shrivel and his mouth began gaping open in horror.)

L: Listen, you foolish, cowardly, evil abomination who dares call itself a human being. I am his mentor. All you are is a betrayer. 

Farinata: I... I am not the b-bet-tra-

Let him go, Father Laguardia. He may be right. After all, I did kill you, Farinata.

Farinata: Yes. Don't think I haven't forgiven or forgotten that. It's not like I could even if I tried.

L: You were committing crimes against the Church. You were engaging in heresy!

Farinata: It wasn't I or my brethren who were engaging in heresy, it was the Church itself!

What do you mean?

Farinata: I gave you a chance, Riccardo Abandonato. I gave you a glimpse onto the true form of the Lord. The sacrifices- the rituals- they were much holier than the abominations you and your so-called religious figures could ever dream of. We told you the truth. God was a lie. There were no angels, either, save one angel and one Angel alone. 

I was nicer to you before, but I'm going to say it to your face now: your doctrine is a load of shit.

Farinata: Hmph. Have it your way, boy. 

Then why did you end up in the Circle of Heresy?

Farinata: Fool! I was not here for any religious "crimes against God!" I was here because I failed my duty to my master, and this was his fitting punishment!

L: ...silence...

(At this point, black, shadowy hands grasped Farinata's ankles. He was dragged in, screaming and pleading for his life. His soul. At this point, I was far beyond any measure of pity for these souls, but his scream somehow still leaves a brutal scar in my mind. We walked in silence the rest of the way across the entombed circle. At the exit gate leading to the seventh circle, Farinata's limbs and organs were found neatly cleaned and expertly, symmetrically hoisted on great hooks, his eyeless, still-screaming head spitted upon a pike atop the gate itself. We passed through, no doubt into even more arcane tortures...)