Canto II

(Night has fell five hours ago. However, to me it only seems like a mere minute of worry and anticipation. I trust Laguardia. I trust that he's doing the right thing and I trust that he is not a figment of my imagination, at least for the time being. But I'm still nervous, I'm still afraid. Not only because I'm going to enter the hellish abyss from which only a select few have ever returned, but because of something that Laguardia said much earlier. Something about facing the trouble that I left behind, but feeling good about it. I don't know how I could feel good about it. But anyways, let me transcribe the blue text before it gets light...)

*sounds of footsteps on the grass*

(Father Laguardia was perched at the perfect angle, so the moonlight reflected the shadowy, smoky form across six equally distanced trees, yellow eyes reflected in each of them, a glaring sentinel of the night...)

Father Laguardia?

"Hmm?"

I was just wondering, Father...

"Tell me, child, and I shall do my best to indulge you..."

Why have you come here at this time? And in this moment?

"I do not know why I was called here at this specific time, Riccardo. All I know is that it involves you somehow, and that I must take you into Hell."

Father Laguardia?
"...yes, my child?"

Do you know what Hell is truly like?

"Aye. I have been there for only a short period of time. I try to remember what I have done that had caused me to do it. In fact, I remember little... I remember I was a priest... I remember you... I remember small snippets of my time as a brother, but only vaguely... but I remember Hell. It begins somewhat tame. But then it gets darker. It turns from nature to fire, fire to charred remains, charred remains to desolate sands, and from then to the coldest of icy realms. But I was only in Hell for a short time, my child."

(I noticed the moon slowly setting in the night sky, the stars slightly losing their brilliant radiance as the blackness turned into a light grey.)

"You see, Riccardo, something came to me. I couldn't quite see the being's face, but it told me my punishment could be lessened significantly. So the thing took me into Purgatory after so much time suffering in that place."

What is Purgatory like, Father?

"Purgatory... oh, how can I explain it? It was like a towering metropolis similar to major cities. Skyscrapers, roads, everything a city could have. But save for some shadowy beings akin to the form I own now, it was completely devoid of all life. There was the occasional shade who wished to communicate, but I mainly felt alone in a world never changing, growing, shrinking, not alive, but still alive. A living people made of the souls of the dead."

Father... you keep saying that Hell is a charred realm of torture. Why should I even go there? What could I gain? Why shouldn't I just run... run and keep running?

(Father Laguardia was silent for a long time.)

"If you want to leave, you very well can. After all, I am telling you to do the same thing that demonic hound had told you to do. However, if you do flee and keep fleeing, then you will be seen as unworthy in the eyes of the Lord. Not only that, but it doesn't matter how much you flee, the people who are chasing you will hunt you down to the ends of the earth, because they see you know as a heretic. A symbol that must be eliminated. Would you rather be killed, trapped like a rat in a cage? Or would you rather face them yourself, with an advantage?"

(Now it was my turn to become silent. I had nothing more to say. He had a point. I knew the people that had been chasing me. I had known them some time and I knew to what ends they would come to to capture me. I had to follow Laguardia. I had to follow him straight to Hell.

The dawn's rising now. Laguardia says we must hurry if we are to enter the portal to the Dolorous Realm.)