Story: Conclusion

Satan

Nicholas and Spencer continued their journey on the back of Geryon. They soon arrived at a new plain of the Inferno deep in the trench that was in front of them. They got off the back of Geryon in total darkness. Nicholas saw there was no light around except the occasional sudden spurt of it in the distance. Nicholas asked,” Where are we and why is there only spurts of light?”

Spencer responded,” We are in a new level of the Inferno. The level of fraud, full of liars and schemers. It is darkness for those men who turned a blind eye to other in their life, so they suffer in eternal darkness, blind only to see the creatures that torment and tortures them with the spurts of light you see. Now take my hand so we do not separate and I will guide us though this dark plain.”

Nicholas and Spencer seemed to walk for hours until there was a faint blue light in the distance. As they had approached the blue light Nicholas started to get cold. When they finally reached the source of the light it was a hole in the ground, and its walls were made of ice giving off the blue glow. Spencer then said,” This is the entrance to the final level of the Inferno. Our journey will soon be coming to an end. But I warn you, what you see down there will haunt your memories forever. Now we will jump for this hole is like a slide.”

Spencer jumped first and then Nicholas jumped down the hole. They slid for what seemed to be thirty minutes until finally the hole opened into a giant room made of ice. Nicholas thought this ice room was very cold. Nicholas then saw on the middle of the ice was the Satan himself. He was massive. He had three heads, his main one, and then one on either side where his cheeks would be. Satan’s lower half was in the ice. Nicholas saw that in each of Satan’s mouths was a person. Each of these men were screaming eerily in agony. Nicholas turned to Spencer and asked,” Is this the final level of the Inferno and who are those men in Satan’s mouth?”

Spencer explained,” This is the final level of the Inferno. Those who ultimately betray God are in here and only a few people have ultimately betrayed God. This is the level of treachery against God. In the left mouth you see Hitler suffering for his attempts at genocide of people and setting the whole world into the chaos of World War Two. In the right mouth you see Saddam Hussein. This man suffers for he starved millions of his people, released war on his land, and worst of all said he was a man of God while doing so. Finally, in the main mouth is Judas. Suffering eternally for his sin of betraying God's only son Jesus. These men will all suffer eternally in here. Their souls will never see any redemption.”

Nicholas took a moment to think on how these men betrayed God in such a way that they will never have a chance a being purified and redeemed. Nicholas knew that he would never do any acts so horrible as these men in his life. He turned to Spencer and said,” I have seen all that I need to see. Where do we go now?”

Spencer pointed at a hole above Satan. He then said,” We will climb Satan to the hole. Once in the hole, there is a portal that shall take us to our final destination.”

Nicholas and Spencer went to Satan and climbed him. Satan was warm to the touch even in the cold icy room. The worst part for Nicholas was when he climbed past the mouths. He could hear Satan crunching down on the men through their screams of agony. Finally, they both reached the hole and entered it.

Within minutes they came out the other side to see the gates of heaven. There was an angel waiting there for them. The angel then spoke. "I am Michael. You have done well, both of you. Spencer, you have held up your part of our deal and are now granted entry into heaven. You may take your leave.”

As this was said the gates opened for Spencer. Spencer said,” Thank you, Michael. Also, it was a pleasure helping you on your journey, Nicholas.”

He shook hands with Nicholas, then walked away slowly and disappeared. The gates shut behind him. Nicholas then looked back at Michael and asked,” I have learned much on this journey. But why did you send me on it?”

Michael responded,” You were a kind soul that had lost its way. Your wife came and spoke to me and asked if there was anything we could do to keep you on track so you would end up in heaven. I told her we could send you on a journey through the Inferno and if you presented no self-doubt that you deserve not to be in the Inferno, we would bring you up here. You have proven yourself worthy and now have entry into heaven.”

Right after Michael finished speaking, the gates opened and Angelica appeared. Michael disappeared as Angelica started to speak. She said,” My dear husband you have passed all the tests of the Inferno and now we will spend eternity together.”

To this Nicholas responded. ” My love let us begin eternity together.”

Nicholas and Angelica both walked through the gates and into heaven, where they both spent eternity together in happiness.

Author's notes: I wrote my story based off the levels of Dante’s Inferno once again. I kept to the names of the level but changes what My character Nicholas saw in the level. Dante’s next level was fraud so that is where I continued. I did not write a whole lot on the level of fraud but rather tried to make it eerie by saying eternal darkness with a flash of light to keep you in fear. Then in Dante’s Inferno he enters the final level where Satan would be. I did the same and even made the level's description similar, but I changed who suffers there. In Dante’s, Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Suffer. I changed it to Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Judas. It's hard to change the man who betrayed the son of god, so I kept him. It was also hard to change the description of the level of the inferno for it so errie already. This is Hell and i want the lowest level to be perfect like in Dante's Inferno. In the end of Dante's inferno he heads back up to Purgatory. I changed the ending of the story to be my own, so it has no relations to the ending of Dante’s Inferno.

Head Image by Piotr Dura

Image by Dave Melvin

Bibliography of source story: Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline