Dante VII Canto XXVI Scene I

 Canto XXVI

Seventh Terrace; Creation of Lust.

Scene I

“Let me tell you a tale. There was once a living soul who liked to create things that will rank him above others. He was ambitious and admired what was it to be next to God but not of the equal with God. For that he was humble. He knew his limits and avoided that resemblance. He did his research wide and deep since then.”

“God is an entity documented for many generations and that was his focus. He widely read theologian notes, but his affinity was into ancient works. He studied everything that was to be read, in particular ancient Greeks, and from there to the works of Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes at the outset of the High Middle Ages. He found it intriguing and one of his constant readings was Dante’s poems. The concept of Hell and Heaven was well documented in theologian works. He read psychology like Freud and Carl Jung.”

“Freud’s theory on once’s conceptualization of how personality is structured and how the elements of personality function in the living mind.”

“He then read on revolutionary subjects of the latter ages like Tolstoy, Marx, and also the fictional novel ‘1984’ by George Orwell and also visionary writes. He was fascinated by the concept of maintaining one’s life from within. It was also fueled by Dante’s struggle in his real-life with the conflicts at Florence hence his writing on the poems.”

“Science was his main passion though besides the ones mentioned. He pursued that diligently and used his mind to create his creations. He studied robotics and designed the virtual worlds than when he was younger... He did it with Fabricius the Ancient Greek World.”

“You know Fabricius. He was brilliant too. He had radical ideas like him. It was a leap on designing evolution, and some said it was as great as the creation of God’s. Fabricius had more need of more than a virtual world. Fabricius wanted to do more but the other was not keen. They went separate ways, and the Federation was formed.”

“Fabricius was upset for he felt he betrayed the other. He wanted to do better and an opportunity came. He developed a new world altogether; a virtual prison. He had better guidance then but came close and failed in the replica.” Dante smiled.

“An interesting tale but that did not explain what you or rather who are you?” Virgil asked.

“I am Virgil. I am the one who developed or rather wrote the codes for this program. My main strength was to develop you. And you too, Statius.”

“You are mad, Poet. You are Dante, and ---” Virgil retorted back. Dante was to fight back when he saw the group were brought back to the scene there at the terrace.  The second group approached the fire and reached out to it. Dante saw some shadows in the fire which was why the souls reached out. The fire burned their hands which caused them to draw it back.

“Let me prove it to you who am I?” Dante stepped forward and spoke to them.

“Your hands did not get burned. It’s all in your mind. That is not a wall of fire. It’s an electrified wall actually or rather a virtual one. If you looked at your hands, it’s not burned but the burn marks were imagery of it.” Dante told the group. “I know this for me ---"

“Don’t confuse them, Poet,” Virgil called out.

“We have to get across the fire. Our loved ones are there. My parents are there.” One of the gathered souls reached out to Dante. “Help me please.”

One other among the group then approached Dante. He looked like any other soul; drabbed in the long tunic, and haggard in the expression.

“You are a soul like us on the terrace and yet you hold a shadow? How can that ---- unless you are the one that was mentioned in the realm.” The soul spoke to Dante.

“I am with a soul and --- a shadow for I am complete. I am not of this realm, to be honest. I can help. Why are you here? You had cleared the last terrace of a glutton, and probably taken the fruit at the inverted tree.” Dante looked at the soul.

“I have. The fruit was thrown to me by my lover before she fell to the abyss. I called that depth an abyss.” The soul openly declared.

“Yet you are still here?” Dante asked. “Are you afraid to move on?”

“I am here because she is in there. When she fell, she ended there.” The soul motioned to the wall of fire. “I can’t leave without her. All of us have someone in there.”

The soul held the right hand to the chest near the heart.

“I understand it now.” Dante smiled. “It all beginning to make sense. Not a lot but some of my questions are answered.”

“Sense? What do you mean?” The soul was agitated. “I refuse to play the game with my loved one there.”

“And you don’t have to,” Dante replied. He turned towards Virgil.

“Lust or extreme love affliction. I saw in Hell when a lady soul was sentenced here for her determination to love or be loved. She discovered it and worked on it that it became a so-named sin in the belief but what was a sin when it her free will to learn ---- or rather experienced it. Lust, as said, was like --- water was to a ---an Indian in the dry lands of Nevada, or the Ethiopian thirsts for cool water when its ---"

“That’s damnation. The over-zealous desire that overrode all other senses.” The soul burst out in anger. “We are ---”

“We were given the mind to live. It was in our DNA to think ---” Dante was cut off. “God’s creation or rather the Devil’s desire in us made up from the mind was when the serpent lured Eve to get Adam to bite the apple.  It became like what was usually said; the overwhelming of love precedes all. It was seen in Juliet’s suicide was for her love for Romeo in the love tragedy of the play. It’s a known fact of life.”

“Blasphemy!’ The soul approached Dante. “You are a ---”

“A creation of God with the free will soul unfortunately unlike you here. Trapped in a virtual realm by your beliefs. You are trapped in this demented Garden of Eden which is a realm of a virtual world created by others.” Dante stepped back. “Do you recall who are you?”

“Do tell me?”

“Perhaps I can refresh your memory. Once you told me that you loved displaced reality in your reading? Do you also like hidden faces like Prisoner of Zelda? Man in the Iron Mask? You were an ardent reader of those ancient texts besides Greek” Dante glared at the other in the face. “You are a fan of the dystopian crime of the 20^th century, the generation of radical creative writings.”

“Did I?” The other place on a weak smile.

“You also admired the old archive pictorial animated production. Was it the “The Prisoner” 1967 production then? A pictorial series of psycho-mind influence, between that, was reality and --- fantasy. Fantasy was the subject matter than in that century but with the advancement of virtual reality, fantasy became reality. Or rather virtual reality. You have a hovercar named KAR120C; the name of the land vehicle in the series.” Dante looked at the other.”

“What is that resemblance please?” The soul asked.

“Your name is Fabricius.” Dante looked at the other. “Am I not right, Fabricius? Or is it Hugh Capet again? You held so many disguises. Fabricius is the real you. Why could you not leave this place? You are held back by the fire.”

“Fabulous, Virgil. I knew you will see through all these codes and routines.” The one identified as Fabricius admitted his identity. “You were always a better developer and programmer than myself.”

“Every developer or hacker has their signature mark on the program. When I identified that this was a virtual world, I began to look for the codes and identify the signature. Like why does the wall of fire stop you, Fabricius? What is the wall of fire in the program to a hacker like yourself? Where is your team of six? I know some were taken but there must be others.”

The soul there remained silent. The image of the soul soon became the previous Fabricius.

“Touche, Virgil.” Fabricius smiled. “How did you know?”