Dante VII Canto XXVII Scene II

 Canto XXVII

Eight Terrace; A dream of Paradise

Scene II

Fabricius opened his eyes. He was in a different area; in a green acreage with rows of trees abundance of fruits and flower beds with different blooms. There was also a small stream there, where clear water was seen, and on its bed were the tiny colorful pebbles. He looked to the trees; they were all types, the one with the wide spread of leavers to the tall ones and then there were the fruitful ones. His smell sense picked up the fragrant of the place. It may be the garland of flowers seen there. It was what he perceived may be the Garden of Eden.

Fabricius looked around and saw Dante was there. The latter was at one of the trees and studying it. He tried to picture the tree as its type. It was a low tree and there were abundant fruits on it.

But only one type of fruit.

It was the apple.

“Virgil, don’t touch it.” Fabricius cautioned the other and pain was emitted from his lungs.

“Stay yourself there. You were infected by the fire. I forgot to tell you to remain silent.” Dante looked at Fabricius. “My bad there. You were infected by the ----codes I set in there to prevent any intrusion. You would have perished --- terminated but we made it out soon.”

Fabricius tried to sit up and found his body was in pain. He reached out to touch his left thigh but there was nothing. He sighed. They were still an image there. They are not out yet of the realm.

“Virgil---” Fabricius reached out. “Where are we? I have not been here. Is it ---”

“I believe we are in Heaven---- no, it’s Paradise. Or the path to it.” Dante replied. “It was in my design that I shared with Casella. It’s the Garden as she pictured it. She was a romantic person. It ---- Maybe she got it or rather Beatrice had it done from my design. Both their signatures are here.”

“It’s funny how we developers and programmers are alike to artisans. We like to use certain codes or routines that will be pasted across the program. Little lines of coding that are ours. It makes us the creator.” Dante smiled. “Casella has it and so was Beatrice.”

“I ---” Fabricius struggled to cut in.

“You had yours. All hackers have theirs to mark their works.” Dante looked at the low-hanging fruit.

“I – was to say – another.” Fabricius groaned in pain. “There were others involved with her.”

“Another? Who can that be?” Dante looked to Fabricius. “I can think of ----wait, there were others that she was working with? I should have guessed --- Daniel Arnold. It was Beatrice who told me to seek his assistance before I was sidelined.”

“The virtual worlds were Daniel’s aspiration too. His signature could be seen. He created many designs with his notes, but none was ever constructed for his ideas were radical.” Dante spoke of the master he once learned with. “I left him for that reason. Do you know that Daniel Arnold is Beatrice’s father? The mother re-married after their separation, she married the man who was whom you may know as the emperor’s uncle, Daniel De Beau. He is also the uncle of the one you knew as Charles who took his mother’s name on her death’ Charlie Hermant.”

“Charles Hermant --- The Prodigal ---Son.” Fabricius acknowledged his mentor name’s. “It began to link ---"

 “Yes, I heard he was good but I had left the scene to become an academy lecturer. I indulged in my reading and ignore the realm’s political world. Beatrice was then married to the emperor and I was with ---- Gentucca. She was my second lover after my first, Casella.”

“Yes, I recalled you wedded Casella, the developer then.” Fabricius smiled. “She was the reason Beatrice was upset with you. Or rather you were with her and wedded Casella. Yet you work very close with Beatrice which caused Casella to leave you.”

“I taught Beatrice well, and far with it. I was more focused on the constructs. They were my passion. She knew it and even wanted my construct to be her army but I was not keen. She once told me that with a construct, she could have one like Jander that resembled me.” Dante smiled. “It was personal to her.”

“Madness was in her, Virgil. She looked to you like an idol at times.” Fabricius found his voice.

“True, but she must have abandoned me for you, and in time she abandoned you for the emperor. I knew Beatrice much more in our lives. She was a lovely lady but her desire was far beyond. She wanted total control and it came with conflicts for the divided will be easy to control. She does not lust us; she lusted power. It was the sin that was above the other sins. For that, she will use anyone.”

“Wait, Virgil.” Fabricius looked at Dante’s forehead. “The P’s are gone. You are not branded anymore.”

“Yes, the P’s was to stand for what was never explained. It was Beatrice's idea to use the branding. The P was my idea to stand for Penance, as it was fitting for the ones sent to Hell. It was a practice of the ancient to be branded as slaves. I used to humor her that it should be S for slavery, but she wanted something else. It was a Penalty to her like in the virtual games when the player gets it for failure. She felt that the branding was to signify their failure which was a doing of their own.”

“She was not a ---caring person, when I got to know her later. When you are younger, the sin of love---I meant lust overrode her feelings. I gave up on ---loving her and wedded Casella but my feelings never dwindled towards her.”

“Was I ever your Paradise?” That voice caused both Dante and Fabricius to look over.

“It ---- is it you?” Dante asked.

“It’s me, Virgil. I disliked the name Dante more. You loved Dante more than your own given name. Your signature was also Dante.”

“I did not expect you here. I saw your signature here and was wondering when or why are you here.” Dante said to the other.

“Ever the one to be more concerned on the codes than me. I have to admit, I wedded you not for your romantic side but for your intellectual mind and designs. I idolize you, Virgil. But not Dante for he was a boring person.” The other spoke. It was a lady in the green dress, with the dark green gown, draped over it, and the lapels reached from the shoulders upwards towards the back of the face. There was a garland of flowers over the neckline. It was a form of a lady with curvature in the design but the face was covered by the half shield. The lady stood across the stream, separated by the flowing water.

“Welcome to my garden, Virgil.”