As soon as the darkness had overtaken all, Lucifer
appeared in all of
his tainted glory. He was tossed about in an un-felt wind as he
said, "So,
how do you like the tour so far?" He began to pace around the
darkness, looking thoughtfully upwards. Abruptly he stopped. "I
have been thinking. Scary thought, is it not? The Second
Circle is the circle of lust, and, after much thought, I know just who
we can talk to." A small speck of light was beginning to grow
from behind Lucifer's head. "It would appear that it was time to move
on with the tour. Oh, you might want to stick close to me.
You wouldn't want to be swept away."
The light grew to consume all before slowly fading
into the muted hues of the Second Circle of Hell. The place is
dark as if light had been banished from here. A strong wind
howled viciously as it relentlessly tossed the souls of the sinners
around. The wind tossed them round and round in the circle.
Nearby were rock ledges, just out of the souls' reaches. The
souls
cried out in pain as they were tossed about. They were thrown up
and down and from side to side with no hope of rest. Some of the
souls attempted to grab on to the walls of Hell but were only rewarded
with fistfuls of dirt for their efforts. Other souls merely allowed
themselves to be tossed about while sobbing to themselves.
Lucifer snorted softly as he watched a soul grab for
the wall only to miss and be sent screaming through the merciless
wind. He shook his head and said, "Newbies- they try so hard to
latch on
to those walls. You would think that they would have more sense
than that. No soul will ever escape those winds. Not unless
I, or the Father, commands it, and the Father hasn't been down here in
many years." He stepped toward the edge of the rock ledge,."Be
careful now and don't get to close to the edge or you'll be sucked
away." A malicious grin spread across his face as he moved closer
to the edge. The wind pulled and yanked at him but he never even
swayed. "Now then, let's find our guest speakers for the
evening." He stared into the millions of souls, his eyes
flickering back and forth as he searched for the souls in
question. He gave out a soft cry as he spotted them and stuck out
his arm. The multitude of souls reached for his outstretched arm
but could not grab hold. From his fingers, what looked like ropes
made of light had wrapped around two souls. He grabbed the ropes
in his hand and yanked the souls onto the ledge. It was a man and
a woman. Their features were mostly indistinguishable and grey.
The two gave cries of joy and embraced each
other. "Oh, how joyous it is to be still," cried the woman.
Her joy was short lived as she noticed how quiet her companion
was. She turned her gaze to follow his line of sight and gave a
short gasp of terror.
Lucifer cackled, "That's right. You
will soon be tossed back into the whirlwind. Before that,
however, you will entertain our dear guest over here. Please,
tell your story."
The woman sighed and settled to the ground
defeated, "Very well then. My name is Francesca da Rimini, and
this man here is my lover Paolo il Bello Malatesta . He is the
brother of my husband. My husband was truly a great man, brave
and honorable. My heart is to blame for my tragedy, for it could
not help but to fall for my dear Paolo. We where deeply in love.
Is that such a crime?" Tears spilled from her eyes and the eyes
of her silent lover. It would have been a touching moment had it not
been for Lucifer. He was acting like a child and making gagging noises
in the background. Francesca turned towards him and frowned. She
humphed and placed her hands on her hips. Her posture was that of
a scolding mother. "There is no need for that. You wanted me to
tell my story so, I am. Now sit down, be quiet, and listen to
it." Lucifer looked momentarily surprised before sitting down
with a pout on his face. Francesca nodded her approval before
continuing on. "As I was saying, we were deeply in love. I knew
that what we were doing was wrong, but it was the only way. I
could not live without him. We thought we had been careful and
kept it hidden, but we were wrong. So very wrong. My
husband found out. Needless to say, he was less than thrilled. My
husband killed us himself. He stabbed and stabbed until no life
in us was to be found. What we did was wrong, but his vicious
murder of us is also wrong. Now he too resides in Hell."
Lucifer rose slowly from the ground. "That
will be enough. Have a
fun trip." With a flick of his wrist the two souls were sent
back into the wind, their screams lost in its howling.
"How torturous it can be to love someone," Lucifer
moaned softly as he looked up. His gaze almost seemed to pierce
through to Heaven above. He shook his head, "Anyways, its time
for us to be moving along. Next stop, my personal domain."
Blackness once again consumed all.
Author's Note: Well, this would be my second story. So far this
has been the easiest thing to write in my Storybook. I just sat
down, started writing, and before I knew it I was finished. It
ended up being a lot longer than I had original intended for it to
be. I guess I was just in a writing mood. Once again I have
added a small introductory paragraph. It's not much, just a small
one-on-one with Lucifer. This story, I feel, is much lighter than
the first one. It still has its dark elements, they just aren't
as
thick. I added some humor to the story. It mostly lies in the end
when talking to Francesca. The thought of Lucifer being scolded
like a child gave me a chuckle. I just had to put it in.
One of my goals in this story, actually through all the stories, is to
show Lucifer becoming just a bit more relaxed and human as you travel
through Hell. If this works right the next story should be filled
with even more humor, mostly from Lucifer and at the various souls'
expense. That was one of my main goals for this story. The
other goal I wanted to achieve was to make people feel for the souls
that are being tossed around. I feel that they are too often
dismissed and over looked. I also wanted to show how easy it is
to take something good, like love, and to twist it into to something
wrong. As a side note, some of you might have noticed that I didn't add
the fact that Paolo and Francesca started their affair after reading a
book. This book was over the love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere. I
didn't add it for two reasons. The first reason is simple. I didn't
feel that it would have melded well with the story I did write. It just
didn't fit. The second reason is more of my own personal view. I felt
that the book merely led them to the affair earlier than how it would
of happened on its own. If the two truly loved each other liked they
said they did then nothing could have stopped the affair. To me, saying
it was all because of a book is belittling to the love they felt for
each other.
Original Story: Second
Circle: Lust... Inferno Canto V:1-51 The Second Circle:Minos:The
Carnal Sinners to Inferno Canto V:70-142 Paolo and Francesca
Bibliography: Dante Alghieri
the Inferno, early 14th century.
wikipedia, search: the Inferno
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Coverpage
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Ninth
Circle
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Image Info: Paolo and Francesca Web
Source: illusiongallery
