"At the midpoint on the journey of life," "I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost." "I cannot well recount how I entered the wood, so long had it been since I abandoned the true way." "How shall I say what a dreary and horrid wood it was?" "So bitter to endure that death itself would be but little worse." "Several times upon my journey home," "I had sensed an unseen rider trailing my steed." "Yet, when I approached, the rider vanished, leaving no trace." "I feared this figure as an evil omen." "All my life I've known such signs and portents." "And lo, at the rise of the hill, I saw a spotted leopard, all teeth and fury." "At the sight of these beasts, my heart sank." "I sensed danger not for myself, but for my beloved Beatrice." "Away, demon!" "I drove my steed on, racing for my father's villa." "And Beatrice... nothing in this world meant more to me than she." "You were right, Dante." "Truly this is a divine place." "Paradise on Earth." "Beatrice, will you take my hand in marriage, under God and all that is holy?" "Dante, I will not marry you only to see you dead in this crusade." "Jerusalem must be made Christian once more." "God is with us." "We cannot fail." "Through three years of war and horror, my love for Beatrice had only grown stronger." "As I came upon the family estate," "I found all unnaturally dark and still." "Fearing the dreaded omens, I entered." "The servants." "All butchered." "Father." "Oh, Father." "Beatrice!" "Lord, let her be alive!" "In the name of God." "Where is..." "Oh, no." "No." "Beloved, are you all right?" "Beatrice." "Is it you or a dream?" "Who did this to you?" "I know not." "A stranger." "A foreigner." "Do you remember that night before you left?" "What we said?" "I remember." "Did you betray me?" "Never." "I never should have left your side." "Forgive me." "What?" "Do my eyes deceive me?" "Fear not for me, my love." "I told him you would be true to me." "I knew you would." "No!" "Wait!" "Come back to me!" "What is this?" "God in Heaven!" "What?" "Dante?" "She is mine." "No!" "I have come to take what was promised me... a soul meant for Heaven." "It can't be true." "Dante would never betray me." "Beatrice!" "Release her, devil!" "Dante, help me!" "No!" "This will not stop me!" "Nothing will stop me!" "No!" "What?" "No!" "God, give me strength!" "Come with me, mortal, if you have the courage." "Dante, don't let him take me!" "Beatrice!" "You will not keep me from my beloved!" "Dante, you lied to me!" "I trusted you!" "You've got to save me!" "Dante!" "I'm coming for you!" "I won't let him hurt you!" "Beatrice!" "No!" " Martyr." " You lost her." " Martyr." " You lied to her." "You lost her." "Never will you know her flesh again." "Never will you know her love." "Her sin." " Martyr." "Martyr." " You lost her!" " Her desire." " You lied to her." " Your sins." " Never will you know her flesh again." "Your sins." "Never will you know her flesh." "You are bound." " Martyr." " You lied to her." " Martyr." " Martyr." "Why, God?" "Why are you doing this?" "It is not the Lord that brought you to this fate, Dante." "What are you?" "Shade or living man?" "Not man, though once I was." "I lived under Augustus in the time of the false and lying gods." "Are you not Virgil, glory of the poets?" "He who wrote the Aeneid, the treasure of Rome?" "Why do you seek such woe, Dante?" "I seek only my beloved Beatrice and nothing more." "But I cannot open these accursed gates!" "Have you lost all faith in God, O man?" "Has the way been so obscured?" "Heavenly Father, if only one soul should be saved, please let it be Beatrice." "Help!" "Help!" "Dante, if you broke your promise to me, I'll be forever damned." "Are you prepared to be judged in this place?" "Do you think you are without sin?" "Please, don't let him take me!" "Beatrice." "Beatrice!" "What did Beatrice do to deserve such a monstrous fate?" "She made a wager with Lucifer to see your safe return." "She lost." "Wager." "What wager?" "Lucifer bet that you would betray her love." "I never betrayed her." "You only deceive yourself, mortal." "By all that is holy, I vow to forsake all pleasures of the flesh until I return from this noble crusade." "I gave myself to you because I know you will be faithful to our love." "And when I return, we shall be married." "And live to grow old and see our grandchildren have children." "I love you more than Heaven itself." " Take this." " But, Beatrice, this has been in your family for generations." "It is a true relic said to contain a thorn from the crown of Christ." "Bring it back to me." "Great Virgil, lead me into the Inferno." "I beg of you, please!" "I must save Beatrice even if it means my death." "I will guide you, but you must put aside all division of spirit and gather your soul against all fear." "I fear nothing." "Then proceed." "Charon will carry us to the first circle of Hell, Limbo." "Nine circles comprise the Inferno, with Lucifer residing in the lowest." "Horrifying, yes." "There are more damned in Hell... than liberated in Paradise." "I can see their sins in life." "Charon's boat has grown wide and mighty over the millennia." "He has had to compensate for the ever-increasing damned." "Through me the way to the city of woe." "Through me the way to everlasting pain." "I don't like the look of this." "Now shall I ferry you into the fire, the cold and the everlasting darkness." "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." "How could God allow this?" "God allowed free will, even for his angels." "It was Lucifer that devised such torment." "Mercenaries of Florentina, in payment for reclaiming the Holy Land, your Immaculate Father hereby absolves you of all your sins." "Go with grace." "Praise God." "Do you think a priest has such divine power?" "Can he truly absolve us of sins so easily?" "Of course, Francesco." "Why would you doubt the Church?" "That is the path to Hell, my friend." "How soon until you leave?" "Tomorrow, before dawn." "Dante, promise to watch over my brother." "Beatrice, I'm no child." "No harm will come to him, my love." "I'll protect him as if he were my own." "You who are living, be gone from those who are dead." "I will not part, Charon!" "I must cross!" "I give you my soul to find Beatrice!" "It belongs to us already, mortal." "Your will is nothing, mortal." "You will never traverse the circles of Hell." "Take me to Beatrice, demon!" "Virgil, where did you disappear to?" "I am pure spirit, Dante." "I cannot help you fight your enemies." "I am naught but a guide." "Dante!" "Can you hear me?" "Can anyone hear me?" "Dante?" "Thank God." "I knew you would find me." "Dante?" "Beatrice, my love." "Is..." "Is that you?" "No!" "Dante!" "No, stop!" "Stop, Dante!" "What's happening?" "How many ways can a man die?" "No!" "Come to me, Beatrice." " I want to admire you." " No." "Let me go." "There is not only suffering in Hell, my love." "There are untold pleasures here, pleasures your human senses could not fathom." "Never!" "There is nothing you can do to hurt me, child." "What you perceive of me is a literal shadow of my former self, but you... you can die a thousand deaths by my will." "What?" "Think of the tortures I can create for such a pure, delicate, angelic soul." "Tell me more about your life on Earth, great poet." "I know your deeds, but not the man you were." "Publius Vergilius Maro was my name." "I was the son of a commoner, and though I died a dozen years before the birth of Christ," "I foretold his coming in my works." "What is this place, Virgil?" "The first circle of the Inferno, Limbo." "Here suffer those that did not sin, yet did not have the required faith." "This is the realm where virtuous pagans and unbaptised babies reside." "A child?" "Here?" "How can this be?" "Dearest Dante." "This is the fourth letter I have written and the fourth I have destroyed." "I am five months with child." "I fear telling your father as we have yet to be married." "I do not know how much longer I can conceal my state." "All I ask is that you return to me soon." "Leave this terrible crusade, and we... we can be married." "My lady, what is it?" "The baby." "This is my son." "Oh, Beatrice, I didn't know." "Come." "Quickly, Dante." "This is not a place to contemplate." "What madness is this?" "Lord, too many." "Virgil." "Virgil!" "In here, Dante." "Hurry." "What is that sound?" "More demons?" "No." "They are familiar to me." "The great rulers and philosophers of the golden age." "Is that not Hector and Electra?" "Caesar and King Latinus?" "And do not forget Plato, Socrates and Aristotle." "I have never agreed to such terms." "I say that God exists in the realm of ideas, accessible to human thought." "Plato, there is only one philosophy in the Inferno" " Lucifer's." "Do not look for liberation here, old friend." " Do you know this shade?" " He was Saladin, a noble Kurdish sultan." "I fought his forces in the Crusades under Richard the Lionheart." "Filthy heretic, Jerusalem is ours." "We will wash these holy lands in your heathen blood." "Father..." "Mercy, noble knight." "She's only a child." "Dante!" "Dante, the forces of Saladin are routed!" "Dante?" "My God, what is it?" "He is King Minos." "Once a king of Crete before Daedalus boiled him in his own bath." "Now, Minos forever judges the damned, sending them to their circle below." " Through him..." " Traitor." "...all must pass." "Heretic." "Glutton." "Hoarder." "Suicide!" "Who comes into my house of pain?" "He who seeks Beatrice." "Let me pass, that I may find her." "Turn back." "There is no place for you here." "Not yet, O mortal." "With your permission or not, I pass, monster." "You dare so speak to the judge of the damned?" "I dare." "I will judge you to the lowest circle of Hell." "Lucifer shall devour you for eternity!" "Silence, Minos." "It is his fate to proceed." "Here you must descend." "The damned are trying to flee." "Lucifer will not be pleased." "Let him come." "If these demons can die in the Inferno, then so can he." "What is this place?" "This is the second circle, the circle of Lust." "To this torment are condemned the carnal damned." "They are the great lustful of the world." "See there Semiramis and Ninus, Anthony and Cleopatra," "Helen of Troy and Paris." "The storms of lust forever rage while passion inflames the heart." "Listen, on the wind." " Dante, help me." " Beatrice!" "Please, Dante." "Dante." " Beatrice!" " Dante, hold." "Beatrice!" "A new visitor arrives, sisters." "Come, embrace us, Dante." "We know what you want." "We can see it in your eyes." "Unbearable lust." "No, let me pass." "Stand aside, harlot." "If you won't have us, we shall have you!" "Dante, how could you let this happen?" "How could you betray me?" "No, Beatrice." "I swear." "What do you swear, Dante?" "Do you want me to show her the truth?" "Serpent." "It's all lies." "I never betrayed her." "I'll kill you!" "You can hide from neither memory nor sin, Dante." "What?" "King Richard wants us to stand guard over 3,000 prisoners?" "That is his command?" "He will negotiate their exchange for the return of the true Cross." "Negotiate with heretics?" "Never!" "They deserve only damnation." "Get your hands off her." "Infidel scum." "We'll show you not to defy us." "Good and noble knights, have mercy." "I beg you!" "This prisoner only tried to save me from the guards." "Please, sir, show compassion." "He is no threat." "He is a heretic." "He gets what he deserves." "Kind lord, if you would show him mercy perhaps I could give you comfort in return." "What comfort could you give a soldier of God?" "The nights here are lonely and cold, my lord, even for a soldier of God." "Perhaps I could warm thee." "Dante, do not commit this wicked sin." "How is it a sin if I am already absolved?" "Guards, hold." "Thank you, Lord." "You are kind." "I could see it in your eyes." "And your promise of comfort?" "How could you do that to me... to us?" "I was weak." "The war changed me." "You know who I am inside." "We've known each other since childhood." "Does she know you, Dante, or did the Crusades show her your true self?" "Beatrice!" "Forgive me!" "Please forgive me." "No, it's not true." "He wouldn't do this to me." "Dante!" "What did I say?" "Even the purest of souls can be corrupted." "Dante is not the man you once knew." "You did this to him." "You corrupted his heart." "I've had no need to influence humanity for many millennia, my dear." "I simply introduced sin." "Man is the one who has spread it like a disease, cultivating it, empowering it." "It is not our fault, none of it." "Man is good." "No, you don't understand." "The Earth is another form of Hell, and men are its demons." "I failed her, Virgil." "I betrayed her." "I could blame the Crusades, but I know it was my own weakness, my own sin." "Have you considered she is not the only soul you are here to save?" "I seek only my beloved Beatrice, and nothing more." "It is Cerberus, guardian of the third circle, Gluttony." "That is the foulest fate one could ever imagine." "And it is your fate as well, for the true circle of Gluttony lies inside of Cerberus's body." "Inside?" "Good Lord, isn't there perhaps a way around it?" "No, not if you wish to reach fair Beatrice." "So be it!" "For her I will conquer even this." "Face me, wretched creature!" "Release me, demon!" "Hell can get no more horrible than this place." "I find this circle most unpleasant." "You're a shade." "You should try wearing skin." "Such a fate." "Look at them all." "How could such harmless sin provoke such everlasting torment?" "The gluttons - what they could not satisfy in life, in death they shall be denied for eternity." "Dante." "Do you remember me, Dante?" "I too am from Florence." "You were born before I died." "I do not know you, spirit." "You know me." "I am Ciacco." "Gluttony was my offence, and here I remain mere skin and bones." "Can you help me, free me from this agony?" "Please, please." "Your suffering weighs heavy on my heart, spirit." "Be free." "Virgil, what's happening?" "How dare you free the damned?" "They deserve torment for wasting their fleeting precious lives." "And Beatrice?" "Does she deserve torment?" "She is the exception." "A pure soul to remind me of my place in Heaven, to remind me of the light of my father." "But let me ask you, Dante, what of your father?" "Beatrice, you must eat." "I have no appetite." "I know you miss my son, but you must keep up your constitution, child." "You're nothing but bone." "It's unappealing for a lady." "Beatrice, what have you done to yourself?" "It's just another memory, Dante." "Your father's memory." " My father?" " He is here with us, Dante." "Would you like to visit him?" "Do these tortures never end?" "Virgil, Beatrice is not here." "We must escape this beast!" "What is this?" "Cerberus's black heart." "Destroy it, quickly." "Beatrice!" "More gold than I've ever laid eyes upon." "What could one man do with so much treasure?" "This is the fourth circle" " Greed." "All the Earth's treasure that is beneath the moon or ever was cannot give relief to these weary souls." "What a mockery is made of the brief battle for possessions that makes so short a life." "These damned remind me of my father." "48, 49, 50, 51..." "What?" "Where are my last three coins?" "Dante?" "Dante!" "Bella!" "Yes, husband." "I'm short three crowns." "Are you stealing from me, woman?" "No, Alighiero, I would never do such a thing." "Liar!" "I knew I'd have to watch you." "Now, tell me where you've hidden it, woman, before I throttle you dead." "Don't hit her!" "Mother!" "Can you believe that in my youth I wanted to be a poet?" "But all I ever knew was violence." "And what became of your mother?" "She died of a fever a year later." "It was sudden and terrible." "There is no room to pity the dead here, son." "Lucifer did not lie, but then again how could you not be here, Father?" "You think you're a greater man than me?" "That you're above reproach for your sins?" "I took up the Crusade." "The priest absolved us." "And you actually believed him?" "No man can absolve you of your sins, but some men can be rewarded in Hell." "Lucifer offered me a thousand years free of torture and endless gold if I would slay my own son." "And where will you spend this gold, Father?" "Let me pass." "I only seek Beatrice." "So be it." "I always despised you." "But you became me, son." "You belong here." "You always have." "So I can be damned in Hell with you?" "Never!" "It's time to claim my prize, boy." "Then claim it." "You want gold, Father?" "It's yours." "I cannot go on." "You must, Dante." "Steel yourself." "The journey is not half over." "How do I know you're not another enemy sent by Lucifer?" "You could be luring me to my doom all along." "Another trick, another deception." "Search inside yourself." "You know I was sent here from on high." "Forgive me, Virgil." "This place has affected my mind." "Let us move on." "Please, Lord." "Forgive me of my transgressions." "Save me from this horrible torment." "Please, I beg of you." "My God." "I have heard your prayers, beloved Beatrice, and I have come for you." "There is no escape, little soul." "Your prayers are worthless here." "Rejoice, child, for you are about to be granted a rare privilege in the Inferno." "I am making you my bride." "You will become the Queen of Hell." "Are you not pleased?" "I cannot stand this wretched place." "For we are in the fifth circle, Anger." "The very air reeks of fury." "Watch your ankles." "More food!" "We're starving!" "We need more food." "We're doing the best we can." "There isn't enough food to go around." "Quiet!" "Quiet down!" "There is nothing we can do." "The granaries are ablaze." "We barely have enough rations for our own men." "Then I'm leaving this post." "I will not put up with guard duty any longer." "You can't do that, Dante." "We came here to kill these heretics, not coddle them." "We came to reclaim the Holy Land." "Saladin took the city last year and spared Christian lives." "We should do the same." "Since when are heretics worth a Christian life?" "Enough." "Enough!" "Keep your mind, Dante." "Do not dwell on past deeds here." "See the souls over whom anger has prevailed." "In the black sludge of the River Styx do they wish they had never been born." "The fools." "It is here we must cross." "We travel in that?" "Perhaps we would be safer swimming." "I suppose it doesn't get much sturdier." "Is this a friend of yours, great poet?" "Phlegias is the guardian of the Styx." "He was the son of Ares and a king in his day." "Hold on." "The ride will be somewhat bumpy." "The angry souls know no end to their fury." "Who are you that comes here before your time?" "If I come, I do not remain." "But I know you, hell dog, filthy as you are." "You were Filippo Argenti in life." "Come down, Dante, and face your old enemy!" "Let the damned rip you to shreds, wretch." "Now, my son, the City of Dis draws near, housing its solemn citizens within." "Damned of Dis rejoice, for your lord, Lucifer, is betrothing the pure soul, Beatrice." "Truly this will be a marriage of Heaven and Hell." "Hurry, Phlegias!" "Run!" "Beatrice!" "Outcasts of Heaven, race despised, why do you rail against a will that cannot be stopped?" "Dante?" "He has taken her into the tombs." "Hurry, Dante." "Gone." "Why does he do this?" "Bait us on?" "Keep us running?" "Perhaps Lucifer wants your soul as well as Beatrice's." "He's luring us to the ninth circle." " What is this place?" " The tombs of heresy." "Here in the sixth circle you will find endless heretics burning in eternal fire." "O Tuscan, who walks through this place speaking so decorously, know that I am Farinata." "Farinata, another hated man in life." "What do you want, spirit?" "Know this." "The damned can foresee the future but can never know the present." "Your future, Dante, is filled with death and destruction." "Beatrice will marry Lucifer and reign in Hell, and you will be damned with us forever." "I never liked him." "What's happening?" "The harrowing of Hell." "Christ's death forever quakes this circle." "We must hurry." "Let me go." "What do you want from me?" "I have taken countless brides over the millennia " "Cleopatra, Salome, Helen of Troy." "But, unlike them, your spirit is pure, unspoiled." "I will never succumb to you." "Kill me again and again, slit my throat, tear me to pieces, but I will never love you." "Yes, such passion." "You have a fire inside you." "After we are properly married, you will give me a brood to carry on my legacy." "You will be birthing my children for eternity, sweet soul." "Virgil, do you hear..." "Who is this new monster?" "What does he want?" "The minotaur guards passage into the seventh circle." "Be cautious, Dante." "How dare you threaten us?" "Do you think he is the duke of Athens who served up your death above?" "Off with you." "Begone, abomination!" "Virgil, I think you've made him angry." "Now, while he is blind with rage." "Hold fast." "Steady." "Now move!" "You have many surprises, poet." "Perhaps you would have made a great warrior in life." "It was nothing." "He was all horn, no brains." "This circle is reserved for the violent." "Those who have done violence against others forever boil in the blood they have shed." "How shall we cross?" "It's impossible." "You summoned me, great Virgil." "Greetings, Nessus." "We need passage across the bloody Phlegethon." "Can you help us?" "Of course." "Climb and hold on tightly." "The river is treacherous." "Here is Alexander, Dionysius, Attila, and countless others." "The damned here are worse off than the Styx." "These were the kings of bloodshed and despoilment." "Be wary of the next passage, friends." "My thanks, Nessus." "Good luck to you, mortal soul." "We must hurry." "Beatrice can wait no longer." "This is no forest." "Yes, they are those who did violence to themselves." " This is the wood of suicide." " Dante..." " No, my friend!" "Turn back!" " Come to me, Dante." "Come to me, Dante." "Come to me." "Why do you break me?" "Have you no pity?" "Mother?" "Yes, son." "I too am among the damned." "But how can this be?" "When a soul takes its own life," "Minos judges it to this circle." "Here it sprouts, shoots up like a sapling." "No body, only pain." "No, Mother, you don't belong here." "You died of fever." "Her heart gave out from the fever." "She was just too fragile." "Where is she now, Father?" "In Paradise, son, with all the souls of pure light." "I despised your father's cruelty, but I was too weak to defy him." "And so, I..." "I took my..." "You learned your father's ways, but you are not lost." "You can redeem yourself." "Beatrice was all I had." "How could I have betrayed her?" "The pain you endure purifies you, son." "Heed my words." "You must look into your deepest sin to save her." "And what of you?" "Only the living can redeem themselves." "I cannot." "This is too cruel a punishment for you, Mother." "God must know this is not your fault." "I'm going to free you." "My soul belongs to God now, son." "We are still in the seventh circle?" "Yes, the Abominable Sands." "It is here the damned did violence against God." "We came here to kill these heretics." "We came to reclaim the Holy Land." "Saladin took the city last year and spared Christian lives." "We should do the same." "Since when are heretics worth a Christian life?" "Enough." "Enough!" "Dante, no!" "Fight with me, Crusaders." "Spill the blood of these heathens." "Their souls are already lost." "Dante, what have you done?" "Crusaders?" "Here?" "Why are you being punished?" "Our cause was holy." "We are absolved of sin." "The bishop lied, did he not, brother?" "Francesco, not you too." "God never condones violence of any kind." "There was no holy war." "Don't you understand?" "The priests lied." "Of all people, how could you be here?" "It was you!" "You did this to me!" "No, no, no, listen." "You don't deserve the life given to you, you don't deserve Beatrice, and now you will join us here forever where you belong." "Brother." "I am not your brother." "You're an animal, Dante." "A monster!" "I will not let you have her." "You know I'm the better swordsman, Dante." "It's over." "Justice is inevitable." "Not yet." "He can rest for a while, but he is forever bound here like a shadow of time unforgotten." "He was a good man." "He doesn't deserve such suffering." "Heavenly Father, let the soul of Francesco rise into your divine Paradise." "What?" "Pray for your own soul, Dante, for it will freeze with me forever in Cocytus below." "I'll kill you in your own circle, Devil." "Yes, a contest." "Hurry, Dante." "Your beloved Beatrice is soon my queen." "This is the union of the three great rivers of Hell." "Another beast I must slay?" "No, Dante." "Geryon is our passage to the eighth circle." "Climb inside." "And be wary - it bites." "My thanks, Geryon." "This way, Dante." "We are in the circle of Fraud which one commits upon those who trust in him." "You must travel these ten malebolge alone." "And quickly" " Beatrice is soon to wed." "Alone?" "What of you, great poet?" "I will not be far, believe me." "You have proven yourself worthy." "Now hurry, Dante, lest you lose your love forever." "I travelled on alone, over the flatterers and simonists, and as I ran I was overwhelmed with my sins as if every malebolge was a chasm of memory." "I felt my mind weakening with every step, and yet I would not cease." "Release that one." "His ransom has been paid." "My ransom?" "No." "No, you didn't..." "You defiled yourself with him, didn't you?" "Didn't you?" "You whore." "You have shamed me." "You are not my wife, do you hear?" "Filthy whore." "Whore!" "I'll kill you." "You bastard dog, I'll kill you." "I swear I'll kill you." "You bastard." "You'll see everyone you ever loved dead by my hand." "Dead, dead!" "No, it can't be." "I have come for the woman." "No!" "Leave her alone." "She's innocent." "Run, Beatrice, run!" "Get out of my house, filthy dog." " Get away from me!" " There is no escape for you." "Stay back." "No!" "Vengeance is finally mine." "It was me." "Beatrice's death." "They were all murdered because of me." "At last, Dante, now you both see the truth." "You are the true cause of Beatrice's suffering, and the damnation of so many others." "How could you have done such evil to me?" "Tear the heart from my chest, rip the very soul from my body?" "These sins are my own." "You have no right to Beatrice." "Relinquish her." "Never!" "Dwellers, night fiends, and torturers of the pit, strip the flesh from the mortal's bones." "Lucifer!" "Beatrice, stop!" "You don't know what you're doing!" "I thought I knew many things." "I thought love was real, but it was only an illusion, a fraud." "There is nothing left for me in all of God's creation." "Yes, my love." "In union, all of Hell's power will be yours." "Beatrice, don't do it!" "When you had your way with that girl, you gave me to Lucifer." "It was all because of you." "Beatrice!" "No!" "No, no." "The faithful has lost her faith." "The incorruptible has become corrupted." "The true innocent has given way to the sins of man, like all the rest before her." "Who can now deny me my rights?" "I will leave you with my consort." "She has so much to show you." "This is where you belong, Dante." "You are the greatest fraud of all." "You've lied to me, deceived me, and for that you shall suffer." "Beatrice, don't do this." "You never loved me." "It was all a lie, all of it... our whole life!" "Beatrice, listen to me." "I braved the circles of Hell for you." "You mean nothing to me." "But I have faced my sins." "I am ready to take you home." "Faced your sins?" "Look down, Dante." "Look deep into the ninth circle... the circle of traitors." "God in Heaven, what happened?" "Who is responsible for this massacre?" "Take care of my sister." "I am responsible." "Hang him, and prepare to march tonight." "When the noble Saladin learns of this atrocity he will bring forth the very forces of Hell." "Take care of Beatrice." "Dante, protect her with your life." "Beatrice, I'm coming home." "I wanted nothing more than to see you and beg for forgiveness." "I will never forgive what you've done, never." "But while I live, I can absolve you." "Forgive me, and free yourself." "My cross." "I brought it back to you." "Accept again the love of God." "Dante." "I forgive you." "I never wanted any harm to come to you." "You have done well, my friend." "And though you may not understand it now, Dante, you have perhaps saved far more than just one innocent soul." "Wait." "I can't be separated from her now." "I've come this far." "You cannot claim a place with her yet, Dante." "You have to face the true enemy, in the lowest part of the ninth circle... the circle of traitors." "There, you must face the king of traitors, Lucifer himself." "He guards your only escape from the Inferno." "We shall be reunited one day." "I promise." "Goodbye, my love." "This last trial is for you to face alone." "Godspeed, my friend." "Very well." "I am coming for you, Lucifer." "I will make you pay for her suffering." "I am coming for you." "I fell, not into fire, but into a vast, frozen wasteland." "The very centre of Hell, furthest place in all of creation from the divine light of God." "Treachery, the ninth circle of the Inferno." "I walked through the darkness, numb with bitter cold." "All about me were forsaken, frozen souls of deceivers and traitors." "Who are you to walk the paths of Hell so warmly, O living man?" "Damned soul, where is Lucifer?" "Tell me, before I too freeze in this miserable hell." "Wipe the icy tears from my eyes, and I shall tell you." "The Lord of Hell dwells at the centre of this frozen lake." "Past the storms of Ptolomea, deep in the centre pit of Judecca, there his icy halls are well protected, and none but the mightiest may cleave a path." "But can you believe me?" "Can you believe a traitor?" "Long did I wander the dim and icy paths of Hell." "Past the frozen giants of legend..." "Nimrod, Ephialtes and Antaeus." "I was battered by a frigid wind that was like the beating of Lucifer's black wings." "Finally, after a seeming eternity," "I came to a passage blocked by the frozen links of a mighty chain." "Lucifer thinks he can block my way with this?" "He thinks he can stay my vengeance?" "Welcome, great Dante." "Welcome to your final resting place, the circle of traitors." "Lucifer, I have come to escape this hell so that I may be reunited with my beloved, but not before I rid the world of your corruption." "You will never see Beatrice again." "The path to Purgatory lies through me." "You are the warrior of a weak and dying God, a God who is the true evil." "His power wanes over the world." "Silence." "Your lies have no power over me, Devil." "I will rend the very soul from your frozen body." "Indignant fool." "Come, let me devour your soul as I devoured Judas Iscariot." "You will remain in this pit until creation's last breath, do you hear?" "Never!" "You are not invincible here." "You are just another demon and, like any fallen, you can be destroyed." "You cannot destroy me!" "What have you done to me?" "I have slain you, great beast." "Victory is mine." "What's this?" "New life writhes inside him." "No!" "Thank you, Dante." "I am very impressed." "Many have tried, but all have failed me." "Ulysses, Alexander, Attila, Lancelot..." "Truly, you are the greatest of all my minions." "Minion?" "I do not serve you." "Speak without your forked tongue, serpent!" "Do you not?" "You freed me from my eternal torment." "I came only for Beatrice." "Beatrice?" "She was only bait." "It was you I wanted all along." "Don't you see?" "I was bound by God in this frozen pit, only my shadow self allowed to roam free." "It took a mortal to release me - you, Dante." "No, it isn't true!" "I defeated you before." "Show me the path from Hell, or I will end your miserable existence." "Destroy an angel of God?" "You arrogant gnat." "Such vanity, such pride." "I could have slain you the moment you fell into Hell." "You worship God, but it was He who created evil." "It was He who created me." "If you knew the true nature of God, Dante, you too would rebel." "No!" "You are nothing to me." "A talking animal." "He made you in His image... and I was to bow down to you?" "I grow weary of this game." "Finally, I will reclaim my proper place in Heaven." "Behold, Dante." "Beyond the Inferno lies Purgatory, where awaits your precious Beatrice." "But instead of you, I shall escape from this pit." "All the souls in Purgatory shall suffer and burn." "And beyond Purgatory, Paradise itself." "I will plunge the cosmos into chaos, and it is all your doing, Dante." "Because of you, God will finally see me rule His creation." "No, I cannot be the cause of this." "There is nothing you can do to stop me, mortal." "No one can stop me." "One can." "Almighty God, forgive me for all of my wicked sins." "I forsake my escape." "I give up even Beatrice." "I belong here, in Hell, and accept my just damnation." "What are you doing?" "A repentant soul in Judecca?" "Stop!" "Do not utter a word!" "But grant me the power to keep your enemy here with me." "Stop." "I command you." "No!" "Purgatory." "Beatrice." "I will come to you yet." "My love, I have forgiven you." "God will forgive you." "Now forgive yourself." "I fought across Earth and Hell to find my beloved Beatrice." "We were together, neither in Hell nor in Paradise, neither damned nor saved." "I did not die, and I did not live."