The end, at long last... but not the end of the Divine Comedy series.
INFERNO
PART EIGHT
AREA-011, or the
Circle of Treachery, the lowest tier of
Inferno. It is a gigantic expanse of anomalous ice (which cannot be melted by any means) that constantly remains at an average temperature of
-38°C, varying by a few degrees in some spots. A soft wind about
4-5 m/s in speed also blows across the Circle. Thus, living travellers are advised to wear multiple layers of clothing, or use one of the many vehicles scattered throughout the Circle.
This final tier is populated by those who, in life, constantly kept
betraying other innocent people. The Damned here are punished by being frozen at any one of multiple levels and in different positions, depending on the severity of their sin. There are 4 main subareas, which will be covered here in quick succession:
- Caina, for those who betrayed their relatives. Their necks and heads remain above the ice, allowing them to bow and give them some protection from the wind.
- Antenora, for those who betrayed their country. Their heads are frozen above the ice, but they cannot bow.
- Ptolomæa, for those who betrayed their guests. They lay flat, stomach-up, in the ice, with only their face sticking out of it. Often, their tears freeze over, and in some cases, even completely block their vision.
- Judecca, for those who betrayed those superior to them (other high-ranking people, for instance) or their benefactors. This is the worst punishment any Damned can receive in this tier, with their bodies completely frozen in ice and contorted into uncomfortable positions. Interviews with the Damned have proven impossible, so much of the information comes from tours with Guides.
In the center of Judecca, and the center of
Inferno itself, lies a massive demonic figure,
Satan himself.
WARNING: Angering SATAN is NOT recommended. Attempts at freeing SATAN will be met with harsh punishment or immediate execution.
He is extremely tall, estimated at about
130 meters in height. He also has 6 bat-like wings, and 3 faces, believed to be a perversion of the Holy Trinity. Finally, he is trapped in the ice, without any hope of escape whatsoever; any attempt he tries to make fails, with his massive wings freezing the very ice he is trapped in.
Satan is perhaps the most hostile creature in
Inferno, audibly or mentally
taunting nearly
every traveller that comes close to him. In nearly
38.3% of explorations of
Inferno by untrained individuals, these taunts have resulted in the person committing suicide, which still leads to them ending up as a Damned in
Subarea 009-02, the Wood of the Suicides. This is one of the many reasons why
only hardied, mentally stable, and trained professionals are allowed to enter
Inferno in the first place.
Behind Satan is the only means of
escape from
Inferno: by climbing down his back, living travellers pass through the center of
Inferno's gravity, and must reverse their orientation. A basic
pulley mechanism has been set up through the usage of drones, which means that travellers will only need to climb about 50 meters before reaching the first station for the mechanism, after which there is a new station every 50 km or so. The full climb is an estimated
6,371 kilometers, matching Earth's radius.
But after enduring the long climb, one can proceed into a secondary pocket dimension:
PURGATORIO.