Week 14 story: The Summoning of Dante

Dante and Virgil confronted by demons.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Once I walk into the summoning room I immediate walk towards my instructor and say, “Please let me give ownership of Alice to someone else. I’m going to go mad at this rate!”

My instructor looks taken back at this plead and responds, “That’s an unusual request. Is there a more specific reason why?”

I respond with, “I’m tired of her antics! She constantly runs off and causes trouble for others! I’ve had enough of walking out of a room to immediately be greet by a strange world with weird creatures running around! Is there anything I can do to stop this crazy little girl!”

At my continued plea, my instructor simply says, “Use a command spell to force her to be obedient.”

At this, I freeze in shock and exclaim, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” to which my instructor replies with “Glad I could help. Now please start the summoning ritual.”

I did as instructed and performed the summoning. What appears from the circle is a man in a long white robe and carrying a rather large scythe.

“I am servant class Berserker, Dante. I hope I can be of service.” So exclaimed the man before me.

I reply with, “Nice to meet you. Dante, was it? I can’t quite remember ever reading about a hero with a scythe named Dante? The only Dante I recall was from the Divine Comedy but he wasn’t a warrior.”

To this, Dante replies with, “That is me. I am the Dante who travelled into hell while still alive and traversed the nine circles with the aid of my guide, Virgil.”

I’m left momentarily speechless at his words. How is this possible? The Dante from the Divine Comedy was in no way a warrior. He was a poet who traveled through hell, purgatory, and then made it to paradise. How is he standing before me as a Heroic Spirit?!

I say to Dante, “I’m a bit confused. Can you explain to me how you are considered a Heroic Spirit and why you have such a large scythe?”

He replies with, “Certainly. As my poem stated, I travelled through the nine circles of hell until I reached Lucifer. At this point, reality splits from the poem. When I was preparing to return to the world of the living, the grim reaper appeared and said I had to stay in hell. I refused profusely and a struggle insured. During the struggle I managed take the grim reaper’s scythe and used it to cut him down.” He raises the scythe he’s carrying to emphasis this point. “I then had to traverse back through the nine circles with Virgil, madly fighting all the way, to once again reach the world of the living. I presume the mad fighting bit is why I was summoned as a Berserker.”

At the conclusion of his tale, I’m left speechless again. I regain myself and ask him, “Why didn’t you include this very important part of your story in your poem?”

He replies with, “It wouldn’t have been much of a comedy if I included all that fighting in it, now would it?”

This guy is crazy! He was more interested in telling a comedy then telling how he had to literally defeat the grim reaper and climb his way out of hell! The Berserker class may be a good fit for him! I say to Dante, “Well, whatever. Welcome aboard Dante. I’m sure you’ll get along great with the other servants.”

He replies with a smile. “I’m looking forward to it.”


Author’s Notes:
Here is my second to last story. This one is a bit different since I made Dante, someone who doesn’t have any common traits of a hero, and made him a hero. I thought it would be fun if Dante had to fight his way back out of hell. Hell isn’t exactly a nice place, so I wanted to emphasis this by hell trying to keep Dante there. I knew Dante would need some kind of weapon if he was fighting his way out, so I thought it would be funny if he stole the grim reaper’s scythe and used that. Class wise, I could only think of making him a Berserker. Dante’s not a warrior, so I imagined him as madly swinging the scythe around as he tried to escape hell. Hence, he fits as a Berserker.

Bibliography. "Dante's Inferno" from Dante's Divine Comedy translated by Tony Kline. Web Source.