The Second Circle is the circle of lust and “the charms” in the single Hell descended along the route of the Castle of the Prism. Its sign, carved on a door, shows two lovers trying to unite who stay “close enough to touch” without succeeding.
| Type | Place |
| Spanish entry | Segundo Círculo |
Description
Hell’s circles are descended in series (First, Second, Third, Fourth), each with its own climate and ground; the road only goes down. The First Circle is only recorded as holding an akashic record. The later circles are assigned to “the place of sloth, of vice, of gluttony”, without saying which is which.
In the Second Circle the damned fly in a mass within a gale, “as starlings fly in a great flock in winter”. The torment is the pause: the gale stops, lets the soul walk a while, and sets it “beside someone you really like. And your partner is watching” — “the best sexual situation followed by absolute fall”, forever.
The limbo is said to be “a part” of the Second Circle.
Law of the place
If anything leads to a dispute among those present, everyone loses six measures of Hope, not only whoever caused it. Once, when the loss was about to fall on one figure, Pete, the law made it collective.
Third Circle
It is entered through blizzards, ice and storm. The air “looks purple”, “is heavy and cursed”, and smells of beer “with the putrid aroma of some vomit”, a fermentation of rotting matter. The ground slopes steeply; travelers skirt a dry sewer. The border with the Fourth is a ravine “where the water ends”, where a putrid swamp forms.
Fourth Circle
One level down the slope eases: open ground “like open-pit mining”, with cracks releasing fire and a noise of giant rolling rocks. Its guardian is a very muscular creature about ten meters tall, compared to “a balloon”. He uses no weapons, speaks Spanish and is himself greedy. He tests those who want to pass for greed and bars whoever fails.
Each circle thus pairs a vice with matching weather and ground; the passage to the Fourth adds a moral barrier to the physical ones.
Open questions
- How many circles Hell has is unknown: four are recorded, plus the limbo.
- How a limbo fits inside the circle of lust is disputed and unresolved.
- The Fourth Circle’s vice is not assigned; the guardian has no name, and whether he is unique is unclear.
- Whether lost Hope can be recovered, and what its maximum is, is not recorded.
- Whether any exit or ascent exists is unknown.