Prologue

***

Notes:

Enjoy reading this story - my first on this site

***

Hell

A place where the souls of sinners are destined to spend eternity here for their crimes during life. Their transparent images are doomed to wander in these eerie lands until the end of time. Well, or until they go mad.

The place where the demons reside are vicious creatures bred only for destruction. Their species number dozens, if not hundreds, of the most vile and disgusting forms the human mind can imagine. And if a single common man should somehow stray here... he would sooner die of fright than of being torn to pieces by them.

The place of the last battle of the two legends... The two sons of Sparda.

The vast field of black earth that surrounded the walls of the same color stone was strewn with countless dead demons that gradually turned to ash. Only a few minutes ago you could hear the sound of a fading battle. But now it seemed possible to distinguish only the intermittent breathing of two... no, not demons. Half-demons.

The first wore a tattered red cloak, jeans, and a T-shirt. His face was obscured by white hair and a slightly grown-out beard. But through them you could see a mischievous smile that clearly didn't match the sword that had been thrust into its owner. He'd been motionless for over an hour... the dead don't usually move, do they?

The other was kneeling before the corpse. There was no trace of his clothes-just a piece of cloth, what had once been pants, covering his body. Multiple wounds covered almost every part of his skin, and some of his once white hair had been scorched by the damned demon flames. The only thing left intact was his expertly crafted katana, which he leaned on with the last of his strength.

- Damn," he said, wheezing, forcing the words out of his mouth, "what have I done...

And with those words he collapsed beside his brother, knowing that he had only a few minutes left.

He realized that if not for his reckless actions, dictated by his lust for power, things might have gone differently years ago. Yes, they had tried to undo his sins together, and they had even succeeded-now the demons of Hell would not be able to invade the human world for a long time. But at what cost... Though it was a noble battle-he hadn't put up such a fight in all of his fifty-five years of existence.

But there was no way knowing that would bring Dante back to life. Neither could he.

As he tried to reach for his relative's corpse, all he saw was the body disintegrating into white particles that began to rise up. And in just a few seconds there was nothing left of his brother, only his sword clinking as it fell to the ground.

As for him... Well, the disintegrating hand made it clear that he was next.

Virgil's last thought was something stupid that he never would have thought of before:

"I hope we win the jackpot in the next life, brother..."

***

Earth

An ambulance was speeding down the road toward the city hospital, and the ambulance was being driven by a master driver. He was deftly maneuvering between the cars, honking his horns at all the right places. He was determined to save the life of another patient.

He, in turn, was lying on the couch, watching the muddled mind of the frantic actions of the doctors, not allowing him to drive to the other side of the world. They shouted something, trying to bring him to his senses and inject him with medicine at the same time, but it didn't help - his heart kept slowing down and slowing down.

He could feel the medic's hands on his chest-they were surprisingly cold. Or was it his body that was beginning to cool? Thoughts were jumbled in his fading consciousness, and it wasn't as if he could think coherently.

"It doesn't matter anymore... As long as it's over with my mother..."

The boy's last thought was cut short by the finally stopped heart.

Name: Yuryev Vitaly Andreevich.

Age: 26 years old.

Cause of death: cardiac arrest due to a complication of heart disease.

Time of death: 13:47, 20.08.2019.

***

Heavenly Chancery.

- Well, this is really strange," said Dante, rocking on a white chair in a white room, dressed in a white robe and slippers. You could tell by his movements that being here was quite uncomfortable for him, but you couldn't see any way out of this situation, either.

- I dare agree with you," his brother replied, a little subdued, sitting motionless and looking at... God? It was hard to say anything else about the ball of yellow that blinked in time with his voice.

- So, I'll begin," the balloon "cleared his throat" after waiting for one of the twins to stop clowning around, and started talking, "My name is Ori, and I've been assigned to be your Allocator.

- Like the hat from that children's story about the Boy Who's Blind? - raised his hand like he was in class, Dante.

- Yes, Mr. 'I'm-interrupting-higher-being,'" he answered irritably and continued, "I am responsible for your postmortem, which I must assign in accordance with your earthly affairs. After the list is read, your fates will be announced, and no-you have no choice. At the very least, not after death. So, Mr. Virgil...

The named tensed, but instantly relaxed - whatever his fate, he fully deserved it. And even his brother's hand on his shoulder didn't fully appease him.

- Murder, destruction, captivity, kidnapping, sacrifice, multiple ruined lives, and so on. I see no point in enumerating everything - you already know everything. And as for you, Mr. Dante...

The other twin's smile faded a little when his - and it was longer - appeared next to Virgil's list of sins.

- Murder, destruction, captivity, grand larceny, child molestation, breaking and entering, parking in a wrong place, hundreds of traffic violations... You get the idea.

- Heh, at least I got some pain...

- Brother, that's enough," they told him quietly.

There was silence in the room - both defendants understood that with such a track record is unlikely to be anything good.

- However, you have done some noble deeds as well. Yes, and you, Mr. Virgil, have made efforts to atone for your sins. So... I give you a second chance. Both of you.

Virgil exhaled, not realizing when he could hold his breath. The other defendant, meanwhile, began to dance, which caused his slippers to fly into different corners.

- But on one condition. You will undergo a "rebirth ceremony" where the soul of one of your past lives will be added to you. Think of it as part of a corrective sentence.

- Well, so be it," said the elder, rising from his seat beside the waiting Dante.

- Well, then, good luck. Then good luck.

A circle of light flashed beneath their feet, and then they were both gone.

***

Somewhere in Fiore.

The sun's rays burst through my eyelids, causing me to reflexively close my hand. It was only when I realized that this action did not cause my heart to ache that I opened my eyes.

A boundless clear sky stretched above me. Small clouds drifted across it, heading somewhere to the north, and a light breeze tickled my skin. Trying to sit up, I reflexively put Yamato on my lap...

Stop. But I'm dead, aren't I?

I looked around and realized that I was in the middle of a field of grass that went almost beyond the horizon. In the distance I saw a mountain range, and literally a hundred meters from me was located unpaved road. I didn't understand a thing.

I could barely stand up on my feet, leaning on my katana, and realized that I had only a scrap of pants on. How on earth did I do that? I was just about to die, but my senses told me otherwise.

And by the way, why do I have a gun? And why am I able to breathe with my chest full?

But the most important question is why am I called Virgil, and that's almost all I remember?