"To this torment are condemned the carnal damned. Those for whom desire conquered reason." - Virgil
Dean followed Tessa along the road that would lead him to the first circle. She had told him that her only job was to guide him through the circles, and she wasn't allowed to help under any circumstance. He was truly on his own.
Tessa stopped and looked over at Dean, before nodding her head towards a tower. Dean took in the sight before him, and a cold shiver ran down his spine. A tall and dark tower stood in front of him, and around him on the bridge he could see bare bodies walking past and not acknowledging him.
They walked to the base of the tower and waited. It didn't take long for a cloud of smoke to appear in front of them and morph into someone Dean didn't recognize. The woman in front of him looked back at him and gave him a seductive smile.
Tessa told Dean the woman was Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and that she was his first test. Dean nodded, not sure of what to expect. Looking back at Aphrodite, Dean took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was to come.
Aphrodite snapped her fingers and a variety of naked women appeared around Dean, of all shapes, sizes and colors, all ready to please him in all the ways he could imagine. In normal circumstances, Dean would have been in heaven having so many beautiful women wanting to please him, but these weren't normal circumstances.
They tried every trick in the book to get Dean to fall into temptation, but Dean held on. He knew if he fell here, it was over. So, he took deep breathes, trying to focus on something other than the hands that hovered his body, or the lips on his neck, sucking on his soft spot.
After what felt like an eternity, and just as quickly as they appeared, the women disappeared. Dean looked over at Tessa, who had a small smile on her lips. Walking over to her, he looked back at Aphrodite. She tells him that he passed the challenge by being chaste and grants him passage to the next circle, before bowing her head and disappearing in a cloud of smoke, just as she had appeared.
Dean let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, relieved that his knowledge of the lore had kicked in as soon as he saw the women. If this was truly the nine circles of Hell, as he just had the confirmation that it was, then he would have to trust the lore and, hopefully, get out of this alive.
He felt Tessa's hand on his arm, signaling him that they had to move on. Dean followed Tessa once more, trying to remember what exactly the order of the circles was, but he was drawing a blank. He knew what the circles were, he just couldn't remember the order. If he did, maybe it could give him some sort of advantage over the challenges, but he really didn't remember.
All Dean could do was hope his memory would kick in before the next challenge. For now, he followed Tessa on the road to the next circle. Hopefully, they'd get easier for him to resist. But he knew that was a long shot. Wasn't it?