An opening of eyes.

Senses flooded with a familiar scene-- the bright sun shining down upon the meadows and trees, a single road leading into three split pathways before the beholder. The pleasent scent of flowers and fresh dew off the grass carefully touching his nose, the sounds of the wildlife surrounding calling out in his ear. He can taste the air around him-- sweetened like honey fresh from the hive, as the gentle caress of the breeze on his face lulls him into a sense of calm, a sense of serenity.

A state without fear.

He sighs contentedly, almost wishing he'd forever be able to stay in this place, yet knowing it was all a dream.

"How many times must I tell you..." came a familiar voice from behind, "That this is no dream?"

Jesus Christ stood behind Dominic Pericolo, placing a hand on his shoulder with a smile.

"Welcome back, glad to see you could make it." chuckled the Savior, who looked at the world champion with a slight twinkle in his eye.

"I don't understand though," replied Dominic, always one to question things for rationality, even when they came from God's own Begotten Son, "How can this be within my mind yet not a dream?"

"I can take you places through your mind, it's not difficult. The spiritual realm and the dreamworld are two very different things." came the simply reply of Christ, who offered Dominic a smile and pointed forward at the three roads.

"So," he asked, "Which road shall we go down today?"

Dominic stared at the roads before him and smiled to himself, chuckling softly as he looked over to Jesus as though the man were to see him as being insane for the words that he was planning on speaking to him.

"Hell's road."

Jesus didn't seemed taken aback at all, instead simply nodding his head and looking to the road which led to the darker path as he muttered to himself, "It's always hell they want to see first... you people just love to scare yourselves."

And so the two walked down the road, the lights all around them dimming as they walked.

All the air around them growing colder further in.

Contrary to popular belief... hell really isn't that hot-- it's the eternal lake of fire that is. With pain and suffering in it's every corner, the further you walk into hell... the colder things become.

The darker things become.

Yet Dominic could see through the darkness with Jesus by his side, who began to explain to him these things he knew nothing of.

"In hell, Dominic... those who remove themselves so far away from God aren't brought near His presence-- a presence which brings light and warmth to the world. There are no fires in hell because of how cold it is here without the Lord's touch. Now, while as a whole all of hell remains the same... to many, it varies person to person. Your hell would come with the loss of everything you hold dear, Dominic... so I'll be showing you that right about now."

A cold blast of air chilled Dominic's face as he shivvered slightly, suddenly feeling very alone. He looked to his side-- Jesus no longer standing beside him as he arched his eyebrow in confusion, turning his head to search through the cold darkness for his Savior.

"Christ?" called DOminic, his voice sounding worried, "Where'd you go?"

A blinding flash of light blinded Dominic like a flash-bang grenade going off in a house of mirrors, flooding Dominic's senses for just a few seconds before fading into a strange scene before Dominic's eyes.

It was himself, yet in a wheelchair and with longer, greasy hair. His face covered in stubble from discontinuing shaving due to his grief. Wearing messy clothes with a bottle of JD in his hand, his eyes sagging from exhaustion as he took a swig from the bottle.

"What... what is this?!" Dominic asked, looking at his disheaveled self in horror, "How could I ever become this way?"

"It's simple, really..." called forth the deep and smoothened voice of an unknown man behind Dominic, causing him to turn around and stare into the blackened eyes of Lucifer, who stood just as any other human would. In appearance, actually, he was much more normal-looking then Jesus was, who came to Dominic in a spiritual holiness only akin to that of the Shepard's Son.

Lucifer stood in a simple blackened suit with a red undershirt, his black tie and slicked back hair making him look very much like a gothic business man looking to sell him some fine Spencer's swag.

"You let yourself go when all hope abandoned you. Losing your title match at Rising Sun was only the first of your troubles, but when the doctors told you you'd never walk again due to injuries sustained at the end of your match, it drove you over the edge. It was only a matter of weeks before Suki was killed in a car accident much similar to your one with Crystal-- aside from the fact that this time, you weren't there."

Dominic shook his head, refusing to believe what he was hearing as he looked down at the face of himself in this condition, tears flooding his eyes.

"It was rather sad, to be honest... that it all happened. Christ had forsaken you when you needed him most, which only helped fuel your depression. You started drinking to combat the pain... and, well, in a matter of days from now, that fellow you see there will overdose on perscription painkillers and find himself quite dead to the world."

Suddenly, Lucifer placed his strong hand on Dominic's shoulder, a smile on his lips.

"Of course... I can prevent this. While Christ may forsake you, I never would. I could pull you away from this future if you just renou--"

"You sound like a damn telemarketer," spoke Dominic, all while grabbing hold of the devil's hand and lifting if from his shoulder, a frown on his features, "Offering to sell me freedom from a future I don't believe's gonna happen in exchange for the low price of my eternal salvation."

"... surely, you don't believe that you will actually make it out of Sunday with your career in tact? When was the last time anyone entered a Final Solution twice and managed to walk out without serious damage being inflicted onto their career?" asked the devil in a persuasive manner, placing his hands into his jacket pockets.

"You said Christ would forsake me, right?" Dominic asked, looking over to the devil with a quirked eyebrow. When the devil offered a nod as his response, Dominic simply looked back down on his so-called 'future self' with a grim smile and spoke softly the words, "God nor Jesus would ever forsake me, much less any true Christian, who would never turn their backs on them. I learnt my lesson in this already long ago, this trick won't work twice on me."

"I... you... but you can't..." muttered Lucifer, a confused and angry look forming in his eye, "Fine! Be ignorant of the truth and allow yourself to fall before Christ, losing all you care for! I will stand by and wait for a more opportune time to approach you with my message, and then you'll realize what you've missed today!"

Lucifer promptly stormed off into the distance, as the image of Dominic's hell-abused self flickered and faded before his eyes. The air all around him was quickly sucked by, the coldness leaving him and the darkness fading as Jesus began to fade in beside him, a grin on his face.

"Congratulations, Dominic... you handled yourself well." Jesus smiled, patting his shoulder, "Most people fall for his tricks like that, but you held yourself together."

Dominic nodded with a smile, looking to the other two roads before them as Jesus looked over at Dominic and sighed, pointing to the center road.

"You want to save the best for last, I know. Go walk through Purgatory, Dominic... you'll learn more about this Sunday when you do."

Taking a deep breath, Dominic began his walk down the roadway to Purgatory, knowing fully that while it wouldn't be as bad as the fate hell had in store for him, it still wouldn't be all that pleasent.

Yet he continued forward anyway... eager to seek out and find the truth in the end.