Chapter Eight: Cursed At the Hands of Hel
Here's the most action packed chapter of this little mini-story so be prepared for fighting and possible blood loss, it shouldn't be too graphic though but felt I should mention it. Tell me what you think of this twist with Hel, the daughter of Loki from Norse Mythology, originally I had no idea who the bad guy was but in my mythology class we are leaning about this stuff and so it suddenly just clicked and I was like "Yes," it had to happen. This also opens other possibilities to Norse mythology. Anyways be sure to favorite, and comment on this story.
Standing immobile, I feel paralyzed as my mind flips through all knowledge I possess on Norse Mythology from class, does this mean that all story told are true or are some made up and others not so much. Even standing here, her before me with darkness in her glimmering green eyes, eyes that I have as well, it does not seem like it is possible to be real.
Hel takes a few steps towards me, her long black cloak dragging against the dusty concrete flooring of what I assume is a base for the prison where Father is being held in solitary. I stumble back at her step as panic flushes through my veins, my heart pounds so fast that I feel it in my throat and as it does, my mind goes absolutely blank, that scares me even more than being held here with her.
Unlike me, she is not half-human, not susceptible to ailments that could end my life or fatal wounds that would lead me to bleeding out along the concrete floor here, she lives much longer than I will ever. Roughly five thousand years is what Asgardians are said to live, so based on that I can assume that she will live approximately the same and while she thrives, I will have long since been deceased.
Hel seems to bite back a laugh as she stops dead in her tracks, narrowing her eyes at me like I am a bug not even worthy enough to be crushed by her boot. "Seems you have lost your nerve now Midgardian. Afraid of what hides within the shadows and around darkened corners? I suggest you keep out of my way and I may allow you the luxury of living another miserable and quickly passing day."
She brushes past me, making her way through the doorway and I shake off my initial shock and start forward, trying to keep pace with her, I need answer for I know I will never get them if I do not follow. While I know I have to stop her from freeing Father. She spins to face me, her eyes blazing with a dark purple type of mist fuming from them.
"Have you hard of hearing or did you choose to ignore my threat you unwelcome little runt?" she growls through gritted teeth.
"You're still going to free him?" I ask suddenly, not sure what my reason for asking but it popped out without my granted consent. Hel leans back, glaring daggers at me before responding.
"Did you think your little chat would change my mind? You know nothing, besides, you will not even live long enough to see the outcome anyways, now, I warn you for the last time, leave before I decide to take care of you myself," just as she turns, I find my voice.
"I will not, no can not, let you free him Hel, you know more than I will but I think you knew that I would not let you free him so easily, that is why you have warned me so, I can tell, behind your emotionless eyes, I can feel your hatred from me, bubbling over. Why do you hate me so?"
She does not respond, instead she flashes forward before I can even blink. Pain rattles through me as I am airborne, sliding across the floor in a heap, she swings her arm down on me but I roll out of the way at the last minute. She howls out in pain, the one I realize that must be alive, for it it were dead she would not have felt any pain at all.
My shoulder is throbbing, still I am unable to tell what exactly happened with that but I can only assume she either hit me or threw me across the room like a rag doll. I barely dodge out of the way when she comes at me again, this time she spins, I was not expecting that, she hits me in the stomach with the back of her wrist. She knocks the wind out of me, it feels like a plugs been shoved down my windpipe.
She starts back towards the door, but I, even without recovering my breath yet, kick my leg out, knocking her down the flight of stairs, as she topples down she reaches out, grabbing the sleeve of my shirt, pulling me with her. Each step slams into my ribs and I grit my teeth to keep from crying out as I can practically feel the bruising of my bones.
I skid across the floor once we hit the end of the stairs and her grips released me from the force of gravity. My teeth grind together as I push myself up on all fours, one hand braced under my chest and on my burning ribs. Hel vanishes into a haze then I am knocked back, a kick to my already throbbing ribs as I crash through a potted plant placed down here.
While I am not sure what this plant is, it makes me feel sick, weaker than before as I crawl slowly away from it, not even strong enough to get on my hands and knees. Warm sticky liquid, what I assume is blood, trickles down my forehead, the cut on my forehead burning from the sweat that is mixing into it. Hel appears before me, glaring down at me, hatred in her green eyes.
"Do not say that I didn't warn you," she lifts her foot and throws it down, right on my back, where my rib cage is. A sickening crunch sounds and I let out a blood curdling scream of sheer horror and pain. Absolute agony, I can feel that shattered bones and the rib digging into me, my breath is shallow, blot dots dance in my vision, I want to give into the sea of escape that washes over me.
The one that I know if I take will never bring me back to the world of the living and I would rather not spend eternity with her in Helheim. She turns and begins examining a dark stone wall. My head is floating and I want to give in but I cannot let her win, cannot let her get the best of me, Panic would never give in, no matter how many bones that are shattered.
Through blurry eyes, I can feel something, or someone probing in the back of my mind, like they are trying to get into my mind. Throwing up a metal wall, I block the feeling out, and push myself up on unstable feet. I spin my hand in a circular motion at my side, a misty green fog swirling around my fingertips, I want her to get knocked back, hard...
Green mist falls away and then as if by some unseen force she is shoved backward, hitting the wall opposite to the one she was just examining with a loud thud against it, the sound of cracking soon follows. She and I both seem to realize that the roof will be falling in at any second, she flashes forward, taking one of my arms and throwing me forward, towards the wall she was just examining.
I cry out in agony as she slams me into the wall hard, using her extra strength granted by being a God. Once, my spins rattles, twice, my ribs are on fire, but at the third time, the wall busts in and He releases me. I go soaring backwards through the new room I am in, my eyes flutter in and out of focus but is plunged into darkness when my back collides with a stone wall.
My head smacks the concrete and then I bite the ground below, cold polished concrete. I cannot see anything, not even my hands in front of me. My heart pounds in my chest as I try to keep my emotions in check but find myself unable, at least until I hear the voice of someone I have not heard, not since the News Broadcast for the Battle of New York.
"Raven?" it's more a question than a statement, my vision now dances in and out of focus and I try to ignore the black and now purple spots that cloud my view of of the world. Footsteps sound, and suddenly my eyes focus. My voice catches in my throat as I see him, in person, for the first time in, well, ever. He has never visited me, even before his imprisonment.
But he is not looking at me, no, he is looking at his goddess daughter Hel her stands emotionless, her eyes focused on Father, his black hair slicked back, green Asgardian garments.
"What is this madness Hel?" he asks her, I cannot see his expression.
She steps closer to the glass box he is held in, pressing her dead and rotting hand against the glass. "I have been planning this for months, I have come to free you from you imprisonment Father. It would have gone much smoother had," she flicks her eyes to me and back. "She not interfered."
I can feel the blood pooling now, mentally I locate all my injuries, at least three broken ribs, fractured skull, too many cuts to count, and a lot of blood loss from them, especially the few on my head, most of the blood loss in from the back of my head where she fractured my skull. I push myself up on my hands and knees, laying on my stomach was digging my ribs into vital organs, keeping me from breathing properly.
My lungs and ribs burn, my muscles ache, and am exhausted but this is my last chance, she will free him if I do not stop her. As Hel reaches for a small square white box to which I assume will free Father, I press my palms into the concrete, manipulating it, putting a wall in front of the panel. Pushing up, I grit my teeth as my body protests this action.
"T-this," I hate the wobbly and uncertainty in my voice but continue nonetheless. "W-we are n-not finished here yet. You-you will not succeed, I-I will not allow you to beat me and I would rather die than go out like a coward," using my powers, I yank her forward, knocking her off her feet. Hel kicks out her foot sending me sprawling back but she has other plans.
She grabs my arm and spins me backward, snapping the bone. I scream loudly, unable to think about anything but the pain that has now consumed me into an endless pit of torment. She grabs my throat and spin me to face her, my broken arm swinging lifelessly. She tightens her grip until I can barely breath, grabbing at her wrist with my one good hand.
"Hel!" Father shouts with such venom that if I could, I would flinch. "Release her, now!"
She wipes her her to shoot him a glare, a look passes between them, a conversation that I am unable to understand.
"Why should I Father!?" she shouts at him suddenly, her eyes ablaze with anger. "Huh? She's is no more than a Midgardian mistake you made with her whore of a mother. So why she is your favorite child, perhaps I should end her measly existence right now so you can reassign our placements."
She close her fingers so tight that I cannot breath, my lungs burn with urgent need for air and I can faintly hear the pounding of Loki's fists against the glass and his shouting voice when suddenly I feel something burred deep within myself stir to life. A dangerous yet powerful things pushes and claws its way upwards from the darkness, and I do not stop it, cannot stop it.
I feel it break the surface, it overwhelms me with some power that I could not comprehend.
