(Since we're in the Hel Saga, I suppose it'd only be fitting to add my own philosophy on death. In my opinion, it's not some final destination, but the end of an era, no different than the multiple stages of this story. As for what that next step is...? Well, no one knows.)

With Hel gone, it was a good time for a breather. Morale was steadily dropping as the days went by. Upon seeing that Alfonse was unharmed in any way, they tried to discern the implications of Hel's words. That's when Kiran got an idea. She summoned Tharja despite her very... unstable nature. "What do you want?" Tharja groaned, not even trying to hide her disinterest. She then seemed to notice something in the air, and looked to Alfonse. "Oh. I think I know." Tharja held her open palm out as her hand and Alfonse started glowing with a sinister purple aura. "Hmmhmmhmm... I don't know who you angered to get this, but they really are a genius..." Henriette approached her. "So it's a hex? Can you remove it?" Tharja folded her arms. "No. The curse seems to have seethed into his very skin. What I can say is that it's a silent curse, meaning it only takes effect in a certain amount of time. In this case, I think you can guess what will happen when that time is up."

The realization was shaking, that Alfonse could die by tomorrow's sundown... Sharena asked an innocent question. "You haven't used that kind of hex on someone else before, have you, Tharja?" Tharja's long pause afterwards gave her her answer. "There must be something we can do, right?" Kiran asked. "There is... You need to find the caster and strike them down before the curse takes effect." That created problems from start. Kiran remembered Thorr telling her Hel can't die. "Then we'll need to find her again!" Henriette noted. Gustav nodded, but then turned his attention to the now captured Eir. "You there. Tell us anything you know about Hel, or so help me you'll regret it!" Eir trembled before him. "I-I'm afraid I don't know much. But I believe she's actually afraid of you all. I thought that meant you had a means of killing her but-" Eir suddenly felt a surge of sadness as she started bawling her eyes out. She didn't even know why she was crying.

"Pathetic. Hel doesn't even care we have her. All this was for nothing..." Alfonse hung his head in shame. "I'm so sorry... I let my guard down." Gustav put his hand on his shoulder. "No, it was I who failed to protect you." He turned to his wife. "Darling, help the medics heal anyone wounded. After we've gotten everyone back in shape, we'll go searching for Hel again." She went along with the order, and ran of to aid the rest of the army. Everyone was worried about Alfonse, but Alfonse tried to get his mind off of what had happened today by investigating Eir. "What should we do with her? We can't just leave her here." Eir wiped her tears. Trying to form a coherent sentence as her little tear attack dissipated. Gustav thought about it long and hard. "Hmm... you're right. At the same time, it would be a hindrance dragging her around with us..." Eir got to her feet. "I could fight for you... I'm n-not very good at fighting, but...!" Gustav seemed angered at the proposition. "Out of the question. Do you think we're stupid?"

Eir avoided eye contact out of shame for contributing in her mother's curse. "Not at all... I'm saying that... I..." Sharena walked up to her. "Father, it's fine. We could keep an eye on her just in case. It's not like she really has that deep of a bond with Hel anyway. Everyone else has been pulling their weight, so why not I watch her?" Gustav raised an eyebrow. "You do know what you're suggesting, don't you Sharena?" She nodded. "Heheh... does my heart good to see the Askr royal line is still as promising as ever. Very well. You may take this responsibility. I must be off to keep our ranks in high spirits." He then left as well. Sharena used one of Eir's daggers to cut her restraints. Eir was surprised they'd make a choice like this. "I thank you for your generosity... may I ask for your name? Doh, s-sorry! I mean, only if you want to share it with me." Sharena just Hel's her hands. "Sharena." After letting go, Eir pressed her pointer fingers against one another. "'Sharena...' I like that name..."

After that ordeal, everyone sat in the mess hall to talk things out. Eir choosing not to sit, but rather stand there awkwardly as she didn't believe she had earned the privilege to sit by them. They all traded theories on how to break the curse before it was too late, but like a rant from Jack Thompson, they only succeeded in using up their precious time, not getting anywhere close to a solution. So they decided to discuss other things to keep them occupied. Kiran decided this was the perfect time to bring up Thorr. "So this morning I met a woman whom claims to be related to Loki. Someone who also said she was a goddess. Her name was Thorr. I know it sounds crazy, but I think she can help..." she noticed the expression Alfonse and Sharena had. "Something amiss?" Sharena tugged at her collar while Alfonse explained. "We actually met her once. In a dream. She saved us from Tether." That did make sense. Tether was Loki's pet. It would probably attract Thorr's attention.

Henriette raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You two never told me about that." Sharena twirled her hair. "I guess it just never crossed my mind when writing." Anna faced Eir. "You can sit down, you know." Eir didn't respond, but sat down on the floor. Everyone sat there awkwardly. "Erm... she means at the table, Eir. You can sit between her and Kiran." Henriette explained. Eir then stood and took her spot at the table. She looked at the hooded tactician. "That's your name? Kiran?" Kiran nodded. "I remember mother talking about you... she didn't have many pleasant things to say. B-but you seem like a nice person... I think..." It was clear she had plenty of getting used to ahead of her...

Later that day, elsewhere...

Veronica, Xander, and Loki were all on their search for the order of heroes. Knowing Loki was not to be trusted, Veronica made sure that she didn't have her scepter. Night had fallen, and the moon was shining high above. An owl hooted as they marched through the sea of trees. "-And there was this one time I met this Cia lady. You'd like her. I even modeled my outfit off of her. Such a shame she didn't really have a sense of humor. Those hylians never do." Veronica was one long-winded story away from putting a muzzle on this woman. "You know, I can't help but feel that you're ignoring me. Would it help if I got you another Lilith plushy?" Veronica facepalmed. She thought she told her she saw nothing.

Their march eventually lead them to an opening in the trees. A graveyard out here in the middle of nowhere. It had an eery fog in the air, and the feeling of dread coming from it. "What's a cemetery doing out here?" Xander asked. Veronica went in for a closer look. Many of these graves had the Askr symbol on them. Veronica felt a ping of guilt at this realization. "It appears these were soldiers once..." seeing this brought back plenty of bad memories for her. Back then, everything seemed so black and white. She was just doing what was necessary... or was that just the excuse she had in that war? "We should probably just go around it, milady. We wouldn't want to disturb these fallen warriors." Veronica was about to agree, but then she saw something in the fog...

(The music "Monster Marsh - Main Theme 2" from Skylanders: Trap Team plays) It was a silhouette... she couldn't see them exactly, but their outline was clear: a woman in a cloak. One who held a very familiar looking gun-like weapon. "Kiran!?" The figure didn't react. It didn't even seem to hear her. Instead it walked into the fog, fading in the mist. "Follow her. If she's here, the others can't be far." Loki was about to raise an objection. "Hate to burst your bubble-" ...but was instantly silenced by Veronica. "I swear, if you can't put a sock in it for 2 seconds, this place will have a new addition!" Loki played along, and the three of them ran in with a few of their troops, as to avoid accidentally desecrating the gravesite. They slowly walked through the gloomy place, proceeding with caution. This was an ideal place for Hel's forces to stage an trap.

"Whoever may be here, we hail from Embla. We mean you no harm." They made their way to the center of the cemetery to find someone in a white robe laying on a coffin in a nonchalant pose. She was holding a skull in her hand in a manner imitating Hamlet. That's when Veronica realized she'd been tricked. "You're the other one. How dare you show your face here?" Tether slowly sat up straight as one would from lounging the somewhat for a prolonged period of time. She sighed. "I did not expect an arrival so soon. Have you no respect for this place of rest?" Veronica wasn't in any mood for a fake out like this. "Answer my question, worm. Your friend here is running my patience through the mud." Tether stood up and carelessly dropped the skull on the cold, unforgiving ground. "Is it not obvious, princess? This place is a place of sorrow. Of loss. Here I have experimented with my power, and I see I have grown stronger." Loki finally broke her oath of silence. "Ah, you've learned to harness the negativity of other people too. I'm so proud of you~"

Tether looked at Loki and scowled. "You do me a disservice in bringing in this moronic creature. I've decided to part myself from her so I could finally be alone, and you go and bring her to my location? Oh well. I suppose it's just fitting that way." Veronica felt offended. "What do you mean to imply, scum?" Tether rolled her eyes. "I am not fond of people like you. People who take your forgiveness for granted and then try to guilt-trip you when you wise up as if you owe them everything. Next time you need us to clean up your mess, save us the trouble of having to gaze upon the crime scene you call a face."Veronica took out her spellbook. "You take that back! Kiran doesn't think that about me!" Tether growled. "Who are you to force on me what we should or should not feel? Do you have any comprehension of how many people tried to pull that garbage on us in our life?" She raised her Breidablik. "Now that you have angered me, I demand compensation. The woman. Now."

But Veronica was not in the mood for cooperation. This thing had no respect whatsoever. Loki rolled her eyes. "Are we really doing this 'creation turns on maker' thing? How droll." (The music "Arkham Assignment (action)" from Lego Batman 2 plays) Tether summoned Gangrel as her Røkkr. Xander and Veronica charging at the nightmarish foe as it easily sweeper away the few soldiers they had with them. Gangrel's feet trampled over every grave it touched as he thrust his levin sword at Veronica. Veronica used her wind tome to blow herself away from the incoming attack as the sword shot out electricity upon impact. "How are we to defeat this thing!?" She shouted, as she shot attack after attack at its legs. Loki shrugged. "You could give me my scepter back." Xander sliced a scar in one of its legs, causing it to fall to one knee. "I am alone. I've always been. This is my revenge for all you ungrateful gnats who tossed me out!"

Veronica kept fighting, cutting relatively small scrapes into Tether's warrior. "Just die already!" Xander climbed up its shoulder and gave it a scar across the face before it snatched him in its fist and threw him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. Veronica, not wasting any time, picked up his sword and infused her wind magic into it. "If there is anything left of Kiran inside you, you must see how wrong your rationale is. More destruction isn't gonna make you happy." She sliced out waves of green air magic from Xander's sword. Leaving lasting slashes in the Røkkr as it threw its own sword at her. "What makes you think you can even begin to understand these feelings!? You're just like the others, and you'll throw me to the waistside when you don't need me anymore."

Veronica summoned all her strength to fire out a giant green tornado of wind that blew the massive levin sword into the sky, the Røkkr banged its fist down on her as she struggled to hold it back with Xander's sword so they'd both avoid getting crushed the levin sword came back down a second or two later, splitting the Røkkr in half as it faded into red and black smoke. "It's because I've fallen into that trap myself, Tether. Without any positivity in you, all you can hope to understand is pain and betrayal. You're not Kiran, you're just some incomplete animal." Tether roared. "Shut up... SHUT UP!" She sprinted at her, punching her square in the nose like Kiran had done in their first battle. Just like before, she fell to the ground hard. "Okay, that's quite enough, dark and moody." Loki blasted her point blank with one of her fire spells, leaving her a burn mark on her face as she fell over, Loki holding onto her hood to prevent her from escaping.

"Keep a better leash on that monster, Loki. She's out of control." Loki smirked as Tether spasmed on the ground in an attempt to get away. "Oh, I know. That's what I like about her. But it appears that she has a few issues that she and I need to work out. But I can't stay mad at her." Tether even tried biting Loki's hand. "You do not deserve my power!" Xander got back up and retrieved his sword from Veronica. "My apologies for being so clumsy, milady." Veronica dusted herself off as she stood up. "Don't worry about it. Now then, we've wasted enough time being misled by this pitiful creature. Tether raised an eyebrow. "'Misled'? What are you talking about?" Veronica looked down at her. "Pretending to be Kiran back at the gate. Duh. Tether seemed confused. "You must be hallucinating, princess. I recall I was here relaxing on that coffin the whole time." Somehow they could tell she wasn't lying. But then... who was that person in the fog? Deciding that mystery was irrelevant, they continued their march, with Loki dragging Tether along the ground the whole way. Veronica knowing from that battle she wasn't the person she was.

(In the end, I think that it's best people just focus on what they can control to some degree: life. Because regardless of what happens after, what you do in life will be your legacy for the future.)