Urd versus the Underworld

Chapter One: Into the Depths of the Demon's Land

It was a perfect spring day. The birds were chirping, the humming birds humming, and Belldandy was in the kitchen making another one of her famous meals.

"La di da da," Skuld hummed as she walked down the narrow hallway into the kitchen, her thoughts engrossed into the machine she had been working on.

"Belldandy, do you know where I put my dual thrusters and. and. hey! Have you seen Banpei?" Skuld asked.

Belldandy continued the chopping of carrots and the making of rice balls. "I'm sorry, Skuld. I haven't really seen Banpei since yesterday."

"Oh well. He'll turn up. He's probably out looking for the "Welcome" Girl. Banpei is still deeply depressed from when she first left," Skuld sniffed the air around her. "Belldandy! That smells great! What are you making?"

"Oh, it isn't anything much, really. I just thought it would be nice if I prepared a picnic for this afternoon when Keiichi comes home."

"A real picnic? Do you mean like one in the park, with a basket and sandwiches?" Skuld cried ecstatically while eying the food hungrily.

Belldandy laughed as she continued chopping vegetables. "Yes, Skuld. That is the only kind of picnic I know of."

"Wow! That's great, Belldandy! I'll go tell Urd."

Completely forgetting about all of the machines she was presently constructing, Skuld rushed down the hall once again to Urd's room.

"Urd! Urd, let me in!" Skuld cried at the door. As she pounded once more, the door flew open with a tremendous bang and smoke came pouring out of the room.

Then, out came Urd, her hands waving frantically in the air. "Skuld, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH MY POTIONS?!" She cried, slamming test tubes down upon the floor.

"But Urd! I didn't do it this time! I promise!" Skuld said, shaking violently.

"Yeah, ok. and that's why I found THIS thing in my room?" she said, holding up a small gear.

"Oh! I was looking for that!" exclaimed Skuld, snatching it away from her sister.

"Do you have any idea what you have done this time? Over two-hundred vials of potions, and thirteen experiments, all exploded because of you."

Skuld crossed her arms and tried to put on her most innocent look. "You should calm down, Urd. Be happy! After all, we're going on a picnic today!"

"Oh goody. I get to go eat lunch with a little twerp like you in the park. I'm sooo happy," Urd said in a very sarcastic voice.

"You are no fun at all, did you know that?" Skuld yelled as she stormed down the hallway.

Later that day, Belldandy sat expectantly on the steps of the front porch. "Keiichi will be home soon. I hope he will enjoy the food I made for the picnic," she thought to herself.

Within a few minutes, Belldandy could see Keiichi walking pleasantly out of the woods, finally home from school. He smiled and waved at her, the gentle breeze sending his hair flying about his face. What a truly perfect day it was for a picnic!

"Hey, Bell," Keiichi whispered, wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace. "Something smells awful good again."

Belldandy held onto Keiichi's hand. "I thought that you might like it if we all went on a picnic together this afternoon."

Keiichi looked up at the cloudless blue sky. "That sounds really nice, Bell."

"Great. I'll go get Skuld and Urd," she said with a smile.

As Belldandy whisked off into the house, Keiichi turned his attention back up to the sky. It was such a beautiful day out, but somehow, it just didn't feel quite right. A shadow across the yard turned his glance away from the sky for a moment. "What was that?" he thought.

Belldandy came out of the house with her picnic basket, as did Urd and Skuld, who both absolutely refused to look at each other.

"What a lovely day it is," Belldandy said. Keiichi watched her dreamily as she seemed to float across the yard. Or was she floating? Belldandy was a goddess after all.

Skuld ran up to Belldandy and hugged her arm tightly. "I'm so glad that we can all go to the park today!" she said, and then her glance turned suspiciously to Keiichi. "Except for you.,"

Keiichi backed away from Skuld. He knew that she could do some pretty crazy things when provoked. "Who, me?" He asked. Keiichi knew exactly what Skuld was going on about. She was giving him another one of her, 'You'd better stay away from my sister if you know what's good for you!' looks. When Belldandy turned her head, Skuld stuck out her tongue at him.

"Well, if we're going, let's just get this over with," Urd said tiredly, and with that, they all began to make their way down to Nekomi City Park.

When they finally got there, the sun was high in the sky, which was still as blue as can be. Keiichi still felt odd somehow, and something seemed to be amiss, but what it was, he had no idea.

The group walked casually through the park until they reached a small spot near the lake. "This is perfect!" Belldandy said faintly as she sank down to her knees.

"You picked the perfect spot," Skuld cooed.

Urd sat down on a rock next to Keiichi. "Yeah, just perfect," she said, rolling her eyes.

They all ate away at Belldandy's picnic lunch, which was absolutely scrumptious. "Absolutely delectable!" Keiichi said, rice upon his chin and sushi on his shirt.

Belldandy grinned and laughed. "I'm glad you like it so much." She wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin before taking another bite.

Suddenly, the calm and peaceful wind grew to a howl, the clear blue sky turned black with storm clouds, and the waters of the lake swirled, spewed, and sputtered. As the trees groaned with an effort to stay rooted, the lake waters rose up, high into the sky, creating a tower of madly rushing and whirling water.

"What's going on?!!" Skuld screamed as she struggled to stay on the ground.

Then, the form of a wicked blonde woman emerged from the torrent of water, followed by what seemed to be an endless number of demons. The woman's hair was tangled about her body, wrapping itself around her waist and legs. She had rough, pale skin that seemed to barely stretch over her gaunt figure. As the woman floated down to earth, she let out a low-pitch cackle and summoned the demons to her.

"Mara!" Urd yelled with surprise. Belldandy gasped as Mara unleashed an enormously powerful energy blast in their direction. Luckily, it zipped past them, tearing down every living thing in its path.

In a surge of her hatred, Urd flew with the speed of light up to the lake shore, her fist ready to merge with Mara's face. Before she could reach her, though, the great army of demons flung themselves upon her. Urd tried to fight them off of her body, but there was too many for her to handle and they began to drag her into the lake.

"Nooo!! Stop! Please, stop!" Belldandy cried as she ran for her sister.

"Goodbye," Mara hissed as she sank into the lake, the rest of her demonic followers right behind her.

Belldandy fell to her knees, sobbing. The waters sank back to their original form, the sky regained its purity and the wind died back down as Keiichi hurried up to Belldandy to comfort her.

"It's ok, Bell. It'll be alright," he whispered, holding her head in his arms. "We'll get her back."

Skuld wandered up to her sister, completely stunned at what had just happened. "Where did Mara take her, Belldandy?"

Belldandy raised her tear-streaked face to look at Skuld. "She was taken into the underworld to be turned into a pure-blooded demon as she once was, and I'm afraid Urd won't have the strength to fight it again," she whimpered.

Skuld's eyes bulged with fright, unable to say anything for the great lump in her throat and the dreadful thoughts of her goddess sister as an evil lord of terror, reborn once more.