A/N: Warnings for mentions of: suicide, execution, massacre, murder, assassination, death in childbirth, and just various forms of death in general. Since these are death gods talking about them, the deaths are treated rather callously, and human souls are altogether treated more like property than people because, again, death gods.
If you were worried about OCs, this is as much as I'm introducing for gods for the entire story. There are two gods and the embodiment of a concept introduced in this chapter, and that's going to be all for the whole story.
o.o.o.o.o
She doesn't know how long she waits before someone finds her, and gives her purpose. The person who finds her is not altogether unexpected, though certainly not the top of her list.
(Loki has a way of finding her. She has learned to expect him around every corner.)
"Lady Death."
"Leah of Hel." The speaker is a skeleton clad in black robes. But Death, Leah knows, has a tendency to appear as what you expect it to. Wherever she is now, she doubts Death has changed that much. "I've a job for you."
Leah inclines her head. "What do you ask of me?"
Death is not a creature that one should anger. There are few Leah respects enough to tread lightly around. She has the memories of Leah the Child and Leah the Story. She respected Hela enough for this, once. Odin, too, though less.
Death is greater than either of them.
"I have a world to curate. There are two death gods working it already, but the coming years are going to push them to the breaking point. I need to introduce another one, and if I happen to find you instead of having to go and wait for one to naturally form… well, that just makes things easier for me." Death laughs. "Besides, we need a few more women running things there."
A single world. So little? "I would have a queendom of my own? Or would I work under another?"
"You would have your own lands, to run as you see fit, but I'd prefer if you could play nice with Jashin and Shinigami. They've been working for me for a very long time, you see." Death clicks a non-existent tongue. "I don't want to see you lot arguing over who gets which souls, after all. No petty squabbles, you hear?"
Leah thinks.
She can work with that.
"I would be honored to work for you, Lady Death." She inclines her head again, deeper this time.
Death laughs, a cackling noise. "I knew you'd see sense! Now, let's get you introduced to the boys."
o.o.o.o.o
Death leaves after introducing them by name, leaving them to figure things out on their own. They're all seated around a low table, drinking tea, and Leah knows that this world, whatever it is otherwise, is very similar to the Far East on Midgard. Which country specifically, she's not sure, but she'd guess Japan.
Jashin is a pale man, in every sense of the word. His skin is near-white, papery and delicate-looking. His hair is silver, tied low on his back. His eyes are a pastel shade of mauve, heavily hooded and rarely meeting her eyes.
It only makes the dark, bloody red and shimmering gold of his kimono all the more striking.
Shinigami is a man of greys. He is old, wrinkled, and his hair and eyes and clothing are all the same shade of slate grey. Even his skin has a grey tinge, and everything about him wavers like the wisps of smoke and vapors that come off him.
"So." Leah says, and sets her cup down with a soft clink. "I suppose I should ask how you've run things thus far."
"I have ruled the dead realms these past thousand years." Jashin says, one finger tracing the whorls in the table. His voice is soft. "I collect and punish. Shinigami…"
"I purify them, cleanse them of memories and past sins, and return them to the cycle of reincarnation." Shinigami says. His voice is like a dropping tombstone. "You are free to keep a handful to yourself for the long-term, should you find them useful as assistants or some such, but the majority must eventually be returned."
Leah purses her lips. Unfortunate, that. The humans are quick to die, and Leah has a feeling that there aren't many immortals with low birth rates that she can build armies out of, as Hela did. "I see. I suppose that means I should speak with you, Lord Jashin, as to which souls you would like to keep, and which I should have rights to."
She had a similar pact with Valhalla, once upon a time.
"I am only truly attached to the souls sacrificed to me by my followers, and the followers themselves." Jashin swirls the tea in his cup. "The rest is… negotiable."
"I only lay claim to those that sell me their souls in exchange for a sealing." Shinigami says.
"Followers?" She finds that more amusing than she should. It's been a long time since she's had someone believe in her with blind faith and not proof. "I see."
"Are there any souls that you would lay claim to?"
Leah thinks about it. She doubts she can horde as large a claim as she used to, but there are at least a few that she does not care for. Those who, back in the Nine Realms, would have gone to Valhalla. "None who die in childbirth. None who die honorable deaths in battle."
"And those who die dishonorably?" Shinigami asks.
"My favorites." She smiles at him. It's not a nice smile.
"I do not mind continuing to take those dead of childbirth and honorable battle." Jashin says. "Their deaths are often the most painful, which is my main point of contention. Are there others you have interest in?"
Of the humans? "Suicide. And self-sacrifice." That's not quite enough, perhaps. These are not ignoble deaths, but they are hers. Still so small a portion of the world, however. "Execution." Ignoble deaths of victims, punishment of the wicked. "Massacre and murder. Assassination."
She doesn't know much of this world, but for some reason, she feels that the five criteria she has outlined likely gives her a larger portion of the population than her last world would have. She's left him quite a few, deaths of old age and illness and simple, common accidents, but she's got a good-sized percentage already.
"What of souls with deaths that may qualify for both your criteria or mine?" Jashin asks. "A suicide attack in the middle of battle, perhaps."
Leah considers it. "First-come first-serve? Or I suppose we could discuss them on a case by case basis, depending on how frequently they happen."
Jashin nods, and another topic seems to come to mind for him. "Lady Leah, we are allowed and, often, even encouraged to roam the lands of the living and see how their world develops."
Leah can't imagine why, but she assumes that it will, at least, be a way to entertain herself after the early days of building her queendom are over. There are fewer gods in this world, fewer petty squabbles and grand wars over territory and ideology.
She hopes they have milkshakes.
"You will almost certainly find someone or somewhere to get attached to. It's not inevitable, of course, but when it happens, there are certain allowances to be made." Jashin looks her in the eyes at last.
"How so?" Leah runs the tip of her ringer around the rim of her empty cup, deceptively calm.
"In disputed cases, I claim first rights to any souls from the Land of Hot Waters. I'm rather partial to several other territories, but that can be worked out as we go along." Jashin's hands are hidden in those long, voluminous sleeves. Leah knows enough of his kind (knows enough of gods and men) to know that they are long for the sake of hidden weaponry, not just style. "And occasionally, should you become attached enough to a specific souls, you may lay claim to it ahead of time."
Leah knows how to do that back home. She knows here, too, how to lay her hand on the back of someone's neck and tether their soul to her lands. It does not hasten their death, but it does ensure they come to her when the time is right.
Leah feels certain that there will be fewer true arguments in this world. The population is smaller, yes, but so is the number of deities.
She feels death clinging to the fabric of this world, as an inevitable fact the way it is on Midgard. There are few who try to fight for eternal life. There are fewer still who would wage war on Helheim.
Leah is a very early goddess for this world. Not the earliest, but she will be ancient when the pantheons begin to fill. She will be a fact of the world, a shadow that haunts little godlings in stories, a distant, proud figure of unknown power that demands respect.
She will be a Hel Queen.
Leah smiles at Jashin. "I understand."
o.o.o.o.o
Next Time: There are many levels to Hel. Someone has to build them.