The air was quite thick, brimming with some pervasive energy. It swelled and swam throughout the expanse. Jane's lungs needed to adjust, for her breathing was more labored in Helheim.
Before her a sea of willows stood at attention. They loomed, foreboding and strange. They dripped what looked like very grey moss from their limbs, and the breezeless air still managed to give it sway due to the slight movement of the humidity which was so formidable. It was difficult to see much past the willows, for they were close, and the light was very dim. It almost felt as though they were standing in a very large room, or amphitheater, and Jane looked for the sun...any sun.
What she saw above her was a tapestry of orbs, none terribly bright, all illuminated by a neighboring star. It appeared in stark contrast to the scene before her, as if they were, indeed, inside. A giant glass encasement, an aquarium, she was inside of an aquarium, and outside of it were the heavens...on vibrant display.
"What do you think?" asked the King.
"I think...it's very strange."
"Hmmm...it gets even stranger..." and Loki looked in front of him. "Recall, love, I have our weapons hidden away...if you are separated from me, if you are in danger and I'm not there...hold on to your gem and I will come for you," he paused. "And if I send you to Asgard...do not hesitate...go immediately to Thor and tell him to come. I will likely be in need of assistance."
Jane nodded.
They began to walk.
The willows were relentless in their stations, they nearly touched the ground with their weight, and as Jane and Loki made their way onward, the trees protested, and became even more thick. The ground was soft, as though made entirely of moss, and it felt wonderful beneath Jane's feet. Like walking on AstroTurf, or perhaps a summer in a Tolkien forest, sans the fairies and the elves. And sun. A sound was heard...a rustle or a brush against the moss.
"What was that?" Jane whispered.
"Likely elves," Loki whispered back.
Well, so much for no elves. Jane wondered idly if there would be fairies.
"Are they unfriendly?"
Loki had stopped. "Everything is unfriendly here."
"Oh." Right. Hel.
But the disturbance faded, no other sound was to be heard, so they pressed on.
The heat was something, and Jane began to think about the Inferno. The first circle...limbo.
That's when she spied it. The castle. It was enormous.
Jane recalled the Prose and Poetry Eddas, and knew that though much of it was fictionalized, some if it held weight...
"We should go around it, yes?" she hissed in Loki's ear.
"If we can..." he knew that the tormented never made their way so close to the entry of Hel, so their was likely little danger here...he was waiting until they got closer to the garden to transport them there. His magic was not quite as potent in this realm, and he didn't want to use it needlessly, especially if necessity demanded that he send Jane away.
There was a field surrounding the enormous complex...Loki had said that many men dwelt there, and if they were stopped, it could be decades of nothing but talk, and they couldn't risk being sucked into some insane vortex of endless chatter.
So around they went.
It took what seemed like hours and hours to reach a fair distance between them and the castle, and finally Jane said she needed to take rest.
Loki acquiesced, and they leaned against a willow along the periphery of the forest and the fields surrounding the castle.
"It's so hot..." Jane complained. "And not the heat I had imagined...it's humid, as though we were on a beach, but without the comfort of a breeze."
Loki unfolded a glass of water with his magic and handed it to her. "There is little in terms of comfort here, Jane. I told you as much."
She nodded, deciding not to tell him how irritating an "I told you so" is. She drained the glass and held it to him. He refilled it and drank.
"Where is everything? I thought the place would be teeming..."
"This is the entrance. Most things do not make it this far...we will be seeing creatures soon enough."
They sat for a short duration, Jane attempting to fill her lungs as best she could. It was a difficult task, her lungs labored with the effort.
"We should go now...there is much left in terms of travel..." Loki looked upward, the ceiling was filling with what appeared to be fog, and strange creatures were taking flight from the forest behind them.
They got up and began walking, the floor sloping downward now, making the effort less strenuous for Jane's mortal body.
And as they descended, a soft breeze could be found brushing her cheek. She lifted her head to capture it fully, giving her a respite from the endless water in the air. She smiled her relief.
They came upon a precipice...a towering mass of rock, and below, a churning stew of black and grey...with fits of sparks and light as though something was attempting an escape. Something unseeable...something powerful, was being withheld in the twisted and the squalid expanse of the tub below. It seemed quite far...and the opposing side appeared to be miles away.
"Are we gonna cross this?" Jane asked nervously.
"No. We shall stand here indefinitely and wait for the apple to find us," Loki replied.
She looked up at him angrily. "Your sarcasm is so very welcome right now, I'm so glad you decided to use it in this particular instance."
He laughed. "Come now, Jane. Take heart. It's good to maintain a healthy humor...even when things seem most dire."
He took her hand, and closed his eyes. The next thing she knew, she was on the other side.
Jane laughed, looking at him. But her foot wasn't secure, and she began to slip backward. Loki had dropped her hand in his belief that they were safe...and she fell.
He reached for her...but it was too late...and he couldn't risk using too much of his power...
Blind in panic, he dove after her...
Amaurotic she fell...she grabbed and reached for something to allow her purchase. Jane slammed into something...and her hands frantically grasped...her fingers suddenly screamed with agony. Something tore, and she felt blood...
But she was holding onto something...and she pulled herself up, panting. The wind was fierce, unyielding and brutal. Dust was blowing in endless blindness as Jane attempted to get her bearing.
She swallowed, and took the gem from her chest, pressed it hard in her palm.
"By the gods, Jane! You're alright!"
He was suddenly next to her screaming.
Jane threw her arms around him shaking.
"Can we get out of here?"
And the wind, in all of its tumultuous ferocity, protested their escape...but Loki's magic was formidable, and he transported them to the cliff above, ensuring now a safe distance between them and the gaping depth.
"I'm sorry," he wheezed. "I didn't allow enough breadth for your safe landing."
Jane shook and made no answer. She looked at her hands, red with spilling blood.
Loki took them in his own, pressed gently, and something was felt snapping. A dull ache was left.
"Allow me..." he said. And he began to slowly move his fingers over her cuts, green glowing in the space between their hands.
When Jane looked once more, she was healed. She looked up at Loki, and kissed him soundly.
"I'll try to be more careful," she said sheepishly.
He got up and held his hand to her. "Yes, do please see to it, my naive mortal. Your clumsiness will not do in Helheim. You'll make us miss dinner if you don't tend to it." He laughed at her.
She smacked his arm.
They continued onward, the landscape beginning a slow change once more. The sky...or ceiling...or glass...was beginning to swim green and grey. Clouds were rolling in, and Jane thought that perhaps this was the cause of the humidity, for they were thick and foreboding, menacing in their gather.
They were approaching what appeared to be a wall, a transparent, moving wall.
"Is that...?" Jane began to ask.
"A wall of rain, yes..." Loki began. "Once we pass this area, I believe I will be able to transport us closer to the garden safely."
"What sort of rain?" she had read about the rain, but it was left description-less. She imagined acid rain...
"Icy," was his reply.
"Oh."
They crept onward, the wall now sounding out its cacophonous symphony of sound. It's rapture was all encompassing.
They were a few feet from it now, and Jane felt the spray on her face. It felt relieving to have the ice momentarily quell the onslaught of the humid air, but the prospect of actually splitting through the wall was daunting, to put it mildly.
Loki took hold of her hand, "Alright Jane, it's best to go through quickly. When we reach the other side, you'll need to dig your feet in...it's an oozing mess..."
She nodded, and they plunged forward.
Pain. Stinging pain. Beating any exposed skin in angry fits. Jane held Loki's hand in desperation, trying to maintain balance against the maelstrom of frigid water.
She couldn't breathe, lest she inhale the ice. She couldn't see, for the ice would surely penetrate her eyes. She could only move because Loki bade her onward with his pull.
And then nothing...
Jane opened her eyes. There was a steady fall of rain, though it was lessened considerably from what she had just experienced.
And before her laid the Náir, the rain falling down upon them, their wailing song muffled in the noise of the water. They craned and writhed with what seemed like pain, but their faces were expressionless. Their bodies were tangled in muck. Their noise was low, its muffled cadence thrummed along with the beat of the endless rain.
She was impressed by the scene...the many doubters on earth would do well to see this. The agony, the yearning, the contrast to what they believed hell to be.
They were mindless in their pursuit for some unknown relief. Their vacant countenance, even taken on whole, were something to behold. Jane scanned the scene in horror, and leaned closer to Loki.
"It's so...sad," she observed. "Not the torture I would imagine for the damned."
"Is grief and longing not more acute than physical pain? Is not the break of hope and the loss of comfort not more dire to the soul than any blade can afford?" He looked at her intently, and with purpose, as though the truth of his words were physically understood between them.
Jane nodded. She had felt that. She knew what it meant. She had no desire to ever feel that hollow again.