A Death Goddess' Winter Sunset

Hel had never liked colder seasons, which was ironic since she was a death goddess, and death was always associated with colder seasons.

She was Hel Lokidottir, Princess of Asgard, Rightful Queen of Helheim, Goddess of Death, Ruler of the Dead. The goddess that was split in half, one side a beautiful woman and the other a corpse, and who was harsh yet merciful to dead souls in her realm. Or, that’s what she told those who asked who she was.

Hel had shadow-travelled (a form of transportation death and shadow deities used) from the cold abyss of her kingdom, Helheim. Not that winter in Austria, Midgard (Earth) felt different. Maybe a slight bit warmer than the godly cold in her realm. Helheim was her home now, but it hadn't always been that way.

Hel trudged through the deep snow in the back of the Pridemore Manor, once home to her long-deceased friends. It was also once her home. Many years ago, Hel had a group of mortal friends. She knew it would end in tragedy, she would be forced to be a goddess while her friends wilted with age, but it was nice while it lasted.

Jakob Pridemore and Pandora Lagarde (née Pridemore), twins who are now deceased for what felt like hundreds of years to Hel, owned a manor. As years went by, Hel rarely saw anyone living in the manor despite it still belonging to the Pridemore family. It was a pity since the mansion was immense, and the manor was stunning.

Hel’s eyes trailed over green fields covered in thick snow to the greenhouse where one of her friends, Adelaide Pridemore née Faughn, used to plant the most beautiful flowers. Hel spun around slightly to look in the direction of the lounge, remembering the warm interior decorated by her friends Pandora and Wenzel Lagarde. She spotted the patch of forest where her friends Alix Corbin and Jakob used to get lost for hours, emerging with twigs in their hair and mud on their boots.

Hel turned to look in front of her. She had shadow-travelled to the frozen pond. Why would she shadow travel to this spot?

Hel scoffed at her question. Of course, she would've shadow-travelled there. It was where she had the most emotional connection. Her magic always followed her emotions.

Hel looked around and saw no sign of life, just snow, which is why she hated colder seasons. Everything was dead or dying.

You’d expect the queen of Helheim to adore death and have a desire for more, but she didn’t. She could feel the souls of living things going down to their doom, and she despised how it felt. Yet, every year, she came back to Midgard to celebrate something that shouldn't be celebrated. But, her respect trumped her other senses, forcing her to come to this spot every year since that day.

Hel made sure no one could see her in such a vulnerable state before she sat down. She didn't feel cold despite the snow being freezing. She rarely felt anything after that day, and spending many years in an underworld didn't help.

Hel pushed a hand into the snow in front of her. Her hand sunk in like the snow was air. Hel pulled some snow up and smiled at how beautiful it was. She saw snow once a year, and only for a brief moment. She threw the snow up and laughed at how it exploded above her, a flurry of snowflakes falling afterwards.

Hel kept digging until she felt a hard surface. She spread the snow around to make the hole larger. She noticed her breath making clouds in front of her, a little thing that amused her.

Moments later, a small patch of ground was exposed, or rather, part of a pond was exposed. In front of Hel was the frozen pond she and her former love Cahir Blakesley used to enjoy. It was where they fell in love and is where two of her friends met their dooms.

As Hel looked at the pond, she saw her reflection on the ice and sighed reminiscently. The reflection was of a young goddess in love with a mortal boy, once a carefree little girl whose friends did ludicrous things to have fun, once a girl filled with ebullience. But now, she was the opposite.

For a fleeting moment, Hel saw her reflection turn into a rotting corpse whose bright green eyes stared at her and auburn hair flowed around her. The corpse of Adelaide.

Hel gasped in shock and fear and leapt away. Shivers ran up her spine as she held herself tightly. A single tear escaped her eyes as the softest of whispers left her lips.

“Adelaide.”

“I'm so sorry,” Hel murmured, remnants of Adelaide’s British accent mixing with her Icelandic one. Hel closed her eyes as memories rushed through her.

Adelaide was once the cynosure of all. She was the loving friend who was the glue of their coterie. She was Hel’s first mortal friend, the first to come up and speak to her at school. The first one to invite her over to look at her garden.

Hel remembered the fateful night. The night she and her friends wanted to relive their adolescence. Pandora and Wenzel were newlyweds, Jakob and Adelaide had been married for two years with a baby boy, Alix had stayed single and lived his life with adventure, and Hel and Cahir? Cahir had proposed the day before.

What was supposed to be a night of reminiscence and felicity turned into a desolate one.

She remembered how all of them were having snow wars, marvelling at Adelaide’s flowers, and seeing Jakob and Alix’s forest treehouse. After they chased each other in the snow, they wished for something more exciting. They had gone into the manor’s armoury. Old swords and shields called their names as they grabbed them like toys.

Despite living there for over a decade, they didn't have a perfect sense of their vast surroundings--mainly due to the deep snow. The different sizes of footprints on the ground were the only indication of where they were.

Hel remembered their merry laughter and the clanging of swords on swords and shields on shields. It was as if they forgot they were toying with weapons of war designed to kill and destroy.

Hel remembered how Adelaide’s auburn hair reflected the moonlight while she and Alix duelled against Jakob. How Wenzel and Pandora were kissing and laughing after every step. How she and Cahir made offhand remarks about their engagement with each clang of their swords.

This went on for what Hel felt was minutes but was really hours, and a second after Hel pinned Cahir on the ground, she heard a scream.

Dread filled the pit of Hel’s stomach as she whipped her head to where the scream came from.

“ADELAIDE!” Hel shouted in horror. She tossed her sword away without a thought as she ran to Adelaide.

Because they didn't know where they were going, Alix, Jakob, and Adelaide had strayed to the pond. Adelaide had screamed, but she wasn’t the one in trouble.

Hel looked in terror to where Alix’s sword had cracked the ice underneath Jakob, Adelaide’s sword was lodged in Jakob’s stomach. Moonlight shone onto Jakob, allowing Hel to see blood seep from around the wound and into his clothing.

Jakob’s heavy, serrated shield slipped out fingers and landed on the crack Alix’s sword made, making the crack into a hole. Once Jakob’s sword slid out of his grasp, Hel knew it was over. Jakob’s sword widened the hole, and he swayed on his feet.

Everyone was frozen in shock as Jakob fell backwards, the sword in his stomach making it easier to fall through the ice and into the abyss. Hel heard a wail of desperation as Adelaide jumped after Jakob.

Knowing how stubborn Adelaide was, Hel knew she was determined to save her love, but the water was already frosting over.

“JAKOB, ADELAIDE!” Hel heard Pandora shriek. Hel saw Pandora rush out of Wenzel’s arms and to the ice. Collapsing to her knees, she looked into the hole with fright.

Hel rushed over, Cahir and Wendell right on her heels. Hel leaned over beside Pandora and looked down to see Adelaide swimming to Jakob. As a death goddess, Hel felt both of their souls slipping away.

“Can you do something? Anything?” Wenzel begged, but it was in vain. They knew gods were not allowed to meddle with mortals anymore.

Hel shook her head. All she could do was watch Adelaide take hold of Jakob’s collar and try to swim upwards. It was hopeless. The cold made Adelaide’s muscles slowly freeze.

“You can do it, Adi,” Pandora whispered, lines of tears on her face.

Hel saw Adelaide's tanned face barely break the surface, her eyes glowing with determination, but she stopped. The cold had frozen her body. What everyone thought was seconds took much longer.

Without hesitation everyone grabbed hold of Adelaide and Jakob, hauling them out, laying their bodies on the snow. Hel’s hand trembled as she held Adelaide’s blueing hand.

Everyone agreed Hel should shadow-travel inside with Adelaide and Jakob and call a doctor since she would be the fastest. Hel solemnly agreed. What malefic irony that the only doctors were Jakob and Adelaide.

What Hel didn’t see was the blood Jakob left behind on the snow. Now, Hel touched the spot beside her where she was sitting. She knew it was where Jakob desperately clung to life.

They didn’t survive. Only hours after, they died on their bed next to one another. Hel could hear the cries of their son in his room. She could still feel the dread surrounding them once Adelaide and Jakob perished.

It was never the same. Everyone blamed themselves for the deaths. Nothing could be resolved; the glue had washed away. Wenzel, Pandora, and Cahir had stayed in the manor while Alix got life in prison for crimes he committed in grief.

And Hel had been a coward. After living there for a year, she and Cahir never got married. There was so much grief surrounding them that Hel could barely breathe. She knew it would all have to end since she was a goddess. She just never expected it to be so soon.

Hel stood up, touching her cheeks, not realizing she had been crying. She wiped tear streaks away as she shadow-travelled to the penumbras of the trees.

Hel went to a tree and touched the branch. This was the last thing she said goodbye to when she left. She knew Cahir would've come searching for her there, so she strung her engagement ring on the branch and left a note saying goodbye. She still regretted it hundreds of years later.

Hel heard noises, quickly searching to find the cause. She saw an old lady, and her expression softened as she realized how she was. The old lady was the little girl who spotted Hel here years ago. Hel nearly burst into tears at the sight of her when she got closer. She looked like she could be Adelaide and Jakob's daughter.

Hel pulled her hood back to expose her face. The old lady’s eyes widened, realizing Hel wasn’t a fragment of her childhood imagination.

“You're the last aren’t you?” Hel asked.

The old lady nodded sadly.

“This place has fallen into desuetude."

Tears fell out of the old lady's bright green eyes, and her dark brown hair shook as she nodded.

“Thank you for staying here, at home. But I must go now. I shall truly miss you, this place, and the people who once lived here,” Hel whispered.

“I’ll miss you too,” the old lady said with a croaky voice like she hadn't spoken for years.

Hel nodded, and they both looked to the sunset over the frozen pond. Hel knew it was the last Midgardian sunset she would see in a long time.