Chapitre 2: Dead Heart Beats |4000 B.C.E|

Immediately after getting a hold of me, Hela left the room to go and show me off to everyone in the vicinity… by holding me upside down and presenting me similar to how one would present a fish.

I mean if it weren't for me being born as a tough asgardian baby with the mind of an adult I'd likely be screaming- as it were I was having fun and giggling excitedly while being waved around.

I knew she didn't mean me any harm and could feel the love… even if her methods were questionable.

She quite literally kicked in a few doors during her excitement while proclaiming me to be a future powerhouse of Asgard. She also said I looked like my father? (Who?)

Must be one brave motherfucker whoever he is…

Anyway… after several broken doors, getting passed around like weed at a party by the Valkyries and getting slobbered halfway to death by Fenris, she started bringing me back to the palace- finally, some sleep!

-Only to then be bundled up in enough rugs to make me probably resemble a giant furry walnut, before Hela created a green portal before us- great icy winds immediately billowing forth from its depths.

…

…She isn't taking me to Jotunheim… right?

I couldn't ask and she didn't tell me as we went through the portal.

Going through the portal makes me slightly nauseous, but is thankfully over pretty quick. We then emerge into a rather dark and depressing yet cold hellscape… literally.

Seeing my curious face my mother gets a bit theatrical as she raises a single hand to gesture around us- "Welcome to Hel!'' She then closes her eyes and breathes in the frigid air with a huge smile on her face.

It's a bit ironic that I only reached the afterlife while alive. I nonetheless enthusiastically respond to my mothers happiness with a small 'Gah!'.

She begins walking while showing me off to her… subordinates? There are these warriors on either side of an obsidian walkway, hundreds of them kneeling and paying respects. Each one looks to almost be made of charcoal with some flickers of green in their eye sockets… kinda creepy but also really badass.

They look almost like a royal guard as their kneeling line reaches into the distance and ends before a massive castle fit for a demon lord- No really… The place has black coloring with skulls and green flames everywhere with some skeletons on pikes for good measure.

Add onto that the dark atmosphere, the snow I now realize to be ash plus the looming lifeless mountains surrounding it on every side? It just screams 'EVIL'.

We go through the massive gate adorned with spikes and into the main courtyard- again looking evil as fuck with a dragon skeleton arranged around the entrance with the head being propped up with the door in its mouth.

I hear Mother muttering to herself while looking around the place- "I really need to get her a hobby…"

'Her? Is this not Mothers castle?'

She then walks up to the main door and-

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

-Proceeds to knock her fist into it hard enough to rattle the surroundings while yelling- "GET OUT HERE YOU OLD BAG!"

She then immediately backs up from the doors a few moments before they're violently flung off their hinges towards our previous location. Those doors are made out of solid metal!? They dig a small trench into the cobble with a resounding clang, right before an incredibly angry voice answers Mother.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN OLD BAG YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"

I see the silhouette of a 'literally' giant woman appear where the door once stood- her eyes glowing red as I instinctively feel power beginning to gather toward her.

"As much as I'd enjoy a proper battle, that isn't why I'm here today." I hear Mother say to the giant woman.

The woman ignores her and rips a piece of stone from the wall to hurl towards us. Instead of dodging Mother literally punches it into dust creating a small cloud around us.

"I thought you'd want to see your grandson… seems I was wrong?" Mother then taunts the scary lady.

"Grandson?" The dust clears as the giant woman approaches us, still with glowing eyes and a scowl but also slight curiosity on her face.

I finally got a good look at her- A woman around 4 meters in height wearing a burgundy dress with golden hoops around her upper arms and ankles along with a golden amulet on her forehead and a string of runes around her neck.

She should be my Grandmother if what Hela said is any indication- yet they share practically no resemblance! Hela has black hair, she has blonde hair. Hela has light green eyes, she has red eyes. Hela is human sized while she's a giant! The only thing they even slightly have in common is gender and skin color, yet even then Hela is noticeably more pale while she has olive skin.

And it couldn't be that she takes more traits from Odin since aside from size they're also barely alike! Maybe being a goddess of death causes severe physical alterations?

Could explain the super bloodthirsty personality but I'm more inclined to blame that on Odin's shitty parenting skills.

Anyway, focusing back on the present I notice she's actually gotten out of a fighting stance and is instead looking me over while her eyes switch from glowing red to glowing yellow. Hela of course holds me up like a trophy the entire time while also looking unbelievably proud.

Granny- after a short interval, carefully grabs me out of mothers grasp. And I momentarily freeze seeing the look she now gives me. Hela shows her love very openly, but simply isn't one for tender moments… so far.

But my grandmother right now… the look she gives me…

Eyes don't lie, and the pure conditionless love in her gaze actually brings my thoughts to a halt. It doesn't last long, but I unconsciously add her to the short list of true family alongside Hela and Fenris.

She cradles me in the crook of one of her arms… before bringing her other fist down directly on Hela's head and driving her into the ground!

*BOOM*

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING BRINGING A NEWBORN TO THIS PLACE?!" She somehow looks even angrier than earlier- such is her rage that her earlier outburst seems almost playful in comparison.

She lifts up one of her legs and looks ready to drive her further into the ground when I intervene.

"GA!" Despite being scared I unconsciously grab her dress in an attempt to stop her from harming Hela while also letting out a surprised sound. A moment later and realizing what I've done caused me no small amount of panic, though I still tried my best to look sternly at Granny.

She pauses momentarily and looks down at me- only to see me with a stubborn look and tears moments away from falling. Slight upside of being a baby is being able to cry at the flip of a switch.

She looks very conflicted but lowers her leg to the ground normally before adopting an obviously fake smile which covers her also very obvious rage… doesn't cover up the sound of her grinding teeth though.

Hela for her part just crawls out of the hole in the cobble while chuckling and softly coughing. This- similar to Granny, stops almost immediately as she looks up and sees my teary face.

It then morphs into something like an enraged Oni as her eyes glow green and the temperature drops another few degrees. Hela looks close to tearing Granny's head off and Granny doesn't look much different.

I let out a very loud "GA!" again, but this time aimed at Hela. I glance between both of them as their attention momentarily shifts to me.

The message is clear- STOP FIGHTING DAMNIT!

A few seconds go by of both of them just looking at me, I slightly panic at their attention but hold firm.

Unknown to me is the fact that my pupils are glowing a soft orange color…

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hela POV

That's… surprising…

Godhoods can show their usage through many bodily indicators… the eyes being a very common one. When I channel my Godhood of death I can allow my eyes to glow green, yet if I channel my Godhood of war then they may glow red.

Such indicators usually take years to manifest, and that too only when being channeled quite extensively… not to mention having a single domain already being quite rare.

It was barely after being born he connected with his domain of death… yet he has already connected to another?!

…

I'M SO PROUD!

My previous rage at the hag was greatly diminished due to my excitement- HE'S JUST LIKE ME! Even Odin doesn't possess more than a single domain! Only I, and now my son, are the exception!

My face went from enraged to unbelievable happiness in a blink! Once again the grin across my face wasn't that of bloodthirst but of immense pride- even more so than earlier!

…

"AS EXPECTED OF MY BOY!"

I quickly grab him from the hags hands and hold him up in the air. And like that the teary face turns into a cute version of confusion before going straight to happy gurgling.

"Did you see that? He's just like me!"

My happiness was only slightly curbed by the hags muttered response- "Hopefully not too much…"

I was tempted to try and punch her but I didn't want to ruin my son's happiness.

While waving him around I pondered upon what his secondary Godhood might be… the circumstances surrounding his usage lent credence to the idea it was similar to father.

Godhoods could be broadly separated into six categories- Elemental, Emotional, Mind, Body, Craft and Unique.

Elemental ranged from something as boring as thunder or water, to death or light. Emotional ranged from anger or fear, to love or hatred. Mind was similar to fathers Godhood of wisdom or could just as easily be one of patience. Body was self explanatory and could be seen in Gods like Kratos (Strength) or even Mercury (Speed).

Craft was another that was easy to figure out- though not all of the gods under its banner were ones of art of beauty… some of them created not tapestries of silk and gold, but of blood and horror. Overall a rather mixed bunch.

Unique was, well… unique. It could encompass practically anything that fell outside of the other five categories and was usually something that blended two parts of another category together- the only example I know of being the horny goat Zeus with his Godhood of sky granting control over water, wind and surprisingly, craft.

Back to my son though… At first glance one might think that his godhood may be emotion based due to the circumstances of its use… but I knew better.

Emotion based Godhoods were prone to affecting those around the user unless the God in question was somewhat trained… which my son certainly wasn't. This led me to believe he took after my father and had something akin to his Godhood of wisdom.

Or I could be dead wrong, yet anything aside from mind or unique had characteristics that could be easily identified… Elemental could create sparks or embers, Body might create increased muscle mass or otherwise identifiable traits… and craft simply wouldn't manifest under the circumstances and would be very obvious upon doing so.

though I will say I was very much hoping he had a unique Godhood, not that I'd love him any more or less depending on the outcome.

…

"So why did you bring him here?" and of course the hag had to ruin the moment.

I gave her a scowl but refrained from putting a sword through her eye- "What better place is there to raise him than here? His primary domain is the same as my own, so no environment could nurture that better than a literal realm of the dead… also, act all you want, but don't lie and say you wouldn't want to see him."

Her countenance softened momentarily- "True as that may be, this still isn't the place for one so young. I'd obviously help to look after him, but I wouldn't be as good as the fleet of nurses and maids you'd have if you were at the palace."

"...They're scared of Fenris." I of course had other reasons, main among them leaving him unsupervised with Odin while I was away on campaign. She'd figure it out soon if not already, but…

"THEY WHAT?!"

…Mentioning anything that even hinted toward others not liking Fenris was a surefire way to get her to agree.

"They're all rather afraid of her, which doesn't concern me usually… but I'd rather be able to leave her with him on a regular basis."

She cocked an eyebrow- obviously knowing it wasn't my main reason, but after an eye roll agreed to look after him when I couldn't. Which wouldn't be as often as one might think since aside from the more serious battles I planned to bring him along to them occasionally.

That and…

"You want me to keep his Domain in check don't you?"

…this.

"I do." I would never beg, but I wasn't above sincerity. After Father and the hags separation, I was mostly raised in Asgard. While ideal in theory, most people either feared or respected me, seen more like a violent hound on a leash than a person.

Odin having the Godhood of Wisdom garnered the peoples love, while Death and War garnered their fear. An expected result, yet not one she wanted her son to grow up with.

The hags face turned serious- "Daughter-"

"Stop" I may be going to her for help, yet she had long lost her right to call me so fondly.

She continued anyway- "...Hela, we may never see eye to eye, but you know that regardless of such that I will always extend a helping hand when you need it."

"So you'd be willing to assist in his care?" I knew I was asking for a lot.

"Always… just don't let it go to your head." I grinned hearing her say that, go to my head? Whatever could she mean?

In such a tender moment myself and the hag didn't notice the clearly intelligent gaze of my son watching everything play out… we also didn't notice his gaze change to horror upon mentioning his potential training and future plans to bring him to the battlefield.