章節 93: Chapter 90: What the Hel?
(Percy POV)
I closed my eyes for a second, and I was gone.
I felt the cold ir around me multiply itself by 10, I felt I was standing on what felt like plastic. I sighed and opened my eyes, as I expected I was standing on Naglfar. The ship of the death.
"Ah, there you are again." Loki said, He was leaning against the railing of the ship. He wore an expensive looking suit.
"What do you want?" I said, already tired.
Loki shrugged, "Like I said before. I just want to give you advice."
I knitted my eyebrows, "Yeah, advice that probably helps you out."
Loki's smile wavered. "Oh, and how is that bad?"
"Look," I said, "I'm going to help Magnus wield the sword and we are going to replace the cord that keeps Fenrir trapped."
Loki's smile faded, "And what about Bianca?"
"She's in Hades and stays there." I said without making my voice crack.
Loki groaned, "Fine, but there's someone who wants to see you."
"What-" I tried to ask but my the ship faded into white mist.
The white mast began to swirl around me, faster and faster and it turned into a snow storm.
The ground below me solidified.
I blinked again.
I now recognized the surroundings. I had seen it a few times on tv or in history books.'I tried to recall the name.
Bunker hill.
Gauzy curtains of snow swept across the brownstones.
The park itself wasn't much more than a white field dotted with bare trees. In the centre, a grey obelisk rose into the winter sky.
"You came back." A voice next to me said.
I wiggled my fingers, ready to summon a blast of fire and turned around.
Standing next to me, gazing at the monument, stood Hel.
First thing I noticed was that she looked different.
Her left side was still heartachingly beautiful, pale like a statue with milky eyes. She had long black hair and she her lips were blood-red, contrasting with her pale skin.
Her right side was also different, it was like it tried to imitate the left side but stopped halfway through. Her black hair was now dried out, like cobwebs. The skin around her mouth had withered away, revealing a row of canine teeth. Patches of Frostbite were all over her right side.
"You look different." I spurted out without thinking.
Hel's expression changed turned to a combination of a smirk, frown and a glare, "And what is that suppose to mean?"
"Nothing," I quickly said, "Just looks better."
"Guess why we are here today?" Hel asked with a smirk.
Before I could guess she grabbed me by my shoulder and threw me across bunker hill.
I slammed against the obelisk, and I felt all the air leaving my lungs, pain swirled through my body and for a second I thought, 'But this is a dream.'
But this "dream" was to real and getting dangerously.
I was also pretty sure if I wasn't an Einherji I would've been dead already.
Before I could do anything Hel materialized in front of me, her left hand grabbed my throat and pushed me against the obelisk.
"Ouch!" I cried out.
Hel's eyes flared with anger, "Remember what I said last time we met?"
I gurgled up blood while I tried to make up a plan but my powers were not responding. Chaos wasn't responding, and Lyssa was the least helpful goddess in the nine worlds.
Hel smirked, "I said I wanted your soul when you died. And you died but I didn't got your soul."
I tried to answer, but her grip on my throat was too tight, she noticed it and her grip softened.
"Got things to do," I said while gasping. "Why you'd want my soul anyway?"
"That's my business!" she hissed but I saw she flinched.
"And guess what I'm going to do now?"
"Give me a nice gift and let me go?" I guessed.
She laughed, "No! I'm going to kill you."
Well, that was pretty straight forward.
"Why?" I tried to ask, trying to win time. Maybe I would wake up before she killed me, though I knew that the chance of that happening is low.
"Do you know what happens when an Einherji dies?" Hel asked. "His soul will go to Helheim."
My heartbeat stopped as I realized what Hel's plan was. She was going to kill me and take my soul. As she stared into my eyes, I unintentionally read her emotion.
She was feeling lonely.
I tried to come up with a plan as I was being strangled, my Athena brain was trying to scramble as much information together as possible.
Hel wanted my soul because she felt lonely. Why my soul? I have no idea, I thought she had enough souls in Helheim but apparently she wanted mine.
"You can'!" I cried out and her grip softened, "What?" she asked angrily.
"You want my soul!" I managed with a cracked voice. "I get it."
"You get it?" Hel asked confused.
"But," I said trying to sound confident, "If I die there's also a chance my soul will fade into the Ginungapa."
"Ginnungagap." Hel corrected with an angry expression.
I remembered the conversation I had in Valhalla, about how dying outside Valhalla was a bad idea.
Hel flinched and clenched her skelly hand. Then she smiled, "Not if you do it willingly."
And she stepped closer, pushing my back against the obelisk.
"Give me permission to reap your soul." she said and in her left hand a sword appeared, it was a black sword, probably made of bone steel.
She pressed the sword against my neck, "Say it." she hissed.
I remained silent, Hel glared at me, "You are cornered! Why don't you give up your soul."
"What'd you think?" I said while my brain was working on the rough outline of a plan.
"Helheim is not that bad," Hel snapped, "So why don't you give up!"
"A bet!" I cried out as my insane plan finished. "A bet, if you win I give you my soul willingly."
My plan was far from perfect, but at this point I had not a lot of options. "A bet?" Hel asked skeptically, "And why should I do that?"
"Otherwise I won't give my soul willingly," I said.
Hel frowned, deep in thought, "Okay," she finally said. "And what do you propose?"
"22 January, that's the day Fenrir will try to free himself. I'm going to stop him."
"You can't stop Surt. He will kill you." Hel said.
"I bet against it," I smirked, "If I manage to stay alive till 22 January."
Nine days hence the sun goes east, was Magnus' third line of his prophecy, mine line was: A final bet with a soul to sell
"7 days," Hel said thoughtfully, "Seven days for you to die."
I nodded, "Yes, during these seven days you won't try to kill me. If I manage to survive, you can't have my soul."
"And if you die," Hel said.
"You get my soul." I said and I felt like I took on an extra thousand pounds. It was a risky bet, but it was all I had."
"And what do you want?" Hel asked skeptically, "Assuming you manage to win the bet?"
I honestly had no idea what I would want in return, I glanced at Hel and realized how lonely she was.
Alone in her realm, must suck a lot.
"If I win you and I are going to cinema." I said with a smirk, "And I choose the movie."
Hel frowned, "That's ridiculous."
"Are you scared?" I mocked.
Hel grinned, "Fine until sunrise 22 January."
I smiled. Glad I managed to talk my way out of the situation.
"Good luck finding your friends again." she said and waved her hand and my word faded to black.
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