Frozen Beyond [gxg]

Temple of Hel

The darkness felt alive as it abated around them, cold and hollow. Keahi shifted to look at the mouth of the cave only to find it completely absent.

"Well, shit." Keahi grumbled, turning to Saphire to realize she was missing as well. A hiss of air escaped her as she twirled around, trying to find her footing but it was so dark she couldn't get her wits about her. "Saphire!" She shouted, only to have her voice echo like she was deep down in a narrow hole.

Her voice bounced around her, resounding and getting louder until she finally had to cover her ears at the static sound of her own voice.

Just as it all began, it stopped. And the silence was deafening. She didn't know what she preferred more, the unbearable refracting sound or the silence.

Keahi spun, the sound of her feet clicking into the darkness. She flicked her hand. Blue fire ignited there before a cold gust swept through and extinguished it.

Laughter started around her and the darkness lit enough to reveal a woman. At first, it was a silhouette until she sauntered towards Keahi. Keahi's brows knit forward and she anchored herself, hands in front of her glowing hot as the figure continued towards her.

Just the soft clicks of boots bouncing eerily into the abyss.

A flash of light blinded her and she winced, opening them and stumbling back when the woman appeared in front of her. It was the same figure she and Elsa had seen in Ahtohallen before it crumbled.

She was taller than Keahi by a few inches, standing at least six feet. Her eyes were a stark silver, with speckles of black ore throughout them. But her hair was as dark as night and her skin as white as snow. A laced bralette barely covered her chest. What looked to be black chains criss-crossed her stomach to her rounded hips where shorts that looked to be the same material as her bralette scarcely covered anything.

She was barefoot and everything about her was sultry and dangerous. The woman smirked as she walked around Keahi, like a panther to its prey. She traced a finger along Keahi's shoulder.

The feeling sent an unpleasant shiver down her spine and Keahi hit the woman's hand away. "Are you the Queen of Nifelheim? Hel?"

The woman stopped in front of her, putting a long fingernail on her lip where she sucked on it and smirked. "And if I am?"

"What did you do to my brother? And what do you two plan on doing?" Keahi demanded. The woman was creepy as sin, but she wanted to get the answers she came here for.

This isn't exactly what she had in mind, but...

Hel tilted her head, her pupils dialing into small dots. An eerie smile spread across her lips, fangs piercing her lower lip as she bit it there. "How cute. You'd be a lot cuter if you weren't so stupid."

Keahi stiffened, igniting her hands, which were quickly sniffed out at a flick of Hel's wrist.

"Oh, calm down. Your brother made choices that led him here. His insanity is his own, as is every. Single. Choice." Hel purred, "You're like a fish aching for the frying pan. Thinking you can help someone who doesn't want the help. Tell me, little guppy, how does it feel?"

"What?" Keahi edged, flinching when she came near but not moving away. Even as Hel leaned into her face with a fanged smirk.

"To be one reason for your brothers insanity? To be one of the things he regrets most? If he didn't save you, he'd be on a beach somewhere, emotions intact. How does it feel...to leave a vulnerable friend to the wrath of monsters?" Hel took a step to the side.

Images played throughout the darkness, wisping memories of ships and blue oceans. Images of an old tavern wavered into view, of two men and Saphire backed into the corner.