Duality : Book 1 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 14 (edited)

Chapter 14

Helheim

Behind the great hall called Eljundir was a huge courtyard which was nothing more than a brown grassland filled with burial mounds. The mounds were all graves of great seers and prophets from all over the nine worlds. Above one of the mounds floated the ghostly form of a woman. Hella limped furiously between the mounds towards the ghost.

"How dare you rise from your grave!" Hella spat. "I command you to return at once!"

The spirit bowed her head and spoke. "Yes of course your majesty, but first I must speak a prophecy."

Hella kicked furiously at the dead grass. "I am sick of prophecies ruling the lives of gods! Let the worlds above have their prophecies and be damned. I will not have them in my world!"

The ghost waited patiently for the goddess's temper to subside, then continued, "Eljundir must be decorated, a great feast must be prepared. A guest of high honour approaches the bridge. An unwelcome visitor follows furiously behind him. This tragic death shall be the undoing of the father of the wolf. This undoing shall spell the end of Asgard. When Asgard falls the rest of the worlds will fall into ruin."

Hella swore violently then spat on the ground. "Who is coming?" she demanded. "Why will this death be the undoing of my father? Why will it cause the ruin of Asgard?"

The ghost made no reply and began to sink back into the grave. Hella screamed in fury, "curse you! Curse all the damn prophets and their damned prophecies!"

After one last, furious kick to the mound Hella turned and limped back towards her great hall. Inside Eljundir two servants stood awaiting their mistress. Both were ancient and withered corpses. They wore simple grey robes that covered most of their rotten bodies.  Hella stormed towards them and yelled,

"get this place decorated and prepare a feast fit for an important visitor, I want it to be a grand occasion. Don't mess this up!" As the queen stormed by, the servants bowed then slowly shuffled off to begin preparations.

The journey from Asgard to Helheim was a long and tiring one. Hermod had raced all the way through Asgard towards the rainbow bridge that led to Midgard. He spent weeks racing across Midgard until he reached the valley of the damned, where no mortal would dare to tread. For nine days and nights Hermod rode through the barren grey lands. It was permanently night here in the valley and there were no stars or moon to light the way. Hermod's pace had slowed to a crawl, his horse could no more see the way than he could. In the darkness, shapes of withered and ruined people glowed faintly. Their faces were filled with longing and despair, some even full of hatred for the living. Onwards the fearless god rode, his ears were straining to hear a sound that would signal the journey's end was near. The world of the dead was separated from the world of the living by the river Gjoll. The river was said to be bottomless. It was a raging fast flowing river of icy cold water that was over a mile wide at its narrowest point. On the tenth night of his journey in the valley Hermod was greeted by the sound of rushing water, he breathed a sigh of relief and pressed on. There was only one crossing point along the entire length of the Gjoll. The valley ended in a flat rocky area which led to a single stone bridge. Hermod came to a stop at the edge of the bridge and dismounted. The bridge stretched out into the gloom and vanished from sight. No sign of the other side could be made out.

"Well we've come this far, we may as well see it to the end."

Hermod's horse snorted and stamped at the ground. Whether this was in approval or disagreement, Hermod couldn't tell. Mounting up again he began the long crossing into the land of the dead. Up in the distance a faint glowing light could be seen. It was roughly at the half way point of the bridge. As he got closer the light grew no brighter, eventually the shape of a young woman could be made out. She had a sorrowful face and seemed almost transparent as she stood in the centre of the bridge.  She held up a ghostly hand in a halting gesture.