The Unknown

Chapter 8: Herpo the Foul

Hela and Falcon left the dining room and walked towards the south wing throne room and it was completely the opposite of the north. Even anyone who was not a citizen of Niflheim would know the difference and would be drawn away from the south wing. While the rest of the castle was silver and blue, portraits and paintings hanging in the halls, a welcoming feeling of happiness and safety, the south was the opposite. The large black iron gates separated the north and the south in the only corridor entrance to the south. Very few had access to the south wing and those that did worked as torturers in Mareritt; they were the souls of people who were twisted in life, took great pleasure in hurting others, and thrived off of others' pain. They had served their sentences in Mareritt and because they had no change in behaviour and it seemed like they never would, they were given the choice to make others suffer for their crimes or have their souls destroyed. Of course, almost all of them wanted to make others suffer and took great joy to the point that, like people in Lykke, they had an unquestionable loyalty to Hela. Unlike those in Lykke, who were loyal due to the Queen's kindness and protection, those in Mareritt were loyal because they had people to hurt who would never die. Their true desires and fantasises of what they could do in life to those they despised could be fulfilled on the souls of the dammed in Mareritt.

The black gates emitted an unwelcoming feeling, turning anyone away but you had to push through that feeling, push through your very instincts to go through. At this point, it became second nature for Falcon and Hela. Once walking through the black gates, gone was the silver and blue walls, the walls now weren't as smooth as the north; it was a dark brown stone that seemed stained over time, from what many could only guess, but they knew some of the stains would be blood. Metal chains dangled over the ceiling as it held together the torches, the fire they gave being the only light. Carvings into the walls showed many different creatures, some of legend, some that many knew to be true as they had seen them. The carvings told the story of the nine realms and how it was created and the stories of the Kings of Niflheim. Hela knew that if she looked throughout the south, her story would be in the making, it would be carving itself into the very walls she called her home. The south wing was the oldest part of the castle, when it came to rebuilding the castle when she became Queen, she left the south wing the way it was, a representation of how far they had come with her reign in such as short amount of time to her. The south wing was cold and sent shivers down your spine but as you got further in, you began to feel warm and it became clear why that was.

As they approached the throne room, the large doors made of wood and metal, the same corridor held some of the few windows that were left in the south wing. If anyone was to look outside, they would see the red sky, the rubble mountains, the fire that covered a large majority of the land but most of all, they would see the small stone buildings covered in bars and chains, they would see the hands reaching through the bars for help. Fortunately, Hela had spelled the boarders of Mareritt and Lykke so that no sound could pass. She didn't want people hearing the sounds of screams and people pleading. Those closest to the castle were in Mareritt for the shortest amount of time, many of them only there for a few weeks. The further away the souls were from the castle, the longer they were to remain there and the torture only got worse.

The throne room was specifically designed when the damned wanted to see her, or needed special treatments that only she and a select few others could provide. It was dark and gloomy, the only light coming from candles around the room and fire from the windows behind the metal throne that was only there for show. Weapons of torture hanged around the room but Hela rarely used them as she was a torture device just from her touch.

They walked into the south throne room to see that two fire demons from the realm Muspelheim, stood watching Herpo even though he was tied to a chair by dark chains, unbreakable and couldn't move anywhere, even if he wanted. They both walked into Herpo's line of sight and he tried to act cocky by smirking and said, "Queen Hela and Death himself, I do not believe I have had the pleasure".