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Hela Lore

Messenger of the Abyss

From the throne atop her realm, the Queen of Hel recalled feeling the shattering of worlds, the sundering of realities as unknown forces knit them together again. Differently. She remembered venturing forth into her kingdom, only to discover that in Hel little had changed. However, Hela suspected once she traveled beyond her realm, she would see profound changes—and when she had worked enchantments to gaze upon worlds newly interwoven with the Ten Realms, her suspicions were confirmed. Mortals had done this? Remade time itself? Broken it and rewound different streams into a different braid or worlds?

What power was this for men to wield?

Immediately, Hela set about scheming a way to make it hers.

First, she knew, she must understand Chronovium. One of her thralls, in life a great wizard-king, had brought to her a stone of a sort she had never seen before in Hel. She had paid it little mind until she grasped what the mortal Victor von Doom had done. Then, she sent the flock. Her crows scouted other realms, all returning bearing samples of Chronovium, the crystallized residue of the monstrous shocks to the space-time continuum. And yet, they all differed slightly from the version in Hel and from one another.

Whoever learned best to control it, Hela knew, would rule worlds beyond Asgard. Beyond the Ten Realms.

Hela's intrigue deepened. New lands meant expanding the borders of Hel and welcoming vast numbers of new creatures into her ever-growing legions, perhaps even claiming the souls of the great beings known as Celestials. Only recently had she become aware of them, and then only through a new soul in Hel, cast there from another universe by the — what had he called it? — the Timestream Entanglement. This pitiful mortal, who met their end in the event, spilled forth knowledge of vast realms of space filled with fantastic creatures.

At a wave of her hand, Hela's crows feasted on the mortal's soul, her mind settling on a goal. The souls, and thus the power, of these great beings would belong to her. And when they did, she would sweep unchallenged through the Ten Realms, uniting them under the banner of Hel. Undoubtedly, Loki was hatching his own schemes to utilize Chronovium to increase his own power and ensure Asgard never slipped from his grasp, but Loki's schemes never worried Hela. Often, his petty obsessions and caprices benefited her by causing conflicts that added to her legions. At some point, she suspected, he would approach her proposing some sort of arrangement. Perhaps an alliance. Perhaps she would consent, and they would begin the dance of waiting for the right moment to betray each other. The joys of family.

Until then, she would proceed with her own plans, which led her to the current moment, as a messenger from a distant place she had never heard of before. Her initial response was to annihilate it for the arrogant crime of trespassing in her realm. However, it seemed to her that these disruptions of time and space could be a gift. Had it not opened vast new possibilities for Hel? Surely, she should learn what new worlds — new universes! — now lay within her grasp.

So, her crows stood perched while the otherworldly emissary trudged into her throne room.

It was a strange creature, appearing like blobs and tendrils of a tarry black substance bonded with a host. Its liquid flesh mingled aspects of its own nature and that of its host — currently a Jotun priestess. Even though she was no longer alive, enough of the Jotun's soul was still present for Hela to feel her horror at being bound to such a monstrosity. How curious.

The creature, however — the symbiote — had no such misgivings, or at least did not betray them.

"Tell me, little creature. What brings you to this place?"

"You would do well to listen, Queen of Death," it said. "I bring tidings from Knull, mighty lord of the abyss."

"And what is a 'Knull'? Is he the god of all creatures such as you?" She made no effort to hide her scorn. This Knull was, in all likelihood, as debased and parasitic as its worshipper who stood before her.

"His power is eons older than yours, ancient before light existed, and he has his own claims on creatures whose essences he has consumed."

Ah, Hela thought. Of course. "I take it he means to claim the Celestials as well?"

The symbiote nodded and flicked out its tongue. "Knull has learned that one of the Celestials is now in this realm. You cannot keep it, Asgardian. It is his to claim and it will be the key to his freedom."

"I cannot?" Hela stood from her throne. "Bold of you, parasite, to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own realm. What enters Hel is mine, forever. In fact," she said, giving the symbiote a closer look, "perhaps I will even keep you. What manner of soul does a creature like you possess?"

The symbiote remained still. Hela let it wonder for quite a while, as she pondered what she had already learned. The key to his freedom, the emissary had said. So, this Knull was a god in chains, yet he still possessed the reach to send a message to Hel. He knew the power of Celestials. He knew that the tangled worlds had brought new souls into Hel.

Therefore, there must now be a way from Hel to… "What is the world you come from, creature?"

"Klyntar, O Queen."

A name she knew vaguely. People from a culture long since annihilated had once come to her realm from there. She considered a little longer.

"I release you," she said. "Now, release your host."

The symbiote did, peeling and secreting and withdrawing from the skeletal form of the Jotun priestess. "Return to your master," Hela went on, "and tell him that he may rule Klyntar, but Hela rules Hel. And if he wishes to fight me…" she smiled. "Then he too will become one of my subjects. Do you have that, messenger?"

The symbiote mass quivered, but without a host it could not speak. Hela worked a spell, drawing forth knowledge from its mind. She swirled open a gateway to a world of darkness, an impenetrable jungle where no sane mortal would tread. "Go," Hela said, "before I change my mind."

The symbiote sprang through the gateway and was gone. Hela let the gateway close. Now, Knull knew that she could reach out to his world directly. Let him think on that and consider his next move.

Hela gathered up a mass of Chronovium, imbued with the essence of Hel. Just as all lives must end, she reflected, all things must move through time. Did it not follow that all time ended in Hel as well? And did it not follow that Hel could grow through this crystallized time, encompassing new realms brought near by the entanglement of worlds?

The Hel-Chronovium was shot through with black and green. She spoke to it, shaping it into an enchantment, the first of many. "All living beings," she said, "in all realms, in all universes. They shall be thralls of Hel. They need not come to me. I will use you, Chronovium, to expand Hel not through space but through time. Beings more ancient than stars will be mine, and beings not yet born will be mine. This is a powerful magic and will take some time to work. But it shall be done, and then Knull?" She smiled. "He will be mine as well."

She suspected that the symbiote emissary was not Knull's only gambit. Doubtless he was plotting against her, seeking ways to undermine her and the reach of Hel. Let him, she thought. Let him beguile mortals and persuade greedy gods that they can band together against me. That would bring them all the closer — and as she had already told the symbiote emissary, whatever entered Hel was Hela's. Unless she chose to let it go.

And soon, souls would no longer come to Hel, Hel would come to them. Her realm would grow outward through time, drawing in numberless souls until she had an army so vast not even gods could hope to resist it. The Ten Realms were just the beginning.

She spun the black and green Chronovium jewel over her palm. "Yield to me your secrets," she commanded. "Bring to me the future, as I already rule the past."