Chapter 88
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Thoth adjusted the edge of his linen robes as he crossed the threshold into the Hel Familia's public shop his breath held in careful, scholarly anticipation. His mission was delicate: gather insight on the mortal Taylor Hebert.
He expected a sterile reception counter, perhaps a stoic mortal clerk guarding the threshold.
Instead, he stepped into a quiet room smelling faintly of damp earth, night-blooming lotus, and fresh ink. And behind the polished wooden counter stood a figure that brought the Egyptian God of Death and Knowledge to a stop.
"Ereshkigal...?" Thoth breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Goddess of the Underworld jumped, nearly knocking over a small pair of silver pruning shears on the wooden surface. She spun around, her cheeks flushing a sudden, flustered pink as her hand darted toward the golden lance leaning casually against the back wall.
"U-Um! Welcome to the Hel Familia storefront!" Ereshkigal stammered, quickly smoothing down her front and trying—and failing—to project an aura of terrifying underworld majesty. "Are you here for... item requisitions? Spiritual consultation? Or perhaps the rare botanical imports?"
Thoth stood frozen in the center of the room, his scroll clutched tightly in one hand.
Anubis, Sekhmet, and Bast had spent hours debating the threat of a single mortal carrying the shattered fragment of Khepri. They had worried about Hel's northern influence being able to call on both Loki and Freya if that last banquet was anything to go by… An here was one of the Goddesses of the Sumerians manning a damn store counter.
"I was hoping to speak to Lady Hel?" Thoth asks causing the goddess to look up and get slightly surprised.
"Oh, Thoth… She is expecting you its fifth door down on the right." Eresh states
Thoth blinked, his scholar's brain taking a moment to catch up to the sheer, nonchalant efficiency of it all. "She's... expecting me?"
"Mhm!" Ereshkigal gave a polite, cheerful nod, picking her pruning shears back up. "She mentioned an Egyptian god would likely stop by to poke around under the guise of an academic visit. Fifth door on the right. Just knock first—she was talking to Taylor and Lisa a moment ago before the two went to the dungeon."
"Right," Thoth murmured, adjusting his robes and stepping past the counter. "My thanks... Lady Ereshkigal."
Walking down the hall, his boots clicked quietly against the polished floorboards. He counted the doors, stopping precisely at the fifth one on the right. He took a stabilizing breath, raised a hand, and knocked twice.
"Come in, Thoth," Hel's smooth, quiet voice called out from within before his knuckles had even pulled away from the wood.
Thoth pushed the heavy oak door open to find the northern goddess standing beside her desk, a sweeping black shawl resting elegantly over her shoulders. She gave him a small, dry smile that carried all the weight of the cold Scandinavian depths.
"Lord of Wisdom," Hel greeted calmly, gesturing toward the chair opposite her desk. "I trust Ereshkigal didn't overwhelm you with customer service?"
Thoth closed the door behind him, remaining standing as he held his scroll tightly. "I must admit, Lady Hel... seeing the sovereign of Kur running a storefront was not on my itinerary for this evening. Nor was the realization that you anticipated my arrival so easily."
"You Egyptians can be surprisingly predictable," Hel replied, leaning back against her desk with a dry smile. "Although word of warning: you should've just let his people go."
Thoth let out a slow, long-suffering sigh, his shoulders slumping just an inch as he looked away. "Yeah. We know that now."
Before he could pivot back to his prepared talking points, Hel cut him off with a crisp wave of her hand, her dark eyes sharp. "Save the theological critique, Thoth. What do you actually want to know about Taylor?"
Thoth didn't bother picking up the thread of his prior preamble. He simply lowered his scroll onto the corner of Hel's desk, his golden eyes fixing directly on hers with unwavering gravity.
"Let us dispense with the diplomatic dance, Lady Hel," Thoth said plainly. "Is Taylor Hebert the reincarnation of Khepri?"
Hel blinked, her sharp gaze meeting his. For a long, silent beat, the northern goddess didn't answer. She pushed herself off the edge of her desk, walking over to her window to look out at the Orario streets before letting out a soft, dry breath.
"If I had a divine artifact for every time a shattered god's residual essence accidentally hitched a ride into a mortal soul, I could fund a brand-new Familia," Hel murmured, leaning back against her window sill. "I've seen godly reincarnations in the mortal world before, Thoth. I remember the day I recognized Odin. Freya was practically ecstatic. My brother Fenrir is walking around in a mortal vessel now—he still hates everyone, but it's nice having him back. I even ran into Baldr the other day. Realizing he'd been reincarnated as Raul Nord of the Loki Familia was a shock, to say the least. Gods walk among us in mortal flesh all the time because death isn't always permanent for us. Sure, things like Destined Death exist, but that level of absolute erasure is beyond rare."
Thoth stared at her for a long, silent moment before letting out a slow, tired breath. He raised two fingers to the bridge of his beak.
"Lady Hel," Thoth said flatly. "Please stop trying to distract me with the administrative roster of northern reincarnations."
Hel's rambling trailed off. She looked at him, paused, and let out a long, heavy sigh that dropped the room's temperature by a few degrees.
"Fine," Hel admitted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You want the plain truth? With a decent chunk of my own divinity sealed while I'm down here in the mortal realm, even I can't fully tell what Taylor is."
"Explain." Thoth states confused Thoth leaned forward, the feathers around his neck ruffling in agitation.
"Taylor Hebert has many names attached to her soul," Hel said, letting a slow, enigmatic smile play across her lips as she leaned back in her high-backed chair. "Among them, the standout ones are Queen of Escalation, Skitter, Weaver, Queen Administrator... and Khepri."
"What does that even mean?" Thoth asked, his mind racing through every divine archive and ancient lexicon he possessed, completely unable to make the titles. "Multiple identities? A Queen of Escalation? Explain yourself, Hel. How?"
"I wish I could tell you," Hel purred softly, steepling her fingers under her chin, her eyes glinting with quiet, mischievous amusement. "I almost want to tell you what I saw in her memories when I gave her my Falna... controlling millions of beings, human and otherwise, all linked to her mind, fighting an entity covered in blinding golden light in an ultimate showdown."
"So, she is?" Thoth asks
"Once again I dont know." Hel answers
"You don't know," Thoth repeated, the flat, deadpan disbelief bleeding through every syllable.
"I don't," Hel replied smoothly, offering a helpless little shrug that didn't reach her carefully neutral eyes.
He expected a sterile reception counter, perhaps a stoic mortal clerk guarding the threshold.
Instead, he stepped into a quiet room smelling faintly of damp earth, night-blooming lotus, and fresh ink. And behind the polished wooden counter stood a figure that brought the Egyptian God of Death and Knowledge to a stop.
"Ereshkigal...?" Thoth breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Goddess of the Underworld jumped, nearly knocking over a small pair of silver pruning shears on the wooden surface. She spun around, her cheeks flushing a sudden, flustered pink as her hand darted toward the golden lance leaning casually against the back wall.
"U-Um! Welcome to the Hel Familia storefront!" Ereshkigal stammered, quickly smoothing down her front and trying—and failing—to project an aura of terrifying underworld majesty. "Are you here for... item requisitions? Spiritual consultation? Or perhaps the rare botanical imports?"
Thoth stood frozen in the center of the room, his scroll clutched tightly in one hand.
Anubis, Sekhmet, and Bast had spent hours debating the threat of a single mortal carrying the shattered fragment of Khepri. They had worried about Hel's northern influence being able to call on both Loki and Freya if that last banquet was anything to go by… An here was one of the Goddesses of the Sumerians manning a damn store counter.
"I was hoping to speak to Lady Hel?" Thoth asks causing the goddess to look up and get slightly surprised.
"Oh, Thoth… She is expecting you its fifth door down on the right." Eresh states
Thoth blinked, his scholar's brain taking a moment to catch up to the sheer, nonchalant efficiency of it all. "She's... expecting me?"
"Mhm!" Ereshkigal gave a polite, cheerful nod, picking her pruning shears back up. "She mentioned an Egyptian god would likely stop by to poke around under the guise of an academic visit. Fifth door on the right. Just knock first—she was talking to Taylor and Lisa a moment ago before the two went to the dungeon."
"Right," Thoth murmured, adjusting his robes and stepping past the counter. "My thanks... Lady Ereshkigal."
Walking down the hall, his boots clicked quietly against the polished floorboards. He counted the doors, stopping precisely at the fifth one on the right. He took a stabilizing breath, raised a hand, and knocked twice.
"Come in, Thoth," Hel's smooth, quiet voice called out from within before his knuckles had even pulled away from the wood.
Thoth pushed the heavy oak door open to find the northern goddess standing beside her desk, a sweeping black shawl resting elegantly over her shoulders. She gave him a small, dry smile that carried all the weight of the cold Scandinavian depths.
"Lord of Wisdom," Hel greeted calmly, gesturing toward the chair opposite her desk. "I trust Ereshkigal didn't overwhelm you with customer service?"
Thoth closed the door behind him, remaining standing as he held his scroll tightly. "I must admit, Lady Hel... seeing the sovereign of Kur running a storefront was not on my itinerary for this evening. Nor was the realization that you anticipated my arrival so easily."
"You Egyptians can be surprisingly predictable," Hel replied, leaning back against her desk with a dry smile. "Although word of warning: you should've just let his people go."
Thoth let out a slow, long-suffering sigh, his shoulders slumping just an inch as he looked away. "Yeah. We know that now."
Before he could pivot back to his prepared talking points, Hel cut him off with a crisp wave of her hand, her dark eyes sharp. "Save the theological critique, Thoth. What do you actually want to know about Taylor?"
Thoth didn't bother picking up the thread of his prior preamble. He simply lowered his scroll onto the corner of Hel's desk, his golden eyes fixing directly on hers with unwavering gravity.
"Let us dispense with the diplomatic dance, Lady Hel," Thoth said plainly. "Is Taylor Hebert the reincarnation of Khepri?"
Hel blinked, her sharp gaze meeting his. For a long, silent beat, the northern goddess didn't answer. She pushed herself off the edge of her desk, walking over to her window to look out at the Orario streets before letting out a soft, dry breath.
"If I had a divine artifact for every time a shattered god's residual essence accidentally hitched a ride into a mortal soul, I could fund a brand-new Familia," Hel murmured, leaning back against her window sill. "I've seen godly reincarnations in the mortal world before, Thoth. I remember the day I recognized Odin. Freya was practically ecstatic. My brother Fenrir is walking around in a mortal vessel now—he still hates everyone, but it's nice having him back. I even ran into Baldr the other day. Realizing he'd been reincarnated as Raul Nord of the Loki Familia was a shock, to say the least. Gods walk among us in mortal flesh all the time because death isn't always permanent for us. Sure, things like Destined Death exist, but that level of absolute erasure is beyond rare."
Thoth stared at her for a long, silent moment before letting out a slow, tired breath. He raised two fingers to the bridge of his beak.
"Lady Hel," Thoth said flatly. "Please stop trying to distract me with the administrative roster of northern reincarnations."
Hel's rambling trailed off. She looked at him, paused, and let out a long, heavy sigh that dropped the room's temperature by a few degrees.
"Fine," Hel admitted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You want the plain truth? With a decent chunk of my own divinity sealed while I'm down here in the mortal realm, even I can't fully tell what Taylor is."
"Explain." Thoth states confused Thoth leaned forward, the feathers around his neck ruffling in agitation.
"Taylor Hebert has many names attached to her soul," Hel said, letting a slow, enigmatic smile play across her lips as she leaned back in her high-backed chair. "Among them, the standout ones are Queen of Escalation, Skitter, Weaver, Queen Administrator... and Khepri."
"What does that even mean?" Thoth asked, his mind racing through every divine archive and ancient lexicon he possessed, completely unable to make the titles. "Multiple identities? A Queen of Escalation? Explain yourself, Hel. How?"
"I wish I could tell you," Hel purred softly, steepling her fingers under her chin, her eyes glinting with quiet, mischievous amusement. "I almost want to tell you what I saw in her memories when I gave her my Falna... controlling millions of beings, human and otherwise, all linked to her mind, fighting an entity covered in blinding golden light in an ultimate showdown."
"So, she is?" Thoth asks
"Once again I dont know." Hel answers
"You don't know," Thoth repeated, the flat, deadpan disbelief bleeding through every syllable.
"I don't," Hel replied smoothly, offering a helpless little shrug that didn't reach her carefully neutral eyes.
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