{Rebelling Against Destiny} -A Magnus Chase Fanfic

•Chapter 2•

Right beside me was what I did not expect to see. I mean, most people would assume that a raspy voice like that would belong to an old lady or something right?

But well, guess I was wrong. Because what my eyes were looking was not an old lady. Instead, it was a young woman in her 20s. She was facing the director who was standing in front of us so I could only see the left side of her face.

The woman had beautiful but yet unnaturally pale skin, long dark hair and was wearing an elegant dark green silk dress underneath her shimmering black cloak.

At that moment, I couldn't understand why the others sounded so disgusted by her. That is, until she turned her head to the left to look at me. When I saw the other side of her face, I nearly jumped out of my seat. The right side of her was monstrous. Literally.

She had unnervingly thin lips over her rotten teeth, a milky-white eye that looked nothing like her left eye and tufts of desiccated hair like black spider webs. And instead of having the same beautiful skin she had on the left side, the skin on her right side was so withered that it looked worse than how my fingers and toes look after being soaked in the bath for a long time and had blue patches that looked like ice covering the decayed flesh on her face.

What's worse? The whole right side of her body was like that too. She also has an almost skeletal arm and leg which made her look like a half-zombie or something I guess. And trust me, she looks a lot scarier than she sounds.

"I am Hel, sometimes also called Hela, goddess of the dishonourable dead and ruler of Helheim." The woman introduced herself and paused for a while, as if waiting for us to give a response.

After a few seconds, she facepalmed herself and said, "Seriously, no jokes? Not even one? You look Hela weird. What the Hel do you need Rina for? How the Hel did you know she's here? Nothing? What is wrong with you mortals these days, where has all your sense of humour gone? You all better make sure that you funnier when you join me in the afterlife. I haven't got anyone to joke with for years now."

At that point, I was just seriously confused. So this goddess came all that way from the underworld or something just to find me so I could help her with some sort of mission that she has. And she actually wanted us to make fun of her name for some reason. That's not what people outside the orphanage is it?

But why me? How could I, a regular girl from an orphanage in the middle of Boston, actually help a goddess with something can't do? What made her think that I could help her with whatever she was tasked to do? Aren't there anyone else more fit for this situation, whatever it is?

"Oh, Rina, you must have a lot of questions to ask. Fear not, I'll answer all of them as soon as you leave with me. And I might even tell you about a lot more things. I could even tell you about your father." Hel said to me while smiling at me.

My lungs felt flattened against the back of my rib cage. Not only because she said that she would tell me about my father, who should be dead since about thirteen years ago, but also because her smile looked horrifying. Anyways... How did she know my father? Has she met him in the underworld, or as she called it, Helheim? Does she know my mother too?

Even though I have never met my parents, I was curious about what happened to them and what they were like as I barely knew anything about them. I can't even recall what they look like. And now the goddess of death herself said that she knew my father, and was going to tell me about him if I left with her.

But was would happen to the others here? How can I be sure that Hel would do as she promised and leave them alone? And what about, Zoey, who had been through all those boredom with me and was always there to cheer me up when I felt down?

And as much as I don't to leave my friend, I had to or else Hel would kill her along with everybody else. I'd never be able to forgive myself if that happens. Also, how often is it that you meet someone who knows about your father who you've never met, and probably even knows more about yourself than you do.

I slowly stood up from my seat, gathered as much courage as I could and said, "Alright, I'll go with you. Remember what you said about keeping your promise and telling me about my father."

Hel smirked at led me out of the hall. At the door of the hall, I turned back to face Zoey and said,"Don't worry about it, I'll be back soon."
Upon hearing that, Hel just rolled her eyes and mouthed, 'pathetic'.

After that, Hel and I walked out of the orphanage together. I heaved a tiny sigh of relief as I remembered that it was my first time outside of the orphanage since I was left here.

Sadly, the relief didn't last for long because as soon as we stepped out of the gates of the orphanage, we got sucked into the darkness.
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“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.” ~Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

(A/N: Hello my readers! I am terribly sorry for not updating sooner, I was really busy with school and homework and I'm not allowed to use my phone in the afternoon sometimes. I'm also really sorry if this chapter isn't that good because I had to rush it a little. Also, it's exam period for me in the next few weeks so I'll probably be busy studying (I hope) and would not be able to update this story.)