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"A villain is someone hurt by the world, and so they take revenge on it."
- V.E. Schwab, (Vicious)
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<(Atem POV)>
"I see, so he abandoned you as well." Hela sighed after hearing the story of my birth and about my latest trip to Asgard while subtly surveying the damage my fire had caused to the surroundings. She had been trying to heal the "burns" that my fire had caused to the realm multiple times, even though she was actively trying her best to hide her attempts from me. However, every time, her magic was only able to alter the landscape where the scorch marks had occurred instead of actually being able to erase the damage. It was almost like the fire from my Blades of Chaos had wounded the realm on a conceptual level, something that could no longer be repaired by mere magic. "*Sigh* Well, it's not the first time he has betrayed one of his own. I guess we indeed are a lot similar, you and I." Hela released a tired exhale once she realized she could not turn back the realm to its pristine condition so easily.
"Yeah, we have all been failed by our father. You, me, our sister, all of us. Honestly, I would have included Loki in that too even though he is adopted but unfortunately, unlike you and I, he is genuinely an asshole." I joked with a smile before turning serious. "Look, Hela, I know you want revenge against Odin, and you are entirely right to do so as well. I even want to kill that old man. But that doesn't mean we can let our desire for revenge consume us. Revenge doesn't have to be a reason why you and I can't be family. You want to rule Asgard, right? Fine, be my guest. Even though I am technically Odin's firstborn, I would be more than happy to let my beautiful goth sister rule instead of me. I mean, ruling is boring anyway. It's so much... paperwork." I shrugged with a disgusted look on my face.
"Did you just call me... beautiful?" Hela asked with a skeptical look on her face as if she was doubting her own ears.
"Did you just call my mistress goth?" Hela's maid, Leah, also narrowed her eyes. The two of them were staring at me so intensely as if they were contemplating whether to erase me from the universe or to allow me to continue.
"Wait, you know what goth means?" I asked, raising one of my eyebrows.
"This is hell. Souls from all over the nine realms come here. We can see the memories of everyone who crosses through this realm. How else do you think we entertain ourselves?" Hela answered as if it were an obvious fact.
"Huh, valid point." I nodded. "Anyway, my point is you can have whatever you want, Hela. But don't you want your own family too, someone to rely on when you need it, someone who makes you feel that you are not alone in the world?" I asked as I slowly placed my hand on her shoulder, half expecting her to try to slash my hand off with one of her necro swords.
But quite surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind it much. "A family...? No, that will make me weak. I was taught from childhood that all forms of love and attachment are signs of weakness. Power is the only truth. I don't just want to rule Asgard. With time, I want to take over all nine realms just like my father wanted me to. Only this time, he will be nothing but a dead soul watching me achieve the impossible with my power while I drain every last bit of his strength and destroy everything he has ever known." The Goddess of Death boasted.
"... Yeah, sure, your genius plan to take revenge against our father is to do exactly what he prepared you to do in the first place. You want to be a cold-blooded murderer just because our dear little daddy wanted you to be one." I chuckled. "Honestly, it's more like you secretly love Odin rather than hate him. Perhaps, that's why you are doing exactly what he expects you to." I teased, knowing that my words were definitely going to tick her off.
Honestly, it was a gamble. There was a chance that my... "insult" could result in her starting another fight against me. Perhaps this time it would be a fight to her death, but this was the only way I could make her see how foolish her actions could be if she continued to do what Odin had long foreseen for her.
"Hate? The word hate cannot even describe one percent of what I feel for that man. I don't hate him. I DESPISE him." She shouted with a look of loathing. "You ask why I want to be the Queen of Asgard. It's because I want everything that man has for myself. I want to rule the nine realms so that none can ever hurt me ever again like Odin once did. I don't want to remain that vulnerable little girl who his father could manipulate like a stringed puppet. I want to live my own life, I don't want to be a weapon anymore, a tool... I want to be free," She argued with a distant look of sorrow hidden underneath her anger.
"Lady Hela..." Leah mumbled with a look of pity. Having been Hela's maid for apparently thousands of years, she probably knew just how miserable her mistress was underneath that cruel, powerful, and uncaring appearance that she always maintained around her.
"... *Heh*, you really are my sister." I laughed. "I get you, Hela, because I want the same thing. But power is not a goal; it's the means to an end, to achieve a goal, a purpose. For example, I want to be the most powerful being in the world because I want to live a truly free life with everyone I love. That's why I want power. But what about you? What will you do after you kill Odin, take your revenge, and rule the ten realms?"
"I will conquer the universe." She answered without hesitation.
"And after that?"
"... I will expand my rule to the other dimensions and maybe even other universes," She answered; however, this time a small amount of doubt crept into her less confident answer.
"And after that, when you are done with conquering the entire multiverse? What will happen after you become the Queen of... everything?"
"... Then I enjoy my reign for eternity?" She answered after thinking for a few moments. However, this time she was so uncertain about her answer that it almost sounded like she was asking a question rather than answering one.
"With whom? Because it sure will be lonely at the top after a few thousand millennia. I mean, yeah, every single being under your rule will fear you, probably even respect your power, but... will they love you? Perhaps at the end of it all, you will just be trading this Hel for an even larger hell with countless souls answering your absolute command like servants, but none actually caring for you... unlike Leah here. She seems like she cares for you." I nodded at the maid, acknowledging her feelings.
"Hela, people always need someone they care for as their family. Being a heartless, overpowered, cruel villain who doesn't care about anyone but himself sounds pretty cool during a story. However, once the story ends and he achieves all his goals, the villain remains just as he was at the start... all alone. As I said, power might be a means to an end, but everyone needs a purpose to continue to live. So, Hela, let me be the family you never had, let me be your purpose. We will complete our adventure together so that you will never have to be lonely again." I smiled while squeezing her hand as I could feel my Golden Rule of the Stars ability working harder than it had ever worked before.
"You are wiser than you look, probably ever wiser than our foolish father claims to be." Hela released a tired exhale as she looked me in the eyes. "To tell the truth, I always knew that power wasn't everything I desired, but I continued to lie to myself because it was the only way I could survive this prison of mine... Even when I became the bloodthirsty murderer and slaughtered countless gods, demons, giants, and dark elves, it was only so that Father would notice me. I simply wanted his attention; I wanted him to be a father for once instead of a king. However, instead of reprimanding me as I had expected, he sent an army of Valkyries to kill me, hoping it would weaken me enough that he would be able to cut off my connection to the Odinforce and seal me off for eternity." Hela explained while gazing at the sky as if she were remembering a painful memory.
"There is no doubt I want to kill Odin. But I have no idea what I will do after that, since the very idea of taking revenge against him has been the only thing driving me so far. So, tell me the truth, Atem..., can I really have a family one day? Can we truly... have what the humans call a 'happily ever after'?" She asked before turning her head to face me, her eyes so focused on mine that it was almost like she was trying to gaze into my very soul.
Now, Hela was definitely crazy. She had slaughtered millions, maybe even billions, to pave the way for Asgard to become one of the strongest pantheons in the universe and to make Odin the king of the nine realms. However, it wasn't completely her fault. She was just who she was raised to be. If anything, it was Odin who was responsible for Hela to turn out like this. He had made Hela his ultimate weapon for waging war while he enjoyed all the spoils and victories that she brought her. It wasn't until all he wanted had been achieved that he even thought of stopping Hela. There was no doubt that the old man needed to die. But perhaps Hela also needed a second chance, and as her brother in this universe, it was my duty to give her one.
"Look, Hela, I honestly can't speak on behalf of your mother or your numerous brothers who were born after you. In fact, I have only met two of them so far, and one of them tried to kill me before I beat him up. However, what I can tell you is that Angela and I will absolutely love to have you as our sister. The three of us can be a family and well, the other gods be damned, but we will definitely have our happily ever after." I smiled, taking both of her hands into mine, "That's a promise."
Hela continued to look at me for a few seconds as if judging whether I was telling the truth or not before agreeing to my words with a small nod, "... Then so be it. As long as you let me be the one to kill Odin, I will be content to just watch that man's legacy burn and wither away." She announced before stopping for a few seconds as if deciding something important in her mind. "And even though I want to be the Queen of the Nine realms, I have decided that you can rule alongside me... Marrying my brother and committing incest will be the ultimate insult that we can possibly throw at the All-Father. Imagine the look on his face when he realizes that two of his own spawn will be the next rulers of his dear empire. Perhaps we will even conceive our first child on Odin's grave. Ha ha ha HA HA!" She declared before starting to laugh like a villain on the cusp of victory, her dark chilling laughter echoing throughout hell, giving anyone listening to it the most severe and intense chills they had ever felt in their lives.
Leah: "... wait, what?"
Me: "Huh?"
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