Beira sat up, casting Theo back down onto the bed. At a motion of her hand, her dress was back on her body, a mixture of fear and outrage on her face as she glared at the open door.
The intruder stood there, framed in the morning light pouring in with the cold air from outside. She wore a black cloak, hiding much of her figure below the neck. Her skin was bright red, and her long hair was equally strange, a jet black half on the left, and an ivory white half on the right. One arm was extended outward, and the fist at its end clutched a struggling snowy owl by the scruff of its neck feathers.
“Let her go!” Beira said. “Let her go, Hel!”
“In time, with your compliance,” the Goddess of Death said. Her voice was low, and colder than the air which streamed into Beira’s cottage. “Otherwise I could not be guaranteed of my prize.” She glanced at Theo, who sat placidly on the bed, eyes hooded as he remained wrapped in Beira’s calming spell.
“The boy?” Beira asked.
“Indeed,” Hel replied. “The owl will be released when I cross the border. Otherwise you could overpower me.”
“What could you want with him? You don’t want to make a child.”
“My daughter will be an unhappy byproduct,” Hel said. “I want to conceive by him because I want to see it.”
“What?” Beira asked.
“His destruction. Divine and mortal have never conceived before. That taboo has never been violated. It is a new kind of death, one never seen in any realm…” she sighed now, absorbed by the mere imagination of it. “I will be the first to witness it, to enact it, as it should be. Release him,” she commanded.
Beira waved her arm, and Theo blinked heavily as her enchantment was dispelled. His eyes focused, only for a moment, as he took in his surroundings. Just as suddenly, Hel’s eyes glowed red, and suddenly Theo stiffened in his place, his eyes glowing as well.
Hel was not subtle, not given to gentle enchantments or the gradual building of her power over others. The other goddesses could do this as well, but enjoyed exercising their power over mortals in more roundabout ways.
Hel’s power stole over Theo in an instant, taking his individuality away utterly, making his body into an extension of her will. Senselessly, mechanically, he stood from the bed, retrieving his pants and putting them back on.
“You will not follow me,” Hel said to her sister. “If I sense your presence before I cross the border, the owl’s life will be forfeit.”
Beira nodded warily. By the nature of her dominion, there was little other life, and she held it all as especially precious to her.
Hel left Beira’s cottage, the owl still clutched by its neck, the boy in her train. Theo’s eyes continued to glow red as he followed her, though Hel’s had returned to normal. They walked this way for hours, for the better part of that day. Hel’s will drove Theodore on, without need for rest.
It was late afternoon when they at last arrived at the boundaries of Beira’s domain. Abruptly the hibernating trees ended and a lawn of short, soft grass began. As she stood at the very edge of the lawn, Hel released the owl from her hand. It flew away, back into the woodland, happy that it had been spared. Hel continued on without comment, and the boy followed her.
They continued walking only until the trees were out of sight. The lawn gently sloped downward, as if forming a gargantuan bowl of grass, otherwise unmarked by any other plant or rock. “This is it,” she said, breaking a whole day’s worth of silence. “This is the place and now is the time,” the anticipation was apparent in her voice. Theodore said nothing.
Hel removed her cloak, revealing that she was naked beneath it. Despite her red skin, she was beautiful, smooth-skinned and curvaceous. Theo mirrored her action, taking his clothes off and leaving them in the grass. Hel laid herself down in the grass, on her back, with her legs spread invitingly. Theo needed no invitation, she commanded him to come to her as easily as she had commanded her legs to part. Possessed, utterly oblivious, the boy approached his doom.
The mating was quick and mechanical. This is not to say that Hel lacked sexual desire; she felt it as strongly as her sisters. But the urge she felt now was more elemental. Her desire to see a new way to die, a way in which no mortal creature had ever perished in all of creation, was lust enough for the occasion. Her lust became his, and the enslaved boy quickly climaxed.
Hel stared intently, feeling the boy’s semen flowing into her, but the boy simply stared back with his glowing red eyes. She was not ready.
“Damn,” Death cursed. At her whim, Theo got off of her. Hel knew they had to move again. This grassy lawn was part of the only neutral territory in the Realm of the Goddesses. Beira might be pursuing her, and possibly others as well, though the boy’s trail would lead them through Beira’s domain first. She stood up, and the boy did as well. This neutral area was the smallest of any territory in the Realm of the Goddesses, and Hel’s bleak tundra bordered it in one place. In an hour, perhaps more, she could be in her own realm, where it would be much more difficult for her sisters to overpower her.
They stood up, but the instant they did so, Hel stiffened. “I was too impatient,” she said.
“The boy would have slowed you down anyway,” Frigga said. The Goddess of Peace stood a ways up the hill, her golden hair and dress flowing in the gentle breeze crossing the grassland. “We would have overtaken you in any event.” Behind Frigga, to the left, Juno stood in her peacock-feather dress, while Beira stood to the right.
“Release him,” Juno said sternly.
“Trouble in paradise?” Hel mocked. “Whatever could sour your mood?”
“Stick to the point,” Beira said, still boiling with anger at the threat to her beloved owl. “Release the boy.”
“And if I do not?” Hel said. She had Theo turn and face the others. He promptly stopped breathing.
Juno scowled, but outstretched her palm. The light in Theo’s eyes flickered, and he gasped.
“You know we can overpower you,” Frigga said.
Hel sighed, and with the exhalation her power went out of the boy. “Wh- what happened? Frigga! Juno?”
“Hush, child,” Beira said.
“And you! You tried to…”
“Quiet!” Hel barked. Her sudden anger struck real fear into him, and he quieted. “Why do you work together?” Hel continued. “Only one of you can conceive by him. But none of you deserve to see it. He belongs to my domain. He came here for a reason; he came here to die.” Theo glanced at her, panic in his eyes. “And I must be the one to do it.”
“Yet you cannot do so now,” Frigga said. “We are now at an impasse, and none of us can have a child with him.”
“He can live with me,” Juno said. “In peaceful happiness.”
“But I don’t want to do that!” Theo protested. “I told you that already!”
“You don’t know what’s best for you,” Juno said dismissively.
“He’s doomed to die,” Hel interjected before Theo could respond. “This is his purpose!”
“All mortals are doomed to die,” Frigga replied. “But you do not appoint the hour, though that is your domain. He does not belong here at all,” she continued. “He belongs out there,” she pointed, down the grassy slope. It could only barely be seen at this distance, appearing as a lump of grey stone. “With other mortal men. Only women can come here, and then only women who have chosen this life. He did not choose, and should not suffer by this.”
“So it’s Peace then, is it?” Hel scoffed. “Why don’t you just bed him and be done with it? Then peace can reign eternal.”
“Because,” Frigga said, and then she paused. “With a daughter of my own, I could rule, and enforce the peace. But it would take a war to get there, and Morrigan would be pleased.”
Theo looked from one Goddess to the next, as all present were silent for a moment, working through the logic behind Frigga’s words. Frigga could only bring about total peace through war. Juno desired the boy’s company, tainting her carefree happiness. Beira would prosper as the victorious goddess, and be removed from want. Even Hel would have to create new life in order to bring about the death she so wanted to observe.
The boy sensed the tension building between the goddesses and was momentarily fearful. He knew that he was safe from Hel for the moment, but had the distinct feeling that something big was about to happen, whatever the goddesses ended up deciding. He looked from face to face, and saw discomfort there, milder in Frigga’s case and more extreme upon Hel’s fearsome visage. Whatever they were thinking, none of them liked it.
“You’re right,” Beira said finally, breaking the silence. “You are right, Frigga,” she said again, as if to assure herself of that fact. Juno pursed her lips, while Hel grunted in derision and rolled her eyes. Frigga looked solemnly at her sisters.
“It is the only way,” she said. “Theodore must leave us, as Bastet intended.”
For a moment, Theo smiled, but then his face fell. “But I don’t know anything about the other world,” he said. “What will I do?”
“The portal opens to a temple dedicated to all of the goddesses in the mortal world.” Frigga said. “There are nuns there, good and faithful women who will raise you.”
“You will be honored,” Juno said slowly, receiving a foresight in her mind’s eye. “As the boy beloved of Goddesses, other mortals will hold you in esteem, at least for a while.”
“And then?” Theo asked.
“After that it is up to you,” Frigga said.
“Though you’re going to end up with me eventually,” Hel added with a nasty smile.
“After a long and happy life,” Juno interjected, moving to confront Death.
“Prosperity is not guaranteed to him,” Beira added. The three goddesses all approached each other, glaring. Theo took a few steps away from them, and Frigga approached him anew.
“This is what always happens when more than two of us get together,” she sighed. “Come,” she added, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “It is time to end this.”
They walked down the grassy slope, towards the stone structure in the middle. As they approached, it was revealed to be a gate of rough-hewn grey stone, two columns supporting a third slab. It was older beyond age, and its disrepair was due to the fact that it was used only once every few centuries, when a goddess would send one of her chosen servants back to her acolytes among mortals. Theo gazed at the portal absently as they continued towards it. The other goddesses began to follow as they put off their bickering.
“It will be all right,” Frigga said, sensing the boy’s apprehension. “We have some gift of foresight, though we cannot know all of what will be. However, you will have a better chance than many mortals. Bastet taught you much of her domain, and this knowledge will be useful among your kind. You have been protected, and perhaps that protection will endure?”
“Protected?” Theo asked, caught somewhere between curiosity and disbelief.
“There are deeper forces governing this world that even we cannot fully understand,” Frigga replied. “You came here though your mother would have died in childbirth. You survived our lusts. Perhaps this protection will extend into the other world.”
“And you’ll make some mortal woman very happy,” Juno interjected as she caught up to them. “You’ve gained a lot from this.”
“I suppose…” Theo said, though he glanced at Juno with distrust. Beira and Hel were not far behind.
At last they reached the gate, and Frigga walked up to it and placed her hand upon one of the columns. The space between the columns began to ripple, like an eddying curtain of falling water. “Step through,” the Goddess of Peace said.
Theo looked at the others, torn with hesitation. Juno and Beira looked sad, while Hel scowled, clearly biting her tongue. He remembered the pleasure he had received from them, but was keenly aware of his peril. It was then that he knew that Frigga was right. He needed to go back, but not because he had to do so to stay alive or to preserve the peace among goddesses. The power of these women made them foreign. They could give him everything, or take all away, but he would never be able to influence how they treated him, not even when he reached adulthood.
He stepped forward, and then paused. “Tell mom I lo-… Tell Bastet I said thanks,” he corrected himself.
Frigga nodded before Theo stepped through the portal, and out of their realm forever. So departed the boy beloved by the divine.
End.
Author’s Note: Yeah… sorry about this chapter. Badly unbalanced in terms of “fap ratio,” and it only works if you’ve actually felt some sense of sympathy for the protagonist. Anyone who got this far deserves to know that I plan on balancing out the ham-fisted philosophy and vanilla-ness of this last act with a few “bad end” chapters, coming TBD. So long as I don’t just skip off to the next story idea stuck with me, that is…
Thanks for reading, thanks to Piper’s Domain for providing a place I could even publicly post a story like this.
