“My name is Hel,” she offered, charmed, as most were, by his affable temperament. “I am the Queen of Helheim, an underworld of the Norseman.”
“Hel has fallen into our realm by mistake,” Anubis informed him. “Do you think there has been some sort of failure in our magic?”
“We can check the Records,” Thoth suggested. “Follow me.”
Anubis hesitated. “I have more souls to attend to this afternoon—is this something you can handle on your own?”
Thoth gave him a gentle smile. “I think you should be present, for you are the one who constructed the boundaries, therefore you are the only one who can fix them.”
Anubis sighed, eager to get back to his work, even with the curious situation at hand. “I suppose they can linger for an hour.” He raised his staff and brought it down with a thud, summoning a tall rectangular box made of shining gold. It opened immediately upon landing. He moved forward, motioning for Hel to follow.
“Do all Egyptian gods look like animals?” she asked as they grew closer to the metallic box.
“Some of us,” Anubis replied, her comment reminding him to shift out of his own jackal guise as he shut the door behind them. He could see his reflection in her dead eye as she studied him, glinting like polished onyx inside its prison of decayed flesh. He saw his own eyes, radiant sky blue like his mother’s, a stark contrast against his cool, sable skin and equally dark curls.
There was another loud pop as the golden box shifted, saving them hours of travel across the seemingly boundless realm, opening up right at the Underworld Palace. It had originally been built by his uncle Set at the dawn of civilization, but Anubis had since made adjustments. Even so, he rarely entered it, not one to rest when there was so much work to be done. He gifted the entire front part of the residence to Thoth upon his arrival, who in turn, used it to create a set of offices and libraries similar to the ones Nephthys used years ago.
Thoth led them out of the traveling box and into the front hall of the palace, which resembled an elaborate mailroom. It served as the direct line of communication with the old Records Hall, a living system that kept track of all the souls and their reincarnations. Mr. Aymen had decided to rest, so Thoth had made note of this preference and the date, placing the scroll into the compartment marked “R.H.” and pressing the corresponding button, sending the scroll soaring down the tunnel to the Hall until further notice.
“Do you keep track of everything here?” Hel seemed mystified as she observed the hundreds of chambers and tiny tunnels that lined the cavernous hall.
“Yes,” Thoth nodded, setting his box down on a nearby desk. “Every religion, every god, every soul, every reincarnation. Anubis is the being that greets them when they die, taking on whatever guise they need to see, whether it be the Angel of Death, the ferryman, or their ancestors. Then he sends them either to you, or one of the other death gods, or to whomever they wish to see. Some want to return to earth right away, some decide to rest. I make note of it all. Anubis’s mother, Nephthys, created the Records Hall so that it would always keep track of things, even in her absence, so I work directly with that Hall to keep things in order.”
“Thoth’s work is imperative to the function of this place,” Anubis added.
“Well, it was originally her design,” Thoth said humbly. “I’ve simply taken over where she has left off.”
Anubis frowned, suddenly realizing he’d forgotten to tell him about his mother. “She has made her way down here again with my Uncle Set. I keep meaning to visit, but I have been so busy.”
Thoth’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “You let him find her?”
Anubis slid a glance at Hel, who was intently observing their conversation. “You know they have always maintained a complicated relationship, even after she convinced us that she and Osiris were meant to be. I know my mother better than she thinks I do—I can assure you, she wanted to be found.” He walked over to the adjunct library, running his fingers over the stacks of binders until he found the one marked “Norse.” He brought it over to Thoth’s desk. “Let’s get back to the matter at hand, shall we?” he said as he opened it.
Hel leaned in to see what the binder contained, making a sound of amazement as she observed the shimmering letters that shuffled around as he flipped through them. He found the page labeled HEL, watching as the letters twisted and bent to spell out the word: CLOSED.
“That’s strange,” he remarked. “It says that your realm is closed.”
“How can that be?”
“I have no idea,” he murmured, flipping through the rest of the book. Each page he turned to gave the same message, from Valhalla to Niflheim. “It says they are all closed. But I know your religion still lives. I dispatched a man to Valhalla the other day.”
Thoth caught his eye. “I do not like this,” he said, his expression grave.
“Well, who can figure it out?” Hel demanded, growing visibly upset.
“I am going to have to visit my mother, though I don’t believe she is too pleased with me at the moment. She is with the god we need to see, the original architect, my Uncle Set.”
Thoth agreed with his assertion. “I will keep watch here until you return.”
Anubis turned towards the increasingly agitated death goddess. “Will you be joining me?”
“Of course.”
Anubis led her back out of the palace to the moving box, waiting until she was inside before shutting the door and drawing the Egyptian symbol for Set on the side with his finger. The box responded immediately to his magic, shuddering before it made its popping sound and jerked them downwards.
“Do you always take women to visit your mother the same day you meet them?” Hel teased, trying to establish her footing as the box continued to plummet.
Anubis let out a quick chuckle, surprised by her candor. “Well, I cannot say a woman has ever visited me at work, unless she was dead.”
The box landed abruptly, but did not open.
Anubis went to pry at the doors, but found he could not. “That’s strange…” he muttered, perplexed. He felt heat behind them as if they’d landed in the fiery realm of Tartarus, rather than the dark, watery Underworld his uncle had chosen to make his permanent home.
He dismantled the box with a few jolts of magic, jumping back in surprise as it revealed a raging inferno. He instinctively pulled Hel behind him, searching the landscape for any clues.
“Send us back!” Hel cried, alarmed by the black skeletal demons that began to approach them, impervious to its heat. He smacked his hands together and the box flew up around them, hurtling back up to his domain. “I don’t understand,” Anubis muttered, trying to gather himself together, “it took us to Tartarus.”
“What is happening?” Hel demanded.
The box landed back on the shore, opening immediately to a frightened Thoth. “Anubis, half the realms have been destroyed, along with the gods and goddesses who dwell in them.”
Anubis met Hel’s mismatched eyes.
“My realm must have been destroyed too,” Hel murmured from behind him.
“What are we to do?” Thoth asked, trying not to appear distraught.
Anubis was distressed. What could be so powerful that it was able to destroy the realms? “We have to warn Set and my mother—”
