It took weeks before I got passage into Iduna's palace. Weeks paying off greedy merchants and impersonating disciples but it was worth it.
I was finally here.
I stepped off the cruiser that landed in the forecourt of the palace. Glamouring myself to look like one of the disciples, I walked towards the main entrance of the palace.
The walls of the palace shined of rubies and other precious jewels. The goddess' vanity shined through. Seas of beige swarmed every corner of the palace as I made my way inside. I couldn't make the distinctions in their ranks.
They all wore beige coloured robes that shielded them from the sun with their wide hoods which most had covering their faces partially.
There was no way I would find my daughter here, not now at least.
I looked at the realm's sky. Its twin suns where starting to set; one in the east and the other the west.
I would wait till nightfall. It would be easier then.
A few hours later, the seven moons of Helheim were high in the sky. The walls were not entirely deserted but were less crowded than they were a while ago.
I followed the hallways and mumblings of tired disciples and made my way to the living quarters.
Three storey buildings stretched all around the field with a few single houses sparingly scattered in between. I walked along the streets intertwining between the buildings. Trying to figure out a way to find one single girl in this vast scape.
"You don't belong here, freak." A voice shouted loud at the end of the road I treaded on. Shadowing my steps I made my way towards the chaos.
A group of five had backed another against the wall.
I cloaked my presence to avoid detection as I continued to look on.
All their hoods were down, three males and two females and their chosen target.
A slip of a girl with flowing black hair and ghost eyes, her skin tanned to a light brown and littered with markings I couldn't identify from where I stood. Her priestess robes were ripped and caked in mud and dried blood.
Her blood.
"Could we do this another time. I am tired and have better things to do." The girl spook up.
I could have sworn her eyes settled on me as she uttered the last words. I was still cloaked so I brushed it off.
"You are a bitch who doesn't who doesn't know her place." One of the five sneered back. I didn't know who it was, my attention was being dragged to the girl.
She looked familiar. She was toying with them.
Drawing this encounter out.
"Such a foul mouth for a priestess, the goddess would be ashamed." A smirk formed slightly at the corner of her lips.
If I wasn't paying attention I wouldn't have noticed. The black shards that had appeared in her hands.
Poison tipped.
She lunged toward them, barely touching them as she cut them multiple times, precise shallow cuts.
Before I could realise she stood beside me, the weapon she wielded expertly now pointed at my throat.
She wasn't even looking at me.
"Who are you and why are you here?"
I let out a shallow breath, impressed and utterly terrified at her skill, plus my neck bobbed dangerously close to her little shard. I valued my neck quite dearly.
I dropped the cloak that concealed me.
"How did-"
"You do realise you have a glow about you right, it is faint but there."
I didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or a psychotic reason to end me.
"You are not one of her guests, are you?"
Her gaze drifted toward me. I could see the markings now. They were old Asgardian and another language that I couldn't quite identify. I looked into her eyes, black pupils with clear irises.
Her eyes shined a mirage of colours. I blinked clearing my vision. Maybe a trick of the light. Up close, she was a few inches shorter than me.
"What are you?"
She looked away and pulled the weapon away from me. A swirl of green wrapped around the shard and it disappeared.
"Leave before she notices your presence. A god with no invitation to Helheim is as good as dead."
She said as she started toward the five that had already collapsed on the ground groaning in pain.
With a wave of her hand, all five were moved against the closest building on in a heap of bodies.
I winced at the sound of their impact.
"I am looking for someone dear to me" I called out to her retreating figure.
She continued walking away ignoring me.
"I am looking for my daughter. Could you help me find her?"
She continued to walk away from me.
"Are you even listening to me." I huffed as I continued to follow her.
"You will not find a daughter here. Only a priestess dedicated to one god who isn't you." She replied as she made a turn.
I started after her again.
"Could you help me at least find her? I will reward you greatly for your assistance."
"Your riches are worthless here. You would have better luck leaving this realm if you knew what was good for you."
She didn't even turn back and continued towards whatever infernal place would cause her to ignore a god and not just any god.
Me.
"Her name is Valia." I shouted out in a desperate attempt to try to get her help or at least her sympathy.
She stopped in her tracks at my words. At the name of a daughter I didn't know but was trying to find.
She turned around, her hair whipping around her. I stopped a little way from her. Her eyes searching, I could feel them harden as they settled.
"I am Valia."