She sat on the bath’s edge like a queen, holding up her mighty bosoms with her arms, while her legs were splayed in a seductive manner. Her long hair, colored like the bark of old oaks, lay in stark contrast to her red and brown skin, which had a brilliant golden tinge to it. She had white and silver stripes on her arms and legs, making it look like she were wearing long socks and gloves.
I fidgeted.
“Hmm…” She observed my naked self with a condescending look, which made me more nervous. It didn’t seem like she hated me for being a man intruding on a woman’s bath. Or maybe it was just me being hopeful. Whatever the case may be, the reality of the unfortunate event I was involved in was very bad. Not good at all.
“So we meet again Alex Square. The circumstances are not what I expected, but fate works in mysterious ways. I must give them proper thanks later.” I was confused. The only woman I’ve seen so far was the Lady, not counting the gluttonous ghost girl. Besides them were Missfit and Hegha, but Missfit was tending to the Lady’s odd outburst, and Hegha was a deer.
“I apologize if it sounds rude, but I don’t think we’ve ever met, Lady …”
“Hellesni. That’s my name, for now at least. You may call me Hel.”
“Uhm, thank you?”
Why do I always meet strange people?
“I’m truly sorry, La-... Hel, but I really have never seen you before.” I wanted to bow, but a sharp glare from her froze my body.
“Oh? Is that so? Are you sure you’ve never met me before? How about you take a closer look at my body?” I swallowed my saliva when she stood up and walked closer towards me, her arms still supporting her impressive chest. A part of me was very excited with such a turn of events, but I kept my mind cool. It was my funeral if I did anything stupid.
I looked at her once again, wondering if there was something I missed. She had hair the shade of old oaks, red and brown skin with a golden tint, and her arms and legs were crisscrossed by white and silver stripes. There was no way I could forget such striking features. At a lost at what to examine next, I caught sight of her eyes by accident. The purple black circles that were on them, with a backdrop of blue enmity, sparked the connection in my mind.
“Hellesni … Hegha?!” I cried out.
“Took you long enough. I’m Hegha, or to be more precise, Hegha is my brother. My brother is also Hellesni, that is me, and I’m his sister.” I shook my head. There was no way I could understand such a bizarre thing.
“...Are you going to kill me now?”
“No. What my brother wants to do is not my problem.” My sigh of relief came out louder than expected.
“What I want to do though-” Hel leaned forward, closing in until her breath tickled my ear. She had embraced me. With no clothes to numb the sensations, I experienced heaven on earth. My mind screamed at my body to fight its urges, but it was a losing battlefield . I felt a nauseating sense of disappointment when she retreated, not even caring anymore about my dignity as a man.
“-not you~ Just kidding.” Hel laughed. The expectations of my lust betrayed, my mind became clear of all desires and temptations. Taking advantage of this moment, I reinforced my mental defenses, and took a deep breath.
“...Can I l-” Before I could finish, Hel took my hand and threw me at the bath with immense strength. The bath was larger than I thought, which meant good news and bad news. The good news was that I was going to land on water. The bad news was that I was going to land on water at high speed, with a very high chance that I’d be knocked out on impact, and drown. By some miracle, none of that happened, and I only suffered a sore body.
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“Ah, sorry about that. Hegha must have seen you by accident.” Hel laughed as she entered the bath after me. I hated to admit it, but I was trapped. The monstress would never let me leave until she’s had her fill. Since I wasn’t going anywhere, I decided to enjoy the bath, which was easy since it had a very relaxing current swirling inside it, melting the tension from my body with invisible massages.
My guard lowered by a substantial amount, I did not run when Hel approached me once more. She sat beside me and made herself comfortable.
“Are you calm now?” Hel asked me all of a sudden.
“...I guess so. It won’t last though.”
“Why?”
“I seem to have a knack for making things difficult for myself without meaning to.”
“Nah, you just had the bad luck of finding this place. And also making the Lady notice you. That was really stupid. But I guess humans can’t help themselves getting lost in magic forests and whatnot, huh?”
“I didn’t meant to. I was knocked out and carried down a river to here.” Hel raised an eyebrow when I spoke the word “river”.
“Wait a minute, you were carried here by a river? You weren’t wandering around and got lost?”
“No, I was fighting a tree monster, and it … it knocked me .... out and I … fell?” The strange headaches returned, and I cringed. Not at the pain, but at the emptiness that happened afterward. It was like a part of me had been taken.
Hel stayed quiet while I struggled to keep myself together. When that unfortunate phase passed, I looked at her and saw a wary face. I had the feeling there was something she wanted to say, questions to which I had no answers. The awkwardness persisted for quite some time, long enough that even the relaxing currents of the bath grew stale.
“...I think that’s enough bathing in one day for me.” Hel spoke out, getting out of the bath and wiping herself with a towel brought by invisible hands. She wrapped the towel around her, and with a snap of her fingers, turned said towel into an impressive set of ritualistic garbs. Weary of the bath as well, I followed her example, though I changed into my clothes the mundane way.
“See you around then-” Hel vanished right before I could give a reply. I started making way towards the door I found earlier, but discovered to my astonishment that I was no longer in the same room as before. This new room I found myself in was cramped, due to the fact that it was filled to the brim with stacks of towering books. I could not see the floor, for what supported my feet were also books, albeit ones that had tough-looking covers.
“Where am I now?” I sighed in despair.
“Oh you’re still in the same room, Alex. Lady Hel just has a habit of turning rooms into her private baths.” Emily’s appearance matched Hel’s departure in its abruptness. To the my good fortune, she was fully clothed, though her dress was still too gaudy to my liking. I stopped myself from greeting her as I’d normally do when I meet someone, and began to think about the amount of progress I actually made in this place by talking normally. It did not take long for me to conclude that taking account everything that has happened so far, I wasn’t going anywhere. If I were to give basic courtesy priority, I would become the toys of these gods.
“Hey Emily, do you know-”
“Nope~”
“Can you-”
“No can do, lexy boy.”
“Would you plea-”
“Not interested.” She said the last interruption with a giggle, which strained my nerves in ways I didn’t know it could be strained towards. Lacking the intimidating presence of the Lady and Hel, Emily felt like a normal girl, one that would not be out of place in any village or town, were it not for the white trails of phantom energy that persisted around her. They clung to everything she touched, fading without a trace when she went too far.
“What can I do then?” I asked with a rising tone of annoyance.
“Lots of things. You can eat food, walk around aimlessly, read books in a library, train your body, stay in bed, sneak around, cook and bake; there’s no limit. Though you absolutely can only do things in here.” Her taunts continued on, but I paid no heed to them for there was something she said that clicked in place the course of things I had to do from here on out, or at least until the Lady decided to share things with me straight.
“Emily.” I looked at the ghost girl with renewed determination.
“Can you take me somewhere?”