Hellen is a blue-green colored Siamese spitting cobra who was born in 2022 in Turkey, but would later move to the state of California at the age of 14 in 2036. She'd do so not out of her own will, but instead because the rest of her large family did. All being snakes and reptiles, obviously they would want to be closer to warmer areas and what not. Cold-blooded and all that jazz... But thats not what Kaylana Nagastraff wanted... Who's Kaylana Nagastraff you ask...? Well, that's Hellen...You see, Hellen wasn't always "Hellen". Growing up, her father (the mother was absent) would tell her stories that her family has heritage to Scandinavian Vikings. This idea was something that her father wanted her to believe, because it was something he believed as well. The idea of it was passed down from Kaylana's father's father, which was passed by his mother, and his mother's mother, and etc etc etc. The last name "Nagastraff" (Naga•stroff) was a name that had relevance in Norway as well. With it being one of the Scandinavian countries in which Vikings once roamed... and Kaylana became obsessed with it.Kaylana lived for Viking culture. She believed in everything she did research on. She became an expert on Norse Mythology. So you better believe she was there to judge every piece of norse pop-media there was. But she isn't a nerd about it. She very much kept it to herself, and did it in her free time, because she knew to have her priorities straight.She went on the grind, and became a very successful secretary to a large company in 2046 at age 24. Her presence was something to be respected, despite being quite young. Being a large anthropomorphic snake as well also improved that authority... Whenever anyone, even her own boss, questions her decisions... her smile fades, the eyes go wide, and the hood frills up, and they very quickly realize that in actuality, she was right. She gets very scary at times... But the only decision she can understand people questioning her for, is changing her name to "Hellen".When she did it, people would always ask why. Of course the last name was still there, but she very much insisted people to only call her as "Hellen" with two l's when she legally changed her name to that. She did this because she was acutely aware of what kind of woman she was, and she wanted to embrace it. So taking her Norse mythology obsession, she took inspiration from the goddess of Norse's underworld herself... "Hel". Sometimes people would even shorten it to "Hel" without her asking or mentioning it anyway.Hellen loved the HELL out of Helheim, and somewhat wanted to be in that realm, because it was so different to the popularized "Hell". She didn't believe in Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, or anything like that. She believed purely in Norse gods and Norse mythology. She believed that when she dies, she wouldn't be going to HELL, she would go to Helheim. It only made sense to her, considering she believed the other "Underworlds" and "Heavens" didn't exist. But what didn't make any sense...
It was said earlier, that Hellen's family were all snakes and reptiles with viking blood. But you see, vikings roamed in Norway and other Northern European countries, and those places has very cold temperatures. Even though Turkey gets pretty cold as well, its still nothing compared to Northern Europe, it was manageble. Plus, the Nagastraffs would normally just move away temporarily when it got too cold.But by this logic of Vikings being up North, how did those Nagastraff snakes grow their offspring in those environments? Cold-blooded remember? They should've died all those years in the cold. Of course there COULD have been some cross-breeding between species, or very early on trafficking (hopefully not the bad kind). Or maybe even someone from Scandinavia TRAVELED to Southeast Asia (where Siamese Cobras originate), and gave some cobra the last name "Nagastraff", and that snake traveled around and grew the family... But no that can't be... There's no way something so important to them could be so lack-luster. Hellen and her family REFUSES to believe that their entire Norse heritage is fake and/or as boring as that... and they were right in doing so.They've ran tests on their DNA... It always came back as mostly Siamese spitting cobra, with NO DNA of ANYTHING that could even survive in those cold environments.
They did as much research into their family records as they could... It would always say that there was NEVER any other species of animal with their last names, in their family tree. It was all reptiles.
They've even asked friends who CAN go over to Norway, to see if they recognize anything with a "Nagastraff" title to it... and there has always been confirmation of some... It signaled that their name was relevant there in SOME way!So then HOW... HOW could they NOT be from Viking heritage? But then again... How COULD they be?They basically HAD to have had a family member who is a reptile, be born into a Viking family long ago, given the last name "Nagastraff", survive the harsh colds, to THEN make it to Southeast Asia or Turkey, and grow the family... But it sounds too complex to be true! But Hellen was going to prove it... Hellen Nagastraff was going to find hard evidence that someone in her family was a snake born in the cold, who SURVIVED to pass down their last name... No matter WHAT.
Hellen at first didn't know where to look. How would she be able to prove it to everyone, including her own family? Well, she had the immediate idea to go up there to Finland, Sweden, and Norway. But that would be stupid. Those countries have temperatures that go to a highest of around 30º Celsius, and a lowest of -50º Celsius. Snakes normally need a temperature of 60-90. There was no way she would survive out there. So after working at her company as that secretary for 6 years, she left in 2050 at 28 years old to go looking all around. She was extremely financially stable, so she was not afraid to leave and pursue her goal.Of course she tried the usual methods again. DNA, family records, and reading up on books. But then she got a little more creative... She contacted expert Norse researchers around the world like her, and asked them to dig through their own research to look for the last name "Nagastraff" in any of their texts... nothing. She hired multiple archeologists to go digging in places all up north for skeletal remains of possible family members. The project became so big, that she started an entire small company just for it. Calling it "NAHN" (Northern Archeologists of Hellen Nagastraff) in 2052.This company would make dig sites in anywhere up north. Whether it'd be a random state like North Dakota, or an island like Greenland, she would always have land there. They would eventually find things like artifacts, books, and secret chambers, but she would always tell her workers to put them back or leave them alone. She didn't care for things like a nearly half-blank book written by a "Ravenhaul" talking about magic and spells, unless it had something to point to her heritage. "Throw it away" she would always say "Leave it for someone else to discover". But after looking and looking for 9 years... she gave up.In late 2061 at age 39, she disbanded the company, and with still lots of money left in the bank from investors and her past job... she retired early. Sitting in her lavish apartment, drinking her life away. Her father already passed away at this point, she wasn't married, no kids... but did have multiple lovers...
She found me and my Arks on one of her searches in 2059, in the state of Nova Scotia where we tried to hide. She obviously knew about us, because everyone in the world did. But she didn't care that it was our land. She wanted to go digging... and we let her because we were enthralled by her drive. We thought her goal was interesting, so we decided to help her, and she came to value us greatly. I mean, whats more valuable than loyal-ass aliens who can basically do whatever you ask them to do? Workers developed into partners, partners into lovers, and then we hit it off. Then we'd stay with her for the longest time (mostly me, Arkhize though).But after disbanding the company, eventually she'd get this fire back in her during early 2062... It was quite depressing in the months sticking around her after she gave up, but something snapped in her one day.She decided that she would go up to the North-most point in Norway to go looking for something, ANYTHING she could use a proof... After all what did she have to lose at this point? So she requested me, and ONLY me, to come with her and keep her alive on her search. Since my atoms could do anything, I could become her personal heating lamp or anything she needs. And by bringing my pod with us, I could create anything she needed. So we went...She bought a cabin as close to the north-most part of Norway as possible, and we stayed there. It was cold, but by configuring my atoms, I was able to make my body burn as hot as I wanted. As hot as she needed. I could also extract the atoms from my pod and fill the air of the cabin with them, and then make them vibrate to keep the inside extremly warm... We'd leave together somedays to go searching around the area for anything, while I stand by her side keeping her warm out in the cold. She wanted to find hard proof. Something like skeletal remains of a snake, or art telling a story, or text telling of her heritage. We'd go at this for months... and find nothing.She didn't know what she was doing anymore... But I was still there to encourage her, and support her every decision. She appreciated me greatly, and I could tell she loved me. But one day in the middle of the year, I decided I would go out searching for proof by myself instead of her. My atoms kept the house warm while I was gone, so I had nothing to worry about. I walked around the area. Because I used my atoms to dig large chunks into the snowy ground, there were multiple small quarry-like holes. I did most of the work for her in that regard, and I was absolutely happy to. So I worked that day for about an hour and a half, until I decided it was good enough for now... because yet again I found nothing. But when I came back to the cabin, I saw a note on the table... and Hellen was nowhere to be seen... The note said:"Dear Ark,
I know you will come back with nothing, and I know we will find nothing. I'm tired of this song and dance, and even though you tell me its not, I know this whole search is stupid. But I have one very last attempt, which will tell me if I am who I think I am. One that I know you wont approve of, but you'll live on without me. Its kind of your thing. I'm sure you've had someone do this before. So please, for me, just let it go.
I'm leaving. I'm going to let the cold take me, and let my death take me to her realm. My heritage will put me in the Hel I belong in, and if it doesn't... well, at least I wont have to live with the pain any longer. So please, don't come looking for me, don't organize a funeral, and don't tell anyone where I am. You're the only one I trust with this. Let the freezing cold take me to a place colder than here.
With love, Kaylana Nagastraff, or Hellen, it doesn't matter XOXO"I went looking for her anyway. Bursting out of the house I saw a straight snake line in the snow from the backdoor, and nothing else. There was no snow storm, it wasn't night, it was perfectly bright and daytime. The scenery in the forest was beautiful, but the panic I felt made me want to puke. The trail went on and on. I was thinking that maybe she would still be alive... that is unless she had left as soon as I did, because I was gone for nearly 2 hours, and with it being as cold as it was... And then the trail ended... there I saw her body. Completely still, lifeless eyes, laying behind a tree, covered in snow. I cried, but I didn't sob.She was right. I have been through this multiple times; a loved one who committed suicide. But that doesn't mean the pain of it went away, it just made everything... so automatic. I grabbed her body, laid it flat on the ground, and remembering her note... I left her there. Saying anything I needed to say to her corpse, I walked away with my head held low. Whenever anyone asked where her body was, I showed them her note. I was the only one she trusted til the very end... and so she laid there, and the snow buried her body... She had died in mid 2062...
Everything was so cold... The creaking of trees and crunching of snow echoed in her mind... But she wasn't shivering anymore, and inside her body there was no heartbeat... But she was alive. As soon as she opened her eyes, she shot awake and leaned up straight, breathing heavily. Every inhale was cold, and every exhale didn't have a visible cloud. Her insides were as cold as her surroundings, and her surroundings... barren. Ice and snow blew around her, while the ground was the same light-blue ice. Looking around, she saw a giant wall. It stretched into the distance from the left and right, with a singular giant open gate, and a pathway strething from it... She saw people. Humans and animals dragging their feet, claws, paws, fins, hooves and etc, moving towards the gate. Then that's when she knew where she was... and instead of a face of worry and dread, Hellen had the biggest "It worked..." shocked smile on her face.Helheim. She was in Helheim; the Norse land of the dead.She stood up straight and slithered into the gates. Inside, there were homes made of brick, wood, and this blue fiber-ish looking material. Some of the homes were bigger than others, some even looked more modern than others. But they all had the same very thin see-through ice as their windows. It was like a neighborhood. Everyone inside these homes and buildings had a freezing blue color tint on their skin, fur, feathers and more, while their eyes glowed a pure white. Everyone looked sad and depressed, rightfully so as they were in Helheim; a place of death, sadness, and gloom...But not for Hellen. As she was slithering down the foggy main path with all the other deceased, it seemed like she was the only one enjoying herself. Smirking devilishly, and basking in the scenery like she was exploring Disneyland...The homes and buildings never seemed to end though... She and the other deceased followed the path for so long, until she heard and FELT the rumble of a howl. A howl so loud that everyone around, including her, covered their ears. When it stopped, straight ahead on the main path far into the fog and mist, stood the figure of a lone feral wolf. The eyes on this wolf glowed a bright yellow on it's dark figure through the fog. It just stood and stared at the deceased people, until another figure slowly appeared, walking through the fog with the wolf. As they both walked closer, their silhouettes began to fade, and their appearances began to show.The wolf was gray, with icicles hanging from it's fur, and it was as big as a king sized bed. While the robed figure, as they walked closer, removed the hood of their robe... It was a white human woman, with black hair and brown eyes. Her face was half normal, but the other half showed her bare skull... Half her face was decayed. Hellen knew who it was... They kept walking until they were about a few yards away. The woman began to talk, and even though she was speaking calmly and normally, her voice still echoed in the mind of Hellen and the other deceased, almost as if she was right next to them. She spoke in a righteous tone..."Greetings dearly departed... If you are here, then it means you have met your unamusing demise. You all have died, and you will never be able to go back to your normal, unassuming lives. You will be dead forever... and because you lived unamusingly, there will be no reincarnation or Asgard for you... but you wont suffer. I will care for you all, and your lives will continue in my kingdom. My name is Hel... but you may refer to me as your queen... If you are here, it also means your ancestors have brought you here... to Helheim; The NORSE land of the dead. All of your ancestors were offspring of Norse gods, goddesses, kings, and queens... All of you have Norse blood flowing in your veins... All... Except for one..."Hel turned to look Hellen right into her eyes...
Hellen's heart was frozen solid and unmoving already, as she was dead... but the feeling of it dropping was still there. Her eyes shot open, she fell to her hands, and held her head low, thinking to herself. She... didn't have Norse blood in her body...? It was true then... All of her efforts and searching was for nothing. Her death was for nothing... but if that were the case, how did she get into Helheim? Hellen felt her eyes dart around the ground thinking and thinking... Then she saw Hel's robe in front of her. Hel was standing before her, looking down with a face of regret."But you still wonder why you are here, I assume... Well... Although you do not have Norse blood in you, Kaylana... or shall I say Hellen Nagastraff...? You have more than proven yourself as a woman of Norse. I have watched you, and I myself snatched your soul to bring it here, instead of the other underworlds. Your death wasn't a valiant one, but your desire, dedication, and worship to me and my kingdom, truly has made you deserving of MORE than just being a civilian of my kingdom. You look up to BE me... and for that, I cannot give you my place... But I can give you a place BESIDE ME."Hel reached for the top of Hellen's head, and Hellen instinctively lowered it. Hel's hand was small compared to Hellen's flat snake head and hood. But when her palm made contact, as soon as it did, there was a low hum... When Hel lifted her hand and lowered it to her side, Hellen immediately began to feel her body molting and shedding.As a snake, she was used to shedding, but this was different... Her skin and scales were shedding then coming back and shedding then coming back, at a rapid pace. She felt no pain, but she began to grow in size. She felt two things prod her shoulders... from inside her skin. They kept prodding and poking until they burst out, hissing beside her neck and head. Her hood grew so large it began to cover the two things that just emerged... and then the shedding slowed down... and stopped.Looking around, Hellen grew twice her original size. About 16 feet in length, but just from her head to her waist, she was around 9 feet tall, with the other 7 feet being all tail and muscle. Her skin was now a green-lime color, while her front scales were a light blue. Looking beside her, she had grown two other heads. They had their own necks, were without hoods, had glowing yellow void-like eyes, with a small, yellow, glowing, upside-down triangle on their heads. She felt a connection to them... like they were part of her brain, but still had semi-sentience themselves. She felt her heartbeat again... and she also felt her stomach feeling bottomless, yet full at the same time... Like she was hungry, but not starving. She looked down at Hel, looking up at her creation."Hellen... You are my choice to be The Sentinel of Helheim...
You are the gateway, the chooser, the ambassador, and hunter of my kingdom. You will have the role of seeking those who's time is up, and you will devour them... When you do, your body will open a gateway into my domain... severing their soul and sending it here, but saving the body to fill your near endless hunger. And when you are not finding those who are on their way to my domain, you will be hunting those who escape it... You also will help me communicate with the other sentinels and rulers of the underworlds. You are the only one other than me, that I will allow to travel between Earth and Hel at-will... You will never die, never be alive, but you will always have purpose... Do you accept?"Hellen looked down at her hands. She looked around as the deceased stared up at her in awe, while some others already begun bowing to her. She turned to her two heads, both having the same shocked expression as her... She thought about her whole life... Was her last name just something made up? Was it given to her family by a drunken Viking as a joke? Is she the only one in her family who made it here...? She and her heads slowly began to smile, thinking about here and now... All that matters is that SHE made it... So she spoke...
Dawning a simple black and white suit and tie, cat-eye glasses, and a clipboard in-hand... Hellen would become Helheim's Sentinel, and gain multiple abilities, gifted by Hel herself...The ability of being able to swallow people whole was the first thing. Due to her new size and flexible jaw as a snake, it was extremely easy to simply pick up anyone she had on her list using her new strength, and simply swallow them without chewing. Any name that magically appeared on that list, she would teleport to find... and let them know that their time is up. Which was another one of her abilities. Traveling by... tail (?) all around the world obviously is not quick enough. So thanks to Hel's blessing, Hellen was given the power to open gateways and use a minimal amount of telekinesis and telepathy.Each of these three powers were split to one for each of her three heads. Her main head with the hood, was the devour ability, the one on her right was able to open gateways, and her left was telekinesis and telepathy. All three heads, with their own thoughts and sentience, but all of which were copies of Hellen's brain at the time of Hel's gifting. So they communicate amongst each other, but rarely argue due to them thinking exactly the same.Hellen became a "grim reaper" of sorts, even though the real Grim Reaper exists as well already... Hellen travels around Earth taking the lives of those who have Norse blood in them. She loved serving Hel and doing it... and maybe it was therapeutic for her as well, just maybe... Only because she couldn't be LIKE THEM, those people with Norse blood in them... But she would never tell you that. Because even with her newfound purpose, she was still the same hard-working, even scarier now, business-woman she always had been.Hellen would do exactly what Hel requested of her, not even because Hel told her to, but because she loved this job. She was unkillable, she was strong, she was powerful, invisible to the living, and even though she didn't get the truth she wanted, she did get the respect of someone she looked up to. She loved her new purpose...But she would also soon discover what Hel meant by "You will help me communicate with the other sentinels and rulers of the underworlds."
Helheim is not the only underworld of the dead.Every Religion, Region, and Ethnicity that has ever had their own ideas of what happens after death... is right. Minus the idea of a land for the "good ones"... Not anymore at least. A long time ago, all the evil Gods of every belief rose up to power thanks to how much sin was being done on Earth. Using this power, they teamed up, and overthrew and killed every God, except for THE God. THAT God in Christianity has so many followers and so much power, that he was able to survive this raid and hide away somewhere... But more on that another time.Basically all you need to know now, is that if you are good, you are not gifted Heaven or Valhalla or something like that, you are just simply reincarnated. But if you are bad, you simply go to an underworld, to live for all eternity. Of course there are multiple beliefs of the an "underworld", but only one is accessable for each. Basically ALL of these "Lands of the Dead" exist, and your own belief in WHICH ONE exists, and the blood in your body, determines which one you go to.So Christianity believers go to Hell, Hinduism believers will go to Naraka, and someone with Norse blood, well you get the idea... But ANYONE will be reincarnated if they lived self-less. But what about a mix of two?Say for instance, a Greek man who believes in Shinto. He has Greek blood, but strongly believes in the Shinto religion... So would he go to Hades or Yomi? Well, it all determines on the rulers of each underworld and their respective Sentinels. When that man dies or is ABOUT to die, whoever can get their hands on his soul first, gets to keep him. And if both get their hands on him at the same time, then they have to fight for it... legally. Court-style. With the biggest, baddest, and most popular of them all as the judge; Satan.Thankfully, Hellen is a smart and skilled woman. Ever since she started her new job in 2062, she has been one of the best at it for these tens of years. She's always been one of the quickest to snatching souls, and one of the best at winning cases. She's made Hel proud. But as mentioned, the other thing Hellen had to do, was catch any people who ESCAPE from Hel... because there was a way.Off in a cave somewhere, in one of the Northern-most points of Greenland, is the entrance to Hel. But its not some doorway... You have to do a ritual in an unsuspecting dead-end of the cave, and the portal will open... and the only two who know how to do this ritual are Hel and Hellen. But if you are already in Helheim, then escaping is as easy as walking to the edge of the realm... which would take you about 3 months in Earth-time.The walk from Hel's wall to the edge of Helheim to escape, without stopping, would take you nearly 900+ hours. But with Helheim being the land of the dead, you COULD do it, since you're already dead... Of course you'll still feel your legs grow tired, the shiver of the cold, and the fear that you'll forever be lost in the endless cold foggy winds. But you wont starve, freeze, or lose your breath and die... You just have to be sure you're going in the right direction.The pathway on the ground to Hel's Kingdom will guide you in a direction, but after a while, the pathway will fade. You will be left on your own to go in a straight direction, because there is ONE exit... If you lose your direction, you will be lost in the endless cold fog. Other than that one exit, the rest of Helheim is literally infinite, and the only landmark is Hel's wall to her kingdom which is ALSO infinite, and only takes you right back to where you started; The Entrance of Helheim... The place you were trying to escape...But Hel is a merciful goddess. If you are lost in the endless cold, and you beg her for mercy, calling out into the fog... she will answer your call in a disembodied voice... She will offer you a second chance in her Kingdom... And if you accept, Hellen will appear to open a gateway back to the entrance. But if you try to run again, be SURE you get to the exit that time... because Hel will NOT answer you the second time.But even if you do ever manage to get to the exit, Hellen WILL find you eventually...
As the years pass... the year is now 2138...The Earth is technologically advanced... especially with the discovering of magic. But thankfully the discovering of what happens after death is still left up in the air for everyone. If it wasn't then that would be a worst case scenario...Because the underworld you go to resides in your belief and/or blood for certain ones, people would basically be able to start picking and choosing which "Land of the dead" they go to and which they do not. People would start to breed with specific bloods in order to go to the Underworld of their choosing. Plus, the more blood that gets mixed, the more complicated things become for the leaders and their Sentinels. More court cases and what not for possession, and nobody wants MORE court cases... what a drag. So thats why its up to the Sentinels to make sure the right people get in, but never get OUT.But thankfully, nobody has found the ONE thing that has actual real proof, descriptions, and rituals of these Underworlds... A book found at the deepest part of the world... The Mariana Trench... The closest location to these Underworlds... and the Arks went there for fun.Being immortals, being able to shapeshift into anything, and also just being nosy bastards, of course they'd try it, and succeed. They did it VERY early on, when they first crash landed on Earth and they were exploring it. The book is a Necronomicon. A book filled with rituals, descriptions, and explanations of beings of higher righteousness... that actually works. The Arks have kept it with them for decades and never really bothered to use it... Until now...Arkhize would recently hit a drought in adding women to his A.S.S. list... but something told him to leave the a slot for Season 4 open... Well not necessarily told him, but instead FORCED him... Something got into his mind. Something telepathically, or telekinetically told him to leave that slot open for... a snake... Making him think it was just for DEI purposes.But a Bobcat known as "Dianni" got fed up with it. Fed up with Ark waiting around for a snake to show up, when A.S.S. was SO CLOSE to being done. That slot was the ONLY ONE left at this point... So she took matters into her own hands. She knew what kind of women Ark was into, and the evil, sadistic creatures in the Necronomicon could probably provide that...She ran off into the forest and he ran after her. But he was too late. She lifted up a barrier of fire to prevent Ark from stepping inside, teasing him about all the "Great tinder options!~". She eventually made it to a page about how to summon the "Current Sentinel of Helheim", and decided to summon it, in the hopes it would be a woman Ark would fall in love with and finally add. There was no risk considering Dianni's abilites are what they are... So she drew on the ground, and begun saying a hex.As she finished saying the hex, the three triangles on the ground that she drew, began to glow lime-green, light blue, and yellow in the dark forest. Then rising from the ground majestically, with six yellow glowing eyes... The huge three-headed snake stretched it's body... It looked at Dianni, then at Arkhize, and all three of it's heads dawned a grin... And all of them spoke in unison...