Title: The Dark Elf

The Wraiths began surrounding the tower and started to look for clues reluctantly while Loki and Morgan moved closer to the tower. In reality, there was no apparent entrance into the icy tower. It simply existed.

"I really hope that other realms have more to offer," Spider sighed and jumped into Nik's pocket. After her body's sudden demise at the hand of the symbiote, the one she hosted, Spider had fallen idle. She no longer felt like having a goal to attain and began to slowly adapt to her new identity, unlike Poole, who still acted much more flamboyantly even after knowing that her entire world had collapsed itself.

Not minding the sheer lack of excitement in her tone, Nik began observing the tower, too.

'After a person dies, I thought that they would reincarnate, like me and Kaal... so... why is the dead even creating so much trouble?' Nik thought deeply. The essence of life wasn't the soul but the mind and thoughts, at least, that's what Nik felt. After all, Spider and Poole were dead in body and soul, but they still lived.

'If I consider their situation... could it be that the beings captured are just the essence of their mind?'

Nik thought deeply. But as he recalled the tortured phantoms in the poisonous water of the river Gjoll, he felt his theory a little incorrect. Those simply weren't simple consciousnesses. They had a feeling of solid form. But since Nik had never seen a soul and Sky did reveal that the phantoms were indeed souls, he could only accept the situation.

"This is strange. Say, Leah, can you explain... the whose life and death thing. For instance, if I die, what would happen?"

Leah frowned at Nik's inquiry. She continuously looked at Loki to stop her from doing anything strange this time and spoke up.

"When you die, your soul will be brought into the realm of the dead, which, for the nine realms, is the Helheim. Your soul, based on your actions as a living being, may have many options to be treated. But overall, the souls usually have a calm afterlife. Those with extremely benevolent deeds are rewarded. They spend their life in a warm environment and can even communicate with the gods."

Leah grew silent after that.

"So, why are the dead trying to create trouble... they are dead, after all."

"They still have their abilities, knowledge, and powers. Soul is not a powerless entity," Leah spoke up.

Nik pursed his lips.

'Then why did Kaal die... and what about Sky and others,' Nik thought with a narrowed gaze.

"Found it!" Loki shouted, breaking Nik and others out of their observations. They looked towards Loki as she crouched down near a snowy hill.

"What do you know, there really is an external problem, too," Loki chuckled and then pushed her hand into the snow and pulled a small, purple scorpion from its stinger.

"Last I checked, scorpions are not natural inhabitants of Hel, much less these magical ones," Loki grinned while Morgan snapped her fingers. Merlin appeared behind her and blew hard against the snow and a thick layer of snow was blown apart.

Instantly, a number of scorpions were revealed.

"They aren't inhabitants? Then I guess I found it before you," Morgan smiled as Merlin disappeared with a golden glow as Loki exhaled deeply.

"These are..." Leah walked towards one of the dead scorpions.

"Elven Scorpions," Loki smiled.

"So, it is right to assume that there are dead dark elves around us, too. Now, hmm, why would the dark elves come to the Hall of Plague? Who is the most disturbing of all the Dark Elves? Ooh, I know," Loki grinned, "Malekith the Accursed!"

Leah shivered at the name.

But Loki didn't stop and threw the scorpion in the air and a wraith flew down akin to an eagle.

"Find the Night Elves around us. There's probably a shaman with them if the group is still alive. Bring them to us!" Loki smiled coldly.

"Dark elves?" Nik inquired with an excited expression. "Pointed ears, dark skin, and extremely beautiful girls?" He continued, not minding the glares around him. Elves!

This would be the first time he would be meeting such a mythical race, if it is assumed that they still are, in fact, alive right now.

"Eh... beautiful? Whoever told you that?" Loki narrowed her gaze, "They are dark, yes. Have pointed ears, sure. But they are no World of Warcraft beauts," she shrugged.

"What's the world of warcraft?" Nik inquired.

"A game," Poole pumped her fist, "And the elves are sooo goood~!"

"I know right," Loki cackled.

"Elves or not," Angela looked rather bored, "What solution did you find?"

"If it's really the work of Malekith... then, I, Angela, and Morgan shouldn't really meet him head-on. He is a magical fiend, in more ways than one, and has the capabilities of luring people to his words. I mean... he's dangerous, sure, but he should be weakened now that he's in the hall, right?"

Loki looked towards the hesitant Leah.

"Hey, stop being so scared. So what if he killed your family? Hela did bring you under her command, right?" Loki chuckled but the sadistic amusement in her eyes couldn't be hidden.

"Shut up!" Leah barked and disappeared in a green blaze, leaving the group alone.

"Say, Loki... is Malekith is so dangerous... why isn't his soul, you know, destroyed, or cleared, or whatever it's in so many books. Why doesn't its soul reincarnates?"

"Reincarnation?" Loki tilted her head in confusion.

"How am I to know all this? Hel exists. Souls are kept here. For what purpose, I don't know. But many souls, after a period of time, do pass on but they never reincarnate. Every new life is birthed 'with' a soul. It's hard to explain even in our own records and this is one of the many phenomena that confuses Asgardian scholars still."

Nik frowned.

"Suavle! Kiragha!"

A low shout occurred as the Disir flew close to the group's direction while holding a single, blue-skinned figure. Short silver hair and sharp, jagged teeth with, as expected, pointy ears.

The man wore a leather tunic and boots with his body garbed in thick trousers. He tried to struggle against the jaws of the Disir around his shoulder but strangely, he couldn't hit them. The fact that the Disir could bite into him made the situation all the more strange.

"There really is a night elf!" Loki smirked.

"He's asking some pretty stupid questions," Angela crossed her arms, clearly able to understand the night elf.

"Some of them tend to be more obvious than their usually deceptive counterparts," Loki smiled.

As Disir brought the figure down, he gasped and hurriedly stood up while entering a strange fighting stance. His white eyes staring at the group warily.

He began speaking something strange once again but Loki only narrowed her gaze.

"Hey, shut up. If we wanted to kill, we would have killed you already," Angela began with comforting words to the confused soul.

The man's expression turned grim but Loki still pointed at the group of dead scorpions.

"Why did you create these scorpions?" Her inquiry made the man shout and rush towards the least threatening of the group.

With all the scary, and clearly, powered women, the man seemed the most ordinary of all. Seeing the man's stunned gaze, the dark elf felt relieved in his heart and suddenly, he found himself stopped mid-rush.

Looking down, he found the frost covering his legs and attaching it to the icy path while the man shrugged and said something to the Goddess of Mischief.

"Oh, really? Wouldn't that Miss Righteous get all offended?" Loki pointed towards Janet and Jennifer. Even Spider frowned once she heard Nik saying that Loki could simply use her methods to find out what they need.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Nik shrugged, "This guy is trying to break out a certified, Hel-stamped bad guy which gets special treatment in punishments... if this guy wanna break him out, surely, he ain't no saint. Or... if he is, then he's quite the deluded one."

"Still," Jennifer felt a bad taste in her mouth.

"We don't need to torture. Just hypnotize him," Loki smiled and Nik nodded after a moment of thought.

*Snap*

Nik snapped his fingers to get the man's attention before smiling. His violet eyes glowed and the man instantly fell into a dizzy spell.

"It's always freaky seeing powder puffing out from his body," Janet shivered.

"Least of all the devils," Morgan whispered, recalling the feats Nik could accomplish. Especially the fact that he was slowly getting used to ravaging his women with not a single cock... but two.