DIVINE CHAMPIONS 3: THE RISE OF THE ELEMENTALIST

BIRTHDAY GONE WRONG

The next day, when Aitri was waiting in the room, all ready for the party, Meghna entered her room. "What up, birthday girl?" She asked.

"Have the guests arrived?"

"Not all yet." Meghna was wearing a beautiful glazy silver dress. Her newly slightly streaked wavy hair was flowing in the winter air of Pankhpur. "Dude," Meghna pointed to the open window in her room, "Close the window. It is cold."

"Could have wore something wintery, huh?" Aitri asked with a sly smile, "You never had a thing for winter clothes."

"You know me well." Meghna smiled. True, Aitri did. She had known Aitri since she was ten. When she had met him, Meghna was very different from what she was today. She had a perfect tomboy look, and was very boyish, running around playing cricket with boys. She is still quite boyish, and she still plays cricket a lot, with Rick and Rishi. She literally had hit Rishi on the head with what they call a 'bouncer'. However, she was now much more balanced. Kids back in Kolkata used to pick on her due to her tomboy look. After that, she changed herself. She started keeping long hair, and started dressing up like a girl. But as she grew up, the boyish attitude didn't go away. She was still the person who would slap another person if they talk to wryly. And man she was strong. 

Aitri got up, looked herself at the mirror. She was in her jeans and a checked shirt, on top of which, she had put on a black coat. Her hair was tied to a ponytail. She liked her ponytails, and despite Rishi sometimes asking her to let her hair fly free, she tied it into a ponytail.

After Meghna left when the boys arrived for the party, saying, "My boss is here.", Aitri walked to Airish's photo. Aitri was very young when this painting was made. Aitri's parents had both her and Airish's paintings made when they were early in school, and had put them in their respective rooms as they grew up. But after Airish had given his life in the police force, at the hands of a minion of Pankhpur's bane, the Drug Lord, in order to unknowingly save her boyfriend, who he knew to be the Savior of Pankhpur, Aitri had brought his painting and hung it on her room's wall. It had been over a year now, but there wasn't a day she didn't cry looking at it.

"Hello, brother." She said to Airish's painting, "It's my birthday today. The cause you gave your life for is now not just for Pankhpur, but for the whole world. I know, it is unbelievable, but it is true. I am sure you know of it. Anyway, it is my birthday today. I am three years away from reaching your age. Had it all been different, I would have been super happy. But I feel empty. I miss you everyday, specially on these days. I love you, my big bro. You are the best brother ever." She put her hand on the painting, "Stay with me when I need you the most."

As soon as she came out, Aitri was welcomed by Rick's cheers. That guy couldn't just shut up. That was basically his defensive strategy, hiding all the sadness that he had kept buried under him. He did seem to come to terms with all of them, but Rick was not going to change. And Aitri prayed that he didn't.

Her parents were busy preparing everything. They had help through Rishi's parents. Meanwhile, Rishi was drinking water. There he was, her reason to smile all the time. Everytime she looked at him, she remembered the moment she had realized her feelings for her. It was a very small moment to be honest, but was an important one. 

It was about a year before they had started to date, that Aitri had gone to Rishi's house with her parents. Airish was away for duty, and so, knowing that she would be bored alone at home, she took up on her parents' offer, and accompanied them. Rick had also been there, as always. It was his birthday, and Rishi had brought him a gift. Aitri had found it weird that despite being such a rich kid, Rick had decided to spend his birthday away from his luxurious mansion. Now, after two years, she knows how much he loves being here rather than there.

As Rick was about to open the box, Rishi had stopped him, and taken all three of them to the balcony. There, he had allowed his best friend to open the box. When Rick opened it, inside was a cuckoo bird. It had cooed, as Rick held it in his hands.

"Do you like it?" Rishi had asked.

"I love it." Rick had said, as he was petting the bird.

"Now, let it go." Rishi had said, surprising everyone.

"Why?" Rick had asked, "No."

"Let it free." Rishi had said calmly, "Love isn't supposed to be held back. It is supposed to be let to fly in the sky. This bird has been in captivity for so long. It's place is in the sky, not in a cage."

"Love is supposed to be set free." Rick had repeated, "You impressed me again, philosopher."

Saying that, Rick had set the bird free, as it had flown away in the night sky, cooing loudly and happily.

Rishi had always been like this, free to his mind. His view of life is what made Aitri fall head over heels for him. And he had not changed a bit. She never got to know how Rishi fell for her, but would have asked when she got the chance. He had been around her a little bit more in the last year, and when he was away, he had been calling her a little more than usual. When asked, he denied it. But inside, Aitri enjoyed that.

After all the cake cutting, and great dinner, and so much fun, Aitri finally had Rishi alone, when she took him down to the park. Rick and Meghna had left, the parents were having chats, listening to some soothing music after a long evening of party songs. So, when everything piped down, Rishi took Aitri down to the park. 

While she sat on a bench, she put her head on Rishi's shoulder, and Rishi put his arm around her, and held her tight. He was really lanky before, despite, but now, his shoulders seemed to cover her arms fully. He was that buff now. 

"I have a question." Aitri said.

"What?" Rishi asked.

"How did you realize that you had a thing for me?"

"You ask me this after a year and a half of dating?" Rishi chuckled, "You tell me mine first."

Aitri told him about the cuckoo thing on Rick's birthday. Rishi smiled, kissed Aitri on her forehead, and said, "Well, I remember..."

Before he could continue, he lost words. A sound came out of his mouth, and then he stopped. Aitri looked up towards her boyfriend, and saw him looking at the empty area in the park. Aitri looked over Rishi's shoulders, and what she saw made her heart twitch. 

On the middle of the grass-less field, a whitish aura was churning itself, along with a light from above the sky. Aitri looked at the light, which seemed to be very colourful. It had a familiar set of colours. Aitri definitely knew that shade: the rainbow. And Aitri, now, given last year's sessions, also knew what this light was. "Is that the Bifrost?" She asked Rishi, who tightly held her hand, and said, "No, no, don't be this. Please don't this be what Loki meant."

Aitri got more confused. She asked, "Rish, what is that?"

"Something very bad!" Rishi said, as he held her hand, and tried to turn. But as soon as he did, a gush of wind turned him back towards the Bifrost, the soil under him grew up, and stuck to his feet, making him unable to move. "Go." Rishi said, "Go home."

"Never." Aitri held his hand tightly. Then, the light diminished, and in front of them were two figures. One of them was a woman in her early thirties. She had the longest hair anyone had ever seen. It swept the ground, and was all blonde, glowing like gold. She was wearing an attractive green dress. Her eyes were brown, and she wore bracelets in her hand. Beside her was a man in his mid fifties, with grey hair, grey beard, and bluish eyes. He didn't dress up like the woman aside, wearing only beach shorts, and a T-shirt about Tex Mex cuisine, with a fishing rod in his hand. He looked like he had been pulled by someone while he was fishing in the beach.

Aitri knew very well who they were. "Sif, and Njord. Right?" She asked, half-confidently.

"Very good, Aitri." Njord's lazyish voice said.

Sif turned to Rishi, and said, "Don't worry, Saptarishi, your girlfriend will be absolutely fine."

"I don't doubt that." Rishi said, his head bowed, "But what you will do to her worries me more."

"What will you do to me?" Aitri felt like her heart sank.

"Dear, we need to talk."