DIVINE CHAMPIONS 4: THE SUN'S CHOICE

THE OTHER KING

Gifr and Geri, on Ishaan's orders, climbed the hill, and had nearly caught up with the giants. Ishaan had seen his friends in the ending line, behind three giants, tied to the horses. His plan was to attack the last line, burn them down, and free his friends. They hadn't seen him yet. All three of them looked exhausted. Of course they did. Perhaps they had tried everything to free themselves, but nothing had worked. No matter. Ishaan was this close to catching them. 

And that was the moment Gifr and Geri chose to slow down, nearly stopping in their tracks. 

"Guys, not now!" Ishaan shouted. The dogs whimpered. Ishaan did what he had to do. He picked the bag up, took out some small pieces of boiled chicken, tossed them up. Gifr and Geri jumped, grabbing all the pieces in their mouths, took a few seconds to chew, and barked. Then, they quickly made up for the lost time, and once again, caught up with the giants. The last three giants had fallen slightly behind.

This time, Ishaan didn't miss his chance. He spread his arms, and summoned fire. And before the Jotunheim winds could blow it all out, Ishaan launched the fireballs at the giants. The fire didn't exactly burn the giants, but surely knocked them off of their horses. One of them, a female, knocked herself out. And before the other two males, who had fallen right beside each other, could get up, Ishaan concentrated all the heat inside his body in his hands, and got hold of their faces. And once the flaming hot hands touched the big brutish cold face, the giants screamed in pain, as their face seemed to slowly melt. Ishaan realized that these frost giants were actually made of ice. And that is why, fire is what could kill them. The two could barely move, as they didn't seem to have any strength left in them. About a minute later, the giants turned to water, and flowed away.

Ishaan signaled the dogs to return, when a voice spoke from behind, "Stop lingering and free us, Pyro!" This could only be one man. Ishaan turned, and freed his friends. After he helped all of them to his feet, the four assembled into a group hug.

However, their moment lasted only a few minutes. As they separated from their group hug, Gifr and Geri had left, and they heard horse shoe sounds once again. When they turned, they saw a scary scene. The giants that had gone ahead had been called upon by the giantess that Ishaan had knocked out. She was up on her feet, club in her hand, ready to beat the bejesus out of all of them. They snarled, smoke came out of their faces. 

"Guys?" Aitri said, "What now?"

"Rick," Rishi said, "If your portal power fixes itself right now, I'll treat you with Chinese."

Rick seemed to get extra motivated with Chinese. He closed his eyes, and tried opening a portal. However, something was stopping the magic from happening. His fingers sparked, but produced nothing. "What is going wrong?" Rick asked, more to himself than to others.

"Whatever is, we gotta run." Aitri said.

"No." Ishaan said. He looked at Rishi, who nodded. Rishi looked straight at the coming giants, and said, "We don't run this time. We can't escape them. So, we fight." His eyes glared. His hands sparkled. Rick seemed to take it, and he got ready for a rune. Aitri bowed, touching the snow on the ground. Perhaps, she was trying to find the soil beneath the frost. Ishaan said to his friends, "Guys, I'm sorry. It was my impatience that got you all into this."

"Not the right time, Ishaan." 

And just as the giants came closer, some huge bird flew over them. They heard its wings flap, making a sound as if an aeroplane was flying over. The next thing he knew, Ishaan had been caught by the neck by the bird's claw, and Aitri was him. He looked beside, and found Rishi and Rick caught by the other claw. The bird wasn't hurting them, but its future intentions didn't look too great.

The bird flew with them for nearly twenty minutes, understandably taking them far away from the giants, but who knew where it was taking them. Ishaan asked Aitri beside him, "What is this bird going to do?"

"Don't know." Aitri somehow managed, "Maybe he is saving us."

"He?"

"He has a shallow beak. Males have shallow beaks."

"Zoologist." Rishi added from the other claw.

"And what bird is this?"

"You tell me."

Ishaan looked up. The bird's whole body was black. Well, almost. There were a few brown feathers here and there, but mostly black. He had huge wings, and a head, completely covered with white feathers. The beak was as yellow as Sol's hair. Ishaan looked down, and said, "Bald eagle."

As soon as Ishaan said it, the eagle started to descend. "Oh no, this is when we might die." Ishaan said, "Guys, I'm so sorry."

"Ishaan, its not your fault." Rishi said, "You are new. It is very normal to get excited. We all got excited at least once."

The bird kept descending. He descended through mist and clouds, and when he finally landed, where he landed them was so horrendous that nothing came out of their mouths.

The place was full of hubris. Things were broken, falling apart, demolished, decimated. People were dead. Here, the storms blew stronger than ever, rain fell. The place was super cold, colder than even Jotunheim. Trees burned, despite the cold weather and the storm. The water was gushing in from around everywhere. It was all dark up there. The divine champions stood on a little cliff from where they could see everything. "What is going on?" Aitri asked the others. Rishi looked confused. He didn't always look confused, but when he did, it was a sign of worry.

"Is that a Tsunami?" Rick pointed afar, from where water was gushing in.

"Tsunami, storm, rain, non-stop winters, you call it." A male voice said from behind them. They turned to see who was speaking. What they saw shocked Ishaan even more. The huge bald eagle was taking the shape of a man as big as itself. He was nearly nine feet tall, with short grey hair and long, thick grey beard. He looked slightly at age, with wrinkles on his skin, which was not grey, unlike the rest of the giants. But he was definitely as powerful as them. He looked at them sternly, and said, "This is what your week long hideout has wrought."

"What?" Ishaan asked, "But doesn't time work faster in Jotunheim?"

"Who told you so?" The giant asked, "That girl from Lyfjaberg? How often does she leave Jotunheim? How often does she come to Midgard?"

"Girl?" Aitri asked.

"Lyfjaberg?" Rishi asked.

"Come to Midgard?" Rick asked, "This isn't Midgard."

The giant looked the other way, perhaps hiding his own face, trying to not face the truth. "What is this place?" Rick asked again, "What is this thing happening? What happened here? Who are you?" Rick's voice was breaking. Rishi's face was as if there was an explosion on it. Aitri was still trying to piece it together. Ishaan could feel his heart take a jump, while his brain was empty. 

"In the last Jotun week, the Giant King has been successful in his plan. Skoll has eaten Sol, just as they planned, and Midgard doesn't exist anymore. One by one, he's ending every world."

"No." Rishi said, "No. You are lying."

"Who are you anyway?" Aitri asked.

"I'm a regional king in Jotunheim, Utgard-Loki. King of Utgarder."