DIVINE CHAMPIONS 4: THE SUN'S CHOICE

IRON WOOD

"Boy, would you look at that?" Rishi said, with a smile, "We are in Sweden."

"Dude!" Rishi turned to him, "We have covered all three of the Norse countries now!"

"Right!" Rishi high-fived Rick, "Iceland done, Norway done, and now Sweden."

"Guys, there is a letter that is lying here." Aitri said, pointing towards a baby pink envelope, lying on the ground where, just a few seconds ago, the portal was open. Ishaan was the closest to it, yet, he hadn't seen it. He picked it up, tore it open, and out came a white piece of paper, in which, written with blue ink, was a message. Ishaan read it out, "

Dear champions

First of all, I apologize for sending you into such a mission. I didn't think it would turn out this way. From the hot Alfheim to the freezing Jotunheim, I can only hope that you are okay. Our progress in finding our shining guardian is going well. And so, when I received a reply for the message Gerd had sent to the descendants of Ivaldi, informing them about your visit, I got help from Utgard-Loki to shorten your trip. The weapon is where you are. Very close to you. Apparently, the Ivaldi family have a warehouse in Midgard, in one of the worst places possible. Sandviken, a locality in the country of Sweden also houses the terrifying Jarnvidr, a forest where Skoll was born. If he is to do what Utgard-Loki says he might do, you better go in and learn a little about him. And along the way, find the warehouse, my weapon, and bring it back. Straight to me. Then, head out straight to rescue Heimdall. 

PS: The forest you see behind the road where you landed is the one. Walk into it. Just, be very careful. It isn't all great. It is full of trolls, and their leader is Skoll and his brother, Hati's mother. They are one notorious breed.

Yours truly,
Frey, the lord of summers"

"Wow!" Aitri said, "Not sure I should call it a help or a hindrance."

"He denied us the feisty but nice dwarves, and gave us the scary trolls." Rishi said, "Anyway, even if we went there, we would still have had to be here. So, why not?"

"Yeah!" Ishaan said, "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, we got a lot to talk about." Aitri said, taking Rishi's hand as they started walking, "Why not do that now?"

They walked down the streets, past the houses. "Seems like it hasn't snowed here in a while." Ishaan said, "Sweden is never this green at this time of the year."

They walked past the houses, and a narrow path led towards the forest. Meanwhile, Ishaan asked Rishi, "In Jotunheim, you called the horse something. How did you know the name?"

"Come on, man." Rishi lifted his shoulders, "Svadilfari is pretty famous in the Norse world. You remember that story of that giant who went to Asgard to build a fortress there?"

"Yeah, and he asked for a hefty price in return. The Moon, the Sun, and Freya herself."

"Yep." Rishi said, as they all listened intently, "Loki had the idea that the gods ask him to complete the thing in an impossible timeframe. So the gods asked the giant to complete the fort before winter, which was near, in order to get his price. The giant almost completed it, and created panic among the gods. All because of his powerful horse. Day and night, he travelled around Yggdrasil, climbed the mountains of the nine worlds, loaded his back with stones, boulders, rocks, kiln, and brought it all back outside Asgard for his master. Then, Loki happened."

"He distracted Svadilfari by shapeshifting into a mare, to delay the giant." Rick joined in, "He ran through the woods, and was chased by Svadilfari. Their union..." Rick weirded out.

"Gave birth to Sleipnir, the eight legged horse of Odin. And after the giant saw through the trick, and attacked Asgard, Thor killed him."

"Something that you guys don't know," Rishi said, "is something Thor had told me when I had asked him about it. He said that Odin was so happy after seeing the baby Sleipnir, he made Svadilfari ageless, meaning, he won't die until he was killed." He sighed, "The worlds will have to live without their star stallion now."

Ishaan remembered the story. But he had no idea that the great horse had a name. Also, he had no idea Thor was this close to his champion. "Rishi, how close are you and Thor?"

"He shows up every six months, we talk, we train, we discuss things, and we discuss stuff about the war, he makes me eat a lot of stuff he likes," He mouthed, 'I don't like them', "and he leaves."

"Why aren't the other patrons so close to us?"

"Thor is the ultimate extrovert." Rishi said, chuckling, "Sif also shows up sometimes, but she says she has a house to run, given Thor is what I said. Plus, he is the protector of mankind, so he comes to Midgard a lot. Njord isn't great at peopling unlike the old days, he prefers the sea more now. Freya is a busy lady, with her daughter, her underworld, her cats, her dragons, her magic, her merch."

"She doesn't have any merch." Rick said, "I told her she should. I would advertise it." They laughed at it. Rishi went on, "Well, she is also the Queen of Vanaheim. So that also makes sense. And Sol, I think we all know why she isn't all appearance maker." 

"Makes sense." Ishaan nodded.

"Okay, now, what happened while you went missing, kid?" Rishi said, with an intent that Ishaan had when Rishi was telling the story of Svadilfari.

"Yeah, who was that girl Berg mentioned?" Rick asked.

"Spill, Ishaan." Aitri pushed him playfully.

"Alright." Ishaan told them everything about Lyfjaberg, about Menglod and her family, and about Eir. He left nothing out. That resulted in Aitri clapping her hands to encourage him, Rishi patting his back to congratulate him, and Rick saying, "Nice, he has a girlfriend, and I don't."

"Yeah?" Rishi asked, "Who's fault is that?"

"Mine." Rick said, putting his head down.

They were so busy talking that he hadn't realized how far they had come inside the forest. Now, suddenly, they realized that. "Gods, where are we?" Ishaan asked.

"Seems like we came deep into the forest. Now what?" Rick asked.

"I have an idea." Aitri said, "Rick, do you have Meili's stone with you?"

"What?"

"Meili's stone? The one that you two went all the way to Lumbini for?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I have it." Rick searched his pocket and took out a yellow glowing stone the size of his thumb.

"Will it lead us to the warehouse?" Aitri asked.

"While avoiding the trolls?" Rishi asked.

"Yes. And no. It will lead us to the warehouse surely, but won't avoid the trolls. Meili's stone solves humane problems in the journey."

They nodded, and Rick mumbled 'Dwarf warehouse' very close to the stone, and then, let it go. The stone floated in mid-air and flew around, leading the way. Rick asked everyone to follow it. "I wish we can get out of here before sundown. Forests are not nice at night for me."

"You hate horror movies?" Rishi asked.

"Absolutely disgusted." Ishaan said, leading to Rishi putting his fist up for a bump. Ishaan obliged. They walked inward towards the forest, when the stone stopped moving. It still floated mid-air, but it was still. They were so inside the forest now that not much of sunlight came in. The ground was slightly wet, perhaps with the constant snowfall and the snow melting, and there were high trees all around. There were also bushes. And unfortunately, they were moving, with little hustling sounds around. "Guys," Rishi said, taking his position for a possible fight, "Brace yourselves. The troll-women found us."