DIVINE CHAMPIONS 4: THE SUN'S CHOICE

WARRIORS OF DEATH

The bushes kept moving and hustling, as Rishi said, "Any moment now." Sparks appeared on the tip of his fingers. Ishaan summoned fire on his own hands. Rick drew a new rune this time, and conjured up a machete. "Guys, I still have a question that I forgot to ask." Ishaan said, "Once we get out of this unscathed, have an answer prepared."

And then, out of the bushes came out creatures, ugly as heck. They were all women, surely, but were way more muscular and taller than regular women. They were mostly hag-like, with greyish, hairy body full of lumps on their skins. They didn't exactly have fangs, rather tusks. The clouded eyes didn't seem to have any eye-ball. They had nails like claws, but it seemed as if those nails hadn't met the touch of water for so long. They had long long hair, they wore either leaves or tree barks to cover themselves. Nearly fifty in number, they surrounded the divine champions. They shrieked and screamed, making scary noises. Ishaan was not exactly the happiest looking at these beastly women. And then there was their leader.

She stood the shortest, the oldest, with white hair, and the lowest, due to some kind of hump on her back. She walked towards them, half-bowing, and said, "You are here to try and upstage my son, humans? That shall not happen on my watch."

"Son?" Rick asked.

"This is Skoll's mother, sadly." Rishi replied.

"Still alive?" Aitri asked.

"Surprisingly yes." Rishi replied, "Not for long though."

The leader troll-woman screamed for her gang, "ATTACK!!!" And the whole gang came at them with force.

Ishaan quickly jumped out the way of the two trolls that came at him, and burned them down. He was really impressed how quickly he had learned the jumping aside, after he had seen Rishi do it so many times against the frost giants near his house. As Ishaan got a second to relax, he saw Rishi do his signature move again, jumping away, picking one troll by his hand and throwing her afar, before electrocuting another. And with every move, he snarled. Ishaan's eyes stuck at Rishi's aggressive destruction spree. While his mind still operated just as fine. He felt a troll approaching, got hold of her, burned her down, and went back to following Rishi's fighting technique.

No, he wasn't stalking. So far, Ishaan had understood one thing. Rishi was the most trained of them all. The first divine champion, he was a much better fighter than any of them. Rishi knew his stuff very well. Ishaan figured that if he was to stay alive in this quest, he better follow Rishi's work well. Yes, it was that admirable.

Ishaan took three more trolls down, while Rishi took at least ten down in a flash. Literally. Now, Ishaan turned his attention towards the other two. His college senior was on her own, opening chasms to send a few creatures underground, and sucking the air out of the others. Rick, however, stood still. His sword was still unused. His eyes were closed. Then, they opened. With about twenty more trolls left, Rick shouted to his peers, "Alright guys, stand down."

Ishaan had no idea what he meant. But Rishi and Aitri jumped away, standing side by side, catching breath. And what followed was something so extraordinary, that Rick simply stole the whole limelight. 

It went something like this. He did some kind of charm as he went on speaking Old Norse. Then, he walked towards the trolls with a subtle amount of sass, and then, he opened a portal and jumped inside. Of course, now that they were in Midgard, Rick's portal magic was back. His disappearance shocked Ishaan. Did he just run away?

Oh no, Sir. He came back alright. In the most Avengers way. A portal appeared right beside one of the trolls, Rick jumped out of it, stabbed and killed the troll, and disappeared again. He opened another portal near another troll, appeared, stabbed, killed, and disappeared. This extra-dimensional Esoterica like stuff (from Ben 10) went on for a few minutes, as only one troll was left. That was the wolf-mother.

Ishaan thought the wolf-mother would be scared. She would run away or something, or do something, anything other than what she did. She laughed. "Good. My other kids would have competition."

She shrieked like some sort of animal calling in pain. And with the call, running a chill down Ishaan's spine, came shrieking sounds, replying back. "Guys?" Ishaan asked.

"Brace yourselves again, I guess." Aitri said, sighing.

"If I live this war without a heart disease, change my name." Rick replied.

And so, just like the fifty previously, nearly two hundred ran through the forest, came and stood beside their mother. Ishaan's heart took a jump. So far, he had learned to push himself over five or six enemies. There were two hundred. He looked at Rishi. Even he looked bewildered. Aitri's face said that her mind was searching for solutions. Even Rick's face said that perhaps this time, the Esoterica stunt won't be enough. And so, the two hundred trolls attacked, with that weird shriek.

"We either fight and win," Rishi said, "or we die trying." Much easier said than done. Rishi summoned lightning, Ishaan summoned fire. Aitri took control of the air around her, as the leaves on the ground swirled in air, taking her high up the ground. Rick prepared for another Esoterica act, when...

At least a dozen arrows came out of nowhere and stuck on the ground, right in between the champions and the trolls. Everyone looked up for the shooters who shot them. Ishaan found them in the sky, and what he saw was so amazing, that he blurted out, "Cool!"

The air was getting colder as the Sun was going down slowly. Up above in the sky were girls. About twenty to thirty years of age. Given the amount of light entering the forest, Ishaan couldn't figure out their faces. However, he could see their get ups. 

At least thirty in number, they rode horses, who seemed to stand on the air. Float, to be precise. The girls wore full metallic battle armor that shined in the sunlight, whatever was visible. Their red capes flew majestically through the winds. And their heads were covered with metallic helmets with white wings. Something similar to what Thor is heard wearing. "Oh, now that is what I'm talking." Rishi said.

The girls soared downward with their horses riding the air, and as soon as they descended past the canopies, Rishi went berserk. This time, he had something different in him. The lightning ran through his body, his eyes went full white. That scene was so motivating, Ishaan summoned more fire into both his hands. The horses of the girls trotted along, with the trolls, for the time, not shrieking. Ishaan hoped they were scared.

One of the ladies, the leader perhaps, stepped forward, her horse galloping into the center. She walked ahead of Rishi, and looked aside at him. She was slightly bigger in terms of physicality from the other girls. Her red hair flew with the air. She had a spear in her hand which she struck on the ground, electrifying it. The trolls jumped further behind. She looked at Rishi, and the two nodded. Rishi seemed to know her. Both Rick and Aitri looked surprised. Rick asked Aitri, "Who is she?"

"I think its..." Aitri said, "Guys, they are the Valkyries."

"Woah!" Ishaan said.

"Wow!" Rick connected dots, "If they are the Valkyries, she is..."

"On your word, Lady Thrud." Rishi said. The trolls were, now, taking steps forward.

"Warriors of death, attack!" Thrud bellowed. And so, the battle started.