DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

LEGACY OF IKEA

When he stood in the balcony of his room, Mikael felt a little tingle down his throat. Not a new thing, but definitely a worrying thing. Everytime Mikael felt a tingle in his throat, it indicated something happening. He always had a gut feeling about it.

While he played with his family ring on his right hand's ring finger, his entire life flashed in front of his eyes. Not that it never does normally. Mik, as his friends here in Pankhpur called him, was a Swede. He was the most different of everyone around him, being the member of the only Swedish family in the town. When the best furniture company had chosen Pankhpur over Delhi to build their first Indian outlet nearly five years ago, they had sent their best project manager to see through the outlet. About three years in, Mik's Pappa, Oskar Nyqvist, had turned Ikea's most risky project into a super successful one. For the first time, Ikea was open to the common people, with prices cheap and affordable enough for Pankhpurians to choose Ikea as a real option.

Moving to India was interesting for even Mik's family. Being 'firangis', the Nyqvist family generally attracted attention. They made up for it by being Scandinavian. Being nice, pretty and punctual was a thing Nordics had in their blood. Unlike the locals of Pankhpur, the Nyqvists were super nice. The local food was good too. A beautiful blend of spices, of course, isn't that what Indian food is all about?

What really didn't go well with the Nyqvists was the Indian summer. Hot, dry, warm winds, and sometimes, when its about to rain, sweaty. Even the rainfall was scanty. Mikael had never experienced anything even close to this. Then, on top of that, Pankhpurians had held a dark secret.

This super developed, nearly ideal town had a plague running down the streets. The beautiful town's most influential man was a drug dealer, something Sweden didn't have. Still doesn't. One of the top guns in the dark business in the whole country, Vihaan Chaudhry almost run the town with the weapon of fear. Even the wonderful Sarkar family of the Sarkar Enterprises, one of the world's best construction firms, had to put up with him. It was impossible for girls to get out of the house after dark. If they did, ninety nine percent of times, they returned either dead, or as good as dead. Then, when a storm had rendered Mik helpless and hopeless, near suicidal, he saw Pankhpur change. Some savior arrived, completely taking over the fears of people. Single handedly, he started hurting the drug lord. It didn't even take him too long. Soon, there was news that the drug lord was dead, along with his crew, and his stash was burned. Nothing remained of that ill legacy. He launched a speech, given by him, through the radio to encourage people. The police searched for a year long, trying to catch the savior, but found nothing. It was as if the savior had just disappeared. But he didn't know how much hope he had restored in this town. One of the most amazing places in the entire country, yet one of the worst by night. Suddenly, everything had changed. The town healed, as Mikael saw a new day rise in Pankhpur, as he saw Sol race her chariot by.

Yeah, Sol.

Mikael's family comes from a long line of descendants of the Norse gods. He had grown up reading their stories, and worshipping them. About his family, Mikael's father, Oskar had a legacy of the great god of war, Tyr, his great great grandfather being Tyr's demigod. However, he did say something about his mother's lineage being even bigger. All of this had resulted in Mikael being resistant to fire. He had seen the supernatural happen, in his family house in Norrkoping, and in Pankhpur. The savior was surely a supernatural. Mikael wouldn't believe anything else. He knew supernatural when he felt it. In a characteristic tingle in his throat.

Mikael loved this part about his family. However, things were not as smooth as it sounded. Mikael was only one when his mother passed away due to colorectal cancer. His father had never talked about her lineage, he had always stated that Mikael would know at the right moment. He had an older sister, Maja (pronounced Maya). Being four years older than him, Maja was settled in her own ways. The two siblings were close, and even more so since the accident.

The accident. The accident that took away their father, rendering the two as orphans. Mikael remembered every bit of the day. He had newly learned how to drive. He had received his license. To celebrate that, Pappa was taking the siblings to dinner. At that time, Mikael had just completed the first year in his college, literature being his major. Maja had just joined his father in Ikea, in one of the junior positions (whatever those were). The family was so happy, and were out celebrating. And the truck came out of nowhere and...

Mikael had given up on life. While Maja still tried to focus on her work, Mikael was depressed, and was contemplating suicide. It took a lot of pep talks from his super bossy sister, and the cleansing of Pankhpur, for him to get himself back. Now, Mikael was leading the batch in the second year of college, while Maja had just gotten promoted. The two still had everything their father left for them: the house, the accessories, the car, as well as the void. A void that was never going to be fulfilled.

Maja was now in-charge of the house. She ran the house like an angel: waking up early, cooking, dropping Mikael to college, going to work himself, working all day, returning home tired, still ending up cooking dinner, because Mikael was a talented person (couldn't cook an instant noodle). Mikael knew that he had the best big sister ever, who never complained despite receiving almost no help. Mikael, however, did whatever he could to help her out, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, etc. Their home wasn't perfect, but it still ran smoothly enough. The Norse gods had treated the Nyqvists well.