DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

VISIT TO THE LAIR

When Mikael's eyes opened again, his head felt heavy, and he felt slightly dizzy. He was still lying on the road, but his head was on Ishaan's lap. It took him a second to remember, but as soon as everything came back to him, he sat up. "What just happened?"

"Do you think you had a dream?"

"No, it was very real. The snow god was here, and he chose me as his, uh, champion?"

"Yes."

"And he knew you. How did he?"

"That's because I'm also a champion. Like you."

"What?" Mikael sat up, "You are Ullr's champion too?"

"No, no." Ishaan said, "I'm of a different god."

"So, you know about the Norse gods."

"Much more than you think I do."

"Tell me more about all these dark things happening between us."

"Mik, you need to get up first, let me take you home. Then, in the evening, I'll tell you everything. You need to get your head around it all."

"I don't need my head wrapped. I'm not new to the supernatural world. I know things that exist and I know how they work. I just want to know how I can help. This is my world much before it has been yours, so I want to know what has been going on."

"This is not a place to talk about that, Mik. Let's go home first."

"But..."

"Mik, I know what I'm talking about. As soon as you are chosen by a god, it is not safe for you to be in a lonely place. That until you learn about your powers, and you learn to use it."

Mikael didn't say anything. He got the point. That is how it worked always. Those were the stories his father used to tell him. "With your lineage," He would say, "your other world can walk into your life anytime. For that, you have to be ready. Unlike this world of the natural, the supernatural world is dangerous. It might need your help sometime, kids." Since then, Mikael had mentally prepared himself for this situation. And now that the situation had arose, it was time for him to put all this mental preparation to test. He nodded, as Ishaan asked him to follow him. How long was Ishaan a part of all this? Long enough, as it seemed, to deal with all of it this well. 

Ishaan walked, as Mikael followed. "Would have been much better if my motorcycle wasn't getting repaired."

It took them around twenty minutes to get to Mikael's house. Mikael opened the gates, swung the door open, and asked Ishaan to sit. "Let's have some fika, eh?" He asked, to which Ishaan looked bluntly. Mikael went inside, heated and brought the coffee his sister made in the morning, along with some biscuits. "This, is fika." He said, as he brought it down on the table.

"Dude, how the Hel are you so okay?" Ishaan asked.

"Okay with what?"

"With all this that has just happened?"

"When you see yourself hit by fire from a fireplace, and don't see or feel yourself get burned, it usually helps."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Mikael said, nodding, as he sat down to pick his cup up, "I was nine. I was eating something by the fireplace, when the spoon fell off my hand and I went to pick it up. I literally thought I could get it. It was very near the fire, and when I got close to it, the fire just rose, and hit me right in the face. All I felt was the heat. The fire didn't burn me at all. I ran to my Dad to tell him that, who said that it was something about my mother's lineage."