DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

ARISE, SIR FIRE GIANT, DOOM OF THE UNIVERSE

Who knew for how long Mikael walked behind the girl. All he could see was her back, her long jet black hair slicked behind, waving in the dry hot winds. Mikael felt no heat. All he felt was the urge to follow Karena to wherever she was taking him. He walked and walked, before they stood in a garden.

It was garden with trees that had been burned. The garden had a stone made pavement. In the center of it was an altar, which led to a weird pattern of channels. All the channels met and joined one single channel that led to a room, whose door was made of rods. Mikael had seen rooms like these before. But he couldn't understand what these were. All he understood was that Karena was going to lead him out of Muspelheim.

Karena asked Mikael to go inside the room, and closed the door from behind. Mikael turned, and asked, "Karena? Where is the way out?"

"This cubicle shall sendeth thee to where thee wanteth to wend."

"Wend?"

"I mean, wanteth to go."

"Oh."

And so, Karena turned away. She looked at another goth girl standing beside her, to whom, she said, "I did get the descendant." To that, the other girl nodded. There was something similar, yet different about that girl. She, too, was goth, with the dark mascara, the straight black hair, and black clothes. The difference was that she had a tail. It was white and brown, with the brown side leading to a tuft of hair at the bottom. The tail swayed and moved as if it was some special thing. Wow, she was a hulder. 

Mikael turned away from her, without paying anymore attention to the tail, and saw that he was not alone in the room. A girl nearly his age sat, her face covered by her hands. She seemed to be crying. Mikael looked at her properly. She wore a green vest, and brown coloured pants that had been tattered now. Her wounds were fresh, the blood just starting dry up. By her, there was a spear. It didn't seem very Scandinavian, that spear. The blade was made of copper, not iron. Along with that, it had tufts of feathers protruding out from under it, tied to the handle. The girl had dark brown hair, and her skin tone was reddish. Mikael went forward and tapped her on her shoulder, and asked, "What is wrong?"

The girl removed her hands of her face and looked at him. Her facial texture was slightly similar to Ishaan, but everything else was very new to Mik. He could only guess where she was from. But she seemed human. The particular scared look in her eyes were really humane. The scared look was, on top of all that, also confused. She looked around for a second, before standing up, and asking, "Where am I?" Her accent had a Mexican touch to it. She kept asking, "What is this place?"

"This is Muspelheim." Mikael said, "The world of fire."

"Muspel...what is that? What world is this?"

"What art thee doing?" Karena asked from behind, making Mikael turn, "Stand ho talking the outsider."

"Outsider?"

Karena didn't answer. She just turned away with a certain amount of grace. And that was when, things cleared away from Mikael's eyes. Karena's dress gave away her cow tail. And as soon as it caught Mikael's eyes, as if a cloud moved out of sight. Unmisted and bare, hulder Karena stood in front of Mikael, her back facing his face. The plan was nothing unknown now for him. Karena had brought him here to awaken Surtr. He kicked himself in his mind for ignoring Ratatoskr, and leading himself to what he was supposed to avoid at any cost. He looked at them work, without letting the hulders know that their enchantments were over. He watched on as in front of them, two fire creatures, similar to those that attacked him and his friends in Pankhpur, dragged a huge chest and placed it on the altar. As soon as the chest touched the altar, the hot winds changed, and slowed down. A little whispering sound travelled through the air, and hit Mik's ears. As soon as it did, a chill ran down his spine. "Mikael, thank you for coming." His grandfather's voice seemed to split his mind. Mikael realized that it was time to act. He was not going to allow them to rise Surtr. 

Mikael turned towards the other girl. "Where are you from?"

"I am from Vespasa. By Viracocha's name, if you don't tell me..." She donned her spear and brushed the blade by Mikael's arm. The little brush grazed through his skin, as he started bleeding. "Ah!" Mikael covered his newly made wound, and asked, "What on Asgard's name is that spear?"

"Asgard?" This seemed to ring a bell on the girl's face. Then, Mikael started connecting the dots, "Did you say Viracocha? The Inca creator deity?"

"Yes."

"What are you?"

"The Keeper of the Great Staffs, and the Royal Advisor of Vespasa." The girl said, "I am confused. Are you from Asgard?"

"No, I am not." Mikael replied, "I am from Midgard. I am a divine champion."

"Holy Inti!" The girl held her head in her hands, "My sister is one. So, I am in a Norse world?"

"You are." Mikael said, sighing, "And unfortunately for you, at the worst of them all, at the worst possible time. But why did they bring you?"

"I don't know. How do we get out?"

"Let me see what I can do."

He heard a little tap on the rod behind him. Karena was slapping the rods, and asking Mikael that they were ready for him. Mikael walked towards Karena. He walked closer, and said, "Over my dead body." He squeezed his hand through the gap between the rods, and smashed the hulder's head on the rods, knocking her out. Then, he touched them, freezing the rods and turning them into ice. But as soon as he completely turned them to ice, it started to melt. It was melting very quickly. So, Mikael held the rod again, concentrated and started freezing them again, while Karena was knocked out, and the other hulder was busy in preparing for the ritual. Mikael turned towards the girl, who was watching his work in awe, "Strike with your spear when I say."

"Got it." 

Mikael froze the rod completely, and signaled for the girl to strike. So she did, as she broke the rod into pieces. The girl squeezed out, Mikael followed him. But as they were about to escape, Karena regained consciousness. She bellowed for her colleague, and the two fire creatures came at them. Mikael looked at the girl, put out his hand, and said, "Mikael Nyqvist." The girl shook, and replied, "Nice to meet you. Kira Cuellar." At that time, the creature hauled fireballs at Mikael. The divine champion took it on his chest, before jumping over it, and pushed it in front of Kira's spear. The Vespasian (as she called herself) stabbed the volcano guy, killing it. "Run!" Mikael ran, Kira keeping up on her toes. "Would you tell me what is going on?" She asked as they ran.

"How much do you know?"

"Only that some giant king is trying to bring apocalypse."

"Well, this is one of his ways to get to his target. He is awakening the destroyer of the worlds, Surtr. My blood is descended from him, and a drop of my blood will awaken him."

That is when the world shook. Both of them stopped in their tracks, as the ground was slowly getting covered by lava. Then, there was a scream around, that echoed throughout, shaking the whole of Muspelheim. The voice was one familiar one. It made Mik feel weak in his knees. His stomach churned. He looked around with horrified and exploded eyes. "What on Earth is that?" Kira asked. "That is the fire giant king Surtr." Mikael replied, "Doom of the universe. The blood drops that I had left has awakened him."