DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

MOON: A LUNAR RECALL

The breeze hit her face, as she realized that the first signs of summer had arrived. Anaya looked at her diamond bracelet, with a silver band. No, it was not from anyone special. Anaya didn't have anyone special. She didn't do special, in that term. That bracelet was a remembrance of who she was. It had always been hers ever since she became the Inca Queen of Vespasa. However, six years before, an entertaining thing happened, and then, a year later, another entertaining thing happened. Well, it wasn't as entertaining as its being said, but it was good fun.

Okay, so here's the back story. Anaya Cuellar was the daughter of Amaru and Catalina Cuellar. She had a younger sister named Kira, and since the day she was born, she's lived the life of royalty, loyalty, duty and training. Her father was the son of the leaders of her village in Peru, near the borders of Bolivia, that was destroyed in an earthquake. All the villagers, who lived a very typical Inca life, were sent to the streets, rendered homeless. Anaya's mother used to say how the lights of the god Inti had guided them two nations across to northern Argentina. Was it safe? Not really. During the late 70s, Argentina was under the rule of Jorge Videla, a military dictator. Outsiders were not very much welcome in that country, specially if they had crossed borders illegally, no matter the divine intervention. For five years, the Quechuas hid in these hilly fields, a hundred miles South of the town of Salta. Amaru would say that all they saw was Inti, who appeared in front of the group, kept them hidden, awaiting that one day, they would receive help. As soon as the military found out about the group, they came to discover them, and hunt them down. Inti, as Anaya had heard, would provide them sustenance. The Andean fields were fertile. Fruits did grow. The nearby villages helped, providing them with bread and water. Here is where Anaya's father realized that the outside world, unlike what he feared, wasn't all bad. Then came 1983, and the military rule ended in Argentina. Democracy had been restored, and the government, under new president Raul Alfosin, turned to the ones oppressed under Mr. Videla. Her mother said that this was the first time the villagers had actually come out of hiding in the presence of administrative officials. The gods above finally smiled, and when he was asked, Amaru, the head of the village asked for two things: legality to live in Argentina, and  these lands to build homes. The government provided both things, and specially helped with the second demand. One of the most talented architects had been brought from the USA, with a group of engineers, to design and establish the city. It was said that the architect, Kamal Sarkar, had found great treasures of great value under the soil. By 1987, the place was a nice town to live, with schools, hospitals, houses, restaurants, and so many things around the foothills of the Andes. Then, Mr. Sarkar was known to have handed the treasures to the newly crowned king, Anaya's father Amaru. The king, in return for his efforts, had given him half of the treasure. That treasure was so big that the great architect divided it among his people, and took his share back home. Kamal Sarkar's statue stood tall in the center of the citadel of Vespasa. Mr. Sarkar had been asked to name the new city, and he named it after his scooter in the USA. Anaya had no idea of what happened to Mr. Sarkar after this, for he never came back. Ten years later, Anaya was born, and two years later, Kira was born. Amaru died in 2015 of brain stroke, and Anaya, being the elder child, returned from Canada, where she was for her studies, and was coronated the Queen of the city. Her bracelet was the one her father wore once, and now she got to wear it.

Things were going fine for the Vespasians, until one day, that god arrived. Anaya, in her life, had never seen an Inca god at that time. It was 2019, when she saw a god for the first time. But it was no Inca god. His outfit was that of animal fur, over normal vests, and lose trousers made of thick clothes. His hairstyle and hair colour was very similar to that of Legolas, from Lord of the Rings, and his eyes silvery grey. His body was a thin one, but luminescent in the night, and he introduced himself as Mani, the Norse god of the moon. He chose Anaya as a Norse divine champion, and left her with a task to save Hel, the goddess of the death. That night, Anaya sat inside the temple of Inti, praying to her town's patron god for help. That was also the day she had first seen Inti, who had asked her to do the task she was assigned to, for the Norse world was her fate.

Anaya had started to learn of this new pantheon of gods, which actually included Thor and Loki, which was like so cool, and had gone on to save Hel from a forest in Sweden, named Jarnvidr. She had needed to kill disgusting creatures known as trolls, before facing that weird big grey wolf, something she wasn't used to in Argentina. Later researches had educated that wolf to be Hati, the son of Fenrir, and the one prophesied to be the devourer of the moon. He was literally a shadow. He even attacked in shadows. It was not easy for Anaya. However, she could stall the wolf long enough for Hel to regain her strength, and defeat him. Then, she was taken to the land of the dead, Helheim. Then, she was asked to take a backside road, made of the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, to get back to her world. That was the part of the trip she had hated. She was picked up by this big bird, and brought back to Vespasa. She had been rendered sick for days, before she could get back to her duties again. There was one thing that had always troubled her mind. While she was taking root-road, she had seen two boys in Helheim, and unlike the dead people there, they looked very living. It had wondered her ever since her return.

The next years had been half-peaceful, with Kira, who had just returned from the USA after completing her studies, getting involved in a war of their own Inca world in 2021, and then disappearing for a few hours a year back, before coming back, telling her about Kamal Sarkar's family, and informing her about an impending battle in the Norse world in the next winter. Anaya had been preparing for that ever since.

Her people had stood by her during this year of distress. Only one man was quite skeptical, her childhood friend and royal advisor Marc. Marc had always asked her to be an Inca first, and wasn't agreeing to get involved in the war, for he believed that it was not their war. Sometimes so much, that Anaya had gotten tired of his antics. Anyway, he couldn't speak above Anaya, thank Mani for that.

Now that the summer had arrived, it meant that winter had arrived up there, and that meant that the days of distress were not far away. Anaya Cuellar stood on her palace's balcony, and thought of her fellow Divine Champions, the ones she had never met, but only heard of. She thought of what they were doing, how they were preparing for the war, and bearing what news would they arrive at the doors of Vespasa.