DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

AIR-WATER: THE INEVITABLE AWAITS

Rishi and Aitri walked into an empty park. The park was very close to their friend Ishaan's house, and was now a stuff of Pankhpur's supernatural legend. This was the place Ishaan had burned down during his training as a divine champion. And this was the place the last chosen divine champion, Mikael, had frozen during his training. And now, this was close to an area that Rishi, along with his multimillionaire bestie, Rick, was working on. The park was mostly unused now, with just a huge area covered with lush green grass. A few months ago, there were rides, and other cool things. But now it was just used by people for their pets. But gotta give it to the municipality people. The park was still clean as a whistle. "So, this way leads to it?" Aitri asked, pointing towards a narrow stone path from the back of the park.

"That's the land Rick had taken. You should have seen the condition of the land."

"So now, its like a proper village?"

"An exotic one, yes."

"Woah!"

They walked through the path, and reached the camp. Aitri had to say, that Rishi had really researched well on Andean houses to make the possible guests feel like home. At the end, there was the biggest house. It was a big mismatch, given it was not an Andean one. "So, what is that made on?"

"It is the safehouse that Rick asked me to design. It is an old architecture, of the Vikings. If we are to keep the Crystals safe, this could be used. It is heavily enchanted. Rick says that Freya came to enchant that, and only Rick can open the doors."

"Oh my!"

"Come on." Rishi pulled Aitri by her hand, as he showed her around. "You are the last of us to see. Well, other than the one who doesn't live here."

"And why didn't I get to see it first?" Aitri complained.

"You were busy."

"Oh, right." Aitri nodded. She was incredibly busy for the last month. If she was to fight in a war, she needed a lot time free from the worries of her studies. So, she had completed her works for the year, and asked her instructor if she could take the time in hand off. Her instructor agreed. So, she was very busy for one month, and she even rarely saw Rishi. And that had really saddened her. "I'm sorry, honey. I had no option..." Rishi put his hand on her lips, and drew close, saying, "Hey, our life is far from normal. This part of us is the only normal thing, our work. I know how important the PhD is for you. And I am awaiting the day I tell people that I'm the boyfriend of Dr. Aitri Ghosh Dastidar. So, if that means sacrificing some of our times together, I am all for it." 

"Oh, my love." Aitri gasped, as she held Rishi's shoulders tightly, and smothered him with a kiss. She felt Rishi kissing her back, and held him tight. Aitri felt as if time froze for the while they kissed. As they separated, they touched their foreheads together, as Rishi said, "We should take flight. Gotta see what's going on." To that, Aitri nodded. Rishi wrapped his arms around Aitri, and swooped up in the air. Then, he let Aitri go, who quickly reacted by spreading her arms, as the air around her responded to her. Rishi flew high up in the sky, as Aitri chased him down and caught up with him.

In fifteen minutes, they landed in front of the backside of Rick's mansion, and their lair, the Jacuzzi room.

Inside, the room was filled with four people. Two of them were divine champions, while the other two were honorary members of the gang, the two part-time Valkyries. "It is weird how they chose the place on the most deserted area in the city." Maja was saying. Maja was one of the part-time Valkyries, along with Meghna, Aitri's childhood best friend, Rick's PA, and his girlfriend. Yeah, they were the Tony-Pepper couple. Maja's brother was Mikael, and Ishaan was not exactly related to anyone except for that he was also a divine champion. Yet he was an absolute joy to watch. "Where's Rick?"

"He's dozed off in the shower room." Meghna said. To that, both Rishi and Aitri laughed hysterically. From inside the shower room, came a voice, "I'm fully awake, warrior princess. It's just my body that is asleep."

"So he agrees to sleeping." Aitri said.

"And also he doesn't." Mikael said.

"Smart." Ishaan said, patting Mikael's shoulder, making him blush. This was something Mikael did finally end up talking to his friends about. Mikael was very different from his other friends. He liked men, and not women. And he was not exactly open about that, given Indians were only starting to change their mentality towards such people, and judgmental people still existed. However, he did confide to both his friends and family, and when he did, Aitri decided, inside her own heart, that she would protect this boy's choice against the whole world if she had to. His bravery was impressive. Meanwhile...

"What up with Eir? Any news?" Mikael asked to Ishaan.

"Yeah, another of those yearly letters. She says she can't wait."

"Well, not far away now, isn't it?"

"Well, that depends. If I survive the war."

"Hey!" Rishi hissed out of nowhere, "We will all survive the war. We have been training like crazy for this. We will do it right, and we will win."

Rishi hated the fact that there was a possibility of anyone from the group to die in the war. The thought of impending death for his friends broke his heart. For the first time in these five years, he seemed slightly worried. Though he never showed it, but Aitri knew. She knew him too well. And now that they awaited the inevitable, he was a little restless.

So they awaited the divine intervention spoken of by Rick over the phone.

They waited all night. No divine intervention showed up. Fed up, Rick came out and picked up his car keys. Over the year, Rick had been more stressed, with the personal project that he needed to complete. His stress had led to stress-eating. Tons of packets of chips had gone in, and now, Rick had what was a pot-belly. He had gained weight, but hadn't lost that filter-less mouth of his. So, despite everything, multi-millionaire Ritabrata Sarkar hadn't changed, except for the fact that he was fat. Rick turned towards others after picking up his keys, and said, "I'm gonna go for a drive. Beverage, anyone?" The guys, to that, said, "Surprise us." The girls agreed.

"Okay, it's your funeral. Just drink what I bring even if you don't relish." And so, he left.