DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

SKY: TWO BETTER THAN ONE, THREE BETTER THAN TWO

Rishi led the rest of his friends back inside. His phone rang, his mother on the other side. He picked it up. "Mum?"

"Where on earth are you? I wake up in the morning, and your bed is empty."

"Yeah, Mum. Sorry. We had to come here in Rick's place."

"Have things gone wrong in the other world?"

"Yes. I'll explain as soon as I get home, Mum. Give me half an hour or so. I'll be back."

"Is Aitri there?"

"She is with me, yes."

"I'll let her mother know."

Right before Rishi cut the call, he could hear his mother say, "Irresponsible divine champion of mine." He laughed, knowing full well that his mother was only worried for a while. She knew him better than anyone. If there was any parent in his group who was least worried about Rishi's Norse side and the dangers related to it, it was his parents. However, things would change once they set out to leave the next morning. This could end up with anything. Impending possibilities of fateful scenarios troubled Rishi very much. The once brave and powerful Savior of Pankhpur was not so brave anymore. Many a times, he lost all his courage. It was his friends who restored it. But now, knowing the task, Rishi was slowly starting to accept life as it was. He tried getting over his dread more than ever. There was much to look forward to. A possible last adventure, a bloody war, a chance to fight side by side with friends, and a possible future ahead of all the bloodsheds. 

"Okay, so who goes?" Rick asked, "I think I'll take the route to Vespasa. I can open the box of the Crystals."

"I wanna go too." Ishaan said, "I wanna see the city as well."

"But we have to get the ingredients as well." Meghna said, "And as far as I know, those are pretty damn hard to find. We might need to go from world to world. We'll need you for that, Rick."

"Oh no." Rick said, "I got you covered for that."

"Okay." Maja said, "I think some of us must stay back as well. What if they attack Pankhpur in our absence?"

"Call it, Rish." Meghna said.

"What?" Rishi said, as he was not expecting a call.

"Rishi, you decide the teams. Who'll go where and who'll stay back."

"My decisions mean that some of you might not be happy with them."

"And yet you forget why you are our leader, Rishi." Rick said, "Your decisions mean the world to us. To all of us. Come on man. You taught this city to live again." Rishi felt weird. He liked leading these guys, who followed him really. These guys, who didn't know before, in Ishaan and Mikael, looked up to him as if he was some kind of inspiration. That was slightly weird that they did. Only a few days ago, some guy collided with him, in front of Rick, Ishaan and Mikael, and shouted at him, "Can't you see where you are going, you blind man?" Ishaan and Mikael jumped in front of that man, and would have choked him if Rishi hadn't stopped them.

"Ah, you guys, you make it even more difficult for me to take harsh decisions."

"And your decisions give us directions." Maja said, "So, go ahead."

Rishi quickly exchanged a look with Aitri, who nodded, with a smile. That was all he needed. He said, "So, listen up, guys. Here's what's gonna happen. As Meghna said, we might need to go away from this world into others in search of the ingredients for Gleipnir. So, Rick, if you have any magic that lets us do that, hand it over. I'll go searching the ingredients."

"Alone?" Aitri asked.

"Hear me out." Rishi said with assurance, and continued, "Who here has no wish to travel?" To that, Meghna put her hand up, saying, "Someone needs to run the company while you two are away."