DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

SKY: EXISTENCE OF THE LOST

"Blimey, Rishi." Aitri said, as they landed on the soft and wet grassy fields of some Midgard place. Rishi got up, before helping Aitri up. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. I didn't have much time to think, I just imagined a green field, and it landed me here."

Rishi looked around on the newly risen Sun on a Midgardian morning. He wondered if Rick and team had reached Vespasa. He checked the time. Eight in the morning. Around him, the lush green field was covered with hills shy of vegetation at the peak. The air was quite cold. And it seemed like this place did snow. It had snowed a few days ago, and the frost had thawed. Aitri sniffed something, and said, "I smell the sea all around. I think we are in some kind of island."

Rishi soared up in air, to take a quick scan. The island was certainly huge. There seemed to be many structures: a palace, some archery arenas, many open grounds where weapons were stored, and a modern road that led to another area, a huge city, with a lot of buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. The island seemed to be inhabited. But right where the road started, there was a huge stone statue of a bearded man holding a trident. "That statue seems familiar." Rishi muttered, after coming down. "Come on, lets move." Aitri said, "How far is this city like thing?"

"A little far away. Can you walk?"

"Of course, I can."

"Do you wanna fly?"

"Oh yeah."

And before they could move, they were surrounded by four distinct men, and a woman. The men wore helmets with tufts on their crests, thin silvery armor, and had roguish faces. They held spears at Rishi and Aitri. The woman didn't wear a helmet, but had two swords in her hand. But she looked younger, like a college student. Though even Aitri was one, so Rishi couldn't tell. She had facial features very similar to Aitri. The eyes were black. The tanned skin tone, and the dark brown straight hair was very similar. Even their heights were nearly the same. "Sure you never had a twin?" Rishi whispered to Aitri beside him.

"Not that I know of."

The swords-woman put her swords inside sheaths hanging behind her, and walked close to them. The look in her eyes were very different from Aitri's. While Aitri's eyes were calm and observant, this girl's eyes had a weird storm brewing inside, with a certain viciousness in it. She asked in a defiant voice, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

"What do you mean?" Aitri asked.

"I mean, that normal human beings from outside don't appear in this island in the middle of a field. Who are you two?"

Rishi was baffled at what she was saying. Normal human beings? Was there something abnormal about this island? Rishi asked Aitri, in Bengali, hoping that the girl won't get anything. "What is she saying?"

"What I am saying is," The girl interrupted, in Bengali, "that what is going on? Are you demigods?"

Demigods! That word opened a little door in Rishi's brain. As far as Rishi knew, the word 'demigod' referred to, very famously, a certain pantheon. Right. The statue near the palace was of Poseidon, the Greek sea god. Rishi had a hunch that they were in an island that worshipped Greek gods. "Are you a demigod, Miss?" He asked the girl as nicely as he could.

"Not your concern. What are you?"

"We are not demigods." Aitri replied from beside.

"Then they are monsters." One of the soldiers said from aside. But the girl hushed them. "You look human to me. Just not normal human beings. You must be supernatural. Otherwise, normal people don't find our island."

"We are divine champions." Rishi said, "Not Greek. We are champions chosen by the Norse gods."

"Norse gods!" The girl asked, quite taken aback, "Like, Thor? Odin? Freya?"

"Yes."

"They exist?"

"From your words, I feel like the Greek gods exist too." The girl nodded, and said, "What is your business in Atlantis?"

"Atlantis?" Aitri simply gasped in shock.

"When did you guys get up from under water?"

"Long story. What is your business here?"

"We landed here by mistake." Rishi said, "This ring is a teleporter, helping us to jump between worlds. So, we were returning to Earth from Vanaheim. But I am new to this. So, we fell at a wrong place."

"Well, you did land on Earth. Atlantis is in North of Atlantic Ocean. We are actually three hundred miles from Iceland's southern coast."

"Wow!" Aitri said, still taking it in, "Atlantis exists."

"I see that you speak the truth." The girl said, signaling the men to lower the spears, before coming forward and putting her hand out to shake, "I am Tina Roy, daughter of Ares, and General of Atlantis. I'm also a member of the Atlantean Royal Council. Welcome. Come with me. I'll take you to our King and his biggest advisor."

"King!" Rishi asked, remembering the shortage of time, "If we could just get going. We are short of time."

"Atlantis isn't that easy to get teleported out of for non-Greeks. It is covered with Hecate's magic, and our King, Hecate's own son, is very good with that. He might be able to help you get out."

And so, Rishi and Aitri followed Tina and her men towards the palace. Rishi asked Tina, "So, Ares, like the war god?"

"Yes." She turned and smiled, which was not as bad at all, "My father."

It took them ten minutes to reach the palace, when Tina pressed a button on her chest, and her armor shrank into a disc, away from her body. Suddenly, in front of them, stood a girl in a dark red parachute jacket, and jeans. "Atlantium." She said to the confused divine champions, "Atlantis's indigenous metal, thinner and stronger than any."

"Woah!" Aitri said, "You have your own Vibranium?"

"That was our King's first question too. Come on."

And so, they walked through the stairs, and through a huge open gate. It was almost eight-thirty. She asked one of the guards on the King's whereabouts, and was replied that he was in his chambers. "Gods!" Tina said, "This idiot still hasn't left his blanket."

"You are calling your king an idiot?"

"Well, he is." She said definitively, as she asked them to follow her through a set stairs. Rishi and Aitri followed her. Aitri whispered to Rishi, "I don't think the king here is very nice. The general is calling him an idiot."

"Shh." Rishi said.

They climbed two floors, before finding a young man of about twenty, standing outside a huge room, which was definitely a bedroom. Blue walls, purple curtains and other accessories made the room feel full of life. It even had a TV and a coffee machine. And a PS, and a home theater. This was a room fit for a king. The young man, who stood across the room, was looking outside through the corridor, that faced the rest of the palace's area, or the Citadel, as people would call it. His face wore an expression of seriousness, as if thinking something difficult. He had a cup of coffee in his hand. He wore a golden amulet to his neck. He hadn't seen anyone coming. This demeanor was something fit for a king, but his age and dress-up didn't seem like a king's one. An Adidas jacket over black track pants was very un-king like. Or maybe that's what they did in Atlantis. Who knew? 

The man took a sip, before Tina walked up to him, and said, "Wake up, sleepyhead."

"I'm half-awake." The man said, before looking at Rishi and Aitri and frowning, "Who are they?"

"Oh, love, you'll love it when you'll know." Tina said, "Come on."

Love. Aha, that was the case. The boy finished his coffee in a go, and walked close to Rishi, before putting his hand out, "Hi, I'm Jay."

"Guys," Tina said, in a tone of announcement, "This is Jay Chatterjee. Son of Hecate, and the King of Atlantis."