DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

AIR-WATER: POWER COUPLE GO BERSERK

Walking through the snow needed boots. Aitri pulled her pair of her bag, but Rishi had none. So, he decided to walk without it. They had put their jackets on again. Jotunheim wasn't Niflheim level cold, but it was at least as cold as it could be. "Siberia outside Earth", as Rick would call it.

The objective was to find Angrboda, the vicious giantess wife of Loki, and mother of the very one they were trying to bind. But with Jotunheim being as big as it was. They had no idea where she could be. There were allies in Jotunheim too for the champions. But they had no idea where the healing hill, that Ishaan had known, was. However, Rishi said that he had an idea. He sat on the snow, and prayed. He murmured, "Oh, great goddess of the Sun. You guided your champion towards the healing hill, when he was dying. Our entire world is dying. We need your help. As the Sun itself, you see all. See us, and help us out, lead us to Lyfjaberg."

"But she didn't..." Aitri started, but Rishi shushed her.

And Rishi's prayers worked like magic. The overcast sky cleared enough suddenly, only for one solitary beam of light to touch the snow-covered ground, and move ahead. Taking the cue, Rishi and Aitri followed the beam. The beam led them to a slope, and led them downwards and downwards, before disappearing all of a sudden. Aitri and Rishi looked around for the beam. "Is the hill around?" Aitri asked. However, Rishi sniffed the air. His wolf-like olfactory instincts had caught something.

Aitri realized that there was impending danger. Rishi's eyes had turned yellow. Aitri closed her eyes and concentrated. She found her fylgja form inside. She felt the feline inside her wake up. Her eyes turned yellow as well. And then, out from a corner, came two dwarves. Rishi snarled. Aitri had never seen these two before, but she felt like she knew them. Rishi's reaction, though, was that of pure hate. His yellow eyes were being backed up by growing fangs. His hands spread, and lightning flashed across the sky. He spread his arms even more, and summoned lightning of his own. "Look." One of the dwarves said, "Divine Champions."

"Good." The other one said, "We'll make even better mead from their blood than we did with Kvasir." Now, Aitri knew who they were. They were the deadliest of all dwarves, Fjalar and Galar. These two had cut Kvasir to pieces and built the Mead of Poetry from his blood. More importantly for her, they had almost murdered Ishaan the last time he was here. And she, or Rishi, weren't here to help. Aitri knew where Rishi's wrath was coming from. Maybe if she could calm him down, they could beat him. But Saptarishi Roy had a thing. The angrier he was, the worse it was for the opposition.

"Tiny dwarves." Aitri said, riling the two up, "All they can do is swing blades. How are you two dwarves? Just the height doesn't define dwarves. Can you build anything? A sword? A chair? Hel, at least a piece of cloth?" The twin dwarves stayed quiet. "As I said, nothing." Aitri said, in a cold voice. Rishi's breath was getting heavier. The anger was building. And Fjalar and Galar? They clenched their fists. Fjalar tightened his grip on his sword. Galar swung his axe.

"Not fit to be dwarves." Aitri went on, "Not fit to be giants. Not fit to be elves. Not fit to be gods. Definitely not fit to be humans. You two are outcasts. You don't belong in any world that sprung out of Yggdrasil. Losers. Two nobodies."

And that did it. The little killing machines attacked. A huge mistake.

Rishi brought himself in between Aitri and the dwarves. Fjalar's sword poked him in the gut, but barely pierced his skin. Rishi held the sword by his hand, and broke it off, leaving Fjalar with the mere hilt. Galar, however, had made his way to Aitri. She was in no mood to just throw in insults. She took control of the air, and clenched her fist. Suddenly, Galar lost his breath. He kneeled down, beating the ground as hard as he could with his small hands, and gasped for breath. The dwarf that tried killing a boy who called Aitri 'Didi' was suffocating, and that was satisfying her. Meanwhile, Rishi held Fjalar by his hand, and broke it off. As Fjalar screamed in pain, Rishi kicked his gut. Then, he pressed his foot on Fjalar's leg, as a crack sound signaled the breaking of another bone. Fjalar was in tears with pain. Meanwhile, Aitri opened her fist, letting Galar breathe again. And a second later, she enclosed her fist again. Galar lost breath again. Aitri enjoyed taking him close to death and still keeping him alive.

To be honest, Aitri had only known since Ishaan's encounter with these two about how they still lived. Dwarves don't normally have long lives. Definitely not as long as the elves or giants. Of course they were acting as goons of Berg. They had been left in a deserted island by Suttung, the giant who had taken home the mead they had made. There, the sea had grasped them. But you know Berg? Yeah, big guy, not that good looking, idiotic, short-tempered supervillain? Yep, him. He once had Hel kidnapped, and the worst of the souls had escaped and started working for that dumbo.

In front of her, Aitri saw Fjalar fall on the ground unable to move. Rishi, having broken all his limbs and the backbone, snarled like crazy. Galar, at that moment, was enjoying his respite. But this time, Aitri was a split second late to restart the suffocation torture. In that moment, the dwarf picked up his axe and attacked Aitri. His blade pierced Aitri's shoulder, and would have chopped her arm off if Aitri hadn't started the torture again, delaying the dwarf for a second. But she knew that the pain was immense. She couldn't continue the torture. However, Rishi was aware of what was happening. And there was one more layer to Rishi's temper. An angry Rishi was increasingly dangerous. But a Rishi angry at someone for harming Aitri was twice worse.

As the champion of Sif and Njord fell on the ground, grunting in pain, as blood drenched her torn jacket sleeve. She held the wound. The burning sensation was quite painful, and it brought tears to her eyes. She endured the pain as she waited her divine champion ability to heal her, as she watched her mad boyfriend turn into a wolf. Rishi's wolf-form scared Galar, who tried to run. But he was weak with the loss of air, and Rishi caught up with his arm. Then, he bit the shoulder, and with great strength, tore off a chunk of dwarf flesh. His fangs were covered with crimson red blood. Rishi would have gone for the head next, if Aitri hadn't screamed. She wasn't letting these two to die this easy. She got up somehow, walked towards the two, and held Rishi's head, making eye contact. Rishi's panting went down. He changed back to his human form, and picked up Galar's axe. With great strength, he broke it into two pieces. "This is the one you used and nearly tore our friend into pieces, right?" He asked. Then, he picked up a basically limbless Fjalar, and dropped him beside his brother. Then, Aitri said, "We are not killing you. You two aren't our convicts."

"Who are those, Midgardian?" Fjalar asked weakly.

"You'll see." Rishi said, and his face said that he knew what he was doing. Good enough for Aitri.

He took Rick's ring, and opened a portal to what looked like some area back on Earth. He kicked the two dwarves in through the portal, and closed it down. The cries of mercy got lost as it closed. "Aitri, it hasn't healed yet." He said, as soon as the portal closed.

That's when Aitri realized. The champions' healing kicks in in about two minutes. But this still hadn't healed. Her body got weaker by the second. The wound only gushed out more blood. "Honey, what's happening?" Aitri found her voice tremble for the first time.

"It's okay." Rishi ran at her side, holding her by the other shoulder. He made her sit down, "Let's get to Lyfjaberg, right? Then, we'll get you fit, yeah?"

"I can't walk. This is making me weak."

"Honey, I'll carry you." Rishi said. He readied to, when a strong female voice asked behind Aitri, "Who's hurt?"

Aitri turned a little bit to see the owner of the voice. Though blurred with pain and tears, her vision made out the figure that towered over her. "Galar?" She asked Rishi, who just nodded. "Dwarf axe blade. Very treacherous, stops the healing." The girl seemed as if Aitri had known her quite well. Auburn hair, fair skin tone with a tan, eyes as blue as a magpie's wings. Those eyes gave out an aura of surprise. Too strong for a Midgardian, too weak for a goddess. She wore a white top over a pair of white jeans. She carried a bag, and quickly brought out first aid. And before she lost consciousness, Aitri figured her out. "Eir!" She barely managed, before her vision went black.