DIVINE CHAMPIONS 6: A FINAL CONFLICT

FROST: AN ONLINE EVACUATION

Yes, you read that right. The gist is that they had to do a very sad thing online. And they needed godly help for that.

That morning, Rick pulled out the AI operated hologram map that they had received from Odin last time out. Mikael had forgotten about it, until Rick pulled it out of the bag. "So here we are." He clicked on Midgard, and zoomed in on Iceland, "And we need to get to Lyngvi, which is..." He pressed on a button, and typed Lyngvi. "Is in Norway. More precisely," He paused, as the AI searched and narrowed the place to... "near Jan Mayen Island."

"Ah!" Mikael said, "Never been there."

"None of us have." Ishaan added, while playing with Rick's book of runes.

"So is that where we are headed?" Mikael asked Rick.

"Yeah." Rick said.

"But the Jan Mayen airport is completely under the Norwegian army. Will they allow us to land?"

"Firstly, its an aerodrome. Not a true airport. Secondly, we have Meili's stone, which still works well thanks to Thor's reconciliation with him."

The Lejet nailed the landing on the snowy Jan Mayensfield, the Jan Mayen aerodrome. And yet again, at the conditions of his origin, Mikael looked around at a land unknown. "We just never go to Sweden."

"Okay. Survive the war and I'll take all five of us to Sweden." Rick said, comforting Mik's fake disappointment.

They left the aerodrome, and asked the army people for a favor. The Meili Stone still worked a treat, and its charm made the soldiers agree to drop them where they wanted without any question. Mikael hated the fact that they needed to manipulate the army for their help, but what could he do? Amsvartnir and Lyngvi had to be here of all places. "Hey!" Ishaan said, as they reached the truck, "You know, they had Jan Mayen Island in that Tomb Raider game." Ishaan had been made to play Tomb Raider recently by a common friend from college. He didn't exactly get obsessed with the game like that friend himself, but he seemed to like the reference. Mikael replied having gotten the reference, "Yeah, the one where Ms. Croft found Valhalla."

"Yes."

The truck started driving, as Rick mostly concentrated on directing the soldier towards Amsvartnir. While Mikael was staring outside, looking at the island, which was so far away from Norway's mainland, beside him, Ishaan dozed off. It is very funny how this region worked, given Scandinavia is the actual curve of Midgard. You travel a thousand kilometers Northwest from Tromso, you reach Jan Mayen. You travel a thousand more, you reach Denmark. Greenland, to be precise.

Jan Mayen, though mostly snow covered at this moment, had a volcano. The island was so small that the volcano could be seen at the other end. And their destination would be taking them close that. The volcano itself was covered by snow. A cold breeze was blowing, as it was the case for islands in these regions. Mikael could feel himself doze off too, when Ishaan said beside him, "They're at it." It was so sudden, even Rick and the soldier looked back. "Everything alright?" He asked, in Norwegian. Mikael replied, "Ja.", and explained that he was just dreaming. Rick, however, looked on at Ishaan, who seemed to have been having a nightmare. At a temperature as low as negative eight, he was sweating way too much. Mikael quickly held his hand, and asked, "Hey, you alright?"

"When do we reach?" He asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"In about a minute."

"As soon as we get down, call Meghna. The Giant Army is out from Jotunheim. Your patron has done some magic on portals, so they can't teleport directly. But they are out of Jotunheim, and are starting to climb Yggdrasil. Freya's magic may have won us a day at best."

"Oh, man. I was expecting this to happen. Rishi and Aitri must also know."

"How'll we get to them? Last I heard, they were in Jotunheim." Mikael asked.

"I don't think they are anymore." Ishaan said, "They said that Angrboda died, which was a signal from the universe itself. I'm pretty sure those two had a hand in that."

"Oh man, why did they have to?"

"Whatever, guys, we are here."

They got down from the car, and realized that Amsvartnir was not a lake, as said, but a section in the great Atlantic Ocean. Mikael looked around to see anything threatening. He could feel his powers increase in this land full of frost. Rick had video-called Meghna, and the call was quickly answered. "Guys, trouble is upon us." He said.

"What?" Meghna asked, bewildered, "Oh, and here."

Out of the blue, to a little shock and thankfulness of the champions, a familiar face appeared. The goddess of passion, daughter of Freya, Hnoss sat beside Meghna and Maja. "She arrived just an hour ago." Maja said, "She surprised us. She knew us. We didn't recognize her at first. But she told us about your visits."

"Rick, what's wrong?" Hnoss's tone, unlike her regular chirpy character, dead serious.

Rick quickly explained things, before asking for their parents' whereabouts. "Rick's Mum is upstairs, resting. His Dad is out at work. So is Ishaan's Mum. And Udi has attended college. And Aitri's parents have gone to their house to bring some stuff."

"What do you suggest, Rick?" Hnoss asked.

"Hnoss, could you get these girls to evacuate the whole city? I mean, its not a huge city. I mean, send them away, for at least a few days. I know your magic could enchant the minds of thousands. Send them away, as far away from Pankhpur as possible."

"I will do that." Hnoss said, flexing her fingers, "I would just ask them to passionately leave for their dream destination nearby. And I guess I'll open a screen for you to see?"

"I think I trust you enough to not need that, but okay." The phone screen found Rishi's incoming call, and picked it up. "Hey, video-call. Right now." He almost shouted. Mikael put his arm on Rick's shoulder, calming him down a little. Rick added Rishi in the video-call, and gave a short description on everything. The two were pretty happy to see everyone, but their happy faces turned morbid quickly. "We will get out of this." Rishi said, "We are headed to meet Ullr. All we need is the last ingredient, and the rope."

"We have a day."

"That'll be enough."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am." Rishi said with a defiant tone, "Brace yourselves. We'll be there. Hnoss, dear, thank you so much."

"Maggie, Maja, be fine. Yeah?" Aitri said.

"And guys," Rishi said, sighing, "If he attacks before we get here..."

"We'll see to him." Hnoss said, her eyes turning redder than ever, "Get out of here, champions. Let's get all this mess sorted."