DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

MIK'S FIRST NORSE ENCOUNTER

While all the tingle going inside his throat, Mikael heard Maja call him from inside, "Mik, where are you?"

"Coming." Mikael ran for his room. The tingle could wait, but he was late for college. Wanting to live upto the tag of being Swedish, Mikael ran for it. He reached the table, as he saw Maja take a bite of her sandwich while putting her ID card on. As Mikael picked up his sandwich, Maja had gobbled hers up. Gods, was she was fast eater. She quickly drank her orange juice up, as she put her shoes on. "Hurry, hurry." She said, as she fumbled for the car's keys. All Mikael could do was put his juice in the fridge, pick up his sandwich and run behind her. He put on his shoes, ignored tying the laces, and jumped into the car.

As Mikael finished his sandwich, he tied his laces, and said, "Sis, I don't have money for lunch."

"I figured. It's been a week since you last asked for it. Get some from my bag."

Mikael picked up a five hundred rupee note he found inside, and pocketed it. As they reached Mikael's college, Maja ran her hand through his hair, and said, "Go, may the Allfather be with you."

"Thanks."

Mikael nearly broke through the gate. His first lecture with Ms. Inayat was an important one. The presentation for the Iliad carried a lot of marks in the end term. Mikael ran up the stairs, as he entered the class with two minutes to go. 

He sat on his seat after he had nearly tripped off it. A few laughs came his way, as he pulled out his laptop, and opened his presentation. Then, he took out his notes. Ms. Inayat arrived soon after. 

The presentation went well enough. He had been preparing for it for so long, yet that tricky question of 'why did Odysseus not stick to his promise' had caught him off guard. What was he supposed to answer? He had thought for a while, before answering, "He knew his fate of not returning for many years." Ms. Inayat had smiled, along with her characterized nod.

Mikael had to walk back home that day. There was literally no E-rickshaw on the streets. He stood with his bag on his back for a long time, and then, decided to walk home. He started walking down the road to go home, when it all happened. 

Mikael put his earphones on, and put some Avicii on, and hummed the tune as he walked by the sidewalk, completely lost in the song, when he felt a touch on his shoulder. He took the earphones off, to find a guy behind him. Northeast Indian facial features, dark eyes, black hair. Mikael knew who he was. He was his only friend in college. Being kind of an outsider, Mikael had always been unsuccessful in making friends in Pankhpur. These Indians were scared of talking to him. Maybe they thought they would say something wrong, and then it would all be awkward. Those who actually weren't as nervous, were just jerks. This guy, however, was different.

Ishaan Borgohain was from India's Northeastern state of Assam. He too, like Mikael, had lost his father in this town. But unlike a casual car accident, Ishaan had lost him to the Drug Lord. It must have been such a relief for him when he had found out about the trash-jerk's death. Ishaan and Mikael had bonded over Ishaan's love for Mikael's culture. They had grown quite close over the last six months or so. Ishaan was a brilliant singer, but with a music taste very different to Mikael's. In that respect, Ishaan was very Indian, and really got offended if anyone called it boring. He was pretty close with one of the most popular girls in the college, that PhD student, Aitri, uh, Aitri...whatever. She had a big name. He called her 'Didi' all the time, like a younger brother. Ishaan was a cute guy, nice and all. When asked about some significant other, he always said, "She's there, just needs some time." There were things Ishaan didn't share, but he was overall pretty straightforward.

Ishaan walked up to him, and asked, "Where were you all day?"

"Just busy with the presentation. Gods, was it tiring."

"Huh!" Ishaan said, and then, with a piercing look, "I never asked, but why do you say 'Gods' when you need to take the deity's name?"

"Why do you care? Aren't you an atheist?"

"Not exactly." 

"But you said you don't believe in them."

"Them?"

"Well, Him. Them. Whatever." Mikael gasped, and said, totally weirded out, "What about it?"

"I was atheist once. But after some recent incidents, I'm not very sure."

"What recent events?"

"There have been some. I'll tell you later. Now, will you please tell me about your use of the plural word?"

Mikael found it a little weird, but then again, Ishaan always had his boundaries prioritized. If he didn't want to tell him anything, Mikael knew better than to push it. But Mikael didn't like to have boundaries, not with Ishaan at least. He felt really close to Ishaan, he felt really safe with him. So, he told him about his ancestry. He explained him about Norse myths, and his paternal ancestry with the war god Tyr, and an unknown maternal ancestry with some other god. Ishaan looked at him with huge exploding eyes. Clearly, he wasn't believing him at all. "Hey, I'm sorry. I know you don't believe..."

"I do." Ishaan said, as he walked on, "I do, actually. It is really difficult to not believe it while living in Pankhpur. With all the things happening here, you know?"

"Wow!" Mikael said, "That is great actually. Really nice to hear. I mean, me and Maja know, and we can talk about it. But rest of them..."

"I get it, buddy." Ishaan smiled, making Mikael smile. There was something odd about this guy that brought Mik closer towards him. He was nice, understanding, yet secretive, making him more and more interesting. But what was with Mikael feeling like this for his only friend? And wasn't he a boy? Like him? He was thinking all this, as Ishaan hummed to some old Indian song, when he stopped abruptly. 

Mikael had also seen it. It was a snake, yes, but still very different than a normal snake. It was the size of a python. But it stood on its tail as if it was legs. It had two hands that seemed very human-like, with five fingers and no claws. But they were scaly, toxic green, like the rest of its skin. A split tongue hung off its mouth. It rasped, hissed and slithered forward, on the balance of its tail. Ishaan asked Mikael, "Mik, what the hell is that?"

"Its..." Mikael's mind tried to remind himself of everything he had been told by his father, when the answer came up, "It's a Linnorm."

"Dang it." Ishaan said, as he spread his arms, "Mik, don't get shocked when you see this."

And that is when, Mik started feeling super cold.