DIVINE CHAMPIONS 5: THE FROSTY FATES

KILL ME, WILL YA?

A minute passed as the champions straight-up stared at Balder. The god of light looked at them blindly. "He isn't kidding." Rishi said.

"He's not Balder." Mikael repeated.

"Come on. We can handle this." Rishi said, "We've been through worse. Actually. We took down a fire giant. We can do this."

Mikael suddenly felt motivated. He felt as if he could take on the world. He was ready. And so, he walked and put his step through Helvegr. And as soon as he did, he felt how much unwelcome he was in this road. The air stiffened, and reduced. The fire around here seemed to hit his body, not hurting for sure, but breathing was getting more and more difficult. Soon, some sort of irritation started inside his body. Mikael tried shrugging it off, but it only got harder. The itch soon started to turn into a burning pain. Mikael's demeanor changed. Tears rolled out of his eyes. But he didn't scream. He was stronger than this. He believed that.

Mikael looked around. To his left, Aitri and Rishi held hands, however, they seemed to face different things. Aitri screamed, holding Rishi's hands tighter. Rishi, too, was confused. He seemed to see things, painful and untrue things, things that seemed to rip his mind. "No, no." He cried. Mikael removed his eyes from that painful sight, and looked to his right. Rick seemed to have slowed down. His eyes glowed white, minus the eyeballs. He was fighting whatever was in it. Not a surprise there. Rick was a mental warrior. He had dealt with pain harder than anyone else. Ishaan, however, was not doing well. His phoenix form was appearing. His body was getting redder than ever. He screamed in pain, as the fire burned things around. Mikael's heart broke. And then, he heard a voice, a voice that said one word. That one word was enough to freeze Mik's spine, "My sweet grandson!" The searing burning sensation inside increased ten folds, as Mikael ran for it. The voice went on, "Grandson! It is time." "I will not give you what you want!" Mikael cried out, when he jumped outside. A breath of fresh air, and all pain, and the bone chilling voice disappeared.

Mikael stood up, to find his friends get out one by one. Rishi got out, his face defiant. Seems like he had just won a battle against whatever he had seen. "Just kill me, will ya?" Mikael heard Ishaan's voice. The ice around Helvegr had melted, as the snowy land had reduced to a small level. Ishaan's power, when out of control, was danger for anyone. Even the damned road to Hel's palace was feeling it. Helvegr shook, as Rick came out completely normal. "I'm okay." He said, breathing deeply. Mikael's mind had been stretched to an extent too, but he was regaining pieces of his original self. Aitri came out too, and collapsed in Rishi's arms, crying. When Ishaan got out, he just lay there, all red hot (literally), and empty. His wings were, and didn't flap. He lay shaking on the ground. Rick went straight to Rishi, trying to console Aitri, who kept crying. Mikael ran towards Ishaan, who lay still. "Ishy?" Mik touched him. "Get away from me. Get your disgusting soul away from me." He bellowed, eyes closed tight. Mikael cupped his hands around Ishaan's face. He said, "Hey, its me. Look." Ishaan's eyes opened, "You're not Chandra?"

"Chandra?" Mikael asked, "Who is Chandra?"

"Oh gods, Mik." Ishaan hugged Mikael tightly, "Hey, buddy. Thank gods. Mik, he's coming."

"Who's coming?"

And just then, Balder pulled Ishaan by the hand, and put his thumb on Ishaan's forehead, while saying, "Alright, enough of tests. I'll fix this." Balder's finger glowed. Even dead, Balder seemed alive, healing like before, as Ishaan's eyes fixated finally, his hands steadied, his breath relaxed. Mik came close to Ishaan, who looked at him with the fixated eyes, and said, "Mik! I'm okay." Mikael hugged him, and said, "Its okay. Whatever it was, its gone now. All of our fears and tortures are gone." Then, Mikael looked at Balder with pure hate and anger. Balder's coldish eyes, however, were gone, replaced by the all familiar kind ones. On top of that, they were in tears.

"Don't look at me in that way, champion. I know I was very cruel to you, but I needed to know how much this mission meant to you. After the treachery I went through, by trusting Loki, getting hopes high doesn't get easy."

"You literally took us through hell."

"Oh no, the one you are in now is hell. That was Tartarus."

"Stop with your Greek references, Balder." Hodr said, as he caught on.

"Don't take me wrong, kids. I apologize, but I had no choice." 

"Running us through those terrible things was not funny, Lord Balder." Rishi said, with a glare.

"I know, I know." Balder said, wiping the tears of his eyes, "Anyway, I'll take you to the gateway of Hel from where, Hvergelmir is close. You are the strongest champions I have seen in a long long time. Come, lets all walk while we chat."