Nicklas Nygård

Dr. Nicklas Alvar "Nick" Nygård (pronounced: NICK-lass Nee-GORD), also known as the Red Vision, is an oracle in Jaxon Hall's clairvoyant gang, the Seven Seals. He is Paige Mahoney's best friend. He was born in the Scion Republic of Sweden, and currently lives in London, where he works for SciSORS. He divides his time between his Scion life and his work for Jaxon in I-4.

History
Nick was born in the village of Mölle, Sweden to voyants Bryndís "Bryn" Ingadóttir and Rune Nygård. The couple had one other child, Karolina "Lina" Nygård, who was also voyant. He has had visions since he was six years old.

Nick was a child prodigy who excelled in the sciences from a very young age. He graduated high school when he was fourteen after getting his SSLQ (Scion Second Level Qualification) and was enrolled at the University of Scion Stockholm, hoping to be a doctor, at fifteen. He took a degree called combined bioscience. His parents moved to Småland from Mölle around this time, and Nick lived with his uncle Alvar in Stockholm so he could commute to the university. The family would often return to Mölle to go fishing and swimming.

Students taking combined bioscience do most of their training on the job, but Nick first had to do an additional two years of study at the university and earn his STLQ (Scion Third Level Qualification). During the first year, Nick got involved with the voyant gangs of Stockholm and later visited his parents to celebrate his little sister’s birthday. Karolina, her boyfriend Håkan, and their friends had gone camping in the forest in Småland without permission. They had bought some bottles of Danish wine on the black market. Nick's father sent him after them, but Nick was too late; the soldiers had already killed them. Later, Brigitta Tjäder, Chief of Vigilance in Stockholm, justified their murders by saying they'd bought the wine to induce unnaturalness in themselves. Karolina's death gave Nick a thirst to take down Scion from within, and he decided he wanted to move to England – the heart of the empire.

Nick returned to Stockholm and requested a transfer to the SciSORS facility in London, hoping to finish training there and secure a permanent job as a lab technician. At seventeen, he was given leave to spend a few months in England, working for ScionAID in the town of Arthyen under supervision, so he could acclimatize to the country. During this time, he went to London several times to attend medical conferences. He met Colin Mahoney at one of these conferences. He also had a vision of Jaxon Hall, who he later saw in person in Trafalgar Square. Jaxon was shocked to see a voyant with a red aura, which he had never seen before. The two went to a coffeehouse, where Jaxon told Nick about his dream of creating the Seven Seals with six talented and rare voyants. Nick agreed to be Jaxon's mollisher and the first member of his gang. Not long after, he met nine-year-old Paige in the poppy fields of Arthyen and took her to hospital after her encounter with a poltergeist.

After his introductory period in England, Nick returned to Stockholm, got his STLQ, and cut ties with his voyant gang there. He then moved permanently to London and started work at SciSORS, alternating between his job there and his new life as Jaxon’s mollisher. Because he works for Scion, his life depends on not drawing attention to himself, or risk being discovered as clairvoyant and beheaded.

Paige sees Nick for the second time when she is sixteen and he is a guest speaker at her school. Dr. Nygård is there to give a speech to the students about careers in Scion's medical division and has a question-and-answer session. After the lecture, Paige catches up with him. Nick remembers her from when they met when she was younger. As they are walking by the school mistress, the woman suddenly gets a nosebleed. After the mistress leaves, Nick asks Paige if people often have nosebleeds around her. Paige tells him they do and asks if he knows why. Nick replies that he might know and that he will be in touch with her again in a few days. Before leaving, he tells Paige not sign up for university. When they meet up, Nick offers Paige employment with Jaxon Hall.

The Pale Dreamer
It is 2056, and Nick and Jaxon have been running the Seven Seals for eight years. Nick is hoping that Jaxon finds a new mollisher soon because being his mollisher on top of his day job with Scion is too much. While Jaxon doesn't like Nick working for Scion, he does like Nick's salary, which Nick shares part of with Jaxon. He also sends some of it to his parents.

Paige has been working for Jaxon for three months. Nick has been teaching her how to use a knife, how to climb, and how to spool spirits. Lately Paige has been feeling frustrated because she has only been given menial jobs, such as making coffee and doing research. According to Nick, Jaxon always does this to new recruits, claiming it's a test of character.

When fellow Seven Seals member, Eliza Renton, returns to the gang's base, the White Binder's Den, she tells everyone that Jaxon's long-time rival Didion Waite has failed to bind a famous poltergeist known as Sarah Metyard, and now the spirit is on a rampage. Nick believes that Metyard is after the spirit of Anne Naylor, the teenage girl she murdered. To Paige's surprise, Jaxon is giving her a chance to go into the field instead of doing desk duty. Paige and Nick will begin searching for Sarah in Anne's haunt, located in Cheapside.

Nick and Paige arrive in Cheapside, which is in I Cohort Section 5, which is mime-queen Ognena Maria's district. She and Didion are waiting for them. Maria tells them that they can have Anne, but she gets Sarah. Nick calls to check the arrangement with Jaxon. He agrees to Maria's conditions, but only if when Maria sells Metyard she gives him the chance to buy her privately instead of in an auction. Maria agrees. Nick and Didion go to discuss Metyard. Didion tells Nick that Metyard was seen at the site of Tyburn, which is the location of her hanging.

As Nick and Paige arrive at Farringdon station, Anne’s haunt, they are confronted by Haymarket Hector, the Underlord of the syndicate, and his gang the Underbodies. They begin fighting and end up disturbing Anne. This allows Nick and Paige to escape. While hiding in an alley, Paige tells Nick that she thinks Anne is not actually hiding from Sarah but wants to confront her. Paige believes both poltergeists want a final showdown. They call Eliza to see if her research has revealed anything. It has. Eliza has discovered that besides Tyburn, Brunton Street is another place of importance to her as it was where she lived when she was alive. Sarah was reported to have been seen there recently. But Paige thinks the location of importance the two spirits are going to meet at is the sewer drain, or gully-hole, where Sarah disposed of Anne's body. With help from Eliza, they decide that the current location of the gully-hole is West Street, right near the White Binder's Den.

Sure enough, both Sarah and Anne are there, facing off and circling each other. Sarah lunges at Anne, making her flinch, tormenting her even in death. Nick and Paige lure Sarah into the courtyard behind the den and try to hold in her place so Jaxon can come and bind her. When Sarah realizes what Jaxon is trying to do, she hurtles toward him. Paige jumps in front of Jaxon, giving him time to complete the binding. Jaxon, Paige, Nick, Eliza, and Anne are battling against Sarah, trying to hold her in place. The binding isn't working. Suddenly, Paige realizes that this isn't Sarah Metyard, it's her daughter, Sarah Morgan Metyard. She tells Jaxon her realization. Just as Paige thinks holding off Sarah is going to kill her; Jaxon successfully completes the binding. Anne returns to her haunt, while the Seals return to the den to recover. Sarah is now bound to Jaxon and enters the den as well, no longer on a rampage.

After falling asleep, Paige is woken by Eliza who takes her to the neighboring cookshop known as Chateline's. Nick is already there waiting. Paige thinks Jaxon is going to let her go, but Nick and Eliza assure her that he won't. Nick and Eliza invite Paige to join their tradition of getting breakfast for supper every Friday at Chateline's.

The Bone Season
Coming soon...

The Mime Order
After winning the scrimmage, Paige names Nick as her mollisher supreme.

The Song Rising
Nick has been sent as an agent of the Domino Programme to Sweden.

The Mask Falling
Coming soon...

Physical Description
Nick is described as very pale with winter green eyes and pale blond hair. He frequently wears cable-knit sweaters. He is 5"5'.

Personality
Nick is one of the kindest people, always putting the happiness of others above his own. He is an accomplished traceur, and taught Paige how to ruin and climb and cleverly avoid the authorities on the streets of London. He is overall a lovely person. He is incredibly patient and understanding.

Etymology
Nicklas is a name meaning "people of victory" and is a variant of Nicholas, one of seven "qualified men" in the first-century Christian congregation. Alvar comes from the Old Norse name Alfarr, meaning "elf warrior." Nygård is a Scandinavian surname meaning "new homestead" or "new farm."

Trivia

 * In his time working for Scion, he's saved thirty-four voyants from the gallows and two from Nitekind.

Appearances

 * The Pale Dreamer
 * The Bone Season
 * The Mime Order
 * The Song Rising
 * The Dawn Chorus (mentioned only)
 * The Mask Falling