God of War: Daughter of War

Flurry found that the weeks and months that followed them sharing their history with Freya and Baldur to be exactly what they were expecting, an onslaught of magical snow that blanketed the landscape of their woods, which was definitely the work of Fimbulwinter, the winter to end all winters as Mimir called it. Sure enough her addition to their protection stave meant that the snow that fell inside the barrier held no power at all, meaning she and her family could go about their days without having to worry about their powers being sapped or their home being weakened. Of course the same couldn't be said for anything that was outside the barrier, though Flurry had made sure to provide Freya, Baldur, the dwarf brothers, and even Modi with the rune as well, but the last one refused to reveal himself to the family. She wasn't too surprised by that fact, given what Atreus had done to him before she saved his life, so it made sense that he would keep his distance and not speak to the boy that had very nearly killed him in such a dishonorable manner.

There was one interesting thing she noticed, that being the fact that Odin apparently allowed Modi to return to Asgard for a time, but after a few days he'd be back in either Midgard, seeking Flurry's aid in some manner or because the dwarves had a task for him to complete, or back in whatever area the dwarves had set him up in.

Atreus, for the most part, seemed to be outgrowing the curse that had been placed on him when he touched the mirror, no doubt due to what he had seen when his family told him about their time in the land of Greece, or the majority of what had been said since there were still things he didn't know. Flurry could tell that his horns, wings, and tail were completely gone, showing that he wasn't giving into the aspects of himself that had fueled the curse originally, plus his eyes had returned to normal as well, things he was perfectly fine with since it meant he was returning to normal. Of course with every bit of good news there was a bit of bad news, that being the fact that while the scales had diminished, to the point where it was hard to see that he had been cursed in the first place, there was a reminder of the curse on him, his sharpened hands and feet, as they stilled resembled claws a little. Atreus didn't seem to mind that minor change, since it allowed him to work on climbing on his own, so he didn't have to rely on hugging his father's back whenever they had to climb something, as the claws did allow him to grip things much easier than before, but he also made sure this didn't go to his head.

In addition to that Atreus found that Albis was more active now that he knew of her existence, as she went out to make sure the perimeter of their protection stave was fine, though he was still a little freaked out by the fact that she was able to turn foe's to stone in a matter of seconds. The reason for him discovering that was because Kratos went out with her a couple of times and even brought Atreus along, since he needed to know what she could do and get used to her being a part of the family, since she had hidden herself to avoid making a young Atreus freak out. That didn't stop him from freaking out a little the first time Albis froze a draugr and turned it into a stone statue, which caused her to move it to the outskirts of their large barrier, positioned so it would face the outside area as an attempt to dissuade individuals from bothering them. In addition to that he discovered that she, too, was a skilled warrior in her own right, using her two swords to parry and deal with those that got too close to her, as there were times where she wanted to fight like Kratos did, and her body definitely allowed her to move around quite well.

While time passed Flurry found that every so often Freya would return, to spend time with them or just to relax, and that she was definitely more herself with every passing moment, as she was actually breaking the curses that had been placed on her and was regaining her former powers. There were two reasons for her continuing to come by, the first was because Mimir had been Odin's aide for a long time and he could help her potentially track down some of the curses that had been placed on her, and while he admitted that it had been some time since he had been told about them Mimir was willing to aid Freya in whatever way he could. The second reason, however, became clear when Freya found out how to finally shatter the curse that prevented her from defending herself, allowing her to finally fight enemies with the sword she carried, as she wanted to join the family in their training, where Kratos carefully eased her into what they were doing, since overwhelming her would be a bad thing. Of course it took her far longer to track down that curse than all of the others that had been placed on her, but Freya was willing to put forth the time and effort to break it, confirming her remark that she would rather be able to defend herself when Ragnarok arrived, instead of letting it claim her with little resistance.

There was one other thing that changed as Fimbulwinter dug it's icy grip into the realm, that the Lake of Nine froze over in a way that actually formed new pathways for people to explore, though after about a year Flurry noticed something else that came as a shock to her family and their new friends, there were raiders in Midgard, reavers that were adapting to the new environment they were in.

"I'm not surprised. With Fimbulwinter having set in, people will be desperate for supplies." Mimir remarked, because he and the others knew that Flurry was talking about a new raider clan and not the ones that had been dealt with previously, not to mention the fact that there appeared to be multiple camps spread out around the lake.

"I understand that, but there is one clan that is catching wolves and eating them." Flurry stated, as that was the clan that she had focused on during her flights, because there were plenty of deer out there, both in the area outside their home and in the rest of the realm, so it didn't make sense for the clan in question to be going after wolves of all things.

"They're... eating wolves?! We have to stop them!" Atreus said, because he was more in tune with animals than the rest of his family, something they were getting used to since he had seen him understand what animals were saying, like Brok's old beast of burden that he eventually ate, and even Freya seemed troubled by this discovery, "Father, we have to save them!"

"It will be a good experience for you, to put your training into practice." Kratos replied, as he had been thinking about what Flurry had said about where the clan in question was located, they were quite close to where one of the edges of their home was located, and that meant it was only a matter of time until something beckoned the raiders to the woods, so it would be best if they dealt with a problem before it became one.

"Baldur and I will check on our home, to be sure the raiders haven't touched it." Freya said, because her son had decided not to go back to Asgard, not until he was absolutely sure on his feelings towards his uncaring father, so for the time being they were sharing the house under her turtle friend, which required making another bed for him, and with the effects of this endless winter setting in she wanted to be sure their home was safe as well.

Kratos nodded and wished the pair well, causing them to depart from the area that he and his children called home, though once they were gone he made sure that each of his kids were ready to go, only to discover that all three of them needed no preparations this time around. As such he left Albis in charge of things around the house before they departed, heading down a familiar path that had brought them to where Atreus had eventually killed a deer, only this time there was a second path for them to follow, one formed by Fimbulwinter to be exact. It allowed them to move through another portion of the woods, one Flurry knew about since she had flown over it a few times in the past, though to navigate some parts of it her family had to jump across a few gaps and even climb a pair of short walls. She suspected that there was a more direct path to this area, but this was good for their purposes and allowed both her father and her brother to get used to Atreus doing it on his own, since he wanted more independence than he had been given in the past.

Sure enough there were a number of raiders scattered around the camp, with a rather impressive one that had to be their leader standing in the center of everything, though what caused them to pause was the number of wolves, at least ten by Flurry's reckoning, that had been butchered and carved up, with three more growling from an iron cage, a warning to those that were approaching the cage.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Atreus shouted, as he could tell that the three surviving wolves were terrified, fearful for their lives after watching what was likely their pack being butchered and torn apart like they were nothing, in fact he could almost taste their fear, fueling his rage towards the raiders, even if they were doing this to survive, which was burning more than ever before.

As Flurry opened her mouth, to say something about this matter, she and the rest of her family noticed something that they weren't happy to see again as Atreus' rage blinded him and prevented him from seeing reason again, his hands and feet had a magical mist wash over them, returning them to their draconic forms in a matter of seconds. Flurry knew that the slower burning rage of her brother's, which wasn't connected to his own Spartan Rage, was bad to see since they had seen it in the past, like when Gondol threw him into a rock wall and his rage had caused a change in his body, which was being repeated before their very eyes. Kratos, noticing what was going on, reached out to his son and found that his words fell on deaf ears as Atreus rushed at the raiders, using both his knife and his sharpened claw hands as he attacked the raiders, though unlike all of the previous times he let his rage get the better of him, and usually made things worse, this time he seemed focused on fighting and killing his enemies. Pandora found that it was an oddly impressive sight, her brother tore through the necks of those that got near him, in fact there was one raider where he brought his bow down and crushed the head of his foe, and when five of the six raiders were dead he growled and turned on the leader.

The figure in question found this entire situation to be humorous as he tore into the cooked meat that was in his hand, a fact that caused Atreus to growl with a look of pure hatred on his face, something that caused an explosive change in him as he regained his horns, tail, and wings in a matter of seconds, causing Flurry to hold him back as Kratos and Pandora took out the chief before he could do anything else.

"Breath, Atreus. Calm down and focus." Flurry said, where she magically held her brother down as she nodded to their father and sister, causing them to move whatever meat was in the camp into the nearby fire, along with the remainder of the few wolf corpses that were in the area, though she was happy to see that her words were able to cut through her brother's rage, all while noticing that his eyes were draconic again.

"I... I'm sorry... I'm a failure." Atreus stated, where he hung his head in shame, because he had been doing so well since the trip to Jotunheim and had just undone everything in a fit of rage, causing him to realize he was back at square one again, a major blow since he had been so close to breaking the curse.

Kratos told his son that he wasn't a failure, he was proud of the strides that Atreus had made in trying to trying to master his emotions, something they would have to work on in the future, because if this was the price for his son falling this deep into his rage, all because of how people were treating wild animals, it meant they needed to step up Atreus' training. With that in mind he had Flurry let go of her brother and that caused Atreus to walk over to the cage, where Pandora released the three wolves and they found that the trio approached him with a bit of caution, but he was able to smile as he petted them each in turn. Atreus could tell a few things, namely the reddish furred wolf and the light gray wolf were sisters, the former he called 'Speki' and the latter he called 'Svanna', which was either their actual names and he was translating it for them, or it was what he felt like calling them for some reason. The third wolf, who seemed to be slightly older than the sisters, had darker gray fur with a unique white pattern over his left eye and the area around it, who Atreus called 'Fenrir' and they seemed to take a liking to each other, meaning they would be fast friends no doubt.

Despite Atreus' regression, in terms of his curse, Flurry had a feeling that things were going to get more interesting now that they had three wolves that seemed to be following them, which made her interested in what the future might have in store for her, her family, their friends, and the rest of the realms.