God of War: Daughter of War

Once everyone was ready to go, even Albis since she noticed that the entire group was getting ready to leave, Flurry did one last thing to make sure their home was safe, she cast one more barrier spell to make sure Odin was unable to enter this area for the foreseeable future, before glancing at her brother.

"So, where are we going?" Flurry asked, as Atreus had discovered something that had caused the All-Father to come out to their home and try to stop him from continuing down the path he had started down, revealing that information to them and potentially screwing over whatever plans he and Thor had in mind.

"The old temple in the Wildwoods... our target is the triptych we discovered in there." Atreus replied, something that caused Flurry and Pandora to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as they recalled the item in question and neither had thought it had more information that could be gleamed from it's story, which was interesting to say the least, "Trust me, it'll be easier to show all of you what I mean, instead of trying to explain it with words."

"There is one concerning thing: if Odin is focused on Fimbulwinter and Ragnarok, that likely means he's given up on trying to get into Jotunheim and learning the 'secrets of the Giants'." Freya commented, all while she and the others headed out of the area by using the wooden arch that Kratos and his daughters had put up at some point after they returned from the realm of the Giants, though her words caused everyone to remain silent for a moment, as it was something interesting to think about while they walked.

Ahead of them the group found a wall that required them to climb up it, like how Atreus struck an upper part of it with one of his arrows, one designed to lodge itself into the material and grant him the ability to get up quickly, or like how Kratos just used one of the blades and it's chain to do the same thing. Freya found that this didn't even stop Albis from following them, reminding her that the gorgon was used to traveling with the family and, more importantly, she was able to keep pace with both Kratos and his daughters, in fact she was faster than Atreus was. Just beyond the wall they found a wooden chest that Pandora looted, but what caught their attention was the fact that there were raiders that were slain and even left hanging until they died, killed by something else, causing Kratos to realize that one of their older foes was back. Flurry explained that she and her family had encountered a stalker, the Huntress, several times in the past, after Fimbulwinter started, and the figure, who was half woman and half deer while resembling a centaur, clashed with them before fleeing, meaning she was still hunting them and that their home was definitely no longer safe.

That fact was definitely true since these kills were almost on the outskirts of their home, meaning the Huntress was simply taunting them, but now that they were walking away from their home everyone needed to be on guard, since there was no telling when she might show up and attack them. The problem that Flurry found was that there were far too many raiders inside the protection stave, especially for how short the opening had been, causing her to expand her magic before making a startling discovery, the entirety of the protection stave, which had been working before Odin's arrival, was cooked, as in the entire thing was gone. Such a thing enraged Kratos for a moment, as Odin must have known about the Huntress and took out their protection to make sure they suffered, no doubt expecting them to take some time before moving, meaning this wasn't in whatever plan he had come up with after his main plans had been ruined. Fortunately he calmed down quickly and continued to move forward, though at the same time Flurry told them that once they got back she and Atreus would make a new protection stave, one that would be far stronger than the one Odin had just ruined.

As they continued forward Kratos found some bramble blocking their path, the type that only the blades could take care of, and he swung one of his blades at it, burning it away so they could continue deeper into the woods, though this allowed Freya to realize how they were able to deal with Helheim's dangers during their last big adventure.

Unfortunately the bridge that they had used in the past had fallen apart, as it was no longer usable and had collapsed into the area below where it had been resting previously, but Kratos did find a gate resting somewhat above them that he used a blade to open, allowing them to climb up to another path that would bring them to the temple. Such a thing allowed them to discover that some of the slain raiders were transforming into icy Hel-Raiders, just like Hel-Walkers, where Freya told Kratos and his family that this was partly her fault, as the Valkyries had been helping her and Baldur off and on for the last three years, hunting down the curses she couldn't find. As such it meant that the tide of undead was only partly dealt with and her selfishness was going to hurt others, though Baldur was sure his father was still behind this in some manner, most of the things they had discovered so far seemed to be his fault, showing that he had grown from who he had been when they first encountered him.

In fact Baldur was the one who dealt with the first Hel-Raider, shifting his stance and swinging the glaive in a rapid motion that separated his foe into mincemeat, showing them that three years of training off and on with Flurry, a master of every weapon type she had experienced in Greece and the Nine Realms, had paid off quite well.

A few moments later they encountered upon a raider off in the distance that was speared in the chest and dragged off, no doubt by the Huntress, meaning she was literally taunting Kratos and his family this time around, as if sensing that this was the only chance she had to hunt them in a serious manner. In fact Flurry found that the raider that had been pulled off to the side had been strung up and slain by the time they reacted, which all but confirmed that this was who she and her family thought it was, meaning they had to be on their guard for the foreseeable future. Following that the group found that there were more Hel-Raiders being brought to life, likely out of their desire for revenge in regards to the Huntress, but because all of them were mindless they attacked the group without delay, no doubt what the figure intended, lower their defenses so she could find an opening. Such a thing allowed Flurry to see how Freya fought, as she did a lot of training by herself, and it was rather simple, she used her sword to cut at enemies that were coming her way, while also utilizing her bow, which had a whole new bowstring, to hit those that were far away from them.

Of course that was when Freya realized something very important, Flurry was an expert archer, hitting targets from afar and striking multiple of them in rapid succession, striking down several Hel-Raiders before they could even get close to the rest of the group, and when one tried to get behind her Flurry spun around and slashed at it with her sickles, sundering her foe before it could even hit her.

"Kratos, your daughter is amazing... I mean, so are Pandora and Atreus, but... Flurry's on an entirely different level." Freya remarked, as it was true, Flurry's reaction speed and accuracy were incredibly deadly and on point, to the point that she was sure that she could strike a dragon from far away if she wanted to, and that was without using her magic, the arsenal that she could call upon at any given moment, or the greatsword on her back.

"But of course, Flurry's been with father since the beginning, while Atreus and I joined later on." Pandora stated, because she knew that her sister was on another level, she could see it whenever they did something, but that just made her smile while she swung her halberd and slashed her opponents apart, clearing the area for them to quickly loot the fallen before heading further down the path, "Plus she's an alicorn... can't really compete with such a magical being."

Freya could only nod for a moment upon hearing that, as Flurry certainly bested her in that aspect of well, which was due to all of the training she had gone between her adventures in the lands of Greece, allowing her to hone her skills into what she and Baldur were seeing right now. After dealing with that group they discovered that another bridge had collapsed and that Atreus was fast to assure them that it wasn't his fault it had collapsed, leading them to assume that it was either the fault of Fimbulwinter, which was the more likely idea, or the Huntress did this. While they took turns slipping through a set of pillars, as there was a gap into another area, Atreus explained that the reason he had been seeking Tyr, in addition to his dreams calling him to this temple, was that he was positive that he was the only person who could shed some light on the Giants and the secrets of Loki. Flurry told Freya and Baldur about the name, it was what the Giants had called Atreus and it was what Faye originally wanted before agreeing with Kratos on calling their son 'Atreus', once more confirming that Faye didn't want her son to be trapped in whatever prophecy her people had seen for him.

As they descended into another area Freya thought about that information, and the fact that the family was able to track all sorts of chests, as there was a wooden one she would have missed, and privately wondered how much Flurry could store in her bag, before deciding that it was probably a question best left unanswered. The group did discover some living raiders that, upon death, swiftly returned as Hel-Raiders, causing Freya to tell Kratos that once this was over, and they knew what was in the shrine, she was going to contact the Valkyries and get them back to work, as her curses mattered little if there were swarms of undead roaming the realms. Kratos then found a pillar that had fallen in the way, again Atreus confirmed it wasn't his doing, causing him to latch onto it with his blades and yank it out of the way, demonstrating a skill he could use with the Blades of Chaos that he rarely used, and might be using more frequently, even though he knew Flurry could do it far faster with her magic if she really wanted to do so. In order to move forward the pillar had to be moved back into position and Flurry did so without delay, allowing them to jump across to where a rope line was located, where Kratos pulled on the nearby chain and moved the line into position.

Such a thing allowed them to ride down the rope line, where they dropped down into the lower area and dealt with a group of raiders and Hel-Raiders, cutting their way through them with ease, showing Freya and Baldur just how skilled the family was on their own, how they worked in unison with each other to quickly bring down their foes. Freya also knew that this was due to the fact that Flurry's rune had prevented Fimbulwinter from messing with everything they had on them, making the family a force to be reckoned with during such a terrible point in the history of the Nine Realms. Even the raiders that were on the other side of another gap, one that seemed to be the way forward, didn't stand much of a chance while Pandora just dropped off the right side and smashed a wooden chest, returning to the rest of the group and handing the loot over to her sister, who stored it inside her bag. Kratos even spotted some runes off on their right that read 'Kill Winter-Man', which he was able to fully read since Atreus had insisted that he be able to read and understand the Norse runes, and he was sure this was Odin's work, no doubt one of his spies had convinced the raiders that he was the cause of Fimbulwinter and that his death would end it.

As they climbed up into another area, one that was flatter than some of the others, the Huntress finally made her move as she attacked the group, targeting Kratos as he approached the wall they needed to climb, only to find that her weapon just stopped before it could reach her target, due to Flurry's magic seizing control of it. While the Huntress realized that there were more people around who she had chosen as her target, however, Kratos rushed her and she retaliated by raising both of her front hooves to try and smash him into the ground, only for him to grab them and toss them to the side as he quickly punched her in the side. The interesting thing was that she was capable of firing multiple arrows at once and that her antlers glowed, the latter being something they took care of by striking them with a weapon that returned to their side, such as the Blades of Chaos or Flurry's sickles. Of course she did have a surprisingly powerful attack of her own, a rather powerful arrow that smashed through Kratos' shield, damaging Faye's shield to the point that it couldn't be used again, causing him to rage at the Huntress as he rushed after her and smashed her into the ground with his fists, before driving her bow straight into her human chest and crushed her into the ground.

With a final twist Kratos destroyed her heart, no doubt killing her instantly, though to be sure he also did the same to her lower half, the deer portion, just to be sure she didn't come back to life on them, since sometimes killing one heart didn't mean the end of a foe, only for her to dissolve like all of the other monsters, signaling that she was dead.

"Father... mother's shield..." Atreus said, as he knew how important the shield was to his father and was sad to see that the Huntress had damaged it enough to break it, while at the same time Flurry collected the magical bones and leather their foe had on her, plus a runic gem that empowered Kratos' axe, allowing her to store the gem in her bag as well.

"Yes, she damaged it. I will have to go without for the time being." Kratos replied, which wasn't a problem for him, since he was used to fighting without a shield thanks to what Ares had put him through over the years, hence why he pulled out both of the Blades of Chaos, since they seemed to be working best right now, especially against Hel-Raiders, "I will ask Brok and Sindri if they can fix it later."

As Atreus nodded Kratos removed the broken shield and handed it to Flurry, who stashed it inside another portion of her bag for safekeeping, before they ascended the wall that the Huntress had been protecting, allowing them to finally enter the temple at long last. While walked inside Atreus explained that his dreams allowed him to realize something important about the shrines they had discovered during their last adventure, they held more information than any of them had known at the time, which explained why he was so sure that Tyr was alive while everyone else thought the god was dead. The temple, as they discovered, was on the verge of collapse and happened to be falling apart right now, an effect of Fimbulwinter as the group glanced out at the rest of the area, all while Pandora found a stone chest and looted the metal and Hacksilver that was inside it. Flurry noticed that there was a fallen pillar in the way, while again her brother stated that it was new, so while she moved it out of the way with her magic, breaking a decayed tree out of the way, her sister found a wooden chest and quickly looted it as well, allowing her to add more to the collection as Flurry opened the way forward.

Following that they walked up the stairs and approached the triptych Atreus was interested in, which had been closed since the last time Flurry and her family had been here, to which he walked up to it and opened it without delay, all while Kratos pulled Mimir out so he could also see what they were about to discover.

"Watch this." Atreus said, where he turned towards the shrine and placed his hand on the central image, causing his family and their friends to watch as a golden area appeared around his hand and spread out, dissolving the painting and revealing a stone door in the central frame's position, one he pushed open to reveal a spiraling portal of Giant magic, "Come on, what you guys need to see is on the other side."

Kratos thought about telling his son to stop, but since Atreus stepped into the portal there wasn't much they could do as he and the others followed after him, where they found that they were in a place that reminded him of Flurry's bag, a world or dimension hidden behind something else. Atreus explained what he knew about what was going on, that this was a place only the Giants had access to, where they seemed to hide the true versions of their stories, while at the same time a mist of sorts washed over the area and took on a new shape, the wolves Skoll and Hati chained up. In this secret story they found something interesting, that being that Odin did, in fact, have them imprisoned at one point in time to help control the start of Ragnarok, but some Giants had freed them and, according to the changing information, brought them to Vanaheim, much to Freya's surprise. They further discovered that at some point in time the moon was going to be stolen, until someone that the Giant's referred to as the 'Champion' rescues the moon and shoots an arrow to set the wolves back on track, after both the sun and moon form a total eclipse, before he got onto the part he wanted them to see.

Everyone watched as the scene transformed into the start of Ragnarok, the armies of the Nine Realms facing Odin's army, to which Atreus pointed at the leader of the allied force, a figure that the Giants claimed was Tyr, where Mimir had to wonder if Odin had been telling the truth when he said he had killed Tyr... before Atreus brought them outside and showed them one of the walls they had walked by, using a bit of his magic to reveal a series of drawings while the shrine returned to normal.

"I also found this." Atreus said, revealing a small sphere of some kind that he handed to his father, who then passed it down to the others for a moment as he turned his attention to the drawings, which seemed to be notes of where the other shrines were located, and some were crossed off, "It was in one of the other shrines... I know it's Giant craftsmanship, that much is obvious, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. And no, I haven't been to all of the other shrines, before you ask that sort of question... I've only been to the ones in Midgard, thanks to Odin sealing Realm Travel and Sindri not wanting to take me to see the ones in the other realms."

"So that's why I've been feeling him constantly move around without a pattern for the last few years. He's been helping you the entire time... you really didn't trust us to help you, despite being part of the family?" Flurry remarked, which hurt a little, that her brother wouldn't even make an attempt to come to her and Pandora for assistance, even if he knew they'd rat him out to their father, rather he put his faith in someone that was nearly a total stranger, despite how friendly Sindri was.

"It doesn't matter whether or not I trusted you... I know Tyr's alive, when all of you thought he was dead, because one of the shrines proved it." Atreus stated, causing the family to sigh for a moment, as it seemed like Atreus was starting to step back into the arrogant person he had been when he first discovered that he was a god, in fact Flurry was sure that this was going to add a few more scales to one of his limbs or body, "The other shrines had hints as to where he might be imprisoned: they mention black smoke and bleeding earth."

"Black smoke? Muspelheim, perhaps?" Kratos inquired, because while he had been in the Nine Realms for quite some time he still didn't know the ins and outs of each one, so his knowledge was limited in this situation, hence why he guessed at the most likely realm that Tyr could be imprisoned in, since his son was so convinced that he was right and that meant they had to deal with this side of him for a while.

"Unlikely. My husband has power and connections in most of the Nine Realms... but not the primordial ones." Freya said, as she couldn't fault Kratos for thinking such a thing, because bleeding earth could easily be interpreted as lava and magma, which Muspelheim had in abundance, but there was another realm that was likely the one the Giants had foretold in their strange hidden shrines, "Mimir, could it be the realm of the dwarves?"

"Svartalfheim? It is the most likely candidate." Mimir replied, where he was happy to provide some assistance in this matter, because if Atreus was right, and Tyr was actually alive and imprisoned, this could very well unite the Nine Realms against Odin, just as the Giants seemed to think in their new prophecy, "Especially since their mines did belch black smoke. But we do have a problem: Odin has sealed off Realm Travel, remember? We have no way to get to Svartalfheim."

"That's not exactly true." Pandora remarked, where she held up her half hand for a moment and caused them to remember that she wore a special gauntlet with six special stones inside it's slots, though as she activated the blue stone a circular rift appeared in the air behind her, a portal large enough for even her father to step through that lead back to their house, "I've been working on harnessing the power of this gauntlet, and the stones we collected during our previous adventure, and while this isn't the best solution, it is one we can use without asking anyone for assistance."

Freya, Baldur, and even Mimir looked at Pandora for a few seconds, as they couldn't believe what she was doing, despite the fact that one of them was sure that Flurry could do the same with her magic if she truly felt like it, as the existence of a stone that was capable of opening portals like this was unknown to them. Such a thing caused Freya to wonder about the other five that were on the gauntlet, along with the curiosity if they could be used in unison or not, and she could tell that Mimir was curious as well, since this might be outside his area of expertise. As they stepped through the portal, appearing outside the main house, Kratos found that they didn't even have time to talk about what they had seen in the shrine, as Sindri, with a hat that was no doubt made to help him with the winter conditions of Midgard, appeared nearby. He mentioned that both he and Brok had noticed that the protection stave had been cooked, both suspecting that it was Odin, and had decided to let the family bunk with them for a time, leading Freya to tell them that she and Baldur were going to remain in Midgard for a time, to speak to the Valkyries and track down Odin's final curse.

Kratos nodded and wished them well, knowing that the pair would likely utilize their wolves while they were gone, before he and his family followed Sindri through the Door of Yggdrasil that was nearby, as it was time to see where the dwarf was taking them and see if he had a way to get into Svartalfheim, causing him to look forward to what the future held in store for everyone.