God of War: Daughter of War

"This is my house." Sindri said, speaking when they emerged from the passage that allowed them to traverse the realms in the past, where they found that they were on one of the branches of Yggdrasil and, more importantly, the structure that was in front of them appeared to have two floors, possibly more since it was large and impressive, "Brok and I took the liberty to make some rooms for you guys, after I realized that Odin might be coming once Atreus told me what he was looking for in those shrines, and I even put your names on them to help you out."

"This is an impressive place, Sindri." Flurry replied, where they found that the dwarf insisted that they wipe their feet before entering his house, or hooves in her case, which was what her family did since they wanted to be good guests, though that was when they entered the structure and found that it was just as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside, "And so is the inside."

"Thank you. Now then, would you like to check out your rooms, or shall we get to business right away?" Sindri asked, as he knew that the family had plans now that Odin had wrecked their protection stave, even though he suspected that Kratos would prefer to leave immediately, especially given what he had seen during their last adventure, "I can even get a couple of snacks, if you guys want to relax for a while."

"No. No snacks are required." Kratos stated, where Flurry handed over the ruined shield as he approached the forge area that was to the left of the entrance, which happened to be where Brok was working after their return to this realm, causing him to set the device on the counter for a moment, "Can you fix this?"

"Hm. maybe. It's busted up good... you sure you don't want a replacement?" Brok asked, as he knew that making a stronger shield for Kratos was possible, in fact he had thought up a few new designs since the last time he saw the group, despite the fact that he felt Atreus' growth was actually bad since the boy had grown a little too much in his opinion.

Kratos told him that it was important to him, as it was one of Faye's last gifts to him, causing the dwarf to nod as he placed it off to the side, to work on while they were gone, before he handed over a device that was similar to the old one and turned into a new type of shield, a temporary one until Faye's was fixed. While he did that, however, Atreus approached Sindri and asked him about what they had talked about previously, a way to open Realm Travel so they could get to Svartalfheim, to which Mimir asked why neither of them had said a word about this over the course of Fimbulwinter. Sindri said that part of it was because he and Brok actually needed Mimir's help, though the other reason was that they needed to figure a couple of things out before they proposed their idea to the family, since it could have gone wrong in the early days, but now he knew they were ready to get to work. They did pause for a few moments, as Sindri needed to clean up some things before he even thought about him and Brok restoring Realm Travel, where Flurry found that her father's room and Atreus' were on the main floor, Pandora's seemed to be on the floor that Sindri's and Brok's were on, and her own room was far above the others, no doubt due to her wings.

The oddest thing was that it didn't look like the dwarves had accounted for the possibility of Albis coming along, because she didn't see a room for her, causing her to land near the workshop and ask about it, where the pair admitted that they had talked about it for a time and had come to no conclusion, causing Kratos to say that Albis could share his room. Brok made sure to outfit Atreus with some new armor, as he really didn't like the attire he had been wearing when they entered Sindri's place, where Flurry found that her brother was wearing a new silver and blue set of armor that was crafted to fit his body, and was enchanted to change with him. By that Brok pointed out how his armor was designed to cover Atreus' wings and tail when he was in combat, protecting more of his body in the process, and when they were out of danger the material would return to just covering his main body, showing them that he wanted to make sure everyone was well protected. Brok even pointed out something interesting to the family, he was setting up a chest that Kratos could open, next to the workshop, to hold any items they might have left behind during their travels, like resources they might potentially miss, and when he did so Kratos found a piece of armor, a chest piece, that he handed to Flurry so she could add it to the collection.

When they returned to the subject of restoring Realm Travel, or at least a version of it that Odin wouldn't be able to stop so easily, Sindri asked if they knew where in Svartalfheim Tyr was being held, as it had been some time since he and Atreus had talked about the subject, leading the boy to tell him that all they knew was that he was in a mine.

"The realm is full of mines, you know that... right? You'll need help narrowing it down... perhaps Durlin can help." Sindri said, something that caused the family to raise their eyebrows for a moment, because it did sound like he might think they were aware of the name, before he noticed that they didn't seem to know the name at all and simply moved on as he walked behind the table that Brok was standing at, to reach something that was hidden back there, "He's a cousin of ours, of sorts... works for the city on all sorts of safety issues and should have access to some information that might help you out. And he's no friend of Odin's, which is why Faye sought him out when she was trying to whip up a rebellion."

This was news to the family, obviously, as Faye had told them little about everything that happened before she encountered them, save for how her own clan had been wiped out, which had been the truth despite it being altered to avoid drawing all sorts of attention to all of them. Brok seemed to think this was funny, as he said something about 'giving a hound a haircut' in relation to Durlin being a 'rebel leader', and he even chewed his brother out for how he remembered things, meaning the information Sindri had just told them might not be accurate, all while saying something about 'casting asparagations' on his relations. While she wondered what he meant Flurry could see that there was a device that happened to be what the other dwarf was after, as Sindri wheeled out what appeared to be a device for Mimir to sit in, the very device they must have measured him for back when they originally opened the way to Jotunheim. Other than that there didn't seem to be much for them to do, other than follow Brok and Sindri back to the Door that was outside Sindri's house, all while Albis informed Kratos that she was sure she would have to stay behind, given the nature of Svartalfheim, causing him to nod as they joined the dwarves.

Once the device was positioned near the Door Sindri made a few last second checks as Brok collected both the Bifrost and Mimir, all while Atreus and Flurry found that there was a large dragon of some kind eating at the roots of Yggdrasil, which meant it was Nidhogg, an important piece of the World Tree's unique ecosystem, before they turned towards the Door and the dwarves.

"So... do I control this contraption somehow?" Mimir asked, because as his head was inserted into what appeared to be the slot that he had been measured for he noticed something very important, that there didn't appear to be anything he could use as a control device, making him wonder if this might be mind powered.

"Oh, no, no, no, no... this is to hold you in place while we shine this light in your eyes." Sindri replied, where he turned part of the device, which the Bifrost was attached to and happened to be powering, that fired a beam of Bifrost energy into Mimir's eyes, just like what the family had done when they restored the way to Jotunheim.

Mimir, understandably, was in pain over this, the light of the Bifrost wasn't something one wanted fired into their eyes, and while Brok was laughing at the entire situation Mimir actually called Sindri a 'sodding bastard', since he likely didn't think the kinder dwarf would do something like this. Sindri, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind a little name calling as he quickly told Mimir to open his eyes, as he had closed them a few seconds into the event, before turning towards his brother as he said he was really hoping not to use the eyelid clamps, which only caused Brok to say 'do it' before laughing again, because he was enjoying the show. Of course that information was enough to cause Mimir to open his eyes, since he didn't want to be exposed to something like that, causing the energy to turn from light to golden yellow, just like before, and once the rest of the energy was gone Mimir focused a beam on the Door. Such a thing caused a new design to appear on the Door, one that looked like Yggdrasil with a ring growing around it, connected to eight branches with two more icons right in the center of it all, causing them to step forward and hammer on the Door, sealing the magic into the material.

When the work was done Flurry confirmed that this was now connected to the Nine Realms in a new way, as nine of the new spheres represented the Nine Realms and the tenth appeared to be the brand that the brothers used, a way for her and her family to return to this place with ease no doubt, causing Sindri to smile and remark that there was no permanent damage to anything.

"I'll show you permanent damage ya wee fuck! Kratos! Toss me at him, horns first!" Mimir remarked, his tone revealing that he was greatly annoyed with the two dwarves right now, especially Sindri since it appeared that most of this had been his side and Brok only went along with it because he found it to be fun.

Kratos decided that it was best to not humor Mimir in this instance, though as he collected him and the Bifrost he found that the Bifrost had gone dark, reduced back to it's vessel state, where Sindri told him that he knew it had been used as a source of light from time to time and that he'd have a replacement in hand in the near future. In addition to that Sindri informed the family that things would be working a little differently from this point forward, as they still needed the Key to summon all of the Doors, but the difference between the two types was that this one required Yggdrasil Seeds to open the Doors to new locations. This was to get around Odin locking Realm Travel and sealing the abilities of Tyr's Temple, something they were still trying to figure out how he had done such a thing, and while he only had a Seed for Svartalfheim to give them, to get the family close to where they should start their search, he knew where to get more for them, for the other realms. Kratos found that the new Door was the exact same as the previous one, in terms of how to use it, allowing him to unlock the way for them to travel to the realm of the dwarves at long last, causing him and his children to step through it without wasting time.

Of course they still had to travel on the branches of Yggdrasil, just like before, and Sindri followed them into the portal so he could share a few more pieces of information, like how they were going to be dropped off in the wetlands outside the city of Nidavellir and that they should be able to find Durlin at the tavern, which was good for them to know since it meant they wouldn't be wasting time running around without knowing what to do next.

A few moments later the other Door appeared and they stepped out into an area that was definitely a wetlands, though as soon as they were able to see the area area they were in Atreus was overjoyed to be somewhere warm, instead of being in the middle of winter and being subjected to the cold. Flurry and Pandora understood his thoughts on the matter, but at the same time they knew that their target was a fair distance away from where they had been dropped off and that meant they needed to be on their guard, as Sindri had mentioned the 'grim', likely a native beast of this realm. Atreus found a boat that was, interestingly enough, sized to fit three of them, as in Kratos, Atreus, and Pandora, which meant that Sindri had known this day would come and had prepared some mode of transportation for them ahead of time, since it looked like it had been here for some time. As Atreus pulled the boat free they were attacked by a large group of wretches, small lizard beasts that were fast and easy to take out, though out of the four of them only Atreus was surprised by an enemy attack, dropping his guard due to the fact that he was in a place that wasn't cold anymore.

With the area secure, and they even found a docking area that Mimir identified as a dwarven supply ferry location, with the ferry missing based on what Kratos was seeing, though the chain was still in position, but since there didn't appear to be anything else in the area he pushed the boat into the water as Atreus and Pandora climbed into it, leaving Flurry to take to the air once more.

"You know, while I hate my curse, part of me does yearn to fly like my sister." Atreus commented, as he could only imagine how free Flurry felt when she was up in the air, taking in the sights from another level that he and the others couldn't see, not unless they found a tall place to stand on for a time, causing him to sigh for a moment as he observed her, "Do you think she'll tell me the secret on how to fly one day?"

"There is no secret, Atreus. Flurry has already told you everything you need to know... your inability to trust us, as you said earlier, is why you are unable to master her lessons." Kratos replied, though he didn't let his son's comment on trusting all of them get under his skin, he was used to such things after what Zeus and the Greek gods put him through, where his son just lowered his head as he considered that information for a time, "Trust in your sister, Atreus. She only wants to help you improve yourself."

Atreus thought about it and decided to bring up how his mother had been part of a rebellion, against Odin, and had never said a word to the rest of the family about it, though both Mimir and Kratos agreed that it being a failure was likely why she had never mentioned it, even though it could have been another reason behind her hiding from the All-Father. Kratos knew that Faye had good reason for hiding such things from them, she didn't want to drag total strangers into her battles, despite what her people had said on the matter, and once they became family she really didn't want to involve them in the past she had put behind her, until she had no choice but to do so. Atreus tried to make a joke of it by saying that Kratos went out to fish for hours or even days, while saying that his mother would have been guarding the house, something that caused him to tell his son that Faye had been the better fisherman between the two of them, so it was more like he guarded the house as she found food. He also told his son that Flurry and Pandora were there as well, so all four of them, five with Albis, had done a lot to make their home a success, something that Atreus was really coming to terms with after talking with them for quite some time.

Kratos did spot a few areas that just had some wooden chests to loot and gestured to Flurry, who flew down and looted all of them so he didn't have to dock at all, before spotted what appeared to be a large waterwheel blocking the way forward, to which he docked near it and they got off to explore the area.

While they did so Kratos identified this place as more of a bog and less of a wetlands, while Atreus noted that the smell made his eyes water a little, causing them to realize that Fimbulwinter might affect each realm differently, like Midgard had winter and Svartalfheim had what they were feeling right now. There were a few geysers in the area as well, where Kratos found that he could freeze them with the Leviathan Axe, in a short period of time no less, allowing him and the others to continue along the area as they searched for a way to move the water wheel so the missing segment was in their path. Such a thing allowed them to find that there was a runic chest resting off to the side and that meant there were runes for them to smash, as there was one resting off to the right of it, though with his children aiding him they were able to smash all three targets in no time and he tore open the chest so Flurry could loot it. There was also an item from the dwarven resistance that was on a body Flurry discovered in the area that the third rune was located in, something they might hand over to Brok later, causing them to turn towards some dwarven scaffolding to climb around to reach their destination.

The rope line that was at the top of the short set of scaffolding brought them to an area that had some grim, amphibian foes that seemed like they were mixed with trolls to some degree, who seemed to be quite strong in comparison to the raiders of Midgard, and Flurry found that their new enemies loved to spin around before attacking them. One interesting thing that Flurry was able to discover was that the scaly hides of the grim were salvageable, meaning there was a chance that Brok or Sindri might be able to use them in some new armor at some point in time, to which she made sure to salvage as much as she could from their foes. Atreus found that she was quite skilled in the art of carving up slain enemies, something she did in the past when they hunted animals for food for the family, though this was one of the rare times where their foes didn't just drop their materials in convenient bags for her to pick up. Of course she wasn't bothered by this in the slightest, thanks to all of the blood and gore she had seen during the course of her adventures in Greece, back when it was commonplace for her father to just spill all sorts of blood, but she was fine with fighting the grim, as they were a new challenge she and her family were ready to embrace.

Atreus also spotted another chest for them to loot, a new stone type that looked like it also had wood involved in the design, which Kratos did without delay and made sure to hand the resources off to Flurry before they found the area for him to use his blades in and force the wheel into position, though before he did so they paused as an earthquake shook the area for a few seconds.

Once the earth had settled Kratos used his blades and forced the wheel to move, Flurry catching it with her magic once the broken part was lined up perfectly with the passage her family had to move through, but she remained in place to make sure they were able to get through unharmed. As soon as they were on the other side of the water wheel she let go of the contraption and took to the air once more, never going too far from the rest of her family as Kratos rowed down the path in front of him, allowing her to watch as they passed under a bridge that required them to duck in their seats. On the other side of the wooden bridge Kratos found another area to dock at and did so without delay, allowing them to clash with a few grim and a single wretch, which were no match for the family as they slashed through their foes. Following that they found a few more wooden chests to loot and one of the new stone chests on a level that was above the area they docked in, though as Flurry collected the loot her family moved further down the way and docked at an area that had another device that they had to move out of their way.

This one also had a number of wretches and grim to deal with, which were good learning opportunities for Atreus since he was still used to fighting the raiders, but he was showing some improvement, meaning that while he might not have trusted them with the fact that he was looking for Tyr, and Odin had to spring that on them, he did trust them to have his back in a fight, regardless if he deserved it or not. Once they were done with their enemies, and it took a fair bit of time to do so since there were a number of grim to deal with, hence why Sindri warned them on the way here, Kratos found a lid that was right on top of a geyser and busted it open, as it likely had something to do with their next obstacle. The answer was quite simple, all he had to do was freeze a second geyser, which was on a level above the first one, and that increased the pressure in the first one, thus allowing a surge of water to move another wheel and open the gate that had been blocking their way. With that in mind he, Atreus, and Pandora returned to the boat once more as Flurry took to the air, though as she did so she could see that her brother was struggling to understand why the dwarves would side with Odin and might be thinking that war was needed, much to their father's annoyance.

Such a thing caused her to sigh as she flew above them, as it seemed like they needed to talk some sense into Atreus before they even reached Durlin, to stop her brother from seeking war and everything, though it only made her wonder what else this new realm might throw at them in the near future.