God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos, despite the nice bed and the gentle rocking of the waves outside the ship, found that his dreams were plagued by all of the foul deeds he had done while under Ares' control, reliving the burning of the countless settlements he had burned and witnessing all the lives he had taken while consumed by his desire to bring glory to Sparta's name. When it came to the true terrifying aspect of what he had done while serving the God of War, however, he woke up with a start, as the deaths of his wife, Lysandra, and his own daughter, Calliope, was enough to shock him back to reality, just like how the first shock as he recovered his memories dropped him to his knees earlier. He knew they shouldn't have been at the settlement they had been slain in, rather they should have been at their home, waiting for his return, and yet, by a cruel twist of fate, both of his pillars had been in the settlement and he had cut them down with the cursed blades that were fused to his flesh, thanks to the searing heat of the chains that were wrapped around his lower arms. Kratos glanced at his ghostly pale skin for a few moments, another painful reminder of what he had done, as he had been cursed after the death of his wife and daughter, their ashes permanently fused to his body to give him his new look, the 'Ghost of Sparta' as some called him.

None of these things could be told to Flurry, he realized that now, otherwise he was sure that she would turn away from him if she learned the truth, something that caused him to get up and head down the hallway, only to stop at the door of her room and gently pushed it open. Sure enough he found that she was still sleeping in her bed, meaning she wasn't a fragile figment of his tormented mind, as part of him had briefly considered that he might have made her up without knowing about the demise of his wife and daughter, but he was glad she was real. As he started to close the door, however, that was when he noticed that the gorgon was resting near Flurry as well, coiled around her without touching her at all, likely to help both of them sleep, or maybe he was reading too much into the scene in front of him. In the end, however, he decided not to say anything as he silently closed the door and walked out onto the deck, as he needed to clear his head before even trying to get some sleep, which is why he made a quick stop at the ship's armory to pick up a set of special equipment.

Despite the Blades of Chaos, that had become his signature weapons these days, he occasionally practiced with the first weapons that a Spartan learned how to use, that being a spear and a shield, and if Flurry was to learn everything that he knew, to become a better warrior, this would be the first true lesson, meaning he had to recall the movements and make sure he was ready for her lessons. At the same time it allowed him to think about what was going on, namely the terrors of what he had done while serving Ares, fresh nightmares that would haunt his every waking moment, but he did have to wonder if focusing on the here and now would cancel it out, focus on Flurry and nothing else. Such a thing caused him to think about his new daughter, something he would have to get used to, especially the fact that she had a pair of wings and a horn on top of her head, two things he wouldn't be able to help her with since he had neither, as he assumed that those additions meant she could fly and use some form of magic. He guessed that he could ask Artemis to help with the flying, as she had birds and might be able to point out some things to Flurry, while maybe Apollo might have something to teach her in terms of magic, at least to help her with the basics, causing him to sigh as he stabbed the air like he was fighting an enemy in his mind.

There was also the fact that all the Furies, the sisters and Orkos, had made connections between her and Thanatos, the God of Death, which only made him wonder how she could have come into possession of the sickles she carried, before appearing before him in the Oracle's ruined temple. That was something that didn't make sense to him, if she had such a connection to Death, like they claimed, then why didn't Thanatos come for her himself, since it was possible that Flurry might be his child, something he ruled out the moment it crossed his mind. If that was the case he knew she would have been collected as soon as the Furies captured them in the Lantern, rather than allowing her to remain and potentially be tormented like an oathbreaker, meaning there had to be something else he was missing, some clue that he had missed that connected everything. Sadly he didn't have that piece of the puzzle, the lone piece that would tell him why she had a connection to Death, so he turned his focus back to his training as he recalled what needed to be done, what moves he had to make to ensure his attacks were swift and on point.

Eventually he calmed his mind and returned to his chamber, keeping the Spartan weapons on his own weapon rack, as he suspected that he would need them in the future, both for training and for keeping himself calm, and found that when he slept he was able to rest without some nightmares bothering him.

When morning arrived he found that the crew already had a destination in mind, a settlement being attacked by satyrs to be exact, and a quick visit to Athena's statue confirmed that their first orders were to sail to their aid, though since they were a few days away it meant he had time to train Flurry. Of course he didn't immediately start on her lessons, since she was only four years old and there was no telling how much she could take, so he started with a light breakfast before he got started, as there were all sorts of lessons for him to impart and he needed to plan her training accordingly. While they ate he found that Albis hung near the back of the area they were in, either too afraid to join them or she didn't want to be a bother, or maybe she was waiting for the gods to deliver on their promise of some attire and this was her being slightly embarrassed to show off her nude body to so many people. He didn't know her well enough to make a decision one way or another, rather he left the gorgon to her business and focused on his own problems, though he was happy to see that Flurry was just fine with everything that was going on, even if she deserved an actual home, something he could work on after he fulfilled his bargain with the gods.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Flurry asked, because once the meal was done she was curious as to what they might do next, though she found that she longed for adventure, just like the one they had finished before three gods showed up to give them the gifts they had been given, but decided not to say anything since it might annoy her new father, which would take some getting used to.

"We are going to start your training... as much that can be done, anyway." Kratos replied, as while Flurry had taken his first few lessons to heart, allowing her to become a skilled warrior in such a short period of time in his eyes, and it only made him wonder what might happen if he fully trained her, even though using a shield might be hard for her right now, given her current size, so they'd make something for her to complete her training.

Flurry nodded as followed Kratos' directions as best as she could, where she took one of the nearby spears, an identical one to the one he happened to be carrying at the moment, and did her best to copy everything that was shown to her as she started her first real training lesson. Kratos demonstrated how to fight with a spear, using both movements that were the common skills that a Spartan soldier would use in a fight, the basics he had learned to be exact, and his improvements, as there were thrusts and other attacks that were made after he gained the Blades of Chaos. He found that his thoughts were only half right, as Flurry was skilled enough to understand what she had been shown and attempt to use the motions like he had done, though at the same time she didn't have the skill she had with her sickles, as if they were a natural part of her and anything else had to be learned through effort. It made sense when he thought about it, he had taught her everything he knew about how to use a bow in combat and she had done her best to learn what she could in the time they had, but she just seemed to know how to use the sickles, either copying his movements and learning from watching or those weapons were just part of her being.

Either way he focused on making sure she knew how to use a spear and a shield, as they found a small wooden one for her to use, no doubt one of the crew members had created it for her to use in her training, before even worrying about any of the other weapons and skills he had learned over the years.

When it came to to switch to another weapon he found that Flurry was definitely wiped out, though like him she seemed to be ready for anything, like her body gave her more stamina than he realized, but, since she was so young, he made sure she took a break every now and then, just to be sure she didn't burn herself out. He also had her train with other weapons, just so she didn't devote all of her time to a single field, hence why he pulled out his blades while she used her sickles, though he made sure Flurry knew this was just training as they went easy on each other, simply letting their blades make contact with each other and nothing else. There was also the matter of her bow, the gift from Artemis, which he added to the lessons, as he took up one of the bows that were in the armory and did his best to show her some moves that she might not know, but his knowledge on this matter was limited and hoped that she was able to learn something new from him, even if it might be what not to do. Regardless of that fact Flurry proved that her skill wasn't a fluke, as while the waves offered some challenge during her archery lessons, causing her to carefully correct herself before loosing one of her arrows, she managed to put most of the blunt practice arrows in the targets that were set up.

While they were doing that both she and Kratos paused when they were visited by Apollo, as he, true to his earlier promise, brought some clothing for Flurry, what looked to be the normal clothing that girls from Sparta would wear, as Kratos did see one that reminded him of Calliope's clothing. In addition to that he brought a few bits of armor that looked like they might have been made specifically for her, meaning they would weigh nothing since they didn't want to wear her down right now, so this was more to get her into the idea of wearing armor without actually weighing her down. At the same time he also had a few pieces for Albis, surprising the gorgon in the process, allowing them to see that she could also wear a modified gown, a chest piece similar to what the Amazons and Artemis wore all the time, and a few other options, showing that he did care about making her different than the rest of her kind. Of course one or two of the crew seemed to think that going nude was an option, though Kratos stopped her before she did something drastic and told her that he'd speak with them later, causing her to thank the god as she picked up the clothing that wasn't being used and took them to her room and Flurry's, just to make sure none of it went missing.

After that event, which was followed by Apollo leaving, Flurry found that she trained off and on throughout the day, relaxing whenever they weren't testing her skills, along with the fact that the day that followed was more of the same, before she spotted a settlement off in the distance and told her father about it, which he and the Captain confirmed was the one they were heading towards.

"Remember, our mission is to take down the satyrs. Nothing more." Kratos said, as while he suspected that Flurry didn't need him to tell her that, she was pretty smart for someone of her age, he did know that children could be distracted and a brief reminder would keep her on track, and he found that she nodded her head to show she understood, "Good. Let's go take them down."

"Yes sir." Flurry stated, as it seemed like the smart thing to do, he was technically the commanding officer of their group, or at least the Captain and his crew seemed to act that way around her father, so she figured that speaking this way while they were doing whatever the gods wanted was a good thing, saving anything else for while on the ship or relaxing before worrying about their future endeavors.

Flurry found that their target was a settlement made out of stone, like the houses were carved out of the material, but her attention was on what had to be the outskirts of the area, as there was a force of satyr, probably about twenty based on her count, that seemed to be enjoying the destruction of crops and the ending of lives, as one was gutting a villager while a second removed another's head. One thing that was different between these ones and the ones that came before them was rather simple, these ones carried wicked looking sickles, just like she had a pair of her own, while several had what looked to be a sickle staff, one curved head on one end and another on the other. Flurry tilted her head as she saw that, as it was something she hadn't considered before and it made her wonder how in the world they had done such a thing in the first place, before wondering if the staff was just another type of weapon and not two sickles merged together, like she had thought. That was until she watched as one of the other satyr raised it's sickles for a moment and stopped when both of their ends were touching, the heads positioned like those who carried the staffs, where it seemed like the material of the handles merged into a single entity as the creature spun it around and came at them.

Kratos clashed with it and the other satyr, though he and Flurry weren't alone as Albis rushed over to the monsters that were on the furthest from him, allowing Flurry to see that she focused her gaze on it and turned the satyr in question into a stone statue, the grey material spreading out over it's body in a matter of seconds. It was a reminder for Flurry, as she had been told what the gorgons were capable of, before finding that it seemed to struggle for a few moments, almost as if the monster was still fighting it's fate, not that it mattered when Albis swung her tail and shattered the statue with a rather powerful blow. As they did that Flurry raised her bow and tracked down a couple of satyrs that needed to be put down, as a few were actually running at the sight of her father, so she was able to put them down with an arrow into the back, only to realize that they might still be alive when one started to crawl away, forcing her to shift to her sickles. Such a thing let her deal with several of the satyr, though one did try to grab her and she swung at it, severing both of it's hands before it could do such a thing, before she jumped behind it, moved one of her sickles, and removed it's head.

As the satyr fell to the ground Flurry glanced down at her weapons as she raised them for a moment, positioning them like their enemies had done before pulling them apart, creating the sickle staff out of her own sickles, though after that she thought about reverting them as she pushed the two ends back towards each other, allowing her to pull the two sickles apart and return them to their previous state. With that in mind she focused her attention on the satyrs, hacking into their legs or arms, as some she weakened like she had done before since there were so many of them to deal with and it wasn't long before Kratos either slashed them in half, picked them up and tore them apart, or knocked a few to the ground so he could forcefully remove their heads. Such a thing did cause Albis to pause for a moment, no doubt seeing this as a sort of reminder of the fact that he could have done the same to her if she had tried to attack them back in the statue, but Flurry walked over to her and hugged her for a moment, a silent reminder that she was safe and didn't have to worry about such a thing happening to her. As Kratos dealt with some of the other satyrs, brutally slipping their blood in the process, the pair made sure that the ones Flurry had struck were dead, and if they weren't one of them made sure to put them down, until the last one had fallen and they were the only ones left standing.

Sure enough the locals were somewhat frightened of Kratos, either due to his previous reputation or the fact that he had slain so many monsters in such a brutal fashion, though after a few moments things changed as the leader of the decent sized settlement approached them and told the trio that their reward would be readied in no time, supplies and what he called the 'thanks of the ladies'.

"Father... what's he talking about?" Flurry asked, speaking after the figure disappeared into the settlement to make sure all of the supplies were accounted for, since she didn't want to make people think she was unfamiliar with the various laws or traditions of the lands they called home.

"I'll tell you when you are older... let's leave your father to his business and get the supplies to the ship." Albis said, as she clearly knew what was going on and didn't want Flurry to be bothered by it right now, where she held a hand out and the little girl took it as she started to move into the settlement.

Kratos said nothing to that as he glanced back at the carnage, knowing that Flurry really did have the potential to become a strong warrior, they just had to hone her skills with knowledge and experience, before he headed into the settlement to sample the reward before worrying about what the future held for them.