God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos and Flurry found that, despite there being a pair of dead soldiers on the other side of the stone gate that brought them to the cave, there were no enemies for them to fight and take down, something that only made them raise their guards even more, since that usually meant their foes were lurking in the shadows. With that in mind Kratos jumped into the water and found that his daughter followed after him without delay, where they crossed the cavern that they had been brought to without delay and climbed out after reaching the other side, only to discover a sheer wall. Fortunately there was a carved path on the cavern's wall, to which the pair started to climb up towards the ceiling and found that the path moved right behind a statue's head, the right statue to be exact, ending in a flat carved out area. Flurry discovered that it held a lone statue of a merman, a figure with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish, though he carried a realistic lance that could be removed from his hands, where her father grasped it for a moment before removing it.

As he studied the weapon both he and Flurry watched as a small blue bit of energy coiled off of it and wrapped around them for a moment, something that was followed by him gesturing for his daughter to open her pouch so he could slip the lance inside it, since it wasn't a weapon.

"This isn't a new weapon or elemental power to use in combat, rather the lance has granted us the power to breathe while we're underwater." Kratos stated, as he had heard tales of heroes gaining the power to do such a thing when they aided the God of the Seas, Poseidon, usually by either tracking down a relic of his or being blessed by the god himself, though he was glad he had taught Flurry how to swim during their travels, in case she ever landed in water.

"Fascinating. Sounds quite useful." Flurry replied, because this meant that they would be able to explore new places and do all sorts of new things, especially since she was sure that there were puzzles located underwater, and possibly monsters as well, given what she had seen in the past.

Kratos nodded before he leapt off the ledge and dived into the water below, only to find that Flurry did the same without even wasting time, in fact she spun around for a few seconds as she took in just what sort of power they had unlocked due to the lance's influence. Once she was done fooling around, where Kratos had to remind himself that she was still a kid and someones she even acted like one, the pair found an opening that he smashed his way through, allowing them to swim even deeper into the cavern, following a passage that had once been above water. Such a thing allowed Flurry to see that most of the passage was ruined in one form or another, though she followed her father's example as they carefully moved towards their next destination, likely another chamber or even Eos' resting place, since this had to be where she was resting due to what the tablet earlier had told them. The path ended by bringing them back to the area they had started in, on the other side of a barred section that a lever rested in, though as Kratos pulled it they discovered that the entire cavern shook for a few moments, only to find that the large statue in the main chamber had moved, pushing a section of stone up while also revealing another path to climb.

With that in mind they got out of the water and climbed the new path, discovering that it brought them to a more modern area, since it looked more like Helios' temple, or any temple they had seen during their travels, though on the other side of the door they discovered Flurry found a new foe waiting for them, a massive bull-like creature.

"A minotaur... of course." Kratos remarked, as the anthropomorphic bull was a strong opponent, to the point that during his lessons he had taught Flurry that blocking it's attacks was a bad idea, as it was best to dodge and avoid it whenever it tried to attack them, and if Morpheus knew they were seeking the key to freeing Helios from Atlas it made sense to position such a powerful beast in their path.

As Kratos avoided the minotaur's attacks, however, Flurry ignited her hands and hurled fireballs at it, finding that it didn't like her attacks and came at her whenever it had a chance to do so, something that allowed her father to attack it before it had a chance to hit her. It was a good strategy in her mind, one of them would move while the minotaur focused on them, opening the way for the other one to attack it from behind for some decent damage, creating a cycle as the creature turned towards whoever attacked it last. Sure, it's attacks left gashes in the ground around them, showing that it's power was far more than what she was used to seeing, but Flurry knew they would succeed since the creature didn't seem too bright, at least not from what she and her father were seeing at the moment. Eventually they found a hole in it's defenses that gave Kratos a chance to slash into one of it's legs, causing it to growl in pain as it started to turn on him, where Flurry latched onto it's shoulders with her sickles and pulled back with all her might, opening the way for her father to gut the monster before removing it's head.

Flurry had a feeling that, had they faced such a beast on their own, it would have been a different battle for both of them, but she wasn't about to argue with the results as she and her father collected themselves before heading deeper into the main structure that was resting inside the cave. Such a thing meant that Kratos had to grab onto a crack and spin it so a walkway could be formed, which would allow them to reach the next part of the cave, though Flurry made sure to pull out the oath stone in case they needed to use it. To her surprise they didn't need to use Orkos' oath stone, rather the bridge locked into place and the crank sank back into the floor that it had emerged from, though they found that no new enemies came out to attack them, meaning they could walk across it with ease. After that the pair discovered a door that was lifted into the roof of the chamber, where Flurry found that they were walking into a chamber that seemed to be a resting place, especially when she and her father discovered Eos, in the flesh, resting nearby and looking like she was getting weaker as time went by.

"All glory be to Lord Zeus, for granting you safe passage to me." Eos said, where her voice and how she looked informed the father and daughter that she was definitely fading in and out of consciousness, meaning it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to Morpheus' sleep.

"No disrespect to Lord Zeus, but you can't really thank a slumbering god for something he didn't do... and it's a great way to annoy the champion of the gods." Flurry remarked, as she knew her father would be annoyed by Eos thanking Zeus for everything, attributing everything he did to the King of the Gods, where Kratos raised an eyebrow, as he really had no idea where she had gotten the backbone to talk to goddesses like this, "I mean, we had to make our way here, on our own, so we really didn't have the help of the gods."

"I see. Kratos, if you save my brother, I give you my word that he will plead your case to Zeus, to help you with both your servitude and your nightmares." Eos stated, showing that she knew what was on Kratos' mind right now, especially since their talk with Athena was still fresh in his memory, while at the same time Flurry wondered if Eos could actually convince her brother to talk with Zeus once everything was said and done, which would be nice if it was true.

"Your sentiment is appreciated, Eos, but you cannot make such a promise on your brother's behalf." Kratos said, though this time around he remained calm and collected, even if part of him was somewhat upset over everything that was going on right now, but his current mindset was to set a good example of sorts for Flurry.

"Very well. Know that you will have at least one ally among the gods." Eos replied, which informed Flurry that not even the other gods knew about the fact that Artemis and Apollo liked her and her father enough to visit them so much over the last five years, but neither of them said anything as the weak goddess forced herself to focus on what she needed to tell them, "You must hurry... the Primordial Fire is almost out... without Helios, the life giving light of the world cannot be sustained... if you do not find my brother, only darkness and Death awaits all of us. Sadly, I do not know where Atlas has taken Helios... however, if you follow this passage out of the cave it will lead you to the fire, which will help you in lighting your path to the remaining Fire Steeds. They will guide you to their master... they will guide you to my brother."

After that she started to tell them to go with the speed of Hermes, however, Eos slipped into her own slumber and they heard nothing more, causing Kratos and Flurry to head down the passage in question without wasting more time, because if Eos was starting to slumber it meant their time was more limited than they imagined. More legionnaires appeared along the way to try and deter them, to stop the father and daughter in their tracks, but Kratos split his enemies in half as Flurry used her smaller body to slip around her foes before cutting them down. Fortunately they were able to overcome the undead with ease and reached a chamber that happened to contain the Primordial Fire, in what looked to be another lift based on some of the walls, though as Flurry kept her sickles at the ready, in case more foes showed up to fight them, Kratos raised the Sun Shield and absorbed the ball of ancient fire into it. The three large statues that were around them came to life and attacked with bursts of fire, like a training session for the reflection power, so Kratos used the shield to reflect the attacks and broke the statues with ease, allowing him and Flurry to continue on with their quest.

The door that was at the end of the passage lead right back to the chamber that held the portal frame, Kratos just had to undo a Sun Lock to open the door so they could dive back down into the water, though when they approached the frame the pair found that it led back to the temple.

As they returned to the temple, however, Flurry found that the chamber Eos' statue was in was now generating energy all around the platform she and her father had stood on earlier, which had a beam that had to represent the first Fire Steed they had awakened, though Kratos activated a Sun Lock on the ground. Flurry raised an eyebrow for a moment before she found that it created a path for them to walk on, made of flaming energy no less, that connected to the main platform and formed walkways for them to either move forward or go back. In the end they turned towards the door on the left, since both of them assumed that there was more for the lift to reveal to them, and Kratos found a Sun Lock on it, one that, as it was activated, started to raise up, no doubt heading to a new level. Of course it wasn't an uneventful ride for them, since a number of harpies decided to try and take them out, though Kratos slashed them apart as Flurry latched onto her targets, pulled them down with one of her sickles, and removed their heads with a swing of her blade.

The upper level was identical to the one they had been on and the first one the lift had been resting at, but they knew that it was a new one and wasted no time in heading out to see what in the world was waiting for them this time around, since the temple was more complex than they were originally expecting. Kratos and Flurry walked out onto what appeared to be a small garden area, likely something Helios did to help him relax, before they pushed through another door's Sun Lock to get into another part of the massive temple, a large courtyard of sorts with another Fire Steed statue. As they walked into the area, however, Kratos heard the melody again and this time Flurry heard it as well, though their focus turned to a suit of enchanted armor and a number of legionnaires, so while Kratos dealt with the former Flurry used her arrows and her fire magic. She found that there was another power that had been unlocked after acquiring the Primordial Fire, which she found to be creating small orbs of more potent fire energy, maybe solar, to be thrown at the user's enemies, and instead of questioning it Flurry focused on taking her targets out.

With the enemies cleared out the pair approached Notos' statue, allowing them to study the area for a moment and see a beam piercing the darkness above them, no doubt from Euros' own statue, before Kratos walked over to the Sun Lock that was in the middle of the courtyard. Flurry watched as this one seemed to unlock some sort of crank device that allowed someone to fire a beam of solar energy at something, which turned out to be the four cylindrical sections, two on the left wall and two on the right, only for the first to open and reveal a statue like those in Euros' section, though he could only unlock the first one on each side. With that in mind Flurry rushed over to the first statue on each side and pulled them out, allowing her to position them so her father could hit the second containers, allowing her to free those ones as well, and as soon as all four were resting on a button the center of the entire area opened, revealing a fifth statue with two shields that reflected solar energy. The pair realized what needed to be done as they moved the statues around so that the beams of energy could be reflected into a central position so Kratos could reflect the energy right into Notos' statue, revealing the Sun Lock that, when activated, caused as second beam of light to pierce the growing darkness.

Kratos and Flurry stood there for a moment, smiling at their handiwork, before doubling back to the crank device that also doubled as a lift, as when Kratos activated the Sun Lock once more it took them down into the temple again, down to the area that Eos' statue was in before they stopped on a level above it. This new platform was made out of solar energy and happened to have a path leading to a new door that they hadn't been through before, despite the fact that it needed to be unlocked as well, revealing a passage that lead right into the broken chamber that had to contain the last puzzle between them and the last Fire Steed. Flurry noticed that they could climb up to where Zephyros' statue rested, though she saw no need to do so right now as they focused on tracking down the reflecting statues for the puzzle, which happened to missing it's head and shield, causing Kratos to move it into position before breaking the upper half of it. Such a thing allowed him to reflect the solar energy into the hole that the statue was supposed to do the same in, which moved the final statue up and revealed the Sun Lock that he activated without wasting time, allowing them to watch the energy form around it while no doubt generating the final beam.

As they left the chamber, utilizing the door behind Zephyros' statue, the pair found that they could return to the wall that both of them had climbed before talking to Athena earlier, where Flurry opened her wings and glided down to the bottom area as her father stabbed a blade into the rock wall and used it to slow his fall, only for them to be assaulted by another musical bit.

"That melody... Calliope?" Kratos asked, as he turned his head around a few times, to try and pinpoint where it was coming from, while at the same time Flurry found that more legionnaires were starting to appear between them and the area that the three pillars were resting in.

"Who?" Flurry inquired, though at the same time she raised her bow and loosed a few arrows into the air, striking some of the undead before they could react to their presence, before switching to her new magic as she mixed it into using both of her sickles, just as her father steadied himself and joined her in cutting through their foes.

"My... late daughter." Kratos replied, though as he lifted a legionnaire and split him in half above his head, causing some of the others to back up a little, he realized something important, he had never told Flurry about Calliope or Lysandra, or the fact that they had been slain by his hand while he was under Ares' foul madness.

Flurry paused for a moment, as she wasn't expecting to hear that information, though instead of worrying about that right now, and opening herself up to being hit, she focused on the fight as she slashed her way through her enemies while her father did the same thing. It appeared that Morpheus knew that they were getting closer and closer to their goal and this was one of his attempts to deal with them before they found Helios, to the point that he even called more banshees to join the battle, or at least Flurry was sure he was sending them after her and her father. The pillars, as it turned out, were undefended by their enemy, so they were able to focus on turning the cranks into position, or rather Kratos did as Flurry kept an eye out for any additional enemies as she readied her bow in case more monsters came at them. He was able to turn all three of them without anything coming to attack them, which was just odd in Flurry's eyes, before finding one last Sun Lock behind the pillars, though when he activated this one they had to brace themselves as the Fire Steeds came to life before their eyes.

The three Steeds were massive beings of fire, just as the tales said, though instead of wasting time they rushed off in the direction of their master, causing the father and daughter to brace themselves as they wondered what sort of location the Fire Steeds were taking them to and what dangers might be waiting for them.