God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos and Flurry found that Poseidon was true to his word, he opened the Olympian Gate to Crete without delay and also booked them passage to his city on one of the ships that happened to be in the harbor, one of the small ones to help them slip by Scylla so they could get to Atlantis without delay. They knew that he was trying to deal with the monster on his own, as it was said to be the guardian of his city, and not have someone like them come in and kill it, like they had done to the Hydra not that long ago, so neither of them said anything as he worked his magic. Albis had remained behind in Olympus, since she knew it was impossible for her to travel with them when they were in the middle of a quest, but Athena did come to make sure they departed without delay, along with making sure that Kratos knew that he could speak with any of her statues when he felt it was time to call this quest over. It was odd to have two gods watching over their departure, but the pair thanked both Poseidon and Athena for agreeing to allow them to do this, and it wasn't long before the ship left the city and started to make it's way towards Atlantis.

As they sailed towards Poseidon's city, however, Kratos and Flurry found that the sky turned dark as lightning flashed, and it wasn't long before it started to rain on the area they were in, either because Zeus had found out what they were doing or this was a natural storm that no one had known of previously.

"Father, do you see that?" Flurry inquired, keeping her voice low as they sailed through the storm, as the crew were under orders from Poseidon to get them to the outskirts of Atlantis, increasing their odds of surviving without Scylla coming to kill all of them, though her comment was on the fact that there was something big moving under the water.

Kratos said nothing as he nodded his head, Scylla had already noticed their ship and was no doubt on her way to kill them, despite the fact that her boss had given them permission to enter his domain, meaning they had to be ready to get off the ship before she got to them, otherwise the crew would be at risk. After a few moments Flurry pulled out her bow, stared at the water for a second, and then launched herself into the air before anyone could stop her, where she spun around while loosing her arrows down into the water, allowing Kratos to find that she was targeting the tentacles that were coming right at the ship. Kratos, seeing that his daughter was doing what she could to keep the crew alive, ordered them to get as close to their destination as the captain dared, since there was no telling when the sea beast would come after them, and just drop him off before getting out of the area before they were discovered. Interestingly enough the captain agreed with the plan, it made sense given that Flurry was keeping Scylla back, though as they sailed towards what seemed to be the edge of Atlantis, which likely held a path that would take them into the city itself, Kratos found that some of the tentacles burst out of the water and Flurry slashed at them with one of her sickles.

It showed him that, despite the nightmares, her skill and power were still on par with what he had seen during their trek through Pandora's Temple, so he left her to stop Scylla in her tracks as the crew came to a stop near what seemed to be an old dock or something, likely before the main one was built, and once he got off the captain got them underway, which caused Kratos to wait for them to be at a safe distance before focusing on their foe.

"Flurry! The coast is clear!" Kratos shouted, calling out for his daughter to join him, where he found that she turned her head for a moment before rushing towards where he was standing, though at the same time Scylla, a massive beast that was ugly to look at, had sharpened hands to rend the life of any who got near her, and had tendrils that seemed to come out of her chest, emerged from the water behind her.

Scylla, for the most part, lashed out at them by utilizing her chest tendrils, attacking them for only a few moments as both Kratos and Flurry dodged them with ease, though she, rather foolishly, brought her head in close when she was done with her attacks, allowing the pair to attack her directly, without having to do too much on their end. She also swung her hand down at them as well, where Kratos slashed at it with his blades, causing the creature to screech in pain for a moment, but that was his intent as Flurry cut into Scylla's side with Artemis' weapon, as she had allowed them to keep it for a time and both intended on using it for as long as they could. The sea creature had another trick to use against the pair, where she called forth small mite enemies, vicious little things that looked sort of like spiders, to attack them, though both warriors simply looked at them before Flurry ended all of them with a fast volley of arrows. While she did that Kratos jumped into the air and stabbed Scylla in the face, causing him to drive her into the ground in front of a crane, where he spotted what looked like a wheel linked to it and spun it after getting off of the creature.

Such a thing allowed him to raise a spiked anchor into the side of her face, opening the way for him to leap into her head, slash up the left side of her face, and then stab out one of her many eyes as Flurry cut her way through some of the chest tendrils to keep him safe, before he cut a nearby rope and latched onto the anchor with his blades, allowing him to slam her head into the side of the cliff, only for her to swim off with a painful whimper.

"That's going to come back and bite us later on." Flurry remarked, as the fact that they didn't kill Scylla now meant that it was possible she would come back when they weren't expecting her to do so, and with how they were about to enter the domain of Poseidon, a place the sea creature was supposed to be protecting with all her might, it meant bad things were about to happen to Atlantis, if her thoughts were right anyway.

"Let us hope we can get to the temple and get out before the beast returns." Kratos stated, because destroying Atlantis wasn't on the list of things to do while they were here, in fact it would piss Poseidon off no matter what happened, plus he was sure that Zeus would lay all the blame on him and his daughter, regardless if they were responsible or not, mostly due to how much he seemed to dislike them at the moment.

Flurry nodded as she turned away from the water and followed her father as he started to make his way through the area the captain had brought them to, which involved sliding down a rope line that headed into the mountain that seemed to be their point of entry, even if they ended up dropping into a pool of water. Fortunately there wasn't anything for them to do in the water, not like their quest to conquer Pandora's Temple, so they climbed out and started to climb around one of the walls to reach what appeared to be a channel with a metallic screw inside it, which seemed to do something for the people of Atlantis. Flurry really had no idea what the purpose of this device was, she had never seen anything like it before and just knew it wasn't like the conveyor systems to move water, while her father had no idea and honestly didn't care, causing her to focus on their quest as they climbed up to another section of the path. Such a thing allowed them to find a pair of warriors blocking the way, sea folk to be exact since they resembled people with fish features and they carried tridents into battle, but since they were aggressive both Kratos and Flurry attacked them in kind.

It was interesting to fight someone with a trident, though both of them were used to fighting foes with spear type weapons, due to the training a Spartan was given, so it wasn't long before Kratos slashed his foe in half as Flurry removed the head of her opponent, causing them to glance at each other for a few seconds.

"Tritons... servants of Poseidon. They should know we came here with their god's blessing, so why are they so eager to kill us like we're intruders?" Flurry remarked, because she knew that Poseidon wanted them to figure out what was going on, since he had no idea that her father's mother was located inside his temple, so it made no sense for him to send his own army at them, not unless he was trying to cover something up.

"I do not know... keep your guard up, I suspect we'll find more enemies in due time." Kratos replied, as he had no idea why this was even happening, because Poseidon seemed like he wanted to help them and it made no sense for Scylla and his army to do this, especially so soon after they reached the edge of his city, and right now his focus was on reaching the temple and seeing if his mother was there.

As Flurry nodded she noticed that there seemed to be no path forward and used Artemis' blade to hack through a couple of fallen rocks and crates that happened to be in the way, allowing them to head down a carved path that seemed to be what they were looking for. While they did so the pair found a hairy minotaur, more intense looking than the others they had fought before this point, guarding an area in front of them, to which Kratos showed Flurry something new, he could use the Blades of Chaos on certain points like a grappling hook, throwing it at a hook to launch himself into the next area, allowing him to clash with the minotaur. Flurry just flapped her wings and jumped into the area, letting her slash into the beast's arm as her father cut into it's chest, causing the beast to roar in pain, though before they could do anything else a portion of the wall burst open as Scylla smashed through it with one of her tentacles and latched out at the pair. Flurry and her father hacked into the tentacles before they could do anything, causing a repeat as it retreated once more, letting them hack the minotaur apart, since it had been dazed by the attack, allowing them to focus on the nearby crank that was connected to a iron grate above them.

This time it remained in one place and didn't move back into position, something that allowed the pair to quickly climb the wall and pass through the opening with ease, bring them to an area with more tritons waiting for intruders, where Kratos cleaved through one with Artemis' blade as Flurry struck down the other with some arrows. After that they found a rocky wall to climb, where Flurry took point and stared at the wall as her father climbed around it, keeping an eye out for any monsters that might want them dead, only to find that there were none this time, which was just weird. With that in mind they were able to reach the upper area and found a strange sight, the tritons were chasing down some Atlanteans, those who called Atlantis home, though Flurry reacted first as she raised her bow and loosed some arrows, striking down all of the enemies that were in front of them so the people could flee. This just told them that something was wrong right now, as Poseidon's soldiers were trying to kill his worshipers, meaning another god had to be at fault, where Kratos told the group to get to safety and contact Poseidon, as he needed to be made aware of what was going on in Atlantis.

After taking out the tritons, and making sure the area was cleared so the group of Atlanteans could get to a safe place, the pair found a stone cube to move onto a pressure button, cutting off a bit of water that was blocking the way forward, and it wasn't long before they crossed the gap and continued on their way.

Of course there were more tritons in the way after that, causing Kratos to hack his foes apart with his blades or stab them in the chest with their own tridents, while at the same time Flurry dodged incoming attacks before removing the heads of her opponents, all while using her sickle staff against one that she disarmed and struck down with ease. What was odd to them was that the outskirts of the city seemed to be falling apart, as the temple structure that was around them seemed to be broken, meaning they had to climb down a rock wall that happened to be in the way since the rest of the path was out of range for her father to reach. Since he didn't want to use her wings this time around, as he doubted that the way forward was on the other side of the walkway, Kratos made his way down the cliff and Flurry followed after him, where the pair found that it was a quick climb down before finding a new passage to head down. It was also strange to see that there were no enemies waiting at the bottom of the cliff, meaning it was far too easy for them to reach the passage, only to find that it brought them to a portion of Atlantis that was more ancient than anything else they had seen.

Flurry glanced around at the depressing area, a place that no one seemed to care about, and noticed what appeared to be an Olympian Gate, an ancient one that predated those in Olympus, and she could feel the power of Death radiating from it, all while her father found a stone tome near what looked like the edge of a bridge, one that didn't exist.

"An ancient temple to Thanatos, the God of Death... which means that gate leads to the Domain of Death." Kratos said, as the tome revealed much to the reader, like how this was an ancient vestige and that it wasn't placed here by mortal hands, though it made him wonder what the dangerous God of Death thought of the fact that his daughter was considered to be similar to him.

"Still, it's odd to find such a thing here." Flurry remarked, which only made her wonder if Poseidon even knew this ancient temple was even here, given that his city was built around it, though for the time being she guessed that, since they had no way to open the actual gate, it was best if they left it behind and return their focus to their quest.

Kratos had nothing to say to that, even though he agreed with Flurry that it was weird to find an entrance to Thanatos' dark realm in the domain of Poseidon, but the tome did detail that if someone had the Skull of Keres they would gain safe passage to Thanatos' realm, something to keep in mind as they moved forward again. After studying the rest of the area the pair approached the other passage and found that it brought them to a door, with a circular lift right on the other side, though when Kratos pulled a lever, to get them moving, a few tritons dropped down on them, forcing him and Flurry to defend themselves for a time. Fortunately both of them were trained warriors and they were able to bring down the group of attackers with ease, allowing them to find that the lift ended in a drainage area that had some blood in it, due to a few corpses hanging in the channels leading to this area, meaning the defenders were definitely killing the very people that their god had told them to protect. From there they headed down a small winding path, which seemed to be flowing into the center of Atlantis, slashing their way through a few more tritons before sliding down a diagonal ramp and leaping over a small gap to reach a large balcony in front of one of the main structures of Atlantis.

As Flurry glanced across the city, to where the temple was located, the pair found a cyclops crushing a triton before using it as a weapon to send another flying over an edge, causing them to sigh as they slashed into it's legs, bringing it down so Kratos could remove it's head with the Blade of Artemis, allowing both warriors to enter the building behind them, only to pause as Scylla crushed part of the arched wall protecting the city.

"Yeah, that's definitely concerning." Flurry remarked, as it looked like the sea creature was going absolutely mental, simply attacking anything and everything that she deemed to be a threat to whatever she was trying to protect, and now she was actively attacking Atlantis with all of her might, meaning Poseidon might ask them to kill her before they left his city, but as she said that four tritons showed up and she slashed through them with her sickles.

"Agreed... especially given how close she is to the temple." Kratos stated, because he was concerned about the safety of the people who were still living inside the city and the structure that his mother was supposedly held in, something that caused him to enter the structure with all the haste he could muster, where he found a statue of Poseidon inside it, which was a good sign, "Poseidon! Do you hear me?"

Kratos, Flurry, I have been getting frantic prayers from my people in Atlantis. What in the world is going on inside my most sacred city? Poseidon inquired, confirming that he was doing his best to keep track of the situation and had found all sorts of survivors calling for him to aid them, just as Kratos and Flurry had known they would after discovering what was going on.

"Scylla's gone crazy, as she's attacking everything in sight... she even crushed one of the walls surrounding the city, but I'm afraid that's not the worst of it." Flurry answered, taking a moment to make sure the area was clear of enemies, not that she was expecting any so close to one of Poseidon's statues, before she turned her attention back to the statue as her father found a tunnel under it that would no doubt serve as their path forward, "Your tritons are also killing everyone that stands in their way, as they've been coming after us, and we have your permission to be here, and they've been killing the very Atlanteans that you charged them with protecting."

I don't understand. This shouldn't be happening! Poseidon stated, where his tone confirmed something for the pair, he wasn't behind what was going on, as there was a level of distress in his voice that told them that he was worried for his people and that he really had no idea why his forces were ignoring his orders like this, Kratos, if it comes to it, can I ask you and Flurry to slay Scylla?

"If it comes to it, we will slay her. You have my word on that." Kratos replied, though he was as lost as Poseidon was, as the series of events that had unfolded so far was totally unheard, that a god's army would turn against them and act as if they were following another's orders, though he suspected Flurry was already thinking about everything and might have some sort of answer in the future.

Both warriors got the sense that Poseidon acknowledged his statement as his power faded from the statue, allowing them to dive into the water and quickly swim to another opening, one that allowed them to reach a small chamber with a door that went outside, where more tritons were waiting for them. Kratos and Flurry wasted no time in taking them down, even using one's trident to stab it's owner right in the chest, before finding that they were close to the path leading up to where their main destination rested, as they were a lot closer to the temple than either of them had thought. As they started to move over the short bridge, however, the stone cracked and both hurried off of it, finding that it collapsed into the water without delay, and Flurry was sure that she caught a glimpse of Scylla below the waves, confirming that the creature was following them. Once they were sure nothing else was falling apart the pair headed up the carved path that lead right to the temple Kratos had dreamed about, only to discover a likeness of the God of the Seas on the front door, which informed them that they had to 'know thyself' as it opened to reveal a ghostly area, like they were stepping into Kratos' past.

Flurry found that they were outside her father's old home, where she found two young boys training with Spartan weapons while a lady called both of them into the house, confirming that it was her father when she heard the lady say 'Kratos' and 'Deimos', but before she could focus on her uncle they stepped through the opening and appeared inside the temple, only to find an elderly lady resting on a bed.

"Kratos... how I have missed you." the lady said, confirming that she was definitely ill, from what Flurry had no idea, while at the same time allowing them to know that her father's dreams were right, his mother was still alive and that she had been placed in Poseidon's temple for some odd reason.

"Mother..." Kratos replied, where he knelt beside her and raised her back a little, to help with whatever problems she was facing due to her illness, though he was overjoyed to see that his dreams were right, his mother was alive, even though it was clear they might not have a lot of time to spend with each other, before he noticed that Flurry happened to be who his mother was looking at, "Mother, this is my daughter, Flurry Heart."

"It sounds like there's a story there... one I'm afraid I won't be able to hear." Callisto said, where she coughed for a couple of seconds, showing them that her condition had to be far worse than either of them assumed, something that caused Kratos to do his best to make sure she was comfortable in what was likely going to be her last moments alive, "Your father brought me here a long time ago, Kratos, and I fear that I don't have much time left either... neither does your brother. He lives... in torment... trapped deep in Death's Domain."

"And we just passed by the Death Gate not that long ago... now all we need is the key." Flurry commented, though while it was great that the next step was clear to them and was within reach, save for the Skull of Keres, she suspected that there was more to this than what they were seeing right now, before she voiced something that had been bothering her, "You told father that his brother was dead... why tell him a lie for so many years?"

"His father... forbid me from saying anything... until now." Callisto replied, though in that moment she noticed that Flurry was thinking about the information she gave her, while Kratos was gathering the same information and reacted to what he was told, causing her to smile a little, as it looked like her son had a solid foundation in life at long last, because instead of giving into his anger her son looked like he was willing to listen to her, "The Temple of Ares, the one in Sparta, holds the key to the Death Gate... the road will not be easy, but you two must save Deimos."

"I understand... which means we need a way back to Crete, and fast." Kratos said, as there were many questions swirling in his mind right now, especially now that he had confirmation that his brother was alive and that he had been trapped in the realm of Thanatos for such a long time, without him even knowing the truth, but there was one burning question he needed to ask, "Mother... who is my father?"

"Your father is a god, Kratos, and his name... is..." Callisto started to say, though before she could get the final word out, the final piece of the puzzle that would snap everything in place for him and Flurry, Callisto grasped her chest, almost as if her illness was rearing it's ugly head again, before Flurry heard something snap in her grandmother's body and pulled her father back.

They watched in horror as Callisto transformed before their eyes, turning into a hulking monster that didn't seem to even be aware of where she was or who she had been, though her large mouth indicated that she hadn't been inflicted with an illness, but rather a curse to keep the identity of Kratos' father a secret. It was another cruel trick of whoever had put all of this together, because with the wild look in Callisto's eyes Flurry knew they were going to have to kill her, otherwise there was no telling what sort of damage she could do to Poseidon's temple, much less the surrounding area. Kratos was full of conflicting emotions, especially since he realized that he would have to kill his own mother, and it was with a heavy heart that he lashed out at his transformed mother, slashing into her arms and legs as he avoided her quick arm swings, even if the rate of her misses told him that she was still in there. They knew what had to be done, she was keeping as much of her bestial side in check, keeping the curse at bay to the best of her ability, because she didn't want to hurt them, causing the pair to hack into her body, dealing as much damage as they could so they could end her suffering quickly, and when they dealt the final blow Callisto staggered back before hitting the ground.

Sure enough she reverted to her human form, resting in a pool of her own blood, where Kratos knelt by her and held his dying mother for a time, only getting an apology for everything that had happened and a repeat of her desire for them to save Deimos, before she breathed her last. Instead of saying anything Flurry hugged her father's back, knowing that this was a time where he needed some emotional support, especially when one connected this to the fact that he had killed his own wife and daughter a lifetime ago, and now here he was, holding his dead mother in his hands. She knew that his rage was boiling at this point, and honestly she couldn't blame him since it was another family member he had lost to the machinations of the gods, but she hoped that by supporting him in this moment he would calm down, instead of going off and doing something drastic. To help him calm down she did, however, offer to use the statue Hephaestus gave them to contact Pandora, as the hopeful daughter of the Smith God had brought a light smile to her father's face the first time they tried the strange communication link out, causing him to nod as they walked off to one of the walls.

As they did that, however, Flurry picked up a bracelet that fell from Callisto's arm and stashed it away with the rest of the items she had collected over the years, as her father didn't need to see it right now, all while silently promising that they would figure out which god had done this and bring them to justice for their crimes.