God of War: Daughter of War

As Kratos realized that they had been blasted deep into the heart of Crete, or the city of Heraklion to be exact, both he and Flurry braced themselves as they felt the volcano shudder, even from where they were standing, and based on what they were seeing it would be a long time before things returned to normal.

"Yeah, the gods are so going to hate us... Poseidon for sure, given the state of his city." Flurry remarked, because she could see Atlantis sinking into the waves that were around it, not to mention that the temple they had found Callisto in collapsed, as in the area it was resting on broke off of the main island and fell into the water, causing her to sigh as she turned to her father, "So, what now?"

Kratos knew what Flurry was asking, as she wanted to know if they were going to continue on with their quest, against Zeus' wishes and especially after witnessing the destruction that Scylla had caused in her attempts to stop them, or were they going to stop and figure out another way to get to Deimos, without pissing anyone else off.

"We keep going... but we will do our best to correct this situation we are in." Kratos replied, as his focus was mostly on his brother, he honestly couldn't leave Deimos to suffer in Thanatos' dark realm, not after discovering that he was still alive after all these years of thinking and believing that he was dead, though he also knew that it might not be what Flurry wanted to hear right now.

"Honestly, I figured you would say that. Come on, let's see if there's anyone to save... and maybe find a way out of the now burning city we're in..." Flurry said, as there was the Olympian Gate they could use to get people out of here, provided it wasn't destroyed by the ongoing chaos, but that all depended on whether or not the gods would even allow them to use the gate in the first place, given that they had gone against Zeus' wishes.

Kratos nodded his head as they started to move out of the higher area they had landed in, all while finding that flaming bits of rock struck the ground all over Crete, spewed out of the volcano he and Flurry had been in moments ago, though in addition to that both warriors heard people proclaiming that the gods had abandoned them. It was a terrible thing to hear, that the people of Crete thought the gods no longer cared for any of them, and upon climbing a ladder found that the pair of civilians they had heard were ignoring them, or at least were ignoring Kratos since they were terrified of him. Flurry, on the other hand, was able to convince the pair to follow them, but made sure they understood to stand back so they could deal with whatever monsters might be attacking the burning city, only to find that they had to use some ledges to reach a lower level. Kratos focused on the potential monsters that might be in their way as Flurry did her best to keep the survivors alive, helping them cross some of the more hazardous obstacles that would have killed anyone who didn't have their training, only to find that the first enemies they had to worry about were undead legionnaires, fresher looking than the ones Kratos and Flurry had faced in the past.

One thing they were able to confirm was that these legionnaires were just as strong as the last ones they had fought, so the pair rushed at the undead and cut them down, Kratos splitting his foes in half as Flurry simply removed their heads with a single swing of her sickles. It was hard to tell if these ones were weaker than the others the pair had fought, due to being far fresher than the other undead, or if their skills had risen to the point where such minor enemies posed little threat to them, but in the end both of them knew it hardly mattered, they were alive and the undead were dead again. As they continued on their way, however, Kratos found a pair of ladders to climb up and did so without delay, where Flurry did her best to ensure that the five civilians they had come across so far were able to reach the second ladder as her father found a rope line that crossed a decent sized gap. With that in mind he crossed first as Flurry took up her position on one of the walls near where he had started, doing her best to ignore the scene of the burning city that was in the direction of the volcano, as it was such a terrible sight to watch, as she used her arrows to take down the few legionnaires in her father's path.

As soon as he was on the other side Kratos beckoned for everyone to follow and the civilians did so without delay, figuring it was best to follow him and his daughter, since the undead would kill them in no time, though while they crossed the gap, under his daughter's watchful eye, he dealt with a few more legionnaires to clear the way forward.

After everyone crossed over the gap, and Flurry made sure no legionnaires were coming from behind, Kratos found a hole in one of the buildings they were on top of, as they were on the roofs of a number of buildings, and dropped down into it first, only to find that no enemies were coming at him. With his quick search done he beckoned for the others to follow, to which the citizens used more of Flurry's magical steps to follow him, where he was grateful for Hecate teaching Flurry how to control her magical power, since it seemed to be great to have in moments like this. Of course he did have to wonder how much power his daughter actually had, because she was using her magic quite a bit and wasn't even winded, almost as if she, too, had the power of a goddess coursing through her body, which could explain the horn and wings. In the end he decided not to question what was going on, because he hoped that the more they saved from this disaster the less their potential punishment might be when they returned to Olympus at the end of this quest, if Zeus even allowed such a thing since they went against his wishes.

Following that Flurry found that the next area they had to move through had a few undead archers waiting for them, so as her father moved a large stone out, to be their walkway to the upper level, she loosed a few arrows and quickly took down the enemies that were blocking the way. Once the undead were taken care of Kratos and Flurry helped the citizens up to what appeared to be one of the community centers of the city, a small one that someone would discover on their way to a temple, meaning they might be able to find a place for all of the civilians, and a statue of a god. Of course they had to use a diagonal rope and slide down into the area that contained a path leading right to the temple, Kratos went first to make sure the coast was clear before gesturing for Flurry to send everyone else to him, which is what she did as she kept an eye open for more enemies. After making sure everyone was safe and sound, which was odd since Flurry was expecting some new monster to show itself and attack them, she glided down to where the others were waiting and joined her father as he walked up the stairs that were right to their right.

Such a thing allowed them to discover that they were in the still being built temple of Athena, as the people of the island had been in the middle of building one before Kratos and Flurry came to gain passage to Atlantis, and, sure enough, they found a statue of the goddess waiting in the center of it, with godly energy dancing around it's surface.

Kratos, Flurry, your actions in Atlantis has confused and enraged the gods of Olympus. Athena stated, showing that she thought they were the ones behind everything that was happening right now, all while the citizens wandered off to the side, deciding it was best to get out of the area, since they knew of Kratos' new role in the godly realm, and didn't want to be near the statue when his legendary rage erupted, What have you done?!

"We have done nothing, Athena. If you are looking for someone to blame for all of this, know that Scylla, the one who set all of this in motion, has already been slain by our hands." Kratos replied, deciding to keep his rage in check this time, as this wasn't the time to annoy the gods even further, and he could see that the statue's face contorted as Athena showed them her confusion on the matter, or maybe Poseidon was pestering her right now, "We intended for our visit to Atlantis to be short: just get in, find the temple, and locate my mother... we were attacked by Scylla and Poseidon's tritons, who have betrayed the God of the Seas. Scylla is the one who damaged Atlantis, broke Thera out of her prison, and set off the chain of events that have happened in the last hour... and we ended her life."

"We also know that someone else took control of Scylla... we don't know who, though." Flurry added, as she wanted to let the Goddess of Wisdom to know that they weren't responsible for what was going on, and that they suspected that there was a traitor somewhere in Olympus without actually outright accusing another god of these crimes, otherwise they would be in another world of trouble.

I have informed the others and their rage has been soothed... but we are still confused as to why this has happened in the first place. Athena said, which was good news for them, since it meant Poseidon wouldn't come to kick them down for what happened to his precious city, before the statue's arm raised and the area glowed for a moment, meaning she must have done something to keep the citizens safe, This area will remain safe, until we can calm the volcano, but there is something I must ask you: Kratos, was your trip worth it?

"I... am still weighing that in my mind: the deaths of so many innocent people, all to learn my brother is still alive and is, even now, being held by the God of Death." Kratos admitted, where his mental division on the matter was due to the fact that if he was alone he would have easily said 'yes', for he would have taken great pleasure in hurting the gods, but thanks to Flurry being with him, and helping shape him for the better, before he let out a sigh, "However, our course is set: we will return to Sparta and claim the key to the Death Gate... and then, at long last, I will be reunited with my brother!"

Flurry could tell that Athena was thinking about the information that had been shared with her, especially the important fact that her father had a brother and that he was resting in Thanatos' realm, though it didn't seem like the goddess had more to tell them, causing her and her father to move out after making sure the citizens were safe. During that brief moment Flurry found a statue of an owl, the symbol of Athena, which several of the people insisted that they take with them, as if saying that she and her father needed her wisdom more than they did, but Flurry wasn't about to argue as she carefully stored it with the other items she had found so far. Once that was done Kratos discovered a large gate that needed a key to unlock, a large one by the looks of the lock in the ground, meaning they had to find the head priest or someone in power that held the key, before discovering that the only way forward was to utilize the scaffolding that went into making the parts of the new temple that were around them. Such a thing happened to bring them to a tunnel leading into a cavern, only to find a grinder that tore apart a man and a diseased hound, the latter having jumped on the former and sent them both tumbling into the oddly placed grinder, grinding them into a bloody paste in the process.

While Flurry wondered why a grinder was placed here, just behind Athena's new temple, Kratos knocked down the couple of hounds that were in front of them and hurled them at the device, grinding them into a paste while damaging it at the same time, eventually breaking it and revealing a passage for them to use.

The lift that they discovered, at the end of the very short passage, had a spin crank for them to use and Kratos turned it as Flurry kept an eye out for enemies, as sometimes they were attacked on the various lifts of the world, though it wasn't long before it reached the next level and they pressed onward. The passage had more grinders and contraptions for her and her father to avoid, though there were also points where they could latch onto a grapple point to move onward, but the only downside was that the levers linked to those items would reset if they weren't careful. Fortunately they had the power of the Oath Stone to fall back on, where her father formed a shadowy clone of himself once the grapple points were in position and only dismissed them once both of them were safely on the other side of whatever obstacle they were trying to get over, a fact that made him grateful that his daughter had kept the relic. Flurry really had no idea what sort of purpose the passage and grinders served, there was nothing around them to suggest anything that would help her solve this puzzle, so she just figured it had something to do with the workers, before reaching an area with a crane, like what they found near the end of the trials of Pandora's Temple.

She found the solution to what was in front of them rather easily, they had to use the stone block as a lift to reach the next area of the city, though in addition to that someone had to stand on a pressure button to open an iron barred door that was blocking part of the path, which was no problem for them since they had the Oath Stone. There was also someone trapped in one of the walls, half of his body on their side and half on the side of a burning building, to which Kratos carefully broke the wall apart and freed the man, who was grateful that they didn't just smash him with the heavy stone, no doubt referencing what Kratos would have done if Flurry wasn't there. Instead of saying anything, or getting upset with the man, Kratos focused on moving the stone into position as he found that his daughter formed a shadow on the button that opened the gate, causing him to drop their makeshift lift into position before they and their new companion climbed onto the stone. A few moments later it returned to where it had been before their arrival, allowing them to jump into the building the path seemed to be leading them in, though upon finding that the path happened to include ropes that they had to traverse, jumping from one to another, Flurry made sure the man was set on a safe path back to the temple before she and her father leapt into another structure.

That was when they found a gorgon who had just finished turning someone to stone, adding the unfortunate man to the collection she was creating, and this one wore nothing over her body, which Flurry was used to at this point since nearly all monsters preferred to be nude for some reason. Instead of even questioning what they were seeing the pair attacked the gorgon and two more that joined their target a few seconds later, where Kratos stabbed his foe right in the chest, stunning her for a moment, before punching her into the ground and taking her head off with his blades. While he did that Flurry loosed a lightning bolt right into the chest of her first opponent, shocking the gorgon into the wall as her companion took a moment to turn her head in surprise, though that was the last thing she did as Flurry removed her head. Following that she swung a sickle and took the second one down as well, wasting no time since now wasn't the time to be getting into the heat of battle, though after that she joined her father as he continued to explore the rest of the structure, a temple that had been damaged by the ongoing destruction.

After that they found a partly bloody pool that seemed to be the way forward, to which they briefly dived into the water and made their way over to the other side, only to discover a larger pool that had a number of slain people inside it, which was either due to the monsters or other citizens going insane. As they got out of the pool Flurry noticed something else in the air, ash that was following from the mountain, meaning the survivors were in even more danger than before, though it wasn't something they could help with, not with Athena and the other gods possibly coming in to calm the situation before it got worse. As she and her father made their way deeper into the city they discovered a gruesome scene, the soldiers of the city had been slaughtered in a single area, with one having his eyes gouged out as he tried to tend to his comrades, so he had no idea who he was talking to. What they learned was that there was someone hunting Kratos down, so named the 'Daughter of Death', Erinys, and that Death, itself, was waiting for the Ghost, meaning Thanatos knew they knew that he had Deimos and that he was waiting for them to arrive.

"Father... are you okay?" Flurry asked, speaking after taking a moment to utter a prayer for the fallen soldiers that were around the area, because she knew that the mention of Thanatos must have rattled him a little, especially since the God of Death had Deimos in his clutches.

"Yes... hold on brother, we're coming for you." Kratos replied, showing Flurry that his focus really was on his brother, not that she blamed him since he had believed Deimos was dead for so long, a brother he had failed to protect or help grow into a Spartan warrior, and now he had a chance to correct that fact.

The courtyard that was beyond that area had a number of shield wielding legionnaires, requiring them to either break the shields with overwhelming force or bypass the blockade with their speed, like how Flurry rushed behind one or two of her foes and took their heads with a swing of her sickles, while her father powered through them. Since that was all that the courtyard had to offer, and they even paused for a few moments to confirm that fact, the pair found their way to a rope line that went diagonally down into the burning section of the city, causing them to use it without delay. Such a thing gave them a chance to see that the entire island, as in all of Crete, was shifting, as parts of the city were moving with the ground and others were being overwhelmed by the constant eruptions, in fact it looked like Thera's rampage might have made a whole new volcano under the city, given all of the lava that was pouring out of the earth. It infuriated Flurry to no end, that a god or goddess would willingly use Scylla to not only destroy Atlantis and free a titan, which needed to be dealt with at some point in time, but also wipe out the neighboring areas as well, showing that whoever had done it really didn't care about mortals, and she was going to make whoever did it pay.

Flurry took her frustrations out on the flaming harpies that dared to get in their way, cutting through some while using a few arrows to take out those that were in the air, leaving her father to clean up the ones that she didn't target, since she didn't want to hog all of the enemies. As they made their way through the city both Kratos and Flurry knew that they had to be quick, because the group was still shifting, due to the fact that walls were collapsing every now and then, though the moment they reached a cracked portion of stonework an armored cyclops burst out of a wall and smashed through part of the ground. Since they were taken with the monster the pair lashed out at it, where Flurry found that her father used his newfound power, as in the empowered flames of his blades, to cut through some of the armor as she slashed at them as well, surprising the monster as it realized that it was already fighting a losing battle. A few moments later they cut the beast down, both warriors removing it's head as it tried to defend itself, though once that was done Kratos found one of the fractured doors in front of them and shattered it, allowing them to continue deeper into the city as they searched for the key to the gates.

Following that they made their way up a wooden set of stairs, pushed through a short hallway, and found themselves on yet another roof, where Flurry took down some archers so her father could keep going across a rope line, which headed into another building. That brought them to a bridge that shattered, taking two people into the lava before they even had a chance to help them out, though Kratos and Flurry jumped across the gap and smashed through a wall, finding an area that had a few legionnaires and a minotaur guarding a door. Neither warrior cared too much as they slashed through the monsters with ease, as none of their enemies offered much of a challenge, before raising a gate into the ceiling and using the passage on the other side to reach the forums of the city, which was cracked in half thanks to what was going on right now. The only path that was available to them brought them to an area where some gorgons and flaming harpies were resting, causing Flurry to call forth her magic as she pressed her right hand against the ground, releasing a quick burst of lightning that shocked and stunned their enemies.

As Kratos took down some of the monsters, while Flurry took care of the rest, he knew that this was an altered form of the power Poseidon had given them during their quest for Pandora's Box, which only made him wonder if she might be able to use more of the other powers in time. Once he was done with the monsters Kratos took care of a fractured door so he and Flurry could keep moving, using a ladder on the other side of it to reach the upper level of the area, which involved walking over a series of burned beams, or jumping since Flurry was skilled enough to do such a thing. The brought them outside for a moment before they turned and entered another portion of the structure, but as soon as Kratos and Flurry spotted a weakened portion of the floor, plus a heavy looking statue, they knew what to do, as the former started to move the statue as the latter opened a few doors. Flurry's work formed a path for her father to bring the statue to the upper part of the chamber and then lift it so it fell on the floor, breaking it open to a lower chamber neither of them had been in previously, to which they jumped down and continued their important search.

What they weren't expecting to find was a familiar face as they entered another chamber, which just so happened to be the resting place of a large golden or bronze key, as the figure in question was the grave digger that had helped Kratos get out of the Underworld, on Zeus' orders no less.

"You two are the greatest fools of all... Kratos and Flurry Heart." the old man stated, where he patted the ground with his shovel for a moment as he glanced at the pair, causing them to pause for a moment as Flurry quickly picked up the item they had been searching for, "Kratos... the Ghost of Sparta, the Slayer of Ares, and now the Destroyer of Atlantis and all of Crete... you should take heed, Spartans, for there will be consequences for what you have done."

"Right, Zeus' servant is lecturing us. Get with the times, we already figured out that Scylla destroyed the city and freed the titan Thera... we just don't know who would do such a thing." Flurry remarked, speaking before her father did, because it was far too easy for her to know that rage would explode out of him if he talked with the figure in front of them, or across the lava river that seemed to be flowing through the area, even though she was partly annoyed that she didn't have any titles, especially after everything she had been through with her father.

"You should show respect, young one, for only gods may address each other without 'Lord' and 'Lady'." the old man said, a fact that stuck with Flurry when she heard it, because by his own admission he should have addressed her father as 'Lord' Kratos, since he was the God of War, just like he should have addressed Athena as 'Lady' back in Athens, though her father had done the same due to his annoyance towards certain gods, making her wonder if there was more to this figure than what they were seeing, "And you, Kratos, should not seek the other one, not with what your wake of destruction causes for the rest of the world... be wise, my son... and turn back before it's too late."

"Tell Zeus that I won't stop until I find my brother... and that we won't be destroying anything but our enemies." Kratos said, which was the truth, he and Flurry would only wreck their foes and nothing else, causing the old man to huff for just a moment, as if he was annoyed by them ignoring his wisdom, before returning to his work.

With the conversation apparently over Kratos and Flurry continued moving, finding that they could now open the gates of the city at long last, allowing them to make their way back to where the main gate was resting, the one that would allow them to head towards Sparta. Along the way the pair found some skeletal warriors that Flurry cut down with her sickles, as all of the skeletons stayed down from a single neck slash from those weapons, allowing her father to continue with the pace he had set previously, which she caught up to in no time once she was sure their enemies were down. Eventually the pair found a new enemy, a few female wraiths that wore some leggings that somewhat covered their lower body and had nothing over their chests, just like all of the other female monsters, but unlike the other wraiths these ones didn't have any weapons. Such a thing meant that all she and her father had to do were cut into their bodies with their weapons and take their heads clean off, rather simple and straightforward, a fact that worried Flurry as she kept her eyes open for the true terrifying foe that would get in their way.

The only other difference between these wraiths and the other ones they had fought was that these ones seemed to have some sort of dark power to them, Death no doubt, meaning even Thanatos wanted to stop them, even if he wasn't doing too much to do so for some reason.

Following that they dropped down into a passage that started to break behind them, causing Kratos to smash through the walls blocking their path and Flurry followed, keeping an eye on the damage so they weren't caught off guard, not that she was expecting the entire building to shift on them. With that happening they had to slide down a newly formed ramp and jump over to another walkway, causing her to instantly realize that things were getting worse for the city as she wondered what the gods were doing, since the volcano was still erupting. The path ended as they leapt at a weakened wall and just smashed through it like it was nothing, landing in another street as they pressed onward and the structure collapsed not a few seconds later, a fate that the rest of the city was suffering based on what the pair could see. Kratos paused for a few more moments when he glanced at a pair of statues that were of Spartans sparing, no doubt remembering a time when he trained with Deimos, but he came back to reality as the ground shook, causing them to rush over towards a lift that took them up to another part of the city, Athena's temple to be exact.

From there they found their way to the gate and discovered that the survivors had disappeared, with no blood marks, so Kratos assumed one of the gods had come to collect them, before he slipped the key into the slot and opened the gate in no time, allowing them to continue into another area. It was then that they encountered a geryon, a giant man with four arms that carried a large electric sphere above his head, his main weapon to be exact, just in time to see him crush some of the remaining soldiers that were trying to defend the city from the various monsters. While his body was armored, no doubt to reinforce his bones to resist the strain of whatever he was lifting, they found that his arms were exposed and it caused Kratos and Flurry to rush at him, slashing at his arms before he even had a chance to defend himself, though as all of his arms were removed Kratos stabbed the metallic orb with his blades and smashed the geryon with it. Flurry had to wonder what another of Poseidon's forces was doing here, disobeying his god no less, but since they didn't have the time to actually worry about that she focused on finding the way out of the burning city, since the Olympian Gate was blocked by rubble and lava.

From there it was all a matter of following the path in front of them, as the shifting of the city had covered the path the pair had used previously, opening the gates that happened to be on the way, and killing any monsters that showed up to kill them, which only told them that someone wanted both of them dead. The fire harpies and undead legionnaires didn't give Kratos or Flurry any ideas on who might be behind this series of unfortunate events, while Poseidon had been totally ruled out since it didn't make sense for him to attack his own city, so they were left with no real candidates. Thanatos was a good one, but none of this seemed like it could be linked to him or his dark forces, save for the death wraiths, though he was kept on the table, because the more they learned would chance the course of Flurry's thoughts on the matter, since one of the gods was behind this destruction. Her father, on the other hand, wasn't too interested in that fact, rather most of his attention was on getting them to the Domain of Death so he could find his brother, leaving her to her thoughts as they made their way through the rest of the city.

Fortunately they reached the last gate of Heraklion without anything else stalling them and opened it without delay, which allowed them to leave the burning city and island as they looked upon the frozen Mounts of Aroania, the next step that rested between them and Sparta, meaning they were one step closer to their goal and caused them to wonder what the mountains had in store for them.