God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos didn't spent a lot of time in the brothel, mostly due to his desire to free his brother from Thanatos' realm, though based on what he could tell at least an hour had gone by, causing him to bid the ladies who had welcomed him home farewell before he tracked Flurry down. Sure enough he found her on the path leading to Ares' old temple, which would soon be his own since he knew the people were pulling down the rest of the old God of War's statues, where Flurry got up after telling Pandora that they needed to end whatever tale they were working on there for the day. Hephaestus' gift was a great one, because it allowed his daughter to converse with someone her age for a change, and not be stuck with him or all of the other experienced soldiers they traveled with, where he silently thanked the Smith God for delivering it to them, as it helped Flurry ease her mind after the battle with Erinys. He also stopped for a moment as he laid eyes on a building that reminded him of the home his mother had raised him and Deimos in, before the surrounding area had been attacked and his brother had been carried off by Ares, a fact Kratos had tried to stop and had been struck into some debris, earning him a scar near his right eye.

Flurry noticed that as they started to walk up the path leading to the temple that had the key to the Death Gate, that her father was letting another memory surface for a few moments, a reminder of what he had before Ares took his brother and torched his settlement, leading to him moving into Sparta all those years ago.

"You okay, father?" Flurry asked, because she knew that remembering the past usually brought her father pain, at least in terms of the nightmares that had haunted him since the day they killed all of the Furies and broke his bond to Ares, and wanted to make sure he was ready for the path ahead of them, given it's end point.

"Yes, just... recalling a time when I sparred with Deimos." Kratos replied, as it had been a good day, up until the attack, and he had imparted many Spartan lessons upon his brother, causing him to sigh as he pushed his thoughts away and focused on the here and now, since they were ever closer to freeing his brother from whatever Deimos was doing to him, "Come. Let us retrieve the key and then head back to Olympus... maybe Poseidon will allow us passage to his city, after what we told him about the attack."

Flurry nodded her head in understanding, as there was a chance that the God of the Seas would allow them to head to his sinking city to help save as many of his citizens as they could, by utilizing the Olympian Gate to reach the city, which would grant them a chance to get to the Death Gate. Of course Zeus was likely going to get in the way, but hopefully they would be in Olympus for only a short period of time, enough to get permission while avoiding the King of the Gods, causing her to focus on what was in front of them as they made their way to Ares' old temple. Sure enough they found that there were a number of workers in the middle of pulling down the main statue of the old God of War that was right outside the temple, to which everyone stopped for a moment and saluted them as they walked up the rest of the steps that had brought them to this place. The leader of the group, a Spartan warrior who usually joined them on their travels, was pleased to see both of them and proclaimed that they would have a statue of Kratos' glory erected in place of Ares' old statue in no time, which was when the soldiers pulled down the statue and it fractured into a number of large pieces.

As the Spartan declared that he had something for Kratos, a gift of some kind, Flurry made sure that the workers were fine, given how the statue had fallen, before the pair walked over to the temple and pushed open the door, finding another tall statue of Ares on the inside, one that was slightly smaller than the one that had been pulled down. Kratos stared at it for a few seconds, thinking about how he had taken Ares' place as the God of War, before heading up the ramps that were on both sides of the chamber and walked up to the upper level, where he and Flurry found a throne that Ares likely sat on once or twice in the past. Their destination was a wall of ice that was smooth and reflected images like a mirror, though as Kratos approached it they found that his reflection was slightly different, not baring the Blades of Chaos or the chain marks that had been burned into his arms, before it took the form of an angry youth, her father as a kid after Deimos was taken, and jumped out to attack Kratos. Instead of wasting time Kratos grabbed onto the strange projection and repeatedly slammed it into the ice wall, as he was in no mood to be playing whatever game Ares had left behind, eventually breaking part of the ice as his past image faded away, revealing a dark skull with horns that reminded him of Erinys a little.

Flurry recognized this as the Skull of Keres, the key to the Death Gate, though she stepped up and easily pried it from the wall, in fact it almost seemed like it freed itself on it's own with how quickly it came out, though with it in their possession the pair departed from the temple and found that the Spartan was waiting for them outside, carrying something Kratos had long assumed he'd never see again.

"My Lord, I present to you the very weapons you once carried into battle... I've looked after them since that fateful day as if they were my own." the Spartan said, where he knelt for a moment and held out two items, an impressive looking spear that was different from the others that the other Spartan soldiers used, which Flurry realized was the one her father had used until his pact with Ares was made, while the other item was an impressive shield with Sparta's symbol on it.

Kratos was grateful to have these items back, in fact he had gone looking for them once and assumed they had either been taken by the barbarians or shattered in his final battle, and he told the soldier that he was pleased with his actions, which made the soldier happy as well. Of course they had to stop for a couple of minutes, as Kratos wanted to train with his old weapons, to be sure he really remembered how to fight with them, and Flurry found that his movements, despite all the time he spent using the blades, hadn't dulled at all, he could use the spear and shield with ease. With his old gear in hand the pair made their way to another part of Sparta, where the Olympian Gate rested, and quickly opened the way to Olympus, allowing both warriors to return to their new residence without delay and let the gate close behind them. Once that was done Kratos sought out Poseidon, because he was the only one could grant them access to the now sunken city of Atlantis, before it was completely pulled under the water, where they could use the Death Gate and get to the Domain of Death to save Deimos.

Sure enough the pair found the God of the Seas looking out over part of the mortal realm, no doubt overseeing the sheer amount of damage that had been done to his domain and his precious city, though upon hearing them approach he just pulled himself back and glanced at them, his expression serious, no doubt thinking about who might have caused the destruction of his city.

"Kratos, Flurry, I take it you want to head back to Atlantis?" Poseidon inquired, because both Athena and Zeus had told him that the pair intended on finishing their mission to find Deimos, though he wasn't sure how his brother knew about that fact since none of the gods had seen him for a time and then he suddenly reappeared and knew that fact, only to see both warriors nod their heads, "I will open the way to Atlantis... Zeus is preoccupied with his new project, so he won't be able to stop you, but you must be quick, as I'm sure he'll try to stop you from returning to my city, to prevent you from 'doing more damage', as he'll no doubt call it. However, can I ask the two of you to save as many of my people as you can? I'll keep the gate open for as long as I can, though you'll likely have to damage the rest of the city to save anyone whose still there."

"We'll do what we can." Flurry stated, which was true, now that she knew there were more people in Atlantis, civilians that were trapped with no way out of the sinking city, she wanted to do everything in her power to save them from the fate their city was suffering, especially since there was no telling when the rest of the city would sink.

Poseidon nodded and made his way over to his personal gate, where he waved a hand towards the material and Kratos and Flurry watched as the path to Atlantis formed in front of them, something that caused the God of the Seas to move out of the way as both warriors stepped into it. A few moments later they appeared in what appeared to be a cistern, or one of the various waterways that existed throughout the city, where Flurry discovered a number of Atlanteans that were gathering together as they tried to survive the destruction of their fair city. Kratos stepped forward and informed them that the way to Olympus was clear, their god wanted them safe before Atlantis sank into the sea forever, something that caused many of the people to flee into the gate, where they were able to use it thanks to Poseidon forcing the bridge to remain open for more than a couple of moments. Flurry counted at least thirty people in the group, which was good to see since there was no telling how many more might be in the city, but once they were gone she and her father started to explore the rest of the city, which meant climbing up a fractured wall and crossing over to an area that a few tritons were waiting in, who wanted them dead.

There was also a geryon with the group, though since they were on a time limit, since they had no idea when the rest of the city would sink into the sea, Kratos utilized the Arms of Sparta, his old spear and shield, as he blocked attacks with his old shield and stabbed his foes in the chest with his spear. While he did that Flurry hacked apart the geryon and then let loose a dark orb of energy that rushed over to one of the tritons and pulled in some of the others, allowing her to attack all of them at the same time with her sickles, something that allowed her to take them out in seconds. Once they were done with all of their enemies Kratos found that the best way to get around the city was to just smash through some of the walls, which is what he and Flurry did, though he actually used a bit of his godly power to boost his strength to the point where he could break apart the stone walls. Flurry, on the other hand, made sure that the damage her father did to the city didn't take out key portions of what was keeping the majority of the water outside the structures they were moving through, where she used her power to seal any dangerous holes by lifting bits of rubble and shoving it gently into place, buying them what little time she could.

Eventually they reached an area that held a device that seemed connected to four statues of Poseidon, all pointing the tips of their spears down at the water in the middle of the city, meaning they had to track down the cores of the statues and put them back into place. Flurry felt out what was left in Atlantis and only felt the energies of enemies, traitors to the God of the Seas, meaning the people they had saved so far were the only ones left, since she assumed the ones they saved during their first visit had been rescued from the sinking city. With that in mind she decided to do something different, instead of going out and tracking down the cores of each statue, which would allow the city to sink more as they wasted time, Flurry opened her wings, grabbed onto her father, and flew over the gap between them and where the Death Gate rested. When she came to a stop Kratos assumed that she would pull out the Skull of Keres, slip it into the lock that was in front of them, and form a bridge to reach the Death Gate, but instead she simply walked forward and he found something interesting, the gate opened on it's own and a vine path formed for them to reach it.

Such a thing made him wonder about his daughter's collection to Death, especially after Erinys' declaration that Flurry was, in some manner, responsible for Thanatos becoming weaker, though he shelved the thought as they passed through the activated gate and stepped into a dark realm, the Domain of Death.

"So, this is where uncle's been held for most of his life... we're close, I can feel it." Flurry remarked, where she glanced out at the dark realm and found that it was just as gloomy as she thought it would be, all while locating a prisoner chain that did have a bit of power to it, maybe from Deimos, and noticed that it seemed to be connected to something deeper in the dark realm that Thanatos ruled over.

Kratos noticed that Flurry picked up the chains, no doubt to keep it as a tracking item to help them find Deimos, though as he and his daughter started to explore Thanatos' realm, however, a number of enemies showed up, such as a number of satyrs, skeletons, and even the death wraiths. Instead of rushing at the pair, and possibly drowning them in enemies since there were a fair number of them in the area, Kratos watched as the force was split in half and the servants of Death knelt as they bowed their heads, as if showing respect to someone that was superior to them. In that moment Kratos realized what was going on, the monsters weren't bowing to him, the God of War, rather they were bowing to Flurry, which was the instant the pieces snapped into place for him, just like he assumed they had for his daughter, and explained why the Furies had so much interest in her. Flurry wasn't connected to Death because of her sickles, like everyone assumed, rather she was Death itself, a potential replacement for Thanatos that would set her up as the new 'Goddess of Death', hence why Erinys claimed that Flurry's existence was weakening her father's, as the power of Death had found a new master.

Even the realm itself seemed to be responding to her presence, stone steps forming out of the dark mist for them to walk on, doors opening as they approached them, thick vines and hazardous grass pulling back, and even the door that had the visage of Thanatos on it opened as she walked up to it, allowing her to reach an area where a lone figure was being held in the air by some vines.

"Deimos!" Kratos stated, as he couldn't believe his eyes, that they had actually found his brother, even though he was still taken aback by the fact that Thanatos' domain had allowed Flurry to bring them here in just a few minutes, though he did notice that his brother was older, around his age now, trained to be a warrior with armor on his waist, right shoulder, both of his wrists, and his shins, complete with a loincloth and some odd stone covers on his hands, "We must cut him down!"

"And we will." Flurry said, though for a few seconds her eyes lingered on her uncle's marking, the same her father had put on himself to honor his 'slain' brother, before she raised her right hand and flexed her magic on impulse, breaking both stone covers on Deimos' hands, and then did it again, causing the vines to let go of Deimos so Kratos could catch him and make sure he was fine.

"You shouldn't be here." a new voice said, where Flurry found that their final foe had arrived, a tall and muscular man that had the same skin coloration of Erinys, who wore a worn out black robe that showed off most of his chest, though the odd part was that his hands were slightly larger than what most people had, not that it mattered too much, before he laid eyes on Flurry for a moment, "No... what are you doing here?!"

"We are taking uncle Deimos, Thanatos... I would prefer it if you stand down." Flurry stated, because after everything she and her father had been through she wanted this quest to end without anything serious happening, like Thanatos dying or him killing her uncle before her father killed him, though at the same time she pulled out her sickles and let the God of Death stare at them for a few seconds, all while he caught a glimpse of her mark as her attire moved with her arms.

"So, the Oracle may have yet spoken true... the Marked Warrior shall bring about the destruction of Olympus... Ares was a fool to focus on the brothers." Thanatos remarked, turning his focus solely on Flurry right now, though at the same time he noticed something odd, that his target was oddly calm despite the fact that she was standing in front of Death, one of the most ancient and imposing figures in the world, "What are you?"

"We do not know what race she belongs to, but the Furies called Flurry 'Death' many times." Kratos said, though as he said that he found that his brother was utterly confused as to what was going on, save for the fact that he was there and that he had come to save him from Thanatos.

In that moment the God of Death realized something incredibly important, the young girl held his power, it explained why he was constantly getting weaker as he sought out the reason for such a thing, only to discover that the reason had come into his domain, a realm that had bowed it's head to the foul intruder. It explained why she was so calm, when others who dared to stand before him would cower in utter fear, as all of his stolen power seemed to be gathering inside her, though he couldn't explain the sickles, as he had never seen anything like them before, despite the fact that they seemed linked to his domain. He considered his options, as there was a chance that if he attacked the girl she would kill him before he was able to do anything, considering the fact that she seemed to be able to deal with all of the vines around Deimos without even moving from the spot she had stopped in, before he summoned his own sword and rushed at her. He intended on cutting her down right then and there, just to take all of his power back, only to find that she raised both sickles into the air for a moment and stopped his blade before it could even touch her, allowing Flurry to kick him off the area that they were standing on.

Flurry found that the God of Death landed on a platform down below where her uncle had been imprisoned and that he was surrounding himself in dark energy, transforming into a massive four legged beast that could pass as a bull if he was smaller, but she paid it no mind as she dropped down into where he was waiting. Sure enough she found that Thanatos gathered the power of Death, just like his daughter had done previously, causing her to shift her sickles for a moment as she shifted them into their scythe form, something that caused the God of Death to pause before he sprouted a massive pair of raven wings and took flight. She could tell he was slightly frightened, as there was no other reason for him to do this if he wasn't terrified of the fact that she might kill him, and the reason she was chasing him was due to the look she had seen in his eyes, he wanted to kill her father and uncle before they left his domain. With that thought in mind her own power washed over her as her attire took on the form she had used against Ares, though she had yet to master this form and could only use it for a few moments at most, where Flurry rushed at the monstrous form in front of her, slashed apart the beam coming at her, and slashed through Thanatos' form before he could stop her.

In the next instant Thanatos shattered, like he was going to detonate like Ares did, though the pieces that represented him fell into the abyss of his realm as the bits that were his power surged into Flurry's body, allowing her to take his place as Death itself, causing her to sigh as she returned to her father and let her power return to normal.

"Flurry... are you okay?" Kratos asked, because he wasn't sure what he had been expecting when they encountered the God of Death, but it paled in comparison to the fact that his daughter seemed sad or disappointed in something, all while his brother was still confused as to what he was seeing.

"I... do not know? How does one deal with becoming Death itself?" Flurry replied, because despite the sickles and her own rage form, plus the scythe, part of her had imagined that she might be linked to another force of Greece, like Life since she had such a strong desire to save as many people as she could, but now she knew the shocking truth.

"I share your confusion. We will figure that out together... as a family." Kratos said, as they had succeeded in their mission, Deimos was alive and well, meaning they would be able to introduce him to the people of Sparta, find his place in society and help him learn whatever he had missed out on, and they would help Flurry get used to the fact that she was now the Goddess of Death.

Flurry could only nod her head as she wondered what the gods of Olympus would say when they realized that she had just slain Thanatos and took his place, though she could only hope that this news would be well received and not be the start of a whole new mess of problems that would shape their futures for years to come.