God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos knew that they didn't have the time for him to impart even a fraction of his Spartan training onto Flurry, since that would take years to do, so he resolved to do the best he could with what little time they actually had, focusing on a couple of things to get her started. The first thing he did was focus on showing her how to use a bow, since she had shown a bit of interest in the weapon while he was talking to Orkos, though it was also due to the fact that the motions of using it, even in the sense of practicing the movements, would help her later on. After her first session with her bow, since none of the crew seemed interesting in trying to take it back from Flurry, he informed her that the benefits of this training included improving her overall focus, allowed them to work on her hand-eye coordination, and build her upper body strength. The last one also helped her in regards to using her main weapons, the sickles, though Kratos insisted that, for the time being, that she only use them as a last resort, just in case she was caught by another monster or foe.

Such a thing allowed her to understand that she was, essentially, playing support while he took the full focus of their foes, and she felt that it was reasonable, especially since he happened to be the experienced warrior and she wasn't, though she paid close attention to his lessons as he prepared herself for the future. Flurry knew that there were many things she didn't know and that Kratos was doing everything in his power to make her as ready as she could be, so instead of whining or even complaining she tackled his training to the best of her ability. The crew, for the most part, gave them room to do whatever they wanted, though she could tell that many were surprised by her appearance and it caused her to assume that people like her were just uncommon in these lands, even though Kratos had been surprised as well. At the same time, however, he admitted that he didn't know everything about Greece, the overall islands and important landmarks that made up what he and many others called home, so there was a chance her kind could be out there, something to look forward to once they were done with this quest.

As the days went by, however, they found themselves approaching Delos, an island of importance for the twin gods Apollo and Artemis, who were said to have been born here, where Flurry found a massive stone statue laying in ruin, with what had to be a large lantern resting in the water.

"So, Archimedes built that for Apollo... it's a shame to see it like this." Flurry commented, though she made no move to even mention the amulet that controlled time and space, which Kratos had added to her pouch to be sure none of the crew saw it, because while Orkos trusted them to get the pair this far, and they had done so with ease, Kratos simply wanted to keep it safe from prying eyes.

Kratos simply gave her a light grunt in reply, he didn't have much of an opinion on the statue itself, though based on what they were seeing he knew one thing, and that was the fact that they were going to have to put the entire thing back together to get at the Eyes of Truth, which would allow him to defeat the Furies.

"Come, we have a lot of ground to cover." Kratos said, speaking as the ship reached a dock, where he and Flurry were off of the vessel without wasting too much time, as they had stopped training as soon as they got close to their destination, and he made sure Flurry had her quiver of arrows on the back of her waist, since between her wings seemed wrong.

As they started to make their way down the dock, however, they heard a bellow as a satyr commander appeared on a level that allowed it to look down on them, while at the same time three normal satyr jumped down into their area, causing the pair to assume their new battle formation, Kratos in front with Flurry at the back. As they moved into position Flurry made sure to hand over the amulet, because she had seen that it had some uses in battle and Kratos used it quite well, before she pulled out the bow and readied herself for whatever the island had to offer them. Once he knew that she was ready to go Kratos launched himself into battle, using one of his blades to parry incoming attacks while the other dealt damage to his opponents, though he also maneuvered them in such a way to open holes in their defenses for Flurry to use if she so desired. Of course he wasn't expecting her to actually hit all of her targets right she wanted to, but her aim was good for someone her age, as one of the satyrs took an arrow in the shoulder and was only able to howl in pain for a few seconds as he smashed the monster into the ground before tearing it's head off with his hands.

The other two fell with ease, as one had an arrow tear through it's knee, causing it to look down in shock while it tried to comprehend what had happened, where Kratos removed the leg in question before taking it's head, while the other one he simply lifted above his head and tore it in half, causing Flurry to gag for a moment. Of course the commander jumped down into the area they were fighting in and marched on where Kratos was standing, who used his own reflexes to dodge attacks while utilizing the amulet to slow down his foe, allowing him to deal heavy punishing blows to his foe. Flurry found that the commander wasn't going to play fair as it called in three more normal satyr to join it, where Kratos unleashed his power of fire on them, blasting them into the air as he stabbed the ground, as his blades seemed to allow him to channel the magic into explosions below his foes. Such a thing meant that the minions were taken out in no time, burned to ash by his attack, and when he exposed a weakness Kratos took advantage of it, beating the creature into the ground before he took it's weapon to cut off it's leg and stab it right in it's heart.

Flurry was still weirded out by all the death that was going on around her, especially with how brutal Kratos could be with some of their enemies, but other than gagging when he tore a satyr in half she seemed to be fine with this, allowing her to claim her arrows so they could be used again.

"For a beginner you fought well." Kratos said, though he was also pleased by the fact that Flurry had stayed out of the way and allowed her to deal with the various satyr that had come at them, since it showed him that she could follow orders, to which he started to walk forward and found a worker with a spear stabbed right into his heart.

As they focused on that, however, the pair found that their ship, which was now far away from the island, was caught by a number of tendrils, from a powerful sea creature, and was crushed to pieces, though part of it was thrown at the island and Kratos shielded Flurry from the shrapnel that came from it crushing part of the wooden lift to pieces.

"Wait, so the island had a guardian creature and it ignored us?" Flurry inquired, where she felt sad for the sailors who had brought them to this place, since they didn't deserve to be crushed like that, even though it was easy for her to see that Kratos wasn't too worried about them, meaning he must have seen this plenty of times in the past.

"Charybdis, a powerful sea monster that seems to be in the service of the Furies." Kratos replied, though he knew that this wasn't a good sign for them, because it meant that it had either woken from it's slumber, meaning they were lucky to even get to the island, or it followed it's masters and that meant that it was only a matter of time until his pursuers arrived, a fate he would rather avoid now that he had Flurry with him, "We must keep moving."

Flurry nodded her head as Kratos used the amulet to partly mend the section of the dock that had been wrecked by the collision, forming a path with the scattered scaffolding for them to climb, though she climbed onto Kratos' back since he insisted that she do so until he had a chance to teach her how to do this on her own. He quickly made his way up the path he had created and landed on a short ledge that put them higher than before, while being out of range of their target, so with that in mind he restored the rest of the lift and used it to reach the start of the path that would no doubt take them into Apollo's statue. Flurry had to admit that Kratos was pretty good at climbing, as he wasted no movements while he did so, allowing him to make rapid progress without wasting too much energy, though once they were on solid ground again she got off his back, at least until she had to climb onto it again. That allowed them to discover that there were a couple of workers still alive and that they were being hunted by satyrs, though while both of them were unable to save two of them, as they were pierced by thrown spears, Kratos pushed the third out of the way, allowing the spear to hit the ground he had been standing in.

Such a thing allowed Kratos to grab the weapon and hurl it back at the satyr that had thrown it, piercing it's heart before it even had a chance to get out of the way, surprising it's allies in the process as he pulled out his weapons and charged into battle once more, since he had been expecting more enemies and had been ready for their arrival. Three more dropped down into the area that they were in and Flurry, just as they had trained, used a few arrows to distract the satyrs so they could be brutally killed by her guardian, blood splattering the ground around Kratos as he did so, causing him to glance at the metallic statues, silently daring them to come to life. A few seconds later, after determining that the statues were just there for decoration and not defenders of the area, he walked over to the wooden construct, which was designed to move blocks of stone, and prepared to use his blades to make a path for them, only for Flurry to call out to him. It was in that moment that he found some of Charybdis' tentacles had emerged from the water and one came down straight towards their position, causing Flurry to dive towards the ground as Kratos stood his ground, using his blades as he stabbed at the underside of the offending limb.

In the next instant he was dragged through the air, thanks to the chains attached to his blades, and thrown onto the other side of the blockade that they had been working on before Charybdis' sudden attack, though the pair of statues that were on this side came to life and attacked them.

Flurry, having been left behind since she hadn't latched onto Kratos before he was pulled away, noticed that Charybdis just left after doing that, making her wonder what the creature was even doing right now, before focusing on her target as her guardian attacked the metallic statues. Fortunately for her there were massive gaps in the framework of the blockade and she was able to slip through them with ease, especially since the stone had fallen to one side and opened the way for her to do so, before she found that neither of the statues had noticed her arrival. She knew that using her arrows on them wasn't a good idea, as she was sure they were stronger than the tips of her projectiles, so her options were either to stay in her protected area and do nothing, keeping herself safe, or she could endanger herself and help Kratos. In the following seconds she did something that might be seen as incredibly stupid, she pulled out both of her sickles, gripped them as she steeled herself, and leapt into the air as she brought them down into the back of the statue that was the closest to her position, causing it to screech in pain.

Kratos, after using the opportunity provided to him to crush his foe with it's own weapon, turned towards Flurry's foe as he waited for it to get up and brush off the attack, so he could take it down, only to watch as the statue collapsed before his eyes, it's head turned towards the sky as the energy that animated it seemed to die, allowing Flurry to pull her sickles out of it a few seconds later.

"Flurry... what did you do?" Kratos asked, because he knew that the statues were tough, especially since his blades were some of the strongest weapons for a mortal like him to have, so it was odd for him to see such a foe be defeated in such a short period of time, even though he was sure the sickles had some sort of energy to them that disappeared before he could figure out what he had seen.

"I... I don't know. These ones must be weak in the back, due to the lack of people caring for them." Flurry replied, as she knew that most of the workers, from what little they had seen so far, had been uninterested in the statues, rather it sure looked like their main focus was on moving stone to repair Apollo's massive statue.

Kratos doubted that it was as simple as that, as magical constructs seemed to last for a long time after their making, or at least that seemed to be the case based on his past experiences, and considered the sickles again, wondering if they were what Orkos meant by 'Death'. If that was the case then it made him wonder how she got these items, pieces of what he had to assume were Thanatos' power, the being who stood as the God of Death, and what it meant for everyone, due to the fact that it crippled and killed a construct statue in mere seconds. Instead of worrying about it, and possibly worrying Flurry at the same time, Kratos beckoned for her to get on his back once more before he climbed up some stones to reach the path that would let them access the feet of Apollo, or maybe just one foot since it was possible the other was on another island, given the sheer scale of the statue. From there it didn't take him long to find a path up the stonework that brought them to a flat area of the foot, which allowed him and Flurry to glance out at the massive stone lantern that was their final destination, resting among the water in the distance, meaning Charybdis could, in fact, pull it underwater if it so desired.

As he considered how best to get to their destination, however, they heard a trumpet sound as a juggernaut, which was an energy that was just as tall as a cyclops and looked more like an elephant, complete with the large ears, an elephant's long trunk, and the ivory tusks, tore through an upper area, killing the workers as it did so.

Kratos, once again, had Flurry back off so he could deal with the monster, though it was more due to the fact that this type of opponent was powerful and he didn't want her to get caught in the crossfire, causing her to nod as she backed off and readied her bow for any openings she could provide. Flurry found that the juggernaut was just as fast as the cyclops they had encountered earlier and it swung it's mace with deadly accuracy, where Kratos had to carefully dodge it's attacks, even if he narrowly avoided getting hit a few times, showing her that this might be a more even fight. Kratos also used a bit more of his magic this time around, using his four elements when he felt it was right to do so, while Flurry discovered that she would be of no help to her guardian this time, as the arrow she loosed basically bounced off the juggernaut's back, in fact it barely noticed her attack as it focused on Kratos. Fortunately it didn't look like they needed to worry about her involvement, as it was only a matter of time until the beast was disarmed, allowing Kratos to leapt onto it's tusks and stab it's left eye with one of his blades, giving him the power to force the juggernaut to the ground before he stabbed the center of it's head and just pulled down as hard as he could, splitting it's skull and spilling it's brains everywhere.

He took a moment to make sure Flurry was alright, something he didn't have to worry about since she was a smart girl and knew when to keep herself hidden, before they resumed moving along the path the workers had created, though Flurry did take her place on his back as he passed through some of the more dangerous sections. Such a thing allowed her to see just how bad things really were, because the various wooden platforms were falling apart and the statue was literally in pieces, not to mention the infection of monsters that they were dealing with, and it made her wonder if they even had the time to deal with everything that was here. Flurry also discovered something that was very interesting, as he was able to use his blades to latch onto certain points and use them to swing around or allow him to strike at things that were in their way, due to the fact that Kratos latched onto an area above a circular part of the foot's exterior and pushed his way into the inside. She quickly found that there were what Kratos called gears inside Apollo's statue, which had to be to move every piece of stone and the workers to the higher levels of the statue, though Kratos did have to use his blades to force a gear into position so he could ride the broken component to the other side of the corridor they were in.

Such a thing allowed them to crawl through a narrow passage, the sort that Flurry had to climb off Kratos' back for, before leaping over to a four sided gear that turned as Kratos latched onto it, dropping him into the area below them and forced Flurry to glide after him, only to be surprised by the arrival of a female monster that had what appeared to be curved bug arms and legs.

"Gross. What are these things?" Flurry asked, all while making sure she was out of the way as the creature started to walk towards them, first moving her hips like she was trying to do something specific, before switching to all fours, almost like an animal, forcing Kratos to swing his blades at his foe, though as that happened she also found a couple of dull brown eggs resting nearby.

"An Empusa... not to be confused with some of the infected creatures that serve Megaera." Kratos said, where he turned his head for a moment and noticed the eggs as well, ones he had seen before he reached Aletheia's temple not that long ago, which meant they were in danger if they hatched while his attention was on his foe, "Flurry, take your sickles and deal with the eggs before any of them hatch."

Flurry wasted no time in doing as her guardian asked of her, where she moved out and hacked into the eggs with her own weapons, finding that whatever was inside them perished when their containers were destroyed, meaning that Kratos just wanted to make sure they weren't overwhelmed, no doubt due to a past experience. Once she was done with the various eggs, and was sure of that fact, she studied the new monster and found that, like the sibyl sirens, this one's breasts were out in the open, exactly the same size as what the sirens had, while she wore a sash that did a horrible job covering her groin, as if she was intentionally flashing her private bits to her foes. Kratos ignored all of that as he forced the creature face first into the ground before using one of her strange feet blades to stab her in the back. Of course he didn't remove the leg to do that, like he normally did, rather he grabbed the Empusa's left shoulder before pulling her back into her own twisted bladed leg, piercing her heart in no time at all, and to be sure she was totally dead he pushed the creature's head down into the ground, snapping her spine as well as her body went limb.

With the Empusa dead, and the eggs cleared out, the pair studied the area they were in and found that there were more gears for them to interact with, along with a chain that had snapped at one point in time and a pile of gears that looked like they could be moved on their level, causing them to glance at each other for a few seconds.

It was fairly easy for them to figure out that the amulet needed to be used to restore the chain, the pile of gears served as a stepping stone to get Kratos up to the main chain's area to break it free, and then he pushed it into position after using a lever to move some of the gears, opening the way for them to swing themselves into a new area. It brought them to a very small room that they simply climbed out of, Flurry getting off Kratos' back when he found a small passage that brought the pair to what appeared to be the other side of the statue's massive foot, due to some damage in one of the walls. Kratos took one look at the path in front of them, more climbing since there was no actual path for them to follow, before having Flurry climb onto his back once more as he started to making his way outside and around the exterior of the foot, seeking a way to reach the higher areas. Flurry, on the other hand, got a glimpse into how truly massive the statue was and just how much climbing they were going to do in the near future, or Kratos would since he insisted on her not doing this until she was older, allowing her to keep an eye out for the Furies or Charybdis' tendrils.

She did, however, spot a female figure in armor standing on one of the upper walkways, this one purely humanoid based on what she was seeing, though something worried her as the figure pointed a spear at them as they reached the edge of an area for her to climb off of Kratos' back.

"Who is she?" Flurry asked, a common question she was going to be asking until she knew more about the land, though as she said that it was easy for them to tell that there were more nearly identical brown skinned ladies hanging out in the next area they would have to pass through.

"One of the Amazons, worshipers of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and twin sister of Apollo." Kratos replied, though while he guessed it made sense for them to be on this island, since it was sacred to both of the godly siblings, such a thing made him wonder why all of the warriors would allow so many monsters to invade this place.

"So we should be able to convince them to let us through?" Flurry inquired, where there was hope in her eyes, because it had been a long and bloody road to reach this point and she was hoping to avoid killing the worshipers of an actual god, since it would no doubt displease them greatly, causing her to turn towards the Amazon, "Excuse me, we're on a quest to repair Apollo's statue. Will you let us through?"

"By... By order of the Furies, death to... to all invaders!" one Amazon stated, something that caused the pair to pause, as it looked like something was wrong with the lady that was staring at them, like she was mentally ill or one of the Furies had broken her mind, making her see what they wanted her to see, meaning the Amazons were their enemies as well.

Kratos had Flurry get onto his back again, for just a few moments so he could climb up to the Amazon's position, and as soon as they were up there Flurry got her first look at another female monster, the harpy, a creature with the main body of a lady while having bird wings for arms and hands, plus bird feet in place of their feet and even bird tail feathers, with a monstrous fanged face. They, like the infected and every other female monster Flurry had seen so far, had their breasts out in the open, in fact neither of them wore any sort of clothing, but the pair that were in front of them stood no chance before Kratos' might as he grabbed one and split it in half with a swing of one of his blades, while the other one he tore in half with his hands. As the Amazon joined them, however, Flurry drew her bow and aimed at the additional harpies that decided to bother them, aiming at their chests while they tried to interfere with her guardian's fight, as Kratos used his blades to parry a couple of incoming spear attacks. It came to an end when he grabbed hold of his foe's spear, stabbed her in the chest with it, before lifting her into the air with her own weapon and then brought her down straight into the ground, impaling her as the spear went all the way through her.

This time around Flurry couldn't help herself as she leaned over one of the edges and hurled her breakfast into the water below them, because while she could stomach the death of the monsters that were around them, since that seemed to be the majority of the enemies they fought, killing normal people just seemed wrong.

"Are you alright?" Kratos asked, though this time he suspected that the answer was 'no', as he had seen her tackle fighting the monsters with ease, even endangering herself to ensure he succeeded in keeping them alive, and the death of his foe had been her first time seeing a human perish, so while it might not have been her first human kill, which might come in the future, it still affected her to some degree.

"I... I don't know. Does it get any easier?" Flurry inquired, because if witnessing the death of a human being did this to her, and it didn't get any easier with time, she wasn't sure what she was going to do, as she was sure that they would have to fight more people like the Amazons in the future, especially with the rest of the statue in front of them.

"For some it gets easier, for others it never does... and for others it was never a problem. For you, I think you'll fall into the first group." Kratos said, though he made his decision because of the fact that Flurry had come to terms with the deaths of all the monsters they had slain rather easily, in fact it was almost far too easy when he thought about it and the fact that she was only four years old, meaning, if he was right, she'd get used to the deaths of humans in due time, "I will do my best to help you with this."

As Flurry glanced up at him, however, she heard the sound of a bird cawing at them and found that there was one resting nearby, one Kratos identified as a buzzard hawk, one of Artemis' symbols and were usually seen as her eyes, which meant she must have been investigating the disappearance of the Amazons in this area, before it flew off to check the rest of the area for the remaining missing Amazons.

"It would seem that Artemis is seeking her missing followers..." Kratos commented, but even as he said that he had to take a moment to wonder if the Goddess of the Hunt was looking for Flurry, given her uniqueness in their world, before quickly deciding not to worry about it as he sat down near some stone blocks, "We shall rest for a few moments, let your body get over having seen a human die like that, and then resume our journey when you are ready to do so."

Flurry nodded her head as she sat down near the edge, mostly in the off chance that she had to throw up again, but she had a feeling that this was the only time this would happen, for right now anyway, and that they would be climbing up the statue in the near future, causing her to wonder what else the statue had to throw at them before they found the artifact Kratos was looking for.