God of War: Daughter of War

Kratos, Flurry, and Pandora knew that it would have come eventually, that the day Faye had been preparing for would come and take her from their family, and as Atreus got older it was easy for them to see that she was getting weaker, as one day she started coughing and blood ended up in her hand. It seemed to be a sign that her time was coming to an end, though it also let them realize that she hadn't escaped the battle with the rival clan that wiped out her family unscathed, as she told them, and not Atreus since he was still too young to know, that she had been injured during that battle and she suspected that this was lasting damage that was only making itself known now. There wasn't much they could do for her expect make her remaining days as painless as possible, though she, once more, preferred to take her fate into her own hands, as she kept herself alive for an entire year, doing her best to repair the damage done to her body, before firmly grasping her fate by the reins. By that they discovered that she took both her axe and her shield out one day, as Flurry discovered a group of ten draugr hanging outside the protected area they were living in, causing Faye to engage them in one last battle before she was unable to fight, like she wanted to go out making the woods safer for everyone.

Despite her previous wounds, however, Faye hacked through the draugr and reduced her foes to ash when they fell to her might, but the last few were the ones that did the deed, as they stabbed her chest and brought her to her knees, though it was the last thing they did as she took their heads.

Sadly that was the last thing Faye did before her life expired, as one of the draugr managed to get her right in the heart, but she died with a smile on her face and went out like a warrior, which seemed to be why she chose this as her fate, instead of hiding from her fate and waiting out the rest of her days in hiding. Such a thing saddened them as Kratos gently removed the Leviathan Axe and the Guardian Shield, both items she had bequeathed to him so they would have a new wielder when she passed, placing the latter on his left arm while the axe returned to it's new home on his back. With that done they made sure to carefully remove the weapons that were in Faye's body before Kratos carried her home, where an eleven year old Atreus was waiting for them to return, though he immediately stopped in his tracks when he noticed the looks that were on their faces. Following that he was devastated beyond belief when he realized his mother was dead, as Atreus fell to his knees and cried his heart out, where Pandora moved the main table over and laid the funeral shroud Faye had prepared for this day out, allowing her father to gently place Faye on top of it.

The next two days were spent preparing themselves, as the first was spent in mourning as Kratos carefully prepared the shroud and covered Faye, with Flurry making sure to enchant it so they knew what ashes to get once her body was burned, while the second was spent tracking down the marked trees. Each time Kratos approached one of the trees Flurry found that he stopped for a time, lowering himself for a short period of time as he brushed his hand over the golden yellow mark Faye had left on each one, as if remembering some of the good times he shared with her, before getting up and hacking the tree down with the axe. While he did that Atreus went out and gathered the necessary herbs that his mother had asked him to gather for when this day finally happened, ones he knew how to identify thanks to her lessons, though Pandora walked with him, just in case her brother ran into danger. Flurry, on the other hand, transported some of the fallen trees to the house with her magic, though for the most part she just watched her father to be sure he didn't accidentally hurt himself while he was cutting down the marked trees, where some were perfectly normal and a few seemed more special than the others that were around their property.

When he got to the last tree, however, Kratos released a bit of the rage he had been holding within him as he lashed out at the marked tree and brought it down with the fifth blow, causing it to fall to the ground as he huffed, though that had the side effect of loosing the wrappings around his left arm, where the chains had rested once upon a time.

"When we get home we'll need to change these... these ones have outlived their usefulness." Flurry commented, landing for a moment as she carefully lifted the loose bindings and wrapped them around her father's arm as he thought about Faye, who he would no doubt mourn for a long time before he returned to normal, not that she blamed him since losing the lady had opened a hole in all of their hearts, "Unless, of course, you would rather take them off completely."

"No... Atreus is not ready to see the scars." Kratos replied, as he intended on telling his son about his past, his true nature, the chain scars, and everything else when he was far older and more mature, otherwise he was sure he would do mental damage to the boy, which was the last thing he wanted right now, causing Flurry to nod her head, though neither one said anything else as Atreus and Pandora approached them.

"We found enough of the herb." Atreus said, where he held up a small pouch that held the herbs he had gathered, just as he was taught in the past, though while he was pleased with his actions, since it meant they could finally complete the rites for his mother, it was clear that he, like everyone else, was still grieving in his own way.

"Get in the boat, boy. It is time we finish the rites, as your mother wished." Kratos stated, where Flurry knew that there were times where he would address Atreus by his name and other times where he'd use 'boy', which was common back in Sparta when one hadn't earned the right to be addressed by their actual name, though she and Pandora had skipped that part since they had proven themselves time and time again.

Atreus nodded as he and Pandora walked over to the nearby dock, allowing Flurry to follow even though she would fly to the house, there just wasn't enough room on the boat for their father, Pandora, Atreus, and her, so since she had wings she figured she'd use them. While she thought about that Kratos picked up the fallen tree and heaved it into his shoulder for a moment, allowing him to walk it down to the boat as bits and pieces fell off of it, though once he reached the boat he attached a hook to it, with a rope that he tossed to Atreus, and then dropped the tree into the river. After that he joined Pandora and Atreus, who were sitting on the front half of the vessel, where he sat down and pulled out an oar so they could move down the river and return to their home, where the rope pulled the tree behind the boat as he moved them towards home. Flurry flew overhead, where the short tunnel they rowed through allowed her to sort of hear Atreus ask why the forest felt different and Kratos tell him that it feels different because the family was missing someone, which was the truth in her eyes, but she also knew there was now a gaping hole in the protective barrier.

She had to wonder where it came from, as it seemed like it might have happened at the same time that the last tree fell, a fact that really made her consider things for a moment, before she focused on the others as they reached the other dock, to which she landed by the house. She checked in with Albis for a moment, who was resting inside the house that she, the gorgon, and Pandora called home, who seemed perfectly fine even through she was also mourning Faye's passing and was content to stay in the stony house while they completed Faye's last wish. With that in mind she headed outside, just in time to see her father and the others walk up the path that brought them up to their house, though off to her right was a pile of wood resting in a boat shape between two large rocks, the final part of everything, where her father set the tree down and started to cut it up. While he did that Atreus and Pandora headed inside the main house and she stood nearby as she watched her brother performed the death rites that Faye had taught him, all while observing as the tree was cut into logs that were added to the soon to be pyre.

After a few moments of work, made easy thanks to Kratos' experience, he walked into the house and Atreus backed away from the table as he wiped his tears away, telling him that his work was done, allowing him to walk up to the shroud and stop near it for a couple of seconds.

Flurry knew that he, too, was grieving and would no doubt mourn Faye for many more years to come, especially since she saw Kratos as someone who was worthy of love and not the monster that many had seen him as before they dealt with his father and the other corrupt gods. Once he was ready to go, and had whispered his last words to Faye's body in the hope that her spirit could still hear them, Kratos lifted her covered body up and carried her outside to the pyre, though as he set her down on the makeshift boat pyre Atreus stood beside Flurry and Pandora. In the next moment Kratos pulled out a flint rock and his axe, where he brushed the two against each other until sparks flew off and touched the pyre, which started to burn the easier to burn material that had been placed below the main pyre, which quickly started to burn not a few moments later. Everyone watched for a couple of moments, finding that everything was burning a little faster than all of them had assumed, even with the material they had gathered according to Faye's wishes, but that didn't stop the family from watching the pyre burn, all while Kratos glanced at Atreus, who walked up to be close to him, for a moment before both focused on Faye once more.

As the pyre burned, however, Atreus did something stupid before the others even realized the idea had come to mind, he raced up to the flames and grabbed onto the knife that Faye had let him use several times in the past, which burned his hand in the process while causing him to gasp in pain as he dropped it.

"I... I'm sorry." Atreus said, as he knew he shouldn't have done that, but he wasn't about to let the knife burn as well, even if he could have waited for the pyre to die down before grabbing the item, though in that moment Kratos glanced at Flurry for a moment as he knelt down and picked up some snow that he carefully packed into a ball, before placing it on the new wound.

"Squeeze." Kratos stated, where he resisted the urge to get angry with his son, because he was totally different from both of his daughters and that told him he would have to approach raising him in a totally different manner, especially since he didn't have constant battles to train him like he did with Flurry, who stepped forward and carefully wrapped up the wound for a moment, allowing him to pick up the knife and held it out to his son, "This was her knife... now it is yours. Faye told me that she showed you how to hunt."

"Well, yeah... what she knew, anyway." Atreus replied, as his lessons with his mother, as he knew that 'Faye' was the name his father knew her by, had been the best parts of his life, both archery and language, along with all of the stories he had been told, before he tilted his head for a moment, "Why is this suddenly so important?"

"Show us. Prove you are ready, then we will either stay home or head for the mountain." Kratos said, because that was part of what Faye had asked him and his daughters to do while her pyre turned her to ash, she wanted them to make sure Atreus was ready for the final part of her last wish, the spreading of her ashes from the highest peak in all the realms, a place that all of them agreed was here in Midgard.

Atreus thought about that for a few seconds before understanding dawned on him, where he headed into the house so he could collect his bow and arrows, allowing the others to stand by the pyre as they waited for him to come out, where each of them had their own thoughts on the matter.

"I worry about him." Flurry remarked, keeping her voice low so only her father could hear her, because right now part of her was sure that there was no way Atreus would be even remotely ready for the journey, especially with how her brother just hurt himself trying to get Faye's knife ahead of time.

"Yes, so do I. This will be good for him, and for us." Kratos replied, as he understood Flurry's thoughts, he shared them far more than she might realize, but he trusted Faye's belief that Atreus would prove himself, and even if his son didn't prove himself he knew that they could prepare him for the trek.

"So, um... what are we hunting? And which way?" Atreus asked, where Flurry found that he liked to have his bow over his chest, as in the string was in front of his chest with the bow itself close to his back and quiver, which was totally wrong and meant she would have to correct him later on.

"You are hunting deer, we are watching... and in the direction of deer." Kratos stated, because three of them were ready for the journey, that much he knew since he had done quite a lot of fighting alongside Flurry over the years, and Pandora had proven herself during the final battle back in Greece, so the only one who needed to be tested was Atreus.

Atreus seemed unsure of what to make of that comment and decided on the path that went out into the wilderness, only this time he had his family following him, though Flurry made sure to seek out Albis, who was sticking around the place to keep an eye on it while they tested Atreus, causing her to nod before catching up to the others. The direction Atreus had picked out caused them to walk through one of the gates they had opened previously, to get at one of the nearby trees, where he found some tracks that weren't those of a deer and continued to move forward as he sought out what Kratos wanted him to hunt. While the family was close to their home Kratos looked around and found another set of tracks that he pointed out to Atreus, since he missed them, where his son confirmed that they didn't belong to a deer but was happy to have his father help him out a little, especially when Kratos said that Faye had taught him well. In addition to that there was a wooden chest that Kratos didn't recall seeing in the past, though he smashed the lid open with a single blow and let Flurry collect the goods, as in Hacksilver, bits of silver fragments often used as currency, along with coins and other items, all of which she stored in her bag.

It was times like this where Kratos was thankful for his daughter's Bag of Holding, because she had a chamber inside it that could hold all of the treasure they recovered from the chests, and, knowing Flurry, she was likely going to portion all of it out so the usable items were in one area and others were placed in another area.

As they climbed some stone steps, forming a path to another portion of their woods, Atreus found more tracks, only he was sure these ones were from a wild boar and ignored them as he continued to look for the quarry his father wanted him to hunt for his test. Part of the walkway was broken and required them to jump over it, where Flurry, Pandora, and their father were able to do so without delay, though they had to glance back as Atreus got a running start before being able to leap over to the other side, allowing him to take the lead once more. On the other side of the walkway, however, he found the tracks he was looking for and beckoned for everyone to follow him as he picked up his pace, though as he jumped over a fallen tree everyone discovered that their target was in the area rather quickly. By that Flurry found that the animal, a white coat deer with interesting blue antlers, actually moved in front of the path they were on, stared at Atreus for a moment, and then dashed along another part of the path, causing Kratos to tell Atreus to slow down, because he was supposed to be 'hunting' deer and not 'chasing' it.

The deer ended up using a wooden bridge to reach another portion of the woods, breaking part of it that required Kratos to hurl the Leviathan Axe at the weakened wood and break it, opening a path for Atreus to continue as he recalled the axe to him, exactly as Faye had taught him... leading to Atreus loosing an arrow at the deer without even preparing himself how he was supposed to, causing the arrow to hit a rock as the deer fled again.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Now its guard is up! Only fire..." Kratos exclaimed, though in that moment, as he grabbed his son's bow and basically tore it from his hands, causing Atreus to flinch in the process, which caused him to quickly reign in his anger as he took a few breaths to calm himself, least he do lasting damage on accident, "Flurry will remind you on how you are supposed to hunt, to be more effective and not rush blindly into the hunt... I will hold onto your bow for now, as you will find the deer again."

"Yes, sir." Atreus replied, where it was clear that he was ashamed of himself, as he had gotten too excited by the thought of possibly showing his father that he could handle himself, so they could head off to the mountain once the pyre was spent, before he considered something, "I'm sorry..."

"Brother, it is like mother said: 'don't be sorry, be better'." Pandora said, as Faye had a lot of sayings to help Kratos move on and stop worrying about the past, which was one of the reasons why she agreed with her sister on the fact that she was the best person to help their father improve the way he wanted.

When Atreus moved forward, however, they found that the tracks brought them right to an area that had a draugr in it, a fact that confirmed there was something wrong with the protective barrier that Faye had put up around their home, due to the fact that these never got this close to their home. Kratos reacted by bringing down the axe on the undead's right shoulder and sliced through it's body with ease, even though he was clearly holding back since he wanted Atreus to see him as a mortal and not a god, but as the first fell a few more jumped down to face them. Pandora pulled out her halberd, causing Atreus to gasp as he noticed it since he had been sure it was just something she used around their home, while she moved around, dodging a blade that was coming at her before slashing her opponent to pieces before it could even do anything to her. Flurry, on the other hand, glanced at the five foes that were around her for a moment as Atreus simply blinked and it was over, she had moved in the blink of an eye and slashed each of her foes down with ease, holding sickles he had never seen her use before this day.

As she slipped her sickles away Atreus found another draugr, this one looking slightly more armored than the others and looking far more dangerous, rushing at his sister, though before anyone could warn her Flurry held a hand out, drawing an interesting looking hammer out of nowhere, before smashing her foe apart in an instant.

"How... How did you do that?" Atreus asked, because he had seen none of them fight before, in fact he was sure that his father went out of his way to avoid him so he never saw that side of him, and yet all three of them were skilled enough to wipe out a group of draugr in a matter of seconds.

"Atreus, we've been keeping our home safe for your entire life... we know how to deal with draugr." Pandora replied, a fact that was partly the truth, they had done everything in their power to make sure the undead were purged from the area around their new home, while at the same time not saying anything about the fact that they had years of experience that he wasn't ready to know about.

Kratos was glad that Atreus didn't pursue the issue, especially since he believed that Flurry could do such a thing since she was far different from all of them, allowing all four of them to enter an outpost of a temple, or maybe it had been part of the road before the woods reclaimed this place. One of the paths happened to bring them to what appeared to be a large golden chest that was locked with three runes, where Flurry recalled that Faye had told a tale about how to open them, all they had to do to unlock it was fine the three runes and break them. Fortunately all three happened to be in the chamber with them, all out in the open as well, so it didn't take the family long to smash the stones and unseal the chest, which was followed by Kratos prying open the lid without delay, revealing a treasure trove of items. Flurry found that there wasn't a lot of items that might be useful in making improvements to their gear, as Faye had mentioned the dwarves and what they were capable of, so she collected everything that was useful inside the chest into her bag, since she might find someone they could trade with in the near future.

The path Atreus was following suggested that the deer ran into the main building that was in the area, for this area since there could be more sections out there, in fact Pandora spotted it heading into the structure in question not a couple of seconds later, which told them where they were going next. Atreus was nervous about heading in there, because he had been told not to go into the old temple, though Kratos insisted that they go in there since it would help them figure out if his son was ready for their journey, hence why he opened the main door and ushered everyone inside. There they found that the deer was already on the other side of the structure, in fact Flurry noted it was outside, causing Atreus to ask if he could have his bow back, since Kratos had told him to find his quarry, though Kratos countered by asking if his son could hit it from here. When Atreus thought about it he replied that he couldn't and that they would have to continue tracking the deer, causing them to descend into the temple as they sought a way out that would allow them to follow the deer, all while Kratos answered another question his son had, explaining that this hunt was one of Faye's last wishes and that it was time for both of them to share a hunt.

Atreus found a few more draugr around one of the corners, though this time Pandora and Flurry toned down their power as they joined their father in the attack, even though all three of them slashed through the undead with ease and opened the lower area for them to explore.

"So, I have a question. You have that sword... why don't you use it?" Atreus asked, though at the same time Kratos found that to move forward he had to use the Leviathan Axe's freezing power to lock a gear into place, after pulling a chain for a few seconds to move things into position, where his question was focused on the blade Flurry carried.

"Oh, this? I prefer to use this against more worthy foes, not weak draugr." Flurry replied, as Atreus knew they had guarded the woods against dangers for a long time, but he didn't need to know everything right now, so this allowed him to know that she had used it against something stronger than draugr and wouldn't draw it until she needed to.

Kratos called for everyone to gather in the area with the two gates, where retrieving the axe allowed the one behind them to close while the one in front of them opened, though as they headed outside he found a chain that lead to another part of the temple, one that had a triptych, a three paneled story, hidden inside it. This one seemed to be about Skoll and Hati, large wolves that chased the sun and moon until they caught them, as the story indicates that once they catch their two targets a large fight would happen, which had to be Ragnarok as Flurry recalled Faye's tales about the event. Atreus was excited by the discovery and pulled out his leather bound journal that he made notes in, adding the tale to it without even wasting time, and once he was done they closed the triptych before returning to the hunt. Atreus mentioned that this was just like the stories that his mother had told him about the giants, meaning this could be a shrine to the race, something the family kept in mind since there might be more of them scattered throughout Midgard.

Upon returning to the path, however, they found the deer and Kratos returned his son's bow to him, where Flurry pulled hers out for a moment as she reminded her brother of how to use a bow, showing him how to draw it and be accurate in using it, and when he released his arrow it struck the deer head on, knocking it onto it's back as Atreus cheered.

"Despite the rocky start, you have done well." Kratos said, where he and Atreus approached the animal, though that was when he found that his son had no desire to actually kill the deer, as when he tried to get him to finish what he started his son seemed to stall, causing him to gently help him lower the knife into the deer's body, allowing it to pass from this world and move on to whatever came next.

That was followed by a dark skinned troll, a large brutish creature, reaching up and grabbing onto the deer, causing Atreus to stab his hand with the knife before he was knocked into the area below them, though Kratos grabbed his son's bow, jumped and kicked the troll in the head to knock him back, and then landed beside his son. This allowed Atreus to ready himself for battle as both Flurry and Pandora jumped down to join the pair, all while the troll tossed the deer aside before lifting a stone pillar to use as his weapon, which he seemed to swing around like a club and brought it down whenever he thought he could crush them. Atreus stayed at the back of the pack, since he didn't know how to fight, though he did, in fact, follow their father's commands by observing his movements and loosed an arrow when Kratos wanted him to do so, as this was a good chance for him to get some combat experience. To the trio the troll wasn't too much of a threat, due to the fact that his movements, while faster than some might expect, were easy for them to dodge and that meant they had more than enough openings to lash out at it, though Flurry also used her bow this time, just to help her brother learn how to use his in combat.

Atreus, however, was stunned by his sister's actions, as Flurry was able to pinpoint accurate areas to strike that caused the troll to howl in pain when he was hit, with a level of accuracy that amazed him, while Pandora hacked into the troll's legs before their father punched his head up towards the sky, jumped and grabbed onto it so he could beat him, and then just drove his head into the ground before twisting and snapping his neck.

"That's what you get!" Atreus exclaimed, rushing at the dead troll and started to slash into his shoulder, apparently not even remotely caring about the fact that they had killed him in the first place, while at the same time his anger towards the creature hitting him like that eventually caused him to cough a little, "You think I'm afraid of you?! You're nothing to me!"

"Calm down Atreus, he's dead." Pandora stated, where she got behind him and grabbed onto his arm to stop him from wasting more of his energy on such a thing, though this was something they weren't expecting to discover, Atreus still had his rage and that, more importantly, meant he could come down with his illness at any moment, but she was able to stop her brother as he huffed and calmed down.

"Atreus, you pass when it comes to hunting and fighting alongside us... but you fail at controlling your rage. For now, you are not ready for the journey to the mountain." Kratos stated, which Flurry and Pandora understood the reasoning of, he was worried that his son would break down in a rage induced moment and ruin the entire journey, so he was willing to wait until Atreus could control himself, and prove it, before carrying Faye's ashes to the mountain, "Flurry, collect the deer and any useful items the troll might have had... we are heading home for the time being."

As Flurry nodded, however, she had the feeling that they wouldn't be able to give Atreus the time their father wanted to give him, because if the protective barrier was sundered she was sure that Odin or one of his servants would visit them in the near future, causing her to hope that they were ready for whatever might happen next.