With the path they were supposed to take having been broken by the chasm that had opened up, Kratos jumped down into the safest part of the chasm, the one that wouldn't shatter as they walked through it, while Atreus and Pandora followed as Flurry moved above the open area above them. Atreus, of course, had questions that none of them really had answers to, because while they assumed that the Stranger had been a god there was no telling why he had come here, nor did they know why he was so interested in thinking that they knew what he was looking for. It was all due to the fact that he simply refused to tell them anything, consistently thinking that Kratos knew whatever it was that he wanted, but since he refused to give the family anything to work with they knew that leaving was the best course, as he would chase them in due time and they needed to put as much distance between them as possible. With that in mind Kratos also made sure that Atreus knew one important rule, that he should jump onto his back while climbing, since he didn't have the experience his sisters had in moving area the environment, which his son agreed with.

Of course Atreus was worried about his father and stated that he should never leave him, like he was demanding that his family should do everything to stop themselves from dying on him, though he was happy to see that they weren't planning on dying anytime soon. The other thing Atreus talked about was how all three of them were used to killing people, as he assumed that they had slain the Stranger for coming and attacking them, though while none of them said a word about how the figure would come back in due time Kratos told him that they did what they did to survive, nothing more. It was a very simple truth when Flurry thought about it, they had fought and killed people in the past so they could live and survive, which was even more true when she thought about the various dangers they had faced back in Greece, but she kept her mouth shut as their father and Pandora climbed up the wall. Atreus sort of understood what their father was saying, because he knew that killing animals was important since they could be used as food and clothing, while also understanding that having to kill draugr was on the same level of importance, as they were dead and shouldn't be moving around like this.

Killing people, on the other hand, was something he wasn't too sure on and didn't know what to think about, where Kratos told him that he would not be subjected to doing such a thing, because if they could help it none of them would allow him to kill an actual person until he was ready to face that fact of life.

After the climb, which really impressed Atreus since it allowed him to see how experienced his father was in such a thing, all of them moved through a short tunnel that brought them to an area that had a couple of platforms leading to the summit, a way out of the area Flurry realized. Pandora pointed out the crank wheel, a round wheel that was usually in the ground and could be spun forward or backwards to move something, which seemed to be hooked to a wooden walkway that linked up to an area that had a chain that could be knocked down. Kratos, in that moment, helped Atreus to the upper platform by boosting him and then walked over to the wheel, where he spun it and found that the path lowered into place, though that was when he hurled the Leviathan Axe at an ice gear, a magically charged item he could freeze by embedding his axe on the surface, locking the bridge in place. Such a thing allowed Atreus to rush over to the chain and push it down so his father and Pandora could climb up to join him, since all Flurry had to do was flap her wings a little and hover up to the walkway, which earned her a stare from Atreus as he watched her do such a thing.

"If you can do that, then why do we need to solve these puzzle like areas to bother moving forward?" Atreus asked, all while their father found a smaller chest and smashed it open, allowing them to collect the Hacksilver and other items that were inside it, since his sister's bag seemed to have an endless source of room for her to use.

"Because if I did everything, Atreus, you wouldn't learn anything and would be sad the entire way to the peak." Flurry said, which was the truth, as while she could easily complete every puzzle that would likely come across, thanks to her skill and her intelligence that had helped them a lot back in Greece, she knew letting Atreus be part of things would be better in the long run, causing her brother to nod in understanding.

While they moved through the area Pandora also discovered that there were offering casks that were hanging above the ground, which Faye had told them was so thieves couldn't get at them, as people had left them for the gods, though Kratos just knocked them down and allowed Flurry to collect the pouches of Hacksilver that had been freed. Of course such a thing also caused Atreus to ask if they were sure that they would find people on the road, which Kratos confirmed, as he was sure that they would find more reavers on their way to the peak and that meant he, Flurry, and Pandora would be the ones to deal with them. Atreus also seemed to want to know why they were looting the offering casks that were for Odin, where Kratos indicated that the All-Father didn't seem to care enough to have them collected, so he shouldn't be too upset if someone gathered them to use for currency or for important trading. As they climbed Flurry noted that her father didn't say anything bad about worshiping the gods, like 'men should not pray to monsters', especially after the tales Faye had told them about Odin and the Aesir, but she understood that her father didn't want to corrupt Atreus' opinion on all gods, rather he wanted him to form his own opinions.

A few moments later they reached the upper point of the area and found that there were golden trees forming a circular barrier around their home, a barrier that had a section carved out of it, something that confirmed Flurry's thoughts, Faye had set up a barrier to keep their existence a secret and, to get them moving, asked Kratos to remove some to cut into the barrier to let Baldur in.

"Woah... who would have known that there was a protection stave around our home this entire time?" Atreus remarked, though in that moment he and Kratos understood the significance of the area that they were staring at, those were where his father had cut down the trees that were part of his mother's last wishes, to form her funeral pyre, meaning to fix what had happened someone would need to mark a few trees with a certain spell.

"Faye would have known. She had her reasons for keeping it a secret, and for using some of the stave's trees for her pyre," Kratos said, which was the truth, in fact he now understood why one of her first actions upon reaching where they had set up their home had been to go out into the woods, as it was to create a safe place for all of them, and, upon learning more about him, to force him into action following her demise, causing him to turn, "Come. We have plenty of ground to cover before we reach the end of our journey."

All three of his children nodded their heads as they jumped up onto another wooden walkway and made their way up to a cave that had a narrow vertical passage for everyone to pass through, where Kratos allowed Atreus to go first with him being right behind him, so if something attacked he'd be ready to react accordingly, leaving Pandora and Flurry to bring up the rear, the latter tucking her wings in to avoid harming them. Outside the short passage they found more draugr, where Atreus stayed away from their enemies as he raised his bow and prepared an arrow, choosing to help his father bring his foe down, while at the same time Pandora slashed at the undead coming at her and brought them down after bringing all of them together so one attack could bring them down. Flurry, on the other hand, just stuck to her sickles as she dodged the incoming attacks and brought down the undead before they had a chance to even touch her, before spotting one foe that had fire in it's hands that it could throw at them whenever it wanted to. With that in mind Flurry told Atreus to watch for a moment as she switched weapons, allowing him to see that she was readying her own bow and one of her arrows, where she released it not a moment later and broke the spell, while a second one pierced the draugr's chest and caused it to dissolve within a few seconds.

Atreus stared at her for a few seconds as she walked over and demonstrated what she had done, the movements she had used to bring down her foe without wasting time, allowing him to get a better idea of how to bring down the draugr they would be facing during their adventure. As Pandora cleaned up the last of the draugr, and tossed Flurry some pouches a few of them had been carrying that held more Hacksilver, Kratos also told his son to carefully read each battle they would be in and attack those that he wasn't focused on, since his sisters could handle themselves. It was clear that he wanted to join them in the battles, but understood that his lack of experience would only hinder them if they encountered a foe that was more like the reavers or the Stranger, causing him to nod as they continued along the path that would bring them to the base of the highest peak. As they did do Atreus pointed out a rock that was written in runes, ones that indicated that a Jotnar settlement, a giant settlement to be exact, was ahead of them, reminding Kratos that Faye had taught their son all of the languages she knew and nodded as he translated what was on the stone, writing it in his journal.

From there they climbed up another wall and continued down the path that was up there, finding a Hel-Walker waiting off to the side that Kratos dealt with by crushing it's head with his bare hands after knocking it into the wall for a moment, a fact that allowed them to move forward as Flurry made sure to pick up the Hacksilver pouch left behind.

Kratos then found a brass or golden chest along the way and pried it open, revealing more components for Flurry to pick up and add to what was inside her bag, where he was grateful for it's endless space because the section they were using for all of the items inside the various chests was going to be larger than anything before it. Pandora also picked up some sort of teal colored item that seemed to be an upgrade component of some kind, that much she could tell by looking at it, causing her to hand it over to her sister before she dismantled the chest was well and passed her chunks that were pure metal. Atreus, however, missed what she had done, which was for the best since they didn't need him questioning what his family was actually capable of, while the light blue gemstone that Kratos was holding went dark, causing him to hand it to Flurry as well, though he did get something from it. That 'something', as it turned out, seemed to be a new skill for his axe, which told him and his daughters that the magic of the Nine Realms was definitely different than what they were used to in Greece, that while one could improve from training there were also other ways to obtain new attacks or powers, not that Pandora or Flurry were expecting to find any for themselves.

The skill, as Kratos found out, seemed to be the ability to unleash a light wave of energy that stunned enemies for a couple of seconds, which might be useful if they were outnumbered or if he wanted to help Atreus learn how to include himself in the various battles to come, while the ability itself surprised Atreus.

Following that Kratos lifted a fallen stone pillar out of the way and allowed both Pandora and Atreus to pass under it, while Flurry just leapt over it and landed beside them, though she barely had time to do anything as her brother, excited by the fact that they were already closer to the peak than before, rushed onto a clearly rotting plank bridge. Such a thing simply confirmed that her brother was either a total moron or had a death wish, as the moment he jumped on a plank it broke under his weight, causing him to grab onto some of the other planks to prevent himself from falling. Kratos did what was the best thing right now, as there wasn't a good area for Flurry to fly over, which was just carefully walk across the rest of the planks and hope that it didn't break, something that only worked for a few planks before his weight worked against him. In the next moment he was able to grab onto Atreus and turned around as he held his son close to his chest, allowing Atreus to emerge unharmed as Kratos' back hit the ground, also unharmed since this was nothing compared to the rest of the challenges they had been through, while Flurry carried Pandora down to their position.

As Kratos told Atreus to slow down, for his haste would cost them, his son found that they had landed by some still draugr, who were more like statues, and when he poked one it came to life without delay, prompting him to unleash the stun power and break several more of their still enemies before they could become active. Flurry and Pandora smashed several of the other still draugr that were in the area, reducing the number of enemies that needed to be dealt with, only to find that more animated foes started to enter where they were fighting, causing the latter to crush them with her halberd. Since there were a few ranged enemies as well Flurry continued to use her bow as she loosed a few arrows into the air, which slammed into each of her targets without giving them a chance to do anything to the family, allowing the others to focus on the rest of the undead. Kratos also warned Atreus to slow down his speed with his bow, as he wanted more control from his son, which was a fair thing to tell him since Flurry was still pointing out what he needed to do, while at the same time Atreus found another stone pillar to translate, indicating that this had been a marketplace.

Of course that wasn't the end of it as a few draugr brutes, the mare massive ones that seemed more dangerous, broke their way through a nearby wall and rushed at them, where Kratos had Atreus and Pandora stand back as Flurry took to the field, rapidly dodging the incoming attacks as she loosed arrows from her bow with deadly accuracy, striking down the brutes in a matter of seconds.

Once the draugr brutes were taken care of Kratos climbed up the side of the wall before continuing deeper into the ruin that Atreus was forcing them to explore, only to find that the inside of the structure wasn't any better as they found one of the revenants wandering around the inside. This time around Kratos had an idea as he made sure to utilize Atreus' arrows, as one stunned the foe that was in front of them and that was his chance to strike it, using his fists to beat it up before quickly snapping it's neck, something that surprised Atreus despite the fact that he said nothing about it. From there they found a way to the lower level and discovered another draugr brute was in the way, where Pandora took to the field as she pulled out her chakrams before rushing at it, ducking under attacks as she lashed out at her foe, cutting into his sides and chest in the span of a couple of moments. The fight ended as she switched to her halberd and removed her foe's head, allowing the rest of the family to catch up with her as Kratos opened a stone coffin, where he found more Hacksilver, more teal material, some sort of gold, and a new type of metal that he handed to Pandora first so she could study it.

In the end Pandora handed the materials to Flurry could they be stored away for the time being, until they found someone who could actually identify what they had just found, though everyone found that this path was a dead end and climbed up to another path, which had another stone coffin that they looted without delay. In addition to that they discovered one of the runic chests and found that all three runes were close at hand, especially since Flurry could just destroy two of them with her arrows since they were further away than the ones for the last runic chest, which allowed them to loot the items that were inside it before heading deeper into the ruin. Such a thing allowed them to do battle with more draugr before Atreus pointed out another triptych that seemed unharmed and untouched, so once the undead were dealt with Kratos walked over and opened it so his son could tell them what the new story was about. Apparently it was about Hrungir, who was a giant warrior made of stone that was in a big battle with Odin, Thor, and even the World Serpent present, ending in his head being smashed open by Thor and his deadly hammer, which to Atreus' disappointment, even though his body did temporarily squish Thor.

In addition to that Flurry found a scroll that Atreus translated, apparently detailing a message from the 'Raven Keeper' that claimed that Svartalfheim was sealed and now the dwarves would be unable to help the Vanir while the elves were totally distracted, all thanks to 'Odin's foresight', and once it was translated Flurry added it to their collection of items.

Kratos made sure that the area by the triptych was a dead end, which it was, before crossing the bridge that was near the runic chest, allowing Pandora to smash the wooden chests they walked by so she could toss all of the contents to Flurry, all while he engaged more undead that happened to be in the way. Such a thing included another revenant, of all things, though this one fled from Flurry as she approached it, allowing the others to deal with the rest of the undead as she put an arrow in the revenant's back, and two more in the lungs, bringing it down before it could get too far. With the group of enemies taken care of the family moved forward, where Kratos moved a crank wheel and lowered the bridge into place, a fact that was followed by Pandora throwing a chakram at the breakable chain to shatter it, lowering a walkway down for them to use, and before Atreus could question why she'd do that the weapon returned to her hand. Pandora headed off to the side to claim another stone chest's resources before catching up with them as they moved into another portion of the large ruin, only to find that they stopped at a large grated gate that Kratos forced into the ceiling for a moment, which was followed by them entering another chamber.

This one, however, happened to be the home of a reaver clan, living people and not the undead, who jumped down into the lower level as some drew their weapons, though while they originally through they were Hel-Walkers one person also realized that they were alive and said that 'meat was back on the menu', freaking out Atreus when he realized that they were what the reavers were talking about.

"Atreus, stand back... this is our fight, and ours alone." Kratos stated, where he drew his axe, Pandora shifted her stance as she readied her halberd, and Flurry brought the ends of her sickles together to form her sickle staff once more, which was followed by him focusing on the reavers for a moment, "I will say this once: get out of our way and you may live."

He knew it was a worthless thing to say, as Faye had told them that reavers were set in their ways and these ones were just like she had said, as they ignored his words and charged at them without wasting time, no doubt because they had to be starving and thought his family were food. With that in mind he nodded to his daughters and they moved out, where he he parried an incoming attack before bringing down his axe down on the collar of one reaver and diagonally split the poor fool's body with little resistance, a sign of lack of nutrition he noted. Pandora ducked and avoided the sword swings that were coming her way, as several reavers decided to come after her, though it hardly mattered as she fought back by swinging her halberd and tore through her enemies as she made sure to push them away from the others. Flurry simply avoided the incoming blows that were trying to reach her as she spun her staff, letting the sickle heads catch the blades that were coming at her while slashing at her opponents, dropping them before they even knew what hit them, all while noticing that Atreus moved into a corner to make sure he was out of the way.

In the end one reaver happened to get near Atreus and lift him into the air for a few seconds, prompting him to stab the man right in the neck, right in the precise location to fill his body with blood and choke him to death in seconds, though it had the side effect of causing the reaver to fall on top of him. As Kratos rushed over to his son, to check on him and make sure he was fine, and deal with Atreus actually killing someone, since that was something he had planned on never letting happen until he was sure his son was ready, Flurry found that the intact reavers started to revive themselves. It wasn't like it was of their free will, rather their skin turning icy informed her that they were turning int Hel-Walkers, so while Kratos tended to Atreus, who was definitely saddened by this turn of events, she and Pandora attacked the reborn enemies while ensuring that none got near their family. This was something that Flurry was tad bit jealous of, as Atreus was being given time to come to terms with what he had done, while she had been so focused on surviving that she hadn't been given that chance and became used to taking lives, both monsters and people alike.

While they dealt with the newly created undead Kratos tried to snap Atreus out of his mood, before realizing that the best way to get his son to focus was to tease him with the prospect of heading back home after just starting their journey, and, as he expected, Atreus returned to normal, even though he did promise him time to reflect on this later.

Following that they reached a ledge that they quickly climbed across as they sought the exit, though during that process all four of them spotted a light emerald green raven sitting on a rock, something that instantly caused Flurry to draw her bow as she put an arrow in it, shattering the bird as it turned into a mist of magical energy. Faye had told them that Odin had little spies that wandered around eight of the Nine Realms, since the All-Father couldn't get to Jotunheim, and they served as his eyes, so anything the ravens saw during their travels would be reported to him in no time. This meant she and her family could blind him a little, especially since he was already interested in them for some reason that wasn't what she, Pandora, or their father could think about, so eliminating the ravens would buy them a bit of time. As Kratos looted the nearby stone chest they heard someone shouting at something or someone to 'move their ass' and that if they didn't the speaker was going to kick them, and Flurry could tell that it was coming from the other bridge leading towards the base of the mountain they were interested in.

The speaker, as it turned out, was a short blue skinned individual who seemed to either be a warrior, since his beast of burden had all sorts of materials and items on it's back, or maybe a smith, and right now he was trying to get the creature to move so they could be on their way to their destination.

"What are you looking at? I can't get this sloe-eyed cocklumb to cross the bridge!" the figure stated, where he poked on the beast's side and pulled on the reins, trying everything he could think of to get the camel-like creature to move, while giving them a chance to see his nice golden or brass armor and his beard as Atreus approached the beast.

"It's because she's scared of something in the trees over there... father, can you hit the white trees?" Atreus asked, causing him to point out the trees in question for a moment before Kratos did so, causing something to rush off into the wilds as the axe hit his target, and when he recalled the weapon they found that the beast started to move.

"Say, you must be smart or something, boy... you are a boy, aren'tcha?" the short figure remarked, though that was when he tried to get the beast moving, only for Atreus to help the creature, a she as he called it, far more than the short figure could, causing them to discuss names as he revealed that his was 'Brok', before he glanced at Kratos for a moment, or his axe to be more precise, "Look, you're not going to believe me, but I know that axe. It was me that made it... well, me and my brother. It was one of our best, so don't let anyone else work on her or she'll wreck beyond repair... and if you don't believe me, then let me tell you that there's a rune in the shape of a fork under the grip... I even have half the brand with me, if you don't believe me!"

While Kratos initially didn't believe Brok he did check the area in question, even though he knew of the rune in question since Faye had let him study the weapon in great detail, where the figure, who identified himself as a dwarf, told them that he could even improve the axe while they were here, causing Kratos to hand it over for a moment.

"You know, if you have the time, I would love to see all of your weapons... especially hers! I've never seen sickles like them before, and I can tell there is more to them than what I'm seeing." Brok said, where they found that he held something to the axe, a flame that looked like it was frozen, and Flurry could tell that the weapon was improved after he worked on it for a few moments, showing his skills as a blacksmith, before he handed it back to Kratos, "Also, if you have the materials I can craft pieces of armor for each of you, to aid you in battle and even improve your existing abilities... plus a fee, since I can't be doing everything for free. Hell, I'll even identify materials for you, so you know what to keep an eye out... for?"

"Like these?" Pandora asked, as Flurry produced a bit of the three items they had acquired, the gold, odd metal, and the teal ore, and handed them to her so she could put them on the table, and based on Brok's shocked look it was clear that one of them had to be incredibly rare.

"Yeah... the gold is Aegir's Gold and the metal is Soft Svartalfheim Steel... but this?! This is Skap Slag, very powerful and very rare... best used on the highest tier of weapons and armor." Brok replied, where Pandora handed the items back to Flurry, who pocketed them and returned them to her bag without wasting time, though Brok noticed and his eyes quickly lit up as he realized that they might have more Skap Slag than what they had shown him.

Kratos decided that now was a good time to take a short break, as Pandora wanted to talk with Brok and Atreus needed a few moments of peace to himself before they moved forward once more, causing Flurry to nod her head as well, because this would be good for all of them in the long run and she was interested in what Brok might be able to help them with in the future.

Author's Note

Did anyone wonder why this story had a profanity tag, but had no profanity until now? Well, now you know why.