God of War: Daughter of War

For the few minutes that they rested Flurry found that the mountain seemed to shake every now and then, likely due to Hraezlyr blasting more holes into the area as it made it's way to whatever destination it was currently heading towards, and as her family got ready to move she noticed a crystal infused with lightning fell onto some sap and blasted it apart.

"I see. That's the answer to the sap we spotted previously." Flurry commented, where Kratos nodded his head a little, as he and the others had seen it as well, meaning they were going to have to keep an eye out for the empowered crystals while they were out in the field, or maybe find a way to empower Atreus' bow with the element.

"Still, it seems like the dragon is attacking something else." Atreus remarked, due to the fact that there were a number of vibrations rocking the passage they had been brought into, though even as he said that it seemed to die down, like the beast had either moved on or had fallen asleep, meaning their time spent resting might have yielded good results, "Or not... I guess we'll see what it has been up to when we reach the end of the passage."

Kratos said nothing to that as he also gave his son a nod, as that was a correct assumption of the situation, especially since there was no telling what Hraezlyr was currently doing right now, though as they progressed all four of them discovered something else that was interesting, there was crystallized sap infused with the dragon's power. Such a thing meant that one of them could grab hold of part of the crystal, rip it off the root it was growing from, and then toss it at another portion of roots that happened to be in their way, blasting the obstacle apart so they could progress again. He also stopped Atreus from asking questions, mostly because the air was growing thinner and his son, who had no experience in places like this, would hurt himself if he did something foolish, but he made sure that Atreus knew there would be time for questions once they were out of the area. Such a thing allowed them to reach a wall they climbed across before reaching another root wall, an obstacle that meant nothing thanks to the nearby empowered sap, allowing the family to blast their way through it and continue through the passage without needing to slow down.

As they continued up the rocky passage, however, they heard Sindri telling something to get away from it, and up reaching the end all four of them found that he was actually being attacked by Hraezlyr, where they could see that the dragon was currently blocking the way forward, meaning they were going to have to kill it.

"Father... can you kill something that big?" Atreus inquired, because he wasn't about to leave Sindri to face the wrath of the dragon that had attacked them, especially since there was no telling what else the dwarf might be able to help them with in the future, so losing him was out of the question in his eyes.

"Possibly, if we catch it off guard." Kratos replied, where he glanced at the area that was in front of them and spotted what looked like a flat area off in the distance, which seemed to be the perfect place to fight the beast if need be, causing him to glance at his son for a moment as his daughters readied themselves, "Atreus, you break right and find an angle... and wait for my mark. We will face the beast."

Atreus nodded as he rushed down the path to their right and called out to the dragon, causing Hraezlyr to turn towards him for a moment while revealing an opening that Kratos, Pandora, and Flurry could use from the side, where Kratos ran up the side path and then jumped onto the dragon's back. In the next few moments he raced up his back and jumped into the air as soon as he reached the back of his neck, bringing down the Leviathan Axe on top of his head, which didn't really do anything as Hraezlyr barely moved, though he backed off as Pandora slammed the head of her weapon down into the dragon's head as well, as she had been tossed into the air so she could hit the beast. After that both of them landed near Atreus as the beast opened his mouth to suck them up, where Flurry used her magic to keep them secure as her father leapt into Hraezlyr's mouth, allowing him to just attack both the upper part of the beast's mouth and the tongue at the same time, while using one hand to keep the mouth from closing on him. The dragon moved around for a time, clearly trying to figure out how to deal with Kratos, before coming to a stop on the earthen peak that was near the flattened area, where he forced the unwanted warrior out of his mouth, allowing Kratos to land nearby as Flurry and Pandora dropped down in the area as well.

Of course Atreus and Sindri remained as far out of sight as they could, allowing the trio to focus on the dragon as he just glared down at them, before he let loose a roar as he fired a beam of lightning into the air, which seemed to separate up in the air and come back down on the trio, while striking other areas as well. In addition to that they found that he used his ability to draw them in as well, making sure to keep them close so his lightning could hit them, though since he refused to fight them in the area he had spat Kratos out into they had to find another way to deal with him. The presence of the crystallized sap told the experienced warriors what needed to be done, as Pandora grabbed on and hurled it at the beast as he charged more of his lightning breath, something that ended up causing the sap to explode and knock the dragon down to the ground. As Hraezlyr collided with the ground Kratos and Flurry were upon him without delay, finding that his head was damaged and that they could strike that area to harm him, though while Kratos did that Flurry slashed into his chest with her weapon, allowing the Blade of Olympus to cut through his scales in the process.

When Hraezlyr got up and moved the trio noticed two things, the first being that there was a massive chuck of crystallized sap in the area, something they might be able to use against him, and the other was that there was a crane above the area that might be sharp enough to puncture the dragon's wounded head. With those pieces of information found Kratos just glanced at his daughters and they nodded, as they were on the same wavelength after spending so much time fighting side by side and understood him better than most people did, something that would allow Atreus to see why teamwork was an important thing in battle. Since Hraezlyr was actually close by, and not remaining on the side of the mountain like he had done previously, Kratos and Pandora lashed out at his hands and legs, while at the same time looking for openings to use the explosive sap on so they could stun him for a time. At the same time Flurry took to the air and flew around the space that was above the dragon, swinging at his head and wings, the latter mostly to prevent their foe from taking off, as that meant he might come back and attack them again while their guards are down, while also spinning her blade around to cancel out the lightning breath that was fired at her.

She found that the most interesting thing about the dragon was that while his scales were tough, especially on his head with the crest that they had damaged, their weapons were able to cut through those on his sides and on his hands, with a bit of difficulty, and when Hraezlyr tried to bite her Flurry spun around and slashed at one of his teeth, removing the tooth and sending it flying into the rock wall near a workshop Sindri had been setting up previously.

Another thing she discovered was that every sap explosion in the dragon's face caused more damage to the area that her father was working on, as when Hraezlyr went down he focused on the scarred section of his forehead while Pandora and Flurry focused on the rest of the body. The dragon did love to fire off bursts of lightning at any of them, something that he was used to using against those that angered him in some manner, though as that happened Atreus, who was watching from the safety of the upper area, found that whenever Flurry spun her greatsword in a circular manner she stopped the beam from even touching her. At the same time he realized what his family was doing as Hraezlyr tried to bite him and his first target, where Flurry used magical chains to grab onto the head and slam the dragon back down into the arena so he didn't get any funny ideas, even though he did wonder why she then unchained him as the fight resumed. Flurry also did something else that interested Atreus, she used her magic to contain one of the lightning beam attacks and trapped it in an orb, maybe to use it later, though after that she struck the dragon on the side, cutting through the scales while the rest of the family worked on the rest of the beast.

When Kratos determined that the time was right he beckoned to Atreus as they knocked Hraezlyr down, where his son let an arrow fly and cut through the rope keeping the crane above them intact, though as the hook fell Kratos jumped into the air, grabbed onto it, and brought it down into the dragon's head. Hraezlyr roared in pain as one of the hook's spikes went right through the weakened portion of his head and punctured his skull, in fact the sound was just enough to tell all of them just how painful it really was, though that wasn't the end of Kratos' plan as Flurry flashed through the air and left an X mark on part of the dragon's neck. Following that her father leapt onto the other half of the hook, where he used the force of that motion to land on the large spike of sap that was in the area, something that allowed them to watch as he just pulled on the hook and jerked Hraezlyr onto it, the tip going through the X Flurry had left before he buried half of the material in the beast's neck. The dragon roared as he jerked his head away and tore the crystal in half as well, leaving part of it buried in his neck, something that Kratos maneuvered himself into so he could kick it deeper into the flesh before he saw that the lightning was building, and when jumped off the hook Hraezlyr blasted a hole in his own neck.

As Kratos hit the ground he got up and turned to face the dragon, where the beast fell with his mouth open, with him standing between the upper and lower portions of his mouth, causing him to stretch his body a little while Pandora and Flurry caught up with him, while Atreus and Sindri did the same.

"I... I don't believe it... no one's killed a dragon for hundreds of years," Sindri commented, where they found that he just stared at the fallen beast for a moment, along with the fact that Pandora was already checking out areas like she was in the middle of thinking about how to take it apart, before he turned to face Kratos, "not since the Grand Culling of the Wyrms... and, unless I'm mistaken, you did all that for me."

"It is possible, but does not change the fact that the dragon was in our way. Now it is not." Kratos replied, because while he could easily say that they had done it to save Sindri, since that was what his son would do in this situation, he decided to focus more on the fact that they removed an obstacle who could have hindered them in the future.

"You can deny it all you want, but you did save my life and I am grateful for that... especially since that includes a reward, compensation to be exact, for your heroic deed." Sindri stated, telling the family that he was willing to give them an item or piece of gear for saving his life, causing him to reach into his bag for a moment before producing a bundle of light green arrows that seemed elegant and deadly at the same time, which he handed to Atreus, "Braided mistletoe arrows, which are straighter than Heimdall and perfectly weighted. Perfect replacements for you, since your arrows are nearly gone."

Atreus didn't seem all too impressed by the arrows, something that caused Sindri to frown, since it wasn't what he was expecting to hear, though as he searched for another item to appease Kratos, fearing that the father would be unhappy since his son was displaced with his reward, they got to talking about seeing Brok again. That got Sindri heated, because every time he pulled something out while he was talking it was accompanied by a 'no', but they could tell that whatever falling out he and Brok had suffered had really put a strain on their relationship and he was still suffering from it. When he pulled out a fish, of all things, he freaked out, dropped it, and told them to burn it, but that was when he locked onto the tooth fragment that Flurry had cleaved off and asked Kratos to recover it, who did so and then fragmented it so that it was in a smaller portion. Sindri, of course, didn't want to touch the tooth and instead sprayed some dust on it, where he told him to run it along Atreus' bowstring, where the sisters watched as it empowered the bow with the ability to us lightning arrows that shattered the sap with ease, opening another path for them to move forward.

As they did that Sindri's jaw dropped as he watched Flurry and Pandora get to work, the pair focusing their powers for just a few seconds as they hacked Hraezlyr's corpse apart, reducing him to piles of scales, bones, teeth, claws, and everything else that went into a dragon, before Flurry stored all of it away in seconds, all without Atreus even noticing as he and his father moved into the passage, causing Pandora to catch up as Flurry lagged behind a little.

"Hey Sindri, I've got a question for you: what's up with Brok's soul?" Flurry asked, because that had been bugging her since she noticed it, and she wanted to ask the question while Atreus wasn't near, since it would reveal something she wanted to keep hidden from him.

"I... would rather not talk about that." Sindri replied, though while he was surprised that Flurry knew such a thing, in fact not even his brother knew that particular fact, he really didn't want to talk about this, not even to those who had just saved his life from the dragon that had nearly killed him.

Flurry sighed as she acknowledged his wishes and then moved to catch up to the others, finding that her father had just slowed down a little to let Atreus' excitement over killing a dragon burn off, before they discovered a golden chest that was surrounded by roots, so all they had to do was use one of Atreus' new arrows to deal with it. With the roots blown up, causing them to smile for a moment, Kratos looted the chest and passed the items to Flurry before they found an area to climb up, allowing the family to continue towards the summit of the peak that was their destination. The upper area had a draugr and a nightmare, where they discovered that the new arrows could also stun enemies as well, as Atreus used one on the floating foe so Pandora could take it out, while Flurry switched to her sickles once more as she rapidly took out the undead. With that done they focused on the area that the enemies had been in, finding more sap and a piece that actually remained in tact after it exploded, the crystal anyway, where Flurry moved the wooden wheel that was nearby and just raised the container that the item was on, positioning it so Atreus could hit it again, blasting down a pile of materials they could use to progress onward again.

That brought them to a group of nightmares and Hel-Walkers, nothing too major since the family was able to take them out in seconds, in fact the group beyond that stood no chance as well, though it did allow them access to another runic chest and some sap that Kratos could hurl at areas of interest so Atreus could blast them apart. One of those gave them access to a triptych, this one revealing the story of Ymir, the progenitor of all living things in the Nine Realms and had been slain by Odin, of all individuals, causing Atreus to write that all down before they returned to the main path. The other bits that Kratos targeted released a bridge for them to use to move across a gap, and opened the way for them to track down the three runes for the chest, so once the runes were smashed the family looted the chest before continuing on their way towards the peak. Flurry found that the last bit of the passage happened to be another climb, which ended in another stone door for them to open, and when the others caught up with her Kratos opened the door in an instant, revealing that they were near the summit, though there was a gateway of sorts on the peak in front of them and a tree that seemed out of place.

As they started to move the quiver strap for Atreus' gear broke, where Kratos collected one of the mistletoe arrows from the quiver and broke it so that part of it could be used as a fix for the broken piece of equipment, and he made sure his son knew that fact, though after that was done the family approached the summit and Flurry held up a hand for them to stop, including weaving magic around them to silence their movements.

"You know why we're here. Has my last visit loosened your tongue?" a familiar voice asked, where they knew it had to be Baldur, based on the information they had gathered since he landed outside their home and picked a fight with Kratos, all while the family carefully climbed around the rocky area as Flurry used her magic to catch the pieces that fell, just to make sure their foe had no idea they were in the area.

"I see you brought company this time... must be important if the sons of Thor deign to grace me with their presence." a new voice said, one who seemed like he might be from another land as well, since none of them recognized his accent, but one thing they knew was that he either had no care for who was in front of him or he had the superior bargaining chip in this discussion, especially since Thor's sons were called Magni and Modi, "Tell me, are you two still tripping over yourselves to impress daddy?"

"Focus on our mission. The tattooed man: tracks show that he's traveling with a child, in addition to the strange girl and the odd pony creature that was with him." Baldur stated, as if his companions would have done something to slow them down, while the pair in question remained silent as they let him talk with the figure that seemed to be bound to the tree, leaving the family to remain silent as they listened to their pursuer talk, "Where would they go next?"

"Why would I know that? I've been unable to view the realms for a long time, you know." the mysterious figure remarked, where Kratos could tell that the trio that was questioning the figure weren't too happy with him, in fact one called him the 'smartest man alive', either because it happened to be the truth or it was a title that the figure was known by, "And I'm smarter than all of the dead ones, too!"

"Look, you help me and I'll help you. I can talk to Odin, and if you tell me where they are I can..." Baldur said, though it was clear that something had cut him off since he stopped in his tracks, meaning he was either used to talking to this figure or the look on the figure's face had caused him to do this.

"Your father won't let me go, Baldur, and he won't let you kill me. You have nothing to offer me." the figure stated, which just interested the family even more than before, because if Odin deemed it necessary to keep someone contained like this than it meant he must have been important in some manner, meaning he might have information that might prove to be important in their own endeavors, "So take your questions, take your threats, take these two worthless wankers, and piss off."

Baldur huffed before pulling the other two away, where one of the brothers mentioned that they would be back for the odd figure's other eye, though Kratos waited for a few moments, to be sure they were gone, before resuming his climb, which allowed him to reach the flat area that Baldur's group had been on, allowing them to look at the large gateway as Kratos made sure they were alone.

"Ah, and the very topic of that conversation appears before me: a tattooed man, a child, a young warrior lass, and... no, it can't be... an alicorn?!" the figure said, though the last part made it seem like he was shocked by something, even though Flurry knew he had to be talking about her, something that caused Kratos to ask his son to carefully check the area, just to be sure that Baldur's group had departed from the area.

"Is that what I am? An alicorn?" Flurry asked, because this was the first time she and her father had heard anyone say even a small portion of information on what she was and where she might have come from, questions she had long since stopped asking since no one knew anything back in Greece, before she tilted her head, "What's an alicorn? And who are you?"

"You don't know? Alicorns are said to be incredibly powerful creatures, possessing the strengths of three clans and none of their weaknesses," the figure stated, where Kratos noted that the slim figure was currently embedded in the tree, he had a pair of horns that seemed natural, there was a ring of runes around the upper part of his head, and one of his eyes had been plucked out, though the one that remained reminded him of the goshawk that delivered Tyr's invitations a long time ago, "those clans being the horses that are bound to the earth, the graceful pegasi that fly through the air with their wings, and the unicorns who wield potent magic. Alicorns are on a level that is beyond the power or skills of three races, or so I was told when Tyr told me about the species in question... he said that they are tied to aspects of the world, like drawing power from the sun and moon to wielding emotional powers. As for who I am, I am the greatest ambassador to the gods, the Giants, and all of the creatures in the Nine Realms... I know every corner of these lands, every language spoken, every war waged, every deal struck. They call me... Mimir!... the Smartest Man Alive, and I have the answer to your every question."

"Is that so? Tell us: why is the son of Odin and the sons of Thor hunting us?" Kratos inquired, because that was the piece of the puzzle that none of them understood, as while they could guess it was due to being foreign gods he knew that such a thing couldn't be the reason, otherwise Baldur would have said so during their fight.

"...There appear to be some gaps in my knowledge... you'll forgive me, as Odin has kept me imprisoned here for... oh, 109 winters, so I'm out of the loop on certain things." Mimir replied, which Kratos couldn't fault him for, because if he had been trapped here for over a hundred years, forced to look in the same direction without being able to see anything that was going on in the Nine Realms, before he focused on Kratos for a few more seconds, "Look, I'm a clever lad, and I can figure this out... piece the information together, but... I just need time."

"Very well. You may be interested in why we are here, and it is simple: the boy's mother is dead, and we are..." Kratos started to say, though in that moment Atreus decided to return to their side and found that they were talking to the figure that was in the tree, but even as he noticed they were talking his son informed them that he was right, the trio that had been up here were nowhere to be seen, before he realized what they were talking about.

"She wanted us to spread her ashes from the highest peak in the Nine Realms." Atreus said, interrupting his father, which he didn't seem to care about, while Kratos said nothing on the matter, even though he would have to teach his son that doing this, interrupting people while they were talking, was a bad thing to do.

"Oh, then you've come to the wrong place, little brother, for the highest peak in the Nine Realms isn't here in Midgard: it's in Jotunheim, the realm of the Giants." Mimir said, where he found that Atreus let out an angry 'no' while his father looked at the area they were in for a few moments, also not believing that they had spent their time in vain, while noticing that while Pandora did seem a little annoyed by this information, like the others, only Flurry was indifferent, but that had to be due to her interest in his knowledge of alicorns, before his eye lit up and an image appeared in the gate's frame, "Take a look: this is the last known bridge to Jotunheim in all the realms. Do you see that mountain, shaped like a Giant's fingers scraping the sky? That's the highest peak in the Nine Realms."

"Could we use this bridge? I mean, we have a Bifrost." Pandora inquired, because she remembered the information Freya had given them when they used Tyr's Temple earlier and wondered if they could use the Bifrost with this portal frame, which would make things too easy, but she was hoping for a 'yes' from Mimir.

"When the Giants destroyed all of the other bridges to their realm, they locked this one up with a secret rune... and if it still exists, well, only a Giant would know about it." Mimir stated, where Flurry glanced down at the Lake of Nine for a moment as she spotted Jormungandr sleeping again, because he was the last known Giant in all of Midgard and if they could figure out how to get him to speak in a way they understood they could progress again, before she realized something.

"Mimir, you said that you know every language spoken... does that include the language of the Giants?" Flurry asked, because if he told them that he did then that meant they could figure out a way to get him down to Jormungandr and have the two discuss things, something that caused the rest of her family, or at least her father and Pandora, to understand what she was doing.

"Indeed it does. You see, today the winds of fate have kicked up a strange vortex of coincidences... if you can free me, and I know how, I can get you to where you need to go." Mimir replied, confirming that he was the key to getting to Jotunheim, while at the same time Kratos glanced at the gateway once more as he held up the bag that was filled with Faye's ashes, a fact that didn't last too long as Atreus focused on him for a few seconds.

"What must we do?" Kratos inquired, though given Mimir's position he assumed that the figure was either going to ask for Flurry to do something to the tree he was trapped to or have them remove his head, those seemed to be the only options available to them right now.

"First, you need to cut off my head... look, Odin made sure that no weapon, not even Thor's hammer, could free my body from these bonds, but we don't need my body. You only need my head." Mimir said, showing them that he understood the nature of the curse or magic that had been placed on him and that he didn't want to bother the family with wasting their time on trying to free him completely, even though Flurry had to wonder if she could use the Blade of Olympus to free him from the tree, while Atreus paled and walked away as Kratos approached the figure.

Mimir revealed that they needed to find someone who could revive his head, using the old magic, otherwise there wasn't much he could do to help them out in their quest, where Kratos mentioned that they knew Freya and had seen her use her magic, so she might be able to help. The figure didn't seem to approve of the idea, suggesting that they had a history that wasn't very good and that he was likely thinking that she would leave him dead if they brought him to her, but Flurry told him that she was the only person, in this realm, who might be able to do this, causing him to sigh and accept that they would bring him to Freya. At the same time Mimir told them that he knew all four of them were gods, speaking when he was sure that Atreus was far away since Pandora had walked him away from the area to be sure he didn't freak out over watching Mimir get beheaded, which Kratos quietly confirmed before informing the figure that they would tell Atreus once he was sure he was ready for the burden that would place on him. Mimir had a few parting words, about how there was a chance that the boy would resent them if they withheld the truth for too much longer, before offering his neck to Kratos, who swung his axe and severed Mimir's head in an instant, though as his head fell they found that it had some rope as well, which he used to fashion a holder for it.

As he attached it to his belt, near the bag with Faye's ashes, Flurry carefully used a bit of time magic to preserve the head, though at the same time she hoped that they could bring Mimir back, because he might have answers about her race and potentially even the place she had come from, which really made her look forward to what the future held for her and her family.