God of War: Daughter of War

After using the boat for a few more moments Kratos brought them over to the dock he had used when Atreus had fallen to his incredible rage and brought the boat to a stop, allowing him, Pandora, and his son to get off the vessel as Flurry landed beside them, allowing the family to head into the vault at long last.

"Now, let us solve this riddle so we can seek the Black Rune." Kratos stated, because while he would be keeping an eye on his son, as his reaction to being a god was less than desirable, they had a quest to complete and he wanted to get it done as quick as possible, especially since he might have to lecture his son about his new godhood.

Atreus told them that the riddle was 'Death itself I swallow, to bring forth life tomorrow', causing Flurry and Pandora to tell him that it was 'Earth', which just so happened to be on the runes on one of the walls, which seemed strange for such an important vault to have the key so close to the lock. Since it was the answer they found that tracing it into the sandbowl allowed the platform they were on to lower into the ground while the doors leading to this point were sealed, likely to prevent anyone else from entering the vault, meaning it was time to see what Tyr's defenses were like. Kratos decided to use the ride down into the depths to tell Atreus that a god must never use their power for self-indulgence, because that usually ended in disaster for both gods and mortals alike, something he and his daughters knew from their time in Greece. Mimir agreed and added the fact that the wisest path was to use his newfound godhood in the service of others, much like Tyr did before his demise, as he always fought for peace, for the realms to be exact, instead of fighting for himself.

They even mentioned how Tyr liked to travel, visiting not only the lands that Kratos and his daughters came from, but also many more that they didn't even know the existence of, which didn't seem to interest Atreus as much as it should have, a fact that caused Kratos to worry about his son.

"Mimir, do you know where in the vault the Black Rune is being kept?" Kratos asked, because as the lift came to a stop he had to ask the question to see if they would be down here for a short period of time or if they would be using far too much time to retrieve the item in question.

"Sadly, no. Remember, I've never been down here... and Tyr didn't tell Jormungandr anything about the Black Rune after it was entrusted to him." Mimir replied, allowing Kratos to open the door that was in front of them and revealed a path that lead to a wide open chamber, one that had a stone of some kind floating in some magic, though as they walked forward the group found that it was raised into the air by a device that was above it and three rings, each larger than the last, rose out of the central hole to surround the stone.

"You know, I'm not even surprised." Flurry remarked, because this had to be the Black Rune, there was no reason for it to be anything else given the amount of security that was around it, before she noticed something that interested her greatly, as there was a wind trap on each ring, and the closest was powered by the Winds of Hel, "Well, I guess going into Helheim to get your cure was far more important than we could have ever realized... we cured you of your fever, brother, and got the ability we needed to tackle Tyr's defenses."

"You guys went into Helheim? You have to fill me in later." Atreus said, his tone showing that he was annoyed with them for not saying anything sooner, while at the same time being interested in what they had done while they were in the realm he was unlikely to visit, since they had gotten everything they needed in a single visit.

As they looked around the area Flurry found a short passage leading to a smaller chamber that held a larger wind trap in the center of it, which had to be the way forward, though that didn't stop her, her father, and Pandora from checking out the rest of the first chamber in case there was anything useful they could take. She discovered piles of treasure, as in gold and silver coins, statues from other lands, items from the realms Tyr had visited, and who knew what else, to which she decided to take action by using her magic to store every pit of treasure inside another portion of her bag, to be sorted in the future. Her reasoning was now that the way into the vault was open, and Modi knew the lock was gone, it was only a matter of time until someone came looking for them and Tyr's secrets, so by storing all of this away she was making sure that anything Tyr had figured out would be hidden from those that might seek to misuse his knowledge. She even cleared out the second floor as well, since there was so much treasure to be claimed, before rejoining her family so they could start to move forward, to which her father used his blade to grab the Winds on the outer ring and then sprinted into the smaller room to put it inside the larger wind trap.

Such a thing caused the device to sink into the ground before being replaced by a wheel in the floor, but before they used it Atreus found a table that had a short knife that Mimir identified as a sgian-dubh, which was from his homeland, and he even encouraged Atreus to take it, even if it was to let the head have a piece of his home nearby.

Instead of taking it with him Atreus allowed Flurry to clean up the chamber, like she had done previously, though it was hard to see if he was fine with this or if he was annoyed by what was going on, with her taking everything to be sure they didn't leave anything for Odin or his forces to find and use against the realms. Once she cleaned up the area, and was sure nothing was left for them to worry about, Kratos pulled the wheel back a bit and opened a door that lead into a hallway of spinning blade traps that moved back and forth, all while discovering a smaller side passage for Atreus to use. With that in mind Kratos made sure that his son went through the safer passage, while he, Flurry, and Pandora focused on moving down the main path, dodging the blades as Flurry tucked her wings in fully to avoid getting them sliced up. In addition to that he had to freeze a few of the traps so they could be lined up and the trio could safely pass by the traps, which proved that Tyr might be keeping something more than the Black Rune down here, meaning Flurry had to make sure to take the other items as well, if there were more dangerous stuff in this large vault.

At the end of the hallway they discovered another chamber that had a large wind trap in the center, surrounded by more of Tyr's treasure, causing Atreus to look around and see what there was to see before Flurry snatched everything that was around them, where Kratos allowed him a chance to relax a little. Kratos actually found two things that interested him in this portion of the vault, the first being a wine vase that was well preserved and, upon smelling it, he identified it as one he knew very well, Lemnian Wine from the island of Lemnos, close to the place of his birth, something he instantly had Flurry take and preserve, so he could find a proper time to share it with them. The other item, however, was a negative one, as it was a slightly larger than the wine container and featured a scene he and his daughters knew well enough, him standing on a pile of slain enemies, wielding the Blades of Chaos, with a halberd wielding girl by his side and the specter of death in the air near them as Olympus was destroyed in a clash with a massive black serpent. He knew what it was, it was the final battle against Korthek, the Prime Primordial Evil as he had called himself, and yet he also understood that someone like Atreus would mistake this as him and Pandora fighting the figure and destroying everything around them, while also being totally confused as to where Flurry was.

With that in mind he made sure his daughter stashed that away in her bag as well, least Atreus get any ideas from looking at it, before discovering that his son was distracted by something else, a pair of elegant daggers with a golden blade that had odd symbols on part of the blade, and a golden wing reaching out from the handle, while at the bottom of the handle was a dog head of an unknown breed, but the pair were on the ground and Atreus was failing to move them.

"Man, what are these made of? I can't move them." Atreus commented, as they seemed important in some manner, which was why they were down in Tyr's vault, though since he was unable to remove them he figured that he could leave them for someone else to deal with.

Flurry stepped forward as her brother stopped trying to move them and reached down for a second, where Kratos found that she grasped the weapons and was able to lift them with ease, as if they were incredibly light, though he did see that they were as long as the Persian dagger that the prince had given her. Flurry glanced at the daggers for a moment with a look of clarity on her face, allowing Kratos and Pandora to realize that they must be connected to Death, and not any form of it that they were familiar with, which was why she, as a Goddess of Death, could lift and use them while Atreus had no chance. As Flurry placed them with the other special weapons in her bag, however, she noticed the angry look on Atreus' face as he realized that she was able to lift the daggers and he was unable to do anything with them, before he turned and focused on leaving the area so they could claim the Black Rune. She wasn't sure what was going on with her brother, he was acting weirder than before, and she wasn't sure if it was due to him realizing he was actually a god or if he had been cursed by the mirror and it was actually starting to show itself to them, but for the time being she collected the rest of the treasure before they continued on their way.

As Kratos raised a gate, allowing them to return to the main chamber with the Black Rune, a few rifts opened, no doubt some of Tyr's defensive measures in case someone other than him came down here, which happened to allow a couple of draugr and nightmares to attack the family.

Such a thing didn't do much to stop them, which Atreus attributed to the fact that they were gods and not the fact that all of them had trained quite a lot before reaching this point, causing Kratos to realize that he would have to give his son a talking to once they had the Black Rune in their possession. After that they found out something interesting, the outer ring had frozen in place, as it was no longer moving, like the Winds had been powering it, where Kratos latched onto the wind trap of the middle one and claimed the Winds without delay. With that in hand he raced back into the chamber that they had found the vases and other treasure in so he could insert the Winds into the larger trap, something that caused it to be replaced by another wheel that would, in turn, open the way into another trap filled hallway. Flurry found that this one seemed to be moving metallic blocks that had spikes on the bottom of them, which slammed into the floor of the hallway, the spikes going into slots that had been designed for them in mind, but fortunately there were side areas for them to stay in so they weren't smashed into paste.

Fortunately this hallway, like the one before it, had a passage for Atreus to move through and he was able to reach the end of it when the rest of his family did the same thing, allowing them to find that one of the walls of the chamber had a few carvings of Skoll and Hati, the wolves who chased the sun and moon, which seemed to be a puzzle of sorts.

Since it didn't seem to do anything right now Kratos opened another gate that went back into the center of the vault and, much to their surprise, no new rifts opened, causing them to look for a way to get the final Winds of Hel so Kratos could open the way to the Black Rune. While they did so Atreus commented on the fact that he wanted the truth from his family now, as in he didn't want them to tell him anymore lies, but his tone actually made it seem like he was demanding, like he was demanding the truth from his father and sisters, even if it hurt him. Kratos told him that it depended on the topic, as there were still things he wasn't even remotely ready to hear, something that just annoyed his son, since it wasn't what he wanted to hear, but for the time being there was nothing he could do as they continued to explore the area. After that he latched onto the last Winds of Hel, pulled them out of the trap they were in, and made his way back into the chamber the third larger wind trap was resting in, making way for another wheel to replace the trap, exactly as they expected after what they found in the previous small chambers.

This time, however, when Kratos moved the wheel he also moved the trio of rings down to where it had started, meaning the Black Rune was within reach, though once the device was locked up a large root, one of Yggdrasil's, wrapped around him and locked him into place against the wheel.

"What the... What's going on?" Atreus asked, though as he made the inquiry Flurry found that the root also rubbed off the rune on their father's neck, which might be a bad thing since it was keeping Baldur from finding them, before discovering that the floor around him sunk a little and revealed a pool of water, plus the mural of the wolves became active with three switches for them to pull.

Flurry knew this was a trap and told her brother that fact, where she quickly found that they had to move the sun, moon, and Midgard icons so that the wolves had the orbs that represented what they hunted, where Atreus told his sisters that Hati had to be the silver wolf and Skoll the golden. With that in mind the siblings carefully moved the switches so that the icons were arranged correctly, moving the moon to the left side of the mural, placing the sun on the right side, and then raising one of them to trap the Midgard icon between them. Atreus was both amazed that Flurry had figured it out so fast and was annoyed that she had been the one to solve it, even though he did offer helpful information to make sure they saved their father quickly, causing her to wonder if he just wanted all of the credit. As the floor returned to normal, and Kratos thanked all of them for assisting in his rescue, but before they could free him some gears emerged from the floor and started pushing the platform up to the upper level, while a secondary platform with spikes on the bottom came down towards them, intending on killing Kratos with it's sharp spikes.

In that moment Flurry called upon her magic and found that it slipped right off the gears, meaning Tyr had made sure that his trap was magic proof, though as she drew her sickles, since all things bowed to death, Atreus grabbed his knife and shoved it into the gear, breaking the chain and undoing the trap in a matter of seconds.

"That was cunning, Atreus... even though it cost you Faye's dagger." Kratos remarked, where his son knew that he was very pleased with all of them, especially him for his quick thinking, even though it cost him something precious, as they knew he adored having something to remember his mother by.

"Yeah, but... at least I saved you." Atreus replied, showing them that the exchange was worth it in his eyes, though as the family turned towards the locked opening that was on this level, so they could break through it and get the Black Rune at long last, Flurry found that he glanced back at her with a look that suggested that he thought of himself as superior to her for saving their father faster than her magical attempt.

Flurry really didn't care to boast or fight with her brother for the credit of saving their father, though this did worry her a lot more than what she had noticed before, as she could see that the single scale was starting to spread, because now it was a patch of scales that were starting to cover his right hand. Such a thing really made her wonder if he might have been cursed by the mirror Fafnir had been so interested in, and if there was a way to break it without doing harm to his body, but for the time being her father smashed his way through the lock and opened the way back to the main chamber. With that done they found that the chain holding the Black Rune's container dropped quite a ways, which seemed to be very intentional based on how everything was designed, and as they made their way down to the lower level once more they found that the rings had returned to the pit and the floor extended to cover the hole. Such a thing allowed them to walk up to where their target was resting, where all four of them found that a mask was resting over it, trapping the Black Rune in the magic that the wooden masks powered, but this wasn't going to stop them in the slightest.

That was due to the fact that Kratos reached into his own pouch and produced a special knife that he had made, which he had crafted when Atreus was born, something Flurry and Pandora knew since they had witnessed it after their brother had been born, a knife that he presented handle first to his son.

"Atreus, one the day of your birth I made two knives, by mixing metals from this land and my homeland." Kratos stated, as he had watched Pandora work enough to know how to mix metals together, thus allowing him to create the items, while his was resting inside his pouch as well, "One was for myself, while the other was meant for you... for when you were ready. I believe that, on this day, you are ready to receive it. Remember, we are gods, not men, and that means the responsibility we have is far greater than you might know, but we will teach you to the best of our abilities."

There was also the fact that Kratos that the power of any weapon came from the heart, but it was only better when it was tempered by the wisdom of one's mind, something that caused Atreus to think about it for a few moments before nodding his head, where Kratos let his son take his new knife and focused on their quest. With the new weapon in hand Atreus just stabbed the mask like he had done in the past and destroyed the magic like it was nothing, freeing the Black Rune as Kratos collected it, only to find that it seemed to be blank, before realizing that it might be in a language of sorts that he didn't know or understand and handed it to Atreus. His guess was proven right as a golden rune appeared on both the stone and on his son's arms, like the Black Rune was transferring it's knowledge to Atreus, and once it was done the stone crumbled to dust, all while two tall trolls, one of frost and one of fire, woke from their slumber as the last line of defense for the Black Rune, a delayed reaction of sorts. Kratos didn't even need to be told what to do in this situation, as the Hel-Walkers had taught him to be mindful of how an enemy in the Nine Realms looked, as this meant that the frost troll would resist the power of the Leviathan Axe and the fire troll would resist the Blades of Chaos.

With that in mind Kratos and Atreus focused on the fire troll as Flurry and Pandora dealt with the frost troll, finding that they had the exact same attacks as all of the other trolls they had faced, which was actually a disappointment in their eyes, as it took the family no time to tear down both foes and allow Flurry to collect the rest of the treasure.

"Whew, they were big... but no match for us gods." Atreus remarked, something that caused Kratos and his daughters to glance at each other for a few seconds, because this wasn't a good sign in their eyes, meaning they would have to give him a lecture at some point since this was becoming unacceptable, while Flurry collected another Chaos Flame and a red gem for their father, "You know Flurry, if I didn't know any better I would almost say that you were a dragon at heart... I mean, you took all of Tyr's treasure in no time at all, like a dragon would."

"Really? You're calling me greedy? Please, I only took everything in case there was something dangerous hidden in any of the piles... anything Odin could use against the Nine Realms." Flurry stated, which her father and sister agreed with, even Mimir understood that there could be more items better left in her bag than to let them fall into Odin's hands, before she started to move, as it was time for them to return to the mountain.

Kratos said nothing and he and Pandora followed Flurry and Atreus back to the sandbowl, where he had Atreus trace the runes in the sand once more to make the lift return to the surface, though this time around four curved seats emerged from the floor, since this seemed to be a long ride. With that in mind he directed his son to sit as he had Flurry hand over the wine vase, where he told Atreus exactly what it was and where it had come from, allowing him to know why this was an important thing in his eyes, and he even offered his son a little taste of it. Atreus was surprised by the gesture, since he usually wasn't allowed to do stuff like this, and while he did gag a little, since he wasn't used to the smell of wine or even the taste, he did swallow a bit of it, though it was hard to see if he liked it or not. After that Kratos handed it to Flurry and Pandora, to have a family bonding exercise or something, and they did so without delay, before returning it to him so he could down the rest of it, which he did in seconds, and while he returned the vase to Flurry he also said 'aaah' to show that he enjoyed it.

Despite Atreus' rude remarks earlier Flurry found that this was a nice ride to the surface, which seemed to be near where the horn to call Jormungandr rested, which allowed them to rest a little more before they moved onto the final segment of their quest, the special gate and, finally, Jotunheim.

"Father, I have to ask... why did you, Flurry, and Pandora leave your home and come here?" Atreus asked, showing that he was interested in the bits of information they had told him when Kratos revealed that they were gods to him, while at the same time the end of the passage opened, revealing a path to the surface of the bridge, "Does it have something to do with the other gods that live there? It's just... sometimes it seems like you hate being a god, despite the fact that Tyr proves that there are, in fact, good gods out there. Like you! You guys only killed those that were deserving, right?"

"Atreus... I do not hate the gods. The tale... is complicated, and not easily told." Kratos stated, which made him wonder why people thought that he hated godly individuals, especially since he never said anything like that in front of his son, but he also knew that the tale of why they had come here wasn't something Atreus was ready for, not since it required the knowledge of what came before their trek.

"There's also the matter of deciding who is worthy of dying and who is deserving of staying alive... who is worthy enough to judge such a thing?" Mimir added, because right now he shared the family's opinion's on Atreus, the thought of being a god, and the power he might potentially have, was going to his head and if they weren't careful a real monster might be born before their eyes.

"Quiet, Head. We are worthy of judging our enemies! No one else is worthy!" Atreus remarked, his tone deepening a little in the process, like he was trying to copy how Kratos spoke, while surprising his family for a moment, as this was a rather sudden change to his personality, "Right, father?"

"No. We may be gods, but only Death is worthy enough to judge everyone." Kratos replied, as he really didn't like the fact that the power was literally going to his son's head right now, because Atreus seemed to believe that a god stood above everyone else, while he remembered how Flurry and Pandora were far more reserved after becoming goddesses, while at the same time reaching for Mimir's head, "Nor will you disrespect Mimir like this."

"Brother, while I appreciate the concern, now isn't the time to linger." Mimir stated, because it was touching that the Ghost of Sparta would treat him like he was a valuable member of the team, in fact it was refreshing if he was being honest, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until Modi told someone about what they had done and that information made it's way to Baldur, meaning they had to get underway, "We can address my nickname later."

"See? Even the Head agrees with me... oh yeah, I'm going to enjoy being a god." Atreus said, though as he started to move down the bridge, to resume their quest, Flurry noticed that his right hand had become scaly and his fingers were pointed, like claws designed to fit a human form, something he didn't seem to mind at all.

Flurry really didn't like what was happening and hoped they could talk some sense into her brother while they traveled up the mountain, to stop whatever was going on with him right now, otherwise she was positive that their quest was going to end in disaster, causing her to pray that her brother didn't do anything stupid for the rest of the journey as they faced whatever dangers the mountain had to offer them this time around.