God of War: Daughter of War

After dealing with the Valkyries that were located in Midgard, and Flurry was sure of that since she didn't recall there being more crystalline locks for them to break open, the family returned to the Door and used the Realm Between Realms to return to Tyr's Temple without wasting time. Once they were back inside the center of the temple Kratos accessed the main console and used his Bifrost to open the way to Muspelheim, as he was serious about heading there to see what sort of challenges the realm might have to offer them as they sought out the Valkyrie that was there. His plan after that was to see to tracking down the rest of the cipher fragments for Niflheim, since there had to be another Valkyrie there, and once they were done with that realm he knew they would return to Alfheim and Helheim for a short time. Flurry had confirmed seeing at least one crystalline lock in both of those realms, meaning they might be able to track down the rest of the Valkyries before heading to their ancient council chamber to see if a clue to the Queen's location could be found there.

A few moments later the teleportation process was complete and they entered the Realm of Fire, where the family started to move out into the area that Brok was no doubt working in, where Kratos stopped for a moment to make sure their gear was in pristine condition before they headed out, causing Pandora to find something of interest.

"Hey Brok, what is this?" Pandora asked, as she was holding a purple stone that seemed to resonate a power that was like the two stones that were currently resting in her gauntlet, though she had discovered it resting on the table with some of the other stuff the dwarf had set out for their arrival in this realm.

"The fuck if I know. If you want it I'll trade it for a few bits of Hacksilver." Brok stated, because he had found the stone right outside the shop, as in outside the temple itself, and had taken it to see if he could use it in some manner, but found that it didn't seem to do anything, hence why he was selling it for cheap.

Pandora, however, traded the Hacksilver to him without wasting time, where he watched as she held the stone up for a few seconds and marveled at it's power, before they found that it could be inserted into the slot above her left pointer finger, giving her three of the six slots filled. With that done, and Brok amazed by the gauntlet itself, the family headed outside and Atreus commented on the heat, plus the falling flakes that he initially thought was snow, before Kratos corrected him by stating that it was ash. Such a thing made sense to Flurry and Pandora, as Muspelheim was the Realm of Fire and it was only natural for it to produce ash, even though Mimir remarked on how the realm had lost some of it's heat over the years and how Niflheim wasn't entirely ice either. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any enemies for them to worry about for the time being, allowing them to track down Brok's other shop in this realm, where he was complaining about the heat, and a far more important item, the triptych about Surtr, the Fire Giant whose destiny was to destroy the Nine Realms come Ragnarok, forever waiting somewhere in this realm for Fimbulwinter to begin so he could prepare himself.

It was a sad fate, knowing that was doomed to be the destroyer of an entire pantheon, not to mention the realms as well, a fact that caused Kratos to sigh as they turned away from it and headed deeper into Muspelheim, all while Atreus told them that he was hearing another voice speak to him, this one different from the ones in Alfheim.

"The voice... it's just around the corner!" Atreus stated, where he rushed into what appeared to be an open area, passing through a gate that looked like it would lock after something happened, while there was another one on the other side of the area that was currently locked, before Atreus stopped as he found that the voice seemed to be coming from a thick stone sword in the center of the area, "Oh... it's a great big sword... and it is asking if we're ready to train."

"Is it now?" Kratos inquired, causing him to walk up to the stone sword and place his hand on it for a couple of seconds, to which he discovered that his son was right, someone was using this as a medium and had set up some trials for those who came to this part of the realm, something that was followed by him tapping the blade as it disappeared into flames and he drew his weapon, "This will be good training for all of us."

Flurry discovered that the magic that was attached to the sword informed all of them of what the trials were, or at least the one they were currently doing, because it told them that they had to slay a predetermined amount of enemies in the time allotted to them. From what she could tell it was clear that whoever was controlling things was only expecting there to be one or two people, as there was a pause as it took her and Pandora into account, before it gave them five minutes to take out sixty enemies, something that caused them to draw their weapons. The downside was that their enemies were the weakest draugr that they had fought before, as in the ones with barely any armor that went down in two hits and the slightly more armored version that came after the first variation. If Flurry was being honest with herself this was actually a little disappointing for a 'trial', in fact she was sure those in Greece could do better if they had access to the assortment of monsters that existed in the Nine Realms, to which she pulled out the Deathrite Daggers as she attacked their foes.

This really wasn't much of a challenge for them as Kratos swung his axe and chopped his targets apart, Pandora struck all of her enemies with her halberd, Atreus distracted some of them with his arrows and used his runic summons to tear a few draugr apart, and Flurry simply parried the attacks coming at her before cutting down her foes.

When they finished off all of the enemies, well within the time limit, one of the rocky walls shifted and revealed a golden chest for them to loot, a reward for completing the trial, which included a new resource in the form of an ember that was still smoldering, likely something they could use when they get back to Brok. With the treasure claimed they found that the Trial Blade, as Flurry was going to call it, returned and her father approached it again, finding that it had another trial for them to face before it raised the gate so they could track down another arena. This one, as it turned out, required them to kill every enemy that happened to be in the waves at roughly the same time, meaning that they had to corner and strike down three draugr for the first wave, while the second was an ogre and a revenant. With such a thing in mind it became far too easy for them to cripple the various waves that came at them, the trick was far too easy to figure out and that was why the family just focused on chipping away at each enemy before slaying them all in the same instant.

In the end a second section of the treasure wall lowered and revealed another golden chest, this one containing more of the embers and more loot for Flurry to collect, though once that was done they found that the gates lowered and opened two paths, one to head back and another to move forward, with them picking the latter.

"So, besides the Fire Giants and Surtr, no one lives in this realm... right?" Atreus asked, as he just wanted to make sure that he had his facts straight, while at the same time he and his family moved up the rocky path while avoiding the hazards, such as rivers of lava and bits of molten material that burst out of the puddles they walked by, though he didn't have to worry about getting hurt as Flurry used her magic to form walls on either side of the path to keep them safe.

"That's correct, and, according to prophecy, we won't be seeing them until Ragnarok." Mimir replied, because like Freya he knew it was only a matter of time until the world ending event happened, Jormungandr was a sign that it had happened in the future and that they were marching towards it, but it was hard to say when Fimbulwinter, the prelude, would start.

Kratos said nothing to that as they eventually reached the next arena and discovered a Trial Blade in the center, with a Door right outside the altered arena, in case they felt like retreating no doubt, where Kratos touched the sword and activated the next trial that was being offered to them. This time it was a test of endurance, as in they had to survive for five minutes and not be knocked down, where the family found that their enemies appeared to be the seidr versions of the Hel-Walkers, not to mention the seidr infected wolves. Thanks to the open lava pit that was nearby it was far too easy for them to drop their enemies into it, or even knock them over the edge of the arena since such a thing took them out in seconds, and the family found that these enemies were also the weaker variants as well, meaning it was easier to cut them down. Since the enemies came out in waves of three, four, or even five foes, either when the previous wave had been knocked out or an amount of time had passed, though even when they allowed their foes to gather there wasn't much for them to worry about.

The reward for passing the trial was, of course, more Smoldering Embers, a sack of Hacksilver, and more treasure that was added to the stuff in Flurry's bag, that she would sort later on, where they returned to the Trial Blade before starting up the next trial that was being offered to them. That happened to be facing enemies that actually regenerated their health while they were fighting, so to take their enemies out the family had to coordinate their attacks and take out the Hel-Walkers that were coming at them, as in the fire, frost, and even poison variants. In addition to that there were more seidr wolves and a few of the hulking draugr that were stonger than the other types they had fought during the trials, though at the same time Flurry realized that whoever was behind these trials clearly wasn't expecting them to be this good at combat, or have a bag that allowed them to utilize the power of the enchantments and armor they had collected so far. This time around Flurry just stuck to using her new daggers, she didn't feel like switching to something else for the time being, and she found that they were able to bring down the regenerating enemies in no time at all, which had to make the trial creator nervous.

Once more the reward was the same as the last three trials, more of the embers with the treasure and Hacksilver, before the family continued along the path that had been opened for them, allowing them to traverse another rocky path and jump over rivers of lava, before having to climb up a pair of rock walls and pass by a lava waterfall, the latter Atreus wasn't even phased by as they reached another arena area to fight in.

"You know, I have to wonder how many trials there are." Atreus commented, because the path they had been following seemed to be climbing a mountain, similar to the one in Midgard despite being smaller, though while his father walked up to the blade, to start the next trial, before the boy frowned for a moment, "Oh, it's six... the voice says there are six trials in total."

Kratos simply nodded his head as he activated the trial, where they found that this time around they had to fight a harder foe, an 'elite' according to the voice, and that whatever it happened to be had a barrier that protected them from harm, a barrier they could bring down by slaying the lesser enemies that joined the fight. It was a simple tactic for the family to deal with, as Flurry drew the attention of whatever elite enemy happened to be coming at them, which appeared to be a powerful dark elf, so while she made it focus on her the rest of the family dealt with the lesser dark elves that were part of this battle. When each wave of enemies were taken care of she lashed out at the figure that was in front of her and dealt a good wound to it, before it was able to regain it's ability to be immune to damage, causing them to repeat what they had done to reach that point with the next wave of enemies. While they did that Flurry realized that the first half of a trial was more like a warmup of sorts, to prepare challengers for whatever the second half happened to be, which was why they were clearing through the first halves so easily, before she took down the dark elf as his barrier fell once more.

In addition to the embers, Hacksilver, and treasure that was the reward the family discovered that there was also a crest that was made of flames among the items as well, another item to use with Brok no doubt, before they returned to the Trial Blade and Kratos activated it once more.

This time they discovered that the second half of this trial was to slay enemies inside golden rings that appeared all over the arena floor, to which Kratos and Atreus stood in one while Flurry and Pandora took the other two, basically forcing the enemies to come to them this time around. There were draugr and dark elves as their enemies this time around, though as they did so Atreus did something that actually allowed things to progress quicker, he taunted the enemies and pulled all of them into one of the rings that were around the arena. It was a good tactic, especially since he knew when to get out and when to fight, thus allowing everyone else to focus on cutting down the enemies that were around them, and Flurry found that there weren't any other enemies for them to worry about. With that in mind she and her family dealt with the enemies, cleared the trial in what had to be record time, claimed the reward without wasting time, which was the same as the previous golden chest they had looted, before continuing along the main path once more.

Tracking down the next Trial Blade was easy, they just had to cross a single lava river and climb some stone steps to reach their destination, only for Kratos to find that the opening portion of this trial was to defeat a hundred enemies, which just told him that the voice was underestimating their abilities. Such a thing was confirmed somewhat when they found that the first few waves were just more draugr, this time appearing to be all of the variants they had fought so far, and none of them were much of a match for the family, at least not until a pair of Travelers joined the battle. Atreus found that Flurry was able to block the incoming attacks from her enemies with her daggers, even the greatswords from the Travelers, a fact that caused him to pause for a moment, even though she didn't as she tore down the foe that was in front of her and picked up the rewards as their father took out the second. In addition to those enemies Atreus found Hel-Walkers, as in all types, and even more dark elves joining the battle, plus some wolves and tatzelwurms, showing him that this was more of a display of their skills, something they were able to do quite well.

In the end Kratos, Flurry, Pandora, and Atreus were able to bring down the hundred enemies that were sent at them and claimed the reward, which was just the same as the last couple of golden chests they had unlocked, though as Flurry put all of it in her bag Atreus stretched for a moment.

"Ha... this is definitely getting easier with every victory... right?" Atreus asked, where the family glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it sounded like his arrogance or overconfidence was starting to come back, before he noticed the three of them looking at him and sighed, like he was refocusing his mind, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that... it's because of all of our training that we were able to win."

Kratos nodded and found that the second half of the trial was to keep Atreus safe, as this involved enemies that would try to grab him, hold him hostage and even harm him, though upon hearing that his son decided to use that against the foes that would be coming at them. By that he meant dodging their hands and stabbing at their arms or necks, which was easy to do when they discovered that their enemies were just draugr, the easier foes to deal with, and when one actually laid hands on him Atreus used his tail to stun the undead warrior so Kratos could kill it. Such a thing caused him to smile, as if he was thinking that some of his changes were actually a good thing, though for the time being it looked like he was just planning on using his tail to trip up some of their enemies before taking them out, to make things somewhat easier for the rest of his family. The only enemy he had trouble with was the ogre, which was fine since that meant he could leave things to his father and his sisters, who cut their way through it and succeeded in completing the trial that was being thrown at them, earning them another golden chest full of loot to obtain.

With that done they continued down the next portion of the path, which confirmed that the mountain was larger than what they were originally expecting, and Kratos only came to a stop when he dropped down into the arena for the next Trial Blade, which he activated without delay.

Flurry found that this one started with slaying enemies, Hel-Walkers, to extend the amount of time they had, meaning that if the timer, represented by an hourglass that rested in the center of the gate leading to the sixth and final Trial Blade, had no more sand in the upper portion they would lose. With that in mind every foe slain added a portion of sand that had to represent the difficulty of the enemies in question, the lower ranking foes gave small bits of sand, seconds no doubt, while those that took longer to defeat rewarded them with a greater amount of sand, like ten or more seconds as opposed to just one or two. This one even had some wulver for them to fight, a foe they hadn't encountered during the trials, not that it mattered since the family were able to bring the werewolves down in no time at all, eventually ending with Kratos and his children finishing the trial in what had to be record time. After that Kratos found the golden chest and looked it, where they found that it was an identical reward to what they had looted from all of the other rewards that had been given to them, causing them to return to the sword so Kratos could start the next trial.

The second part was taking out twenty enemies while avoiding damage, which was rather easy for the family to do thanks to the fact that Atreus ducked under the incoming attacks and slashed at the ankles of their enemies, but he found that if he left everything to his family they cleared the area in due time, earning them even more treasure as they started up the next part of the path.

"I don't mean to alarm you guys, but there's a powerful creature ahead of us." Atreus remarked, which confirmed what they had learned back in Midgard, that a Valkyrie had to be in this realm, and, sure enough, they found an arena right at the peak of the mountain.

In addition to that there was a Valkyrie floating above the ground, though when Kratos engaged her Mimir was able to see the vulture mask and identified her as Gondul, who seemed to have all of the basic attacks that all of the other Valkyries had used against them, though hers were stronger and swifter than what her sisters used. Not only did she have those attacks, but she also had the power to use fire, as she called down meteors on them and used fireballs every while moving around the arena she was in, which Flurry countered with her own magic. Flurry also switched to Earthshaker and swung it at Gondul, who lashed out with her scythe and the air shuddered as the two weapons came into contact, which was far more interesting than Flurry was expecting if she was being honest, before she found that Gondul even had a spear, like what the dark elves had, that she did try to stab into the ground occasionally. The other thing she did differently was that she went after Atreus a little as well, grabbing him and hurling him into one of the walls that was around them, though her doing that only seemed to enrage Atreus as his back, plus his clothing, started to shift.

Sure enough Flurry watched as her brother's clothing glowed, his inner magic at work, as slots appeared in the material as a pair of leathery wings grew out of them, dragon wings that matched the coloration of his other dragon parts, though as he spread them, in order to take flight, Atreus tripped and planted his face on the ground, allowing his father to use the distraction to take down the Valkyrie.

Freedom... Gondul said, her spirit forming in front of them after the deed was done, where Flurry noted that she was slightly disappointed in what had happened, as if she expected herself to be more focused than that and was blaming her defeat on being distracted, on her corrupted form, but didn't seem eager to fight her fate, rather seeking happiness in the fact that she had been freed, You, great warriors, have destroyed my physical form... I have only gratitude to offer you for doing such a thing. Valhalla awaits... farewell.

As Gondul disappeared Flurry collected another helm for whatever was waiting for them in the council chamber, plus two more pieces of Asgardian Steel, a gem shaped like a serpent's eye and held an enchantment inside it, a perfect version of the steel the other Valkyries had given them, a powerful flame that seemed to be an upgrade item, and a pair of gauntlets that radiated power, like the other armors they had acquired so far.

"Guys, the voice says that we don't have to worry about the final Trial Blade... said that anyone who can bring down one of the Valkyries is worthy in their eyes." Atreus commented, beckoning to the two golden chests that had appeared out of slots on the side of the arena that Gondul had started on, containers that Kratos looted so the familiar resources and loot could be added to Flurry's bag, all while he dusted himself off and frowned as he touched one of his wings, "I can't believe I did that... just ruined my progress in an instant."

"Yes, you did... but that is part of growing up: making mistakes and learning from them." Kratos stated, though as he said that he spotted Sindri off to the side, who handed Flurry what looked like another cipher, the pieces for Niflheim, which told him that the dwarf was hoping to assist them in their hunt for the remaining Valkyries, but he made sure to place his hand on his son's shoulder, "Come, we have more work to do, and we will help you adjust to your changes until you are able to make them disappear... maybe Flurry will teach you how to fly, if they stay for too long."

Flurry held back a groan as she heard that, as she wasn't sure she wanted to teach her brother how to fly, not after how he had acted before they reached the peak that Mimir had been trapped on, and decided that they would cross that bridge in the future, so for now she focused on traveling to Niflheim and facing whatever trials might be waiting for them in the near future.