Chapter 3: Welcome to Athens!
AN
Χαιρετε, ω φιλοι!
…wait, wrong language…
Anyway, there will be some battle scenes this time!
Read and review, please. Helpful criticism is always appreciated :)
Oh, and if you find any misspellings or grammar errors, tell me and I'll try to fix them! (English isn't my first language…)
Here is chapter 3! Enjoy!
/AN
Athens lay in ruins as the ship entered the harbor. Distant fire lightened the dark sky and the only noises to be heard were the waves slapping against the stone docks. Ray shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as the ship finally came to a stop. Jana was standing next to him and eyed the empty docks suspiciously. Her fists were clenched and as far as he could tell she was concentrating on the situation. There were no enemies in sight jet but Ray knew it wouldn't stay that way. He was afraid of the hours to come and knew Jana was too, even if she hid it well.
Jana was mentally going through everything she had learned at Ju-Jutsu training and hoped it would help her to survive the game somehow.
Kratos came back from the helm and set up a bridge connecting ship and docks. He left the ship followed by the two teenagers. Ray had both his spear and shield ready as he crossed the bridge and stepped on solid ground. Jana was close behind him. "Oh, shit…" he muttered and looked around. Suddenly three black holes opened up on the floor in front of Kratos.
The Spartan drew his blades immediately and went into a fighting stance. Jana cursed under her breath and raised her shield while tightening her grip onto the spear. Ray did the same as red smoke began to emerge from the holes and Undead Soldiers started to climb out. Then he heard a sound from behind him and both kids spun around. Another Undead had spawned behind them and was preparing to attack. Dark grey skin, thick armor and a long, curved sword. The creature was at least one head higher than Ray was.
The monster groaned and rushed forward towards Jana. The girl ducked and the enemy's sword barley missed her head. Ray tried to pierce the creature with his spear but its armor stopped the attack. The Undead turned towards him and Ray managed to block the next two strikes with his shield before landing a hit with the metal end of the spear against the Undead's head. It stumbled backward and Jana used her shield to push it off the dock into the dark water below.
Black smoke ascending from the water told Ray the Undead was… well… dead. They had killed it. A disturbing thought even though it was just a mindless zombie from a game… or wasn't it? Ray wasn't sure.
He turned around and saw Kratos finishing off the last remaining enemy by slicing it in half with his blades. Blood poured out and both halves turned into black smoke as soon as they hit the ground. The Spartan's body and the floor around him were already covered with blood. Ray cringed at the sight.
Kratos continued walking as soon as he had made sure all enemies were dead. He didn't care for Ray and Jana to catch up with him. The Spartan doubted the kids would stand a chance against stronger foes, whatever Athena had said about their abilities.
Ray and Jana hurried through the alley of damaged pillars, avoiding the pools of blood Kratos had left behind and followed him. Turning left towards a stone bridge they saw three more Undead charging at them. Kratos stopped half way across the bridge and took his bloody blades out once more. Ray had stopped next to the Spartan and Jana stayed back a bit.
Kratos grabbed Ray's spear and threw it. The weapon went right through the head of first Undead who turned into black smoke almost instantly. Ray drew his sword. Jana ducked behind her shield, spear lowered. The other two undead reached them, one of them colliding with Jana, its momentum making her stumble backward a step. She regained her balance, rammed it with her shield on her own and knocked it back some steps. One of Kratos' blades took care of the rest by cutting the creature's head right off. Blood splattered and the body vanished into a cloud of smoke. The other Undead was dead already, stabbed through its chest as it approached the pale Spartan.
Ray let escape a breath he didn't knew he had been holding. "Jeez… Cool move." He shot his friend a small smile even though he didn't felt like smiling at all. The last couple minutes had been much too bloody and brutal for his taste. He was still hoping to wake up in his bed back home, finding the events had been nothing more but a wired dream. Jana gave him a short smile.
They walked off the bridge and followed the street past more destroyed pillars. Ray stopped for a moment to pick up his spear. Jana and Kratos had already rounded a corner and the boy hurried up to keep up with them. He followed Jana over a wooden bridge leading to an ancient elevator. A part of the way had been destroyed. In-game it had never been a problem to jump over the gap but in reality? Kratos crossed it and Jana followed after a moment's hesitation.
She made the jump much to her own surprise without problems. Ray must have been right about their enhanced power.
After Ray saw how easy Jana had crossed the gap he followed her and stepped onto the platform they were going to use as elevator. Kratos pulled the lever in the middle and the platform began to ascend through a wooden scaffold. Ray watched as Jana looked around curiously. She was interested in every kind of technology and was probably figuring out how the elevator worked. Ray saw Kratos' ship and noticed two shapes on deck. He guessed it were the women they had already encountered. What really scared him was the thought of the Minotaurs waiting for them on the wooden walkways after leaving the elevator.
The platform came to a stop. Kratos stepped on the walkway and Ray whispered to Jana "Be careful, Minotaurs are going to attack us soon." Jana nodded slightly to show she had understood the warning. The kids followed Kratos. As they rounded the next corner, they saw two Athenian warriors running towards them.
"Run! Run! The beasts have taken Athens!" One of them shouted. Kratos stopped and took out the blades of chaos. The men had nearly reached him as two huge Minotaurs carrying axes came into sight. The monsters came round the corner, slowed down and one of them threw its axe at the fleeing soldiers. The first one dodged it but the second one wasn't that lucky. Ray cringed as the man's head was cut off. Blood splattered in every direction. Kratos stepped to the side and the axe flew past him. Jana cursed as the monsters started running again. "We need to help that guy!"
But it was too late. The man screamed and ran as fast as he could but the Minotaurs had caught up with him within seconds. One of them jumped and slammed its axe into the man, turning him into a mass of blood and gore. Jana looked away and Ray noticed a hint of green in the girl's features. The first monster roared at them and swung its axe through the air. Ray took a step back. He felt like this was too much for him to handle.
Kratos stormed forward swinging the Blades of Chaos against the enemies. The kids exchanged glances unsure what to do now. The Spartan was currently dealing with one monster as the second one turned its horned head and noticed the two friends. It roared and charged towards them. "Oh, SHIT!" Ray shouted as both of them ducked quickly behind their shields, spears pointed at the charging beast.
It collided with them, impaling itself on the spears and pushed the kids over. Ray, Jana and the Minotaur hit the floor with a loud crash.
Kratos heard Ray scream something followed by a crash and finished the Minotaur off by stabbing his blades into the creature's throat. As he turned around he saw the other Minotaur who had obviously knocked the kids to the ground turn into black smoke. Jana sat up, wiped some blood from her face and looked at her hand. "Jeez, this is… disgusting…" Both kids climbed to their feet and Ray stuttered "We- we killed it. We just killed a freaking Minotaur…" He sounded shocked and terrified by the event. To Kratos it was obvious that these two never fought in a battle before. But he was surprised they had survived the Minotaur's attack.
"Look out!" Jana yelled as she noticed another Minotaur approach. Kratos turned around again and his blades at the beast giving it some bad looking cuts. Ray glanced unsteadily at Jana, who seemed to be unsure about what to do next, too. "Maybe we should go and help him." She suggested and added "Even though I don't like the thought of killing things at all. It's completely against my principles…" Ray gulped. "Are you serious? These guys will kill us within seconds! It might be better to get away from here."
"The last two guys were killed by us… Doesn't mean it stays like that, but still… And I doubt trying to get away is going to help us at all. Annoying Athena wouldn't be that clever at the moment - Assuming this is real and all." Jana said quietly. The boy nodded. His friend had a point there, that much was for sure. Athena brought them here and she probably had the power to bring them back home. And as far as he knew the games, she would use that power to keep both of them in line.
"Oh, fuck." Ray tightened his grip at the spear and exchanged a glance with Jana. She took a deep breath and ran towards the Minotaur, Ray close behind her. He tried to stab the Minotaur at unarmored points but was not very successful for two reasons: first because he had never handled a spear before and second because the Minotaur went down moments later thanks to the massive damage Kratos was dealing with his blades.
They continued on the walkway until another elevator came into sight. Ray remembered a chest, which had been in the area in-game, but couldn't make out anything comparable. Everyone stepped onto the platform and Kratos pulled the lever once more.
Ray remembered the game not that well, but he still knew which 'room' was up next. And he was far from being happy at the thought. The platform came to a stop and the tree walked off. They were on more or less free space, bounded by massive temple-like looking buildings at the left and opposite side and a chasm on the right side and behind them. Both buildings had gates but as far as Ray remembered, the right one wasn't usable because of the destruction Ares' army had caused.
"Hey, you! Have reinforcements arrived?" A man called suddenly. All three turned their heads to the direction the scream had come from. It was one of the soldiers guarding the right gate.
The second guard shouted "Ares has brought these beasts to Athens! Without help the city will fall!" He shook his head in despair and leaned against the twisted and broken metal bars which were everything left from the gate.
"The gate's destroyed! You'll have to…" Two Undead jumped down from the ceiling behind the soldiers. They stabbed the men with their blades, turned around and left leaving the blood soaked corpses behind.
"What the hell is THAT?" Ray spun around and followed Jana's stare. A giant Cyclops climbed over the edge of the cliff on the left and gave a loud roar. It was armored with plates of spiked armor and used a giant spiked ball as weapon.
"FUCK!" Ray shouted alarmed. The Cyclops roared again and approached them slowly. The kids backed up slowly towards the elevator. As the monster walked Ray could feel the ground shake beneath his feet. "We are SO done…" he muttered.
Kratos took the Blades of Chaos out and charged at the creature with a battle cry. Blood splattered with every hit he landed with the chained blades while the Cyclops tried to crush the Spartan with its spiked ball. "Let's take its rear!" Jana said suddenly, not waiting for her friend to answer. She ran behind the beast, keeping her distance while Ray followed some meters behind her.
Jana had an idea how to take the Cyclops down – literally. She rammed her spear as deep as she could into the back of the Cyclopes' left knee. The beast was currently trying to get rid of Kratos who had given it some severe injuries already, as she attacked it. She pulled her spear back out as the Cyclops roared and turned around, limping. It raised the heavy metal ball attached to its right arm and smashed it on the floor. Jana and Ray managed to jump out of the way as the chunk of metal came down.
Kratos used the chance, as the Cyclops turned its back on him to deal with the kids. He leaped on its back, climbed up until he reached the ugly, sickening smelling head and stabbed his blades into the creature's neck. The Cyclops tried to grab the Spartan with its left hand, but Kratos launched himself into the air before it grabbed him, landed on the beast's head und stabbed its single eye with one of his blades.
The blood covered Spartan jumped off the Cyclops head and Jana and Ray ran out of the way as the monster stumbled and finally fell to the ground. It turned to black smoke but Ray knew the battle wasn't over yet. If he wasn't mistaken there were two more Cyclopes to come.
And he was right: two more of the stinking creatures climbed out of the chasm and roared dangerously. Ray gulped. Both Cyclopes were going for Kratos which gave the kids the possibility to attack their rears once again.
Without thinking about his move Ray tossed his spear away, put his shield on his back, jumped at the back of the nearest Cyclops and grabbed its shoulder armor. Jana, who attacked the same beast as him, noticed what her friend was doing out of the corner of her eyes. Ray was holding onto the Cyclops' armor while hanging several feet over the ground, unable to climb up further because of the monster's rocking movements. He cursed under his breath. Jana tried to distract the creature from the person hanging on its back, but failed. She needed to roll out of the way as it smashed its metal ball into the floor once more, and thanked her parents for sending her to Ju-Jutsu training.
The Cyclops reached for Ray, who attempted to doge the monster's hand, and grabbed him. The boy tried to break free from the grip but the Cyclops was much too strong. It held Ray in front of its face and studied him with its single eye.
Jana was on her feet again. She shouted "Go for the optics!" and threw Ray her spear. He caught it and stabbed the Cyclops' eye before the monster could hurt him. Blood shot out of the wound and the monster dropped Ray while stumbling backwards. It covered the injury with one hand, tipped over and turned into black smoke as it hit the ground.
Ray climbed to his feet and smiled at Jana. "Thanks… that was kinda close." The girl nodded and said "No problem." She walked to the place where the Cyclops had died, picked up the blood dripping spear and stood next to Kratos who was this time – surprisingly - waiting for them with an annoyed frown on his face.
