Edge of Existence
God of War and all associated characters and interpretations are property of Sony Santa Monica. Kingdom Hearts and all associated characters are property of Disney and Square Enix.
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"So, this is Alfheim," Sora said, peering up at the Light of Alfheim in the distance as they exited Tyr's temple.
"That it is," Mimir replied. "Home of the elves, of both the Light and Dark variety." Mimir grunted. "Say, do you think there's any relations to this Light and Darkness in your home realm?"
Sora was silent, observing, as Kratos led them down the temple's bridge, both types of elves parting likes water before them. It was only when they reached the main pathway to the Temple of Light—one of the first things built by both types of elves during the precarious peace they found following Freyr's death—that he spoke.
"No, these guys aren't like the Light and Darkness I know at all." He crossed his arms over his chest. "In fact, seeing these people—being so close to this Light of Alfheim—confirms something that I've been thinking about since I got here."
"And what would that be, lad?" Mimir asked.
"This world, and the people in it, doesn't have a speck of either Light or Darkness."
Kratos had no idea what that meant, nor did Atreus, he could see. Mimir, however, hummed aloud. "Odd. I recall you telling me that all living beings hold both this Light and Darkness within them."
Sora nodded. "Yeah, but that's within my home realm." He frowned. "I…I think the realm this world is part of…doesn't have Light or Darkness."
Atreus arched a brow. "Uh, I'm not gonna pretend that I've followed all the things you and Mimir have talked about, but aren't this Light and Darkness fundamental elements of life?"
"Yeah, where I'm from!" Sora exclaimed. He shook his head. "Give me a second." He moved to the side of the road and beckoned them forward. When they reached him—Kratos taking Mimir off his belt to better see—Sora held out his hand and summoned a Keyblade in a flash of bright white light, sparkles, and feathers, of all things. This one's body was split into two parallel bars, that joined together at the tip to form a stylized blue-green star with yellow tips, and an elongated heart right beside it. Its hilt was in the shape of a pair of light-green, feathery wings, and the token that made up the keychain was itself made of five seashells, a simple smiling face drawn on the shell directly connected to the chain.
"This is Oathkeeper," Sora said, holding the Keyblade parallel to the ground. "Of all the Keyblades I've ever had, this one has the greatest innate connection to the Light." He grunted, and the Keyblade glowed with a soft light.
"Woah," Atreus said in a surprised, pleased tone, mimicking Kratos's own thoughts. The energy coming from Oathkeeper…it was warm. Soothing.
"That's the power of Light," Sora said. "And this, is the power of Darkness." Oathkeeper vanished in a flash of light. Seconds later, dark clouds formed in its place, blue lightning sparking to life. This Keyblade seemed as if it was crafted in direct contrast to Oathkeeper. Where the previous weapon was bright and warm, this one was dark and cold. Pure black from hilt to tip, it's body hollow, with a thick chain taut along the middle. The actual blade was shaped strangely—it looked like a symbol he might have seen in his travels, or perhaps Tyr's temple. Further completing the contrast with Oathkeeper, the hilt of this Keyblade was shaped in like a bat's wings, and completing the look was a coal-black crown Keychain.
"This is Oblivion," Sora intoned. "This isn't a Keyblade of Darkness, but it channels it well enough." Like with Oathkeeper, Sora grunted, and Oblivion glowed with dark energy.
As opposed to the warmth from Oathkeeper, Oblivion felt cold. Powerful still, but if Oathkeeper's Light felt like basking in the sun, Oblivion's Darkness felt like standing before a coming storm.
"Now, the Darkness I can use through Oblivion isn't near as…potent as Darkness used outright." Sora banished the weapon in a cloud of darkness. "But still, you all felt that, right?"
"I believe we did, lad," Mimir replied, mystified. "Same as we felt Oathkeeper's light." Sora nodded and turned to Kratos.
"You're the only other person here that's been to other worlds," he said. "Have you felt anything like that before?"
Kratos searched the depths of his memories for such a thing. Nothing recalled the feeling Oathkeeper had given him—save for memories of his mother and brother, of Lysandra and Calliope, of Faye and Atreus. But the Darkness from Oblivion…no, not that either. The Soul Edge had effused vile energy one could call 'Dark', but it was not the same. Nor the foul magics Shao Kahn had wielded when they battled.
"I have not," he said with a shake of his head.
"I thought so," Sora said slowly. "I've had my suspicions for a while now, but this confirms it."
"Confirms what?" Atreus asked.
"Well, you know how my worlds banished me, right? And took away my ability to travel between worlds?" Sora crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, I've been thinking, if this world was within the Realm of Light, it doesn't really make sense that I'm here. Why banish me, only to let me back in due to some freak accident? No. By whatever means I escaped the Final World; I ended up in a different Realm than any I've ever visited. Not one of Light or Darkness or anything in-between." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's completely divorced from everything I've ever known. Almost…unreal."
"What does this all mean?" Kratos asked.
Sora scrunched his face in thought, before shrugging in defeat. "I don't know." He pulled out his Gummi Phone. "I wish I could call Zexion, or Ansem the Wise now that he's back in Radiant Garden. Or Jiminy, King Mickey, Riku, anyone! To help me make sense of all this." He tapped the screen. "But I guess I'll just have to keep notes of it all myself and try and make sense of it later."
"I do believe you're forgetting something lad," Mimir cut in with a smug tone. "You're currently travelling with the Smartest Man Alive." He winked. "I'm sure between the two of us we can parse it all out."
Sora smiled back. "Right, how could I forget. Oh!" He snapped his fingers. "Speaking of forgetting! Kratos, Mimir, say 'cheese'!" Kratos did no such thing. Mimir just furrowed his brow and made to speak, but Sora had flipped his Gummi Phone horizontally and tapped on the screen. There was a soft click from the device, and in that moment, Kratos understood what was happening.
"Aw, man," Sora whined as he looked at the device. "You blinked." Atreus leaned over to see what Sora was speaking of. His eyes widened the instant he saw the device's screen.
"Wait, is that…" he trailed off, shoving against Sora to get a better look at the Gummi Phone.
Sora just grunted as Atreus unintentionally elbowed him. "Hey, don't push!"
"What's got you all excited?" Mimir asked. In response, Sora shoved Atreus off with one arm and turned the Gummi Phone around.
On the screen was a picture of Kratos and Mimir. Like other photographs Kratos has seen, this one was a perfect capture of the moment in time it was taken. Perfectly imitating Kratos's disinterested scowl and Mimir mid-speaking, blinking, half-pinched expression.
Mimir stared wide-eyed at the image. "My word!" he exclaimed. "This is the most realistic, detailed picture I've ever seen. What is this?"
Before Sora could answer, Kratos said, "It is called a photograph, taken by a camera." Mimir and Atreus goggled at him. Sora just nodded, and pulled his Gummi Phone back, tapping on the screen. "It is an invention that Worlds of greater technological advancements possess. It allows for the preservation of an image at the exact moment it was captured." Atreus's mind was still blown, but Mimir, though still in awe, also looked touched at Kratos's words. No doubt taking to heart how quickly he was opening up about his travels to other Worlds, after promising to do so.
"Fascinating," Mimir said. "Then, Sora, all those pictures you've shown us before, those weren't created by some means beyond our current understanding?"
"Nope," Sora replied cheerily. "All pictures. I took some of them, but Jiminy was the one that actually took notes on everything. He used to draw them in his older journals, but after we got the Gummi Phones he would just snap photos. Said it was a lot easier on the wrists."
"Oh, I can imagine. You know, if I still had wrists." Mimir arched a brow. "And who's Jiminy? I don't think you've mentioned him before."
"Jiminy Cricket," Sora replied, and showed them a picture of an insect wearing clothes, and a tall hat. "He stayed in my hood or hair and wrote down everything we saw and did." Sora smiled softly. "He didn't speak up much, but he's always had my back."
"That's really incredible," Atreus said, having now gotten over his initial dazzlement. They stared at him. "Uh, not the bug-person."
"He's a cricket."
Atreus ignored Sora. "I'm talking about this camera and photograph thing. If you're drawing something by hand, even if you're capturing it in the moment, the image can become distorted. Styles and biases leaking through, even if you don't mean to. But this"—he gestured to the Gummi Phone—"it's the truth, pure and simple."
"Sure," Sora said with a shrug. Atreus frowned at the one-word response, but let it go, muttering to himself about speaking with Angrboda. "Anyway," Sora continued, "since Jiminy isn't here, I figured I'd do my part! So, you guys don't mind if I take pictures of you for my journal, do you?"
"Lad, I would be honored," Mimir earnestly replied.
"So long as you do not manipulate the device's setting to damage our very souls," Kratos replied. They all stared at him.
Sora looked down at his device. "Cameras can do that?"
"Sly Cooper's could." It was a terrifying ability, in truth. The only drawback being that it could only be used sparingly, else he risked destroying his 'Binocucomm', as he and his allies called it.
"Who the bloody hell is Sly Cooper?" Mimir queried.
"A raccoon that could walk and talk like a man." With that said, Kratos reattached Mimir to his belt, and continued on his way.
"Oh yeah, you talked about him the other night," Sora said, easily stepping keeping pace. "Some kind of thief that worked with a turtle and hippo, right?"
"Bentley and Murray, yes." Easily three of the least annoying people he'd dealt with during his trials in the Polygon Man's grasp. Well, Murray was fairly excitable, and Sly loved the sound of his own voice, but all three understood the importance of maintaining discipline while executing a plan. "And he was a 'Master Thief'," Kratos corrected. He had met many a boastful thief, but Sly truly lived up to his boasts. He'd even managed to steal the Blades of Athena off of him—which should not have been possible—along with the weaponry of the majority of the Polygon Man's other victims to keep them all from killing each other when they were all finally gathered in one location. He could have rivaled Hermes.
"When was this now?" Mimir asked, voice alight with glee and curiosity.
"When I fought alongside 'History's Greatest Musician.'" Kratos grunted. "Though I cannot begin to fathom how PaRappa gained such a moniker in this world." He had an impeccable sense of rhythm, but Kratos cared little for his 'rap' music.
"Who?" Atreus asked, face scrunched in confusion.
"PaRappa the Rapper," Kratos intoned. "A curious being. A dog-like creature, but he had parchment in place of flesh. And he, and his World, were flat."
"Parchment?" Atreus repeated incredulously. "Flat?"
"I cannot begin to explain what I saw and experienced in his World." Many of the Worlds he visited while a part of the Polygon Man's insane 'game' had been…mind-boggling. Not helped by the fact that the Polygon Man had blurred the barriers between the worlds, forcing them to mix.
Even though Zeus had been there as well, stopping that insanity was enough for them to call a truce. Well, after they were pulled apart from trying to kill each other by Dante and Cole McGrath. And then the demented mortal Sweet Tooth demanded Kratos's attention, as the mortal Isaac Clarke quickly earned Zeus's ire, further distacting them both. Even now, Kratos regretted not growing closer to the mortal in strange armor meant to traverse the cosmos. Anyone that could so quickly get under Zeus's skin was worth befriending.
Mimir hummed. "Well, other than Tyr, Kvasir was the main source of tales outside the realms. He's the one that reported on your battles alongside History's Greatest Musician. Rather, that fact that you fought alongside him, and others. There was very little on the battles themselves."
"Who's Kvasir?" Sora asked, hands clasped behind his head.
"A mortal poet that died a few centuries ago," Mimir replied. "Despite Odin's constant vigilance over the realms, and strict punishment for those that tried to leave, he was able to discover and write about lands beyond the then Nine Realms. We actually found a handful of his lost poems as we were running around before and after Ragnarök." He grunted. "Hold on. If he was able to observe your time with the World's Greatest Musician, then that means—"
"He had a means to view other worlds!" Atreus finished in awe.
"I am aware," Kratos replied. "Two of the poems we found referred to two others I travelled with alongside PaRappa. Tool and Bang, and Upon Pursuing A Place Not Marked On Maps." Once he recognized that the poems referred to the Lombax Ratchet and his automaton companion Clank, and the mortal, human, treasure hunter Nathan Drake, respectively, it took all his willpower not to hide the poems away from sight. If not for the fact that he found them Mimir, he might have. "I did not recognize the places described in the other poems, but I knew they referred to other Worlds, and not other lands within this one."
Mimir clicked his tongue. "That's why you looked at them like they were diseased! I assumed you just didn't like Kvasir's writing style."
"I do not care for his style either."
"I thought they were neat," Atreus said.
"You do not know true poetry."
Atreus arched a brow. "Let me guess, the poetry from your homeland?"
"Correct," Kratos replied with absolute sincerity.
Mimir huffed. "Considering how much you used to hate speaking of your homeland, you're inordinately proud of its works."
"They are good works." He paused to look down at Mimir, daring him object. His friend looked as if he would, for the argument's sake if nothing else, but instead refocused his attention to Sora.
"Sora, how can people use this Darkness naturally? Based on how you've described it, it's a foul, corrupting power."
Sora hummed. "Well, some people just have a greater affinity for it than others. Like Riku or Terra. But above all else you need a strong will. It's easy to get corrupted by and lose yourself to the Darkness." He chuckled bitterly. "I almost did a few months ago."
"Is it a long story?" Atreus asked with heavy sarcasm. Sora just chuckled in response.
"And what of the Light?" Kratos asked. "Does it not corrupt you as well?"
Sora frowned in thought. After a moment, he said, "Not directly. It doesn't eat away at you, like Darkness. But it can blind you. Not literally, but it makes you…arrogant. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, they were taught by this old Keyblade Master, Eraqus. I never met him—well, I did, but long story. He was a big believer in the power of Light. So big a believer, he did some…messed up things to keep the Light 'safe'. I've gotten very complacent with my powers and connection with the Light myself, and almost got killed because of it. Twice." He sighed. "I know I say I have a lot of long stories, but I'd need, I don't know, a week, to explain everything relating to all that."
"Why's that?" Mimir asked.
"Because Master Xehanort ties heavily into everything that happened with them and me." Mimir hummed in understanding.
"Master Xehanort?" Atreus asked, airing both his own and Kratos's confusion. "Who is he? You've mentioned him before, once or twice."
"He's the crazy old man obsessed with prophecy I fought before getting banished by the worlds." Sora's face twisted in anger—an odd look on his normally jovial face. "A Keyblade Master that thought the Worlds were too corrupted to be saved and needed to be remade from the ground up."
"He sought to undo all of creation?" Kratos said, bewildered. Destruction on such a scale…he could not even fathom it. Even the Polygon Man just wanted to rearrange the Worlds, mash them together like a child would their toys. Not remake them entirely.
Atreus stared at Sora with wide eyes. "So, if it wasn't for you, we all would have just…died?"
Sora shrugged. "Me and my friends, but yeah."
Mimir snorted. "You're rather modest, aren't you, Sora?"
His lips curled into a smirk, before it shrank into a genuine smile. "My friends are my power, and I'm theirs. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty good on my own. But I wouldn't have come as far as I have without them."
"That's as true a statement as I've ever heard," Mimir said with a grin.
"Indeed," Kratos intoned. Even back in Greece, fueled by anger and hate and spite, Kratos would not have survived without what few 'friends' he had. The Oracles of Delphi and Athens, his fellow Spartans, Orkos, Hephaestus and Pandora. Even Athena, before she betrayed him in death and sought the power of Hope for herself, had once been a valuable ally.
"Well, you've definitely got the 'power' thing down to a 'T'," Atreus said looking down at his hands. "Forget the dragon, I don't think I'll ever forget the rush I felt when we did that 'Team Attack' in Vanaheim."
"We can always do it again," Sora replied. "As long as Kratos doesn't object."
"So long as you give proper warning before doing so, I shall not object."
"It'll also give Kratos time to shift me around so I can actually see what's going on!" Mimir said with a laugh.
Atreus looked down at his hands. "I wonder what else we can do if we let Sora just…take the lead?"
"Who knows?" Sora said, staring up at the sky. "With most of the people I've fought besides, there's only one kind of Team Attack we can do. I've got more with Donald and Goofy, but we've been together almost constantly for two years now, so our Hearts are about as synched up as they can get." He rubbed his chin. "Then again, I don't know a lot of people that have the same amount of variety as you and your dad do, Atreus."
Atreus nodded in thought. "Then, what else do you think we can do?" Sora shrugged. "Well, let's start planning!"
Sora snorted. "It's not the kind of thing you can plan, Atreus."
"Why not?"
"It takes the fun out of it!"
Kratos stayed silent as the pair devolved into a minor squabble over the merits of pure improvisation in combat. He did, however, allow himself a small smile at the sight of his son talking so animatedly with Sora. In the beginning, he could admit to wanting nothing to do with the young man. Now, though, he was glad to count on him as a friend.
For Atreus's sake, if nothing else.
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A/N: Mimir is just over the moon at this point.