Chapter 8: The Blood Upon the Sands
"Father," the young man spoke with a shine in his eye, never looking away from the assassin. The top of his head was now even with Kratos' nose, his shoulders were broader, and he had longer hair pulled back into a ponytail and bangs to either side of his brow.
"Ready?" His son asked with a small smile.
The sky began to change color above them. Dark crimson streaked across the sky replacing the calm oceanic blue night. The stars now looked as if they had been set aflame. The moon's color shifted from a pale whitish blue to a fiery orangeish scarlet. The sky itself appeared to grow tumultuous in reaction to the sun god's apparent demise.
"You're too late," the assassin hissed as he slowly lifted himself from the ground. If this god had the face of an animal, like Ra, Thoth, and Bast had, then it was not one the Greek god recognized. It had the snarling jaws and teeth of a dog, but the long snout and curious eyes of a horse. Tall ears sprouted from the sides of its head, almost like slim rabbits' ears. The fur was dark black, and below it was the body of a very fit human male. He stood roughly the same height that Tyr did, several heads above Kratos.
"That's Set," Atreus calmly confirmed. "The god of the desert and disorder here."
Set's dimly lit eyes narrowed. "You little waste of flesh. You dare assault me? You damned foreigners come here and attempt to halt my great work!" The rippled muscles of the Egyptian were tensed. His arms were guarded with thick, golden bracers, and a long,thin, furred tail wafted around behind him. The back half of the tail had matching golden armor enclosing it that was spiked at its end.
"Why kill Ra?" Kratos posed, as with another twitch of his right hand, the spear returned to his grasp. They were quite a ways from the feast and temple now, at least an hour's walk. Kratos' left hand tensed, his fingers twinged ever so slightly to avoid suspicion.
I need to stall, at least a minute.
The assassin snorted, "As if a foreigner like you could ever understand the scope of the change we wish to bring about." Kratos noted the use of we in Set's statement.
"I ,too, was a foreigner in the north not that long ago. Try to make me understand."
The assassin chuckled with an evil tone, "You will never understand. We seek to change the world here. Ra's fall was only the first step. You cannot stop me, spartan, you cannot stop the ocean of change." Black flames burst from Set's outstretched hands, and continued along the length of the weapon he was summoning. When the flames died out, a scythe was left. It was long, nearly as tall as Kratos if he had to guess. Its blade was curved, and not as long as one would assume for a handle that tall. At the opposite end was another blade, this one curved like a contorted "U" into stabbing, pointed forks.
Set charged, and Atreus answered with another lightning arrow launched at the god. Their attacker deflected it with the scythe and quickly closed the distance. The scythe was brought high above his head, and swept down with surprising speed upon Kratos. Flexing his wrist as he dodged, the shield unveiled itself and spiraled to its full size. With a shove, the shield deflected the attack and Kratos drove the spear into Set's side. A groan of pain erupted from the tall Egyptian as he gripped the spear tight, preventing Kratos' withdrawal, and brought the scythe down again towards his head.
"Ingrid!" Atreus shouted from behind as the glowing, sentient sword slashed across Set's back, offsetting the scythe's swipe enough for Kratos to roll free. Three more arrows struck for Set's torso, which he deflected again with ease. The draupnir spear was ripped from Set's side, and dropped to the sand. With another twitch, it instantly reappeared in Kratos' fist.
Set scoffed, "A cute trick, but not enough to slay me."
Kratos replied with confident awareness, "I know."
He stretched his left hand out now, as the wooshing of the leviathan axe grew closer. It hit its home in Kratos' palm, as he spun it around and began charging its icy glow.
A look of surprise stretched quickly across his brow.
Seemingly aware of his father's shock, Atreus murmured with bow drawn. "It's something with giant magic. It still works here. Freya's spells might not work, but mom's axe should be fine. Like your blades, I guess."
Kratos wished his blades were here as well. They'd undoubtedly be useful in taking the Egyptian desert god down. The spartan roared and flung it, its iced blade swinging end over end. Set barely managed to dodge it in time only to get struck with two more electrified arrows in his left thigh. Kratos gave no pause as he rushed forward, bashing the shield straight into Set's chest and knocking him off balance. As the Egyptian fell, he rolled back, and swiped low with the scythe. Kratos in turn lept, the axe flying back into his hands as he brought it down, right into Set's shoulder.
Another roar of pain sprang from Set's long snout as he kicked Kratos off him and ripped the axe from its hold on his shoulder. It remained trapped in his fist this time, however, having learned of Kratos' trick for summoning weapons back to his hand. Unfortunately for him there were two problems with this plan: firstly, the axe's power was born of ice, and second, Kratos might be even more dangerous with bare hands than weapons.
The Axe suddenly grew colder than ice to the touch, and small, sharp ice shards coated its handle stabbing the Egyptian's palm and fingers. He dropped it with a jolt of pain and before he could do anything else Kratos was on him, dealing blow after blow to his torso with strong, spartan fists. Ingrid came in once more and swiped a few times at Set's arms and legs, while Atreus let three more arrows fly and stab into his back. The Egyptian was being attacked on all sides, clearly not expecting a counterattack of one, let alone three in response to his assassination.
Set was not yet finished however, as he grabbed Ingrid by the handle and flung it far into a dune in the distance. He brought the scythe down quickly, successfully slashing across Kratos' arm as the Greek failed to fully evade in time. Next, Set spun and sprinted at Atreus, but Atreus was prepared.
In another glow of yellow light Atreus instantly transformed from his human form into that of a giant beast. It stood twice as tall as Kratos, even dwarfing Set. A long nose stretched down from its face, large curved tusks to each side. Wide ears flared out in aggression as Atreus stamped his large feet into the sand and charged, bull rushing the Egyptian head on and tackling into him with the force of one of Kratos' punches. Set braced himself against the large beast, his knee buckling down as he leaned forward trying to meet the creature's tackle. Before Set could fully stop its push though, the long nose wrapped around him and flung him to the side.
Kratos' fingers twitched as the axe flew back to him mid-sprint towards Set as he rolled across the sand after Atreus' throw. Leaping, he brought the axe down with enough force to rock the earth beneath the sand. Set rolled out of the way with surprising agility, slashing back with the scythe and cutting quite deeply into Kratos' thigh. The spartan stepped back a few paces in stunned pain as Set regained his feet and swiftly advanced. Before he had a chance to push his advantage however, Atreus shouted another command and two more arrows ripped through the air at incredible speeds, one each piercing into Set's shoulders. Ingrid was soon behind parrying and clashing with Set as the Egyptian god spun around his duel with the flying sword.
"Father! Are you okay?" Atreus shouted, jumping to Kratos' side as he stood.
He grunted and nodded. If it weren't for Atreus being here this might not have been so easy. Set hit as hard as Thor, and was as nimble as Hermes, especially for one his size.
The Egyptian jumped back, and began spinning his scythe circularly. The sand began to kick up around him, starting in a cloud, but turning into a sandstorm that nearly blotted out the sky within a few moments.
"Atreus!" Kratos shouted. "Aim for the legs."
"Right!" Was all he heard as Atreus disappeared into the sand maelstrom.
Kratos summoned his axe and let his shield loose once more. Swiveling back and forth, unsure which direction Set would attack from, he kept his guard up. The sand blasted against his body, unrelentingly assailing his eyes. Kratos barely managed to squint through the storm. He slowed his breath, and calmed his mind. He relied on his ears, straining his sense of hearing against the blizzard of sand grains to hear any shift or step. At the last second, he heard the whoosh of a blade, and buckled his shoulder low. The spartan was a fracture of a second too slow, and felt a searing pain light across his arm. He turned in time to see Set chuckling as he disappeared back into the sand. The blade he had attacked with however, was not the scythe. Set had slashed him with a sword of some sort. The metal of the blade was not straight, it curved back and forth along its length like a serpent's trail, ending in a sharp point. Pain continued to burn from the wound, and Kratos spared a glance down to see the flesh around the wound appeared to be charred black.
Whatever that was, it was no regular blade. This must have been the weapon he stabbed Ra with.
Kratos' guard heightened, as he continued to spin on his heels, constantly looking for the next attack. He continued to try and calm his mind, sharpen his senses. This time he was able to pick up Set's attack a second sooner, and dodge out of the way successfully, returning the blow with a deep gash across the Egyptian's torso with his axe. Set doubled back, disappearing once more into the sand, only to attack not four seconds later from the right. They parried and danced with their blades. Kratos with his axe and shield, Set with his scythe and curved sword.
He's favoring attacking with the new weapon now. I can't let it do any more harm than it already has. It must have some type of foreign magic.
Kratos let a scythe attack glance off his shield, timed perfectly with two arrows whistling out of the changing gales of sand around them hitting Set in the shoulder and back. The spartan stepped under Set now, dropping his axe and tackling the taller Egyptian. He grabbed him around the waist, and before Set could react,flipped him up and over his back. As Set's body hit the sands behind him, Kratos wheeled around, summoned the axe back to his hand and jumped. The axe spun twice in his hand, as he brought it straight down head first to the sand. Fractures of ice broke out from the ground in a perfect circle around him for thirty paces in all directions. The ice blasted Set further back, cutting his body up in the process.
Atreus' flying sword pierced out of the sandstorm now, finding its home straight in Set's unexpected chest. This spurred a pained roar as he flipped himself to his feet and once more charged the spartan. They danced once more, a flurry of parries, blocks, deflects, and attacks. All the while, the Egyptian was dodging Atreus' arrows from behind the veil of the storm, and Ingrid still impaled in his chest. Suddenly, the sand Kratos' left foot was braced on slipped away, and the Greek god was sent falling back, unable to find footing. Set smirked, and took the moment to take the serpentine blade and stab it into the only open spot in Kratos' defenses, his stomach.
Blood immediately burst out from Kratos' bearded lips, and a pain so intense and searing it took all of his strength to not slip into unconsciousness from it. As he lay on the ground gripping the side of his bare torso in pain, Set loomed over him, prepared to finish it with scythe clutched in hand. It was at that moment they heard shouted from the maelstrom-"Hey, big guy!"
Set looked around, trying to find its source. Atreus slowly walked from the cover of the blowing sands, glaring directly at the Egyptian god.
"I'm right here, ugly."
Without a moment's hesitation Set had closed the gap and was upon Atreus, slashing down with the scythe. His attack made contact…but then continued straight through Atreus' body, as if it weren't even there.
Atreus began to chuckle. "You sure aren't too bright are you?" Another vision of Atreus laughed as he emerged from the sand five paces away.
"What you gonna do now, big guy?" Yet another Atreus jeered as he appeared from behind Set.
Another version of Atreus appeared beside Kratos, taking his head in his lap as he looked down to meet his father's gaze. "Lie still," he ordered his injured parent.
Suddenly, Atreus disappeared. Kratos looked down at his own hand and noticed it too was gone, as was the rest of him.
He made us unable to be seen?
Kratos couldn't wonder what other powers his son had developed for long as the pain in his torso began to increase in intensity. The spartan's body felt as if it were being lit aflame in his very bones.
Set wheeled around, slashing and hacking with both scythe and dagger at the nearly two dozen apparitions of Atreus that had appeared. They did nothing but walk closer, taunting him. Set finally relented and roared as a wave of sand nearly as tall as he was washed through and erased all of the mirages.
It was too late, however, as Atreus suddenly appeared behind him wielding a blade he was given in a foreign land. It had cloth woven around the handle, a wide, elegantly detailed handguard, and a long, slightly curved blade that was nearly as thin as a few blades of grass. With one swipe of the perfectly crafted sword, Set took a step forward, and his head fell from its shoulders. Blood spewed from the wound as the head rolled about its feet as the corpse collapsed.
The sandstorm died almost immediately, as the Egyptian's god dead body began to turn to sand itself. With a few blows of the wind, the lump where the god's corpse had been disappeared, the millions of grains returning to the dunes.
Kratos and Atreus became visible again as his son lifted his head up shouting at him, "Father, how bad is it? Can you speak? Father? FATHER!" The words echoed in Kratos' mind as he descended into unconsciousness.