Apologies for the late post, wasn't sure how to end this chapter and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. As a side note, I forgot to ask but do you want a comprehensive breakdown on the patch notes? What I mean is the specific changes made to every chapter. Lemme know if that's a thing y'all would enjoy. Anyway thank you for reading and I will see you all next week for another batch of rewrites to older chapters.
Atreus was no stranger to a fight, over the last three years he had frankly gotten used to people trying to kill him - he wondered if that was normal. Still, it was strange to fight without his father, the last time he fought alone was when his father slipped into the light of Alfheim for a long time. Atreus couldn't remember how long it was, he was too busy fighting off the dark elves to count. That time was hectic, he was young and alone, this situation felt almost like that.
Seidr magic soared over his head, people ran back and forth, there was so much shouting and screaming he could barely hear anything else.
A Seidr Reaver charged him with its magic imbued sword, as they swung Atreus slid underneath his opponent between his legs and loosed an arrow. His aim was true and lodged into the Reavers neck. He didn't stop, he continued running looking for Annabeth and Freya but with so much chaos it was next to impossible to find them.
Behind him he heard more Reavers charge him, as he prepared to notch an arrow both Reavers tripped on something and fell to the ground, the sound of a blade sinking into their backs told him they were stabbed. Confused, Atreus stepped back before out of nowhere Annabeth appeared like she was there the whole time.
"How did you do that?"Atreus asked,
With a smirk, Annabeth twirled the cap she just took off her head, "A gift from mom, c'mon let's get Freya and leave." Atreus nodded and followed Annabeth.
It wasn't hard to find Freya, she was in the center of the madness, despite how many Seidr Reavers targeted her she managed to hold her own. The Seidr Reavers charged with no abandon and were left cleaved in half by Freya's sword, her skill obviously hadn't rusted in the years.
Without word, Atreus notched a few arrows and let them loose against the Reavers orbiting Freya, they fell one by one. Meanwhile, Annabeth got up close with her magical hat and stabbed any stragglers in the back, unseen by her foes. Freya swung her sword one last time before the last of the Reavers were dealt with, "You okay?" Annabeth asked, as she took off her hat again.
"I am fine, you should be more concerned about them." Freya knelt down to one of the bodies of the Reavers, looking over the corpse.
"You know these guys, because I don't." Annabeth joined Freya in looking at the corpse, she seemed disturbed by what she saw.
"They're followers of Seidr magic, we Vanir gods are specialists in its application but it's difficult to master. Misuse or abandonment of the rules of Seidr magic can corrupt one's soul. " Freya gestured to the body, Annabeth got the idea.
"Don't Seidr followers worship you?" Atreus asked.
"Yes, which is what I'm concerned about. I tried to reason with them, but they claimed I was an impostor, and they were here to destroy pretenders." Freya stood back up, obviously done inspecting the body.
"All I heard was garbled noises," Annabeth said, "Guess I need to work on my Vanir." She looked around once again, the entire room was empty, bags and containers full of belongings littered the floor, everyone got out quickly.
"What do we do now?" Atreus asked.
"We have to leave, we don't want the mortals catching us and hauling us to jail or something. Follow me." Annabeth guided them away from the scene, as they rounded the corner back to the entrance they could see a swarm of mortals in what Atreus could assume were armor and shields slowly making their way into the building.
"Scratch that, let's go the other way." Annabeth quickly turned around and made her way to a nearby door labeled 'employees only'. "We'll use this to get to the employee exit, c'mon." Annabeth held the door open to them as they entered the winding halls.
Atreus felt lost trying to keep track of where they were going, but Annabeth seemed to know what she was doing and continued to be their guide out of the maze-like halls. Eventually, they did make it to the employee exit, but surrounding the building were many more mortals with their eyes focused on the airport they just came from. Luckily they were a ways away from the main entrance so not many eyes were focused on their small door, but even one mortal spotting them was bad.
"Okay, that's not going to work, Freya, tell me you have some sort of magic that can help." Annabeth turned to the goddess.
"My options are limited, I don't have access to the things I need. However I can still change my form, with your hat we can still leave here stealthily." Annabeth nodded before turning to Atreus.
"I got nothing." He shrugged, he knew protective wards and how to summon animals, that was it.
Annabeth cupped her chin, looking out at the space before her. There was a lot of debris and cars scattered around, perhaps… "Okay, Freya, can you turn into a bird?" The goddess nodded. "Good, you'll be our eye in the sky and guide Atreus, I'll use my cap to turn invisible and make some distractions to draw their attention away from you. Are you good with that?"
Atreus nodded, "Sounds like a good plan," Annabeth couldn't help but smirk.
"Meet me over there," Annabeth pointed eastward, towards the way they came from, unfortunately the way was littered with various mortals milling about. He nodded, ready to go.
Freya turned into an eagle and flew up and perched herself on a light pole, meanwhile Annabeth slipped on her hat and made her way towards the mortals. With the both of them actively helping, Atreus was sure they could get out of here unspotted.
"Move forward fifteen paces." Freya spoke from above him, sure enough fifteen paces ahead of him was a waist-high barrier he could hide behind. Atreus quickly knelt beside the barrier just as a mortal man walked by, talking into a small black box pinned to his chest.
"Bernhall here, east entrance is clear," The man, Bernhall it seemed, glanced up to the shapeshifted goddess-turned-bird. "Huh." He shrugged and moved on.
With him out of hearing range Freya finally spoke up, "Twenty paces North-North-East, be quick about it." Freya flew to a nearby ledge overlooking his destination, ahead of him was one of those rentals Annabeth had used to bring them here.
Atreus made his way once again towards the rental, "Quick, get underneath more mortals are making their way here." Freya quietly alerted him, Atreus didn't hesitate as he dropped to the hard ground and crawled underneath. Two sets of feet walked near the rental, Atreus guessed they were looking inside it.
"So, any idea who or what we're looking for?" A woman's voice asked.
The other set of feet turned to face their partner, "No clue yet, so far most of the witnesses have been saying some weird shit. Some say they were throwing around spray can bottles, others think they saw some chemicals. Beats the hell outta me."
"Fuckin' hell, you think this is serious?" The woman's voice became a tad bit more concerned.
"Well there were no reported deaths yet, just some injuries, and SWAT is still sweeping the airport. We'll know when the chief debriefs us, c'mon, we have more cars to inspect." With that, both mortals left him alone, a minute may have gone by before scraping could be heard from above him.
"They're gone, let's continue moving." Atreus crawled from underneath the rental (or was it a car? Those mortals seemed to call it that.)
"Where to next?" Atreus asked, wiping off the bits of stone on his body.
"Thirty paces east," Freya's bird head motioned to a cart full of bags, which were right next to a mortal rental/car.
"Don't you think that's a bit too close?" He asked.
"It's the only cover we have from here to the exit, let us hope the girl can provide a big enough extraction." Freya once again flew close to his destination, Atreus quickly followed as best he could while crouching to avoid any unwanted attention.
Everyone was too busy looking towards the airport to notice him, his heart was up to his throat, the tension was high. He was confidant in Annabeth and Freya to make sure no one spotted him but even he was getting nervous. Finally he made it to the cart, it was barely large enough to hide him (thankfully mortals packed large bags) but it worked.
The crunch of a couple pairs of feet hitting the stone ground stopped him, they were getting closer. Should he move? No they couldn't possibly know he was here. But what if they moved around, he'd have nowhere to hide. Atreus looked up to Freya, who in turn was looking at the approaching duo.
The two pairs of feet stopped just on the other side of the cart, Atreus would have breathed a sigh of relief if he wasn't worried they'd hear him.
"So, sir, you say you saw the commotion and wish to make a statement?" The voice of an older man asked.
"Yes, I'm very sure." Atreus froze, that voice…it couldn't be. Oh no.
"Very well, what did you see?" The older man asked.
"I saw a boy, fair-skin, with brown hair, wearing a yellow jacket attack these poor innocent men and women. Oh, they looked so scared! The boy stabbed them, mutilated their bodies, you'll see it in one of the lounges, it was horrifying! He was talking about killing more people, you have to stop him." The feigned concern was a new act from this god that claimed to be Loki, but it was no less harrowing to hear him describe Atreus fighting those Reavers as murder.
"Anything else?" The old man hurriedly asked.
"The boy was with a girl, perhaps college aged, and an older woman, middle age perhaps? I don't know if they are accomplices or not, but it's best to not take any chances…right?" The false gods voice dropped the feigned concern, instead focusing on implying something more.
"Y-yes…I understand completely." The man's voice became subdued, as if entranced.
"Good, make sure you put all of your effort into pursuing the child, I want to see how far I…I mean you can push him." He couldn't see "Loki" but Atreus imagined they had a devilish grin.
"Of course, we must find this heinous criminal at once!" The old man's voice was filled with gusto, what did this false god do to him?
"They could be anywhere, perhaps they're still in our premises, trying to get away. Maybe they're closer than we think." The crunch of footsteps towards him made Atreus' hair stand straight up. He must have known he was here, but how!? Atreus had to run, he had to get away!
Before Atreus could bolt from his position another voice came running, "Sir, we have a potential suspect seen running from the scene! They were seen leaving the west entrance!"
The old man must have snapped out of his stupor because he seemingly returned to normal, "Get ten cruisers over there now, I want the whole damn department to box them in!" The man spoke with clarity, unlike before. The two ran off, was this Annabeths doing?
"You're clear." Freya spoke finally.
"What about the third man?" Atreus asked, still unsure to move.
"What third man?"
Atreus stood up, the false god was gone, "Where did he go?" Atreus looked around, no one resembling the fake "Loki" was nearby.
"What are you talking about, the mortal just left." Freya hopped off her post and turned back to human, with the mortal's attention seemingly drawn away the two were in the clear.
Atreus did not bother to try and explain, how could he if he couldn't trust his own ears. But even if it was a trick, how could he imagine so much so vividly? No, he had to focus on the situation in front of him. He'll worry about it all later.
"Let's go." Atreus said, the two of them strode towards the agreed upon meeting spot. Just as Annabeth planned, no one was around to catch them.
"There you two are." Annabeth appeared nearby, close to the parking lot that they left their rental/car at.
"We had to evade some mortals, but no one spotted us. Let's leave before more show up." Freya walked towards the parking lot, Annabeth agreed and the three of them followed her.
Inside the parking lot was not better than outside, in fact it was much worse. Mortals inspected everything, looking into every window they could. Across the way was their rental, which was thrown open and being inspected more than the others. Another one of "Loki's" doing? Atreus didn't know, but it was clear that this wasn't going to work.
"Okay, scratch that, we'll hike it out of here." Annabeth said, and just as they turned around the shouting began.
"Hey, you three, stop right there!" A mortal woman cried out.
"Run!"
So the three of them ran, the voices of mortals shouting at them to stop were faint, but as Atreus ran out of the parking lot, across the road sitting on a bench he could see the false Loki sitting, grinning that evil smirk of his watching them run away. He couldn't hear him, as they were so far apart, but he could read his lips as clear as the sun on a cloudless day.
"Good luck."
Atreus didn't bother to count how long they'd been running for, just that by the time they managed to catch their breath the sun was setting. The three of them stopped in an alley far away from the airport, the sirens of mortals ringing out into the air.
Annabeth sighed, "Wow, haven't ran like that in a while." Her hands planted themselves on her knees, her labored breathing slowing down. "At least we got away, how are you two holding up?" Annabeth looked up to himself and Freya, the goddess seemed fine for the most part.
"Nothing I'm not used to." Freya said.
"Winded, but good." Atreus replied.
Annabeth stood straight, having relaxed a little, "Okay, plan A is toast, so now it's time for plan B." Annabeth shrugged off her bag and reached into it.
"Plan B?" Atreus asked.
"We can't fly by plane anymore, mortals will be looking out for any suspects, so we have to go by land. Thankfully, I booked us some tickets on the off chance something like this would happen." Annabeth finally pulled out three strips of paper with various numbers and words on them.
"You knew this would happen?" Freya asked.
"There was a chance, there's always a chance of monsters ruining my plans, so it's my job to make sure to have backups in case of something like this." Annabeth handed them one strip each, as Atreus inspected it he read the name labeled on it.
"John Dougherty?" Atreus managed to pronounce.
"Jane Dougherty?" Freya read her own.
Annabeth shrugged as she put her bag back on, "I couldn't very well write your real names down. C'mon, our bus leaves in an hour and we don't want to be late." She started walking out of the alley, Atreus pocketed his ticket and followed.
Annabeth didn't know the monsters - those Reavers - weren't here because of her, they were here because of him. But because some false god who claimed to be Loki wanted to test him. Something had to be done about this, he had to know who was the real Loki.
One last thing, I did some minor research about Seidr and how they use the same magic as the Vanir and kinda worship them. It may or may not be different than how they're depicted in the GoW games and actually reality, so apologies if I get that wrong. That's it. Goodbye.