It was then that Kratos had picked up the deer and hoisted it over his shoulder, while Atreus and Calliope walked ahead of him, Kratos' daughter looking slump at the deed she had just preformed. Atreus stood beside her, keeping his arms around her shoulder, as a sign of a reassurance.
"Trust me when we say that it will get easier from here on out, Calliope." He told her. "We'll get to show you all kinds of things while you're here with us! It...just won't be easy getting to them, but trust me. It'll be fun."
"Ευχαριστώ αδερφέ. Θα προσπαθήσω και θα κάνω ό,τι καλύτερο μπορώ. (Thank you, brother. I will try and do my best.)" Calliope replied. Seeing the two get along warmed Kratos hardened heart, feeling proud of his son for assisting his daughter just as he did for Atreus some time ago.
"You know, I'm just surprised by how easy this hunt was this time around." Atreus began to say. "I was almost expecting to run into-" But, that is when caught with enemies appears out of the snow. "Hel-walkers. I just had to jinx it."
The sight of the frozen undead left Calliope in shock as she took a step back. But that is when Kratos dropped the dear and got in front of his daughter. "Μείνε πίσω, Καλλιόπη. Αυτό, δεν είστε έτοιμοι για αυτό. (Stand back, Calliope. This, you are not ready for.)"
"Don't worry. We got this, Cal! Just sit tight." Atreus said as he brought out his bow and both Father & Son engaged in battle all while Calliope watched in awe. Kratos knew without his blades, hand-to-hand combat would be the way to go against the Hel-Walkers as he began bashing both his fists and shield at the one closest to him. Atreus fought against the creatures with more speed and agility with his father, and with just a little bit of his own aggression as he slamming his bow at one as if it were a wooden club. When it came to ones that did range attacks, he acted quickly under his fathers command and shot them with several arrows at each chance he gets, though he couldn't help but notice that his shock and light arrows were growing rather weaker as Fimbulwinter thrived.
Calliope watched as her Father and Brother fought mercilessly, but it didn't last as she then saw a Hel-Walker coming at her with a broadsword in hand. Acting quickly, she dodged to the right as the sword barely missed her, accidentally putting herself in the battleground as she accidentally backed up against another monster. It would've gotten her if it's head wasn't embedded with arrows as Atreus uses his bow to pull his sister close to him.
"Get back here, Cal!" He told her as she was pulled behind him. Continuously firing arrows at ones that were straight ahead of him. But one coming from the side was one he wasn't ready for. Calliope, however, took the opportunity to defend and managed to punch the Hell-Walker back. Atreus saw this and added a second attack, slamming the head of his bow to the Walker's head. Calliope saw another coming and got down to swipe its leg from underneath, knocking it down as Atreus stabbed the lower end of the bow into the stomach of the undead and fired arrows at some more Walkers near his father.
Kratos continued to hold his own just fine, knocking out Hel-Walkers left and right, but when he saw his both his children fighting together, it was yet another surprise for him. While he recently discovered that his daughter have been trained by Lysandra, having saw Calliope spar with Atreus, she never would've expected to hand a situation like this surprisingly well, let alone show a bit of strength to hold her own against these frozen undead creatures. It made him wonder...could she be...?
"Behind you! Look out!" Mimir said.
He was pushed out his trail of thought when he felt a blast of ice land on his back. He got back into the fight as Atreus and Calliope managed to take out several scouts. While the girl was breathing heavily, never having to fight like this before, Atreus liked like he was barely breaking a sweat.
"You're actually really good at this, Cal'!" He said to her sister, to which she replied with a smile. But then, Atreus quickly pushes his sister away, yelling "Watch out!" as the two barely dodged an Ice Covered mace. A Hel-Viken appeared and went for Atreus as Calliope looked up to see her brother going against a rather powerful looking foe. Fortunately, Calliope was pushed right next to a rack of weapons, and she acted fast, grabbing a spear and holding it with both hands. The spears here felt heavier and lacked the red tassel spartan spears had, but it would have to serve as Calliope held it strongly and charged the Vikin.
"Calliope!" Kratos yelled as he saw what his daughter was about to do. But he was once again surprised as he saw her jump, letting out a roar that would make any Spartan proud as she stabbed the spear directly into the head of the Hel-Vikin. Still, the undead brute did not go down as Atreus used the chance to move out of the way. Kratos then used the chance to finish it, grabbed the spear Calliope embedded and twisted it, snapping the Vikin's neck before ripping it off entirely. The fight was now ever as Kratos stabbed the spear with the head on it to the ground as he turned to Calliope, with Atreus coming over to her.
"That was amazing, Calliope!" Said the boy. "You were so good out there! Right, father?"
Both turned to see Kratos, stoic as ever, but his eyes pointed directly towards his daughter, who seemed rather fearful, having gotten to fight, despite her father's wishes. She knew her father was overprotective of her after she had returned to his life, she understood that. But she wanted to be strong, for him and for her brother
"Λυπάμαι... συγγνώμη, father. (I'm...I am sorry, father.)" she began to say. "Απλώς... έπρεπε να υπερασπιστώ τον εαυτό μου. (I just...had to defend myself.)"
Walking over and getting on a knee, Kratos placed his hand on Calliope's shoulder and spoke "Δεν χρειάζεται να λυπάσαι, Μικρή Μούσα. Συνεχίζεις μόνο να με εκπλήσσεις. (You need not be sorry, Little Muse. You only continue to surprise me.)" He then turns to his son, saying "We will oversee Calliope's training and ensure she can survive more than this." He moves to where they left the dead deer and picks it up once more. "Until then...home." And with that, he turns and leads the way back to the cabin.
Calliope and Atreus followed behind and Mimir was looking at the girl with a smirk.
"That was quite some defensive prowess ya had there, lass." The head said, getting her attention. "Ya sure you've never been in battle before?"
Calliope was not sure if she'll ever get used to the idea of talking to a severed head. She's only heard stories of where you remove the head of a specific creature, it can be put to use. But that was only in terms of a weapon, not a...conversationalist.
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised with the way you fought." Atreus brought up. "And the way you handled that spear? Maybe we should get you one."
Seeing his sister tilt her head in confusion made both boy and head internally slap Facepalm themselves, as Atreus said "Uh, a spear, like, uh...how do you say...?"
"Ένα δόρυ." Kratos spoke.
"Yeah, that! A δόρυ."
"Το δόρυ? S-S-Spear?" Calliope managed to get out.
"Yeah! That!"
"Α, ναι. Είναι το πρώτο όπλο στο οποίο εκπαιδεύεται ένας Σπαρτιάτης. (Ah, yes. It is the first weapon a Spartan is trained in using.)" She said. "...A spear."
Atreus replied "Maybe we should get you one of your own. What do you think, father?"
"...Perhaps. But the wooden spears around these woods will not suffice as a primary wooden. They lake durability, causing them break easily."
"You would know, brother." Mimir said. "You've destroyed many among their travels."
Kratos replied with a groan
"Should we go back to Brok and Sindri then?" Atreus asked. "Get them to build a new weapon for Calliope?"
"Ya already gave her the dagger. It would only make sense to have the lass fully armed."
The old Spartan pondered this. Never did he think he would ever had put his daughter through this form of training, let alone give her weapons she needed for survival. But it was a necessity now; if Calliope truly wasn't sick anymore, he would see that she's still protected.
"We will need to find some resources for the making of the spear."
Calliope barely got any of the words spoken, just the few she managed to learn. She was starting to hate not knowing the language, it made her feel invisible, even when it sounded like they were talking about her. What she got out of it was that they were gonna go see "Rock and Cinder" again, and that she was gonna get a new spear. That made her feel happy, getting her own weapon, as they reached the path back to the cabin. Calliope felt like she was starting to get used to the environment this wilderness provides for her and her family, yet it didn't help that they snow reached halfway up her legs and only seemed to be getting worse as the temperature didn't seem to be rising anytime soon. She grew up in such a warm place, not ever having experienced the snow until now. It was nice, yet she only wished it wasn't so...dangerous. But, danger is mainly what Spartans lived for, not that she ever experienced such a burden growing up. She wondered if this was how the agōgē was for the young trainees...and would she have to pull through it everyday, as they finally made it back to the cabin. Kratos got to prepare food, something Calliope didn't want to see after having watched Atreus play with a Bunny's skinned carcass. Both siblings headed inside the cabin and left their father to making dinner.
"I still can't get over how good you were back there." Atreus said as walked by his bed and turned to face Calliope, who headed over to warm up by the firepit. "I mean, you handed yourself pretty well. And you and me, fighting side by side like that. Once we make it through your training, you and I will make a pretty good team."
Calliope could still barely understand her brother, but what she got was they will be training some more, and that made her smile. "Θα ήθελα πολύ να προπονηθώ μαζί σου, Atreus. (I would love to train with you, Atreus.)"
Her brother nodded as he then said "Now, we just need to work on your weapon. What would you want your spear to look like?"
Hearing the words she was for with, Calliope headed over to journal belonging to her father and flipped through the pages until she got to a sketch that contained what she was looking for. A Spartan Spear and Aspi Shield, the Arms of Sparta themselves. She showed the pictures to her brother, who got a good look at them.
"So these were weapons from your homeland, huh?" He asked and Calliope nodded. "They would definitely suit you. I'm sure father would want you have weapons like this."
He hands her back the journal and Calliope began looking through it again. It surprised her to know that these were drawings made by her father of all people. Never did she think he would take to actually sketch anything. But the figures, the scenery drawn into the book were just as good as Atreus' sketches. While the pages were old and dirty, the images held up rather nicely. She continued to flip through the pages until she stopped a picture that almost made her freeze in shock. It was one of her and her mother, holding each other closely. Her mother, Lyssandra, she remembered every moment she spent with her and father. Whenever they cared for her when she was sick, when they would be there to tuck her in at night. She cherished every memory she had of her family, all except...for one. The day they found themselves at a temple belonging to Athena, they didn't even know how they got there in the first place. But when they were there, the place being set ablaze was what made them hold each other close. Refusing to ever let go, the two huddled in the back until the doors of the temple blew open. When the smoke covered the place, they were frozen stiff as they heard screaming, and slashing, and before they knew it, a familiar figure came close and cut their lives short that day.
She would never forget those blades...and that monster.
Atreus came by when he saw his sister have a face of sadness. She caressed the face of her mother, holding back tears as she didn't want them to drip onto the page. The boy saw the page too and asked "That's your mother, isn't it? And you miss her, don't you?"
Calliope turned to her brother, unable to keep the tears from running down her face as she then caught her Atreus in a hug. Atreus knew what she was feeling all too well, and knew that she needed warmth and comfort as he embraced her as well.
"I know what it's like." He said before taking her by the shoulders and having her face him as with a smile of reassurance. "But we're here for you, Cal. You have me, Mimir, Father. We're all here if you ever want to talk about it."
The girl caught on what he said, and it made her smile, but then she frowned again as she couldn't get what she remembered out of her mind. Does her brother have the right to know? Had Father told him before? About everything?
"Atreus..." She began to say. "Υπάρχει κάτι που πρέπει να ξέρεις...(There is something you should know-)" But before she could continue, the door of the cabin opened and Kratos walked in, carrying a load of deer meat. He walked over to the fire pit and began to set it ablaze before grabbing a metal pot and hanging it over the flame. And that is when he turned to Atreus.
"Get to cooking, boy. We'll have to do after we eat."
"Yes, sir." Atreus replied, getting up from where say, leaving Calliope with the journal in hand. She looked back at the drawing, thinking that maybe it was best till later to tell him. Kratos walked up to Calliope and kneeled before her, seeing the drawing of her first wife, one he drew long ago.
"Father..." She began to say. "Θυμάσαι μάνα; Θυμάσαι τη Σπάρτη; (Do you...remember mother? Do you remember Sparta?)
"Τις αναμνήσεις τις λατρεύω καθημερινά, Μικρή Μούσα. (I cherish those memories everyday, Little Muse.)" He answered. "Ενώ διατηρώ ελάχιστα από την προηγούμενη ζωή μας, αυτό...δεν θα το αφήσω ποτέ. (While I retain little of our past life, this...I will never let go of.)"
That made her smile warmly. She often remembered her father being stoic and fierce, like any Spartan should. Only softening when he had the chance to spend his time with his family. How he was now made her think he was different, but perhaps that was a good thing. He had matured from the ruthless warrior he was before, and was far more wise and merciful. Calliope made a promise that she would do the same, now that she was given another chance at life.
Placing the book on the bed she was sitting on, both she and her father went to help Atreus prepare their food. The book was still opened though, left on the page of Lyssandra's drawing, where she looked to have been smiling in the page...