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Skyrim Spartan

Chapter One

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Kratos was adrift in a sea of nothingness. When he came to, he did not know where he was or for how long he had been unconscious.

He did know one thing though: he was dead.

That much was clear to him. And before his death, before the world came to an end, he had killed Hades – he thought it ironic that the God of the Dead and the Underworld was actually dead himself – and destroyed half the Underworld in the process of escaping it. Perhaps this was why he was here, in this eternal expanse of nothingness, and not on the banks of the Styx like he should have been.

The thought of being here in this vast empty space for an eternity troubled him, but perhaps this was punishment for all he had done. Some primordial force of the universe older than the gods and titans themselves might have thrown him into this abyss to keep him here in isolation, as if concerned that he might destroy anything else that he touched. A valid concern if there ever was one, he mused.

But he felt an ache of something deep within his... soul? He wasn't sure what he was anymore, only that he did still exist in some form. That he was still aware. Yet from his experience, souls should be able to see their own incorporeal bodies.

He looked down, or at least he thought he looked down because he wasn't really sure if he even had eyes anymore, and saw only the inky blackness of his prison in the endless void. He tried to move, but there was no sensation that could tell him if he was in motion or not. He sighed. Not that any sound or air actually escaped, but he thought of sighing and it seemed to work well enough as if he had actually done it with a physical body.

This was going to take some getting used to. But he had time. An endless amount of it most likely.

His former self, for he now considered who he was after the end of all things to be different than who he was at the beginning of his most violent and apocalyptic journey, would have probably raged against this prison of emptiness. And he mused that his former self would have also probably figured out a way to get out of it. A violent, highly destructive, and rage-filled way it would be, of that he had no doubt, but such a blunt force path had proved effective at taking on any challenge thus far.

Perhaps the burning rage that had consumed him would have been able to light the darkness and burn away the very fabric of the void itself in order to escape, but he felt neither the strength nor the inclination to try to escape his current situation.

For now, at least.

Kratos felt weary. Far too weary to try and do anything other than float there, in the depths of the sea of nothingness, and simply be. He didn't even try to think of much, because thinking was tiresome, so he tried to push his thoughts down to the barest of murmurs in his consciousness.

Though in his attempt at doing so, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, if he was able to somehow force himself to stop thinking entirely, then he would simply cease to exist. Maybe then he would truly and permanently be at peace.

But before he could get to summoning enough will to attempt such a feat, erasing one's self through erasing one's thoughts, something moved far in the distance of this empty chasm that caught his attention. He thought it a figment of his imagination at first. A vision brought on by his exceedingly tired consciousness. Perhaps even the beginnings of madness brought on by the slow realization that staying in this void for an eternity would indeed be maddening. But the thing, whatever it was, continued to move and to persist in his vision, until he was sure that it was real.

And then, it was heading straight for him.

He stared at it. There wasn't really anything else he could do. He couldn't run away or hide or even charge at it in some act of preemptive aggression. He could only watch as this thing got closer and closer to him. It had a light of some kind, a strange sight in this all-encompassing blackness, and he was curious as to what kind of light it was to be able to manifest itself here in this place.

It started off as the tiniest of pinpricks of light off in the far depths of the eternal night. The light moved across the empty space with great speed, horizontally at first until it stopped and then, perhaps seeing Kratos, it ceased moving sideways and began to get larger and larger until it was clearly approaching the weary Spartan.

As the light grew in size, so did its brilliance strengthen, and if Kratos had eyes he felt he would've been squinting madly against it's shining luminescence. He could not look away, but he could almost feel the pain from his phantom eyes as the light became almost unbearable.

Kratos began to wonder how this being could even stand to hold such a light so close to them without being blinded. Was it protected from its brilliance somehow? When it moved close enough for him to see better, however, he realized that the being was the actual light itself. It was made entirely of the purest, whitest light the likes of which he had only ever seen from one class of being: gods.

Strangely enough, he didn't feel any anger towards this nameless god that was fast approaching, despite all that the gods had done to him. Maybe it was because he was simply so weary and, having sated his thirst for vengeance, he no longer held as strong of a grudge against them as before. Maybe it was because he hoped to at least have some answers from this divine being as to where he was and what would become of him here.

While he didn't feel any anger at the moment, he certainly felt troubled. hat troubled him was that Kratos wasn't sure who this god could possibly be. He had pretty much killed all of them off, or at least all of the major ones, and this being didn't seem to be a minor god. Their power wasn't as great as what he could feel emanating from this one. Or did his elimination of those at the top result in some... promotions among the lower ranks? Was that even possible?

He had technically, as a demigod, ascended to be a full-fledged god when he filled the post of God of War himself a while back after he had slain Ares, the previous holder of the position.

The only other possibility was that this being fast approaching was Athena, last surviving member of the major Greek Pantheon, come to make amends and ask for his help once more about something or other. Gathering up the power of hope that he released into the world before his self-inflicted demise was probably the most likely request on that particular goddess's mind, not that he was inclined to go on such a quest after he had purposefully released it in the first place. That goddess had only wanted to regain more of her power, diminished as she was, and he was wary of her machinations and intentions.

When the unknown entity was close enough, and Kratos beheld its great size, the light seemed to ease somewhat, and he was grateful for it. The being had no real form to speak of, only a flowing and moving center from which emanated and spun a myriad of shifting waves of energy and light.

He tried to speak to it, but remembered that he had no body, corporeal or otherwise, and thus no voice. Yet spirits should have been able to speak, so why could he not? Even in his state of near nothingness, clearly the entity could perceive him, for it had stopped right where he was, and the Spartan could feel its gaze upon him. It was warm and comforting and yet cold and calculating at the same time. How that was possible was beyond him, but he supposed that anything was possible in the void. Especially to a god.

"YOU!" Its voice boomed in such a way that would have made lesser beings tremble, but only served to irritate Kratos. If his eyes could have narrowed at this being, they would have.

He couldn't fathom why it had to yell when it was utterly silent here, and he wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried that this thing was definitely not Athena. Its power was formidable, comparable in some ways to that of the major gods he knew, and yet weaker. He did not fear this unknown god. How could he? After he had faced off against the world and the mightiest of the gods themselves and had come out on top in the end, there was likely nothing that could strike fear in him anymore.

Kratos wanted to ask all the many questions that passed through his consciousness then, but all he could do was watch and listen. He had no way to speak, apparently, and his irritation grew due to his inability to express his thoughts. It struck him that maybe, by thinking really hard about what he wanted to say, the being would be able to perceive his thoughts.

He tried it. But after who knew how long, it didn't seem to notice or care about his thoughts as it continued to speak as if it was only concerned with its own mind. He didn't find that surprising, given that this was a god. Gods were almost always selfish creatures, himself included.

"YESSSS... YOU… YOU HAVE GREAT STRENGTH… BUT YOU ARE LOST."

Kratos couldn't help but feel he was being measured and inspected. But for what purpose? He was not about to willingly make any more deals with any other gods, least of all ones he didn't recognize. Gods could not be trusted, flawed as they were like the mortals who revered or feared them, not that any of them would admit to that. Especially not the ones that were now dead because of him.

He tried to speak again, to ask who this being was and what it wanted with him, but there was only silence and his rising frustration, boiling almost to the point of anger.

"YOU... WILL HELP... MY CHAMPION... MY DOVAHKIIN."

Kratos grumbled as best as a not-quite-a-spirit could grumble. Why did this unknown god want Kratos to help it? He was done. He was dead. And he wanted to stay that way for a long while yet. Why couldn't the cosmos just let him be? His annoyance was growing to dangerous levels.

"GO NOW... THIS... IS THE WILL... OF AKATOSH."

The tiniest ember of anger finally glowed within Kratos at the thought of being ordered around, at not even being given a choice, but before it could become anything the bright light lurched forward and engulfed him. Pain erupted throughout his body and then he somehow lost consciousness and knew no more.

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AN: Skyrim will be even bigger than in the game and contain more people as settlements are more realistic in my story. This also means way more stuff to play with heh Yes, Kratos is going to be a mfkn badass, but he will be tired and reluctant as he should be immediately after the events of GoW3. This is going to be fun to write. I can already tell. :D