Just as a heads up, these stories will be releasing weekly on Wednesdays to make sure I have time to write and edit them before uploading. I already have the next chapter ready for next week and am currently writing the next one after that. Also be aware I made some changes to this chapter and might have missed some small things I forgot to edit. If there is something confusing, be sure to let me know. Thank you and enjoy.
New York City
Kratos never knew this much noise could exist in one spot. In his years he's been to the busiest markets Greece had to offer, and headed the greatest armies Greece ever saw…even that was incomparable to the overwhelming sound that he stumbled into. Every way he looked people meandered about walking to and fro, of all shapes and sizes. In front of him were large hunks of metal that moved, they gave off a foul odor and blared a loud noise whenever they stopped. The road in front of him was so littered with these things that they filled the entire road.
"Are you alright Brother?" Mimir's voice pierced through the soundscape, bringing Kratos back to himself. It was time to focus.
"Where are we?" The question had to be asked, he had to know. This feeling in his gut needed to be wrong.
"To be truthful? I have no bloody idea. I've never seen anything like it." Kratos turned to get a good idea of where he was, it didn't help. Even Olympus paled in comparison to this…city?
Far above his head he could see buildings that could touch the sky, so tall it could rival that of the mountain Olympus itself stood above. There were many buildings that reached high into the sky, all slick and made of metal and glass. It was truly an awesome sight to see. But, Kratos was not here to dawdle about, he had an objective.
"We must find Atreus, quickly." Kratos returned Mimir to his place on his belt and marched onward.
Walking amid the crowd was…strange. People gave him no mind as he walked beside them, in fact they tended to avoid his glare and presence. Kratos would say the same for them too, everything about the people who lived here was off. They walked around with such vibrant clothes that Kratos could assume it only be fit for a general of an army, but as he walked by more and more dressed just as brazenly. Many talked amongst their own small groups, while others talked on little boxes held to their ear. Some walked alone like him, he spotted what he could only assume were paupers on the side of the road occasionally begging. As he continued to walk, the smell finally hit him, this city smelled disgusting.
"Brother, this place is stranger than I can imagine!" Mimir was right, of course, this place was a stranger to the two of them. But something in his gut told him otherwise. Something in the air felt…familiar. The back of his neck tingled in a way it hadn't in so very long.
"We find Atreus and go home, we will not linger here long." Kratos did not wish to stay, if his gut was right then he should not be here.
"I suppose so, any idea how we find the lad?" Kratos had a few ideas.
"When we go out to hunt, we use whistles to reveal our position. You would know this if you joined us." Kratos brought his hands to his mouth and whistled a tune familiar to that of a bird. The two of them had used this call many times, it was clear and distinct enough to notice.
Kratos continued this call for some time as he walked among the people. As he whistled one more time a woman turned to him agasp and quickly said something before walking off flustered. He looked confused.
"Did you understand that?" Kratos asked, finally noticing the dirty looks he was getting.
Mimir has come across many languages in his time, this one sounded similar but it was off. Nothing made sense in this place. "I understood a bit, but it wasn't flattering."
The two of them continued, and it quickly became clear that their hunting call wasn't working. Eventually they came across a large patch of grassland, many people sat down or in chairs. Many others were content to walk around or admire the pond. Kratos found himself on a bench, Mimir beside him, he considered his options.
"Something on your mind, brother?" Mimir asked, seeing the furrowing of Kratos' brow.
"I am trying to find Atreus." Kratos' answer was clearly a deflection.
"Is that the only thing? You seem tense, this isn't the first time you and the lad have been separated, something bothering you?" Mimir knew Kratos well, the last three years made them close like brothers. So when Kratos had something on his mind, Mimir would know.
"Something about this place…feels familiar in a way I wish to avoid." Kratos rubbed his hands together, he just realized that the cool air of winter that he was used to did not engulf this land. In fact it felt quite warm.
"Familiar how? You don't mean…" Mimir stopped talking, Kratos looked down at his brother.
"Mimir?" Kratos traced his line of sight, and found out why.
A large beast of a hellhound was lying in a patch of grass just across from them in the sunlight, it was big, the size of a cart and easily came up to just below Kratos' chest. Kratos looked around, no one seemed fazed by the large beast. A hellhound like this would have been met with screams and panic, clearly a sign of the underworld interfering with the mortal realm.
"Is that what I think it is?" Mimir asked, but the answer was obvious. A Grecian hellhound was lounging around on the mildew covered grass, without a care in the world.
"Why is no one panicking? Do they not see it?" Kratos' question answered itself as a couple of young boys approached the large beast to admire it, the hellhound did nothing. It was content to just shut its eyes and enjoy the warmth of summer. The children were pulled away by what he could only assume was their mother, the two boys waved goodbye to the hellhound but it did nothing in return.
"It seems content to just lie there." Mimir noted its laziness just as the beast stood up and stretched. The muscles beneath its short fur extended, and some pops could be heard, it was then that Kratos spotted something around its neck, a collar.
Kratos took Mimir and approached the large hellhound, "Can you read it?" Kratos asked as he raised Mimir's head.
"I don't want to be near one of these things, but aye, I can read it." Kratos and Mimir got close to the hellhound, who started to notice the two of them. It turned to them in confusion, tilting its head like Atreus' wolves would do.
"This lass' name is Mrs. O'Leary, it also says 'If lost, return to...Camp Half-Blood'? And a set of coordinates, but I've never seen one like these." A tamed hellhound, with a name? In Kratos' time, hellhounds were nothing more than vicious beasts to sic onto your enemies satiated only by a kill or showed dominance from their master. This felt more like a pet than a dog of war from hell.
The hellhound continued to look at them confused, even sniffing at them, when it got close to Mimir though Kratos took his axe out to protect his brother. The hellhound stopped, it clearly understood the silent threat. The hellhound stepped back, eventually turning around and striding towards a nearby tree. It jumped forward and disappeared into the shadows.
"Well, that was interesting. A tamed hellhound, hard to believe. What else is there?" As if on cue a swoop of air passed over them, was that the flapping of wings?
"Exquisite smell! Old, like fine wine! This one will do nicely." Above them was a harpy, a winged woman with dark brown feathers and talon feet. There were five in total, all looking at Kratos. He quickly set Mimir onto his belt as he turned to face the newcomers.
"This one smell funny, like northerners!" One of the other harpers, this one a pale black, scrunched its nose at Kratos. Preparing for a fight, Kratos readied himself to deal with these loathsome creatures.
"You do not want this fight." Kratos' words seemed to cause some to second guess, but the largest one, a haggardly old harpy with white feathers and scars to match her age, landed before him.
"Not many demi-gods reach your age, you have something about you that I can taste. We will strip you bare to your bones!" The leader of this group flapped her wings and a gust of wind tried to push him back, he resisted.
With nothing to say, Kratos raised his shield to block the gust of wind and aimed his axe. He threw it at the leader, getting a clean hit and stopping the air flow. Kratos summoned the axe back to his hand and used it to swing upwards, knocking the harpy into the air and back to the ground.
"Left side, brother!" Mimir called out, Kratos instinctually dodged away from his position just in time for another pair of talons to miss him.
The rest of the harpies descended on to him, too many for the axe to take on all at once. Kratos put away his axe and pulled out the Blades of Chaos, swinging the blades in a wide arc. The weapon served its purpose, most of the harpies fell to his left with the blade's momentum, only two remained up including the leader.
"Watch it, they won't stay down for long.." Mimir said as he noticed the harpies slowly get up from the blade's attack.
Kratos rushed the leader and swung as he neared her, the attack missed as the harpy flew above him. But his quick reflexes were enough for him to turn and throw his blades at her in the middle of her flight, bringing her crashing down. He swapped to his axe and threw it at her once again, this time freezing her in place and swapped back to the Blades of Chaos.
"You'll die for that!" The brown feathered harpy said, rushing towards him. The harpy didn't have a plan, but Kratos did. As the harpy approached, Kratos twisted the chains as a sort of clothesline and moved out of the way. The chains caught her, as she was unable to redirect herself away. Kratos wound the chains around her neck and pulled. Instead of her body falling to the ground decapitated, she simply turned to gold dust.
"Worry about it later, we have more to deal with." Mimir was right, Kratos turned to the other harpies, hesitant to follow their sisters' blind rage.
Kratos spun his blade around and tossed it, the nearest harpy could not react fast enough as the blade sunk into her chest. Kratos pulled himself towards his target and shoulder bashed the harpy. She turned to dust as well. Behind him he could hear their leader break out of her frozen state, infuriated. Kratos quickly put his blades away and summoned his axe.
"Crush him!" The harpy called out, all the harpies flew over his head, circling him. As he would make to throw his axe, one of them would swoop down and raze him in the back. He was struck enough times he attempted to move back and hold his shield up to gain a better position. But the harpies pounced on him, using the shield as leverage against him.
"You die now demi-god!" The leader shrieked.
Kratos had enough, pushing the harpy off his shield, he roared as the spartan rage flowed through his veins. He lunged at the leader, grabbing her by her head and sending it careening into the ground. Behind him the last of the harpies flew at him together. Kratos' fist made a wide arc, swatting them all out of the sky. The closest one on the ground was met with a stomp to the head, turning it to dust. Kratos grabbed the last two nearby and rammed them together, they also turned to dust. Kratos relaxed, letting his hands fall to his sides, and turned to look back at the leader.
She seemed barely put together, but he would have words with her. Lifting his axe to her neck, she seemed to understand her position.
"You will answer my questions." He was in no mood.
"Bah, why should I? Just kill me, I'll be back in a few years." Kratos scowled, what did she mean by that? Well, if death was a much preferable option, he would just have to deal with her another way.
The harpy screamed as he stomped on her leg, a crunch could be heard. "Brother?" Mimir was left unanswered.
"Where are we?" Kratos asked, the harpy in obvious pain, relented.
"New York!" Kratos never heard of this place…never in his years had the two words meant anything to him.
"This is not Greece?" The harpy turned to him like he grew a second head.
"What, are you dumb too? The old lands haven't been the seat of the Gods' powers in centuries." She said it so matter of factly, and that disturbed Kratos.
"The Gods, they live?" The harpy hurriedly nodded, before pointing to one of the buildings.
"Up there. It was a little touch and go, what with Kronos' attack on Olympus and Gaeas war shortly after. You must live under a rock if you didn't know who won the Second Titanomachy and Giant War." Kratos took it in silence.
"And the gods won?" Kratos questioned her again.
"No thanks to their awful children. Anything else?" The harpy scoffed.
"You've told me enough." He brought his axe down, turning her into dust.
"Brother, I believe we should go. Now." Kratos looked up and around, a crowd had formed around him. Their little black boxes pointed to him, some were urgently talking in their boxes. It told him enough that he should go.
Hooking his axe to its place on his back, Kratos strode off, the people making way for him as he walked by. As he walked away he could hear screeching in the air getting closer, he did not wish to see whatever came from that. He made his way across the park, finally clear of any prying eyes.
"Brother, we need to talk." Mimir was right, like usual.
Kratos found another alley to sit in, and sat on the steps leading to a door. As he did, he couldn't help but think of what was told to him. A second Titanomachy, another Giant War? The gods live?
"Brother, you told me in confidence what you have done back in your homeland, and I believe every word of it. Do you know what is going on? I mean, you said your pantheon was dead!" Kratos raised Mimir to face him.
"They are, I-" He saw to it with his own hands. Helios, Kronos, Poseidon, Athena, Ares…Zeus. He killed the gods, but somehow they lived, so much that the Titans rose up against them…and Gaea. He remembered the Earth Mother, how he used her to assault Olympus and how she tried to betray him.
"There must be an answer to this, gods don't magically reappear after dying…well some do but not quite like this. What you did, it would-is talked about like legend. What could have done this?" Mimir could only think, to try and come up with a reason for all this.
"It doesn't matter." Kratos hooked Mimir to his belt.
"Brother?" Mimir asked confused…no, he wouldn't.
"Whatever is the reason behind the gods reappearance is not our concern, which is finding Atreus and leaving. They will know how to find him, so we must go." Kratos looked up to the sky where the harpy pointed to. The building was easy to see, so he knew his destination.
In his homeland, there were many stories of those who denied their fate, but in their attempt to avoid it would bring about its conclusion. Kratos broke from fate many times himself, but this? He knew what he had to do, he would not deny it.
He would face his past, one more time, for his son. It was time to return home.