While Atreus and Calliope continued to make their way to the summit, the sun was setting behind the clouds, and a storm surged in the woods below. Their father, Kratos, was losing himself in a forsaken maze within the currently barren tundra of Midgard. It was hard to see anything through the blizzard, and movement was slow as his feet were buried with each step. Still, the old God pushed onward, much to the dismay of his only companion, the head, who felt like he was being frozen from the inside out at the moment.

"Brother, I really suggest that we seek shelter," Mimir stated out loud. "We still have some ways to go before we reach the mountain, but that won't do us good if we freeze to death first!"

"I will not stop," replied Kratos. "If my children seek to persist in their survival out here, so shall I."

"I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news here, but we've been slowin' down ever since the storm hit us so suddenly. You normally hear this from the baddies, I reckon, but your persistence can only get us far now."

Though he came to know the head as a trusted ally, Kratos would not let him be excused for how annoyingly infuriating his low spirit was down to this point. No amount of talking down would keep him from finding his son and daughter. He will persist and ensure their safety, even if it means sacrificing himself. On that, he was certain. But as he continued to march through the snow, he soon took notice of something: the cold winds blowing against him were subsiding, and the snow below his feet shrank to a more manageable level. It was almost like the blizzard was finally coming down, even through this endless winter. Was nature finally giving him a reprieve? Or was something else in play?

"Brother, look at that!" Despite facing back, Mimir had spotted something within the blur of the mist, his omnivision knowing no bounds. Kratos had seen it, too; however, what appeared to be a dome in the storm, a place where the wind would not touch. Mimir would've ruled it out as a trick of Fimbulwinter, something to play their in a lure of false hope...but then again, when you magic jewels for eyes, you definitely point those out. This was obviously magic, and obviously something meant to lure them in. No doubt in Kratos's mind that it was a trap, but from whom? Freya had never displayed such magic before, let alone most creatures they've encountered on their journey. The Gods of these Realms have yet to continue their hunt on the God of War and his boy, and Midgard was by all means isolated from the rest of the realms at this point. That much was clear.

So then, what was this?

"I wouldn't advise approaching, brother." Mimir commented, knowing full well his pleas would be ignored as Kratos marched towards the dome.

"You said we need to find shelter...we will claim it in here."

And with that sarcastic pun out of the way, the head braced himself as Kratos took his axe and walked through the dome like thin air. Inside the dome, it was strangely bright for an area as dark and stormy as these woods, but it was far more clear to see in here. It was a small space, no bigger than the land around Kratos's cabin, and while there seemed to be no one present, Kratos kept his wits about him and raised his axe for any possible ambush.

That is when say it, however, a shade, unlike the creatures that flee in the distance, or those that hide in the shadows, this one seemed vaguely familiar to the old Spartan. A cloaked figure, whose appearance was obscured too much by darkness that almost no one could make out its looks, and yet Kratos saw glowing spots adorning its body, spots that were all too familiar. The mark of a heavy burden from someone who tried to see love from someone who did not even know the meaning of the word. Only one who helped him in the far past, at the near beginning of his catastrophic campaign, had carried this mark and used the power of the shadows to avoid those who hunted him.

When Kratos tried to approach the shade, it vanished, no...it teleported...

"Impossible..." whispered the old God, who looked around and saw the shade again, walking alongside the edge of the dome. He knew who this being was, for he died in his arms after granting him an honorable death.

But at this moment, he was another chain brought back from the past.

"...You've changed much since last I saw you, old friend." the Shade spoke in a humble tone, with the voice of a young man, but also in the native tongue of Kratos's homeland.

"...Orkos..." Kratos said with the same disbelief he had when he first saw his father in Helheim. But this was no illusion...never mind that Orkos actually had the power to create illusions.

It was indeed the son of the Furies himself, the former Oath Keeper to the Greeks, freed from that burden with his martyr at the hands of the Spartan, and the one who helped to send on his path of vengence and destruction.

"This...cannot possibly be real." Kratos under his breath as the Shade of Orkos approached.

"I had the same disbelief in my eyes as you, Spartan, when I too found myself breathing life again..." That is when the Shade began to diminish itself and reveal the true former Fury himself. Orkos was no longer dressed in his old Greek wear, however, but instead cloaked in the warmest fabrics and animal hide he could salvage from these lands. He wore a hood over his head, a long cloak that barely touched the ground, a bundle of belts and satchels around his waist, along with patched-up fur pelts. But he was without protection on his feet, his hands, and the front of his cloak was open to reveal his tans, crater-filled chest. New clothing aside, he still looked as if hundreds of years had not passed since Kratos last saw him.

As if Calliope's sudden revival wasn't shocking enough. What was causing this?

"...I...I had killed you a long time ago..." Kratos finally replied to him in Greek, the language was something Mimir was only barely beginning to understand.

"True, but that was a fate I asked you to grant me..."

"Then explain to me how this is possible," Kratos demanded. "You are a phantom of my past come back to life. First...my daughter...and now you..."

"I wish I could explain everything, Kratos. But please understand that there is a tremendous force binding our souls to this plane of existence. And we may not be the only ones who have come back from oblivion."

"There are others?" What Orkos speaks of sounds like madness to Kratos, and he had to hear plenty of Mimir's stories that shocked even him. But more people from his past arriving, alive and well, and in an untold number to be precise...that is a recipe for disaster. There's no telling how far it would shift the supernatural balance of things in this world. It could lead down a chain of events to something far worse than the prophesied Ragnarok...

"Brother, what exactly are you talkin' about? I'm a little behind in speaking the Greek tongue." Mimir said.

Spotting Mimir hanging from the old God's hip, Orkos couldn't help but smirk a bit. "I see you've managed to make new friends. At least this decapitation was voluntary and not too different from the reason you freed me."

"Do not avoid the questions, Orkos. Who else has come back?"

"I wish I knew...but these lands are vast and cruel. They could be in hiding, as all others are at the moment. But know this, Spartan: I am not some devil from your mind come to haunt you with guilt and sorrow over your past history. I will aid you if needed."

It would take more than that to convince Kratos of Orkos' good intentions. Even after everything he's experienced by far, you cannot blame his suspicions and paranoia. There was still another matter to point out as Orkos reached from something buried in the snow. A relic that Kratos once thought destroyed upon his discarding of it, but the metal-encrusted handle, the silver filigree laid into the ornamental design, and the face of one of the Titans capable of casting the most powerful wings in the human world...Typhon's Bane.

Orkos summoned its mist-shrouded bow before pulling at the thin-aired string and letting loose one of the finest gusts of wind it had ever loosed in a long time. And from the wind, the dome and the blizzard dispersed around the three, making the path to the mountain once again clear for Kratos.

"This path shall take you where you need to go. Though...you might want to watch out for any more obstacles..." And with that, did Orkos shift and teleported out of sight. Kratos could take at what he meant by that, as then, out of nowhere, a creature of four legs made itself known and struck. Soon, everything turned white...

White...as white as the snow around them. Calliope had feared the worst when she felt her own eyes trying to force themselves down. She was exhausted, tired, and feeling frozen from the inside out. Her brother, Atreus, was dragging her along with all his strength, in what started to feel like a pointless endeavor to get to higher ground for a means of returning home. But they've traveled all the way up here to find nothing, with only a flickering blue flame to continue guiding them up to the peak. At this point, even through the darkness of her closed eyes, did all Calliope see was white. She wanted to pray that it was a light calling her, for she wanted to continue with this new life of hers for as long as she possibly could.

However, the white soon faded, and Calliope found herself within another cave, lying on the ground, feeling warm as she spotted what appeared to be another statue of a God of these lands. In fact, it was very similar to the one they had to destroy while escaping from that frozen, undead demigod. A hunter with a quiver of arrows on his back and a staff-long bow in hand, and dual axes by his side. It was another statue of Ullr. It would seem that whoever built the monument to this Aesir was persistent his reputation if they were continuing to build statues.

In fact, as she sat up, she could see that person currently working on the two columns in front of the statue.

He was dressed in a blue tunic with a hood, fur, and leather, as well as boots specifically designed to handle walking in piled snow. However, there was a shackle attached to his right wrist, with the chain snaking across the ground to some place in the dark. Could he have been a prisoner? A slave forced to make these statues in favor of the Gods?

Whatever this person's story was, the young Spartan Girl might find out as he turned to meet her eye and revealed that he had a red beard on his face.

"...You're friend's awake." The person called out to the left and out of sight from Calliope. She was very grateful to see that it was her brother, looking well himself.

"Calliope! Are you feeling alright?" Her brother immediately went into comfort and concern mode, wanting to make sure that she wasn't suffering from any effects after spending way too long in the blistering cold. But Calliope was more concerned about the stranger, who seemed to have offered them sanctuary while she was out.

"...Atreus, ποιος είναι αυτός; (Atreus, who is that?)" She asked him, pointing to the man who looked uninterested in their conversation and just continued working.

"Well, he's the...owner of the cave." Atreus answered, so sounding unconvinced himself. "He...allowed to...stay in here while you were falling asleep. Apparently, he was the one who made the statue in the cave."

"Yeah, thanks for wrecking the last one, by the way." He said to the while he got to chiseling the words, "Snow" and "Speed" on the columns in Old Norse. Had they not known that the statue of Ullr back down there was his work, they would have started to feel bad.

"We are...sorry about that, sir. We were just trying to-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it, kid. Wasn't a good place for a statue anyway." He remarked while stepping back to admire his work. The statue of Ullr stood tall and proud, even in a desolate place such as the frozen cave of the mountain. The two children walked up and admired the craftsmanship of the statue themselves; it was considerably better to look at than any statue of Thor Atreus, and their father had seen by the lake.

"It's really good." Atreus said.

"Yeah, I should charge admission." replied the man. But there was one thing on Calliope's mind.

"Γιατί είσαι αλυσοδεμένος; (Why are you chained?)" She asked him, pointing to his shackle and chain, though the man didn't seem to get what she said. Atreus translated, saying, "She asked Why are you chained?"

"...Because the Gods don't care for me much." He said while putting his tools away and walking over to a corner of the cave. "But it's not too bad. I like the cold, the scenery. I started to feel at home here."

Atreus and Calliope looked at each other before the boy once again replied, "Well...we'll get out of your way soon. We were hoping to reach the mystic gateway at the peak of the mountain."

"I'm afraid you're in the wrong place for that. There's no way to reach the peak from this side of the mountain. No place to climb, no way out of this cave besides..." He gestures with his head to the cave entrance, which leads down a really steep path. Atreus moved his head down, starting to feel hopeless as the blue flame from the lantern continued to dwindle. But the man spoke some more. "...If you could leave, where would you go?"

"Back to the Wild Woods. Our home is there."

"...Alright."

And with that, the man got up and moved to another dark side of the cave. The kids couldn't see what he was doing until he came back out, pulling something along. To Atreus' shock, it was a sleigh. The same dog sled that he saw in his dream some nights ago. The sight of it was something that was all too familiar to Atreus, and it made him rule out any connections being coincidental.

"This should take at least halfway, if lucky, a little more than half of where you need to go. From there, you can keep this old thing, but you'll have to push and walk."

Wasting no time, the two kids got in with Atreus taking the reins and Calliope sitting in the front. The blue flame from the lantern was blooming brightly now as Atreus gave a hopeful look to the stranger.

"Thank you." The boy said. "...Will we ever see you again?"

The stranger had an expression that showed him tired, as if he's seen it all and done it all, before he replied "...Probably not. But you never know. Look up to the mountains and think about me, if you can..."

He then started to give the sleigh a push.

"Welp, out you go."

And so, Atreus and Calliope were out into the cold again, but at least they making progress in getting back home as the wind in their faces blew against them, but they felt alive. Whoever that stranger was, he did them a great favor. And some could say, to find such things would be like a gift...from the Gods...

Welp, there you go. This should keep you covered until next time...for maybe at least another year or so.

Joking, but you never know. It's been stressful.

We now have Orkos...and Ullr, in case you guys missed that. I don't wanna add too many people from the past, until you guys actually dig Greek and Norse Mythological Characters going to war with each other. That would be cool. It would almost be like For Honor.

I'm open to any ideas you guys have in mind, as always. But I do plan on adding Deimos again for the next. Whatever you can think of would help to fill in the next chapter, though.

Until then, keep watching.

- Light.