Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Uzi was hoping to relax with N and V after the big fight with Cyn, but clearly that wasn't what the all mighty Absolute Solver planned. Several portals have been appearing where she and Cyn had fought. At least it was obvious what they were after some careful examination, these portals where remnants of Cyn's teleportation across the battle field. Still though, it didn't really answer any questions as to why they appeared, given that Doll didn't cause any of those when she teleported. But then again, Cyn was very different compared to anyone else who used the solver, given she was the host of Absolute Solver, aka the original version before being copied and spread around to people like her mom.

Still though, the question as to why the portals are thing in the first place has been largely unanswered. Not even the now absorbed Cyn knows what caused them and that kinda worried Uzi, given how Cyn seemed to the one who always knew more than what others did at almost any situation. At least the portals weren't dangerous....yet. All they did was lead others to other place of the arena, which was good as it could've been possible for these portals to lead to anywhere on Copper-9 or worse, lead to other enitre planets and possibly just straight up space. Sometimes the portals would close and not be active for weeks before suddenly starting up again, leading to a slightly different spot than before.

Thankfully, no one else besides Uzi's group and her parents would visit the area, which was good as the last thing they needed was to go and help some random that was stuck. Sure it was boring to continually visit the area to make sure nothing was going wrong but it was something that needed to be done just in case. Uzi as at least happy she didn't have to do it alone and by alone she meant without just Cyn. It was random when N decided to admit his feelings for her, even more random when she decided to blurt her feelings about V, in front of her enemies. But here they're now, a happy group of individuals who love and care for each other.

"Hey Uzi, your mother told me that one of the portal spots seems to be having some...strange energy signals, we should check it out", N said as he walked into Uzi's room.

"Okay, tell V as well and we'll head out in a bit", Uzi said, sitting on her computer, watching camera that surround the various portals.

Uzi's tail then jolted to life, and suddenly looked towards N. "Hello Big Brother, it is nice to you, Happy expression", Cyn said, as she swayed side slightly.

"Nice to you to Cyn, are you doing okay since...you know?", N asked nervously. "I'm doing good, Big Brother, Repeated emotion", Cyn replied.

"That's nice", N replied as he pet Cyn, watching her smile. Uzi was slightly blushing due to fact that it is still part of her body but didn't mind it.

N finishes petting Cyn and leaves to go find V, leaving the two alone. Uzi and Cyn are bored watching camera everyday but given how important it was, Uzi knew she had no choice, it was for the safety of her people and the planet. She sighs lightly as she turns off the cameras, and gathers her backpack, preparing to get ready to leave and investigate the strange readings that were suddenly appearing.

She finds N and V nearby and tells them that they're gonna go investigate and the three of them fly off out of the bunker towards the arena, also now dubbed The Absolute Domain, simply because it was cool sounding and Uzi was now getting annoyed calling it the arena every time now. As the three descended towards the area, they noticed that all the portals are now suddenly gone.

"Uhh...this is odd", Uzi says as she looks around the place. "It's kinda creepy without the portals here", N replies. "Could be that strange energy that you told me was senses earlier, could be that the portals were getttng ready to disappear", V comments.

"Thet could be it, but it's best to look around just incase", Uzi replied. The three then walk around the area looking for any signs of something unusual. As they walk around they see the damage and ruin of their battle with Cyn, the many horrors, close calls, and temporary deaths that have accrued here. The trio then converge back together as they haven't found anything of note and start getting ready to leave, until something appears right under them. A portal, a mix of the yellow solver and some sort of strange blue, leading them towards a new destination as they fall in, failing to escape its grasp.

In a snowy forest, lies a small wooden house, housing a son and father. The father, Kratos, has been currently chopping down trees for a special occasion, one he wished hadn't happen so soon. He was gathering these trees for a funeral pyre for his wife. He wasn't one who actively showed his feelings towards others, even in his new grief. He still held that stone faced expression, after all, he had his own way to grieve.

His son, Atreus, was fairly young, less then 10 at most. He was devastated by his mother's loss but eventually with time was able to heal. He had been lighting candles around her now wrapped body as a part of a ritual. Despite the fact he was less hurt about losing his mother, it still bothered him, he didn't know her for long. It was nice to listen to her stories and learn of the world around them, the many gods and creatures that made this place their home.

Kratos was getting close to gathering all the trees needed, until he heard a strange noise suddenly coming from the sky above. He was confused, after all, this nosie shouldn't becoming fromt he sky, their was no way for it to appear unless it was possible magic. He looked towards the area the sound was coming from and saw what appeared to be a portal, yellow and blue mixed together, he couldn't see through the portal but was surprised as three figures suddenly appeared from it, falling down far onto the forest floor below.

He looks over to where the three beings fell and wonders if he should approach them, after all, he's been trying to live quiet and doesn't know if they will be hostile towards him. He decides to investigate where they fell, walking as carefully as he can as he has his axe in his hand, ready to immediately attack if necessary. After a few minutes, he react the location, and hears the three beings, clearly annoyed they fell from the strange portal from above. 

He hides behind some rocks, peaking over it. He doesn't recognize what these beings could be, he was told of a lot of the creatures and races who loved in the realms but none of them look like the ones he is observing. Their porcelain white skin, their strange glassy like faces where their eyes reside. He tries how two of them look almost the exact same to each other besides the short one with purple hair. She is the most upset at the situation, stomping on the ground and kicking a rocks and snow into the distance. Funny, reminds him of how his son sometimes acted when he was mad.

He stopped his train of thought and listened more to the trio's conversation.

"I can't believe this nonsense, we end up going through some sort of strange portal and now where trapped on another snowy planet, at least this one has life on it unlike ours", Uzi said, annoyed.

"Calm down Uzi, none of us could predict this would happen, we'll....we'll find a way out...somehow, we just have to bear with it for a while until then okay", N said, comforting Uzi.

"I hope so", she responds, much more calm. "Now if your down with your emo complaining, we have to figure out where we're living for time being, cause it's starting to get late and I don't want to be in the cold", V said.

"Since we don't have food on us or with us, we're going to have to hunt right, like how we used to?", N asked. "Yep sadly for you, it's going to probably be a lot more emotionally upsetting for you, considering where gonna have to be hunting animals", V said. "Just try to at least not treat them like how you did my people at least", Uzi commented.

Kratos finishs listening to the trio's talk and hears them walk away, as the slowly depart from their crash landing. As soon as he stops hearing them nearby, he gets up from the rock and starts to head back home. He didn't gain much information but did learn somethings, such as their names and apparently they aren't of this world, probably explains why he couldn't recognize them, no other being probably knew about them. He sighs knowing his adventures in the forest from now on are definitely going to be very, very interesting.

"....as long as they don't come after be, we should be fine", he says, as he continues he walk back home.

Chapter Text

Inside Kratos's house, is a large table filled with many candles and a wrapped up corpse in the middle, the many unlit candles surround the corpse. Atreus enters the house and lights the candles, while saying a prayer.

"Lo, there do I see my mother. Lo, there do I see my father. Lo, there do they call to me. Lo, there do they call to me. Lo, there do they call to me". Atreus takes a breath as he finishes the prayer, looking over the body of his mother one last time.

"She's ready", he simply says as he hears his father behind him, walking towards him. Kratos picks up the body and puts it down on the stacked firewood.

"Find you way home, you are free", he says as he begins to start the fire. He ignites the fire using his axe and some flint, beginning the funeral pyre. Atreus remembers he forgot the knife and goes to grab it from the now burning corpse and burns his hand as he grabs and drops the knife. Kratos simply grabs some snow and puts it on his hand and tells him to squeeze, cooling down the burn.

"This knife...it was hers. Now it is yours. She taught you how hunt?", He simply asks.

"What she knew", Artues replies.

"Show me"

It's has been over a week since the trio of drones arrived innthis new world. They have been taking up shelter in a small cave near a river. The three have been fishing for food, using their tails to quickly stab or grab any incoming prey. Despite their situation, they have been doing pretty well. The only thing really getting to them is their boredom and wanting to go home. Currently V is hunting fish as N and Uzi are sleeping.

As V is hunting some fish, she hears some noises nearby, what sounds like fighting coming from deep in the forest. She thinks about possibly investigating the noises but who knows what could be out there causing those them and despite her many weapons and regeneration, she doesn't want to risk it. So she simply ignores it for now and hopes it doesn't come closer towards her and her partners.

V  suddenly hears something behind her and turns around, only to smile at the approaching figure. "Hey Uzi, surprised to see you awake", she says.

"I'm surprised to, guess I got good sleep last night", Uzi says. 

"Is N still asleep?", V asks.

"Yeah, not surprised though, he did fish overnight", Uzi replies.

"I get he was excited at the opportunity to fish but he really shouldn't have pushed himself so far", V says as she stabs a fish and throws it into small bag.

"Happy to see your arts and crafts skills have gone to work", Uzi says as she looks at the bag.

"Yeah, you and Lizzy actually inspired me to be more creative and so I made a bag for us", V says. "Really helpful at moving fish in large bulk and for you to not waste your solver on them as well", she continues. Uzi smiles and sits down near V, watching her hunt down the fish swimming in the river. 

"Do...you ever think we will be able to go back home?", Uzi asks in somber.

"I...I'm sure we will and if we can't, at least we know we can survive out here", V replies. V sighs a bit ash she hurled the bag of sih over her shoulder. The two look at each other  and smile as they walk home.

They arrive at their spot near the cave and see N awake, currently looking at some birds in the nearby trees. "We're back", V said, grabbing N's attention away from his bird watching.

"And how are my two favorite people doing"?, N asks happily, causing the two girls to lightly blush. "Doing good and how are you this....morning, afternoon, one of those two?", V asks.

"I'm doing good, still a bit sleepy but overall fine. I'm guessing fishing was successful and also nice bag", N says. "Thanks", V replies.

"Sleepy. Morning big brother N and big sister V. And you as well, Uzi", Cyn suddenly says, resting her head on top of Uzi's right shoulder.

"I was wondering when you were gonna wake up, been out for a while. Got me kinda nervous", Uzi says.

"I was just simply tired and need to sleep for a while, didn't realize it had been at least 13 hours since I last awoke", Cyn states. "Morning buddy", N says as she pats Cyn.

"So now that we're all awake, i"ll go set up the fire so we can eat", N says as he darts off the the cave, immediately turning his hands into his swords and repeatedly striking them together to make a spark over a small pile of wood.

After a few hits, the fire is ready and V, Uzi and Cyn arrive to feast and dine.The group eat the roasted fish, happily enjoying their time around the fire. 

"Hey V are you okay?", N suddenly asks, grabbing the attention of Uzi and Cyn. They look and see V slightly...bothered by something and they don't know what and V looks slightly alarmed at the attention now being sent on her.

"It just...when i was gathering the fish I heard nosies from the other side. It sounded like fighting and such and I guess I'm worried about what would happen if it reached here. Sure we're powerful and all but we don't know what else is out here. For all we know their could be something worse than the Absolute Solver and i....don't want that to be the case", V said as she held her head down.

N and Uzi suddenly get up and hug her, comforting her, making V feel a lot better. "It's okay V, it's fine to be sacred and worried about the possibilities but we're here for you, always", N says.

"Yeah, we're here for you and don't you ever forget that, okay", Uzi then said. V smiles at the two who have now backed off from V, giving her space to relax. "Thanks guys", she says.

"Cute. How heartwarming, to see my family, happy", Cyn says happily. V laughs at Cyn, she is surprised by how much Cyn has grown on her. Given the trauma she has caused, but she changed and even also helps that Cyn isn't under the absolute solver's influence anymore.

"Hey V, if you're up for it, how about we go and investigate the noise and see if it's anything...hopefully not dangerous, if you're still up for it, which I had mentioned already...", N says slightly embarrassed.

"I guess we could and besides, we need to see what else is out there besides our cave area and the forest around us, so yeah, let's go explore", V said.

The group once again do a hug and get ready to travel to the other side of the river. Hoping to answer what ever questions they could possibly have about what could be there.

Kratos and Arteus are tired but determined on their hunt for the deer, hoping to catch it after the annoying amount of events that have happened for such a simple thing. But here they are, finally able to shoot the deer that has been arguably, the most annoying possible so far. Kratos and Artues set up on a small ridge, Artues prepared to shoot the deer.

"Wait for my mark... Relax. Do not thing of it as an animal. It is simply a target. Clear your mind", Kratos take a deep breath in preparation for what he is going to say. "Steady you aim and breath in. Exhale and release". 

Arteus does exactly what he is told and fires. "I got it", he says excitedly, light jumping in his triumph. "Good", Kratos simply replies as the two of them walk towards the deer, who is left on the ground.

"It's...it's still alive" Arteus said, looking at the deer, seeing it's pain. "Your knife... No, finish what you started" Kratos says as he see the Arteus's hesitation.

"I can't...", Arteus says. Kratos takes a breath and clutch the knife that Arteus is holding, slowly they lower the knife into the deer, finishing the hunt.

Arteus tries to respond to what happened but he is interrupted by giant troll appearing and attacking the duo with a large stone column, dropping them downwards to where the troll is and also knocking down the deer corpse. The troll's firey eyes shine brightly against the ice and snowy landscape around them.

"ARTEUS", Kratos shouted as he fell and landed. "We're going to fight that?", Arteus said in both fear and mild excitement, gathering his bearings. "We have no choice", was what Kratos replied as he drawn his axe, immediately jumping into action.

Meanwhile the trio of drones are currently walking down the forest, investigating the area where V heard noises before and they suddenly find a place filled with bodies, frozen corpses, welding weapons, the draugr that Kratos and Artues fought earlier in the day.

"That's...odd, these look human but the frozen skin and almost corpse like appearance should mean they shouldn't even be able to move but considering the fact that had weapons on them and the fact that the spilled blood is fresh and from these things, they probably died recently. These were probably the sounds you were hearing earlier V, now the next question is what was fighting them", Uzi says as she looks over the frozen space the group is occupying.

"That's...mildly concerning, considering the human body shouldn't be able to be active like that", N says as he pokes the bodies with a stick.

"So...there are humans out here after all, or at least something human-like is out here", V replies.

As the group continue their investigation, they all suddenly hear a loud crash and beastly shouting coming further into the forest. The trio look at each other and immediately beign to fly over there, trying their best not hit any trees. As they dive deeper they hear two voices shouting and yelling over the beastly shouting, one much older and rougher and another that is much younger.

As they reach the clearing they see Kratos and Artues, fighting the troll and dodging the troll's column slam, making the ground indented and causing snow to fly up high into the air.

"So....that's the source of those nosies huh, guess we should...help?", N says. Uzi lightly groans but knows it the right thing to do, even if she is some what afraid of the giant...thing in front of her.

Kratos is having an annoying time fighting this troll, sure he had fought bigger and arguably tougher foes but this thing is being stubborn and is such a pain. Doesn't help to that he is still tired and bruised from the traveling and the fight with the draugr earlier. This was suppose to be a simple hunting adventure to distract Arteus from his mother's funeral but nope it turned into a full on expedition across the forest.

As he continues to hit the troll, hitting it's legs and slowly but steadily removing chunks away from it, something attacks the troll, something he remembers seeing not that long ago. One of those strange figures he saw was flying around the troll, repeatedly slicing it with its claws and dodging the attacks of othe troll, who can't hit the flying creature well. As the creature is distracted one of the figures land near him, the coat wearing figure offers his hand. Kratos look at him and takes it. The figure brings him towards the side, away from the troll.

He looks around and sees his son nearby, who is standing next to another one of those figures, the short purple one. 

"Are you okay sir?", the figure near him asks.

"I'm...I'm fine, thank you for rescuing my son", Kratos says, catching his breath.

"Are you okay father?", Artues asks as he walks towards him. Kratos simply nods and gets up, dusting his clothes off. Kratos stares at the two figures near him.

"You two, what are you?", he asks, grabbing the attention of Uzi and N, mildly scaring them due to his voice.

"We are, um...how about we put this on hold until that thing is defeated, okay?" , Uzi asks says nervously, pointing towards the troll and backing away from slowly from Kratos.

"Fine", Kratos replies. He grabs his axe and infuses the ice magic into it and throws it at the troll, hitting it's forehead, making it distracted from V, who immediately follows up the attack by stabbing the troll's eyes, blinding it. The acid destroys the troll face, slowly melting the area near the eyes, killing the troll and leaving a empty void in its head as the acid spills out.

V lands near N and Uzi, looking over Kratos and Artues. "So...I'm sure you have some questions regarding who we are, I'll try my best to explain but first, how about introductions", Uzi said.

"My name is N, the other tall one is V and the other one is Uzi", N happily states, wrapping his arms onto the two, holding them close.

"I'm Kratos, he is Artues", Kratos replied. "Now, back to my previous question. What are you?", Kratos continues. N undoes his hold to allow Uzi to speak.

"Fine, I'll tell you what we are, just...possibly prepare to understand things you might not fully comprehend"

Chapter Text

"We are artificial beings that live on the planet known as Copper-9, named so for it high amounts of copper the planet contained. We were made to be a work force of sorts, helping humanity with life and doing things they can't normally do well. Eventually some later, the discovery of something called the Absolute Solver came into light, a program which once applied to drones, gave them powers of reality. The first known case of such a drone was Cyn, a worker drone on Earth. She was got infected and the program influenced her decisions, eventually causing the Earth to be destroyed.

The two besides are known as Disassembly Drones, workers drones modified by Cyn to hunt down any other solver drones, since humanity tried to study it they spread it to other drones, giving them the powers as well. Cyn controlled my mother, Nori, to accidentally destroy Copper-9's core, causing the planet to become a snowy wasteland where no organic life lives. Sometime later the N,V and the rest are sent to Copper-9 on a false mission to simply eliminate any worker drones. As they had their memory tampered with, some more than others.

Eventually after some time we manged to stop Cyn and destroy the Absolute Solver by me eating her core, absorbing her into my body and causing me to become the new host of the AS, albeit without its control over me. Does that answer your question?", Uzi asked.

Kratos and Artues were kinda dumbfounded by everything explained to them, mainly Artues. Kratos was confused on some parts but most of it was understandable besides some details.

"I think you might have explained too much", N said, looking over at Arteus, who is holding his head in confusion.

"Probably but at least it's clear up now and hopefully no future confusion should arise", Uzi replies. 

Kratos took a deep breath as he began to speak, "You are beings made by organization and the two near you were changed by someone with powers and eventually lead to the demise of your home, Copper-9, until you later defeated and free Cyn from the power's grasp, correct?".

"Pretty much yeah", Uzi replied.

"I see", he says. Artues puts his hands down from his face, "I think I get it?", he says. "No worries little buddy, we can explain more if you need", N says. Artues smiles at N's request.

"So now that this is done, what exactly where you two fighting,? Cause it doesn't look like any creature or thing I ever seen", V asks.

"Trolls, large and brutal creatures who uses their raw strength to pummel foes into paste", Kratos says.

"....oh, we entered an actual fantasy land. Probably explains the fish and why some of the deer had brightly colored antlers" Uzi mutters.

"I'm guess the creatures here aren't ones you have back home", Kratos says. 

"See where I come from...trolls and creatures of the sort are considered...fake. So seeing actual trolls and dragons probably is going to be a...interesting experience", Uzi replied.

"I see" Kratos says.

"Yeah and by any chance where you responsible for the noises from earlier? Cause V said she heard nosies from across the river and when we check it out we jpfound these frozen corpse things there", Uzi asks.

"Ah, I see you encountered the remains of draugr. I did encounter and dispatch them earlier yes. They are a type of undead, which I'm all to familiar with", Kratos says.

"Makes sense, given their whole decayed look that had", V says. 

"So...now what?", N asks. "Honestly...I don't know, we finally meet people here, learn that fantasy creatures are real here, and that apparently magic exists, given what he did with his axe", Uzi said.

"Speaking of magic, how could one possibly learn such...intelligence", Cyn said suddenly, freaking everyone out as the tail extended forward, in front of Uzi.

"What...is that?", Artues asks, mildly in panic. "She is Cyn, since I ate her core, I managed to absorb her into my body and possibly Doll but she hasn't spoke so that's still a working theory", Uzi says.

"As Uzi said, I am Cyn, the first host, the maker of the Disassembly drones, such as big brother N and big sister V. I do wish I had my own body, as being attached almost permanently leads to rather.....unfortunate situations", Cyn says, slightly annoyed. "Not my fault when I was controlled the patch was broke, which could've been used on you", Uzi replied, also annoyed.

"Oh well, the past is the past. Can't do much now but accept it", Cyn said. "...hate it when you are right, you know that", Uzi replied. "Satisfied expression", cyn stated.

"So...now what?", N asked. "Good question", V replied.

"By any chance, are you two doing anything of interest, cause this was the most action we had in the past fee days since arriving and we don't know much about this place at all", Uzi asked.

"May I tell them father, if it's okay with you?", Artues asked, looking at Kratos. "Yes", he replied. "Thank you", Artues said.

"We..we are currently planning on bringing mother's ashes to the tallest mountain in all the realms, it's going to be a tough journey but it it mother's wish", Artues said.

"Oh...I'm sorry for your loss", N said. "It's...it's okay, I was sadden when it happened but I shouldn't let it drag down mother's wish", Arteus said.

"I remember when I supposedly loss my mother due to these guys", Uzi said, eyeing N and V. "...yeah, sorry about possibly making your dad into a terrible parent by proxy' N said rubbing the back of his head.

"To be fair, she is still kicking just, you know, as a core instead of being in actual body", V said. "Hopefully we can continue progress on possibly getting her a new body once we go back home", Uzi said.

"So now all of this is sorted anything else before we possibly leave", N asked. "You three live in or around the forest, correct?", Kratos asked. 

"Yeah, we took shelter on a cave near the river, plenty of fish to catch", Uzi said. "I see, since you...four aren't from around here, how about I teach you the ways of survival around here", Kratos said.

"Sure, be great to actually know what I'm doing from someone who looks like they been here for forever", Uzi said. "Good, training begins tomorrow, look for a cabin, follow the river downwards", Kratos says as he begins to leave. 

"Actually before you go, I have something to give you, if it can do it", Uzi says. "And that would be?", Kratos asks. "Give me a sec, been practicing but I'm not if I can actually do it as well yet", Uzi said.

Uzi takes a breath as she activates the solver, the hexagonal arrow shaped symbol glowing brightly in her hands as she gathers some nearby debris, mixing them together into something. As they spin suddenly flesh appears in the mix and slowly but steadily a red fleshly covered rectangle appears with a purple spot on it, eyes and mouths lining some sections. The solver disappears into thin air as the item falls into Uzi's hand.

"Ha, knew I could do it", Uzi says excited, clearly happy about her work while everyone else around her stares in a mix of awe and horror. "This should allow contact between us and you, once I set up one for us. Tap that weird purple spot to call and hopefully I should be able to respond with my own once made", Uzi said.

"...gross", V said. "Not be..rude Uzi, I get that doing something like this takes work and all but....I wouldn't touch it even if I was out of options", N said. 

"Neat, you have learned how I do my conversation of metals and such into flesh and bones, impressive. Approving expression", Cyn said.

"This...device, once your own is completed, will allow contact between me and you correct", Kratos asks as he grabs the device. "Yup, although I feel a bit overheated from doing something like that so if you'll excuse me", Uzi said as she jumped down near the troll's corpse, beginning to eat it.

"Eww", Artues says. "I should be disgusted but considering all we have eaten is fish for the longest time, it might not honestly be a bad thing to bring this to camp, could last us weeks", N said.

"Yeah but how are we dragging it back?", V asks. "What do you mean?", N asks, confused by V's question. "We can't really fly it across or drag it with us", V says. "Uzi can just pick it up with the solver though", N says.

"...oh, yeah that's makes sense", V says embarrassed. "Uzi, when you have the chance, grab the body with the solver so we can drag to camp, that's gives us weeks of food at least", N says towards Uzi down below.

"Sure", she replies as she eats some chunks of the troll's arm. "Well then we should get going and I hope your journey goes well, stay safe", N says as he and V prepare to leave. "Uzi we're going back to the cave, see you there", v says.

The two walk away, leaving Kratos, Artues and the sill eating Uzi alone. "Okay, now I'm done", Uzi says as she extends her wings to jump to upper layer and proceeds to land near the two. "Welp see you two later and remember, don't be afraid to call if you decide", Uzi says as she activates the solver once more, grabbing the troll corpse and dragging it through the forest in front

"So father...what should we do now?", Artues asks. "We prepare for our journey and...get used to our guests nearby", he replies. "Right", Artues says. The two head into the forest and start their way back home for their next day.

Kratos and Artues have arrived back home to his Cabin and places the device made by Uzi on the table. He sees the device connect itself to the table, embedding into it. Kratos tries to remove but sees the table also lifting as well. He touches one of the eyes by accident and the device un latches from the table, dropping it below. Kratos looks at the device closer, that power that Uzi had used, this was the solver. The ability to break and control physics...what a powerful one indeed but one faucet that most god like being break anyway. But the ability to transmute non-organic materials into organic ones was definitely one he hasn't seen yet. Considering that this solver was able to be spread and be used by others, it definitely is a problem if he has to go against it. 

Sure he has god like powers and such but he isn't sure if his god status will affect the solver. Doesn't help that it can grab objects from afar, such as that troll body. If Uzi decidd to use it on him or worse, Artues, he might be in trouble. But what about the other gods around to, if he is or isn't affected by the solver, then what about the other gods that live here. He stops his thinking and places the device onto the wall near the door. The device once again latches onto the wall and he notices it not embed itself as further as it did with the table. He can tell beucsee the table has slight teeth marks on and when he grabbed the device on the wall, he felt very little resistance against him. Strange it was, a somewhat sentient device caple of long range communication. Kratos and Arteus prepared to go to bed, falling asleep until a little while later a loud knock was heard, completely freaking Artues out.

"What was that?", Artues asked, panic filling him.  "QUIET", Kratos said, his voice loud in demand. 

"Come on out, it's no use in hiding anymore. I know who you are...", a cocky but confident voice said behind the door. "What's going on, do you know him?", Artues asks.

"More importantly, I know what you are", the voice from beyond the door continues. "Boy. Beneath the floor. Now", Kratos says as he lifts a trapdoor from the floor.

"But you never told me to go down there. Who is that?, Artues continues. "I do not know", Kratos replies. "What's he talking about?", Artues asks. "I do not know. Get IN", he says, Artues following his father's word.  

"Just tell me what I want to know! No need for this to get bloody. Kratos takes a breath and grabs the device from the wall and press the purple spot. "Someone is here, if you can hear, get here soon, my boy could be in danger", he whispers as he throws it into the corner.

Kratos steps out of the cabin and sees the one who was talking, a stranger to Kratos. This lean man in front of him, covered in blue tattos, complimented by the man's beard, wearing nothing but what seems to be a lighter pair of pants.

"Thought you be bigger. But you're definitely the one. Long way from home, aren't you?", the stranger says, eyeing up Kratos, almost as if he's judging him.

"Waht do you want?", Kratos asks. "Oh, you already know the answer to that", the stranger says. "Whatever it is you seek, I do not have it. You should move on", Kratos replies.

The stranger laughs a little and wavs his hands around in a mocking manner as he speaks, "And here I though your kind was supposed to be so enlightened. So much better than us. So much smarter. And yet you hdie in the woods...like a coward", he finishes, slight annoyance in his voice.

"You do not want this fight", Kratos says. "Oh...I'm pretty sure I do", the stranger says as he hits the side of Kratos face. Briefly surprising Kratos but he doesn't budge.

"Leave...my...home", Kratos says, emphasizing each word said to deliver his message. "You're going to have to kill me to do that", the stranger says as he hits Kratos once more. Before repeatedly striking Kratos before his last blow is caught.

"I wanted you", Kratos says, preparing a strike. "Finally", the stranger says before getting lunched by Kratos's punch to his face, him slamming into the ground.

The stranger repeatedly says no multiple times under his breath. "You would not listen", Kratos says as he walk towards the stranger.

"No...No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no", the stranger continues as Kratos lifts him from the ground. 

"Fine. My turn"

Chapter Text

The group of drones have arrived back at the camp, having a good time eating the newly acquired troll corpse. It was nice for them to eat something different than fish for once. Even though fish wasn't that badly having it as one of the few edible things around was getting annoying and they wanted something with a different flavor for a while.

"This is really good, strange it came from something we just fought though", N said, eating a section of the troll's arm. "We did eat worker drones before we didn't need to", V said.

"You know...a thought just occurred to me", Uzi said. "We're eating something that was considered fictional. But it's real here, we are eating a actual troll...", she continued.

"..wow. Now that you brought it up, it's kinda strange to be eating something once considered fictional", N said. "..food is food, and it ain't fish, so I'm good", V stated, eating her piece of troll.

"So Uzi, you did make a copy of that strange device you made for Mr.Kratos right?", N asked. "Sure did, hopefully he won't need it soon", Uzi said. And just as she said that the device suddenly made noise and she quickly went to it, panicking on why he is suddenly calling out so soon. It could be he is just testing it just incase, but who knows.

"Someone is here, if you can hear, get here soon, my boy could be in danger", she heard from the device, sensing worry in his voice. She could hear what sounded like the beginning of another voice before the message ends.

"Guys...we need to go now. Kratos is possibly in danger and his son is left alone", Uzi said, rallying N and V's attention. The two murder drones nod quickly and the three prepare to travel down the river to Kratos House.

Kratos's day couldn't have been worse but here it is, this stranger who suddenly arrived, claiming to know who he is and what he is as well. It was annoying to Kratos, now matter how much he seemed to hit this man, he didn't seem to feel any of it at all. If was it this man couldn't feel anything he threw at him. Kratos somewhat wished he could have that now currently, as getting repeatedly hit from this man was also taking a toll on him as well. The stranger's strikes weren't deliberate but were powerful and caused considerable knockback each time he landed one. The only saving grace to Kratos was his shield, which helped him stay his ground against the enemy.

Suddenly Kratos is launched onto the roof by a powerful punch from the stranger. The stranger follows the action by getting on the roof and choking him out.

"Tell me what I want and the Pain stops. Real simple", the stranger says, continuing his hold on Kratos's neck, making it hard to breathe. The stranger tries to punch Kratos's face but Kratos moves to side briefly, making the stranger punch a hole into the roof instead. "Why are there two beds in there?", the stranger asks, mocking Kratos. Kratos manages to break out of the stranger's hold and sits on top of him, not giving him room to move as he relentlessly punches the stranger's face.

"LEAVE MY HOME", Kratos yells, continuing his punches until he crushes the part of the roof he is on, sending the two down, along the stranger to break free and throw Kratos far into the ground near him.

"Stuck a nerve didn't I?", the stranger says, mocking him further. Before Kratos can act, he hears loud metallic sounds near him, he sees something hit the stranger, who looks confused by the sudden action. The two look up and see N and V, firing down on the stranger. Suddenly a rock is thrown at the stranger, knocking him down briefly into some snow. Kratos looks behind him and see Uzi, standing there with the solver in her hand.

Uzi offers her hand to Kratos, "you okay", she asks. Kratos simply nods and get up. "That man, he can't seem to feel anything I throw at him. Better to finish this quickly", Kratos says.

"Right", Uzi says, preparing the solver, ready to cause damage. N and V land near the two. "What's the deal with him", V asks, as she points towards the snow pile. 

"Don't know. He claims to know of me and what I am. He claims I have information despite my lack of such", Kratos says. "Is it possible to talk this out before we have to kill him", N asks nervously.

"N I love you but he literally just attacked Kratos seemingly out of nowhere for no apparent reason. So negotiations are off the table", V said. "Right", N replies.

As the two ended their conversation, a loud yell was heard and the snow pile erupted in fury as the stranger was fully revealed, ice covering his fists. He look towards the group, his face clearly frustrated by the drones suddenly arriving.

"Now I don't or care what you are but if you're going to interrupt me and that giants fight, there will be consequences", the stranger said, slamming his fist together, ice erupting from the impact.

"Listen man, he clearly doesn't have what you want so just leave. Before things get nasty", Uzi says, her solver in direct sight of the stranger.

"Oh please, as if that dumb glory thing will work on me shorty", the stranger says laughing. "But then again...I might finally feel something", he continued. The stranger took a breath and launched at Uzi, his hand ready to punch her. But before Uzi could react, N steps in as his head is crushed, the remaing parts bouncing off the wall behind them as his body flies back, oil dripping from the impact

"Opps, must been to weak then", the stranger laughs, before suddenly a bright purple symbol surrounds his body, tossing him away into a wall.

"Well would you look at that. Guess that glowly thing does work on me after all", the stranger says, as he gets up from the wall he was indented in.

"Beife you say or do anything Kratos. N isn't dead, his core wasn't stuck thankfully, he just needs time to regenerate. Can you put him in the house while me and V deal with him?", Uzi asks. Kratos looks back at N's body, anger filling him at the death of someone who tired to help him. But hearing what Uzi said, he quickly lowered his anger. N would be fine, he just ends to recover.

"I can, after that I'm coming out here", he says, running towards N' body and head, scooping them up and trying to reach his house before suddenly getting hit by the stranger, knocking him and N back. Before the stranger can land another hit, he is once again dragged away by Uzi, who throws him into a tree nearby. 

"Why can't you just stay down already, I'm sick of you", Uzi said annoyed. She uses the symbol on the stranger once more and tires to crush him but for some reason it isn't working which briefly startles her, allowing the stranger to recover and prepare to hit her. But luckily V swoops in and grabs Uzi, flying up into the air to avoid the blow. Kratos uses this moment to head back inside, placing N's body and head on his bed. Kratos quickly leaves the house and joins in on the fight. Hitting the stranger with his age, causing a deep wound to form on the stranger.

The stranger immediately retaliated, hitting Kratos with the back of his hand, knocking him back. "You and those little things are getting on my nerves, you know that?", The stranger says, his voice filled with annoyance. The stranger gets stabbed by V, the acid tries to burrow its way in but fails for some reason, stopping only st the surface, confusing V. Before she can react, V gets grabbed by the leg and slammed into the ground, face first. Kratos gets up, anger filling him up as he grabs a tree. He hits him with the tree, and tackles him, breaking down the rocks behind the stranger as he is dragged along.

"Who is it? WHO ARE YOU HDING?", the stranger yells in fury, trying to break free from the attack. As Kratos reaches the end of the rocks, he and the singer find themselves on a snowy area, stones littering the ground behind the stranger. Kratos is exhausted from the event, slowly breathing as he tires to recover. The strange quickly gets up from the ground and stands up, as if nothing has happened at all. Uzi and V arrive and land near Kratos, pulling him back up from the ground.

"Slow and Old. You should never have come to Midgard", the stranger says, stretching his arms outwards. "Did he just say Midgard, as if from Norse mythology?", Uzi says in her head, breilfy confused. 

As the stranger extends his arms, the trio in front of him notice his wounds are beginning to heal, before completely disappearing away. He look like was just brand new, no hints of a fight even on him.

"So, care to try again?", the stranger asks, mocking them. "You talk to much", Kratos says. All four of them begin their assault on each other, the stranger landing the first blow on Kratos as V slashes at him with her claws. Uzi uses her solver on some nearby rocks and throws them at the stranger, knocking him back into a giant stone, splitting it apart. The stranger gets up and throws the chunks or rocks at Uzi and V, blind sliding the two of them as they fell onto the ground. Kratos got up and attacked the stranger, hitting him with punches and axe swings. The stranger grabs Kratos and throws him onto another large stone formation, embedding him in it. 

"You won't talk, fine. Maybe whoever is stashed in the house with that corpse will", the stranger says, as he walks away.

Kratos became immediately furious and a firey aura surrounded him. V and Uzi get up from their respective spots and see Kratos split apart his stone prison. He proceeds to grab the stranger and break a large tree on him. The stranger is breilfy blind sided by this attack, allowing Kraots to use the tree as a battering ram, impaling the stranger as Kraos proceeds to ram the tree into the stone, splitting it further into two. 

"Who is it? Who do you think I'll fine? Let's fine out!", the strange says as he dragged along before being flung into a clearing, near a cliff with a large stone monument.

The two exchange blows with each other. Kratos's rage filling each of his punches, doing much more damage and knocking the stranger away. Despite the blows and impacts, the strange keeps going and keeps hitting him back, ice fuelled in his fists.

"This is pointless. What are you hiding?", the stranger asks as he lands another hit, sending Kratos back. "You still bore me. You're a fool!", the stranger yells charging at Kratos. But he is easily countered. The aura around Kratos has faded and now he has a clearer mind in him. He slams the stranger into the large stone monument and breaks it with his bare hands. Causing the structure to fall on top of him, snow erupting from the impact. Kratos looks behind him and sees V and Uzi touching back down near him.

"HOLY... you okay man?", Uzi asks worryingly. Kratos is covered in cuts, bruises, and blood. "I'll...I'll be fine", he says. But before they could continue their talk, the stone monument is suddenly laughed into he air and Kratos blocks it, shattering it into two. The stranger uses this moment and hits Kratos. V and Uzi try to interfere but are hit by the stranger's attacks, tossing them to the side briefly.

Kratos runs up to the stranger and the two are stuck in a hold. Their bodies trying to push each other back, their power causing the ground beneath them to slowly split apart. A refined forming frommtha clash.

"Leaving so soon? When Odin sent me here, I just needed answers, but no, you needed to act all proud. Throw whatever you have at me...I'll keep coming. That old body will wear out eventually. But before I end this, i want you to know one thing. I can't feel any of this!", the stranger says. Everyone is surprised by the sudden statement but it does confirm some why he seems to be essentially invincible. His unfeeling body and his regeneration are the reason why their blows aren't working, the reason why Uzi can't seemingly crush him into small pieces or why V's acid suddenly stopped despite having no clear reason not to.

Kratos gets launched into the air by the stranger's punch before he gets quickly knocked back down into the newly formed revine formed by the two earlier. Thankfully Kraota stops his fall with his age, allowing him the ability to climb upwards. As these stranger paces around the revine, he is suddenly grabbed by Uzi's solver, completely holding him place and V shoots him with a storm of bullets. Kratos climbs the revine and grabs the stranger into a chokehold.

"I hoped that youout of everybody I faced, I'd be able to finally feel something. But you can't", the stranger says, his breathing shaking from the chokehold. Kratos eventually snaps his neck and tosses his body into the revine beside of him. V and Uzi rush over and help him back onto his feet. Allowing him to recover breilfy as he begins he walk back home. Uzi and V walk behind him, giving him roof for Kratos as he begins to speak aloud in worry and tiredness.

"Who is he. How knew me. Did he know my past? How did they find me...after all this time? Faye...what do I do? Our son is not ready...to scatter your ashes...to the top of the mountain. And neither am I. I do not know...how to do this without you. But we cannot stay here", he says, his walking fatigued by the encounter.

The three enter the wrecked house and see N and Artues, the taller one comforting him in his grasp. N lets go of the hug and Artues runs to Kratos. "I'm sorry. There was so much...I didn't know...you're all right" he says, his fear and worry settling down. "I'm all right", Kratos replies. The five sit on the beds, exhausted from the fight but are all glad it's over. 

"...so...something occurred to me when we were fighting that guy", Uzi said. "And that would be?", Kratos asks. Uzi takes a breath in preparation for what she is going to say.

"See...back where I came from, I study some history from Earth and the various religions and stuff related to those as well. When you were fighting that guy, he mentioned Midgard correct?", Uzi asked. "Yes', Kratos said.

"See...where I come from, Midgard is part of something called Norse Mythology. With that small part of information and the fact that the guy said Odin. I have concluded that me, N, V, and Cyn are currently in Norse Mythology. But instead of it being purely fictional there, it's clearly a real place here", Uzi says. This statement shocks everyone.

"So you mean to tell me that this land and the realms are...fake in your world?", Kratos asks. "Yes", Uzi replies.

"And with that also sorted, I can also tell you who that guy we were all fighting was as well", she continues. "Who?", Kratos asks.

"He is known as Baldur. His mother, Freya was told that Baldur when killed, Ragnarok would start. Essentially a end of the world scenario where multiple gods die and stuff like that. But considering you two live here in Midgard, you probably already know about Ragnarok", Uzi states.

"I have heard of Ragnarok before in passing. Instead of it being an event in your world. It's a physical entity", Kratos said. "Huh. Neat", Uzi replied.

"Since you mentioned Baldur, does he have a weakness if any?", Artues asks. "OH right, his weakness is mistletoe", Uzi said.

"Mistletoe?", Kratos says. "Yep. In the myth Fryea asks pretty much all objects to make a vow that they can't harm her son but because mistletoe was to young, it bypassed the rule", Uzi said.

"That's weird", V said. "Yeah...but it's pretty neat", N said. "Since we didn't have any mistletoe on us, Baldur is definitely alive but out of commission for the time being", Uzi said.

"Good. Speaking of that, boy. Pack your bags, we are leaving", Kratos said surprising everyone. "But..but I thought you said I wasn't ready", Artues said. 

"You aren't but we have no choice", Kratos replied. "...you don't mind if we tag along right?", Uzi asked nervously. "...no, you have proven to be both helpful and also good people, soke of the very few I would trust", He replies.

"LET'S GO!", Uzi yelled in excitement, briefly startling everyone. Kratos looks at her, his face filled with mild annoyance. "..sorry", Uzi whispers back. 

"I was enjoying my nap Uzi. Annoyed", Cyn said, quickly going back to sleep. "..forgot she was here", Artues said. "Me to", Uzi said.

"Actually, since we're going on a long journey, how about I get that troll carcass for some food", N said. "That would be wise", Kratos said. N nods and flies through the hole on the ceiling, heading towards the campsite.

"This has been one rough day", V said. "Yep...it has", Uzi replied. 

"Expect the rest of journey to be as troubling", Kratos said. "I know, but I hope we don't encounter some else like Baldur, because I would like to fully use my overpowered abilities freely", Uzi said, showing the solver off.

The group of four exit the house and see N pulling up with a small sack. "Okay, I grabbed as much I can put, this should last more than a week", N said. "Good", Kratos replies. 

"Now that we have what we need, is it time to begin?", V asked. "Yes...it is", Kratos replies

With everything gathered the gorup of adventures being their journey. The path to the mountain begins now.

Chapter Text

The true adventure begins to the mountains.

As weird as it was for N, V and Uzi, it was nice to a have a simple goal, just get to the mountain. Uzi mentioned how she, V and N could possibly carry Kratos and Artuss to the mountain to back the journey easier but Kratos denied the offer. He said that this journey should be one to be appreciated not rushed for convince. Uzi was mildly upset at that statement but she shortly agreed with the sentiment. How boring would her life be if she did have instant access to it all. She wouldn't be able to appreciate N or V and how they grew over their time together. She wouldn't be so...caring towards others and would probably still see them all as annoying fools. Kratos was right, even if she could someone get instant access to the mountain, she probably just forced herself to find a way there for her own ego.

The five keep walking down some snowy paths until they find a snowy cave, with multiple wooden platforms, one of them having a elevator on it.

"Surprised there's elevators here", Uzi commented. "Good for us though", N says.

Kratos boosts Artues up towards the elevator. "There doesn't seem to be a way beyond this...expect for that bridge. Can someone lower it?", Artues asked.

Uzi immediately pulls out her solver but Kratos simple lowers it down himself, sort of annoying Uzi as she wanted to show of her powers. "Go", Kratos replies, causing Artues to move.

"Made it", he replies, as he gets up. The bridge proceeds to lift slowly back into place before it stops, a purple symbol surrounding the structure, causing it to be forced back into its previous state. Kratos looked behind him and sews Uzi, the solver displayed in her hand.

"What? It was going to lift back up anyway", She said, eyeing Kratos. Kratos simply nodded at Uzi as he climbed up and went across the bridge. The three drones flying up to their position. They climb out of the cave and onto a lookout of mountain nearby. The incredible view being displayed in front of them as they see the various trees and environments around them. 

"Look... All this time...there's been a protection stave around our entire forest. But the staves...is broken down there. Did you cut those down?", Artues asked, looking at his father. 

"She hand-marked tress she wished used for her funeral pyre", He replied. "Excuse me for a moment. But what is a protection stave?", N asked.

"It's a spell of some sorts I think. Doesn't allow certain beings to be inside when made", Kratos replies. "That would be very useful for me honestly", Uzi said.

"Your just saying that because you don't want your dad or mom to bother you in your room", V says. "Oh shut it you", Uzi replies in annoyance.

"Quit it. We continue our journey", Kratos says, shutting up V and Uzi. The group descend to the wildwood's edge and they see lots of dragur neabry.

"How do we handle this?", Artues asks. "Well...considering what we can do, this can be done pretty easily by us but honestly...I should stop relying on the solver so much", Uzi says.

"But why though? It makes everything so much more easier", N said.

"Truth be told...without the solver I'm pretty much defenseless. Sure I have copied some fighting moves but other than that....I don't really have skills with any melee weapons and I can't make my railgun here either", Uzi said. "Also...if we do encounter Bladur or other people who are also immune to some of the solvers abilities, then I need to learn how fight on my own without it", she continued.

"Smart. Always better to know your weakness and how you can overcome them", Kratos said. "Why thank you", Uzi replied. 

"So...are we gonna fight or just sit here and wait?", V asked. "Well I do need a weapon but thankfully the dragur don't need them as much as me", Uzi said, using the solver to grab a axe from a nearby dragur. This action suddenly caught the attention of every nearby dragur, all of whom are staring at the group, hunger in their minds.

"....my bad", Uzi said. "Couldn't wait until they were dead?", Cyn said. "Oh shut it you", Uzi said, grabbing Cyn.

The group charge into battle, clashing with the dragur. Uzi uses her newly acquired axe on a nearby dragur, completely dismembered it's leg. The dragur falls onto the floor and Uzi finishes it off by swinging the axe on it's head. V and N are using their swords to slice the limbs of the dragur off while using their tails to finish the job. Kratos and Artues are suing their respective weapons to finish any stragglers. They stand in triumph over their first hurdle.

Uzi laughs in her victory, "I am God!", she yells, her wings completely opening up in full glory. "You're doing that thing again Uzi", N said.

"Oh...", Uzi replied, closing her wings away and stepping towards N. "You know Uzi, I would say it's cheesy and all but considering recent events, you earn it", V said, smiling at the two.

"Hell yeah I did", Uzi replied. Uzi looks towards her side and sees Kratos staring at her... in judgement? She couldn't really point it out but Kratos turns away and the group went on ahead with their journey.

They continue walking until they reach a stone filled with some sort of strange writing. 

"Boy", Kratos says as he watches Artues walk towards it. "It says that theirs a jotnar settlement ahead", Arteus says, inspecting the stone.

"Jontar?", Kratos and V say. "It means giant", Artues replies. "You can read that?", Uzi asks. 

"Only some of it, it was one of the languages that my mother knew. But they feel connected so sometimes I can feel my way though stuff I shouldn't know. Y'know?", Arthes says.

"Had that all the time", V said. 

The group continue climbing up the mountain and encounter more dragur on top, some much more agile than before though. The walk into the circular arena and begin to fight.

"Remember to space you shots boy. Speed cost accuracy", Kratos says as he swings his axe down on a dragur. Uzi, N and V, are on their own side, completely tearing apart their own groups. Artues lines up a shot on one the agile dragur before it got a chance to hit is father. He hits its head, completely killing it.

"I'm getting quickly annoyed by these undead. Why do there have to be so many" Uzi said annoyed, kicking one in the head.

"I'm sure our journey will get better....probably", N said. "I hope so", Uzi replies. 

"Hey i think I see a chest over there", Artues says, point towards its general direction. Kratos goes and opens the chest, revealing a rune in it, which he tries to use instinctively.

"Neat", Uzi says. N looks around and sees a opening behind a giant stone, "I think we can go through there", he says.

Kratos goes to the opening and lifts up the giant stone blocking it, allowing Artues and the other to pass though, before he follows suite.

They reach more of the open stoney forest area and see a bridge going towards the mountain. Artues begins to run towards the bridge but gets grabbed back by Uzi's solver, before being dropped near her.

 "How about we don't risk a possible broken bridge, cause you two can't fly from what i seen and we don't know how far the drop is", Uzi says. 

"Thank you", Kratos says, looking towards Uzi. Uzi nods in response. N walks towards the bridge and lightly taps the first plank, which falls downwards in the ruins below.

"Well...at the least the fall isn't that far but still...kinds risky", N says, looking downwards. He then notices the dragur that were there are now currently looking at him.

"...there's dragur down there", N says, looking towards the group. "Good thing we didn't take the bridge then", V replies.

"So...how are we getting across then, cause I'm not sure if we can lift you guys....possibly and using the solver on you guys could be risky as I can't see the end point of the bridge", Uzi says.

"...we could go down if we have to", N says nervously. "We can just kill the dragur from here and then head downward and see if we can find a route on the other side", V says, switching out her hand for one of her smgs.

"That would be wise", Kratos says as he walks towards the edge and begins to throw his axe at the head of a dragur, before reeling it back to himself. V goes towards the edge and begins to fire one bullet at a time on the dragur.

After a few seconds, the dragur are killed, allowing safe passage in the ruins. "Now. We head down", Kratos says, jumping towards the ruins. N grabs Artues and the two land softly on the ground near Kratos as Uzi and V slowly descend to the ground, before landing.

The group explore the ruins and finds a dilapidated room. In a far corner, Artues notices something, another large stone filled with more of the giant writing, but glowing blue. Uzi notices Artues staring at something and sees the stone as well.

"Whats does that one say?" Uzi asks as the rest of the group converge towards Artues and the stone.

"This place used to be a marketplace. The giants here used to trade with the gods a long time ago. I wonder if Odin was ever here...", Artues says before a loud cracking sound is heard from above. "Look, something is trying to get through. Something is trying to break in!", He says in panic, staring at the wall above him. The wall comes down and a large dragur appears with a large axe. The large dragur shouts and other dragur appear behind him and the group begin to charge towards them.

Kratos fight the larger dragur, their axes cashing against each other. Uzi sees them and throws her axe using the solver at the large dragur's head, killing it instantly. Kratos and Uzi nod towards each other and join the rest of the fight, which was going pretty smoothly as N and V are much more powerful than their enemies in many ways.

"I'm going to say it again. I'm tired of these dragur. Wh are there so many?", Uzi says annoyed.

"Mother seas it because that since the warriors are filled with rage when they die, they attempt to fight the valkyries that come to collect them. Instead they return, twisted and filled with revenge, unable to rest", Artues says.

"Huh...neat", Uzi says. 

The group continue exploring the ruins until they reach a large wall. "Looks like we found our exit", Uzi says. Artues climbs onto his father's back and begin to climb as N, V, and Uzi also begin their climb as well, the two disassembly drones using their claws while Uzi uses her axe to move foward. As they begin to climb they hear strange nosies that sound similar to singing in the distance.

"What was that?", Artues asked. "In my study. Singing from nowhere. Is usually bad", Cyn suddenly said, before quickly disappearing. 

"...hate it when she appears out of nowhere", V says, scoffing at Cyn.

They continue climbing and reach the top, after a little bit of walking they quickly find the source of the singing....and a new problems to deal with.

"A revenant!", Artues shouts as the ghostly being comes towards them, screaming.

Uzi instinctively tires to use her solver on it but it isn't registering on it. Uzi is quickly confused as Artues shoots at the thing and manages to hurt it, which confuses Uzi even more on why she can't use the solver on it. She just sighs in annoyance and gets ready to battle head on with the revenant.

The battle is rough as the revenant teleports all around the arena, making Kratos and Uzi miss their axe throws and hits. N and V try to slice it with their swords but it keeps teleporting away from them before appearing behind them and striking them in the back with poison, doing damage. Artues is pelting it with arrows, causing it stagger and giving Kratos time to deliver the finishing blow, a axe hit to the chest.

The group takes a quick breather, sitting on the ground to relax. Uzi looks around the group and realizes something she just noticed was gone. "N...where is the food we packed?", she asks, earning some stares towards N.

"Uhh...good question actually. I don't know, I had it with me ever since we left, for sure when we first the dragur. But now that you mention it, I don't know where it is....sorry", N says nervously.

"....hopefully it isn't to far then", Uzi says annoyed. Uzi gets up and deploys her wings, "I'm gonna backtrack and hopefully find the food, see you guys a bit", she says, flying back into the ruins below.

"...N I love you but cmon man", V says, holding her head. "I'm sorry", he repeats.

Kratos sighs at the situation he had found himself in, he hopes the rest of the journey won't have so many detours or at least not to many difficulties. He knows though that he is hoping for to much.

Chapter Text

Uzi groaned as she backtracked though the ruins and their previous areas of exploration. She wanted to be mad at N but she couldn't find it in herself to do it, so she settled at just being disappointed. Thankfully with all the dragur from before being dead, it made travel less dangerous, even though with access to the solver, most thigns aren't really as dangerous. She had finally reached the second place where they fought dragur on mass and began to search around. 

"Seems Big Brother N. Messed up. Sad face", Cyn said. "I'm just...irritated is all. It was the one thing he was responsible for and he messed up", Uzi replied annoyed.

"You are. Frustrated. That is. Very reasonable", Cyn said, as Uzi continued to look around the area.

"I just hope that N isn't thinking less of himself, he has a lot of self esteem issues and even though we tired to help him through them, he still majorly suffers from them. Hopefully V is doing her best to comfort him", Uzi said.

Meanwhile at the rest stop.

"It's okay N, it was just a mistake. Things like this happen all the time", V said, patting N' back, who is currently sitting on the ground, his knees tucked to his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry", N said, repeating it over and over.

Back over to Cyn and Uzi, they have managed to find the food bag, which was thankfully no the far from the entrance of the place. 

"N must have dropped it when we were fighting, figures", Uzi said.

"At least. We found the food", Cyn said. "Yeah, I suppose it is", Uzi replied. 

Uzi sighs once more and begins the fly back to the group, hoping nothing went wrong while she was gone.

"Uzi, you're back and with the food as well", N said as he watched Uzi land.

"Yep, you must have dropped it when we were fighting the dragur in the ruins", she replied. 

"I'm so, so sorry, I promise it won't happen again", N said pleading.

"N, it was mistake and no one got hurt, it's fine. But please be more careful okay", Uzi replied.

"I understand", N said. Uzi groaned a bit and quickly hugged N before letting him go just as quick.  He was surprised by this but he bent down and hugged her back. V in the back smiled at the two from afar.

"Uhh...", Uzi said, becoming highly embarrassed, grabbing N's attention, who quickly let her go from the hug. "Sorry, forget you're not used to physical contact, my bad", he said. 

"It's no problem N", Uzi replied nervously. N and Uzi went over to the group, who are just sitting around, waiting for them.

"Okay I got the food, we can go now", Uzi said over to Kratos and Arteus.

With the food gathered and everything sorted, the five of them began to continue ther journey once more. As they walk they find some stones containing more of the giant's language, which Artues reads to them. But now began the viscous and also annoying cycle of endless fighting against the drgaur...again.

The fighting and exploring against the drgaur had lasted an hour. Sure it made sense why so many of them are here but Uzi was honestly getting very annoyed. But thankfully it seems the fighting was ending as the group could relax now, finally getting a break and exiting the cave of ruins they been stuck in for the past hour or so. As they exit the area they notice a bridge and two figures standing there. One was a animal of some sorts and the other was some sort of blue humanoid creature, who is currently yelling and kicking the creature near him in anger.

"Get up and move your ass! I'll kick you square in the ringer if you don't move! C'moooooon! Whatcha waiting for?", the blue bearded dwarf said, trying to move the creature. 

The group heard towards the man and the creature hearing him still being mad at his animal for not moving. The dwarf hears the group come by and looks towards them.

"Can't get this sloe-eyed cocklump to cross the bridge. Hmpff!", he said annoyed.

"It's because she's scared of something in the tress over there", Arteus suddenly said, mildly confusing everyone else.

"There's what now?", the blue man said.  "Father, could you throw your axe at those tress on the other side of the bridge, the ones with white trunks" Artues asked.

Kratos let out a light sigh before throwing his axe at the area. Noises of something in bushes appear and birds quickly fly away from the position. The man's creature makes a sound, seemingly to reply to Kratos's action. "You were right", Kratos says as he looks towards Artues.

"Say, you must be smart or something boy. You're a boy aren'tcha?", the blue man asks, before slapping the side of the his creature. 

"Does she have a name by any chance?", N asks nervously, catching the blue man's attention. 

"Say, I never seen anything like you before. But to answer your question, I dunno. She never asked for mine and I never asked for hers", he replied.

"What's your name then?", N asked. "Brok", he replies.

Arteus goes to the creature and speaks to it, "Vera logn", and the creature begins to walk across the bridge. The group follow the creature from behind and Brok looks at the axe slung onto his back.

"Say… you’re not gonna believe me but uh… that axe you got, uh? It was me what made her, me and my brother. Was one of our best. So don’t let nobody else go work on her except for us two", Brok says before getting suddenly slapped in the face by his creature. Brok let's out a slight sound of pain in respone. He takes a huff but continues his talk, "You gotta handle her special or she’ll wreck beyond fixin’. I can enhance her for you right now if it so pleases you son of bitch. So what say you?", Brok askes before he slaps the creature's side. 

"You are right… I do not believe you. Come, all of you", Kratos says, grabbing the attention of his boy and the three drones along aside him. 

"There’s a rune in the shape of a fork, right under the grip", Brok replies quickly as the group reaches the other side of the bridge.

Kratos grabs his axe from his back and inspects the grip of his axe, noticing the rune layered on the axe.

"That was our brand my brother and me, before we split. I got half of it right here, see? Look, you want upgrade her or not?", Brok asked as he began walking towards this workshop, the rest following along.

"Very well. I expect an improvement", Kratos said. "So where’s the other half of the brand?", Uzi asked as they reached the station.

"Oh, my dumb brother’s got it. But I got all the talent. Look!", Brok said as Kratos handed him the axe. Brok proceed to use a strange mineral and using his forge, upgraded the axe to be slightly better.

Suddenly the nosies that appeared from earlier from the bridge appear and the strmage creature causing them appears, it wielding a large axe supported by its two hands.

"Well, don’t look now but our friends who were hiding in the trees are back for more! Go on, give that axe a twirl!", Brok said.

"Will be here if you need help", N said, watching Kratos approach the creature.

"I'll be fine", Kratos replied as he stuck the creature with his axe, it yelling in pain before trying to counter attack, but missing due to Kratos dodging the impact.

"Got room for me behind there?", Artues asked, looking over at Brok. "So long as you don’t break nothing", Brok replied, watching the fight.

Kratos manages to disarm the creature before hitting its face with his age, killing it instantly as if falls to the ground lifeless.

"You see? See what my touch brung?", Brok said looking towards the group. "Say your pa can kill. You gonna learn to do that too?", Brok continued.

"I’m not sure", Artues replied nervously. "This road, it leads to the mountain?", Kratos asked as went back to the group.

"Should put you in the right direction, sure", Brok said. "But do you want to check my wares again?", Brok continued. 

"No", Kratos replied. "Well then suit yourself, hope it goes well for you then or whatever", Brok said as he began messing with his equipment.

The group soon left the little forge area and we're going along the road that could lead to the mountains.

"You left me to fight alone", Kratos said, his voice deeper than usual. He was looking over at Artues, who becomes incredibly nervous while N, V, and Uzi are suddenly taken a back by Kratos sudden shift in demeanor. 

"I did", Artues replied slightly in fear. Kratos puts both of his hand on Artues's shoulders, instantly putting everyone else in more fear and anxiety.

 "People are one thing. Everything else, you fight until I say stop or we are dead. Understand?", Kratos said, staring into Artues eyes. "Pull your weight or we go home", Kratos continued.

 "I...I understand", Artues replied, his voice slightly shaking.  "Good then", Kratos said as he removed his hands from Artues's shoulders. The group walk in silence through more ruins.

Artues moves to back with N and the gang, while Kratos leads the front. N smiles at Artues before walking closer to Kratos, who notices the scene.

"You wish  to talk about actions. Do you not?", Kratos asked. N slightly flinched, Kratos noticing the flinch but not saying anything.

"I..I do yes. I understand why you treat him like that and it honestly isn't my place to judge but...", N said, taking a breath.

"But you need to understand, he's scared. Even though our worlds and lifestyles are very different, you need to understand that he is young and afraid. As much as you want him to help he relies on you to help him group up and survive. I'm not saying your actions are wrong or you're a bad parent but a child shouldn't be scared of his parent...even if it's warranted", N finished.

Kratos took a deep breath as he keep journeying through the ruins. "I understand your perspective N, but if he wants to survive and want to do right on his mother's wish. He must understand that he can't cower in a fight, no matter how much he wants to", Kratos said.

"I know", N said quietly before returning to the back of the group. The group continued through the ruins before accidentally realizing they gone in a circle once they rediscovered the path that lead to the beginning of the bridge.

"Oh, wait… we’re back here again", Artues said slightly annoyed. Uzi groaned at the sight of the bridge. They walked across and Kratos spotted another possible exit route.

"Come", Kratos said, getting the the other's attention.

"It was nice meeting you, Brok. I’ll be thinking of a name for your beast", Artues said, lightly waving back at him.

"How ‘bout I name her “fucking gratitude”?", Brok replied, making Uzi and V chuckle.

"Hey! Fucking Gratitude, come over here! I like it!", Brok continued, laughing to himself.

Kratos noticed a chain and some platforms leading downwards, a possible exit he concludes. "This way", he says, as the group descends into the ruins and to hopefully fine someplace that isn't just stone.

Chapter Text

The group exited the ruins finally and found themselves around a snowy forested area with rocks scattered around. It was a nice change of scenery compared to the mossy rocks and ruined stone architecture left to rot by time. The three drones especially found it enjoyable to, walking through the forest, the few rays of light shining through the leaves, casting shadows across their path. 

As they walked a little bit along the trail, Kratos discovered animal tracks of some kind, possibly a boar from what Artues said. So the family of two decide on a little bonding experience, hunting a boar. Artues lead the way while the rest of the group followed behind, trying to catch up to the boy. A few seconds later, they see Artues hiding near some rocks and they see the boar nearby. The boar was strange in look, various yellow lines and symbols adored its body. Kratos sat near Artues and prepared him to fire upon the boar, only for the armor to seemingly bounce off, causing the boar to flee in panic.

It was slightly annoying, seeing the arrow bounce of the boar with essentially no affect, especially to Artues.

"Don't worry little buddy, you'll get it next time", N said, ruffling the hair of Artues, who smiled at the affection.

"I know, just annoying is all", Artues replied. 

"That thing probably had magic on it, considering the markings on it", Uzi said.

"What do you think?", Kratos replied. Uzi just sighed and the group continued to follow the boar's tracks.

After some travel they discover a camp, riddled with dragur bodies as well as other creatures.

"I swear if I have to fight any more of these things", Uzi muttered, annoyed by the sight of the dead drgaur around her.

"Father, I see tracks under the pillar", Artues said, pointing towards a ruined pillar, tipping to its side on some nearby rocks. Uzi uses her solver to push the pillar off to the side, allowing Artues and the rest to go under it. Arteus looks around trying to find the boar, spotting it in the distance, chewing on some grass. Kratos and Artues get into position to fire on the boar. V and Uzi meanwhile are watching the two and snacking on some bits of the troll in N's bag.

"Still odd to me that we are eating a troll but I'm not complaining. It does taste good", Uzi said. 

As N,V and Uzi were talking with each other, they became startled by a loud squealing sound coming from the boar. The trio looked over to where Artues and his father were and saw Kratos running after his son, probably because Artues is chasing after the boar. 

"You've got to be kidding me", V said, annoyed by the situation now unfolding. 

"Let's just get this over with", Uzi replied. The trio unfolded their wings and began to fly after the two, until they realized that many of the paths they had fo travel into were only accessible by walking into tight spaces. The trio keep following after Kratos, who wasn't that far in their sights. They watched Kraota stop briefly to look on the ground, grabbing a knife from off it.

"You okay over there Kratos?", N asked as the trio meet him.

"I'm...fine, just annoyed is all", Kratos replied before putting the knife into a pocket.

"Guess the boy dropped his knife", Uzi said. Kratos nodded at her.

"It was my wife's knife, entrusted onto him by her", Kratos said.

"Hopefully Artues isn't to far from here", N said, looking over the path of rocks and trees.

The group continued to travel deeper into the forest, fog beginning to form arousn them. After a few seconds, they started to hear someone, as well as Artues nearby. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO?", a woman shouted, absolutely mad.

"I'm sorry!", Artues replied, sounding frightened.

"ARTUES", Kratos shouted, beginning to run towards the shouting,

"Wait for us dammit", Uzi said annoyed. The three drones began to run after Kratos.

As the trio reach a small clearing, they see Kratos right in front of them, looking at his sound and a woman, seemingly trying to heal the boar, who is distressed.

"We didn’t know he belonged to anyone", Artues said, looking at the boar.

"He doesn’t. He’s my friend", the woman replied, annoyed.

"The boy was following my command", Kratos said, getting the woman's attention. She looked at him briefly before looking behind him, seeing the drones. The wo,en breilfy dropped her train of thought but quickly reminded herself of the situation at hand.

"Then help fix this. Hold here lease. HOLD, I said", the woman replied, watching Kratos move his hands onto the area.

"He’s losing blood. The last of his kind in all the realm and you shoot him", she continued.

"You needed food?", She asked, frustrated.

"Target practice…", Artues replied, nervously.

"Target practice…", she replied, seemingly offended.

"I’m so so sorry…", Artues said again.

Keep that pressure on. The blame is mine. I should have kept a closer eye", she replied.

"Will he die?", Artues asked.

"I will not let him", she replied, before looking over at Kratos.

"You, the arrow cut a tideway inside him. Find both ends and hold them tightly", she says. Kratos follows the instructions that the woman is saying, trying his best to not mess up while the drones silently observe, unsure when they want to join in on the situation at hand.

"Hold it tight. Good. Now pull them together, line them up", she says, observing Kratos's work. She places her hands over the wound inflicted on the boar and chants a spell.

"Sunnan þoka", she says, as green magic appears on her hand.

"You’re a witch…", Artues says, surprised by the revelation.

"Guess I'm not the only one with that title", Uzi thought.

"I can’t finish the healing here. My home is just beyond the trees there", she says, pointing to a wall of vines and thorns.

Kratos grabs the boar in his arms and the group follow the witch further. The which looks over at Kratos, eyeing the boar in his arms, lightly smiling at the fact that her friend is stable. She approaches the vine covered wall and shouts another spell, "Greiða". The vines quickly dissappear into the ground, allowing all of them passage through the forest. She was gonna comment on the boy's bow and it being to big for him but she focused on the situation at hand. The group come over to large, flat, grassy area with a giant tree laid in the middle of it.

"You live in a tree?", N asked.

"Not in it but below it", she replied, some what surprised by N suddenly speaking. She looked back over at the tree and said another command, "Heimili".

The group watched as the ground began to shook, before slowly rising up. They watched the tree lift up, revealing a giant tortoise carrying the entire area were the tree laid on its back. Under the tortoise is the witch's house that seems attached to its underside.

"Now that, is something truly magical", Uzi said, looking at the creature in awe.

"It’s alright", the witch says, looking at the creature.

"Is he friendly?", Artues asked, looking at the create in excitement.

"I promise you he’s safe. He won’t hurt anyone…", the witch replied.

Immediately N and Artues went over to the tortoise, wanting to pet it. The tortoise slowly lowered its head to allow the two to pet it. The creature seemed happy with the affection it was getting. The group head inside the house, N and Artues following them back inside. 

"Quickly, place him on the stave there. Keep him still.", the wtich said, looking over at Kratos, who followed suite with the instructions.

"You live alone?", Artues asked, as the witch was looking around her shelves, gathering supplies.

"It’s better this way", she replied.

"Yeah, my father doesn’t like people either", Artues said, getting a snort from V and Uzi, trying not to laugh to loud. N tired to quickly calm the two down before it escalated further.

"Boy", Kratos replied, clearly annoyed by what Artues said.

"Well, you don’t", Artues said.

"Hold him still, before he hurts himself. Good", the witch says, looking at Kratos.

"Easy… rest now… I need two more things", she continued.

"Fresh red root grows just behind the house. Can you pull a cluster?", she asked.

Artues looks at his father, who nods in response. Artues goes outside to the witch's garden.

"Do you want to be in here for what I'm about to discuss?", the witch asked, looking over at Kratos, who seemed to understand what she was gonna say.

"You three, what she says will not leave between us until the time is right, understand", Kratos says, his voice fulled with authority.

"Absolutely, Fine, Yes sir,", V, Uzi, and N reply. 

"Cyn?", Kratos says, waiting for her to reveal herself. 

"....no promises", Cyn says, appearing behind Uzi's back, before disappearing once more.

"...good enough, I suppose", Kratos replies annoyed.

The witch takes a breath, preparing herself for what she is going to say, "I…I know you’re a god. Not of this realm, but there’s no mistaking it", she says, to the shock of the drones, besides Uzi.

"That...makes a lot of sense actually", Uzi said, thinking about everything that has happened so far.

"He doesn’t know, does he? About your true nature or his own?", she continued, looking over at Kratos.

"That is none of your concern", Kratos replied.

"The gods of these realms don’t take kindly to outsiders. Trust me, I know. When they find you, and they will. They’ll make things difficult. The boy will want answers", the witch explained.

"That will be my problem", Kratos replied, sternly.

"No offense Kratos, but I became the person I am now because i wasn't told things I should've been in life. Trust me...you don't want your son to grow up like me", Uzi said.

"As someone who also attempted to hid their past from someone for the sake of others. Trust me, it just leads to more problems and less trust", V said.

"...I tell him when the time is right. As for now, he doesn't need to know. Understand?", Kratos replies.

"Fine...but be warned, the longer this goes, the more it will hurt him later", Uzi said. Kratos simply nodded in response.

"Now that this discussion is done, I need one of you to gahter me some Lamb's Cress. It’s a white-petalled flower in my garden, just a handful", the witch says.

"I'll go get it Miss", N replied, heading towards the witch's garden.

"He seems lively", the witch says, laughing a little.

"He very much is", V says, smiling.

"I been wondering this since I first saw you three but what are you exactly? You don't look like any creature I seen in the nine realms", the witch asks.

"I was wondering when you were gonna bring that up. Me, V, and N are drones. Synthetic beings hailing from a planet known as Copper-9. We arrived here accidentally by a portal showing up on our planet and teleporting us here. Although our realities are very different, things such as magic and stuff like it are seen as fake. However here, they're very much real. We arrived in the mountains and later encountered Kratos, leading to where we are now", Uzi says.

"Interesting. So you are beings from beyond not only the realms but also this reality in general", the witch replied.

"Essentially yeah", V said.

"I hope you've been having a...decent time here", the witch replied.

"I wish...we had to fight some guy who couldn't take any damage. He just seemed to always recover from it now matter what. Although Kratos seems to at least temporarily put him down for now. Hopefully we don't run into more", Uzi said, annoyed.

"...I'm sorry to hear that", the witch replied, tiny bits of sadness in her voice. 

Kratos looked over at her when she said that, he seems there's more going on between this woman and Baldur than she's letting on.

Shortly afterwards, N and Artues come back inside, with the items the witch requested.

"Ah, exactly what I need", the witch said, grabbing the items from them before placing them near the boar.

" So he’s going to live?", Artues asked, looking over at the boar.

"Yes", she replied.

"Then we are leaving", Kratos said, gathering everyone's attention.

"Wait… Not without thanks", the witch says, before dunking her fingers into some kind of salve.

Kratos goes and immediately grabs her hand as she attempts to rub her finger on his neck.

"You want solitude? This mark will hide you from those who might make your journey… difficult", she says.

 Kratos let's her hand go and lets her smear his neck.

"Leyna", she says. She also does this Artues and the drones as well.

 "Heimili. There is a shortcut below the house that leads safely out of these woods. Follow this path down, then head towards daylight", she says.

 "Will we see you again?", Arteus asks.

"As much or as little as you like. Now get out of here", she replies.

The group exit the house and are inside of a cave, where a wooden path laid in front of them.

"This underground passage should put you back on your path to the mountain. Just use the boat.", she says.

The group walk through the cave and find the boat, one completely covered in flowers.

"I don't think this boat is gonna fit all of us", Artues said.

"Yeah, but we can just fly", V replied.

"...I wanna ride the boat", Uzi mumbled.

 "Really? It would be easier if we flew instead", V replied.

"I know but...you know, Copper-9's water froze up and all the boats at camp were essentially useless. Let me have this, please", Uzi asked.

"Fine, but where are we gonna get another boat at?", V replied.

"I'm sure you three remember what Doll did at Prom, right?", Uzi asked.

"Are you sure about that Uzi? You haven't tried to clone objects before", N replied.

"If I can make flesh objects act just like their technological counterpart, then I'm sure as hell I can copy objects", Uzi said.

"Fine, just don't complain if it doesn't work", V said.

Uzi simply laughed and pulled out her solver, aiming it at the boat. She concentrated as hard as she could, attempting to clone her desire. 

"Don't cloud you mind, let it be free of your conflicts", Cyn said in Uzi's head.

Uzi took a deep breath and once again concentrated on the boat, before she even knew it, she had manged to copy it successfully. The cloned boat appeared on the water, rocking to its side as it landed.

"Suck on that Doll, you aren't the only one who can clone", Uzi said, triumphant in her display.

"Yes, boat journey", N said in excitement. V smiled at the two, seeing them so happy.

Uzi then copied the oar and got on the boat, read to set sail as her partner jumped on inside as well.

The group of adventures sailed out of the cave, ready for their journey ahead. 

Chapter Text

The gang exited the cave on their flower covered boats, rowing onto the the massive lake that used to be just beneath them when back on the mountains earlier in the day. Artues and Kratos sat sat in their own boat while Uzi, V, N, and a sleeping Cyn occupied the other. Uzi and V have just told N what they recently learned about Kratos, shocking N as he was completely unprepared for what he was being told. But he calmed down not to long afterwards,. 

The gang had many thoughts and feelings around the two humans. N was the most positive about the two of them but not by much since Uzi and V did trust and kinda care about them. N was more friendly with Artues, much easier to be friends with the kid than the stoic and kinda scary father he had beside him. But even then, N did like and respect Kratos, he's a better father figure than Tessa's but honestly that isn't much. He could tell though that there was something deeper to Kratos, he was hiding something else besides his god hood. Hopefully...he can accept whatever it is that troubles him.

Uzi was for more interested in Kratos, especially now that she knew he was a god. The first question that came to her mind was what god he was. Was he a god of blood, a god of violence, or perhaps something else entirely. All she knew for sure was that whatever god he was supposed to be, if was definitely one a bit on the violent side of things. Another thing that fascinated her was his axe, or his wife's axe she supposed. It was definitely magical, which was already very interesting, but what was really interesting was the ice magic that on it as well. If she were able to use magic, how would it mix with her solver, what spells or enchantments would she use, and how does she learn them? Hopefully along her journey, she could learn some magic of her own.

When V sat her eyes upon Kratos, she could definitely tell he was a different person when he was younger. The way he speaks and acts, the bright red tattoo layered on his face, and his unatural white skin painted a picture of a man she couldn't even fathom. Speaking of his skin, it was something she always found...odd to say the least. His skin looked like ash itself was placed upon the man. Despite the fact she and crew meet Brok, who a blue drawf, it still looked natural, not artificial. Also the fact that his kid didn't seem to inherite it either, being a much more natural human like color, probably from his mom. If his skin is truly covered in ash, then why and how has it not disappeared yet despite him having it on him for presumably many years? She dropped the thought and continued looking at the lake around her, covering up sunken monuments underneath the waves.

N was currently the rowing the boat, seemingly enjoying himself as he did it, while Uzi and V sat across from him, looking at their surroundings. That is until everyone notices the massive white wall in front of them. 

"Are..are those scales?", Uzi asked somewhat hesitantly. Cyn appeared once again and quickly looked at the wall in front of her, scanning it to see what it was.

"It's definitely a living creature...have fun", Cyn said before disappearing once again.

Immediately panic set through as the wall of scales began to rise into the air, revealing the rest of the gigantic creature that curled around the lake and mountains nearby. It rose into the air, showing its face to all beneath it. The water beneath them began to sink rapidly as the creature moved out of its previous spot, revealing the underwater monuments beneath. 

"It's the world serpent", Arteus said in awe.

"FUCKING JÖRMUNGANDR!", Uzi shouted in both horror and also excitement, briefly scaring everyone nearby with the sudden noise.

"EVERYONE REAMIN CALM", Kratos yelled, hoping the situation doesn't heavily escalate into something massive.

"THIS IS SO COOL", Uzi shouted once more, looking at the giant serpent in awe. Meanwhile V and N were silently freaking out from the clearly bigger than mountain snake suddenly appearing in front of them.

And then, everyone went silent as the beast spoke. It spoke in a low, deep voice, one filled with echo and might. The birds and the air parted away from its voice, avoiding it all costs.

"IT SPEAKS?", Kratos asked, looking at his son.

"Mother says he's friendly", Arteus replies, trying to not fall off the boat due to the waves.

Eventually the snake slithers away across the mountains and peaks, disappearing into the unknown, although leaving behind a very long trail of ruin in its wake. 

"Is everyone alright?", Uzi asks. She sees N and V doing a slightly shaken thumbs up and Kratos nodding before looking back at his son, who seemed to be alright as well.

"It looks like the big snake leaving caused the water levels to drop, you can see a beach not to far from here", V said.

"Head to shore, recover, then continue", Kratos said, beginning to row to the area.

N, V and Uzi followed suite and rowed after him, eventually landing on the small beach along with the duo. The looked around the beach, not really finding anything of note but it was at leat a nice palcd to stop and recover. Thankfully the bag of troll meat wasn't loss in the encounter and so the five of them ate, enjoying the meal. The didn't realize how much time had passed until the they saw the sun began to dim and so they agreed to make camp here for the night.

It was around 7pm, according to Uzi, and the group was bored. They sat around the newly made campfire alongside the newly formed tents of flesh Uzi had made, much the gang's dismay, especially Artues. They were simply relaxing, not really sure when they would go to sleep, that was until Kratos asked a question.

"Uzi", Kratos said.

"Yeah?", she replied.

"Would it be...fine if you taught me some things from your world?", he asked.

Instantly, Uzi jumped, screeching in excitement, mildly scaring everyone again.

"I have been waiting for you to ask that, what would you like to know?", Uzi excitedly asked, trying not freak out more.

"Jcjenson, more specifically, waht else they have made and created", he replied.

"I'll do my best", Uzi said.

"Jcjenson, the largest mega corporation in our universe...as the public knows. In reality, Jcjenson is simply a front, a total sham. It's more so a experiment and lab facility than a actual business. We drones are the most famous of their creations as I have previously explained when we first met, but of course they made plenty of other products from their weird experiments and strange technology. One example being the drop pods, large, red hexagonal ships with four legs and a small thruster to enable travel on a planet's surface. Cyn and the AS used these to send the murder drones onto to Copper-9. Guess even they knew how effective they already were", Uzi said. 

"Indeed. Almost perfect in every way, although the lack of firepower is strange. Especially since they were used in war efforts on mnay planets", Cyn replied.

"That...is odd, why make something without on board weaponry if you knew it was gonna be used in wars. Probably so people could spend more money trying to replace them or fix them. Greedy bastard", Uzi said.

Kratos fakes a cough, quickly getting the girl's attention and to politely go back to focus on the task at hand.

"Sorry, got distracted. Anyways, like I was saying, Jcjenson made lots of strange stuff, including another item or rather, set of items. They were known as the "Sculpting Soul", essentially itmes capable of using energy to regrow or fix organic beings. It didn't last long though as the items had very bad side effects. As it turned out, having a item that passively absorbs energy from anywhere, can lead to bad results. Common side effects were sickness, lack of electricity, possibly death, and also a loss of vegation. The last one happened all in farming areas, as the device would absorb plant energy to continue fueling, sometimes causing massive losses in plant industry as a result. Jcjenson almost went bankrupt with paying back fines and lawsuits. Some versions were made to be much better at certain tasks, such as one exclusive for plants", Uzi said.

"Is it possible for these items to be made still", Kratos asked.

"Yes but they aren't produced anymore, given the side effects. The just got shelved immediately and were left to just rot in storage. Although, the blueprints for them were leaked a while ago, I just hadn't had the opportunity to get one yet", Uzi replied.

"I see", Kratos says.

"One other thing I want to talk about is something...very interesting to me personally and that would the "T.H.A.T". Also know as the "Thermal Hill Assault Team". They were a group of soldiers who were stationed on Mars, which had some volcanic activity once terraforming began. A war broke out around the volcanic regions and so a specialized team was made to fight there. They had the best technology developed to combat such hot climates and to hopefully not die from both enemy and nature. It worked well as they could stand the immense heat and were able to finsh the war in five weeks after it going on for two months", Uzi said.

"Interesting, what happened afterwards", Kraots asked.

"Shortly after the war, the volcanic regions had to be...closed off due to the fact that some traps and bombs we still active. They sent many clean up cress there to hopefully make the place habitable. Although...I'm not sure it is anymore due to...Cyn and the AS. Mars wasn't that far from Earth after all", Uzi nervously replied.

"Anyways, is there anything else you want to learn about or are you good for today?", Uzi asked.

"Best to continue and besides, I'm sure you have a lot you want to talk about", Kratos replies.

"If you say so", Uzi says.

For the next two hours, Uzi tells Kratos about the various object created by Jcjenson and as well as explaining more of her planet as well. N and V would occasionally come around along with Artues to listen to some of Uzi's discussions but would eventually go to sleep as it was getting closer to 10pm and they were getting tired. Uzi and Kratos eventually end their discussion and head to bed. Ready to start anew for the day before them and to continue their journey to the mountains.

Chapter Text

It was now morning time and the group of six have awoken. Uzi is first to step out of the flesh tents, stretching and preparing to make some breakfast. She wishes she could have something like pancakes of something likes eggs but all they really have is the fish in the lake (which was called the Lake of the Nine as todl by Atrues) and the rest of the troll flesh...although it is slowly but steadily losing flavor and...taste. Guess having to fight in most dusty ruins does that to food. Uzi grabbed some of the troll bits and cooked them over the fire, which has thankfully still burned bright as it did last night. Kratos then arrives from his and his son's flesh tent as well, looking over to Uzi, who lightly waves at him. Uzi is still tired from last night but ultimately enjoyed their time together. 

"Morning", Uzi said. 

Kratos simply grunts and nods at Uzi. He notices Uzi cooking the troll bits, almost done being cooked. 

"So...what's the plan for today?", Uzi asked.

"Continue the climb and release the ashes", Kratos replies.

"Should've expected a answer like that by now I suppose", Uzi says.

The two watch as the food gets ready to be served. Each member respectively waing up their family for breakfast. N, V, and Atreus join Uzi and Kratos around the fire, eating the cook ed meat prepared for them. It was always nice to enjoy the little moments like this, eating around a fire with good friends and family. It's funny to Uzi, if you told her that she would be buddy buddy with a human, she might've called you insane and stupid but now here she is, eating with her partners and a father and son of unimaginable power.

The group finished their breakfast and travel back into the water, preparing for their journey ahead. The serpent rising from the water revealed a lot more than just the beach and statues, it reveled a whole underwater temple and of course, that's where npthey need to head, as it leads to the mountains. As they walk on top of the large temple structure, they suddenly encounter a familiar blue face.

"Well, well, If it isn't the bearded beefer, his sac-seed, and the outworlders", Brok suddenly said, seemingly appearing for nowhere.

"Brok? But how did you", Atrues gets cut of before he finishes.

"None of yer fuckin’ business. Now get in here. I got something for ya! And don’t go makin’ pigeyes at my spot… I saw it first", Brok replies, beckoning the group to him and his shop.

"What do you think he wants?", V asks, looking over to Kratos.

"To test our patience", he replies.

"When word gets out about my new shop, folks will finally come outta hiding. They’ll be clawing all over each other just to catch a whiff of my wares, just you wait", Brok said, looking at his shop.

Brok's shop was less of a actual shop and more like a cobbled together blacksmith. He had a table with his supplies and his signature hammer on it, along side him was another table, cluttered with it owns items. Barrels containing sword and weapons of all kinda were scattered around the interior of his workspace and behind him was a large brick furnace, already lit  and smoking away.

"Oh by the way, got something of interest for you guys as well", Brok said as he went leaned down under his table. After a few seconds of searching, Brok presented the group a glowing blue stone, placing it on the table. 

"This beauty is a key to Yggdrasil. Use it on those pile of rocks there and you have a gateway to the world tree, the realm between realms. Do note though, it's a one way ticket, so only use in times of emergency. Also...never, ever, go off the path, unless you want to experience death like never before", Brok said.

"Yeah, i don't think anyone of us want that", Uzi replied.

"Well, if you're done looking around, would you five like to be my first customer?", Brok said.

"Sure, I love doing anything", N replied, looking around Brok's wares. 

"N, I love you and your optimism, but we don't have any money on us at all, or really anything that could be a currency. Also, we grow our own weapons, including swords. Whatever Brok's selling, we quite literally have no use for it....no offense", V said, looking over at Brok and N.

"None taken", Brok replied, slightly miffed.

"I mean...you two might not need them but I am really tired of holding this dumb age and would much prefer something else", Uzi said.

"Well then little Missy, show me what you got", Brok said.

"Well like V said, we don't have anything on us resembling currency, but if you have any on you, I could duplicate it", Uzi replied.

"And why should I trust such a offer at face value?", Brok asked.

"Cause of this", Uzi replied, duplicating one of Brok's hammers scattered around the place, presenting it to him.

"Well then...guess we have a deal", Brok said as he grabbed the hammer, placing it on his table. 

Uzi hands Brok her axe, to which he grabs and inspects it over. He can tell it's all around solid but he understands why Uzi wants it replaced with something else.

"Anything particular you want?", Brok asked.

"A...dagger, they look cool and also will be much more fun to use with my abilities", Uzi replied.

"Well you're in luck, got one made already, just have to find it", Brok said.

Uzi slightly squealed in excitement, kinda forgetting about everyone else around her. She quickly noticed N and V's stares while Kratos and Atrues are waiting nearby...very patiently. She should've just kept the axe.

"Found it, here you go", Brok said, tossing the dagger to Uzi. She inspects the dagger, it was a standard steel dagger but the handle...it shared the brand as Kratos's axe, albeit only half of it...since his brother isn't around. 

"Thanks", Uzi said.

"No problem, just doing my job. Hope your journey goes well or whatever", Brok replies as he goes through some of his stock.

N, V, and Uzi meet up with Kratos and his son nearby and enter a platform, taking them upwards to another part of the temple. As they exit the platform they find themselves on the top of the temple, a large tower rests nearby and the are lined near a platform containing a horn.

"...that's weird", V says, looking at the rather large horn. 

"Can we blow into it?", Atreus asks to his father. 

"Without knowing the outcome?", Kratos replied.

"But why? We usually push every button and pull every lever we see", Atreus says, earning some laughs and giggles from V and gang.

"Outcomes we can predict. No, this is something else. We must develop your instincts", Kratos says.

"Aw man", Uzi said in disappointment.

They group get off the platform with the horn and make their way towards the nearby tower entrance.

"With luck, that tower leads through to the mountain", Kratos said.

As they continue their walk, they suddenly hear growling and the see a group of people climbing up onto the bridge they resided on. They look sick and rotted, similar to the dragur but more green and almost poison-like in appearance.

"Oh you got to be kidding me", Uzi said in annoyance.

"Well at least you can test you newly acquired dagger aye Z", V said, a light smirk appearing on her face.

"I guess", Uzi replied, dagger in hand.

Uzi immediately deployed her wings and shot to nearest foe,  trying to block her attack with his own blade but not being successful due to Uz ripping its weapon out of his hand using her tail. She launched the sword into one of the others nearby, impaling them in the chest, as she sliced the her current foe's hand off with her dagger, before stabbing him in the head. Despite the brutality unleash onto them, the remaining two creatures didn't show any sign of fear at all, they acted like animals and immediately trid to attack her, failing as Uzi sunked her teeth in one of theirs neck and killing the other one by using her solver to launch a "null", into its head, erasing it easily. Uzi got up from the corpses, laughing maniacally in her victory.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group who watched what was a straight up horror scene unleashed couldn't help but be...very disturbed by how effortlessly Uzi just wiped them all out, besides V, who was loving the display of violence by her girlfriend, a huge blush being displayed on her face. Kratos wasn't as disturbed as his son and N but...the way she attacked...it reminded him of who he was younger...how he used to be. He tighten his fist into balls and took a deep breath, relaxing his hands.

"I love her so much, don't you N?", V asked, her voice showing she was clearly entranced by the display. She placed her hand on N's left shoulder.

"I, um, definitely, I love Uzi very much", N nervously replied as he moved V's hand away.

Uzi finishes her laughter and flies back to the group, creating a dust cloud on landing.

"How was that...guys?", Uzi nervously asked as she looked upon everyone's faces.

"If you want honest opinion, I think it was really hot", V replied, leaning down towards Uzi, who immediately blushed at the comment. 

"I..shut up, Bite me or whatever", Uzi said as she put into a hug by V.

"Maybe I will, you would like wouldn't you, freak", V lustfully replied, making Uzi blush even harder.

"Enough...please", Kratos said, hoping to end...whatever he was currently seeing. Arteus was trying his best to ignore what was going on but couldn't, much to his disappointment.

V and Uzi awkwardly got out of their hug and stood side to side N, Uzi on his left, V on his right.

"Now then, with that out of the way, let us continue", Kratos said, as the group walked towards to the door.

Kratos sighed internally, he is hoping that he doesn't have to deal with this for long, especially since they're coming, close to the mountains. But then again...he's not sure the three drones have a way back home...so even once this is over, they're probably staying for quite a while...at least the one name N is somewhat normal...he hopes.

Chapter Text

She rarely spoke, barely interacted, but she was always there. Ever since Cyn revealed herself to everyone for the first time, she had been quiet most of the time. Sure, she knew they had essentially forgiven her as she was a victim of the Absolute Solver but even then, she felt it best to not give herself attention. She only observed the environment around her, watching everyone's lives and their days. She only really interacted in private, such as with Uzi and her partners. Her and Uzi gotten along surprisingly well with each other once they were used to each other. Cyn liked Uzi's personality and did her best to help Uzi with most things involving N and V. She served to make sure that Uzi had the best time with them. She often wrap herself around them when they hugged, much to their somewhat annoyance. But still, they loved her and cared for her. 

Cyn hopes she can one day have a body of her own, though that will take a while, especially now that she are her friends are now trapped in a entirely different universe, reality? It didn't matter, all that really mattered was that everything was going good so far. She was fascinated with the new word around her, how both similar and vastly different it was. Especially with the their two new human allies, Kratos and Artues. The two's dynamic was interesting, especially now with what she and other learned about them. Kratos, a strong and powerful man trying to raise a son on his own and to carry out his wife's last request and Artues, a young, optimistic boy experiencing the world around him. She saw great potential within Artues, she knew he could be a force to be reckon with once he is grown up, especially now that they group knew what his father truly was.

Seeing how her brother N, Uzi and V interacted with them was nice. She liked the interactions between N and Artues, it reminded her of her time with N back at the manor. Uzi and Kratos were another interesting dynamic as well, seeing how Kratos and Uzi each have their own forms of knowledge and how they spoke about it. V though was very interesting, sure she interacted with Artues and Kratos, but mostly kept to N and Uzi. V was always the most observable ever since she became a disassembly drone, which was funny considering how bad her eyesight was at the manor. V could sense there was something deeper to Kratos, especially with how he acted and talked. Cyn also wanted to know what was under that rugged skin and see the man Kratos truly was.

Cyn suddenly felt herself bump across a piece of rock and was knocked out of her thoughts. She quickly looked around and saw the group was interacting with another dwarf named Sindri. He was the other dwarfs brother, barely any semblance between the two though. But then again, Artues didn't look much like Kratos...skin wise that is. Just like Brok, he held the other peice of the brand that was on Kratos's axe. She saw how upset Sindri became once Kratos mention that Freya died, the sudden shock and grief circling around him. But he overcame them and asked if Kratos wanted a upgrade for his age, to which the man accepted. 

It was nice to observe and lay back during events, she was kept in the loop without doing much work. She learned a lot about Sindri from the shoot amount of time they interacted with him. He was very much a clean freak, which was funny considering his profession. But that did help make him look much more presentable than his brother, he also wasn't as vulgar or crude as him, both a positive and negative to her. It was especially funny when Artues asked why Sindir doesn't look like his brother, much to the surprise of everyone besides Sindri. Apparently Brok consumed something while mining repeatedly and ended up turning blue because of it. Just like flamingos and shrimp, to which N also brought up as well.

Another thingn that was interesting to Cyn, was Sindri's current relationship with his brother. She could that Sindri did care for his brother but whatever happened between them, didn't leave anything positive afterwards. Sindri began talking about some of the stuff her and brother made, one very significant object in particular to Cyn being Thor's hammer. These dwarfs were very interesting to her, she wondered if her and the gang would meet more if possible. If any of these other dwarfs are as talented as the two brothers, things could be very interesting. She got to listening back to the current conversation between Sindri and the gang, discussing his brother and work. Before he shifted their attention on something he had recently completed yesterday.

A "Sky mover", was what Sindir called it, a way to transport some vast resources from the higher parts of the mountain easier. He tested it yesterday and it worked like a charm. He told them he was glad he tested it immediately as when he went to check the other side of the connection, he found it covered in roots. So he had to clear them out or else risk the thing not reaching the top. His invention could best be described as a medieval sky tram. Cyn was always fascinated with technology, so seeing something like this, despite how primitive it is compared to her world's version, was very interesting. She saw potential within Sindri, if he had access to her world's technology, there was no doubt he would be a marvelous inventor.

Cyn observed as Kratos asked if he and his group can use the machine to travel upwards to the top of the mountain. Sindri agreed but did demand some light pay, as he was letting complete strangers use his equipment. Kratos told Sindri he didn't really have any gold or currency on him but said he had a possible suggestion for payment. Kratos would deliver some of the resources the dawrf needed as payment, to which Sindri agreed as it was difficult for someone of his stature to move all that stuff even with his sky mover.

After observing the partng words, they began to head to the sky mvoer and start to head right up the mountain. Cyn looked out of the windows, watching as the environment around her was exposed to her as they climbed higher and higher into the sky. She missed these types of sights, even though the swamp was very...depressing in most areas, the hills always showed the most beautiful views of the world around her. It's a shame what happened to them, those sights would be never be obtained again, but with this world, she'll see new ones. And new memories and dreams will be made.

"So...how is everyone?", Cyn asked, gaining everyone's attention.

"Oh hi Cyn, didn't expect you to speak", Uzi nervously replied.

"No one expects it", Cyn said, lightly chuckling.

"Anyways, I'm bored. Does anyone want to do something?", Cyn asked.

"Well...if possible, could we have music?", N asked. 

"Of course big brother", Cyn replied.

"But how? I don't have any stuff on me for music", Uzi said.

"Uzi, we have god like power, making music shouldn't stop us", Cyn replied.

"...fair", Uzi said.

"Now then, let me do my magic", Cyn said.

Everyone patiently waited as they watch Cyn, wondering when it was going to start. Cyn looked directly upward and opened her mouth, before slowly rotating completely. Everyone was confused as to what she was doing until something was heard. As Cyn kept spinning, the sounds of distorted music began to come though before smoothing out into something audible. Something beautiful.

I am tired of this dream
Will it ever end for me?
I don't have the will to know
Can you help me see?

Let my body keep you warm
Let my essence be your breeze
Can you hear me calling?
Please look out for me

Can you set me free?
Will you take my soul away?
Casting me in cold
Bury me in bones
Rest eternally

Will you take me home?
Can we see the moon again?
Dancing in the dark
till we fall apart
I can't end this dream

Chapter Text

They have reached the end of lift, stepping off it onto the rocky floor beneath their feet. They're much closer to the top and soon Kratos will be able to honor his wife's wishes and be complete. N and Arteus were amazed by the view from up high, seeing the snowy forest they started from that wasn't too far behind. Uzi and V made sure they didn't fall off accidentally as Atreus was young and N gets to excited for his own good sometimes. After some climbing up surfaces and making sure that they didn't lose their food bag, they had finally reached the top.

The group stared at the scene in front of them, an old, one-eyed man stuck inside a tree. His could only move his right arm as the other seemed to be fused to the tree alongside most of his body.

"Ah, wasn't expecting guests, so soon", the old man said.

"Uzi, do you know who this could be?", V asked quietly".

"Not yet", Uzi replied.

"Hey there sir, it's nice to meet you", N said, walking towards him.

"N", Uzi and V shouted.

"Right, let me introduce myself, my name is Mimir, the smartest man alive across all the realms... maybe. I think being here so long has caused some of my memory to slowly fade away", he said.

"And guess by what those two lasses said, your name must be N", Mimir continued.

"I sure am, sorry if we're interrupting anything", N replied.

"It's fine lad, not like there's much for me to do up here", he solemnly said. 

"Now then, what do you lot need?", Mimir asked.

"We are looking for the highest mountain in all the nine realms per my wife's wishes", Kratos said, walking between N and Mimir. N slowly backed away just in case. Argues slowly joined his father and stood by his side.

"Well then, good luck finding it, it's in the realm of the giant, known as Jötuntheim. And the gate behind you is not accessible anymore", Mimir replied, pointing behind the group, who in turn looked behind themselves. They see the stone gate, displaying a vast mountain range covered in seemingly an endless sea of clouds.

"Oh, you got be kidding me", Uzi muttered.

"Without the symbol, you can fully access it. Thankfully I am able to get you there. But I do have way around this problem", Mimir said.

"And that would be?", Kratos asked. 

"First, you need to cut off my head", he replied.

"What?", Everyone besides Kratos said in confusion.

"Odin has had me trapped in here for 109 winters, he made sure no weapon, not even his own children's can damage these vines. But you don't need my body, only someone who can revive my head afterwards using some of that old magic", Mimir said.

"That lady in the woods had magic, she could know these... "old ways", N said.

"Well, it's worth a shot", Mimir replied.

"But you will die if she fails", Kratos said, sapping the life out the conversation.

Mimir sighs, hanging his head down low, "He tortures me you know, every day. I been here for so long, telling Odin and his cronies whatever they needed. Even after Odin had supposedly found someone else to help him. This isn't living", he says solemnly.

Kratos takes a deep breath, "Very well then", he replies, readying his axe to swing. Atreus quickly looks away from scene that was about to unfold.

"In case you can't resurrect me brother, there's something I should tell you. The longer you refuse to tell you boy about his true nature, the more it will hurt. You may lose him forever", Mimir said.

"There's plenty I wish for him to not know", Kratos replied.

"So, you value your privacy over your son?", Mimir asked.

Kratos simply huffs, "I'm going to cut you head now" he says, slight anger in his voice.

"Fair enough then", Mimir replies.

The drones watch as Kratos swings his axe down onto Mimir's neck, cleanly severing it from the owner's body. Kratos knees down and grabs the head, tying it around his waist, before standing up and turning to the group.

"Well then, guess we're heading down", V said, prepping her wings. 

"Actually, wait a sec, how I about I try something", Uzi replied, gaining everyone's attention.

"How about I try to teleport us to the witch's house?", she asked.

"Are we sure that's a good idea?", Atreus asked.

"Uh... maybe?", Uzi nervously replied.

"Considering we are at the top of a mountain and the fact that our destination is at least a day way or even more if we're unlucky... I think we can risk it. Unless the risks are extreme", V said.

"Risks of teleporting include headaches, possibly vomiting, and rashes... also instant death but it's temporary as you are immediately rewound back to your previous position", Cyn replied, before slipping away.

"Umm...besides the semi-death, it's pretty much good if anything goes wrong", Uzi said nervously.

"Fine", Kratos replied, walking towards Uzi as she preps herself.

Everyone gathers around her as she concentrates, opening her solver and trying to carefully make sure she doesn't mess up. Uzi closes her eyes, and closes her fist, the solver symbol closing in her hands as purple light surrounds her. Uzi is nervous, she doesn't feel like she was killed but she isn't sure she actually moved. Slowly, Uzi opens her eyes and sees a forest in front of her, as well as the rest of the gang alongside her as well. It had worked.

"I did it, I DID IT HAHA. I FEEL LIKE A GOD", Uzi says, laughing uncontrollably as she revels in her success.

"Should we stop her?", V asks, getting off the ground, helping N up.

"No let her have it, she kinds earned it and also it's very cute when she is like this", N replies.

"Yeah, she is", V says.

Kratos and Atreus get off from the ground as well, observing Uzi's victory. Atreus laughs a little while Kratos loudly fake coughs, stopping Uzi's laughing, quickly becoming embarrassed as she kind of forgot that her friend were here still.

"Right, umm... the house-thingy should be nearby", Uzi said nervously. Kratos simple grunts in acknowledgement and the group head down the forest.

After what they had experienced for the past few days, walking in a forest was just the relaxing thing they needed, no intense travel, no fighting, and no random giant animals to suddenly scare them, no matter how much Uzi liked the giant snake. About an hour later, they had finally found the Witch's house, or well where it was.

"MISS, WE"RE BACK AND WE NEED SOME HELP, IF YOU BE SO KIND", N shouted. after a few seconds, the ground began to rumble as the giant tortoise rose from the ground, revealing the house underneath. the door opened soon afterwards as the witch came on through.

"Well, hello again you... six?", she nervously said. Uzi simply nodded as Cyn showed herself, before slipping away.

"Anyway, come inside, I'm sure you are all exhausted from your presumably long journey", she said, beckoning them inside.  Uzi and crew enter the house, it was nice to be somewhere familiar after so much travel. Sure nothing really insane had happened besides meeting the world serpent and Mimir but still, nice to be somewhere you recognize. N, V and Uzi took a seat on some nearby chairs as Atreus stood next to his father. 

"No then, what could I do for you?", the witch asked.

Kratos replied by showing Mimir's head to her, "We need you to reanimate him for our journey. He is our only way to Jöutuntheim", he said.

She couldn't believe it, Mimir, his head dangled in front of her like it was being shown like a dead animal from a hunt. She wanted to say something but nothing came out, just shokc and surprise. She composed herself, Kratos said he needed him revived for his goal. She chuckled a little, "Of course that your solution Mimir", she said.