Listening to Kratos's words to Atreus, Zack couldn't help but take a deep breath, and his heart was filled with emotion.
Having played the previous Greek trilogy, Zack knew exactly what Kratos's words meant.
For Kratos, his life was essentially a tragic one.
From birth, his destiny seemed to have been set.
Prophecies, being used as pawns by the gods, and then being exploited by Gaia and Athena.
You could say Kratos was always treated as a tool.
But Atreus was different from him. As a new god, Atreus had Kratos looking out for him.
He didn't have to follow the same path as Kratos. What kind of god he became was entirely up to Atreus himself.
This journey wasn't just about Atreus growing up, but also about Kratos growing up.
It didn't have the epic, blood-soaked narrative of the Greek trilogy, but this father and son's journey to the highest peak in the Nine Realms was unforgettable.
Of course, besides all this, something else that made Zack feel a bit sad and emotional was the character of Freya.
Actually, he quite liked Freya as a character. It wasn't just because of her attractive character model.
The main reason was that Freya wasn't annoying in the game. While her twisted motherly love was hard to agree with, she helped Atreus and Kratos a lot during the game, like with the Dark Breath, Atreus's illness, and reviving Mimir's head…
You could even say that without Freya, Kratos and Atreus wouldn't have been able to complete their adventure at all.
But now it seemed Freya would turn evil and become an enemy?
Thinking of Freya, who had just left with Baldur's body, Zack in the game was guessing about what would happen next.
After all, Freya wasn't a simple character. Even though she was just watering flowers and raising pigs in the forest now, her divine power that stopped Kratos and Baldur from fighting showed she was incredibly powerful. She was just unable to use her full strength due to Odin's curse. However, from some previous dialogue, it was clear that Freya used to be the leader of the Valkyrie army.
After saying goodbye to Freya, the rest of the journey was smooth sailing. There weren't any boss fights, or even any minor enemy encounters.
Through the realm travel point of Yggdrasil, and then using Mimir's head to open the gate to Jotunheim, Kratos and Atreus entered Jotunheim via a light elevator.
There were no major events, not even minor enemies. Using the realm travel point and Mimir's head to open the gate to Jotunheim, they arrived in Jotunheim via a light elevator.
On the mountainside, near a giant's finger, Kratos looked at the distant sun and slowly unwrapped the bandages on his arm.
Beneath them were the marks left by the Blades of Chaos, which would never fade.
He hadn't wanted Atreus to know before, but now he had nothing to hide.
Kratos looked at Atreus beside him and carefully took down and handed Laufey's ashes from his waist to Atreus.
Now he completely accepted Atreus's abilities.
They headed towards the summit, passing through a temple filled with statues of giants, or perhaps petrified giants.
But just as Kratos and Atreus were about to go to the top, Atreus accidentally touched the wall beside them. At that moment, a shocking sight appeared.
Sand and gravel fell from the wall, and behind the falling debris, there was a mural.
The mural depicted the entire adventure of Kratos and Atreus on their journey!
It was all depicted there – this was a prophecy!
Or rather, it was a prophecy specifically for Atreus.
Everything was falling into place.
Baldur wasn't looking for Kratos back then; he was looking for Laufey.
However, Laufey had already turned to ashes, and coupled with Kratos's tangled and unclear past, and being an outsider, Kratos had mistakenly thought Baldur was coming for him.
It wasn't just Kratos who was hiding secrets; Laufey was too.
And what made Zack even more uneasy was the final mural that Atreus didn't see.
In the mural, Kratos's body lay in Atreus's arms, and a sorrowful Atreus spat out a giant serpent.
Is Kratos going to die again!?
Zack was filled with questions.
But in the game, Kratos just looked on quietly, then turned and left.
On the highest peak of the Nine Realms, Atreus took out his mother's ashes and gave them to Kratos.
The father and son together scattered the ashes from the bag into the air.
They both had very complex emotions on their faces. Tears welled up in Atreus's eyes, and Kratos's eyes also showed a faint reflection.
Indeed, they had been through so much to get here.
Along the way, Kratos was trying hard to teach his son how to be a god, while Atreus was teaching Kratos how to be a person.
"Goodbye, Faye."
With Kratos's farewell and the subsequent appearance of the credits, it was clear that the adventure of Atreus and Kratos had ended.
Story-wise, after this ending, he knew it was over.
But for Zack, his focus wasn't on the ending at all.
His attention was mostly on the plot holes the game had left open.
Besides the mural predicting Atreus's future and the one hinting at Kratos's possible death, the father and son revealed an incredibly significant piece of information as they left.
That name, Atreus, was given to him by Kratos to honor a Spartan comrade he once had.
And Atreus's mother had given him another name: Loki.
Although he wasn't very familiar with Norse mythology, he understood some basic things.
For example, the World Serpent and the wolf Fenrir were both sons of Loki. Combining this with the previous scene of Kratos falling into Atreus's arms and Atreus spitting out a serpent, it was enough to spark wild speculation.
Furthermore, the giant serpent that appeared in the Lake of the Nine, and Tyr, seemed to hint at something, such as the possibility that the giant serpent came from the future.
This could also explain why the World Serpent was so friendly to Kratos and Atreus in the game.
With a mind full of questions, Zack exited the game, his head still filled with the game's story, as it had left so many unanswered questions.
First, there was Kratos's wife: Laufey.
This character, who never showed herself, was she good or bad?
Why, knowing the prophecy, didn't she directly tell Kratos, nor tell Kratos their identity as female giants?
Why did she want Kratos and the others to scatter her ashes from the highest peak of the Nine Realms after her death?
And connecting this with Kratos cutting down trees at the beginning and Baldur showing up, it all linked together now.
The golden handprint on the tree Kratos cut down, and then Baldur showing up. Before that, Atreus and the others had been safe. Was this all part of a plan?
Odin had ordered Baldur to hunt down giants to prevent Ragnarok, but Kratos and Atreus accidentally caused Ragnarok's conditions to be met early by killing Baldur with mistletoe.
Coupled with the mural of them reaching the highest peak of the Nine Realms, all of this was foretold. One mural even showed Laufey arguing with other giants.
If this was all pre-planned, from Laufey marrying Kratos to giving birth to Atreus, it was all likely planned.
Prophecy, fate, the destruction of the gods – everything seemed to be the same as Kratos's experiences in Greek mythology. Except this time, the one making the prophecy was Atreus.
In an instant, Zack felt his mind was about to overload. This was absolutely a madness of digging pits!
And it was the kind that only dug and never filled!
Even though the game's story was still ongoing, the credits had already rolled. For players who had played the game, this was familiar. It meant the main story had ended.
Although they could still explore the Nine Realms, Kratos's adventure was clearly put on hold for now.
(End of this chapter)
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