Kratos's Arc

Chapter 11 of 11

Three days after the elder's warning, the earth spoke to Kratos again. He stood in the stronghold courtyard at dawn. The healed stones trembled. Kronos's voice rose through the ground, plain and measured. "The debt comes due. I ask one thing. Give Zeus my scythe." Kratos knelt and pressed his palm to the soil. "You are chained. The scythe is lost." "It is not," Kronos said. "It waits in the shadow-crypt. Carry it up. Lay it at my son's feet. Then I am owed nothing, and you owe me nothing." Kratos understood the trap. The elder forbade him from the prison. But the debt would not wait. He called Bia and Nike to the courtyard. "Kronos wants his weapon given to Zeus," he said. "If I go down for it, I break the oath again." Bia signed, blunt and fast. *Then don't go. Make Kronos send it up.* Nike crossed his arms. "The earth can carry words. Can it carry iron?" Kratos pressed both hands to the ground. "You spoke through stone. Move the scythe the same way. I will not enter the crypt. Lift it to the surface yourself." A long silence held. Then the courtyard split. Vines hauled something gleaming from the dark. The Chronos Scythe rose through the crack, its clockwork face still turning. It settled on the stones. Kratos had never touched the prison. The oath held. He sent Nike for Zeus. The king came down from the clouds, lightning sparking at his knuckles. He saw the scythe and stopped. "You pulled a Titan's weapon from Tartarus," Zeus boomed. "Explain yourself before I strike." Kratos did not reach for the scythe. "I never set foot in the crypt. The earth carried it up, by Kronos's own will. He surrenders it to you. The debt between us ends here." Zeus studied the turning gears. He pressed his own hand to the soil and listened. Kronos's voice came once more. "My son. I give you the scythe. I kept it swinging at your cradle. Now it is yours. I ask nothing back." Zeus pulled his hand away. The lightning died at his fingers. He lifted the scythe and weighed it. "He gives up the one thing that could free him," Zeus said quietly. "Then he truly wants peace." Zeus turned to Kratos. "You brought me his teeth, not his treachery. I misjudged you less than I feared." He slung the scythe across his back. "Your four siblings stand together. That was my demand. Keep them sharp, and Olympus will have need of you." He rose into the clouds and was gone. The debt was paid. But Nike watched the clouds and frowned. "You are free of Kronos now," he said. "But Zeus holds the scythe. And he said need, brother. He did not say reward." Bia signed slow. *He will test the four of us. Soon.* Kratos looked at the sealed crack where the weapon had risen. One rope cut. Another, he knew, already tightening.