A Horizon Zero Dawn fan-fiction! [ONESHOT]

I'm trying something new here. I might bring modifications later, we'll see!

Enjoy!

During an uneventful night which looked like all the others, the mountain put a small baby girl in some old women's arms. As the child had no mother in the common sense of the notion, the women put the girl under a good man's care.

The same night, miles and miles away from the mountain, a woman fought to survive while giving birth to a baby boy. But the midwives thought the boy had a bad look, something odd about him. At the news, the mother gave up and let herself die. The father did not want such child, so he gave his son to the army.

These two births had many things in common, and were meant to meet, one day. But the world can only bare so much of these sorts of great destinies. One will die by the other's hand. It was written like this. But that night when the two children took their first breath, their existence meant nothing. The night was one among others, the children had no physical particularities. If not given the events that followed their birth, no one would have noticed them.

I had the honour to meet both of them. Well… I meet one, and watch the other wandering the woods from afar.

The one I met, was the girl born from the mountain. Although when she arrived in my shack by accident, she had grown into a powerful and beautiful young woman. Did she have parents? It was not really a problem: the good man, the outcasted Brave who raised her must be proud; even in his death. "Aloy" told me her name, her mission. She accepted to share a drink, by courtesy as obviously she did not care for an old woman like me. The matriarchs leading her tribe, the Noras, must have given a bad example about old ladies. Aloy told me about her life, how hurt her heart was to be an outcast for no good reasons. She told me about her adopted father, Rost; how he lived, how he died, how she talks to him at his shrine. That day, she felt less troubled than when she arrived.

The second child was from the Carja tribe. Like Aloy, he turned into a strong adult, a man intelligent, strong and rather handsome. Despite these encouraging criterias for success, "Nil" was not meant to be… appreciated. Hated would be a word too strong: people did not hate him, they simply remained at a safe distance from him, even if they knew it would not be enough if he decides to kill them. Nil had one joy in his life: killing. Or should I say, this unique moment when life cease to exist, and the body becomes an empty shell. Fortunately, the man did not turn into a murderer… in the socially common meaning of the notion. He was first a soldier. His father made sure of that. How would Nil have turned into if his family did not give up on him? Only the dreams and the imagination could answer that question. Anyway, he was first a soldier and fought in wars. He did terrible things and instead of hiding, like the others, he volunteered to be investigated, when Avad became Sun-King. When he was released, Nil disappeared. That is when I saw him. I was tending to my crops when the shape of the carja soldier moved among the trees. He stopped when he noticed me, looked at me for a moment; then kept moving. Later, I was told the nearby bandit camp have been slaughtered; apparently it was a bloody massacre.

Before the machines suddenly calmed down, Aloy paid me a visit. I knew she would, but she did not believe me when I told her that. "Visions aren't possible." She said. I smiled and gave her a nice and warm cup of tea. The young woman was troubled. A big fight was coming and she feared failure. But the tea helped to calm her mind and body. After a moment helping me around my shack, she started to talk. She told me about the mad machines, the cultists, the shadow carja… she kept talking, as if she kept silence for years. Her need to communicate was both touching and saddening. Then, she told me about this strange acquaintance of hers: a carja soldier "not giving a damn about the world and who hunts bandits for sport". That was how she described him before pronouncing his name: "Nil". Together, they raided camps of bandits; and most of them were gone now.

"What will happen to Nil when there won't be any bandits left?" She asked. "The man only lives to kill."

I did not tell her what I saw about that particular subject. She knew Nil would die eventually; by machines, fellow carja, Braves, Avad's justice, bandits… I was not sure she imagined she'll be Nil's end.

In the end, Aloy came back. She was exhausted. She crashed on my bed and woke up only the next morning. She drank tea with me, even prepared some. She helped me with the crops, brought me some meat from a small session of hunting. We shared a meal, then she started to talk again. She told me Rost's story. She felt sad about that subject. She felt sad about that "Elisabeth Sobeck" too. Then, she asked me a single question.

"Did you know about Nil?"

She looked at me right in the eyes. I nodded. Her shoulders relaxed a bit.

"Who was he?"

I told her about Nil's birth. About his childhood. I told her about his life growing up in the army, bloodying his blade during the war. The crimes he committed and the good he did. I told her about the people he loved, the people he betrayed, the people he killed. I told her about the people who loved him, who betrayed him, who tried to kill him. And I told her about how he cared for her.

"It doesn't make sense. He asked me to kill him."

Nil asked Aloy to duel him, not to kill him. Although, despite his pride, the man knew he did not have a chance against her. But knowing that was not important: he was dead. In the end, the absence of his existence in this world was all that mattered… If anybody cared to care.

As I was explaining my point of view, Aloy's eyes stopped on a box. I carefully put it on the middle shelve, so I can access it with ease. Around it, I put candles, flowers and other objects. She walked towards it and mentioned how the box was not here last time she paid me a visit. I invited her to open it. And she did. She remained silent, as expected. She recognised part of the contests. She took to box and brought it to me.

"You told me about everybody he met… but you never told about you."

I smiled. Smart girl. I took the box in my hands. My heart squeezed into my chest. A knife, a bowstring, a piece of armour, various objects like a small book, a doll-soldier made of shards…

I never meet Nil, but I saw him. I told Aloy the story of Nil. How my son fell in love, but cared little for his wife. How she gave up when the baby was there, how the father refused to love him. I told Aloy how Nil had some kind of predisposition for death: he was fascinated by it, by the moment. The others did not want him around, and by doing so refused him some positive experiences. He learnt how to love, but not necessary what was right to love in the carja tribe. Killing is fine for a soldier in the middle of a war; but for a man in peaceful times? He learnt to adapt and surrendered to Avad's authority. The prison gave him a sense of justice. A code. So once he was out, he tried to mix his love for killing to what would be socially accepted: he found the answer in slaughtering bandits. I told Aloy how I watch him grew and changed with the Nora huntress' influence. I told her how I felt when he duelled her, when he lost.

I hold no grudges. I knew how his life would end before he was born. If anything, I am glad she stopped him… Madness runs in the family, I wished someone had the bravery to stop me when it was still time. I told Aloy how I started my life as a huntress, first killing animals, then finding a morbid interest in humans. I fell for a carja soldier, then gave birth to a child. I was not allowed to be around my son… not long enough to leave a good impression anyway. I was "the crazy mother", and soon the "crazy old woman living in the woods". When my body could not keep up with my murderous needs, I went into the ruins and drank poisonous waters coming out of an old long-dead machine. I knew it would kill me, that was why I did it. However, for some reasons, I survived. And the visions started soon after.

My son had many children, with a large variety of women. When he was seventeen or so he put a baby in a local girl's belly; that bloody idiot… the girl was exiled as my son dared to lie about his relationship with her. I wanted nothing to do with him; but the girl came to me. So I took care of the girl and the child; and when they were ready, send them in friendlier lands. Then my son started to visit houses where you can by sexual favours. He liked a girl enough to visit her after her "work", whatever she agreed or not. His sexual adventure continued in such manners, and before I knew it, I had five grandchildren in less than six years. All were abandoned. When my idiot son decided to get married, he chose a woman from a family who had the Sun-King's favours. He made her pregnant alright. Three children. Then decided she was not good enough for him anymore and allowed concubines in his house. Eventually the wife left and my son got married again. This time, it was with the mother. Nil's. In my visions, I saw a good heart. I liked her, and hoped she'll get out of there fast. But she did not. Between the beatings and the raping, she got pregnant and managed to gave birth. Nil already had a cold look in his eyes when he was a baby. It did not mean anything, but superstitious people would believe what they want. I guess that look gave her a good enough reason to escape her own life. No one blamed her, but not for the right reasons.

I told Aloy all these things, she listened in silence. I told her about how ashamed I was to bring such person, my son, to the world. In the same time, I was proud of my grandchild. From all the ones I have, he was the one I loved the most. We never "met", but I thought that if I keep an eye on him with my vision… well… perhaps it would help? Make him a good man?

Once I was finished with my story, Aloy remained silent for a long moment. Then she stood up, put the box full of Nil's belongings on the shelf and walked calmly towards the door.

"In the end, he was." Aloy said, as she exited my shack.

She never came back.