The mountains cut into the sky like metal shards. Clouds of red clay dust scattered to the wind as a herd of tramplers made their slow, plodding way through the valley. Nil closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, savoring the cold snap of the air that swirled into his lungs.

Today, he would hunt.

He grinned, an expression fierce and intimidating. His teeth flashed in the faint light, and he felt a thrill of anticipation twist through his veins.

Finally, he would taste the blood in the breeze as the Voice of Our Teeth sent arrows shooting through the air. Just thinking about the eerie whistle of arrow fletching that accompanied a masterful hit made the hair on the back of his neck stand up with excitement.

He'd missed the rush of adrenaline that accompanied his charge into the heart of a bandit camp, his weapon dispensing a quick death on every side. He craved the sting of a flesh wound, reminded of his mortality only when his battle-fog overwhelmed his mind.

It was in that moment that he felt alive; there was no trace of the muted monotony of normal life. Sometimes, the bandit scum even managed to land a hit, and he savored the feeling of his frantically firing nerves.

He was in that moment vulnerable and exposed to death. That feeling was like a drug, one that he repeatedly consumed.

There were still days when he felt a rush of emptiness, the ache of a life left unfulfilled. It was in his best interest to quash those lingering emotions, he knew that. He'd left his former life behind, true, but nothing other than the hunt could erase the restlessness that he'd felt his entire life.

The hunt revealed his truth.

The hunt was the only thing that reminded him of his heartbeat, as steady and reliable as his weapon.

His heartbeat was the only thing that had remained with him through the civil war, his imprisonment, and afterwards. The pulsing steady tattoo of his heart, drumming on and on and on, was a reminder. Nil took great comfort in the soft and sure promise of his heartbeat; death was inevitable, and someday it would come for him.

When the only enemy left to be felled was death itself, he would let the darkness flood over him; the setting of his final sun. Until then, he would follow every last piece of scum to the ends of the land and deliver justice.

Perhaps not every last piece.

The Eclipse belonged to Aloy, which saddened him somewhat. It was a mark of how much he respected her; he wouldn't interfere with her task.

But, Helis might have been the greatest kill of his life. What a triumph that would be, he thought wistfully. The light fading from his eyes...it would be breathtaking.

Nil knew that he would help Aloy without hesitation if she asked, but otherwise, he would respectfully keep his distance. Courtesy and honor. Sworn under the light of the sun and consecrated with blood and earth, never to be forsaken.

Courtesy and honor were set above all else, that was his dogma. He supposed that he could be considered insane, but two years of deep contemplation at Sunstone Rock had only served to sharpen his mind and give him purpose.

What good was honesty and bravery if it was wasted in service to those who scarred the earth by breathing? No, he may have served the mad Sun King, but he was no slave to the demons that plagued the minds of lesser men.

He ignored the wind that whipped around him; the cold sting didn't bother him. He gazed to the east, watching silently as the sun began to rise, filling the desert sky with the brilliant colors of dawn.

Pain brought clarity. Pleasure ignited the song in his blood. There was very little to be learned trying to prize the two apart, life was given meaning when he danced between the two halves of a whole.

Idly, he wondered if the Ancient Ones would have been spared their fate had they known about this holy dichotomy.

He didn't understand those who were determined to keep the two separate. It was a waste of energy that could be better spent. He could attempt to teach, but he suspected that his wisdom was more likely to fall on deaf ears than it was to be absorbed. It was for this reason that Aloy was a constant source of interest for him; her blatant disregard for his philosophy pierced through the apathy of his existence and made something in him want to prove her wrong.

The alien feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant. Oh, he had experienced want before, but not like this.

Nil was many things, but never a man who forced his will upon others. The subtle hunt that consumed his nights would take time, and he savored the rush that accompanied his every thought of the flame-haired Nora. She'll come to me of her own volition, of that I'm sure.

He knew that it was a matter of time before they saw each other again; the excitement in her blood was a mirror of his own. The call of the hunt thrummed through both of their veins.

He suspected that she had glimpsed it when she'd kissed him. She would fight against it until she drew her last breath, but he'd shaken her composure. He'd seen a flash of desire in her eyes that eclipsed her love for control. That was all he needed; she had opened a door that couldn't latch shut.

In time, he knew, she would see him for what he really was.

Enlightened.

There was a small part of him that waited in hopeful anticipation for the moment that she accepted their truth. If she was already a wonder, he was anxious to see just how far she could surpass him.

He took another breath, tasting the smoke on the wind. He didn't make a habit of standing in open fields, but he craved the rush of adrenaline that came with the constant footfalls of great machines around him. He was in thunderjaw territory, and the great beasts paced all around him. What may have been considered suicide by most simply put a bounce in his step.

Nil preferred not to hunt machines, but he appreciated their power nonetheless. He was fond of thunderjaws; they reminded him of a certain huntress.

He began his treacherous climb down into the valley, his eyes peeled for the sun-bright hair of his hunting partner.


Aloy pulled an arrow out of a scraggly tree, grimacing at the nicks that marred the once sharp edge of her metal arrowhead. She hated glinthawks with a fiery passion; they were hard to kill and always made her waste arrows. Tsking quietly, she stuck her tongue between her teeth as she inspected the glittering metal shard.

I don't have an endless supply of shards. Either I keep going or go back to Meridian to restock.

She pulled out a small whetstone and crouched down, attempting to smooth out the edge. She only managed to nick her palm, cursing quietly as she watched a bright bead of blood well out of her skin. The slip bothered her; she was so used to the sharp edges of her arrows that her lapse in concentration caused her some concern.

The blood made her think of Nil.

Hurriedly, she wiped the blood away and strode back to her mount. She was determined to think of other things besides sun-kissed skin and a pressure between her legs that refused to go away. It had been a month since her last bandit camp raid, and she was both restless and disappointed that she hadn't taken care of another one. Is it a craving for the hunt or because I haven't seen him?

Part of her wanted to see Nil, to assure herself that the heat that had flooded through her veins was the result of exhaustion and stress. The other part wanted to kill him on sight, ridding herself and the people of the Carja lands of an unstable murderer.

But what would that make me?

Taking a steadying breath, she made up her mind. Avad had mentioned something about a bandit camp nestled between two mountains that was causing some trouble. She needed a distraction, badly.

"I already ask too much of you, Aloy. But I know that I can count on you. Will you help me?" Avad had said quietly, a permanent worry line etched between his brows. "The peace is already strained; the bandits are only making it harder to keep my alliances strong."

Ersa's death is still too fresh; otherwise he would have sent some of the Oseram allies to check it out. She thought, still mulling over her best course of action. I could just keep my promise or take care of it so that Avad doesn't have to.

Despite her better judgement, Aloy had agreed to scout the area. She'd kept her mouth shut about Nil; the last thing that she wanted was to invite questions about the mysterious silver-eyed stranger. Even though Avad might have been able to tell her who Nil really was, she felt like that would be a betrayal. She didn't have to like Nil, but she respected his ability to fight.

Even she would pause before attempting to kill him. Now even more so, as she felt her heart skip a beat and heat bloom in her veins as her mind wandered back to the way that his mouth had felt against hers.

She'd always heard from Rost that kissing was likely to cloud her judgement and muddle her senses, but she didn't agree. It was almost as if her mind had shifted into overdrive, becoming hyper aware of her body and the bruising softness of Nil's touch. Everything was so crystal clear in that moment that she'd jumped away and forced her mind back to reality, muddying her real feelings on the matter.

She still didn't know what those feelings were. Pain and pleasure may be one force that drove Nil to do the things that he did, but she knew that she respected them as two very different things. Pain made her fight for her life, igniting something primal and ancient inside her that screamed at her to live. That was what made her brain foggy, affected her ability to think clearly.

She still wasn't sure how to describe pleasure...that was something that she still didn't know much about.

She clenched her jaw at the memories that threatened to wash over her, trying to clear her head of distracting thoughts.

"A huntress takes what she wants, Aloy."

Even the memory of Nil's lips forming her name made her want to take off running, to ease the spike of adrenaline and need that coursed through her body. She wanted to-

Ugh! I don't have time for this!

What did she want, exactly? Not a bed partner, that much was clear to her.

Rost had certainly never mentioned that bedding anyone was anything more than an action to make children. She was glad that he hadn't given her many details, but no one had prepared her for the ignition of something that she could only describe as a wanting.

A wanting for what, she wasn't exactly sure, but it made her uncomfortable to know that her body was overriding her attempts to control it.

The sun began to set, and she knew that her decision was made as the blood-red of the sunset streaked across the sky. Tonight, she would take care of the bandits.

There will be one less burr in my blanket if I take care of them today.

Tossing her braids over her shoulder, she set out into the valley. Her pulse began to pound as she felt a trickle of nervous anticipation seep through her veins. Tonight, she might see Nil. He always knew when she was staking out a bandit camp, it was almost as if he felt a silent call. It was like they were connected somehow.

Tonight, she was going to ignore him.


She reached the fortress far later than she'd intended to. There were several longleg and ravager sites between her and the camp that she'd had to eliminate; she was annoyed by the number of arrows she'd had to use. Damn those blasted echo sensors, she thought angrily.

The sky was dark, only lit up by distant stars. Rounding the large rocks on the top of the valley cliff, she rolled her eyes when she saw that the bandits had a brightly-lit camp. It only makes them easier to hit.

Wasting no time, she rappelled down to the ground, holding her breath. She hadn't been spotted; she released it with relief.

Hidden in a patch of tall grass, she tapped her focus. The sightline shot out around her, illuminating her opponents. Her stomach gave a little lurch as she spotted a bright blue figure laying waste to the bandit numbers on the western side of the camp. Nil.

How does he always know when I'm here?!

Determined to keep her cool, she began to inch closer to the walls, laying traps as she closed in on the camp. It took all of her willpower not to check her focus to keep track of Nil's progress. She was briefly spotted by a sniper, and she darted back to the safety of her hiding place.

"She went thataway," she murmured quietly as she watched two brute fighters hunting for her. "Nothing to see here."

They eventually gave up, and she readied herself for her assault.

Taking a deep breath, she hurled a small rock into the fortress, catching the attention of several of the same bandit sluggers. They charged into the night, seeking the intruder. Faintly, as adrenaline began to flood through her veins, she knew that Nil would know that she was there when the traps went off.

She flinched reflexively as several of her traps ignited at once, sending a concussion blast through the air. Her ears were ringing, and she took a moment to gather her senses. I was too close to that one.

The blue figure was moving towards her now, inviting the attentions of seven yellow figures. Making a decision, she darted into the fortress.

The fight had begun. She whirled and dodged, using her new tripcaster to its fullest potential as she fought. Dimly, as the ringing in her ears from the explosions stopped, she saw that she had no more bandits to fight. Breathing hard, she activated her focus and tagged the remaining fighters. They were mostly crowded around Nil's blue signature.

She jogged over to where he was fighting, intent on picking off the snipers before they saw her. They'll be too distracted by Nil.

Aloy stopped in her tracks, taking a second to watch Nil fight. It was like a dance, the way that he moved. Sinuous and lethal, he didn't even need to expend much effort to kill his attackers. She found herself growing slightly envious of the way that he seemed to predict the attacks and was able to counter them easily. Is that how the Carja train their soldiers, or is that just him?

She caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye.

Her stomach dropped, a shiver of horror flooding through her as she saw the bandit. He was behind Nil, running full-tilt at the Carja warrior. A battleaxe glinted in the moonlight, and she felt her body moving of its own accord. Nil was about to die.

No!

Time seemed to slow as she concentrated, bringing her bow up to her cheek. The bandit never saw her coming, she was hidden in a patch of grass.

There was nothing but the tightening of her bowstring, a slow, lethal sound. She loosed the arrow, letting her breath out in a calculated burst as the arrow whistled through the air. The bandit dropped, his battleaxe still held tightly in his fist. The arrow had taken him right between the shoulder blades.

Time began anew, and she fought back a shudder of revulsion as the bandit heaved his last dying breath. A mournful sigh escaped his lips as the air hissed out of his open mouth. It felt like an eternity before Nil turned, catching sight of her standing there, her bow still held at the ready.

Nil sheathed his knife, an unreadable look in his eye.

"You robbed me of my kill," he said quietly, his tone colored with surprise. "Why did you interfere?"

She was about to make an angry retort when she caught sight of his expression. A smile played around the corners of his mouth and his eyes were dark, filled with a smoldering heat that made her heart skip a beat.

Her reply died in her throat and she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be ignoring him. She pivoted, turning her back to him and darting away. She knew that he had followed her; there was something like electricity in the air when they were together. It hung between them, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

It still pissed her off; she couldn't afford to be distracted by the enigmatic warrior.

The bandits were a welcome distraction. (Aloy was faintly annoyed that it always seemed to rain when she attacked a bandit camp; the water made it difficult to aim properly.) These bandits were clearly former soldiers; they attacked in pairs, fighting in formation. They would attack, then parry, then circle around her. She just needed to catch them at their most vulnerable; that was when they were switching attacking forms.

They were an appropriate substitution for the Eclipse; Aloy's frustration made her hit harder, faster.

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as adrenaline coursed through her veins and propelled her body forwards. She focused on her footwork, dodging and whirling exactly how Rost had taught her. Her muscles were flexing, contracting, driving her spear into the bandit on her left, and whipping her bow from her back to eliminate the one closing in from the right.

Again. Duck, then parry. Thrust, then strafe backwards.

She lost track of Nil, the push and pull of the battle propelling her most primal instincts to life. Aloy took a few precious seconds to survey the fortress, there were only a few bandits left, they were clustered around Nil.

She was out in the open for too long.

She snarled in pain as an arrow nicked her, releasing a bright spray of scarlet blood as it whistled past. Pain bloomed through her arm, sending her instincts into overdrive. She drew back her bow, hitting the sniper between the eyes without even thinking.

The immediate danger had now passed, and her body shifted from aggression to self-preservation; she was bleeding badly. The arrow had been of the thick-tipped variety, engineered to take down ravagers and behemoths. The sniper had meant business.

Clutching her arm, she darted into a dark alcove and hurriedly gnawed on a piece of salvebrush. She sighed in relief as the pain ebbed away; she couldn't fight properly when pain clouded her thoughts.

She sat for a moment, assessing the wound. She tapped her focus, watching silently as Nil, a bright beacon of blue, dispatched the many yellow-lit bandits with cold efficiency. He reminded her of a stalker, all lithe strength and lazy confidence. He was inviting their advances, taunting them into attacking.

Aloy hurriedly bandaged the cut, muttering under her breath. It was more severe than she'd originally thought; she went through three bandages before the blood began to clot.

Suddenly, it was quiet. The fight was over.

Aloy felt her heartbeat accelerate again as she watched Nil's focus-lit figure stride towards her. She turned her back to him as he came around the corner, downing an antiseptic tincture that she'd pulled from her pack.

"You're injured." He murmured, wiping droplets of blood from his face and his knife.

"I'm fine."

"Pain doesn't drive you, Aloy. It must be a deep cut."

"No, it doesn't." She snapped, bending over to rifle through the pockets of a fallen bandit. "I'm fine."

"Are you? It's not like you to ignore me, Aloy. I should be offended."

She stood, annoyed that she'd only found a piece of slagshine glass. The flickering light from the torches suddenly seemed too bright. She froze as she saw his shadow on the stone in front of her, moving closer.

"As I said before, Nil, we're not friends." She hated that her voice trembled slightly.

He chuckled. "No, I suppose we aren't."

Time seemed to slow down again.

Aloy could sense his body heat behind her, and she struggled to maintain her concentration. She felt him move, but she was still shocked by his hand reaching out and brushing her hair off of her neck. Her jaw clenched, and she felt a bolt of warmth shoot through her as his fingers grazed her skin. Her breath left her in a soft puff; her heartbeat accelerated.

"Aloy, I've been mulling over our last conversation." He said softly. "It was...diverting."

"I haven't thought about it."

"I don't believe you."

He's just trying to get a reaction out of me-

She wasn't prepared for the feel of his muscular arm snaking around her waist and drawing her back against him. The sensation of being pressed against his body was enough to make the heat in her belly ignite. She felt hot and cold at the same time, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Aloy gasped, the sound colored by indignation and a warning. "Nil, what do you think-"

"I'm asking a question. Listen and you'll hear it."

She was frustrated with the fact that her body responded to him. She hastily threw a hand out, leaning against the stone for support.

He moved even closer, the lithe strength of his body against hers made her feel weak. He didn't say anything, didn't need to. There wasn't an inch of space between their bodies and she finally managed to dredge up enough rational thought to tell him off.

But she couldn't bring herself to utter the words.

"Push me away if you don't want this," He murmured, the timbre of his voice sending shivers down her spine. She found that she couldn't concentrate as his lips brushed along the sensitive skin on her neck. Heat flooded through her body again and she felt her resolve weakening.

"You can kill me if you like, injure me, leave me and run into the night," he continued, his lips were barely a millimeter from her skin; she could feel him trace out every word. "Or you can let me show you something other than pain. It's your choice."

She didn't push him away; she found that she didn't want him to stop. What are you doing, Aloy?!

Just once. She thought. Then I'll be fine, I won't want him anymore.

She felt a tiny puff of air leave her lips as he gently raked his teeth along the junction between her neck and her shoulder. Unconsciously, she arched back into his touch. She didn't have it in her to fight against the wave of arousal that threatened to drown her. His quiet intake of breath told her that he wasn't expecting her to respond to his advances.

But it wasn't enough.

"If you want to bed me, all you have to do is ask."

"Aloy," He almost purred, his breath ghosting along the shell of her ear. "What's your answer?"

Aloy didn't want to speak, didn't care to explain herself. She reached up and tangled her hand into his hair. His eyes widened, almost imperceptibly, but he didn't back down from the clear challenge in her eyes. He almost seemed surprised that she didn't attack him. She didn't know what disconcerted her more, the fact that he desired her, or that she desired him back.

"Aloy-"

"Don't misunderstand me-" She cut off with a shiver as he tightened his arm around her waist, "-this doesn't mean that I like you. I'm consenting because I'm curious, that's it."

His quiet chuckle sent a shiver running along her spine. His voice rumbled through her body, further stoking the fire that blazed within her. "You don't have to like me."

It was all that she could do to remember how to speak as his warm fingers suddenly made contact with the skin of her waist. She hadn't noticed his nimble hand sliding beneath her shirt, underneath her armor.

"G-good. Because I don't-" She forgot what she was about to say as she registered the rapid beating of his heart. Her hand reflexively tightened on his hair and he tensed.

She immediately let go, suddenly very unsure and self-conscious of her inexperience. She let out a shaky sigh as Nil's right hand came to rest on the stone beside hers.

His fingers slowly traced patterns across the back of her hand, his feather-light touch was almost too intense against her flushed skin. She bit her lip to hold in another gasp as his fingertips trailed along the inside of her wrist and down her inner arm, making her shudder.

His fingers grazed her blood soaked bandage, and to her surprise, it didn't hurt. It didn't tickle either, but it felt too good for her to ask him to stop. She was baffled; this was something entirely foreign to her.

"Nil-"

She cut off as his warm lips marked along the back of her neck. Somehow, he'd found a spot that made her breath hitch and her knees threaten to give out. Her hand slid out of his hair to hook around the back of his neck, and in doing so, she accidentally grazed his skin with her short nails.

He made a soft sound that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh. It rumbled through his chest and into her body, that's when she knew that they were past the point of no return. She felt goosebumps erupt along her arms, the slight movement of his hips against her back made her lose track of her thoughts. His left hand gripped her hipbone for a moment, and she tensed.

What is-

Before she could react, he spun her around and pressed her hard into the stone wall. He paused just long enough for her to see the smoldering look in his silvery eyes before he slid his hands into her hair and kissed her. He took his time, slowly wearing down any lingering hesitation that she felt. She felt like she couldn't breathe, didn't want to breathe.

The way that he slanted his mouth over hers made her feel like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. This was Nil, he wasn't soft, or tender, or kind. But he touched her carefully, reverently, and she felt her body responding to his touch like she was dying of thirst and he was a cold mountain spring.

It was frightening, the way that he seemed to know exactly what would make her react. She felt dizzy as he alternated between slow, languid kisses and frantic, hungry caresses, throwing her off balance.

Aloy allowed herself to relax, letting him pull her closer and pin her hands above her head. She nipped his lip, impatiently pressing her body closer to his. If she was going to relieve the pressure between her thighs, she was going to do it as efficiently as she could. It was building to the point where it was almost painful; she needed something now.

It was exhilarating, knowing that she could break free if she chose to. The power between them rested on her shoulders, and that was enough to make her heart pound.

She couldn't believe that it was Nil who made her feel like this. Powerful, wanted.

No longer like an Outcast, just as a woman. He wanted her; he didn't give a scrapper's purr that she was motherless.

It should have frightened her, knowing that he had claimed a small partof her. But she didn't feel any fear.

Clarity. That was what she felt.

Everything became so crystal clear that it was almost painful. The way that his lips moved so easily with hers, and the desperate breaths that they took together filled her with desire. He groaned softly as she drew his lip between her teeth.

So this is what power over another person feels like. Aloy thought she understood Nil for a moment, the push and pull of pleasure and pain, two halves of a whole. He resided in the junction between her frustration and curiosity.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as his mouth dropped to her neck. There was something so vulnerable about his teeth grazing her pulse point, but it just made her feel alive. She wrenched her hands out of his and reached down to grip his shoulders, running her hands over his heated skin as he coaxed small sighs out of her. This was supposed to be something to satisfy her curiosity, nothing more.

But it felt like more. The triumph after the hunt, the feeling of cool water on a sunburn, the sun breaking through the clouds. It all felt the same. It felt like this.

She clumsily pushed his vest off his shoulders, helping him to unlace her chest-plate. It fell to the ground with a clatter, and Aloy was so focused on Nil that she didn't even stop to check if she'd dented the metal.

She gasped into his mouth as he suddenly lifted her and hooked her legs up around his hips. Aloy couldn't think, couldn't even form a coherent thought as the new angle allowed him to press her harder against the stone. The position of her hips against his felt so natural, so instinctive that she wasn't afraid this time when he slowly ground his hips against hers.

Her bright eyes shot open, and she was entranced by the look in Nil's eyes as he deliberately repeated the motion. Something compelling had flashed through his expression, akin to triumph tempered with heat. Her body responded, her thighs tightening around his hips. She heard herself make a strange sound, strangled, as if in pain.

She didn't have time to be alarmed at the sound, as a wave of something new and good shot through her. This was what she needed to relieve the pressure between her legs. She fumbled with the ties of his pants, determined to remove all of the barriers between them. Instinct drove her, and for once she didn't fight it. Nil's hands slid down her waist, pulling her closer.

She pushed her hips insistently against his, the friction between them was almost enough to-

Suddenly she was cold. And thudding the ground. As if from far away, she heard Nil chuckle softly. She watched, unable to think coherently as he drew his thumb slowly, teasingly across his reddened lips.

What..?

She stared at him, completely discombobulated as he stepped further away from her. Her mouth dropped open in shock as he began to saunter away, a smirk plastered firmly on his lips. "You're bleeding again."

She was going to kill him. She wanted to run after him and punch him. Her chest was still heaving with frantic breaths, and she noticed dimly that she was still plastered to the wall.

Hurriedly, she scrambled to her feet and turned her back to him, shakily pushing her hair out of her face. She only glanced behind her for a second, but she glimpsed a flash of teeth as he turned to survey her from a distance.

"Goodbye, Aloy. I'm intrigued by your answer." He said smoothly, before he turned abruptly and disappeared into the night.

She was the prey, and Nil had just taken his victory.

Goddess help her, she was going to drive an arrow into his heart the next time that she saw him.