Army of the North Pt. 2
Aloy's blood freezes in her veins and Vale visibly becomes still as his jaw hangs open. Their reactions must have been unforeseen because Chesser's face scrunches in concerning confusion.
"Hm, not how I was expecting you to react."
"What do you mean? How… how's that possible?" Vale asks, trying to shake off his stupor, but the news still shakes him.
"It hasn't been confirmed but reports suggest that the North takes the machines through grotesque means. Agents have seen their soldiers wrestle with machines and capture them, and then bring them to the main city, so the true cause lies there," Chesser stops and sighs. "How they do it in the middle of the machine's rage is astounding and absurd, but somehow they do it."
Aloy catches Vale throwing her a look, and it's an innocent, meaningful look that suggests that he's thinking the same thing she is. If the Northern army has found a way to control machines, then it would explain the wild rumours of their massive army they heard of, back in the pub of their first stop since arriving in these lands. It would also explain Chesser's urgency to learn everything Vale knew about their army.
"It's like the Eclipse all over again," she murmurs with horrific realization.
"Aloy," Vale begins, but she raises her hand to stop him.
"We need to see the Tallneck!"
"Excuse me?" Chesser replies. "The tame one in the bastille? Why?"
Aloy hesitates, realizing that she couldn't explain without being pelted with a hundred other questions concerning her unique abilities. No one in these lands had ever heard of her, or of her ability to tame and ride machines. And around a man like Chesser – as she was quickly gathering what kind of person he was – she couldn't just go around claiming to be able to do these things.
"Chesser, as much I'd like to help, we're not here to fight the Northern army. We're here because of something else, a much bigger problem; the Derangement," Vale tells him, diverting the man's attention from Aloy.
"Tell me – what does a Tallneck have to do with the Derangement? That machine is the only metal beast in the world that isn't affected by the machine's rage. You would go and tamper with that treasure?"
"We just need to look at it. Trust me, Chesser, this is important," Vale pleads. Chesser narrows his eyes. "You're the only one who can grant access to it for outsiders."
"Before I do anything for you," the other man says and stands up straight, his voice demanding but calm. "You have to do something for me. I need information on the Northern army. I'll allow you an audience along with the Nefora priestess after you give me the information I seek."
Vale exhales through his nose and closes his eyes. Aloy just looks between them with confusion, a hundred questions still circling in her brain. Who were the Nefora? And what did they have to do with seeing the Tallneck?
Vale finally turns to her, his expression completely changed. "This discussion won't take long. Wait for me outside the barracks."
"But we still need to talk, Vale," she reminds him with restrained annoyance. She hated being kept in the dark.
"And we will, I promise. I'll explain everything once we're done here," he answers, placing a hand on her shoulder. She notes the change of tone in his voice; it's soft, and the look in his eyes caring, but with a hint of worry in his furrowed brows. "Please, trust me."
It's the last thing that comes to mind after all that she's learned so far, but he was her only ticket to getting to Minerva. She couldn't let this little development get between them. She wanted to trust Vale, after all. She had trusted him with her greatest secrets, and the secrets of the world. Now it would be his turn to reveal his story.
Aloy brushes his hand off her shoulder. "Don't keep me waiting."
She then turns and slips through the door without sparing either men another glance.
… … …
It's only about a hour later that Aloy waits on the side of the road, crafting more arrows in a slow procedure and observing the city from where she sat. It was late in the afternoon now, but the hustling of people never ceased. She never kept count of how many people gave her strange glares as they walked by, but there was certainly a large number of them. It made her feel isolated in a way. She would never feel truly at home in this city or possibly anywhere in these lands.
And suddenly she began to feel homesick.
"Aloy."
The woman looks up and finds Vale approaching her, walking down the steps to the barracks. She puts her equipment away and stands up.
"All done in there?"
"Yeah, I've told Chesser everything he needs to know, and now we got a meeting with the clergy at the bastille at sunbreak," he turns and points at two soldiers walking side by side who are also leaving the building. "Those guys will let them know we're coming, so we got some time."
Aloy nods and crosses her arms over her chest. "So… you've got a story to tell me?"
Vale almost looks guilty, but he nods and waves for her to follow. "I know a place where we can talk alone. Come on."
Aloy follows him back through the city towards the city limits. Along the high stone walls are buildings that match them in height, and it's revealed that inside they have staircases that reach up to the top. There's a walkway along the top of the walls and strange giant weapons mounted on pedestals. They look like giant bows, but they're laid sideways and have a large payload consisting of three metal bolts. The bowstring is construed across all three bolts and a locking mechanism holds the string back, meaning the weapon is primed to launch at a moments notice.
She follows Vale down the wall, passing by soldiers out on watch, for machine or human threats alike. They stop at one of towers, a large balcony that's unoccupied, save for a stash of equipment like arrows and spears and other types of ammo. It's a quiet section of the wall where not many soldiers come to, making it the perfect place for a private conversation.
Vale leans up against the railing and breathes out slowly. When he looks up and meets her gaze, his usual blank face has returned. "So I imagine you have a lot of questions for me?"
Oh did she ever, but she had so many spinning around her mind that she had to pause herself for a moment and choose. She walks up to the railing and observes the great expanse of land. The view from the wall allows them to see much of the forest around them and the dry mountains in the east. Aloy would have preferred looking at the ocean instead, but it was still a beautiful sight.
"Did you really fight for the Northern army?" she asks, not taking her eyes off the horizon.
"I did, many years ago. I traveled for a long time on my own, taking on the odd job, trying to keep a steady income of shards to stay on the road. But after a while, I startled to get restless. I wanted fame and glory and searched all three kingdoms for it. The North have a fighting ring to wrestle the worst machines in the land. That's where I got my start."
"That's where you learned to fight machines, how you got so good with the weapons you use."
"Yeah. I found fame pretty quickly, and soon the emperor admitted me into the army. You grow up fighting machines a lot and soon humans don't look so bad. I became a champion in battle."
"What kind of battles did you fight?" Aloy asks as she back away from the railing.
"Big ones. The emperor at the time, Lord Zeroha, never had much of a friendship with the other kingdoms either, but he maintained the trade routes and political issues out of the need to keep businesses and product flowing. And then one day he suddenly declared themselves independent. People weren't too happy about that. Everyone started to pick sides – squabbles on the streets turned into bloodbaths, meetings turned into war counsels. It was ugly."
"And then his son takes over, like you said before," Aloy points out. Vale nods and turns to face the world like she was.
"Battles started to change. They became strategic: sabotaging supplies, kidnaping messengers, anything to learn about what the other rulers were planning without us. His jealousy turned into rage, and now he sends his armies out just to spite the people that never welcomed him."
"So how did you get out of it?"
"I came to my senses," he replies, which make Aloy snort. "No, really, I did! I realized how our fights were affecting the poor and all the innocent men and woman caught in the middle. The North spared no expenses, and no lives either. I wanted out, but the emperor wouldn't let me. So I got word out to Chesser. He helped me escape."
"That's how you know him, then?"
Vale nods. "Chesser was an army tactician. He convinced the other kingdoms that with me out of the picture, they would have a lot easier of a time fighting against the North. My fame went with me. Troop moral levelled out between each side and the North retreated back to their kingdom. The South and Central Kingdoms have been keeping a close eye on them for the past six years, but nothing's ever happened."
"Until now," she points out again.
"I used my freedom to refocus my priorities. I didn't want fame anymore, and I had been neglecting my tribe. So went out for a bit of… soul searching, found experts that taught me so much, and eventually I started my own mercenary group to support my family back home. We ran jobs across the land for three years until we came upon the fallen Spire."
"And that's when you found me."
"Exactly," Vale sighs and pulls out his canteen for water. "And that is the story of me and the North."
Aloy ponders over everything Vale had just explained, including this family that he had mentioned now a second time. She was curious who they might be, what the Lakota were like. Vale was old enough that he could have had a family of his own by now. Did he have any family members? Did he have a mate? She was almost afraid to ask.
But the wider problem was his participation in battles for the Northern army, the ruthless people he had once served.
"Sounds like you got a legacy of your own, Vale," she speaks up. Vale snorts after taking his sip of water.
"Not one that I'm proud of. We never had a lot of success as a mercenary band because of it, but I tried to not let that ruin us. We took small jobs, going to the far corners of the land to look for them. You know, people who weren't affected by the wars as much. It's how I discovered that pass through the dry mountains we took to get here." He put his canteen away and drew out a heavy breath. "I wanted to make up for damage and pain I had caused people, so we took on any jobs that helped the common, from the big to the small. I knew I couldn't make people forgive me for what I did, but I would do whatever it took, for as long as it took."
"You were looking for redemption."
"Yeah… I guess you could call it that."
"There's nothing wrong with what you're doing, Vale," she tells him. He looks up at her cautiously but doesn't move. "Anyone who can turn themselves around like that is a good person to me. And now you're here, trying to help me save the world from the machines. You're forgoing fame and fortune just by helping me with my struggles. Even if we don't succeed, I think you're earned the forgiveness you were seeking. You have mine."
Vale stares at her for a few seconds, still, but a smile grows on his face and he rakes his fingers through his hair.
"Thanks. That means a lot to me." He then stands up straight and steps away from the railing. "Come on. We have a meeting with a Tallneck."
She nods and they walk back towards the stairs and back into the city.
The bastille that's been mentioned before is located on the other side of the city, meaning they have to cut through the crowds to get there. On the way, they pass by the marketplace and Aloy can't help but wander around the vendors to look at everything new and foreign. They're much like the traders in Meridian, but everything from the ordinary household item like candles and bowls, to the machine parts and weaponry made by tinkerers, is of a different style and nothing like she's used to seeing in Meridian.
She spies a curious weapon in one of the vendors; it looks like a smaller version of the turret she saw up on the wall, but it holds only one bolt. There's a basket of wooden arrows as well and to her surprise, a batch of metal arrows.
"There's a lot of Lancehorn hunting along the slopes of the mountains," Vale tells her. "You'll find no shortage of unique parts here."
Aloy buys what she needs for her constricted bow, and they used the chance to stock up on other provisions – having run short on their journey across the desert – before continuing.
They finally come up to a structure that's easily the tallest building in the city. Not even the palace in the middle has towers that reach as high. This had to been where the Tallneck was. Aloy stares up at building, noting the balconies and windows along it's sides.
At the entrance to the building are two guards. Vale walks up to them for a quick word and they are allowed inside, and Aloy gets a good look at the statue of a machine that's inside.
The Tallneck is real. It stands perfectly still inside the stone and wood structure that it has been encased in. No armour plates or wires have been stripped from it, and she can see from the light that runs through its synthetic muscles that the machine still has power. Standing right in front of the machine guards and men in robes surrounding a single girl in white and blue royal attire. The girl cranes her head back and raises her arms, and starts speaking slurred words and phrases that Aloy can't make sense of.
"Who is that girl?" she whispers to Vale so as not to disturb them.
"A member of the Nefora tribe. They believe that the machines carry some mystical powers and should be seen as gods of the world," Vale replies in a hushed tone.
"What is she saying?"
"A prayer. The Nefora have their own language, which they claim was given to them by the machines a long time ago."
"So why are they here?"
"Because they believe the Tallneck being here is a sign. They send envoys from the south to honour it and try to decipher the meaning behind this… anomaly."
They wait until the girl has finished giving her prayer and the rest of the men bow their heads towards the machine before leaving. Vale points to a large structural cage to the side; a small elevator that'll take them to the top of the building and to the Tallneck's head. Aloy has him wait and walks up to the lone girl. The guards stand by at a distance but otherwise don't stop her from approaching.
"You're a priestess, right? Of the Nefora tribe?" Aloy begins. The girl turns to face her and she's shocked to see how young the woman is. She could have been younger than herself, even. And instead of paint tribal marks, Aloy realizes that the girl has bright reflective markings on her face that look like gold around her eyes and chin. Her blonde hair almost matches the gold and has blue ribbons weaves into it, like the blue in her robes. And her surprisingly tan skin contrasts all the other colours. She's breathtakingly beautiful.
"I am Gallie, the honourable translator for the Tallneck," she greets. She looks over her and brows furrow only a little in confusion. "You are an outsider, are you not?"
"I'm a Nora. My tribe is to the east, far across the desert. I came here with a friend from the Lakota," she explains and points up to the giant. "Pretty impressive, isn't he?"
The girl nods and gazed up at the beast. "Yes. The Tallneck's presence here has fascinated many people with its ever-still display. My elders were intrigued when they heard of such strange behaviour and sent many of our priests to translate its thoughts. The lord of the Central Kingdom has been kind enough to listen to our requests and built this shrine around it so we could communicate without interference," she looks back down and levels her stare with Aloy. "You have talked with the machines, haven't you?"
It was an observation, not a question, and that's what surprises Aloy. She has a hard time coming up with a good answer of her own, and it inspires a smile to form on the priestess' lips.
"I can see in your eyes, and the way you carry yourself. You've heard them speak, both of great and terrible things, and you've seen the god's wrath and their blessings," she adds. Aloy only nods, still shocked by the girl's accuracy.
"You're not wrong," Aloy says.
"May I give you some advice? I think you might need it," the priestess offers. Aloy nods her head.
"What do you want me to know?"
"There are trying times ahead, for you and the world around you. Terrible as the machines have become, they are still our guardians. Where danger lurks, they aim to dispel it. Where fortune hides, they seek to spread it. Their power is to be feared, but also respected. You may be bestowed upon their power one day and you must be wise with it. No one man or woman is meant to trifle with the power of the gods alone," she stops and take a slow breath and then smiles at her. "But I think you will prevail. You're heart is a pure one, Aloy. I hope that the trials ahead will only strength it." She glances at the guard at the door and nods. "Farewell, and good luck."
The girl steps away from her, leaving Aloy to soak in her words in silence. She would have accepted the kind words without a blink if they weren't concerning her life alone. But they had. This was advice meant for her specifically, and somehow Aloy couldn't shake the feeling that she had to take it to heart, especially with where they were headed.
"Wait…" she says with growing shock. "I never told you my name."
But the priestess was already gone and only a few guards remained inside. Slowly she turns and walked to the elevator to find Vale, the words of the Nefora girl replaying in her head.
"How'd your conversation go?" Vale asks as she approaches, but his look changes. "Aloy? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I just had the weirdest conversation…" she mutters. Vale raises an eyebrow in question.
"The Nefora tend to be a sideways with all their mysticism and prophecies. I wouldn't listen to them too much. Besides, we know the truth now." He walks up to the elevator and opens the latch and door for them to go inside. "You coming?"
"Uh… yeah!"
Whatever the priestess has meant would have to be solved later. She jumps into the elevator with him and he pulls the lever. An assortment of chains and pulleys pull the small cage up through the building rafters. The top of the building is domed and widely framed around the machine's head, and a platform circles around it disk shape. The windows around them let in plenty of light and offers a great view of the city below.
There are no guards up here and a plank bridges the gap between the platform and the machine. Aloy walks across and stops at the centre of its head, where the little data module sits.
"Let's hope nothing's wrong with you," she murmurs to herself and unhinges her spear. The Corruptor tech connects to her Focus. Vale stands by and watches as she jabs it into the top of the Tallneck's head. The data download pops up in her Focus display and the gauge begins filling up.
But then another display appears. Aloy watches as the Master Override lights up and begins flashing in sync with some of the lights on the new display. She interacts with one of the symbols and a text of status alerts appear that appear in a yellow or red light.
"That's new," she says.
"What's wrong?" Vale asks.
"The Tallneck… is reacting to the Master Override," she replies. It never happened to her before, but she's never had the powerful device on hand whenever she overridden this kind of machine, either. By the time she had found it in the ruins of Gaia Prime, Aloy had discovered all the Tallnecks she could find. There was no telling if this was strait unique to Tallnecks, but it was definitely interesting.
"What's it doing?" Vale asks again. Aloy views the data more closing.
"There's a glitch in the Tallneck's orbit. Something happened as it was sending a signal to Gaia Prime, the signal was corrupted or scrambled. Wait," she explains, thinking about how most of the Tallnecks she overrode were stuck in an infinite loop because they never received a message back from dead ruins. "How long did you say this Tallneck has been standing here?"
"Roughly twenty years, give or take some. Why?" Vale answers. The huntress nods and scrolls through the data.
"I think this Tallneck was speaking to Gaia Prime at the same time Gaia blew it up. It was probably in the middle of changing its orbit but never got a response because Gaia sacrificed herself and all the signals bouncing back stopped. The Master Override came from the same place, so the Tallneck must be reaching out to it instead."
"Okay. That doesn't explain what the Tallneck wants, though."
"It wants instructions. Think about it; the purpose of the Tallneck is to map out land and send signals to all other machines. Half of the machine's data is corrupted or incomplete because it asked for an answer and never got one back."
"So what's the Master Override doing?"
Suddenly all the data lights up blue and the status alerts disappear. A clicking emits from deep within the machine below them.
"I think we're about to find out…"
Something within the machine begins humming and the metal starts to vibrate. The lights all around the machine flash with power and a groaning sounds echoes loudly in the building as the machine begins to move.
"Hold on to something!" Aloy cries. The machine's head sways a little, challenging their balance. Aloy holds on to her spear but Vale struggles to find grip before the Tallneck springs to life and swings back before stepping forward and smashing through the building.
The brick and wood break away with little to no effort on the machine's part. Debris and stone fall around them as the Tallneck steps out onto the streets. Vale just about falls off, but manages to grab onto one of the small antenna beams hanging off the back of the machine's head. The Tallneck stops mid-step, nearly bringing down its multi-tonne foot on an innocent mother and her child before turning and begins walking down the street.
People run and flee from the streets as the large machine thunders by. Aloy watches in shock as the Tallneck cuts through a street garden, crushing a stone statue that had an assortment of flowers and wild plants on it without a pause in its step. Vale cries out as he swings from the back. Aloy reaches out to him and pulls him up onto the top, all while trying to keep her balance on the machine's swaying head.
"I don't know if it can smash through that wall," Vale says, looking ahead to where they were headed. The Tallneck was attempting to leave the city, walking towards the high walls that protected it. Aloy can see the city guards and other soldiers take their position around the gate that is far too small for the machine to fit through. A lot of them carry bows and that modified bow weapon she spotted earlier, but she knows that it's a futile effort: nothing would stop the Tallneck.
But then the machine comes to a stop. An eerie silence settles in as both the gargantuan machine and the small human army below wait for either side to react.
"Why did we stop?" Vale asks in a hushed voice, despite being nowhere near anyone else besides Aloy, it seemed he didn't want to break the quiet air.
"Something's happening. Tallnecks don't just stop walking on their own," Aloy replies and turn around when she hears clicking. The large array beams mounted on the Tallneck's back hump begin to split apart, revealing bright glowing devices. A whirling Sounds comes from somewhere within the machine like energy is gathering somewhere. The light intensified until its too much to look at. Someone calls for a retreat below and the Tallneck reveals its ability.
Beams of light shoot into each other, creating a bigger one that focuses its direction at the wall. Two intense beams of light shoot from either side of the Tallneck and blasts a line down the side of the wall. The blasting is deafening and Aloy watches in pure amazement as the wall begins to collapse as the soldiers flee the area. When the blasting stops, there's a large enough gap in the wall for the Tallneck to step through. The arrays close shut and the machine begins its march. As they pass by the wall, Aloy can see a group of soldiers watching them from the top walkways, including that man Fabian from earlier.
"We need to leave. Now," Vale urges, following her gaze until he spots Fabian up on the wall.
"There's rappel points on the side. There," Aloy points to the small parts that are hinges to the edges of the machine's disk-shaped head. They throw their ropes and jump off the side, sliding down until they were safely on solid earth. They hear shouting come from the city behind them and they both make a run for it, into the forest around them.
So we're almost caught up to my chapter storage, so beyond next week updates will become randomly sporadic as I try to write. My work schedule has changed so I'm working later on a tougher job, which has totally killed my creativity. So I apologize ahead of time for the lack of updates in the future.