The sun was high when Aloy woke, feeling refreshed. Groaning once, she stretched and got up, quickly taking stock of the surroundings. To her surprise, Nil was sleeping on his bedroll across the campfire, his back to her.
Must be exhausting to throw up so much, she thought. I'll let him rest.
A little ways away was a tiny brook that actually had some grass growing along its banks, and Aloy was glad to take the moment to freshen up. Once she felt cleansed and ready to face whatever came next, she headed back to the little alcove they'd stopped in and started disarming the traps, reflecting as she did so that the traps hadn't really helped them the previous night.
When she finally returned to the camp itself, Nil was still asleep. Carefully, she started storing their things, sorting through their packs and replenishing the various kinds of ammunition they'd both used. It felt a wrong to craft more arrows for him, though, and after deliberating for a moment, she decided to leave his weaponry to his own hands. As she started strapping her packs to her armor, Nil finally stirred.
"Hmm," he groaned, rolling over and sitting up.
"Oh, you're finally awake," she noted. "Good. How are you feeling?"
"Weak," he answered blearily, turning to look at her, and she was alarmed to see that his face was blotchy.
"Are you okay?" she exclaimed, stepping closer.
"I am now," he replied. "I'm sore and hungry, but I don't feel sick. Why? What is it?"
"Your face," Aloy replied. "It's covered in red spots."
"It is?" Frowning, he put a hand to his face, his fingers brushing over his splotchy cheeks. "I don't feel anything…"
Crouching down beside him, Aloy tilted her head, getting a better look at how the light caught on the marks - which they didn't. "They're not raised," she said slowly. "But they look like they're under your skin." Shaking her head, she stood back up. "Let's hope it's just a side effect of the limberweed. If we run into Kryse on the way to the Oasis, we'll ask him."
"We're heading east now, then?" he asked, standing up and packing away his own bedroll, looking around and clearly noticing that Aloy had stowed everything else.
"Yeah…" Aloy tapped her Focus, bringing up her map. "First, we'll need new mounts; there are some Chargers a little ways southeast of here, we'll grab a couple and head back to the Oasis."
"Chargers?" Nil asked. "How many different Machines can you ride?"
"Just Striders, Chargers, and Broadheads," Aloy replied, dismissing her display. Eyeing Nil, she saw he looked a little unsteady on his feet. "Are you…sure you're okay? Are you injured?"
"I'll be fine," he assured her. "A few of their bolts got me good, but I'll heal. Mostly, I'm just really hungry…though I'm not sure it's safe for me to eat anything just yet."
"Take some of my herbs," Aloy sighed, reaching into her medicine pouch and pulling out a few plants; "they'll help you heal, and they'll be easier on your stomach than animal extract."
"You really shouldn't be wasting your herbs on me," he protested.
"Nil…last night was brutal," Aloy said, offering him a handful of medicinal plants. "We're lucky we survived. Now more than ever, we can't take risks out here."
"True…" Taking the herbs, he flashed his teeth. "I've never had a fight like that. Did you see the way they moved? None of my training taught me how to deal with anything like that…the Deima take brains to kill, not just brawn." His smile widened. "Lucky for me you're the one heading this expedition," he remarked.
But something came back to Aloy as he spoke, one of many instances of just how close things had been, and she stared at him.
"…What?" he asked, swallowing the medicine. "Something wrong?"
"Nil…" She shook her head slightly. "You saved my life last night."
He blinked. "Did I?"
"One of the bolts that got through my armor was treated with death bloom," she told him; "I had to retreat and get in our packs for a bottle of night bloom, and in the time it took me to drink it, one of the Deima snuck up behind me. I didn't have time to react, but…before I needed to, you killed them. I would have died if you hadn't been there."
"Well, you don't have to look so surprised," he chuckled. "I told you, I have your back out here."
"I…" She shook her head again, amazed that he could be so dismissive about it. "Thank you," she told him softly.
"You really don't need to thank me for killing someone," he shrugged, "it was my pleasure."
"Still, thank you for saving me," Aloy insisted. "Without you, I'd be dead."
"Don't mention it," he stated.
That strange connection they shared twinged in Aloy's chest again, as she slowly realized just how lucky she'd been to have him on her side when the Deima came, the feeling conflicting with the remnants of fright from his outburst after their meal the previous evening. "Listen, I…I'm really sorry about last night," she told him. "About…your name."
His smile dimmed.
"I didn't know-" she started.
"I know you didn't," he cut her off. "Like I said, that was why I gave you a warning."
"I'm not sure I'd call your outburst a warning," Aloy said with a nervous laugh. "Nil, seriously, you…you scared me." Maybe it was foolish to admit that, to essentially let her guard down around him yet again, but he had saved her life…
"Good," he shrugged. "I'd hoped to. There's no better teacher than fear."
"But you didn't have to scare me," Aloy told him. "Nil, I didn't know the situation was so painful for you; if I had, I wouldn't have said what I did. You could have just…told me. You know, without knocking out my shield and yelling in my face."
Nil shook his head. "I couldn't take any risks," he responded. "I needed to be sure you understood, as quickly and clearly as possible. If I ever get a chance to cross blades with you, I don't want it to be because my sister's curse forced my hand."
"About the curse…" Aloy struggled with herself for a moment, but she couldn't help her curiosity. "Is there…really nothing that can be done? Can't the House of Lakshar forgive you?"
"Janeva stripped me of the name forever, and with the curse invoked by the blood we share, consecrated by the light of the Sun, there's no undoing it," Nil replied. "Even if my family did forgive me, my birthright is gone, and can never be restored."
"Then…can you be part of some other family?" Aloy questioned.
"No," Nil shook his head. "A woman can marry into another house, but there's no way in Carja tradition for a man to gain a family name, we only have our birthright."
"What about outside of Carja tradition?" Aloy inquired.
At this, he chuckled. "You mean by naming myself after what I do, like the Oseram and Banuk?" he asked. "Aren Manhunter? What's the point of that? A name is a special thing, far more profound than something that can be assigned with a job. Don't you agree?"
"I…guess," Aloy said slowly. "The Nora don't have secondary names at all; we mark our families with face paint."
"So that's why you don't paint your face like other Nora," Nil remarked; "you're not part of any family."
"That's right," Aloy nodded, sighing. She shook her head. "Look, I'm just saying I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I insulted your family name like that, I didn't mean to."
"I know you didn't," he repeated. "It's okay, Aloy, really. Now you know, and you won't make the same mistake again, right?"
"Yeah, I definitely won't be calling you that again," Aloy commented. "I still say you didn't have to scare me half to death just to make your point."
"I had to be sure," he stated. "And I'm not going to apologize."
"Of course you're not," Aloy sighed. "Well…" Taking a moment to reflect, she decided that the fight against the Deima proved that she didn't have to be afraid of him. "I guess saving my life last night is apology enough. Come on," she said, turning to leave the little alcove, "it's already past noon, we need to get new mounts and start heading for the Oasis."
"As always, I'm right behind you," Nil told her, and he matched her pace at her back as they set out again.
"I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy killing that Humanoid," Aloy told him.
"You killed it, though?" he asked.
"Yeah…" The memory of that thing's utterly expressionless face and voice came back to her, her skin prickling. "It was so…wrong." Forcing a smile, she added, "But you already knew that. It upset you enough to curse it like a Carja."
"How do you mean?" he asked.
"You know, 'sun and shadow'?" Aloy said. "I've noticed you only talk like a Carja when you're really shocked or upset. Like when Kryse's bird talked."
"Call it a bad habit," Nil shrugged.
"Well, this thing certainly warranted it," Aloy sighed.
"Did it tell you anything?" Nil questioned. "I thought I heard you questioning it…"
"Yeah, it did," Aloy replied. "I found out that Humanoids are what ELEUTHIA has been making since GAIA fell. It said they were everywhere, and that they knew me from the east…" She shook her head, her skin crawling again. "Makes me wonder how many of them I walked past on the road or in settlements without even realizing it…"
"So all of the subordinates are doing things now," Nil mused. "Any idea what the others are up to?"
"I know DEMETER is making metal flowers," Aloy answered. "As for the rest…I kind of hope I never have to find out."
"Hm."
It crossed Aloy's mind suddenly how easy it was to talk to Nil about the secrets of life on Earth. He'd accepted the truth of everything so readily, when she'd been so afraid of letting anyone in on what she knew…maybe that was part of the connection she felt with him, knowing that she could just talk to him about the machinations of the world without having to dress it up with talk of curses or spirits…
A minute later, they were in sight of the Charger herd, which were luckily grazing right next to a patch of red-tipped tall grass. "Alright, you wait out here," Aloy told Nil; "I'll lure one over, then have you lead it away once I override it so I can go back for another one."
"Got it," he nodded.
Crouching down, Aloy made her way into the tall grass. Once she was concealed, she heard Nil chuckle, and she turned back to him. "What?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing," he shook his head. "It's just…the Carja wear red feathers on their heads to blend in with that tall grass, but your hair does the job just fine on its own, I can barely see you. Handy, that."
"Yeah," Aloy muttered, creeping closer to the Charger herd, "real handy."
There were no Watchers, so there was no need for Aloy to even draw her bow; she lured one Charger over to the tall grass for capture, then the next once Nil had safely led the first one away. Once they were on their new mounts and ready to go, the only noteworthy thing that bothered Aloy was the fact that this land was apparently outside the poisoned zone Brin and Kryse had mentioned, despite being almost within sight of Dry Bones, but she stored the observation away to ask about later.
But speaking of Kryse…
Not ten minutes after Aloy and Nil had kicked their Chargers into a trot, the sight of a person meandering across the land caught Aloy's attention - black, with a splash of red, that couldn't be mistaken for anyone else.
"Kryse!" Aloy called, slowing her mount and turning it towards the Corsair merchant. "Hey, Kryse!" Remembering the weird greeting rituals out here, she made sure to add, "Howdy!"
"Well, howdy, folks!" Kryse said brightly as Aloy and Nil rode up to him, tipping his odd three-cornered hat. "Pleasure to see y'all again!"
"It's good to see you again too," Aloy told him, dismounting.
Kryse nodded to her, then took one look at Nil and smirked. "I see y'all had cause to take limberweed," he remarked as Nil took his place by Aloy's side.
"These spots," Aloy said, "are they just a side effect of the poison?"
"Hah! They're a side effect of the side effect, missy," Kryse answered. "Your partner here threw up so violently and for so long that the blood vessels in his face burst. Not to worry, there's no harm done; give it a day or two, it'll heal, and he'll be as handsome as he was."
"That, uh, really doesn't concern me," Aloy commented.
"Me either," Nil shrugged. "As long as I can still wield my bow, I don't care what I look like."
"Right," Aloy sighed, "so, with that out of the way…Kryse, something's been bothering me about the land out here, and I was hoping you could explain what's going on."
"Ask your question, and I'll tell you the price for answers," Kryse told her.
"Of course," she muttered. "So…I haven't seen any medicinal herbs growing out here. You know - wild ember, ochrebloom, hintergold, salvebrush, and valley's blush? They grow everywhere back east, even in deserts and on frozen mountaintops, but I haven't seen any out here…except what I've managed to find on dead Deima."
Kryse's face, already grave, turned away from her, his eyes closing as one hand came up to stroke his matted beard. "So…y'all have faced the Deima and lived," he mused. "Figured as much, what with y'all taking limberweed, but…if you've really fought 'em and won…"
"We have," Aloy told him. "Twice. Well, sort of - we ran into four of their scouts on the way to Sobeck Ranch, and we, uh, fought them off before they realized they needed to fight back - they didn't know I'd be able to see them through their cloaking modules. But just last night, a whole hunting party came for us, and…yeah."
"Their fighting style is really unique," Nil remarked. "Even on the battlefield, they move almost soundlessly, it's hard to get a handle on them."
"Aye," Kryse nodded, still frowning. "You don't mess with the Deima, no matter who you are."
"Well," Nil chuckled, "we do. And we lived."
"That you did," Kryse said. "Y'all really are something else. I did tell 'em not to mess with y'all, that I had a gut feeling you'd be hard to take out, but of course, they have no reason to listen to me."
"About the herbs," Aloy said, trying to drag the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Why haven't I seen any growing out here, but the Deima carry them? Nil thinks the Deima are somehow trying to control the medicine supply out here in the west, but I don't see how that's possible."
"Does he?" Kryse blinked. "Hah, strong and shrewd…I tell ya, you have a fine partner there, missy. And he just earned y'all a discount, on account of being not too far off the mark. Y'all have any Machine lenses or hearts from your travels?"
"A few," Aloy nodded. "Mostly from Scrappers, but we've got a couple from Sawtooths, Stalkers, and Watchers…and one or two from the Striders and Broadheads we've lost since we saw you."
"Lost?" Kryse looked at their mounts, apparently noticing for the first time that the Machines Nil and Aloy had ridden over on were different from the ones he'd seen them riding in the ruins. "Huh…Well, I'm not too picky. Two Scrapper hearts and a Sawtooth lens, and I'll tell you all about the herb situation."
Aloy handed over the parts readily.
"Right," Kryse nodded, packing the goods away. "Well, the Deima have always been a fearsome bunch 'round these parts, on account of the old-world technology they've learned to use, and the skills they hone from birth at being nimble and silent. But about fifteen years ago, something changed with 'em - the ceasefire they held with my people and the Bacchan gained a new caveat, that being that any medicinal herbs we come across needed to be uprooted and delivered straight to 'em, no using 'em, no helping 'em grow. We did as they asked - after all, you don't mess with the Deima. Even now, I have to keep an eye out to make sure no new herbs are sprouting, and they let me keep a couple on me in exchange, though they don't let me have much."
"Did they tell you why?" Aloy asked. "Why this sudden need to make sure no one has access to herbs?"
"Hmm…" Kryse gave her a look.
"Okay, let me put it this way," Aloy said: "Does the name ELEUTHIA mean anything to you? Or maybe just the term 'Mother'? Or 'Humanoids'?"
The Corsair's jaw dropped. "Now how in tarnation would y'all know about any of that?!" he exclaimed.
"ELEUTHIA was part of the, uh, machine, that the Old Ones put in place to keep life on Earth going after they fell," Aloy told him. "You know, the one Elisabet Sobeck created? ELEUTHIA…was the part meant to help preserve human life. When things went wrong twenty years ago, ELEUTHIA and a bunch of other parts ended up scattered, and left to follow their own agendas. And now it looks like ELEUTHIA is making Humanoids, because it thinks that we humans are flawed the way we currently are."
"Aye," Kryse nodded grimly. "The 'Perfect Ones', they call themselves. And we regular folks are the 'Imperfect Ones'. The Deima worship their Mother as a goddess of sorts, and so are doing her bidding…what'd you say her name was? ELEUTHIA? And she's determined that the Imperfect Ones aren't worthy of medicinal herbs, so every last one to be found has to go to the Perfect Ones. The Deima are enforcing that rule, and we obey, because anyone who grew up west of the safe lands knows better than to try to oppose the Deima."
"I see." Aloy closed her eyes, taking this in. "That…explains a lot."
"Lucky for us, we don't know better than to oppose the Deima," Nil chuckled.
"Did you say y'all went to Sobeck Ranch?" Kryse asked.
"Yeah," Aloy said softly. "And we…I found Elisabet there." Taking a breath, she drew Rost's cord out of her armor, revealing the pendant and the globe she'd tied next to it. "This globe belonged to her…It's a map of the world, isn't it?"
"Lemme see that," Kryse muttered, reaching out to gently grasp the globe. "Aye, that's a mighty fine globe ya got there, priceless in this condition…I reckon the Deima would want you dead for taking it, if nothing else."
"It belonged to Elisabet," Aloy said. "And now, it belongs to me. It's…complicated, Kryse, but…she's my mother, in a sense. And this globe stood for everything she fought and died for…and now, everything I'll fight for."
"So you won't sell it to me?" Kryse asked, almost peevishly.
"Uh, no," Aloy told him, shaking her head. "No, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's priceless, for personal reasons."
"I see…"
"But I wanted to ask, if this is a map of the world, then…well, you said there's more ocean in the world than dry land," Aloy said. "I notice there's a lot more blue on this globe than green. Is all the blue the ocean, and all the green dry land?"
"Aye," Kryse confirmed, nodding.
"So…where are we on this map, exactly?" Aloy asked. "I'm curious."
"I'll tell ya for a Scrapper lens," Kryse replied.
Aloy gave him the part, and he turned the globe over in his hand until he found a green blotch that was spread like a palm, a little tail trailing down to where the metal ring bisected the ornament. "See right here?" he said, barely placing the very tip of his finger on the left side of the green patch. "All the land my fingertip is covering, that's the entire western territory and your safe lands combined."
"All that land is contained in that one little spot?" Aloy gasped. "The world's really that big?"
"Aye," Kryse confirmed, letting her take back her necklace and tuck it back under her armor. "The world is unknowably vast, though the Old Ones had a fair handle on it all by the time they fell."
"Incredible," Aloy breathed.
"Say, do you have any more night bloom to spare?" Nil spoke up. "Aloy had to drink a dose last night, and so did I. And we still haven't seen any of those flowers growing in the wild."
"I may have a bottle or two to spare," Kryse replied. "But it'll cost ya."
"We don't have meat to spare this time," Aloy told him, wincing. Suddenly thinking of something, she added, "But the Deima last night had some desert and slagshine glass on them, would you trade for that?"
"Glass? Aye," Kryse nodded. "That's a rare and valuable resource. Let's see how much you've got."
Unfortunately, all the bits of glass Aloy had taken off the Deima were barely enough for one bottle of night bloom. They traded anyway, and Kryse tipped his hat to them.
"Pleasure doing business with y'all," he said.
"Thanks for everything, Kryse," Aloy told him. "We should get going now."
"Aye," Kryse agreed. "Me too. Right, Vokech?" He tapped his birds on the beak three times.
"Fine trade! Fine trade!" squawked the bird.
"May your seas stay calm, and your horizon clear of storms," Kryse said as Aloy and Nil got back on their Chargers.
"Yours too, Kryse," Aloy told him, and with that, she kicked her mount into a trot, headed for the Oasis, Nil keeping pace right behind her.
~o~
Unlike her mad dash for Sobeck Ranch, Aloy took the journey slow this time, and not just because it was midafternoon by the time they were really on their way back towards Bacchan territory. She wanted to keep an eye out for Machines and Deima, and just get a better feel for the land in general, as they slowly made their way back into the dead zone. No sense taking risks, not now that they'd seen just how dangerous it was out here.
As such, the trip back across the wasteland took a couple of days, but apart from the occasional run-in with some angry Machines, there were no incidents. Aloy and Nil talked to pass the time, but they kept it mostly casual for a change. She told him about growing up as an outcast, about the Proving and why Helis had attacked it, and about the Nora she knew, Teb and Teersa and even Varl, the latter of whom she couldn't help waxing eloquent about at times, though she tried not to go into it too much. In return, Nil offered to tell her some of his own stories from the Red Raids, but she politely declined, knowing full well that they would all heavily feature his bloodlust, which she didn't need to be reminded of. Still, sometimes he managed to find stories to tell that weren't about bloodshed, mostly featuring his military friends, and though the context was still unpleasant, Aloy started to feel like she knew the man once known as Aren a little better, not as a killer but as a person.
It was an oddly pleasant few days, all things considered. When at last the plains of dried mud began to soften under the hooves of their Chargers, Aloy had to rouse herself out of what could almost be described as a sort of daze, remembering her next goal. They camped a short ways away from the treeline, in a little alcove by a brook just before the plant life along its banks gave way to nothingness, covered and prepared to break camp and run if any signs of the Annihilator presented themselves. As they finished a meal of boar meat, Nil spoke up.
"You know, we haven't had a real talk since the Deima attack," he remarked.
"We've been talking the whole way here," Aloy chuckled.
"Yeah, but it hasn't been about anything too serious," Nil said. "When we first got here, we were having heavy conversations every night."
"I guess we got all the heavy stuff out of the way early on," Aloy shrugged. She eyed him, then added, "Was there something serious you wanted to talk about?"
"There is something," he nodded. "I've been thinking about it since we talked about Ersa…but I'm not sure if you can handle it."
"Are you challenging me?" Aloy exclaimed incredulously.
"No," he replied, "it's just that…whenever the subject comes up, you get this look in your eyes, like you're struggling with something. I've seen it before, in the soldiers I fought with, I know I shouldn't pry. But I'm curious…"
"Nil, I'm pretty sure that whatever you want to talk about, I can deal with it," she told him scathingly.
"You sure?"
"Just ask," she groaned.
"Alright then…" His teeth flashed in the firelight. "Helis's death."
At the sound of the unexpected name, Aloy flinched. "Wh…" Swallowing hard, she mustered all the bite she could manage to force into her voice. "What about Helis's death?"
"Well, I want to know how he died," Nil replied, a light sparking in his silver eyes. "Honestly, I wish I could have been there to see him fall…I wouldn't have been the one to kill him, I know, that kill was yours and yours alone, but still. To see that intensity wink out of his eyes, like blades suddenly stripped of their edges, or arrows snapped in half and reduced to nothing just like that…it must have been a breathtaking sight. I've been trying to imagine it since the battle…tell me what it was like. Please."
Aloy's heart was pounding, her lungs constricting, but she kept her face schooled into a stony expression. "Well, I can't tell you everything," she told him. "It's not like I can recount every blow we exchanged in vivid detail."
"Why not?" he pressed, still smiling.
"Mainly because I don't remember a lot of of it," Aloy said, focusing her attention on the wavering flames of their campfire. "Most of the battle is just a blur."
"Ah." Nil nodded in her peripheral vision. "I understand. In a truly intense fight against a worthy opponent, everything is reduced to action and reaction - there's no time for thoughts to form, let alone memories."
"Yeah…something like that," Aloy mumbled. "I remember how deadly he was up close, and how he was able to deflect my arrows at a distance…and some of the things he said during the fight. Not much else."
"But you do remember his last words," Nil prompted. "You said so, that he asked you if you pitied him."
Swallowing hard, Aloy forced herself to nod. "He was spouting his usual…you know, self-righteous nonsense. How he was 'the Chosen of the Sun' and 'this wasn't supposed to happen' and so on…"
"Was this during or after the battle?" Nil questioned.
"I'd already won," Aloy answered.
"Did he die on his feet?" Nil pressed, his tone fervent. "Or was he on his back, fallen before your might?"
"He was on his knees," Aloy replied. "My spear to his chest. He said it wasn't supposed to happen like this, and I told him that none of this was supposed to happen, that everything he'd done, all the killing and preaching, it had all been for him to die pointlessly, a pawn in the hands of a force he didn't even understand. He asked me if I pitied him…" Her throat seized up, and she struggled for a moment to regain control of her voice.
"And what did you say?" Nil pressed.
"I…I told him to turn his face to the Sun," Aloy managed. "Just like he did to me, at the Proving…before Rost saved me. Although…he did say, right before he threw me into the Sun-Ring, that Rost didn't save me, that he would have had time to kill me if he hadn't hesitated…"
"That doesn't sound like him," Nil remarked. "Helis was not a man who hesitated."
"He did say that it tormented him, that he did so," Aloy elaborated. "That he wasn't sure why he did it." She shook her head, her eyes burning, and she reached into the neckline of her armor to draw out her pendant and grasp it, feeling Elisabet's globe resting on the side of her hand as Rost's gift pressed into the skin of her palm. "I guess I like to think that maybe…he knew, deep down, that HADES wasn't the Buried Shadow, that it wasn't just going to kill his enemies but every single person on the planet, or at least that it wasn't trustworthy…and, well, like I said, the Eclipse attacked the Proving because HADES saw me through Olin's Focus and detected that I was a threat, so…maybe Helis knew it would be wrong to kill the only chance the world had to be safe from HADES."
"Well, we'll never know," Nil sighed. "All we know is that, whatever the reason, the world is grateful he didn't kill you." A shuffle indicated that he was leaning in closer to her. "So you told him to turn his face to the Sun. And then what? Did you let him?"
"Yes," Aloy whispered. "I…gave him the minute. Let him look directly into the Sun, like the Carja do. And then…then I ran my spear through his neck."
"Did you relish it?" Nil asked, his voice a passionate caress. "I know you don't enjoy killing usually, but for Helis, at least…did you take the time to enjoy watching the blood pour from his throat, the life fade from his eyes?"
"I…" Aloy swallowed again. "I…watched him go down, long enough to be sure he wouldn't get back up, but…then I looked away, closed my eyes and took a minute to just…breathe. Feel. I think I might have shed a tear…"
"Shed a tear?!" Nil exclaimed. "For Helis?!"
"No, no," Aloy replied, shaking her head slightly, "not for him. For…For myself, I guess. And for Rost." She gripped her pendant tighter. "I'd…done what I left the Sacred Land to do. Rost had been avenged, and could rest easy. The Deathbringers were still attacking Meridian, and I still had to purge HADES, but for just a moment, I felt…"
"What?" Nil urged. "What did you feel?"
"…Relieved, I guess," Aloy answered softly. "Closure, maybe? I don't…" Reflexively, her eyes screwed shut, squeezed against the urge to break down and sob. "I knew…" she choked. "I knew that…with Helis's death, so too died any personal reason I had left to go on living in this world. That there was nothing else for me but to do the job I was created to do, a tool that still had to serve its purpose. But even knowing that, for just a moment, I felt…at peace."
For a moment, all was silent save for the crackling of flames, Aloy desperately struggling to rein in her emotions.
"…Was it worth it?" Nil finally asked.
Swiping at her eyes, Aloy turned to face him. The vicious intensity she imagined his face had held earlier was gone; his expression was somber, calm and accepting. She had half a mind to ask 'was what worth what?', but she knew what he meant, and she knew he knew she knew.
"Yes," she whispered. "It was worth it. For Rost…and…and for that little, naïve girl whose only wish in life was to win the Proving."
"The girl you used to be," Nil said softly.
Overwhelmed, Aloy nodded.
"So you didn't just avenge your father that day," Nil said; "you avenged yourself, too." Settling back in his seat, he nodded at her. "That's something to be proud of. Not everyone gets to avenge themselves. For most people, it's not so straightforward as killing one man…though, I suppose killing Helis was hardly straightforward."
"What about you?" Aloy asked, both curious and desperate to change the topic of conversation. "What would it take to avenge you?"
"I don't need to be avenged," Nil shrugged. "I am who I am, and I always have been."
"Aren," Aloy said pointedly.
"To avenge Aren? Well…" Nil sighed, and to her surprise, he drew his knife. "Only one thing can avenge the boy who never was," he said: "the death of the man who killed him before he was born. I might not have killed him knowingly or intentionally, but I did kill him, just by existing." He tilted his head, running a finger along the edge of his blade. "You know, sometimes I think that, if I truly wanted to honor my family…I should end myself," he confessed. "It's the only way I can make up for taking the son my parents never had away from them. And I do live for honor, after all - honor above survival, always. But…I don't know…I guess it just never felt right." Shaking his head, he sheathed his knife. "Never let it be said I'm not selfish."
"Oh don't worry, Nil, I would never tell anyone that you are anything other than selfish," Aloy assured him teasingly.
He chuckled at that, turning a smile on her. "I'm glad to hear it," he told her.
Despite herself, despite everything she'd just relived, she found a smile tugging at her own lips. "Nil…thank you," she said.
Those silver eyes blinked in confusion. "For what?" he asked.
"For…being here, for me to talk to," Aloy replied. "For asking me questions I didn't know I needed to answer. See, I…I realized something, just now." She opened her palm to look down at the pendant Rost gave her. "I killed Helis months ago, but…I never really let him go. I've been carrying him around with me all this time…"
"Well, that's definitely a burden you should put down," Nil remarked. "The man's body alone weighed about as much as one of these Chargers, no one should have to carry something that heavy wherever they go."
Before Aloy could even identify the sensation that rose in her chest in response to this statement, laughter erupted from her throat, and once it started coming, it wouldn't stop. It wasn't even that funny of a joke, but she was suddenly helpless to do anything but laugh hysterically, until her jaw ached and tears of mirth were leaking from her eyes. With every bark of laughter that escaped her lips, she felt something heavy and painful crumble away from her shoulders; when she finally managed to rein in her giggle-fit, she was too embarrassed to look at Nil, but she felt…light. Free, in ways she hadn't been in a long time. Maybe ever.
"So you can laugh," Nil remarked when she could breathe again. "I wasn't sure you knew how."
"I…I've never laughed like that," she wheezed, and she did look at him then; he was smiling slightly, but not as though he thought less of her for her sudden outburst.
"You should find reasons to laugh more often," he said instead.
Shaking her head, Aloy decided not to try to dissect that statement. "I guess I should thank you for that too," she told him. "For making me laugh…" She sighed. "You know, Avad had a premonition before I left, when I told him that you were coming with me, that if I took this journey with you, your presence would bring me great suffering - and honestly, I didn't doubt it, I thought it was a given. But…" She gave him a bewildered smile. "But he was wrong. I'm…I'm really glad you made me bring you with me."
"I didn't make you do anything," Nil pointed out. "Honestly, I don't think it's even possible to make you do something. If it was, I-"
"You would have made me fight you on the mesa, yeah, I get it," Aloy sighed, exasperated. "Nil, you're ruining the moment."
"What moment?" he asked lightly.
"Never mind," she groaned, getting to her feet. "Go to sleep, I'll take first watch. Tomorrow, we get answers from the Bacchan."
"Wake me when you need to sleep," he told her, lying down. "Good night, Aloy."
"Good night, Nil."
Emerging from their alcove, Aloy took a deep breath of the night air, feeling lighter than she had since Rost's death. It was long past time for her to let go of Helis and move on, and now, thanks to Nil, she had done so. Whatever came next, she could face it with a clear head and a clear purpose.
~o~
They made it back into the Oasis without seeing a trace of the Annihilator, and once they were under the trees, Aloy took out the canteen of Roller blood she'd drawn and unscrewed the cap, hoping the blood-drinkers would smell it as they approached. Pulling up her map, she tagged the settlement the Tallneck had registered, then started guiding her mount in the direction her Focus indicated, feeling slightly nervous. She hadn't actually had a non-violent interaction with a tribe or seen a settlement in…how long had they been out here? Weeks? Days? It felt like lifetimes, even though it hadn't really been that long, now that she thought about it…between Travis Tate's family and Sobeck Ranch and the revelation about ELEUTHIA, it felt incredible that she'd still been wandering the eastern lands just two weeks prior.
Machines abounded in the thick forest, sometimes unavoidable, and now that she knew what to look for, Aloy noticed the red-and-blue birds perched in the trees. Maybe Kryse had gotten his companion here? There was certainly a lot more life in the Oasis than she'd seen anywhere else in the Forbidden West - Sobeck Ranch had been alive, but this place was overgrowing, plants choking each other out under the hooves of her Charger and animals of all sorts scattering with every step, and the further she and Nil progressed into the heart of the forest, the thicker the overgrowth became. Why this place? she wondered.
Aloy scoured the surrounding woodlands for some sign of a settlement, but even when she checked her map and saw that the Bacchan village was essentially right in front of her, she didn't see anything that looked man-made. Frowning, she slowed her mount to a crawl.
"Hello?" she called, holding the canister of Machine blood higher. "Um…Bacchan tribe? Howdy?"
No response.
"They should be here," she muttered to Nil. But when she glanced at him, she saw he was smiling, as though there was some joke she wasn't getting. "What?"
"Not everyone lives on the ground," he replied cryptically.
"Huh?"
Raising his voice, Nil looked to the treetops and called, "She hasn't seen you, but I have. Come down and face us, or I'll shoot you down." Even as he spoke, he drew his precious bow.
Alarmed, Aloy looked up, but she didn't need to; as Nil nocked an arrow, five people suddenly dropped from the thick canopy on thin wires she hadn't noticed before, circling the two Machine riders, blades drawn. "Wait!" she shouted before anyone could start attacking anyone. "Everyone, stop!"
No one moved.
"Nil, put your bow away," she said sternly; "we're not here to fight them. And, uh, Bacchan, please don't give him an excuse to kill you." She held up the canteen of Machine blood again. "I have Machine blood here, and I was hoping to parlay with you for it."
"Blood?" hissed several of the greeters.
"I told you I smelled it on her," one rasped to another. "Can't you?"
"Mm, the blood of her Chargers is tantalizing," replied the other.
"No, she's carrying something else," insisted the first. "There's something ancient in that vessel, something intoxicating…"
"It's the blood of a Roller," Aloy told them.
At this, all five Bacchan gave surprised exclamations and sheathed their knives. With a grunt of disappointment, Nil finally put his bow away, and Aloy relaxed slightly.
"Can I talk to Brin? Your, uh, initiate?" she asked the Bacchan. "Please? He knows me, maybe we can come to an understanding."
The five Bacchan glanced between each other, and then the doubter nodded to the one who'd claimed to know Aloy was carrying something special. "Go," he hissed. "Go, quickly."
Nodding back, the one took off, quickly disappearing into the jungle.
"Huntress," hissed the Bacchan who was apparently in charge, "you truly have felled a Roller, from the poisoned land?"
"Actually, I felled all three," Aloy replied. "I only took blood from one, though. I met Kryse, he says they're rare…"
"Very rare," nodded the Bacchan. "Those three are the only ones we know of. Oh, we have long yearned to drink of them, yet none have managed to get close enough to taste their blood - several of our tribe perish every year just trying to get a drop on their tongue…"
"Well, now you have a whole canteen of it," Aloy said. "I'm, uh…sorry I didn't take more, but I didn't have many waterskeins to spare."
She appraised the Bacchan a bit more closely in the few shafts of sunlight working their way through the trees. Like the welcome party, they were sparsely dressed, and mostly with Machine parts instead of cloth; most of them only had thick plating on their wrists, ankles, and covering their loins, while the one in charge bore strips of metal across his chest and thighs, albeit crudely-bent strips.
"Aloy?"
The sudden, familiar voice caused Aloy to turn and be met with the relatively welcome sight of Brin, his headdress covering most of his body.
"You came," said the former Banuk. "And you brought blood, yes, brought it as you did for me in the safe lands."
"The blood of a Roller," Aloy nodded, dismounting to meet her almost-friend. "I was hoping you could drink it and tell me what it is. I…don't understand the point of the Rollers, and I thought maybe you could give me answers."
"So you believe?" asked Brin, the metal of his teeth glinting under the strips of cloth covering his face.
"The, uh, visions you told me about in the Sundom stuck in my head," Aloy told him, "and the more I looked into what happened to the Old Ones, the more I realized that there was a lot of truth to what you were saying…things you couldn't have known. But I want to know more about the Rollers, why they were attacking that facility." She held out the open waterskein. "So, uh, drink up."
"No, no!" exclaimed Brin, waving his hands and stepping back. "No, I couldn't possibly! I am but an initiate, still learning to interpret the visions granted by the blood, and for such potent ichor…no, a true master must be the one to see what it knows. Yes?" he asked of the Bacchan. "Not just any Seer should taste this nectar, no…Roller blood is fit only for the Master."
"Yes," agreed one of the Bacchan, "the Master must be the one to drink of this, he must!"
"Okay," Aloy said slowly. "So…can I see this Master? I mean, I am the one who risked my life getting this stuff, I feel like I have a right to know about the visions it'll grant whoever drinks it."
The Bacchan looked between each other uncertainly. "Let an outsider into our sanctuary?" muttered one. "Can we really…?"
"Aloy is a mighty huntress who has honored us with a chance to drink of the Rollers," Brin pointed out. "She brought the blood to us, and she is receptive to the knowledge it contains, even if she refuses to taste of it herself. Surely we can make an allowance for her?"
"Either that or I dump this out on the ground and walk away," Aloy stated.
All of the drinkers gave alarmed cries at that, and Aloy allowed herself a small smirk. "No!" they screamed. "No, no, you mustn't, no!"
"Then let me see your Master, and let me hear what he has to say about the Rollers," Aloy told them.
"But…" The more decorated Bacchan looked between his fellows, then nodded to Brin. "Initiate," he barked, "wait here, and make sure she doesn't waste the blood! I will speak to the Master."
"Of course, of course," Brin nodded, and the leader jogged away in the direction he'd sent his subordinate. Brin turned to Aloy, wildly shaking his head, sending the strips of cloth hanging from his headdress flying everywhere. "Please, huntress, you mustn't speak of wasting such precious ichor again, no, no…the thought is too abhorrent, please, never say such things."
Nil hopped off his Charger and walked over to Aloy's side. "Do you usually get what you want with threats?" he asked Aloy.
"Only if it involves tribal or personal customs," Aloy replied. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you have to be harsh if you want people to bend their rules for you."
He chuckled.
"The Bacchan are not unreasonable," Brin protested. "They will make treaty with those who are receptive, yes, they will! You…you mustn't say such awful things. Please, don't speak such atrocities before our Master."
"If I actually get to meet your Master, I won't need to," Aloy pointed out.
"And what of your companion?" questioned one of the remaining Bacchan.
"He comes with me," Aloy stated. "If only because I don't trust him to be left alone with anyone."
"I don't care much for Machines one way or another," Nil shrugged, "but if Aloy thinks it's important enough, I'll listen."
"They are inseparable," Brin chided the Bacchan. "You've seen the visions, haven't you? The executioner and the seeker, they belong together, yes, a perfectly matched pair, two halves of one whole force."
"These are them?" asked the Bacchan who had claimed to know Aloy was carrying powerful blood, blinking in surprise. "Yes, I have seen the visions, we all have - and if the blood says it, it must be so! It must be so, brothers!"
"If the blood says it, it must be so," agreed the Bacchan who had questioned Nil, if begrudgingly.
"I wouldn't call us inseparable," Aloy muttered, uncomfortable both with the talk of her and Nil 'belonging together' and the talk of two halves of one whole force; the former reminded her of Kryse's mistaken interpretation of her relationship with the former Carja, and the latter reminded her of Helis.
Before the conversation could continue, the lead Bacchan returned.
"The Master has spoken," he stated; "the executioner and the seeker are welcome, given that they come bearing untasted blood." He turned his blue eyes on Aloy. "You and your companion have earned the right to visit our abode, huntress. Come now, bring the ichor you carry before our Master, and you will be granted the answers you seek of him."
"Thank you," Aloy replied. Eyeing the electrical burns on his lips, she gestured to her mounts and added, "Can I trust you not to try to drink the blood of our Chargers? We kind of need them to get around."
"These Machines are yours, huntress, they follow the Father no more," the Bacchan stated. "Fear not, we will not touch them. Now come."
He started walking, and Aloy and Nil followed, as did Brin and the Bacchan.
"So…what's your name?" Aloy asked of the Bacchan superior.
"I am Volag," replied the decorated Bacchan. "A chief of hunters and defenders, yes, though I too drink of the Machines, as we all do - but the visions are not mine to interpret, such honor is left to the Seers. I witness, and I wait, and I let the Seers and the Master explain what I see."
"As do we," spoke up the Bacchan who had been the most receptive to Aloy's presence. "To drink the blood of Machines, one must hunt Machines, yes? And with the Deima ever-changing in their ways, we must be on guard, always. Gone are the days when we could get by on the blood alone - no, we must learn to fight, and so there are those of us who do, and they are we. I am Noj," he added.
"Right," Aloy said. "Uh, I'm Aloy, and this is Nil."
"What about you, Brin?" Nil spoke up. "Are you a hunter, or a Seer?"
"I am merely a humble initiate," Brin stated. "My senses were not trained from infancy to interpret the knowledge in the blood, yet I sought it on my own, and so I am given fledgeling status. Never shall I be a true Seer, yet I am granted the visions that I might glean, yes, and the Master teaches me what I see." He turned his covered face to Aloy. "I knew, always, that there was some force behind the herd, I could always sense it in the blood, yet I was never quite able to grasp it, like fish slipping through my fingers…until I came here, and learned of the Father, and suddenly, it was all so clear. Yet much remains muddied, yes, even for the Master…new answers are to be found each day, and with them, new questions."
"The storm you talked about," Aloy told Brin as they shouldered their way through some tightly-packed trees. "It was going to be caused by, uh, a relative of the Father…and it would have made the world the way it was when the Metal World fell, before modern times, like you…sort of said. I stopped it, but…that's how I know that everything you saw in those visions was real."
"So you are receptive," Noj said. "I suspected as much, yes, from the very beginning. Did I not, brothers? I said, these newcomers, we should not turn them away, no, we should welcome them…"
"Oh, uh, sorry about your welcome party," Aloy said.
"No apology needed," Volag assured her. "We all fight to survive, yes, and you won the fight, and we lost. Such is the way of things."
Aloy glanced at Nil, and saw that he was smiling. "Well, Nil, it looks like a tribe of people who drink Machine blood are the closest thing to your kin we'll ever find," she remarked.
"So it would seem," Nil commented, apparently unbothered. "I'm glad I came."
Pushing past a curtain of vines, Aloy was suddenly met with the sight of people. Dozens of people, all with stained mouths and scant metal coverings, milling around under the trees, though there were no buildings she could see. Remembering Nil's remark about people not living on the ground, she looked up, and her question was answered before she could ask it: perched in the branches overhead were multitudes of huts and structures crafted from wood and metal, walkways composed of Machine parts strung between the trees.
"You live in the trees?" she asked.
"Yes, yes," Brin nodded, "it is easier to hunt from above, and safer. There are some who stay on the ground, though; we are not Glinthawks, after all. Come; the Master speaks from our altar, you needn't climb for that."
As they made their way through the Bacchan settlement, most of their accompaniment broke off into the crowd, aside from Brin and Volag. Aloy tried not to show too much outward nervousness as the crowds stared at her and Nil, whispers reaching her ears - the words 'blood', 'executioner', and 'seeker' could be gleaned multiple times, but she tried not to let it bother her. Instead, she focused on learning what she could about how things worked around here; the smell of metal was sharp in the air, but a lot of the activities she saw the Bacchan taking part in seemed relatively normal - people were talking, sitting, milling about, campfires were lit and boiling pots, racks of meat and furs stood here and there. Every now and then, she caught a glimpse of a child in the crowd, which shouldn't have surprised her but for some reason did. There were, of course, little clusters of people sitting together and drinking from flasks, crying out and thrashing in the undergrowth, but it wasn't nearly as common as she would have expected of a tribe of people who drank Machine blood, given how intoxicated Brin seemed to get at the chance to taste the vile liquid. Maybe when a whole tribe is dedicated to gathering blood, they don't feel the need to go so crazy over it, she thought.
"Master Itsurk," Volag spoke, and Aloy wrenched her attention back to what was in front of her, realizing as she did so that they'd reached a structure cobbled together from what looked like the parts of Striders, Grazers, and Tramplers, a raised platform made from a Shell-Walker's crate sitting out front and bearing a very thin, decrepit old man. "Huntress Aloy, and her companion, Nil, to see you."
"Ahh…" wheezed the old man, and he looked down at Aloy and Nil from where he sat crosslegged on the metal canister.
When she got a good look at his face, Aloy swallowed hard, fighting down a cry of disgust. The man's eyes were milky, and the clouded-over pupils were jagged, more like stars than circles. His lips were white, like scars, his face stained with burns, and his teeth were black with metal. His hair grew in patches, and it shone unnaturally in the light, as though wires grew out of his head; his skin was gray where it wasn't scarred, stretched tight across crooked bones and almost no muscle to speak of. Aloy wouldn't have expected a living person to look like the Bacchan Master.
"The seeker, and the executioner," rasped the ancient Bacchan. "Welcome. I am Itsurk, Master Seer of the Bacchan tribe. I have drunk of many Machines, for many decades, and I have seen more than any other; I have witnessed the Father's wrath blossom, and I have drunk of many of his new creations. Yet you bring me something I have not tasted…I can smell it." He smacked his chalky lips. "Yes…the ichor you carry is like none I have sampled; your claim of drawing it from a Roller is true. Come, come, give it here, I must taste it."
"As long as you describe to me whatever visions it gives you," Aloy told him, already stepping forward to hand over the canteen.
"Of course, of course!" Itsurk assured her. "You brought me the visions, so I shall tell you of them. Mmm…"
Taking the canteen in shaking, decrepit hands, he brought the metallic liquid to his mouth and gulped it down, as though he'd been wandering a dry desert and this was the first drink of water he'd been given in days. Suddenly realizing what was about to happen, Aloy turned to Nil.
"Okay, Nil, don't be alarmed," she told him. "He's going to, uh…react, strongly, to drinking this. It's normal, and he'll be fine."
"If he's not, it's his own fault for drinking that stuff," Nil shrugged.
"Of course," Aloy muttered. "What made me think you'd be concerned about another human being?"
Itsurk cried out before Nil could make a smart remark, and Aloy turned back to see the old man collapse onto the old Shell-Walker crate, his thin limbs jerking and writhing as he howled and jabbered, his mouth frothing and his body quickly growing shiny with dark gray sweat. Even though she'd expected it, Aloy couldn't help but recoil slightly, while also worrying that his thrashing might send him falling off the crate.
A crowd quickly gathered, the Bacchan apparently drawn to the screams of their Master, which they presumably knew meant their leader was about to tell them of a vision. It took a few minutes, but Aloy waited, as did the whole tribe, before finally Itsurk lurched back up into a sitting position, gasping for breath, his ruined eyes wide and staring.
"What did you see?" called all the Bacchan in unison, and Aloy got the sense that this was a ritual of sorts.
"I saw the Father's children!" Itsurk called back.
"Tell us, tell us!" the Bacchan chanted.
"Listen, and listen well!" Itsurk declared.
"I'm listening already," Aloy grumbled.
The Bacchan Master spread his frail hands wide. "Long ago, the Father witnessed the Metal World, fallen, ashes and dust. The herd came forth from his light and might, crafted from the essence running below the ashes, and the dead land was turned over, consumed and created anew, for this was the herd's purpose. In time, new life could grow, yes, more and more life could grow - but! But, there were places that would not be cleansed. Oh! A poison seeping into the land from ancient ruins, and no matter what the Father sent to cleanse it, more came, an endless flow of death, an infection in the land that could not be cured. And the source, it was shielded, hidden behind ancient metal, strong metal, metal that turned back the gentle cleansers of the herd. And so the Father poured all his might into making stronger children, children who could shatter those metal boxes and expose the poison within, that the source might be cleansed - big, strong, forces to knock down any barrier! Many succeeded, yes, there were many in the world, who came and succeeded, exposing the poison…but! One pustule stood strong, resisting all attempts to burst it and cleanse the infection. All of the Father's strength had been poured into his wreckers, yet they could not fell this one wall. Desperate, they tried, oh, they tried, yet for some reason this metal stood strong, too strong! The Father…he could do nothing, and so his children beat against that wall for many ages, all in vain. Yes, even today, the poison still seeps, endlessly, infecting the land and keeping it from becoming one with the herd, for that one source cannot be broken." Itsurk waved his hands. "In time, now, the Father's anger is turned to us of flesh and blood, and so he will not attempt to improve on this act. Even today, though, he resents that one patch of disease, a poisoned land that will never heal."
"So speaks the Father!" shouted the Bacchan.
Itsurk nodded, and the crowd began to disperse.
"The factory," Aloy said softly. "Where the Old Ones grew meat in vats…I bet the ingredients used to make it aren't good for the soil, and the containers holding them have probably rusted away by now…" She shook her head. "That explains why the dead land stops before Dry Bones. And I think Roger's Humble Burger Barn might have been the first meat-growing factory, and it was made by a family who were paranoid about the end of the world for generations - they probably worked too hard to make the factory impenetrable, more so than any other factory the Old Ones used. So even the Rollers couldn't break it open…"
"You…" Itsurk wheezed, turning his sightless eyes to Aloy. "You understand my vision? You put words to it I do not know, yet they feel right, oddly right…"
"I…know a few things, about the ancient world," Aloy told him. "And what you're saying lines up with what I know. Thank you, Itsurk, I think I understand what the Rollers were doing there now."
"You are a bright one," rasped Itsurk. "Yes…perhaps you will indeed be the one to rebuild the Sun that never rose, after all. Volag!"
"Master?" the Bacchan warrior asked, stepping forward.
"Tell all our people that from this day forth, this huntress and her companion are welcome in our city," Itsurk commanded. "Though they do not drink of the blood, they do drink of knowledge in their own right, and they have brought us new insight on this day. They may stay with us, and trade with us, and take shelter with us, as they see fit."
"As you declare, so it shall be," nodded Volag, and he walked off, presumably to start spreading the word.
"Will you stay a while, huntress?" Itsurk asked.
"Uh…no thanks," Aloy replied. "I should get going. Although…" She blinked, suddenly realizing that if anyone knew where to find a Cauldron, it would be someone who was in tune with what the Cauldrons made. "Do you know where I might find a Cauldron?" she asked the Bacchan Master. "One of the places where, uh, the Father makes his children?"
"Cauldron?" Itsurk repeated, and he shook his head emphatically. "No, no, I could never direct you to such a sacred place - we must keep it hidden, yes, it is the Father's sanctuary."
"So…you do know where one is?" Aloy pressed.
"Know, yes, but mustn't tell, mustn't tell!" insisted Itsurk.
"Look…I don't like destroying Machines," Aloy told the old man. "I know it upsets, uh, the Father, and that the Machines are what keep this world alive. I prefer to override them, so they don't try to kill me and we can just go our separate ways. But in order to override them, I need to learn about them from the Cauldrons where they're made. Please, tell me where to find the Cauldron you know of so I can avoid killing more of them."
"Hmm…" Itsurk's ropey lips stretched into a sick frown. "Such sacred knowledge…such a sacred place…and the Father is not fond of you, no, quite the contrary - he does resent you, even if you might be the one to rebuild the Sun that never rose, for you have overwhelmed him at every turn, stripped him of both children and power."
"Only because his children keep trying to kill me, and other people," Aloy pointed out. "I wouldn't have to kill Machines if they didn't attack everyone on sight, except to get parts, and most of those I can harvest without killing."
"The Father's anger is boundless," Itsurk went on. "Even we are subject to his wrath. Tell me, huntress, have you seen the manifestation of his fury, the great beast that stalks our once-Oasis, too fearsome and terrible to face?"
"The Annihilator?" Aloy asked. "Yeah, I've seen it. Kind of."
"We were once content to live here in peace," Itsurk told her, "drinking of the Father's children, of which there are so many in this verdant land. But that beast came into being two months ago, and now we are no longer safe here; it stalks our border constantly, and we are forever in danger. If you would rid us of it, then I would direct you to the place from whence it came."
"Wait, you want me to kill the Annihilator?" Aloy asked incredulously.
"Yes, yes," Itsurk nodded. "If any can, it is you, huntress - the Machines do loathe and fear you, for you are truly fearsome to them. We can do nothing about this monstrosity, but perhaps you might."
"And…if I do, then you'll tell me where to find the Cauldron?" Aloy questioned. "Not before, so I can get the information to override it without having to fight it?"
"Your control is temporary; in time, when you are distant enough, the Machines do return to the Father's will," Itsurk pointed out. "Any safety you bought us with your control would be temporary; but in death, the monster will be a threat no more. And…" The Bacchan smacked his scarred lips. "If you would draw its blood for us, we may yet see new visions, glean new answers…yes, to taste that blood would be a wonder…"
"I guess I should have expected this," Aloy sighed heavily, putting a hand to her face.
"How so?" Nil asked, speaking for the first time since Itsurk had started wailing.
She turned to him. "This is just how things go," she shrugged. "People can't handle something themselves, so they ask me to do it for them."
"So…will we be doing it?" he questioned.
"I'm not sure we can," Aloy said.
"Oh, come now," Nil told her, "you fought off an army of ancient war machines, and you took on three Rollers at once. No matter how dangerous this Annihilator is, there's only one of it. I'm sure we can handle it if we work together."
"You'd help me?" Aloy asked.
"Of course," he replied. "I told you, my bow and my blade are yours, Aloy."
Aloy turned back to Itsurk. "What are the odds that I'd be able to find this Cauldron on my own?" she asked the ancient Bacchan.
"None, none," Itsurk shook his head. "It is in a hidden place, one you would never reach."
"Of course," Aloy sighed.
Taking a moment, she weighed the options in her mind - the Annihilator was more dangerous than even the Bacchan knew, if what she'd seen that second night over the border was anything to go by. Even with Nil's help, it wouldn't go down easy, and she already knew that no one else was going to aid in the hunt. But something had already sparked inside of her, and she knew she couldn't fight it.
"Okay," she said at last. "Tell me everything you know about the Annihilator - where it is, what it can do, anything at all that might help me bring it down."
"Excellent!" Itsurk exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Very well, huntress, we shall give you all the aid we can before you go into battle."
"But you won't go into battle with me," Aloy said, and it wasn't a question.
"You are the huntress," Itsurk said; "this hunt is yours. But, now, stay, listen, and I will tell you what we know…"