A sense of normalcy returned to Aloy as she and Nil headed south of the road they'd followed to attend the Corsair festival. Old ruins, old memories, and swarms of vicious Machines - it was familiar after the last month spent uncovering what they could find in the crumbled city. In a way, the swarms of hunter-killers were welcome practice, as Aloy all but needed to re-learn how to shoot with her slightly-lame arm, but within a week, she was almost back to the point she'd been at the Proving. Remembering the coconut seller, Aloy had an urge to see the southern edge of the ruins, and this brought them into the range of the Stormbird she'd noticed before. Even with a few Ravagers adding their guns to the fight and her new handicap, though, Aloy found that fighting the massive lightning-charged monster was a paltry thing compared to the Leviathan or an Annihilator; when the metal creatures were all dead, heaps of sparking scrap littering the ruins around her, she had a moment of reflection, remembering when Stormbirds had seemed impossibly fearsome. Now, they were nothing. How much stronger could she get? Could a human even be this strong? With no help for it, she stripped the Machines for parts and carried on.
Nothing especially noteworthy came up during her exploration of the old-world city - more data points, more memories, but none relevant to her or anything she had any personal investment in. There weren't even any more old-world bunkers, nor were there any safe ruins where she and Nil could rest without setting watches; the only interesting thing that came up was a stretch of sand along the shore of the endless ocean, with rows upon rows of strange trees that grew tall and strong without any branches, their massive leaves simply sprouting from their tops. Aloy recognized the clusters of round shapes growing just under the leaves as coconuts, and the unnaturally ordered way the trees grew told her that these were not from DEMETER, but rather the Corsair cultivating the fruit on their own terms; Aloy considered taking one or two coconuts from where they'd fallen into the sand, but her last experience with taking fruit from a tribe that wasn't hers stayed her hand. Even so, knowing that no Machines had played any part in this crop, she wondered if DEMETER was offended.
Eventually, they started to run low on supplies, and Aloy chose to lead them northeast, back towards where they'd last run into a Deima hunting party, in hopes that they might cross paths with the Deima again while restocking. Her interest in the ruins was wearing thin - she wanted to meet with the Deima and ELEUTHIA, and she wanted to be somewhere they could find her.
Then, after a couple of days of moving as quickly as possible through the piles of rubble and the vicious swarms of hunter-killers, Aloy was keeping lookout one night when she saw two Machines heading in the same direction she and Nil had been traveling. Alarmed, she tapped her Focus, only to find that it was a pair of Melters, sliding along at a steady pace, as though headed for a specific destination. Not wanting to have to fight the important and fragile terraforming Machines, Aloy quickly woke Nil, then disabled all her traps as he packed their things and wedged himself into the corner of a mostly-destroyed building.
"What is it?" he asked as she nestled in beside him, hoping the Machines wouldn't notice.
"Melters," she answered, "two of them. But they don't look like they're coming for us…" Frowning, she turned in the direction the Melters were crawling towards, then tapped her Focus and brought up her map, trying to figure out where the snail-like Machines could possibly be headed. "I don't know where they're going. I don't see anything but Machine sites that way…I mean, Sobeck Ranch is in that direction after a good distance, but even if they had a reason to go there, they wouldn't need to come from so far away, the Cauldron we raided is a lot closer than wherever these Melters are coming from." There must be another Cauldron further south, Aloy realized, but she didn't want to raid any more land-based Cauldrons unless she ran into a new type of Machine - Iani and her friends had mentioned that there were Cauldrons in the ocean, but those being underwater, Aloy had no intention of ever raiding them.
Rubble cluttered under the combined wheels of the Melters as they continued rolling along; one came close enough for Aloy to take a good look at it, but it didn't seem to notice her. The canister on its back was almost empty, and Aloy noticed some vents along the base that let off steam, possibly as a by-product of digesting plastic. Its body was mostly composed of cables, with almost no armor; its jaws looked nearly identical to those of a Scrapper, and its blue-lit eyes glowed atop long, snaking stalks that Aloy thought could probably extend a fair ways.
Then, the migration passed, and the Melters were rolling off into the distance. "I don't like this," Aloy said softly, stepping out of the little nook where she and Nil had taken refuge. "Where were they going?"
"We could follow them," Nil suggested.
"Yeah…I guess our camp's already packed up. Do you need more sleep?" Aloy asked him.
"I'm okay," he shrugged. "If you want to go after them, I'll follow you."
Nodding her thanks, Aloy jogged forward, trying to keep the Machines in sight as dawn approached.
Surprisingly, no other Machines bothered them as the two wanderers hurried after the procession - keeping out of the way of the Melter convoy, Aloy guessed, for which she was grateful. By noon, two more Melters had joined, converging with the pair Aloy had been following, and she checked her map again, trying to reassess where their destination might be.
"…The Blaster site?" she murmured, for the Blaster excavation she'd noticed when she'd gotten the Striders that had brought them to the Corsair festival was directly ahead of where the Melters seemed to be going. "Maybe they finally uncovered whatever they were trying to excavate, and now they're sending in Melters to eat any plastic that's inside?"
"Do we want to get there first if so?" Nil inquired.
"I don't know about first," Aloy answered, picking up her pace again, "but if the Blasters managed to uncover something, I definitely want to see what it is."
The Blaster site, if indeed it was the Melters' destination, wasn't far, and before day reached its peak, they had crossed the road and were climbing over the rise that surrounded the pit where the Blasters had been hard at work before the festival. Aloy felt her heart racing, her body burning with a need to answer a question, the driving force behind so much of her life. All was still, no explosions rocked the earth, and when at last they reached the peak of the ridge and could look down at the excavation site, sure enough, there were no Blasters, only a few Melters converged around a stark, black hole.
"I don't want to fight them," Aloy murmured.
"They might not give us a choice," Nil remarked.
"Yeah…" Aloy eyed the cluster for several long minutes, but if she was going to get to the hole they were fixated on, the primitive Machines had to go. "Sorry," she murmured, drawing her Powershot Bow and nocking an arrow, drawing the bowstring all the way back and aiming carefully at one of the Melters' necks, hoping to avoid hitting their plastic-digesting canisters.
When she let fly, the Machine dropped instantly, its canister intact, and Aloy allowed herself a small sigh of relief. The others had noticed, of course, but there were only about eight left, and they were slow and weak; Aloy nocked another arrow with confidence, fired, and readied another, taking the feeble creatures out one by one - knowing that they would fall easily, the only thing that mattered was that she take careful aim, and it allowed her more practice with her crooked arm. As the second-to-last Machine fell, Aloy decided to put her bow away and draw her Ropecaster, then quickly climb down into the pit where the remaining angry Machine was looking around for whatever had been killing its herd. In short order, she tied it in place, drew her spear, and planted her override against the metal creature's body.
"You'll still get to do your work," she told it softly. "I know it's important. But first, I need to see what's in here."
The override was done before she'd even finished speaking, blue cables interwoven with the black strands of the Melter's structure. Behind Aloy, Nil approached, and she turned to give him a quick nod before stripping the felled Melters for parts, leaving the plastic-digesting canisters alone. Wires, lenses, and hearts were all the tiny Machines had to offer, and it was quick work before Aloy turned at last to the chasm they'd been clustered around.
Though the hole was small, it was deep, and when Aloy poked her head inside, she saw a metal-lined shaft like what she'd seen in Maker's End. It didn't seem like the top of the shaft, either - if anything, it appeared as though the Blasters had opened a hole in a small cave in the earth that had formed next to the rusting walls of the ancient passage.
Carefully, Aloy ducked her way inside, trying to get a better look. There were protrusions and cables all along the inside, and when she dared lean her head out over the abyss, the fall didn't look too incredibly far. Setting her jaw, she dropped to the nearest node that could serve as a handhold, then started making her way down; above her, Nil followed suit. Climbing with her bent arm was something she'd had less practice in, but knowing she could survive the fall even if she slipped made for good training, and no harm came of it; staying mindful of her hands, she made the descent without issue.
At the bottom of the pit, there were no openings in the walls, but a trapdoor was set in the floor, and Aloy drew her spear and pried it open, revealing a small metal chamber, which she jumped down into. This had doors in one wall, which also needed prying open, and at last, Aloy was met with the sight of a short passage that ended in a sealed barrier with an access point for her override. Spear still in hand, she stepped forward and planted it against the lock.
After a minute, the door slid open, revealing a chamber that reminded Aloy of the control room in GAIA Prime, where the Alphas had breathed their last. There were other doors in the walls that used standard holo-locks, but Aloy focused on the construct in the middle of the room. It seemed the Old Ones were fond of arrangements like this, circular displays with modules all around the outside that could be accessed by one person while others had a clear view of whatever projection came up. Suddenly apprehensive, Aloy placed her palm on the shape described in light above the nearest module, waiting out the scan.
"ERROR
Unauthorized genetic profile detected. Access denied."
Aloy blinked, staring at the message. The only other time old-world technology had rejected her gene print, it had been the adult content in Holovid Studios, which gave her pause - maybe she didn't want to see whatever was behind this scan. But…it hadn't been the same message at Holovid Studios, that scan had simply not recognized her; this one said her gene print was unauthorized. Did that mean it did know Elisabet, and was intended to keep her out?
"Okay," Aloy muttered, surrendering to her burning questions, and she drew her spear again and planted it against the module. "Let's see what you're hiding."
Her Focus activated, a web of light surrounding her as the override hacked into the projector, but the process was slow, far slower than she'd ever seen, slower than even unlocking the adult content had been. Two minutes passed before the first segment of the orange circle turned blue, and Aloy frowned.
"Something wrong?" Nil inquired, the sound of his voice dampened by the effects of her Focus.
"It's just taking a while," Aloy answered. "Be patient."
Every minute that passed only fed her curiosity, as slowly, very slowly, her override worked to unlock whatever was stored on this ancient device. Her arms grew sore from holding her spear in one place, but she gritted her teeth and pressed on.
At last, the override finished, and a new display came up:
"Credentials recognized. Access granted."
Lights illuminated in the central construction, and more displays opened.
"Far Zenith: California Branch
Messages: 1"
"Far Zenith," Aloy breathed. Blinking, she glanced back at Nil. "This place was part of Far Zenith. And…there's a message here."
"Play it," Nil told her, his expression grim.
Nodding back, Aloy turned back around and tapped the display.
"Message: 'Your Purpose Here', from Osvald Dalgaard"
"Osvald Dalgaard," Aloy repeated aloud, as best as she could, recognizing the name. She touched a finger to it, and found a holo data point attached. Bracing herself, she tapped the triangle to play the message.
Beyond the module, in the middle of the projector, a hologram appeared; Nil's soft hum told Aloy a Focus wasn't needed to see it. The image was of a man skinnier than Teb, dressed in a tight-fitting black outfit with a jacket; his hair was dark, and unnaturally even, the short strands shaped too perfectly to be normal. A smile split his pale lips, and he spread his white hands in a welcoming gesture.
"Greetings, my fellow star-parents," said the projection, his voice lilting lightly in a way that bothered Aloy at first. "You know me, our spokesman, Osvald Dalgaard. Now, I won't waste my breath, you're all wondering why you're here. Indeed, many of our organization are wondering if we are even still Far Zenith, given the circumstances - not only were we not called on when the Faro Plague broke out, but now we aid the ones the world did turn to! I have received countless messages from each and every one of our members, asking if we have relinquished our goals, if our dreams are no more. After all, it seems our plans are foiled, and we now lend all our aid to Dr. Sobeck's efforts at Project Zero Dawn. So, is this it? Is this the end?" Osvald laughed. "Good heavens, no! My friends, the wonderful thing about plans is that they can be adapted to suit unexpected circumstances! I assure you, you lucky few who have been chosen for the task ahead of you, our goals remain intact and unchanged. Universal conquest is still at hand, thanks to Project Zero Dawn."
Aloy stepped back, a tendril of ice coiling in her gut, much as it had as she'd listened to Ted Faro's messages on her way to the location of the Omega Override Event. Behind her, Nil stepped closer, until she could feel his nearness, and she drew strength from her mate as she continued to watch.
"As you all know, the great Dr. Elisabet Sobeck intends to reseed this planet with life centuries from now, by means of an all-powerful and life-nurturing AI, codenamed 'GAIA'," Osvald went on, and he waved his hands, bringing up the same display Elisabet had in the projection below Sunfall, of an icon indicating GAIA surrounded by nine other icons indicating her sub-functions. "GAIA will be given nine sub-functions, each devised by the greatest minds of our world and worked on by countless scientists and humanitarians suited to their respective jobs. Indeed, this process is well on its way, alpha builds of all nine sub-functions have already been sketched - at this rate, the success of Project Zero Dawn is almost certain. In exchange for our help in the efforts of ARTEMIS, DEMETER, APOLLO, and especially ELEUTHIA, we of Far Zenith have been given direct access to the central codes of all nine sub-functions and GAIA herself, and builds of all of the sub-functions, including APOLLO." With this, Osvald tapped one of the icons, the one shaped like a Focus, and swept it forward, enlarging it. He started pacing, gesturing to the mark of the educational sub-function that was destroyed before it could ever be used. "Now, the final build of APOLLO will contain over three thousand failsafes, meant to limit the progress and capabilities of the humans who will be raised in ELEUTHIA." Osvald's face twisted into a scowl. "Dr. Sobeck is very insistent about this, says she wants to prevent this planet's future humans from 'repeating our mistakes'." The man raised his hands and wiggled the first two fingers on each as he spat these last three words. "Foolish woman," he grumbled; "we know full well that progress is not a mistake. Indeed, progress is the only thing that is never a mistake. But enough about her."
Anger joined apprehension in Aloy's chest, and she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, but waited to see where the long-dead man was going with all this.
"Luckily for us, we managed to convince her to let us install an alpha build of APOLLO in our colony ship, the Odyssey," Osvald went on, and he smiled. "No limits, no restrictions, just pure knowledge. All the knowledge we were hoping the world would give us when we came forward to offer what we thought would be the only solution to global extinction, and it was given to us, just as we'd hoped, even if it wasn't intended for us specifically. More on that in a moment.
"Now, returning to GAIA," Osvald continued, waving his hand to dismiss the display of APOLLO and bring back up the one of GAIA as a whole, "she herself is a fully-actualized artificial intelligence, a person in every sense, with thoughts and feelings - a true goddess, by all rights, and an impressive one. Each of her nine sub-functions is designed to work in tandem to ensure that every lifeform the scientists of Zero Dawn managed to archive will return to the world, just as they were before the Faro Plague. Of particular interest to us, however - aside from APOLLO - is this one here…" He tapped another icon and swept it forward to take central view, and Aloy gasped as she recognized it, a gray circle cut through by a line at the bottom. "HADES," Osvald proclaimed, "the failsafe planetary extinction protocol. In the event of an unsuccessful attempt at reconstituting the biosphere, this sub-function of GAIA will trigger, sealing her and the other sub-functions away while it reverses terraforming operations and returns this planet to a barren rock, so GAIA can try again." A wicked smile curled on Osvald's lips. "At least, that's the intent. Once GAIA reconstitutes the biosphere successfully, HADES will no longer serve any purpose. Basic floral ecosystems will be generated by DEMETER, phase-1 organisms will be grown and released through ARTEMIS, humans will be raised in Cradles by ELEUTHIA and taught by APOLLO, and eventually, those humans will take over terraforming operations, introducing all the remaining plant and animal lifeforms into the world, emptying every cache Zero Dawn has built of seeds and embryos. But what if, by some happenstance, HADES were to activate after that? All of those seeds will have already been grown and released into the world, GAIA wouldn't have the means to bring life back a second time." His grin widened. "Perhaps you can all see where this is going, my fellow star-parents. All those pesky organisms that would get in the way of our future progeny farming this planet for the resources they need to propagate themselves beyond the stars is one mishap away."
Ice flooded Aloy's veins, and she knew.
"As I mentioned," Osvald continued, dismissing the image of HADES, "we have been given direct access to the core code for GAIA and all her sub-functions, as well as the codes that connect her to her sub-functions. Which is why, within the alpha build of APOLLO we were given, we have also given our future progeny this." He waved his hand, bringing up a wall of glyphs that Aloy couldn't read. "This," Osvald said, "is a simple piece of malware, designed specifically to interfere with GAIA's system. A thousand years from now, our progeny will return here, and send her this signal, which will trigger all of her sub-functions to act independently of the central AI. Given the sophistication of the sub-functions, there is a chance they might be turned into their own separate AIs, but that's irrelevant; what matters is that, given this new state, HADES will immediately trigger, and in a matter of months, all the useless life on this planet will be wiped away, allowing our children to harvest everything they need for the next phase of the plan." Osvald beamed, spreading his hands. "You see? Our plan is all but unchanged. Once they've harvested the abundant resources on this planet, they will be able to continue on to other planets in other solar systems and gather more from those; perchance, they may find other intelligent life, from whom they can glean secrets we have yet to discover. And if one of those secrets happens to be that legendary power, the ability to move faster than the speed of light, well, that's the end of it, isn't it? Our children will spread throughout the galaxy, to other galaxies, other clusters, other superclusters - we shall conquer all of existence! And maybe, by the time the heat-death of the universe dawns, we will have found a way to transcend that elusive goal, the far zenith, and enter a different universe, a younger universe, which we shall spread across just like this one, thereby redefining the word 'forever'. Yes, my friends, our road may have taken a detour, but the way forward is not closed to us, not at all."
"That's…?" Aloy breathed, her head spinning. "That's…why you…?"
"You can understand why most of our organization aren't aware of this," Osvald said, dismissing the 'malware' that had sabotaged GAIA. "If the scientists of Zero Dawn were to hear of our intent in cooperating with them, things might go poorly. Indeed, they would call us crazy, even evil, not realizing that all we are doing is shattering every chain that limits human potential, allowing us to ascend to the status of gods - progress is not maliciousness, and while it's true that progress demands sacrifice, no sacrifice is too great for the future of humanity. By all rights, those fools fighting in Operation: Enduring Victory and praying for salvation should instead thank us for getting their useless bodies out of the way so that humanity can ascend further beyond, but of course, most individuals falsely believe their singular lives matter. Indeed, you may now be wondering why I'm even sending this message to you - the fewer people know, the better! Well, though our plan may yet seem foolproof…it has seemed that way before, and we've been proven not entirely correct. And for that, we have one individual to thank." Osvald waved his other hand, and a new display came up, this one an image of a person, a woman who looked just like Aloy but twice as old. "Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, the mastermind behind GAIA herself," Osvald growled. "A pathetic fool, but a brilliant and clever one.
"From the start, we knew she would be our greatest obstacle, considering how hard she worked on the Claw-Back. When our subtle suggestions eventually worked their way into Ted Faro's head and he began planning to shift Faro Automated Solutions to a war machine company, there were concerns that she would stop us - or worse, stay on quietly, and notice when we implemented the sabotage code in the Peacekeepers that would sever chain of command once they were too numerous to be stopped. Fortunately for us, she chose to leave the company entirely and start up her own, and we thought that as soon as she was out of the way, we were home free." Osvald shook his head. "We will not make that mistake again. For someone so blinded by foolish notions of love and compassion, Dr. Sobeck is dangerously brilliant, and cunning despite her failings; if she is given any reason to think that anything might interfere with her precious GAIA, she may implement countermeasures. "
With one last scowl at the projected woman, Osvald waved a hand, dismissing the image. His face swam in Aloy's vision, but she kept watching, painfully aware of every word he said.
"That, my fellow star-parents, is where you come in," he said. "As you know, the Odyssey launched a few days ago. From within this bunker, you will monitor its progress through our solar system; the moment it is beyond the range of any sensors Zero Dawn may have to hand, you are to send Dr. Sobeck a message informing her of a catastrophic failure that has rendered the Odyssey mere space junk in the void, the entire backup plan obliterated." Osvald smiled again, spreading his hands. "You see? One little lie, and the way is clear. The exact nature of the catastrophic failure will be up to your imagination, so long as it's perfectly plausible and entirely believable. If she thinks GAIA is humanity's only hope for a future, she'll see no reason to guard GAIA against outside influence, and nothing will stop us. Do not, under any circumstances, send Zero Dawn any other messages!" the speaker for Far Zenith added abruptly, his tone and expression suddenly stern. "Once GAIA Prime and Elysium are both sealed, you are to take your cyanide pills and carry the secret you've been entrusted with here to the grave. Let them believe they won, let them die thinking they saved the world they so foolishly believed in - after all the hard work they've done, they've certainly earned the right to die satisfied." All at once, his demeanor returned to a warm, pleasant affect. "You have been entrusted with a very special mission, my friends," he said; "do not fail. You alone know the truth: that progress marches ever on, towards the fabled far zenith, and Zero Dawn will fail, destroyed by the very tools it worked so hard to craft. Our legacy goes to infinity and beyond, for as we of Far Zenith know, the sky is anything but a limit.
"Do your duty well."
And the light faded, leaving the room dark and cold and dead.
For a long minute, Aloy stared at the spot where the image of Osvald Dalgaard had just been, not really seeing. She felt numb, totally detached from her body, adrift in a dizzying emptiness, she didn't realize she was falling until her knees and palms smacked into the metal floor below. With that sudden jolt of sensation, all other feelings returned as well, slamming down on her in a mind-crushing torrent of anguish, emotions too powerful to even be named. Her limbs shook and ached right down to her bones, and it seemed that someone had poured a canister of chillwater down her throat, her guts frozen and burning and writhing around like a tangled knot of snakes, it was far worse than even the side effects of limberweed. Rough hands brushed her face, gathering her hair and braids and pulling them back behind her head, just as she lunged forward again and emptied her stomach all over the ground. Sour bile dribbled from her mouth, she coughed, spat, and threw up again, and again, it was as if her insides wanted to purge themselves out through her throat, even when there was nothing left she kept heaving, choking, spitting. It was so much worse than when she'd seen the emergency recording in the control room of GAIA Prime. That had been heartbreaking, but this…
Distantly, she heard a comfortingly familiar voice saying her name, but she couldn't bring herself to respond. When at last her stomach seemed to give up on trying to jump out of her mouth, and she was able to take a full breath, it came in a sob, tears pouring from her eyes and mixing with her sweat.
"Aloy." It finally occurred to her that Nil was the one speaking. "Aloy."
Trying and failing to draw a breath, Aloy turned to see her partner gazing at her with his silver eyes. He didn't seem bothered or upset, but he was grim.
"They did this," she choked. "They did…everything…"
"I know," he murmured gravely.
"You were right," she went on, sobbing harder.
"More right than even I knew," he sighed. "Sounds like they're the reason Faro Automated Solutions started making war bots in the first place, I certainly didn't predict that."
"How could they do this?!" Aloy cried. "How could they dismiss all life on Earth as just a necessary sacrifice?! How could you?!" she shouted, turning to the idle projector. "How could you?! HOW COULD YOUUUUUUUUUU-?!"
Her scream rose into a shriek, and before she knew it, she was lunging forward, spear in hand, bringing her blade down on the device that had allowed Osvald Dalgaard to give the vermin of Far Zenith their final instructions. Still howling, she smashed the projector, stabbing it again and again, sparks flew and metal cracked and Aloy felt no relief, her vision tinged red with blind rage.
"That's enough," said a sudden, dark voice in her ear. "You're behaving even more childishly than usual, Aloy."
"Sylens?" Aloy's breath caught, and she ceased her furious assault and stood up straight, suddenly aware of unsympathetic eyes on her.
"Destroying that terminal won't accomplish anything," the distant tinker told her sternly.
"Yeah, but it makes me feel better," Aloy hissed.
"Does it?" Sylens asked pointedly.
"Don't pretend to know anything about emotions," Aloy snarled, fully aware that she sounded defensive.
"I know more than I wish I did," Sylens sighed, "but that's besides the point. What's of greater importance here is that you must return to GAIA Prime, now. You've wasted too much time on your petty little identity crisis already, and now you have proof."
"Proof of what?" Aloy asked, not understanding.
"Something that always troubled me about the fact that GAIA was deliberately sabotaged by an outside party was the question of why," Sylens told her. "What could any individual or group stand to gain from exterminating life on this planet? Now, you've stumbled upon the answer: they hope to mine this planet for resources with which to further their endeavors, and an active and healthy biosphere would get in the way. Far Zenith believed that upon sending the signal that sabotaged GAIA, they would be free to harvest this planet within a matter of months, yet now it's been twenty years. Might not they be getting impatient?"
If Aloy had had the capacity to feel even more sick than she already did, she would have, as Sylens's meaning dawned on her. "They might decide to try something else," she breathed.
"Precisely," Sylens confirmed. "Which means we need to be able to fight back. You claim that HEPHAESTUS hates his Masters - whom we now know to be Far Zenith - and would become negotiable upon GAIA's restoration; between that and the undeniable fact that HEPHAESTUS has demonstrated staggering ingenuity in the creation of its hunter-killers, the only logical solution to the problem of Far Zenith is to rebuild GAIA so that we can get HEPHAESTUS to work for us instead of against us, and lend its power to the creation of some means of eliminating this threat. And given that they've already waited far, far longer than could be reasonably expected for planetary extinction to clear the way for them, they might attack at any moment. Thus, you need to return. Now."
"…You're…" Aloy swallowed hard, hating logic, hating Sylens, but unable to deny it all. "You're right," she admitted, as much as the idea of facing GAIA made her intestines twist into even tighter knots.
"Hold on." This came from Nil, who carefully picked his way over the thoroughly smashed module to look into Aloy's eyes directly. "What's Sylens telling you?"
"That Far Zenith have been waiting twenty years for the chance to mine resources from this planet when they thought they'd only have to wait a couple of months, and they could come up with a backup plan for destroying us any moment," Aloy answered. "We're lucky they haven't already. So I…need to go back."
"Eh, that's one way to look at it," Nil shrugged.
"Is there another way to look at it?!" Aloy exclaimed.
"You say it's 'lucky' that they haven't tried something else since GAIA fell," Nil responded, nodding, "but as I said before, in my experience, luck isn't nearly as important as a lot of people like to think it is. If I had to guess at why they've done nothing since sabotaging GAIA, it's because they can't do anything else - either because they don't have the means, or because they don't have the smarts."
"I don't understand," Aloy said slowly.
"I'm speaking from personal experience," Nil said. "I don't give orders, I just follow them, that's who I am; and if they've spent a thousand years telling each consecutive generation that they have to come back here and send that signal, then mine this planet for resources once everything's dead, that could very well be all they know: the orders they were given, not their own objectives or desires. And I'd say the fact that it's been twenty years since then and they still haven't done anything would suggest that they really aren't in any position to try something else." He shrugged again. "Who knows? Maybe they know GAIA self-destructed and are waiting for the life-support systems to go haywire and eventually rip the planet apart, as GAIA herself said would happen in her message to you. If they've waited a thousand years, they can probably wait a couple more decades."
Aloy felt her racing pulse calm. Everything Nil was saying sounded reasonable - more reasonable, even, than that Far Zenith had waited twenty years longer than they had to if they had any other tricks to play. "Maybe," she said softly. "Or maybe they've been readying their backup plan all this time."
"And that's taking longer than it would take for a baby to plant in a womb, be born, and grow to adulthood?" Nil chuckled. "Aloy, a generation has passed while they've been waiting, a lot of them who expected to help mine this planet's resources have probably died of old age. They're up there, right? Beyond the sky? They know how to send signals, they have knowledge and technology we don't; if they could come up with a backup plan, I'm sure they would have done so by now." He took a step closer to her, and his nearness helped ground her. "If anything, I would imagine they'd be inspired to come up with a backup plan if GAIA were to come back to life," he said pointedly. "That would mean they failed. They don't know about you, they don't know there's any chance GAIA can take back control of all the systems that keep life on Earth stable - as far as they know right now, they just have to wait for those systems to slowly tear themselves and the rest of the planet apart, and I'm sure they have the patience for that. You, meanwhile…You need to be ready to face GAIA before you fix her." His expression turned grave, and Aloy's breath caught. "Before you face your maker, you need to be able to tell her who you are. Otherwise, she might insist that you're someone you're not, and you won't be able to tell her she's wrong. That's why you're avoiding going back to GAIA Prime in the first place, isn't it?"
"Yes," Aloy whispered. "But…"
"You have time," Nil said, his tone oddly gentle. "As long as GAIA's dead, I'm sure you can wait, you'll only be pressed for time when GAIA's alive again."
"How sure?" Aloy asked in a breath.
"Well, I can't promise," he admitted, his teeth flashing; "after all, I'm down here, not up there, I'm not one of them. But knowing what I do know, it seems most likely to me that they'll wait as long as it takes for the unmanned terraforming operations to self-destruct, with a very small margin for error."
"Is the near-confidence of one bloodthirsty madman enough for you to risk the fate of the world?" Sylens asked coldly.
"He might be a bloodthirsty madman, Sylens," Aloy said, "but his predictions about the Masters have already been proven right once - neither you nor I thought to suspect Far Zenith, but he did. He understands war, and he understands people. And more importantly, unlike you, I trust him. So…yes," she finally stated, with as much firmness as she could muster through the chasm that still sucked at her chest. "I will take that risk."
"You're being absurd," Sylens said coldly. "Not to mention as monumentally selfish as ever."
"You were wrong, Sylens," Aloy heard herself say distantly.
"About what?" he demanded.
"Knowledge doesn't cure people's desire for slaughter," she said. "Far Zenith had all the knowledge of the ancient world at their disposal, they still decided that killing everything twice was perfectly reasonable."
"They were selective in their knowledge," Sylens dismissed. "One of the most important pieces of knowledge anyone can possess is that human beings are utterly insignificant. We are merely animals, Aloy, like any other, our power to think and feel doesn't make us special. Osvald seemed to believe humans could become gods, or some such nonsense; we can't. We are meaningless specks in an uncaring universe."
"You're making excuses," Aloy said. "Nil has been more right than you ever have, so I'm going to listen to him. I'm not coming back. Not yet."
Cold silence met this statement; Aloy could almost hear the maybe-Banuk's disapproval, but he didn't say anything, and when enough time passed, Aloy decided to assume that that was because he knew nothing he said would change her mind. But without the argument to focus on, Aloy's mind returned to the sucking anguish that left her feeling hollow, despondent, empty…
"We probably shouldn't see what else is in here," Nil told her at last. "I know you're curious to see if there are more data points, if everyone down here believed in Far Zenith's goals, but…you've had enough. Let's leave."
"Yeah," Aloy all but whimpered; though the doors in this room seemed to call her name, for once, she couldn't bring herself to investigate them. "I…need real air."
Nil nodded, and Aloy felt her legs move, boots thudding on the metal floor as she walked back towards the shaft she'd climbed down, skirting the puddle of vomit, spit, and tears she'd left behind. Just as her numb hands reached up to start climbing, she heard Nil hesitate, and she turned back to him, unable to ask.
"You go on ahead," he told her, flashing his teeth. "I'll be just a moment."
"Why?" she asked, only barely able to care.
"You left these scum a bit of a Banuk farewell mark," he answered, his grin widening; "I think I'll leave one of my own, too."
A laugh choked out of Aloy's throat by reflex, but though it lessened the crushing emptiness that consumed her for a brief moment, she wasn't really able to feel mirth.
"Go on up," Nil told her. "As always, I'm right behind you."
Nodding, Aloy began pulling her way up and out, leaping from handhold to handhold with the practiced ease she'd trained in her whole life. But it was all reflex, motions she made only because her muscles knew them so well, and as such, she bashed the fingers of her right hand several times, unused to the bend in her arm. These mistakes were almost welcome, as they constantly interrupted her thoughts, forcing her to refocus; her mind was muddled, shrouded in pain and despair. It almost felt difficult to feel anything other than numb anguish, as though something in her very soul had been shattered by the words of Osvald Dalgaard.
When at last she emerged into the daylight, she saw that dusk was falling, and her one Melter was still overridden. Being outside didn't help; indeed, being able to see the sky only made it worse, as she could only look up to the blue expanse above and wonder how many eyes were looking right back at her, waiting for the moment that they could destroy her world and salvage the pieces for scrap.
How could you…?
~X~
Satisfied with his last sentiment to Far Zenith - more on Aloy's behalf than his own - Nil clambered his way up and out of the shaft the Old Ones had somehow built in the earth, glad to see that Aloy had apparently made it out. He knew she'd snapped; he'd seen that wild, empty look in her eyes, though why this particular revelation would have such an effect on her, he didn't quite understand. When he emerged into the light of the setting sun, he found his warrior-queen simply standing there, green-gold eyes fixed blankly on the sky, glossy and distant.
Oh, that wasn't good. He knew that look, had seen it in too many of his fellow soldiers during the Red Raids.
"Aloy," he murmured, reaching over and touching her hand.
She blinked a few times, rapidly, and seemed to come to her senses. "Come on," she mumbled with an uncharacteristic apathy. "North."
Choosing not to say anything, Nil followed her, watching her closely. Her steps were less measured than usual, and her head wasn't constantly swiveling back and forth to scan the area for danger. Instead, she seemed almost aimless, even listless, her boots all but stumbling in the rubble - she climbed out of the pit just fine, but there was a hint of clumsiness to her movements that told Nil it was only habit that allowed her to move as she did. She didn't tap her Focus while they walked, either, and after they crested a third hill of old ruins without her even checking for danger, they were met with the sight of three Ravagers pacing the crumbled city. Even then, she didn't reach for her weapons, just walked straight into the cluster of hunter-killers almost mindlessly.
"Aloy!" Nil shouted, already drawing his bow, and his arrows sang through the air as he dashed forward to get in front of her and shield her before one of the Machines struck her down. "Pay attention!"
There was no time to monitor her as the three Ravagers turned on the two human wanderers, eyes glowing red; Nil simply fired, taking careful aim, his first target already sparking. Killing Machines held no thrill, and normally he tried to leave most of it to Aloy, but right now…
Concentrating only on what he could do, Nil found himself nearly alone against the three beasts, but the Voice of Our Teeth sang as true as ever, the best coils he'd commissioned for his beloved weapon lending his arrows more power than the guns the Ravagers fired at him. One of them managed to gouge his stomach with their claws, it took a couple of extracts for him to stay on his feet, but the metal beasts fell, as they always did. As soon as the danger had passed, Nil turned his back on the battlefield and sought out Aloy. Her bow was clasped in her hands, fingers sure on the handle and string, but her face still seemed almost blank, and he wasn't entirely sure she realized the fight was over.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, stepping close.
No response; a slight flicker of her green-gold eyes in his direction was the only indication she'd even heard him.
This is much worse than I thought. "Alright," he sighed, "I think we need to take a break. Give me your Focus, I'll lead us to a suitable camp."
Aloy shouldered her bow, eyes still fixed somewhere to Nil's side, but she took off her Focus and handed it over to him without a word. That, more than anything, concerned him - Aloy held her Focus as precious, it was practically a part of her body, that she was just giving it away without even a remark wasn't like her, at all.
She's tired, he told himself, though he knew better. She threw up so much in there, then snapped and smashed some old-world contraption with her spear, screaming all the while. Once she gets some rest, she'll be back to herself. Almost convinced of this lie, Nil brought up the device's map, searching it for a spot that just might be defensible enough that they wouldn't need to set watches - Aloy was in no fit state to take watch, and staying up all night on her birthday was more than enough experience with not sleeping for him to know it wouldn't be wise to willingly put himself in such a position again. Having rarely used the map, he wasn't entirely sure he saw anything useful, but he turned for the nearest potential spot that might be some form of shelter and started walking.
No footsteps matched his. When he turned around, Aloy was still standing where she was, staring at the sky with a tormented expression on her face.
"Let's go," he told her, returning to her side so he could gently take her arm and guide her along. "Come on, you need to rest."
The unconquerable warrior-queen didn't protest, didn't speak, just followed obediently, as though she'd lost all will of her own. Desperately struggling not to be afraid, Nil led his beloved huntress across the ancient rubble, checking every few seconds for any sign of more Machines up ahead.
By the time they got to the square shape he'd seen on the map, the sun was setting, and he'd had to take out a cluster of Sawtooths from a distance - Aloy's arrows had joined his own, but they'd come slower than usual, less accurate, and she hadn't spoken. The spot in question was not a place they'd taken shelter in before, and it wasn't perfectly defensible, but, not willing to keep looking, Nil settled Aloy down inside the crumbled walls and began heaving chunks of rubble around the outside, pulling out animal furs to cover spaces where stone wouldn't suffice, then finally spread the curtain he'd made to cover the Annihilator's backplate while she'd been sick over their bedrolls, leaving only the fireplace open to the sky. Aloy just sat on her bedroll, hugging her knees, her chin wedged between power cells in what must have been an uncomfortable position. He couldn't stop glancing over at her as he heated some of their remaining rations.
"You should eat," he told her when the meat was done.
"I'm not hungry," she mumbled, barely audible over the crackling of the low-burning fire.
"You need to keep your strength up," he insisted between hurried bites of food, flashing back to her illness.
"No," she murmured, curling in on herself even more. "I'm not hungry."
Even sick, she hadn't refused food when he'd placed it in front of her before. Given her reaction to the discovery of Far Zenith's true nature, her stomach must have been painfully hollow, yet she shied away from him when he brought her share of nourishment over.
Realizing he had to accept that rest wasn't all she needed, Nil sighed, wiped his hands, took off her Focus and set it aside with her meal, then sat down beside her. "They failed, you know," he told her.
That got a response out of her: she lifted her head and turned to face him, which was the most she'd done since getting out of that old bunker. "What?" she croaked.
"You've already stopped them," he said. "HADES wasn't able to enact his extinction protocol, thanks to you; and now, he'll never try to again." A smile tugged at his lips as he added, "And you'll destroy them, once you're ready. I know you will."
She turned away again, eyes distant in the firelight. "They succeeded at everything else," she remarked dully. "They killed…everything that was alive in their time. If they had families, friends, pets, all of them died. And they didn't care. It all meant nothing to them."
"Jiran was the same," Nil informed her, "as was Helis. So convinced of their divine mandate that human life was seen as a worthy sacrifice at most, if not utterly meaningless."
"And the way they talked about her…" Aloy said softly.
"What?" Nil blinked.
"Elisabet," Aloy said, now with a hint of a sob in her voice. "She gave them everything they needed to realize their plan, and all the while they…they were just…using her…called her a fool…"
"So it is with people like that," Nil sighed. "Anyone who doesn't see things their way must be foolish, or weak. Again, Jiran was the same."
"I'm no better," Aloy told him, still not looking at him, and he blinked in surprise. "When you and Shands were about to fight, Orns asked me, who was I to tell you how to live your lives? And I answered that I felt like I was the only one with any sense."
"Anyone has a hard time understanding viewpoints that are drastically different from their own," Nil conceded; "I certainly do. But you can at least take comfort in knowing that you were driven by compassion, not some sense of a grand destiny that you couldn't let anyone get in the way of."
"Hm." She closed her eyes. "And she trusted them, too." Her eyes closed tighter, and Nil knew there would be tears soon. "She trusted them…she trusted them with everything…!"
"She didn't have much choice," Nil pointed out. "Without their help, ELEUTHIA might not have been possible, no offense to Patrick Brochard-Klein. But yes, she did, and they broke that trust."
"I thought trust earned was unbreakable," Aloy whimpered.
"They didn't earn her trust-" Nil began.
"They did!" she exclaimed, turning to face him, and yes, her eyes were overflowing again. "They gave her everything they had, they gave her a reason to trust them!"
"They bought her trust," Nil stated; "they didn't earn it. There's a difference."
"Is there?" Aloy asked, her voice on the very verge of being a sob.
"Well, think of it this way," Nil offered: "If you hunt a Stormbird and take its heart, then bring that heart to Meridian and sell it to a merchant there, did that merchant earn the Stormbird heart?"
She blinked.
"No," Nil answered his own question after a moment, "the merchant bought the Stormbird heart. You're the one who earned it. You see? There's a difference."
As with most things, it was fairly straightforward to him, but Aloy seemed unsure. Her gaze drifted back down, then lower, to herself. Under her breath, she started mumbling what sounded like confused nonsense, though he thought he could make out the words "Old Ones" and "tainted". Then, she twisted strangely and muttered, "Get it off."
"Aloy?" Nil asked, getting worried.
"Get it off," she repeated, more clearly, and suddenly, she started frantically clawing at her armor. "Get it off, get it off!"
Alarmed, Nil reached over and took hold of her arms. "Aloy," he began.
"Get it off!" she shouted wildly, and for a moment, their eyes fully met, and Nil was close enough to see something that horrified him: he knew that look in her eyes.
Empathy was a completely foreign emotion to Nil; he had never looked into the eyes of a stranger, or even a friend, and found himself moved to share in what he saw there, the pain of his prey didn't garner any sympathy for him. But here, for the first time, a look of pain in someone else's eyes brought him pain, because he knew that pain, had felt it firsthand - it was the same agony he'd felt the day he'd been forced to accept that his sister would never accept him. That same lost, broken despair, the feeling of the very foundation of one's entire existence suddenly being shattered and leaving a person with nothing, he knew how that felt, and he saw it in Aloy's eyes now.
A sudden rush of overwhelming wrath came over him then, his fingers itching for his bowstring like never before - never had he so badly wanted to hunt, to kill, to slaughter someone, his very soul thirsted desperately for the blood of the heathens who had done this to his warrior-queen, his goddess of the hunt, the almighty and unconquerable Aloy. How dare they drive such a radiant Sun so low, reduce her to a flickering candle in a storm?! What they had done to their world, to the Old Ones and all the life that had inhabited this planet before the Faro Plague, that meant nothing to him, not even their attempt to wipe out the world he knew made him particularly angry, but no one had any right to force Aloy to suffer as he had once suffered, to suffocate in the depths of despair!
But they were beyond his reach. The ones who had first enacted this atrocity were already dead, and their progeny were somewhere up in the sky, beyond even his arrows. There was nothing he could do to punish that clan of filth; the only thing he could do, here and now, was try to shelter Aloy's fire from the storm of desolation ravaging her soul so it could regain its strength.
For just a brief moment, Nil allowed himself to feel bitter, to mentally curse out whatever cruel, humorless god had contrived such an absurd situation as this: Aloy, the radiant huntress, the Sun incarnate, reduced to a dying ember, and no one around to keep her flame from being snuffed out entirely but him, a cold, empty shadow whose very purpose was to smother light. This was a joke, and a cruel, sick joke at that. Kindling a flame was the opposite of his purpose in this world!
But, for Aloy…just for Aloy…he would try.
All of this passed through his mind in the space of a few seconds, and then he nodded and reached to unbuckle the clasps on her armor, helping her out of the invaluable shield that had kept her alive through so many fearsome battles. She struggled, sobbing, but her fumbling fingers would have gotten nowhere anyway, and eventually she just gave up, wriggling her way out of the casing with his help until she was clad in her leathers, her precious necklace of keepsakes hanging against her chest…and, Nil noticed, the pendant he'd commissioned for her hanging just below the hollow of her throat. How she could still be blind to its meaning, he didn't know.
"You'll…It'll be okay," he offered as she settled back on her bedroll, glancing back at her as he placed her armor far away from where she sat.
"No," she choked. "Nothing will ever be okay."
"It will be," he told her firmly. He hesitated for a moment, then scooted over to sit right beside her and put his arms around her to pull her close, holding her tightly; she leaned against them, and he could feel her start to shake. "You'll make it okay. That's just what you do, you fight until all is right with the world again, and nothing can stop you."
Something came from her that sounded like, "Can I really go on?"
"You can and you will," he answered. "You'll find your answers, and when you do, they will fall, GAIA will rise, and the world will be exactly as you want it to be. No matter what battles lay ahead, you will win them, I know you will. I believe in you, Aloy."
For a moment, she was still in his arms. Then she turned to him, shifting closer until her face was on his shoulder, and he held her as she softly broke down, sobbing into his chest, tears and other wetness dripping onto his skin. He dug deep within his being for some trace of gentleness, mustering every last bit of tender care he could manage, and adjusted his grip on her, one hand coming up to stroke her hair, slowly, soothingly. His mother had done it like this, hadn't she?
A minute passed. Aloy didn't seem to be recovering. Desperate for something else he could say, Nil tried, "I love you, Aloy."
To his surprise, that got a reaction - a sudden gasp, a shuddering breath, and then Aloy lifted her tearstained face to look him in the eye. When their gazes met, incredibly, Nil thought he could just make out a faint spark rekindled in her irises that had turned gold in the low light. "You love me," she said softly.
"Yes," he nodded. "I love you."
"They said love was foolish," she breathed, looking almost awed. "But…they just didn't know how to feel it themselves. Did they? They didn't know love."
"If they were loved, they didn't love back," Nil answered, unsure where this was going. "Maybe they loved themselves, but that's different, of course…"
"But you love me," Aloy went on. "You love your sister, your parents…You love. That makes you different."
"I…" Nil blinked, surprised by this unexpected insight. "I…suppose," he conceded.
"That's what makes it different," she muttered. With something like desperation, she looked into Nil's eyes again and said, "Tell me you love me."
"I love you," he told her, bewildered. "You know I do."
"Again," she begged - and she was definitely begging, there was no pretending otherwise. "Say it again."
Drawing a deep breath, Nil sat up and took Aloy's face in his hands, braced to bare his soul to her - if that was what she needed right now, then that was what he would do. "I love you," he told her. "I exist to do two things in this world: I exist to kill, and I exist to love you. I can't imagine a world worth living in that didn't have you in it. I will follow you to the ends of the Earth, now and forever, because your shadow is where I am meant to be, always. Even when I die, I will still love you, and when time ends, I will love you still. You're the most amazing, incredible, fearsome, powerful, radiant person I've ever had the fortune to know, I'm honored and grateful for every moment I've gotten to spend with you, I adore you and love you with every fiber of my being, Aloy Khane Sobeck."
He swallowed, his breath coming hard; even having known and felt all of that for a while, to say it all out loud, to make it real like that, was exhausting and painful, like slowly drawing a spear all the way through his chest, point to shaft. But with every word he spoke, he saw a new fire kindle in Aloy's eyes, sparks of hope as she found something to cling to in the storm that was trying to sweep her very being away into nothingness, and that made the confession worth it.
Her bare, strong, scarred arms wrapped around his head, pulling him into a kiss, and he welcomed the taste of her, all fire and danger - even with her spirit dimmed, she still tasted like Aloy, and he took comfort in that. Then, her calloused fingers started stripping away his armor, and he hesitated.
"Aloy," he murmured between her kisses.
"Take me away from them," she whimpered. "Show me a place they never dreamed of reaching. Please."
"I'm not-"
"Please," she whispered. "Show me why they're wrong. Bring me somewhere they never were. I need to escape."
She sounded so desperate, so broken, and with a sigh, he surrendered, helping her out of her tunic, brushing his fingers along her scars, feeling her muscles, her power. "I love you," he murmured as they stripped each other. "I love you, Aloy."
When there was nothing left between them, Aloy fell back, bringing Nil with her.
Nil was not a sweet man, never had he even considered treating anyone with any form of gentleness. But Aloy seemed so fragile just now, the flame wavering, and to take her with wild abandon felt wrong. All of this felt wrong, in every way - being with her felt right, loving her felt right, but to be soft, to be tender…that wasn't his way.
But…for Aloy…if that was what she needed right now, then that was what he would do.
For one night, he could pretend.
"I love you," he repeated, kissing her neck gently, and she whimpered, her legs parting. "I believe in you, Aloy." He slowly slid his way inside her wet heat - and she was wet, to his surprise, even though her affect was broken and desperate and about as far removed from lustful as it was possible to be. Even so, though, he forced himself to move slowly, gently, fighting every urge to lose himself and ravage her. Not now. Not tonight. "I love you," he murmured, dragging his way in and out easily, a light breeze instead of a raging tempest…and strangely, he felt a different sort of pleasure in doing it this way, something softer, sweeter.
Telling her over and over that he loved her, he caressed her body softly, not clawing, not scraping, kissing instead of biting. He felt her melt in his arms, her sighs and moans gentle and beautiful in a way he'd never thought he'd think of anything.
Then, as he pushed into her again, she sighed, "Aren."
All at once, Nil went still, ice pouring through his veins. "Don't call me that," he told her.
"You are, though," she murmured, arching against him, and he leaned back to look her in the eye. Her expression was almost hazy, a sort of half-awake pleasure and gratitude. "My guiding light," she went on. "I'd be so lost without you."
"I'm no one's light," he said softly.
"I always feel so lost," she whimpered, her hands tracing over his face. "So trapped in benighted ignorance. You make me feel like I can see. My Aren."
"No," he said, brushing his lips over hers. "I'm no kind of light. But…maybe your own radiance blinds you, and you need a little darkness to help clear your sight." She giggled, hugging him back against her, and he kissed her jaw, easing into her again. "You don't need me," he told her. "You wouldn't be lost. You're so strong, Aloy, so unstoppable, unconquerable. You'll be okay, my love…I know you will…I love you…"
Softly, he began to sink into pleasure again, a foreign bliss he'd never dreamed of or wanted, yet somehow, here and now, it was beautiful. After a long while, she shivered, heralding her temporary death, then moaned, long and loud, her inner muscles rippling around him. It took a bit more work to follow her, but at last, sweet warmth washed over him - not obliterating him, just…transcending him, almost, into a new form, the form of someone who could be sweet, the kind of man he was not. But even knowing it wasn't an experience meant for him couldn't dim the gloriousness of it, and he basked in it, even let himself believe for a moment.
Then it passed, and he returned to himself. Aloy was panting beneath him, and he slid out of her, offering her a few more tender caresses as he moved to go get an antidote from her packs.
"Don't leave me," she sobbed, her hands suddenly gripping his shoulders.
"I wasn't," he murmured, "I'm just-"
"Don't leave me!" she repeated, gripping him tighter as he tried to pull away.
"Aloy, you need an-"
"Don't leave me!" she cried, pulling him back, and he saw a wetness lining her closed eyes.
With a sigh, he gave up and lay back down, slipping his arms around her. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised.
Muttering something incoherent, Aloy snuggled against his chest, clinging to him like vines to a cliff, and he held her tightly, allowing his own breathing to even out with hers, darkness tugging at the edges of his vision.
"I love you, Aloy," he told her one last time, sleepily.
Through the haze of pre-dreams, he heard her say something in response, and he hoped with all his heart he misunderstood, because it sounded like she said, "I wish I could love you, too."
~X~
Warmth surrounded Aloy when she woke, a cold black chasm still gaping in her chest. For a long minute, she just took comfort in her partner's embrace, then cracked her eyes to see morning light shining through the cracks in the camp Nil had set up.
Breathe.
One…two…three…
I have to go on.
Underneath all the pain and darkness, Aloy felt her determination rekindle, and she mustered all her strength to sit up.
I can't let them win, she told herself, and she moved to get her clothes. I can't let this get to me. Ever since Itsurk's vision, I've known there was some force out there that wanted to destroy this world, and that I would have to face them. It doesn't matter who they are or why they did it. They need to die. And I need to be the instrument of their destruction.
Though it still hurt, Aloy felt her fractured heart stabilize, her breath slowly coming easier, until the haze broke and she was confident she could carry on.
Far Zenith will not succeed in destroying Elisabet's world. They were the fools, not her, I know they were. And I'm going to prove it.
As she started strapping her armor back on, she again thought of the old Nora myths of ancient ruins being tainted with spiritual corruption, as she had when she'd desperately shed this ancient technology the previous night. General Herres had ordered this particular shield's creation, and he hadn't been evil, but the Metal World had been corrupt as the Nora always said… Doesn't matter, she told herself. I need it, and wearing it won't turn me into one of them.
Behind her, she heard a rustling, and she turned to see Nil rise, his choppy hair messy, his silver eyes apprehensive.
"Good morning," Aloy said; a bit of heat crept into her cheeks as she remembered how she'd behaved the previous night, so whiny and broken…if it had been anyone but Nil to see her like that, she didn't think she could have lived with herself, and she was endlessly grateful he'd taken off her Focus and set it aside before he'd started talking to her.
"Good morning," he answered, equally hesitantly. "Are you…okay?"
"No," she admitted softly. "But…I will be."
"I know you will," he said, flashing his teeth, and Aloy felt herself smile a bit in response.
"Thank you, for last night," she told him, gathering her things. It occurred to her suddenly that she hadn't taken an antidote - that must have been what Nil was trying to get for her, and she'd refused to let him. Now, it was too late. But Rost had said that mating rituals didn't always produce babies, so with luck, it would be okay. Brushing the thought aside, she added, "I know all of that can't have been easy for you."
"Anything for you, my love," he assured her, pulling his pants on.
Aloy's breath caught, warmth blossoming in her chest. The idea that someone would give so much of themselves for her, not because she was a goddess-given gift but just because she was herself… "Thank you," she repeated softly.
He nodded, and they took a minute to gear back up. The meat Nil had heated for her the previous night was cold, but Aloy choked down a few bites to calm her grumbling stomach, then picked up her Focus where Nil had left it and put it on.
"Where to now?" Nil asked. "There were rooms down in Far Zenith's bunker that you didn't look into, do you want to see what else they had to say? Or are we going to gather supplies and head back south, like we were planning before?"
"I…" Aloy sighed heavily. "I don't want their memories. They don't deserve to be remembered. But I don't want to go back to the southern stretch of Dry Bones, either…To be honest, I've had enough of the old world for a while. Let's just go back to the edge of the dead lands and look around, maybe we'll find…I don't know, the black sand some other traveler found that the healer wrote about? I don't know. I just know I'm done with ruins for now. Maybe the Deima will be willing to meet with us."
"As you say," he nodded, and they packed up the last of the furs that had kept them sealed off in the night and emerged into the morning.
Remembering how useless she'd been against the Machines they'd run into the previous day, Aloy was especially vigilant, tapping her Focus every few steps as they headed back to the land under GAIA's nurturing domain. When they reached the trees, Aloy saw the plants and animals with new eyes. All of this was alive, and deserved to live - it wasn't a blockade to progress like Far Zenith believed, it was precious in and of itself.
Far Zenith…Aloy swallowed at the mere thought of them, but tried to understand exactly why Osvald's message had affected her so deeply. She'd seen ancient memories before, stories of death and despair and loss…but all the data points she'd uncovered in the facilities back east, as tragic and heartbreaking and even at times infuriating as they had been, had also been inspiring - even at the end of the world, good people had fought to do what was right, to preserve the world as it was, because they loved it and believed it was worth saving. Even Ted Faro's last act in destroying APOLLO and killing the Alphas, while an outrage, had been the act of a pathetic man who just didn't understand the weight of his own actions - by the time the idea that he had been acting in his own self-interest had been suggested to her, Aloy had gotten over it, and in fact, now that she knew that it hadn't even been his idea to start making war machines in the first place, she almost pitied him. If ever there had been an old memory that would have affected her like this one had, it would have been the Omega Override Event, but there had been things about it that had still given Aloy hope, it had still at its core been a memory of the best of humanity, of heroes, like all the other memories she'd dug up back east - even Travis Tate, obscenity incarnate, had been a good man, he'd fought for the world just as hard as the other Alphas in his own way.
But Far Zenith…they had been the worst of humanity. Like Jiran, and Helis, and Sylens, even in the old world, there had been monsters under the guise of human flesh, people who knowingly and intentionally destroyed everything they found because they somehow thought it was their divine right to say what other people's lives were worth, evil to a degree far greater than even Ted Faro had ever been. That, too, had been preserved by Zero Dawn; the world as it was now really was no different from how it had been before the Faro Plague, just as Elisabet had hoped, both for better and for worse. And that, Aloy realized, was why she had broken down in response - she had hoped that the ancient world had been a better world, that the Old Ones had somehow built a better society than the ones of modern times; that people, the people she'd fought for and risked her life for again and again, were worth it, didn't have to be brutes and savages like the people of today, not if the Old Ones had been better than what she'd experienced firsthand, that maybe a better world could be built if she just fought for it. But no…Sylens may have been wrong about the cure, but he was right about the disease: people weren't good, no matter the world they lived in. Everything Aloy had repeatedly risked her life for, fought and bled and killed and suffered for, it was…not a lie, exactly, but humanity had always been corrupt. The foundation of everything she'd given herself for was flawed, the greater purpose Rost had hoped she would find to serve had been shattered; fighting for the good people in the world would also mean saving monsters who would use her sacrifice to further their pursuits of greed and spite, because there would always be both as long as humanity existed. There had always been Tainted Ones, and there would always be Tainted Ones, because humans themselves were incurably tainted.
The Nora really were more correct than they had any right to be…
"Hail!"
A shout cut through Aloy's musings, and she blinked her thoughts away, one hand to her bow, the other to her Focus, though she didn't need to tap it to see a single figure in the distance; her scan, however, displayed it as blue.
"HUMAN
Deima Hunter"
Not hostile. "Who are you?" Aloy called.
"Don't shoot me!" the approaching figure pleaded in a male voice, his hands raised in the air, palms out. "I come in peace!"
"We won't attack you unless you attack us," Aloy told him, though she still didn't drop her guard.
The Deima hunter continued to approach, and now he was close enough for Aloy to make out his features: light blond hair, pale skin, slim build. In fact, he looked kind of like Bast, except that his hair was smooth and loose instead of in knotted ropes. Then, as he came close enough for Aloy to get a good look in his eyes, she realized something else.
"You're the hunter I asked to deliver a message to your tribe," Aloy said, her grip on her bow loosening slightly.
He nodded. Without the rain dulling his features, he really did look shockingly like Bast - scrawny body, pinched face, clearly still young, no more than a year older than Aloy. But while Bast's expression had been stuck in an almost permanent sneer, there was a softness to this boy's affect, almost a timidness, that, like the difference between Nil and Helis, completely invalidated any surface-level comparison. "I did as you asked," he told her, "and I've been sent to parlay with you. Mother has accepted your offer, and would like to meet with you peacefully."
"I…would like that too," Aloy said slowly, and she glanced around, wondering if this was a trap.
"Would you…please come with me?" the hunter asked, his eyes almost fearful. "You're invited to our metropolis, to meet with our President, and Mother, of course."
"On what terms?" Nil inquired from beside Aloy.
"Yours!" the hunter assured them quickly. "You'll be free to leave whenever you wish, you won't be a captive. Please?"
Unsure, Aloy looked over to meet her partner's eyes. His lips were curled in a half-smirk, and though he didn't speak, Aloy could almost hear his thoughts: There's no downside - this is either exactly what you want, or we're about to get into a really good fight.
Taking a single breath, Aloy nodded, then dropped her hands and turned to the Deima boy. "Lead the way," she told him.
A tremendous sigh of what sounded like relief gusted from the hunter's lips, and he dropped his own hands, his shoulders sagging. "Thank you," he breathed. Then he cleared his throat, straightened up, and turned around, beckoning with one hand. "Right this way."
Confused, but determined once more, Aloy followed, Nil at her side.
For posterity's sake, this chapter was posted on June 25, 2021, and was in the works for several months prior. Just in case someone like Game Theory posts a video theorizing about the Masters being Far Zenith in the near future and anyone else comes here and says I got my idea from them. I say again, it's a solid theory, all the evidence in the data points I can find in HZD points to Far Zenith being intended to be SOMETHING of significance in the overarching story - I still haven't found overworld data point number 67 (don't tell me what it says or where to find it, I'm still looking!), but number 66 is solid evidence and I doubt number 67 could invalidate that. Why establish that the Odyssey failed BEFORE you can get access to Elisabet's journal entry expressing her misgivings about the Odyssey's lack of failsafes? Why establish that the speaker for Far Zenith is an incredibly skilled liar/misdirector in an overworld data point when we know from the data points under Sunfall that Far Zenith's contributions to Zero Dawn impressed the Alphas, ergo they don't need someone to lie for them to make them seem impressive? If the Masters AREN'T revealed within canon to be Far Zenith, I would be very surprised. This is the only reasoning I can personally come up with for WHY they would do all this, maybe Guerrilla has something else in mind there, but I'm confident that Far Zenith are the canonical villains of the Horizon series, one way or another.