Horizon Justice Calling
By McMysterio
Prologue
All-mother be praised. Grata thought, emerging from the hut that served as her resting place.
A new dawn was rising once again in the sacred land, the sun's golden rays illuminating the snow-capped mountains of The Embrace. As Grata turned and knelt before the Sacred Mountain, white snowflakes drifted off the leaves, glittering like pale jewels as they slowly fell to the ground. Though it had been years since she had been cast out of the tribe, in moments such as these, Grata could almost forget the pain and regret of the past. Pushing away the poignant memories that filled her mind, the outcast turned to face All-mother mountain and, still on her knees, began to pray.
"All-mother, hear my words. Enlighten my head with truth, inflame my heart with strength and wisdom like the light that shines over the world. Show me your grace, All-Mother, for it is this day life begins anew-"
Her prayer was interrupted by a sudden cooing and laughter coming from her hut. Smiling, Grata rose to her feet and made her way back to the hut, gently picking up the baby in her arms and turning to face the sacred mountain once again. The child squealed in surprise as a snowflake landed on the tip of his nose, waving his arms as if attempting to catch the snow.
"What's that now, don't like the snow?" Grata asked, placing the child in a cradleboard. "But we cannot stay in today. Today is a special day." Slowly, Grata pulled a bracelet from her wrist and placed it around the baby's own wrist. The child gurgled and cooed, curious at the object that had just been handed to him and let out a laugh of delight as one of the beads glinted in the sunlight.
"Here, wear this... it belonged to my son."
For a moment, Grata felt a small tear form in her eye as the melancholic feeling swept over her once more. To hold a child once more in her arms! While this baby was not her own child, the feeling that once had gave her so much joy, now merely felt bittersweet in her throat.
"Today I speak your name, boy." Grata declared, lifting the child onto her back and grasping her spear. "May All-Mother bless it and speak it back."
Pity filled the outcast woman's heart as she made her way out of the clearing that made up her camp and began walking towards the Sacred Mountain. Ordinarily, it would be the mother who declared a newborn's name... if this child had one. Grata still vividly recalled the day when she had heard the rumours - the discovery of two children within the heart of All-Mother mountain, with no woman who could possibly have been their mother. Word had spread quickly around Mother's Watch and The Embrace - the children of the Metal Devil had been sent to their lands, who would grow to awaken their father once more from his eternal shame and defeat and destroy the Nora once and for all.
Grata had scoffed when she had first heard those rumours, for how can a new life be born without a mother and her womb to grow it? It was only until she had been visited by the High Matriarchs themselves and been asked to raise a motherless child did she had even begun to suspect that maybe... just maybe, the rumours were not entirely false.
The outcast woman sighed as she trekked through the forest and began to follow the trail leading to All-Mother mountain. Being made an outcast was a punishment reserved for those who had committed a crime or broke tribal law. What had this child, innocent of any crime, done to deserve such a fate? She had silently cursed the woman who gave birth to this boy and the other child, whoever she may be. For what kind of mother gives birth to a child and simply abandons them to their fates? Even so, she had prayed every day to the goddess to bless and protect this child since the day she was entrusted to raise the boy.
"Do you know how the world came to be, little one?" Grata began, crouching down behind a thicket of leaves and branches as a herd of machines emerged from the trees and onto the trail. "In the beginning, all life came from All-Mother. People, beasts... and machines. All were her children."
Behind her back, the infant boy watched with fascination as the half a dozen Grazers flanked by Watchers cautiously vanished into the trees once more. From the corner of her eyes, Grata could see that his eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
Chuckling slightly, Grata got to her feet and began walking down the path once more, confident that the machines would not startle at this distance.
"They lived alongside each other in the comfort of Her wild Embrace." She continued, reinforcing the grip on her spear. The trees were thinning now, and in the distance, Grata could make out the tall, twisted towers of the Old Ones. The relics of the metal world... and the faithless who built them. "But some grew restless. Though they took of Her bounty, they wanted more. These were the faithless."
The trees of the forest were, by now, completely replaced with streams and open stretches of lands that made up the Embrace. As Grata followed the river south, the gigantic metal towers and ruins of Devil's Thirst were now clearly visible, their rusted metal seemingly emitting a dark and tainted aura.
"The Machines had whispered to them and promised to serve them. To make a new world, better than the one All-Mother had provided... A world of metal."
Once, Grata would not have dared to even lay her eyes upon Devil's Thirst, let alone go near them. The pain and sadness she had felt every time she had even heard the mention of these ruins had threatened to rip her apart piece by piece from within... but that was a long time ago. She had learned to accept the past since.
"They told the faithless they would do all the work for them - Feed them, shelter them... give them a life of ease, and plenty." Grata sighed, forcing her feet to move forward step by step. "And so the faithless left with the Machines. Only the true children - the mother and fathers of the Nora - stayed with All-Mother. At first, the Machines did as they had promised. They built cities, great and terrible. Monuments to their sins."
The outcast woman could see several people in the distance now - Braves from Mother's Rise, hunting the Machines just outside the boundaries of the village. The group fell silent as Grata approached, stopping to give both her and the child ice looks. Outcast, they sneered, some spitting near her feet. She paid them no mind, knowing that her encounter with this particular group of Braves would be brief. Leaving the village of Mother's Rise behind, Grata continued with her tale.
"But they would not serve the faithless for long. A king rose up among the Machines, a Machine more powerful than any other - The Metal Devil! And then the faithless served him - served the machines."
To the south, the gigantic arms of the Metal Devil were clearly visible now, its frozen body lying in eternal shame and defeat upon the peaks of the sacred mountain. Her eyes, not being clear as they had once been when she was younger, did not permit her to see the fallen machine's body from her camp as little more than a silver blur. Now, however, as her every step took her closer and closer to Mother's Watch, she could clearly see every detail of the wicked machine clear as day.
"That was not enough for the Metal Devil. He wanted all to serve him, and he tried to temp the true children away from All-Mother. But they would not go - They gathered on the mountainside to cling to Her, and prayed, more devoted than ever. The Metal Devil raged louder than Thunder. In his fury, he came to confront All-Mother, intending to kill her!"
Though long dead, the mere size of the enormous machine sent a cold shudder running down Grata's spine, and the outcast woman found herself feeling the same way she had felt when she had first seen the sacred mountain as a little girl - Small and insignificant in the presence of the Goddess and the once-great king of the Machines.
"She struck him down, forever. His lifeless body is up there still, frozen in shame and defeat. The Machines were driven mad by the death of their king, and their minds became wild as beasts. The faithless abandoned their cities, forced to wander the wilds without the care of the Machines. Only the Nora remains as the true children of All-Mother, building all this with the hands that she gave us."
But we are not of the tribe. We are Outcasts. Grata's chest felt heavy with pity as she turned to look at the boy, who had fallen asleep with the gentle rocking of his cradleboard. There will be many hardships in your path, boy.
He will endure. Another small voice seemed to call out from deep within her head, almost as if it was scolding her for thinking in such a way. He will learn and endure. And you will teach him to survive.
Grata felt her muscles tightening. She knew that this boy, sleeping so peacefully on her back would face numerous hardships, much more than a child deserved to endure.
Yet she also knew that it was her duty to the boy, to teach him to survive and endure.
"I will teach you all that I know, boy..." She whispered to the sleeping child. "One day."
It was nearing sunrise when she climbed up the final steps of All-Mother mountain, the cradleboard and the infant child grasped close to her back. A strong child, Grata thought to herself as she stopped to calm her breath. Remarkably, the child had neither cried nor screamed once during the entire duration of the journey, having either looked at his surroundings curiously or falling asleep for short periods of time. Though there are no matriarchs to bless his name, I have no doubt that the goddess will speak and bless your name, boy.
The outcast woman took a deep breath and walked forward.
A cloaked man and an old woman came into focus as Grata walked down the wooden path leading to the naming cliff - The man, who had evidently just arrived, was tall and burly, with a barrel-like chest and strong arms. When he turned to face the newcomers, Grata could see the distinct braided beard and hair, as well as the skin of a boar, draped across his shoulder. He nodded respectfully as Grata came to a halt beside him.
Rost. Grata thought to herself as she returned the nod in greeting. It has been a long time my old friend. He too carried a cradleboard on his back, an infant girl tucked safely within its metal.
The old woman, by contrast, was shorts and small, with long grey hair tied into several braids. When she beckoned for the two outcasts to approach, the beads and bracelets upon her clothes glinted in the light of the rising sun. There was no mistaking who this woman was, for the only person she could be was...
"High Matriarch Teersa? What is she doing here? Does she mean to forbid the ritual?"
A sense of trepidation spread across Grata's body as she cautiously approached the High Matriarch, Rost by her side. Could she truly mean to forbid the ritual? The naming ritual was one of the most sacred rites that existed within the Nora tribe, the declaration of a name of a newborn child to All-Mother. If High Matriarch Teersa forbids the ritual from taking place for these two children...
As Grata and Rost approached, Teersa beckoned them once more, urging the two outcasts to bring the children forward. Slowly, Grata lowered the cradleboard from her back and gently placed the infant boy in her arms before kneeling in front of Teersa, Rost doing the same.
"No-no-no, off your knees! It's nearly time." Teersa exclaimed, pausing before adding, "And yes, you both may speak to me."
Nearly time? Grata could scarcely believe her ears as both she and Rost got to their feet. She had prayed to the Goddess every day for the past six months, begging for her to bless the two children's names. If High Matriarch Teersa was not here to forbid the ritual, that could only mean...
"You came to bless the naming?" Grata asked, exchanging a glance with Rost. Evidently, he had not expected this either.
"Have not six months gone by since we entrusted them to you both?" Teersa said, giving both Grata and Rost a warm smile.
"But we are outcasts," Rost said, still hardly able to believe that a High Matriarch had come in person to name these children.
"You two by choice, and they, well..." The old woman trailed off as she pulled out a small bowl from a pouch, drawing a single horizontal line upon the foreheads of the baby boy and girl. "I am a High Matriarch, Rost. I bless whom I choose."
"Then... you honour us," Rost replied.
"Yes, yes. Now go! And be ready do declare! Go!" Teersa exclaimed.
Truly, All-Mother has answered my call, Grata thought as she and Rost stepped onto the naming cliff overlooking The Embrace, lifting the boy and girl into the air.
"All-Mother, these children needs a name by which to know them," Teersa began, and Grata couldn't help but recall the last time she had stood upon this cliff, declaring a child's name.
"... That your love may warm them as the rising sun warms all the earth!"
I will not let that happen again. Not to this boy.
"Speak their names!"
"ALOY!"
"JAST!"
"...Aloy ...Jast ...Aloy ...Jast" The names of the two children echoed throughout The Embrace, and at that moment, Grata knew her life had changed forever.
"And so their names are blessed!" Teersa declared, a smile shining upon her face.
"STOP THIS! AT ONCE!"
A command like the crack of a whip rang out over the naming cliff. Both Rost, Grata and Teersa turned to face the source of the voice, seeing another High Matriach, escorted by a number of Braves making their way towards Teersa. The two outcasts quickly knelt down as High Matriarch Lansra stormed to face her sister Matriarch. "What have you done?"
"I've blessed the naming of two children," Teersa replied cooly as if she blessed the names of outcast children every day.
"Stubborn woman! You call those curses children?" She raged, before turning towards Rost and Grata. "What did she tell you about its birth, outcast? Answer!"
"We've done only as you asked-" Rost began.
"To raise it, yes. We said nothing of love." Lansra snarled.
"Enough!"
Teersa's voice cut off Lansra as she came up behind her, who furiously turned to glare at her sister Matriarch. "And you... Blessing their names, like they were one of the Nora, one of the Tribe! And all without consultation..."
"I know my duty to them, to All-Mother - and to you," Grata whispered to the infant boy, who had now begun to cry as the Matriarchs began to argue.
And wherever you go, whenever you need me, I will be there.
Hey guys, and welcome to my new story, 'Horizon Justice Calling'!
As you may have already noticed, this fanfiction is based upon Horizon Zero Dawn, one of my all-time favourite video games. The worldbuilding and the history of the HZD universe... gave me chills the first time I completed the playthrough and discovered the true extent of Aloy's past.
Now admittedly, I'm very late to this fandom - Horizon Zero Dawn is a video game that was released in 2017, and I only found about the existence of this game via a close friend who introduced me to this wonderful series and to be honest, I'm kind of ashamed at myself for not finding out about this game earlier.
Before you read the story, I need to clarify one thing: This story is very canon-compliant. The idea for this story came to me while I was playing through the final mission of the game. I started writing with the idea of 'oh, it would be pretty cool if there was another character with a similar situation to Aloy in the game' and went from there.
With that being said, welcome to Jast's story, in a world where nature has reclaimed our forgotten civilization and humanity fights for survival against the Machines in this new wilderness.
I own nothing. I am simply playing in the sandbox that is the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, built by Guerrilla Games.