John exited Shattered Kiln as he headed toward Maker's End. It was sunset by the time he reached the snowline up in the mountains. It was colder too, but his clothing could handle it. John wondered if he should rest for the night. He could see the light from the setting sun reflecting off the ruins up ahead. John was eager to see if he could find anything from his past in there.

Twilight continued fading as John traversed over snow that was halfway up his shanks with dead grass poking up through it in various places. He arrived before a tiny dilapidated two-story building. He decided to take shelter and set his tent up inside it. He had a snack of travel rations and drank some water before crawling into his tent for the night. Despite the cold, he was able to stay relatively warm.

It was almost sunrise as John crawled out to have another travel ration and soon packed his tent away. Before leaving, he decided to go upstairs and checked to see if he could find anything up there, only to find nothing other than an empty metal box.

Upon going outside, he took notice of what looked like thin rods that he had failed to notice yesterday. He saw that they were actually two arrows as their feathered ends showed. John next noticed a shape beneath the snow and walked over to clear it away, only to fall back in fright upon seeing that it was a man's arm.

Gingerly, John crawled over to clear away more snow to see that it was indeed the corpse of a man. He was dressed in a black and red tunic and leggings, and had a bow and arrows on him. John noticed another thin rod sticking up out of the snow nearby and went over to clear away the snow to also find a corpse dressed in the same manner.

"Ah, yeah, I did that too," Aloy said sounding somewhat embarrassed.

"What did they do to you?!" John sneered with bewilderment.

"They attacked the Sacred Lands. I'll tell you the rest of the story once you finish telling yours. But I snuck in there and took them out one at a time and as quickly as possible before any within view could raise the alarm."

"Wow, you're a ninja!"

"A what now?"

"Ah, it was just some sort of mystic assassin. We never took it seriously. Now as I was saying . . ."

The sun rose to cast its light upon the snowy ruinscape. John looked up at the point of his destination that consisted of towering buildings, broken and ragged from both the Faro Swarm and the ravages of time. He began walking toward those ruins when a shape buried in the snow before him revealed to be a Watcher. It had been destroyed as there were arrows sticking out of it. Just past it was a large wide pit with simple wooden scaffolding around the place with fencing around its edges and walkways spanning it. There were barrels and crates around the perimeter. John also noticed the outline of more corpses on the snowy walkways and no doubt there will be more down in that pit, but were buried by more snow that had fallen. The ones he did see had arrows sticking out of them, many of which had only one arrow and in their head. This showed skill in archery. He continued further in and came upon another pit dug out in the same fashion as the previous, along with more destroyed Watchers stuck full of arrows.

John wondered about the presence of these machines here amongst these humans, since these machines hated humans. So just how did these people function amongst these machines? He also figured that there had to have been a battle here.

The question became even more bewildering when he came upon the broken carcass of a Scarab. It certain did answer the question of the Watchers since he knew that the Scarab had the ability to hack and enslave other machines to their grid; however, the Scarab would have seen the humans as food, along with the plants and whatever animals around there too after noticing rats running around below.

His progress was halted by a high concrete barrier. There were what looked to be large yellow bolts on it, but a closer inspection showed that they were handholds. Taking a deep breath to psyche himself up, John jumped upward and clasped the first bolt. He hung on for only a few seconds and was forced to let go as he was not strong enough to pull himself over.

"I climbed up that without any effort," Aloy boasted.

"But I never lived a life you have," John said. "I doubt many people back in my day could have climbed up that as easily as you did."

"You Old Ones were soft."

"Yeah, well that didn't stop me from getting up there. I managed to find a way around that . . ."

Past that barrier of sorts, John found himself walking upon a path surrounded by a forest of ruined buildings. He stopped and looked around at the huge shattered buildings. His throat tightened and tears ran down his cheeks as he found himself remembering the past all the more intently. All of it now gone. He took a deep breath and sighed to focus on the task at hand. He continued further into the ruins in question as this place began tugging at his memories. It was not like he had been here before, only just that he remembered seeing this place on tv once.

He turned left and saw a large enclosed depression beyond the ruined walls of buildings on either side of him and a double drop before him. He gauged that he would be able to climb back up and decided to carefully jump down. He walked out into the large enclosed area and was confronted by the sight of a Kopesh, wrecked like the rest of the machines around here as there were arrows sticking out of it. Along with more corpses about the place.

John scanned around and noticed something big and round in a cave up ahead. He entered and was confronted by a wall. At first he felt disappointment, only to notice purplish mist around the corner of it along with tiny triangles floating in the air, denoting disturbance.

John walked over to the purplish mist to find a crevice in the wall. He knelt down and stared closely at the ground. Through his focus, he noticed footprints. There were multiple footprints, meaning that there were plenty of people who had gone through there. Seeing as it was passable, John pressed his back to the wall and slid through sideways. It was a bit of a tight squeeze as he had to exhale as much air as he could so that he could pass through.

It took him only a few seconds to get through and arrived within a wide open area with a high platform before him where a huge round metal door with red glowing lines of light is located.

"So it really is one of the access doors!" He gasped aloud.

John quickly climbed up the side of the platform and stood upon it before the door.

Hold for identiscan.

A disembodied feminine computer voice sounded, startling John since he had not heard such a voice in centuries. It amazed him that it still worked and he stood there as a red light shone over him, scanning him from head to feet. Or more accurately, scanning for any exposed skin on him in order to read his DNA. The images of a spinning strand of DNA and of Elisabet Sobeck appeared, along with the numerical value of zero percent.

Genetic profile not confirmed. Entry denied.

"My name is John Aaron Casey Xavier Smith!"

Name not recognized. Entry denied.

"Was there a Beta registry?" Aloy asked.

"Yes, along with a Gamma one too," John answered.

"Then why would that place not recognize you?"

"That I won't speculate on until I hear your story after I'm done, because I get the feeling that it might answer that question. Anyway, to continue . . . I demanded what the name of that facility was and it told me Faro Automated Solutions. That's when I finally remembered why those ruins were familiar. It was Salt Lake City."

"Salt Lake City? Was it because of that lake of salt over yonder?"

"Yes. Anyway, I left the place behind . . ."

John returned to the warmer lowlands and was back on the road. He gazed south past Shattered Kiln to see that area before him was even drier looking than what he had seen back up the road he came down, as there were no plants to be seen, just reddish sand. Definitely it looked to be lacking in water sources. He decided to return to Pitchcliff.

For most of the day, he walked. He stopped for a moment to refill his canteen from the river alongside him but became concerned when his rations were close to gone. He was going to have to buy some more back in Pitchcliff. Though his shards were running low. If that was the case then some hunting for the first time had to be in order. He encountered one of those Watchers walking near the road and decided to hunt it since they look to be the weakest. He scanned it to track its path and walked over to stand upon the Watcher's designated path, then took out his spear. The Watcher walked ever closer to the point that it will soon turn and start walking toward him. This made John wonder what would happen if he allowed the Watcher to bump into him, then dismisses that notion as not wanting to take any chances.

The Watcher turned the corner and began walking toward John. To the machine, he may as well be invisible since his machine blinder made him as such. The Watcher continued getting closer. John tensed himself to strike as he focused on that single huge blue light that was its eye.

With a shout, John stabbed outward and the spearpoint struck its eye . . . But it did not break through, merely chipping the glass.

With a curse, John repeatedly stabbed the Watcher in its eye as fast and as viciously as possible. The Watcher squalled and squawked as it shifted and staggered from being attacked by something it could not see. John felt himself tiring and could see that he was not getting any further in destroying this machine. He knew he needed to up the anti and was quick to stop and look around. He saw a fist size rock and was quick to throw down his spear and pick up that rock. The Watcher still staggered as it tried to regain its composure.

John swung the rock with a yell, striking the Watcher across the head, violently shifting it to one side. He was upon it with rock raised high and brought it down upon its head over and over, with each swing exhausting him even more.

Finally he could no longer continue and stopped. The Watcher's head was caved in and its eye was shattered as it sparked and fizzled while making that metallic squall that faded to silence.

"Although you were right about Watchers being the weakest of the machines," Aloy said, "you now know that even hunting them is far from easy."

"I figured that much," John said dryly. "How old were you when you began hunting machines?"

"I think I was six."

"Well now there you go. I bet when you started off, you must've saw them as a force to be reckoned with. Now, you can probably bring down a Watcher in a single spear thrust."

"Yes, you're right."

"Machine hunting was something that we Old Ones never did because machines simply did not exist in that form back then. Now then, on with my story . . ."

John tossed the rock aside and took a while to rest. Once he had recovered enough, he picked up that rock and began battering on the Watcher's chassis to break open its armor. Luckily these Watchers were not built for combat as he was able to make tears and crevices appear in its chassis. He next used his spear to pry open the Watcher's chassis and next pulled it further apart to get at its innards to see pieces of metal in it that resembled shards.

After harvesting those shards, he left what was left of the Watcher and continued onward back to Pitchcliff, reaching it before sunset. John asked around for a merchant selling travel rations and found one. Afterwards, he found an inn to stay at for the night and was up the next morning.

After leaving the inn, he encountered the ealdorman.

"Did ya find what you were looking for?" The ealdorman asked upon recognizing John.

"No," John answered dejectedly while shaking his head briefly.

"So what now for ya?"

"I'll be heading to Meridian."

"Meridian, eh? Did ya hear it was attacked by the Eclipse?"

"Attacked?"

"Yeah, by the Shadow Carja, they were remnants of the Mad Sun-King's army. These machines that popped up out of the ground were helpin' them! But don't worry, they were defeated."

John gaped at the ealdorman in astonishment. "Th-They were defeated?! How?!"

"Well from what I heard, a Nora girl speared the leader of the machines."

John pondered that it must have been that Aloy character.

"And if she's who I think she is," the ealdorman added, "she's the same girl who helped us when this place was being attacked by Glinthawks."

"I . . . see," John said, not being sure of how to answer that as this Aloy girl seems almost superhuman. "What can you tell me about this Nora tribe?"

"They live to the southeast, which is also east of Meridian, in a place they call the Sacred Lands. But if you're fixin' to visit 'em, forget it. They don't like outsiders."

"That's too bad."

"Though they do have outposts near it that you could visit."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. So which direction do I have to take to get to Meridian?"

"Take the road opposite of the one ya took ta go to Maker's End. Then go across the river and go south. But remember ta keep the river on yer rightside because a part of that river runs right past Meridian, so ya should see the city before then. I should warn ya though, there are Snapmaws lurking in that river."

"Are they machines?"

"Yeah, they're long, flat, and low to the ground with huge jaws. They can leap out of the water and catch any unsuspecting traveler unawares."

"Ah, thanks for the warning. Just how far is Meridian?"

"It's a several day journey to the city. Ya better be prepared for that. And be prepared to see damage done to the city itself."

"Understood. So . . . take the east road, cross the river, go south, and keep the river to my rightside?"

"Yes."

John left Pitchcliff and reached the fork in the road once again. From there, he could see the eastbound road across the river and part of it going south. He took that route and kept the river on his rightside.

The road led him across part of the American Southwest. As expected, more machines could be seen, both the Gaia and the now dormant Faro type. John continued walking until sunset and figured that it be best if he camped somewhere that machines would not step on him, so he headed up a hillside where he found a simple wooden shelter consisting of only three walls, a roof, and a floor. Nevertheless, he chose this as his shelter for the night. Early the next morning, he was up and packing his tent away and had a quick breakfast.

Days passed as John continued his journey along that road with that river on his rightside as he traveled through part of the American Southwest. Grasses abound and cacti as well. Small animals scurried amongst the rocks. He also spotted a herd of machines that resembled bison in the distance. He encountered pictures that were glyphs painted on the sides of rocks with arrows pointing in various directions; such as one set that pointed the way to Meridian. It also began getting warmer, forcing John to pack away the warmer clothing in the effort to keep cool. He wondered if he might learn more about this Aloy in Meridian since she would have had to pass through there and her people live to the east of the city. As expected from his travel from High Hopes, answering the call of nature was still a troublesome situation. Then there was the walking, as the end of each day of long distance walking left his legs stiff and sore.

As for the the people, John passed them on the road. Those coming from Meridian would report how Corruptors and Deathbringers had attacked Meridian alongside the Eclipse, a cult made up of the Shadow Carja who never accepted the new Sun-King and turned to worshipping an evil god instead. Then how the Nora, including their girl Aloy, had come to help defend it against these Eclipse.

"Afterwards, she disappeared into the West upon a tamed Broadhead," a traveling merchant had said to John at one point early that morning.

"A tamed Broadhead?" John said incredulously. "But I thought machines are hostile to us humans."

"I know, but somehow she tamed it into letting her ride it! She was last seen riding toward the Forbidden West!"

"The Forbidden West?"

"Aye, sir. The Forbidden West. A place where the sun goes to set. A place that is said to be next to a lake so huge that it be impossible to see across, and undrinkable because it be full of salt. There are rumors that the place has machines never before seen."

"I never made it that far out," Aloy said. "I only went as far as a range of high mountains."

"Actually, that so-called lake is more than it is," John said. "While it is true that it is saltwater, it is far bigger than any lake you could ever imagine."

"I once saw a map of this world in a ruin. Tell me. Does it cover most of the world?"

"Yes. Now as for that merchant, he told me some pretty incredible stuff about you."

"I'm sure he did."