"So I guess everyone in Meridian must consider her a hero for what she has done," John ventured.
"You bet she is," the merchant stated. "She even has Sun-King Avad's favor!"
"Tell me about this Sun-King Avad."
"He is the son of Sun-King Jiran, who was also known as the Mad Sun-King."
"Why was he called that?"
"Because he believed that sacrificing people to the machines would quell their anger towards people. The Mad Sun-King started the Red Raids. He had his army raid other tribes for sacrifices, all the way up into the Claim."
"Ghastly!" As John's mouth twisted with disgust.
"As if that wasn't bad enough, the Mad Sun-King had his own firstborn son and designated heir sacrificed to the machines."
"Why the hell did he do that?!"
"For objecting to his father's atrocities."
"Good lord, is this Mad Sun-King still alive?!"
"No thankfully. He was killed by his second son, Avad. It all started when Avad escaped with a group of soldiers that secretly objected to his father's atrocities and they went into the Claim to enlist a group of Oseram freebooters led by a man named Erend. They emassed enough men and led an assault on Meridian. Avad managed to make his way up to his father and killed him, becoming the new Sun-King. Avad immediately set about reversing all that his father had done. He purged his father's loyalists, freed the captives, and opened Meridan to all."
"Well that's great. And the fact that this new Sun-King overthrew his father and undid everything his father had done definitely means he's a decent man. So how much further is it to Meridian?"
"If you keep walking, you should reach it by this evening. You'll know you've reached it by the Spire."
"The Spire?"
"It's a giant shiny spike on a hilltop next to Meridian. It was there long before the Carja ever settled there and it was the reason why they settled there in the first place. Their ancestors saw it as a sign that the Sun wanted them to settle there and built Meridian where Spire's shadow fell at noon."
"That's when I wondered if it might be one of the relay towers of the Subroutine Minerva," John said. "Anyway, I thanked him and left. As the day progressed, I started coming upon villages and the road started becoming more built up as there were stone posts that looked to have been carved by hand, along with the railings of bridges. I noticed that the farmers kept various animals such as boars, turkeys, geese, and even rabbits all in pens. I saw all sorts of crops being grown on raised cordened off land in neat rows. I felt glad that you new humans had rediscovered civilization. It made me wonder if there were any other civilizations out there in other lands."
"You really believe that there are other tribes out there with cities of their own?" Aloy mused.
"I don't see why not," John answered. "I mean, since the Eleuthia cradles are worldwide, they would have released their human charges into the world to form their own tribes. Some of which would have settled in areas that would have given them the opportunity to create their own civilizations. Such places are more common than you think. However, they would be too far away for any of us to casually go there."
"I wonder if any of them will ever come here?"
"I don't see any reason why they wouldn't. Now to continue . . ."
More Chariot Line Models littered the landscape, some of which had destroyed houses. One of which, a Kopesh, was in the middle of the road! John also started noticing that none of Gaia's machines were around. It could only mean that whatever enforcement they have is effective in keeping them away.
John continued his progress toward Meridian as the sun continued its progress across the sky toward the so-called Forbidden West. The ignorance of these new humans. If only they could understand that there was nothing forbidden about it. This made him once again ponder the failure of Apollo to educate these new humans. It next led him to be curious about the progression of the new humans over the several hundred years since leaving the Eleuthia cradles.
As John got closer to his destination, the architecure became more pervasive and exquisite. All of it hand-carved from the red stone that made up the desert. The people became increasingly numerous. All of them traveling on foot, with some pulling carts. He noticed that there were more Oseram than he had expected as he could tell by their attire and body types. Their presence helped him take notice of who the Carja were. They wore mainly tunics of various colors with many wearing caps that resembled cloth pulled over their craniums with flaps cut out of their peaks. At one point, he got off the road to watch a procession of soldiers marching down it and past him. He found that they looked impressive in their armor and helmets that cover the upper part of their faces and they wielded those halbert-like weapons.
It was shortly after he passed the squad of guards that he rounded a bend and stopped to take notice of bunch of tall buildings clustered together atop of a mesa. Near it and upon a hilltop was what looked like a giant shiny spike.
Upon getting closer to the city, John could see more of its details. It had tall buildings clustered together and he also noted the damage done as he could see the missing jagged portions off its walls. It was near the threshold of the city bridge that John stopped for a moment as he stared at an inn. He smoothed his head over to feel the stubble on his cranium and brow, but felt more prominent stubble on his lower face. Hair on a man's lower face grows faster than what grows out of his cranium or brow. John wanted to look his best as he was going into a city and upon entering the inn, he asked for a bath and was able to get one. It involved a room no bigger than a walk-in closet with a large metal pan full of water than two men carried in. There was also a small stove that burned blaze, a fuel that was derived from machines known as Bellowbacks, along with a metal bucket. The user filled up the bucket with water and boiled it, then threw it back into the pan and bathed. Soap, washcloth, and a towel were provided as well
John took the time to bathe from head to feet. Afterwards, he also had his clothing laundered and wore his second pair as he waited for his clothes to dry over a hot plate heated by blaze. There were also barbers at the inn and John got a shave with the use of a straight razor, something which made him nervous, but the steady skilled hand of the barber insured no cuts and a smooth lower face. John was able to pay and took a moment to check himself out in the mirrors they had, taking a moment to admire his clean-shaven face and the blonde stubble on his cranium and brow for a moment.
John left the inn and crossed the city rampart, a long bridge with caged alcoves at various intervals and armed guards stationed at various places. As he walked into the city, he noticed something off to his left that stirred a feeling of nostalgia within him. An elevator. It looked like the old-fashioned ones from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. He watched it rise with a group of people. He surmised that the elevator must work on the use of a system of weights. Such an elevator had only one stop on the way up or down.
John passed the city's threshold and looked around at the sight. Large stone buildings were built close together making for various alleyways, all of which were only wide enough for people and carts. There were also stone walkways overhead that created roofed areas of the street below for shade. The streets were cobblestoned with steps in various places that led upward to those walkways. There were a multitude of people, mostly Carja, going about their business or routines. Merchants of all sorts hawked their wares at various stalls. The smell of spices, metal, and smoke filled the air.
John walked upward and onto one of those walkways to get a better look at the city. The red stone of the desert was liberally used to create the buildings and other infrastructure. There were spinning rectangular windwheels made of bronze atop of chimneys or elsewhere. He noticed what they called the Spire and understood that it was a relay tower, one of a myriad built by Gaia for its Subroutine Minerva so that it could hack the hibernating Faro Swarm and shut them down.
He encountered some teenaged Carja girls that reminded him of high school or college girls. They wore dresses made from silk, jewelry of gemstones or machine parts, and even what looked like tiaras formed from machine parts. They wore makeup that consisted mainly of black penciling around their eyes with tiny spokes radiating out from them to end as equally tiny circles.
One of those girls, a White girl with blue eyes and long straight black hair held together past her shoulders in a tiny ponytail, took notice of John and smirked.
"What do you want, outlander? You lookin' for a Carja girl to give you a good time?" Her tone condenscending as the other girls stopped to regard the scene and giggle. "Sorry but you're not going to find that sort of thing here with us."
John was taken off guard by that girl's retort. "Ah, I'm sorry," he quickly said with a brief shake of his head and hands. "But what can you tell me about a Nora girl with red hair. I kept hearing talk about her."
"Ah yes, the hero of Meridian," the raven-haired girl said in a lazy sarcastic manner. "Yeah, she's the Nora savage who managed to convince her fellow savages to come up here and defend Meridian. Impressive when those Nora are not supposed to leave their Sacred Land, and how our people preyed on them and all. She fought Helios, the Mad Sun-King's champion, and killed him. Then she managed to kill that god the Shadow Carja worshipped after it was dragged up to the Spire by a Deathbringer. I actually helped her solve a theft before all that. Some fellow noble got his sword stolen and she managed to get it back. She spoke to me and I told her about how I saw the thief run past me like his ass was on fire, but he didn't have the sword on him."
"Did he get his sword back?" John asked.
"Yeah, he did," the raven-haired girl answered.
"Ah well that's good to hear, now if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way,"John said, wanting to end this conversation as he felt uneasy over what she might say next.
"And good luck gettin' your pole greased," the raven-haired girl said in an embarrassingly loud quick casual manner while flittering her hand, causing the other girls with her to laugh.
John briskly walked away with a reddened face as while he understood that these new humans would have their own slang for sexual matters, he could understand the meaning behind it. He heard snippets of their conversation as he left hearing that girl saying outlanders with humorous contempt and another saying that he looked cute.
The sound of singing was next to get John's attention and he went to investigate, passing more Carja along the way. He arrived at an open round area cordon off by a circle of columns. There were more Carja hanging around watching a group of people, all men dressed in dark red hooded robes, singing in unison as they encircle the center. They were not singing but chanting in a smooth baritone. Their chant rose and fell, giving the listener a feeling of bobbing along. John smiled at the feeling it gave him and decided to stick around and watch. He noted that the other Carja had closed eyes and it became clear that they were praying.
The chant eventually came to an end and the red robed men broke formation to casually go about whatever their affairs may be. One of them passed John.
"Excuse me, but what was that performance?" John asked.
The robed man turned to acknowledge John. His cowl had a flap that hung in front of his face to mostly obscure it, but John could see enough of his face to see that he was dark and bearded.
"We were praying to the Sun," the hooded man answered.
"Okay, and I notice that you're wearing an outfit that matches those other men."
"I am a Sun Priest. And where are you from, outlander?"
"I came from the northwest. I was with a tribe called the Harguess and living near the Claim."
"The Harguess? You are definitely a long ways away from your home."
"That's because those machines that rose up out of the ground also rose up there too."
"By the Sun! Just how many of those darkness cursed machines are out there?!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if there were millions of them all over the world. On my way up here, I heard from travelers about what had happened here. About this Mad Sun-King, these Eclipse and their control over these machines. About these Nora. And especially this Aloy."
"Word has definitely traveled far already. The Nora girl, Aloy, helped to fight off the machines and the Eclipse. She even killed, Helios, the Mad Sun-King's Champion. But left almost immediately after the victory over the Eclipse and their dark god. It was a large metal sphere being dragged by a Deathbringer all the way over to the Spire." As the Sun Priest pointed out Minera's relay tower. "It was trying to awaken all the machines out there to destroy us."
John did not know what to make of this explaination as he pondered over what that thing was and why it was being dragged over to that relay tower. It made no sense at all.
"I see my story troubles you, sir," the Sun Priest then said, breaking John's thoughts. "It is a very troubling story indeed. But their dark god was defeated by Aloy. She stuck her spear into it, defeating it. Its husk is still there and the spear is still stuck into it. Though recently a red light flew from it."
"A red light?" John inquired.
"I was also witness to it. A red ball of light shot up into the sky and flew away. My guess is that it was its soul escaping its husk."
"What's wrong?!" John gasped after being suddenly startled by Aloy having jumped up onto her feet as if ready for battle while bearing a look of shock. She stares down at John with that expression of bewilderment.
"Aloy . . . Is something wrong?"
"That bastard!" She snarled slowly while looking off to one side as if at something distance with a now furious expression.
"What's wrong?"
Aloy shakes her head while holding her hands up in confusion, then presses her fingers against her temples while darting her eyes around and gasping to reign in her thoughts.
"Ah," she began, "J-Just continue on with your story." Her tone curt.
"Okay . . ."
"So what happened next?" John asked.
"She tamed a Broadback and was last seen riding into the Forbidden West," the Sun Priest answered. "By the Sun I do hope she returns."
"So do I. Well, I'm interested in seeing more of this city."
"Oh yes, don't let me interfere with your gaze upon our beautiful city, in spite of the horrors that happened here."
"I'm sure you'll all pull through."
"That we will, outlander."
John walked away to see more of the city. Even though there was damage to be seen, there was much work at patching and fixing the damages. As he walked around, he saw that there were also people from other tribes. One such group were dressed in a manner that remind him of the Inuit. As for the Carja, those who were more well off were dressed in silks and other fanciful attire, with much in the way of machine parts adorning their bodies. With all of the wealthier people out and about, John wondered if he will see their Sun-King. Like the Harguess and the Oseram, the Carja were also racially varied as well.
It was at that point that John took notice of a man standing nearby of whom he was about to pass by. He had a chin curtain beard and was dressed in a tunic with knee-length trousers and a close fitting skullcap that seemingly had flaps cut out of it. He also wore aviator glasses with thick metal rims, showing to John that they had rediscovered glasses.
"Is something wrong, sir?" the man asked.
"Ah, no, I was just noticing that you're the first person I met who wears glasses," John answered.
"Glasses? Ah, you must mean my correctors!" As the man briefly clasps one of the rims.
"Ah . . . yeah, those." As John came to the understanding that while these new humans may rediscover what his kind once had, they would inevitably end up inventing different names for them.
"My eyesight got bad from studying Old One relics. I just love collecting relics from the Metal World. Why, I even have a set of magnificant vessels. Courtesy of that Nora girl!"
"And of course that Nora girl was you," John said whimsically.
"You bet it was," Aloy answered, then chuckled. "He thought that they were used by you Old Ones for shaving. One for water, one for soap, and one for oil. He then crowed on about how majestic it must've been."
John laughs. "They were for drinking out of!"
"That's what I told him, but he thought it too simplistic."
"I said the same thing to him and he also dismissed that too . . . Although he did have a point there because those mugs weren't always used for the purpose they were designed for. I knew a woman who had one for holding pencils and pens."
Aloy gives John a quizzical stare.
"Writing implemants?" As he makes a writing motion. "Anyway, I left him behind and went elsewhere in the city . . ."