John came upon a large building with steps leading up to large double doors. Soft but uplifting music came wafting out and he caught a glimpse inside and noticed that there were tables and chairs with men sitting at them drinking from mugs. John figured that place must also be an inn and entered. The interior was spacious with the upper floor visible from below as the roof could be clearly seen. Thick wooden beams were situated throughout the interior to keep it up. In the back was a bar and off to the left was a large enclosed booth of wooden bars with a girl dressed in yellow and white working behind it. Three musicians nearby were playing that music: one was playing an odd drum set; another was playing a lute of some sort; and another was playing a flute.
But what ultimately commanded John's attention was a huge machine suspended high up above the common room.
"What sort of machine is that?!" John pondered aloud with a sneer to no one in particular.
"That is a Thunderjaw," a man said from nearby. John looked to see that the man in question is old with white hair and a goatee. He had a dignified look and tone about him.
"A Thunderjaw?" As John sneers while looking back up at the machine in question. "I bet that must've taken a lot of men to take down."
"Actually that was bought down by one man," the dignified man answered. "His name was Ahsis, but he was killed trying to take down another one named Red Maw."
"Ahsis," Aloy growled with a sneer.
"You knew that guy?" John asked.
"Unfortunately. He was an arrogant idiot who used to put me down just because I was a Nora and a woman."
"But he's dead now. And as for these Thunderjaws, just how tough are they?"
"Very tough." Her tone emphasized. "Thunderjaws will use their great size against a hunter by charging at them and will even use their tail as a club. They have cannons on their head that shoot bolts of light, along with another set that shoot red beams of burning light. On their back they have another pair of cannons that launch discs at their opponents that in turn shoot beams of light at the hunter. They can use radar to see the hunter. I've managed to take down Thunderjaws alone but usually if there's another Thunderjaw nearby, or at least any machine large enough. That way I can override one and let them fight each other because regular machines view overridden machines as traitors and overridden machines view regular machines as hostiles. The victor is left damaged enough so that I can take them down sooner."
"I see. Anyway . . ."
"So what is this place?" John asked.
"This is the Hunter's Lodge," the dignified man answered.
John was startled by someone grabbing his arm from behind and he spun around to confront the grabber. It was an East Asian girl.
She glared at John.
"Is there a problem?" John asked.
"You and I need to talk, stranger," the girl said in a soft though commanding tone as she tugged on his arm.
John complied, though he felt uneasy. They went over to a corner where the others were further away from them.
"Where did you get that?" The girl demanded in a low tone as she pointed it out. "That thing on the side of your head."
"This was given to me," John answered as he briefly touched his focus. "But let me guess: Aloy, that red-haired Nora girl has one, right?"
"Yes, she is my Thrush."
"Thrush?"
"It is a rank in the Hunting Lodge. Mine is Sunhawk. That means she's a member of the Hunting Lodge."
"I kept hearing her name all the way from the Claim. I'm not an Oseram mind you, I'm from a tribe that lives near their border to the northwest. They're called the Harguess. You probably never heard of them but the Oseram around here might have."
"So you say." The girl's tone was suspicious.
"Okay, what's really on your mind?"
"After the Battle of Meridian, Aloy disappeared into the Forbidden West."
"Yeah, supposedly riding on a tamed machine. And she's supposed to have red hair, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I've yet to meet another person with that hair color."
The girl was silent while pondering John's answer for a moment.
"Very well," she finally answered.
"This Aloy must be really something," John mused.
"That she is. She helped me kill Redmaw, a Thunderjaw that killed many hunters who sought to kill it, including the former Sunhawk, Ahsis. Tell me, did those Corruptors and Deathbringers pop up out of the ground all the way up into Harguess territory?"
"Yes they did. They even wiped out an entire town of a few hundred people."
"That far away?! Just how many of these Eclipse machines do you think are out there?!"
"Probably millions. Anyway, it's been interesting, but I want to be going."
The girl nodded and stepped aside, allowing John to leave.
"Once I got back outside, I realized that any of your friends I ran into might end up thinking that I robbed you of it," John said as he touched his own focus for a moment.
"Anyone who tried to rob me learned the hard way that was not a smart thing to do," Aloy said in a dangerous matter-of-fact tone. "Assuming they survived. But as for that Sunhawk, her name is Talanah."
"Er, yeah . . . But anyway I thought of taking it off and putting it away, but it was a potential conversation starter with any of your friends I might happen to run into. I mean there was a possibility that they might have a clue as to where you went exactly so that I could follow after you . . ."
John walked throughout the city as he kept his ears open for any clues spoken by the people around him as to the precise whereabouts of this Aloy of the Nora. The walk gave him another sense of nostalgia over what this world once had. Its glories, the high technology, the infrastructure. Cities that made this city look like a small town. The Metal World, a world full of light.
A light snuffed out by the foolishness of one man.
John casually approached to pass a group of Oseram who were dressed in outfits of heavy leather with metal plates that included matching helmet with heavy leather veils. They were armed with large hammers and axes for busting up machines. One of the men was bare-headed to reveal that he was White with blue eyes, short brown hair shaved into a strip, and that Oseram beard consisting of merely a cleanly-shaven chin. The man was laughing with the other men and gazed away to glance at John for a moment, only to do a double take at John with a now serious expression. John knew that he was staring at his focus and decided not to make himself look suspicious and keep walking by. The man continued staring at John, causing him to feel increasingly uneasy. This man must be another friend of Aloy.
"Hey there outlander," the man said to John upon getting close enough.
"Hey," John answered uneasily as he stopped.
"I can't help but notice that you have the same trinket as a couple of people I know."
"Does one of them happen to be a girl with red hair?"
"Yeah." The man's tone was suspicious.
"Erend does seem to have that affect on others," Aloy quipped. "Especially those who rouse his suspicion."
"Erend? So that was his name?" John asked.
"Yeah, he's the Captain of the Vanguards. They're Avad's personal bodyguards. He was also Olin's friend."
"Ah, now I understand why my focus set him off . . ."
"I've heard people talking about her," John said.
"Where you from?" Erend asked.
"I came from the northwest, from Harguess territory, and from a town called High Hopes."
"Harguess?" Erend's tone had a touch of incredulity. "That place all the way out past the Claim?"
"Yeah. It was attacked by those machines that popped up out of the ground."
"All the way out to there?!" Erend's expression was one of shock to match his tone, causing the other Oseram with him to express their gasps of shock.
"And then they all shut down."
"That's because Aloy defeated the leader of those machines."
"I next heard about the city of Meridan and decided to come here. Along the way, I ran into an Oseram man who had one of these too." Briefly gesturing at his own focus.
"Describe him." As Erend leered suspiciously.
"He was fair skinned with a shaved head, brown eyes, and face hair shaved in the fashion you have. He wore a beige sleeveless vest and had a large spot tattooed on his upper left arm."
Erend stiffed with a frown.
"Do you know him?" John asked.
"Unfortunately," Erend an swered sourly. "And if he's who I think you were describing, he had a connection to the people who attacked this place with those machines."
"He did?"
"But sir," one of the soldiers spoke up. "It was only because they threatened to kill his family."
"Yeah, yeah," Erend gripped.
"Anyway, he picked me out because of my trinket and we struck up a conversation. Especially when he had taken out his own. That's when he told me about Aloy, a member of the Nora tribe."
"Where did you get yours exactly?" Erend inquired.
"This was given to me." As John briefly pointed at his focus. "So this Aloy girl. I heard she next tamed a machine and disappeared into the Forbidden West."
"That's what happened," Erend said.
"I wish I could've met her." As John looked off to one side momentarily, then looked back at Erend. "But anyway if there's nothing more to speak of, can I be on my way?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"But ah . . . before I leave," John said as he momentarily pressed his forefinger to his bottom lip and darted his eyes around in thought. "Is there a library around here?"
"A what now?" Erend asked with a wince.
"I mean," as John momentarily glanced down while gesturing slightly with his hands in the attempt to find the proper phrase, "is there a place in this city that keeps lots of books for people to read?"
"About the only place like that around here is the royal depository. But only the Sun-King and those he permits have access to that place. And I doubt he's gonna let you in there, stranger."
"Well it was just a question, so I'll be on my way now. Good day."
John turned and left with the understanding that their Sun-King just might let him in there if he were to reveal that he was an Old One; then just as quickly dismissed that thought because he had no way of proving it. That and he did not feel eager to reveal his secret.
John continued meandering throughout the city while taking in more of the sights. He kept trying to catch more tidbits of Aloy of the Nora. This time he thought about visiting the Minerva relay tower and returned first to the upper level of the city to get his bearings and saw where the tower was located. Upon seeing it, he made his way toward it. He arrived at the base and could see that there were missing chunks of walkway that would have stopped anyone from going upward, except that wooden bridges had been laid down over them to allow that.
It was a long climb, but he arrived at the hilltop to see stone columns encircling the center. The set up reminded him of Stonehenge. He stared up at the Spire while approaching it and could finally see that it really was one of Minerva's relay towers. His attention next shifted to the base where a large metal sphere with something long and thin protruding from it was in front of the base of the relay tower.