Aloy and John walk down the hillside with Aloy carrying the now imprisoned Hephaestus on her back.
"It's hard to believe that the rest of the Subroutines rushed in like that!" John marveled. "You couldn't have asked for better timing! Something like that normally wouldn't be so convenient."
"Well this whole journey to get rid of Hephaestus was not that convenient when you think about it," Aloy said. "We had to go all over the land from one place to another in order to find something."
"I see your point. Nevertheless, Aloy, it was still incredible that the other Subroutines came rushing to our aid when we most needed help. It makes me wonder why they didn't just do that when Hades was trying to upload himself into the relay station."
"Remember when Hephaestus was ranting about how he allowed Hades in because they both had something in common? And even went as far as to tolerate Hades' control of its own machines?"
"Yes! That deal he reached with Hades enabled Hephaestus to keep the other Subroutines out. Hephaestus wasn't concerned with Hades' desire to wipe out all life as long as us humans were included. Now then, before we return to the Cut, we should go find Erend and let him know about what had happened, so we can tell the Sun-King."
"Normally, I'd object and say that we have to get back to the Cut as soon as possible, but your right. So come on, let's go find him."
The duo enter Meridian and ask a soldier where Erend is and are told that he was last seen going to a tavern. They find the tavern and find Erend with a group of Oseram freebooters in a booth.
"Hey Aloy, Jawn!" Erend proclaimed as he notices them walking over. "What brings you guys here?"
"We came to ask you to help us get an audience with Sun-King Avad," Aloy answered.
"Ah, sure, but what's this about?" Erend asked. "Knowing you, you're not the type who just visits the Sun-King to catch up on old times."
"That's right, it concerns the Derangment," Aloy answered.
"It's over," John added.
Erend and the rest of the Oseram give them puzzled looks.
"Wha-What did you just say?" Erend asked as if he had misheard them. "It sounded like you said that the Derangement is over."
"It is," Aloy said. "And if you take us to Sun-King Avad, you'll be able to hear us as we explain it to him."
Erend just sits there with a stunned look up at John and Aloy as he blinks absently for a moment.
"Ah," he finally said as he is quick to get up from the booth. "Yeah! Yeah sure! Come on, let's go see Sun-King Avad!"
They leave the tavern with Erend and he takes them toward the Sun Palace.
"Did you hear about a massive storm cloud that was coming this way?" John asked Erend.
"I did see it before going into the tavern," he answered. "That's why I went inside. Though it's strange to have a storm at this time of the year."
"That was not a storm cloud," Aloy said.
"It wasn't?" Erend asked.
"No, it was a cloud composed entirely of extremely small machines," John answered. "Machines that reproduce by eating humans."
"What?!" Erend gasped incredulously.
"It's true," Aloy said. "It started near Sunfall as a single tiny machine and when it pitched onto a person, in a near instance it devoured them completely and produced more of themselves. It continued to do so until there was a cloud of those machines. In short, Sunfall is empty now and it was heading this way to Meridian."
Erend stops and shoots a shocked look at Aloy and John.
"But don't worry, we dealt with it and managed to end the Derangement in the process," John assured him.
"Unfortunately, there is nobody left in Sunfall," Aloy said grimly.
Erend is all the quicker to lead them into the Sun Palace where Aloy and John wait in the waiting area.
"Your reputation is really gonna sore after this," John said to Aloy.
"Your's too," Aloy added. "And if you really were trying to keep your life private that's going to be more difficult now. People will be more curious about you and some will even go as far as to investigate that place you will claim to have come from. High Hopes was it?"
"Yes, but everyone back up there got devoured by the Faro machines," John assured her. "So there will be no way for anyone to learn about my past. They will only have my word to go on."
"Fine then," Aloy said in a sardonic manner. "What can you tell me about the Harguess tribe?"
John opens his mouth to answer, only to stop at the lack of knowledge.
"You understand now, Jawn? Since you couldn't answer my question, you won't be able to answer that question when others ask it from you. And someone will ask you that question."
"I do not want to tell them the truth about me," John hissed in her ear after leaning close to her upon feeling threatened. "I just want to settle amongst people who hate nosiness."
"And that's the problem, Jawn," Aloy sighed. "Not everyone hates nosiness. Blameless Murad didn't, and neither did Vanasha, who knew I wasn't a bounty hunter the moment she saw me."
"Yeah? Well that's not gonna stop me from keeping my secret."
Erend returns, with Sun-King Avad behind him.
"Aloy, Jawn," Avad gasped with an incredulous look and tone. "Erend just told me what you told him. Is it true?! Have you both ended the Derangement and is Sunfall deserted?!"
"All you have to do is send scouts out into the countryside and they will be able to verify our claim," John said. "If the Derangement has ended, the machines won't be attacking people. Not even the ones designed to attack people."
"And also sending some more scouts over to Sunfall to see for themselves," Aloy added.
"And there was a cloud of machines heading this way?!" Avad asked fretfully.
"There was but rest assure it was stopped," John answered quickly to alleviate his fears.
"How did you do all this?" Avad asked with awe.
"It was through the Spire," Aloy answered.
"Are you familiar with spirits, your Majesty?" John added.
"When I was a boy, I used to be told about places that were supposedly haunted by the ghosts of the Old Ones," Avad answered.
"Yeah, we Nora are told that to keep us out of the ruins within the Sacred Land," Aloy quipped.
"The Spire was haunted by a spirit that caused the Derangement," John explained.
Avad and Erend, along with Blameless Murad, give John a quizzical look. Even Aloy leers at John.
"A spirit was haunting the Spire?" Avad inquired.
"Yes, just what I said. Its name was Hephaestus and it caused the Derangement because it hated humans," John said. "But Aloy and I exorcised it."
"That actually makes sense," Avad mused. "But what about the spirit that was seen flying out of that machine up there still at the Spire?"
"That," Aloy began as she thought as she struggled to come with an explaination, "was Hades. That one wanted to destroy all life. Hephaestus did not see him as a problem though."
"To think that spirits could be so troublesome," Erend mused.
"But the point is that the Derangement should be a thing of the past now," John concluded.
"Was there any bloodshed?" Avad asked intently.
"Nope," John answered.
"Not a drop," Aloy verified.
"To think that my father had people slaughtered in the Sun-Ring by machines in the belief that doing so would end the Derangement," Avad gasped in a shameful tone. "And now we learn that the both of you managed to end the Derangement without shedding so much as a single drop of blood!"
"But Sunfall is deserted now because that machine cloud ate up everyone there," Aloy is quick to add. "Though for all I know, there might be a survivor or two who managed to hide beforehand."
"And that machine cloud was on its way here to Meridian," John added. "If we had not stopped it, this city would be empty by now and that machine cloud would have been larger. Then, it would have continued to spread all over the world growing bigger with every person it consumed until it covered the whole world and all of the people the world over would have been devoured."
Erend, Avad, and even Blameless Murad look disturbed by that thought.
"Then it's a good thing you both stopped it in time!" Avad gasped.
"It was only nick or nothing that we discovered it in time," John said. "If we had decided to wait until morning to exorcise Hephaestus from the Spire, there would have been no one around here by now."
"We should be able to find evidence if we head to Sunfall," Aloy said.
"If that's the case," Avad said, "Then the both of you, along with Erend and some of the Vanguard, should head out there right now before the sun sets."
"Right away, Sun-King Avad," Erend said.
Aloy and John, along with Erend and some of the Vanguard head out.
"We'll take a barge across the lake since its the quickest way over," Erend said. "Everyone to the docks."
The group head to the docks and procure a barge. They board and are soon on their way across the lake. As they get away from the hustle and bustle of Meridian, the mood changes over the lake. The soft lapping of the water against the boat, the spinning of its waterwheel, the cool fresh smell of the air over the lake, and the sheen of the sun's reflection off the lake causes silence to settle over the group as they lounge around. John takes note of the barge they are on and the waterwheel as it turns. He is impressed that these new humans have made such advanced watercraft over a several hundred year period of their existence.
It is close to sunset by the time they reach the other side and dock. They walk through the gorge where Aloy had once fought off the Eclipse and their machines after rescuing Itamen and his mother, the Dowager Queen. The Mad Sun-King's family. They find evidence of Aloy's battle.
"Is that another Thunderjaw carcass?" John mused.
"A corrupted one at that," Aloy added.
"There are also Eclipse here," Erend said as he looks over a near skeletal corpse of one.
"It appears that the machine cloud didn't make it this far down," Aloy said.
The group head up through the gorge and emerge from it to see Sunfall off in the distance with the sun less than half and hour away from setting.
"Yeah, something does feel wrong over there," Erend noted.
It is as they are walking toward the city that they begin encountering machines.
"I just realized something," John said. "The machine blinder won't be needed to deal with them. Just give me a moment to turn it off." As he takes it out and fiddles with it. "Okay." As he puts it back. "Let's see if it's a success."
"Can I see that for a moment, Jawn?" Erend as he gestures at it.
John hands the machine blinder to him and Erend looks it over.
"This don't look like Oseram make."
"That's because it's not. It was made by a member of the Harguess tribe. Unfortunately, it didn't work against those other machines. It only works on the usual machines out there."
"I see," Erend said as he hands it back to John. "I guess it's not just us Oseram who tinker with machines then."
"Obviously not," John said as he puts the machine blinder away.
They approach some machines. At first, the group is on their guard, only to discover that the machines merely look at them and walk away.
"It's true!" Erend gasped with wonder. "The Derangement has ended." He then looks at Aloy and John with samesaid look. "You guys are incredible you know that! It's just as Sun-King Avad had said! You did what his father could not accomplish though all of the human beings he had slaughtered in the Sun-Ring! You both ended it without shedding a single drop of blood!"
"It still wasn't easy though," Aloy said. "Hephaestus was not going to give up his hold without a fight."
"We would have lost if it were not for the other spirits out there," John said.
"Other spirits?" Erend asked.
"Don't worry, they're friendly," John assured. "They restrained Hephaestus so that we could exorcise him."
"Wow. To think that a spirit had caused us so much trouble over the past twenty years. So did it send those other machines to attack Meridian? The Corruptors and the Deathbringers?"
"That was not Hephaestus' doing," Aloy said.
"Right, the one called Hades then," Erend remembered. "And you exorcised him too, Aloy."
"Er, yeah," she answered.
"You don't sound so sure," Erend noted.
"That's because I was trying to purge him, end his existence," Aloy answered. "But instead he was seen flying out of that unit and flew away across the sky."
"Then he might still be out there," Erend fretted.
"That's what were afraid of," John said. "Fortunately, I don't believe that he will be capable of entering the Spire ever again."
"At least we ended the Derangement though," Aloy said.
"Yeah, and once we get an assessment of the situation in and near Sunfall, then we can make our next move," Erend agreed. "And if what you said is true, that means the civil war is over because the Shadow Carja are gone."
One of the Vanguard takes notice of something and directs everyone's attention up ahead.
"What is that?" Erend mused.
The ground sparkles from what looks like black sand as it stretches over the ground for miles around.
"Now I get it, that was the machine cloud we stopped!" John gasped.
"Fire and spit!" Erend gasped.
"You can say that again," Aloy marveled.
"I'll collect a bit of this to show Sun-King Avad," Erend said as he walks over, then picks up a handful of the metallic dust. He puts the sample into a bag and seals it.
The group continue their walk toward Sunfall and reach its outskirts where they find piles of clothing, trinkets, and armor all around. Aloy squats and briefly handles a small pile of children's clothing. Erend also squats to brieftly handle a soldier's armor.
"That machine cloud was thorough," Erend said grimly as he stands while staring ahead at Sunfall. "I'm beginning to wonder if there are any survivors around."
"Then let's at least satisfy our curiosity," Aloy said while also standing.
"Yeah, you're right, Aloy," Erend said. "Come, everyone. We'll search until dusk then meet up at the steps of the Citadel."
"Where's that?" John asked.
"It's the largest building in Sunfall," Erend said.
The group enters Sunfall proper to begin their search of the city in what is left of daylight.