Terror of the Skies Pt. 4
"Move, move, move!"
"Get out of the way!"
"Go! Jump!"
An explosion goes off and rocks Aloy off her feet over the edge of the cliff. Luckily it's a small drop and she lands on her feet. Erend isn't so lucky. He lands on his face, sprawled across the ground. She helps him up to his feet and they press themselves up against the cliff wall. His face is bloody from his nose, but whether he got it from the fall or sometime earlier she can't remember.
A second later, another blast goes off and Vale flies down the cliff. He lands on his shield, but the way he bounces off the ground like a rag doll urges Aloy to run to him. The man groans and when she reaches out to help him, he hisses. His wound hasn't gotten any attention and is getting worse, the blood spreading down his leg now and splattering the armour on his thigh. Despite his protesting, she manages to pick him up and drags him over to the wall where they hide.
"This is getting really bad," Erend gasps, wiping the blood off his lips. "We need a plan."
"I'm working on it!" Aloy snaps, checking over Vale for any more injuries. He's bleeding from the head somewhere and has a nasty scratch on his bare arm. He doesn't look good.
"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," Vale breathes out through clenched teeth.
"Erend, patch up his wounds. I'm going to distract it," Aloy orders.
"That's not a plan; that's suicide!" Erend cries.
"I don't care. Shut up and just do it!"
Vale grabs Aloy's arm. "No, he's right. You're not going to last long against that machine by yourself. We need to regroup and come up with a strategy."
Just then, a shadow passes over them. The overridden Wyvern's body falls onto the ground in front of them, a mess of sparks and broken parts, but somehow still alive, but it lays low. Aloy looks up and freezes as the head of the bigger machine, a King Wyvern as Erend called it moments earlier, pokes over the cliff and scans the area, regarding the broken Wyvern with little interest now. It never spots them and turns away, it's tail swishing behind it.
"We don't want to end up like that," Vale whispers and points to the machine. The poor Wyvern drags its head around to look at them, eyes gazing up at Aloy pleadingly. The machine had fought bravely, inflicting more damage on the King Wyvern than any of them combined, but even so, with its shield module, they had hardly done any damage at all. The bigger machine was faster, stronger and more resilient than any machine she had faced so far. She was certain that with its ability to fly, it would have taken down a Deathbringer or two and eaten a Stormbird for a snack in between.
Aloy pulls her thoughts together and thinks frantically. They were all worn to the point of collapsing. She had been lucky. Her shield weaver armour had protected her from most damage, but she was sore and bruised all over. The Wyvern lost its ability to fly: Vale could barely stand and Erend was exhausted. If they ran, the King Wyvern would spot them and come flying over to end them for good. There was no easy way out of this.
Aloy took a good long look at the injured machine in front of them. If they could repair its wings, they might stand a chance. There were thoughts forming in her head. They needed to deplete that shield to do any real damage, and maybe she could pull another override trick.
Wait.
"Vale, remember when we first met, at the Nora gates?" Aloy asks. Vale gives her an odd look.
"Yes, I do. What that got to do with this?"
"That device you took from the machine that tried to kill me. Where is it?"
The man reaches for the metal case strapped to his belt and opens it. The device is smaller than her palm, in perfectly pristine condition. Two wires protrude out from the side of it, cut neatly.
"I've looked at it a few times, but I can't make it work with my gear," Vale explains. Aloy thinks back to the battle, both at the gates and the one in the Cauldron where they fought another one, how the machine could repair itself on command.
"Maybe because it's only works for machines," she says and points to the Wyvern. "Come here. Come!"
The machine whimpers and starts crawling towards them, pulling itself with one arm. Aloy waits until the machine is right in front of her and reaches out to its neck. Along its side are several cut wires, gashes from the battle with the other Wyvern that they killed together. She starts stringing wires together and creates a knot where the device mounts securely in place.
"I need a flame. Hold this," Aloy commands, grabbing one of her fire arrows. Erend hold it up for her and she pinches the two wires together that are connected to the device. She holds the flames underneath it until the thin metal coating starts melting and solders the wires together. A small green lights comes on on the device. "Yes, that's it!"
The Wyvern twitches. It's eyes flicker and a digital display hovers over its eyes, scrolling through a few lines of code before they disappear and the machine shakes its body back and forth. The machine's body starts sparking then, but not in the same way that frayed wires do. Light arcs across its wings and neck and suddenly it is enveloped in light, bright enough that Aloy and the others have to look away.
When the light fades, Aloy glances at a new machine. Black metal armour now covers parts of its body. The jets on its wings look completely new and the gashes on its neck are mended. Newer, sharper looking armour cover its legs, tail and head and a new pair of purple visors slide into place over the Wyvern's eyes. The machine growls with renewed strength and spreads its wings wide.
"How… how did you do that?" Erend gasps, totally stunned by the magic she just displayed. Aloy can't help but grin.
"That was… new," Vale mutters, still gasping for breath as he leans against the rock. "Who knew it could work like that."
"Okay, I have a new idea. Vale, give Erend your shield," Aloy orders. Vale holds out his shield in offering and Erend takes it slowly.
"She's my most valuable possession," Vale reminds him. Erend nods.
"Now get on the Wyvern," Aloy says next. Vale gives her a surprised look.
"What am I supposed to do from there?"
"You can hardly move. The Wyvern can give you that mobility," she tells him. "Your Focus can connect to the machine. You'll be able to understand it better when you do."
"Wait, he's wearing one of things too?" Erend cuts in, but Aloy raises her hand.
"Not now! Once you get in the air, distract the other machine for awhile. We need to figure out how to get past that shield."
Vale takes a good long look at her before he nods, and groans as he stands up. He finds his way to the Wyvern on his own and climbs onto its back like he had before and secures himself in place. The machine growls and it's jets whirl to life, kicking up dust as it prepares to launch. It's takeoff seems much more abrupt and faster then before, and even cracks the ground where it once stood. They're a blur in the distance and disappear a mere moment later.
"Wow," Erend says. "Okay, that's kind of scary and amazing at the same time."
"Now it's our turn. Get ready, we'll need to time our attacks," Aloy says and picks up her bow. She's down to just three metal arrows and a few fire arrows, but hopefully that's all she needs.
"So what do I do with this thing?" Erend asks, lifting the shield.
"There's a Stalker cannon mounted to it. The trigger is on the handle, and there's about a two second delay on it. Do as I say and wait for my signal to fire at the machine."
Erend looks unsure, but he shrugs. "Okay. You haven't led me to my death yet. Let's go!"
They circle around and find a way back up to the top of the cliff. The hill further away slopes up back to higher ground and the pair make their way to the top. Above them, they can see Vale and the Wyvern in an aerial battle with the King Wyvern. The Wyvern fires a purple laser focused from its lenses, some new mechanic it must have earned when it repaired itself with the new tech. The bigger machine dives to avoid it and fires the cannons on its wings. Vale and the Wyvern spiral away and dart across the sky and are chased into the dark clouds, disappearing from view. Purple and blue lights flash and flicker in the clouds as Aloy assembles her arrows onto her bowstring. The metal arrows fit neatly into the circular sights, but she's worried the tails will shatter it upon firing.
Vale and the Wyvern fall from the sky above. One of the machine's wings is smoking, but they fly through the air unhampered. The bigger machine comes in after them from above, closing the distance fast.
"Get ready, Erend," Aloy says, aiming her bow as Vale and the Wyvern fly towards them. The King Wyvern roars and pursues. Erend raises the shield, the cannon primed. They fly over their heads, just a few feet above them. The red headlights of the angry machine is pointed right at them, but Aloy doesn't flinch.
"Aloy?" Erend drags out. The machine is approaching fast.
"Pull the trigger!" she commands. The charge sets to fire and Aloy waits one second before releasing her arrows. Her concerns are realizes when her sights break, but the arrows fly true. The cannon shot fires and all missiles hit the machine at the same time, light dissipating from its body as its shield breaks. Aloy quickly draws two fire arrows and lets them loose above them, leading her shot into the machine's path. The arrows hit the machine in the face and fire spreads. It loses control and descends to the ground, skidding across dirt and earth as metal plates break off from the impact.
Aloy and Erend run to the scene. Vale and the Wyvern are already there, attacking the machine while's it's still down. The King Wyvern levels itself to all four legs and lunges at them. They jump away, but the bigger machine swings it's tail and slams it against the smaller machine's body, knocking Vale off the machine. Vale gets to his feet, his hammer still in his hands. He fires the paralyzing darts in quick succession and shocks one of its wings into paralysis. The wing goes limp, but it doesn't stop the machine from striking with its tail again, sending Vale and dirt flying across the air.
Aloy shoots more fire arrows to distract the machine, doing whatever she can from stopping its shield from recharging. The flames hit the machine's other wing, right where one of its jet engines are located and catches the component aflame, but the King Wyvern doesn't seem concerned about it. The components along its neck start to shine with that white-hot glow and it opens its jaws to let loose and breath attack.
Except it's not just a flame attack. A white energy beam shoots from the machine's mouth and blasts the ground. Aloy and Erend dive out of the way as the beam moves towards them and cuts the earth in a fine line, burning the ground until it turns to glass and fires wildly into the air, slicing the clouds in half.
Aloy tries not to pay attention to the amazing power of the machine and fires more arrows. They find their places in between metal plates, wires and in components, all the while the Wyvern keeps the machine busy with its ranged attacks, keeping its distance. Erend starts firing his ice arrows at the machine's chest, cooling down and freezing those hot energy components. The King Wyvern swats and squirms, trying to hit any of them, but the damage is slowing it down. They're getting the upper hand.
Or so Aloy thinks until electricity starts enveloping the machine's body. For a second she thinks that the machine is about to start repairing itself, like the new robots that Hephaestus had made and she quickly draws another arrow. But then an invisible force pushes her away as a blast emanates from the machine's body outward, forcing everything back. Aloy's body goes numb and she can hear her shield blinking with depleted energy levels in her ear.
She picks herself up off the ground and looks around. She's the only one standing. Erend and Vale are on the ground, neither of them moving. Even the Wyvern is down, the light in its eyes completely out. It's not dead, but its systems are shut down in every way. She notices her shield won't recharge and when she tries to activate her Focus, it won't turn on. Every electrical device is deactivated.
She realizes that her shield had saved her from whatever concussive wave had hit them. The King Wyvern still stands, now glaring at her. A few sparks still fly from its body, but it's still very much mobile. All Aloy has left is her spear and bow.
Those components on the machine's neck are still frozen from Erend's arrows. She reaches for her arrows but realizes with horror that she has no more. The King Wyvern charges towards her and she grabs her spear, steadies it next to her head and throws it with all of her strength. Aloy has rarely thrown her spear, but her aim is perfect still. It impales one of the frozen components and shatters it, making the great machine flinch. She runs up to the machine and dislodges her spear and strikes again, tearing apart wires. The machine roars and swipes at her with its claws, but Aloy ducks and rolls.
She swings the sharp end of her spear and breaks another frozen component and the machine staggers to the side. A fire starts building at the wound and sparks spray everywhere. The machine roars at her and backs away.
But a purple beams strikes the King Wyvern in the face. Aloy finds the Wyvern is alive, but not complete active. It only able to move its head and one arm. Its systems are slowly coming back online and its able to fire its laser in attack. Aloy realizes that her shield weaver is powering back up as well. Whatever caused the malfunction, is was temporary.
Aloy sees her chance and runs towards the big machine. She jumps to the side as the machine maneuvers, turning to face the smaller machine, still defenceless. But when Aloy climbs onto the machine's back, the King Wyvern wriggles and squirms in panic. She grabs hold of wires and taps her Focus, but it still won't activate. She can only hope that her Corruptor tech is working. She turns her spear around and strikes the spine of the machine, jamming it deep below plating and connecting with wires.
The tech does nothing. It doesn't light up. The machine shakes its body violently and Aloy struggles to stay on, bucked back and forth, side to side until she finally loses her grip and is tossed off, landing on her side. She rolls away and puts distance between herself and the machine, her spear still lodged in its back.
The Wyvern finally regains full control of its body, flapping its wings and rushes to protect her. It jumps in front of her and fires its laser to stop the bigger machine from reaching her. The King Wyvern backs away, but turns and swings it's tail, swatting away the Wyvern like a fly. It turns back towards Aloy. The visor over its eyes slide away and the metal plating protecting its jaws and snout roll back. It gives her its most powerful roar it can muster and lunges at her, claws and fang bared. Aloy doesn't have a weapon to defend herself with, so she turns away and closes her eyes and awaits her fate.
It never comes. All noise ceases as the machine comes to a complete stop, freezing in place for a few seconds as its eyes change to a light blue shade. Aloy looks up and the machine relaxes, lowering its claws and dipping its head at her, like its ashamed.
Her Focus sparks, tingling her ear and finally comes back online. The familiar synthetic voice that comes with all Focus devices speaks to her.
"Welcome to your new Faro Focus virtual reality software, where the future is made real today. Please select any of the following presets to begin using your new device."
The Focus reboots and Aloy resets her Focus to her original settings before she comes to a stand. She scans the massive machine before her; it's marked as a friendly machine. The override device has come back online and worked its magic, saving her life.
They're struggle was over.
… … …
The wind whips by in a howl that is hard to ignore once his regains his senses, and Vale is almost afraid to open his eyes to see what the cause of such racket is. Did he die? Was his soul flying through the cosmos to some divine afterlife?
Nope. With a jolt, Vale realizes he is still very much alive and that he was very much in pain. His left side burned and his entire body ached, and when he did finally open his eyes he finds that they were very high off the ground. He tries to back away from the edge, but something holds his legs into place and he finds that the other direction is also a sheer drop to open air. Someone grabs his collar and steadies him.
"Easy there! You don't want to fall off now!" It's Erend, the Oseram captain. He's sitting behind him, his face a little grimy but free of the blood from his nosebleed earlier.
"What?" is all Vale can say, until he gets a grip on his bearings and realizes where they are.
They're riding on the back of the King Wyvern, flying at an incredible speed across the sky. That explains the wind; they're moving faster than he thought was possible. The wind whips his hair back and screams in his ears and he almost has to close his eyes shut because it stings his eyes to look directly into the wind.
The machine's jets are blasting at full capacity, leaving a thin trail behind them as they race across the dusk. Vale finds the other Wyvern is flying right beside them, fully repaired and weaving through the air with perfect form. He looks ahead and finds Aloy, sitting further ahead, tucked right behind the machine's head, straddled on its neck.
"What happened?" he asks. He almost has to shout because he can barely hear himself in the wind.
"What do you think? Well, Aloy took this machine all on her own after it knocked our lights out. When I came too, we patched all our wounds and now we're headed for Meridian!" the Oseram explains. Vale takes a closer look at the machine. The King Wyvern is fully repaired as well. All the wounds they managed to inflict on it were undone. He pats his wound and finds that it's been bandaged up as well.
"She gained control of the machine," he says.
"Of course she did. It's her signature move, after all!" Erend cheers excitedly. Despite the pain, he can't help but smile.
"Yeah, seems like it."
He taps his Focus and finds what he's missed, surprised when a voice speaks in his head that he's never heard before, and all his custom settings have been erased. Annoyed, he begins searching through his control scheme and begins to piece together his heads-up display. They're headed south, and it's sometime close to the end of the day's cycle, which is evident with the moon as high up in the sky as it is. He's got three new messages and two new pending data links, which he suspects are the two overridden machines they are flying on.
He starts going through the files of the King Wyvern and finds a wealth of new information he's never seen before: metamaterial alloy with special carbon coating – perfect for resisting fire; hyper drive propulsion jets – that was a step up from the regular hovering jets that made the Stormbirds and Glinthawks fly; plasma smelting hubs – the components along its neck that burned with that intense glow. Were they supposed to melt whatever the machine ate? Vale searches deeper, going into files he hadn't explored before. He finds an archive of active duties and external communications, like the data Aloy had found when he watched her override that Tallneck when they first entered the Claim.
3012/5/26-11:31:47. Space debris filtering inactive for 134 days/mass untraceable.
3012/5/26-11:32:24. Sonar scanning initiated…
3012/5/26-11:47:54. No detection/250 mile radius retrieves no signal.
3012/5/26-11:48:02. Space debris within quadrants consumed. Awaiting query…
3012/5/26-11:58:04. No response, Gprime. Entering hibernation.
3039/6/17-19:14:37. Distress signal received – level 2. Monitoring.
3039/6/17-20:21:43. Distress signal received – level 5. Initiating system reboot… planetary re-entry imminent.
What the hell did any of this mean? Space debris, what was that? Was this machine supposed to gobble it up? And if it was, it looked like it had completely this function long ago, judging by the time lapse between hibernation and the next log. The distress signal was interesting. It was the same signal that came from that weird metal shell, and the same signal the dead Wyvern had when they killed it. This machine responded to its fallen metal brethren. Vale had never seen anything like that happen before. But then again, the Derangement was doing all sorts of things to the machines.
He didn't think that was the case, however. The time stamps of its last activity was years before the Derangement started. If this machine had acted with malicious intent, it was caused by something else.
"How long have we been flying?" he shouts back at Erend.
"A little over an hour, I think? Maybe more. I can't tell. But I recognized the mountain range we passed a few minutes back. We just flew over Pitchcliff."
Pitchcliff?!
Vale peered over the side again and concluded that they were indeed back in the Sundom. He could make out the shapes of the red canyons in the moonlight ahead and even further still, the greenery of the southern jungle. A marker sits on top of the Spire through his display, it's signal reading loud and clear, which was odd since it disappeared as soon as they crossed the mountains into Oseram territory. They were moving fast. In a matter of minutes they would arrive in Meridian.
Vale realizes just how tired he is, and it's not just because of the aches or the pain. They haven't stopped to rest since he and Aloy woke up that morning to search for Erend, which seems like ages ago now. He couldn't wait to crash into a nice, soft bed tonight.
Aloy steers the flying machine towards the ground as they get close to the city. Vale can see a few lights still flickering in the streets of Meridian. He wonders what the night guards must be thinking if they spotted them approach. They slow down and come in on a vertical landing in a clearing just in front of the main entrance to the city. All the merchants stalls are closed and no one else is around. The other machine lands next to them, spry and oddly energetic. The King Wyvern lowers its body to allow the humans to get off with ease, but Vale groans as he tries to move, his wound aching and stunning him.
"We'll take you to one of the healers in the palace. They'll change that bandage out," Erend tells him, helping him down from the machine.
"Thank you."
"You're awake!" Aloy exclaims, appearing at his side. "How do you feel?"
"Like I just got my ass handed to me…" he grunts, and the girl smirks in amusement.
"Well, you kind of look like it."
"I think I'm ready to fall over…"
"Well hang on! Don't do that just yet," Erend says. He makes sure Vale can stand on his own before taking a step back. "I'll go ahead to the palace and make some arrangements. I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you two."
"They'll be happy to see you, Erend. They need you," Aloy corrects. Erend raises his hands.
"There'll be time for celebration later. I'll see you two there!" He then turns and makes his way towards the city, leaving him and Aloy alone. They both turn towards the mighty machines they have conquered, both staring down at them intently.
"They're amazing machines," Aloy says. "I don't want to leave them."
"After they both almost killed us? You forgive kind of easily," Vale replies.
"It's the Derangement. It's affecting all of them," she reminds him. "But they're power can be used for good. If we work together we can change the world for the better."
"Too bad Hephaestus doesn't think so."
Aloy doesn't have a response to that. Instead she turns towards the Spire and activates her Focus.
"We'll go to the Spire tomorrow and retrieve the Master Override. After that, we'll visit a friend of mine up in Banuk lands. Hephaestus captured her once but she broke free. She might be able to help us understand what he's doing exactly."
Vale nods and stretches out his legs. He groans, which prompts the Nora warrior to turn around and looks up at him with those hazel eyes of hers, the moonlight making them shine. That, combined with the glittering white light that envelopes her armour, makes her a truly magnificent wander to behold.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asks worryingly. Vale nods and drops his gaze to the ground.
"I'll be fine. I might need to rest a bit before we move again," he says. "I'd really like to see that healer right about now."
The woman steps closer to him until she's almost up against his side. "Lean on me," she offers.
"W-what?"
"I said lean on me. There's no need to put any more pressure on that wound," Aloy explains. She pulls her arm around his back and waits for him. Vale suddenly feels uncomfortable, and it's not because her armour is slightly rubbing against his wound, and it's definitely not because he wants to hang on to his pride by not excepting her help. He would hang up his pride on a tree branch if he could.
But Vale swallows his nerves and gently drapes his arm around her shoulders for support. She squeezes him a little tighter and they begin a slow walk towards the city. Behind them, the winged machines turn and take to the skies, circling above them a few times before disappearing into the night sky.
"Where are they going?" he asks, watching the trail of their jets fade away.
"I'm not sure, but I figured out how to link my Focus to their systems and keep a tethering link. I can call on them if we're ever in trouble," she explains. Vale laughs, which compels her to stop. "What's so funny?"
"You are!" he admits. "I've fought all kinds of machines and managed to break every single one of them, but you come along and make them obey you with the snap of your fingers and barely bat an eye doing it. You know, the more I watch you work the more I believe those stories that everyone tells me about you. If anyone can stop Hephaestus, it's you."
Aloy leans back from him and suddenly turns away. She plays with her hair nervously and Vale knows that he's gotten her flustered.
"Well you shouldn't believe all the stories you hear. Some of them are pretty wild," she replies nervously. He chuckles.
"I would be lying if I said I wouldn't want to see you calm a machine by singing it a lullaby."
She huffs. "In your dreams!"
Vale laughs again and they continue across the bridge in silence the rest of the way.
Truly, this woman was amazing in almost every way possible. Every day since they had first met, Aloy had surprised him with her ingenuity and skill and mastery with the machines. It was like she was born to know these things, which seemed silly when Vale thought about it, but he couldn't help but be amazed by her. She knew things that nobody else did. She understood how the world worked, and even when he thought he almost had her figured out, Aloy proved to have more characteristics to her that never showed themselves. Like now, when she offered to help him across the bridge towards the palace. He didn't understand how someone could display such grace and compassion and yet fight with such ferocity and determination.
She kind of reminded we him of Tavia, and that's when his mood shifts. He's quiet for the rest of the night.
Hoho, what's this? A perspective change! Expect to a lot more of it. And aren't the new machines awesome? What do you think they were made for? (If you take a close look at the logs, you'll probably figure it out)