Side-Hunter's Bane

-Aloy is asked to kill a new machine migrating into the western jungles of the Jewel…

Waking up late in the morning the next day is probably Aloy's greatest sin she's ever committed. Sleep that night was a glorious feeling, and when she gets out of bed, her muscles are stiff and sore from the action yesterday. Fortunately all she has to do is perform a couple of good, long stretches to gain back her flexibility. And boy does that ever feel good. She retains her Nora attire and folds up her shield weaver armour neatly into her bag before she attempts to find something to eat.

Olin's old apartment is empty. Marad had his belongings moved out and sold off to other wealthy people in city, while the space remained vacant. She wasn't sure why it wasn't bought by someone, or used as a shelter for those who lost their homes in the attack on the Spire instead. They could have had a place to sleep, protection from the cold and the rain if they had set it up as another infirmary. But nope, they had to keep it closed and reserved for the odd case that she might return to the city. She would have stayed out in the wilderness instead, but she needed to stay close and check up on Vale first thing, so accepting the offer was a begrudgingly blissful choice.

Walking through the streets and markets is different for Aloy than when she had waltzed through before the attack. There's a significantly less number of citizens and soldiers around, since most of them are down in the lower village still working on reconstruction. She hadn't taken a good look at how far the rebuilding had come along yet, so maybe while she was here she would go take a look.

On her way there, however, she passes by the Hunter's Lodge. A group of Carja hunters are standing around the entrance to the lodge talking amongst themselves. Aloy had never paid attention to it earlier, but she knew that Talanah was out with a hunting party when she was last in Meridian. Maybe they had returned.

Aloy pushes through the crowd until she makes it to the front door. Some of the hunters give her weird looks are dirty glares, but she doesn't give them a second thought. Most of them were still part of the old regime of a Carja male-dominant society and were rude, opinionated people anyway.

Ligan is standing there attending the door as he usually is. When he spots her, he dips his head in acknowledgement.

"Aloy, it's a pleasure to see you again," he greets.

"Hello, Ligan. Is Talanah around?" she asks.

"Yes she is. Her hunting party just returned from a foiled hunt. I think she might want to talk to you," he hints and points up to the second floor balcony, where she assumes the other huntress is. She thanks him and walks up the steps to the top. Talanah isn't anywhere near the stairs nor out on the balcony that stretches outside, but instead at one of the far corners of the lodge, sectioned off by standing curtains. She sitting on a lavishing couch by herself and surrounded by lamps, pillows, silks, all the illustrious décor that made it look like she lived as a noble. But Talanah herself looks horrible.

Not sickly, but damaged.

Injured.

When Aloy realizes this, she rushes to the Sunhawk's side. Talanah's taken off her gauntlets and her hawk helm, and her hair isn't pinned up in her usual style, but the rest of her battered Carja armour is still there, which is how Aloy was able to recognize her.

"Talanah? What happened?" she inquires as she sits down on the couch next to her. Talanah looks up, surprised, obviously not expecting her.

"Aloy? What are you doing here?"

"I spoke to Ligan. He said that you had returned and that you might want to talk to me," Aloy answers. The other woman nods and hangs her head. "Talanah, you look horrible!"

"I know. We had a rough time out there," the Sunhawk replies and reaches out to the table in front of her, where her weapons are laid out, including her bow and a large quiver of javelins. Except the quiver is empty and the only javelin on the table is snapped in half.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"The Lodge received news that some new machines were moving into the Jewel from the West. Some land owners in Brightmarket wanted to set up their warehouses out there, so they asked us to clear them out. With the way the machines are now, I decided to assemble a team of hunters to take with me," but then Talanah waves to her tools in front of her. "Clearly we weren't prepared."

Aloy glances at the weapons and then back to Talanah. She was a fierce warrior. It must have taken a lot of resistance to wear her down. She had been there by her side when Aloy fought the Deathbringer and the machines defending Hades at the Spire, and before that she had been her Hawk, sponsoring her membership in the Lodge to help her gain some popularity. Together they had taken on many jobs from the poor and defenceless and they defeated one of the most renowned Thunderjaws to ever exist. Talanah wasn't a pushover.

"What kind of new machines?" Aloy asks. Talanah pauses and runs her fingers through her free hair as she ponders on the description.

"Have you ever seen a scorpion?" she inquires.

"Yeah. There's a bunch of them around here, aren't there? I remember being stung by one in the jungle while I slept. It didn't exactly feel great," Aloy reminisces.

Talanah chuckles. "Now imagine that, but about the size of a Behemoth. That's what we're dealing with, and there's a whole herd of them moving in from the West."

"Why are they coming here?"

"Don't know. But there are rumours that something's stirring up in the Forbidden West, forcing machines to migrate. That could be it," Talanah says, which is news to Aloy. She had never heard of anything happening in the West, nor of the migrating machines at all. She wanted to ask more questions, but they would be losing focus on what the real problem was.

"Okay, so what will it take to remove these new machines?" Aloy asks.

"A lot of firepower, and maybe a bomb to bring down one of the mesas on them. But we don't have that kind of power, and I'm afraid those machines will be moving in on Brightmarket before long."

More new machines. It almost sounded like an opportunity to study more of Gaia's creations, if only the machines weren't threatening the lakeside village. And if there was a possibility that these machines might be the hunter killers that Hephaestus was creating, then she couldn't waste time.

"I might have a way to beat them," Aloy finally announces. Talanah nods.

"Good, then let me get ready."

"What? No, Talanah you're hurt, and there will be no time to heal on the road."

"You can't tell me what to do," she snaps, which silences Aloy. "And besides, I'm not about to let my Thrush go on a hunt by herself. You need someone who can at least watch your back."

Aloy was a little bit stunned at her reaction, but it reminds her of how much she and Talanah were alike: determined; skilled, and holding little regard to what others said or did. And of course her words had to remind her of something Vale had once said. If she was going to go hunting during the Derangement, she needed a partner, and Vale was still on the mend.

"Okay, we'll go together then," Aloy nods. Talanah grins.

"Great. Give me a minute to gather my things. Oh, and take this," she reaches into one of the pockets on her belt and pulls out a little bronze medal and hands it to her. "Give that to Aidaba downstairs and she'll fit you with a new weapon."

"A new weapon? What kind of weapon?"

"One of these bad boys," Talanah says and places her hand on the large quiver. "You'll probably need something like this."

"A bow and arrow just don't cut it anymore, do they?" Aloy says with a sigh.

"Hardly, but I think it's time you started trying out new weapons anyway. I'll meet you at the front door when you're ready."

Aloy acknowledges her and goes back downstairs. On the base floor of the lodge, the bar is centred in the middle and tables are set up all around it. In the far left corner of the floor is a little shop where a single woman mans the place. Aidaba is ecstatic to see Aloy again, and when she flashes the little medal, she smiles with enthusiasm.

"Moving up the ranks, are we?" the merchant says. She produces a weapon set from the back shelf and hands it to her. "These are usually only for the most accomplished hunters, so I would consider yourself pretty special to be getting one of these."

"Uh, thanks Aidaba. I appreciate it," Aloy grins awkwardly and pulls the quiver strap over her shoulder.

"Don't forget that each javelin has its own unique element!" Aidaba adds. Aloy pauses mid-turn and stares back at her.

"Huh?"

"If you look closely, each pike has an elemental canister mounted just under the blade, things like fire, electricity and ice. Oh! And we even have a special kind of javelin that holds explosives."

"Really?" Aloy ponders, realizing that she doesn't know how to make ammo for her new weapon. "Can I buy a few stocks?"

"Sure! Just tell me which ones you want."

Aloy buys half a dozen pikes of ice and shock javelins from Aidaba. They're pretty thin so they all fit nicely into the oversized quiver. Aloy heads for the door, where the crowd from before has cut down in size considerably. Ligan spots her and points her in the right direction, finding Talanah standing just outside in front of the lodge with her weapons mounted on her back. Her hair is back up in a ponytail and she's adjusting her gauntlets as she approaches.

"I'm all set," the Sunhawk says.

"Good. I have to go see someone first and let them know I'll be gone for a while. I'll meet you just at the… what?"

Talanah is giving her a funny look.

"You're not traveling alone? I thought you were the lone wandering type," she states, her tone suggesting she's interested in knowing more.

"Not when the machines are like this. We've been traveling together for a few weeks now fighting the machines," Aloy says in a matter-of-fact tone, but it cues Talanah's amusement.

"Aloy Despite the Nora has a traveling companion? This I gotta see."

Aloy doesn't argue, she only shakes her head and signals her to follow.

They don't go to the palace. Instead they go to the south side of the city to the elevators. One of the two is still out of service so they take the only one that's working. There's a lineup to the elevator and Carja guards facilitating it because there can't be too many people in the cart at one time or the weight would be too much for the elevator to handle. It frustrates Aloy to be waiting in a line again, but unlike the last time where the lineup didn't move hardly at all, the lineup to the elevator moves at a gradual pace, and eventually she and Talanah are stuffed into the cart with nine other people waiting to go to the village at the base of the mesa.

The village of Meridian is much different than Aloy remembers. Most of the taller buildings aren't there anymore whereas a couple of new ones are being built. Half of the docks aren't there anymore either, but whether they've been torn down or were destroyed in the attack is difficult to pinpoint.

One of these new buildings is located close to the Maizeland gardens. A longhouse has been newly constructed along the mesa wall, made for the injured and disabled due to the Eclipse attack. It has two entrances at either end and Aloy can see a steady flow of people going in and out of the building. Inside, the rooms are constructed in an open space with curtains and wooden boards to section off each bed. It was a sad sight to see. Healers ran back and forth between their patients and a group of people busied themselves with mixing and grinding together herbs and medical plants in a common area in the middle of the building.

At the far end from where they entered, Vale was sitting on the side of his bed. He was down to nothing but his pants and boots, and he was covered in bandages. When he turns to see them approach, Aloy is shocked to see that his red tribal paint is removed and that a faint pink line of a scar crosses from his eyebrow into his hairline.

"Aloy, you're here," he greets in surprise.

"Uh, yeah," she responds awkwardly, trying not to stare at the scar.

How did he survive that?

"Who's that with you?" Vale asks, and before she can say anything Talanah steps in front of her and holds out her hand.

"Talanah. I remember you. You came to the lodge looking for Aloy."

Vale straightens as he shakes her hand firmly. Up until that moment, Aloy completely forgot that Vale had already once come through Meridian to ask of her whereabouts before.

"The Sunhawk of the Hunting Lodge. Right," Vale recalls. "So where are you two going?"

Aloy manages to collect her thoughts. "Machine hunting. We'll be going to the edge of the Sundom so we might be gone for a few days."

"Gone?" Vale replies, clearly not happy with it. "You can't wait till I'm ready?"

"I can't. These machines are moving in on settlements and I want to stop them before they hurt someone."

"And I'll be there to watch her back," Talanah adds. "This isn't the first time we've hunted together."

Vale switches his gaze between Talanah and Aloy, still looking unsure. But whatever worries he has, he seems to push them to the side when he sighs.

"Can you promise me you'll come back this time?" he asks Aloy. She nods without hesitation.

"I promise, Vale. Give us two days. That will give you plenty of time to heal from your injuries."

"Okay. Good luck," Vale replies and lightly pounds his fist over his heart twice. It's another gesture she's unfamiliar with, but she offer him a smile in return and they turn to leave the infirmary.

… … …

Aloy and Talanah travel all day through the upper ridge north of the Sundom, sticking to the roads and fighting any angry machines they come across, which becomes the hobby of the trip. They don't fight anything bigger than the Ice Bellowbacks, but their chaotic behaviour even starts making them a challenge to defeat. They had a close call with a Sawtooth as well. Aloy was nearly torn to shreds if Talanah hadn't used one of her fire-laced javelins to set it on fire at the last second, and that's when Aloy learns of the secret mechanism attached to the javelins.

At first she thinks that Talanah has a wicked throwing arm, and after they bring down the Sawtooth, she shows Aloy the spring tech that gives the spear an extra thrust mid-air. With an echo shell, some wire and a spring, a launching mechanism is attached to the butt end of the javelin and gives it a little extra flying power, enough power to punch a Sawtooth onto its side.

They make it into the canyons east of Brightmarket before Talanah stops them for the night, her reasoning being that they would run into the machines in the middle of night if they kept going. It was better that they wait for them here and fight in broad daylight so they could see better and set up their traps. Talanah had a few, but Aloy had plenty of ways to set traps.

"I would almost say we should set up a few now so that a Watcher doesn't come by," Talanah says, spreading out the leather flaps of her tent.

"I don't think a Watcher could get up here. I'm more worried about Glinthawks."

Their choice in camp was high up in the rocks of one of the canyons that pointed out into the Great Lake. The flat rock where they spread their tents with tree branches and twigs were uncomfortable, but it served as the best place to view their surrounds below, where Talanah predicted their prey was going to pass through.

"So I've been meaning to ask…" Talanah starts as she sits down.

"Oh I bet you've been meaning to all day," Aloy replies. She can tell that her friend has been thinking about it all day. It's evident in her cheeky grins and teasing glares.

"Vale, was it? Who is he?" the Sunhawk inquires with an anxious grin on her face. Aloy glares back at her with a mean smirk.

"He's a friend, who's been traveling with me for a while," she says, putting proper emphasis on the word 'friend'. She settles down in front of her tent, legs crossed and staring at the fire that was already going.

"Where is he from? He seems so different from all the hunters I've seen."

"He's not from around here. Most of his weapons are made by him, and he's wearing one of these," Aloy points to the Focus on the side of her temple and Talanah nods in understanding.

"So he's a tinkerer like an Oseram, and he's gifted with that second sight like you," Talanah says.

"Yes."

"I bet he fight's like a Tenakth. He's got all that upper body strength."

"More like a Nora brave, except his style is more close quarters. And he's as quiet as a Banuk hunter sometimes."

Talanah raises an eyebrow. "So you like him?"

The huntress is put off by the question, but she thinks fast to strike that idea down.

"I… uh, do not," she says flatly, doing her best not to make it sound exaggerated.

"No? Then what did he do to get you as a traveling partner? I know you usually walk the hunter's path alone," the Sunhawk points out.

"Well for starters, like me, he wants to stop the machines before they kill us all. I'm sure that you've noticed how difficult they've become," Aloy explains. "And because of the Derangement, I thought it would be safer to travel with someone who can handle themselves. Vale can hold his own in a fight, and we work well together. I also think that the machines hate me specifically. A few machines have already tracked me down and tried to kill me."

"The machines are hunting people?" Talanah says.

"Yes, it's happened a few times now, but it's not just me. Anyone with a long streak of destroying machines is being targeted."

"So I imagine that I'm on that list too."

"Probably. You'll have to watch your back for a while," she tells her. Talanah nods and brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

"Do you think you can do it? Stop the Derangement?"

Aloy ponders over the question and tries to come up with an answer, but it's hard. How could they stop the Derangement? How could they stop a fragmented AI in charge of making terraforming machines from killing the humans that hunted them for metal? She thinks about her conversation with the friendly AI Cyan. There were potentially millions of humans throughout the world that hunted the billions of machines that outnumbered them one to a thousand. Even if they succeeded, who says that it wouldn't affect the all of them worldwide?

"I've already stopped the end of the world once," Aloy says. "I think I can do it again."

"Spoken like a true hunter," Talanah acknowledges.

They take turns sleeping throughout the night with this new machine hazard in mind. Their shifts are about three hours long each, so by the time Aloy's second shift ends, the night sky starts to brighten up and she begins packing up camp.

Once Talanah is up, they take a walk around their surroundings and start hypothesizing where best to lay their traps. The forest floor is covered in thick foliage and is ideal for tripwires. Aloy sets up the wires with her tripcaster and the best places, creating a semi-circle in the area, open to the side where the machines were predicted to come from. She then opens up her Focus and taps one of the two tethered connections waiting for her command. With the signal sent, she waits in the bushes while Talanah scouts the path to make sure those machines are going the right way.

It's not long before she hears a noise in the air and Aloy springs to her feet. She sees Talanah run into view with her bow in her hands. She stops to fire an arrow behind her and keeps running. Soon enough, the machines appear behind her.

They're exactly how Talanah had described. Giant machines with an uncanny resemblance to scorpions make their way out of the forest, a last half a dozen of them. They come equipped with a pair of large pincers and a long curved tail with a sharp bladed tip on the end of it. Aloy can recognize solar paneling on its back and the Focus reveals six sparkers mounted on its underside right by the tail. Six bright red eyes shone on each machine's head, aimed at Talanah as she races across the field towards her. Aloy lifts her bow and aims at one of the bombs hidden under the foliage, only marked by her Focus.

When she shoots it, the bomb goes off and explodes right in the face of the machine leading the herd. It stumbles to the side and triggers one of the tripwires and that also explodes, but the tripwire connects to more wires looped around the trees and blows them apart at the roots, bringing them down on the machines. While three of them get caught up in trunks and branches, the rest of them are damaged by the explosives.

Talanah runs and climbs up the rocks and joins Aloy, who's shooting the machines with her new bow, aiming for those large pincers. She hasn't seen it yet, but she bets those components could launch some sort of projectile at her.

"So what do you think of them yet?" she asks hastily and starts shooting arrows.

"They're not so tough," Aloy replies casually.

"Hah! We should have had you there the first time! We might have stood a chance then," the hunter exclaims. As one of the large machines escapes the trap, she reaches for the quiver on her back and grabs one of the javelins. With practiced precision, Talanah throws the javelin and just as it leaves her hand, the spring mechanism snaps and shoots the pike straight into the armour along the machines's broad back.

"Tch, I can't even tell what any of its weaknesses are. I thought those panels might have been a weak spot."

"Those pincers are a good place to start. It might disable the machine and stop them from attacking," Aloy points out. The huntress nods and she grabs another javelin.

Just before she throws it, however, she pauses and tilts her head, raising her ear to the sky. "Do you hear something?"

"Just a lot of angry machines in front of us!" Aloy snipes. She spares a quick glance Talanah to see what she means. "Oh, that thing in the air? Yeah, I hear it."

Talanah's eyes widen. "Wait, what?"

Just then a shadow passes over them. The other girl ducks, but Aloy watches in amazement as a large flying machine circles around the battlefield and lands up on top of the next little mesa across from them.

The King Wyvern raises itself up on its hind legs and gives out an intimidating loud roar.

"What kind of machine is that?" the Sunhawk cries.

"My secret weapon," Aloy says and raises to her feet. The winged machines spots her and she points to the machines below. "Attack!"

The King Wyvern obeys, spreading its wings wide to aim its cannons at the other machines. Bolts fire wildly into the herd, blasting metal bits, wires and tree branches. One of the scorpion-like machines raises its tail and fires a pin missile object in retaliation, but the King Wyvern retreats behind the cliff.

When it emerges again, the components along its neck light up and the machine unleashed its powerful energy beam, slicing through trees and rocks and metal as machines were practically cut in two. The area lights up in a white glow from the attack and Aloy finds it hard to stare at it, so she turns away until it's over.

When the noise dies down, she finds the battlefield is charred black. The earth is cut deeply and machine's are torn apart like paper, sparks flying and smoke rising. The King Wyvern settles down, eyeing the field for movement.

"By the Sun…" Talanah gasps. Aloy scans the area with her Focus. Dead machine carcasses are scattered on the ground, bits of metal sprinkled all over. But there's only one machine traced in an outline that's still moving.

"There's still one more machine in there," Aloy says. She rises to her feet and starts climbing down rocks. As smoke continues to rise, the large machine emerges from the forest, the least damaged by the attack, but one of its pincers is missing, chopped off by the King Wyvern's energy beam. "Not so tough without all of your buddies, are you?"

The machine's eyes flash red and it jolts into movement, but Aloy already has her bow drawn and she fires a tearblast arrow straight into the machine's head. When air explodes, metal plates are blown off their hinges and sparks jump into the air.

"We can handle it!" Aloy shouts.

"I was afraid your friend had killed them all," Talanah exclaims, gazing up at the always-impressive machine.

"If he killed them all I wouldn't get my exercise," Aloy quips as she fires another arrow. This one lodges itself in the wires that snaked up the machine's tail, but it doesn't do much more than anger it. It holds up its one good pincer and a torrent of flames expels from inside the claws and the women jump out of the way to avoid being burned.

Aloy puts her bow away and finds one of her javelins, deciding to combat the flames with a chillwater-infused spearhead. She levels the the javelin just above her shoulders and raises her other arm for balance; just how Talanah did it, aiming for the pincer as the machine flails it at Talanah to strike but misses. When Aloy sees her chance, she throws it and the javelin soars through the air gracefully, before springing mid-air and piercing the ligament. The javelin explodes in a cloud of chillwater mist and coats the component, freezing the metal and wires.

Talanah then makes her move. She picks up another javelin and throws it at the frozen component, which shatters it completely. The large machine backs away and raises its tail, pointing the sharp end at the Carja huntress.

"Talanah, it's tail!" Aloy cries. The huntress looks up and dives to the side, barely avoiding at long metal spike that shoots from the tail and impales the ground where she stood. Aloy throws another javelin again, but she misses her shot and hits the long scaled tail instead of the pin missile component. The machine turns to her now and Aloy runs for cover behind a tree. Talanah finds her and joins her.

"I only got one left," she says, holding up her last javelin. Aloy can see that it's primed with an explosive.

"I know how we can end this quickly," she says, grabbing another ice pike.

"What do you want me to do?" Talanah asks.

"Distract it. Give me time to aim my shot, and then you can take yours."

She doesn't need to explain much else for Talanah to understand what she means. She nods with a smile and she runs out from their hiding place.

The scorpion machine spots her and raises its tail. It gets two shot off – both of which miss Talanah barely – before Aloy gets a clear shot and throws her spear at the machine's head. Hoarfrost mist cover's the machine lenses and it shakes about to try and get rid of it. Talanah stops and immediately throws her spear, which hits right where the machine is frozen and explodes on impact. The machine collapses to the ground, a big gaping hole and split wires where its head had once been.

"Not so tough," Aloy reprimands proudly, standing over the machine. At this point it's almost unrecognizable compared to the other machines scattered throughout the field. Their traps had worked pretty well.

"You made that look easy," Talanah says as she appears at her side. She looks around at the results and then looks back up at the only standing machine, perched up on the rocks, looking down at them with it's wings folded in. "Where did you find him?"

"Up in the Claim, causing a ruckus," Aloy answers with a casual shrug. "We call it a King Wyvern."

"A King Wyvern, huh?" Talanah mumbles, looking up at the machine admiringly. "It definitely looks like a king. Was it created because of the Derangement?"

"I don't think so. I think it was created long before that, it's just gone undiscovered until now," the Nora explains. The King Wyvern moves, climbing down the rocks to join them. It examines one of the dead machines before picking it up with its jaws and starts tearing it apart. There's a grinding sound and the crunch of metal as it chews and swallows the metal and wires whole, sitting back on its hind legs likes its sitting on a bench eating a casual snack, looking pleased with itself.

Both Talanah and Aloy give each other strange looks.

"So much for looting the bodies."

"We can still bring a trophy back for the Lodge," Aloy says and goes up to one of the dead machines. The tail component is still together, mostly. She takes her hunting knife and cuts part of the mechanism off and hands it to Talanah. "There's your proof of taking down a machine herd."

The Sunhawk grins and holds up the hunk of metal. "I think I'll hang it up right next to our trophy from Redmaw. What about him?"

Aloy looks up at the King Wyvern chowing away on its food and places her hand on her hips to ponder the question.

"We'll let him feast. He'll be here a while."

The machine emits a low growl in reply as it eats away, content and satisfied with where it was.

A scorpion machine appears! And so does a new kind of weapon! I'm trying to imply all sorts of new games mechanics into this story. This whole chapter is an example of that. Machine migrations? Get a chance to take down a whole herd of powerful machines with the help of your new flying friend. Call in a King Wyvern Strike and wipe out half the herd before finishing off what's left on your own, and gather up massive amounts of loot and treasures!

User reddevil47 on the site commented that this story was like reading a sequel to the game, which made me super happy! So the idea for this chapter was in honour of you, my friend!