The Extinction Demand Pt. 1

-Aloy and Vale make a journey to the Cut, where hopefully they can learn more about the Command Protocol Initiative…

The hustle of the market traders and the bustle of the civilian traffic is a familiar sight to Vale. Sellers try and boast about their best wares to sell to customers and people flutter about the streets doing their daily chores. Around the centre of the city, men in robes gather at the shrine in the middle and start humming a soft melody that goes on throughout the morning and stops as the day starts to get hotter. He imagines they are priests or something of the like, which kind of baffles him, because sitting on top of the shrine is a monument depicting a glorified red orb encased in polished metal.

They really do worship the sun…

As Vale walks around to the edge of the city – fully geared up in his armour, aside from the winter robe he bought in Ironwood which he ditched in Meridian's warmer weather – he stops and gazes out at the enormous tower sitting on top of the other large mesa across the way. He's never seen a fully standing Spire before, and it's amazing to see it sit there in a perfect upwards angle, absorbing the sun's light like a shadow, primed like a blade of darkness ready to cut open the sky. It's a wonder how the Carja see it as holy sign rather than a bad omen.

But according to Minerva, these towers had stopped the Faro Plague. He had to get up close to it, see what a functioning tower could do. But he couldn't do that without talking to Avad first, and he couldn't get to him without Aloy. So he was struck in the city until her return.

Vale turns and walks back into the heart of the city, finding the marketplace again where the things of interest catch his attention the most: the weapons. He browses the large selection of tools, finding a large slingshot to be one of the foreign things. He knew Aloy had one, but this one was different still somehow. It was… simpler. Maybe there were other more powerful versions out there. But it didn't interest him.

Instead he tested out a new weapon: a spear. It was bladed on the end like the ones the Carja soldiers carried around, so it weighed more on one side. It would make a poor javelin, and the bladed end wasn't counterbalanced. He didn't buy it.

Looking through some more options, Vale finds an irregular sight: one of the priests had entered the marketplace, slowly pacing down the street. His robes were slightly different, however. They were darker, and no guards followed him. Back in the Kingdoms, the clergy was often followed by two or three guards whenever they were outside of the temples. The city was well protected from machines, so maybe that was why the need for guards wasn't so prominent.

But then another man in robes passes by. Vale swears he stares right at him, but it's only for a fraction of a second before he turns away and disappears around the corner. If it had only been him, Vale wouldn't think anything of it.

Except he isn't the only one.

Vale notices three more people in dark robes coming in and out of the streets. He can't tell if they're the same people or not; their robes cover their entire bodies. He's never felt much in the way of paranoia before, but this doesn't sit right with him. He needs to seclude himself, or find a place where he would feel safe. Maybe he could find Erend if he wasn't busy in the palace.

He weaves through crowds and streets towards the Sun King's palace, keeping an open eye out for any of those shady characters. When he spots one in front of him, he turns and heads down an alleyway instead, hoping to avoid running into them directly. It's then that he realizes he hasn't explored Meridian's back alleys very much. But he figures if he keeps heading towards the palace, which is still visible over the buildings around him, he can make it.

Unfortunately that's not the case. As he paces quickly down the alleyway, he's cut off as one of those robed individuals steps out from another alleyway in front of him. Vale comes to a full stop and turns around, but two more people are coming up behind him, also cloaked in the same robes. To his left, another.

"I take it you guys are not part of the priesthood,"

"That would be inappropriate," the one in front of him replies. "I'm glad we found you in good health, Vale."

"Excuse me?" Vale questions. The man then pulls back his hood and undoes the string keeping his robe over his shoulders. Vale doesn't recognize his face, but when the robe falls to the ground it reveals the man is wearing black armour over red clothes, with an insignia engraved onto a crest over his chest. The others relieve themselves of their robes and it turns out they are wearing the same kind of armour.

"Her Majesty is waiting in anticipation for your return, but I'm sure you knew that when you abandoned her," the man speaks again. Vale blinks twice before he realizes what the man is talking about.

"You mean her tyrant of a king? I thought I announced my retirement years ago," he snipes. "Clearly that didn't make it to all ears."

"Oh, it did. But your services are required once again," the man flings out his wrists and from under his sleeves, knives slide into his hands. He holds them crossed in front of him, as if this was a casual thing. "Come with us peacefully."

"How did you find me?" Vale's gaze at him sharpens as he finally identifies the man in front him; the cool tone in his voice and slicked back hair. Vale doesn't dare make a move or reach for his weapons, because he knows the others around him have also drawn their knives.

"Word of your exploits in the City of Metal reached far," the man explains and gives him a wicked grin. "An entire tribe destroyed. Very well done."

Vale doesn't make a sound, but the muscles in his body tense up in anticipation.

"But it wasn't hard, really. Once we got your mother to speak we—"

If his subordinates hadn't been there to hold Vale back, he might have been tackled. They were only a fraction of a second faster, but even the three of them were struggling to keep him back.

"What did you do to her?" he hissed.

"We left her unscathed, only frightened a bit," the man answers, not at all concerned how close Vale was to reaching his throat. "She told us where you were going. And once our liege was informed, he sent his best to find you."

"And the desert? How did you cross it?" Vale demanded.

"Oh, it was a perilous journey. We suffered some losses, but they understood the sacrifice."

Vale laughed.

"Sacrifice? Or was it murder for their resources? You need to be prepared for that kind of journey!"

"There was no choice…" whether the man was distraught by this fact or not was hard to tell, or maybe he hadn't practiced his sad face well enough. But Vale knew better than to think pity and sorrow were traits this man possessed. "But now that we have you, we'll take you back to the capital and we can discuss your re-endorsement into the army."

"Hate to break it to you, but I work alone now," Vale tells him. He then whips his head back into the grunt holding him from behind, smacking his head and unleashing his grip, allowing Vale to pull his arms forward and whip them back, knocking over the assailants on either side of him.

The man in front of him throws his knives with an easy, practiced motion, but Vale turns and lets his shield mounted on his back block the weapons. The others get to their feet and try to kick him as Vale bounces around them, jumping off the wall to get around them and out of the trap. But one of them grabs him by the ankle and brings him down.

He can hear the unsheathing of blades. Before he gets back up, he grabs his helmet hooked onto his belt and quickly slips it on.

Vale gets to his feet, but one of them is already on top of him. They kick him in the stomach and in the side of the knee before Vale manages to move and block the next strike with his forearm, the knife scraping against his metal brace. He grabs the man's wrist and twists his arm until he lets go of the knife. Vale nabs it before it hits the ground and throws it at the other assailant, landing the knife deep in his chest.

The third man from before comes in with knives swinging, but Vale shoves his foe into him. From above, he can see the interrogator from before fall towards him with knives raised high but he blocks his attack by grabbing his wrists. He pulls him over his shoulder and tosses him down the street and turns around in time to dodge the next attack. Vale pulls his hammer from his back to parry the next few blows. He finds an opening and slams the weapon against the man's leg, a distinct crack making the man cry out as the bone breaks. Vale twists his weapon the other way and nails the sharp end into the side of the man's head.

Vale turns around as the next assailant comes in with his knife levelled to his head, but the blade scrapes against his helmet and Vale grunts as he shakes his head. Surprised his attack failed, the man pauses, allowing Vale to reach up and wrap his fingers around the man's neck. He reels back and thrusts his head forward in a vicious headbutt and knocks him out.

"Your skills have improved immensely, Vale," the same man from before speaks, the one he had thrown over his shoulder. "The King will be pleased to have you leading his army."

"I'm better than you think," Vale replies as he puts his hammer away. He pulls out his own knife and twirls it in his hand. "I'm more than enough to take you on."

"We'll see about that," the man hisses and lunges at him. Vale blocks both of his swings with his forearms, but then the man kicks his feet out from under him. Vale falls on his back and the man whips a knife at him, but he rolls on his side and avoids it. As he gets up, the man brings his leg around and kicks him in the face, making him stumble.

He keeps his footing, however, and quickly turns and whips his knife at him. The other man throws his knife to deflect it, but it doesn't work completely as the blades collide and one of them finds its mark in the man's shoulder. The man yells and pulls the blade out, but Vale charges forward and brings his knee up to the man's chest, sending him sprawling into the ground. He picks up one of the knives and grabs the man by the collar, pressing him against the wall and pinning him up by plunging his knife into the man's other shoulder. The man screams.

"You're confidence belies your skills, Revere," Vale hisses.

"Ngh… indeed this is an unprecedented outcome. I'll need a better… method of persuasion," Revere tries to say as smoothly as he can, but the pain in his shoulder makes that difficult as he speaks through clenched teeth.

"And maybe reinforcements. You're in foreign lands with no backup. With no companions for you to sacrifice, how do you plan on getting back to your king?" Vale asks, before he clenches his fist and punches the man in the face, knocking him out.

He turns around as the last man gets to his feet. He has a big purple bruise on his forehead. Vale moves lightning quick, bringing his foot up under the man's jaw in a forceful kick that smashes the man against the wall. He can hear a distinct crack as the body goes limp and collapses as soon as he removes his foot.

… … …

They arrive in Meridian with time to spare, as the sun begins touching the horizon that turns the sky orange and yellow. Aloy and Talanah make it on the back of a Fire Bellowback, but have to ditch it before they come out of the forest south of Brightmarket and in sight of the city guards along the northern path. With their winnings in tow, they are greeted back into the city without any hassle from the guards at the main entrance.

They head back to the Lodge, where they are given a hearty welcome by most of the hunters there and assaulted with questions about their most recent hunt. When Talanah shows them the trophy from the new machine, they all cheer and congratulate them.

"We're going have to put that in the record book of great hunts, right under our victory over Redmaw," Talanah says with a grin. "I can't thank you enough."

Aloy waves her hand dismissively. "It was nothing, Talanah. I'm glad I could help."

Talanah nods. "It's always a joy to hunt with you. I'll give you a shout when the next machine herd comes around."

"If I'm around, sure. Take care," Aloy says and waves a final goodbye before turning and leaving the Lodge. The lamps and torches around the city are already lit and the crowd of people is dispersing noticeably. As the shadows grow long, Aloy looks around the city until her eyes lay upon the Sun Palace. It was time to talk to Avad about the Spire.

It was time to get the Master Override.

Before anything, Aloy makes the decision to find Vale and see how he's faring. It's most likely that he's healed from his wounds and he'll want to get out and join her, so she heads for the elevator.

It's to her surprise that when the elevator cart reaches the top, Vale is the one to walk out of it.

"You're back!" he exclaims as he exits the elevator. He's suited up in his regular armour with his winter robe absent, and his red paint is smeared across his brow and into his hair, covering up the scar she had noticed before she had left. "How'd the hunting trip go?"

"Good. We managed to stop a herd of new machines from moving into the jungle," Aloy say, which inspires an eyebrow to quirk up on the man's face.

"They weren't…"

"No, they weren't sent by Hephaestus. They were just a type of machine I've never encountered before," she explains quickly.

"Oh, good, I guess," Vale replies, and motions with his arm towards the palace. "Does this mean we get to move on now?"

"Yes. We need to speak to Avad, get permission to enter the Alight," she replies and waves for him to follow, and the two of them take a walk around the city to the palace bridge. There's still an absence of guards around Meridian, even at the palace. With her presence, however, the Carja guards allow them to proceed without hinderance. Aloy follows the path up to the centre of the palace, knowing it well enough. She finds the doors to the back are open and Avad and Erend speaking to each other.

"…The new recruits will have to take some time getting used to the routines. I'll whip them into shape," Erend was saying.

"Good. Every soldier helps," Avad replies and sees her approaching. "Aloy, welcome. What you've done by bringing Erend back to me can't be expressed with mere words. I'm in your debt."

"It was nothing, Avad."

"Hah! Nothing, she says," Erend smirks. "You should have seen her, Avad. She found my battered my ass and conquered the new machine threat like it was just a regular morning for her. I wouldn't be standing here right now if it wasn't for her." As Aloy shuffles her feet in coy awkwardness, Erend places his hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him and sees the genuine admiration in his eyes. "Thank you. And you have my thanks as well," he adds, turning to Vale. He gives him a curt nod.

"With Erend back we can begin strengthening our defences again, which should ease many of the people's worries and protect us from the Derangement," Avad says. Aloy takes this chance to speak.

"About that," both men turn to her. "Vale and I are working on a solution, but we need to go to the Spire at the Alight. I left something there."

"Balahn and his men were sent to the Alight to reinforce the guard there ever since the battle. I'll take you there so there's no interruptions," Erend tells her.

"Good. Once we have what we need, we'll be leaving."

"If I may inquire," Avad cuts in, "Aloy, the Derangement affects us all. Every machine out there has been getting angrier with us over the past twenty years. How do you plan to stop it?"

The look in the King's eyes was keen, but somehow Aloy could sense the desperation in his words. The bloody history of the Carja was an indirect result of the Derangement, and anyone looking for relief from that needed hope. Unfortunately, she can't find the words to give him that hope without confusing him.

"I'm… not sure how yet. But I know where to look. It's just a matter of finding the answers," Aloy replies. Avad hides his disappointment with a nod.

"Then I wish you the best of luck. And if you need anything from us in the future, I am obligated to give it, after all you've done for us."

"I wouldn't ask more than you can give, Avad. I know your people are still recovering… but, thank you. It's reassuring knowing someone has my back." She turns to Erend then. "Shall we go?"

"Let's move."

The three of them leave the Sun Palace and go all the way through town to the elevator down to the bottom of the mesa, through the lower village and across the field to the other mesa where the Spire stands. At the first set of steps, Carja soldiers keep watch for any man or machine that might make an approach. Erend leads the way and speaks to them, allowing Aloy and Vale to begin the climb. The whole time they are walking, Aloy realizes the Vale has his hand up to his Focus, and his gaze is always pointed towards the tall structure. With his advanced Focus, she's curious as to what kind of information he's able to pull from the Spire. They still can't connect their Focuses together.

Unlike the war-torn path the last time Aloy had to climb to get to the Spire – which has already been rebuilt – the gradual slope and steps is a much easier path to climb. Every once and a while they pass by a guard stationed along the path, and once they reach the top they can be seen all over the mesa top. The centre platform has been cleared of rubble and the Deathbringer she had defeated in that very spot is gone.

Up close, the Spire is still impressive, and it's a welcoming sight to see it not under Hades control. All the latches and platforms are closed, resulting in its jagged, but perfectly angled shape. Aloy finds herself walking across the field until she's within range that she can scan it with her Focus, but as before, it doesn't reveal much.

"I've never seen a Spire untouched like this up close," Vale says in awe, his Focus light lit up. "The only other one I known of is collapsed."

"It's impressive, isn't it?" Aloy replies and Vale nods slowly. She lowers her gaze to the base of the tower, and a shiver runs up her spine.

Sitting there is the giant round node that carried the Hades sub function, and still impaled in its hull is the spear harbouring the Master Override.

She walks up to it but is afraid to touch it. She can still remember the shock of electricity running through her body when she stabbed the node with the spear. The staff still shimmers with that faint blue glow and the Master Override has a single blinking light on it that shows that it still has power. She places one finger on the staff, then two, and then curls her whole hand around the grip. Slowly, she pulls on the spear and yanks it out of place with one hand and holds it out in front of her.

"That's it?" Vale asks, looking unsure. "That tiny little thing?"

"It's what helped me purge Hades and stop the Faro machines from awakening all over the world," Aloy says. "Haven't you heard that great things come in small packages?"

Vale gives her a strange look and replies with "No," which invites an awkward silence to cut between them. Aloy clears her throat and mounts the spear onto her back, right next to her homemade one.

"Anyways, we should get a head start. I want to be out of the city before it becomes too dark."

"Towards the east. That's what you said right? A friendly machine that might be able to help us," Vale confirms.

"Yeah, up in Banuk territory. Normally it would take us another week to get up there, but I'm hoping our new machine friends can get us get there quickly. I don't want to be wasting any more time then we have to," the huntress says and turns towards the centre of the Alight. "I don't want to rely on them too much, but this is important."

"I know. The sooner we can end the Derangement, the less people have to die."

Erend meets up with them as soon as he notices them walking away from the Spire. Two Carja soldiers follow him, one of them Aloy recognizes as Captain Balahn, dressed in very similar armour to the outfit he wore when they first met. She can see a long curved piece of sharp metal hanging at his hip; a sabre sword

"The Alighted One graces us with her presence," he greets her, but there's no amount of awe in his voice as he says this, only subtle amusement. Aloy grins.

"Captain. It's good to see you."

"And you as well. I heard what you did for my men back at Daytower. Thank you for that. These machines are really becoming… a bother."

"It was the right thing to do. That machine only attacked the fort because of me," she explains, before she even thinks about it. Both Erend and Balahn give her odd looks. Boy, she was getting a lot of those lately.

"What do you mean by that?" Balahn inquires curiously. Aloy rubs her neck nervously and looks away.

"It's hard to explain…"

"We're being hunted," Vale answers for her. Balahn regards him with silent acknowledgment while Erend stares in concern.

"Hunted?"

Vale nods. "The machines are sending assassins after us. I guess they're not happy with what we're doing."

"They're not just after us. Vale found a… hit list," Aloy adds. "Machines are hunting humans around the world, which is all the more reason to find a way to calm them before it's too late."

"Wait, if the machines are hunting you, then you need more protection! I'll commission a few men to be your guards," Erend offers, but Aloy raises her hand and quickly shakes her head. She can see the panic and worry in his eyes.

"That's won't be necessary, Erend. More people are a bigger target, and Vale and I can move faster when it's just the two of us," she hastily responds, the idea of a bodyguard kind of ludicrous to her. Erend takes a good long look at her, as if trying to read her thoughts and find her hidden fears. But he sighs in defeat.

"Alright… but you have to promise me no fighting any battles you know you can't win. The world still needs you, Aloy," he pleads.

"I know, Erend. I'll see you again. I promise," she then turns to Vale and says, "let's go."

As the pair descend from the Alight, Erend's words echo through Aloy's thoughts and she begins to grasp how significant they are. From an outside point of view, the world does need her. Her ability to open secret underground ruins and explore their secrets had helped her save the world once already. Her skill in hunting machines and surviving in the wilds allowed Aloy to travel to far away places and her nature allowed her to connect to people.

Of course she herself didn't like to think that the world needed her. She could easily have been someone different, she could have pushed people away instead of accepting their help or looking for the answers she was always so damn curious about. But here she was.

As her mind wanders around this concept, Vale cuts in with a question of his own. "So what kind of machines were you hunting?"

Aloy half hears it, so lost in her thoughts and so she has to ask him to repeat it.

"The machines you hunted with Talanah. What were they like, if you've never seen them before?"

"Oh. Uh… they were kind of big, with long curled tails, pincers… they looked a lot like…"

"Scorpions?"

Aloy halts in her steps. "Yes. How did you guess that?"

"A Desert Pike. You fought a Desert Pike. There's a whole bunch of them in the desert that stretch across these lands and mine," Vale explains. "And there's a bunch more in the dry mountains that border the south."

Aloy stares at him with her jaw agape. "You knew what kind of machines we were hunting," she realizes with irritation. The man raises his hands in surrender, sensing that irritation.

"You never asked. You said they came from the West. I'm from the West. Of course I would have fought a machine like that before. They're pincers expel flames. They hate the cold, and they got this annoying spike launcher on their tails. My shield is made from some of their armour materials."

Everything Vale explained about the machine was perfectly on point and reflected how their fight with the herd went. It never occurred to her to ask for advice before leaving, or that Vale might have some knowledge on their prey.

It then occurred to her that at some point, she was gonna have to travel to his homeland to find the sub function Minerva, and she knew very little about his lands, about what the terrain was like or what kind of tribes lived there, or what kind of machines populated the west coast.

"Do you think you'll be able to tell me more about your home sometime? I'd like to know more in case we have to go that way," she requests.

"Sure, anytime you like," Vale agrees, giving her a small nod. She smiles and it shallows her fears. For now.

I'm updating on a Thursday because I won't be here tomorrow, so you guys get an early look into the next chapter.

A little mystery starts off this chapter! And how long do we have to wait for answers? Well this new quest will take us back and forth across the Sundom before we head to the kingdoms of Vale's homeland, so not as long as you think. It probably actually is in retrospect cause I only update this once a week, but look how far we've come in 17 chapters!