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Bloodborne belongs to FromSoftware, Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games

Chapter 5: Reminiscent of Yharnam

LOG: Rumors and Hearsay: Data Corruption Minimal

Pvt. Kyle Anderson: Have you heard the rumors?

Pvt. James Mortimer: That is remarkably vague. You need to be more specific. Which rumors?

Pvt. Kyle Anderson: The rumors around the Hunter. You know, the guy they claim has killed entire swarms by himself?

Pvt. James Mortimer: It's all just hearsay. He hasn't can't possibly have done that. It takes whole armies to kill one swarm.

Pvt. Kyle Anderson: I don't know man, but he's volunteered to come help us.

Pvt. James Mortimer: So, he's crazy.

Pvt. Kyle Anderson: Definitely.

…/…

For a world that had regressed since the Faro Plague, they certainly weren't suffering. While the Nora seemed to prefer their more communal living and log cabins, the Carja appeared to be the opposite. The city of Meridian being a prime example. An opulent tiered city built on the top of a series of mesas. Down below, along the riverbank, there were more buildings.

In a word, it was opulent. Much like the Carja themselves. Now that he could see the civilians, they were much like the city. Colorful, comfortable, opulent. Various decorative headdresses and jewels decorated their garb. They were too much like the nobles of old for Cyrus to feel comfortable.

The Good Hunter rolled his eyes at the people before him as he walked along the large bridge into the city. Guards were stationed sporadically along the structure. A large contingent of Carja soldiers stood at the entrance to the city. One of the guards stood at attention as he approached.

"Halt, stranger." The guard commanded as Cyrus neared him. "No outlanders are allowed in the city."

Cyrus raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" He asked. "Is there something I did wrong?"

"No. You did nothing wrong. All you need to know is that the city is closed to any outlander who is not already a citizen of Meridian." The guard said.

Cyrus nodded and walked away. He smirked as the guard seemed to drop in a more casual stance. He walked towards one of the towers close to the city entrance. He steeled his mind as he leaned against the structure. The guards at the city entrance did not appear to be looking his way, none of the citizens seemed to be paying attention to him, and the rest of the soldiers were far enough away to not notice.

He pulled out a small vial of shimmering blue liquid. The blue elixir tasted terrible. It always did. It was cold, somewhat slimy and dulled the senses. Cyrus gulped it down and smiled as it hardly affected his mind. He glanced down to see his form was more transparent than opaque now. Nearly invisible unless you were really looking for him and knew where he was to begin with… or you had the insight to see the truth of reality. The effect wouldn't last long, but it would be enough for his purposes.

The Good Hunter walked towards the city entrance again. This time, due to his near invisibility, none of the guards paid him any mind. He noticed a few of the burlier Oseram were scattered amongst the contingent of Carja soldiers.

He felt the elixir beginning to wear off. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Cyrus ducked into a small side alley. No one was there to see him suddenly re-enter reality as the blue elixir wore off. He wandered into the street to explore the new city.

Inside the actual walls of the city, it was cramped. Honestly, it reminded him eerily of Yharnam, just with less blood and raving lunatics and more vendors. There were a number of merchants along the streets, peddling their wares at passersby. Cyrus paid them no mind. His wanderings took him to a bridge that led towards another mesa plateau. If Meridian was opulent, then the building he was looking at was almost decadent. A line of the Carja stretched towards the bridge that Cyrus was on. It was not a scene the Good Hunter wanted to be associated with.

His wanderings led him in circles around the city. Nothing really caught his interest until he saw a building with a large dead machine inside it. He didn't recognize the tyrannosaurus-like machine, but he could certainly see this thing was designed for combat more than anything else.

As he tried to enter the building an older man stopped him.

"I'm sorry sir but only those who have proven themselves as hunters may enter the hunter's lodge." The older Carja said.

"And if I said I was already a Hunter?" Cyrus queried.

"Then I'd ask for proof." The old man said. "At minimum, three half suns from any of our hunting grounds."

"Strange." Cyrus muttered. "I've never heard of the Hunters denying anyone entrance."

"Perhaps it is because we are speaking of two different types of hunters." The old man offered.

"Hm…" Cyrus hummed. "If that is the case, then I shall be on my way. The large machine in there caught my eye and curiosity got the better of me."

The old man didn't respond as Cyrus walked away. As day turned to night, the Good Hunter found himself on a balcony overlooking the landscape below. A small village existed at the base of the cliffs, and there was much greener now than back when the world ended. The Good Hunter sighed and watched the moon make its way across the night sky. Raising his arms in make contact, he performed his moonlit night ritual.

He sat against the nearest wall overlooking the same balcony and just watched the stars. The few Carja nobles who walked by merely glanced curiously at the stranger. The guards gave him a few odd looks, but no one disturbed him for the rest of the night. He did have a thought that perhaps one of his cannons would be beneficial to have in this world. Something to worry about when next he visited the dream.

The coming of a new day brought with it a sigh of relief from Cyrus. Granted, much of the city was as boring as the day before. Cyrus estimated it was around noon when a commotion could be heard at the main entrance to the city. He investigated and saw that it was Aloy, his traveling companion was arguing with one of the guards. A large Oseram with a mohawk pushed his way through the guards. He greeted Aloy with a smile and a word to the guard. The Nora Seeker was let through and the Oseram spoke with her for a few minutes.

They soon began to make their way through the city. Cyrus quickly and silently following behind.

"Have you seen a… companion of mine in the city?" He heard Aloy ask. "He's rather tall, wears strange dark and tattered clothing. Has a peg leg."

"I've heard reports of him around the city, but I haven't seen him myself." The Oseram answered. "Someone said he was arguing with Ligan over at the Hunter's Lodge yesterday afternoon. Why?"

"He said he'd meet me in the city." Aloy said.

"I'm sure he'll find us." The Oseram said, stopping in front of a building. "Here we are."

"You got a key, or-" Aloy began.

The Oseram simply raised his foot and kicked the door in.

"That works too." Aloy finished.

Cyrus smirked as the two entered the building. He pulled out another blue elixir and downed it. His body becoming near invisible once more, he walked into the building, right behind Aloy and the Oseram. Aloy glanced around as he invisibly walked by.

"You ok?" The Oseram asked when he noticed Aloy looking around.

"Yeah, just thought someone followed us in." Aloy asked.

Cyrus walked over and lounged on a couch by the stairs. While he waited for the effect to wear off, Aloy and the Oseram began looking around. The room was fairly plain. Stairs leading up to a second floor, a few rugs and wall decorations, some furniture. All in all, pretty mundane.

"Over here, the corner of this rug is quite frayed, it looks to have been moved recently." Aloy said, rolling up the large rug in the corner.

The Oseram helped her lift the heavy cloth out of the way. Underneath was a sturdy looking door.

"That hatch is Oseram make, nothing's getting through that." The Oseram said.

"I wouldn't say that." Cyrus spoke up as the blue elixir wore off.

"Ahh!" The Oseram barked in surprise as both he and Aloy jumped at his voice.

"Please don't do that." Aloy requested as her heart slowed to normal levels.

"Apologies," Cyrus replied with a chuckle. "I assumed you saw and ignored me."

"Aloy, who is this?" the Oseram asked.

"Cyrus Bishop, The Good Hunter." said Hunter answered, standing up to shake the Oseram's hand.

"Erend." the Oseram replied. "Captain of the Vanguard."

"Erend, Cyrus is the traveling companion I told you about." Aloy said.

"Ok." Erend said. "How did he get in the city? Meridian is supposed to be on lockdown."

"I got in the city the same way I got in this house." Cyrus supplied. "I walked in unseen. Now, enough pleasantries. Onto the task at hand. You need to get in that hatch, right?"

"Yeah, but again that's Oseram make. You'd never be able to simply break in." Erend repeated.

"Never say never, Erend." Cyrus said.

He pulled out the Burial Blade and leveled it over the latch.

"That isn't going to do anything." Erend stated.

Cyrus ignored the Oseram and raised the Burial Blade. Faster than the eye could track, he swung the blade through the latch. A clean cut straight through the metal. Cyrus inspected the blade.

"I'm going to have to sharpen this soon." The Hunter stated.

"How?" Erend said.

Cyrus smirked and lifted the hatch open by himself.

"I have more strength than my frame would suggest." Cyrus stated. "Milady."

Cyrus bowed and gestured for the others to enter the basement. He followed and inspected the room. Aloy was scanning things with her focus. Cyrus and Erend simply began to examine the various bits and bobs around the room. There was a map on one of the walls, next to a picture, presumable of Olin's family. A stack of journals rested on one of the tables, another held some hand drawn schematics. Cyrus pulled one of the schematics up. His eyes narrowed at the drawings of the Scarabs. They weren't as detailed as the actual blueprints Faro once had, but they were detailed enough.

"You find anything?" Erend asked after a couple of minutes.

"A few things. Olin was definitely the reason we were attacked at the Proving." Aloy said. "It says so in his journals, here."

Aloy handed him one of the journals. Erend read the relevant entry, despair seemed to settle in his face.

"Olin he… why? He was a friend. Ersa and I drank with him often." Erend muttered.

"It seems he wasn't doing this willingly." Aloy said. "The killers have his wife and kid."

"How do you know this?" Erend asked.

"The focus," Aloy said, gesturing to the metal triangle next to her ear. "It reveals the unseen."

"This is an awful lot of planning for someone who didn't do this willingly." Cyrus interjected. "It seems that he's been keeping careful schematics of the Scarabs."

He handed over the schematic to Aloy.

"Why would he have this?" Olin asked.

"Two reasons," Cyrus began. "Olin is either repairing them or trying to learn how to destroy. I'd wager it's the former over the latter. But I wouldn't know until I met the man. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

"No. He left to delve a few days ago." Erend answered. "Though his map there points to some of the different sites he's worked at."

"Could he be at one of them?" Aloy asked.

"Possibly." Erend said. "Like I said, I don't know."

"It's a start." Cyrus answered. "The land looks familiar, a way back east."

"We should start going then." Aloy said.

Cyrus nodded before leaving the building with Aloy. They made it out the door when Erend spoke up.

"Wait." He said. "If your focus reveals the unseen, could it tell me who killed Ersa?"

"Who is Ersa?" Cyrus asked.

"His sister and former captain of the vanguard." Aloy responded.

"Thank you." Cyrus said. "As to your question, possibly, it depends on the evidence you find at the sight of the attack."

"Do you have a focus?" Aloy asked.

"No, but I do have experience with them." Cyrus replied, nonchalantly.

"Could you help me find Ersa's killers?" Erend asked. "I just need a few minutes of your focus."

Aloy glanced at Cyrus. The Good Hunter sighed.

"If you want to split up again, I'll go find Olin while you help Erend." Cyrus said.

"Great, I'll meet you at Red Ridge Pass." Erend said with a smile.

Aloy turned to the Good Hunter as the Oseram left.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Sort of." Cyrus said. "For someone who really wants to learn the secrets of this world, and take revenge on the killers at your… 'proving', you really like to find reasons to not do that."

"You're not bound to me, you know." Aloy said. "You did agree to come with me."

"And I'm free to walk away anytime." Cyrus finished, "There's no need to guilt trip me into staying. I've been through this song and dance more times than you can count. I'm staying for my own reasons."

"And those reasons?" Aloy asked.

"I told you, The Hunt." Cyrus said. "You should go. I'll meet you back in Meridian when your errands with Erend are done."

Aloy nodded. The exited the city in uncomfortable silence. Aloy whistled and her strider sauntered over to them. She whistled again and Cyrus's joined. Cyrus mounted his steed and rode off to the first of Olin's sites marked on the map.

The first site was devoid of any life. The ruin there was little more than some stray scraps and rubble. It appeared to have been picked clean sometime ago. The second site proved to be more interesting but still not the location of the Hunter's quarry.

However, something that did worry Cyrus was the feeling of the site. The unsettling feeling of someone, or something watching him. He dismounted from the strider and walked into rubble. The ruin reminded him heavily of a church. Granted, he certainly didn't remember there being a church out here… not that he ever visited enough to find one.

A small green-tinted, latticed stone grabbed his attention as he scrambled over one of the ruins walls. He picked it up and scowled. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He looked up. The stone in his hands seemed to shake.

"Stay out of my sight." Cyrus growled. "I've killed one of you before, I can do it again."

He opened his eyes. The stone no longer shook in his hand. The only evidence that anything had been there were two large foot prints in the earth, and a large six fingered hand print.

"There will not be another Yharnam." Cyrus growled, dropping the tonsil stone into one of his pockets.

He quickly rode away from the dig sight towards the third and final dig site Olin marked on the map.

ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…

Data Log TEH-005

So… at the rate it appears that I'm only updating every other week now. Sorry about that. Forgot about the holiday last week. Barring any further interruptions to my schedule, we should be back to normal weekly updates.

Thank you to all who read this, your feedback and views are much appreciated.

Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.

End Log S.T.K.