FILE_RECOVERY_COMPLETE
PARTIAL_FILE_RETRIEVED
Bloodborne belongs to FromSoftware, Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games
Chapter 21: The Mountain of Madness
LOG: Snow: Data Corruption Moderate
Dr. Maria Strass: I can't remember the last time I saw snow. Everything is so bleak now. Dead. Faro and his blasted swarm have destroyed everything. We're next. I don't think anyone has noticed yet. The door to our bunker never shut. The swarm will be on us in hours, maybe tomorrow if we're unlucky. I wanted to watch the snowfall. I know it's not snow. I don't care. I just wanted to see the snow.
…/…
Whatever they thought they would see when at GAIA Prime was far from reality. The mountain had been cracked in two, from the gaping hole to the mountain's roots up to the now twin peaks of the mountain. The ruins of an old-world bunker were expected. Jagged walls and floors of metal jutted out from the rock in various places. A particularly precarious ruin of a hallway stretched across the chasm at the center.
What they weren't expecting was everything else. A carved stone bridge also stretched across the chasm. Intricate gothic architecture, untouched by the ravages of time, stood out in comparison to the newer, yet more damaged metallic structure. A tower straight out of Cyrus's time in Yharnam rose through the center of the metallic hallway. A small assortment of buildings from the thrice cursed city were scattered across the sides of the hole in the mountain. Cyrus almost chuckled at the sight of railings along some of the edges. From one destroyed hall, the two could see a small waterfall of crimson fluid. Cyrus could immediately tell it was from a river of blood.
More concerning than any of that however, was the presence of a pale moon in the sky keeping the chasm lit brightly, despite the fact that the night was moonless and clear outside the mountain.
"You don't see that every day." Aloy muttered.
"Most don't see it at all." Cyrus stated.
"You should head in." Sylens spoke up over Aloy's Focus. "I've prepared a way for you."
"You've been here before?" Aloy asked.
"Only to a point." Sylens replied. "Although, if your reaction is anything, I didn't see the same things you are."
"Cyrus, what happened here?" Aloy asked.
"Just like USRC. The intersection of a Nightmare and the Waking World, only this one is far more severe." Cyrus answered.
"Do you know what could cause something like this?" Aloy asked.
"Same as back in the USRC. An Eldritch gift designed to cause this or modified to." Cyrus explained. "We should head down."
The two began their descent into the chasm. A path had been built into the wall, as Sylens had indicated. They climbed up through a ruined hall. Inside was the remains of an old workshop. Aloy assumed it to be Sylens workshop.
"I spent years trying to get through this door." Sylens spoke up. "It never occurred to me that the path forward was not with force but with a key. You should have no trouble getting through."
"You make it sound like I should apologize." Aloy snarked.
"Not at all. The failure of imagination rests with me." Sylens said.
Aloy approached the door at the back of the workshop. Cyrus watched as she easily opened the door, as if it had been waiting for her. He did raise a questioning eyebrow when she stopped.
"What's the hold up? All the answers wait for us beyond the threshold." Sylens said.
Cyrus approached her. As he neared, he felt the wave of Eldritch energy. Thick enough to form an invisible barrier between the nightmare and the waking world. Cyrus gritted his teeth and forced his way through. It stung, not as much as being blown to bits, but it still hurt. He turned and watched as Aloy crossed as well. The door closed behind them. Cyrus chuckled as he saw the Hunter's Mark engraved on their side of the door.
"Something tells me that Sylens wouldn't have been able to enter even if he had opened the door." Aloy said.
"Probably not. We'll have to be careful. The nightmares are rarely kind to interlopers." Cyrus replied. "The bridge is our best way across."
The two began marching along the edge of the pit. The stone bridge grew more and more ominous as they drew nearer. Aloy could see various reliefs carved into the stone. Reliefs of men and women worshiping indescribable beings, scenes of torture, and nightmarish monsters preying upon the weak.
Aloy was pulled from her thoughts as Cyrus suddenly yanked her back. A massive seven fingered hand slammed into the ground next to them as a large lattice worked head rose over the ledge. Far too many eyes gazed at them as the seven-armed creature pulled itself up along the rock walls. It came to rest on one of the stone buildings overlooking the bridge.
"What is that?" Aloy asked, a tinge of fear lacing her voice.
"An Amygdala. I'm surprised you can see them so soon. It took me literally killing a being of their caliber before I could finally see them." Cyrus stated.
"Ok, but what are they?" Aloy asked.
"Denizens of the nightmare. They make their homes in nightmares or in the waking world where the fabric of reality has worn thin. I'd say this mountain certainly qualifies" Cyrus answered. "Though it is slightly concerning that there aren't more of them."
The two continued climbing along mountain walls. Soon enough they had made it to the bridge. The top of the bridge was no better than the bottom. A number of human looking monsters patrolled the bridge. Cyrus recognized them as old hunters. Their garb was very similar to his own, however their weapons were the old hunter style. They wandered aimlessly up and down the stonework of the bridge. Mindless in their wanderings, little more than animated drones.
"If we're careful, we should be able to avoid a fight." Cyrus muttered.
He handed Aloy a couple vials of blue elixir. She looked at him questioningly.
"Focus on the waking world and drink them. It will feel like your mind and body are trying to slip away. Don't let it. Move forward slowly. These will make us nearly invisible. It only lasts about a minute, so you'll have to drink another when you feel it wearing off." Cyrus explained.
"We can probably take them." Aloy said.
"Probably. But I've a feeling that something worse is waiting for us beyond this bridge. I'd rather not risk it." Cyrus explained.
Aloy watched as he drank one of the blue elixirs. As he said, his body vanished from sight. Aloy hurriedly copied him. Just as he said, she could feel her mind and body trying to leave the waking world. It took tremendous willpower to hold herself together and start walking forward. Around one minute into their crossing, Aloy could feel the elixir wearing off. She quickly drank another and continued walking forward. The old hunters barely took notice of them. Aloy marveled as they strode past with nary a blink in their direction. She made it to the other side as the elixir wore off. The hunters on the bridge paid no heed as they descended further into the mountain.
A door opened and soon they were inside a relatively undamaged section of the facility that still had power. They walked down a hall and entered a room with a table in the center. On the table was a hologram of hundreds of flowers and a bio of Elisabet Sobeck.
Cyrus stepped up to the table. Recording devices lay scattered on the table. Aloy activated the projector.
"This is Charles Ronson." A voice began. "I'm logging this six hours after final deployment of GAIA Prime. This morning… an access port seal malfunctioned. GAIA Prime's port seals were designed to close with a seam of less than two millimeters. But this one closed with a ten-millimeter gap. Enough for an energy signature to bleed through. Enough for the swarm to detect this facility. Enough for GAIA to be discovered and destroyed. Enough to end the future we worked so hard to make possible. Unless the hatch servos were manually re-engaged… from the outside. I'm now switching to a recording of the event."
A group of people appeared around the table. Cyrus began walking around the room in a circle. Aloy just turned and watched as each person began speaking.
"Well, I'm not going out there! Not what I signed up for." Travis Tate exclaimed.
"Either we send someone out, or all of this was for nothing." an older man said.
"It should be Lis's decision." The voice they heard earlier declared.
"So, when's she going to get here?" The older man said.
"She said five minutes. You don't think…?" One of the women said.
A new hologram appeared in the center of the table of a person wearing life sustaining armor.
"Okay, everyone. I've repaired the seal. GAIA?" came the voice of Elisabet Sobeck.
"Seal closure at one point four millimeters, confirmed." Mergo confirmed.
"Elisabet - no. We'll find a way to bring you back in-" Charles began.
"Not going to happen. The swarm's too close. Really, it's all right. GAIA's complete. She'll take care of things from here on out. That's what she does." Elisabet said.
"Not like this. There's so much we…" Charles tried again.
"Guys - you know me. I'm no good at endings. At letting things end. So, let's not." Elisabet said.
"So… happy trails, Lis, and see ya around?" Travis replied.
"Yeah. Take care of each other, all right?" Elisabet said. I'm okay with this. I want to go home. Goodbye."
The hologram switched back to the memorial to Elisabet. Charles began speaking again.
"That was the last transmission of Elisabet Sobeck. She gave everything for the hope of life on this planet. And we are all in her debt." He said as the recording switched off.
"She died." Aloy stated, a hint of despair in her voice.
"Of course, she did." Cyrus replied. "Elisabet was never immortal, despite the Moon Presence's efforts."
"But-" Aloy began.
"Aloy, her efforts saved this world. You are her reborn. Save it again and honor her memory." Cyrus said.
Aloy didn't respond as Cyrus exited the room. She gathered herself and followed after him. As they walked deeper into the facility the Eldritch power permeating the facility grew stronger, more pronounced.
One hallway they stopped at held the strongest presence. Cyrus walked down the hall. A plaque on the ground next to the door revealed much. Cyrus picked it up to read the name. It was Travis Tate's room.
Cyrus opened the door and saw an answer for why the nightmare was intersecting with the waking world. What was left of Travis Tate's room looked like the room Cyrus and Aloy had found Mergo's recording in. Various Caryll runes covered the walls, floor, and ceiling. A large hole had removed the back end of the room.
"Cyrus?" Aloy asked as she looked out the room into the crater beyond.
"I told you. There were two I taught this method of hiding to. Travis was the other one. It would seem that he layered his room with runes to hide himself from the Eldritch world. The detonation of the terraformer disrupted the runes and now the Eldritch power that fueled these runes has expanded around the peak and crater of this mountain." Cyrus explained.
"And this same thing could have happened at the cradle facility?" Aloy asked.
"Indeed. This is what happened to the USRC. A violent disruption of Caryll runes." Cyrus said. "Come, we still have to find that override."
Aloy scanned a recording device on the floor before following Cyrus back into the facility.
It wasn't long before they came across another locked door. This one was powered off, so it took a bit of prying before the door opened. And when it did, air rushed into the room, and some dust blew out of it.
Aloy entered first and saw the bodies. Nine of them. Six slumped over in chairs, two on the ground next to a chair and one crawling towards the exit.
"The Alphas?" Aloy questioned. "But… how?"
"Air rushed in." Cyrus stated. "Someone turned this room into a vacuum and suffocated them. I think I know who it was."
Aloy walked up to the center terminal and activated it.
"I'm locked out of core control- Alpha clearance overridden. What the hell is Omega clearance?" A hologram of Charles Ronson appeared and spoke.
Cyrus growled in anger as a hologram of Ted Faro appeared.
"Alpha Personnel. Sorry to alarm you, but… I need you to listen, okay?" Ted began. "This isn't easy. See, I've… uh. Please stop trying to access the system, okay? See, what this is about… is… I said stop trying to access the goddamn system! What I'm trying to say is, I can't stop thinking about the ones who'll come after us. Those innocents. Those blameless men, and women. We're going to give them knowledge? Like it's a gift?!
"Ted. Ted, we've talked about this before. APOLLO has three thousand plus failsafe conditions-" One of the women began.
"It's not a gift, it's a disease! They're the cure, and we're going to give them the disease? Our disease?! No. We can't. And it's not too late… if we're willing to sacrifice." Ted began. "I've purged APOLLO. It's gone, all of it. Every copy."
"WHAT!" One of the other Alpha's shouted. "WHY!?
"A sacrifice? It's not a sacrifice, it's cultural obliteration, you crazy bastard- millennia of culture- all gone!" Charles shouted.
"I'm sorry, really. I am But sometimes to protect innocents… innocents have to die." Ted continued, hanging his head. "You'll see. This will all be for the best."
"You were never sorry you asshole." Cyrus growled at the hologram.
"Emergency alert. Venting atmosphere." The synthetic voice declared.
Aloy and Cyrus watched as the Alphas painfully died.
"He killed them and deleted Apollo." Aloy said. "How could he do that?"
"Because Ted Faro was an egomaniacal narcissist who thought he knew what was best for the world at large. He didn't want evidence that he destroyed the world to survive." Cyrus explained. "I can tell you though, he did royally piss off the wrong beings."
"The Great Ones?" Aloy asked.
"The Moon Presence specifically." Cyrus said. "At this point, I was in cryostasis, but if the Moon Presence really wants you to do something, she will send you out to do it."
"The second time you met Faro?" Aloy asked.
"The Moon Presence personally chose his punishment for deleting Apollo. I never knew about his murder of the Alphas. It sent me, or a shade of me I guess, to collect him." Cyrus said.
"What was his punishment?" Aloy asked.
"Don't know exactly. I only know that he is bound to the nightmare in which Yharnam resides. One day for every person that Ted Faro prevented from entering the Hunt. Either directly or indirectly." Cyrus answered.
"How many people was that?" Aloy asked.
"I don't know the exact number." Cyrus stated. "I do, however, know that the Moon Presence was very… insidious with choosing. He considered everyone killed by the Faro Plague as part of that indirect group. Everyone from the tribes that has no clue about the Eldritch world is also considered indirect. Until you came along."
"That's… a lot of people." Aloy said.
"Indeed. I have no idea about the numbers, but if we conservatively say seven billion which was somewhere around the number of people alive before the plague began, then Ted Faro is only one thousand years into his two hundred-million-year punishment." Cyrus answered.
"I thought you said that the Great Ones were sympathetic in their nature." Aloy said.
"And the Moon Presence is insidious in nature." Cyrus countered as he walked around the room.
Aloy fiddled with the terminal and retrieved a small cylindrical object. She placed it in one of her pouches before looking around the room.
"Cyrus, there were ten Alphas." Aloy said.
"Yeah, so?" Cyrus asked.
"There are only nine bodies." Aloy said.
Cyrus did a quick count of the room. Aloy was right, there were only nine bodies. He restarted and watched the recording of Faro killing the Alphas. All ten of them were present.
"We're not alone." Cyrus muttered, drawing the Burial Blade.
A cracking could be heard. Cyrus and Aloy turned to the sound. One of the lifeless skulls was looking right at them.
"That one moved." Aloy said.
"Eldritch power can give life to that which has none or hold life in a body it should have left." Cyrus said. "One of the denizens of Yharnam was a living corpse like this. Martyr Logarius. I found his half frozen on the roof of Cainhurst before it came back to life and tried to kill me."
"Is this caused by the Eldritch power in this crypt?" Aloy asked.
"And our intrusion." Cyrus replied, backing away from the corpses.
A low groaning could be heard from above. Cyrus looked up. Hanging from one of the ceiling support beams was the tenth Alpha. Despite the lifeless skull gazing at him, Cyrus could feel the hatred emanating from the body. One of its decaying, gnarled hands pointed at him accusingly. Behind the body, Cyrus could see more runes carved into the ceiling.
"FOUL BEAST!" A voice called from the door.
Cyrus spun to see the old hunters from the bridge converging at the door.
"This is the third time I've woken the dead." Cyrus muttered to himself.
"Not the time, Cyrus!" Aloy called, shooting one of the hunters with her Bowblade.
The Eldritch arrow pierced the lead hunter and the body fell dead once more. Cyrus lashed out towards the reanimated corpses. The corpses of the Alphas put up little fight in their decayed state, but they refused to stay down. The Eldritch power that saturated the mountain continued to knit their flesh and bones back together. Time and time again.
Aloy was slowly being overwhelmed by the number of hunters breaching the room. Cyrus turned his attention to the door briefly as he cut down another corpse again. He withdrew one of his old tools, a small mace sparking with energy, and slammed it into the floor. A wave of lightning burst from the floor, traveling through the doorway and killing many of the hunters. A small lull appeared in the fight.
"We have to go!" Cyrus shouted.
Aloy nodded and the two ran from the room. Hunters and corpses continued to follow after them. They killed many that were in their way. Soon enough. They had returned to the memorial of Elisabet and barred the door. The pounding of fists and weapons alerted them to the following horde of enemies.
"That's not going to hold for long." Cyrus said, breathing heavily.
They kept running. The number of old hunters had thinned, and they killed any that were still in their way. Emerging back into the main part of the crater revealed another problem. The bridge that they had snuck across earlier was now being actively guarded by the Amygdala. It stood on end while firing a laser from its face across the bridge. Two more lasers joined it. Cyrus looked and saw two more Amygdalas protecting the bridge.
"We can still escape using the old ruin over there." Aloy said, pointing at the half-destroyed hall that expanded across the pit.
"This nightmare will still hunt us." Cyrus said. "You go. I'll hold them back."
"What?" Aloy said. "How? I know you're immortal, but you can't hold back three of those things and the veritable army we ran from!"
"I know. But I have a different idea. I'm going to collapse the nightmare." Cyrus said.
"Come again?" Aloy stated.
"I'm going to collapse the nightmare." Cyrus repeated. "You have to get off this mountain. The nightmare will probably bring the mountain down with it."
"Cyrus, I-" Aloy began.
"Aloy!" Cyrus interrupted. "I saw you collect the override from the Alphas control room. It won't survive your death or the collapse of this nightmare if you're stuck in it. I'll be fine. Worst case scenario, I return to the last lantern I rested at. I'll meet you at Meridian. NOW GO!"
Cyrus turned and ran back into the ruin. Aloy could hear him banging his blade against the walls, drawing attention towards him. Aloy shook herself from her stupor and ran towards the old hall stretching across the chasm. It held easily as she ran across it.
Aloy reached the other side when she felt the Earth begin to quake below her. Large rocks fell from above and into the pit. The shaking forced her to knees for a minute before the shaking stopped. She regained her balance and continued running. The door to Sylens workshop was opened and still stung as she forced her way through.
Surprisingly, Sylens was standing there, looking annoyed.
"I lost contact with you two hours ago." He began. "What did-"
"No time to talk, we have to run!" Aloy interrupted.
"Why?" Sylens asked.
"Cyrus is bringing the mountain down." Aloy said as another quake began.
Sylens eyes widened ever so slightly as he braced himself against one of his benches for support. Aloy held another until the quake stopped. Recognizing the need for swift action, Sylens grabbed a metal bar and hurried out of the workshop. Aloy and Sylens both hurried down the mountain. They made it to the corpse of the Eldritch altered Stormbird when the mountain shook once more.
The two collapsed into the snow. Aloy looked back as a loud groaning was heard. The top of the mountain, illuminated by a backdrop of the rising sun, fell inwards. The loud roaring cracking and breaking of rocks and metal resounded around them as the mountain fell into itself. A massive cloud of dust spewed forth from the top of the mountain.
Aloy covered her mouth and shielded herself with the dead Stormbird as the cloud rolled past. When the dust settled, Aloy started climbing back up the mountain. The sun shone down on a crater filled with rock and metal. No evidence of the nightmare remained.
"Your friend certainly has a flair for the destructive." Sylens deadpanned as he stood next to Aloy.
"And a little explaining to do." Aloy replied. "I'm returning to Meridian. I don't care if you come or not. But we're saving the world."
"Before you go, this might help." Sylens held out the bar to Aloy. "Might help with that master override."
Aloy grabbed the metal bar and began her descent down the mountain.
ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…
Data Log TEH-021
Thank you to all who read this, your feedback and views are much appreciated.
Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.
End Log S.T.K.