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

Chapter 24: Respite, However Brief

LOG: Personal Connections: Data Corruption Minimal

Cyrus Bishop: I have tried to live most of my life alone. There is a reason for that. I tried to make friends in Yharnam. Eileen, Maria, Gilbert, Alfred, the old chapel dweller, Arianna… Gehrman. They all died. Eileen was killed by the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst. Gilbert succumbed to the beast plague. I think Alfred killed himself after destroying Queen Annalise's body. Arianna was impregnated by a Great One; the child ended up killing her. I freed Maria from the Nightmare, and Gehrman from the Dream. The chapel dweller died of a different plague.

All of them are dead, and I live on. Imprisoned for eternity in this dream. Yharnam taught me that personal connections are only going to hurt. They will die, I will live. So, I live alone. And yet… I still make friends in every era. Even though they aren't immortal, there are people who understand.

…/…

Pain was the only thing he could feel when he came to. That and the wrappings around his wounds. The room was filled with various men and women, most lying on makeshift beds, but a few moving around and tending to them. It was a rudimentary hospital of some sort. Cyrus forced himself to sit up. Pain lanced through his head as he did so.

"You shouldn't be moving around.. Your injuries were quite severe." A healer said, moving over to his bed.

"I've had worse." Cyrus grunted.

"That doesn't matter, you're still hurt. The fact you're alive at all is a miracle in and of itself. The blessing of the sun shines on you." The healer countered.

"Or the curse of the moon." Cyrus said, forcing himself to his feet.

"Sir, I must insist you lie back down." The healer ordered.

"Sorry, Doc, but that's not happening. I have more important things to do than lie down and wait." Cyrus replied. "I'll take my things and go. You won't be seeing me in here again."

The protests of the healers did nothing to convince Cyrus to stay. His gear was easy enough to find and equip once more. He breathed deeply as he left the building and stabbed a blood vial into his leg. The pain spiked for a moment before vanishing.

Cyrus began wandering around. The city was recovering. Many of the buildings had been destroyed in the attack, but there were no more fires at least. Many people, soldiers, civilians, and priests were all working to put the city back together. The dead machines had already been removed from the city.

His walk took him up the mesa towards the spire. The top of the rock pillar had been mostly cleared off. The core that had housed Hades now had Aloy's spear sticking out of it. Other than that, everything else had been mostly restored, barring the battle-scarred earth. Cyrus sat on one of the small rock walls and stared up at the spire. His memory of the other night was vague at best.

He could remember clearly up until the gate had exploded. Then a fog clouded his mind. It was like trying to remember a dream. He could remember a foreign power in his body, stumbling about, the massive spear of blood, and the Moon Presence whispering in his ear the whole time.

"I heard you had left the healers." Aloy stated.

Cyrus glanced towards her as she sat down next to him.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

"Two weeks." Aloy replied. "I'm surprised you didn't die and just return to the Dream."

"Moon Presence wouldn't let me." Cyrus said.

"Is that what you were promised when the Moon Presence agreed to help?" Aloy asked.

"Not exactly. He only agreed to help. We never specified how." Cyrus stated. "Still, in the future promise me that you'll kill me if you ever see me under the Moon Presence's control."

"I take it that it's not a pleasant experience?" Aloy questioned.

"Not in the slightest." Cyrus replied. "What's happened since I've been out?"

"Not much, admittedly." Aloy answered. "Avad and Erend have been organizing the rebuilding of Meridian."

"How about with you personally?" Cyrus prodded.

"I ensured Hades was actually deactivated." Aloy said, gesturing to her spear. "Met up with Nil a few times and cleared out some bandit camps. I believe he's heading west now. Became one of the top hunters in the Hunter's Lodge here in Meridian. Made some friends there."

"So, you've just been helping around as you see fit?" Cyrus asked.

"Pretty much." Aloy replied. "I've also started hunting for a backup Gaia. We need it sooner rather than later."

"Why?" Cyrus asked.

"I've done a bit of investigating into the other Gaia subordinate programs, and Hephaestus is the one in charge of building and commanding the machines that actually regulate the biosphere. For some reason, the machines have been stopping that regulation. A blight has started spreading that is killing everything." Aloy explained.

"And you think Hephaestus might be responsible?" Cyrus asked.

"Undoubtedly. But in order to bring Hephaestus under control, I need an intact Gaia core to govern the system." Aloy answered.

"Any ideas?" Cyrus asked.

"A few." Aloy said.

"So, you're heading off soon?" Cyrus said.

"Yep." Aloy replied. "I assumed that you and I are done. I guess this is goodbye."

"Aloy, we're nowhere near done." Cyrus said. "You will never be rid of me until one of us is released from the Dream. This is more of a 'see you later.'"

"Then what will you be doing?" Aloy asked.

"While you're off hunting for Gaia, I'm going to look into a few other problems that the Moon Presence tasked me with." Cyrus said.

"Such as?" Aloy asked.

"Well, the most pressing is Operation: Firebreak." Cyrus replied. "Another program that was set up to prevent human extinction."

"Did this one actually work?" Aloy asked.

"Actually, it did." Cyrus answered. "East and slightly North from here exists a massive super volcano. In the old days, it was known as Yellowstone and had the potential to erupt and wipe out life on Earth. Operation: Firebreak was a program designed to relieve the pressure in the magma chambers to prevent eruption."

"And the Moon Presence wants you to look into it?" Aloy asked. "Why?"

"The Moon Presence seems to believe that this is the perfect world to restart the Hunt, properly. Part of my deal with the Moon Presence was to prepare this world for a second coming of Yharnam."

"The city you wanted to remain buried and forgotten?" Aloy queried.

"Yep." Cyrus replied.

"Why would you accept such a deal?" Aloy asked.

"For the time being, the Moon Presence works with us." Cyrus answered.

"What's the other part of the deal?" Aloy asked.

"It…" Cyrus hesitated. "For now, it doesn't concern us."

"What else would you have to look into?" Aloy asked.

"If I can find an access point, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check in on Muspelheim and Midgard." Cyrus said.

"What are those?" Aloy asked.

"Muspelheim was an FAS project to supply potentially infinite energy to the world. The ocean west of us, we called it the Pacific, is ringed by the longest chain of volcanoes on the planet. Muspelheim was a series of machines meant to convert the geothermal energy and pressure in those volcanoes into usable electricity. Midgard was a different FAS project that was meant to focus and stabilize Earth's magnetic field."

"That doesn't sound like something Faro would do." Aloy stated.

"Ted Faro's fame actually grew from his environmental projects. Elisabet was the head engineer of Muspelheim. Midgard also had a series of machines designed to help it govern the field." Cyrus explained. "FAS only manufactured weapons and machines of war for around three-ish years or so."

"And the only thing that remains of FAS are those machines." Aloy stated. "Did those other projects work?"

"Muspelheim? Yes. Midgard? No." Cyrus answered. "The technology to stabilize a massive super magnet just didn't exist. However, the machines and the installation should still be out there somewhere. Muspelheim, however, became the primary energy source for most of the world… and it further highlights Faro's idiocy."

"How so?" Aloy asked.

"Think about it. The swarm had a backup biomass conversion fueling system when it could have just used Muspelheim. The fact that biomass conversion fueling became the primary source of fuel is what screwed us all." Cyrus stated. "Sometimes, I think Faro conspired to destroy the planet. But he still sought me out to fix his mistake."

"Why do you want to check in on them?" Aloy asked.

"Curiosity mostly." Cyrus answered. "If Muspelheim still works, we can use it to revolutionize this world. I'm also curious to see if any of the machines at either site operate. However, if Hephaestus has gone rogue… things will get far worse for us if he has accessed either site."

"Sounds like we've both got a fair bit to do then." Aloy stated.

"Yep." Cyrus replied.

"Goodbye then?" Aloy asked.

"See you later." Cyrus replied.

Aloy nodded and left. Cyrus sat for a little longer. Soon enough, he too stood and took his leave.

ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…

Data Log TEH-024

Shorter chapter this week. A small epilogue for Zero Dawn. Next week starts The Frozen Wilds and further misspellings of Hephaestus. His name only appears twice, and I've managed to misspell it five different ways so far.

Anyway, thank you to all who read this, your feedback and views are much appreciated, and thank you for sticking with me.

Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.

End Log S.T.K.