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

Chapter 38: Quiet Night

LOG: Failure, again: Data Corruption Minimal

Ted Faro: The Helheim project has failed. I received a missive from Dr. Ozark last night. They were unable to crack the formula to interdimensional travel. Humanity as we know it is doomed. More power than could ever possibly generated is required, and a way to literally tear through the fabric of reality as we know it. It was our last hope. Thebes is the only safe place left on Earth. With the procedures continuing tomorrow, at least I'll be able to lead the coming generation of children to avoid the mistakes of their ancestors.

…/…

"So… you're from the old world?" Erend asked later that night.

Cyrus turned to see the Oseram standing next to him. The slight glow from the crescent moon provided little illumination of the cliff's edge.

"Yep." Cyrus replied as he gazed out into Tenakth territory.

"Did all of the old ones live as long as you or…" Erend trailed off.

"I'm an outlying case." Cyrus replied. "Also, it'd be better if you didn't refer to them as old ones. That name applies very heavily to a select group of extremely powerful Eldritch deities."

"Right…" Erend said.

The night grew silent save for the quiet whispers of the wind.

"Do you have something in particular that you wish to know?" Cyrus asked. "I don't think you came out here to simply ask about immortality."

"Yeah." Erend admitted. "M- GAIA said that you have the ability to raise yourself back from the dead, and that Aloy has that ability too. I was wondering-"

"I'm going to stop you right there." Cyrus interrupted. "I can already tell where this line of questioning is going. You want to know if I can bring back someone close to you, right?"

"My sister." Erend said.

"I'm sorry but I can't." Cyrus replied. "The only reason that Aloy and I can come back to life is because of our connection to the Eldritch. A connection such as ours is only formed in living beings when a Great One takes interest in you. Our patron connected us to the dream, and the dream sustains us. Trying to do the same for your deceased family would merely give you walking corpse. Something akin to the repair bay below this base."

Erend nodded and left. Cyrus continued to watch as the moon continued across the sky. Eventually, he reentered the base. Everyone was asleep besides him and Aloy. He walked towards the AI interface room.

"So… you do know?" he heard Aloy's voice.

"Yes." Mergo answered. "But Cyrus's secrets are not mine to tell."

"And he isn't likely to tell me." Aloy snarked.

"Have you ever considered asking him?" Mergo questioned.

"Asking me what?" Cyrus spoke up as he entered the room.

Aloy was startled at his sudden entrance.

"Nothing." She replied.

"She is curious as to the exact parameters of your deal with the Moon Presence." Mergo stated.

"Are you going to tell him everything I tell you?" Aloy asked, glaring at the young Great One.

"If he asks. My loyalties lie with him, first and foremost." Mergo answered.

"Thank you, Mergo." Cyrus replied. "As for your question, Aloy. The particulars of my deal with the Moon Presence are between the two of us. Being honest, I don't even know how Mergo knows."

Mergo shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"That's all besides the point though." Cyrus said. "We have more pressing issues to deal with."

"Right, we need to find the remaining subordinate functions. Mergo, how stable is the current biosphere?" Aloy asked.

"Right now, we are looking 63% stability." Mergo answered. "And dropping. If stability falls below 15%, then the biosphere is unrecoverable."

"Is that when we all die?" Varl asked as he and Erend entered the room.

"No." Mergo said. "If you ration properly, you could probably live for a few months after the biosphere collapses."

"What do we need to do to save the world, then?" Erend asked.

"We need to recover the remaining subordinate functions." Aloy answered.

"Unfortunately, we only know that APOLLO and HADES have been destroyed, and HEPHAESTUS is hiding in the cauldron network." Cyrus explained.

"Why can't you just take HEPHAESTUS back by force?" Varl asked.

"That is part of the problem." Mergo answered. "The way the system was set up, each subordinate function is governed by the GAIA core, which I manage. The way they do this is by drawing their power from the core to cover their assigned jobs. HEPHAESTUS was made to draw the largest percentage of processing power as he controls the machines and the cauldrons. Assuming I could re-shackle him to the GAIA core, he would probably be able to take control of the entire system in a heartbeat, if for no other reason than the GAIA core would be overwhelmed by his processing."

"We got lucky with MINERVA." Cyrus interjected. "We have no ideas about the rest."

"I wouldn't say that." Mergo said.

"Why? Varl asked.

"Because, I have the locations of some of the other subordinate functions." Mergo answered. "I've given you the coordinates of AETHER, DEMETER and POSEIDON. With those three, I should be able to buy us a few months, maybe even a year."

"How did you find them?" Aloy asked.

"They are still trying to perform their programmed functions." Mergo answered.

"All of them?" Erend asked.

Mergo nodded.

"Even HEPHAESTUS?" Erend pressed.

"Even HEPHAESTUS." Mergo answered.

"But his function didn't involve creating machines to kill humans, did it?" Aloy asked.

"No." Cyrus answered.

"Indeed, HEPHAESTUS making war machines isn't part of his directive, it's a response to stimuli. The weaponized machines were originally being created to attack humans because you humans were attacking the machines." Mergo said. "You hunted the machines. HEPHAESTUS took that as a threat, so he started making more dangerous machines, that you also hunted."

"And now he's creating Eldritch machines that will make hunting them an absolute nightmare." Cyrus said.

"Exactly." Mergo confirmed.

A moment of silence passed amongst the group.

"So, what should we do?" Varl asked. "I think Erend will agree, but we hardly understand what's going on here in the first place."

"Cyrus and I will seek out the subordinate functions Mergo has provided us with. "You two should become used to using your Focuses. They will also help you understand the old-world technology." Aloy said.

"I'm also going to contact ODIN." Mergo said. "The generators in this base are adequate, but with the amount of power we'll soon need, I imagine that we'll be needing Muspelheim to keep things running properly."

"One last thing," Cyrus said as they prepared to leave. "Outside this room, her name is GAIA. Our patron would be most angered if it were to find out that Mergo is alive."

Erend and Varl nodded as they left the room.

"Your concern for me is touching, but you do know that I can handle myself, right?" Mergo asked.

"I know." Cyrus sighed. "But we don't know the full extent of the Moon Presence's power."

"Well, we do know that it has some control over time." Aloy said. "Does that help?"

"It helps our patron." Cyrus said.

"Besides, most Great Ones, and Old Ones for that matter have some level of control over time." Mergo said.

"Really?" Aloy asked.

"Of course." Mergo said. "We are a group of beings that live beyond its standard bounds. How else do you think Cyrus lived for nearly two thousand years in the course of one night?"

"It was two thousand years?" Cyrus asked.

"Yep." Mergo said. "You lost count, but I didn't."

"I thought you were a baby…" Aloy muttered.

"Outside of time." Mergo reminded her. "And I was an infant, still am technically."

"How? You're at least three thousand years old!" Aloy exclaimed.

"I'm the youngest Great One in existence." Mergo said. "The only Great One close to me in age is Mother Kos's Orphan, and even then he's still a lot older than me. The next youngest Eldritch being is still close to a million years of age. Time doesn't affect us the way it does you."

Aloy just looked at the projection, confused. She turned to Cyrus to see if he could help her.

"I wouldn't question it." Cyrus responded to her look. "It will only make things more confusing. We have a more pressing matter to deal with, anyway."

"Right." Aloy gathered herself. "How do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking that we each choose one function and bring it back, then work together on the last one." Cyrus said. "I was thinking of heading towards DEMETER."

"Why her?" Aloy asked.

"According to these coordinates, DEMETER is located at an old FARO testing ground. A testing ground that I want to ensure is still dead and buried." Cyrus answered.

"Which testing ground?" Aloy asked.

"The biomatter conversion testing ground." Cyrus said. "The place where the seed of destruction was planted in the old world."

ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…

Data Log TEH-038

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.