A breath of air escapes Lorea's lips. She blows on her numb fingers and rubs her hands together. It doesn't really do anything against the cold, but she has the right idea. Cursing her luck she stumbles through the knee high snow, hating how her wet trousers stick to her skin. The rapidly darkening forest below stretches out in front of her, while the mountains loom over her back. She is absolutely and hopelessly lost.
"If only someone hadn't triggered the alarm," she mutters. A gust of wind tugs at her clothes, causing a shiver to roll down her spine.
A shiny metallic orb hangs on her belt, swaying with every step she takes. It starts to click and beep, apparently that's who she's talking to.
How she can understand it is a mystery, but she rolls her eyes at the answer she gets. She wraps her arms around herself, as the wind rolls through the trees. With great reluctance, she enters the forest.
It's not long before the orb beeps and a short burst of red light leaks through its plating. A warning.
She responds immediately by crouching down and pressing her back against the bark of the closest tree. Loud mechanical groans echo through the forest. Heavy thumps come closer and closer, until yellow light illuminates the snow on the other side of the tree. She can hear the hissing and whirling of mechanical components inside the machine. Her entire body freezes up, waiting tensely. Every hurried beat of her heart feels too loud.
The unmistakable sound of a power cell charging up can be heard, the energy crackling inside it. The scanner flares up and unseen by the Nora's eyes, it flashes through the forest. The Scrapper detects no movement and the small pack of machines moves on, the heavy clanking of metal on rock fading away into the night.
The Nora exhales, body going limp as the fear fades away. She breathes in a controlled manner to slow her racing heart. After the much needed moment to collect herself, she picks herself back up and continues where she left off.
Her breath becomes heavy, yet she still finds enough to start a conversation. "Orbs, you do know it's your fault I'm going to not only starve but freeze to death too right, right?"
The orb whistles, denying any wrongdoing.
"It's your fault! I don't see what you see, you should've warned me!" Her voice grows louder, frustration making her careless and rash.
It whistles again, followed by a string of clicks and beeps.
"I should've known? How can I know that walking into a room triggers an alarm! You're supposed to-" She stops, cutting off her sentence to narrow her eyes at a strange blue light approaching from afar. It's small, yet seems to float midair and moves up and as it approaches. As it comes closer the silhouette of a person can be seen. She hides behind a formation of rocks, carefully looking around it to see at the approaching figure. The light seems to come from near the head, interesting. When she can almost make out more the light disappears.
"Lorea!" A very familiar voice shouts her name.
She swears under her breath and appears from behind the rock. "I'm over here," she answers, sounding quite miserable.
Flek rushes over taking hold of her upper arms as soon as she's within reach. "Good, you're in one piece." He rummages through his bag and takes out a hide that he tightly winds around her shoulders. "Warm up and follow."
Following him is exactly what she does. She hates it when her brother is mad or worse, disappointed, but she'll take it over being lost in these woods for the rest of eternity.
After a long moment of silent walking Lorea speaks up. "So, how're you doing?"
"I've been better." Is his short answer.
YOU ARE READING
Blaze and Fury - Aloy
FanfictionA Horizon fanfiction. Lorea is a bit of an odd Nora. She walks the fine line between being part of the tribe and being an outcast. She has been walking into 'tainted ground' for most of her life after all and All Mother hasn't punished her, yet. Whe...
