The Other Huntress (Kotallo/OC)

Chapter Nine: Hello to Zeniths

Hey guys, first of all I want to apologize for how long this update took to get out! I've been super busy lately with graduation and AP tests this past month or so and haven't had much time to write. However, with my summer started my schedule should start to clear and updates will be more frequent. Thanks so much for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoy!

.          .          .

 Despite the many ruins Orea had explored throughout her life, she would never fully adjust to the feeling of artificiality the Old World seemed to induce in her. Bathed in a sterile blue light and given the moniker "Latopolis' by her Focus, the bunker ahead of the huntress felt so...lifeless, and not just because its denizens were all long dead. HADES must have felt right at home here. Faintly, she caught the distant churn of water-if she had to guess, the place was decently flooded.

"I'm hearing a lot of water," she mused aloud, Aloy and she wandering down a hallway. If Orea had learned anything in her time exploring ruins, Latopolis was going to become very labyrinthine, very quickly.

"There must be runoff from the peaks above," Sylens deduced, voice ringing in her ear like a gnat. "It may have been leaking in for quite some time."

"Well, that's just fantastic," Orea grunted, using her spear to pry open an ancient door, gaining access to the entirety of the compound.

"I think 'leaking in' is a bit of an understatement," Aloy huffed, hands on her hips. "The place is completely flooded." Time had apparently not been kind to Latopolis, whose bottom half was firmly underwater. The facility's structural integrity was also not in tip-top shape, the metal walkway leading to a great glowing sphere-the heart of the ruin-snapped apart and separated by the cruel hands of time.

"Well, how are we getting to the other side?" Orea asked, scanning the space around her. There had to be some way the two of them could make a path forward. Maybe we could use those pillars to go the long way around?

"Aloy-" she began.

"I see it," her sister replied, having come to the same conclusion. Jogging back a few steps, Orea took off in a run, vaulting herself over the sodden depths. To her luck, a series of rusted posts poked out of the water to her left and she hopped swiftly across, the technique ingrained in the soles of her feet thanks to nearly two decades of climbing experience. The trail put her within jumping distance of one of the stone support beams; now all she needed was a handhold to grab onto.

"There's a vent up there," Aloy noticed, crouched on the mast behind her sister. "Use your Pullcaster."

"Good idea." Orea made quick work of the vent grate and swung herself flush against the pillar, climbing up toward the dripping ceiling. The columns didn't lead to the main hatch, but they did neighbor a sidelong section of the compound. Well, if the boot fits. With a near-instinctual leap and grapple, Orea and Aloy landed on the platform. The door before them was broken, but the vent above it was wide open.

"After you," Orea grinned, beckoning Aloy toward the outlet.

"But of course," her sister grinned, bounding upwards with a grunt. Orea followed her twin through, only to be greeted by the crimson glare of a locked hatch.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing toward a foreign valve bolted into the wall adjacent to the closed door.

"I'm not sure," Aloy breathed. "I've never seen anything like it." Before she could ponder the function of the strange device further, the huntress caught sight of a shelf on the other side of the entrance, and the single power cell it housed. Somehow it was still operational, and Orea couldn't help but notice the cell was designed in the exact shape of the device's cavity. The device by the door is for power cells.