Living Antiquity

~24~

"Alright, we're almost there..." Aloy says, "The menat Camp Nowhere said she headed out this way, toward Thornmarsh when she realized that was where he went. I contacted Atekka and let her know, and that she was a close friend... She was amused that there was a Carja hunter hiding among them so successfully, and she actually let me know that Talanah was spotted outside the town. The soldiers have reached out and let her know her presence is known and not considered a threat- mostly by yelling about it, apparently. She agreed to wait in town and Atekka handed her the Focus for a moment. She was surprised but not scared, so that's a plus." She looks over at us.
"Must be amazing to think you're gonna get killed if you get caught, then get all but welcomed into town." I laugh.
"If you have a spare focus, I can offer her one, and her friend." Aloy points out.
"Sadly, no. I gave my spares to Natikka and Kentokk so they could reach us," I groaned, leaning on Piglet's carapace.
"Damn. Well, I guess we can give her one on her way back through the mountain." Aloy frowns.
Drakka chuckles, Racer tossing his head as we reach the marshes, "Sounds like you're pretty fond if this friend of yours."
"She mentored me, in a way, back at the Lodge. She at least helped me build prestige. Eventually, she was able to win the title of Sunhawk- meaning she is now the leader of the Lodge," Aloy explains.
"Ahh." Drakka nods.
I listen, seeing the gates up ahead, "Atekka, we're pulling up to the gates."
"Wonderful. I'll let her know," Atekka responds, and I hear movement, and Atekka speaking, then another woman's voice.
"Ah, really? Uh... that was fast. Thanks- yeah, ok, I see them... Amazing."
A minute later, a tall woman in the stylized Carja armor bearing a long ponytail comes bounding oit the gate, waving.
"Hah, Aloy! My favorite Thrush."
"Oh? What about Milu?" Aloy grins.
"Rught, right, Aloy, despite the Nora, my old favorite Thrush," Talanah smirks.
"Ouch." Aloy laughs, hopping off of her Charger's back.
"And these are...?" She looks at me, and Drakka.
"Drakka, the Desert clan Commander, and Y/n. She's the surviving Old One I mentioned back in No Man's Land."
Talanah lights up and shakes my hands vigorously as I hop off of Piglet's back, "Aloy told me about you! How are you liking our era, hm? Enough dangers for you?" She chuckles.
I smile slightly, "Yeah... And a bit harder to get around, but that's what happens when you're used to various old forms of travel. Piglet does an amazing job," I smile, rubbing his carapace.
"Named a Bristleback, huh?" She kneels and examines Piglet's head and tusks, "Lots of repairs been done- how long has this one been in commission?"
"A few weeks. I repair him on a regular basis... Got emotionally attached," I laugh, seeing Drakka walk over.
"Ya know, a couple hours back when that one Clawstrider tried to run at us and then it swerved? Pretty sure he kicked it in the face," Drakka points out, "Gets more of a personality every day."
Piglet huffs and tosses his head, almost lifting it higher as it trying ti show off his bulk.
"Yes, yes, you're a big boy," I laugh and pat Piglet's head.
"Oh? Something to do with how you 'overrode' it, or?" Talanah examines the wires.
"Yeah. Apparently there was a flaw in the code of mine that allowed them to develop a form of awareness. A couple have started talking. I figured out a way to connect to them from a distance to ask them to do stuff, as well, since they're all on my network. Everybody else with an override module in our group copied the code from mine cause developing a form of self-aware AI is actually incredibly useful. And Zo, our Utaru friend, is helpful in getting people to not treat our overridden friends like slaves. If you stop up in Hidden Ember sometime, there's a Tideripper named Nessie working with Burrowers to dig out the city and the dome."
"Amazing..." Talanah then stands and shakes her head, "Anyway, we need to find Amadis. I talked to Atekka and some of the clan- they said that if his friend was brought here to the Rot, he'd have gone a bit north in search of the Rot. This way," she tuns off, the three of us taking off after her, until we hear footsteps behind us.
"Keep going, I'm catching up. I think it best to accompany you so that any guardsmen don't attack her and her friend on sight," Atekka shouts.
"Alright!" I turn my head, seeing her bearing down on us at a pretty clip. Leave it to the Lowlanders to be accustomed to the way the ground falls here.
Drakka keeps pace, panting, "For all that the heat is the same, the wet air... gets me... every damn time..."
"You grew up in a different environment," I point out, "Hot and dry, and hot and wet, are two entirely different hells."
"Agreed. A Desert Tenakth won't have much luck out here, just as a Lowlander won't have much luck in the Desert," Atekka offers, "We thrive where it is lush, plenty of space to hide and not be seen- we are used ti stealth in our home. You've lived in a brutal environment and know how to survive it. Ask a Lowlander to go without water aplenty as long as your clan has..."
Drakka laughs, still panting and sweating through his paint, "Crap, I'm gonna have to redo it again."
I laughed and covered my mouth, almost tripping over a root, "You should see the babyface on him, oh my god."
"Hey!"
Atekka laughs, Aloy snorting as Talanah is heard chuckling ahead of us.
Until we all hear the sound if battle ahead, a man's voice shouting taunts at a machine.
"Amadis..!" Talanah picks up speed, running ahead.
"Wait up!"
Several minutes, a Fireclaw, and several Watchers later, we were all gathered in a circle, panting.
"Two Tenakth, a Nora, and someone of a tribe I don't recognize... You assembled quite the search party for me, Talanah..." Amadis pants.
"You were supposed to send word that you were alright!" Talanah glares at him.
"I'm sorry... I had word that the Rot was out this way, and I thought it's be a fast venture... I was clearly wrong... But I know where the Rot is now."
"Yes, its up this way. I sent a squad to guard it against the rebels, but I haven't heard from them in a couple of days..." Atekka frowns, "Come on."
"Wha- fine..." Amadis frowns as we all take off after Atekka.
Only ti soon learn that Regalla's rebels had taken over the prison.
Scanning it, I frown, looking at Aloy, "You see what I see?"
"Yeah, that gate can only be opened from the inside... Atekka would be recognized, Drakka's paint is too brightly colored to stay hidden..." Aloy frowns.
"You and I pick a side, and sneak around the back? My scan says its open at the water," I point, "We can clear the idiots out as we move bacj toward the front wall."
"You think you're okay?" Aloy asks, looking at me.
I roll my arm in the socket, testing out my skin, "Yeah. I've been wanting to test this new armor out, so this should be good," I smirk.
"Be careful..." Drakka frowns, looking at me.
"How'd it go the last time I snuck around?" I ask, looking at him as he remembers our adventure at the rebel dam.
"Fine, carry on, but fir the love if the Ten, stay hidden."
I smirk and let myself disappear into the trees.
"... Are you absolutely certain she isn't in some way a Lowlander?" I hear Atekka ask.
"How does she even..." Drakka groans.
"I'm magical." I say, opening a comm line to Atekka, Drakka and Aloy, "Aloy, I'm taking this side where there's more guys."
"Kay. If you need help, let me know..." she frowns.
I just giggle, "I used to play Skyrim. It was an open world exploration game with magic, bows and arrows, swords, and hunting... I always ended up drifting into a kind of mage-assassin-thief multimix of skills. And then they made a hologame version that I played when Trav took me in."
"That explains so much..."
"Oh and also- I made new arrows to play with," I grin as I dive into the water.
"What? New- Y/n? Oh, you're underwater..." Aloy sighs as her end also dissolves into water noises.
I hum, shuttling through the water with my diving mask and coming up on the other side kf the base, Aloy and I catching glimpses of each other past the rubble piles as I give her the thumbs up and disappear into the tall grass. I specifically color matched my helmet to blend in...
I smirk, readying my sharpshot bow and settling down, marking the rebels through the walls, "One, two, Y/n's coming for you..."
"No. No creepy songs. No. No." Aloy mutters.
I giggle quietly, and let loose.
Soon, there was an explosion of plasma and fire, several rebels screaming in agony.
Guess it works.
"What the hell was that?!" Drakka hisses into the comms.
"Glowburn arrows." I whisper.
"Who's there?! Spread out and search!"
"Next up, Icepiercer."
I load an arrow that had chillwater and and blastpaste spliced inti the tip and shaft- it would freeze them, and promptly explode and blow them to pieces.
"You scare me. What the hell-" Aloy mutters, only to go silent as she sees me nail one in the head, his head turning to a block of ice and shattering in the explosion, setting chunks of frozen matter everywhere, "... Oh shit."
"Where are they?!"
"Is it the blood-hair?"
I hum quietly, loading another one I wanted to try, "Shockburn next... This might sting a bit."
"Oh my god, Y/n..." Aloy groans at the joke.
Drakka was out there laughing his ass off, Atekka's line showing sound waves from a choking chortle sound as she no doubt enjoys my pristine commentary.
The Shockburn arrow causes a gal to convulse and fall, her skin crisping and burning as she dies.
"Not wuite as spectacular but gets the job done... You want the last guy?" I ask Aloy.
An arrow through his head is my response.
I duck out of cover humming as I run past the bodies, and open the gates, "Yo!"
"Remind me to never piss you off..." Talanah says, looking around at the destruction I had caused as I laugh and put my new favorite toys away.
Drakka stares at the carnage, then me, then bacj at the carnage, "... Yeah, I picked the right one."
"Oh?" Atekka looks over at Drakka.
"Maybe later." Aloy looks around, "I think the missing squad is in there." She points to a door, frowning.
Atekka nods and checks the bodies, coming bacj eith a key and opening it, "Squad, sound off. And... Ritakka, a friend from your old life if here looking for your old self."
A blonde soldier stands.
"Wha... Nesssa?" Amadis tenses.
"I'm Ritakka now," she folds her arms, explaining how she had hated hiding herself due to the Carja's beliefs, and Fashav had them give her the right to fight for her life, "I became Ritakka, and never looked back.
Amadis stares, eyes wide, clearly distressed.
The rest of the squad shifts to and fro nervously.
Amadis tries to talk to Ritakka, neither of them really saying anything that could change the other's mind, until Amadis seems to wilt and give up.
"... This is my home and who I am now. You'll eventually heal, the same as me..." Ritakka says, "But I am Tenakth now. I mourned you and moved on..."
"Did the rebels not know?" I ask, putting a hand on my hip.
"No. I'm sure I'd be dead if they had..." Ritakka frowns.
Amadis looks away, clearly annoyed with himself.
"Hey..." Talanah frowns, looking at him.
A short conversation, and Atekka helped the squad set back up, before heading back toward Thornmarsh, leading Amadis...
"What will you do now?" Aloy asks, frowning.
"I don't know. I... I won't be anyone's second choice..." Talanah whispers, gritting her teeth, "I don't think he'll move on, now that he know's she's alive..."
I nod, "... It... tends to be that way." I sigh.
She nods, "I'll help him bsck to Barren Light. Beyond that? I don't know."
Drakka gives me a look that I more than understand- Please don't ever do that to me...