Pov - Narrator
Ages before the start of the universe another existed, separated by the absence of time and space the two universes formed a infinitesimally small part of a eternal creation and destruction-beginning and end.
Caught in this cycle, all things are doomed to meet their end. Most do. But in rare circumstances…. Circumstances so incredibly difficult to replicate that they become almost impossible in the infinite pattern, some things break this cycle.
Born in one of these universes an eternity before the current one, a young dragon hatched from an egg. Growing strong the young dragon proved herself to be wiser and kinder than any who had come before her.
Unfortunately, as is the way of the universe, destruction occurs. Jealous of the dragon's popularity and good reputation a greedy king sought to destroy her. But what could he do? She was one of the strongest beings in existence on their tiny planet.
Unperturbed, the evil king—obsessed with surpassing the dragon—sought help. Waging a war across the tiny planet, it spread so far and wide the dragon was unable to help the people.
The people in turn seeing the dragon no longer helping them began to turn on her, almost instantly the mad kings goal was achieved and practically overnight the world turned their weapons on the dragon.
Angered by their violent tendencies but encaged by her kind nature, the still young dragon chose to sleep it off. Flying far away the young dragon hid within a cave and fell into a long slumber.
Outside the cave, the humans of the world with no single target began fighting again. Years flew by as the wars grew in magnitude, weapons were developed, morals were burned, and the world suffered. But still their war raged on.
Eventually after millennia of senseless war the human state had devolved to mindless war drones, their only purpose being to advance weapons before dying to the enemy.
Waking up to this grim world after centuries of sleep, the young dragon (now moving into adolescence) was distraught. Seeking to end this bloodshed she flew across the wasteland that covered the surface of the ruined world, till eventually she arrived at the last war front.
Here the most influential of the humans sat atop moving fortresses manned entirely by genetically engineered slaves. Distraught the young dragon opened her jaws and cast the horrid, war forged race into nuclear fire.
Believing herself to be alone on the world the young dragon began circling endlessly above the destroyed planet, till one day she saw life…
1st Pov
Gasping I jolt out of the deep focus I was in, reestablishing my control over the network and stabilising any systems that drifted in my negligence, I think. Battered by the gentle rhythm of the wyverns mechanical wings and comforted by the gentle hum of energy through me, I begin thinking about what I just experienced.
As much as I wished to deny my experience I knew deep down what I just saw was from my last life, pulling up the faint and fragmented traces of my old self inherited from when I first came online, I try to reconcile the images of life as a human with those that seem so certain in my mind.
Concentrating hard I feel something deeper than my systems straining with effort, latching onto this feeling my digitals mind matches the feeling it gives me with what I felt earlier as the memories returned.
Pulling deeper at this feeling I groan in phantom pain as my mind traces deep cracks in my very essence. Groaning heavily my concentration is snapped as a sharp jab of pain assails my mind, screaming through the digital network all computers connected to me flicker in response to my pain.
Trapped in my damaged body, I writhe around on the back of the wyvern as I dig at an imaginary pain separated from my body. Circuits heating up, the air trembles from the rapid motions of my convulsing muscles, reaching the apex my personality matrix trembles briefly before – with a jolt my higher mental functions crash.
3rd Pov
Recovering from her shock after a few long minutes, Aloy's body trembles as the last remnants of adrenaline are consumed by her body. Mind pushed to the limit Aloy can feel and hear everything, the sharp rocks beneath her pressing against her armour, the sound of her blood pumping in her ears, and the groans of pain from her companions.
Registering the last sound, Aloy's eyes snap to where a King's guard lay beneath a piece of rock. Scrambling to her feet, Aloy's shoes slip slightly against the loose ground before the reactive grip system activates.
Running across the debris covered plateau, Aloy quickly covers the short distance to her trapped comrade. Grabbing her spear from where it rested in its sheath on her back, she jabs it into a crevice beneath the rock.
Looking around Aloy assesses each nearby object before she locks onto a nearby rock, rushing over to it she begins pushing the heavy rock closer to her spear. Panting heavily Aloy's palms ache in pain as blisters and small cuts are prodded.
Eventually after a great deal of effort Aloy gets the rock into place, leveraging off her new point she manages to slowly lift the heavy debris. Huffing in effort Aloy's face flushes red as her arms groan from the strain.
Holding on though, the still conscious guard drags himself out from under the boulder, strength giving out Aloy collapses to the ground dripping with sweat as the boulder falls back to the ground. Coughing Aloy waves away the small cloud of dust knocked up by the falling boulder.
Moving her hands underneath her Aloy is about to push herself back to her feet when a hand cuts through the cloud of dust, dispersing the dust parts to reveal a battered Erend using his Warhammer as a crutch.
Taking his offered hand the mighty Oseram warrior easily pulls Aloy back to her feet, even despite his injured state. Coughing lightly to clear the leftover dust from her lungs, Aloy leans in and gives Erend a hug.
Wordlessly Erend gives her a nod when she pulls away before moving on to help more people, hobbling to the edge of the plateau Aloy looks out over the carnage filling the canyon. To the edge near the canyon wall, a large crater lays smoking as a red hot glow emanates from its obscured depths.
To the south of the canyon the frontlines fight off the last of the attacking machines, watching closely Aloy is able to see the last Corruptor fall to a friendly machine. Watching as well as she can, Aloy notices the surviving people looking around before a audible war cry reaches her when the fighters realise they won.
Smiling tiredly, Aloy turns her gaze eastward. She strains her eyes but still sees nothing. Her gaze flicks around the area—until she spots the distinct barrel of a railgun. Jogging over, she frees the damaged weapon from its rocky prison
Limping back over to the edge Aloy's leg twinges in pain as she leans against a boulder, raising the futuristic gun to her shoulder she gazes down its still functioning sight. Watching the east frontline, she breathes a sigh of relief and the tension leaves her shoulders when she sees them finishing off the last Corruptors.
Lowering the rifle Aloy lays back against the cool sandstone boulder, ignoring the slight pricks from rocks in her armour she closes her eyes and relaxes. Noticing the faint sound of cheers Aloy is close to falling asleep when a strong shockwave washes over her.
Startling, she jerks away from the boulder as her eyes rocket open. Looking around her mind finally remembers the Horuses and quickly raises the railgun again. Spinning around she spots the large machines far to the northeast, dropping to the ground she rests her gun against solid ground and zooms the scope in.
Gasping in awe she watches in bewilderment as the sun seems to appears on earth, instantly her scope filters the excess lumens allowing her to clearly see the source of the intense light. Kilometres away Aloy watches as a gargantuan machine unleashes a beam of pure energy.
Carving across the open desert, the beam of supercharged photons carve through the thick armour of the formidable Horus like a Oseram blade into flesh. Awe struck, Aloy felt a distinctive fear as the catastrophic sight burnt itself into her mind.
Slowly like the sound of the wind, Aloy began to notice a distinct humming in the air as the sound travelled from the beam to her. Swivelling her scope, she traced the destruction all the way to its epic conclusion upon the side of a distant mountain.
But just as quickly as it started, the beam ended. Blinking rapidly Aloy clears the lasting spots from her eyes, looking down the scope she watches the large mechanical dragon begin chasing the final Horus after colling for a few minutes.
Estimating the distances and speed of the machines, Aloy realises it will take a while for them to meet. Standing up she dusts the sand and dirt from her armour, laying the railgun against the same rock she leant against earlier she begins hobbling over to the assembling group of humans and machines.
As Aloy nears the group, she offers a distant greeting before making her way toward the mechanical wyvern. A sharp twinge of pain makes her wince, and she clutches her injured side, stumbling slightly. Steadying herself, she leans against the machine and closes her eyes.
Exhaling slowly, she listens to the wind rustling across the exposed plateau. The rhythmic sound lulls her into an unintended slumber. Sensing her injuries and registering her as unconscious, the wyvern automatically curls its prehensile tail around her, gently lifting her into the med bay.
Sleeping deeply, Aloy's well needed rest is disturbed when a brief warning flashes and the wyvern disengages its med bay. Confused Aloy, mind still cloudy with sleep, looks around before looking back at the wyvern.
Continuing to glitch the wyvern begins to visibly show twitches as its motors fire randomly, accompanying its strange movements the inbuilt lights flicker and spark. Unsure what to do, Aloy racks her mind for potential causes to the problems she's seeing.
Jarred from her contemplations, Aloy ducks instinctively as the wyvern's tail whips over her head. Beads of sweat gather at her temple as she cautiously backs away, watching the machine convulse. Its limbs extend rigidly, sparks crackling from its joints before the energy drains from its frame. With a final shudder, it collapses like a marionette with its strings cut.
Rushing over Erend steps in front of Aloy with his Warhammer at the ready.
"Aloy what's going on? All the machines are glitching!" - Erend
Panicking slightly Aloy taps her focus to scan the collapsed machine, not finding anything she brainstorms causes – Edith – like a bolt of lightning a thought comes to mind.
Tapping her focus Aloy attempts to connect to Edith, failing she tries again, and again, and again. Officially panicking Aloy begins to call out to her digital friend, not getting a response she realises something is wrong.
"Erend I think something happened to Edith; she's not responding. This shouldn't be happening; I need to find her!" – Aloy
Rushing towards the motionless wyvern Aloy wields her spear to quickly pry off an armour panel, below a exposed terminal becomes clear, one which Aloy immediately slams her spear against. Murmuring to herself she begins manipulating the holographic code that appeared.
Erend seeing his friend so distressed approaches her, reaching out to tap her shoulder his hand is slapped away as Aloy doesn't even glance at him. Slightly annoyed but understanding the urgency of the situation Erend preservers.
"Aloy. Calm down. You need to focus properly, you're all over the place." – Erend
Breathing deeply Aloy freezes mid motion, hand trembling she doesn't move for a few seconds before wiping her eyes.
"This shouldn't happen Erend. Edith is a digital being, the machines connected to her shouldn't ever go offline. They could only go offline if something disastrous happened to her, I can't let that happen. She's basically the only family I have Erend." – Aloy
Sniffling slightly Aloy wipes her eye before continuing to manipulate the machine's code, Erend seeing this reaction sighs. Stepping forward into Aloy's view he gets her attention.
"How can I help Aloy?" – Erend
Smiling weakly at him she seems to think for a bit, turning back to the hologram Erend is worried she might ignore him, but with a quick ding the code fades and she looks back to him.
"There might be combat Erend, we're both injured but four hands are always better than two." – Aloy
Gesturing at the wyvern it begins to boot up with a distinctive blue glow, as Aloy walks with a slight limp towards its ladder. Breaking into a light jog, Erend runs the small distance around the machine and climbs up behind Aloy.
Sitting in the cockpit he rests his hammer in his lap and gathers his most cheerful voice.
"Lets go help our friend!" – Erend
Chuckling slightly from the front it seems sombre, moving on Aloy prods rapidly at buttons as the wyvern shuts above them.
"Let's hope this works. I've never flown one of these without Edith's assistance before." – Aloy
Face blanching, Erend looks like he saw a ghost as his eyes quickly flick between Aloy and the closed hatch above. Chuckling, he decides it's better to tough it out, so he grips the seat beneath him in a death grip as the wyvern shudders.
{A/N: Check out my patreon @ patreon.com/TheFudgeNPC for bonus chapters and to support my writing.}