{A/N: Oh look a chapter. I haven't dropped this story I've just been incredibly busy. BTW comment if you actually read this chapter.}
3rd Pov
Rising into the air above the plateau, the wyvern trembled and swayed in the wind currents. Inside the machine, Aloy worked tirelessly to restore the automated systems and stabilise its flight.
As it levelled out, the wyvern began to hover steadily, and Aloy's actions became less rushed. Steeling her expression, she extended her hands and interacted with the holographic projections, causing the large flying machine to swerve forward.
As the wyvern accelerated, Aloy was pushed back into her seat, struggling against the mounting g-forces. Behind her, Erend's knuckles turned white from gripping his seat, panic flickering across his face in response to the unfamiliar sensations.
At the front, Aloy scanned the holographic recreation of the world outside. Below, chaos reigned—fires burned out of control, and wounded warriors lay where they had fallen. The once-allied machines stood frozen, their systems locked after losing connection to the network.
Tearing her gaze away Aloy looks back to the desert spanning the edge of the canyon and the plumes of smoke rising from the destroyed Horus's far in the distance. Increasing to higher speeds the wyvern approaches the sound barrier as it tears through the skies above the canyon.
Scanning through the holograms with a single minded focus Aloy searches desperately for any signs of the lost AI companion. Double tapping a point on the hologram it quickly zooms in multiple times stopping when it perfectly frames a long ditch on the ground.
Panning the camera, it reveals smoking pieces of metal scattered across the desert ground, reaching the end of the long trench Aloy spots the smouldering remains of a mechanical wyvern. Heart rising slightly in hope she zooms out the cameras and grabs a hold of the controls.
Pulling to the side the wyvern groans as it rapidly changes direction, inside the human occupants are strained against the holographic restraints protecting them. Straightening out the wyvern begins to accelerate towards the crash site, Aloy controlling it with a single minded focus.
Closing in on the crash site Aloy begins to circle the wyvern closer, slowing down it transitions into hovering before landing about fifty metres from the fallen machine. Barely waiting Aloy is already jumping out of the machine the moment it first touches the ground.
Nervously following behind her Erend leaps out of the wyvern as the machine without a controller falls limply to the ground. Running towards the crash Aloy's feet throw up small puffs of sand as she closes in.
Jumping over a piece of metal she slides down the sloped edge of the trench and stops just behind the fallen machine, throwing away pieces of loose metal she searches through the rubble.
Sliding down into the trench behind her Erend drops his hammer to the ground and steps up next to Aloy, grabbing a hold of the piece of metal Aloy was straining against the assists her in flipping it off to the side.
Not finding whatever she was looking for Aloy rushes randomly towards some more rubble, grabbing a hold of the heavy metal scrap she grits her and groans trying to move. Helping her with this piece as well, Erend looks at her slightly concerned.
"Aloy you need to calm down you're stressing yourself out, stop and use your brain. You have a focus you don't have to search randomly." Placing his hand on her shoulder Erend stops her from running towards the next piece of rubble.
Breathing deeply Aloy looks over each piece of rubble before looking at Erend, wordlessly she reaches up and taps her Focus. Spinning on the spot she halts suddenly as she looks back towards the fallen Horus's.
Tapping his own focus Erend looks in the same direction and notices a black box signal. Breaking into a sprint Aloy begins running off towards the signal without a word. Groaning Erend sighs before jogging after her.
Running over dune after dune Aloy follows the faint signal, panting heavily she pulls herself to the top of another dune. Falling on her back she desperately draws in breath like someone who hasn't drunk in days and just found water.
Tilting her head Aloy's sight falls on the top of the next sand dune, tracing down the side of it she sees a smaller but still deep trench. Scrambling to her feet she crests the dune and looks into the trough below it, within she spots the smoking remains of a smaller machine.
Frantically clawing through the dune, she flung away handfuls of sand until her fingers struck something solid.
Sliding down the dune Aloy trips and tumbles as she races towards it. Frantically clawing through the dune, she flung away handfuls of sand until her fingers struck something solid, shaking her hand she reaches into the loose sand more carefully.
Hitting the solid object, she traces it, finding a groove in the object she digs her fingers into it a gets a firm grip. Rising to her feet while still bent over she braces before pulling up on the object with all her might.
Shaking slightly from the exertion she eventual pulls the object to the surface, crouching again she dusts of the loose sand to reveal the familiar metallic structure belonging to Edith's creations.
Following the mechanical arm back to where it met the sand she begins digging again. Cresting the dune after running across the desert to help Aloy, Erend looks down to where he sees Aloy digging in the sand.
Sliding down the side of the dune Erend notices the half uncovered machine in front of her, recognising the mechanical form Erend falls down next to her and begins digging.
A few minutes later sweating under the hot sun Aloy looks over the tattered remains of Edith's main body. Covered in battle wounds the mechanical body has multiple major wounds on the outer limbs but is mostly untouched on the torso.
Pulling off a particularly resilient armour piece Aloy finally gains access to the delicate equipment within, nestled within a multitude of highly advanced systems Aloy finds what see was looking for.
Pulsing slowly with a regular rhythm the glowing orb roughly the size of her head sits undamaged, its purple and crimson lights working perfectly without any obvious faults.
Tapping her focus Aloy attempts to analyse the machines internal systems and fault check it, filtering the massive swaths of data her focus begins to smoke as its processers are overloaded. Quickly sending the relevant data to a spare focus she pulls her failing one from her temple.
Flinching in pain Aloy throws away the focus as it ignites in her hand, wincing she shakes her hand attempting to sooth the burn wound. Pushing off her pain she quickly begins sifting through the multitude of pouches along her waist until she finds her spare focus.
Placing it on her temple she barely hesitates before delving into the recently acquired data. Erend to the side takes a sip from his water pouch as he watches Aloy work, realising he's reached the limits of his meagre knowledge he decides to leave her to what she does best.
Climbing the side of the dune the mighty Oseram warrior is left huffing for breathing under the hot summer sun. Straightening out he begins to look around the area, back the way he came he sees the fallen form of the mechanical wyvern over the tops of the dune.
Spinning to look the other way he notices a faint distortion in the hazy desert air, squinting his eyes and shielding them from the sun with his hand he looks again. Coming into focus through the desert haze a horde of scavenger machines close in on his location.
Eyes widening in shock he quickly takes his Warhammer from its sheath on his back, turning he yells down the dune. "Aloy we have company, how long will you be?" Waiting a few seconds for a reply none comes and his question is carried away on the wind.
Preparing himself to shout again he's cut off when a energy projectile hits the sand by his feet, blasted into the air Erend tumbles down the dune away from Aloy. Halting himself by stabbing his hammer into the sand he comes to a stop on his knees.
Spitting out of mouthful of sand he runs back up the dune, cresting the top he dives into a roll as he dodges under a Sawtooth. Rolling to his feet he stood prepared, hammer in hand he slowly spun to look at the surrounding machines.
Back in the rough between dunes Aloy focused entirely on sifting through the data, each line making her more worried as she couldn't find anything that would cause such a massive error in Edith.
Tirelessly sifting through the data minutes pass as she focus's on nothing but the small screen projected in front of her by the focus. Suddenly as she is working a huge swath of sand shifts, burying her under a small layer.
Shaking it off she looks up the dune for the source of her distractions, hearing obvious sounds of fighting worry flashes across her face as she grabs her spear. Looking hesitantly at the unguarded body of her only family she pauses briefly, hearing a groan of pain from above she resolves herself.
Replacing the armour piece she removed earlier she begins climbing, the higher she climbs the louder the sounds of fighting. Breathing heavily, she reaches the top and finally sees what's causing the commotion.
Surrounded by machines Erend stood weakly with his hammer in hand, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth he rolls left to dodge the wild charge of a scrapper. In all directions around him tens of damaged or destroyed machines litter the desert landscape.
Running forward Aloy shoulder checks a watcher out of the air before grabbing Erend by the shoulder, pulling him with her she takes cover behind the fallen body of a Behemoth as a barrage of missiles blasts the desert apart.
Shouting over the gunfire she turns to her warrior companion. "Erend what's going on, where did all these machines come from?" Coughing out a bit of blood Erend leans tiredly against the machine.
"I don't know Aloy. I've been calling for your help for ages now, why didn't you come?"
"I'm sorry Erend, I was so focused on Edith I didn't hear you."
"Save your apologies for latter, right now we have multiple Sawtooths, Watchers, Longlegs, Shellwalkers, and a single Thunderjaw to take care of. Any ideas?" Raising his hand to silence her apology Erend lists out all the enemies he saw so far.
Racking her mind for ideas Aloy's gaze flittered around looking for anything, gaze falling on her spear a idea comes to mind. "Erend I have a plan; I need to get close to the Thunderjaw." Nodding stoically Erend grits his teeth and gathers his courage, getting to his feet he stayed crouched behind cover and turned to Aloy.
"Okay. Get ready I'll break right, you break left." Nodding Aloy also gets to her feet. "Ready? Three! Two! One! Go!" Counting them down Erend springs from cover, smashing his hammer down on a approaching watcher he barely slows.
Sprinting up the side of a fallen Longleg he leaps onto the Sawtooth's back. Gritting his teeth, he tears at the loose gun mount, muscles straining—until the weapon comes free. Turning it on its owner he pulls the trigger and blasts a hole in the back of its head. Jumping off the fallen machine he begins to go wild on the attacking robots.
On the other side of the field Aloy agilely dodges flying machines and random energy blasts, diving behind cover she braces herself as five super-heated lasers cut into it. Waiting for them to cut off she breaks from cover.
Keeping her focus on the singular Thunderjaw fifty metres from her, her gaze flits around looking for anything she could use. Noticing a large slanted rock a few metres from the colossal machine she alters her course, stepping onto the solid ground her speed increases as she runs higher.
Activating the servos all throughout her armour her speed rapidly soars, reaching the top of the rock she leaps with a mighty jump. Hitting the apex of her jump Aloy quickly activates the glider built into her spear.
Aloy drifted closer on her glider, the wind roaring past her ears. The Thunderjaw's plating shimmered below—massive, lethal, and alive.
Landing hard atop it she barely hesitates before plunging her spear into its exposed back. Freezing up the machine shudders as blue tendrils grow from its armour and its targeting software is overwritten.
Breathing a sigh of relief Aloy climbs to the top of the machines head as the disk launchers on its backfire on mass. Humming ominously the disks hove briefly before in a single synchronised motion all the explosive disks launch towards the attacking machines.
In a instance the battlefield falls silent as every machine is killed. Only the wind remained. The battlefield, once roaring with violence, had gone silent. Breathing heavily Erend steps out of cover with his hammer in hand. "Nice plan Aloy! What now?" Shouting up at the young Nora hunter Erend leaned heavily against his hammer.
Running down along the Thunderjaw's back Aloy jumps off its tail before walking over to Erend. Wordlessly handing him some medical supplies, she waits for him to begin tending his wounds before responding.
"I don't know Erend. I can't figure out what's wrong with Edith." Tearing up at the end of her sentence all Aloy's emotions come to the front as the tension leaves her body. Mind flicking to images of her lonely childhood and all the secrets kept from her she breaks into tears.
Erend seeing the state of his friend briefly stops attending his wounds and sits next to her. Placing a arm across her shoulder he lets her cry into his shoulder, looking at the young girl who was barely old enough to be called a woman Erend struggled to reconcile her with the images of the fearless Nora warrior in his mind.
Racking his mind for answers thoughts of self-doubt begin to surface when he considers he isn't smart enough to help someone who helped him so much. Jolting slightly, it's as though he was struck by lightning as a idea comes to mind.
"Hey Aloy, it's okay, you and I might not be smart enough to help Edith but it doesn't mean there isn't someone who can help her. We just have to get her to him." Sniffling Aloy wipes her eyes before pausing.
Standing up quickly her eyes sparkle with hope as she looks down at Erend. "Yes! You're right Erend, Sylens might be able to help." Running to the idle Thunderjaw Aloy taps her focus, pulling up a interactive menu she begins rapidly tapping out commands causing the machine to move.
Walking over to the pit the machine begins to slide down to the fallen Ai, reaching the broken machine it delicately grabs it in its jaws. Climbing up from the hole the machine begins to head towards the fallen wyverns.
Helping Erend to his feet Aloy supports one of his shoulder while he uses his hammer as a crutch for the other, together the two companions begin to follow the machine towards their ride and the potential help it could take them to.