Chapter Text
6 months later
Sunlight tickled her eyelids.
This happened very rarely. Usually Aloy rose before the sun even got the chance to. But lately it started happening more often.
Slowly she climbed out of bed. Her cabin on the Sobek ranch was fairly small, but it was all she needed. A bed next to the fireplace, a small table and a few shelves to stock her belongings in.
Elisabet seemed to be a simple woman. Minimalistic. One would imagine that the most famous and accomplished scientist, roboticist and engineer of the old ones would be bathing in riches. Not to mention that she was the Alpha Prime of Project Zero Dawn. But that wasn’t her. And it sure as hell wasn’t Aloy either. Slowly Aloy made her way to the fireplace. Her bag was leaning against the wall next to her, fully stocked. Aloy decided to clean out the ashes and burnt wood. It felt wrong leaving this place behind in this state. The shelves were empty, the table was blank. It seemed as though she never had been here. But she had. And a part of her would always stay here on this ranch. Her origin.
Nevertheless, Aloy knew that she would never return. The past 6 moths were necessary for her to accept and understand her past. But that’s what it was. Her past. It was time to let go of all the ghosts haunting her every day and every night. Elisabet was dead. And no amount of grieving and yearning would ever bring her back. So Aloy took her bag, grabbed her bow and her spear and walked out the door, without turning back.
On her journey to the ranch, she overrode a strider with whom she developed a weird bond with. She even named it. Orion. She once heard Elisabet talk about this constellation . It is the brightest and best known constellation in the sky. It is also called “the hunter”, which could not be more fitting for Aloy’s machine companion. Swiftly, she jumped onto his back and turned him around, away from her past. Determined, she urged him to start walking . And so she left the ranch, Elisabet and her past behind. It was time to find a new purpose.
She rode through the entire day, without stopping once. She rode until the sun started setting. Her current location was about a day’s ride away from Sunstone Rock. In the middle of nowhere, the machines tended to get more dangerous and the weather more ruthless. The days felt hotter than the burning sun and the nights colder than frostbite. With the night fastly approaching, Aloy needed to set up camp. She made a fire and started setting up her tent.
But the shadows were watching her.
She took a deep breath, gripping her spear at her waist. Fast as a viper, she turned around thrusting her weapon forward. Her jaw dropped.
"Good to see you again, huntress."
Nil.