The Other Huntress (Kotallo/OC)

Chapter Eight: Farewell to HADES

Orea's breath left her body as she beheld the great titan carcass before her. A day's worth of travel, and Aloy and she had arrived at HADES's coordinates. Well, almost arrived: there was still an entire swamp between them and the giant holding court beyond. Orea had seen a HORUS before, but never quite this close. The behemoth stood dead and yet poised for battle, its armored tentacles stretching across the land like an oversized hand, an ominous omen of death. How did humanity ever manage to create something this...colossal? Not even a Thunderjaw could compare to the sheer size of the HORUS: the ancient machine was practically death itself.

As the sisters waded through the slippery swamp, Orea couldn't help but feel the hairs on her neck prick up in anticipation, half-expecting the HORUS to whir to life any second, despite knowing the machine had been deactivated for almost a milenia, courtesy of MINERVA.

The water below them was a bright, vibrant green, mostly likely a result of a high algae presence. Dozens of ruins had sunken underneath the surface, underwater tombs forbidden to all, too far deep to conceivably swim down to and explore. Several packs of Burrowers patrolled the murky shores, revealing themselves as agile swimmers. Orea couldn't help the grin that overtook her face as she watched the machines paddle across the swamp, short limbs cutting through the water. Not wanting to pick a fight and swim across an entire bog, the huntresses took extra care to steer clear of the sentries.

Reaching the shore, Orea pulled herself out of the water, ringing out her hair in hopes of ridding herself of some water. She knew it was a hopeless endeavor: the swamp had drenched her head to foot. After fighting her way through the rebel camp near Barren Light, Orea had changed into the Oseram explorer garb she'd purchased a while back, the twin to the armor she'd given Aloy, hoping to keep the incessant sand of No Man's Land out. While the ensemble had succeeded in that respect, it had also soaked up the swamp water like a sponge, leaving Orea extra soaked compared to Aloy, who was still donning her Shieldweaver armor. Not to mention the fact that orange really did nothing to compliment Orea's pale skin and dark locks, at least compared to Aloy's flame-hair. As soon as we get to a dyer, I'm changing this suit up a bit.

"We're here," she breathed, taking a good look around. Sylens had definitely set up shop here at some point, creating scaffolding to reach one of the HORUS's legs, as well as several makeshift tents. He'd even somehow managed to dig up a data console, although in Sylens's case, nothing he managed to accomplish surprised the Seeker. Yet, despite obvious evidence that Sylens had-at one point-occupied the large berth underneath the HORUS titan, Orea saw no sign of him now. Where did you run off to Sylens?

"Finally," Aloy sighed, sliding her hands down her leather skirt in an attempt to rub off swamp muck. "This is it. Seems like just the type of place Sylens would slink away to."

"Let's see what he's been up to." Orea walked further into the camp, eyeing the counsel stuck smack-dab in the middle of the workspace. It was blinking furiously, as if screaming, 'look at me!" She was fairly confident the effect was intentional.

"Seems Sylens wants us to check out this one," she said, grabbing Aloy's attention. "So we should definitely look at it last."

"I like the sound of that," Aloy chuckled. "Let's see what else we can find." The two split off like a fork in the road, Orea heading to the right end of the titan. The huntress found a few spare chests of supplies, as well as a datapoint. She looted the chests-it was the least that lout Sylens owed Aloy and her after making them chase his sorry behind halfway across the Sundom and into the Forbidden West-then scanned the log. It was an audio recording, Sylens's cool voice suddenly flooding her ears.

"Poor Hades," Sylens crowed. "So cramped in there. No room to think. You can't even speak. Now, the processing orb of a titan, on the other hand...well, you're used to that. Once I load you on that, you'll be so much more comfortable. Until interrogations begin, anyways." With a snap, the recording ended, leaving Orea with more than a few questions. So he somehow brought HADES all the way out here, and put it inside a HORUS? Then he tortured it. But why? And how do you even torture an A.I.?