Still holding Kïma close to her, Aloy blinked slowly, still processing what just happened. Kïma eventually stepped back, holding the huntress' hand.
Not knowing what else to say, she stuttered :
"I... I hope the Ropecaster didn't hurt you... I mean, the metal at the end of the rope..."
The collector used her free hand to inspect her abdomen. Three distinct reddish lines were visible, in a triangular disposition. She just shrugged it off.
"So... Are you ready to get back on the road ?", asked the Nora male.
"I am. It just shook me a bit.", Kïma replied slowly.
"We'll come back for these Scorchers... someday.", Aloy sighed, squeezing Kïma's hand.
"I sure hope we will", she replied, squeezing hers back.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Feels weird to be back here...", Aloy declared softly, looking at the huge Nora gate standing in front of them.
It still displayed the scars of the Corruptor's invasion and Braves have been added above the gate, to keep watch. The Mother's watch was completely empty, except for the guards.
"The Noras are sheltering in the Sacred Mountain. Some corrupted machines are still coming from time to time and we prefer to avoid any other massacre.", explained one of the Braves nearby.
"Understandable. I suppose the Matriarchs are with them.", Aloy said, nodding.
"You supposed right. People will be happy to see you again. The Goddess was right to choose you."
"Uh... Yeah, surely. We'll be on our way, now, thank you."
As they were progressing towards the Mountain's door, they could see all the eyes following Aloy, in a worshiping manner. Some people even got on their knees when she passed by them, apparently praying.
"We arrived here five minutes ago and I already want to leave..., Aloy hissed between her teeth.
"Don't you like being acclaimed ?", Bast laughed, waving at random people.
"When I know that a few weeks ago they were avoiding me like I was some kind of disease, that they bullied me since my birth and now that I've proven myself useful, they decided to treat me like a decent human being ? No, thanks, I'll pass."
Bast didn't reply but nodded and put his arm down.
They eventually stopped in front of the gate, while the Braves opened it for them. The mountain exhaled its distinct smell on the Seekers, a mix between metal, rock, candles and cold.
As soon as they took a step inside, the door closed behind them and their eyes had to adapt for a second before distinguishing several faces, looking at them the exact same way the Braves outside were doing a second earlier. The candles were the only light sources, lighting their faces with a golden shade and casting dancing shadows on the mineral walls.
"Great...", Aloy sighed, still walking.
"Aloy !"
Squinting her eyes, she saw Teersa, as well as Jezza and Lansra, the three Matriarchs, standing right in front of the triangular door they came for.
"I'm so glad to see you've finally returned ! How was your journey ?", Teersa asked, after greeting the Seekers.
Aloy could already see Lansra frowning, avoiding to meet her gaze or Kïma's.
"Well, there were ups and downs, that's the least we could say.", she admitted, "But we found something that might open this door."
Jessa's eyes shine and she asked excitedly :
"Is it some way of communicating with the Goddess ?"
"Sort of."
"Well, let's not make Her wait any longer, then. She's already been patient for thousands of years !", Teersa decided.
Kïma grinned a little before whispering really low :
"Only a few hundreds of years, actually."
It was enough to trigger Lansra, who immediately got out of her passive state. She pointed a finger at the collector, shouting :
"Don't you dare disrespecting All-Mother ! Your presence is already an insult to Her greatness ! Let's not even mention the redhead outcast ! You are no saviors, you are a curse ! The messengers of an evil eager to consume our tribe !"
Kïma only stared at her for a moment before laughing a "Okay, whatever you say" and turning to the door, walking up to it. Bast moved next to the 'redhead outcast' and took the focus out of his pocket, giving it to her. She turned it on and searched for the distinct file. Doing so, she replied :
"Yeah, right, we are no saviors. If you were too blinded by your candles to see it, Kïma, Bast and I have been pretty busy fixing problems across the land, instead of hiding in some mountain. We are actually trying to make a change. But, sure, call us a curse if you'd like."
Maybe it was due to Aloy's declaration or maybe to the blue light that the focus emitted, but Lansra didn't add anything. Thankfully.
The familiar smooth light illuminated the door and the small triangular device emitted a brief sound before going back to its normal state. Aloy gave the focus back to him and moved next to Kïma. The female voice rose again :
Hold for identiscan.
Aloy held her breath, closing her eyes. She also noticed that her fists were clenched and she forced herself to relax. She had to appear strong in front of the Noras.
The cone of light brushed her body and disappeared within a second. A heavy silence followed, tying a knot in Aloy's stomach. Apparently Kïma had been quite tensed up as well, as she sighed in relief when the door declared :
Greetings, Doctor Sobeck. You are cleared to proceed.
Aloy allowed herself to smirk quickly before turning to Kïma. She had sparks in her eyes, looking at the gate opening slowly. All the Nora behind them were already on their knees, whispering in awe. Bast surprisingly didn't join them. He just stood there, looking awkward.
Lansra was constantly saying, over and over, raising her hands above her head :
"The Goddess has spoken !"
Teersa was pointing at the door, saying something similar, while Jezza was doing just like the other people, kneeling on the rock.
Aloy couldn't wipe that 'quick smirk' out of her face. All the answers were finally going to be revealed. She reached out her hand to hold Kïma's and squeezing it a bit, to say "We've made it". The collector replied with an excited smile that sent chills all over Aloy's skin and they started to walk through the door, before noticing something was missing.
The redhead looked at Bast and asked him :
"You're not coming ?"
He looked away, shrugging :
"I feel like I have nothing to do there. It is your story."
"As you wish.", she answered, surprised by his behavior.
Both women passed the door, the specific smell getting stronger and stronger with each step. As the door closed itself behind them, the light emitted by the candles faded and was slowly replaced by the Old Ones lights, this comforting and intriguing blueness. As almost every ancient ruin or bunker, the beginning of the facility was a corridor, with broken devices here and there.
Each step was echoing on the walls, coming back to their ears tinted with a metallic note.
"What if Sobeck is actually waiting for you, in the middle of some room ?", Kïma joked, to break the silence.
"That would be... unexpected, I guess. I'm already too stressed to consider this eventuality", Aloy replied, slightly smiling.
"Aw, you should relax. It's quite relieving to know where you came from, I assure you."
"I imagine. I will understand in a few minutes, I guess."
They finally reached a circular room, with an impressive size. There were stairs everywhere, with lots of androids, just like the body that APHRODITE borrowed, lying on it, apparently shut down a long time ago. Another noticeable feature of this place was the drawings covering the walls, involving dark and white thin silhouettes, several tiny humans, trees, animals and a kind of wind.
Passing by a room with a glass wall, Aloy sneaked a look inside.
She was surprised to discover toys for children, just placed on the colorful carpet. There were pillows all over the room, still having the distinct shape that a person leaves after sitting on it.
"Creepy...", Kïma commented. She paused, looking around her, before asking :
"Do you think there are still some... children in there ?"
"I don't think so. But who knows ?"
After walking for another minute, they stumbled upon another room, full of familiar devices.
"Are these freezing beds ? Like those in the bunker ?"
Aloy approached one, touching it with her fingertips :
"No, they're not quite the same... These ones are much smaller. Does that mean...?"
"Children.", concluded the collector, with an empty look.
The huntress placed her hands on the cold glass, taking a look at the inside.
She did not want to believe it. She did not want to believe that she was made in one of these.
Leaving this ice bed behind her, she began to explore the room, in search of any clue that would confirm her thoughts.
"Help me finding any hologram or audio file."
"There is nothing there, Aloy. I already looked with my focus, there is absolutely nothing. We should go in the other rooms, there might be more data points to look at.", answered the collector, placing her hand on her shoulder.
Sighing, the huntress understood she was right. They approached another door, also requiring to perform an Identiscan.
Kïma whistled, pointing at the gate :
"Wow, it surely wasn't appreciated."
The rectangular gate was covered in red paint, mimicking animal scratches and blood.
"Let's see why they hated it so much then."
Aloy approached and the facial recognition went off, opening it. They arrived in another circular room, full of computers. The numerous screens were infusing the space with a neon light, contrasting with the darkness of the surroundings. They easily noticed a hologram point nearby, and Kïma used her focus to play it. A smiling woman with a scarf around head appeared and declared with a reassuring tone :
"Hello, child. My name is Samina Ebadji and I will be you guide for you very first day of school. When you are ready to start your learning, come to this room and ask a supervisor to help you with the computer."
Aloy, without paying any attention to the end of the woman's speech, turned towards the closest holographic screen. She explored it with her eyes and the first thing she noticed was a small writing, in the top right hand corner : Liam JOBIN's session. She noticed another writing, a bit lower.
"Does Samina say anything about an... APPOLO ?", she asked to Kïma.
"She just said that he is the guy who knows everything. If you want my opinion, it sounds a lot like this dude is another intelligence that they created.
"Well, apparently, he is off. Check this out."
Aloy pointed at the computer, that was displaying in red characters : Connexion has failed. APPOLO offline.
"Do you think there is any way for us to bring him back ? If we go to this Salty Lake Town, maybe ?"
"We will see what we can do once we will be there. But I think this is our next step."
Looking at the left side of the screen, Aloy saw an icon labelled 'Playlist'. Intrigued, she touched it and another window opened, hiding the previous message. Lots of other icons appeared, all with a different name.
Most of these names, if they were written in English, were complete nonsense : Shea Butter Baby, Sunflower, Oh Devil...
Other names were just not in english : Trop Beau, Ta Reine...
"What does this mean ? Do you think I can...", she whispered as she clicked on the file named 'Trop Beau'.
A sweet sound and a male voice instantly rose from the device, scaring Kïma.
"By Shanva and the Moon, don't ever... Ooh. What is that ?", she asked, as her body automatically started to move slowly to the rhythm.
"I don't know, I just clicked there...", Aloy stuttered, her gaze stuck on the collector's silhouette.
She shook her head and examined the screen again. She had to focus, she was...
Oh well.
She could certainly not focus when two arms wrapped around her waist to pull her back and to get her to face that delicate face of hers.
"Come on, beautiful, just a minute, please. To evacuate that stress of yours. It's not like what we're hoping to find is suddenly going to disappear, anyway.", Kïma smiled, placing her palms on the huntress' hips.
"I... I'm not sure that... I don't know how to..."
And that damn smile won her over for yet another time.
"It's okay, you don't have to know anything, just put your hands on my shoulders and let the sound deciding what move you have to make.", advised the collector.
Aloy tried to breathe her nervousness out and did as Kïma said. It came out easier than she thought and a second later, her hips were adhering to anything that the 'sound decided'.
The music started to get bolder. So did our sweet Aloy.
That black haired chick wanted to play ? She was going to play back, despite her obvious stress.
She used her grip on Kïma's shoulders to get her closer, to the point where their hips were grazing each other with every swing. According to Kïma's grasp getting tighter, she enjoyed it. Congratulating herself and planning her next move, Aloy did not notice her lips approaching the colorful smirk that much.
She only realized it in the middle of a soft kiss that it indeed melted all her stress away.
Another kind of stress replaced it when the collector smiled wider against her and picked her up to sit her on the desk, her hand finding its way up to the back of her head, to get all tangled in her mane.
But the music ended right there, breaking the kiss, leaving them short of breath, still embraced.
"You uh... should save this 'Playlist' for... Later.", declared Kïma.
"That's a good idea.", Aloy admitted, still lost in her almond eyes.
"So, we can go and find out who you are now. And keep these... musics for dancing once all of this will be over."
Kïma eventually moved back, her hands buried in her pockets and walking to another door. As it needed another facial recognition to open, she leaned against it and looked at Aloy finishing the downloading of the file and coming towards her.
"Ready ?", she asked, still smiling.
"I've always been.", answered the redhead, starting the Identiscan.
Greetings, Doctor Sobeck. You are cleared to proceed.
But neither of them was expecting what followed :
Doctor Elizabeth Sobeck, you have an unread message. Please use your focus to read the message.