A Legacy of Hope (Horizon: Zero Dawn/Forbidden West)
Sunset's Isekai
A Legacy of Hope (Horizon: Zero Dawn/Forbidden West)
By Wanderer D
Warning: Minor Spoilers for Forbidden West
More and more dirt and rusted metal. Deadly swarms of robots flying in the distance, destroying and consuming anything organic to propagate and continue their destruction of the world. "This is the legacy we built, Ted… and I get to witness it. Well. For a few more minutes more, I guess."
If there was one thing Elisabet Zobeck wanted more than anything else in the world, it was to get out of the damned suit she had been wearing for days, ever since sealing the Zero Dawn facility from the outside, and leaving as quickly as she could to avoid the Faro Plague.
She was sweaty, exhausted; tired of the taste of recycled air and… water. But the world around her continued dying. The air was essentially poison; the water toxic; the earth basically entirely barren save for odd patches of dried grass and weeds.
Having fought so hard for decades to save the world and restore the flora and fauna that humanity had pushed to the brink of extinction, it was personally devastating to see how futile those efforts had been thanks to her former employer's hubris.
Humanity was gone. She doubted there would be anyone else left alive out here. Other than her friends and coworkers at Zero Dawn, and maybe a couple of bunkers like the one where Faro was hiding, but even those were bound to eventually die off. With Orion having failed to escape orbit, the entirety of humanity would be gone for a long, long time. Possibly forever if—no. She wouldn't think that.
Not after everything that she had to do. Not after all humanity had sacrificed. Not after what they had asked the world to do. GAIA would work. Zero Dawn would work. There was no room for panic now.
It didn't matter anymore whether she had doubts. She had done what she could. Harnessed the knowledge of the world's best and brightest. Created the one hope for humanity. It might take a hundred or a thousand years, or two thousand, or three!
However long it took, humanity would be back.
She wouldn't witness it, but she could rest easy in the knowledge that—a warning beep interrupted her musings, making her start. She had been standing in place, dazed and thinking about the future, about the past… too long. She needed to go, reach her destination before she died.
She checked her stats. She wasn't going to make it. Not with her equipment as it was, not without somewhere to rest for a bit. It would still be hours before she got to the next designated safe house, and even though she had slept, she felt the sort of fatigue that indicated a deeper problem.
She snorted. A safe house. How conceited to even call it that, when it was simply a temporary place to hide from the machines that were destroying everything. And as far as its efficiency… well. It was better than sleeping outside at least, even if staying too long was still an invitation to certain death.
She would still have to stay in the damned suit, which would somehow have to last her for another hundred miles. Just long enough to make it home… but the isolation and the distance just made it seem so impossible!
Another beeping sound made her start. She stared at the HUD's flashing lights for a second, then felt the blood drain from her face. A part of the Swarm was on its way to her location! But it didn't make any sense! All organic matter it could use had been destroyed! Except… except her?
There was no way for her to stop the swarm. They would devour her. She was so close to home and yet so far… her eyes noticed the door where there hadn't been one before.
The alarms ringing in her HUD prompted her to run and open the door. It was dumb. It was silly. There was no way this door would protect her, but all of her instincts called for her to hide, futile as it was, and…
The door closed behind her, cutting off the roar of toxic air. A silver chime ringing clearly in the low-lit brick and wood hallway that led into the brighter-lit… restaurant? Bar?
Elisabet stumbled, then righted herself, placing her hand on the wall. It was real. It felt real. There were voices inside, and it was then that she noticed her HUD's flashing lights and the beeping warnings were gone. The air analysis was… clean.
She carefully removed her helmet. If she was so far gone it wouldn't matter.
She took a deep breath. It was… real. It smelled of spices and flowers. The voices were clear, young and female. As she approached the bigger room, she had to quickly move out of the way as several teens ran past her.
"Hi, Aloy!" the first teen at the lead, a young latina girl shouted as she ran past, followed so quickly by the others that she could've sworn not all of them were human.
"Hi, Aloy!"
"Hey, Aloy!"
"Hello, Aloy!"
"'sup, Aloy!"
"Excuse me, Aloy!"
But there was nothing… she heard the door open. "No, wait!" Reacting quickly, she grabbed the arm of the last kid, a young girl in flowing, good quality robes, with long, dark blue hair, who stared up at her in confusion.
Elisabet blinked, looking past her at the open door, which didn't go out into the wastelands left behind by the Faros Plage, but rather a lush, dark forest.
So surprised was she that she let the girl's arm go, and watched stunned as she bowed at her with a smile and walked quickly to join the others. "Wait up! Guys! You know I can't run yet!" was the last thing she heard before the door closed.
She heard a chuckle from behind her, and turned to stare at a young woman. A bartender that was just putting away the chairs where presumably the teens had been sitting. "Sorry about that, Aloy, you know how the girls are."
"I—" Elisabet shook her head. "I'm sorry but… what is this place? Who are you? How are you safe from the Plague? What's happening? Why do you keep calling me Aloy?"
The woman had straightened up and blinked at her in confusion, then wide-eyed understanding. "Oh. Wow… you're not actually Aloy or Beta, are you?"
"W-what's happening?" Elisabet felt the world spin and soon everything went dark.
Sunset looked up from the environmental suit when the door to the guest bathroom opened and Elisabet stepped out, hair still slightly wet. She still looked slightly dazed, but color had returned to her cheeks and she walked more steadily than when she had woken up earlier and been convinced to take a shower before doing anything else. The poor woman had been so completely overwhelmed by everything happening on top of the obvious strain to her system, that she had barely put up a fight.
"I took a look at your suit. It seems one hose under the breastplate got damaged and was leaking… that was probably why you were feeling so exhausted, the recycled air was becoming thinner and thinner," she said to the scientist, who had walked over and sat down only to stare at her.
"How is any of this possible?" Elisabet asked.
Sunset sighed a small chuckle, and nodded at the suit. "Let me get you a drink. Why don't you check my fix in the meantime? I'm no Rarity, but I think I did a good job there."
She kept an eye on Elisabet as the latter examined the fix, reaching in to tweak it a little, then turning and examining the rest of the suit. "Anything in particular strike your fancy? I left a menu on the table."
Her guest, after giving the suit one last check, glanced at the menu, then looked again. Then looked up at the bar, studying it. It was clear that Elisabet was not ready for things to be like this, and Sunset could not really blame her.
"Um. A calafia would be nice, if you have them?" Elisabet asked, putting the menu down as she glanced her way.
"One Calafia, coming up!" Sunset said, pulling out the mezcal.
"How are you…" Elisabet shook her head, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I-I need to focus. The shower helped but—"
"Don't worry, take your time," Sunset said gently. The suit on the table told the whole story, after all.
Elisabet seemed to have caught on to her knowing something, because after a deep breath, she spoke again, this time fully focused on her, as if trying to discern something.
"Thank you for allowing me to shower… It's liberating after several days inside that thing." She paused, gathering her thoughts again. "Where to begin? Who are you? What is this place? How are you safe from the Faro Plague?"
"Well, you know my name is Sunset Shimmer," Sunset replied, adding the tequila, agave, lime and fennel juice to the shaker. "And this is my bar, Sunset's Isekai, which is outside of the constraints of space, time, and dimension… among other things."
"Inter-dimensional travel," Elisabet gasped, eyes wide. She looked down, frowning as her thoughts echoed in her baffled expression. "Is that even possible?"
"Well, you're sitting here, aren't you?" Sunset replied, pouring the mix into a glass with ice, then topping it with club soda and decorating it with some fennel fronds.
"But, what kind of technology would allow you to—"
"Ah well, that would be because this was done with magic."
Elisabet blinked, walking over from the table to sit at the bar, shaking her head. "Magic? Please, I realize that the technology you use must be more advanced than my own world's, but you can't expect me to believe that."
"And yet, it's true," Sunset said. "There's that old saying: 'sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic', true, but it doesn't negate or deny the existence of it." She grinned. "And that's the case here. I do have some advanced tech, but the bar itself, me, and many of my guests are magical in nature."
Rather than answer, Elisabet simply took a long drink, then sighed as she leaned back.
"That's… very good," Elisabet said, glancing up at her host. A thousand thoughts were flashing through her mind. Questions. So many questions. It was almost ridiculous that she had been told magic was real, was experiencing it firsthand right at that moment, and yet the only thing she could do was compliment the drink. Which was very good… but it didn't change how frustrating it was to be unable to just adapt to this.
The worst part was that she had a nagging feeling about why she was unable to accept this and continue.
"Thanks!" Sunset replied, smiling honestly at the compliment. It was refreshing to see that. Having been stuck with her team members for so long, completely isolated from the world as everyone out there died… it had been hard.
"So, this place is safe from the plague because it's not part of my world," she said, then chuckled at the crazy unfairness of it all. "Figures a solution like this would present itself as the world ends."
She shook her head and grimaced. "Why couldn't you be here earlier?" Then a thought crossed her mind, and she looked up. "Wait, you can travel back in time, right? This place is not limited to dimensional travel. You said the bar is outside time, space and dimension. We could save everyone!"
Sunset's smile strained. "That's… not how it works. The bar is a place to talk to individuals, or to connect with people across dimensions, but I cannot use it to save a world, or change history."
She felt anger boil inside of her. "That's bullshit! You can save us all! You have the power! How can you not—" she choked, biting her lip as what felt like the weight of so many months of desperate, unforgivable acts pressed on her. "I'm—it's not your fault but— I'm so angry at what happened! There has to be something you can do!"
"Hey, it's okay, I'm not angry or offended. Come on, let's talk. Walk me through everything that's happened. We can discuss stuff after."
Elisabet nodded, taking another, smaller sip of her drink. "Where do I even start?" She ran her hand through her shoulder-length hair. "The world, or rather humanity has been on a spiral of destruction for a long time, and we hadn't really become much better. By the time I was twenty two, we'd had cities wiped out by extreme climate change conditions, eco-terrorists that had released mutated viruses, and the usual disregard for life and concern or the future from certain political sides of the spectrum."
She raised her glass to her lips, but hesitated, her eyes distant. "Never mind the damage corporations were doing constantly overall to both society and the world… it got so bad, that when I started working for Ted shortly after I graduated, and sent out our line of eco-friendly robots to help revitalize the world, the entire decade was called 'The Claw-back'."
"That sounds horrible," Sunset said, "but sadly not surprising. Climate Change denial is unfortunately prevalent where humanity is concerned across the multiverse. It's hard for a lot of people to visualize how that affects them, and when the danger is not immediate… well. There's many worlds where people are downright adamant that it's made up, despite the consequences of it glaring at them in the face."
Elisabet snorted. "Good to see we're not an isolated incident, I suppose." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It baffles me sometimes how smart, sensitive people that have common sense on a day-to-day basis are so willing to turn a blind eye to something so huge it will affect not only them, but generations to come."
Sunset grimaced in understanding. "That, unfortunately, is not exclusive to humanity."
"Once again, glad to see we're not alone," Elisabet said, raising her glass. "In any case, things didn't get particularly better even though we essentially did claw our way back from that particular disaster." She sank into the bar, resting her head on the cool surface. "Ted eventually signed a contract with the military, which was the last straw in our business relationship. I founded my own company, 'Miriam Technologies', and our focus was exclusively on green robotics, with helping the environment in our sights… of course FAS wasn't happy with me leaving and started a series of BS suits that lasted almost twenty years."
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Twenty years. I sometimes wonder… I quit because my morals and ethical values wouldn't allow me to be part of automatization of the military. I wanted to save lives on all fronts, not make it harder for anyone to survive. But without me as Head of Robotics, Ted was surrounded by yes men that allowed him to build a practically unhackable killing machine with no backdoors, even for his company.
"As might be predicted, it took one. Single. Glitch. One error in the code started this whole thing. And worse, he couldn't just destroy it… the Chariot Peacekeeper was designed to multiply as needed, and it had access to processing organic material as biofuel. And who did he turn to? Me.
"I ran the numbers," Elisabet said, eyes dull. "The robots were replicating too fast, their security too tight to hack our way through in time. I had essentially just mapped the extinction of all life on Earth within a period of fifteen months thanks to my former boss." She glanced up at Sunset without raising her head. "And humanity wouldn't make it that far. And thus I decided to save humanity by sacrificing humanity."
"I told Ted and the world leaders the truth: That we couldn't stop the machines. That unless we did something the world ended with us. So we lied to the world. We told them that we were designing a super weapon to take down the Swarm, when in reality we were just creating an AI powerful enough to fix the planet for us, because we wouldn't be around to do so." She smirked. "And now, I'm the only one alive out there. Everyone else that is alive, the so very few… are in bunkers designed to have enough sustenance for about a hundred years or so. All of us had to be chemically sterilized… all of us that survived are the last remnants of the past, and everything now depends on my AI, GAIA, and the subfunctions my team created for her." She closed her eyes, sighing. "I taught GAIA to care… and all my hopes lie with her now."
"How come you're not in your bunker then?" Sunset asked.
"There was a glitch and one of the doors was not sealing properly and it could only be closed from outside, but whoever did it, was sealed out of the facility forever. It was such a tiny crack in a perfect shield, but tiny as it was, it would allow the swarm to detect GAIA so I… I closed it."
"I had resigned myself to die without any more human contact, and I was headed to my old farm." She smiled. "I wanted to die in a familiar place I loved… and hope." She sighed and lifted her glass to take another drink, blinking when she realized she had finished. She didn't have to wait long as Sunset, having anticipated this, slid another drink next to her. She took it with a grateful smile. "So now you." She glanced up. "Why can't you save Earth?"
Sunset pressed her lips. "I've made a vow of non-interference with world-changing events like this one. It will shape the history of your planet beyond your wildest expectations… if I single-handedly changed the whole future of your world by saving it, I am dooming the future that exists already. If this was my universe, my world, part of my existence, then I would be part of its history, but as an outsider… what damage can I cause by simply stepping in and solving everything? What happens to the future of that world? For good or bad?"
"But don't you think that saving a world is a worthy cause?" Elisabet countered. "Saving the innocent lives that Faros doomed?"
"And then what?" Sunset said, shaking her head. "Am I supposed to stay here and fix everything that comes after? Because things will. I'm not a goddess dedicated to the welfare of humanity, Elisabet. I am able to interfere, or be part of a small part of a world or universe for a short time, but I have to draw a line on what I can do and I should do."
"And where is that line?" Elisabet countered. "It's an invisible, fully made-up decision. You could move the line at any point. Cross it or change it."
"And then leave?" Sunset asked. "If I had saved every single Narn from the Centauri like I was asked to do, and just put them in a planet where they can prosper and build ships only to go back to war… and I just leave them with no thought to the consequences of my actions, what does that make me?"
Elisabet looked away and closed her eyes.
"There's good reason for things like the Prime Directive to exist, you know?" Sunset continued, "If excessively advanced technology is given to a world unprepared for it… they will doom themselves. Similarly, if I were to just simply fly in and destroy all the Faro Plague's robots, all that would achieve would be to prolong the inevitable, and deny the future of others."
"We could learn!" Elisabed whispered. "Humanity is not blind to everything!"
"Could you? So quickly?" Sunset asked. "Had your civilization learned not to ignore history already? To heed the dangers of doctrines that would doom your world over and over again? Your Earth's history is very similar to other Earth's up to around the year two thousand. Were there no political extremists flooding your news networks? No nationalists trying to regress to a time of racial fantasy and dominance over others? Was your world free of hunger and illness? Were there no greedy corporations feeding off of their workers, or politicians lying to people to vote against their best interests to benefit the few?"
"That's—"
"Unreasonable?" Sunset interrupted. "Maybe. No world is perfect. Checkmarks for everything I mentioned doesn't mean it'd make it perfect either, but whether one thing is good or bad for your world, it is not something that I should get to decide." She let the words sink in as she busied herself by preparing a drink of her own.
"Even though you have the ability from what you're saying?"
"Whether you move forward morally and technologically is not for me to enforce," Sunset said. "You said so yourself: that the world was already spiraling into doom even before Faro's Plague. He and his plague are a consequence of where culturally your world was at the time… if the plague somehow just stopped, it wouldn't have the same effect as if your people had managed to stop it on their own. All that would do is remove the immediate consequence of his mistake." Sunset sighed. "People would then justify making the same mistake again, because there would have been no consequence. No lesson for them to learn. And with an easy, magical solution to their problem, delusions would feed into the minds of those still around, and I can't change that. Something like that can't be forced. Change in society has to come out of willing growth and understanding, not some magically empowered overseer that decides their morality for them."
Elisabet frowned. "Even at the cost of all life on Earth?"
Sunset's own frown softened. "Even at the cost that brought project Zero Dawn alive. Zero Dawn is not just GAIA fixing things magically. It's a lesson for the generations to come and understand. It's your people's legacy."
Elisabet cringed. "A legacy of failure and inability to change. I know what you're referencing, by the way. Yes, we still had neo-nazis all the way up to when this started. Terrorists. Intolerance to gender identity, sexuality and even just political stances… people buying into the far end of one side of the political spectrum or the other essentially spewing the exact same hate. How can our legacy be any better?" She clenched her hands. "How can my legacy be any better?"
Sunset reached across the bar to hold her hand. "It is."
Elisabet studied her. "You know something." Her eyes narrowed as she recalled everything she could since she came here, coming to a conclusion. "Is it related to why the children called me 'Aloy'?"
Sunset chuckled. "Well. Yeah. Figure's you'd be this sharp."
"What makes you say that?" Elisabet asked, leaning forward.
"Aloy and Beta are just as sharp as you are. Seems like that runs in the family."
Elisabet blinked, once again processing her words. She leaned back, staring at Sunset. "I don't have any surviving family."
"Not… in the present. No."
Sunset hummed to herself, looking pensive, and Elisabet kept quiet. trying to see what this strange creature would come up with. Already the bartender's words were whirling in her mind. Was it even possible?
Finally, Sunset smiled. "Come on, I'll show you."
Elisabet stood up as the other woman walked around the bar and motioned for her to follow. When she saw Sunset heading for the front door, she reached out for her suit, but the bartender interrupted her.
"Don't bother, you won't need it."
When Sunset opened the door, they were outside of San Francisco. But it wasn't as she remembered. The entire place was covered in plants; machines designed like baboons, or birds, or rams roamed the area, processing scrap, planting, or performing other not immediately obvious objectives.
This was clearly the result of Hephestus. And then, a giant mechanical bird swooped down, and on top of it…
"Is that me?!" Elisabet gasped. She held onto Sunset as they both levitated and flew behind her copycat. This young woman of about twenty had the lithe body of a hunter or soldier. Her long, red hair was tied into braids and fluttered behind her, held back by a headpiece made of unknown metal. She was dressed in leather and metal parts, with the exposed areas of her belly and part of her arms either tattooed or painted black and red with primitive symbols. The only familiar thing she wore was a Focus, pressed to her temple.
"That, is Aloy," Sunset said. "She's a clone of you, born a thousand years after the Faros plague."
They followed Aloy as she flew. High above several strange villages, over a coliseum where warriors fought machines, above large fields being plowed by mechanical, singing Triceratops, their songs echoed into the air by the people of the city.
Each time, most of the people would stop to shout and wave eagerly at the passing Aloy, who would wave back with a bit of self-aware cringing.
"It's beautiful… so familiar, and yet… so alien," Elisabet murmured.
"It's is a wonderful world," Sunset said, nodding.
The flight took them over the remains of Las Vegas, and eventually to a large mountain, where Aloy landed and entered into an old-looking facility.
"Is this one of the Regional Control Centers?" Elisabet asked, reaching out to touch the wall, and noticing that her hand was almost transparent. She turned a questioning look to Sunset, who shrugged.
"I'm showing you around, but your presence here would cause a lot of confusion."
They followed Aloy, and Elisabet was surprised and slightly alarmed at the state of the facility, which was not in the greatest condition. That and so many primitive things being added around, it was somehow both charming and horrifying.
Aloy walked into the main room, where several other people waited. A large, strong-looking man with a giant hammer strapped to his back. An older, fierce-looking warrior with similar markings to Aloy's, just in different colors and missing an arm greeted her with a sharp, if warm, nod of the head. A young woman in clothes made of plants smiled encouragingly, while a balding man shook his head in borderline contemptuous amusement, and there was another, younger version of herself there… more similar to what she had looked as a twenty year old than Aloy was. Softer looking, and shy.
"What… happened?" Elisabet asked. "Who is that?"
"That is Beta, and, well Aloy has never told me all the details," Sunset said, "but your plan worked. Sort of. We're a thousand years into your future. Entire cultures have risen, and proliferated, the world continues and exceptional people like Aloy and her friends here are saving the world."
"How do they look like me?" Elisabet asked walking over, her hand raised to touch Beta's cheek, but simply passing through her.
"Both Aloy and Beta are clones of you, just with vastly different upbringings." Sunset motioned at Aloy who was now talking with the big guy with the hammer. "Aloy here was a clone of you made by GAIA to help her. She grew up as an exile of the Nora tribe until she was accepted into the tribe when she was about seventeen. She grew up to face incredible odds and succeeded. She's joined the people of her world in order to build a better future with GAIA's help."
"This… is not what I thought—this is not what we planned! What happened to… to teaching them? To Artemis and the other systems? What I saw out there shouldn't—"
"This is your world's hope," Sunset said, raising a hand to stall Elisabet. "Look at them. United for a common cause, at peace with both nature and technology. Sure, they have to fight and hunt machines because of what's currently happening, but you saw Plainsong, and how they had embraced the roles of machines and their own into a symbiosis.
"This is different. This is not what was planned but what is. This could only happen thanks to you." Sunset walked to stand next to Aloy. "And your daughters are exceptional people that have inspired thousands and will inspire more."
"Daughters," Elisabet snorted. But, as similar as the twin clones were to her, and each other, she couldn't deny how different they acted, and yet how similar. Like real daughters would. For all intents and purposes, they were her blood.
Aloy walked away into an office that had been turned into personal quarters. There was a bed, and several objects, among them…
"My pendant…" Elisabet walked over to a wall where Aloy had placed a small tree-like art of some sort that held a couple of pendants, including the one Elisabet had on right now: a tiny planet Earth.
"Aloy has been doing her best to live up to your wishes," Sunset said, walking up to stand next to Elisabet, who in turn gazed at the exhausted-looking young woman sitting on her bed. It was funny how she had seemed so strong out there with the others and only allowed herself this moment of weakness when she was out of sight.
"Just like you, isn't she?" Sunset asked, as if reading her mind.
"This is not the world I wished for humanity," Elisabet said softly, moving over to sit next to Aloy, and wondering for a second why she could do that, but not touch other things before dismissing the thought as unimportant.
"I know, but it is the world they have thanks to project Zero Dawn," Sunset said. "She bears the weight of the world on her shoulders like you did… but she will succeed. I know it."
Elisabet looked up. "Have you seen her future?"
Sunset shook her head. "No. This time period is the 'present' for me," she said. "I don't want to look into her future, especially since she sometimes visits my bar. I want her to live unimpeded by some fate or destiny awaiting her."
Elisabet mulled this over, studying the face of her clone. No… her daughter. Her distant, unknowable daughter.
Aloy was shaking, as if about to burst. But then straightened up. "If it looks impossible… look deeper," she said, and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "And then fight like you can win."
"GAIA once asked me what I would wish of a child of mine if I had had one…" Elisabet said, not taking her eyes away from Aloy. It wasn't too long ago… I still remember what I said: that I would have wanted her to be curious. Unstoppable. But kind enough to do her best to save the world."
Sunset kneeled in front of her, smiling up. "Well, you got that twice over now."
"I do, don't I?" Elisabet laughed. She turned to give a tender look to Aloy. "I'm proud of you, both of you," she whispered.
"Come on, let's go," Sunset said, offering her hand to Elisabet, who took it and stood up. A second later they were walking back into the bar, the wooden door closing behind them.
"That was something." Elisabet muttered as they made their way to sit at the table where her suit awaited. She stared at it for a moment before turning to face Sunset. "Thank you, Sunset."
"You're welcome," the bartender replied, then tilted her head as she studied Elisabet. "What are you planning to do now?"
"Now?" Elisabet sighed. "I'd like to go home. Complete my trip back to Nevada and see the old ranch again."
Sunset nodded. "Need a ride?"
Shaking her head, Elisabet stood and started pulling on her suit. "No. I think I can manage. I have a lot to think about, after all." She chuckled.
"It's going to be hard out there."
"I know, but my time has passed… as has the time of my version of humanity, my world… is now a seed for a new one full of life and… I never thought I'd have kids. I never thought… I'd live to see the world slowly heal, even if it's not the perfect utopia I had envisioned, it is beautiful. Better even, in many ways. I'll make sure not to say anything that will clue Aloy in, though!"
Sunset nodded. "Would you like me to tell her anything?"
Elisabet paused, holding the helmet in her hands. The last piece before she was to head out. "If she ever asks about me… just tell her that I am proud of her, and of Beta for fighting for this future… this world. Proud and grateful to have such wonderful daughters."
Sunset nodded. "I will."
"Goodbye, Sunset… and thank you for not letting the spark of hope in me die." She offered her gloved hand, which was shaken firmly by the bartender, who didn't let go immediately.
"Before you go," she said with a smile, "we have a tradition here."
She was tired. So tired. But she was content.
Sitting on a bench, she studied what remained of her farm. Thankfully mostly-undamaged structures, but the grass… everything had been consumed by the Swarm already. Nothing alive remained but her.
And not for long.
But she had seen what the future held. Not the one she and her peers had envisioned, but a braver, stronger, newer and unpredictable future, where humanity and machines were not in a constant race to destroy the world.
I wasn't perfect. Sunset had been right: no world would ever be perfect. She closed her eyes, letting a slow breath out.
It wasn't perfect. But it was good enough for her daughters to thrive. A future where humanity would find their way anew.
That was her legacy.
And it was good.
Relevant (to the story) Character cast:
Elisabet Sobeck: 
Lead scientist/engineer behind the Zero Dawn project. Presented as a "Super-Weapon to fight the Faro Plague" by the governments, it was in reality an attempt to secure a future for Earth and mankind... many, many years in the future.
Aloy: 
Main character of the Horizon series. A clone of Elisabet created by GAIA 1000 years after the fall of civilization.
Beta: 
A clone created by the Zenith (Bad guys in the second game) of Elisabet for their own dastardly intentions.
Ted Faro: 
Essentially the Elon Musk-type of the game. Ultimately responsible for ending life on Earth.
GAIA: 
An AI created by Elisabet Sobeck and gifted with the ability to feel and understanding of emotions. Several sub-routines (such as Hephestus, Apollo, Minerva, Poseidon, etc.) are responsible for making the world inhabitable again.
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I like these little visits to the bar
They just Plague my mind:D
Hooooly...I play horizon zero dawn...buy I never got far enough into the story yet to know ANY of that...had just killed off my first actual fort that was taken by bandits and had liberated It as a side quest....holy buck that was a lot of spoilers and lore for me...but really thanks for that..needed that inspiration to get back into that game
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This chapter legit warned spoilers for Forbidden West . THE Sequel. So enjoy whats to come.
You're being exposed to the multiverse/omniverse
I kinda got really angry at Sunset, here. Like really angry. The prime Directive is a guideline, and there's times it SHOULD be broken. fgrom what I know of this game, this was one of those times.
Because of Aloy and Betas present time, Elizabeths story having ended, she couldnt go along for the ride even if Sunset permitted?
11479935 I disagree. What's the difference now, than any other occasion where she can simply step in and save everyone? She used the Prime Directive as an example, because Trek is a good reference, but she's not part of the Federation. Just randomly saving a whole civilization even if it's for good could change things for the worse (and chances are in this world, she would) and then what? She comes back and changes things again? And again? Dedicates her entire existence to getting things just right until... when? And then, why shouldn't she do that in other worlds, just because they're not human? Other universes?
It's a slippery slope that spirals into an eternity of "fixing" things, rather than allow the people that can change do so. Her whole point is about not taking the choice of changing from others. Remember how you felt when Sunset just showed Sonata Freddy Mercury's set without asking? It's the same thing that required that change in the text: She had to ask to show her something, and then Sonata made her own decision.
If Sunset decides for entire civilizations, even for a good cause, what gives her the right to do so? How long does she do it? How much of her morality should she enforce on others?
This is why she doesn't do that. She is there for the few that have made changes, evolved, are in the process of doing so to be better persons and such, not interfering with their entire lives and telling them what to do.
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By this logic any help is wrong. I will not buy that slippery-slope argument when it comes to killing the Joker and I won't buy it, here.
11480005 So when would you say it's okay for her to step in and erase an entire future because the people of the past were hellbent on destroying their world, but they deserve yet another chance, and when isn't it?
11480008
1. it's not Elisabet's future. it's her present. 2. I seriously doubt ALL OF HUMANITY deserves to be made extinct and wiped out because the actions of a few. yes, fuck Ted Faro, as the memes apparently go, but everyone? Not buying it. Not a chance in hell.
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This is the struggle I have when dealing with things like the Prime Directive and beings like Sunset who have that kind of powers/tech.
On the one hand, I believe that if there is that type of power, there is also the responsibility to use it to save those they can.
On the other is exactly what you have pointed out. They cannot simply step in and solve the problems of everyone else, becoming a god/goddess to stay and iron out every little problem.
An added layer to the problem, for this instance, is Sunset’s knowing that things do sort of work out with Aloy and Gaia.
I haven’t come to any one conclusion, but hold that there are times beings like Sunset can step in to help in the shadows, without alerting or ever taking credit of helping, aiding just even to push the scales a bit back towards balance. And there are times, like this, where they cannot. And they must let things happen as they will.
Either way, having that level of power and/or tech is both blessing and curse.
11480017 Continuing here because previous comment might not show up in your timeline and editing is... effy.
I mean, the Joker is right there in Batman's world. Bats is the one that makes the decision (or any other hero) to let him live. It's not for a Marvel Character to decide enough is enough and kill the Joker because he thinks it's the right thing.
Sunset says it here:
She's not taking a moral high ground, she is telling Elisabet that people her or any other world ie Batman's world) have to want to change to make those decisions.
Elisabet is not asking her to change the current time either, she was asking Sunset to travel back in time to prevent everything.
11480018 Yeah, in a way she can't avoid interfering, but her interference is never going to be a massive, showy "I AM A GODDESS" kind of approach. She helps the individuals that foster change find a place to talk and sort out their plans and feelings. She gives them additional time they could always use or comforts them when they think all they have done is fail. That is her true gift to them and their worlds, IMO
11480017 Sigh. Replying again, because I accidentally directed 11480019 at another user before fixing it. Sorry.
If the multiverse exists then there will be a Sunset that interferes for every Sunset that doesn't.
Some will fail some will succeed. (I am that kind of guy that plays mass effect as a paragon in every playthrough because there is that inherent part of me that just wants everything to go right)
But that is the beauty of fiction everything that you imagine can happen.
(If you would have prefered for doctor sobek to survive I've read at least two fics on Archive of our own that made it work.)
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Would there have been any harm in taking that doomed soul somewhere else? With the entire multiverse at her disposal (as far as the magic will allow) surely there are lots of places she could quietly disappear to and live out her remaining life? I'm just thinking of the "regulars" that come and go, flitting across the universe like extras with Dr.Who. (I'm looking at the crew that was just traipsing across the nuclear wasteland of Boston)
11480139 No harm, I don't think, however it was Elisabet who wanted to go back.
11480109 This is true. Isekai's conundrum as a character here is that she's insanely, ridiculously powerful, but she also is growing to understand the omniverse and the weigh of choice and actions. So claiming the moral obligation to change the past of a world to ensure the survival of one civilization would mean therefore that she should do that for every single instance in the Omniverse she encounters, regardless of consequence. But, she's also not limited to 4th dimensional thinking. However, her decisions don't apply to other Sunsets that might somehow manage to find themselves in a world they can save.
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It has the unique honor of the first game in years to make me care about the side characters even some of the ones who died 1000 years in the past. Oh and Ted Faro is a lot worse than that little spoiler
Man, that one was political... please, continue.
Nice chapter. As much as I like some of the longer arcs it's nice to see the story come back to how it started: Sunset comforting those who need a moment to unwind and lending an ear as they talk about their woes.
Now for the rant - I, for one, fully support Sunset's decision not to interfere for three main reasons:
1. This is the main one: Morality is not universal. Particularly when dealing with things that don't think like a human, it's arrogant to believe that our morality is superior to theirs or that we have a right to impose our morality on them. To us what they are doing might be reprehensible, but to them, the same might be true of us. Even when dealing with humans, it's important to remember that morality is an ever-evolving concept. Just as we now condemn tyrants and slavery, which was considered normal, even morally correct, for much of human history, some of what we now consider just and right may be equally condemned by our descendants in the future.
2. The quote "With great power comes great responsibility" is a nice sentiment but is ultimately false. No one has any obligation to clean up any mess they didn't create themselves. Doing so may be worthy of praise, but failing to be an unusually good person does not make one worthy of reproach. It's also worth noting that intervention must be increasingly careful as the power disparity increases to prevent those who are being helped from becoming dependent on that help.
3. The prime directive may be overly strict, and mostly there as a plot device, but it does have some grounding in reality. It's important not to hand out power willy-nilly and without significant planning, lest the recipients become dependent on these gifts to survive. Leading to lots of new problems that will need solving, in some cases the situation may become worse than before the gifts were given. As with point two, it's good if you're willing to put the time and effort into it, but completely within your rights to refuse.
In the end, Sunset is doing good and that makes her a good person. It's greedy to demand that she does more than she is comfortable with, just she's not being the best she could possibly be. To criticize Sunset for her actions, or lack thereof, would be much like condemning a woman who works at a charity on her spare weekends for not doing it full-time.
You know I've always said Ted Faro's ultimate fate was, poetic? Symbolic? Never could figure out the correct term.
He ended up trapped, alone, in a Temple built to his pride, transformed into as much of a monster on the outside as he was on the inside in his mad quest to become a God. (Unknown if he was aware of that entire time)
and what happened after? Burned by a man just as egotistical as he was, then he and his Temple sank into the pits of hell, both metaphorically, and kind of literally.
If hell is a prison, then they must've built a brand-new cell just for the man who caused more pain and sorrow than anyone else right next to the devil.
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To be fair, there's an implied "should" in the way Uncle Ben used it. Reality, even fictional reality, is often disappointing in that regard.
Very nice
Yeah, not going to touch the ethics of interference. That’s a can of worms others are welcome to open. Suffice to say, lovely to see Sunset doing what she does best: Providing a place to rest and a sympathetic ear for someone who would otherwise have no hope of either.
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So, Aloy and everything she does, that shouldn’t exist? If Elizabet’s present is saved, that future is gone. No way to know what will replace it. The way that era was going, the replacement would likely be much worse. Should Sunset just be some kind of babysitter? She’s powerful enough to babysit a planet. You’re just going to condemn everything that will be, for a supposed better future. Trading a guarantee, for a maybe
It's a bit narcissistic, but this feels like a direct follow-on to the CSP/Maretian chapter backalong. Cherry asked, "Where were you?". Elizabet here asks, in essence, "Where are you?" The second time around makes it more immediate and, in the end, heartwrenching.
Wow this is the best book I read in a while 10 out of 10 who made this book is very talented
Augh! I want to read this chapter so bad, but Forbidden west hasn't come out on PC yet so I can't. XD
11487583 Yeah, you might want to wait on it. It's "minor" spoilers for Forbidden West if you're already playing it, but if you're not... it kind of spoils a couple of big things.
Uh. I don't think the lady will have much of a desire to go back where she came from, Sunset.
I still prefer the viewpoint that any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it
Whoo, Sunny's being harsh there. But yea, she's right. There's already a future of this world, and it's not hers to take away.
So, Lizzy just went back to her own dead past world? Oof. That's kind of messed up.
Remarks and corrections:
> If there was one thing Elisabet Zobeck wanted more than anything else in the world, it was to get out of the damned suit
You misspelled her name. That's "Sobeck".