Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The mountain was on fire.
Not from flames, but from the screams, the chaos, and the death that spread like a living inferno. Aloy's breath came ragged as she ducked behind a rock, an arrow barely missing her head. The Eclipse were everywhere—black-clad warriors cutting through the unarmed Proving candidates with ruthless precision.
Bast was still reeling from the shock, frozen in place. Aloy had already saved his life once, knocking him out of the way of a spear—he wouldn't be so lucky again.
A shadow loomed behind him.
"Bast, move!" Aloy shouted.
Too late. A blade cut through the air, piercing his back clean through. He let out a sharp gasp, eyes wide with disbelief, before crumpling forward. His blood seeped into the cold ground, and just like that—he was gone.
Aloy gritted her teeth. No time to mourn. Keep moving.
She grabbed a fallen bow and fired an arrow straight into the throat of his killer. Then another. Then another. She wasn't just running anymore—she was hunting.
The Proving Becomes a Battle
The Eclipse hadn't expected real resistance. Aloy used that to her advantage.
She moved like the wind, rolling behind cover, flanking their positions, using the terrain to outmaneuver them. She fired from the shadows, arrows striking true. One officer raised a horn to signal for reinforcements—Aloy silenced him with an arrow to the eye before he could make a sound.
One by one, they fell.
Another raider charged her with a spear. Aloy ducked, grabbed a fallen blade, and drove it into his gut before kicking him off the cliff. She had trained for this her whole life—survival was all she knew.
In the chaos, Vala fought alongside her. Unlike the others, she didn't freeze. She stood her ground, covering Aloy as they tried to hold off the attack.
More Eclipse officers rushed in. Aloy scanned their leader's Focus, gathering intel. A commanding officer, someone important.
She turned, only for the world to yank sideways.
A powerful hand gripped her throat and lifted her clean off the ground.
Aloy clawed at the hand choking her, kicking wildly, but the grip was unrelenting. The Eclipse general who held her was not a man —but a woman.
Draped in dark armor, her presence was suffocating. Her voice, smooth and venomous.
"Your defiance is wasted, outcast. This land belongs to the Shadow."
Aloy struggled, gasping for breath.
The general smirked. "And soon… so will your blood."
She raised a dagger—
TWANG!
An arrow struck her shoulder, causing her grip to falter. Aloy fell to the ground, coughing.
She turned to see Alana, bow drawn, panting from exertion.
Behind her, Rost.
"Touch her again, and I'll make sure that's the last thing you do," Alana spat.
The general's eyes darkened.
"You should not have interfered."
A second Eclipse general emerged from the smoke—a towering brute, scarred and menacing. The battlefield fell into a tense silence.
Aloy could barely stand, but she forced herself to her feet as the standoff between Rost, Alana, and the two generals Helis and Zafira began.
The battle that followed was fierce. Rost was a warrior, but the Eclipse generals were relentless. Alana fought hard, but something went wrong.
An Eclipse soldier blindsided her with a strike to the ribs, sending her stumbling. The female general took her chance—a vicious slash across Alana's side.
She screamed, collapsing to one knee, blood soaking her tunic.
Aloy's heart pounded. "Alana!"
The fight was turning against them. The Eclipse pressed harder, sensing victory.
And then
The Shadow in the Smoke
Two figures appeared on the cliff above them.
Aloy barely had time to register their shape before one leapt into the air, deploying a glider. Smoke bombs erupted across the battlefield, thick clouds swallowing the Eclipse warriors whole.
Through the chaos, Aloy caught the second figure still standing on the cliff, watching.
The first one landed smoothly, a mask obscuring their face, a green Focus glowing ominously. The masked figure moved fast—too fast. Eclipse officers fell back, disoriented.
Aloy turned to the remaining Proving candidates. "Take the zipline! Get off the mountain!"
They obeyed. Not all made it. A few were struck down mid-flight—but some escaped.
Aloy turned, sensing something behind her.
The masked boy.
He was standing close—too close—staring at Alana's wounded form.
"She's dying," he said, his voice unreadable.
He knelt and effortlessly lifted her, carrying her as though she weighed nothing.
"I'm taking her."
Aloy tensed. "Who—?"
He didn't answer. He didn't even look at her.
**"Come find me in Meridian."**Then, in a swirl of smoke—he was gone.
---
Aftermath
The Eclipse were retreating. Something had shifted—some unseen force had called them back.
Aloy staggered forward, spotting Rost on the ground.
Panic surged in her chest. No. No, no—
She dropped beside him, checking for wounds, for breath—he was alive, just unconscious. Relief flooded her.
Then, her eyes flicked back to the cliff.
The second figure still stood there, watching.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Then, he turned and disappeared.
Aloy swallowed hard. What the hell just happened?
---
Elsewhere…
Far from the battlefield, Sylens and Adal stood near a campfire.
Sylens frowned. "That was reckless."
Adal smirked beneath his mask. "Was it?"
Sylens narrowed his eyes. "You took the girl. You revealed yourself. Why?"
Adal exhaled, tilting his head as he examined the still-unconscious Alana.
Then, he turned to Sylens, a knowing glint in his eyes.
"Didn't you teach me yourself? It's better to have leverage when trying to make a deal."He paused, then added, voice lower.
"And if she is who I think she is… she has access to something I want."
A slow smirk curled beneath his mask.
"And now, she owes me."